Everything India finds a connection to films. Be it festivals or life in general, we always take a leaf out of Hindi films. They perhaps keep us saner than life would let us. It is never wrong to find filmi references in real life and vice versa and so you find such inspirations in Diwali as well. The firecrackers of Bollywood truly become the most sought after firecrackers this festival as well. It seems here too Katrina Kaif has taken the first spot keeping Deepika Padukone behind.

Katrina Kaif is still the preferred choice for patakhas in Indian markets. Guess her connect with the masses is stronger than rest of the beauties. Close second is Deepika Padukone, who is also the second best thing to happen to the fireworks market. But it is the Deepika Padukone-Ranbir Kapoor 120-shots that are selling like hot cakes. Guess people still love to see them together. Together they are fire on ice! The shots are leaving shelves in a jiffy.

This year’s debutant is Sunny Leone sparkles that have brightened up many lives (pun intended). Others in the list are Kareena Kapoor Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra and Preity Zinta. Yes, you read right, it is Preity Zinta. She is still popular somewhere!

There is no evidence so far that a gunman who attacked Canada’s capital had links to Middle Eastern Islamist extremists, the government says.

Foreign Minister John Baird told the BBC that Michael Zehaf-Bibeau was “certainly radicalised” but not on a list of high-risk individuals.

Zehaf-Bibeau killed a soldier at Ottawa’s war memorial before being shot dead in the nearby parliament building.

Police have released video showing how the gunman stormed parliament.

It has also emerged that Prime Minister Stephen Harper hid in a cupboard in parliament for about 15 minutes during Wednesday’s attack as MPs sharpened flagpoles to use as spears against the gunman.

‘Huge concern’

Mr Baird told the BBC there were no substantiated claims yet that Zehaf-Bibeau was associated with Islamic State.

Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird: “I haven’t heard… he was associated to Isil”

Mr Baird said he was “tremendously concerned about the number of Canadians who are radicalised and are fighting in Syria or Iraq, but we don’t have any evidence to link the two at this stage”.

“Reports suggest that well in excess of 100 Canadians have gone to fight jihad in the Middle East and that’s a huge concern.”

Mr Baird also said Zehaf-Bibeau could have done much more damage than he did.

“For several minutes it was complete horror, complete terror, we didn’t know whether the door was going to be kicked in, whether there was one or a group of people.”

Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers was given a standing ovation in parliament

Daniel Lang, chairman of the Senate national defence and security committee, told the BBC: “It was an ordeal I would not recommend anybody endure – there was just a wall’s difference between where we were and where they were.”

He said the incident had “shown our vulnerability and the reality that life here has changed dramatically”.

Mr Lang said most parliamentarians had been calling for greater security and “this event proves there should be”.

The BBC’s Barbara Plett Usher also spoke to men at the homeless shelter in Ottawa where the gunmen had been staying.

One said: “He never said a lot about his history or family. He never talked about anything that would make you suspicious.”

More details have emerged of the attack.

One source told the Globe and Mail that MPs had flanked the doors of their meeting room, preparing to attack the gunman with sharpened flagpoles.

“These guys were up there holding these spears ready to impale anyone who came in,” the source said.

Mr Harper was placed in a cupboard – described as little more than a “cubbyhole” in the Centre Block after the gunfire rang out, the report said.

The Globe and Mail’s source said many MPs had no idea the prime minister was still in the building.

“Someone knew there was a closet there so they stuck him in there. So for a lot of people it was as though he was gone.”

The prime minister’s security the detail came to rescue him.

The video released by police shows various phases of Wednesday’s attack.

The gunman is first shown hijacking a minister’s car, then speeding off towards Centre Block, pursued by police.

At Centre Block he left the stolen car and ran into the building, exchanging gunfire with House of Commons security forces and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers.

He was ultimately shot dead by Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers, a former senior RCMP officer, who received a standing ovation in parliament on Thursday when he resumed his duties.

‘We are sorry’

Zehaf-Bibeau’s mother, Susan Bibeau, told AP she had lunch with her son last week – their first meeting in five years.

She said her son seemed lost and “did not fit in”.

