Paro is now Draupadi

Vickey Lalwani

After playing the award-winning role of Paro in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas, Aishwarya Rai has bagged the powerful role of Draupadi in Rajkumar Santoshi's Rs 700 million Mahabharata.

Sunny Deol, Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgan and Suniel Shetty are being considered to play four of the Pandavas. No names have yet been mentioned for the role of the fifth Pandava.

Sahara upset with Kaushik

The Sahara television channel is reportedly upset with Satish Kaushik's careless handling of their prestigious serial Hamari Bahu Malini Iyer. Radhika Rao was supposed to direct this serial but Sridevi, who plays the lead, requested her favourite director to do the needful.

Sahara officials at the editing table, one hears, are unhappy with Kaushik's directorial offering.

Bollywood woos Amisha's brother

The dusky Nethra Raghuraman has signed Vikram Bhatt's forthcoming Sharan. The film will also launch close friend Amisha Patel's brother, Ashmit.

Dil Dhadke Baar Baar revived

Director Anees Bazmee and producer Rakesh Nath have decided to revive their almost-shelved Dil Dhadke Bar Bar. The plot has changed from a romantic love triangle to an action thriller.

Only the songs from the long outdoor schedule with Amisha Patel, Gracy Singh and Karan Nath a few months ago will now be retained.

Indian Babu hits the shores

In 1991, cinematographer-turned-director Lawrence D'Souza delivered the huge hit, Saajan, starring Sanjay Dutt, Madhuri Dixit and Salman Khan. His next few directorial ventures like Sapne Saajan Ke, Dil Tera Aashiq and Aarzoo were box-office turkeys.

He is now back with Indian Babu, featuring newcomers Jaz Pandher and Gurleen Chopra. Extensively shot in London, Indian Babu will hit the marquee on March 7.

Yesterdays Newsbytes