Sharmila Tagore, Shashi Kapoor to be awarded FICCI Frames

February 16th, 2009

Renowned actors of yesteryear Hindi film industry Sharmila Tagore and Shashi Kapoor will be conferred with the prestigious FICCI-Frames Living Legend award this year. They would be presented with the award on February 19, the concluding day of the FICCI-Frames annual convention on Indian entertainment and media industry here, organisers today announced.

Ms Tagore, who is currently the chairperson of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), has won several National Film Awards for her critically acclaimed performances.

Mother of bollywood star Saif Ali Khan and actress Soha Ali Khan, Ms Tagore began her career as an actress in 1959 with Satyajit Ray's 'Apur Sansar' (The World of Apu) but established herself in the Hindi film industry with Shakti Samanta's 'Kashmir Ki Kali' in 1964. Her last film, released in 2006, was Vidhu Vinod Chopra's 'Eklavya: The Royal Guard', in which she played mother to her own actor son Saif.

Meanwhile Shashi Kapoor, a legendary actor and producer of the famous Kapoor family, is remembered for many hits like 'Deewar', 'Kabhi Kabhie', 'Trishul' (1978) and 'Satyam Shivam Sundaram'.

The romantic hero of the 60's started his career as a child artiste in several mythological movies in early 1940s. His best known performances were in 'Aag' (1948) and 'Awaara' (1951), in which he played the younger version of the characters played by his elder brother Raj Kapoor. He made his debut as a leading man in 1961 with Yash Chopra's 'Dharmputra' and went on to appear in over 100 films. He also starred in many British and American films notably the Merchant Ivory productions' 'Shakespeare Wallah', Bombay Talkie' and 'Heat and Dust', in which he co-starred with his wife Jennifer Kendal. His last film appearances were in 'Jinnah' (1998) and a Merchant-Ivory production titled 'Side Streets' (1998).

Both Sharmila Tagore and Shashi Kapoor have also acted together in in many films, including the smashing-hit 'Aa Gale Lag Jaa'.

Eminent personalities from the field of entertainment are honoured with the Living Legend Award for their outstanding contribution to the field of entertainment, every year at the FICCI annual global Convention, Frames.

Earlier awardees are Lata Mangeshkar, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Asha Bhosle, Amitabh Bachchan, Waheeda Rehman, Shammi Kapoor, Hema Malini, Dharmendra and Sridevi.

Slumdog Millionaire faces defamation threat

February 16th, 2009

Mumbai: "Slumdog Millionaire" may have won the hearts of many but the movie, which is on the verge of winning Oscars, is facing defamation threat.

Eminent Hindi poet and Bollywood song writer Gopal Singh Nepali's son Nakul Singh has claimed that the song "Darshan Do Ghanshyam Nath Mori Ankhiya Pyasi" was originally written by his father and is planning to file defamation case against director Danny Boyle.

The song, "Darshan Do Ghanshyam Nath Mori Ankhiya Pyasi", that features in the movie, is from 1957 film "Narsi Bhagat" which was directed by Devendra Goel.

The film was based on the life of 15th Century Gujarati saint-poet Narsinh Mehta, who was a devotee of Lord Krishna.

The song, based on one of the oldest ragas — "Rag Kedar", was written by eminent Hindi poet and Bollywood song writer Gopal Singh Nepali.

Call it his destiny or an oversight by the Oscar-front runner team protagonist Jamal is shown winning Rs 2, 50,000 in the film despite giving a wrong answer.

"Slumdog Millionaire" is based on Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup's novel "Q and A" and was adapted into the movie by scriptwriter Simon Beaufoy, who changed some parts of the story to make it fit in the film's narrative.

The result of it is that Jamal ends up giving a wrong answer to a question with wrong options.

Swarup's book refers to "Ankhiya Hari Darshan Ki Pyasi" as the song by saint-poet Surdas. The question for the protagonist in the book is a different one.

Surdas, a contemporary to Narsi, wrote "Ankhiya Hari Darshan Ki Pyasi" which expresses a similar sentiment.

