After Akshay, Trisha to star opposite Prateik Babbar

Age difference doesn't bother south Indian actress Trisha Krishnan who entered Bollywood
with "Khatta Meetha" opposite 43-year-old Akshay Kumar and is currently shooting a Tamil film opposite 55-plus Kamal Haasan. But for her second Hindi film, she will be seen with 24-year-old Prateik Babbar.

"The second Hindi film is a love story with just me and the guy in central roles. It's a subject that can't go wrong. I've already done the Tamil version of this film 'Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya'. Now the same director, Gautham Menon, is remaking it in Hindi with Prateik and me," Trisha, 27, said.

"I think we should be kick-starting it in August. I am excited because unlike 'Khatta Meetha', where I don't have a central part, this one has a central role for me."

"It was important for me to line up a second Hindi film before the first was released," she said.

Speaking excitedly from Europe, where she is shooting with Kamal Haasan, Trisha said: "I've been away from home for almost 40 days. Though I've my mom with me I do miss home. But the shooting with Kamal sir and Maddy (Madhavan) is great fun."

Trisha confesses she had her lines in Hindi dubbed in her first film. When you tell her that Akshay said she spoke Hindi well, Trisha laughs it off.

"Did he say that? I must thank him. The truth is I was a bit nervous about doing my own lines in Hindi. I've done so many Telugu films. But I don't know the language at all. I know the grammar in Hindi but I can barely manage to speak it."

"In Chennai no one talks in Hindi. I was a little worried about my Hindi since my character in 'Khatta Meetha' is from a fluent Hindi-speaking belt. So both Priyan and I decided I wouldn't dub my own lines. But it's not a problem. I know I'll soon master it. It's simpler than the south Indian languages," the actress said.

Trisha had got Hindi film offers earlier but didn't jump on to the Bollywood bandwagon until Priyadarshan's offer came along.

"I was so busy doing Tamil and Telugu films that I didn't get time to consider Hindi films although offers did come. Also I wanted to do something that would give me a wide audience. I chose Priyadarshan and Akshay Kumar... Their combination always works."

Trisha is candid to admit she didn't have that much to do in "Khatta Meetha".

"It isn't a heroine-centric role. But I felt it would give me visibility. Look, I may be known in the south. But in Bollywood no one knows me... not yet. When I started in the south I did smaller parts with big heroes. That always worked for me. One needs to be a part of hit films specially at the start," she reasoned.

Priyadarshan is Trisha's mentor. "He launched me in the south seven years ago. He had promised he'd launch me in the right vehicle. In five minutes I knew I wanted to do 'Khatta Meetha'. I want to first make sure I establish myself in Hindi before I do more experimental roles. This is the trend I followed in the south as well."

On working with Akshay, she said: "In the 'Khatta Meetha' unit Akshay was the only person I didn't know. And he wasn't just my co-star, he was also my producer. He was really sweet. Priyan and Akshay are by now like family to one another. They made sure I was comfortable. This was one of the most professional units I've worked with."

Trisha is open to shifting base to Mumbai. "It would depend on the offers. I've always had relatives in Mumbai. I've also done a lot of ads in Mumbai. Though my family won't move out of Chennai, I am hardly in one city any way," she said.

Hollywood diva Zsa Zsa Gabor in critical condition, says husband

Hollywood actress Catherine Zeta-Jones feels she has starred with the best of Hollywood's leading men throughout her career.

The 93-year-old Hungarian-born actress underwent a 3.5-hour hip replacement surgery Monday, Xinhua reported.

The actress was able to speak a few words Saturday morning but still did not respond to questions. She received a blood transfusion Friday night, Frederic Prinz von Anhalt, Gabor's 9th husband, said.

For the last three days she had not been able to swallow food or liquids, but her doctors hoped she soon would be able to eat, Von Anhalt said.

However, the hospital has made no official comment on her conditions.

Gabor appeared frequently on television and in dozens of films in the 1950s and 1960s, including "Moulin Rouge" in 1952 and the Orson Welles 1958 classic "A Touch of Evil."

Daniel Craig now plays cowboy

Daniel Craig may not have a James Bond film hitting theatres anytime soon, but he will still be seen as a gunslinger in "Cowboys and Aliens".

Craig is starring alongside Harrison Ford and Olivia Wilde in Jon Favreau's "Cowboys and Aliens", reports hitfix.com.

"Cowboys and Aliens" is scheduled to hit theatres July 29 next year.

Rolling Stones gear up for final farewell

Rock legends the Rolling Stones are set to finally bow out after nearly 50 years in music with a giant farewell tour.

The foursome will have a combined age of 268 when the world tour kicks off next year.

Formed way back in 1962, the band will reach its half-century during the jaunt, which is set to last into 2012, reports thesun.co.uk.

Drummer Charlie Watts will celebrate his 70th birthday on the tour, and his bandmates - Ronnie Wood, 63, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, both 66 - agreed the milestone make it the right moment to call it a day.

They are in talks with promoters Live Nation about the tour, and a source said: "They're likely to perform in stadiums. It's almost certainly the last full-scale world tour. The band realise that age is creeping up on them. They want to bow out on top of their game, and not short-change their fans."

They first did a farewell tour of Britain in 1971, then left the country to avoid high taxes. They gave up touring again for eight years from 1982 until the Steel Wheels tour in 1990.

