Deepika Rumoured lovers,Akram Khan Airtel,Cinema about cinema,comeback,Shiv Sena NCP? ,Imtiaz Ahmed win

Rumoured lovers Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh set the stage on fire

Photo : Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh at ‘Lux Cozi Zee Cine Awards 2014   The magnetism between Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone has clearly spilled over into 2014 as the two team up for the very first time ever on stage   It looks the Ram Leela duo of Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone  just cannot stay away from each other.  One of the most talked about films of 2013, Sanjay Leela Bhansali`s magnum opus ‘Goliyon Ki Raasleela...Ram-leela’ left an indelible imprint on audiences’ hearts with its stark, vibrant depiction of a rustic romance, energetic dances, its soul-stirring melodies and above all else, the scorching chemistry between the lead pair. The magnetism between Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone has clearly spilled over into 2014 as the two team up for the very first time ever on stage, at ‘Lux Cozi Zee Cine Awards 2014 powered by Dabur Vatika Enriched Olive Hair Oil and Karbonn Mobile’ for an act that was nothing short of scintillating. Ever the versatile actor, Ranveer raised a toast to Bollywood through the ages with a non-stop 14 minute performance. Paying a tribute to the movies, masti and magic of Bollywood, Ranveer grooved his way through songs picturized on the most iconic Bollywood stars ranging from Rajesh Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, Mithunda, Govinda, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan. For fans of the ‘Band Baaja Baraat’ star, Ranveer obliged by dancing to some of his own hit numbers as well. So infectious was his mischievous energy that the audience was up on its feet like you see at a concert. Deepika, looking stunning in ethnic wear, danced to a medley of her own hits such as ‘Khuda Jaane’, ‘Beintehaa’, ‘Tere Naina Has Diye’ and ‘Allah Duhai Hai’. The gorgeous heartthrobs had their own solo acts that led into an exciting grand finale where they teamed up and danced to ‘Nagada Sang Dhol Baaje’ and ‘Dhishkyaon’ from Ram Leela. For the first time since the two set the silver screen on fire with their performances in Ram Leela, Ranveer and Deepika paired up for an electrifying performance that had audiences enthralled.  The rumoured lovers infact were seen according to reports cosying up during the rehearsals. Ranveer Singh arrived rather late for his rehearsals for the Zee Cine Awards. He was performing to a medley of hits, dressed in a Raj Kapoor-esque outfit, complete with hat. He mouthed dialogues from Sholay, imitated Big B, danced to Kaali Kaalki Aankhen. Before that Deepika was already practising her act. She was in costume and dancing to songs from Chennai Express and Ram Leela... When Ranveer was performing, Deepika was in  the audience watching his every move. He then came down to meet her, she discussed his act, gave him tips on emoting and dancing. Then they started cosying up... kissing and hugging!

