Bollywood News

Has popular star-son Abhishek Bachchan got his wife-to-be Aishwarya Rai pregnant?

Looking at the following picture, that does seem to be the case. But this picture is a still from the soon to be released film Guru, in which both actors star.

In the first view anyone can believe this to be true but yes who knows the real deal

Indipop had been given a quiet burial, here’s some news—the genre has suddenly surfaced again. Seven nonfilm albums were recently released in the span of 10 days, by artistes ranging from the happening Asha Bhosle and Sukhvinder to ghosts from the past like Baba Sehgal, Anaida and Mehnaz. Another five albums are in the pipeline, including Ustad Sultan Khan’s sur sangam with Shreya Ghosal and Sunidhi Chauhan, aptly titled Ustad And Divas.
The question is: Why? As everyone knows, Indipop, or most nonfilm albums for that matter, are losers in a country where film music holds tremendous sway. Why, then, the renewed rush?
Shamir Tandon, composer of Asha Bhosle’s new album, Asha And Friends, while admitting that pop music does not sell, claims that his new venture was born out of his “convictions’’. “I want to create a market for something other than film music,’’ says the bespectacled composer who did the music for Madhur Bhandarkar’s Corporate. “I want to change the status of singers, who go unnoticed while lip-syncing actors hog the limelight. In the West, pop singers have cult status, and it’s time India gave a similar standing to some of its leading talent.’’
Asha And Friends has people like Brett Lee, Urmila Matondkar and Sanjay Dutt accompanying the songstress (who mystifyingly remarks that Dutt’s “is the one voice after Kishore Kumar’s that has an absolutely distinct base quality to it’’). The diva is confident of her album selling very well, an optimism perhaps born out of the knowledge that an earlier album, Jaanam Samjha Karo, was a craze. “But two of her later albums didn’t set the market on fire,’’ says a music industry source.
But here’s a little secret of the pop industry: it doesn’t really matter whether you notch up sales or not since pop albums are more about business strategies than music. As Kulmeet Makkar, CEO of Saregama India Ltd explains, it makes good business sense for a company to back private albums because in 90 per cent of the cases the companies that own the album also manage the careers of the pop artistes. “The investment is made to create the artiste as a brand with possibilities of different revenue streams,’’ adds Makkar. Tandon corroborates this: “When I with EMI Virgin for nine years, we collected robust revenues on the shows we did with Shaan and Shubha Mudgal

Hrithik Roshan is indebted to the police in more ways than one. The actor and his father, producer Rakesh Roshan, along with TV personality Shekhar Suman, lawyer Majeed Memon and an assortment of politicians, hoteliers, businessmen and ordinary citizens collectively owe the state Rs 2 crore for protection provided them by the police. The state government on Thursday submitted a list of 167 defaulters from across the state to the Bombay high court.Hearing a public interest litigation by city advocate M P Vashi on the government’s failure to recover its dues, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Harjit Singh Bedi and Justice V M Kanade directed the state to file an affidavit to detail the action taken by it.

Navi Mumbai resident Vijay Chaugule tops the list of defaulters, owing over Rs 23 lakh to the police. Film-maker Rakesh Roshan, who survived an attempt on his life by the Chhota Shakeel gang in 2000, owes them Rs 3.52 lakh, while actor son Hrithik owes Rs 3.40 lakh.Criminal lawyer Majeed Memon, who was recently appointed general-secretary of the NCP, owes Rs 2.72 lakh for the protection given to him after he was shot at by Ravi Pujari gangsters. Other defaulters include Ulhasnagar strongman Pappu Kalani’s son Om Kalani (Rs 4.86 lakh), ex-minister Anant Tare (Rs 5.07 lakh), hotelier Gurvinder Singh Bawa (Rs 5.99 lakh) and Sindhudurg MLA Shivram Dalvi (Rs 1.30 lakh).Assistant government pleader Vishal Phal told the court that the government had withdrawn security to many of the defaulters and issued notices of attachment of properties to recover dues.

There are two types of security provided by the police. The first is categorised security, where the government assesses the threat perception of a public figure and on its own provides armed guards or vehicles under categories A,B,C and C+ free of cost. The other type is non-categorised security and is given to individuals who seek security cover. The 167 defaulters are on this list.

