'Sehwag is the Worst Captain Ever!'

Criticising stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag for his poor leadership, former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe said India`s performance in the on-going second Test in Napier is a far cry from their attempt at becoming the world`s number one team.

Crowe claimed regular captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni – he is out with a back injury -- was being sorely missed and pin pointed Sehwag`s leadership as one of the prime reasons for India`s desperate situation against the Kiwis in the second Test, which the visitors are trailing by 267 runs after following on.

"The Indian team effort was pretty sloppy. There was a resigned feel about what the Indian side were obviously thinking in terms of looking to draw this match and to retain that 1-0 advantage," said Crowe.

"But these are troubled signs for India. They have almost taken their eye off the ball. The Virender Sehwag shot was very irresponsible. Gautam Gambhir was lucky to survive a run-out, and the stroke that he played to get out. All this does not become of an experienced side that wants to be No. 1 in the world. Their fielding again was just slack. Nothing much changed and MS Dhoni was badly missed," Crowe wrote in his column.

He blasted Sehwag for his tactics and termed the Delhi dasher`s decisions as "unfocused thinking".

"Sending out a nightwatchman was always unnecessary and shows further muddled and unfocused thinking," Crowe said.

"I have never seen captaincy so bad as I saw with Virender Sehwag," he added.

The 46-year-old right-hander said Dhoni altogether has a different approach towards the game and pointed out that even senior players like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid stood as silent spectators yesterday when the New Zealand batsmen were on a run rout.

"Clearly the loss of Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been a massive turnaround for them because their attitude has disappeared completely. For a side that wants to be the No. 1 team in the world, I was quite surprised at their whole approach, particularly after lunch on the opening day," he said.

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Mallika Sherawat's Playboy Perfume

Mallika Sherawat is going places, all thanks to her never-say-die attitude. Although after ‘Welcome’, the actress disappeared from the big screen but now news has it that she is back with a bang.

Mallika Sherawat has been roped in by ‘Playboy’ (not the magazine, but the perfume) for its launch in India in April. So, very soon fans will catch a whiff of Mallika internationally.

News has it that the international brand 'Playboy' (perfume line) is soon to launch in India, which should happen anytime mid-April and Mallika Sherawat’s name is being considered for the launch. Although it's not clear as to whether she will be endorsing the brand or be merely inaugurating the launch party. But the actress is sure to get associated with the brand.

The actress may be keeping a low profile back home but globally, she is a hit. Recently, at a fundraiser hosted by the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA), she gave philanthropy a new twist and had herself auctioned!

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Aishwarya Rai declines to endorse Barbie

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has declined to endorse the celebrity doll Barbie on her 50th anniversary due to paucity of time.

Ever since Aishwarya won the Miss World title in 1994, there have been numerous attempts to immortalise her as a Barbie Doll. However, due to her professional commitments she had to postpone the endeavour of the company Mattel.

"Mattel again proposed that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan endorse the Barbie doll but as her prior commitments stretched her for time she had to decline yet again. The turn of the millennium special edition celebrity doll was to feature Naomi Campbel among others," a statement issued by Aishwarya's spokesperson said here today.

On the eve of the favorite doll's 50th anniversary, Aishwarya is still the most sought-after celebrity to be passed off as a celebrity Barbie.

Mattel was also keen to have Aishwarya walk the ramp on Lakme Fashion Week as 'Barbie dolled up' in a design as Single Likeness Barbie, which would be unveiled and auctioned for a charity of her choice.

Conversely, due to her pri or commitments which includes filming of Vipul Shah's "Action Re play" and her being honoured with Padmashree, she opted out of the event as she did not want to inconvenience the producer/director anymore while taking time out to this event, the spokesperson said.

"Nonetheless, the earlier ideas have been revised, all the possibilities and talks of a business venture with Aishwarya & Barb i.e. is still in the process of being finalized. So, whether Ash-Barbie doll will hit the shelves or not is something only time will tell," the spokesperson added.

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Brawn's Button snatches Pole at Melbourne GP

Jenson Button has confirmed that Brawn GP is the dominant car in Formula One by solidly driving to the pole position at the Australian Grand Prix.

His teammate Rubens Barrichello is second while Sebastian Vettel will be third on the grid with his Red Bull RB5.

Under a sunny sky, the Australian qualifying session at Albert Park finally kicked off. First man out on track was Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella. The Italian was quickly followed by the rest of the pack who streamed out of the paddock for a first run.

The first man to take the lead is once again Nico Rosberg, the man who topped all the Australian free practices. With 13 minutes left on the clock of the first heat, Williams proves to be one of the strongest teams out there as Kazuki Nakajima takes over the lead of his team mate.

The only drivers not yet on track are both BMW Sauber F1 Team drivers, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld.

Ferrari seems to be determined to battle with its new rivals at front. Kimi Raikkonen's fast lap on the harder tyre is faster than the one of Nakajima. But the Finn doesn't stay on top for long as Brawn GP's Rubens Barrichello takes over the lead with a time of 1:25:815.

What was already obvious after the three free practice sessions at Albert Park, and confirmed during this first heat of the qualifying session, is that the established pecking order in Formula One has been overturned. Williams and Brawn GP seem the teams to beat this weekend.

With four minutes left, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa is completely at the back of the pack after running 7 laps. The Brazilian pushes very hard to fight himself to the front. He sets the second lap time for now.

Few minutes ahead of the end of Q1 the action builds in the pits now as everybody is preparing for a final run with only three minutes left on the clock. Home driver Mark Webber is the one to clock the fastest lap as the other drivers try everything to make it to Q2.

Sebastien Bourdais, Adrian Sutil, Giancarlo Fisichella, Nelson Piquet Jr. and Sebastian Buemi are eliminated for the second heat. Lewis Hamilton on the other hand just managed to get through in 15th place while his teammate only managed marginally better.

Raikkonen is obviously hungry for some action and is the first to leave the pits for Q2. He is all alone for two laps before Trulli and Massa also join the action. One minute later Glock puts in a fastest time with 1/25.281.

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BJP launches 'Bhay Ho' to counter Congress' 'Jai Ho'

Seeking to counter the 'Jai Ho' ad campaign of the Congress, BJP on Saturday unveiled a parody of the famous Slumdog Millionaire song saying 'Bhay Ho' (let fear prevail).

"The video is not an official one. It is sent to us by a party sympathiser. This song depicts the real situation of the country. It says.... Bhay (fear) ho.... bhook (hunger) ho.... Atank (terror) ho.... Mahangayi (inflation) ho.... phir bhi jai ho," party spokesperson Sidhaarthnath Singh told reporters.

The song features street children from Hyderabad, singing the song in the general compartment of a train and a stranger planting a bomb in the railway coach.

BJP said the street singers are already taking the message against the ruling Congress by their performances.

"The artists are street singers and they are already into the job of taking the message to different areas with this song even before it is unveiled here," Singh said.

Even as the saffron party opposed the idea of the Slumdog Millionaire child artists campaigning for Congress, calling it a "mockery of poverty", the short film features two street children Nagarjun and Durga singing the song.

On being asked if the party feared a copyright violation of the tune by launching the 'Bhay Ho' song, Singh said, "we will respond to the notice if it is sent to us".

A public relation company had earlier purchased the rights of the 'Jai Ho' song for its use in the Congress campaign.

The saffron party has plans to use 'Bhay Ho' in its rallies across the country. The party is also slated to unveil another ad song in a couple of days featuring 'team Advani'.

The campaign song will feature all the Chief Ministers and the central leaders of the party.

The more-than-two minute film will begin with the famous 'andhera chattega.... Kamal khilega' (darkness will disappear and the lotus will bloom) speech of Atal Bihari Vajpayee which the party patron gave during the foundation function of the party in the early 80s.

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India Vs NZ LIVE! - Gambhir cracks Fifty

Gautam Gambhir hit his 11th half-century to take India to 102/1 following-on in their second innings on the fourth day of the second Test against New Zealand at McLean Park in Napier.

