'Mamata Banerjee made hawai chappals fashionable'....

Agnimitra Paul who showcased her collection on Day Four of the Lakme Fashion Week discusses how she would dress up Mamata Banerjee, Priyanka Gandhi and Amitabh Bachchan

What inspires your fashion, your designs, your creations...

I showcased Madhubani painting collection inspired by the Madhubani painters of Bihar. This collection is called Mystique Madhuban.

I used it because I think Madhubani painting has not been explored that much (by Indian fashion designers). Whenever we think of Madhubani paintings wall paintings come to our mind; at the most a few saris and posters. I think it is a beautiful craft and then I thought of doing this Indo-Western collection because I wanted to reach out to a global clientele. Foreigners who are very much interested in the Indian art and craft but their kind of silhouettes don't match with ours.

What does fashion mean to you?

Fashion to me is my attitude, my personality. It is a medium that helps my attitude and personality to be expressed.

'Rahul will become the PM'-CONGRESS....

Amid renewed debate over the Congress's prime ministerial candidate, the party on Tuesday expressed confidence that 'only' Rahul Gandhi will become the prime minister of India and take the country forward.

"All the workers and leaders of the Congress wish from the core of their heart that Rahul Gandhi becomes the prime minister of the country. We are confident that only Rahul will become the prime minister of the country," Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi told reporters.

Nuclear weapons: Who all have them, and how many?......

More than two dozen countries in the world have nuclear power, but only a few have nuclear weapons or are suspected of pursuing nuclear weapons, a latest report has revealed.

The combined findings of the Federation of American Scientists, CIA World Factbook, Nuclear Threat Initiative and the US Census Bureau were recently published by CNN.

We bring forth to our readers the list of nations sitting on a nuclear stockpile, based on the study findings:

Please to http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-nuclear-weapons-who-all-have-them-and-how-many/20130326.htm find out who all possess nuclear weapons, and how many...

Image: Smoke rises more than 60,000 feet into the air over Nagasaki from an atomic bomb, the second ever used in warfare, dropped from a B-29 Superfortress bomber in this U.S. Air Force photo dated August 9, 1945.
Photographs: Reuters 

Era of aggressive Test fields over - Dhoni......

MS Dhoni has said that while fielding strategies and placements on India's slow, low turners have re-written the conventional textbook around attack and defence, the assessment of pitches and tactics appeared somewhat slanted.

Sixteen wickets fell on day three and four innings were completed over three days at the Kotla as India finished its 4-0 creaming of Australia. When asked whether surfaces like those in Delhi were right for Test cricket, Dhoni's reply was sardonic and also contained his response to past criticism of his captaincy. "Well, you'll have to answer what is 'right' and what is 'wrong' because your opinion really counts ... When four fast bowlers play, it becomes strategy, when three spinners or four spinners play, it becomes a bad wicket."

He went on to give an example of how the interpretation of the same deep-field placements were different for different captains: "For Virender Sehwag, if you have a deep point and a deep-third man and a deep-square leg, it's a strategy. If MS Dhoni has a deep point and a deep-square leg for David Warner, it's a defensive field set. You have to see the mindset [of the batsman] and accordingly go ahead."

Dhoni also stated that the era of aggressive cricket, wherein having a mid-on up was common, has gone. Dhoni said: "The kind of cricket that we play has entirely changed … The era of seeing aggressive cricket, where you had to have a mid-on up, has gone." The in-out field, used in plenty by the Indians, has become the norm with positions distributed between fieldsmen in catching positions and the boundary riders.

In the Delhi Test, Dhoni described the offspinner's conventional field: "You have a short leg, a backward, and a slip. And you have three fielders - deep midwicket, long-on and deep-square leg." The latter three may have been conventionally considered boundary-saving, defensive fielders, but Dhoni said today's field placements had much to do with studying the comfort zone and mindset of individual batsmen. Whether to employ a mid-on or long-on fielder was a decision that had to be made through a flexible reading of different batsmen, he said, and not on whether to stop the single or the boundary against all batsmen or the scoreboard situation.

"You read the batsmen to see if he is in the mindset of rotating singles, if there's a mid-on, deep midwicket and four catching fielders, and if he can rotate every ball. If he's not having any problems, then you try to bring in the mid-on fielder or deep-midwicket fielder to build up the pressure."

If a batsman has more confidence going over the infield, "especially on wickets like these, it's important that you don't concede runs in a bunch". The aim of the deep fielders was, he said, to deny the batsman the boundaries and check the opposition scoreboard from racing ahead. At a time like that, Dhoni said, he was fine with the batsmen taking singles because it created more chances. "If you rotate [the strike] four times, you get four runs and [on] those four runs, you can get them out as many times."

