Shivaratri Celebrations

The little master from Chennai, AR Rahman has made India proud by winning the eagerly awaited Oscars for ‘Best Original Score’ and the ‘Original

A R Rahman (AP Photo)

Song Award’ for Slumdog Millionaire .

Taking a bow at the coveted red carpet ceremony, Rahman’s acceptance speech during the Best Original Song Award was a moving encore. “All my life I had two choices – between love and hate and I chose love,” declared Rahman to an enamoured Hollywood audience.

Dedicating the trophy to his country, Rahman also sought his mother’s blessings and love. Citing the famous line from the yesteryears Bollywood hit Deewar – Rahman stated ‘Mere paas Ma hain,’ (I have my mother with me), as he accepted the award for Best Original Score. Rahman’s soulful rendition of his nominated track Jai Ho was a fitting declaration of his talent on an international platform.

Jai Ho Rahman, we salute your musical prowess and hope you add many more triumphs to India’s musical sojourn.

‘Slumdog Millionaire’ sweeps eight Oscars at the 81 st Academy Awards including Best Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography,

Oscars: Eight on ten for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Agency Photo)

Sound Mixing, Film Editing, Original Score, Original Song, Direction and Motion Picture. Indian music maestro A R Rahman brings home two awards with his Jai Ho… composition.

THE OSCAR WINNERS…

Best Picture: Slumdog Millionaire. “It has been collaboration between hundreds of people. All of us are here to share this moment. This was an extraordinary journey,” says the Slumdog… team.

Best Direction: Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Original Song: A R Rahman for ‘Jai Ho…’ (Slumdog Millionarie)

The Indian music maestro, Rahman wooed the audience with ‘O Saya’ and ‘Jai Ho…’ the nominated songs from ‘Slumdog…’, as the nominees for Best Original Song were being announced.

Best Original Score: A R Rahman for Slumdog Millionaire . “I have nothing but my mother and she is there with me. I thank her for making me coming all this way with her blessings,” said a proud Rahman.

Best Film Editing: Chris Dickens for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Sound Mixing: Ian Tapp, Resul Pookutty for Slumdog Millionaire. “This is just not a sound award, but a history being handed over,” said Indian receiver Pookutty.

Best Cinematography: Anthony Dod Mantle for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire. “The cast and crew of the film told me so much about India and writing,” said a proud Beaufoy.

Best Documentary Short Subject: Megan Mylan for Smile Pinki

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Sean Penn for Milk.

Best Actressin a Leading Role: Kate Winslet for The Reader. Breathless Kate confessed experiencing the fainting feeling just like Penelope Cruz. She shouted onstage and waved at her father. She said, “I want to thank my family as they love me the way I am and lets me do what I want to.” By the time she finished her speech she was already in tears.

Best Foreign Language Film: Departures (Japan)

Best Sound Editing: Richard King for The Dark Knight

Best Visual Effects: Eric Barba for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Documentary Feature Film: James Marsh for Man on Wire

Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight

. It was a special moment for actor’s family – mother Sally, father Kim and sister Kate who came to receive the trophy on Ledger’s behalf.

Best Live action short film: Jochen Alexander for Spielzeugland Toyland

Best Make-up: Greg Cannom for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Costume Design: Michael O’Connor for The Duchess

Best Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Animated Short Film: Kunio Kato for La Maison En Petits Cubes

Best Animated Feature: Andrew Stanton for Wall-E

Best Original Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black for Milk

Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona. “Has anyone fainted here, may be I will be the first one,” exclaimed Penelope immediately after receiving the award.
(more…)

Yes, the word ‘barber’ might soon be axed from the upcoming King Khan starrer ‘Billu Barber’. The reason? It seems that the salon and beauty parlor association of the Maharashtra state has approached the star and requested to delete the word ‘barber’ from the film.

Though SRK did not disclose if the film will make this change the actor suggested that ‘barber’ will not appear in the maximum part of the film. The film under question had received a clear chit from the Censor Board a few days back.

‘Katha Parayumbol’ the Malayalam and the original version of ‘Billu Barber’ was directed by Srinivasan and veteran actor Mammootty playing himself in the film did wonders at the box office.  ‘Billu Barber’ is being produced by Gauri Khan under the banner of Red Chillies Entertainment. The film sees Shah Rukh Khan, Irrfan Khan, and Lara Dutta in the lead roles.

With the recent trouble with the Salon associations asking to axe the word ‘barber’ from the film only time can tell what the film will be like once it hits theatres. We also have reports suggesting that SRK has requested to the Censor Board to set up a committee to overcome controversies.

