Actor Meera Chopra has said her actor cousin Priyanka Chopra is always ready to help her in her Bollywood career and she shares "emotional bonding" with her. Meera revealed that she was close to Priyanka but not to her another cousin actor Parineeti. Ever since Meera, who has acted in several south films, wanted to work in Bollywood and there were reports of the sibling rivalry as both Priyanka and Parineeti used to snub her. 
Parineeti even went on to say that Meera isn't family but a distant relative. Meera said Parineeti's remarks against her are "unwarranted and stupid". "We all have been brought up together 20 years ago. We used to stay together. All brothers were close to each other before they split and brought up in different cities. Parineeti is young, Priyanka and I are of same age.. We are close," Meera said. "When she (Parineeti) talks like that… I think it is stupid… Why would you talk like that. It doesn't disturb me as I don't have any emotional connect with her. I don't remember the time spent with her," she said. But if such statements would have come from Priyanka then it would have definitely bothered Meera as they share a close relationship. Meera revels Priyanka was angry as to why she did not show her anything about her upcoming film 'Gang of Ghosts'.
Arjun Kapoor's new release Gunday has made a decent start at the box office, and the budding actor says one reason why the film shaped up to everyone's expectations is because he and co- star Ranveer Singh shared a great bond off screen.
" We would crack each other up all the time during the shoot. Ranveer supported and encouraged me to be on the top of my game throughout the shooting. He made me give my best shot. I took back a strong friendship from this film," says Arjun.
The off- screen chemistry helped the duo interpret their roles of refugees who turn coal mafia dons in the Bengal of the seventies, after
Arjun cites an instance to prove his point. " There was a serious sequence that wasn't falling into place because everyone was stressed out. So, Ranveer and I decided to lighten up the mood.
In the middle of the shot, Ranveer started twisting my nipples and I reacted jokingly.
We just created a moment for people to laugh. Ranveer ne literally meri pungi baja di !" Talking of what kind of a girl he would like to date, Arjun says he doesn't have any ' type' when it comes to girls.
" I don't have a type for girls. It keeps changing. You have a type and then suddenly someone else seems interesting.
The truth is all women are beautiful so why define them in a way that restricts the thought process?" Gunday is only his third film and Arjun has already shown a method streak to get into the skin of his roles. If the actor lost weight for his double role in Aurangzeb , he gloriously made six packs for his latest.
The method actor in him will once again go for a drastic change for his next release, the rom- com 2 States where he is paired opposite Alia Bhatt. " It will be very interesting to see if people recognise me without my stubble in 2 States . My previous roles and the one in 2 States are like chalk and cheese. I shot simultaneously for Gunday and 2 States , pushing my boundaries as an actor to handle two different characters," the actor adds.
The actor, however claims, he loved playing the action hero in Gunday . " We were shooting a highlight train robbery scene in extremely hot weather near Wai ( in Satara, Maharashtra) with our harnesses on. It was a torturous yet memorable sequence. I also loved the Durga Puja fight sequence." The actor will be next seen in Tevar opposite Sonakshi Sinha and Finding Fanny Fernandes costarring Deepika Padukone.
The much-awaited Priyanka Chopra and Ranveer Singh starrer Bollywood release Gunday has landed itself in trouble over the screening of its dubbed Bengali version. According to the films eastern Indian distributors, the company has received letters from multiple single screen theatre owners across Bengal stating that they were under 'political' pressure not to screen the Bengali version of the film.
According to distributors, a section of the Bengali film industry is miffed with the decision of Yash Raj Films to simultaneously release a dubbed version of the much-awaited film in Bengal. They fear that such a trend will be harmful to the regional language film industry.
The much touted YRF production has been released in 92 theatres across Bengal in Hindi and 32 theatres in Bengali. The film has generated a lot of buzz in the state as it was shot for over two months in Kolkata and other location in the state last year.
Letters written by some of the exhibitors have requested the distributors to change the screenings from Bengali to Hindi as there was 'political interference'. Some even state that they were receiving 'threats' that halls may be vandalised if the screenings were not stopped.
"All the letter speak about one thing, political interference and political disturbance. We have received letters from Malda, South 24 pargana, Burdwan etc. Either there is a hidden agenda or some motive to stall the screening. We had taken all the necessary clearances to screen the film in Bengal. The film was shot here in Kolkata. There is a lot of buzz about it. Really don't know why it is now being stalled," said Pritam Jalan, Gunday's Distributor for Eastern India.
The main distributor (Jalan Distributors) which is distributing the film across eastern India have said that they will take legal recourse and claim damages from exhibitors who have decided to stop the screening of Bengali version as that would amount to breach of agreement that the exhibitors made with them across the state for screening the film.
However, the exhibitors (hall owners) are the ones who are under fire as they are the ones who are complaining of political intervention on the ground.
A section of the Bengali film industry is not in favour of running movies of other languages dubbed in Bengali fearing it will adversely impact the regional film industry.
However, the distributors of Gunday has all the necessary clearances to screen the dubbed version too. It has clearance from EIMPA (Eastern India Motion Pictures Association), the industry body. So there is not legal ground to stop the screening.
