'Knighthood' for Shah Rukh Khan

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan on Saturday became the first foreign actor to be conferred the title of Datuk, akin to a British knighthood, at a special ceremony in Malaysia.

Shah Rukh responded by announcing that he would shoot an entire film, tentatively titled 'Happy New Year', in Malaysia next year.

"There is a film I am planning some time in August and September and will send a team down to look around," The Star Online quoted him as saying.

He would also help develop the Malaysian movie industry that has had directors like Phani Mazumdar and Ritwik Ghatak making films.

On how he felt about his Datukship, the actor said that it was an honour not only for him but also for all actors from India.

"I am very happy that I have found a big space in the hearts of people here," he added.

Resplendent in a black baju Melayu, samping and songkok, the traditional Malaysian attire, he received the state award from Melaka Yang Dipertua Negeri Tun Mohd Khalil Yaakob, the royal constitutional head of the state.

The 43-year-old actor held the estimated 1,000 guests at the investiture spellbound as he received the Darjah Mulia Seri Melaka (DMSM), conferred on him in conjunction with the 70th birthday of the royal chief on October 11.

Shah Rukh was tied down by a busy work schedule and could not fly in from Mumbai to receive the award in October or on the later date, Nov 29.
Source: http://entertainment.in.msn.com/bollywood

Slumdog wins three awards at BIFAS

London (PTI): Slumdog Millionaire, an English movie based on the award-winning novel of Indian Diplomat Vikas Swarup, won three awards at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFAS) ceremony here.

The story of the Danny Boyle's film featuring Anil Kapoor revolves around a Mumbai teenage boy who astounds all by doing well on 'Kaun Banega Karorpati', Indian version of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire quiz show.

The film won the award in the category of best film, best director and best newcomer (for its British lead actor).

The former artistic director of the Royal Court theatre, Boyle, was talk of the night and is already on many pundits' Oscar prediction lists.

Earlier, he has directed films like Trainspotting showing Edinburgh heroin addicts and The Beach in which Leonardo DiCaprio played the main role.

The young lead actor of Slumdog Millionaire, Harrow-born Dev Patel, best known to British audiences as Anwar in E4's Skins, won the best newcomer award.

The film tells the story of a Mumbai street child. As he does well on the quiz show, flashbacks chronicle his life, the realities of which Danny Boyle does not flinch from showing.

Boyle's film, a third of which is spoken in Hindi opens in the UK on January 9 but has already down well on the festival circuit and opened to fantastic reviews in the US.
Source: http://www.hindu.com/

Music release of 'Chandni Chowk...' on Dec 9

In the aftermath of the recent terrorist attacks, a lot of filmmakers have shifted/postponed their film releases keeping in mind the grim situation in the city and across the nation. Last week's two new releases ‘Sorry Bhai’ and ‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!’ despite fetching decent reviews, failed to attract the footfalls at the cineplexes, as people just didn't seem to be in a mood to go and catch a film.

The first Friday of December (Dec 5) was initially supposed to see as many as seven new releases but two of them- ‘Khallballi- Fun Unlimited’ and ‘Kaashh...Mere Hote’ have now been shifted ahead for obvious reasons.

Producer-director Rohan Sippy's English language film, ‘The President Is Coming’, was supposed to hit the cinema halls last Friday (Nov 28) but owing to the grim situation in the city, he decided to postpone the release. Bollywood Hungama got in touch with Rohan's spokesperson to get the latest update on the release status of ‘The President Is Coming’, "The President Is Coming will now release in January of 2009. Rohan obviously thought this was not the right time for his film to release. Moreover, the promos have been getting a very encouraging feedback and hence he feels a later date will only benefit the film."

Not just his film release, Rohan has even shifted the music release of his forthcoming Akshay Kumar- Deepika Padukone starrer ‘Chandni Chowk To China’. The music launch was scheduled to take place today evening (Dec 2) but has now been pushed to Dec 9 owing to the situation in the city.
Source: http://www.screenindia.com/news

Salman-Katrina's super chemistry in YUVVRAAJ

Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif are back to sizzle the screen. Subhash Ghai's YUVVRAAJ have Salman and Katrina in a rare role that never happened on screen before.

