Playing the role of the perfect bhai to the hilt, Aftab wished Afsana at midnight. He followed it up with a fond message on a microblogging site where he wrote, "Happy bday to my dearest sister @afsanaverma.

. May god bless u with happiness always.

. Love.

" But no sooner had Aftab wished his sister online that fans started showering greetings on his page for Afsana. By noon, Aftab's blog was quite flooded with fans wishing his sister the best of health and happiness throughout the year.

So much so that the actor posted a thank you message to all his well-wishers on the blog. In fact, the actor also shared his schedule for the day with his fans online where he mentioned taking his sis out for some 'retail therapy' after he got his physiotherapy sessions done.

Aftab wrote, "Thank u all for the bday wishes for my sister. so today is dedicated to physiotherapy for me and retail therapy for my sister (sic).

" Significantly, the actor hasn't been keeping quite well since the past couple of months. After an accident during a cricket league, the actor was down with allergy a few days ago.

Aftab, incidentally, had also posted on his blog about it. He wrote, "Unexpected allergy so gonna pass out early.

. have sneezed a few hundred times already.

.(sic).

" We sure wish you good health Aftab! (less)

Ritiesh who joined his CCL team mates later in the day, tweeted about the same, posting, "Off to watch da match with my MUMBAI HEROES team- missed the first innings". Full marks to Suniel Shetty's captaincy.

The Mumbai Heroes must've picked up a tip or two from the Men In Blue in this novel off-field team building exercise (less)

But it was 'Murder' a year later that brought him in limelight. He continued to work with Bhatt camp in 'Zeher' (2005) 'Gangster' (2006), 'Awarapan' (2007), 'Jannat' (2008), 'Raaz ? The mystery continues' (2009), 'Tum Mile' (2009) and 'Murder 2' (2011).

Most of his movies did well at the box office and earned him the tag of serial kisser. "Emraan post 'Murder 2' may now look like a safe proposition because till then it was not like that.

Post 'Jannat' he was emerging but still not finding takers..

people were accepting but media was not after him. After 'Once Upon a Time in Mumbai' and 'Murder 2' he has had phenomenal success.

Today he is a major star. Having created monster we will not let this monster devour us.

Otherwise what is the point of saying that we will not work with stars," Bhatt told PTI. The Bhatts are known to introduce newcomers like Emraan John Abraham ('Jism'), Kunal Khemu ('Kalyug'), Sonal Chauhan ('Jannat'), Neha Sharma ('Crook'), Sunny Leone ('Jism 2') and others.

They have never much worked with stars. "He (Emraan) has other people to work with which will make him richer.

He is our flesh but he does not have work with us always. That is why Kunal Khemu is one of the major actors in whom we will invest.

Even Randeep Hooda is a great actor..

his potential has not been exploited properly and plus many more. We will not lean on Emraan Hashmi only, otherwise we will be like anybody else.

We will move away from the safety of being with Emraan," Bhatt said (less)

Junaid and his college (HR college) club had put up the match together aimed at sending a message that disability was no handicap. “I had asked dad when he would be free for this match and he gave me the date May 1.

But he got some work and hence could not make it here, it’s ok,” Junaid told PTI. A star-studded team from Bollywood included Aamir’s close friend Salman Khan and his brothers Arbaaz and Sohail, sis Arpita Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Esha Kopikkar, Aftab Agnihotri, Prateik Babbar, Atul Kulkarni, TV actors Dilip Joshi and Disha Vakani.

Posted in (less)

" Azmi, 61, was presented with the proclamation by Patricia Kaufman, Executive Director of Motion Picture and Television Development from the office of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo as well as with a 'Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition' by New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney. The proclamation also applauded her work as a social activist, noting that apart from being a "highly respected" advocate for social justice, she has worked tirelessly for other causes, including funding for displaced Kashmiri migrants and relief for victims of the Latur earthquake.

"Coming from the city's council in recognition of my work in cinema is obviously something that makes me very happy," Azmi said. The proclamation added that her presence on the board of the arts organisation Indo-American Arts council (IAAC) has inspired hundreds of Indian film makers in the New York area for over a decade.

"Shabana Azmi's talent has garnered international acclaim, helping to shape the Indian film industry and build awareness of Indian cinema in North America," Kaufman said at the ceremony here attended by several prominent members of the Indian American community. Describing Azmi as a "woman of extraordinary achievement hailing from a country rich in culture and traditions,"Kaufman extended Cuomo's wishes to her on receiving the honour.

Azmi has served as an advisory board member of the annual New York Indian Film Festival, established by the IAAC in 2000. The annual film festival, which brings together feature films and documentaries from and about the Indian subcontinent, will be held this year from May 23 to 27.

Azmi lauded the IAAC and its co-founder Aroon Shivdasani for creating a space in North America for Indian and diaspora-related films. "This is the 100th year of Indian cinema and any effort that can be made to strengthen its visibility anywhere in the world is something that I welcome very greatly.

