If Vidya Boombat Balan was Ekta Kapoor’s poster girl, then TV superstar Ronit Roy seems to be Ekta’s poster boy. Ronit, who has always been the main protagonist in Ekta Kapoor’s soaps, will now be seen in an important role in Shootout at Wadala, which is being produced by Balaji.

Katrina Kaif owes a lot to Prakash Jha. It was Jha’s Rajneeti that first portrayed her as a serious actress, someone who’s more than just a pretty face and a glam doll image. But for all the courage that Jha showed in trusting Kat with such a key role, he was rather put off by her. The creative differences the two had while filming Rajneeti meant he left Kat out of his next venture Aarakshan.

First she delivered a superhit with her desi girl turn in Dostana. Then Agneepath became the film to beat in January 2012. Whichever way you look at it, Priyanka Chopra has brought good tidings indeed to Dharma productions. Which makes it fairly obvious (and good business sense) for her to be their numero uno choice when it comes to future projects.

One of Bollywood’s best kept secrets is finally out in the open. Dhamendra and Hema Malini’s daughter dearest, Esha Deol, is getting hitched to her boyfriend Bharat Thaktani in a lavish yet secretive ceremony. Hema apparently wants Sunday’s engagement to be an extremely hush-hush affair, and only family and some very close friends are expected to be present at the occasion. “The guest list is very small. It’s strictly family and a few colleagues. Hema and Dharmendra have sent out the invitations personally,” says our source.

That’s right folks! Often thought of as the modern day Anil Ambani-Tina Munim couple, billionaire scion Sidhartha Mallya and Deepika are rumoured to have parted ways.

Being bad has never been so good. With every actor worth his salt, from Shah Rukh Khan to Ajay Devgn, having tried the “badman” route, small wonder then that our actresses don’t want to be left behind.

It looks like Salman Khan’s problems simply don’t seem to end for him. The disturbing memories of the past have come back to haunt Sallu. With the Supreme Court coming down heavily on Alistair Pereira, who was accused in the hit-and-run case in 2006, has now put the other hit-and-run cases under spotlight once again. Salman’s car rammed ran over five persons sleeping on a pavement in Bandra, killing one and injuring four. But with the case re-opening once again, Salman obviously is worried and upset.

Sanjay Dutt may still have the Gandhian halo of his Munnabhai days around his head, but as he gets ready to play a baddie in Agneepath, he insists his most successful ventures have been the ones where he played a negative role. “I’ve been very lucky with negative roles; all of them have worked for me. Vaastav and Khalnayak have been such big hits,” recalls Dutt.

The baby bump is yet to disappear completely, but the big bucks have already started flowing in. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan hasn’t yet put a time-frame on her comeback to films, or even begun deciding on future plans, but the endorsement deals are here.