After walking the ramp, modelling for print, and anchoring shows on fast cars and cricket on television, former Miss India Universe 2003 Nikita Anand could be said to be around in the glam biz for a while.

But there’s no chance she’s anchoring her nascent film career just yet. On the contrary, it’s set sail with her debut film, Dil Dosti Etc directed by the Cambridge-educated Bihari director Manish Tiwari, releasing at the end of the month.

“I signed the film in February 2006 and it has been a long wait. I took up kathak classes before I started shooting for the film as dancing is very key to the film plot in Bollywood. I even took up theatre workshops. It’s been a very new experience shooting for the film with my costars Shreyas Talpade and Imaad Shah. There’s a lot of waiting around and more importance is given to the camera set up and the lights than the actors!,” laughs Nikita.

Did her title help her get a foothold in the industry? “Being a Miss India has never been a disadvantage to me, despite there being a new one every year. It always helps,” she says. And what is her take on the philanthropic questions that they field as Miss Indias?

“It’s so funny that we Miss Indias are always subjected to ridicule about our so-called clichéd, charitable answers on looking after the world’s impoverished children and the like. But what beats me is that how the typical questions are overlooked. Why would we prepare ourselves to answer those questions if they stopped asking them? It’s ironical. If you wanted to be like Mother Teresa, you wouldn’t be posing in a bathing suit on a world stage. You would just go to her foundation and work quietly,” says the brazen Nikita.

Was it a natural progression for her to get into movies like the earlier Miss Indias like Aishwarya Rai, Priyanka Chopra and Sushmita Sen? “Well, some girls decide beforehand that when they win, the next step will be films. But I had not predecided that I will be an actress. I just thought that I wasn’t mentally prepared then, but I am now,” says the girl who “loves to mimic and pick up foreign accents”.

What kind of work is she looking for? “I just want to do quality work, but I don’t want to be a part of the filth that’s happening,” she says. Given that she shuttles between Delhi and Mumbai every fortnight, she’s even taken up a place in Mumbai now to make it that much easier to work in Bollywood. Serious about showbiz are we?

Kolkata to me is…

As dynamic now as it was then when I used to come to Kolkata as a kid for my school vacations. Bengali food is what I’d love to sink my teeth into, be it my favourite chingri maachh bhapey or notun gurer shondesh.

Modelling is not…

About being caught doing things they shouldn’t be and then being written about in bold-face. It’s a
complete industry in itself, so why dumb it down?

Cases like Geetanjali Nagpal’s…

Do not a model make. Geetanjali’s story is not the kismet of every model’s, so let’s not glorify the dark side of glamour. Like lab rats, we’re always under the microscope; often times things that we say or do, do get magnified many times over.

Indian fashion is…

Definitely going places. It’s moved from just being on the ramp to going commercial. Fashion is not just for a select few but has gone mainstream.

It’s shed its snobbery and is suddenly accessible. International brands are now looking at India to open stores. But when it comes to infrastructure, we’re far from it. Designers don’t have any industrial space, there aren’t labour laws or copyright laws in place. Yet Indian fashion has managed to raise the bar and I can proudly proclaim that we’ve arrived.

Films are…

Something that I haven’t considered. Many directors have approached me but nothing really has caught my fancy. Films are a lot of hard work actually!

Pantaloons Femina Miss India 2007 Puja Gupta made her presence felt on Day V of the WIFW.

“I am not a very fashionable person,” she said. “I have my own style fundas. Anu Kaushik did my make-up but I did my hair myself. Otherwise, I am a very white-shirt-and-blue jeans kinda person.”

The lady has been travelling to promote AIDS awareness and is soon heading towards Washington DC for the same.

Puja would like to take the plunge into Bollywood if interesting offers come her way. “I can’t say anything about films right now. They might be the next step, though,” she said .

As a designer, Siddartha Tytler’s motto is to make clothes that make people look beautiful and feel good too. In this season of the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week, Sid moved away from his trademark crystal embellishments and presented a collection that had an entirely different thought process behind it.

So rather than his signature style, the audience got to see a collection that has its focus on rich texturing, with thread work providing the richness of embellishment. The handwriting is surely Sid’s — his zouaves, shirts with embroidered waists and crafted linen jackets, speak volumes about his creative deftness.

