Director Vivek 'Banku' Sharma is very busy these days. It is said that busy people are happy people. But he isn't just happy. He is over overjoyed and overworked and is loving every bit of it to the T. The director is shuffling up and down to the Film City where he has put up a giant guitar shaped set with the two talked about debutants, Jacky Bhagnani, son of Vashu Bhagnani, and Vaishali Desai, grand daughter of the late filmmaker Manmohan Desai, who are shaking their leg to the title track of the film which has a special appearance made by none other than...wait a minute! We cannot disclose that to you because Vivek doesn't want us to. Let's respect that.

The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) officially inaugurated its fifth season Sunday, unveiling the various competitions, events and names that will contribute to making it increasingly prominent on the cinema world stage.

Festival Chairman Abdul Hamid Juma announced that DIFF, taking place at Madinat Jumeirah from December 11-18, will feature 181 films from 66 different countries from the Arab World and across the globe, highlighting the event’s motto, Building Cultures, Meeting Minds.

Not many know that Abhishek Bachchan is an avid basketball fan and follows the American NBA league religiously. The actor keeps track of games on his Mac laptop.

So when the climax of Dostana was supposed to be shot amidst a basketball game, director Mansukhani got valuable advice from Junior Bachchan. Says Mansukhani, “He gave me lots of names, but all the teams are corporate owned. Therefore there was a long chain of permissions. It was too tedious, so I gave up. Eventually we shot with the college teams from the University of Miami.” -Indiatimes

MUMBAI: Dharma Productions' Dostana, which released on 14 November, has received a warm opening across multiplexes in the country.

The movie is running at an average occupancy of 75 - 80 per cent and even has houseful shows on Friday morning across various properties.

Just recently, he was seen on the big screen in the fantasy adventure, Drona, a film that Abhishek Bachchan has since analysed and of which he has understood the weaknesses.

But life moves on and he is bouncing back with Dharma Productions’ Dostana, directed by Tarun Mansukhani and co-starring John Abraham and Priyanka Chopra.

Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham and Priyanka Chopra’s friendship has proved fruitful at the box office, not just in India but overseas as well.

In UK the opening weekend collections are 330 thousand pounds. The Friday and Saturday figures in USA at $442 thousand have beaten Race ($397 thousand). In UAE the movie has registered $597 till Saturday. That happens to be the biggest opening for any Indian movie in UAE this year. In fact it has even exceeded the first week collections of Singh Is Kinng. The press abroad too has only good things to say about the movie.

The first results are out and after an excellent multiplex start in India, Karan Johar's Tarun Mansukhani directed DOSTANA has impressive numbers to show from the Overseas circuit.

To get into the details, the Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham, Priyanka Chopra and Bobby Deol (special appearance) starrer has appealed more to the US audience (gross wise) as compared to those in the UK.

Mumbai: Dharma Productions' Dostana has grossed Rs 450 million (Rs 45 crores) worldwide with print count of 925 including digital.

The film released worldwide on 14 November with paid previews on 13 November night. In Dubai, the film released on 13 November with paid previews one night prior.

This time the Salon Du Cinema at Paris is said to be concentrating on Indian films only. The fab four from the Bachchan family —Amitabh, Abhishek, Aishwarya and Jaya — are expected to be the chief guests at the event and will be instrumental in trying to sell Indian movies in the international market.

Thankfully, this time around, they are not trying to push Bollywood alone as even Mani Rathnam and Vikram are being invited to be present. -Hindu

AB Jr to lose weight and get fitter for Mani's next

Abhishek Bachchan believes in putting on or losing weight as the character demands. Talking about it, Abhishek says, "Actors are doing one film at a time, they are willing to jump into the character, look the part and if required to be very fit, they do that. I put on weight for Guru as that was the character's requirement. Now for the film I am shooting with Mani, he needed me to be lean so I lost weight for it. Tomorrow, if there's a film where someone wants me to look fit and show my abs, I will get into shape for it."