RAJNI'S COOOOOOOOOOL STYLE BECOMES A RAGE ALL OVER THE COUNTRY!

Rajnikanth in his latest Tamil flick Sivaji: The Boss sports a stylish pair of sunglasses, Amitabh Bacchchan plays a bespectacled 64-year-old cook in Cheeni Kum, and the major cast of Metro -- Irfaan Khan, Kangana Ranaut and Konkona SenSharma -- all sport zero power spectacles.

"No wonder 75 per cent of the people do not follow the optical store salesman's suggestion. They are influenced by movies and various magazines, newspapers and printed matter. Market trends keep fluctuating and things are much different than a few years ago when where one particular trend used to dominate for years. Today, fashion is changing very fast and the hot designs keep changing rapidly," says Tarun Sachdeva, of Eye Essentials, which deals in vision correcting aids, spectacle frames etc.

With more and more actors wearing glasses on screen, the common man is following suit and becoming choosy about the frames and quality of glasses. Multi-coloured and broad-sized frames are 'hot'. "Sunglasses and frames are available for Rs 1,000 and Rs 60,000," says Lalit Kalra, Director, Dayal Opticals. Also, with increasing brand consciousness people are aware of the varieties of frames and sunglasses available.

"They have fixed ideas about the type of brand they want," says Manoj Soni, Laurence and Mayo, Connaught Place. He says, "Earlier people might have been vaguely aware of some sunglass brands but nowadays due to huge advertisments in the media there is a growing awareness in the market about the wide variety of choice available to them."

Manoj Soni adds, "While customers may demand specific brands for frames awareness about lenses is still insufficient in the market." Vogue Prada, Versace, Bovigare, Gucci are the most popular brands. The latest trend is that of titanium metal because they are very flexible and strong and almost impossible to break," he says.

BIG B TO LEND HIS VOICE TO HIS LATER FATHER HARVANSH RAI BACHCHAN'S POEMS

Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan is set to recite his father Harivansh Rai Bachchan's poems at a literary and cultural festival in New York next month.

The event called "Bachchan Sandhya" will be held on Aug 18 at the Lincoln Center - a premier venue for the performing arts.

The cultural do has been organised by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, US, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of India's independence and the centenary of late Harivansh Rai Bachchan, a celebrated Hindi poet and litterateur.

On the occasion, Amitabh's wife and actress Jaya Bachchan will offer her own reminiscences about the life and achievements of her father-in-law.

A dance-drama entitled Jeevan, based on Bachchan's poems, will be presented by renowned Kathak dancer and choreographer Vaswati Mishra and her troupe.

Bachchan's best-known work is Madhushala, a series of quatrains or rubai. On the surface, the book seems like an ode to alcohol, but is actually an allegory about the complexity of life. Madhushala has been recited by Amitabh and sung by Manna De on tape.

BOLLYWOOD BILLBOARD: NOTABLE QUOTES FROM BOLLYWOOD BADSHAHS

"I don't like it (the term Bollywood). I describe it as the Hindi film industry or the Indian film industry. Why call it something derived from a western name? Somehow I feel it is a little degrading. It has now found its way into the Oxford English Dictionary, so it's going to be there for eternity now."

-- Amitabh Bachchan talking to New Statesman

"Shah Rukh has recently bought an Audi A6 car for Aryan and Suhana (his children). Shah Rukh who already has five foreign-made cars wanted a safe and state-of-the-art car for his kids. The car has been delivered to him yesterday. The car is in the league of the most luxurious cars. Shah Rukh himself uses a BMW, which he is very fond of."

-- A source told Mumbai Mirror

"Hi Guys, this is Aamir. It's been 6 years since Lagaan released in theatres across the world, and while the DVD has been released all over, in India it has only just come out. Reason? My ignorance as a producer resulted in my signing a contract, which restricted me from releasing it for 5 years in India. In a day and age when DVDs release within weeks of the theatrical release, do you'll think people will be interested in Lagaan?"

-- Aamir Khan writes in his blog

"Yes, I really like it (his new film Aap Kaa Surroor, which is releasing today). When I had started shooting, people said I had gone crazy. I have not turned into an actor to merely fulfill my ambition. There was a conviction within me that acting will come naturally to me."

-- Singer Himesh Reshammiya on why he turned actor

"Absolutely. I mean this decision (to take up acting again) was taken after we (my husband and I) discussed the matter at length. We both kind of sat down and made a conscious decision whether I should be doing this or not and he has always supported me. He told me that if I don’t want to, I can sit at home and look after the kids. But, if you feel you want to do something, then I am with you all the way whatever the decision will be."

-- Madhuri Dixit tell Karan Johar on his show Koffee with Karan about how her husband supported her to take up acting

"If they (Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan) had any problems, why would they agree to do the second film together? I don't know what goes on in their heads, I don't know. But they were fine on the sets, sharing biryanis and jokes.

-- Producer Sajid Naidiadwala on the reported differences between Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan

IS AMITABH BACHCHAN AN ENIGMA WRAPPED IN MYSTERY OR THE MOST CONFUSED ICON OF INDIA?

