'Hari Puttar' gets green signal from Delhi HC :

Lucky Kohli, the director of Hari Puttar-The Comedy of Terrors was a worried man. Although he is of Punjabi origin he's been born and brought up in the UK. And his first film ran into major controversies with Warner Brothers having taken Mirchi Movies to court. But Lucky Kohli is not a man to be easily deterred. He went ahead and now finally four days before the release of the film the court has ruled in his favour.

Tell us something about yourself. This is your first film in Bollywood…

My family settled in the UK. But I am originally a Sikh. My name is Harinder but my pet name was Lucky and the name just sort of stuck over the years. I am very fluent in Hindi though. I would say I'm more fluent in Hindi even as compared to Punjabi.

How is that?

When my sister and me were really young my mother could not afford a baby sitter for us. And minors below a certain age cannot be left unattended at home. So she used to buy a cinema ticket and leave us in the theatre for about five hours while she went off to work. And my sister and me saw many Hindi films over and over again.

Which ones do you remember?

Ask me which ones I don't remember. Seeta Aur Geeta for one, Mr Natwarlal... they are all my favourite films.

Any particular film, which you would call your favourite?

It would have to be Sholay. I remember every scene, every line almost verbatim.

But your first film belongs to a completely different genre.

There's a reason for that. When my daughter was younger I saw a lot of kiddie films (Shrek, Monsters Inc,) with her. Initially I thought I was being a good parent. But later I found at the end of the film that I had enjoyed myself as much as she had. So I had this dream of making a film, which would be a complete 'family' entertainer.

Have you succeeded?

Yes, but of course the final verdict is yours. But I sincerely feel from the bottom of my heart that I have succeeded.

Why Hari Puttar as a title? Didn't you anticipate the backlash? Or was it a calculated decision to cash in on a highly popular series.

As I told you earlier my full name was Harinder. But I was often called Harry. Our protagonist in the film is Hari Prasad. So he is called Hari. And puttar is a suffix every Punjabi boy is familiar with. So it is nothing but an unfortunate co-incidence.
Source: http://www.buzz18.com

Yuvraj to lead BCCI President's XI against Australia

Yuvraj Singh, who was overlooked for the Rest of India squad for the Irani Trophy, will captain the Board President's XI in a four-day warm-up match against the Australians in Hyderabad, starting October 2. The squad also includes fast bowler Sreesanth, who missed the tour of Sri Lanka because of injury, and opener Wasim Jaffer, who lost his place in Test side to Gautam Gambhir. Aakash Chopra, not selected for India A's matches against Australia A, makes a comeback.

This move could mean Yuvraj's return to the Test fold. Since 2006, he has played 13 Tests - four in the last two years - and has averaged 29.42 with two centuries.

Jaffer, Ashok Dinda and Pragyan Ojha also make their way towards national reckoning since they are part of Irani Trophy and Board President's squads. Apart from Ojha, Saurashtra bowler Rakesh Dhurv is the other left-arm spinner in the squad. Dhurv took 23 wickets at 21.56 from eight Ranji Trophy games last season.

Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan will lead the bowling attack along with Manpreet Gony and Pankaj Singh.

Meanwhile Dinesh Karthik has fallen off the national radar by neither making it to the Board President's squad nor the India A squad for the two Tests against New Zealand. Wriddhiman Saha, the Bengal wicketkeeper, has made the cut instead. Suresh Raina will lead the India A side now that S Badrinath has been called up to the Rest of India squad as a replacement for Sachin Tendulkar. Jaydev Shah, the Saurashtra captain, has been picked as Raina's deputy after a successful series in Israel.

Board President's squad : Yuvraj Singh (capt), S Badrinath, Wasim Jaffer, Aakash Chopra, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli Parthiv Patel (wk), Irfan Pathan, S Sreesanth, Piyush Chawla, Pragyan Ojha, Pankaj Singh, Manpreet Gony, Yogesh Takawale, Rakesh Dhurv.