Gambhir reached the landmark through his eighth hit to the fence and has added 72 runs with Rahul Dravid for the second wicket. The third day's play started with Gambhir and Dravid resuming the Indian second innings at 47/1.

India have their backs to the wall with stand-in captain Virender Sehwag getting out to an irresponsible shot after New Zealand enforced the follow-on with a lead of 314 runs on Day 3.

Sehwag threw away his wicket in a highly irresponsible act to leave India at 30/1. New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori brought off-spinner Jeetan Patel in the act and Sehwag walked into the trap.

Sehwag had a wild heave at the first delivery, but edged it to fine leg for a boundary. Next delivery, Sehwag tried to slog sweep, missed the ball and was trapped plumb in front of the wicket. Sehwag hit 4 fours in his 22-run knock.

Earlier, India were made to follow-on after they were bundled out for 305 runs in their first innings. India lost wickets in quick succession after tea with Dinesh Karthik (6) becoming the first victim, caught at third slip by Jesse Ryder off Chris Martin.

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Movie Review: 'Videsh - Heaven on Earth'

"Heaven On Earth" is not a film that offers easily digestible solutions to the complex problem of domestic violence. It neither takes sides nor allows the bride to turn into a pitiable victim. Preity standing supremely dignified at the centre of the conflict furnishes the theme with amazing grace. She's the only known face in the crowded Punjabi home of patriarchs, matriarchs, victims and perpetrators of bitter violence. But Preity never lets it known she's a star.

Spousal abuse as a theme is not new to cinema. What sets Deepa Mehta's "Heaven On Earth" apart from other films like "Provoked" is the fusion of unspoken unexpressed terror with mythological elements all packed with sardine-like compactness into a small apartment in Ontario, Canada, where Chand arrives fearful and hopeful after her wedding.

What she brings with her is her mother's tales and homilies, songs and mythology that follow the bride into her chamber of horrors. What follows in Chand's new life is a nightmare that could claim the life of any Indian bride transported into a foreign country after marriage.

Absolute authenticity is the hallmark of Deepa Mehta's vision. Her permanent cinematographer Giles Nuttgens enters Chand's adopted Canadian home with her and remains by her side, living her pain, experiencing her humiliation and agony, as within no time Chand becomes that nightmarish entity whom we all read about in crime sections of the papers: the abused wife.

The film's greatest triumph is its economy of expression. The tightly-wound tale of the tormented wife is never allowed to have loose moments. Ironically, outwardly we see a warm home filled with a Sikh family half of whom seem to have absolutely nothing to do. Within their abject nullity lies the secret to the violence that claims, possesses and tries to smother Chand's domestic dreams.

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Movie Review: 'The International'

The early year placement of a Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) directed thriller starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts would lead you to believe 'The International' doesn't live up to its billing.

And while this isn't a film you will come out of cheering it's certainly better than most other summer actioners. The story has an up-and-down effect that lags at moments but also includes an impressive second act finale you are sure to enjoy.

The International revolves around a powerful international bank involved in a number of worldwide illegal activities. At the center of it all are Interpol Agent Louis Salinger (Clive Owen) and Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Eleanor Whitman (Naomi Watts) as they team up to take down the bank. Bodies start piling up and the idea of justice seems like impossibility. For the most part the film relies heavily on assassinations and the threat of what is to come. You know if a character is introduced he is likely to be found dead only a few scenes later and you realize it is only a matter of time before the principals become the targets.

Where the film runs into trouble is when it begins to take itself a little too seriously and has to rely on either heavy-handed dialogue or absurd jump cuts to get Watts and Owen in and then out of trouble. The idea Watts is having a hard time selling the District Attorney on the importance of her case after she has been run over by a car is a bit ridiculous and a late escape in the film is as questionable as if there had been a jump cut to outer space saying, "meanwhile... on the Moon." However, the film does manage to get out of these moments with enough energy to make most of the flaws fade into the background.

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Movie Review: ‘Ek - The Power of One’

What happens when you are made a scapegoat to watch a highly stereotypical nonsensical Hindi flick which doesn’t belong to any genre except for ‘trash’, you yawn, sleep over it or write a bad review? Well I would choose the latter.

‘Ek- The Power of One’ can be tagged as one of the most irrelevant flicks ever made in India. It boasts of having everything that one won’t want to see. Whether it is a stupid plot, mediocre performances, dull dialogues; this one has it all and believe us boring is an understatement when it comes to this flick.

It has a lead actor (read Bobby Deol) who it seems will never stop being wooden. He is so wooden is some scenes that perhaps the director would have had to pinch him to feel alive. Every time he comes onscreen you look at absolutely everything but him. The Deol scion refuses to show any expressions.

If this wasn’t all, Director Sangeeth Sivan does a futile attempt to make a flick which has nothing going for it. The story goes like this- Nandu (Bobby Deol), a professional assassin has been entrusted the task of shooting a politician from a construction tower (Innovative, right?). That follows a political conspiracy, Nandu flees from the cops and reaches Hoshiyarpur (Eureka!) where he's mistaken to be the long-lost son of a very extended family. A typical village belle (Shriya Saran) is waiting for Bobby to sing rain songs in the village. Want more? The family patriarch (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) is ever ready to shed tears. There is song, dance, idiotic comedy and more.

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Mobiles can be Charged with the Wave of a Hand

Imagine charging your cell phone or iPod by waving your hand, or stretching your arm, or taking a stroll. Well, it could be a reality soon.

Scientists are mulling a technology which can convert mechanical energy from body movements or the flow of blood in the body into electric energy that may be utilised to power a broad range of electronic devices without batteries.

"This research will have a major impact on defence technology, environmental monitoring, biomedical sciences and even personal electronics," lead researcher Zhong Lin Wang of the Georgia Institute of Technology said.

In fact, the new "nanogenerator" could have countless applications, among them a way to run electronic devices used by the military when troops are far in the field.

According to the researchers, harvesting energy from the environment by converting low-frequency vibrations, like simple body movements, the beating of the heart or movement of the wind, into electricity, using zinc oxide (ZnO) nanowires that conduct the electricity.

The ZnO nanowires are piezoelectric — they generate an electric current when subjected to mechanical stress. The diameter and length of the wire are 1/5,000th and 1/25th the diameter of a human hair.

In generating energy from movement, the researchers concluded that it was most effective to develop a method that worked at low frequencies and was based on flexible materials.

The ZnO nanowires met these requirements. At the same time, they say a real advantage of this technology is that the nanowires can be grown easily on a wide variety of surfaces, and the nanogenerators will operate in the air or in liquids once properly packaged.

Among the surfaces on which the nanowires can be grown are metals, ceramics, polymers, clothing and even tents.

"Quite simply, this technology can be used to generate energy under any circumstances as long as there is movement. The nanogenerator would be particularly critical to troops in the field, where they are far from energy sources and need to use sensors or communication devices," Mr. Wang said.

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Sachin upset over IPL Fiasco

News emanating from the Indian camp, currently in the middle of a Test series in New Zealand, suggest that they are unhappy with the BCCI's decision to move the IPL out of India.

Sachin Tendulkar, who is the Mumbai Indians captain in the IPL, said: "it would be difficult to replicate the same feeling abroad. It is disappointing that the IPL has been moved out of India. We will certainly miss playing in front of our

supporters. It won't be the same."

"It's obviously going to be different because in India we used to have home and away matches," he said. "Right now looking at the itinerary whether it's going to be in South Africa or England, everything will be an away game for us."

Tendulkar, however, said there won't be shortage of Indian fans in either country because of the huge expat population.

"You don't know which is a home or an away game," he said. "It's always fantastic to have Indian fans away from country, we always appreciate it. Nowadays, virtually wherever we go we have a lot of Indian supporters cheering us, it is a big strength and support for us."

India colleague Yuvraj Singh, who is also the skipper of Kings XI Punjab, said although he was disheartened he would abide by the decision of the BCCI.

