Month: June 2009

I am from a good family, so give me bail

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Mumbai, June 30: Shiney applies for bail even as forensic report on Monday confirmed that the semen sample taken from maid’s body matches the star’s DNA

The Forensic Science Laboratory at Kalina on Monday confirmed that the semen sample in the vaginal swab of the maid who alleged rape, matched with the DNA of the accused, actor Shiney Ahuja.

Regardless, Shiney moved the Sessions Court last week for bail on the ground that “he is from a good family” and that some of his films are only half done and “need to be completed”.

Irfan Pathan to marry his girlfriend Shivangi

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Vadodara, June 30: It’s a decision that could break a million hearts. ‘Baroda bomber’ Irfan Pathan is set to marry long-time friend Shivangi Dev, an Indian diplomat in Australia. Pathan, who has known Shivangi for the past six years, told that their parents had finally given their nod to the wedding.

“We know each other really well now,” said a blushing Irfan, who first met his lady-love in Canberra in 2003. The younger Pathan, however, is sure of the venue. “It will take some time but certainly in Vadodara. It will be a traditional wedding,” he said.

Bogus cards in A.P.: all-party meet sought

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Hyderabad, June 30: A round-table of various political parties held here on Monday adopted a resolution seeking an all-party meeting on weeding out bogus cards so that not a single deserving person was deprived of white ration card.

Madoff gets max 150 yrs in prison

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New York, June 30: Bernard Madoff has been sentenced to the maximum 150 years in prison for his multibillion-dollar fraud scheme.

US District Judge Denny Chin handed down the sentence in New York today.

Defense attorneys had sought 12 years, while prosecutors wanted the maximum. The federal probation department had recommended 50 years.

Chin called the fraud “staggering” and noted that it spanned more than 20 years. He says “the breach of trust was massive.”

Bollywood can come to Kashmir if people support: Subhash Ghai

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Chandigarh,June 30: Filmmaker Subhash Ghai says Bollywood would love to return to Kashmir once again provided the industry gets ”people’s support”. ”Political will is there, but till the time people support us, things cannot change,” Ghai said in an interview here.

The director, famously known as showman for his blockbusters like ‘Karz’, ‘Kalicharan’ and ‘Taal’, said that the situation in the militancy-hit state had improved considerably.

When Michael Jackson came to Manikganj

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London, June 30: In the year 2000 I was directing a documentary on the impact of satellite television in South Asia. The skies had opened up with the ‘dish’ technology over this region and, in turn, it had opened the floodgates for a new cultural universe.

Top Manipuri actress arrested for terror links

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Imphal, June 30: Popular Manipuri actress Urikhinbam Devita was arrested by police on charges of terror links after she was caught from a hotel room in New Delhi with a top separatist leader, police said here Tuesday.

A police spokesperson said the award winning 24-year-old film star was arrested from Imphal airport Monday evening upon her return from New Delhi.

“Devita was arrested and is being interrogated,” the official said without elaborating on the nature of her crime.

Haj passports without police verification: Centre

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New Delhi, June 30: To ease issuance of temporary passports to Haj pilgrims, the Centre has decided to do away with police verification of those planning to go to the holy city of Mecca to perform Haj.

The Haj Committee of India today said the decision to this effect came after two meetings in Delhi and Bangalore on June eight and ten, chaired by N Ravi, Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs.

The issue of Haj passport for Saudi Arabia will be valid for eight months only and this will not be renewed.

Anand Model should be replicated for inclusive growth

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Mumbai, June 30: Traditional growth models are the legacy of the industrialization era that started a couple of centuries ago. The approach meant leveraging lowest cost resources with an aim of maximizing benefits to the owners of the enterprise. It is apparent now that pursuing a growth model that brings prosperity to a few while leaving the majority out of the ambit of its benefits is only furthering the gap between the haves and have not. There is a need to change that for inclusive growth, and the ‘Anand experience’ provides an excellent model.

Salman can’t see Katrina getting intimate with other heroes

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Mumbai, June 30: Even as Bipasha Basu rushed back from Goa to Mumbai to watch her boyfriend John Abraham’s career-defining performance in New York, the film’s leading lady Katrina Kaif whose performance has been bathed in praise is yet to convince her companion to watch what the world is raving about.

Yes, believe it or not, Salman has not watched New York as yet. Katrina hasn’t been able to convince him to do so. He won’t watch it now, he won’t watch later. Period.

Abhishek and I are brutally frank with each other

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Mumbai, June 30: Verve’s undisputed power cover girl, India’s highest paid, most in-demand actor; international face of the country; recipient of a myriad film awards and the big daddy of them all, a Padma Shri, reminds me of a little girl on a Ferris wheel – spinning ever upwards, almost out of control in the frenzy of her life.

Today, she is closeted in her vanity van at N. D. Studio in Karjat with make-up artist, Ojas. She is busy putting on a face, which to me seems so unnecessary!

Hrithik-Barbara friendship is getting undue attention

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Mumbai, June 30: You heard this at SantaBanta first. The two versions of the much talked-about Kites in English and Hindi, will basically be the same.

Anurag refutes the report that the steamy scenes in the two versions will be different in Hindi and English. “We can’t cheat Hindi audiences. The steamy scenes will be the same in both versions. The visuals will remain unchanged in both.”

I didn’t fly to Mumbai to console Dhoni: Girlfriend

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Mumbai, June 30: Tamil actress Lakshmi Rai, who has been romantically linked with M.S. Dhoni, rubbishes reports that she flew down to Mumbai from here to console the Indian cricket skipper after the Indian team was ousted from the T20 World Cup.