"The Salman Katrina magic is all set to cast its spell on the audience," said a source close to the couple. David Dhawan was the first to pair Salman and Katrina together. MAINE PYAR KYUN KIYA rocked the boxand#150;office. Sallu and Kat's 'Just Chill' number turned a rage.

PARTNER created history even though Salman and Kats were not paired together in the film.

Subhash Ghai, whose YUVVRAAJ is expected to hit the theatres soon, felt that Salman and Katrina as a pair rock. "They are lucky for each other," the source said. "For Ghai it is the first time they are paired opposite each other and the chemistry between the two is super sizzling. They look so good together."
Source: http://in.movies.yahoo.com/

Karan Johar’s ‘Dostana’ lands into fresh trouble in Pakistan!

Spicezee Bureau

Mumbai, Nov 17: Looks like, Karan Johar’s ‘Dostana’ is running into fresh trouble in Pakistan. The movie that is fashioning tremendously well at the Box Office has apparently met rejection in Pakistan for its highly objectionable gay content.

The much entertaining multi-starrer flick has won praises primarily for it’s storyline and the entertainment box’ up for an assured fun filled experience.

The Lahore High Court has issued notices to the Chairman of the Film Censor Board of Pakistan to justify the screening of the Bollywood movie ‘Dostana’ in Pakistan due to the Gay content in the movie.

‘Homosexuality’ is till-date illegal in Pakistan and a seriously punishable offence. Well, that’s a good enough reason for rejection!
Source: http://www.zeenews.com/Entertainment/Movies-Theatre

I've worked very hard to acquire my well toned figure: Priyanka Chopra

Priyanka Chopra admits that she hasn't rested for more than a year now. 2008 especially has been crazy with five releases already to her name and sixth round the corner in the form of Dostana. However, she doesn't mind all the excitement coming her way as she hardly has got time to mourn over the failure of her movies or revel in the success of Fashion. Joginder Tuteja catches up with Priyanka Chopra hours before her Dostana gets ready to hit the screens. Love Story 2050, God Tussi Great Ho, Chamku, Drona, Fashion and now Dostana - Whew! (Laughs) Ya, these are indeed exciting times. I could use so many adjectives to describe what I feel but well, in the end it's all so scary. There are so many expectations that one attaches to a project. It is like sitting in Board examinations month after month. Dostana still sounds like a safe film after all. Promos give an impression that it is an out and out fun film. There are a little bit of emotions attached to the film as well. At the end of the day it is mainstream cinema and it has to be interesting. Dostana is not a random candy floss entertainer.

India vs England One Day Series - ODI Match Schedule

The 2008 England Tour of India starts on 9th November with a practise match at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. The second and final practise match before the ODI Series begins is at the same ground on the 11th November. In both matches, England will take on Mumbai.

The India-England One Day Series comprises 7 matches, of which 3 will be day-night matches. Here’s the full schedule of the series with match dates, venues and timings at which you can start watching live cricket streaming or the live telecast on TV.

1st One Day International : India vs England

Date: Friday 14 November, Venue: Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground, Rajkot

Live TV Telecast of the cricket match starts 9:00 am (India Time) / 3:30 am (GMT)

2nd ODI

Date: Monday 17 November, Venue: Maharani Usharaje Trust Cricket Stadium, Indore

Live Schedule of the match same as in above match ( TV Channel: NeoCricket )

3rd India - England One Day Match

Date: Thursday 20 November, Venue: Green Park, Kanpur

Watch Live Cricket action from 9:00 am India Time ( Live on NeoCricket )

4th India - England ODI

Sunday 23 November, Venue: M Chinnaswami Stadium, Bangalore

Day Night Match :: Watch Live Cricket on Neo Cricket from 2:00 pm India Time, 6:30 pm GMT

5th One Day Match: England vs India

Wednesday 26 November, Venue: Barabati Stadium, Cuttack

Day Night Match :: Live on Neo Cricket from 2:00 pm India Time

6th One Day : England vs India

Saturday 29 November, Venue: Nehru Stadium, Guwahati

Day Match : Live Telecast from 9:00 am India Time

Live Telecast / Sopcast of the Guwahati ODI may start earlier as as happened in the past. Check for updates on this.