Dhoom 2, which will release on Friday across the country, will not be shown in the PVR and Fun Republic Cinemas multiplexes in Delhi. The reason? The cut in the profit margins, or the ticketsharing revenue that the producerdistributor, Yash Raj Films has asked for from these multiplexes is a bit on the high side. Multiplexes in Mumbai are, however, expected to screen the movie.

“They were demanding a 50% share in the first week, as against the 48%, which is the norm. There is a certain distributor share that we negotiate before taking the movie to our screens. But for Dhoom 2 they want a higher share. It was pretty reasonable for Fanaa but for this film, the amount they have quoted was not worth it,’’ says Ashish Saxena, COO, Film Cell, PRV Cinemas.But the spokesperson for Yash Raj Films counters, “I am not aware of any distributor dispute regarding Dhoom 2. We’ve always had a tieup with Adlabs. But this time, we have struck a good bargain with the theatres in the rest of the country and we are releasing Dhoom 2 with 900 plus prints. We are happy that the film is already receiving fabulous reports.’’ Apparently, Yash Raj Films never considered Fun Republic Cinema because they had declined to release Fanaa earlier.

But according to trade analyst Amod Mehra, “It is unethical for any distributor to make outrageous demands. This matter should be dealt with collectively at the association level. Individual demands should not be entertained.’’It’s a thought that is echoed by Ramesh Sippy of BRA Films. “An amicable solution to this kind of stalemate is long overdue. The distributors and the exhibitors associations must reach a settlement because it has become a precedent that on the release of every big banner film, one party or the other raises its head and creates a problem.’’

The fact that Avineshwar, the sender of the parcel to Aishwarya Rai, is a Dutch national has put a question mark over the fate of the customs probe in Mumbai.The photocopy of the passport that Avineshwar sent with the articles and 23,000 euros to Aishwarya from Rotterdam in September this year showed that it had been issued by the government of Netherlands, sources said. Although Mumbai customs have sought information on Avineshwar through the external affairs ministry, how far the probe will go remains to be seen.

A Dutch journalist, Monica Beek, has claimed to have met Avineshwar last week. However, customs commissioner A K Prasad said, “We cannot confirm or deny the claims. No one from my department has met him. We know as much of him today as we did two days ago.’’ Beek has claimed that Avineshwar told her that he was a scriptwriter in Hindi,Dutch and Sanskrit and often sent gifts to filmstars and also wrote to them. Customs officers said if the claims were true it was necessary to do a bigger probe since he could have been used by a currency smuggling ring to send currency into India.

But the fact that Avineshwar is a foreign national may cause problems. “First we have to establish that he is the same person who sent the parcel. His nationality makes it that much more difficult for Indian customs to get him. Though we may allege that he has smuggled cash into Indian territory, he is not covered by Indian law. It should also be an offence under Dutch laws,’’ said an officer.So far, it is only an infraction of the Dutch law—that is misdeclaration of goods exported, which may be punishable with a penalty. He cannot be deported unless it is also an offence under their law.“But even before that, for Indian agencies to officially question him we will have to make a case before the Dutch courts. A letters rogatory will have to be issued by an Indian court to the Dutch court, seeking to interrogate him. That is a time-consuming process. Then, a commission will be sent to Netherlands.”

Customs may not find it worth its while to invest so much time and energy on a case involving 23,000 euros. It is easier to just confiscate the money.Girish Kulkarni, lawyer for Aishwarya, when asked if they were planning to sue Avineshwar for defamation or causing mental distress, said, “The notice will have to be served there. Though we have not discussed it, we would like to take it up with I the I ment there and ask them to take action against him.’’

Sadi Punjabi girls whose real names are Neena and Veena, are on a roll—they are rocking Hollywood,The identical sisters— voted America’s sexiest twins—already have a long list of admirers and a celebrity fan list that’s as long as the distance from Patiala to Pennsylvania. Their song and dance routine has hypnotised the West, enough to have the likes of Jenna Elfman and Steven Tyler of rock legend Aerosmith, and current Latino flavour Ricky Martin rooting for the ‘kudis’, who have featured in the videos of these stars and performed in hundreds of international shows.

