Toronto Gets Junior Mints Out For Junior B

Official Film Poster

Bollywood golden couple Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan will walk the red carpet in a few hours, at the world premiere of their much-anticipated film Guru.

A full-capacity crowd is expected to fill Toronto’s historic Elgin Theatre, and officials are prepared for about 10,000 fans to surround the venue, waiting for a glimpse of the stars.

Tickets, at $500 a pop, sold out in minutes.

Directed by Mani Ratnam, Guru is inspired by the real-life rags-to-riches story of Indian industrialist Dhirubhai Ambani.

But the film has perhaps been overshadowed by gup-shup about Rai and Bachchan—specifically that they are altar-bound (rumor has it they might announce their engagement at tonight’s event).

This is the first time a Bollywood film will premiere in the city.

“Whenever we can take the South Asian community to the mainstream, it’s a good thing,” says businessman and film distributor Nav Bhatia. “This will really put Toronto on the map in India.”

The Greater Toronto Area is home to about 350,000 desis.

(Theatrical trailer and behind-the-scenes footage)

Update (1/14): Aaand it’s official. The stars have just gotten engaged.

Mighty Heart in Mumbai

Angelina Jolie, sex-pot Oscar winner turned inspired humanitarian, is currently filming in Mumbai (the movie, called A Mighty Heart, is about the real-life 2002 slaying of American reporter Daniel Pearl).

But true tabloid-junkies care less about the film than they do about Jolie’s personal life.

Celebrity bloggers have been shvitsn over gossip that Brangelina is looking to adopt an Indian child. According to Perez Hilton, the couple recently spent time at the Bharatiya Samaj Seva Kendra family adoption center, where orphanage director Roxana Kalyanvala told In Touch Magazine, “every move and every look of the couple was filled with love for our children. “

Not all of Brangelina’s publicity has been so positive.

Jolie’s bodyguards were accused Friday of manhandling parents during a shoot near Mumbai’s Anjuman-e-Islam school.

One guard was also overheard calling a parent a “bloody Indian.” Earlier today, Jolie released a statement in response, saying:

“As for this horrible rumor that someone referred to a local man as a ‘bloody Indian,’ let me say this: I would never work with anyone that was derogatory towards another man’s race.”

Three of Jolie’s bodyguards–all British nationals–have subsequently been arrested.

(Update: Brad Pitt gives his first interview to Indian television. Click here to see him address the racism allegations)