Konchem Istam Konchem Kastam – Feel Good Family Entertainer Indialivenews

Generation gap is an inevitable part between the parents and their kids. Parents misconceive the likes of their wards and assume that their decisions are the best made for their children. With their abounding affection, they ignore the children’s feelings which was ‘Bommarillu’ theme earlier and now ‘Konchem Ishtam Konchem Kashtam’ is one more arrival similar to the same theme. Starring Siddarth, Tamanna, Prakash Raj and Ramya Krishna in the lead cast, debut director Kishore Kumar alias Dolly has made the film produced by Nallamalapu Srinivas alias Bujji on Lakshmi Narasimha Productions banner. Based on the consequences faced by children due to the parent’s ego which forms the crux, the film was released on 5th February.

Story:

Siddhu Varma (Siddharth) is the son of Prakash Varma and Rajya Lakshmi (Ramya Krishna) who grows up in a not so affectionate family environment because of his parents’ separation which happened 18 years ago. Yet, he is a lively chap with aspirations in life and behaves carefree. He comes across the beautiful village belle Geetha Subrahmanyam (Tamannna) and falls in love with her. He wins her heart with his joyful approach and she accepts in return. Geetha is a traditional girl who believes firmly in relationships and respects her family. The young lovers approach Geetha’s father Subrahmanyam (Nazar) for their marriage. Keen on family values, Subramanyam puts forth a condition for Siddhu if he wishes to marry his daughter. How Siddhu’s efforts to unite his parents become fruitful in the end forms the rest of the plot.

Artists Performance:

Siddhartha is a good actor who has displayed notable performance in the films like ‘Nuvvostante Nenodantana’, ‘Bommarillu’ and ‘Aata’. His role again in the name Siddhu has been carried efficiently by his emoting skills. His presentation of dialogues like ” evaraina premisthe pareeksha pedatharu meerenti siksha vidhincharu…” “Dveshanni maathram vunchukoni premani dooram chesukunnaru…” during the climax appeals largely. The popular star of ‘Happy Days’ Tamanna has played the subtle role as Geetha Subrahmanyam. She does her part well and is an asset for the film. Her gestures and body language in certain sequences are attractive. No special mention is needed for the talented actor Prakash Raj who carries himself with ease and elan in the role of Prakash Varma. Ramya Krishna doesn’t lag behind and does justice to her role as a mother with her able performance. Nazar as Subrahmanyam has dignifiedly presented the role within its scope. Brahmanandam as Gachibowli Diwakar, Venu Madhav as Bangaru Raju shoulders the responsibility of making the viewers laugh and they did it with grace. Sudha, Surekha Vani, Vijay Samrat, Karuna, Hema have done well within the limits of their role.

Technical Aspects:

Musical score composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is new for Telugu audience with innovative compositions. Lyrics penned by Sirivennela, Chandra Bose, Ramajogaiah Sastry, Chinni Charan aptly sync along with the songs and are sweet to listen to. Choreography by Raju Sundaram, Kalyan, Soni Nikson and Shekhar has been done neatly. Dialogues by Abburi Ravi are crisp and touché the emotions near the end. Chinna’s BGM is average while Harish Shankar has done a good job as an assistant in writing while screenplay done by Deepak Raj, Vikram Siri is taut and neat. Srikar Prasad should have made a taut screenplay which he missed that delivers a lag in the movie. . Vijay K Chakravarthy cinematography brings in the perfect visualization on screen which enriches the movie. Nallamalapu Srinivas has made a good family entertainer. Director’s Portrayal Director Kishore Kumar’s work is near to flawless albeit him being a first time director. He deserves applause for his timing sense to bring out scenes and for the storyline with his very first film. The complete movie going experience would have been better if the lag in narration been checked out. On the whole, director has made a mark with his first venture.

Criticism :

The title gets justified which states every family has its own share of sweetness and sourness meaning ‘Konchem Ishtam Konchem Kashtam’. Parents’ separation due to their egoistic nature affects their children’s life which many are not aware of. The concept has been rendered on screen in a melodramatic way filled with love, affection and family bond. Verdict: A feel good family entertainer with few flaws which could be overlooked for the better parts.

Rating:65/1oo

A five-member SEBI team arrived at the Chanchalguda Central Prison in Hyderabad on Wednesday to quiz Satyam (SATYAM.BO : 49.6 -4.15) Computer founder Ramalinga Raju and his brother and former Managing Director Rama Raju regarding the Rs 7,800 crore financial fraud in the IT firm.

The Supreme Court in its order on Tuesday directed the Superintendent of the Chanchalguda prison to allow SEBI’s investigating officer Sunil Kumar to question the Raju brothers for three days from today in connection with the accounting fraud in Satyam Computer.

