BEYONCE HONORED WITH BILLBOARD MILLENNIUM AWARD

Getting a big salute for her successful career efforts, Beyonce Knowles was doted with the Billboard Millennium Award at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards on Sunday night.

The "Run the World (Girls)" singer was honored with quite the tribute - as her mother, Tina Knowles, took the stage to present her daughter with the accolade at the MGM Grand held show.

The Billboard Millennium Award was presented in recognition of Beyonce's career achievements and influence in the music industry.

Among the memorable moments, the tribute looked back upon Miss Knowles' role as the frontwoman of Destiny's Child through her three chart-topping solo albums.

Prior to receiving the Millennium Award, Beyonce graced the stage to perform her hit single "Run the World (Girls)".

IS SONAKSHI TRACING VIDYA'S FOOTSTEPS?

Sonakshi Sinha may be the flavour of this season given the fact that her debut film is still plucking awards here and there, but there is a parallel debate going on about this DABANGG girl and that has to do with the kind of roles that she has chosen to play.

Increasingly many industry insiders are tracing parallels between Sonakshi Sinha and Vidya Balan. Though the two actresses might actually belong to different generations, but it seems they have a lot in common.

Adds our source, "The reason for drawing comparisons between Vidya Balan and Sonakshi Sinha have their own logic. Firstly, like Vidya, Sonakshi is trying to project an image of the earthly heroine. Not only that, both Vidya and Sonakshi are reluctant to expose their bodies beyond a certain point. While, Vidya might have changed her ideas now given the fact that her upcoming film "THE DIRTY PICTURE" will have lot of skin show, Sonakshi for the moment seems to be overlooking this fact."

No one can deny that bollywood actresses who have tried to play safe have ended up paying big time and even changing their stand later, Sonakshi Sinha seems to be making the same mistake. Adds a bollywood veteran, "Vidya Balan has come a long way. Now, she has no issues with exposing her body. I think it dawned on her late that bollywood actresses with little sex-quotient don't make up for popular icons. Now, she is trying to go for an image makeover with THE DIRTY PICTURE."

Now, the onus is on Sonakshi to take a few tips from Vidya. Her ban on bikinis and exposing her body is not a success formula that worked with her apparent inspiration Vidya Balan, so most likely it won't work for her too.

BRITNEY SPEARS - WILL BE SEEN IN BILLBOARD MUSIC AWARDS ON SUNDAY 22ND

Sounding as if fans have quite the treat in store this weekend, reports tell that Britney Spears will be taking the stage at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards.

With the Las Vegas-based event airing live on ABC at 8PM on Sunday night (May 22), the "Gimme More" singer is rumored to be making not one, but two appearances during the annual awards ceremony.

According to Us magazine, Miss Spears may be opening up the show alongside Rihanna - with popular opinion believing that the two will perform their remix version of RIhanna's hit song "S&M".

As for the second appearance, Britney will be teaming up with tour mate Nicki Minaj for their first-ever duet with a rendition of Spears' "Till The World Ends" remix.

Of Britney's expected return to television, an Us insider added, "It's gonna be big. People will definitely be talking about it the next day."

PREETI DESAI IN NEWS AGAIN

 

Preeti Desai is back in news again. A couple of weeks of silence post the release of SHOR - IN THE CITY, rumours started flying thick that Preeti and Abhay Deol are indeed a couple and they would be getting formally engaged within next one month.

The obvious question is, 'What next for Preeti in Bollywood?' In an industry waiting for some new talent to make a mark, one can well expect some good feelers to have started coming Preeti's way. Though Preeti isn't willing to go on records yet about her engagement, she does assure that movies aren't going anywhere.

"I am now on the lookout for an awesome script where I can do some strong character based roles. I am not hung up on those conventional hero-heroine roles", Preeti confesses, "Also, I am not in any kind of rush to jump on whatever that comes my way. Doing a film like SHOR IN THE CITY has ignited a passion in me. I now want to hit the sets pronto and started mugging my lines. I have realised that all of this can be so much fun."

To her credit though, Preeti did get noticed after all for the sex appeal she brought on screen for those few minutes that she made an appearance. Even though she had only a few dialogues to mouth, there wasn't a false move being made which resulted in Bollywood waking up to her presence in the industry.

"Of course now I would want to shoot for much more than just two weeks that I actually shot for SHOR...," Preeti gives out a smile here, "The experience of whatever I did in the film was awesome. This is the kind of movie that I like to watch so in a way it allowed me to test waters. I have got a feeling that I can act and have realised that I am comfortable in front of the camera. With good comments coming my way, I guess people have liked my screen presence after all."

Well in that case Preeti, better hurry up and get something rolling for you soon. People's memory is short after all!

DIANNA AGRON - BEVERYLY HILLS BEAUTY

Hollywood hottest and sexy, Dianna Agron was seen out and about in Beverly Hills.

The 25-year-old blonde sported a cute and casual look during her 90210 stroll, wearing a fringed white top, cuffed blue jeans and an adorable pair of gray booties.

As Dianna and her "Glee" co-stars gear up for the season two finale, a list of the songs the New Directions crew will be singing has just been released.

We now know that on the May 24 send-off, the cast will offer up a mash-up of hits like Madonna‘s "I Love New York" and Frank Sinatra’s "New York, New York," as well as an uber-exciting new set of unique tunes exclusively from the show!