India A : Suresh Raina (capt) Jaydev Shah, M Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Sahil Kukreja, Cheteshwar Pujara, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha, Ashok Dinda, Dhawal Kulkarni, Sudeep Tyagi, Amit Mishra, Pradeep Sangwan, Mohnish Parmar.
Source: http://content-usa.cricinfo.com

Taare Zameen Par is India's Oscar entry

Spicezee Bureau Mumbai, Sept 22: Aamir Khan’s directional debut ‘Taare Zameen Par’, which has been officially nominated at the Oscars seems to have a strong chance of winning the award as it has a mass appeal and has already touched the emotional chords of the audience. The film has secured an entry into the Oscars beating exceptional films like ‘Jodhaa Akbar’, ‘A Wednesday’, ‘Mumbai Meri Jaan’, ‘Rock On’, ‘Black And White’ and two Marathi films and a Telugu movie. Expressing happiness on the nomination, Aamir said, “I’m very happy that my film has been selected as we have got a chance to represent India internationally at a level where best films from all over the world are nominated for the honour.” The actor, however, expressed the desire to have ‘TZP’ reach the top 5 of the nominations, like his previous film ‘Lagaan’. Rejecting the charge of lobbying for his films, Aamir said, “I feel there is nothing wrong if I say that I have a PR in Los Angeles, because I believe it is important to have one so that people get to know about the films we make in India through the media over there. My responsibility is and has been just to create awareness about the films that we make.” Speaking about the importance of an Oscar to him, the actor said, “I don’t target Oscars when I make a film. My films are mainly for the audience. I think it is my responsibility to make good films which are entertaining and worth watching for the audience and their money and time is what matters to me the most.” “For the Oscar nomination I would say that the competition is tough, so I’m not sure if TZP would win the award, but I’m sure the film is going to leave a strong impact,” he added. Source: http://www.zeenews.com

Tendulkar says Australia now India's major rivals

Batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar said that India's rivalry with Australia was now even more intense than with long-time arch-enemy Pakistan.

Ahead of Australia's four-Test tour to India, which opens on October 9 in Bangalore, Tendulkar said he expected a fiercely competitive series between two teams who have battled for superiority over recent years.

"I think it (India v Australia) has become bigger largely because of the competitiveness," Tendulkar said.

"All the series between us from 2001 onwards have been very keenly fought and have been very close ones."

In the ill-tempered 2007-2008 series in Australia, India lost the first two Tests but recorded a prized victory over the home team in the third Test in Perth.

"We have gone to Australia and beaten them," Tendulkar stressed.

"We have been able to surprise the Australian team and that's what the Australian public likes: competition and high standards of play. They love to see challenges and competitiveness.

"The fan following for the India-Australia series has definitely increased as compared to say 15 years ago," he added.

The "little master", now aged 35, is closing in on Brian Lara's record for the most runs ever scored in a Test career, but said statistics were not his priority.

"I don't think much about records. I want to enjoy my game. If players focus on their performance, records automatically fall into place," said Tendulkar, speaking to reporters in New Delhi.

"I focus on playing the game well. If it (the record) comes in doing so I will be happy," added the ace batsman, who is only 76 runs short of overtaking Lara's mark of 11,953 runs.

India's last tour of Australia was marked by personal insults between teams, and allegations of racial abuse and bad sportsmanship.

But Tendulkar said he did not expect a repeat of such problems during the upcoming series.