Airtel Rising Stars: Mumbai’s Sanath Valldares and Akram Khan have been selected


Feb 22, 2014

Mumbai : Airtel Rising Stars 2013-14, India’s largest under-16 soccer talent hunt and an initiative launched by Bharti Airtel to provide young talented footballers the chance-of-a-lifetime to train at the Manchester United Soccer School, today concluded its six-month hunt and handpicked 11 talented children who will travel to the United Kingdom and train at the prestigious school.
The selected players are Arka Dey and Rajib Roy from Kolkata, Md. Aqib and Karan Khurana from Delhi, Premchand Singh (GoalKeeper) and Niraj Singh from Bangalore, Sanath Valldares and Akram Khan from Mumbai, Rakesh K. from Hyderabad, Liston Colaco and Jolitan Dias from Goa. The two-day final trials took place under the guidance of Manchester United coaches Lami Sonola, Kevin O’Connell, Dave Chapman and Adam Hilton.
From warm up exercises that included dynamic stretching, fun competitive games with and without a football to rigorous sessions where coaches tested players with different scenarios and conditions, the two-day camp had it all. The players were also divided into teams and tested on some specific parameters such as physical attributes, individual skills, match situations and performances in actual matches. Sessions included areas such as dribbling skills, shooting skills and specialized workshop for players and goalkeepers.
Each player got equal opportunity and time to demonstrate his skills before 11 of the finest players were chosen to travel to Manchester United for a week and to train alongside the Manchester United Academy team.
Speaking about ‘Airtel Rising Stars 2013-14’, Mr. Rohin Pinto (Zonal Business Head, Goa & Konkan) , Bharti Airtel said, “We are thrilled to have come to the end of yet another edition of ‘Airtel Rising Stars’ that gave us an opportunity to witness, first hand, the phenomenal talent that exists in our country. The program gave many young children across India a chance to display their talent. We believe the 11 young children chosen today will transform into excellent footballers in the time to come. Airtel is delighted to associate with Manchester United and bring alive the football dreams of India’s many talented players.”
Delighted to announce the conclusion of ARS 2013-14, Lami Sonola from Manchester United said, “Each year, we are pleasantly surprised to see the kind of potential young players in India possess. This year again, it was a pleasure to take Airtel Rising Stars into its second year of serious soccer talent scouting and choose 11 young, dynamic and talented players who will possibly kick-off a career in professional football. I would also like to take this opportunity to commend the efforts of each player who participated in ARS this year and wish them the best.”
Kamshon Khongmalai and Azad Nirame from Bangalore, K. Nagaraju (Goalkeeper), A.Rahul and Mohd. Kasheem from Hyderabad have been selected as standbys incase an injury, illness or passport / visa problems occur to any of the selected players.
The on-ground execution of ‘Airtel Rising Stars’ has been entrusted to Procam International – India’s largest Sports marketing and Leisure Management company.
In 2009, Bharti Airtel had announced its tie-up with Manchester United to bring a variety of benefits for Airtel’s football loving customers in India. As part of this association, Airtel customers across India have been enjoying exclusive access to Manchester United football content as well as money-can’t-buy match experiences. The ARS programme is an extension of this long term association between brand Airtel and Manchester United.


Bramman: Cinema about cinema


 

Why do directors act? The situation, if you think about it, is a bit of a paradox. Someone who steps into the film industry to become an actor knows that he wants to be in front of the camera — he wants to be the film’s face. Someone wanting to be a director, on the other hand, wants to be the film’s voice. He knows full well that his is a life conducted behind the camera. How, then, does this crossover happen — and so frequently, in Tamil cinema?

Every time I watch a film where M Sasikumar plays the lead, I find myself beset by these thoughts — but this time, the film abets this inquiry. Bramman, directed by Socrates, is partly a “family entertainer” (about that, later), and partly a meditation on the Sasikumar persona. And it’s not just the usual self-deprecation — declaring that he never imagined himself a hero, or being told, by a sidekick, that he cannot dance. As if anticipating the question “Why are you wearing designer duds and singing romantic songs in foreign locations, while lending an ear to Santhanam’s one-liners, instead of dreaming up the next Subramaniyapuram?” Sasikumar tells us — through his character Siva, who owns a single-screen theatre in Coimbatore — that it’s not easy.

Siva’s mother is obsessed with mega-serials. His father is content with other television programmes. And his sister watches films on pirated DVDs. In addition, the single screens, where a balcony ticket costs Rs. 30, are being replaced by marriage halls and commercial complexes (and if they have to survive, it’s by screening soft porn). “I want to give people good cinema,” Sasikumar/Siva says. But...

Siva reveals that even as a boy, he was crazy about cinema, stealing film strips from the local theatre and gazing at the frames. And this obsession stuck. The fight scenes in Bramman are staged in front of cinema halls, and they come about because Siva cannot bear to see these temples defiled by audience members who put their feet up in the seats in front of them or by others who drink and relieve themselves in the premises. Siva is such a devotee of cinema that he allows himself to be shamed by Gayathri (Lavanya Tripathi) — a student of, wait for this, Mass Media. She goes about tearing posters of the films he’s screening in his theatre — and when cornered, she says that it’s not right to promote cinema near temples, schools and government offices.

