Genie loves Johhny

JAANE TU girl Genelia D’Souza has revealed her secret crush. And mind you, it’s not Imran Khan or the man she’s been linked up with for long time- Riteish Deshmukh.

It’s none other than our good old Johhny boy with whom she’s currently doing a film.

She says she’s been a fan of the actor for a while now and it was almost like a dream come true for her when she found herself sharing screen space with him in her next film, HOOK YA CROOK.

She says it’s a crush which probably dates back to her college days when John attended the college fete.

The actress, who found her feet back in Bollywood after the super success of JAANE TU YA JAANE NA, is also working in films like IT’S MY LIFE and LIFE PARTNER with Harman Baweja and Fardeen Khan. And she’s grateful as she had almost disappeared from the B-Town after her 2003 debut TUJHE MERI KASAM and Indra Kumar’s MASTI which was a success. She did fairly good work in the South thereafter.

And she has no problems about being cast in girl next door mould, much like MASTI co-star, Amrita Rao. She says she’s open to challenges and even open to doing an all out commercial film or even action movies.

She might not be an overnight sensation but she’s counting her blessing and happily doing her own thing. Genie baby has claimed to be different, thus far.

John teams up with Anurag again

If you thought director Anurag Kashyap and John Abraham were off each other after NO SMOKING think again. After zeroing in on two major productions DEV D and a project on the comic series DOGA, Kashyap has signed John Abraham for BOMBAY VELVET.

Kashyap said, ’'John’s character is based on a real life hero of the masses from the 1960s. It’s a thriller based on real incidents. The idea was developed over the last four years with inputs from several renowned individuals including history professor Gyan Prakash.’’

Kashyap said, ’'I haven’t worked with this kind of a budget before. I want to be sure of the script. After NO SMOKING, John and I want to make sure our film is accessible to the audience. I analyzed myself and now I know where I had gone wrong with my earlier films. I am working on my weak points. I tend to get repetitive. So I have two writers who criticized me the most for NO SMOKING scripting BOMBAY VELVET.’’ BOMBAY VELVET will be produced by TV 18. The film will also star Naseeruddin Shah and Kay Kay Menon.

Currently Kashyap has his hands full with DEV D, which he perceives as a bridge between Saratchandra Chatterjee’s ’Devdas’ and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s DEVDAS. ’'I connected newspaper stories to the character of Devdas to explore the things that motivate today’s youth,’’ said Kashyap.

About his relationship with DEV D’s actress Kalki, he said, ’'I’m very happy with Kalki. She has brought great stability to my life. Our relationship started with DEV D. I want her in my life but not necessarily in all my films.’’

John is the sexiest, says Bipasha

Bipasha Basu is quite pleased with John Abraham’s success in Dostana and says that the label of the ’sexiest’ Asian man for him pleases her even more.

"There has to be one person who’s the sexiest every year. In 2007, Eastern Eye voted me the sexiest. In 2008, it’s John. If they didn’t vote him the sexiest they’d look really foolish. I mean John is the hottest. No one is going to look hotter than him for a long time. And I’m not saying that because I’m in a relationship with him," said Bipasha. Asked how she felt about John flaunting his well-toned body in Dostana, Bipasha said: "Ranbir Kapoor showed his bum in Saawariya. How come no one raised any eyebrows? It was not so drastic with John.

"He has a fantastic body. If a woman on a beach is appreciated, why not a man on the beach? If you are comfortable with your body and you can carry it off with grace like John did, why not? I’m proud of what John has achieved. I’ve been with him from the time we shot Aetbaar and Jism. We started dating while shooting for Aetbaar."

Bipasha, who turned 30 Wednesday, said she was really proud of her bikini shot in Dhoom 2.

"At no point did I look cheesy. There was no heaving thrusting. It was just a healthy shot of a woman on the beach. Incidentally, I came out of the water in ’Jism’ wearing a thick white dress. Such was the impact that people think I wore a bikini."

Bipasha said she was pretty happy with her achievements last year. "It’s been a fantastic year for me, both personally and professionally. Family is great. Boyfriend is great. Everything is fine. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

"I’m actually surprised the year went so well. I even got time to watch my niece and nephew grow. Yes, I’ve spent one more beautiful year productively." Told that she needs to have children of her own, Bipasha said: "No, no I don’t have the patience for kids. I can’t bear to have my seven-year-old nephew around for more than two hours. He’s a talkative brat.

"My one-year-old niece is an item number. She dances superbly to the worst songs. So, yes, another actress coming up in my family. And she’s the first light-eyed fair-skinned Basu girl in the family." The actress is currently shooting for Rahul Dholakia’s hard-hitting drama Lamhaa