SALMAN'S DABANGG WINS NATIONAL AWARD

Salman Khan couldn't have asked for more. As per the latest reports, his much popular film DABANGG, which has sweeped the maximum awards this year, has now bagged the wholesome entertainer award of 2010 at the prestigious 58th National Awards announced in New Delhi.

Rishi and Neetu Kapoor starrer DO DOONI CHAR won national award for best hindi feature film, while Vishal Bhardwaj's ISHQIYA won 2 National Awards - for best music and for best female playback singer, his wife Rekha Bhardwaj. Suresh Wadkar bagged the best playback singer male award.

The national award for best actor is shared by Malayalam actor Salim Kumar for ADAMINTE MAKAN AVU and Tamil actor Dhanush for AADUKALAM. Tamil filmmaker Veerimaran was named best director.

Marathi actress Mitalee Jagtap Paradhar and Tamil cinema's Saranya Privannan won the National Award for best actress for their performances in the films BABOO BAND BAAJA and THENMERKU PARUVAKKAATRU respectively.

KATE UPTON'S NEW BEACH BUNNY BRIDE CAMPAIGN

Her career keeps getting hotter, and Kate Upton's latest contribution to the men of the world is her participation in the new Beach Bunny Bride campaign.

The “Victoria’s Secret” stunner looks sexy and fun in the shots, sporting a variety of white bridal-themed bras, panties, and other pieces of lingerie.

Additionally, Kate has been hand-picked by SoBe advertising honcho Andrew Katz to help launch a campaign for the brand’s Fuji Apple Pear beverage.

Katz noted that the initiative is meant to “celebrate the flavor in a quirky and unexpected way while getting celebrities to try things that are somewhat uncharacteristic to them."

ASIN'S BIKINI ACT IN "HOUSEFULL 2"

Good times times for actress Asin has started. After a lull in her career, her calendar suddenly looks overactive. Now, with READY opposite Salman all set to roll, the actress is also getting set to shoot for Sajid Khan's HOUSEFULL 2 soon.

But, amidst all this frenzy, Asin is harbouring a few dilemmas too. According to our sources, one of the biggest confusions Asin has for the moment is about her bikini act in HOUSEFULL 2 and the poor actress can't seem to decide.

Our sources further add, "Asin's dilemma is rooted in her earlier stand when she had not done any bollywood films. Over the years, Asin has cultivated an image of being true to her traditions, but it seems her brush with bollywood has shaken her fundamentals. Now, Asin knows that to survive in bollywood she has to have some hot-quotient too and donning a bikini might be the introductory step in that direction."

The issue now for Asin is how to take that plunge. Though, all reports and predictions seem to hint that Asin would have to strip-down in HOUSEFULL 2, but the actress seems to be undecided still. The confusion seems to be only getting complex by the day. Well, let's hope this two piece act is only one step away for Asin.

LEA MICHELE'S TOP SECRET PHOTO SHOOT

Hollywood, celebrity, Lea Michele was seen, showing her posing prowess at an outdoor photo shoot at a Brentwood mansion in California.

The singer/actress spent the whole day shooting at a pair of nearby locations and wore more than ten different getups.

As for her “Glee” gig, Lea and her costars spent some time in New York City to film the much-anticipated season finale.

Michele will perform “For Good” with Chris Colfer as part of the Broadway show “Wicked” –themed episode. It hits FOX airwaves on May 24th.

25 YEAR OLD MODEL TURNED ACTOR, KIRTI KULHARI IN "SHAITAN"

"SHAITAN" is becoming the talk of the town for its unusual promos but no one is more excited about its release than the 25-year-old model-turned-actor Kirti Kulhari, who is playing the role of a lower middle-class girl. She is the one who brings sense and sensibility to the frivolous group of youngsters and is the turning phase of the film.

Kirti Kulhari who has been the face of many a brands in the past stepped into cinema just a while back and made her debut in the film KHICHDI as Parminder. Kirti has also been a national badminton player in her school days in Mumbai. With no family connections in bollywood she maintains that, 'I'm finding my own way into meaningful films as I don't have a godfather'.

But meaningful cinema turned quite the opposite for her when she was shooting for one of the toughest scenes in the film, which was being shot in Navrang cinema. The scene required her to be really edgy, nervous, screaming a lot but she was feeling from that. What really got her into it was when shooting the scene, the slap that Gulshan was to give her, respectively, turned out to be a little realistic. The scene involved Kalki slapping her & while they were screaming at each other, Gulshan comes and slaps her & bangs her head on the wall.

The rehearsals of the same went fine, but during take the scene went slightly out of hand, where by mistake Gulshan really slapped her hard, which took her by surprise and before she could react, he banged her head to the wall hurting her head as well as she was not prepared. She broke down crying and all these reactions which came so naturally during that time were canned by the director and he mentioned that he would never get another take which was so real without realising that Kirti was actually hurt.

Though they took another take of the scene but this one has been retained in the film & one scene that Kirti will never forget in her life. 'I have scenes which were very tough. For me, it was a very disturbing experience. Because even though you are an actor, you don't always act, there are moments when you actually feel what is happening in a scene. Many a times during the shoot I cried to vent my emotions; it was very tough,' she said.