Ojha keen for overseas success.....

 ojha,the India left-arm spinner, has played 22 Tests and is the third quickest Indian to reach 100 wickets, but is yet to play outside the subcontinent. Ojha said he wants to change that and is keen to prove himself in conditions outside home as well.

"I want to play and succeed in different parts of the world and in different conditions," Ojha told the BCCI website. "When you're playing on tracks like this [Delhi], as a spinner things are very simple for you. You don't have to try too many things and just focus on doing the simple things right. It will be a very big challenge for me to go abroad and pick wickets in some tough conditions."

Though Ojha has been a regular in India's Test team at home in the past couple of years, he was left out of the side for the first two Tests against Australia. He was part of the squad for India's last overseas tour, to Australia in 2011-12, but didn't get to play any of the Tests.

"My priority right now is to play more and more matches and not miss out on any cricket," Ojha said. "If I keep bowling, I'll keep my rhythm going and really, that's all I can do to prepare for the coming overseas season."

Ojha made his debut in 2009, initially forming a spin partnership with Harbhajan Singh and, later on, with R Ashwin. He said his bowling had evolved over the past four years. "I have begun to vary my pace; when I started playing, I didn't have much idea about how to vary my pace, use the crease and play around with the seam," he said. "I have started to do all that now, which has added the required variety to my bowling."

SCIENCE.....

THE NEXT WI-FI by Dr. Harald Haas of the University of Edinburgh

Here's the situation: our 5 billion mobile phones transmit 6 petabytes of data every month. We're running out of the radio frequencies that are used for wi-fi and cellular networks. Like many other great inventors, Haas developed a solution using things we have in abundance: chiefly the world's 14 billion lightbulbs. His system implants electronics in ordinary lightbulbs and uses subtle changes in light intensity to transmit data. It's fast, and since light doesn't go through walls, it's secure. 

Source : http://edition.cnn.com/2012/09/28/tech/lifi-haas-innovation?c&page=4 

Nokia 206 dual-SIM review....

Nokia announced the Nokia 206, along with the Nokia Asha 205, in November, last year. While both phones offer a dual-SIM option, the 206 does not feature a QWERTY keyboard. The Nokia 206 is also one of the first phones from Nokia to feature Nokia's new Slam technology, that lets users share files over Bluetooth without first having to pair their devices. We try to find out how capable the 206 is when it comes to being a budget dual-SIM phone.

The Nokia 206 is a regular 'bar' style feature phone and sports a 2.4-inch display. It has chiclet style keys, and a plastic navigation key. 

The phone has rounded corners, and a plastic back cover. The materials used in the phone feel durable, and there are no creaks if you apply pressure. The phone sports a 3.5mm headphone/headset jack and a 2.5mm charging port. It doesn't have a volume rocker or other physical buttons. There's a slot for the secondary SIM card on the left side of the phone that is protected by a plastic insert.

Although there's nothing that distinguishes the phone from other similar feature phones made by Nokia, physically, the phone looks compact and feels solid. The Nokia 206 is available in white, cyan, magenta and yellow colours, though we received a black coloured one.

Removing the back-cover reveals a battery compartment that houses a 1110mAh battery. A SIM card slot sits behind the battery, while a microSD card is located at the left side, adjacent to the slot for the secondary SIM card (but is accessible only when one removes the back cover). Unfortunately, the phone doesn't feature a Micro-USB port.

A 1.3-megapixel camera is located at the back, and takes average quality photos and videos. 
The phone offers easy Bluetooth file transfers through 'Slam' that allows users to share multimedia content like photos and videos without the need to pair devices, and without the recipient needing to also have Slam.  We couldn't test the feature as we didn't have another Slam-compatible device.

The Nokia 206 runs Nokia's Series 40 operating system, and comes with about 10MB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 32GB via a microSD card. The phone comes with the usual Nokia apps including Nokia Life (erstwhile Life Tools), Nokia Nearby, Facebook, Twitter, a chat app, eBuddy IM app and mobile messenger, Viber, among others. Nokia also offers gift pack of 10 free, premium content items that can be downloaded through the Nokia store, with the Nokia 206. We were not able to find a version of WhatsApp compatible with the phone.

Nokia 206 comes with the Nokia Xpress Browser that according to Nokia, reduces browsing costs by compressing data transferred by up to 90%. The phone doesn't offer Wi-Fi or 3G connectivity.

The phone features Nokia's EasySwap technology for dual-SIM models that enables the user to change SIM cards without having to turn off the device. However, if the user is busy on a call on one SIM, he won't be able to receive a call through the second one. Nokia offers a SIM manager app, which can also be invoked by long pressing the '*' key through which the user can select the default SIM for data, text messages, MMS and Mobile data, otherwise the phone comes up with a prompt each time he wants to use these features. The phone also has a 'Counters' app to track call duration, data and messaging use for each SIM card. 