"Talking on behalf of the Indian team, I can say we will play hard but fair and I feel the Australians also will do so," he said.
Source: http://afp.google.com

Saas Bahu aur Sensex: Movie Review

Indiafm: One catches Tanushree Dutta in a chirpy mood as she talks about her latest arrival Saas Bahu Aur Sensex. She exclaims that this film directed by Shona Urvashi may end up disappointing a few. Reason being that from a title comprising of the word 'Sensex', some may expect a bit of sex element in the film as well. "I am considered to be a sex symbol and I take pride in the fact that audience does expect me to be seen in particular kind of roles where I bring on the oomph. However, I am sorry to say that Saas Bahu Aur Sensex doesn't have any sex in it even though the word 'sex' does come into picture", winks Tanushree who came with quite a bang with films like Aashiq Banaya Aapne and Chocolate. "However, I am quite a different individual in Saas Bahu Aur Sensex and truly enjoyed being a part of this cinema," says Tanushree who has for the first time worked with a woman director, Shona Urvashi, in the film. "From the entire look to make up to general appearance, I have gone through a change. Unlike majority of my films which have featured me as an 'ultra oomphy' Diva-ish kind of a character, Saas Bahu Aur Sensex has me in a contrasting avatar altogether." "It was fun to be playing someone who you could meet while walking on a street rather than someone who is larger than life,” says Tanushree. She also reveals that the humor in this latest film of hers is on the same lines as that of Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na. "I play a young girl who belongs to an Indian metro and share a normal relationship with her mother (played by Kirron Kher). The best part about the film is that neither is it women-centric, nor does it get its drive from a hero-heroine angle per se." Confident that the film would strike gold with the urban audience, Tanushree declares, "Saas Bahu Aur Sensex is for those who want to watch something that isn't run of the mill. It is meant for an urban audience and its light hearted narrative would ensure that college students as well as adults get an ample share of laugh."

Priyanka Chopra performs with 'Son Of a Bitch'

Priyanka Chopra performs with 'Son Of a Bitch'

Bollywood is known to be the 'Masala Industry' for nothing. The reason being this is one place whereby you can find millions of masala. After having tasted 'videsi' tadka like, the latest one being Snoop Dogg in Singh Is Kinng, Bollywood is all set to say hello to an underground club called…hold your breath… 'SoB' (son of a bitch) in Goldie Behl's much anticipated venture Drona. The song 'Oopcha' (whatever that means) which features none other than the sexy Priyanka Chopra, also features 'SoB'. For starters, 'SoB' are a troupe from New Jersey and are known to perform at all the celebrity do in New Jersey. News has it that Goldie Behl was so tad impressed with these guys that he actually brought them from New Jersey to Mumbai! And for those who have seen the guys performing simply swear by their blessedly agile bodies! Speaking about his choice of the boys, Goldie said, "When I saw these boys perform at a high profile club in New Jersey, I was completely blown away. These guys were really good. From there on, we initiated to get these guys down to Mumbai and start rehearsals for the song and it hardly took them two days of practice to get into the groove of the music and perform to their best take after take". But there was something exceptional done by the boys that touched Goldie the most. Says Goldie, "What was really special was that after we finished shooting, they actually performed the entire song for all of us, at one go as a thanks giving gesture". Wonder when Bollywood will be touched by such professionalism!

Drona Wallpapers

Nokia's N96 to take on competition:

With the much awaited launch of the Nokia N96 mobile in India, users will have a hard time deciding between the Apple iPhone and the Nokia N96. Priced at Rs. 35,000 the N96 mobile is here to compete with the iPhone.

The Nokia N96 to compete with the Apple iPhone

The Nokia N96 has much more advanced features than the Apple iPhone. The already launched Apple iPhone has got a lukewarm response.

Nokia N96 definitely has an edge over the Apple iPhone in terms of cost and features. Though both the phones are 3G enabled, the Nokia N96 has a 5 MP camera and Bluetooth option, an advantage over the iPhone.

The main highlights of the N96 mobile phone are the 5 mega pixel camera, 2.8 inch TFT display with 16 M colors, Navigation via joystick and touch screen, connectivity options such as EDGE, GPRS, Bluetooth, and HSDPA. N96 runs on the Symbian OS version 9.3, has integrated hands-free speakers, Stereo FM radio, 16 GB of internal memory, Hi-Speed USB 2.0 connectivity, Support for standard 3.5mm headphones.

