Paris Hilton parties for a living

Paris Hilton has defended her 'perpetual partyer' tag, insisting that she goes to parties to earn a living.

"[Partying] is what I do for a living. I get paid to go to events and parties, and it's fun," the New York Daily News quoted her, as saying.

The hotel heiress claims that she can keep up such late hours because she hardly ever drinks.

"I only have Red Bulls when I'm out, so I never wake up with a hangover or anything," she added.

Hilton also revealed that she'd be having her third birthday celebration in L.A. over the weekend - and that she'd have "10 birthday parties, if I could. So long as people are paying me, I could keep going

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I have no regrest about Delhi 6: Sonam Kapoor

Delhi 6 has released and Sonam Kapoor has seen some good feedback coming her way in spite of a screen presence which isn't quite dominating throughout the film's narrative. Boasting of an ensemble cast, Delhi 6 had a dozen odd characters and those who were hoping to see a lot more of Sonam were left asking for more.

"Well, let's not talk about whether the length of the role is big or small.

The fact is that I have a great three dimensional role in the movie and that's what that matters", says Sonam without any hint of regret, "This is a girl who wants to do a lot in life and the scenes that I have got are amazing.

I firmly believe that sometimes you can make a big impact in just four scenes when compared to a film where you could be present for 80% of its running length."

Is that really the case? "True", Sonam comments with a straight face, "It all boils down to what the audience remembers from the film on coming back home. Bada ya chota role doesn't matter. If the script of my film is good, my role adds to the plot and it is better than doing four songs and a couple of weepy scenes, then I am all game to be a part of a film!"

Of course one can trust you on complex roles but how about this new look that you have donned for Delhi 6? As someone who is a different person at home and the outside world, she got to play contrasting character on screen.

Smiles Sonam, "Let me not just take the entire credit for the look that I carry in Delhi 6. It is in fact a combination of all these wonderful people out there who have tried a lot of things to come up with the final look that I carry.

Like, Anamika Khanna who has got the costumes made for me, my make up guy Vikram Gaikwad or my hair stylist Avan Contractor - all of them are responsible for the compliments that I am receiving today."

She doesn't forget to acknowledge the good word done by her choreographer Vaibhavi Merchant though. "Yes, of course there is Vaibhavi Merchant who has given me such great dance steps and Mr. Mehra who has presented me so well. I am happy with the final results and glad that my look has been noticed", concludes Sonam.

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Guess who's coming to lunch at Akki's place today

Akshay Kumar has developed a penchant for staying in the news. Just a few days after shooting a song with Kareena Kapoor and RDB for Kambakht Ishq he’s now plastered all over the press for his song with Kylie Minogue in Anthony D’ Souza’s underwater thriller Blue.

The Australian siren landed in Mumbai early Thursday morning. One of her first appointments was for lunch at Akshay Kumar’s residence.

Says a source, “Kylie and some of Akshay-Twinkle Khanna’s close friends from the industry plus the Blue crew are invited for lunch by the actor on Thursday afternoon. This is supposed to be his way of making her comfortable in Mumbai.

If Hrithik and Sussanne Roshan went all out to make Barbara Mori comfortable in Mumbai why not Akshay and his wife?”

The menu was not just selected to complement the sexy Ms Minogue’s palate, Akshay, apparently, had also decided to do some of the cooking himself for the khaas mehmaan.

As is the norm the producers Asthvinayak invited the entire army of television cameras to cover the ‘private’ lunch at the Kumars making you wonder how comfortable our foreigner guest would feel on her first outing in Mumbai with cameras recording every much and slup.

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Sajid Nadiadwala spends 1.5 Crores on a song in Kambakth Ishq

Kambakth Ishq now has two faces...rather voices. There was an item song by that catchy title that Sandeep Chowta had composed for Ram Gopal Varma's Pyar Tune Kya Kiya. Urmila Matondkar and Fardeen Khan had danced that track into the charts.

Now there's a new song by that title for Sajid Nadiadwala's Kambakth Ishq composed by RDB. No, not another R.D. Burman remix -God Forbid! It's the bhangra -pop group from Briton RDB, acronym for Rhythm Dhol Bass.

A favourite with Akshay Kumar, RDB were first heard in our cinema for Vipul Shah's Akshay vehicle Namastey London followed by Singh Is Kinng.

RDB walked into Kambakth Ishq after Carmen Electra and other international artistes who were supposed to participate in the song walked out.

Says Sajid, "It's just Akshay and Kareena dancing to RDB's tune and what a tune it is. It's not a music video but a song that we'll use as an integral part of the film. It will occur close to the film's interval. It will also be the first promotional song."

Press him for a sum of money spent on the song, and Sajid says it's close to 1.5 crore rupees.

Wonder what Sajid's old associate and faithful music director Anu Malik who scores the rest of the songs in Kambakth Ishq has to say about this invasion from the outside!

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Freida Pinto: From Bombay's local trains into Hollywood's limousines

Freida Pinto has leapt off Bombay's local trains and into Hollywood's limousines. MANJULA NARAYAN looks at the transformation of the girl next door

At this time last year, Freida Pinto was probably one of a million girls scrambling onto the woefully crowded Malad local train. Considering that she had landed some modelling jobs and had hosted a travel show, she'd have jostled with the first-class bunch which, as every commuter in Bombay knows, can be far more vicious than any second class dibba gang.

Who knows, our Freida must have occasionally been battered with laptops and prodded with tweezers if she'd dared to hog the coveted gangway space next to the door.