The SEBI team submitted a copy of the Supreme Court order in this regard. They (SEBI) are yet to start questioning the Rajus, a State Prisons Official said.

He further said SEBI will be provided a place in the administrative block of the jail for interrogating the Raju brothers.

“We are going through the copy (of the order) and a decision will be taken on whether the SEBI interrogation will take place in the presence of a jail official — either a Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent or a jailor,” he added.

The Rajus have been sent to judicial custody at the Chanchalguda prison here till February 7 by a local court.

SEBI had sought permission of a local court to quiz Ramalinga Raju and Rama Raju on ‘buying, selling and dealing’ in Satyam shares.

But its appeal was rejected by the court on the grounds of “maintainability and jurisdiction”, while the AP High Court had deferred its plea.

Microsoft, as a part of its efforts to overcome the language barrier to computing, has showcased a variety of custom made products directed specifically at the vernacular language market – a market that has been largely left untapped till now.

The new initiatives include Language Interface Packs (LIPs) in 12 Indian languages – Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Gurmukhi, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil and Telugu – for MS Office and Windows.

The company has also announced a total of 45 additional virtual keyboards for these languages. Even Windows Live has not been spared the treatment with it being made available in as many as seven Indian languages. These languages are Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu.

There’s more in store for developers as well. Directed at vernacular language developers, it has launched the Captions Language Interface Pack (or CLIP) in Hindi, Malayalam, Oriya, and Tamil. CLIP uses a tool tip caption to display translations for user interface items in Visual Studio 2008 making it the first ever instance of Microsoft releasing a tool specifically to help students and beginner developers in India use the product in their own language.

The most talked about part of the sneak peek was a rather cool beta version of Windows 7 in Hindi, one of the eight global languages the Operating System (Beta) was released in recently. We would love to have a go at this one!

Money can’t buy you love but it sure comes in handy if you’re getting your girlfriend a Valentine’s Day present. Which is exactly what
UK-based businessman and Shilpa Shetty’s boyfriend Raj Kundra learnt when he forked out $15.4 million (about Rs 75 crore) for an 11.7% stake in Rajasthan Royals, the first season champs of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

‘‘It is a very expensive gift,’’ said Shilpa. ‘‘I trusted Raj’s business acumen and am really proud to be the co-owner of Rajasthan Royals. Being brand ambassador for this team, both our name and our money are at stake. But this is the most reliable team and they take the game very seriously.’’

Asked if the couple’s decision had anything to do with the Royals winning last year’s final, Shilpa said, ‘‘I had bet on this team last season. Plus, the Rajasthan Royals have a huge fan following not only in India but also in the UK where Raj stays. So it was a well thought out decision.’’ Shilpa also has another reason to back the Royals.

‘‘They were considered the underdogs — just like I was. That’s also why I backed them from the word go. My association is meant to raise the brand value of the team, making sure the focus doesn’t shift from the game.’’

The actress will soon be launching a talent hunt for cheerleaders for the Royals. ‘‘My Bollywood experience will help me contribute to the music video, merchandising and other publicity.’’

Boyfriend Raj is only talking business. ‘‘I’m planning to shift base to Mumbai and this was the first business venture I decided to plunge into. Rajasthan Royals is the hot favourite in the UK and with Shilpa coming on board, the popularity of the team can only soar higher.’’

Yesterday we told you what happened outside Preity Zinta’s home on Saturday evening when she threw a birthday bash for a few close friends.

Today we have an eyewitness account of what went on inside. According to the eyewitness, the ‘king’ Akshay Kumar and ‘badshah’ Shah Rukh Khan shared some serious cold vibes. The eyewitness said, “Twinkle and Akshay arrived before Shah Rukh and Gauri. While Twinkle and Akshay acknowledged all the guests at the party, it was pretty obvious that the two did not have any intention of staying there long.”

The undercurrent of rivalry between the two stars was apparent when Shah Rukh arrived at the party. According to our source, Akshay wanted to leave before Shah Rukh could arrive. “The minute Shah Rukh stepped in, Akshay chose to leave. The few minutes that the two were together, they avoided each other. They greeted one another very reluctantly but after that no word was exchanged between the two. Since there were only few guests present at the party at the time, the awkwardness between Akshay and Shah Rukh was very obvious.”

It may be recalled that Akshay’s rising stardom had made SRK pretty insecure and the latter made no bones about it. Shah Rukh even made digs at Akki at a private show organised by Reliance at Jamnagar where SRK was the host – he had said ‘so what if he is the king, I am the badshah’. We messaged both Shah Rukh and Akshay asking them if they had consciously avoided each other at the party, but the two did not revert.