The Nokia 206 also features an FM radio tuner and comes with the ability to record FM broadcasts on the memory card. The user needs to plug in headphones to listen to FM radio, though, which is a bit of a disappointment as a lot of feature phones are now offering headset-free FM radio playback.

The screen's brightness is adequate and under-sun visibility is average. Users can control the brightness and backlight timeout of the phone through its Settings menu. Although the left shortcut key is assigned to a 'Go to' menu through which users can access frequently used apps and settings, we feel that the Nokia could have added separate Menu items for the Camera app (which hides under Photos), and Gallery (which is placed under Apps). Also, a lot of third party apps are Java apps, which means they can't be minimised. But after using Viber (a mobile messaging app), we observed that the phone was hooking on to Edge without any notification, even though we were not able to configure our account on the app.

Overall, not much has changed when it comes to the user interface and experience, and if you've used a Nokia feature phone before, you'll be totally at home.

The phone was not able to play medium quality video files and stuttered even while playing low quality (320x240) ones. However, we did manange to stream YouTube videos without much buffering even on an Edge connection. It did play .mp3 files well, and the sound delivered through the speaker grill was decent, and didn't get distorted at high volume levels. Call quality and network reception was good.

The phone has a 1110mAh battery and we were able to get 2 days of usage time with about 2 hours of voice calls, an hour of listening to music, and some casual Internet browsing.

The Nokia 206 is available from Nokia's online store for Rs. 3,728. While, you can choose a budget Android phone made by the likes of Micromax, Karbonn and Spice by paying a few hundred rupees more, we're not big fans of these phones as the user experience delivered by them is sub-par. Also, we're assuming that users exploring feature phones would majorly use them for voice calls and texting. You can also look at Samsung's recently launched REX series (Review) of phones, if you're willing to pay a thousand rupees more. The Nokia X2-02 and Asha 202 are other decent options in the same price range.

source:ndtv
Nokia 206 specifications

• 2.4-inch 65k colour QVGA TFT display
• GSM 850/900/1800/1900
• GPRS/EDGE, 2.0 mm charger connector
• Bluetooth v2.1 with EDR, 3.5 mm AV connector
• Up to 10MB internal storage; up to 32GB micro-SD card support
• 1.3-megapixel camera
• Series 40
• Nokia Slam  
• 116mm x 49.4mm x 12.4mm
• 91.0g (including battery)
•  25 days standby / 20 hours talk-time (Dual-SIM)
• 
  

Bill Gates offering a million dollars for the 'next generation condom'

Got an idea how to come up with the 'next generation condom'? You may bag up to one million dollars from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The foundation is offering USD 100,000 of initial funding, with up to USD 1 million of possible continued funding to whoever comes up with a viable proposal. Ideas for a better condom are being accepted at GrandChallenges.org. Ideas that may prove too expensive for widespread use in the developing world, or those that doesn't do the job of preventing pregnancy or disease transmission will be dismissed right off the bat.

The next-generation condom challenge is part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's "Grand Challenges Explorations," a continuing initiative to fund programs geared toward improving the lot of the world's poorest citizens.

"To overcome persistent health and development problems, we need new, game-changing ideas," said Chris Wilson, Director of Global Health Discovery & Translational Science at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in a statement.

"Inspiration can come from anywhere and we are hopeful that this new round of Grand Challenges Explorations will uncover innovative approaches to improve lives around the world," Wilson added.

Through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his wife work to eradicate poverty and increase access to healthcare. Founded in 1994, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the largest private foundations in the world.

Now, with the USD 100,00 grant offered through the Grand Challenges in Global Health Program, they are hoping to find anyone - students, scientists or entrepreneurs - to reinvent the condom.

"The primary drawback from the male perspective is that condoms decrease pleasure as compared to no condom. So a 'next-generation' condom would, perhaps, find some way to increase sensation to get men to use them more often -- purely in the name of global health, of course," says a statement describing the requirements of the challenge.

"Female condoms, meanwhile, suffer from some of the same liabilities as male condoms, require proper insertion training and are substantially more expensive than their male counterparts," says the foundation.

Thus, the foundation thinks that a cheaper, simpler female condom might also help reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and spread of sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS.

Tamannaah is called ‘Milk’!.....

We've heard of people being nicknamed after eatables like Laddoo and Chikoo, but Tamannaah, it is learnt, is called Milk in South India. Apparently, the actress is called thus, considering her 'milky-white' complexion. 

When she started shooting for Sajid Khan'sHimmatwala, the film's hero Ajay Devgn and others were amazed to hear about her unique nickname. Interestingly, a number of cast and crew members of the film feel that Tamannaahis a lot like Karisma Kapoor. The enthusiasm and professionalism the young actress showed while working on the film reminded them of Lolo, who was known to not move on to the next shot till she had given the perfect take. 