Nokia N96... Impressive!!!

Approx 18,000 songs and 20,000 images of 5 mega pixel resolution can be stored on the N96 mobile phone. The N96 also has a microSD card slot that the user can use to increase the storage up to 24GB.

The N96 would definitely bring about a tough competition between Nokia and the Apple mobile phone, but for now advantage Nokia.

Nokia launched its best handset N 96 two days ago in India. Priced at Rs 34999, the gadget aims to counter the Apple iPhone launched mid last month in the country.

Though the much-touted Apple iPhone has failed to do any magic for its vendors Vodafone and Bharti Airtel due to prohibitory costs Nokia aims to do better given better features of its most advanced mobile handset. Nokia N 96 has several advantages over iPhone. It is 3 G phone like Nokia, but its bluetooth options and 6 mega pixel camera make it a steal compared to Apple iPhne.

Nokia N96 features a 6 megapixel camera. The device has a 3.2 inch, 16 M colours TFT display. It has 10 GB of internal memory. The device weighs 115 gm and measures 102.5 x 56 x 17.6 mm. The handset has support for touchscreen and joystick navigation. Its integrated GPS displays maps of more than 100 countries. The device also has support for EDGE, Bluetooth and HSDPA connectivity.

The Nokia N96 slider phone has a unique design. It has two keypads that open up on opposite sides of the handset. The device can be slide opened either in upward or downward direction. One can gain access to its QWERTY keyboard by slide opening the handset in upward direction. When one moves its display downwards, it reveals another keypad that features a set of multimedia controls. One can also gain access to its navigation and shortcut keys even when the device lies in its slide closed position.

Source: http://www.littleabout.com and http://www.khabrein.info

BCCI happy over ICC awards to Dhoni, Yuvraj:

Mumbai (PTI): The BCCI on Thursday expressed happiness over the ICC annual awards won by Indian players Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh while adding it expected Ishant Sharma too to join the ranks of the award winners.

"We are happy that two Indian players received the ICC's annual awards, particularly Mahendra Singh Dhoni who had an outstanding season. We thought that probably (young pacer) Ishant Sharma would also get the Emerging Player honour, but it did not happen," said BCCI's CAO Ratnakar Shetty.

Dhoni was named the ODI Player of the Year and Yuvraj won the Twenty20 International Performance of the Year Award. Dhoni beat back tough competition from team-mate Sachin Tendulkar, Australian fast bowler Nathan Bracken and Pakistan stalwart Mohammad Yousuf to take the prestigious award.

During the voting period, the swashbuckling wicket keeper-batsman played 39 ODIs and scored 1,298 runs at an average of 49.92 and at a strike rate of 82.46. He also hit a century and nine fifties.

Yuvraj was deservedly honoured for his stupendous six sixes in an over off England pacer Stuart Broad in the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship won by India in South Africa last year.

But the gangling Sharma lost out to Sri Lanka's spin sensation Ajantha Mendis who bagged the Emerging Player honour at the annual ICC awards function held in Dubai.

200 Indian scientists line up for Big Bang effort

The LHC's purpose is "fundamental research"

NEW DELHI: When the 27-km long Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a particle accelerator, goes live on Wednesday in the Alps along the Swiss-French border, it will kick off one of the largest man-made experiments in history.

Interestingly, it’s not just a massive science experiment being conducted by CERN, a French acronym for the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, but also one of the biggest IT projects.

India's contribution to the $10-billion effort in search of the universe’s missing matter by smashing particles like during the Big Bang is equally impressive. Around 200 of the 2,000 scientists doing the experiment are from India.

The entire system comprising 1,232 cryo magnets, each weighing about 32 tonne, is sitting on precision motion positioning systems developed, among other places, at the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT), Indore, by the Electronics Corporation of India.