"It is sad that the IPL won't be held in India. But we have to go ahead with it as it is the decision of the Board," Yuvraj said

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Robots will dance to 'Jai Ho' in Transformers 2

Director Michael Bay, after lambasting the Academy for not giving 'Transformers' an Oscar or two is determined to have his revenge.

You won't believe how 'Transformers 2' ends - the Autobots and Decepticons will dance to a remixed version of A.R Rahman's 'Jai Ho' at a train station, lampooning this years Oscar Winner 'Slumdog Millionaire'.

“We are going to do our own Bollywood dance segment and we are going to use the ‘Jai Ho’ Pussycat remake,” Michael Bay said. “Everyone saw Jazz’s dance moves in the first film and knows he is down with the homies. So, he will lead the rest of the Autobots and even a surprise performance by Soundwave as he calls upon Ravage who turns into a tape cassette and supplies the beats. It is going to destroy what Danny Boyle did — no disrespect. Much love and Jai Ho!”

At first it was hard to tell if he was serious or joking, but when he mentioned the “Jai Ho” remix beat out the new version of “The Touch” which was performed by Stan Bush on the soundtrack for the animated Transformers film in the ’80s we're sure he had spent some time thinking about it and it had to be legit.

“Since the stuck up Academy doesn’t think a blockbuster, millions of dollars, kick ass, best movie ever is worthy of a Best Picture nomination we’ve made a film that won’t give ‘em a choice,” Michael Bay said with an air of confidence. “Transformers 2 is not only going to blow the doors off the theaters it is going to be a film critic’s and stuffed shirt Academy member’s nightmare as they will have no choice but to love it and call it the best movie of 2009.”

And how will Transformers 2 impress critics since the first Transformers wasn’t even able to beat out The Golden Compass for Best Visual Effects in 2008.

“Pardon my French, but baisez The Golden Compass! Talking polar bears? That’s what you have for me?" he said, "No one even saw that movie. My movie pulled in hundreds of millions, was awesome and we get to make a sequel. Where’s the sequel to The Golden Compass?”

“Well, I’m thinking of a little something called Slumdog Millionaire, only with Transformers 2 the fans won’t have to worry about the picture itself being Oscar-worthy. I won’t be selling out and turning it into some kind of Holocaust film where Megan Fox gets naked only to get railed by some 16-year-old. Instead I am saving it all for the end like Slumdog did.” The Bay continued, “Since Jazz got ripped in two in the last film and won’t have a part in the new film we felt it was only right to bring him back for our own Slumdog ending.”

The Transformers might look corny dancing to 'Jai Ho', but only time will tell if 'Slumdog' director Danny Boyle finds the Transformers 2 ending the least bit funny.

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Is "Aa Dekhen Zara" a hack up of 'Freeze Frame'?

Is the forthcoming film "Aa Dekhen Zara" very similar to British movie "Freeze Frame"?

This question now being asked in Bollywood gains significance because the Neil Nitin Mukesh-Bipasha Basu starrer was earlier titled "Freeze". But the lead actor maintains the two are very different.

"What nonsense! I will reaffirm that 'Aa Dekhen Zara' is an absolutely original film based on a completely original concept. It's not at all a copy of any film. There is not a single element in the film that has been copied," Neil told reporters.

"Freeze Frame", a 2004 film starring Lee Evans in a lead role, was about an ultra-paranoid murder suspect who takes to filming himself round-the-clock to provide an alibi just in case he's ever accused of another crime.

Directed by Jehangir Surti, "Aa Dekhen Zara" tells the story of a man who gets a camera that can tell the future.

"Just because the two films have a camera in the middle of it all doesn't classify one as an original and other as a copy. You can't bring two and two together and make it 22. Once you see the film you will realise that 'Aa Dekhen Zara' has nothing to do with 'Freeze Frame'," Neil said.

He also explained: "'Freeze' was always the working title of the film and we always knew that it would change later. The kind of subject that we had in hand, the title 'Freeze' wasn't really going with it."

So is he happy with the title 'Aa Dekhen Zara'? "Of course, it's just the apt title. The film is about something that may happen tomorrow courtesy the powers that the camera comes with. It's like 'let's go and see what's going to happen next'. So doesn't the phrase 'Aa Dekhen Zara' convey the same point? The same cannot be said about the word 'Freeze'. You can't excite people to peep into the future with that," Neil remarked.

The film, which has Neil crooning a number, also stars Rahul Dev in an important role.

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Sonia Gandhi ridicules Third Front

Ridiculing the Third Front, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today expressed doubt over its longevity and said the new grouping was having as many prime ministerial aspirants as the number of parties in it.

"Who knows when, who and where and along with whom they will remain," she said while addressing the "Bharat Nirman Rally" here as part of the party's campaigning in the state.

"There are as many prime ministers (aspirants) as the number of parties in it," she said, indicating that the nation cannot progress under such a dispensation.

She said there is talk of a new front and discussion on parties constituting it.

For political stability, the country needs a strong, farsighted and experienced government with an able and honest leadership, she said.

Sonia Gandhi on Monday launched her party's campaign for the General Elections from this Karnataka town by targeting the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) and promising "development and growth".

"You have to decide what politics you want; on the one hand you have the Congress which has led country on the path of development and growth. On the other hand, you have the BJP under whom everyone suffered during the NDA regime," Gandhi said at a rally in Davangere, about 250 km from the state capital Bangalore.

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IPL 2.0 - England or South Africa?

Chairman of the Indian Premier League (IPL) Lalit Modi will travel to England and South Africa over the next 24 hours in an effort to finalise an overseas venue for this year's edition of the Twenty20 competition.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on Sunday that it would stage next month's event abroad after failing to get government clearance for security cover because the tournament dates clashed with the country's general elections.

"I'll be visiting both England and South Africa in the next 24 hours," IPL chief Lalit Modi told Reuters. "I'm booked both ways and I'm yet to decide where to go first."

The Indian board said the second edition would have to be played on its original dates between April 10 and May 24 due to the cramped international calendar and that that they were in discussions with interested boards willing to host the event.

England and South Africa have emerged as the main contenders. A decision on the overseas venue is expected to be announced in the next two days, another board official told Reuters.

Indian media speculated that England was the preferred venue. "We have had discussions in the last 36 hours. We shall be meeting representatives of the IPL and the BCCI and shall be reporting back to the Board at the back end of the week," England Cricket Board's chief executive David Collier was quoted in British media.

Meanwhile, the decision to move the event overseas for lack of security has been the subject of a national debate in the cricket-crazy country, with some calling it politically motivated.

The country's two biggest political parties have traded barbs over IPL's decision, the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) calling it a "national shame".

India's home minister hit back on Monday, saying: "It appears that IPL is more than a game. It is a shrewd combination of sport and business. There is no reason to add politics to this combination."

But Indian fans and cricketers were disheartened by the shift. "It is disappointing that the IPL has been moved out of India. We will certainly miss playing in front of our supporters. It won't be the same," Sachin Tendulkar was quoted by Indian media.

But owners of the eight franchises supported the move. "It's disappointing, given the huge excitement that exists for the IPL in India. However, if the choice is no tournament or the tournament in another country, then we clearly prefer the latter," Manoj Badale of the Rajasthan Royals said in a statement.

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Microsoft still interested in Yahoo

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer is still signalling an interest in a deal to buy part of Yahoo.

Ballmer said at a technology and media summit in New York that a deal would help improve Microsoft's web search business by expanding the base of users.

More people using the search engine means more advertisers. And, Ballmer says, a larger pool of advertisers will allow for more tailored ads next to search queries.

Ballmer said he has had only one conversation with Carol Bartz since she became Yahoo's chief executive in January. Ballmer said he congratulated her and said he'd like to chat at some point about a possible deal.

Bartz's predecessor as Yahoo CEO, Jerry Yang, rebuffed a $47.5 billion takeover offer from Microsoft last year. Since then Microsoft has said several times it would be open to a deal involving the companies' search engines.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has continued to develop its own search technology as it struggles to catch up with Google and Yahoo. The internal name for one of Microsoft's new search concepts is Kumo, which has prompted some quizzical comments and sneers since it was leaked in a staff memo.

