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He may have acted as an outlaw umpteen times on the screen but the terror attacks in Mumbai were enough to shake Amitabh Bachchan up who kept his revolver under his pillow while going to sleep.

"Last night, as the events of the terror attack unfolded in front of me I did something for the first time and one that I had hoped never ever to be in a situation to do.

Before retiring for the night, I pulled out my licensed .32 revolver, loaded it and put it under my pillow. For a very disturbed sleep," the megastar wrote on his blog.

Bachchan was glued to TV screen as security personnel battled the militants yesterday, also the birth anniversary of his father.

Bachchan, known for his on-screen 'Angry Young Man' image depicting the rebellious youth, fumed with anger at the "ineptitude of the authorities" who were supposed to take care of the country.

"My pain has been the sight and plight of my innocent and vulnerable and completely insecure countrymen, facing the wrath of this terror attack. And my anger has been at the ineptitude of the authorities that have been ordained to look after us," Big B expressed in his blog.

Lauding the efforts of troops in tackling the terrors ituation, he wrote "brilliant officers and police personnel

have laid down their lives for us. I can only but salute them and respect their sincerity in the call of duty." Bachchan was disgruntled over the cliche "spirit of Mumbai" which he said people were using to cover the traumatic experiences that the merry city underwent in recent years.

"Yes Mumbai is strong and resilient and shall not be cowed down by any such occurrence. But let us not conveniently use it as our cover sheet, pull it over our heads and go off to sleep," he said.

Despite repeated requests by electronic channels to issue a statement on the tragedy, Bachchan refused to do so.

An irked Bachchan wrote in bold, "Tell me and order me instead that we require every Indian to get up and walk into the facilities where the action is on and I will be the first to walk.

"But, please do not ask me to come and make sloppy statements that will do nothing more than create viewer interest."

source:screenindia.com

The Indian film industry today expressed a deep shock over the nightmare that unfolded on Wednesday night as terrorists targeted various important locations in the Bollywood capital of Mumbai.
The industry people also appealed for sanity and called for unity after one of the biggest terrorist strikes rattled the country's financial and dream city.

"Terrible! terrible situation!," a shaken Amitabh Bachchan wrote in his blog.

"Mumbai under terrorist attack!! Several locations bombed and terrorist firing all over the city. Major hotels under siege. Taj hotel battle going on inside the hotel," says Bachachan, whose post reads like a doomsday account.

In one of the most audacious terror attacks in Indian history, at least 100 people have been killed and nearly 300 injured.

Two five star hotels, hospitals and the city's CST Railway station were among the key targets of the terrorists, who entered the city through boats at Gateway of India, just opposite the heritage Taj hotel.

"I am scared! shocked! I don't have words to describe my feelings. It seems unreal to me almost like a film. I don't know who are they and why they have resorted to such ruthlessness," film director Anurag Kashyap, who is in Goa to attend the IFFI told reporters over phone.

"They just enter the city like that and hold it hostage. It is unbelievable. Obviously Mumbai will bounce back but it has been hurt badly and it will take time to heal,"

says Kashyap, who has directed films like 'Black Friday' based on the 1993 terror strike and the ensuing riots.

source:indianexpress.com

The cliched statement that 'Models can't act' seems to be slowly disappearing, what with many models making their big screen debut each year. After Mugdha Godse, who gave a brilliant performance in Madhur Bhandarkar's Fashion, yet another supermodel is all set to enter Bollywood. We are talking about Canada born model Saira Mohan who was first seen in a blink and miss role in Karan Johar's Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna.

Saira is all set to do full-fledged role in the Big B starrer Teen Patti. After working with AB Jr. in KANK, Saira is maha-thrilled at the prospect of sharing screen space with the living legend of Indian cinema- Amitabh Bachchan. Directed by Leena Yadav, Teen Patti stars Amitabh Bachchan, R. Madhavan, Boman Irani and Mahesh Manjrekar amongst others. Recently, Ajay Devgan was roped in to do a guest appearance in the film and with Saira joining the ensemble cast, things only get hotter.

source:indiafm.com

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who is undergoing treatment in the Lilavati Hospital for abdominal pain, is recuperating and is on a liquid diet, a hospital spokesperson said on Wednesday.

