The offer to play Silk Smitha came as a shock: Vidya Balan

Seeing her play a subdued character like Sabrina Lall in No One Killed Jessica, it is hard to imagine Vidya Balan as Silk Smitha, the ultimate sex symbol in South Indian cinema.

Balan herself was "shocked and thrilled" to land the role in Milan Luthria's biopic Dirty Picture, which chronicles the tragic life of yesteryear's star, who died in mysterious circumstances at the age of 35.

Balan admits that the new role is completely opposite of what she has done onscreen so far. Even her role of a bad girl in 'Ishqiya' pales into comparison.

"I loved the script and was almost shocked that they (Milan and Balaji) thought of me. I was shocked and thrilled because she

Hrithik, Katrina top Most Desirable list

Bollywood heartthrob Hrithik Roshan and svelte actress Katrina Kaif has been voted the most desirable man and woman respectively in a new online poll.

The Guzaarish star was followed by Salman Khan in the men's list compiled by a leading website, while his ex-flame and former beauty queen Aishwariya Rai ranked second among women.

Last year's winner Ranbir Kapoor took the third place while Shahid Kapoor's boyish charm got him the fourth position. Hunky John Abraham came in at number 5, pushing Shah Rukh Khan to the sixth position. Akshay Kumar came in at 7, followed by Arjun Rampal (8), Imran Khan (9) and Saif Ali Khan (10).

The poll, which gathered about 3.1 lakh votes,

Kangana tricked into doing a joint

Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut fell prey to a 'joint' prank on the sets of her forthcoming film Tanu Weds Manu.

The 23-year-old actress, who portrays the role of a free-spirited small town girl, had to smoke a joint for a scene. However, the unit spiked up her joint and Kangana smoked it without realising. But the actress felt sick after smoking the joint and shooting had to be cancelled.

The unit later apologised for the prank. "We were really worried about Kangana, after she fell really sick because of the spiked joint. We owned up to our mischief and apologised to her. She took it in the right spirit, and didn't mind our prank," said a source.

Kangana will be seen in a new avatar opposite

Salman named best actor, Dabangg best film at Apsara Awards

Bollywood star Salman Khan Tuesday triumphed at the 6th edition of the Chevrolet Apsara Film & Television Producers Guild Awards by bagging the best actor prize for hit comedy Dabangg, which was declared the best film.

Dabangg, released last year, was Arbaaz Khan's first film of the year and became the biggest box office grosser at the box office. Directed by first time director Abhinav Kashyap, the film also introduced Sonakshi Sinha, daughter of actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha. It gave 2009's best item number Munni Badnam too.

Karan Johar got the best director award for My Name Is Khan. Set in a tumultuous post 9/11 America, the film starred Shah Rukh Khan as a Aspergers syndrome patient who sets out on a journey to prove that every Khan is not a terrorist.

In the best actress category there was a tie

No One Killed Jessica director in love with Rani?

Is No One Killed Jessica director Rajkumar Gupta secretly in love with Rani Mukerji? According to members of the film crew Gupta couldn't take his eyes off her whenever she was on the sets.

Divulges a source, "It was quite obvious for everyone that Raj was quite smitten by her. He found every excuse to be close to her and even insisted on playing a cameo in the film where he gets to propose to Rani's character."

The situation in the script demanded one of Rani's character's colleagues in the office to shout a marriage proposal to Rani.

Apparently, some other actor was supposed to do that role. Raj insisted on playing that role just for the pleasure of