It probably will not be known as Kumo when it goes public, Ballmer indicated. "We need a name," he said.

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Shahrukh indifferent about IPL in England

Shah Rukh Khan hasn’t had a single sleepless night over the change in venue for the upcoming second edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) matches.

The change in venue has disturbed all involved, but it has had no effect on King Khan, who owns the ‘Kolkata Knight Riders’ team of IPL. He is even ready to play ‘Pied Piper’ and is sure of bringing Bollywood to the matches, wherever the venue be!

Where the whole of cricket-lovers are getting sceptical about the decision, SRK perceives it as a good sign. He said, “Of course, the buzz would be missing here but I guess the elections will take care of it.” Talking about his Bollywood supporters, he said, “Yes, of course they will (be there). Even I will try to be present at the maximum number of matches.”

The venue might affect the presence of his family, though. Shah Rukh said, “As far as my kids are concerned, I will request Lalit Modi (Chairman of the IPL and vice-president of the Indian cricket board) to reschedule the matches at the weekend, so that my kids can attend it.”

Last year Karan Johar, Arjun Rampal, Farah Khan, Aziz Mirza, Juhi Chawla, Vivek Oberoi, Sajid Khan, Ritesh Deshmukh, Chunky Pandey and Arbaaz Khan were seen cheering ‘Knight Riders’. But the undecided venue puts a looming question mark over the presence of these celebrities, who might most probably be busy with their movies and professions. We wonder who among the list will be show loyalty to King Khan over his own career this time.

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Deepika wants to become Audrey Hepburn

Deepika Padukone has had a dream-run in Bollywood with just three releases, but the model-turned-actress says her dream is to play the elegant Audrey Hepburn, her style icon.

"I would like to play Audrey Hepburn, my style icon, in movies like 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' or 'Roman Holiday'," Deepika told reporters on the sidelines of the Wills India Fashion Week (WIFW) Saturday, where she walked the ramp for Ranna Gill and Rina Dhaka's collections sponsored by luxury brand Fiama Di Wills.

After debuting opposite Shah Rukh Khan in 2007 hit "Om Shanti Om" and doing "Chandni Chowk To China" with Akshay Kumar, Deepika's next is "Love Aaj Kal" alongside Saif Ali Khan. And she is all praise for filmmaker Imtiaz Ali of "Jab We Met" fame.

"I enjoyed working with Imtiaz Ali in his movie 'Love Aaj Kal', where he cast me opposite Saif. It was a dream working for a sensitive director like him. Imtiaz just seemed to know the kind of person we were and brought out the best in us. He guided all through the movie," said the leggy beauty who was dressed in a simple black halter-neck.

Deepika is now looking forward to begin work for newcomer Vijay Lalwani's "Kartik Calling Kartik", which also stars actor-director Farhan Akhtar and Boman Irani.

"It is an offbeat movie, a psychological thriller. But I am not going to talk much about it," she said.

The actress admits she has a soft corner for action movies, though all genres appeal to her.

"An action movie is something I have always wanted to do, but I cannot specify any real genre that appeals to me. Cinema today is changing. And as an actor, I will never throw my hands up... will never be happy saying this is the best character I have portrayed. I am critical of myself, rarely happy," said Deepika.

As Indian cinema changes to adapt new formats and contents, Deepika feels the role of women in cinema is also changing.

"It is becoming more challenging. Even in the past, there were movies where women did not have to run around trees. An actress could opt to show off her talent."

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Tata Nano releases today

Who's buying first?

The Nano, touted as the world's cheapest car, will finally be launched from in Mumbai today.

The Tata group, India's largest industrial house, is all set for the commercial roll-out of the small-car that hit the global headlines last year, both after its unveiling at the Auto Show in New Delhi and then becoming the centrepiece of a political controversy over the location of its plant at Singur in West Bengal.

The $62.5 billion group finally had to shift its factory to Sanand in Gujarat after cascading politically-motivated protests over land acquisition from farmers raised questions over the company's ability to stick to its launch deadline, informally set for October 2008.

Showcasing its prototype last year, Tata Motors had announced that it will cost all of Rs.100,000 ($2,000) at factory gates - the lowest cost for any car so far. The group has said the booking process and specific details on the retail price will be announced Monday afternoon.

Tata Motors hope to start from the second week of April advance bookings for the 624-cc jellybean car, which has a snub nose, a sloping roof and just about room for five to squeeze in.

Company officials said arrangements were being made to accept bookings with the existing dealers of Tata Motors, at Westside apparel chain and Croma appliances stores promoted by the group, and select branches of the State Bank of India.

Touted as the next revolution in automobiles after the legendary Model T, The Nano will be available in three variants - standard, deluxe and luxury. The base model will have no air-conditioning.

The four-door, five-seat car has a small 33-bhp engine at the rear and is targeted at the strong Indian middle class population that aspires to trade its two-wheelers for a much safer vehicle at an affordable cost.

With a length of 3.1 metres, a width of 1.5 metres and a height of 1.6 metres, Nano also has adequate ground clearance and can effortlessly manoeuvre on busy roads in cities as well as in rural areas.

"Let me announce today that the dealer price for the car will be Rs.100,000 only," Ratan Tata, chairman of the group, had said last year, standing in front of the automobile he had promised to deliver four years ago, taking the project as a personal challenge.

"A promise is a promise," Tata had said, seeking to drive home the point he will deliver the car at the same price as he had set four years ago, despite major escalations in input costs.

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Dostana 2 Arrives!

Would they have to pretend all over again?

With ‘Dostana’ raking huge moolah at the box office and scripting a runaway success story, it seems Karan Johar is once again gearing up to repeat his ‘Dostana’ effect with a sequel!

Last year’s ‘Dostana’ was a rib-tickling comedy, which saw two straight men – John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchan feigning homosexuality in order to stay closer to their girl pal – hot chick Priyanka Chopra.

According to the latest B-town news, both Karan Johar and Tarun Mansukhani, the producer and the director of ‘Dostana’ are working on the sequel of the gay comedy, which will undoubtedly take the story forward. Tarun Mansukhani is working on the plot and wants an engrossing storyline to support the flick.

Most probably, Karan will be repeating the hit ‘Dostana’ scouple of John and Abhiskek. It is believed that Abhishek looks forward to ‘Dostana’ as a brand, which requires a sequel. The makers are also on the lookout for a new face to replace Priyanka Chopra.

‘Dostana’ sequel will trace the camaraderie of two guys from Miami to Punjab while elucidating to people their straight status, yet like Johar’s earlier flick ‘Kal Ho Na Ho’, both friends will be found in inexplicable situations much to the duo’s chagrin!

It seems Karan Johar would surely have enough experiences to share on ‘Dostana’ act!

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IPL 2 shifted out of India

Millions of Indian fans heartbroken

Holding the state governments responsible for the decision to shift IPL overseas, BCCI president Shashank Manohar announced that IPL 2 will be held outside India.

The BCCI took the decision in an emergency meeting as the dates of the tournament were clashing with general elections and the government had expressed reservations on providing security for the tournament.

"Due to the attitude of the government that it cannot provide security for the tournament, we are forced to take a decision to move the IPL out of India. I apologise to the people of India for moving the tournament out," BCCI chief Shashank Manohar said.

"But we're are going ahead with the event so that they can at least watch the event on television," Mahohar added.

As per PTI reports, IPL Commissioner and Chairman Lalit Modi said the number of matches, format and timing of the event will remain unchanged and the organisers would not tinker with the "integrity of the tournament".

"Dates and timings of the matches will remain the same. The Indian audiences can watch the matches at 4 pm and 8 pm IST as they did in the inaugural season," Modi said.

“A final decision on the IPL dates and venues will be announced on Monday”, he said.

"Revenue cannot be an issue, the 59-match tournament will remain as 59-match tournament. The issue is the integrity of the tournament. We want to ensure the quality which we deliver and it cannot be compromised. We have to deliver the world standard event," he said.

