Vidya Balan was invited to Rakhi Sawant’s new talk show and the two ended up becoming good friends. And now Vidya can’t stop praising the item girl.

“I really like Rakhi for the way she has made a place for herself. No one else is quite like her. She has marketed herself as an extremely unique entity. I think it’s truly admirable,” said Vidya.

Doing a chat show with Rakhi was something Vidya hadn’t even thought of, “but when she invited me I didn’t hesitate for a moment”, the Parineeta actress said.

And the fact that Aamir Khan also turned up to be part of Rakhi’s show was a bonus Vidya hadn’t anticipated.

“Rakhi recorded with me and Aamir. I finished my episode with her and then Aamir came in. I think he will be her guest on her first episode. And I’m on her second episode.”

Vidya says she was surprised by the intelligent questions put by her host Rakhi.

“She conducted the interview straight and simple. There was none of the flamboyance associated with her. And that really surprised me,” Vidya said.

The two of them had a heart-to-heart chat and, yes, Vidya and Rakhi are the unlikeliest of friends now.

“There’s a hunger in her to excel to prove the naysayers wrong. I quite empathise with that,” she said.

The actress, who stars opposite Shahid Kapur in Kismat Konnection next, firmly believes that “when you want something, you get it” and cites personal experiences.

“When I joined films, Aziz Mirza wasn’t making films after his wife’s demise. I so badly wanted to work with him. Two years later he called me for Kismat Konnection. Somehow I always end up realising my secret wishes.

“I remember years ago when I was happy doing my ads and not even dreamt of being an actress I saw Pradeep Sarkar’s music video with Shubha Mudgal. I desperately wanted to be in his music videos. The next thing I know I was offered his video for Euphoria’s Aana tu meri gali,” Vidya said. She added: “Dada (Sarkar) then promised he’d cast me whenever he made a feature film. He kept his word with Parineeta.”

And Vidya tells audiences to expect the unexpected from her.

“I got Kismat Konnection although Shahid had already been signed on and I was at that time working with a more senior generation of co-stars like Sanjay Dutt and Akshay Kumar. But I wanted to be part of whatever Aziz made and here I am.”

Good news for those who have been missing Mallika Sherawat’s super hot onscreen kisses! The lady is back in the ‘murderous’ mode again with several lip-locking scenes in upcoming film ‘Maan Gaye Mughal-e-Azam’. The hot babe is paired opposite ‘unconventional’ hero Rahul Bose and they share many intimate scenes in the film.

Earlier, the duo was seen in the well-received film ‘Pyaar Ke Side Effects’, where they scorched the screen with their sizzling scenes, hot kisses and scorching chemistry. They are to do ‘it’ again in Sanjay Chhel’s ‘Maan Gaye Mughal-e-Azam’.

“Maan Gaye Mughal-E-Azam” is a mad riot involving a drama troupe - Kalakar Natak Company that produces socially relevant plays, which no one understands and nobody sees. Mallika plays the role of an unscrupulous upcoming actress. A parody of the song, ‘Pyar kiya to darna kya’, has also been filmed on Mallika, which is said to be one of the highlights of the film.

Director Sanjay Chhel, who has already won accolades for dialogue writing in ‘Partner’, is leaving no stones unturned for “Maan Gaye Mughal-E-Azam”. Rahul Bose is to essay six roles in the movie. He is to play a daredevil officer of an intelligence agency, Mughal prince Jahangir, an underworld don, a Nawab from Hyderabad, dumb deputy of a gangster and also a don’s bodyguard.

After ‘Murder’ and ‘Khwahish’, in which Mallika’s ‘oomph’ factor took Bollywood by the storm, here is another film that is sure to make our filmdom ‘kiss crazy’!

Bollywood’s latest hot property features on the cover page of Filmfare July 2008 edition. For Vidya Balan, this is the third time that she’s become the cover-girl of this popular film magazine. Looking hot and sizzling in her all new glam look, the single-and-contemplating-if-to-mingle Vidya, arrived late at the launch of the issue. This time she had the rain gods to blame. Dressed in a black dress, it seemed like she is finally getting close to being stylish.

Talking about the various allegations thrust on her, according to the southern siren, the most absurd gossip was her decision to get a tattoo done. She laughed, “That was the most baseless rumour I’ve come across.” Always in the news for her varied ‘alleged’ love interests, perhaps its time for her to retaliate as many of her counterparts are doing. Ask her which medium she would choose and she says, “I have started getting on to the net, checking blogs. I am beginning to enjoy it as a new world has opened now.” So do we see another star venting out her frustration via blogging? Perhaps yes. Vidya says, “I love to write. So may be if I had a little more time in hand, I will (blog).”