One film old in Bollywood, and Mumbai-bred Hyderabad hottie Tamannaah is already acquiring quite a controversial reputation. Even before she signed on to play Sridevi’s role in Sajid Khan’s remake of <em>Himmatwala</em> the actress got into a verbal scuffle with producer Salim who demanded her mound of money as per an agreement that he alleged to have signed with the actress regarding her earnings while launching her in <em>Chand Sa Roshan Chehra</em>.

It looks like Mahesh Manjrekar cannot stay away from villainy. Or maybe villainy can’t stay away from him. Having sworn off evil guys’ roles he is back at it full-throttle. This time he has stepped into Amjad Khan’s role of evil Zamindar Sher Singh Bandookwala in the remake of Himmatwala. The role has an interesting history. Amjad Khan badly needed to escape the iconic status accorded to his Gabbar Singh act in Sholay.

So excited is Tamannaah Bhatia who plays Sridevi’s role in the new-age version Himmatwala opposite Ajay Devgn that she has shown keen interest to meet the original the actress, who will soon be seen in R Balki’s <em>English Vinglish</em> in Hyderabad this week. Unfortunately, neither Tamannaah nor Sridevi could find the time to accommodate one another. While Tamannaah is in Hyderabad shooting for Puri Jagannath’s new Telugu film, Sridevi is busy with the promotion of her comeback venture.

Already garnering buzz for its innovative first look and colourful posters, the muhurat shot of UTV Motion Pictures and Vashu Bhagnani’s Puja Entertainment India Ltd’s Sajid Khan-helmed film <em>Himmatwala</em>, set to be an ode to the original made in the 80s, has set a new record altogether in the Indian Film Industry today. The team streamed the muhurat Shot live on Youtube all the way from the Hyderabad-based Ramoji Studios. This is the first time for any film in B-town that the audience is involved with the movie right from its first shot by means of a live digital telecast.

The Southern sirens are taking over Bollywood once again. Barely had we digested the fact that the 22-year old Tamannah Bhatia would be making her Bollywood debut opposite 40-plus Ajay Devgn in Vashu Bhagnani-produced <em>Himmatwala</em>. Now there is news that another Tamil-Telugu actress Priya Anand has been cast opposite Vashu’s son Jackky in the Hindi remake of the 2009 Tamil hit <em>Naadodigal</em>. A prominent Tamil –Telugu actress Priya was Rana Daggubati’s co-star in his debut film <em>Leader</em>. Since then she has been labeled lucky for her leading men.

It’s official. And we got it out of Ajay Devgn’s business associate Kumar Mangat. After the unending speculation about who would be taking over Sridevi’s role in the remake of the 1983 hit <em>Himmatwala</em>, fuelled in no small measure by the neo-<em>Himmatwala</em>’s director Sajid Khan tightlipped silence, it is finally out. Telugu and Tamil actress Tamannaah Bhatia would be playing the lead opposite Ajay in <em>Himmatwala</em>.