Sid admits that he has moved out of his comfort zone to explore the world that exists beyond boundaries. “I have let my ideas speak for themselves. The clothes you see on the ramp are reflections of my imagination. And I am glad that people have appreciated my collection and am thankful for the tremendous response,” said Sid, who looked cool in a zouave he had designed, clubbed with a tee. His collection had it all — elegance, style, grace and Sid’s imagination to complement it.

Never mind Harry Potter’s magic spell on bibliophiles and Potter fans across the globe. Bollywood’s casting its own hair-raising spells, Khan-style as far as hair goes.

Shah Rukh Khan’s cascading long locks created a frenzy when the superstar came back from a holiday in London.

And now Zayed Khan, Bollywood’s charming young rocker, with a penchant for experimenting with his hair (he did go blond for two days), chopped off his tresses after he returned from the British Grand Prix watching his fave Ralf Schumacher burning the tracks recently. And while it’s short in front, it has a shendi (tail) behind.

“I was bored with my hair so I decided to cut it and keep the shendi ‘cos I think it looks cool. Usually, I leave a trail behind (laughs uproariously) but now, it’s just a tail,” says Zayed of his new look.

But if you think setting hair trends and strumming his guitar (he sings too) is all that’s keeping him busy, think again.

The actor is all geared up to shoot a commercial in Morocco next month and then commence filming for Subhash Ghai’s Main Yuvraj . “I’m really looking forward to working with Subhash ji and Salman Khan, who I have never had the opportunity to work with before. However, we have done shows together earlier. So, it’s all good,” says Zayed who’s worked with SRK in Main Hoon Na earlier.

Denying rumours about Shilpa Shetty’s marriage to NRI businessman Raj Kundra, the actress’ spokesperson and publicist Dale Bhagwagar said that Raj is the licensor of her recently launched perfume S2 and also a good friend of hers - nothing more, nothing less.

“Shilpa is not the kind to hide her relationship. When she gets engaged to anyone, she will announce it from the rooftops. But as of now, she hasn’t found her prince charming and there is no marriage on the cards,” said Dale Bhagwagar.

He feels that this kind of reporting gives a bad impression about Indian media.

“Shilpa is aggressively promoting India, our country’s heritage and culture in Britain. And Indians abroad also see her as an ambassador of sorts. Therefore, such insinuations and controversies attacking her reputation only portray our country and our media in poor light to the outside world,” added the spokesperson.

The actress recently received an honorary doctorate from the Leeds Metropolitan University and has laid some groundwork for her Broadway musical due to be launched in London by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, her signature perfume S2 has reached the No.3 slot, competing with 500-odd perfumes all over Britain.

The problem with the film lies in its transparency. It’s a love triangle, where you know at the very onset who’s cheating on whom and who is going to end up the victim. Add to this the lethargic pace of the narrative — almost a heresy for a thriller — and you begin to count your yawns before its curtain call. Also, the twist isn’t tantalising enough to jerk you out from your seats, hence the enervation as you watch newcomer Urvashi do a tango for three, first with billionaire Bobby Deol and then with wannabe actor Akshaye Khanna. Officially betrothed to Bobby, our Burger King delivery girl suddenly discovers a passion for penniless Akshaye, maybe because he drinks wine from a mug, like her dad. And the passion, like the wine, threatens to spill over in a clandestine encounter just before the billionaire and the burger girl exchange their marriage vows.

Nothing wrong with that, no? Except that there’s a secret camera following them all around. Obviously Bollywood’s greatly inspired by television these days; too many sting operations and reality shows showing up on the big screen too. Of the three, it’s Urvashi who charms you with her breezy act, leaving behind Akshaye and Bobby longing for more to do. And, unlike most of Abbas Mustan’s earlier films, the audio track is almost pathetic here. Nah! this one ain’t going to turn the current tide of Bollywood flops.

We can be proud once again for Aishwarya Rai. The lady has acquired the ninth position in a poll of the 100 most beautiful women of today in the July issue of ‘Harpers and Queen’.

It is amazing to see to an Indian Woman at such a high post beating Scarlett Johanson, singer Beyonce Knowles and supermodel Gisele Bundchen. Topping the list is Hollywood beauty Angelina Jolie followed by model Christy Turlingron, Queen Rania of Jordon, Director Sofia Copolla and celebrity Chef Nigella Lawson. Listen what the proud husband has to say, “I have the best wife in the world.”