In Short

Interview Magazine

*Saif Ali Khan was hospitalized last night.

The star of Omkara (Bollywood’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s Othello) was rushed to Mumbai’s Lilavati Hospital after complaining of chest pains.

Khan–whose mother Sharmila Tagore joined Ralph Fiennes earlier this week at an HIV/AIDS Awareness event—is 36.

*Famed photographer Ellen von Unwerth shot Brad Pitt on location in India. The results can be seen in this month’s issue of Interview Magazine.

*And Time Magazine has weighed in on the ongoing clash between Big B and King Khan.

The Week in Gup-Shup

*In an interview earlier this week, Madonna told Howard Stern she’s interested in reinventing herself yet again. “I want to be like Gandhi and Martin Luther King and John Lennon – but I want to stay alive,” she said, adding: “we all need to be Jesus in our time.”

*Turns out Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, a graduate of Boston University’s School of Medicine, was illegally supplying Anna Nicole Smith with methadone while Smith was eight months preggers with her daughter. Kapoor’s lawyers have released a statement suggesting he handled things in a “medically sound and appropriate” way.

*And seventeen-year-old Sanjaya Malakar has made it to the semi-finals of American Idol. Malakar, from Washington State, entered the contest with his sister Shymali who used to wait tables at Hooters.

I Want My MTV

Pink Slip-Time for MTV Desi? (MTVDesi.Com)

Rumor has it MTV World (home to MTV Desi, MTV Chi, and MTVK) is the latest victim of the firing frenzy at Viacom.

If reports are to be believed, the plug is being pulled completely on the channels. The “Classics Department” at VH1 has also recently been on the chopping block. MTVu will, however, remain relatively intact.

Ralph Fiennes: Coming To An Aircraft Toilet Near You?

Fiennes, Sharmila Tagore and AIDS Victim (WashingtonPost.Com)

Ralph Fiennes fans might be disappointed to hear the 44-year-old star likes to follow strangers into cramped aircraft lavatories.

Fiennes, who starred in The English Patient and The Constant Gardner recently found himself in hot water after allegedly trying to have an amorous in-flight encounter with a Qantas airline hostess.

“While conversing with Mr Fiennes during my break, I expressed a need to go to the toilet. I entered it, he followed me and entered the same toilet. I explained to him that this was inappropriate and asked him to leave,” said the stewardess, 38, in a statement.

The actor was flying from Darwin, Australia to Mumbai–where he was scheduled (as a Unicef ambassador to India) to promote safe sex and HIV/AIDS awareness. Fiennes’s reps declined to comment.

“Hotter Than A Vindaloo”

Lady in Red

Rumor has it Shilpa Shetty will soon be starring in a romantic comedy with the king of rom-coms himself, Hugh Grant.

An unnamed “industry insider” tells the Daily Star that “it’s going to be hotter than a vindaloo… with dancing, singing and a spicy story to boot.”

The rumors “gained momentum” when Shetty showed up at the London premiere of Grant’s latest film Music and Lyrics on Monday night. The film stars Drew Barrymore and Daily Show--resident desi Aasif Mandvi. It is to be released on Valentine’s Day.

(We sat down with Mandvi on the set of Music and Lyrics. Be sure to check out our upcoming issue for the exclusive.)

Aniston Picks Her Nose

Jennifer Aniston (AnistonAvenue.Com)

Last week Jennifer Aniston was seen leaving the offices of LA-based plastic surgeon Raj Kanodia.

Kanodia, a graduate of the Medical College of Kolkata, has been featured on the E! Network’s hit show Dr. 90210.

Gossip rag US Weekly reports that Aniston went in for a nose job on January 20th, leaving Kanodia’s Beverley Hills-practice later that day with “black-and-blue bruises along her right eyebrow and across the tip of her nose and upper lip.”

Her reps don’t deny that she had work done (“to correct a deviated septum”) but now TMZ reports that Aniston is upset Kanodia spoke to the press about her procedure, saying a “furious Aniston has placed several calls” to him expressing her “extreme displeasure.”

