Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has been a regular at the Cannes [Images] Film Festival since 2002, the year her film, Devdas, was screened at the festival.

Also Read: Ash sizzles in Cannes

This year too, Ash, who is the brand ambassador for L'Oreal, will arrive in Cannes on May 25. She will be accompanied by husband Abhishek Bachchan [Images], whose upcoming film Dilli 6 will be showcased at the festival. Dilli 6 actress Sonam Kapoor [Images] and director Rakeysh Omprakash will also attend.

Ash and Abhishek made their first appearance together at the festival last year, when their film, Guru, was screened at Cannes.

 After the festival, Abhishek and Ash will head to the US to complete the shoot of his latest film, Dostana, co-starring John Abraham [Images].

The Bachchans have a lot planned this year. After their film, Sarkar Raj in June, the stars will be off for their world tour in July.

From old hats like Shabana Azmi, Hema Malini and Mahesh Bhatt to young actors like Sonam Kapoor, Celina Jaitley and Abhishek Bachchan - on Mother’s Day they all talk about the contribution of their mothers in their lives and give them credit for their success. Here is what the actors have to say on the special occasion:

Sonam Kapoor: My mother is my best friend. What she has taught me is to value the people who love me. I never take anyone for granted. When I was working with Sanjay Leela Bhansali and struggling to live up to his penchant for perfectionism, she would step in to guide me. During that crucial time my mother taught me to be patient and strong and to follow my heart. My mother is an exceptional householder. She doesn’t have just three children, but four, my father being the fourth. He has to talk to her like 20 times a day. If I can run my household after marriage with half my mom’s efficiency I’d consider myself a successful woman.

Raima Sen: The biggest thing I’ve learnt from my mother is patience and to respect other people’s space. Also, to be strong-willed! She has also taught my sister and I not to make the mistakes she made in her career. She has brought up both of us as independent women capable of taking our own decisions.

Shabana Azmi: Where do I begin? My mom has taught me compassion, generosity of spirit, and not to make an issue out of everything in life. I’ve inherited my taste in clothes from her. Above all, she has taught me acting and how to approach a role.

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Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who has taken to blogging in a big way, has said that his complete website is presently under construction and shall soon be presented to the world.

"I have just started blogging and enjoying the medium. My complete website is presently under construction by 'Zapak.com' and shall soon be presented to the world. Till then I shall continue blogging through 'Bigadda'," the Big B wrote in his blog.

"Work is in progress on my site and it should be ready in a few weeks time. Once that happens, I shall blog from my site. A fine team of people are working on the site and I am happy with the progress," the actor said.

He said that 'Zapak' and 'Bigadda' are service providers and he was happy with the way they have been handling his blog and in the building of the website.

Bachchan scoffed at speculations that he is being paid to blog on 'Bigadda'. "This is my personal blog, why would I take money to blog on my own site. I get paid to work in Movies, TV show, commercials, not to express my personal views to the public, that too on my own platform," he said.

The actor noted that 'Bigadda' is an Anil Ambani group venture and his "personal relationship with Ambani has got nothing to do with his ties with 'Bigadda'."

"'Bigadda' is a medium for my blog. They are the service providers; my own technical knowledge being low. I am not the Brand Ambassador for 'Bigadda', I am merely using their services till my own website comes up," he said.

Getting into the get-up of a ghost in Bhoothnath used to be an arduous exercise for superstar Amitabh Bachchan .

This Friday’s release ‘Bhoothnath’ has Big B playing a friendly ghost who returns to life 20 years after his death. A lot of hard work had to be done to give the superstar a convincing look of a ghost.

The film’s director Vivek Sharma initially wanted Big B to have long hair. But the actor told him that his long-haired look would look similar to the one he had in Jhoom Barabar Jhoom . Heeding the advice, the director eventually settled for short, tousled hair.

This apart, a special whitener was used to give the superstar a pale complexion of a corpse. Since Big B’s character comes alive again after two decades, he was given tattered, ragged clothes to wear. In fact, when Vivek Sharma first showed the superstar the sketches of this unkempt look, Big B exclaimed: “Is it me?”

Big B also had to wear artificial long nails on his fingers. The nails were stuck with a gum that used to irritate the superstar, but he never complained.

Before every shooting, Mr. Bachchan used to sit for hours with his make-up man Deepak Sawant to get into the ghost’s makeover.

Sharma says the whole make-up session used to be laborious but the superstar was always gung-ho about it. Not just this, Sharma says Big B was also adamant on doing his stunts himself.

What can one say about Amitabh Bachchan that hasn't been said before? What adjectives can one employ? What can one ask him considering much of his life has been lived under the spotlight? Like all true legends, however, there's always something about the Big B that manages to surprise. Find out in his heart-to-heart conversation with Tarana Raja Kapoor, host of 'Let's Talk' that will air on Friday, 09 May 2008 at 7.30 pm Only on Zoom Channel.

