He sleeps for "four to five hours" a day, burns the midnight oil to blog and has a packed shooting schedule. But 67-year-old megastar Amitabh Bachchan insists he is neither the busiest person in the Hindi film industry nor an important part of any of his projects.

"I don't think that is entirely correct. I just do whatever is offered to me. I do films, I am now doing television ('Big Boss 3')," said Amitabh shrugging off the busy bee title.

"If you plan your day and time, you can find time to do all these things. If the body responds, it's fine. But sooner or later it's going to pack up, so might as well work while it's working," said Amitabh who squeezed in enough time to reply to 1207 SMSes that he received on his birthday last week.

Over four decades of excellent cinematic presence has made him a brand. Doesn't that overshadow others in a film?

"I don't think that is entirely correct. May be in the early years, they (audiences) came to watch my films because I was in it. But now I am just one of the credit titles. I am not that important," Bachchan told IANS in an interview.

"I am a part of the crew and the cast. Even in my early years, I used to think that. I think the product itself is more important. It's the film that is going to make you or your name or give you visibility. If that goes wrong then everything goes wrong. So one must work as a team so that the product works," he explained.

The actor stays awake till the wee hours to write his blog.

"That is like a compulsion. I feel very vacant and I feel as though I haven't done justice to my day if I don't write the blog because there are now a few hundred people who are regular. They wait to know about me and they want to talk to me," Amitabh said.

"I feel somewhat guilty if I don't write the blog every day. So even if I am late, I make sure that I put something down," he added.

Doesn't his family object to his blogging addiction? "They are always saying, 'Please don't write your blog. Get off your blog'," he said.

"You have all kinds of funny things happening to your neck and shoulder because you're all the time bending down on your laptop. But that's okay," added the Big B, as he is fondly called.

Strenuous working hours and regular blogging hardly leaves any time to catch up on sleep but the actor is content with what he gets.

"I get about four to five hours' sleep and that's okay," said the veteran, who was seen this year only in a cameo in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's "Delhi-6".

Amitabh was here to promote his upcoming film "Aladin". Releasing Oct 30, it is a contemporary take on the classic fairy tale and he stars in it as the Genie.

Produced by Sunil Lulla and Sujoy Ghosh, the film has been directed by Ghosh. It also stars Riteish Deshmukh in the lead opposite debutante Jacqueline Fernandez. Sanjay Dutt appears in a negative role in the film.

Apart from casting magic in the film as the Genie, the sexagenarian has also performed action sequences in "Aladin". He says the only way to attempt stunts at his age is by keeping "fit".

"You have to keep fit. Some of the action scenes are really tough and they are physically very draining. But now they have wonderful gadgetry which can make you jump sky high and do all kinds of things. We use that, but even doing that is strenuous. If you are not prepared to do all that, then it doesn't work," he said.

Despite wife Jaya, son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya all being actors, the Hindi film industry still has not seen the entire family together in a film.

When asked about it, he said: "I don't know. Somebody will have to design a project like that. If they do, we'll be very happy to do it."

Apart from "Aladin", Amitabh's other projects include "Paa", "Teen Patti", "Rann" and "Johnny Mastana".

Never mind that his production house Dharma Productions has just delivered a big hit in "Wake Up Sid". Director-producer Karan Johar says he has matured over the years and box office collections are no longer the only driving factor for him.

"Frankly, I am over and above box office today. With age and some dose of maturity coming in, I truly believe that I have grown as a filmmaker and hence I am not just looking at crores out there," Karan, 37, told IANS in an interview.

Karan has half a dozen films lined up for release in the months to come. After "Wake Up Sid", debutant Rensil D'Souza's "Kurbaan" is next. He is also speeding up Tarun Mansukhani's animation flick "Koochie Koochie Hota Hai" and "Dostana 2".

Siddharth Malhotra's "Stepmom" remake is already on floors while debutant director Punit Malhotra's "I Hate Love Stories" is in pre-production stage. Newcomer Karan Malhotra has been entrusted with directing an "Agneepath" remake.