"The fact that the New York City Council recognises my work in cinema becomes a means of saying that Indian cinema is what we recognise because I am who I am because of my first primary identity of being an Indian film actor. It becomes a peg on which you can create greater visibility.

" Azmi fondly recalled her association with New York city, the cosmopolitan character and buzz of which reminds her of Mumbai. She was the only Asian actor to be honoured with a retrospective of her films at the 40th New York Film Festival in 2002.

The five-time National Award winner was this year named recipient of the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award. Azmi has won accolades in India and across the world for her films like Ankur , Arth , Masoom , Godmother and Fire .

Her repertoire of international work includes John Schlesinger's Madame Sousatzka , Nicholas Klotz's Bengali Night , Roland Joffe's City of Joy , and Blake Edwards' Son of the Pink Panther . She is currently working on Mira Nair's The Reluctant Fundamentalist .

Azmi said the awards and honour are a "bonus" for the truthfulness with which she performs her work. "It would be a mistake to work in a film hoping that this is going to give me a national award or an Oscar because then you would not be working with truthfulness.

If you are truthful to your work then dividends will flow naturally," she said, adding that this is a lesson she has learnt from her parents, legendary poet Kaifi Azmi and actor Shaukat Kaifi. Having herself vowed audiences across the globe with her stellar performances, Azmi says it is Vidya Balan from the current crop of Indian actors who has impressed her the most with her work.

Balan has done five films in a row which are very different from each other, making some very courageous choices, she said adding that Balan's films are those which would not necessarily be embraced by the mainstream cinema. "I watch her work closely and am very impressed with her," she said.

Beaming with pride for Farhan and Zoya Akhtar, Azmi was also full of praise for the brother-sister duo and the accolades and awards the two have been receiving for their movies. She said it is not everyday that parents see both their children vying for the award for best director and best film, referring to Farhan's movie Don 2 and Zoya's film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara , with both being nominated for the Filmfare Award for best Director this year.

Tweet (less)

Buzz is that cracks began developing in their relationship in November, soon after the debacle of Aao Wish Karein (Aftab’s production) which starred him alongwith his ladylove. Says a source, “Things turned sour when Aftab began openly expressing that if he had a known actress for his co-star, things would’ve been better for Aao Wish Karein.

An obviously miffed Aamna expressed her displeasure.” Adds the source, “Somewhere down the line, Aftab also felt that the telly actress was utilising her friendship with him to her advantage.

He took her along to several B-Town events and parties and she soon started developing her contacts as she was always keen to make it in Bollywood despite flop films to her credit.” Buzz is that the actor was keen to settle down with Aamna.

She had even accompanied him to the US to meet his sister and her family who is based there. Though both stars never acknowledged each other’s presence in their lives, the first whispers of their romance trickled in as soon as they began shooting for Aloo Chat in 2008.

After her television outing as Kashish in the Balaji soap Kahiin To Hoga, it was a dream come true for Aamna when she was cast as a heroine. Aftab, on the other hand, agreed to star with a TV actress as he was the solo hero of the film.

Aftab did not know Aamna before the shoot of the film. But both bonded on the sets from day one and were drawn to each other.

Aftab was dating Czech model-actress Yana Gupta before hooking up with Aamna. Aamna was known to be seeing her Balaji soap co-star Rajeev Khandelwal.

Sphere: Related Content Post a comment Name: Email: URL: Comments: Notify me of followup comments via e-mail Categories 5 Reasons (less)

Buzz is that cracks began developing in their relationship in November, soon after the debacle of Aao Wish Karein (Aftab’s production) which starred him alongwith his ladylove. Says a source, “Things turned sour when Aftab began openly expressing that if he had a known actress for his co-star, things would’ve been better for Aao Wish Karein.

An obviously miffed Aamna expressed her displeasure.” Adds the source, “Somewhere down the line, Aftab also felt that the telly actress was utilising her friendship with him to her advantage.

He took her along to several B-Town events and parties and she soon started developing her contacts as she was always keen to make it in Bollywood despite flop films to her credit.” Buzz is that the actor was keen to settle down with Aamna.

She had even accompanied him to the US to meet his sister and her family who is based there. Though both stars never acknowledged each other’s presence in their lives, the first whispers of their romance trickled in as soon as they began shooting for Aloo Chat in 2008.

After her television outing as Kashish in the Balaji soap Kahiin To Hoga, it was a dream come true for Aamna when she was cast as a heroine. Aftab, on the other hand, agreed to star with a TV actress as he was the solo hero of the film.

Aftab did not know Aamna before the shoot of the film. But both bonded on the sets from day one and were drawn to each other.

Aftab was dating Czech model-actress Yana Gupta before hooking up with Aamna. Aamna was known to be seeing her Balaji soap co-star Rajeev Khandelwal.

Sphere: Related Content Post a comment Name: Email: URL: Comments: Notify me of followup comments via e-mail Categories 5 Reasons (less)

Bipasha welcomed him saying: "Hey guys give a warm welcome to @faffmeister (AFTAB SHIVDASANI)!! A fantastic actor co-star and a very dear friend! Love!" (less)