So, what can viewers expect from the veteran megastar? Experiences from over four decades in the film industry along with interesting facts about his upcoming projects. Find out what it was like for Amitabh to play a ghost in the forthcoming BHOOTHNATH. Catch his version of funny incidents that took place on the sets. Get his take on playing grandfather to son Abhishek in DILLI 6. Also, revelations about his first English film THE LAST LEAR and forthcoming biggie SHANTARAM.

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Bollywood veteran Amitabh Bachchan will play Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founder of Bangladesh.

The Poet of Politics will also star his son Abhishek Bachchan in the role of a young Mujibur.

"After getting the consent of Amitabh, I am now a relieved man. To project a person of the magnitude of Sheikh Mujib, I could not imagine no one other than him," producer Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury said.

Shyam Benegal, who has won India's National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi five times, will direct the movie.

Veteran actor and Bollywood superstar Amithabh Bachchan has denied reports that he is to essay the role of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the upcoming bio pic on Bangladesh’s founding father.

Bachchan was totally amazed and confused by these reports doing the round that he will play the role of the great leader in the movie titled “ Poet of Politics’ to be directed by Shyam Benegal. This title was given to the Bangladeshi leader by Time magazine in the 1970’s.

“I’ve no idea what all this is about. Lots of media persons have been calling since yesterday (Friday). I can’t say where and how this report originated from. But it is not true,” Bachchan told IANS from London, Saturday just before he boarded his flight back to Mumbai.

Not only Amithabh, but also the rest of his clan, Abhishekh and daughter in law, Aishwarya Rai are also rumored to star in the movie. Abhishekh is apparently to star as the young Mujib.

Big B only had to say, “I’ve no clue about this. There’s nothing to it. At least not as far as I’m concerned. I’m hearing all this talk about this film for the first time”.

According to early reports, Bangladeshi journalist, Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury, is producing this film; his expatriate budget for this film is $3 million.

Reports were also in that Chowdhury feels very happy after Amitabh accepted to do the film. He told to Eastern News Agency (ENA), “I couldn’t think this movie without Amitabh Bachchan. Only he can do this role.”

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Amitabh Bachchan who was hurt on the sets of Sujoy Ghosh's mega fantasy 'Alladin' while doing an action sequence and rushed to a hospital, is back in action now. The 65-year-old actor tried to brush off the incident but later admitted that he was in excruciating pain. He says, "I've injured myself doing an action scene for 'Alladin'. I had to go to a hospital for an MRI test." Gosh recalls that Amities was doing a kick for a fight when something gave way in his back. "We don't quite know what happened. I I've half his energy and grit though I am half his age."' You may remember that earlier Amitabh had hurt his wrist, in this film. The director says that Amitji is doing a full-on actioner after ages. He adds, " I wanted him to perform the stunts the same way he did in all those films like 'Zanjeer' and 'Deewaar' that I grew up watching."

Bollywood filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has said that his upcoming film Sarkar Raj is based on a completely original script and has no reference point.

Speaking at the unveiling of the film's first look here last night, Varma said, "Normally a sequel begins where the first part had ended. But, Sarkar Raj has no connection to Sarkar. The scale is much bigger. If the first film was inspired by The Godfather, the second has no reference point and was a completely original script."

He felt that film's 'larger than life' quality came from the intensity of the performances of Amitabh, Abhishek and Aishwarya.

"It is because of them that Sarkar Raj comes across as a powerful film," he added.

Even Amitabh Bachchan, who was present at the function, said that Sarkar Raj is in no way connected with either of the Thackeray family.

Varma felt that in realistic films, the audiences are bound to draw inference from an element or a character existing in real life. "This is the pschyological aspect," he said.

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Indian film megastar Amitabh Bachchan has reached out to fans in cyberspace, launching a blog about his life which has triggered a flood of responses from around the world.

"The Big B," as he is known to legions of film-lovers in movie-mad India, uses the site, blogs.bigadda.com, to share his thoughts, discuss upcoming movies and answer questions from fans.

"Adda" in Hindi means a big get-together of friends.

"The advantage of this blog is that I can express my view freely and there is no restriction to it," the 65-year-old movie legend told AFP.

Bachchan, who launched the blog in mid-April, is following in the footsteps of other Bollywood stars such as Aamir Khan who also use the Internet to share their thoughts.

The star -- whose latest film "Bhootnath," or "Devil Uncle" -- is slated for release next month, said he was not particularly Net-savvy but that friends had persuaded him to start writing.

"It gives me a chance to interact with my fans on a personal basis," said the star, who has made more than 100 movies.

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