Manohar also expressed his displeasure at the state governments' attitude, saying Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra Government changed there stance at the last moment.

"The AP government revoked its earlier permission and Maharashtra Chief Minister wrote a letter that we can't host matches in that state until May 13. We had scheduled 18 matches for Maharashtra," he said.

Asked if franchise were also taken into the confidence before taking the decision, Manohar said "the franchise would want the tournament to go ahead".

Meanwhile, a BCCI press release, said it was not possible to hold the event on any other dated that the original schedule due to busy international calender.

"The BCCI is conscious of the general elections, which will be held between April 16 and May 13, 2009. The BCCI has had several discussions with the Ministry of Home Affairs on the scheduling of IPL matches.

"...It is pertinent to understand that within the present International calendar of events, there is no other window for IPL to be played during this year. Immediately after conclusion of the IPL, the teams will play in England on May 25 for the ICC Twenty20 World Cup commencing from June 2.

"After the ICC Twenty20 World Cup, the Indian team will play four ODIs in the West Indies after which, the team will tour Zimbabwe for a tri-series involving Zimbabwe and South Africa.

"In September, India would play Champions Trophy in South Africa, following which would be the Champions League. Between October 2009 and March 2010, there are three home series against Australia, Sri Lanka and South Africa," it said.

The release also said the tournament provided a large revenue last year so, it would not hold a truncated event.

"The experience of the first IPL has shown that apart from providing employment at the various venues, IPL has also contributed close to Rs. 100.0 crores to the exchequer.

"The BCCI, therefore, is not in a position to either play a truncated IPL or to cancel the 2nd edition of the IPL... The BCCI is left with no other option but to conduct the Indian Premier League in another country,"

South Africa and England are the two countries being considered as the likely venues, according to TV reports.

Earlier, South Africa was considered as one of the alternate venue and according to various reports emerging out of South Africa, Wanderers, Centurion and Potchefstroom are likely venues for the mega event if South Africa takes over the tournament this year, Times Now reported.

Lords and Oval are likely to be venues of the matches if England hosts the tournament.

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Raj Thackeray booked for hate speech in Nashik

After Varun Gandhi, MNS chief Raj Thackeray was on Sunday in trouble for his hate speech with the police booking him on charges of violating the model code of conduct and promoting enmity between groups, a day after he revived his anti-north Indian campaign at a poll rally in Nashik.

A case was registered against Raj at the Sarkarwada police station after the district collector asked the police to probe whether the MNS leader's speech had violated the model code of conduct, police inspector Praveen Kulkarni said.

Raj, who led a violent anti-north India campaign last year and was arrested and released on bail, was on Sunday charged under IPC's Section 153 (A)(promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, language etc) and Section 188 (disobedience of order promulgated by a public servant).

Raj has also been charged under Section 125 of the Representtaive of People Act (any person who in connection with election promotes enmity between different classes on grounds of religion, race, caste community etc), Kulkarni said.

Launching the party's election campaign on Saturday, Raj Thackeray had accused people and leaders hailing from the region of having "no affection" for Maharashtra and urged voters to elect his party candidates to uphold the dignity of 'Marathi manoos'.

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US H1B Visa cramping ends on February 17, 2011

According to the immigration department, the US government's controversial restriction on companies hiring skilled foreign workers with non-immigrant H-1B visas will continue for only two years.

As part of a stimulus package passed last month for revival of the economy, President Barack Obama signed a new law, named "Employ American Workers Act", which makes it difficult for the companies having received government bailout funds to hire H-1B foreign workers.

However, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), in a circular issued with its invitation of H-1B applications for the next fiscal, has now made it clear that the EAWA requirements are not permanent and would "sunset two years from the date of enactment."

EAWA, which prevents a company from displacing US workers when hiring H-1B specialty occupation workers if the company received stimulus funds, took effect on February 17, 2009 and it applies to any "hire" taking place before February 17, 2011.

The Act defines "hire" as an employer permitting a new employee to commence a period of employment; that is, the introduction of a new employee to the employer's US workforce.

USCIS has said that it would begin accepting H-1B visa applications from April 1 for the next fiscal and would subject the applications to various terms and conditions related to EAWA.

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Ganguly to be axed as Knight Riders Skipper

Chris Gayle a likey replacement

In a surprise announcement, Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday said they were "still discussing the issue of captaincy", hinting at uncertainty over star cricketer Sourav Ganguly continuing as the leader of the team in the second season.

KKR coach John Buchanan told reporters they were still discussing about the team skipper for the high-profile event, which has less than a month left for its start.

"We are deciding about it. We are still having discussion on the issue," Buchanan said in reply to a query as Kolkata franchise announced a 28-member squad for the second edition of the Twenty20 extravaganza.

The World Cup winning Australian coach, now in charge of KKR, said they have almost retained the same squad having few recruitments from the camp, after announcing the team.

"Over the next couple of weeks, I will again try to prune the squad... hopefully to bring it around the number of 22 depending on how the boys progress in the next few days," Buchanan said, adding their objective in the IPL second edition is to make the summit showdown.

"From our perspective, our target goal will certainly be to make it to the the final of the series...I think that's an expectation well within our reach. That's quite realistic... For that, we have to look into the differences last year and this year."

"In terms of international players, some of the major difference will be Chris Gayle who will be available throughout the season. Brendon McCullum, who played about four games, will also be available for the whole tournament," he said.

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Will Anoop reach the finals of American Idol?

Anoop Desai, the Indian-American who was on the brink of elimination from the popular reality show American Idol last week, is back with a bang, thanks to his soulful and stirring performance on the Grand Ole Opry-themed show, that literally left the judges spell bound.

"Anoop has just gone, has gone from zero to hero," remarked judge Simon Cowell, who last week said he regretted putting college student into the top 13.

22-year-old Desai, fondly nicknamed 'Anoop Dogg' tried "Always on My Mind,” slowing down the tune Willie Nelson famously covered and turning it into a winning, velvety R&B ballad.

“Anoop is back!” another judge Paula said, praising Desai's interpretation of the tune after his failure to capture the magic during Michael Jackson week.

"This is the reason we really wanted you in the competition. I like the arrangement," Randy said.

"Untouchable song; but you did it; the biggest surprise," Kara added.

And the performance yesterday made Desai "safe."

Following the voting which saw over 31 million choosing their favourites, Desai roared back as a favourite. He is among the10 remaining contestants, following the elimination of one.

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Modi lambasts Central Govt for kicking out IPL

'This move will ruin India's reputation'

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has accused the Central government of failing to retain Twenty20 Indian Premier League (IPL) in the country and damaging India’s reputation.

“This decision of the government sitting in Delhi is a huge loss to the country. This will ruin India’s image before the world,” Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said.

He was speaking after the Indian cricket board announced on Sunday that the IPL would be moved abroad because state governments have expressed their inability to provide security to the tournament, which coincides with General Elections.

“The government’s decision means India is not a safe place for cricket and it cannot guarantee security. I want to ask the Central government if it can’t ensure the security of 11 cricketers then how can it protect 111 crore Indians,” he said.

Modi, a senior BJP leader, claimed his government had told IPL organisers that the state was capable of providing them security during elections.

The Chief Minister alleged the Central government’s inability to provide security to IPL proved its failure against terrorism. “We should not bow before terrorism. Today the world considers Pakistan to be an unsafe country. The Indian government has declared us as unsafe and a country like Pakistan,” he claimed.

BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley, a cricket administrator, told reporters in Delhi that the decision to shift the second edition of the Twenty20 tournament would put India on par with countries like Pakistan that are deemed unsafe for international sporting events.

"The government must seriously reconsider ... and adopt a more responsible stand in national interests," said Jaitley, who is also president of the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA). "India is safe, that must be the stand of the government."

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) met in Mumbai on Sunday and decided to shift the second edition of IPL out of the country after authorities said they would not be able to provide security as the tournament clashes with the April-May general elections.

The BCCI took the decision after days of speculation about the tournament that was originally set to take place April 10 to May 23 before the Lok Sabha elections were announced in April-May.

