Beauties of the world: Aishwarya Rai

Friday, January 2, 2009

Monday, December 29, 2008

Ash, Rajini in Vellore on Christmas

Aishwarya and Rajinikanth have been shooting all over the world for Shankar’s Endhiran. Now the hot duo has moved to Vellore to shoot some scenes. They landed in Vellore on Christmas day and will stay there till December 29. They will shoot at the Technology Tower in the Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT). Tight security has been given and no one is allowed to enter the university premises, not even the VIT staff. They have choose Christmas for shooting at the university premises as the most of the students will be away on that particular occasion and those who are present there are also not allowed to get a glimpse of the shoot, meeting Ash and Rajini is out of question.

After shooting in Vellore, they will be off to Chennai and will shoot a major part of the film there. Endhiran is a big budget film and approximately Rs. 165 crore has been spend on its making. Ash has been signed for whopping fees of Rs. 6 crore. It is the highest budget film ever made in India. The film is much in news for Ash, Rajini’s pairing, the story, high budget, actions, special effects, exotic locations etc. They have shot two songs in North America, Peru and spend about Rs. 30 crore.

It is a sci-fi thriller being directed by Shankar and all set for the release in the mid of 2009.

Aishwarya Rai refuses to endorse fairness cream

Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan does us proud, again. In a country which is unjustly obsessed with fair skin – India - Aishwarya Rai recently took a firm stand. She refused to be the Indian face of a skin-lightening cream by a global cosmetic company.

After Aishwraya turned down the offer, the cosmetic company signed Sonam Kapoor to endorse the fairness cream. The cosmetic company is positioning Sonam Kapoor as a 'young face', as opposed to Aishwarya Rai who may now be called the 'older face' of the cosmetic industry. However, a source reveals that the key factor behind Sonam Kapoor being the new face has got nothing to do with her age.

Revealing the real reason for Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan's refusal and Sonam Kapoor's subsequent approval, our source said, "It was the fairness cream that bothered Aishwarya. She said that she didn't want to promote a fairness cream especially in India where one's skin colour is such a big issue. She will never promote a product that discriminates on the basis of one's skin colour. Ours is a society where biases are so prevalent that she will do all she can to curb it."

"When Aishwarya Rai refused to relent, the cosmetic company was forced to get Sonam Kapoor into the picture. They need an Indian face for the promotion of the fairness cream and Sonam Kapoor was the next ideal choice," said our source.

W h e n contacted, A i s h - w a r y a refused to comment as she is contract-bound. Commenting on how Aishwarya Rai has reacted to this, the source said, "Such stories seldom bother her. Aishwarya is primarily guided by her sense of ethics as far as advertising is concerned. She does not endorse products unless she believes in them. She was recently offered a fortune to replace Rani Mukherjee to endorse a popular mosquito repellent cream, but she turned down the offer."