Karan's own directorial venture "My Name Is Khan" would be releasing in early 2010.

With so many projects in the pipeline, is it really easy for him not to think about box office collections?

"I guess numbers just get lost after a point in time while the quality of a product is remembered. I have learnt that the remembrance a film gets is far more important than what you end up gaining in the first weekend.

"A living example is 'Wake Up Sid'. Yes, it opened well but what is even more heartening is that it is still being loved and watched weeks after its release. That excites me," said Karan.

His claim comes with enough validation here. After the mega Diwali weekend that saw "Blue", "All The Best" and "Main Aurr Mrs. Khanna" fighting for screen space, "Wake Up Sid" was kept on hold. The Ranbir Kapoor-Konkona Sen Sharma-starrer did have two bountiful weeks.

Karan is happy to be following the mantra of making quality films without worrying much about the cash register.

No wonder many first-time filmmakers working with him are happy to be in an environment that challenges and motivates them to make something worth remembering.

"I never ask my directors to give me a film that would fetch me Rs.80, 100 or 120 crore. Once you do that, you only end up putting pressure on the poor guy. Instead, I want them to focus entirely on the subject in front of them and leave the box office in the hands of audiences.

"This is what Ayan Mukerji did with 'Wake Up Sid' and look at how he has passed with flying colours, both critically and commercially," said Karan with a tone of appreciation.

Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor, who was in the capital for over a month to shoot for her upcoming venture “Ayesha”, says the film is 40 percent complete.

“We are done with 40 percent of the shooting for ‘Ayesha’ and now we will resume the rest in Mumbai,” Sonam told IANS here.

“Ayesha” has been shot across the capital as well as in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand.

Made under the banner of her father actor-producer Anil Kapoor, the movie is being produced by her sister Rhea.

Also starring Abhay Deol in the lead, “Ayesha” is an adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel “Emma” and is about the perils of misconstrued romance.

Southern beauty Asin, who is looking forward to her mega budget Bollywood release “London Dreams”, says she chooses her roles carefully as she doesn’t want to do anything vulgar or indecent.

“I would never do something that is baseless, vulgar and indecent… something I am not comfortable doing and therefore can’t do justice with,” Asin told IANS.

“When I choose a film, my criteria are script, role, director, producer and then co-artist. Language or financial issues never determine what film I want to do,” she added.

The 23-year-old made her debut in Hindi movies opposite superstar Aamir Khan in the hit film “Ghajini” last year.

Katrina Kaif is going ga ga over Kareena and their bond. Recently giving an interview to a news channel Kat was excited to talk about her friend. Not many people know that both the vivacious actress shares the same manager too.

“She is very nice girl and I like her as well as her work. We even shares one manager and I am a big fan of her,” says Katrina.

There had been news in the industry about their cold war but with this statement of Kat, she is putting it all the rumours at rest. Kareena Kapoor was the unchallenged queen of B-Town at as far as her price was concerned. But Katrina Kaif started competing with her at every turn: with the price, the number of film, as well as endorsements.

“Whenever we meet each other she talks with me very nicely and I too love her company. I really do admire her as one of the great actress in the industry,” she states in the interview to the entertainment channel.

Looking at this statement it seems the cold war between the two actresses has ended. All’s well that end’s well is what we can say in this case.

Priyanka Chopra says she grew up in the movies, and that’s the only world she’s ever known. The desi girl says she’s had to be strong to survive, and things haven’t turned out so bad after all!

It was crazy, nobody knew what they were doing!” exclaims Priyanka Chopra in her hotel room where she’s taken refuge, referring to the near-mob that swamped her at an event she had come to the city for.

So much attention, is it flattering or annoying? “It’s a mix of both, I’m flattered that there were so many people there who wanted to get a glimpse, but it annoyed me that people got manhandled, and that it was badly organised,” she says.

