SCOOPS: When Shah Rukh Khan called up Ayushmann Khurrana, Janhvi Kapoor vs Sara Ali Khan and more...

Ayushmann Khurrana is a huge fan of Shah Rukh Khan. The young actor, who is known for being a part of content-driven films that are high on entertainment, has delivered two back-to-back hits with AndhaDhun and Badhaai Ho. However, for him, the icing on the cake was when he received an unexpected call from SRK. The superstar congratulated him for his success and even wished him well for his future projects. King Khan also told Ayushmann how much he has loved his performance in both the films. AK was understandably over the moon as getting a call from his idol was a surreal experience for him.

Aamir Khan has increasingly cemented his superstar status with his blockbusters over the years. Moreover, since 3 Idiots, the actor has fast become an international star to reckon with in China as well. Not only do his movies rank high in the list of all-time top grossers in our neighbouring country, they are much anticipated for his fans there. 

Since his followers in China can’t wait for his upcoming film Thugs Of Hindostan (TOH) to release there, we hear a good number of them are flying down to India to watch it on the first day itself. They will catch the Vijay Krishna Acharya directorial, which also toplines Amitabh Bachchan, Katrina Kaif and Fatima Sana Shaikh, with English subtitles. Now, that’s some besabri of fans to catch their fave actor’s movie on its release.

Although Kriti Sanon is paired opposite Akshay Kumar in Housefull 4, we now hear that even  Pooja Hegde, who is a part of the film, will be romancing the B-Town superstar. According to our sources, the reincarnation comedy is designed in such a way that the actors are paired opposite different actresses in both, the period and the contemporary portions. “While in the modern day story, Kriti is Akshay’s love interest, in the war sequences and the earlier time zone, he will romance Pooja.  They have begun shooting for the period sequences and looking at the results, they have decided to increase that portion. So, Pooja’s scenes with him too have been increased,” adds our source.

Delhi girl Sanya Malhotra, who moved to Mumbai to become an actress, will be heading home to celebrate Diwali with her family. She shares a  close bond with her folks and tries to spend special occasions with them. Even though she hurt her leg a couple of weeks ago and is recovering from the injury (she uses crutches to move around), she is upbeat with the success of her recently released Badhaai Ho, starring Ayushmann Khurrana. 

Sanya, who also earned praise for her performance in Vishal Bhardwaj’s Pataakha, is looking forward to spending the festival of lights with her family, before she returns to Mumbai to promote her next, Photograph. 

Helmed by The Lunchbox director Ritesh Batra, it also stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui.

Even as she’s earning acclaim for her performances in her movies, Radhika Apte is glad that short films are winning accolades and awards like full-length features. 

The Baazaar actress feels that the growing influence of the Internet is seeing short films attracting more viewers and web is becoming a popular medium for story-tellers. Amongst the first to foray into shorts with Sujoy Ghosh’s Ahalya, Radhika is happy to see award ceremonies include this format as a special category.

Janhvi Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan are undoubtedly two of the hottest new actresses venturing in Bollywood this year. While both of them are great friends in real life, they have been constantly pitted against each other. 

Interestingly, the two newcomers are in good hands and are making great choices, when it comes to films. And they both have four movies already. Says our source, “Sara and Janhvi are popular among filmmakers today because they are going to be the face of the upcoming generation of heroines. Janhvi debuted with Dhadak earlier this year and she already has three big films lined up —  IAF pilot Gunjan Saxena’s biopic, Shashank Khaitan’s thriller with Varun Dhawan and Karan Johar’s next directorial venture Takht.” 

On the other hand, Sara, too, is fast catching up. Our informer adds, “Sara has two back-to-back releases in December — Kedarnath and Simmba. She has been signed on for Imtiaz Ali’s next and is also most likely to play the lead in Hindi Medium 2.” That makes the score ‘four all’ for the two of them.