Bollywood News

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.

Music director Pritam and actor Mallika Sherawat seem to be developing quite an affinity for each other — what else can one conclude when the two of them keep working together? After the good response to their earlier film Pyar Ke Side Effects, the two are looking forward to working together again in Fauj Mein Mauj. Considering the success of the music of the earlier film, we wonder if Mallika and Pritam are trying to compete with the Emraan Hashmi-Himesh Reshammiya combination?

But there was Income-tax sleuths have grilled Bollywood singer Himesh Reshammiya about the monetary transaction related to a musical programme in Surat on Saturday night.

They got married in Los Angeles, but the spectacle of the wedding between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes was here, in a 15th-century castle that evoked fairy tales and lit up with red, white and green fireworks for a cheering, celebrity-laden crowd. they got married in Los Angeles, but the spectacle of the wedding between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes was here, in a 15th-century castle that evoked fairy tales and lit up with red, white and green fireworks for a cheering, celebrity-laden crowd.

Ceremony was a lavish apex to perhaps the celebrity world’s most closely watched relationship, proclaimed with Cruise’s leap on Oprah Winfrey’s couch, bestowed with the nickname “TomKat” and raised to a new level seven months ago when Holmes gave birth to their daughter. The evening wedding was performed by a Scientology minister in front of more than 150 relatives and friends, including Jennifer Lopez and husband Marc Anthony, Will Smith and wife Jada Pinkett and Brooke Shields.

The couple flew out of Rome for a honeymoon in the Maldives.

Speedster(Brett Lee) has just recorded a music album with Asha Bhonsle and is looking for more Bollywood breaks.Australian bowler Brett Lee may have declined a film with Amitabh Bachchan recently, but the 29-year-old second fastest bowler in the world could not refuse a singing a duet with music diva Asha Bhonsle.

In the love song where a foreign boy woos an Indian girl, Lee strums the guitar and belts the number in English and Hindi. “Other than cricket, my passion is music. So when music director Shamir Tandon told me I’d be singing with a legend in India, I was glad, it’s like a playful love songs” says Lee.

Asha Bhonsle said “I have been an avid Cricket fan, so naturllay I know almost all cricket players.I knew Brett Lee could sing and strum.He’s young, goodlooking, intelligent and a singer,” she says.Asha was evidently charmed by Lee. “Somebody teased him about singing a love song with a woman, so I promptly insisted Lee should show a picture of mine to his wife. He smiled, saying his wife would have no problem as he has been very honest with her,” recalls Asha.Lee insists Asha doesn’t look her age (74), “She certainly doesn’t look her age. She is so stylishly dressed, but more importantly, I was glad for an opportunity to sing with her.”

Lee recorded the song in the gap of a week between the two matches in Chandigarh and Mohali before flying to Australia to be with his wife, who is due to deliver. “They know it’s a boy, so he was wondering if ‘Sachin’ Lee will be a good name for his son, since Lee adores Sachin,” says Asha. Lee, who is adept at singing the Hindi film song Muqabala Muqabala, says he is open to other offers in Bollywood. “I couldn’t do the film with Mr Bachchan, as I couldn’t devote the required 50 days, but if it doesn’t hamper my cricket, I would love to.” Asha gifted him a collection of her music as a parting gift.

Katrina Kaif went into the Ajmershareif dargah in Oct.photographs showed khadims of the Sufi shrine escorting her.They didn’t seem to have a problem that the pretty starlet was wearing skirts ,the skirt ended below her knees.

Ajmer Dargah committee, as this body is called has served a legel notice on kartrina kaif and three other actor shot some scenes for Vipul Shah’s.Vipul Shah apparently shot some scenes for his film with Katrina and Rishi Kapoor without the nod of the dargah committee. All those who witnessed the shoot, including many shrine officials, didn’t have a problem. But after newspapers published her pictures, some of these very people turned a conservative leaf and a hullabaloo erupted over the length of her outfit. When asked why nobody around Katrina objected then to her dress, some shrine officials said they had not noticed what she was wearing.

There was a issue on Rishi Kapoor, Vipul Shah and Shooting organiser Babu Bhai Ghosi.ll four have been warned that if they do not apologise then a case would be registered against them in court.Sarvar Chisti, spokesperson of the Anjuman—an elected body of the dargah’s khadims, said as the dress worn by the actor was well beneath her knees, it wasn’t considered objectionable.