Month: January 2010

Why VEER didn’t have excessive special effects?

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Mumbai, January 27: VEER has released and though the film has seen mixed audience reaction ever since its release, it has been unanimously acknowledged by all that it carries the kind of grandeur which is rarely evidenced in Hindi films. The wide canvas feel of VEER has come for much appreciation and director Anil Sharma doesn’t deny the fact that making VEER was a painstaking exercise which involved hundreds of crew members, long schedules and ton loads of permissions.

Vidya Balan: I am not afraid of doing Jessica Lal film

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Mumbai, January 27: Author backed roles are in for Vidya Balan. Right from playing the title role of PARINEETA to being a modern day ‘maa’ in her last release PAA, Vidya has picked roles that have been substantial. And there has been an occasional EKLAVYA-THE ROYAL GUARD where she hardly had an appearance worth cheering about but that could be pardoned as ‘guru dakshina’ to her mentor Vidhu Vinod Chopra who got her PARINEETA and LAGE RAHO MUNNABHAI. And now she would be seen in yet another author backed role in NO ONE KILLED JESSICA where she plays the role of Sabrina Lal, Jessica’s sister.

Deepika gets ignored again

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New Delhi, January 27: It seems there is no end to the worries of Deepika Padukone. Even after the fact that Ranbir Kapoor is trying to get back to her, the actress is still going through a rough patch in her life. Now, the latest development has only added salt to her scars.

—Agencies

Akshay’s mistaken identity

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Mumbai, January 27: They are the namesakes in Bollywood. Yes, Akshay Kumar and Akshaye Khanna’s common first name is becoming the source of much confusion.

Now, the latest is that Akshay Kumar has been receiving all the shooting updates meant for Akshay Khanna. The sender of the text messages seems to have mistaken the identity of the two stars.

No money for Aashish Chaudhary

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Mumbai, January 27: Aashish Chaudhary is talking in hushed tones these days. The reason: well, the actor has not been paid his dues for the film THREE which released last year and starred Akshay Kapoor and Nausheen Ali Sardar opposite him.

Helen impressed by Maradona’s piety!

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Mumbai, January 27: Anyone who thinks that modern day youngsters are far away from piety and God, must meet Maradona Rebello. They would be just as surprised at the yesteryear siren Helen was on the sets of Anil Sharma’s DUNNO Y… NAA JANE KYUN, being directed by Sanjay Sharma.

Yuvika’s got the spunk!

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Mumbai, January 27: She had the lifetime opportunity of having Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan as her co-star in her maiden venture Farah Khan’s OM SHANTI OM where her performance as Dolly was noticed by many. SUMMER 2007 opposite Sikandar Kher followed.

Today, Yuvika Choudhary is back with Ramesh Taurani’s TOH BAAT PAKKI, where she essays the role of Nisha opposite Sharman Joshi and Vatsal Seth.

Novak Djokovic out of Australian Open

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Melbourne, January 27: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overwhelmed Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinal of Australian Open to storm into the Australian open.

Tsonga thrashed Djokovic 7-6, (8), 6-7 (5), 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 to advance into the semis.

This is 2008 Australian Open winner Djokovic second quarter-final exits from the grand slam.

Earlier, Venus Williams lost her game to Chinese Li Na in the quarter final.

—Agencies

Ranbir, Priyanka to meet Sylvester Stallone

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Mumbai, January 27: Priyanka Chopra and Ranbir Kapoor, who are shooting for “Anjaana Anjaani”, are set to meet Rocky-Rambo superstar Sylvester Stallone.

In fact, one of the temptations for them to do Sajid Nadiadwala’s “Anjaana Anjaani” was that the producer was a friend of Stallone who featured in his last film “Kambakkht Ishq”.

“Ranbir and Priyanka definitely want to meet him. I’m flying down to Las Vegas to join them on January 27. We’ll be meeting Stallone on the 4th or 5th of February,” Nadiadwala told.

Kobe Bryant gifts Ranbir Kapoor his favourite sneakers

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New Delhi, January 27: Three-time National Basketball Association (NBA) star Kobe Bryant gifted one of his favourite pair of sneakers to Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor.

“I heard of stories about Madison Square Garden, but actually being in this place… it was just amazing… I’m still shaking with excitement,” said Ranbir on his recent visit to New York’s Madison Square Garden.

The Bollywood heart-throb received a warm welcome from Bryant, who gifted his sneakers to the actor after a game against the New York Knicks Jan 22, said a press release.

Rahman leads by six strokes at Dhaka

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Dhaka, January 27: Bangladesh’s Mohd Siddikur Rahman raced to a commanding six-stroke lead after posting a seven under 65 in round three of the American Express Bangladesh Open 2010 golf tournament here Wednesday.

Rahman’s total now reads 13 under 203. Kunal Bhasin of Australia, Bangladeshi amateur Mohd Dulal Hossain and India’s Sanjay Kumar were in joint second at seven under 209.

Rahman (72, 66, 65) is now staring at his fourth win on the Aircel-PGTI as a result of his splendid performance at his home course as he came up with eight birdies and a bogey.

Protection of monuments a priority, says Sheila

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New Delhi, January 27: Heritage conservation is a priority with the Delhi government and finance is no hurdle, chief minister Sheila Dikshit said on Wednesday, adding that new rules should be framed to protect monuments from vandals and squatters.

“There will be no crunch of finance for the conservation and the preservation of our cultural heritage. However, new rules should be framed to protect monuments from encroachments,” Dikshit said at an event organised by the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach) on Wednesday.

FBI agent who spied on mosques sues FBI

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Santa Ana, January 27: A Southern California man who said he spied on mosques for the FBI has filed a lawsuit accusing the agency of letting him go to jail for work he did as an informant.

