Bollywood films have emerged as the second most requested genre by one million digital customers of a leading American channel's International Movies On Demand (IMOD) service.

"Due to the success of this campaign, we wanted to expand our international offerings. We launched IMOD earlier this year," said Suzanne Giuliani, director, public relations, Time Warner Cable of New York and New Jersey, of its team-up with BODVOD.

A report stating that J.P. Dutta has paid Abhishek Bachchan a mere Rs 5 lakhs for his role in Umrao Jaan has the filmmaker withdrawing into an angry and hurt shell. "I’d not like to say anything on this. Why don't you ask Abhishek and Ash what they've been paid? Abhishek is like my own child. And I'd certainly not exploit him. What I object to is the statement that I normally don't pay my stars. That's not just untrue but defamatory. My lawyers are looking into taking action," says JP, and clams up.

You couldn’t have missed the long diamond, ruby and emerald strands encircling Aishwarya Rai’s neck or the diamond and emerald rings adorning Abhishek Bachchan’s fingers in Umrao Jaan. From designer Anna Singh’s flowing yards to the stone stunners on leading lady Aishwarya, the entire look of Umrao Jaan exudes an old-world charm.

So finally ‘Umrao Jaan’, the much-awaited modern epic is here. And plenty has been said of it - much like for most other ‘re-inspirations’ too. But the one thing that everyone is unanimous about is the screen chemistry of Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan.

In its first weekend of release, with the Indian media determined to label the film a domestic flop, Umrao Jaan has done very well overseas, especially in the USA, where it manages to rake in close to a half million in collections.

While J.P Dutta's Umrao Jaan starring Aishwarya Rai and Abhishekh Bachchan hasn’t done well at the box office in India, the reports from the overseas are certainly looking up.

Adlabs is the worldwide distributor of Umrao Jaan. Adlabs Films COO Sunir Khetarpal informs, "Umrao Jaan is doing better business in the overseas then in India."

Umrao Jaan is all set to release on 3 November and expectations are high from this Abhishekh Bachchan - Aishwarya Rai starrer, which is directed by J.P. Dutta. The film's art director Bijon Das Gupta says, "Don't expect to see Devdas-like sets in Umrao Jaan."