Naomi Scott lands role in Aladdin remake

by Asjad Nazir

E-GUIDE ROUND UP

British actress Naomi Scott has beaten off tough competition to land the lead role of Jasmine in the Hollywood live action remake of Aladdin. Born in London to an English father and a mother of Gujarati Indian descent, she has previously played diverse roles on film and TV. Egyptian Canadian actor Mena Massoud will portray Aladdin and Will Smith has been cast as the genie. The Guy Ritchie-directed action adventure is expected to add more names to the cast list.

THE LONDON LIFE

During the summer, a number of Bollywood stars enjoy the relative anonymity of being in London and walk the streets unrecognised. Actor Sidharth Malhotra did exactly that as he walked to the set of the new Neeraj Pandey-directed drama Aiyaary in the heart of the capital.

SONAM STROP

Actress Sonam Kapoor has quashed rumours she is getting married and claimed she is definitely not engaged to rumoured boyfriend Anand Ahuja. The Bollywood babe asked Indian media to stop speculating about her personal life with unnecessary gossip and said she would announce an engagement or marriage if it happened herself. Although there hasn’t been an official confirmation of a relationship, the couple has shared plenty of loved-up photos on social media.

TRIBUTE TO AN ICON

A stunning tribute to late great filmmaker K Asif and his film Mughal-e-Azam took place at BAFTA building in central London last week in front of a high-profile audience that included Irrfan Khan, Feroz Abbas Khan, Anoop Singh and Deepesh Salgia. Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar and Farhan Akhtar took to the stage to discuss the cinematic masterpiece. The evening concluded with a stunning performance from Farhan Akhtar. It showed a movie made by a simple man with big dreams in 1960 is continuing to capture the imagination nearly 60 years later.

Actor Irrfan Khan has a host of exciting projects on the way in both Hollywood and India, but he still hasn’t played his dream role, which is to portray legendary filmmaker K Asif. The world renowned Indian star surprised everyone at a recent K Asif tribute in London, which he was attending as a guest, by signaling his intention to play the Mughal-e-Azam director. I think only Irrfan can capture the passion that led K Asif towards making Indian cinema’s most iconic film.

ANUSHKA AND VIRAT IN NEW YORK

Star couple Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli, who have been spending some quality time together in New York, were photographed shopping for groceries. The stern expression on Anushka’s face led to a series of hilarious captions by cheeky social media users, including one who said: “Prove you love me more than (Ravi) Shastri (India’s cricket coach).”

RANBIR KAPOOR WORKING WITH AYAN MUKERJI AGAIN

Actor Ranbir Kapoor will commence shooting director Ayan Mukerji’s next film Dragon from October 15. The two close pals previously collaborated on hit films Wake Up Sid and Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani.

PRIYANKA'S DOESN'T HAVE TIME TO WORK ON MUSIC 

Actress Priyanka Chopra said she hasn’t released a song in a while because she doesn’t have sufficient time to produce music.

NOOPSTA LAUNCHES HIS SINGING CAREER

The 11-year-old son of popular artists Manj Musik and Nindy Kaur will launch his singing career with the song You Can’t Stop The Party. Real name Anoop Singh, the talented youngster is going by the name Noopsta.

ALI ZAFAR'S BROTHER DANYAL MAKES MUSICAL DEBUT

Look out for a musical debut from Danyal Zafar in the new series of Coke Studio. The talented singer and musician is the younger brother of Pakistani star Ali Zafar.