To follo Tamannaah, visit www.follo.co.in/ tamannaah on your mobile.

Michael Clarke ruled out of IPL 6.....

CA said that Clarke would be able to be a part of the Australian team for the Ashes in England. (PTI Photo)MELBOURNE: Australian captain Michael Clarke was on Tuesday ruled out of IPL, starting next week, as he has been advised to take rest for at least seven weeks under the rehabilitation programme for his chronic back injury. 

Clarke, who was bought by Pune Warriors for $4,00,000 in the IPL auctions early this year, underwent scans for his back and hamstring problems soon after he arrived home from India where his side suffered a humiliating 0-4 Test series whitewash. 

Cricket Australia Chief Medical Officer Justin Paoloni said that Clarke would need at least 7-10 weeks rest as part of rehabilitation programme for the degenerative disc problem that has afflicted him since 17 years of age. 

Clarke missed the fourth and final Test against India in New Delhi, which Australia lost inside three days. 

"Michael Clarke had scans that confirmed his current lower back injury is an exacerbation of previous issues he has had with his spine. Michael is having intensive rehabilitation for both his back and hamstring but is still 7-10 weeks away from returning to training and playing," Paoloni said in a CA statement. 

"As always, we need to manage this carefully as there are potentially serious consequences with further aggravation. He still has pain with basic activities and is not back to full function as yet," he said. 

"Michael's intensive rehabilitation program will be overseen by the CA medical team and back specialists in Australia," he added. 

Clarke's injury status and the rehabilitation programme meant that he will miss the April 3-May 26 IPL. It also laid to rest speculations that he could be coaxed to captain Pune Warriors in the cash-rich Twenty20 League by offering two million dollars following reluctance shown by Yuvraj Singh. 

CA, however, said that Clarke would be able to be a part of the Australian team for the Ashes series in England in July-August. 

"He also has a hamstring injury that has been a concern for most of the summer and will complicate his return. We are confident that it will not affect his Ashes preparation but will know more over the coming weeks," CA said in the statement. 

On his early return home following his inability to regain fitness in time for the Delhi Test, Clarke had said he would "listen to the experts" regarding his battered and fatigued body and his IPL participation. 

"I'll have scans and spend plenty of time with physio, fingers crossed it turns out okay. I would be silly to make that decision (on the IPL) right now, I think I need to wait on the results, listen to the experts and then make a plan from there. 

"I've had my back issues since I was 17 years of age so this is no different. In regards to my hamstring I hurt it throughout the Australian summer and it has just lingered on. I haven't had the opportunity to get that 100 per cent fit due to how much cricket we've had."

source:timesofindia

Yahoo's new employee is 17 years old and a millionaire.....

One of Yahoo’s newest employees is a 17-year-old high school student in Britain. As of Monday, he is one of its richest, too.

One of Yahoo's newest employees is a 17-year-old high school student in Britain. As of Monday, he is one of its richest, too.

That student, Nick D'Aloisio, a programming whiz who wasn't even born when Yahoo was founded in 1994, sold his news-reading app, Summly, to the company on Monday for a sum said to be in the tens of millions of dollars. Yahoo said it would incorporate his algorithmic invention, which takes long-form stories and shortens them for readers using smartphones, in its own mobile apps, with Mr. D'Aloisio's help.

"I've still got a year and a half left at my high school," he said in a telephone interview on Monday. But he will make arrangements to test out of his classes and work from the Yahoo office in London, partly to abide by the company's new and much-debated policy that prohibits working from home.

D'Aloisio, who declined to comment on the price paid by Yahoo (the technology news site AllThingsD pegged the purchase price at about $30 million), was Summly's largest shareholder.

Summly's other investors, improbably enough, included Wendi Murdoch, Ashton Kutcher and Yoko Ono. The most important one was Li Ka-shing, the Hong Kong billionaire, whose investment fund supported D'Aloisio's idea early on, before it was even called Summly.

"They took a gamble on me when I was a 15-year-old," Mr. D'Aloisio said, by providing seed financing that let him hire employees and lease office space.

The fund read about Mr. D'Aloisio's early-stage app on TechCrunch, the Silicon Valley blog of record, found his e-mail address and startled him with a message expressing interest.

The others signed up later. "Because it was my first time around, people just wanted to help," he said.

For teenagers who fancy themselves entrepreneurs — and their parents, too — the news of the sale conjured up some feelings of inadequacy, but also awe. For Brian Wong, the 21-year-old founder of Kiip, a mobile rewards company, the reaction was downright laughable: "I feel old!"

