For the 7th consecutive year, no one has been chosen for the country's highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Padma Vibhushan For Asha Bhosle, Padma Shri For Madhuri Dixit & M. Shyamalan
For the 7th consecutive year, no one has been chosen for the country's highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna.
"Aishwarya Rai Kanya Mahavidyalaya" On Amar Singh´s Birthday!
The foundation stone of 'Aishwarya Rai Kanya Mahavidyalaya', named obviously after the Bachchan 'bahu', is to be laid tomorrow in Daulatpur village under Fatehpur block of Barabanki district in Uttar Pradesh. The particular date of 27th January has been chosen because it also marks the birthday of Bachchans' family friend, Bhai Amar Singh of Samajwadi Party. Talking to us, retired I.A.S officer, Chandrama Prasad, who is looking after the arrangements, says that the 'Aishwarya Rai Kanya Mahavidyalaya' will later be affiliated to the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education). The school will be run by veteran actress Jaya Prada's 'Nishtha Foundation' and she will be helped by Amar Singh.
Fans don't know where to draw the line: Anupam Kher
Mumbai, (IANS) Govinda isn't the only star to have been provoked by insolent fans. Veteran actor Anupam Kher has his own horror stories to tell and says such unfortunate incidents happen because people don't know where to draw the line.
"Recently in Baroda, while I was moving through a crowd, a man just pierced my thigh with a bobbin. I was stunned and bleeding. Luckily, I had the presence of mind to catch the man's hand. I asked him just one question. 'Why?' The man just looked at me, scared and confused," Anupam told IANS.
Anupam says that fans sometimes don't know where to draw the line.
"With the heroines, it's even worse. On so many occasions while shooting in public places the crowd has got over-familiar and started passing filthy comments about actresses.
"Why is it that a mob is provoked to behave badly? I'm sure those molesters on New Year's Eve at Juhu would've remained civil if they hadn't been together in a crowd."
Recalling another incident near home, Anupam shudders, "I was caught in a Ganapati procession in Mumbai. First, the passers-by just saw me in my car, smiled and waved. As time passed they got aggressive and began to pound on my car windows and jump on my bonnet. It was really scary. At times like these it's very difficult to keep your cool."
Actor-politician Govinda scorched the headlines recently when he slapped an intruder on the sets of "Honey Hai to Money Hai".
For all those who have been wondering where Anupam has been after the Govinda slapping incident, the actor was shooting in Madhya Pradesh for "Hawai Dada" and phone networks don't work there.
"I'm against physical violence of any kind. But let me also add that Govinda isn't the kind of person who loses his temper easily. I've shot innumerable films with him. I've seen him remain calm through the worst crises.
"The provocation has to be really severe for him to have reacted the way he did. Having said that, I repeat, resorting to violence is no remedy, especially when you're in the limelight. I learnt this the hard way."
"There's a very thin dividing line between adulation and abuse. Those who adore us stars can also get excessively insistent and abusive."
Anupam recalls his own much-quoted incident of physical violence against a journalist many years ago.
"It was a very unfortunate incident, and I apologised publicly. No matter what the provocation is, it's wrong to get physical."
Amitabh buys land for 'Aishwarya' girls' school
The superstar seems to be giving a new twist to his intention of buying land after the Allahabad High Court decided to condone the alleged fraud and forgery through which 2.5 bighas (about 70,000 sq ft) of government land was allotted to him during the Mulayam Singh Yadav regime. The court had cancelled that allotment last year.
Now the superstar has bought some land from private farmers in the district's Daulatpur village, about 40 km from state capital Lucknow, on which he is setting up a high school for girls.
Bachchan professes that his sole intention in buying land was to build an educational institution. On Jan 27, he is to lay the foundation stone for the school to be named after his glamorous daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai.
Hectic preparations are on at the 10-bigha plot that Big B recently purchased from different farmers in Daulatpur village to build what has been christened the 'Aishwarya Rai Bachchan Girls Intermediate College', a school for higher secondary students.
The actor has never explained what attracted him to Barabanki - a place with which he does not have even a remote connection.
Why Bachchan changed his original plan of naming the school after his eminent poet father, the late Harivansh Rai Bachchan, is not known either.
"The school would be a boon for all the girls in this area who cannot traverse some 40-45 km to the nearest existing girls' school," says local village head Raj Kumari Devi, who is as excited as the youth in the village over the prospect of meeting the entire Bachchan family.
