Scoops: Deepika Padukone safe-guarded Karan Johar’s secret for months, Malaika Arora to share stage with Salman Khan

Malaika Arora and Arbaaz Khan have divorced, but it seems she still maintains a warm relationship with the entire Khan family. Malla, as she’s fondly called, makes sure she’s part of the khandaan’s celebrations and now, she will soon be sharing stage with Salman Khan. 

According to our source, “Malaika currently has two shows under the same banner that’s airing Bigg Boss 12. So, she will soon visit the BB sets in Lonavla as a part of a promotional campaign for India’s Next Top Model which she judges. They were supposed to shoot the episodes last week, but it has now got pushed a bit further. The team is currently working out the dates.”

While Karan Johar has spoken about his twins —son Yash and daughter Roohi — and his emotions before he got them home, not many know who was the first person he shared the good news with. The multi-faceted filmmaker will reveal his confidante on Koffee With Karan. After Hrs has learnt that in the premiere episode of his chat show, on Star World, which has Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt as the first guests, the filmmaker pours his heart out about becoming a father through surrogacy. Apparently, during the extremely emotional time when he got to know that he would soon be taking his babies home, Deepika had incidentally called him.

And in that heart-to-heart conversation, he had broken the news to her and swore her to secrecy, making her promise him that she would never share it with anyone.

“Karan recalls that neither his mother Hiroo Johar nor his brother Shah Rukh Khan had any inkling about his parenthood plans. And until he himself announced it a couple of months later, Deepika was the only one who knew about it and kept her promise of not breathing a word to anyone.”

Saif Ali Khan is known to be a thinking woman’s actor. The actor, who’s famous for his wit and intelligence, has two films lined up next — Baazaar and Hunter. But right after, he will be seen playing the prime antagonist opposite Ajay Devgn in the latter’s much ambitious period war drama, Taanaji. Saif has recently confirmed that he will be essaying the role of Udaybhan Rathod in the movie. We hear that he has already begun filming his scenes and a source present on the sets tells us that Saif is giving this project his all. The khabri informs, “Saif is extremely dedicated. He’s shooting round the clock and everyone on the sets is impressed with his performance. He has been doing his scenes differently and giving at least seven to 10 retakes for every shot to get it just right.”

After earning praise for his performances in Mukkabaaz and Gold, Viineet Kumar is now foraying into the online space. He has been signed on for Bard Of Blood, a web series that’s being directed by Kanu Behl (of Titli fame) starring Emraan Hashmi in the lead. Backed by Shah Rukh Khan’s production house, it’s an official adaptation of Bilal Siddiqi’s book by the same name. The first schedule is being currently shot in Ladakh. While Emraan plays the titular role of an expelled spy who’s called back for a mission, Viineet is said to have been roped in for a pivotal part.

Bhumi Pednekar, who made her debut in 2015 with Dum Laga Ke Haisha, has had only two releases post it — Toilet: Ek Prem Katha (2017) and Shubh Mangal Savdhaan (2017). Luckily for her, all the movies won critical acclaim and were successful at the box office, too. This year, apart from starring in the anthology Lust Stories, she hasn’t had any films hitting the marquee. 

However, that will change next year, when the actress will have three releases. Says a source, “Bhumi will be seen in Abhishek Chaubey’s Son Chiriya, which is set in the 1970s in Chambal Valley, then there is Anurag Kashyap’s Womaniya. Those will be followed by Dolly Kitty Aur Woh Chamakte Sitare, which is being directed by Alankrita Srivastava.” 

Apart from these, she is also part of Karan Johar’s star-studded Takht, which will open in cinemas in 2020 and features Ranveer Singh, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Anil Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Vicky Kaushal, and Janhvi Kapoor.