Touching base with stuff that’s more personal, Priyanka has admitted that she puts a brave face in front of the world, but then comes back home to cry alone, that there are still some things she hasn’t learnt to deal with. Coming across as someone so vulnerable, how has she managed to survive and keep her sanity in an industry that is known to be so ruthless? “I guess you have to be strong, but I’m eventually a girl you know. I started working when I was 17. I may have been working for five to six years now, but it’s not that I’m 40, that I’ll know how to deal with everything. But I guess I grew up in films. I joined the industry when I was just out of the Class XII. This is where my growing up process has happened, and I don’t know anything else, apart from doing what I do,” she explains.

Having come such a long way in such a short while, does Priyanka ever look back to where she started from? She had a middle class upbringing in a small town, but she burst onto the scene with these bold and sexy characters that many newcomers wouldn’t, at that point of time in the industry, touch with a barge pole. “Well, I’ve always wanted to do difficult parts. I was just 21 at that point, when Aitraz happened. I was very, very young to be doing such roles, I probably didn’t even understand what I was doing! But it was something that I tried doing and it worked really well,” she says.

A self-confessed masochist, Priyanka has also divulged that she’s too hard on herself. “Yeah, I don’t know how I always end up doing that, picking up the hard and challenging stuff instead of the easy stuff,” she laughs. “I cannot do something in which I feel complacent, you know. I like pushing myself, my limits. I’ve been like this ever since I was little. If I have to work really, really hard, I feel that my victory is sweeter,” she adds.

After delivering four hits in a row, and garnering loads of critical acclaim as well, how does Priyanka explain the tepid response to What’s Your Rashee?, considering it was by another celebrated director, Ashutosh Gowariker? “It’s destiny, sometimes you can’t help it. I’m an actor, I’m just grateful that my work’s been appreciated, and that people have said such wonderful things about me. Beyond that, there’s not much I can do.”

So what about her Guinness world record for the highest number of parts played by a female actor? When do we get to see her in the book? “Soon, I hope – that’s something that I’ve applied for. I haven’t figured out what happened afterwards, but if it comes through, it’ll be really cool!” she says.

The one question ever since the 12 roles in What’s Your Rashee? that’s on everyone’s minds – is she or is she not doing Vishal Bhardwaj’s Seven Husbands? “We’ve been talking about what films we’re doing... We’re definitely working together, we just wanna figure out what scripts, etc,” she says.

Buzz has it that she’s going to have her own reality show, which she recently met slumkids for. Priyanka clarifies, “I’m not doing a reality show. I was just doing one episode, for this show called The Big Switch, for which I had met those children.”

Speaking of shows, not many know that Priyanka has a great voice, which she has allowed the world only tiny, infrequent peeps at, say, for instance, on Simi Garewal’s show, and during a New York concert, both ages ago. So why haven’t we heard her sing in her films? “Oh, it’s something that I want to do, definitely. I’m just not very sure when. The right song just hasn’t come along. If I like a song, I’ll definitely do it, plus you need riyaaz, you know, I don’t want to do something badly.” Here’s wishing we get to hear the desi girl real soon!

I am doing only one show. Its about 10 rich kids switching lifestyles with 10 slum kids. The show was a reality check for me and took me to places I have never seen or been to.

 At a time when comedies are raking in the moolah for filmmakers, comedy king David Dhawan’s lighthearted movie “Do Knot Disturb” wasn’t received well at the box office. He laments that the genre is very much undervalued.

“Comedy is very much undervalued in Bollywood. This is because every person today stands up and makes a comedy. People feel it is the easiest to make so everyone is making it. But that’s just a perception,” Dhawan told IANS.

Released Oct 2, “Do Knot Disturb” starred Dhawan’s favourite actor Govinda along with Lara Dutta, Sushmita Sen and Riteish Deshmukh.

Some of the big hits made by Dhawan are “Shola Aur Shabnam”, “Saajan Chale Sasural”, “Deewana Mastana”, “Biwi No.1″, “Jodi No.1″, “Hero No.1″ and “No Entry”.

Dhawan’s next will be “Hook Ya Crook” starring John Abraham, Kay Kay Menon, Shreyas Talpade and Genelia D’Souza.

 Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who plays a 12-year-old progeric in “Paa”, says he has taken cues from his grandchildren to adapt a child’s mannerisms for the role.