Indian institutes like Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata, RRCAT, Indore, Benares Hindu University and varsities of Delhi, Jaipur, Punjab have contributed significantly to the experiment and will also be involved in analysing the collision debris.Says Amit Roy, director of Delhi-based Inter-University Accelerator Centre (earlier called Nuclear Science Centre): “About 200 scientists involved in the experiment are of Indian origin. “

“India has also been involved in supplying material to build the tunnel and several Indians have played a key role in the whole project,” Mr Royadded.

The monetary contribution by India is $25 million. The prominent Indians who are part of the project include Atul Gurtu of TIFR, an expert on particle colliders, Vikas Sinha of the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata, who created a chip to process signals, and Vinod Chauhan employed by CERN to lead the group which tested the magnets.

Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology director Vinod Chandra Sahni says: “No collisions will take place today. September 10 simply marks the launch wherein two beams will be sent in the tunnel, one clockwise and the other anti-clockwise.

The particle smashing at close to speed of light (about 300,000 km per second) will start on October 21. Some particles will collide, triggering new particles that could help scientists understand the universe better.”

The tunnel, buried 100 metres underground, is lined with sensors and 1,600 superconducting magnets across eight sectors, which are held at an operating temperature of 271 degrees below zero — colder than outer space. The LHC accelerator, which is accurate to a nanosecond, will be used to slam particles into each other to try to recreate the conditions at the beginning of time — as in the Big Bang.

Data from the collision, about 15 petabytes (1 petabyte is quadrillion bytes or 1,000 terabytes) a year will be studied around the world by some 100,000 computers across 50 countries. Within a year, the particle accelerator’s experiments will have spewed enough data to fill a pile of compact discs 12 miles high. India is part of the world-wide computational grid that will help analyse this data.

But the massive experiment is not without its share of controversy. Cynics believe that all the particle smashing will create a massive black hole, sucking life out of earth, if things don’t follow the planned script. However, Mr Roy adds: “The scientific community the world over is eagerly looking at the experiment. The claims of this experiment turning out to be a disaster are rather exaggerated and based on wrong calculations.”

Brusing aside fears of the experiment going wrong, geeks at CERN believe that they are going to find the so-called God-like particle dubbed Higgs Boson, which will offer clues about dark matter and other missing links of physics.

This, in turn, will accelerate our own understanding of life. If they don’t find that, they still hope to lay their hands on something exciting and worthwhile out of the tunnel. Much like one of CERN’s alumni, Tim Berners-Lee, stumbled upon the internet and invented the first web browser in 1989 to initially help physicists worldwide to swap notes!

Motorola launches Motojewel for fashion conscious segment

World mobile phone leader Motorola is coming out with a phone they call “fashion forward”. The Motorola MOTOJEWEL they claim is tailor-made for young and trendy women from across the globe.

Motorola’s MOTOJEWEL has a unique diamond cut design with a large purple jewel on the front. The new mobile handset from Motorola is equipped with a 2 megapixel camera, MP3 player and Bluetooth capabilities.

The MOTO Jewel will be available through Carphone Warehouse starting in November. I’m sure we’ll see plenty of them on eBay also. Let’s wait and see how many people deem this phone “fashion forward”. Here’s a quote from Motorola:

A Motorola press release said, “The alluring, jewel-like design in sophisticated Midnight Quartz and the dazzling purple keypad inside can’t help but draw admiring glances. It’s a phone so sassy that users will wish they could wear it! Ensuring a perfect finish to any outfit, the MOTOJEWEL comes complete with a must-have mini clutch designed to hold all the essentials for the perfect girls’ night out: a MOTOJEWEL, credit card and lipstick.”

The new music phone from Motorola will feature touch-sensitive keys on its outside control panel, which also displays basic phone information and animated screen savers. The specs are nothing to write home about, as the phone is largely meant to be a fashion accessory. Motorola even includes a small clutch purse with it meant to house the phone and a couple of accessories, ID and or credit cards.

Source: http://www.khabrein.info