Month: October 2012

At 62, Mithun Chakraborty, who is enjoying the work he is getting as an actor, feels nowadays it is easier to make films than to release them in theatres.

“Aajkal picture banana aasaan ho gaya hai aur release karna mushkil (Today it’s easy to make a film, but difficult to release it). That’s unfortunate. If you have money, then you can do anything, but if you don’t, you have to suffer,” Mithun told IANS in an interview.

“I really can’t say anything else on this,” he added.

Actor Arjun Rampal likes those characters that challenges his skills as an actor.

“I like a role when initially it scares me, when the character scares you that, whether I can do it or not. Every character I thought can be easily done, went wrong,” the 39-year-old said here Wednesday at the music launch of his forthcoming film “Chakravyuh” at a radio station.

“But Prakash (Jha) has always given me characters which allow you to push yourself and go beyond,” added Rampal.

Meanwhile, Arjun also revealed that “Chakravyuh” director Prakash Jha has also acted in a scene of the film.

Move over saas-bahu sagas, episodic shows are back. “Adaalat”, “Teri Meri Love Stories” and “Hum Ne Li Hai Shapath” are ruling the weekend slots and mark a comeback on the small screen after two decades. The makers say the switch was inevitable.

In a bid to sustain viewers’ interest in TV shows, channel bosses have to do a lot of brainstorming and rigorous research, says Vivek Bahl, chief creative director, Sony Entertainment Television.

As many as 18 students were buried Thursday in a landslide that slammed into a primary school in southwest China’s Yunnan province, authorities said.

The incident happened around 8 a.m. in the village of Zhenhe, located in Yiliang county, reported Xinhua.

The landslide engulfed a primary school building, trapping 18 students, said authorities.

Two houses near the school were also hit by the landslide, with one villager being buried. A family of three managed to escape.

Former Ameer of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Maulana Abdul Haq Ansari, passed away on Wednesday due to major heart attack. He had recently returned from America. He became member of Jamaat-e-Islami in 1952.

The Afghan presidential election will be held in 2014 in accordance with the country’s constitution, President Hamid Karzai said Thursday, denying reports that foreign troops’ withdrawal and insecurity will suspend the poll.

Influential BJP leader and Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said the party would announce its prime ministerial candidate at an appropriate time as he ruled out any differences in the party on the issue.

Responding to questions, Chouhan said that the name of prime ministerial candidate would be announced at an appropriate time before the next general elections.

Chouhan, who is here on an official visit, said he has no plans to move to the centre and intends to stay in Madhya Pradesh and focus his entire energy on its inclusive growth.

In what is a first since independence, the Who’s Who of India Inc, including Tata Group chairperson Ratan Tata and Aditya Birla Group’s Kumar Mangalam Birla, arrive in Kashmir Thursday to interact with university students along with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Besides Tata and Birla, Bajaj Auto Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj, Wipro Group chief Azim Premji and HDFC’s Deepak Parekh will be amongst those interacting with students at Kashmir University Friday. This is the first time since 1947 that such a delegation of business leaders would be in Kashmir in a group.

She is just one film old in the industry but actress Huma Qureshi says she is focused about the kind of work she wants to do.

Huma came into limelight with Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Gangs Of Wasseypur’ and she has already completed her second film ‘Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana’ and has signed her third project- Vishal Bhardwaj’s ‘Ek Thi Daayan’.

Thirty-four officials of the rural jobs scheme in Bihar have been dismissed from service for corruption Thursday, a minister said, adding that first information reports have been lodged against 43 others.

Bihar Rural Development Minister Nitish Mishra Thursday said that the government has sacked 34 officials of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), and lodged first information reports against 43 officials for involvement in alleged irregularities in the implementation of the scheme.

India is playing a constructive role in the future of Afghanistan, the US said thursday and praised its efforts towards economic development of this war-torn country.

“India’s been a big economic investor, it’s been a big development investor, it’s been supportive of police force strengthening in Afghanistan, and they’ve been a big contributor to the broader Silk Road vision that the secretary strongly supports,” State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland, told reporters at her daily news conference.

Japan’s troubled Sharp Corporation planned to reduce the production of liquid crystal display panels for televisions at its plant in Mie prefecture while considering shifting its focus to LCD panels for smartphones, media reported Thursday.

The Osaka-based electronics maker intended to end production at the Kameyama plant of 32-inch LCD panels for home-use TVs around 2014, as prices of such TVs have plunged amid a global supply glut, according to the Kyodo News.

Siasat daily is going to conduct a special convention entitled ‘Gustakh-e-Rasul (SAW) ka Ibratnak Anjam’ on Sunday, October 7, 3 pm at Mahboob Husain Jigar Hall, Siasat premises.

Islamic scholar Mufti Khaleel Ahmed Shaikh Aljamia, Jamia Nizamia will preside over. Mr. Zahed Ali Khan editor Siasat will supervise. Dr. Syed Shujauddin Aziz will be the convenor.

Filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj says he felt really bad at the delay in the release of Anurag Kashyap’s production venture “Chittagong”.

“I had already seen ‘Chittagong’ and I am very happy that it is releasing because it is such a beautiful film that it’s non-release used to hurt me (‘Chittagong’ toh meri dekhi hui film hai and I am very happy ki ye film release ho rahi hai kyunki ye itni khoobsurat film hai ki iska na release hona mujhe bahut bahut dukh deta tha),” the 47-year-old said here Wednesday at the premiere of the film.

The premiere of Anurag Kashyap’s “Chittagong” turned out to be star-studded with the presence of megastar Amitabh Bachchan and superstar Shah Rukh Khan. Both the actors feel the film falls in the league of ‘new cinema’.

“Anurag has been a great revolution in Indian cinema and the kind of films that he has been making and has been promoting, are creating a new audience and that is very exceptional and much appreciated,” Amitabh told reporters here.

(Siasat News)Telangana Rashtra Samiti President K. Chandrasekhar Rao who had stayed back in New Delhi for almost a month after attending the end of the Monsoon Session of Parliament said that he was invited by the Congress and said he has hope that the favorable decision on Telangana will be taken soon.

At Hyderabad the party activists shouting “Jai Telangana” slogans welcomed him.

TRS chief who also skipped Telangana March is now confident that favorable decision would be made for Telangana soon.

During his visit he also met many Union Ministers for Telangana.

A gala dinner is going to be organised for the delegation attending the Bio-diversity conference at Chowmahalla Palace.

Director Chowmahalla Palace Mr. B Kishan Rao told that special programmes will be organised here from October 4 to 19 and foreign guests will be given an opportunity to get insight into the ancient history and traditions of Hyderabad.

(Siasat News)John Abraham who is in Nira, a town located near Satara district, for his upcoming film, ‘Shootout at Wadala’ when asked about his marriage replied that he has no time to think of anything beyond work.

When asked about the secret marriage in January this year, during his visit to New York, he said, “Oh, is it! What rubbish! I don’t know about it. If I get married, it should be, a dream marriage”.

John who has been a part of many multi-starrer including Desi Boyz and Housefull 2 praised Akshay Kumar and said that he is like his big brother.

Surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos’ prostate was a complete success, his medical team said Wednesday.

Santos is recovering at Bogota’s Santa Fe Foundation hospital, where the operation was performed, urologist Felipe Gomez said.

In his first remarks to reporters, Gomez said surgeons found what they expected to discover based on previous tests and images and said the operation went entirely according to plan.

Myanmar President U Thein Sein will pay a state visit to South Korea soon, an official announcement from Nay Pyi Taw capital city said Thursday without specifying the date of his visit.

At the invitation of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Thein Sein will pay the visit as a follow-up of his recent trips to China and the US in September, reported Xinhua.

For all those frequenting Facebook, the social networking website can now turn into a forum for promoting themselves as by paying a few bucks, people can now use the media for highlighting something they want to.

If you want more of your friends to see your funny one liner or personal announcement, pony up little cash and you will get more visibility.

Although the price has not yet been fixed but Facebook already soft-launched its latest paid product ‘promoted posts’ yesterday as part of its effort to mop up more revenues.

The US is compiling information about possible militant targets in Libya suspected in the attack last month on the US consulate in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

Detailed information about the suspects is being assembled by the US military’s top-secret Joint Special Operations Command, senior US military and counterterrorism officials told the New York Times.

The government is proceeding with caution and a senior US official told CNN that he didn’t “think that a final list of who was involved is solid”.

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi is all set to visit Kashmir along with the Tata Sons chairman Ratan Tata, Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Manglam Birla, HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, Team Lease co- founder Ashok Reddy and Bajaj Auto MD Rajiv Bajaj.

At the behest of Rahul Gandhi the industry leaders will interact with around 2,000 students of the varsity and ward off their worries at the Kashmir University campus on October 5. They will also discuss employment opportunities in the mainstream. This visit comes on the back of a presidential visit to the campus.

Turkey Wednesday attacked targets in Syria after Syrian shells killed five people in a Turkish border town.

Syrian shells hit a house around 4 p.m. in Akcakale town of Sanliurfa province, killing a woman and her four children. Ten others were wounded, Xinhua reported.

“Our armed forces have given the required response in line with the rule of engagements. Targets detected by radar were shot by shelling,” the government said in a statement.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, who succeeded Osama bin Laden as the new chief of Al Qaeda, may be in Pakistan, says a new book.

Zawahiri, an Egyptian cleric, became the new Al Qaeda chief after the killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad town May 2 last year.

Imtiaz Gul, a Pakistani defence and security analyst, in his book “Pakistan: Before and After Osama” says: “Just as the search for bin Laden has been a pre-occupation for the past decade, the whereabouts of Zawahiri are now likely to engage the US and Pakistan intelligence.”