“Can you ever explain something like this?” she said. “We are sorry.”

At a news conference on Thursday, RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson said Zehaf-Bibeau was not linked to the Muslim convert who on Monday killed a Canadian soldier in Quebec in a hit-and-run attack.

However, Zehaf-Bibeau was trying to get a passport to travel to Syria.

Mr Paulson said: “I think the passport figured prominently in his motives.

Salman Khan is a man of his word. At the altar of the season 8 of the reality show ‘Bigg Boss’, Salman Khan, being the host of the show, promised to the TV watching ‘janta’ that if given a chance, he would definitely want to promote Shah Rukh Khan’s soon-to-be released movie ‘Happy New Year’ on the show.

Now, Salman’s equation with Shah Rukh Khan hasn’t been all that hunky dory and that’s why this statement of his grabs the attention of many. However, as expected, Salman Khan didn’t get a chance to honour his word, because reportedly, SRK didn’t approach the producers of the show for the movie promotions.

But make no mistake! Salman is Salman. He went ahead and kept his word.

n the latest weekend episodes of ‘Bigg Boss’, Salman Khan talked about the ‘silly’ quizzes people take on social networking sites to know more about themselves. One of the quizzes is ‘Which Khan are you?’ and quite expectedly one of the options is Salman Khan. So, Salman Khan took the personality test himself to check the authenticity of the quiz.

What do ya know? Salman Khan is not Salman Khan anymore. He was, instead, declared to be Shah Rukh Khan by the quiz. We are not sure about how genuine the answer was, but Salman took it in the lighter vein and imitated SRK’s trademark ‘K K K Kiran’ tone and said, “Kaha thha humne… Happy New Year ko promote karenge!”

Now that’s called ‘killing two birds with one stone,’ and the ‘Dabanng’ Khan is quite a pro at it, we must say.

Kudos to the brotherhood!

Actress Bipasha Basu, who is currently filming supernatural thriller ‘Alone’, continued shooting despite suffering from a swollen ankle.

The 35-year-old actress will be seen alongside TV actor Karan Singh Grover in the Bhushan Patel-directed film. “Ankle swollen! On ‘Alone’ set! Climax shoot going on and me in pain. Don’t like,” Bipasha posted on Instagram alongside a photo of her bandaged ankle.

Actress Sunny Leone, who’s co-hosting and mentoring the contestants on TV show ‘Splitsvilla’, found herself at the receiving end of a contestant’s outburst. Shravan Reddy lost his cool and hurled a heavy Rajasthani jewellery box at a fellow contestant, but ended up hurting Sunny instead.

The shocked actress hurled abuses at the unruly guy and was in no mood to relent even after Shravan apologises. Says a source, “Sunny had briefed the contestants in the beginning not to get aggressive. The production team had to intervene and sort it out.”

Actor Akshay Kumar, who is known to deliver comedy with as much ease as action, says when he was starting out, he didn’t think he’d become the big star that he is today. But now, he is in a comfortable position, where he doesn’t need to work for money. “I never thought I would reach here, never,” says Akshay.

Despite the ­stardom, nothing has changed, he says. “Nothing has changed. I am still the same person. I still work equally hard. There’s no change, expect for the ­balance in my account, which has increased,” he says. And what else has changed is the fact that now he doesn’t have to work for money, as he says he works because he wants to. “I am at that stage in life where I don’t need to work. I work because I want to, because I like working,” says Akshay, who still calls himself a ‘proud Delhi boy
The actor, who often visits the bylanes of Old Delhi in the wee hours, says, “I probably had the most adventurous ­childhood, thanks to the Capital,” says Akshay, adding, “When my family moved to Mumbai from Delhi when I was a kid, I would count days until I could visit my grandma in Chandni Chowk. I learnt – See more at: http://www.hindustantimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/i-work-because-i-want-to-not-because-i-need-to-says-akshay-kumar/article1-1276187.aspx#sthash.94p7gcFw.dpuf

:  Los Angeles Actress Cameron Diaz has revealed that she was terrified of her role in ‘Annie’.