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SRK backs IPL being thrown out of India

'Elections are bigger than Cricket'

Kolkata Knight Riders owner and Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan said he could understand the security constraints in holding the event during elections.

"We have to respect the elections in the country. That is a bigger issue than our issue. By shifting the IPL abroad, we have tried to find a solution to the problem," Shah Rukh said after meeting IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi.

"Off course the local buzz wouldn't be as strong as it is here but I guess elections will take care of the buzz," he quipped.

Asked whether he would be there to watch all the matches featuring his team as was the case in the first edition, Shah Rukh said it would depend on how the schedule pans out.

"I will try to be there for as many matches as possible. Hopefully the schedule will help me," he said.

King XI Punjab's co-owner Preity Zinta echoed Khan's views and said general elections have to be given precedence.

"As Shah Rukh said, we have to take elections into consideration. We have no problem with that," she said.

Preity said the IPL teams will have no trouble finding a fan base even in a foreign country.

"That won't be a problem. We have lot many fans everywhere," she said.

"We are going to make arrangements centrally. The IPL Governing Council will manage every venue and do the logistics of the venue," added Modi.

IPL was moved out of country after state governments' refusal to provide security for the matches in the wake of general elections.

England or South Africa are the front runners to host the event and a decision on it would be taken on Monday.

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Akshay calls Kareena a 'Bitch'

Kambakht Ishq given 'A' Certificate

The promo of Sajid Nadiadwala’s movie Kambakkth Ishq has its leading stars Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor calling each other canine names.

The movie’s trailer was set to air on television from this weekend but it didn't because the Censor Board deemed it unfit for mass viewing and has given it an ‘A’ certificate.

According to reports the promo has certain objectionable content. The Board’s regional officer is quoted as saying that the promo as has Kareena calling Akshay “a dog”. Akshay responds to her in same vein by calling her “a bitch”. If that’s not objectionable enough there’s a dialogue that says that women are only meant for making love.

Though the above dialogues could be part of the film’s comedy, the Censor Board chose to gave it an ‘A’ certificate because the context of the dialogues is not established in the promos.

It means that the promos can now be shown only in theatres and that too with movies that have ‘A’ certification.

‘Kambakkth Ishq’ is one of the most awaited films of this year. Apart from Akshay and Kareena, it has cameos by Hollywood stars like Sylvester Stallone, Denise Richards and Brandon Routh

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India's Sensex soars by 5.1 per cent on US plans

India's Sensex soars by 5.1 per cent on US plans New Delhi - India's benchmark Sensex index registered a single-day gain of more than 450 points to rise by 5.1 per cent on Monday.

The 30-share sensitive index of the Bombay Stock Exchange, which opened at 9,040.3 points, closed at 9,424.02 points, a gain of 457.34 points.

Only one among the 30 stocks, that of the real-estate giant DLF closed in the red.

Similarly, the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange jumped by 132.85 points or 4.73 per cent to close at 2,939.90 points.

The trading sentiment remained strong throughout the trading session with firming Asian and European markets.

Brokers attributed the rally in global stocks to a decision by the US Federal Reserve to pump in 1 trillion dollars into the financial system that is expected to revive the US economy.

2009 F1 regulations - A Scientific Approach

Apart from the technical changes, the least visible for the fans will be the measures taken to reduce operating costs of a Formula One team.

Most involved parties have come to realise that spending more than a million Euro per day, year after year to run 2 cars was a little out of proportion.

As such, the World motor sport council met with FOTA on 12 December at Monaco and agreed upon the following measures:

* Testing has been severely reduced from 30,000 to 15,000 km/year. All this testing will have to happen between 1 January and 7 days before the first Grand Prix of the season, as in-season and post-season testing are now banned completely. It is already widely known that this measure will reduce the workforce for most teams. Williams for instance is said to be investigating who it deems most necessary in its team as it aims to cut away the testing crew as a whole, since the race team can now do the early season testing.

* Wind tunnel testing was limited to 40 hours/week. This used to be an unlimited parameter and resulting in several teams running its wind tunnel 24 hours, 7 days a week in 3 shifts of 8 working hours. Some teams did however protest against this idea as they had just invested in a secondary wind tunnel. Max Mosley meanwhile stated that these costs are in the past, cannot be undone and cannot be a reason to keep spending at the same rate.

* No wind tunnel exceeding 60% scale and 50 m/s or 180 km/h to be used after 1 January 2009.

* Factory closures for six weeks per year, to accord with local laws.

* Manpower to be reduced by means of a number of measures, including sharing information on tyres and fuel to eliminate the need for “spotters”.

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Internet Explorer 8 is a Train Wreck

Microsoft invented the concept of launching a beta product in order to build up traction for the final product. Yet the introduction of Internet Explorer 8 shapes up to be a complete train wreck as far as customer adoption is concerned.

Last week IE8 launched and topped out at a market share of 1.86% by Friday afternoon. For a company with the reach of Microsoft, this was a bit of a disappointment. But browsers like Internet Explorer 7, Firefox or Safari hit their market share highs on weekends, while Internet Explorer 6, still a browser that has a fairly high market share during the week, declines.

It is too early to say which browser had to give up market share to enable IE8’s gain, but as far as we can see it does not appear that IE7’s and Firefox 3’s market share numbers have suffered. It will take some time until we can see whether IE7 users are upgrading or Firefox users are returning to IE.

But the heart of the matter is that, in a best case scenario, IE8 has gained less than 1% of market share over the weekend and may have seen somewhere between 5 and 7 million downloads between Friday evening and Sunday night. Since launch day, the market share has increased by less than 1.3%.

Let’s look at what Mozilla accomplished with Firefox. Firefox 3 gained 2.76 percentage points over its first four days of availability – and we are talking about a browser that had less than 20% overall market share at the time of its release. Microsoft’s IE is still well above the 65% mark. You do the math on the performance discrepancy – and it is now even more impressive how Mozilla handled the launch of Firefox 3.

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Microsoft 'Office 14' arrives in Two Flavours

Microsoft plans to ship its next Office release to system manufacturers in early March 2010. The release will be shipped in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors thanks to some hidden clues that Microsoft left in Windows 7 beta releases.

According to ZDNet, some of the arcane files that are included with Windows 7 beta releases seem to reveal clues to an upcoming Office x64 release. For instance, Windows 7 build 7000 includes an obscure XML file called Migwiz.xml which includes the same list of applications found in Windows Vista. In post-beta builds, however, this file has been updated to include more modern programs. It was in the header of this file that Ed noted the Office 14 section includes an extra “_x64” entry for each listed Office program.

In addition, he notes that there are separate sections labeled “Office x86 detects” and “Office x64 detects." The file points out the ability to upgrade from Office 2003 to 'Office 14' 32-bit or 64-bit, and likewise from Office 2007 to 'Office 14' 32-bit or 64-bit.

The fact that these codes are to be implemented in the final release of Windows 7 later this year ultimately confirms Microsoft's plans to release 'Office 14' in early 2010 as reported. Moreover, the inclusion of native 64-bit support for Office is a huge plus for the entire suite.

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Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, who was forced by his opponents to accept the demand to reinstate sacked judges, has been listed the fifth biggest loser in the world by the prestigious Foreign Policy magazine.

"Zardari was known to be a bad guy long before he became Pakistan's President. Many of the closest friends of his late wife Benazir Bhutto could not stand him. Now, as it turns out, neither can most of the Pakistani people," read the citation by the US-based magazine.

"Locked in a bitter struggle with opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, Zardari showed his weakness by capitulating to demands to reinstate Pakistan's former Chief Justice per Sharif's demands. Now in a desperate attempt to reassert control of his own party he may be plotting the ouster of his Prime Minister," the magazine said in an article on the world's 13 biggest losers.

Austrian businessman Josef Fritzl was among the losers for locking his daughter in the basement of his house and making her his sex slave.

Bernie Madoff, the US swindler who defrauded taxpayers of $60 billion, was also included in the list.