Craig Monteilh, 47, of Irvine, a fitness consultant, is seeking $10 million from the FBI in a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in Los Angeles. Monteilh also sued the Irvine Police Department.

Malaysian Muslims find pig heads in mosques

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Kaula lampur, January 27: Worshippers found severed heads of pigs at two Malaysian mosques Wednesday following a spate of firebomb attacks on churches amid a dispute over the use of the word “Allah” by Christians, officials said.

The incident is the most serious to hit Islamic places of worship following vandalism and other assaults at 11 churches, a Sikh temple, a mosque and two Muslim prayer halls across this Muslim-majority country in the past three weeks.

Bin Laden’s ex-driver in spotlight at Sundance

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Park City, January 27: Salim Hamdan, Osama bin Laden’s one-time driver who spent seven years locked up at Guantanamo, is in the spotlight once again, this time in a documentary at the Sundance Film Festival.

The second part of Laura Poitras’s trilogy on post-September 11, 2001 America, “The Oath” is competing for a prize at the independent cinema showcase nestled in the mountains of Utah through Sunday.

Her first piece in the series, “My Country, My Country” (2006) earned Poitras an Academy Award nomination.

HRW raps Mideast governments over rights

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Beirut, January 27: Middle Eastern governments are failing to improve their human rights records, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday at the release of its World Report 2010 in Beirut.

“The year 2009 was one of the missed opportunities for women and migrants in the region,” the watchdog’s Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson said as the group released its Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen country studies.

“For human rights defenders, their small space for manoeuvring shrank even further,” Whitson said in a statement.

US envoy to return to Mideast in ‘near future’

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Washington, January 27: US Middle East envoy George Mitchell has completed a series of meetings with major Middle East players and will return to the region in the “near future,” the US State Department said Tuesday.

Mitchell “completed a series of meetings in Lebanon, Syria, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan and Egypt,” said spokesman Marc Toner, adding that Washington remained committed to “achieving our goal of comprehensive peace in the Middle East.”

Colony residents seek protection from ‘attacks’

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Hyderabad, January 27: The residents of Hill Ridge Springs at Gacchibowli are fearing threat to their lives from the employees of a hotel that was allegedly constructed illegally within the gated community.

They say that their insistence that the hotel employees, who were accommodated illegally within the gatedcommunity, should also pay maintenance charges had led to a situation where they are forced to live with constant fear.

Khamenei: Israel will fail to erase Palestine

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Tehran, January 27: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is confident the region will one day watch the end of the “Zionist regime”, his website Wednesday quoted him as saying.

Officials in Iran generally believe in the ‘One-State Solution’, where Israelis and Palestinians live peacefully in one democratic state, comparing the “destruction of the Zionist regime” phrase to the dismantling of the former Soviet Union regime.

Khamenei made the remark during a meeting with Mauritanian President Mohammed Ould Abdel Aziz in Tehran, the website said.

Lebanese PM on first official visit to Egypt

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Beirut, January 27: Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri heads to Cairo on Wednesday on his first official visit for talks with top officials, including President Hosni Mubarak, his office said.

Hariri will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Ali Shami, Economy Minister Mohammed Safadi, Information Minister Tarek Mitri and other officials, a statement said.

He will also be accompanied for the first time by his wife Lara, who lives in Saudi Arabia with the couple’s three children.

Thorny issues infiltrate Saudi religious establishment

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Paris, January 27: The traditional debate between reformers and ultra-conservatives on issues that plague the lives of many Saudis, like the mixing of women with men or women’s right to drive a car, begins to timidly infiltrate the religious establishment, which is one of the pillars of the regime in Saudi Arabia where a battle on the authorization of the cinema, considered by the clergy as “an absolute evil,” had raged last summer.

A muttawa official: yes to the mixing

Would-be Gaza migrants face endless hurdles

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Gaza City, January 27: Abu Luay sold his wife’s gold to pay for a visa to Germany, but if the Egyptian border does not open soon he will lose his only ticket out of Gaza, where life is an endless struggle against conflict and an Israeli siege.

Like him, untold numbers of Palestinians are scraping together large sums of money to pay travel agents for visas in a desperate bid to leave the densely populated Gaza Strip enclave.

But theirs is a gamble that rarely pays off.

‘India should destroy Pakistan’s terror camps’

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Bhubaneshwar, January 27: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said today India should demolish the terror camps in Pakistan since Islamabad had “admitted” having no control over the terror groups operating on its soil.

“When Pakistani leadership said they had no control over terror groups, India should take the responsibility of demolishing them,” Bhagwat told a public gathering here.

While rejecting any mediation by the US in Kashmir issue, RSS chief said, “America was acting for its interests and not for that of India.”

Jordanian formally heads Mediterranean Union

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Paris, January 27: Ahmad Massaadeh, a former Jordanian ambassador to the EU and NATO, has formally been named head of the Mediterranean Union project, making him the first leader of the forum created in 2008, France’s foreign minister said Tuesday.

“The appointment of the secretary general constitutes a decisive step in the institutional construction of the Union”, Bernard Kouchner said in a statement.

“The Union must now catch up after the delay, due mostly to repercussions on the organisation from political events in the Middle East last year”, Kouchner added.

US says still unprepared for Qaeda WMD threat

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Washington, January 27: The United States has not done enough to protect the country against the threat of weapons of mass destruction even as Al-Qaeda appears intent on staging a large-scale attack, reports released Tuesday said.

A bipartisan panel warned that the government had failed to adopt measures to counter the danger posed by extremists using WMD, saying the administration lacked plans for a rapid response to a possible biological attack.