VANCOUVER, Jan.

TORONTO, Nov. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Deepa Mehta with Akshay Kumar announced today the pivotal character of Mewa Singh will be played by Vinay Virmani (photograph attached) in his debut film Komagata Maru. Vinay is a recent graduate of the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute of New York.

By Meena Iyer MUMBAI: In the time of a possible global meltdown, this filmland snippet sounds like the overblown talk typical of Bollywood fare. But insiders insist it is true - that UTV has signed superhit hero Akshay Kumar for their next film for a staggering Rs 71 crore.

By Kaveree Bamzai Anita Hassanandani takes a deep breath, says Jai Mata Di, and dives from a 12-storey building. Yana Gupta smiles while a creepy crawly walks over her face. Pooja Bedi remembers her children before diving into ice cold water.

You'll find Planman Motion Pictures' Arindam Chaudhari with a happy grin on his face these days. Reason? The audience's reaction to the trailers of Planman's film, The Last Lear, which are being shown with the latest Akshay Kumar- Katrina Kaif blockbuster, Singh is Kinng.