Forty plus?On the party front, Surendra Pal (Dronacharya of Mahabharat) threw one at his residence to celebrate his birthday. He kept saying, "I've turned forty". Though we don't believe him as he's been saying the same thing for the past five years. Anyway, it was a cool bash, with booze overflowing and amongst his friends who turned up were Pankaj Dheer, Kajol, Sumeet Saigal, Vaquar Shaikh, Madan Jain, Adarsh Gautam to name a few. People were dancing till three in the morning.GhostbusterSo finally, Captain House, the serial produced by Jeetendra's daughter Ekta Kapoor and directed by Sapna Waghware which premiered a few weeks back on DD2 (Sat.9 pm) is making news. Kanwaljeet, who plays the ghost, has walked out of the serial. Then they approached cricketer Salil Ankola who probably didn't like the idea of playing a ghost and refused. And now they've zeroed in on Narendra Jha opposite the gorgeous Vaidehi. Jha who? Well he played Arjun in Dr Dwivedi's Ek Aur Mahabharat and also stars in Ekta's daily soap Itihaas.Blown awayAnother casualty seems to be Neha Thakur's Aandhi which premiered last Sunday on Doordarshan's National Network. This one-episode-old serial is making hot news as director Arun Frank has called it quits because of lack of time as he already has four serials on air which take up 25 days in a month. Also he was not satisfied with the time slot of Sundays 2.45 pm. While the producer insists that Raman Kumar has taken over the project, when we contacted Kumar, he denied it and in turn informed us that Vinta Nanda was directing it. The whole things is as confusing as the soaps on telly these days!Eating orderIt was also celebration time for Hansal Mehta director of Khana Khazana (Zee TV). Last week, he organised not one but two parties, firstly to launch his new serial Lakshya which premieres on Zee TV on 7th October at 10.30 pm in place of Parampara. It stars Latif Parmar, Manoj Pahwa, Seema Bhargav, Utkarsha. It's the story of a family's orientation and disorientation and is filmed in a different (?) manner, says Mehta. Among the celebrities spotted were Manoj Bajpai, Saurabh Shukla, Sachin Khedekar amongst others. The other bash was two days later to celebrate 250 episodes ie., five years of Khana Khazana at a hotel by the same name in the suburbs of Mumbai. And now the show goes abroad peeping into foreign kitchens with some never heard before phirang recipes! Check them out!Shroff on TV?After some Bollywood biggies like Bhagyashree, Deepak Tijori, Sumeet Saigal, Prem Chopra (only to name a few) turned to television, now it's Jackie Shroff and Kurmar Gaurav's turn.Well, if the buzz is to be believed, Shroff is going to host a film-based show called Golden Moments being produced by InHouse Productions who also produce Movers & Shakers. And Kumar Gaurav makes his debut in the thriller X-Zone. The story is called Mr Bond which is produced by Pallavi Joshi and directed by husband Vivek Agnihotri.Rishtye spells luv, luv, luvOn the romantic front, the latest rumours are that Vaquar Shaikh - the Kodak and Sahara Airline model as well as Sidharth in Banegi Apni Baat fame - and actress Nilanjana, who makes her debut with a serial called Pyaas are seeing each other. They have been spotted at parties and shoots quite often. Though Shaikh denies these rumours and explains that work is his only priority, we really don't believe him. We hear that he is recommending her to all his producers and they are doing a Rishtey (Zee) love story together. "She is just a friend and such things will only create tension and awkwardness," says an obviously miffed Shaikh.
