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Amrita Prakash cast in cross-border love story

Mumbai, Jan 24: Amrita Prakash, who featured in several films and TV shows as a child, will now be seen as a girl who falls in love with a Pakistani boy in the upcoming episode of "Yeh Hai Aashiqui". She says shooting the "cross-border" love story was "fun".
“Shooting for 'Yeh Hai Aashiqui' was a lot of fun," Amrita, who featured as a child actress in movies like "Tum Bin" and "Vivaah", said in a statement.
An episodic series, "Yeh Hai Aashiqui", which features unusual tales of love, airs on Bindass. The upcoming episode will showcase a story about Tabassum, an Indian girl who falls in love with Shadab, a boy from Pakistan.
Their love story begins in the course of their attempting to reunite their grandmothers who were best friends but had lost touch after India and Pakistan became separate nations. Talking about the show, Amrita said: "It's a very beautiful show with interesting love stories and a different concept unlike other episodic shows on Indian television which are either crime or horror-based. "I decided to do 'Yeh Hai Aashiqui' because it was a cross-border love story with a unique theme." Actor Yasir Shah will be seen as her love interest Shadab on the show.
To be hosted by actor Rithvik Dhanjani, the episode will be aired on Republic Day.














Chennai film fest to celebrate spirit of international cinema




Chennai, Dec 10 - With as many as 30 impressive films from Serbia, France, Turkey, Hungary, Taiwan and Iran out of a line-up of over 163 films from 58 countries -- the 11th Chennai International Film Festival -, starting Thursday, promises to celebrate the spirit of international cinema while entertaining movie aficionados in the Tamil Nadu capital.

Bollywood star Aamir Khan along with southern superstar and filmmaker Kamal Haasan will inaugurate the fest, being organised by the Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation - in association with the state government.

The eight-day festival Dec 12-Dec 19 will be graced by several international dignitaries besides the presence of a number of Indian luminaries.

We will have retrospectives of international filmmakers such as Goran Paskaljevic from Serbia -, French filmmaker Claire Denis - and Istvan Szabo from Hungary -. And there's a special section showcasing six films from contemporary Turkey apart from a country focus on Taiwan and Iran as well, E. Thangaraj, festival director, told IANS.

Besides the films, the festival will also be graced by international film personalities from countries such as Serbia, France, Iran, Kiev, Poland, Mexico and several other countries, he added.

Award-winning films from international film festivals such as Cannes, Berlin and Venice will be screened at CIFF this year.

From critically acclaimed Italian drama Great Beauty to French romantic-drama Young and the Beautiful to Japanese drama Like Father Like Son will be showcased as part of the fest.

The opening day of the fest will feature performances by actress-dancer Shobana, Swarnamalya, singer Karthik and Anil Srinivasan.

This year we have lined up several interesting events such as flash mob dances, zumba by the beach and musical performances during the opening and closing ceremony of the festival. We have also included film forum discussions in Tamil as well as English, he said.

We are also introducing film discussions in Tamil because we are keen to attract the localites, added Thangaraj.

A France-based distribution company Eye on Films will address the film industry and aspiring filmmakers on the importance of circulation of feature films across film festivals around the globe.

For the fourth year in a row, CIFF has included a special competition section to honour the best Tamil films. As many as 12 films such as Soodhu Kavvum, Aadhalal Kadhal Seiveer, Haridas, Paradesi and Kumki, among others, will battle it out for the prize money of Rs.6 lakh.

Tamil filmmakers R.V. Udayakumar, Sripriya and writer S. Ramakrishnan constitute the jury for the competition section of Tamil films.

Kannan, president of ICAF, added that the four pillars behind the fest this year will be content, sponsors, organising effort and publicity by media.

Content will be measured by the quality of films to be screened while the sponsors, effort by the organisers and the overall publicity will decide the success of the festival, said Kannan.

In the Indian panorama section, 17 Indian films such as Ship of Theseus, Lucia and Sala Budha will be screened.

A special section on documentaries will feature Hindi-Tamil An American in Madras, veteran actor Gemini Ganeshan's Tamil romantic-drama Kadhal Mannan and a Tamil documentary on poet K. Subramanyam.

Malayalam actor Mohanlal will grace the closing ceremony of the fest, which will witness a live performance of southern composer Anirudh Ravichander, who will also receive the special award constituted in the name of Hindi cinema's megastar Amitabh Bachchan called Amitabh Bachchan Youth Icon Award.

