Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit, who won many hearts with her million-dollar-smile and returned to the silver screen with Aaja Nachle after a five-year hiatus last year, has been named among the Padma Shri awardees this year.

The ravishing actress has several hits to her credit, including Tezaab, Dil, Dil To Pagal Hain and Devdas.

Though her comeback film, after marriage to a US-based doctor and two kids, proved to be a dud at the box office, Madhuri remained unfazed. "I have never been a part of number game and we are not the racing horses who should be numbered. Either the work you do is good or bad. I have come back not because I miss the media archlights or being written about... it's secondary. I missed my craft!" she was quoted as saying.

Madhuri forayed into filmdom with Abodh in 1986 and was catapulted to fame with the hit dance number Ek Do Teen... in Tezaab (1988).

There was no looking back for Madhuri who went on to give a string of hits like Dayavan and Ram Lakhan. She bagged the Filmfare Best Actress Award for her performance in Dil, in which she starred opposite Aamir Khan. She once again walked away with the coveted award for her role in "Beta".

Madhuri's electrifying dance number Choli ke peechche... in Khalnayak proved a huge hit and her fan following simply soared.

She repeated the success story in Bollywood blockbuster Hum Aapke Hain Koun, where she shared screen space with Salman Khan and bagged yet another Filmfare. Her powerful performance in mega hit Dil To Pagal Hai won her a fourth best actress award.

The dancing diva also charmed renowned Indian painter MF Hussain, who cast her in his film Gaja Gamini.

In 2001, Madhuri was awarded the National Citizens Award, which recognises excellence in various activities affecting national life. The very next year she starred in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's mega-budget Devdas with Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai. Not only did her acting earn rave reviews, she also bagged a Filmfare Award for best supporting actress.

It was after Devdas that she decided to take a break from Bollywood and devote more time to her family in the US.

After the entire buzz that Shahrukh Khan created in the film Chak De, hockey in India didn’t seem to get a face lift. But SRK’s frequent appearances at various cricket matches; cheering on the Indian cricket team had everyone wondering why Shahrukh was a frequent visitor at these matches. Was it his passion for the game?

Shahrukh was often criticized stating that his appearance at matches was a good PR strategy being used by King Khan to promote his movies. But now the verdict is out.

Shahrukh has emerged as one of the successful bidders at the auction of city franchises of the Indian Premier League — the BCCI's mega-hyped Twenty20 competition which seeks to recreate the magic of soccer's English Premier League and basketball's NBA championship.

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, along with actress Juhi Chawla and her husband Jai Mehta, is now the proud owner of the Kolkata team, with a bid of $75.09 million (about Rs 296 crore).

The leading lady in many SRK films, Preity Zinta — along with Ness Wadia, Karan Paul and Dabur's Mohit Burman — bagged Yuvraj Singh's Mohali team for $76 million (about Rs 300 crore).

Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited was the highest bidder in all the cities; it opted for the Mumbai team at $111.9 million (about Rs 441 crore). Liquor baron Vijay Mallya's UB group — which already has a Formula One team, Force India — came a close second in its bid for Mumbai, at $111.6 million, and settled for Bangalore.

While actors like Mithun Chakrabothy own hotels and Sunil Shetty runs a spree of restaurants; looks like King Khan is looking forward to newer avenues of revenue.

It so happened that during the shoot of Rakesh Omprakash Mehra’s ‘Dilli 6’ starring Abhishek Bachchan and Sonam Kapoor, the director was left in a fix when his Assisant Director had to fly back to his home in the US.

Mehra shared this with his friend Aamir Khan who at once volunteered to help.

But though Aamir was eager to fly down to Jaipur to support Mehra, he couldn’t take any time out as he himself was too busy with the shooting of his next film Ghajini.

But this wouldn’t stop Aamir from lending a helping hand to Mehra. Aamir suggested that his wife Kiran Rao (who has previously assisted Ashutoh Gowariker) would go to Jaipur.

It was a sweet sign from Aamir bearing in mind his relations with the Bachchan’s. When asked about Kiran as the AD to Mr. Rakesh Mehra he answered “She is a thorough professional and very sincere at work.”

Actor Saif Ali Khan, who occasionally strums guitars at rock concerts, wants to do his bit for Indian music by making a film about it.

Khan, who recently started a film production house, said he wants to experiment with a film about Indian singers and music - a genre largely ignored by Bollywood.

Hollywood has several films like Ray and Walk the Line that are based on the lives of real-life musicians. But the Indian film industry usually shies away from the topic, even though song-and-dance sequences are staple fare in Bollywood films.

"Our singers are very respected, so is our music," the 37-year-old actor said. "There are films that have been made …but how commercially successful those films were is questionable."

"It is a fascinating genre…we have not experimented much with it," Khan said. "I wish to make such a film."

The actor, who recently performed with the Parikrama rock band, said he started playing the guitar while still at school.

"Some of us even formed a band but we were really bad."