“A lot of prosthetics went into making me look like a 12-year-old in ‘Paa’. I did try to watch kids and took a little bit of hints from my own kids’ childhood, but I took most from my grandchildren. They were quite an inspiration for me for ‘Paa’,” said Amitabh.

The actor, who turned 67 recently, has essayed the role of a child suffering from progeria, a rare disease which causes premature ageing among children.

Directed by R. Balakrishnan, the film also stars Abhishek Bachchan, who plays Amitabh’s father in the film.

Bollywood is famous for the real and reel life bonding between actors. One such camaraderie that has surfaced between two known names in tinsel town is of Salman Khan and Govinda.

“Salman and I have a very deep bonding so much so that we are just one call away from each other… We just completely respect and love each other like anything,” Govinda told IANS.

“In fact it was because of this bonding that I copied his bracelet (Salman famously dons a sapphire bracelet on his right arm). Feroza is so beautiful, healthy and keeps people so much at peace. I have no qualms in saying that I copied Salman Khan,” he added.

Seen together for the first time in hit comedy “Partner”, the duo set the screen on fire with impeccable comic timing.

Govinda recently walked the ramp at the HDIL India Couture Week for Salman’s Being Human foundation and has also appeared in the macho actor’s “Main Aurr Mrs.Khanna” that released Friday.

How did London Dreams happen?

I was still shooting for Ghajini but Vipul had seen some of my South Indian films. So I got a call from him and he said he had a role of a headstrong talented girl in his next directorial venture after Namastey London. Obviously I was excited at the sound of it! (laughs) I love Vipul’s cinema, he showcases emotions really well and his films always have strong music. So it was actually a no-brainer that I wanted to be a part of this project immediately on hearing its script. In a way, this is my first authentic Bollywood film even though Ghajini released first. That's because I had already played Kalpana in the south version of Ghajini before doing the Hindi remake with Aamir (Khan).

Tell us the experience of working with Vipul Shah!

Fabulous! Vipul is very organized, he does his homework really well so when you reach the sets the shot break downs are done, he knows exactly how he wants the scene done. And I am a complete Director’s actor. It’s important for me to understand my director’s vision and in that sense Vipul is very giving. I’ve been spoilt by him because now I think I will always want all shoots to be as planned! (Smiles)

Tell us something about your character in London Dreams?

I play a south Indian girl, Priya, who is emotional but strong willed and ambitious at the same time. And she has two radically different sides to her. At home she’s a traditional girl clad in Indian outfits but the minute she’s out with friends, she’s a fire brand, and that shows in the way she dresses. And she’s also partly responsible for the conflict between Salman and Ajay’s characters. So it was a wholesome character to play.

This is the first time you’re working with big names like Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan. What was that like?

When I came on to the sets of London Dreams I didn’t know them. I knew they were way senior and was anxious just like any newcomer would understandably be. And then I'd heard so much about them from different people. Salman has a ‘bad boy’ image. Many told me that he was very temperamental and erratic! Having worked with him I dispelled all those myths. I got to see a sensitive actor who had an absolute ball on the sets and went out of his way to make everyone comfortable. Both Ajay and Salman are also great off screen friends and that shows on celluloid. Ajay, contrary to popular belief, was not reticent at all. He was very helpful and friendly! I realised that you find out the truth about people only when you work with them and get to know them better.

Tell us about the music of London Dreams!

Oh! There’s so much that I can say! (smiles) London Dreams has a backdrop of a rock band so it’s only right that the music should be an arterial part of the film. And I think that Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy have done complete justice to the film in that sense. The music is melodious but remains true to the essence of the film. It’s a very holistic album- there’s the masti of Punjab and the edge of contemporary music. I personally love Man Ko Ati Bhaave and Tapke Masti; they’re fun songs!

Everyone is waiting for London Dreams with bated breath. Tell us why we should watch it?

It's an absolutely stunning looking commercial entertainer with emotions, humour, music and drama! It's a big one for the families! We had a blast shooting it in the UK and I took back some really fond memories with me. The fantastic time we had on the sets and the chemistry between all of us will show on screen!