Ennis at Sepia Mutiny suggests its “ironic” that Hollywood A-listers are “coming to a desi doctor to get demure little noses.”

Although Kanodia won’t disclose which Hollywood celebs he’s worked on, it has been said that the good doctor is responsible for crafting Cameron Diaz and Ashlee Simpson’s new schnozzes.

Jennifer Aniston, who played the lovably flawed Rachel Green on Friends, can next be seen guest-starring on Dirt–Courtney Cox’s new FX Network-show.

Padma Lakshmi Likes Her Paca Lolo

Rasta Padma. Best Week Ever

Top Chef hostess and ex-model Padma Lakshmi has a penchant for pot, and apparently likes to get her ghanja on during tapings of the hit Bravo TV show.

The folks at Best Week Ever think this explains a whole lot–like Lakshmi’s large appetite, “detached, soulless vocal inflections” and “insane outfit choices.”

We wonder if all that moocah smoke wafting through the air could lead to some giddy, ridiculous decisions during next week’s finale .

Who are you rooting for?

More:
Lakshmi a fire hazard in the kitchen
Rushdie likes Lakshmi’s lady fingers

Khan In KBC Hot Seat

It began with a music video starring Shah Rukh Khan (his idea) and continued with trivia questions (standard fare on Kaun Banega Crorepati).

Last night, millions watched Khan’s debut as the host of India’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

Khan, who began his acting career on television, has taken the Crorepati reigns over from another Bollywood great, Amitabh Bachchan.

“Khan came across as a friendly anchor, who high-fived with a contestant when he got the answer right, spoke in another’s native language and even gave a back massage to a third who said he was too nervous,” reports the BBC.

But not everyone enjoyed the debut.

“Shah Rukh persistently tosses us a smirk we haven’t quite deciphered yet. Is this condescension towards these contestants, nervousness, or defiance against the Big B?” asks India’s Rediff.

We’re not sure, but suspect all this could add fuel to the fire of their raging feud.

Check out King Khan’s moves in yesterday’s KBC opening dance number (so hott yaar!):

Rushdie Likes Lakshmi’s Lady Fingers

(BravoTV)

While the cheftestants quoted earlier don’t seem to be fans of her cooking or style, Padma Lakshmi has at least one fan in the kitchen.

In an interview with the Washington Post’s Express, model/cookbook author/television host Padma Lakshmi offered up tidbits about her ice cream concoctions (“lychee and clover sorbet and honeycomb and prune ice cream”), wardrobe (“I get to wear my own clothes”), weight gain (“you’ll see as the season progresses that I gain a little weight”), her dinner party menus (featuring Barolo, brisket and butter) and Salman’s fondness for the lady’s fingers.

EXPRESS: Are there any dishes your husband asks for?
LAKSHMI: He’s an omnivore and eats anything and everything. I still don’t know his favorite dish after seven years together, but he does like it when I make him fried okra. It’s very hard to make Indian okra the right way.

Lakshmi A Fire Hazard In The Kitchen

Padma Lakshmi

This season’s Top Chef hostess Padma Lakshmi might look hot (hello navel-bearing spandex tops) but apparently, that’s about it.

“Nothing she said really made a difference in my cooking,” says Sam Talbot, former executive chef at Manhattan’s Punch.

According to New York Magazine, Lakshmi, author of the cookbook Easy Exotic, is eager to step out of her husband Salman Rusdhie’s shadow. Says Talbot: “She never wanted to talk about him. I remember a time she got a phone call and she yelled, ‘You can ask me any question you want, but don’t bring up my husband!’”

“Some of the things she wore, I wouldn’t suggest anyone wear around a working kitchen,” adds contestant Cliff Crooks, executive chef at Salute!“Either she’d be a fire hazard or she’d get hurt.”

Harsh, much?

You can catch Top Chef on Bravo TV Wednesday nights (and check out Padma’s Top Chef blog here).