Others included on the Foreign Policy list are Edward Liddy, executive of US giant AIG (no 13); Forbes Billionaires List (no 12); Eliot Spitzer also of AIG (no 11); British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (no 10) and Israeli political Bibi Netahanyahu (no 9).

Here are thirteen choices from this month's headlines ranked by, as the magazine said, 'just how little sympathy we should have for them':

13.) Edward Liddy
12.) Forbes Billionaires List
11.) Eliot Spitzer
10.) Gordon Brown
9.) Bibi Netanyahu
8.) A.I.G. Bonus Babies
7.) Ben Bernanke
6.) Tim Geithner
5.) Asif Ali Zardari
4.) Chris Dodd
3.) Bernie Madoff
2.) The Pope
1.) Josef Fritzl

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BJP = Temple Building Company?

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi fumes

In a major change of stance on the Ram temple issue, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday said that it was not a construction company involved in building religious structures.

"BJP is not a construction company to build a temple, mosque, church and gurudwara. We support the cause that there should be a Ram temple in Ayodhya, but it has to be done with consensus of the religious groups and organisations through negotiations and talks or according to the court's verdict," said senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in an interview to Gulf News.

BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar agreed with Naqvi's views saying the BJP and the Rashtriya Swamsewak Sangh (RSS) have no political interest in building the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

"Never in the history have we said that BJP will construct the Ram mandir. It is the Ram Janma Bhoomi Trust which has taken upon itself the responsibility of constructing the Ram mandir. RSS never expected the BJP to construct the mandir and take the contract of constructing it. Temple is a religious thing. The government doesn’t do that, the government solves the problem and it will ensure that there are no hurdles. So what we had started was a dialogue between two communities that will be carried forward and will come to conclusion and mutual understanding is the best solution or it is the court direction which will come," said Javadekar.

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Kareena not interested in IPL

The foray of Bollywood actresses into IPL hasn’t prompted Kareena Kapoor to follow suit.

Preity Zinta , Shilpa Shetty and Juhi Chawla have a stake in their respective IPL teams, but Kareena isn’t itching to join the IPL bandwagon. Kareena makes no bones in admitting that she doesn’t have much business sense.

“I have no idea about business. I only know how to act. As for business, I will think about it five years later,” Bebo is quoted as saying.

Kareena is the new youth icon of India and has gone ahead to receive four awards in the last one month and the lady’s loving all the adulation.

“Who doesn’t like attention, recognition and awards?” she quips.

Kareena got environment award from Erin Brockovich, then two youth icon awards from Rotary International and Stardust, and was recently honoured by FICCI for her contribution to Indian cinema.

While Bebo’s career is going great guns, where does marriage plan to beau Saif Ali Khan stand on her priority list?

“Marriage can wait,” signs off the czarina of style.

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Barbara Mori gets a Tattoo in Hindi

Mexican hottie Barbara Mori got a tattoo on her forearm while she was shooting Bollywood movie Kites in Mumbai.

Barbara got inked from tattoo expert Sameer Patange. She and her brother together got a tattoo of a Hindi word that stands for sibling love. Patange reportedly did the tattoo on Barbara’s forearm.

Not just that, Patange also inked Hrithik Roshan and his wife Suzanne Roshan . The couple got a tattoo of the six pointed star of David on their forearms. Why Hrithik and Suzanne chose the esoteric symbol of Judaism is a mystery, but reports say even Hrithik’s dad, Rakesh Roshan , has got a similar tattoo on his arm.

Speaking about tattoos in Hindi, we know Saif Ali Khan has got Kareena’s name inked on his arm, just like ace footballer David Beckham has his wife Victoria’s name tattooed in Devanagri on his forearm.

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Pak's HuJI terrorists planned to kidnap Sachin, Sourav

Delhi Police on Tuesday told a court that three Pakistan-based militants have confessed that they conspired to kidnap cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly for securing the release of two jailed HuJI terrorists.

Referring to confessional statements of Tariq Mohammed and Ashfaq Ahmed, Public prosecutor Anita Hooda said the accused had come here to ensure release of Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami (HuJI) members Nasarullah Langrial and Abdul Rahim who were then lodged in Indian jails.

"Ashfaq, a native of Punjab province in Pakistan, had received arms training in Afghanistan along with Taliban militants for over ten days before sneaking into India through Dhaka in Bangladesh," the prosecutor, advancing the final arguments in the case, said.

Simultanesously, Tariq, hailing from Multan in Pakistan, had also got training in Afghanistan and came to India through Bangladesh, she said.

Their confessional statements were recorded on February 13, 2002 by a senior police officer after they were arrested at Nizamuddin railway station on January 31 same year, minutes before boarding an Agra-bound train.

Police had recovered one pistol and seven cartidges from their possession. Earlier, the prosecutor had referred to the confessional statement of Arshad Khan, also a Pakistan national.

The plot to abduct the cricketers did not succeed as the terrorists could not get the logistic support to execute their design in 2002, she said.

The advancing of the arguments remained inconclusive and would continue on March 25.

Besides three Pakistan-based terrorists, three Indians -- Mufti Israr, Ghulam Qadir Bhatt and Ghulam Mohd Darwere -- were also allegedly part of the conspiracy. All the militants, including key accused Jalaluddin, who was declared a proclaimed offender during the trial, had also planned to attack the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Mumbai and assassinate former President A P J Abdul Kalam during his Patna visit in 2002, she said.

They have been booked under various provisions of POTA, IPC and the Explosives Act which provide for maximum sentence of death penalty.

They are charged with hatching conspiracy to wage war against the state and keeping explosives.

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Pussycat Dolls to jam with Rahman

After his Oscar win, music maestro A.R. Rahman is going places in Hollywood.

First it was Aussie singer Kylie Minogue who willingly obliged to record a song for him for the Bollywood film BLUE and now it's the hot girl band Pussycat Doll's singer Nicole Scherzinger who has shown interest in recording an album together with the soft spoken music director who has made India proud on the global music front.

The SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE music composer will work on the new music album with Nicole in India. It is learnt that the music video for the same will be shot in Bollywood style.

The girl band Pussycat Dolls had recently done the opening act of Britney Spears 'Circus' tour which had kicked off on 3rd March, with a performance in New Orleans.

In late February, the Pussycat Dolls had recorded an English remix to Rahman's 'Jai Ho'. Lead singer, Nicole Scherzinger had teamed with producer Ron Fair and collaborated with Rahman for this cover.

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Torrent site Mininova goes on Trial too

This year is an important one for the three largest BitTorrent sites. In common with The Pirate Bay and isoHunt, Mininova is also heading to court in a dispute with the entertainment industry. This May, the court will decide if the BitTorrent indexer has to actively filter content from the site.

The top three BitTorrent sites are all involved in at least one court case. The Pirate Bay trial has just ended and isoHunt is involved in a case against the MPAA, and one against CRIA - the Canadian equivalent of the RIAA.

Mininova, based in The Netherlands, is up against local anti-piracy outfit BREIN, which has a reputation for forcing torrent sites offline or to hosting in other countries. Through legal action, BREIN now hopes to convince the court that Mininova has to filter its search results, so that all .torrent files which may point to unauthorized content are removed.

The date for the trial was set today for May 20th, and it will take up only one day. Before it came to legal action, Mininova and BREIN have had lengthy discussions on how to deal with copyrighted content, but they never reached an agreement.

“The case wont say much about the legality of torrent sites, but it will give more insight into what measures BitTorrent indexers and similar services have to take in order to make sure that they don’t link to illegal content,” Mininova President Erik Dubbelboer told TorrentFreak. “In particular, it deals with the question of whether or not website owners have to actively filter content. In other words, is a notice and takedown policy sufficient or not.”

With the Pirate Bay case still fresh in everyone’s memory, a comparison between the two cases is easily made. However, they are more different than most people would assume. First off, Mininova’s case is against the company, not the individuals involved with the site. “The Pirate Bay case is a criminal trial, ours is civil,” Erik told TorrentFreak.

