After a three-year break, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will return to the silver screen with a Mani Ratnam film, starring alongside two of the biggest stars of the Tamil film industry, Nagarjuna and Mahesh Babu. Work on the untitled project will begin later this year. “The film is expected to start mid-2014 and will be Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s first film post the birth of her daughter Aaradhya [in 2011],” The Indian Express reported. The former beauty queen was last seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish in 2010.
Celebs pack London Fashion Week
Celebrities packed the front row at London Fashion Week on Saturday, as the event swung into its second day. Hunter, the maker of the fashionable set's preferred rubber rain boots, pulled out all the stops with a debut show that drew the singer Jessie J (pictured), who had flown from the UAE after her show at RedFestDXB, Anna Wintour and Stella McCartney. Across town, the Les Misérables actress Samantha Barks joined the singer Eliza Doolittle and other starlets at Julien Macdonald's glamorous showcase. – The National staff
Look out for our roundup of the best from London Fashion Week in Thursday’s Arts&Life
Gulabi Gang criticises film adaptation
Sampat Pal, the leader of the original Gulabi Gang of Bundelkhand, on which the forthcoming Bollywood drama Gulaab Gang is based, says the filmmakers should have sought her permission to make the film. "Madhuri [Dixit, the lead actress] should have asked me first," Pal told The Times of India. She also said that Rajjo, Dixit's character, should have been called Sampat. Pal heads a group of pink sari-clad vigilantes in central India who fight social injustices, corner criminals and dispense justice. Gulaab Gang is out in UAE cinemas on March 6. – The National staff
Simon Cowell welcomes baby boy Simon Cowell is a proud new father. He and girlfriend Lauren Silverman welcomed their son on Friday, Valentine's Day, in New York. The infant is named Eric, after Cowell's father. Cowell posted a series of tweets about the happy event. He says the new mum is in "great shape" and describes his son as "healthy and handsome". – AP