7th & Final India-England One Dayer

Date: 2 December, Venue: Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi

Live Telecast / Cricket Streaming of the match starts 2:00 pm India Time ( Day-Nighter)

Sourav Ganguly: A hero of New India

ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL: Sourav Ganguly, whose career ended on a high after India’s series win against Australia, is carried by teammates after the end of the fourth Test.

The present age cricket lovers may look at him as a legend. Sourav Ganguly, spent a lifetime in achieving that status, transforming the attitude of the Indians towards the game.

He created a bunch of self-believers which set about to tame the cricket world. Befittingly, his journey has ended on a glowing note, with a series win at home against world champion Australia.
Colourful career

Ganguly’s was a most colourful career. When he walked into the Eden Gardens as a teenager, his influential father was credited with the selection, though he had won his place on merit.

When he was picked for India, it was said the ‘quota’ system worked in his favour. The critics did not realise that he had earned his place again on merit.

He shut them up with a century on Test debut at Lord’s in 1996. A fascinating career was launched at the home of cricket and Ganguly’s love with the game blossomed as he took gigantic strides, culminating in 7212 Test runs (16 centuries and an average of 42.17) and 11363 in ODIs (22 centuries, average of 41.02).

He tormented bowlers with his languid style, scaled new peaks and set new benchmarks. He was destiny’s gift to Indian cricket.
Source: http://www.hindu.com/

Cricket Prince of Kolkata bids adieu to Cricket

Zeenews Bureau

Nagpur, Nov 10: A glorious career comes to an end on Monday… Sourav Ganguly, a man with a never-say-die spirit, will be seen on the field wearing the Indian cap for the last time today. Known as the best ever captain to have represented India, the Royal Bengal Tiger will bid his adieu to cricket today and will be remembered as a man who had a career as dramatic as it can be.

The Prince of Kolkata went out for a duck in the last innings of his career’s final Test match at Nagpur against Australia, thanks to Jason Krejza’s spin spell.

Sourav Ganguly has had a career of that of a hero. The day when Dada announced his retirement to the world, it seemed to be the end of an era for many.

He made his debut in the year of 1989, but subsequently dropped from the side because he allegedly refused to carry drinks to the ground. And for most of the people it seemed end of his career.

In 1996, the tour of England marked his comeback to international, the reason being him being in ‘good-terms’ with Jagmohan Dalmiya. Most of the people thought Sourav did not deserve to be in the side. But in his very first match of the tour he proved everyone wrong by scoring a century and Lords witnessed birth of another Indian batting icon…

An excellent player of spin, Sourav tried to play a sweep shot off Brad Hogg, on his Test debut, and was caught at slip. But what followed was a success story for every one to remember.

Ganguly made his mark on both ODIs and Test matches but as his career progressed he became a better player of ODIs than Tests. Along came the Sahara Cup 1997, the second bilateral series between India and Pakistan in Toronto, Canada. Ganguly who was known for his batting only, not only scored runs in that series but also picked up 16 wickets and became Man of the Series taking everyone by surprise.
Source: http://www.zeenews.com/

Khans bump into each other

Aamir Khan | Salman Khan | Shahrukh Khan

Bollywood is witnessing something very peculiar. Khans are everywhere these days. Aamir Khan is trying to woo the audience with his six-pack abs, Shahrukh Khan has stolen the sentiments of the masses with his simple look and Salman Khan's bronzed look has created lots of curiosity.

It's a big coincidence that the three big Khans bump into each other. It was Aamir who first shocked the people with his muscular look in Ghajini. He has exposed his six-pack abs for the first time. Then Shahrukh just did the opposite. He wears a simple look in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. It looks like Salman too doesn't want to be left out of the competition. His bronzed look with unruly long hair in Veer has created enough hype.
Source: http://entertainment.oneindia.in/bollywood