A Tamil daily had published the report.

Muslim, and Hindu as well

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I am Hindu,” quips nine-year-old Sikander Kathat, swinging between the chairs on which his parents are sitting at their dhaba in Beawar, 50 kilometres from Ajmer. “Ask him if he can read the namaaz,” says his father Mithu Kathat, a tad flustered.

The child, a student of standard two, nods a ‘yes’. His mother Shanti Devi smiles and adds, “Only recently, we got him circumcised.

He is Muslim. Aren’t you?” Sikander just tilts his head in a half nod.

Shame that Maya spent Rs 1,000 cr on statues: Chidambaram

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Manamadurai, June 30: Slamming Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for spending Rs 1,000 crore to install her own statues, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has said the amount could have been used to provide basic amenities to the people and wipe out poverty.

“Of what use will be the statues in that state. The Rs 1,000 crore will help wipe out poverty of thousands of people, provide basic amenities and education,” he said, addressing a meeting to thank voters of his constituency Sivaganga on Sunday night.

Deepika sizzles on Vogue, but likes to keep it simple

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Mumbai, June 30: Vogue has yet another Bollywood hottie sizzling on it’s cover. Deepika Padukone sits pretty on the July issue of the fashion magazine, dressed in a Dolce and Gabbana.

With so many offers to adorn the cover of almost every fashion or film glossy, what does it take to get this former model get all excited about yet another photo shoot?

Urs Ajmer Sharif

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The urs, acommomerative celebration is held in the solemn memory of Khwaja Muin-nddin Chisti, a prighly respected sufi saint fondly revered as the benefactor of the poor, popularly known as Gareeb Nawaz. The Dargah Sharif in Ajmer, is the place where the Saints mortal remains lie burried and is the site of the largest Muslim Fair in India.

‘Kambakkht Ishq’ – of a supermodel, stuntman and Hollywood stars

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New Delhi, June 30: The box office is on a roll after a long lull thanks to Kabir Khan’s “New York” that got a good opening at the box office. Now the Hindi film industry is pinning its hopes on Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor’s much-hyped romantic comedy “Kambakkht Ishq” to keep the cash registers ringing.

Time to sing the requiem for Agra Gharana?

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Agra, June 30: The Rajputs passed it on to the Mughals, in whose courts the classical Hindustani music of Agra Gharana flourished. Now, however with few patrons and students left in the city of its origin, is it perhaps time to sing the requiem of the musical tradition?

The Agra Gharana flourished from the time of the Rajputs, after Faiyaz Khan in the 18th century gave it an identity and a definition, introducing several nuances through voice modulation and rhythmic patterns.

Now, Bal Thackeray wants burqa banned

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Mumbai, June 30: Taking his cue from Nicolas Sarkozy, Bal Thackeray has demanded a ban on the burqa.

In a strongly-worded editorial in Monday’s edition of party mouthpiece Saamana, the Shiv Sena patriarch praises the French president, deprecates the attitude of India’s “thakela-pakela (tired and bored)” rulers and warns against “the dangers of Islam”.
“I congratulate Sarkozy.

He is an ideal ruler. Their (French) rulers never appease the Muslims for vote-bank politics,” Thackeray writes in the editorial, asking”our rulers to ban the burqa and implement the uniform civil code.”

No bail for Satyam auditors: HC

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Hyderabad, June 30: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday dismissed the bail petitions of the former auditors of the scam-hit Satyam Computer Services.

The auditors — S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri — are co-accused in the multi-crore accounting scandal at Satyam and are currently lodged at the central prison in Hyderabad.

Hot ‘n sexy? Play on swanky Centre Court

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Mumbai, June 30: It’s a madness which world’s best female players could make no sense of, but now it emerges that there was a method to it.

According to a British newspaper, the reason why Dinara Safina (world No.1), Serena Williams (world No.2) or Svetlana Kuznetsova (world No.5) are not getting to play on the prestigious Centre Court at Wimbledon is that they are pretty low on the glamour quotient.
When it comes to choosing which women play on Centre Court, good looks count for more than big shots.

Partition of India weakened Muslims: MQM

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Lahore, June 30: MQM chief Altaf Hussain has said the Partition of India in 1947 weakened Muslims, as it divided their power.

In an interview with Najam Sethi on Duniya News, Altaf said there would have been no Partition had the Congress accepted Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s 14 points.

Altaf said few people knew that even Allama Iqbal had not demanded a separate Pakistan in his famous Allahabad address in 1930. “He had, in fact, demanded the creation of Muslim states in the Muslim-majority areas,” he said, adding that Iqbal’s son justice (retired) Javed Iqbal could confirm this.

I suffered from excruciating pain: Shabana Azmi

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Mumbai, June 30: Shabana Azmi, who had put on 30 pounds to get into the skin of her character in Gurinder Chadha’s It’s a Wonderful Afterlife, says that she had risked her life in pushing her body to the edge at a sensitive age of 58 and that her doctors have now restricted her to a no-oil diet so that she could lose fat quickly.

Government talks consensus after religious rap

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New Delhi, June 30: Announce in haste and recant at leisure. The UPA Government’s penchant for making grandiose announcements without doing the necessary groundwork is beginning to rebound on its ministers. First it was HRD minister Kapil Sibal who drew flak and now it’s the turn of the new Union law minister Veerappa Moily.

His plans to amend laws that penalise homosexuality have roused the ire of religious groups, forcing the government and the party to backtrack.