Gauahar Khan, Kushal Tandon to romance on 'Tum hi ho'

Mumbai, Jan 24: "Bigg Boss Saath-7" lovers Gauahar Khan and Kushal Tandon will get cosy for the small screen by featuring in a dance performance on the romantic number "Tum hi ho" for a special show. Their performance on the "Aashiqui 2" song will be showcased as part of "Mirchi Top 20", a TV programme by Radio Mirchi which will be aired on Colors Saturday. The show will feature top 20 songs of 2013 and each song will feature a performance by Hindi television’s celebrities. The show, to be hosted by comedians Bharti and Manish Paul, will also see superstar Salman Khan dancing to some songs of his latest release "Jai Ho". Other performers include names like Sana Saeed, Jay Bhanushali-Mahii Vij, Shaleen Bhanot, Rashmi Desai, Krushna Abhishek, Ajaz Khan and Sanjeeda Sheikh. Rii and Neel Adhikari adress youngsters on women empowerment issues in Kolkata A city business school recently hosted an interactive session to address the issues of sexuality, security and empowerment. The bookstore was filled with youngsters, who had come to listen to fiery speakers like Rii, Neel Adhikari, Indranil Dasgupta, Riingo, Kakoli Dey, Anchita Ghatak, Niladri Chatterjee, Paramita Saha and Soumyajit Majumdar. Conceptualized by elocutionist Sujoy Prosad Chatterjee, the discussion tilted towards safety issues and the rising cases of sexual harassment and rape in the city. While Rii expressed her disgust at being ogled, Neel showed thumbs down to censorship. The discussion was followed by an impromptu gig by Ifs and Buts, who rendered numbers relevant to the theme of the debate. We also spotted veteran actor Barun Chanda among the audience. West Bengal Rape victim was made to stand on platform; raped by over 15 men for entire night Kolkata: West Bengal gang-rape victim was made to stand on a bamboo platform and was attacked by villagers on orders of village head. The girl was then hurled into a small hut where as many as 15 men, young and old, brutally raped her for the entire night.   "Her family could not pay, so go enjoy the girl and have fun," these are the chilling words of the village head to the villagers.   The victim was threatened and asked not to report the crime to the authorities.   The girl was caught in having an affair with a man from different community. Both of them were ordered to pay a fine of Rs. 25,000.    When the girl and her family expressed her inability to pay the fine the village head ordered the community members to attack her.   The news has once again highlighted nation's vulnerability in tackling crime against women. In the past, a teenage woman from the same region was made to walk naked across four villages for having a relationship, which village elders did not approve of.   The teenage girl was later given a bravery award by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.   The latest incident has once again brought the nation in bad limelight. The news was carried by all leading dailies across the world.   A series of rapes in India over the past year has sparked widespread concern about sexual violence and government failures to protect women. The gang-rape and murder of a Delhi student in December 2012 sparked protests across the country which pushed the government to introduce tougher penalties for sexual offenders, said the Independent.   West Bengal gang-rape: 'Woman attacked on bamboo platform for all to watch   BBC reported with the following headline- India: Woman gang-raped on orders of 'kangaroo court'.   Fox News, published the news under the header- India police: Village elders ordered gang-rape of woman because she fell in love with wrong man   The report mentioned a series of rape cases that have taken place in the country in recent history.   Daily Mail reported- Kangaroo court orders Indian woman to be gang-raped by 13 men for having a relationship with a man from another village... with the 'judges' carrying out the punishment   The Guardian reported- Thirteen men in court over public gang-rape in Indian village   CNN reported- Woman in India tells police village head ordered her gang-raped   According to Huffington Post- Indian Woman Gang-Raped By 13 Men On Orders Of Village Court In West Bengal: Police   Readers have expressed shock and disbelief after reading the brutal news.   What a vicious terrible country India is for a woman, read a reader's comment on UK news website, Daily Mail.   Another reader termed the entire episode as work of 'Barbaric Lunatics'.   The Supreme Court on Friday took suo motu cognisance of a horrific incident of gang rape of a young tribal woman by 13 villagers in West Bengal's Birbhum district and issued notice to the state government.   As soon as three judge bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam assembled for the hearing, it expressed shock over the incident, which has grabbed headlines, and took cognisance of the matter.   The bench also comprising, justices Ranjan Gogoi and M Y Eqbal passed the order and directed district judge of Birbhum in West Bengal to visit the place and file a report before it within a week. Results announced for national test on financial literacy The national level test is an initiative by National Centre for Financial Education (NCFE) and was held on January 11 and 12, this year.    