Dino Morea The former supermodel turned actor started his career off with a bang after winning the Gladrags Manhunt Contest in the year 1996 - A career in Bollywood was inevitable. After being appreciated for his debut Pyar Mein Khabi Khabi, a movie which he reckons will always remain special to him, his second release Raaz - a supernatural thriller opposite ex girlfriend Bipasha Basu was declared a super hit at the box office. Since then his career has been hard to understand. As committed and brilliant as he is, the model turned actor has made some wrong decisions. After 5 releases last year (Aksar, Tom Dick & Harry, Aap Ke Khatir, Fight Club and Holiday) Morea who also own the Crepe Station restaurant in Bandra and Juhu was also recently appreciated for his superb performance in Life Mein Khabi Khabi. Here he talks to his close friend Shalandra Bunseelall about his career and his move to movie production as well.

What have you been busy with recently? Well for the past few months I have been busy shooting for Anamika and Brahm - two exciting projects that will hopefully release in August. Anamika is directed by Anant Mahadevan who made the hit movie Aksar last year and is based on a novel, where my co-stars are Minisha Lamba and Koena Mitra. In Brahm I feature with a supermodel turned actress Sheetal Menon and Milind Soman. Then there's also the short story of Sex on The Beach with a South African actress Tarina Patel, which forms part of Dus Kaniyaan (ten stories) and NO I have never had sex on the beach (laughs)

Tell us about your production company? Yes I have launched my own production company with my partner Shameen Desai called Clockwork Films. We were supposed to start with a massive project Johnny Mohammed Ali Master which is a period film, but because it's a huge movie we have decided to delay that and work on a new action heist thriller.

Has the casting been complete? Actually within the next few days we would have finalised some stars and hopefully I will have be playing one of the lead roles as well. We have just completed the script and hope to shoot the movie in Hong Kong. I am also hoping to secure Bipasha Basu for my production debut. It's amazing to see how much she has grown into one of the best actresses around.

Raaz remains one of the biggest blockbusters of Indian Cinema. Are you part of the sequel? I dont know and dont think so. The original Raaz was directed by Vikram Bhatt who has since parted ways from producers Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt, so I am not sure. It also is a huge task for the makers considering they would need the original lead pair which included Bipasha and myself.

You worked really hard for the movie Holiday, Were you disappointed with the box office fate of the movie? Yes I was extremely sad about that because it was a movie I really enjoyed doing. I always wanted to work with Pooja Bhatt and this was the perfect opportunity for me to prove that I can dance, but sadly it really is hard to understand what the audiences are looking for. Even with Life Mein Khabi Khabie - though my performance was praised the movie did not do well.

How does it feel being part of the IIFA weekend? It feels absolutely great as the industry gets to spend some time together and just bond with each other. We also had so much fun at the cricket match and the crowds loved it as well. IIFA has become a brand name and though I could not make last years award, this year is a blast.

Remember the big "Dino We Love You Poster" at IIFA in Amsterdam Yes (laughs). Actually there was a competition in the UK this year to decide whether I had more fans in Amsterdam or the UK, though I am not sure of the results as yet

Your website www.dinomorea.net has really been a hit, How do you keep in touch? Actually the site has been doing really really well. There have been some nice interesting fantasies and some weirdo's at times. It's a great way of keeping in touch with my fans, though since I was busy with shooting I was last on the site about two months ago....

Upen Patel So what happens when a supermodel joins Bollywood - The expectations are enormous. Forget the likes of Arjun Ramphal and John Abrahams, the latest superstar who is set to stake a claim to the Bollywood crown is hunky Upen Patel - who has often been voted as India's sexiest man. Beside the good looks, the charming actor is a thorough professional who fell in love with South Africa while shooting for the eagerly awaited musical Shakalaka Boom Boom where he plays the central character.

Some confuse his confidence with arrogance, but we at TV Plus are proud to share a close relationship with this dynamic and friendly actor who says "36 China Town my debut was teaser, my next movie Namaste London is a promotion, but Shakalaka Boom Boom is my big break" Tell us about the Upen Patel journey to stardom I entered a competition on Zee Tv in the year 2002 for Indian Supermodel of the Year in London and there was a guy named Atul Gasbekar who was one of the judges.

After I won the competition he gave me his card and we had kept in contact and after finishing my computer studies he invited me to India for India Fashion Week. I took the opportunity thinking it would be a nice holiday, but never in my life did I expect to become such a big supermodel and actor facing the camera, earning so much money and dating the best woman and driving the best cars. For me this is a dream and I am very lucky guy. This one guy Atul changed my life forever.