Is Amitabh Bachchan an enigma wrapped in mystery or the most confused icon of India? So fixed is he in two modes – denial and insecurity – that anyone reading his statements is left staring at him in absolute shock.

READ ON

AMITABH BACHCHAN COMES NO WHERE NEAR RAJNIKANTH EITHER IN TERMS OF POPULARITY OR REMUNERATION

Amitabh's fee per film is Rs 3 crore. Rajnikant's is Rs 35 crore. Amitabh makes 7 to 8 films a year. Rajnikanth makes one film in two years. Rajnikanth has 63,000 registered fan clubs all round the world, Amitabh has 23 fan clubs. Sivaji: The boss, incidentally, was released simultaneously in 37 countries, East and West. And it sets people thinking as well as wondering what is the secret of the exuberance and near mania from fans which one saw on the screen when Sivaji was released recently.

READ ON

Double treat for Amitabh Bachchan fans

It will be a double Bachchan treat for cinegoers this week with two releases featuring the superstar of the millennium hitting screens today. Releasing in cinema screens across the world are Apoorva Lakhia's Shootout At Lokhandwala and R Balakrishnan's Cheeni Kum, both of them featuring Big B in key roles.

What comes as an added attraction for the cinebuffs is the fact that both films belong to different genres and thus bring into focus the tremendous versatility of the Big B as an actor. While Shootout at Lokhandwala is a realistic action drama based on a true incident, Cheeni kum is a comedy dealing with the love affair between a 64-year-old played by Amitabh Bachchan, and a 34-year-old played by Tabu.

Shootout at Lokhandwala is inspired by a real life encounter between the police and the Mumbai underworld. In the 1991 incident, the bustling Lokhandwala Complex in Mumbai became a virtual war zone, when ACP A A Khan opened fire on five underworld gangsters residing in a building in the area. This daylight encounter lasted six hours and ended with the five gangsters being killed.

The film has evoked tremendous excitement in film circles because of the presence of a ensemble cast comprising Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Vivek Oberoi, Suneil Shetty, Tushar Kapoor, Arbaaz Khan, Rohit Roy, Shabbir Ahluwalia and Abhishek Bachchan in a guest appearance.

While the film has Sanjay Dutt playing the role of ACP Khan, it has Vivek Oberoi playing Maya Dolas, the gangster who was shot dead in the encounter, Tushar Kapoor in the role of Maya Dolas's right hand Dilip Buwa. Sunil Shetty, Abhishek Bachchan and Arbaaz Khan play policemen who were part of the team which surrounded the Lokhandwala Building during the encounter. Amitabh Bachchan plays a lawyer Dhingra in the film.

Shootout At Lokhandwala marks a comeback attempt for actor Vivek Oberoi after many of his films in recent years, barring Omkara have met with a lukewarm response at the box office.

Cheeni Kum, the second film this week featuring Amitabh Bachchan in a romantic musical comedy dealing with the love afair between a 64-year-old man Budhadev Gupta and a 34-year-old woman Nina Verma, played by Tabu.

According to the filmmakers, Cheeni Kum is in all respects an unconventional love story, as it is a love story between two people contrastingly different from one another in terms of age, character and attitude. So, while Buddhadev, chef-cum-owner of London's top Indian restaurant, is an arrogant, pompuous and egoistic man with a singular ambition in life -- cooking, Nina is a beautiful, charming Indian woman who is cool, clam and quiet and always smiling.

It is the falling in love of these two persons against all odds. They decide to get married. Like every true Indian, Buddhadev respectifully comes to Nina's father, a true Gandhian living in Delhi, for her hand. There is just one problem. Om Prakash Verma, Nina's father is 58-year-old, six years younger than Buddhadev, his would be son-in-law.

Even before its release, Cheeni kum has created tremendous buzz in films circles. Infact, the film had its world premiere at the 60th edition of the Cannes film festival earlier this week with Big B himself attending the premiere. The bittersweet romantic comedy struck an instant chord with the audience at Cannes.

The film has been directed by Ad guru R Balakrishnan, who makes his directorial debut with this film. According to Balakrishnan, he scripted it with the one and only Big B and Tabu in mind. ''From the very first day I wanted to make this film with him and Tabu. I felt they were absolutely perfect to play the characters of Buddhadev and Nina,'' Balakrishnan said.

The films has evoked comparisons with Ram Gopal Verma's Nishabd, which shows a 60-year-old man -- played by Amitabh Bachchan -- falling in love with a teenaged girl. Balakrishnan, however, denies any similarity between Nishabd and Cheeni Kum. ''There is no similarity between the two films. Cheeni Kum is an out and out comedy.''

Trade analysts say that Cheeni kum is yet another example of Amitabh Bachchan's amazing versatility which has witnessed the actor comfortably slip into roles that are widely diverse from one another -- whether it be a strict disciplinarian father, a 60-year-old who likes to enjoy life to the fullest, a soldier, a flamboyant father or a 60 plus photographer in love with a teenager.

Soon to follow in the coming weeks is another Big B-starrer Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, whose trailers featuring the superstar have already created tremendous buzz in film circles. Produced by Yashraj films, Jhoom Barabar Jhoom has been directed by Shaad Ali.