In the evenings, she'd have been sharing a frappe with Rohan Antao, her boyfriend (oops, husband?) at the local coffee shop and perhaps spending love struck weekends with him at a cottage on Manori island.

She would have been hanging out with the friends she has known since her days as an English Literature student at St Xavier's College and practising her expressions in the mirror in the bathroom of the flat she shared with her Mangalorean parents and sister.

Then she landed that role in Slumdog millionaire. She began spending time with Danny Boyle and the crew, taking time out to show her leading man Dev Patel the sights including, perhaps, the Queen's Necklace, the neo-gothic buildings that had once prompted Aldous Huxley to call Bombay "one of the most appalling cities in either hemisphere", and seedily exotic Colaba.

But this isn't a tourist brochure for Urbs Prima in Indis. It's a contemplation of what fame can do, and in the case of Freida Pinto, Oscar hopeful, BAFTA award winner and new darling of the red carpet, how it can take you from boarding the Churchgate fast every morning to riding around New York in a stretch limousine surrounded by stylists.

Suddenly, Vogue, Vanity Fair and Elle, are courting her, UK's Sun is advising readers on how to get her 'look', luxury London outlets are inviting her to beam at the paparazzi from their shop fronts.

Freida Pinto YOU'RE not sure at what point Ms Pinto, who really didn't have much to do in the film, became an international sensation.

Was it when she warmed the cockles of the firangi media's collective heart by mumbling through a mouthful of chocolate cake at Angelina Jolie?

Was it because Jolie has anointed her for a life of stardom by advising her to "keep it real" - a bit strange coming from a woman whose own life with a million kids, zillion dollar paycheques and gadzillion international do-good programmes seems as far from reality as poor Rohan Antao is from Brad Pitt.

Was it because she now speaks with a Miss India accent she couldn't have picked up at St John's Universal High School, Goregaon? Any day now you expect her to have a white-gloved-palmto- face Sushmita Sen moment.

The truth is her stylist George Kotsiopoulos, who'd rather commit harakiri than let a Tahiliani near Pinto, is the real star. That other Mangalorean beauty Aishwarya Rai needs to get his number quick.

The boob-squash thingy she wore to the Berlin Film Festival is just the sort of outfit George would chuck into Bombay's stinking Mahim creek... as Freida's usual local lumbers slowly over it.

Which brings you to the question, what will Freida do next? Will she snap out of her fame-induced amnesia and run back into Antao's arms once the Slumdog fever dies down? Or will she find herself a Pitt replica?

Whatever she does, let's hope she doesn't imitate Jolie's bizarre fertility goddess routine. With whoever.

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Sushmita-Randeep feud out in the open!

Nothing seems to be going right for the once upon a time 'woman of substance' Sushmita Sen these days.

The actress has no good movies to talk about and even her ambitious directorial debut on Rani Laxmibai for which she planned for so long didn't take off.

Her last release was the very pathetic 'Ram Gopal Verma Ki Aag' which obviously did nothing for her.

Unlike Aishwarya this actress has not maintained herself or her career well.

But one of her long delayed international projects 'Karma Aur Holi' is now ready to hit the screens.

This movie was originally titled 'Karma Confessions and Holi, ' has been shortened to the simpler 'Karma Aur Holi'. Reportedly the film is about a group of friends in New York, who grapple with their life and karma before realizing their destinies on the day of Holi.

The film written and directed by Manish Gupta and co-produced by Robert De Niro's daughter Drena De Niro has a mix of Indian actors and actors from the West like Sushmita, Randeep Hooda, Rati Agnihotri, Suresh Oberoi, Suchitra Krishnamurti, Deepal Shaw and Naomi Campbell.

Though Sush has agreed to the film but strictly on one condition - she will not be part of any promotional campaign where she has to share space with her ex-beau, Randeep Hooda.

The producers of the film, Sa Re Ga Ma, were stumped when Sush conveyed her decision. Although they understand Sushmita's point of view, they were hoping that she would cooperate.

According to sources, the film is releasing after many glitches, so they had no choice but to go with Sushmita's demands. Now, interviews and events will have to be planned separately for Sushmita and Randeep.

Randeep claimed that Sushmita had no problem in promoting Karma Aur Holi with him. He said, "I am not aware of any such thing. I spoke to the producers recently and they told me that she was inquiring if I was promoting the film or not, and in fact, she wanted me to come on board."

The story goes that Sushmita is hurt because Randeep refused to reconcile with her when she had wanted to rekindle their relationship. But Randeep denied this too and shot back, "That's not true to my knowledge. Why don't you ask Sushmita? Why are you asking questions about her to me?"

Let's wait and watch if Sush's good karma resurrects her career and gets her what she really wants.

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Anil Kapoor on the cover of M

Anil Kapoor is on Cloud Nine and needless to say that he has every reason to be there. On one hand, his much-acclaimed Slumdog Millionaire has become the next omnivorous after the Lord Almighty Himself... while on the other, not just his career is gong great guns as usual, his darling daughter Sonam is also on her way to join the big league of Bollywood with her new release Delhi 6!

The icing on the cake is that this never-say-old man is on the cover of the 'M' magazine and how! He speaks like never before in a very-heart-to-art interview, whereby he, besides touching your heart, touches upon topics like his sense of discipline, how he 'approaches' any role, does playing Anil Kapoor bore him today, whether he is a strict father etc....

The interview gives you a peep beneath the skin of the super-sonic 'Jhakaas' quizmaster of the much acclaimed Slumdog Millionaire!

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