Erik further noted that Mininova doesn’t operate an open tracker and that they, as opposed to The Pirate Bay, take down torrents when they get an appropriate takedown request. “These are all big differences that clearly distinguish the two cases,” Erik said.

There is no doubt that the Mininova trial will set an important precedent for all other BitTorrent indexers hosted in The Netherlands. Erik and the other Mininova founders think they have the law on their side. “We have confidence in the outcome of the case and we don’t think Mininova will cease to exist,” he said.

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6 year old Indian boy has an IQ of 176!

Pranav Veera can recite the names of the U.S. presidents in the order they served in office. He can say the alphabet backward. Give him a date back to 2000, and he'll tell you the day of the week.

He's only 6 years old.

At first glance, Pranav is a typical young boy who is highly competitive at playing Wii video games and likes to play outside. A closer look reveals he's anything but typical.

Pranav has an IQ of 176. One person in 1 million has an IQ of 176 or above. Albert Einstein's IQ was believed to be about 160. The average IQ is 100.

When Pranav was 4-and-a-half, his parents noticed he seemed unusually intelligent while playing with alphabet sets. He could even recall which letters were certain colors.

"That kind of puzzled us," said his father, Prasad Veera. "You have to have not a normal memorization, but some other means of recall."

Now, he loves all kinds of alphabets.

"He loves to collect them, like different colors, different sizes, different materials," said his mother, Suchitra Veera.

The Veeras decided to have Pranav tested three months ago at Powers Educational Services in Hyde Park, Ohio.

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First Test Day 1: India trail by 250 runs

India had New Zealand on the mat at a precarious 60 for six but allowed the hosts to stage a remarkable recovery through fighting centuries by skipper Daniel Vettori and Jesse Ryder in the first Test on Wednesday.

Put into bat, the Kiwis suffered a dramatic top-order collapse in the first session before Vettori (118) and Ryder (102) steadied the ship with a defiant 186-run stand to take the Kiwis to a healthy 279 all out on the opening day.

Kiwi skipper Vettori led from front, notching up his third Test century, while Ryder curbed his natural stroke-play to struck his maiden Test hundred on an eventful day the Seddon Park stadium.

Their seventh-wicket innings-rejuvenating partnership bettered the 163 that Bert Sutcliffe and Bruce Taylor had knit together against India at Calcutta in 1964-65.

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BCCI - Home Ministry meeting proves pointless

The meeting between the BCCI officials and the Home Ministry, which took place on Monday, failed to break the deadlock regarding the schedule of the second season of the Indian Premier League.

The meeting took place for one and a half hours but no decision could be reached. Five BCCI officials went into the crucial meeting to discuss the internal security in the mega event which is clashing with the election dates.

N Srinivisan, Honourary Secretary of the BCCI, said after the meeting: "Both, the IPL and the Home Ministry expressed our concerns."

The Union Home Ministry held the meeting to ask the organisers of the IPL to hold proper consultations with the states where they want to hold the Twenty20 matches.

Before submitting the revised schedule, IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi had said that during chalking out the new fixtures, all states concerned had been taken into confidence.

Many states have voiced their inabilities to provide security during the matches. The Andhra Pradesh Government declared on Sunday that it will be able to provide security for the IPL games only after April 26, when the polls are over in the state.

Reports suggest that Kolkata may be taken off from the schedule as the state of West Bengal was demanding deployment of 30 companies of central para-military forces.

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Blue crashes into London Dreams on Aug 15th

These two big-budgeted films are major releases of Bollywood this year and if latest buzz is to be believed then both London Dreams and Blue are set for Independence Day weekend clash.

Director Vipul Shah’s decision of releasing Ajay Devgan , Salman Khan and Asin -starrer ‘London Dreams’ on August 14 was an early one, but the makers of ‘Blue’, with the cast that includes Akshay Kumar Sanjay Dutt , Lara Dutta and Katrina Kaif , also want to cash in on the long weekend by releasing their film on August 13.

The clash has made director Vipul Amrutlal Shah wary. According to him, it’s not just a simple clash of two big films; it’s the clash of Akshay’s film with his, and Akshay is not just his favourite star and friend, but a business associate as well.

Eating up into each other’s business will not do any good to these mega-budegted films at the time of economic slow down, so Vipul reportedly had a talk with the makers of ‘Blue’ who, according to Vipul, have agreed to pre-pone the release of their film from Aug 13 to 7.

However, the director of ‘Blue’, Anthony D'Souza insists that his film will release as scheduled on Aug 13 and it is ‘London Dreams’ that has been pre-poned by a week.

Confusion, confusion, confusion…It seems none wants to miss the chance of capitalizing on the long weekend that begins from Aug 13. It’s a weekend with a public holiday that draws huge crowds to the theatres.

Hope the two filmmakers sort out their differences before the release. For if they don’t, both the films will have to duke it out at the box office. And that could turn many a dream blue.

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What must IPL do to stay alive?

With the second season of the Indian Premier League running into severe danger due to the elections, here are some options for Lalit Modi and Co.

The 1st option on hand - IPL can shift from main venues to smaller venues like Dharamsala, Cuttack, Raipur and Ahmedabad. By adding on to the number of grounds they already have will logistically mean that they can conduct more matches keeping security concerns in mind & the willingness of the states involved.

The 2nd option is a fall-back option where they might split the IPL into two parts. The first half of the tournament will be held now and second half after India's tour of west Indies in July. But that will be a logistical nightmare in terms of availability of international players and the cost of the tournament.

The third option is that this year IPL can be truncated. A shorter version where every team plays seven matches, on neutral venues, instead of home and away. This means sponsors will not get value for their money and will be forced to return part of it. This can cost IPL close to Rs 400 crore and franchises may have to shell out some of their personal sponsorship money.

The last option is no IPL at all in 2009

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Anushka Sharma and Shahid Kapur in new Film

By all chances, Anushka Sharma and Shahid Kapur can be seen paired opposite each other in Yashraj’s untitled venture to be directed by Parmeet Sethi.

Trying new actors and giving chances to debutants seems to be the new mantra of Yashraj Films . After introducing Anushka in the runaway hit Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi , the production house is reported to be making another film with her in female lead. And Shahid, who’s already working in the banner’s ‘Hadippa’ (tentatively titled) with Rani Mukherjee , is set to be Anushka’s hero.

According to sources, Parmeet Sethi has written the script which Aditya Chopra liked instantly and decided to back the project. Well, Parmeet’s association with the YRF has been since he acted in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge . It’s heard that Parmeet has also signed a contract with YRF for three films.

The film is believed to be a romantically themed family drama set in Punjab. It is reported that Adi recommended Anushka’s name to Parmeet for the film. And Shahid reportedly gave nod to the project once he heard the narration and his character sketch.

But following the YRF convention, everyone is tight-lipped about the project. The movie will reportedly go on floors by the end of this year.

As for now, Yashraj Films is waiting for their year’s first release New York , starring John Abraham , Katrina Kaif and Neil Nitin Mukesh .

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Sehwag back in World Top Ten

Virender Sehwag's blazing form in New Zealand has helped him jump nine places to sixth position in the latest Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, which is still headed by India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

The other big mover was Sachin Tendulkar who vaulted eight places to the 13th spot.

Sehwag, who scored 299 runs against the Black Caps, has made it to the top 10 for the first time in six years. The Delhi batsman had dropped as low as 30th place last year. But his swashbuckling knocks that included a whirlwind 125 not out from just 74 balls in the fourth ODI at Hamilton has elevated him to the number six rank.

Tendulkar has also made a movement in the right direction with his series scores of 20, 61 and 163 not out. Tendulkar held the top spot in the listing as recently as March 2008.

However, Yuvraj Singh and Gautam Gambhir dropped down one and four places respectively. Yuvraj now sits in fourth place while Gambhir shares 16th spot with South Africa’s Herschelle Gibbs.

In the Reliance Mobile ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori has fallen off top spot and now sits in fifth place. Vettori managed just two wickets in the series which was dominated by India batsmen.

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