In fact, so pervasive has been their influence on contemporary dance forms that they are credited with popularising and bringing into the mainstream belly dancing in America. Those in entertainment circles say Britney Spears and Shakira, too, haven’t remained unaffected by what Neena and Veena dish out. How could they? Some of the 12 fitness videos they have starred in have had long runs on Billboard Top Ten charts, selling over 4 million copies worldwide. Now considered to be a part of the Hollywood A-list, it hasn’t been an easy ride for the girls, though. “In the entertainment field, it’s not easy to be a working performer for anyone, especially Indian women. Thousands and thousands of people come to Hollywood every week to become a star,’’ Veena told TOI in an e-mail. “Neena and I have been very lucky to constantly get work as actors, singers, voice-over artists and, of course, dancers. It was a very hard climb for us in the beginning.’’

Asked how they got hooked to belly dancing, hooking large hordes of the glitterati in the process, they say, “We started belly dancing as an exercise, when everyone said it would not work (as money spinning showbiz item). But today belly dancing is a multi-million dollar industry.’’

1,500 Samajwadi Party members were arrested on Tuesday from different parts of the city on charges of unlawful assembly when they were on their way to Shivaji Park at Dadar to attend a rally.including seven women, were arrested from Sanjay Nagar at Kandivli for shouting slogans on Tuesday afternoon. They were released later in the evening after local Samajwadi Party leaders produced a personal bond. TNN Big B may be forced to enter politics, Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar S i n g h warned Tuesday that Amitabh B a ch ch a n would be compelled to enter politics “if he (the actor) was pushed to the wall’’. Singh added that in the past the Congress had taken Bachchan’s help to defeat H N Bahuguna in the Allahabad parliamentary polls. “The Samajwadi Party won’t stoop to the level of the Congress and use Bachchan for partisan reasons. But if the Congress continues to ill treat the actor then the latter will have no choice but join politics,’’ said Singh.

Bachchan is a close friend to Singh, said despite provocations the actor has maintained his dignity. But if someone is pushed around too much then he is certain to react, he warned. On whether he had discussed the issue with Big B before making the statement, Singh avoided giving a direct reply. But given Singh’s proximity to the Bachchans it seemed unlikely that he would make such a statement without discussing the matter with the actor

However, late on Tusesday Bachchan clarified that he will never join politics.The immediate provocation for Singh’s outburst was the Congress’ opposition to the conferring of the Yash Bharti award on Abhishek Bachchan by the SP-led government in Uttar Pradesh. The award was also given to cricketer Mohammed Kaif. But the Congress targeted only Abhishek, thus making their intentions clear, Singh observed.

Miss Great Britain has just scored its most riveting success ever, instelling a 25 year-old UK -born Indian girl as the 21st century’s iconic visage.  Preeti Desai has become the very first person of Indian origin to win the Miss Great Britain title, thereby automatically entitled to the honour of representing the UK in the Miss Universe contest, where the beauteous charms of each country’s contestants are usually seen to typify an idealised state of its womanhood. But Desai, who has just replaced the original Miss GB winner, Danielle Lloyd, after she was stripped of the award for reportedly dating one of the contest’s judges and agreeing to pose for Playboy magazine, comes to the title in an extraordinary way.

On Tuesday, close-mouthed spokespersons for the Miss GB contest unwillingly admitted to TOI that Desai had been appointed Britain’s most beautiful woman by the unorthodox means of “text message and phone voting by readers of The Sun newspaper’’. The tabloid trumpeted its decision with the bald, if bullish, announcement, “Meet new Miss Great Britain Preeti Desai, who landed the title after being chosen by Sun readers to replace sacked original winner Danielle Lloyd. Now the 25-year-old, from North Yorks, has been catapulted onto the world stage, where she will represent the country.’’ Preeti can’t be a role-model: UK Indians
London: In a reference to Preeti Desai’s notionally rural origins from India, The Sun patronisingly said that the prize was “not bad for a beauty contest novice whose mum, Hema, arrived in Britain after being brought up in a poverty-stricken Indian village’’. The tabloid added, “She (Hema) arrived in the UK, unable to speak English, just before Preeti was born’’.The saga of Britain’s first Indian Miss GB is seen to be something of a turning point for the country’s 1.3 millionstrong Indian diaspora, which has, so far, left beauty pageants to more flamboyant and less geeky immigrant communities.

