Romancing The King of Khans . .

After romancing two of the three Khans in Bollywood (Aamir Khan in Ghajini and Salman Khan in London Dreams and Ready), Bollywood and Kollywood's sensational beauty Asin is all set to romance the third but the King of all Khans. Thats right, Asin would be seen romancing Shahrukh Khan in his new film titled '2 States', a screen adaption of Chetan Bhagat's bestseller of the same title to be directed by Vishal Bhardwaj.

According to sources, Asin was the first choice for the project and is chosen to play the lead role by both Sajid Nadiadwala,the producer and Vishal Bhardwaj, the director because of the Tamil origin of the lead female character in the novel. Besides, Asin is already working in Nadiadwala's another production Housefull 2.

2 States chronicles around the life of a young couple Krish and Ananya, who go against their parents for a 'Cross Cultural' marriage between Delhi and Tamil Nadu bearing fruit to their romance that blossomed while studying at IIM,Ahmedabad.

Vidya Balan parties with the Bhardwajs

Vishal Bhardwaj threw an impromptu party at his residence in Meghdoot building on the night when the National Awards were announced.

Both Vishal and his wife Rekha picked up awards for Ishqiya. Naturally the team, i.e. Arshad Warsi, Vidya Balan and Abhishek Chaubey came over for the party.

The actress' conviction in doing Ishqiya has been repeatedly paying off. The film has won her several awards and continues to be feted and felicitated at International festivals and even in the local circuit.

7 Khoon Maaf dies a slow death

While it has recovered its investment cost, Priyanka Chopra's '7 Khoon Maaf' fails to meet expectations and seems to be dying a slow death at the box-office.

Expectations from Vishal Bharadwaj's 7 Khoon Maaf were humungous after the dark and offbeat Kaminey that he delivered last time. And perhaps that backfired for the film. Despite Priyanka Chopra's powerful performance, Vivaan Shah's decent debut, an interesting concept and good music working in its favour; the slow pacing, long length, multiple marital episodes and an ambiguous ending went against the film.

7 Khoon Maaf had a slow opening at the box-office and failed to pick up over the weekend. Of course the start of cricket World Cup can be attributed to the slump in business but that is not the only reason. The mixed reviews have also worked against the film.

Made on a budget of Rs 22 crore (15 cr production cost + 7 cr publicity), the first weekend collection came to Rs 15 cr (13 cr India + 2 cr overseas). However for a solo A-grade release with such a widespread release, better business was expected at the box-office. The film has recovered its investment through non-theatrical avenues (Rs 11 crore satellite and music rights + Rs 2 crore home video and other sources), but is certainly rejected in terms of theatrical revenues.

With the Cricket World Cup having started in full swing, big Bollywood movies will take a backseat in the next couple of months. Interestingly this also becomes an ideal period for smaller films to schedule their release since they do not have opposition in the form of big Bollywood releases.

The coming week sees the release of Tanu Weds Manu starring Kangana Ranaut and Madhavan. The other release is a children's film called Satrangee Parachute. So Tanu Weds Manu doesn't have big competition and should be able to sail through on the basis of its merits.