The Stones have sold more than 200 million albums and recorded a string of classic hits including "Satisfaction", "Paint It Black" and "Brown Sugar".

Diaz wants to quit Hollywood to be farm girl

Model-turned actress Cameron Diaz, the sophisticated woman in expensive designer clothes with an entourage of publicists, sees herself getting her hands dirty by working as a farm girl after quitting showbiz.

Model-turned actress Cameron Diaz, the sophisticated woman in expensive designer clothes with an entourage of publicists, sees herself getting her hands dirty by working as a farm girl after quitting showbiz.

Zeta Jones diet secret - bacon sandwich

Welsh actress Catherine Zeta Jones has revealed her diet secret - bacon sandwich for breakfast.

The 40-year-old actress relished her favourite treat back home in Wales while actor hubby Michael Douglas
, 65, was toiling in the gym.

"My husband was doing a cardio workout at eight o'clock this morning when I was having a bacon sandwich. There's nothing like a bacon butty when you come back to Wales - but he's American," thesun.co.uk quoted Catherine as saying.

The Oscar-winner, mum to Dylan, 9, and Carys, 7, was in Cardiff to visit the Children's Hospital for Wales, where she is a patron. She's a driving force behind the Noah's Ark Appeal which raises cash for the facility.

3D bubble bursts in Hollywood?

Hollywood's faith in the power of 3D movies to deliver a bright future of packed cinemas and spectacle-wearing audiences has been jolted by the box ofifce figures that show the high-tech format may already be floundering.

Seven months ago James Cameron's science fiction epic "Avatar" burst onto the screen in three dimensions, taking in $2.7 billion and becoming the highest grossing film of all time.

Studio executives in America compared the breakthrough to the development of first "talkies" almost a century ago, and fell over one another in the stampede to produce more such films.

But now, with the tally of major films released in the new format expected to reach 22 by the end of the year - with up to $7.50 extra being charged per ticket - there are signs that 3D may not after all be the panacea for falling ticket sales, telegraph.co.uk reports.

The proportion of cinema goers who opt to see new films in their 3D versions has fallen steadily over recent months, with more opting instead to watch them in the traditional and cheaper formats.

When "Avatar" came out in December, 71 percent of Americans who went to see it on the opening weekend - often the peak moment for a new release - opted for a cinema showing the 3D version.

In March, when the animated fantasy "How to Train Your Dragon" was released, 68 percent of the audience chose to see the film that way.

But by May that figure for "Shrek Forever After" was down to 61 percent. At the beginning of this month only 56 percent saw "The Last Airbender" in 3D, and a week later the proportion fell even lower, to 45 percent, for the newly-released animation "Despicable Me".

The figures have provoked an anxious debate in the industry, which had previously hatched plans to convert popular films on its backlist - everything from the "Star Wars" trilogy, to "Harry Potter", to the college pranks of Jackass - into the cinematic style du jour.

Studios are working on at least 24 brand new films in the expensive format for release next year. Now some fear that the "3D bubble" has already burst.

Critics say part of the problem may be the technology itself. While "Avatar" was specifically made in the new format, studios have hurriedly converted films that were originally made for two dimensions.

The process can cost up to $100,000 per minute of film but can be done in a matter of weeks, allowing for a quick release. However, a lot of the time it simply doesn't work and delivers murky pictures.

After seeing director M. Night Shyamalan's summer blockbuster "The Last Airbender", starring British actor Dev Patel, American film critic Roger Ebert said it "looked like it was filmed with a dirty sheet over the lens".

He said Hollywood's current infatuation with 3D was just an excuse to add surcharges to already expensive cinema tickets.

"Clash of the Titans", which was also converted and released in April, received similar criticism and was accused of actually putting audiences off the new visual effects.

Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was not involved with the film, called it a "cheeseball conversion" and suggested it was helping to "kill that goose that is delivering us golden eggs".

He said: "We're still at the beginning of this and not all 3D is equal, and consumers are beginning to realise this. There have been lesser 3D movies released and there's already been a backlash against it."

Christopher Nolan, the British-born director of "The Dark Knight" and "Inception", refused to use the new technology in his latest film because he found the dimness "extremely alienating".

But die-hard cheerleaders in Hollywood suggest the apparent migration of audiences back to traditional flat images is illusory.

While "Avatar" faced no competition when it came out there is now a flood of 3D releases and not enough screens equipped to show them. So far only about 5,000 screens in the US have been converted and 35,000 have not.

Studio insiders also point to the fact that only 28 percent of the cinemas showing "Clash of the Titans" on its opening weekend were 3D, yet accounted for 52 percent of its revenues.

They argue the proportion of tickets sold also depends on the subject matter of the film. The fantasy adventure "Alice In Wonderland", starring Johnny Depp, had the sixth biggest opening weekend of all time in March, grossing $116 million two thirds of which came from 3D screenings.

However, some of those who know the film industry best are convinced the latest trend will go the same way as the 3D fads of the 1950s and 1980s.

"3D is a waste of a perfectly good dimension and Hollywood's current crazy stampede toward it is suicidal," said Ebert. "It adds nothing essential to the movie-going experience. For some, it is an annoying distraction. For others, it creates nausea and headaches."