The allegation is, the ruling establishment which has a considerable clout in the Bengali film industry is trying to coerce the exhibitors to halt the screening of the Bengali version which they feel will hurt its interest.
Parineeti Chopra doesn't feel that she is being typecast as the out-of-the-box bindaas rabble-rouser and contends instead that she has portrayed different characters in her films.
She said: "To say that I am only playing bindaas characters is I think a very limited way of looking at the characters I've played. I mean, just because my character in 'Ladies Vs Ricky Behl', 'Ishaqzaade', 'Shuddh Desi Romance', and 'Hasee Toh Phasee' were unconventional, does it mean they are all the same?"
"Of course, no matter who the actor is, his or her personality is bound to seep into the character. But to me my characters in 'Ishaaqzaade', 'Shuddh Desi Romance' and 'Hasee Toh Phasee' are entirely different. No similarity at all.
"In the first, I was shooting guns all over the place. In the second, I was a small-town girl smoking, drinking and living in with her boyfriend. And now in 'Hasee Toh Phasee', I am almost a child in a grownup girl's body. It's very easy and simplistic to slot me," she added.
Her new release "Hasee Toh Phasee" has not exactly set the box-office on fire. But Parineeti's performance has been unanimously hailed as a tour de force.
And she is over the moon with the praise.
"I was playing a borderline whacked-out character. When people had seen the promos, they thought I was doing one more vibrant bindaas character. But this one is completely different," she said.
Parineeti is excited about working with director Habib Faisal a second time in "Daawat-e-Ishq".
"Habib will always be special. He gave me 'Ishaqzaade'. When I did 'Ishaqzaade' with Habib sir, I was new and raw. This time while doing Daawat-e-Ishq with him I understand his craft much better. I think I am much better able to understand what he wants from me as an actor. I don't have to struggle to understand him. So the work atmosphere is far smoother and we get the scenes done far quicker."
Parineeti enjoyed working with Aditya Roy Kapoor and Anupam Kher in "Daawat-e-Ishq".
"We've become really close. Anupam Sir is like Aditya's and my age. We quickly finish our shots and rush to his van. I am already depressed because the shooting is nearly over. I want to do more films with Anupam sir," she said.
Her new film Gunday may have been touted as the story of its two male leads, Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor, but the forever vocal Priyanka Chopra has typically been at the forefront of all promotional activity over the past weeks.
Priyanka had mixed luck last year, what with the Hrithik Roshan- starrer Krrish 3 turning out to be one of the biggest hits of 2013, but Zanjeer , along with her items numbers in Shootout At Wadala and Goliyon Ki Rasleela: Ram-leela , receiving a lacklustre response at best.
She is naturally hoping for the best with Gunday , which sees her playing Nandita, a Bengali girl who is a cabaret dancer by night and a sari- clad girl-next-door by day.
"Nandita, to me, is a modern girl of the '70s who believes in right and wrong. She may be a cabaret dancer, but has a lot of self respect. Nandita is fearless and not afraid of taking on anyone," she says, adding that she put to work all her Miss World training to acquire the right poise for the role.
Its raining award functions in Bollywood, and the Zee Cine Awards 2014 that took place on Saturday evening was another glittering affair.
The event was well attended by the who's who of the industry, with stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Priyanka Chopra, Akshay Kumar, Abhishek Bachchan, Ranveer Singh, Sonakshi Sinha, Genelia D'Souza, Subhash Ghai, Rakesh Om Prakash Mehra, Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar.
Bollywood bigwigs Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Hrithik Roshan are in a tussle to host the next season of television's most loved reality show 'Bigg Boss'.
"Ishaqzaade" star Parineeti Chopra in one of her latest interviews to fashion magazine Vogue India says that she seeks help from her actress-cousin Priyanka Chopra, but the latter is not her role model.
Gunday launch music in style
Bollywood beauty Priyanka Chopra and actors Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor were on a roll on Tuesday evening as they released the music of their upcoming film, Gunday, in Mumbai. The upbeat trio was joined by Ali Abbas Zafar, director of the Yash Raj Films movie, music director Sohail Sen and lyricist Irshad Kamil at the event. An authentic set resembling the streets of old Kolkata was especially created for the music launch. The guests were treated with a spread of typical Bengali fast- food - jhal moori, phuchka, rasogolla, misti doi, egg rolls and more. A new song from the film, Tune maari entriyaan , which marks the dynamic entry of the two young heros in the film, was played at the event. 
Set in Kolkata, Gunday is a story of two friends: Bikram and Bala while Priyanka plays a cabaret dancer. Priyanka, who looked beautiful in a colourful printed jumpsuit, narrated how she was always enamoured by the cabaret dancers of the ' 70s. The Barfi! actress will be seen donning colourful outfits in the dance numbers from the film. Sohail Sen has roped in veteran composer Bappi Lahiri for the album. Lahiri has composed and sung three songs in the film. " Bappi da adds to the ' 70s' mood and his inputs give an authentic touch to a composition," Sen said. New singers such as Arijit Singh, Shadab Faridi and Shahid Mallya have sung numbers like Jiya, Jashn- EIshqa and Saaiyaan. Gunday stars Priyanka Chopra, Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor had a blast at the event