A few years ago, Wong was described in the news media as the youngest person ever to receive venture capital funding. But a couple of younger founders came along — "and then Nick broke all of our records," Wong said on Monday.

Among the attributes that helped D'Aloisio, he said, was a preternatural ability to articulate exactly what he wanted Summly to be. "There were no umms, no uhhs, no hesitations, no insecurities," Wong said.

D'Aloisio, for his part, sounded somewhat uninterested in answering questions about his age on Monday. He acknowledged that it was an advantage in some pitch meetings, and certainly in the news media, "but so was the strength of the idea." He was more eager to talk about his new employer, Yahoo, which is trying to reinvent itself as a mobile-first technology company (having dropped the digital media tagline it used before Marissa Mayer became chief executive last year).

"People are kind of underestimating how powerful it's going to become and how much opportunity is there," he said.

For a company that badly wants to be labeled innovative, those words are worth a lot.

D'Aloisio's father, who works at Morgan Stanley, and his mother, a lawyer, had no special knowledge of technology. But they nurtured their son's fascination with it and he started coding at age 12. Eventually he decided to develop an app with what he calls an "automatic summarisation algorithm," one that "can take pre-existing long-form content and summarise it." In other words, it tries to solve a problem that is often summed up with the abbreviation tl;dr: "too long; didn't read."

Summly officially came online last November. By December, D'Aloisio was talking to Yahoo and other suitors.

Yahoo said in a statement that while the Summly app would be shut down, "we will acquire the technology and you'll see it come to life throughout Yahoo's mobile experiences soon."

Other news-reading apps have attracted corporate attention as of late, reflecting the scramble by media companies to adapt to skyrocketing traffic from mobile devices. The social networkLinkedIn was said to be pursuing an app called Pulse earlier this month. Still, the eight-figure payday for a teenage entrepreneur on Monday struck some as outlandish and set off speculation that Yahoo was willing to pay almost any price for "cool."

D'Aloisio, though, will have plenty of time to prove his and his algorithm's worth. As for the sizable paycheck from Yahoo, he said he did not have any specific plans for the sudden windfall. "It's going to be put into a trust fund and my parents will help manage it," he said.

He did say, however, that "angel investing could be really fun." When not working at Yahoo, he will keep up with his hobbies — cricket in particular — and set his sights on attending college at Oxford. His intended major is philosophy.

source timesofindia

Tiger Woods wins at Bay Hill to reclaim world No. 1 spot....

Tiger Woods holds the trophy after he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational PGA golf tournament. (Reuters Photo)

ORLANDO (Florida): Tiger Woods reclaimed the world number one ranking for the first time since October 2010 with a closing round of two-under 70 to capture the PGA Tour's Arnold Palmer Invitational on Monday.

Factfile | In Pics

With his eighth Bay Hill course triumph, 37-year-old Woods replaced Northern Ireland'sRory McIlroy atop the rankings and set the seal on an extraordinary comeback after a spectacular fall from personal and professional grace.

"I play well here," said Woods, who earned $1.08 million in prize money after a closing round of two-under 70. "That is about as simple as it gets. It is a by-product of hard work and patience."

It took an extra day, but Woods out-dueled fellow American Rickie Fowler down the stretch, winning the $6.2 million event by two strokes.

Woods has won 14 majors in his career and had previously spent a record 623 weeks on top of the world.

But he has not led the rankings for nearly three years, after injuries and an infamous scandal saw him stumble. Woods fell to his lowest rank on November 11, 2011 when he dropped to 58th in the world.

His woes began in 2009 when a US tabloid aired claims he had had an affair with a nightclub manageress. Two days later, amid speculation about his marriage, he was slightly injured when he crashed his car near his home.

In December of that year, Woods issued two statements admitting to serial marital infidelity and announced he would take a break from golf. He later said that he had undergone therapy to help him change his behavior.

He returned to golf at the 2010 Masters in April, but his marriage was over and his divorce with former model Elin Nordegren was granted in August. His game had clearly suffered during the turmoil and his return to the top took three years.

Last week, Woods announced that he was dating US ski star Lindsey Vonn, and this weekend's tournament seems to have confirmed his return to form.

"The first step in the process was getting healthy. Once I got there, then my game turned," Woods said. "I've won six times on the tour the last couple years. That's not bad."

Woods also claimed his 77th PGA Tour victory - his 99th professional victory - in his final tune-up event for next month's Masters.

The Monday finish followed a severe thunder storm on Sunday that postponed the fourth round. The storm swept across the Bay Hill Club & Lodge course with gusting winds toppling trees and television towers.

Woods and playing partner Fowler began on the third hole Monday and Woods quickly set the tone with birdies on a pair of par-fives.

He finished on 18 with a bogey but it was enough to reach 13-under 275, giving him the win and propelling him the Number One spot for the first time since October 2010.

