Filmi Khabarein & Gossips

When Kareena Kapoor returns from the schedule of Agent Vinod in Latvia around mid September, she has a lot of cleaning up to do. Her best friend, filmmaker Karan Johar, who loves Bebo to distraction, has ordered her to empty her wardrobe.

Karan jokes, “I have asked her to throw out all her old clothes and fill her wardrobe with chaddis (he means shorts) and other skimpy outfits. She has to sport a short haircut and I also want her to try and get herself into a size minus (not a size zero) because she has to match Imran Khan perfectly for my film tentatively titled Short Term Shaadi.”

Post Diwali, Bebo may actually think of making a trip to Paris and London accompanied by designer Manish Malhotra to get herself a totally new wardrobe that will consist of LBDs, chaddis and other equally seductive clothes.

Bebo says that she is also going to consider a personal wardrobe change because that way she will be “living the part 24/7”. One last heard that beau Saif Ali Khan was contemplating hiring a couple of bodyguards for his girl.

Did you know that an estimated 600 million pirated DVDs are sold in India every year compared to only 20 million original ones? Industry insiders quote these figures pointing to the huge losses inflicted on the entertainment industry by the piracy menace.

'The size of the Indian film industry is $2 billion. Hollywood film 'Avatar' alone has done a business of over $2 billion in just a year. That is how small our film industry is and on top of that, piracy eats up half the profits,' said Hiren Gada, director of Shemaroo Entertainment.

Harish Dayani, chief executive-entertainment of Moser Baer India Ltd, who is credited with denting the piracy market, does not reveal a rosy picture either.

'Only 20 million legitimate DVDs are sold every year in India compared to 600 million pirated DVDs. And each of these pirated DVDs contains up to five films,' he said.

Countering the point that the price of DVDs is a deciding factor, Dayani said, 'Money is definitely not the question! Piracy is a function of the value system - of a consumer in society, of enforcement in society and the quality of a country.'

'Forty percent of the film business in the US is through the sale of its DVDs while in India it is barely five to eight percent, thanks to piracy. And you ask why we don't make lavish sets, or bigger budget films. The overall impact of piracy on the entertainment business is anywhere between $1 and $2 billion,' said Gada.

The connection between piracy and other local crimes and global terrorism, with piracy being used to fund them, has also been well established.

Prakash Nathan, vice president-operations in UTV Motion Pictures, meanwhile spoke of the formation of the Alliance Against Copyright Theft (AACT).

He said, 'We raid street vendors, internet and online piracy, camcorder piracy in theatres. We have people on the ground who have conducted about 100 raids in the last six months with 110 arrests so far and 400,000 of DVDs being seized.

'We have hired consultants to track IP addresses. We have a toll free number, 18001031919, which anyone can dial and the enforcement directorate will ensure that the pirated shop is down.'

Savio D'Souza, secretary general of the industry organisation Indian Music Industry (IMI), however, spoke of a different approach to piracy.

'We are working on a model where a pirate can walk into an IMI office in the country, and get a legitimate licence to sell music and DVDs. Simply penalisation will not work considering the vastness of our country and the large number of shops selling them,' said D'Souza.

He said shops that sell pirated material, do not necessarily do it out of choice, but because they often do not have any choice. And giving them a chance to convert first is more appropriate.

He gave examples of 2,000 mobile shop sellers who would load a customer's mobile with pirated songs, but convert it when told how adversely their actions affect the industry and the nation.

PiRaCY :yahoo: :DD

For two years now the media has been milking the Shah Rukh Khan-Salman Khan war status dry.

The fact remains that these two actors are in mood to kiss and make up. But the fact also is that neither is out there hunting the other down when they’re in the same vicinity.

An amused trade source who was present at the studio where SRK and Salman were recently says that the whole media frenzy over their make up trailers being parked in the same studio compound is stupid because SRK who was shooting a commercial there didn't bat an eyelid when he heard that Salman was there doing media interviews. So this stress in the studio story is the handiwork of an imaginative publicity executive. After all Shah Rukh and Salman were seated on a flight together a while ago and the plane didn't actually blow up. Nor did the airline call to tell media sorts that a bomb was about to explode. In fact one hears both stars pretended to be oblivious to the other's presence and left the plane from the same exit.

If a small area like the first class of a plane could have two warring Bollywood superstars on board; why would there be a fire in the sprawling studio grounds where there is place at least one dozen stars who can’t stand each other to move comfortably around.

Deepika Padukone has confirmed signing a Vishal Bharadwaj project.

"Yes it's true! I signed a film with Vishal Bharadwaj! I'm really really excited... he is a genius," Deepika posted on her Twitter page.

Known for making films like Omkara and Kaminey, the filmmaker is right now busy shooting Saat Khoon Maaf starring Priyanka Chopra.

Meanwhile Deepika is busy promoting her film Lafangey Parindey, releasing Friday.