What: Abhishek, Priyanka and Goldie unveil Drona merchandise
Where: Big Bazaar, Pheonix Mills, Mumbai
When: Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Present at the Event: Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra and Goldie Behl

What: Abhishek promotes Drona in Bigg Boss house
where: Bigg Boss House, Lonavla, Maharashtra, India
Spotted at the Event: Abhishek Bachchan, Goldie Behl, Shilpa Shetty

What: Drona music launch
Where: The Leela Hotel, Mumbai
When: Saturday (night), 06 September 08
Present at the Event: Abhishek Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Harry Baweja, Goldie Behl, Sonali Bendre, Shrishti Arya, Sunil Lulla, Krishika Lulla and others

The occupation of stunt (body) doubles is dwindling as more and more stars are taking on their own thrills and spills. The latest example is found on the sets of Goldie Behl’s Drona, starring Abhishek Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra.

Earlier, it was reported that Chopra had taken on a traditional Sikh martial art called Gatka for her role. Now Junior B has pushed aside any stuntmen and worked very diligently to buff himself up in preparation of doing his own stunts.

Essaying the lead character of Drona, Bachchan was seen shooting at the famous Sambhar Lake, on horseback, while wielding a sword in conflict with the villain Kay Kay Menon.

Drona is a fantasy flick mixed with plenty of action, adventure, drama and special effects. It is set to release in the summer of 2008.

It’s amazing the lengths those in the industry will go to in order to get into or out of item numbers and the reasons for them.

Apparently, Goldie Behl already has his leading man for his new film Drona, that being his childhood friend Abhishek Bachchan, this even after their debacle Bas Itna Sa Khwab. He has also cast Priyanka Chopra as his leading lady. Behl’s dilemma now, is finding an item girl for a dance number in the film.

One would think, that when Behl, through Bachchan, offered the item number to Aishwarya she would jump at the chance to be in another film with her hubby. Not so. Ash took only a minor consideration to the idea before reportedly refusing both of them.

So, the dynamic duo of Bachchan and Behl then reportedly approached the dusky damsel Bipasha Basu. All seemed well, even though Basu’s condition was that the song would outshine her performance in Beedi Jalaiyle.

But things turned awry once again when Bips started getting a little nervous about Chopra edging her out of the limelight, when she realized that Priyanka would be sharing screen space and joining her in shaking a leg in the same number. This resulted in Bips stepping back and opting out of Drona.

So as they say in the industry, “It’s back to the drawing board.”