"I am getting back to winning golf tournaments," Woods said. "I won some golf tournaments the last couple years so consequently I moved up."

Runner-up Justin Rose fired a two-under 70 to finish at 11-under while Fowler stumbled down the stretch, closing with a one-over 73 as he plummeted to a four-way tie for third at eight-under 280.

Fowler finished alongside Mark Wilson (71), Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (72) and Keegan Bradley (71).

Woods, who has won six times in his last 20 tournaments, attributes his recent success to learning how to juggle his family life with golf.

"It was a lot easier to work on the game and make all those changes when I was younger," he said Monday. "Having family responsibilities changes things. Trying to find the time to do it tests your time-management skills.

"I had to work differently. It was going to have to be done in short bursts. But I wouldn't trade it. My two little ones are the most important thing in my life."

Woods has now won 51 times in 55 tries when holding the lead entering the final round and is five wins shy of matching Sam Snead's all-time record on the PGA Tour.

He and Snead are also the only players to win the same tournament eight times with Snead doing it at the Greater Greensboro Open.

source:timesofindia

Sanjay Dutt to start dubbing for 'Zanjeer' this week....

Sanjay Dutt More Pics

Actor Sanjay Dutt, who has been sentenced to five years in jail in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, will start dubbing for " Zanjeer" Thursday, director Apoorva Lakhia said.

Lakhia said they require three days with Sanjay to complete the movie, a remake of 1973 hit of the same name that had starred Amitabh Bachchan in the lead role. 

Sanjay, who is playing Sher Khan, originally played by Pran, will start shooting soon after the return of Priyanka Chopra from Miami. Priyanka is playing the female lead opposite Telugu actor Ramcharan in both Hindi and Telugu versions of "Zanjeer". 

The Supreme Court, which last week upheld Sanjay's conviction under the Arms Act for illegally possessing weapons, and sent him to five years' imprisonment, asked him to surrender within four weeks of the verdict. 

"He is my friend and mentor. Personally, I can't comment much on the way he is feeling. Obviously he is feeling down, but he is taking this in his stride because he respects the constitution of India and the Supreme Court. I have been with him and he is doing pretty well," said Lakhia at a function organised to release the teasers of "Toofan", the Telugu version of "Zanjeer". 

Talking about Sanjay, Priyanka said: "For the industry and for me as his colleague and friend, it is a extremely sad moment. I wish the family strength and courage." 

She hoped that Sanjay would get some respite from the judiciary keeping in mind his family. 

"We all respect the law. What needs to be done, needs to be done," the actress said in obvious reference to the demand for Sanjay's pardon. 

Ramcharan Teja, the lead actor for the film, described it as unfortunate. 

"We love him. I have fond memories of him. He has been very kind to me. It is quite unfortunate. The whole industry is with him. We all support him. I hope the best happens to him and his family," he said. 

"Zanjeer" producer Amit Mehra said it would be released during summer. 

"'Toofan' is a big film on its own. Finding a date for their simultaneous release is very critical. We are going through that. We will announce the date shortly but it will be during summer," said Mehra, son of Prakash Mehra, the maker of the original "Zanjeer". 

Lakhia added "Zanjeer" is his interpretation of the iconic movie. "We have tried to make it as different as possible. It is a 'Zanjeer' of today. It is also a tribute to Prakash Mehra (director-producer of the original) and Amitabh Bacchan," he added. 

The director said when Amit Mehra approached him with the project, his only condition was that he would make the movie with Ramcharan as the hero.

source:tomesofindia

I am ready for marriage: Siddharth......

Siddharth More Pics 

Siddharth, 33, is an optimist and grew up being a linguist. He considers doing South films his job and Bollywood, his hobby. The actor-writer-singer and producer hopes to turn director some day. Ahead of his upcoming release 'Chashme Baddoor', he talks TOI about the superiority complex of Bollywood, his readiness for marriage and why Mani Ratnam will always remain his boss. Excerpts:

How did you get into films?
Born in Chennai, I am a Tamilian. I grew up in Chennai and Delhi. My father retired after working in Nestle for 37 years. Right from my childhood, my mother exposed me to a lot of music and films from across the world and I grew up wanting to be in films. Even though I had a happy childhood, I am not too nostalgic about it and was in a hurry to grow up. As children, you are not allowed to do what you want to. So, I was happy to be older as I could do what I wanted to. I was not too happy with my school life as the academic pressure on kids in Chennai is too high and I was happiest when I went to college. I went to college without an agenda. I went to school to just get out of school. My parents have always allowed me to be myself and are the best parents you can have. There were no beliefs enforced on me and they are both my friends, but wanted me to complete my education. I completed my management and managed to reach Mani Ratnam through email. He met me and even though I had no formal training and had just done theatre in Delhi, he acted on his instinct and hired me as his assistant director at 21, replacing Shaad Ali.