The test was conducted to motivate school students (of classes VIII to X) to learn the concepts of finance and also measure their financial awareness so that they acquire the skill of managing finances at an early age.     Abhinav Agarwal of Kendriya Vidyalaya, ONGC, Panvel, and Maharashtra secured the all India first rank in the test, as per statement by market regulator Sebi on Thursday.     The maximum participation was from Rani Public School Kerala with a total of 929 students appearing for the test from this school.        Besides, Darbari Lal Dev Model School and Sachdeva Public School in New Delhi were the best performing schools in the test with all students scoring more than 50 percentile.    NCFE has been set up by National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM) with the support of all regulators in India such as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Securities and Exchange Board of India. Sonakshi Sinha grooves enthral Mumbai cops! One of the most versatile actresses of B-Town today, Sonakshi Sinha, is on a roll as she has had the maximum hit songs in 2013 and recently performed at Umang-2014 Annual program of the Police Force. Grooving to all her hit numbers, Sonakshi Sinha didn't leave scope for any dull moment in her performance. She started off with "Party All night" (Boss) then "Tamnchey pe Disco" (Bullett Raja), "Saree ka Fall Sa" (R...Rajkumar) and saved the last for the best - "Gandi Baat". Sonakshi Sinha who is a marvelous dancer surprised us with an acrobatic move which was the signature step of Prabhudeva and Shahid Kapoor in "Gandi Baat". She performed it effortlessly and looked every inch of a diva!! Well! We are sure the beauty and her jhatkas and tumkas would have been a colourful and exciting treat for the eyes... How to identify pre-2005 currency notes?! This note has the year of printing clearly printed in the middle of the bottom row on the backside. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced its plans to withdraw all currency noted issued before 2005. Financial experts believe that the move is largely aimed at removing fake or counterfeit currency embedded into the financial system as well help uncover the big black market currency in the country. While the motives of RBI are unquestionably good, there has been some quantum of confusion amongst the general public as to whether the notes they have would need replacement or not. Read on to find out if the currency notes in your pocket or ones stashed in your locker needs to be changed. Identifying Pre 2005 Currency Notes: Currently the Reserve Bank of India prints currency notes in the denomination of Rs. 5, Rs. 10, Rs. 20, Rs. 50, Rs. 100, Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000. All the notes printed before the year 2005 do not have the year of printing marked on it. All currency notes printed post 2005 have is year of printing clearly printed in the middle of the bottom row on the backside of the note. If your bank note has no year of printing on the back, it means the note is printed before 2005 and needs to be exchanged with the bank as per the RBI deadline. All notes with the year of printing indicated on the currency note would stay in operation as all of them are posted after 2005. This note has the year of printing clearly printed in the middle of the bottom row on the backside. Possible Reasons for Withdrawal: The possible reasons for the withdrawal of old currency is more to do with streamlining the number of currency variants than anything else. Of course the government is worried about the inflow of fake currency and hopes to tackle it by using all notes printed post 2015 which are far more technically superior and difficult to print for fake currency mongers. How to Exchange Old Currency Notes: So now that you have identified your currency notes and shortlisted the ones that need to be changed, a simple exchange procedure is revealed by the press release of the Reserve Bank of India. First things first, there should be no reason to panic whatsoever as the RBI has clearly stated that all old notes would continue to be completely legal and can be exchanged at any bank after April 1, 2014. An old (pre-2005) note without the year of printing. (RBI website) All public sector as well as private banks have been asked to create a dedicated exchange counter where both account owners as well as non account owners of that bank or branch can exchange their old currency notes for new ones. These exchange counters will become operation from 1st April 2014.If you have a large amount of old currency notes with you, you may want to exchange them, before 30th June 2014. So why is this date important? All exchanges done before 30th June would be unconditional. For any exchange of more than ten pieces of old Rs 500 or Rs 1000 notes after that date would require identity proof and address to be shared with the bank if you are a non customer of that bank.