"Big B's health continues to improve and he is responding well to the treatment administered to him," the spokesperson said.

Bachchan was admitted to the hospital on October 11 on his 66th birthday and underwent blood tests and abdominal scans on the same day.

Doctors had said that there were no abnormalities in the test results.

For the last five days, rumours have been circled in the media that Bachchan's health was deteriorating.

The spokesperson and doctors refrained from commenting on what caused the illness and when the Bollywood icon would be discharged.

In its latest edition, (Bollywood Special), Outlook magazine has put Amitabh Bachchan on the cover. The veteran actor has been voted ‘the biggest star’ of all times in a poll conducted by the magazine, leaving SRK, Aamir Khan, Dilip Kumar and others way behind.

Bachchan won 32 per cent of the votes while SRK won 14 per cent and Aamir only nine.
Way behind also are names such as Hrithik Roshan (three per cent), Akshay (three per cent ) and Salman Khan (only two per cent of the votes).

The survey also answers questions to the ongoing debate over the all-time favourite female star, best funny man, most accomplished actor of all time among other things. In most cases Aishwarya and Kajol seem to be the favourites while John Abraham has been voted the most stylish by the magazine’s readers.

The special edition also features a bunch of interesting essays that cover everything from the changing face of the female lead in Hindi cinema to why Dharmendra never got his dues as an actor in the industry.

We at buzz18.com recommend this special issue for all you movie buffs out there. Specially recommended are the pieces by Sadanand Menon (where he compares the southern stars with their northern counterparts in ‘The Systolic Tide’), Arnab Roy (on why Mithun is the real superstar in 'Acidwash Adonis') and Subhra Gupta’s delightful take on the ‘real heroes’ who thrive without PR machinery.

A huge letdown however is the lead interview, that of Amitabh Bachchan by Namrata Joshi. True to his current sullen avtar, Bachchan’s response to all the questions seem cursory, trite and at times so utterly indifferent that you wish he was best left alone. Maybe, Bachchan is tired of polls and surveys and opinion meters, a reason why he chooses to be animated only while writing his blog.

Even then, do turn the pages for some interesting starspeak on favorites and some nice pictures of yore.

Amitabh Bachchan has been blogging and responding to his detractors on controversial issues to getting back at people in power like Health Minister Ramadoss.

However, recently in his blogs, he has mentioned that Shah Rukh Khan’s Paanchvi Paas does not have ratings like Bachchan’s Kaun Banega Crorepati Dwitiya.

Did you know that Amitabh Bachchan's Kaun Banega Crorepati Dwitiya in 2005 opened with a TV Rating of a huge 19.7 while Shah Rukh Khan's recent quiz show Kya Aap Paanchvi Paas Se Tez Hai opened with a miserable rating of 4.6?

For those who did not know, Amitabh Bachchan wants to make sure that everyone knows the ratings through his blogs.

The latest entry on Big B's blog is about the falling popularity of television shows hosted by movie stars. Though Bachchan raises questions about the reason behind falling TRPs of these shows, the statistics presented clearly show that Amitabh Bachchan leads the pack in terms of popularity leaving behind stars like Govinda, Anupam Kher, Manisha Koirala and Shah Rukh Khan who've also hosted shows on the small screen.
Earlier Big B had revealed that Star TV had approached him first with the concept of Kya Aap Paanchvi Paas Se Tez Hai, however, he had not find the idea challenging enough.

“I have not seen it. I have seen the master. I was offered to do it. But now it has gone to Shah Rukh. I wish him all the best,” says Amitabh.

However, people will have to wait till the IPL series gets over to get Shah Rukh's rejoinder on Bachchan's musings.