Are there are differences between the South film industry and Bollywood?
As a country, we really encourage mediocrity and we cherish it. We like to insulate ourselves fromthe rest of the world. People who prevent good work from happening are usually the people in power and that is the tragedy. I am not particularly fond of numbers, but in Bollywood, you will not see a small budget film doing 100 crores unlike in Chennai, where I am proud of the independent films being made with small budgets and sometimes without stars. And they still do well. While independent cinema is finally getting a voice in Bollywood, the numbers are small. The quality of films in Tamil is far better than Bollywood. Production value is not about making a film look pretty. Tamil cinema is far more realistic and the good thing is that even the common audience watches it.

In contrast, there is so little evidence of the front bencher watching good cinema in Bollywood. People are used to seeing films that have no relevance to their life and remains a medium of escape. When you make a film because another film did well, then that's the death of cinema. In Bollywood, films are made by watching films and not by watching life. We have a billion people, but only one way to watch a film. Marketing is fantastic in Bollywood. As stars in the South, we don't see as much promotion. People understand the making of the product better in the South and they understand marketing better in Bollywood.

What's your motivation for being a part of David Dhawan's Chashme Baddoor?
I am doing a Hindi film not because I want to further my film career here. I couldn't be bothered. I have no reason to come here and fight for a film. I am doing it only as David is a friend of mine and was wanting to work with me for five years. Also, I needed a break and wanted to take some time off. And the only way I could take the break while working is with David Dhawan. I do films that give me creative satisfaction, but I can do a Chashme Baddoor to be with friends, have fun and recharge my batteries. South Indian films is my job, Hindi cinema is my hobby.

Are there things about Bollywood you don't like?
It is an old prejudice that Bollywood has, about their willingness to take from the South but not willing to acknowledge it. The standard Bollywood mindset thinks of itself on top of the Indian film chain and that they are only below Hollywood. I refuse to let anybody else's superiority complex to become the truth. Mumbai's problem is that they assume that if some one has done a Hindi film they will want to move to Mumbai and do Bollywood. In reality, when you see stardom in one place, you don't want to become a newcomer at another place. You have no idea how much fame and money we make down South. We need to crossover within our country.

Are there are people responsible for your success in the film industry?
We are always in a hurry to figure out who our roles models for our youngsters are or whom they resemble. I want to be the best of myself. I have been lucky working with people who I grew up watching like Mani Ratnam and whom I have worked closely with. Had I not started with him, I would have been different. He is my boss and teacher and his obsession with the craft and the process of making films consumes you. He is an enigma and a private person in public. Those who don't know him will never know him and those who do know him, do so in a special way. I have worked with accomplished people at regular intervals. I am a greedy person and have learnt from everyone including David Dhawan who, even after having made 41 films, has this childlike enthusiasm working with newcomers.

Why have you always been silent about your affairs?
I speak to my family and friends. As it is, it is a difficult thing to make a relationship work. It is even more difficult to make a relationship work when you are in this business. And it is most difficult to make it work when every one is commenting on it. It is human decency to let people lead their personal lives. And I genuinely don't want to share my personal life with people whom I don't want to share it with. You can be my biggest fan, but that still does not give you the right over my personal life. You buy a film ticket; if you like the film, tell ten people. If you don't like the film, you will anyways tell a 100 people not to watch the film. I don't believe that a true fan deserves to know every personal detail about the star.

Do you see yourself getting married?
Absolutely. And I am ready for it. I hope to have a family with children and am hoping it happens soon. I have been written about with a lot of women. I have chosen not to respond. My family does not read gossip rags and what is in the paper today is the packing for a pakoda tomorrow. You can attribute a quote to a person without meeting him. The inverted comma is being molested beyond identity.

Editor's note: We could say two things for sure. One, the girl Siddharth is seeing is not Tamannah, and two, it is for sure Samantha. We eagerly await the marriage :-)

source:Times of india

Mahindra scooters receives 'Indian Design Mark' award....

Mahindra's Duro DZ and Rodeo RZ scooter have been awarded the 'Indian Design Mark' granted by the 'India Design Council'

It's glad tidings for Mahindra Two Wheelers Ltd (MTWL), as scooters from its portfolio, the Duro DZ and Rodeo RZ have received the prestigious India Design Mark. The India Design Mark is a design standard, which recognises good design. The criteria for this design award are form, function, quality and innovation. Apart from the above mentioned points other points which are important for a product to bag this award are usability, durability and aesthetics. 

On receiving this award, P S Ashok, Senior Vice President and Head (R&D and Pune Operations), MTWL, said, “We are honoured to receive the India Design Mark for two of our products. This accolade is testimony to the global appeal and style of the Duro DZ and the Rodeo RZ.”