Amitabh is to be accompanied by wife Jaya, son Abhishek and Aishwarya. To add political spice to the show, there will be Bachchan family friend Amar Singh, the Samajwadi Party general secretary who was instrumental in getting Bachchan the earlier government land allotment in violation of laws.
Amar Singh is understood to be trying to ensure the participation of Samajwadi Party chief and former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, besides three former chief ministers - Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh), Farooq Abdullah (Jammu and Kashmir) and Om Prakash Chautala (Haryana). They are all members of what is known as the third front, the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA).
In an affidavit sworn before the high court that condoned Bachchan last month of forgery on the ground that he "was not involved in it", Bachchan had stated: "I purchased equivalent land in the same village and offered to donate it for construction of a school; why would I do that if I had any intention to usurp government land by fraudulent means?"
Replying to the state government's charges, the actor further argued: "So what if I am a non-resident of the village or even if my ancestors had not lived there? After all, there is no law to bar a non-resident to acquire land in a UP village."
According to the Uttar Pradesh government chief standing counsel Devendra Upadhaya, who argued the case against Bachchan: "The observation of the high court clearly showed that even the judge did not dispute the fact that some fraud or forgery was committed; but he felt that the surreptitious entry was not manipulated by Bachchan or carried out at his behest."
It looks as though Bachchan's idea behind the allotment was to safeguard the purchase of a huge 6-hectare farm in Pune district of Maharastra, where land revenue laws do not permit ownership of agricultural property by anyone other than a "farmer".
An obliging Uttar Pradesh administration under Mulayam Singh Yadav favoured Bachchan with a land record entry to give him the status of a "farmer". A certificate was promptly issued, allegedly under directions of Amar Singh. Later, on inquiry initiated by the Maharastra administration, Uttar Pradesh officials found the entry had been forged.
With his claim to the Pune farmland nearly forfeited, the mega star is apparently trying to prove that his only intent in acquiring land in Barabanki was to do start the girls' school.
Friday, January 25, 2008
India's first digital entertainment city in Hyderabad
The Andhra Pradesh government has joined hands with a consortium of animation and gaming firms and production houses to set up the project.
Under the public-private partnership initiative, the government and the consortium comprising FXLabs, Suresh Productions, DQ Entertainment and Gemini TV will also open an academy to offer courses in digital entertainment.
The work on the academy will begin in June and the first phase will be ready by December, said an official statement here late Friday.
The proposed digital city will also have incubators for start-up companies to make and test their products.
A special purpose vehicle called Digital Entertainment City Task Force (DECTF), comprising industry leaders and representatives of the government, has been formed. The government will allot 100 to 200 acres of land near Hyderabad, and the project is to be managed by the DECTF.
Aishwarya to pair with Rajnikant in 'Robot'
Aishwarya told the media that she would be pairing with Rajnikant in the movie being directed by Shankar. This will be her second project with Shankar after "Jeans", which released in 1998. She had starred opposite Prashant in "Jeans".
Two weeks ago, Shankar had signed up superstar Rajnikant for the lead role in "Robot". Since then, the media has speculated on Aishwarya or Deepika Padukone for the lead opposite Rajni.
According to the film industry sources, Shankar was in Mumbai with the script and the former Miss World responded positively after "having gone through the script thoroughly".
Even for Shankar's "Sivaji: The Boss", rumour mills had predicted Aishwarya as the female lead opposite Rajnikant, but low-profile Shriya Sharan was roped in at the end.
One of Rajnikant's daughters is also named Aishwarya. After the success of "Sivaji: The Boss", Shankar announced that he will repeat the 57-year-old actor in "Robot" - a Rs.1 billion film, which the industry predicts will be a greater success.
Both Rajni and Shankar are reportedly keen on "Robot" becoming an international success.
Maestro A.R. Rahman will compose the music. The film will be released in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages and will be distributed by London-based Ayingaran International.
King Khan, Preity Zinta bag teams in IPL bidding
Mukesh Ambani emerged as the highest bidder bagging the Mumbai team while liquor baron Dr.Vijay Mallya was not far behind when he won the bid for Bangalore. However, a surprising name among the winners of the bid was none other than Preity Zinta who has bagged the Mohali team.
One thing's for certain with such big names from entertainment and business world now associated with this event, apart from top cricketers, it will indeed be a spectacle when the season kicks of somewhere in the middle of this year.
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