Desai, she had played an untemarkable tenure as Miss Great Britain, post will stay up May. This year’s original Miss Great Britain was just recently divested of the title leaving a vacancy.

Desai’s family-mother Hema, Father-Jitu, and sister Anjlee are said to be ecstatic at her win, she is about 5feet and 8 inches,Her mother said, “When she was crowned Miss Great Britain she rang to tell me and said, ‘The crown is for you.’ I burst into tears. I felt as if I won that crown. I felt as if I am Miss Great Britain.”

The Miss Great Britain is aslo called as Bathing Beauty Queen, This contest has chequered history.

This week has been quite a starcrossed week for our beauties. Rani Mukherji was embroiled in a controversy with the media in Varanasi. After a long day of verbal blows, the issue has dwindled. The customs have been looking at Aishwarya Rai suspiciously about a certain package she received with an enormous sum of moolah in it. She’s given no comments about it, though the media has given all its headline space to the lady. ofertas de trabajo
Then not so far behind is the Queen of controversy — Mallika Sherawat who’s at the receiving end. Thankfully, it’s not from the media this time. A person from Ms Sherawat’s own community, a Jat, has been tormenting her with death threats for her alleged comments on the Jat community. Of course, her clarifications followed, along with her bold claims, “Death threats do not scare me.” That’s the real Sherawat style. The demure Katrina Kaif was also in the center of a storm. Nothing to do with Salman Khan, instead, the court issued a notice to the actor for wearing a knee-length skirt inside the premises of a dargah while filming a sequence for Namaste London. And last but not the least, the Hollywood beauty shooting in India, Angelina Jolie, was the ‘storm-stealer’ — even her bodyguard accused of unruly behavior made it to the headlines. We think all our damsels in distress should get together to ward off the evil. But that will be another controversy again, what say? In the meanwhile, it’s for the BT readers to decide who you’ll wish to crown as the controversy Queen of the week!

Chhatrapal, everything was fair in love. Restless to ‘‘settle down’’ with his lady love and inspired by the Bollywood flick Dhoom, he hatched the plot to abduct three-year-old Anant, the only son of Adobe India CEO Naresh Gupta, and become rich overnight. Chhatrapal after watching Dhoom, decided to use a bike for the kidnapping. Aware that he could not possibly use his motorcycle for the act, he looted one from his locality.Having lied to his girlfriend about his ‘‘sound financial status’’, Chhatrapal wanted big bucks to keep his romance going. He had reportedly told this girl hailing from a middle-class family in Delhi that he owned a house in Noida’s posh Sector 15-A. In reality, he was helping out his father Satpal Singh, an ex-serviceman, run a Mother Dairy booth at the same sector.
Running the booth did not bring him good money. He decided to kidnap Anant and use the ransom amount to set up a business so that he could marry his beloved, said Noida senior superintendent of police R K S Rathor.

‘‘Chhatrapal had been a total failure. He had even failed in his high school exam but somehow managed to complete his BSc. However, he didn’t land a job. So, he started helping his father run his milk and vegetable booth, 50 metres from Gupta’s opulent house,’’ he said.Two years ago, Chhatrapal, who has ‘‘a fairly impressive personality’’, had even tried his luck in Bollywood and given himself an alias, Dev, inspired by Dev Anand. ‘‘Though he claims to have landed the lead role in a telefilm, he failed to stick around, and returned to his modest job in Delhi,’’ said Rathor.Frustrated by low earnings, he started thinking of ways to become rich and his relationship with the woman. And then came the abduction plan. An outstanding motorcycle rider, according to an UP Police Special Task Force official, Chhatrapal after watching Dhoom, decided to use a bike for the kidnapping. Aware that he could not possibly use his motorcycle for the act, he looted one from his locality.