Both the scooters are powered by the same 124.6cc, 4-stroke engine producing peak power of 8.1PS and 9Nm of torque. The Duroz DZ is marketed by Mahindra as a commuter scooter while the Rodeo RZ is looked upon as a youth oriented scooter.  

BSP politician shot dead in South Delhi firing....

New Delhi: A politician belonging to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was killed at his farmhouse here on Tuesday morning by two unidentified gunmen. 

Deepak Bharadwaj was shot dead after he had a tiff with the two men, who had entered his farmhouse in the Vasant Kunj area of South Delhi. 

The two men, who were in a black Skoda car, shot Bharadwaj after a heated argument at the latter’s farmhouse 'Nitish Kunj' at around 9:15 am. The duo fled after the firing. Two others also suffered injuries in the incident. 

"As they were talking, the two men took out firearms and opened fire at Bharadwaj. They then fled from the scene. The motive and the trigger for the firing is not immediately known. We are investigating the matter," a police official said. 

Police believe that the two attackers were known to Bharadwaj as they were allowed inside the farmhouse by his security guards. 

62-year-old Bharadwaj, who had contested the 2009 Lok Sabha elections on a BSP ticket and was one of the richest candidates at that time with assets worth around Rs 600 crores, was rushed to Army's Research and Referral Hospital near Dhaula Kuan where he succumbed to injuries nearby Fortis Hospital. 

Bharadwaj was also into education, hotel and real estate business. 

The incident came just months after liquor baron Ponty Chadha was also killed in a shootout at his farmhouse in South Delhi. Chadha was also close to BSP chief Mayawati. 

source:zeenews

IPL matches in TN only if no SL players, umpires, officials: Jayalalithaa

Chennai: As protests in support of the Sri Lankan Tamils continued, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Tuesday said IPL matches would be permitted in the state only if there were no Sri Lankan players, umpires, officials or support staff in these matches. 

"In view of the popular antipathy and anger in Tamil Nadu against the actions of the Government of Sri Lanka, the Government of Tamil Nadu is of the view that IPL matches involving Sri Lankan players, umpires and other officials should not be played in Tamil Nadu", she said. 

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, she said BCCI may be advised by the Centre to prevail upon the IPL Organizers not to allow Sri Lankan players, officials, umpires and support staff to take part in the tournament in the state. 

"The Government of Tamil Nadu will permit IPL matches to be held in Tamil Nadu only if the organizers provide an undertaking that no Sri Lankan players, umpires, officials or support staff would participate in these matches", she said. Jayalalithaa said the recent continous agitations in the state during the debate in the UNHRC have revealed the "great angst and anguish" among the people with regard to the highly emotive Sri Lankan Tamils issue. 

"In this surcharged atmosphere, the IPL cricket tournament is scheduled to be held at various locations, including Chennai from April 3 onwards and will go on for over a month till May 26", she said, noting that almost all participating teams have in their ranks Sri Lankan cricketers as their team members. 

Observing that the civil strife in Sri Lanka was a "lamentable saga of an ethnic pogrom" launched by the Lankan government against Tamils, she said, "These painful events of genocide of innocent Sri Lankan Tamils have had a deep impact amongst the people of Tamil Nadu...". 

"Recently, against the background of increasing and credible evidence of continuing atrocities against Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil Nadu witnessed mass agitations, hunger strikes, self-immolations and large-scale spontaneous involvement of many sections of society, including the student community, protesting against the Sri Lankan action against the Tamils", she said. 

Recalling her letter to him on the attack on Tamil Nadu fishermen allegedly by the Sri Lankan Navy, she said, "Understandably, their sentiments, too, have been hurt by these brutal and hostile acts of the Sri Lankan Navy". 

"All political parties in Tamil Nadu have repeatedly voiced their grave concern regarding these issues. The atmosphere is, therefore, already surcharged with a groundswell of popular public opinion against the Sri Lankan Government", she said. 

"In such a hostile and tense environment, we apprehend that the participation of Sri Lankan players in the IPL tournament, with many games to be played in Chennai, will aggravate an already surcharged atmosphere and further offend the sentiments of the people", Jayalalithaa said. 

Amid protests over the alleged brutal killing of slain LTTE chief V Prabhakaran's son, she had last month said that her government would not host the 20th Asian Athletics Championships here in July, saying that Lankan players have no place in the state. 

In September last year, Jayalalithaa had sent back a Lankan football team home and suspended a state official for allowing them to play a friendly match here. 

Today's decision on IPL matches comes close on the heels of attack on Sri Lankan Buddhist monks in the state, allegedly by pro-Tamil activists. 

source:zeenews