Kareena-Vivek -- the hot new combo

Vivek Oberoi may have a fondness for headlines. He may have a tendency to shoot his mouth off. But there's no denying the lad is talented.

And then there's Kareena Kapoor. She's beautiful. She's arrogant. She too tends to shoot her mouth off.

Put the two of them together and you have a heady combination.

Which is exactly what producers Tips have gone and done.

The director for the film is yet to be finalised.

The producers do not seem worried about the fact that Vivek is not yet a crowd-puller. Or that Kareena hasn't had a hit for a while now.

What is worrying them more is their other venture, starring Shahid Kapoor (Ishq Vishk). They are unable to find a heroine for the film, which will be directed by Ken Ghosh (Ishq Vishk).

Ramesh Taurani of Tips explains, "Shahid looks very young, so all the established heroines look older. The search is getting difficult."

Chalte Chalte just average: Jumaani

Noted numerologist Bansilal Jumaani, who has changed the way several film stars spell their names (Suniel Shetty, Tusshar Kapoor) and films in Bollywood (he shot to fame when he added the extra a's in Naa and Pyaar to Rakesh Roshan's superhit Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai), was against the release of Chalte Chalte on June 13.

"I don't know why Shah Rukh Khan is adamant, or rather, stubborn about not listening to my advice. I have told him many times not to release his film on a date that adds up to four or eight. He even turned a deaf ear when I advised him not to release Asoka on October 26, which adds up to eight. Later, he paid dearly for it [Asoka bombed at the box-office].

"For Chalte Chalte also, I had sent him a message through Aziz who has a flat in my building, but he did not listen. He has released the film on June 13, which adds up to four. The film will be an average hit at the box office. It would have done exceedingly well if he had not released it on a date that added to these two numbers. Let's pray for Shah Rukh's sake that I am wrong."

Vinod takes a break

Vinod Khanna the politician has decided to defer to Vinod Khanna the actor for a while.

The minister of state for external affairs in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government will soon be seen in producer Mukesh Udeshi's (Gentleman, Kaun) next film, which is based on a Gujarati play, Ghatna 2003.

Vinod was last seen on the big screen in Deewanapan (2001) and Leela (2002).

Udeshi, meanwhile, is busy with promotions of his forthcoming Calcutta Mail (Anil Kapoor, Rani Mukerji, Manisha Koirala).

Aditya's $4 million Italian fare

Producer Aditya Bhattacharya has sealed a co-production deal for a $4 million Italian film that will be shot in English and Italian. Kabir Bedi heads the cast.

Bhattacharya will also produce a Bengali film directed by British director Ben Hopkins.

Bhattacharya made his directorial debut in 1988 with Raakh (Aamir Khan), which won rave reviews and a National Award for its cinematographer, Santosh Sivan.

For reasons unknown, he moved to Italy in the early 1990s. He made a European arthouse film Senso Uniquo (Lothaire Bluteau, Stephania Roqua, Laila Rouass). Though the language on the film's soundtrack was Italian, most of its technicians were Indian. Rajan Kothari shot the film, Renu Saluja edited it, and Ranjit Barot scored the music.