Actor Shriya Saran looks forward to the India release of Cooking with Stella

After creating a stir at the Toronto Film Festival in Canada, Cooking with Stella is set for its India release early next year. Actor Shriya Saran, who plays a major role in this Canadian project, cannot hide her excitement. This is Saran’s second international project after The Other End of the Line where she starred opposite Jesse Metcalfe, the heartthrob gardener from Desperate Housewives.

Saran plays a nanny in Cooking with Stella — written by Deepa Mehta and directed by her brother Dilip Mehta — and, true to her part, she loves babysitting. Her character is called Tannu, a nanny to the two-year-old child of a Canadian diplomat and her husband, played by Lisa Ray and Don McKellar. The film, which is based in New Delhi, is a humorous take on how the foreign couple learns to deal with the concept of domestic help in this country.

amir Khan looks good with Kareena Kapoor; the new promos of 3 Idiots’ song Zoobie Doobie prove that. And when the actors promoted the number at a press meet, they looked very comfortable with each other.

Aamir tells Patcy N what to expect from the song, and the Rajkumar Hirani film. Read on.

You have crossed 40. But you’re still playing a college student.

When this film was offered to me, I had told Raju (Rajkumar Hirani) and Vinod (Vidhu Vinod Chopra, producer) that they were taking a dangerous decision; that I won’t be able to play a college student. But Raju told me that the character Rancho was like me. We argued a lot on this. But I had liked the story. Plus, Raju and I wanted to work with each other.

Two days before the shoot started in Bangalore, I even called Raju and Vinod and told them that they could change their decision. But they didn’t want to.

Raju told me that when I did Sarfarosh, nobody thought I could pull off the role of an ACP (Assistant Commissioner of Police), or that I could play a tapori in Rangeela. Nobody thought I could play a villager in Lagaan or have a physique like that in Ghajini. So he said that I had taken up these challenges in the past, and should take up another challenge. Plus, I had already worked on my body to look younger and leaner.

It’s a challenge for an actor to do different kinds of characters like playing an 80 year old man or a woman. So I have taken up the challenge now and will wait for the audience reaction.

For the uninitiated, as a child Shreya had won the children’s special episode of the Sa Re Ga Ma contest on Zee TV. Back then, the show was hosted by one and only Sonu Nigam. Kalyanji bhai who was a judge on the competition convinced Shreya’s parents to move to Mumbai because he sensed incredible talent in the child. Today Shreya is a name to reckon with worldwide. Even after being the most sought after female voice in the industry, Shreya even today feels indebted to Zee TV and Saregamapa – the show that identified her singing prowess and gave her the platform to rise and shine.

Shreya along with Afsha and Dhairya will anchor the Saregamapa L’il champs Live from Andheri Sports Complex Mumbai. Finally we’ll get to see another side of this versatile singer which is yet unknown to the world.

[ad#Wealthy Men]You’ve just got to love Shriya. She’s so hot!

Shreya Saran, the hot babe of South Indian cinema flew from Chennai to Port Blair in Andamans last week, to do a one week scuba diving course. In most of her interviews Shreya exposed her love for active outdoor adventure sports, especially swimming in the ocean. She has also done a scene like that with Vikram in her recently released Kandhasamy.

Now she always wanted to try out underwater sea bed exploration through scuba diving. Andamans is supposed to be one of the best places for scuba diving as the coastal water surrounding the islands is the abode of one of the richest coral reef ecosystem in the world.

Says Shreya, “Scuba diving in the Andamans is a once in a life time experience. I loved every moment of it!”