The 42-year-old actress said she had to overcome her fear of singing in front of people for her part as Miss Hannigan in Will Gluck’s modern adaptation of the musical, reported Digital Spy.

“It’s not very often you get to do a musical. Even though I was terrified of doing it, I kind of had to. The two things I’m most terrified of are heights and singing in front of people.

“I’ve jumped out of airplanes and scaled sides of cliffs – not to get over my fears, but to address them. I just felt like this is something that needed to be addressed. I cried uncontrollably.

Everybody was so supportive and having fun with it because I was so pathetic, but the only way to get through scary things is to have a sense of humour about it,” she said.

After starting her career with Farah-Shah Rukh Khan‘s joint production ‘Om Shanti Om’ seven years ago, actress Deepika Padukone feels her upcoming project ‘Happy New Year’ is like a homecoming.

‘Happy New Year’, releasing this Diwali, is again co-produced by Farah and Shah Rukh and the actor will be seen romancing Deepika in it.

“‘Happy New Year’ is a homecoming for me. The way they (Shah Rukh and Farah) made me feel has brought back the memories of ‘Om Shanti Om’. Even the way she calls me ‘Baby’ and I call her ‘Maa’.

“Farah takes certain liberty with me and so do I. The way we talk to each other is special. In fact, a lot of time we would sit together and remember old times. They are family,” Deepika said in a group interview.

The film is directed by Farah and has ensemble cast of Abhishek Bachchan, Sonu Sood, Boman Irani and Viaan Shah apart from Shah Rukh and Deepika.

Deepika says she feels her career is safe in the hands of the choreographer-filmmaker and SRK, both 49.

“They gave me such a beautiful launch in the industry and presented me so well. They took the responsibility and understood that this girl’s career is in our hand,” she said.
Deepika, 28, said she was the last one to join the multi-starrer.

“When I just finished ‘Chennai Express’ I got a call from Farah Khan and she asked me for ‘Happy New Year’. The film happened at the last moment and my dates were free I am happy that I fit because at that time even Imtiaz Ali’s film also shifted,” she said, adding that she is happy to be a part of ‘Happy New Year’ even though the role was initially not offered to her.

In the film, Deepika plays a Marathi bar dancer in the film.”Mohini Joshi is the character’s name who is a bar dancer. She enjoys dancing and she worships dance. She and Abhishek’s character Nandu have grown up together. I become the teacher of the gang and I teach them to dance once they come together. Mohini is the only member of her family who earns,” she said.

We had almost forgotten that Anushka Sharma is also a part of PK for the male lead Aamir Khan has been hogging all the limelight in the posters that are coming in at irregular intervals. It is after we came across this leaked picture of Anushka’s look from the film, we remembered that even she has a role in the Rajkumar Hirani directorial, which also stars Sanjay Dutt and Sushant Singh Rajput.

Anushka will be sporting a short crop for the film. Since the Jab Tak Hai Jaan actress had to shoot for Bombay Velvet, and NH10 simultaneously, she couldn’t get her hair cut, so this look is all thanks to a wig. Reportedly, this completely new look for Anushka was finalised by Hirani after much deliberation.

Aushka’s look from PK has already got a lot of positive feedback and has sent social media ablaze with comments. We absolutely love it, do you BollywoodLifers?

Siddharth Anand’s latest directorial venture Bang Bang has stormed the box office literally. We say so coz his film, which stars Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif in the lead, is already set to enter the Rs 100 crore club. Bang Bang, which is the official remake of Knight and Day, hit the hit screens on October 2 and got off to a flying start. Within two days, the action flick minted Rs 51.62 crore nett at the Indian box office. Impressive, hai na? On Saturday and Sunday too the film’s collections were over Rs 20 crore nett and that’s the reason Bang Bang’s opening weekend collection now stands at Rs 94.13 crore nett.

Hrithik and Kat’s film is expected to cross Rs 100 crore mark at the ticket windows by today afternoon. Also, since its a holiday in some parts of the country, chances are that Bang Bang will gross big amount even today and pass Monday test quite easily.

Well, if Bang Bang continues its dream run at the box office then we are pretty sure many more records will be broken and re-written.