In the movie Jamal is asked to name the poet who wrote song "Darshan Do Ghanshyam Nath Mori Ankhiya Pyasi" during the show- Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? He has four options from the show host- Surdas, Tulsidas, Meerabai and Kabir.

Obviously, none of these is the right answer. The producers of the film were unavailable for comment.

Hurman Priyanka Back Togethere as Couple

February 16th, 2009

All those who were glad that Priyanka Chopra was single again after her break-up with Hurman Baweja, there's news for you. Priyanka and Hurman are trying to get back together. Their dead relationship got a chance to renew itself earlier this month while the two were shooting together in the snowy landscapes of Chicago. Reveals a source, "It seems Priyanka realised how important Hurman is to her life. They were together constantly in Chicago."

But in such a scenario, where does Priyanka and Shahid Kapur's growing 'friendship'stand? A close friend of Priyanka and Hurman jumps to their defence, asking, "Would it mean that Priyanka is dating Shahid if they exchange friendly banter on a social networking website like Facebook? Well, Hurman did ask her about this and that's when they realised how deeply they care for each other."

Apparently, the reason for the break-up was Priyanka's two hits, Fashion and Dostana, and Hurman's two flops, Love Story 2050 and Victory. Their friend rubbishes such reasons and says, "People forget that Priyanka knew the Baweja family before Hurman took to acting. They're both working hard on getting back the magic in their relationship, especially Hurman."

When contacted about their patch-up, Priyanka didged a direct answer by saying, "I will always stand by Hurman."

She added, "I enjoyed Victory immensely. He came across very well as a cricketer."

Kareena launches book Loose Weight Not Mind

February 15th, 2009

The secret to Kareena Kapoor's much coveted size zero is finally out in the open. She spent Valentine's Day encouraging people to love their bodies and shed flab. The actress was present for a book launch of her trainers book Loose Your Weight Not Your Mind.

How should one begin to love their body?

Kareena Kapoor: First and foremost it's about eating right, only then can one start beginning to love their body. And when loves their body they don't abuse it.

There was so much talk about your size zero figure. There were rumours that you were starving yourselves. Were you amused at any point?

Kareena Kapoor: I was being updated daily by the media about what I'm eating. I was very entertained.

The Kapoors are known to love their paranthas and dal makhani. How did you control yourself?

Kareena Kapoor: Yeah in fact I was recently shooting in Delhi and I had dal makhani for lunch. Everyone on the set was shocked to see me eat dal makhani. But I told them that this is what my dietitian's given me, so stop staring at my plate.

Aamir turns down Madame Tussauds

February 15th, 2009

A few Bollywood actors have found a place at the Madame Tussauds museum in London. Amitabh Bachchan was the first to be waxed and then he was followed by Shahrukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai (now Aishwarya Bachchan) and Salman Khan. Celebrities around the world long to enter the museum but not Bollywood actor Aamir Khan. He had turned down the offer to get waxed at the museum.

He said that he has been approached for getting waxed but he is not interested interested. He added that he leaves behind things that don't interest him, as he has so many things to do. He wants people to see him through his films if they want to see him.

Manisha Koirala Getting Married

February 15th, 2009

Once upon the number one actress of Bollywood and the queen of millions of hearts ‘Manisha Koirala’ is now all set to tie the knot with her long time boyfriend Christopher Doris, a sports counselor, author and entrepreneur.

According to sources Manisha had some problems with her boyfriend but now they have sorted out all the issues and the actress is finally ready to get married.

Though she has a long list of friends from Bollywood, the actress clarifies that the wedding would be a low affair event and only few near and dear ones will be in her guest list.

We wish Manisha and Christopher all the luck and a blissful married life.

Sameera Reddy Shamsu Lalani Break up

February 15th, 2009

Here's one couple who won't be together this Valentine's Sameera Reddy and her builderbeau Shamsu Lalani.

Although rumours of their break-up have been doing the rounds for almost a year, they were together until five months ago.

Says a friend close to Shamsu, "They had been dating for the last year and a half and were committed to each other. There were some speculations about problems between them because she was supposedly seeing some other businessman but there was never any third party involved. There were just differences of opinion between Sameera and Shamsu and they decided to part ways. They ended it in October." However, they have maintained cordial relations after that.