And as the film shifts, in the second half, to Chennai — to Kodambakkam, the capital of Tamil cinema, where Siva ends up being asked to direct a film; in other words, we have, here, a director playing an actor playing a director — we get scenarios written around the life of strugglers in the industry, boys who follow their dreams and make short films; Tamil directors finding fame in Telugu cinema; the importance of marketing and presentation; our gruesome obsession with leaving the audience with a message; the value of the bound script (and the valuelessness of the screenwriters who deliver those scripts). And the title, we discover, stands for the creator... of cinema.

With all this, Sasikumar could have made his own movie, a scorching drama about a man with ideals forced to sell himself in the marketplace. Instead, he opts for the safer route, coating this bitter pill with the sugar of “family sentiment,” “friend sentiment,” a last-minute love triangle, and an item song.

Bramman isn’t a “mass hero” movie, thankfully — the “villain,” so to speak, is just the Corporation that demands that Siva pay up tax arrears if he wants to keep his theatre. But this major crisis, which seemed to be the film’s central plot point, is resolved with a whimper, and the story abruptly changes tracks to gaze on a dreadfully sentimental friendship. The love angle, similarly, is all over the place. These, along with the circumstance of Siva moving away from home, are portions that could have helped us invest emotionally in this story, but we get scenes like the one where Siva, calling his mother in Coimbatore for the first time, many days after moving to Chennai, asks for her vatha kozhambu recipe — she cheerfully obliges, as if she just heard from him five minutes back.

With someone else at its centre, we might have said that Bramman is just about watchable, but with Sasikumar, we begin to wonder if Subramaniyapuram was a one-off. It’s coincidence, of course, but a few days after the demise of Balu Mahendra, we have another instance of a serious-minded filmmaker hurling at us a few reels of perfunctorily shaped cinema. He could be saying: Neengal Kettavai. But is this what we asked for?

Genre: Drama

Director: Socrates

Cast: Sasikumar, Lavanya Tripathi, Santhanam

Storyline: The struggles of a cinema-crazy theatre owner.

Bottomline: Barely watchable.

Indrani Haldar makes her comeback

Her last film in Tollywood was Atanu Ghosh's Takhan Teish. And after four long years, Indrani Haldar is back with a bang. The actress has signed up for debutant director Jeet's Culture Connection. The cast also includes Biswanath Basu and Kanchan Mullick, among others.

"The film is an out-and-out comedy. Kolkata boy Jeet, who is based in Mumbai, approached me after I had completed shooting for the Hindi serial, Savitri. Because of my jatra commitments, Jeet had to delay the project by a couple of months. Frankly, I was dying to do a Bengali film, as I will get an opportunity to speak in Bangla," says Indrani. The actress is also excited about her brand new avatar. "From my look to my character, everything is new in this film. This is also my first comedy. And since I lost oodles of weight recently, I will be sporting western outfits in this film," she adds.

Culture Connection, 70% of which will be shot in Bangkok, revolves around two good-for-nothing men (Biswanath and Kanchan), who land up in the Thailand capital and bumps into Indrani. "It is great fun to work with talented actors like Biswanath and Kanchan. That apart, the script is hilarious, so all day I am busy laughing out loud," says Indrani.

Shiv Sena MP Ganesh Dhudhgaonkar joining NCP?

Mumbai, Feb 22 (PTI) Shiv Sena MP from Parbhani in central Maharashtra Ganesh Dhudhgaonkar today met Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar, fuelling speculation that he was on the way to join the Sharad Pawar-led party ahead of the elections.

NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik confirmed the meeting, but did not reveal the details.

Imtiaz Ahmed stars in CAG's title win

 

Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) scored a memorable 32-run victory over the fancied Chennai-based Chemplast in the final of the BCCI Corporate tournament and lift the Rajsingh Dungarpur Trophy at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.

Once canny seamer Imtiaz Ahmed uprooted tail-ender P. Parameswaran’s off stump, the overjoyed CAG reserve players and support staff rushed from their dug out and dressing room to the centre plot of the stadium to join their eleven teammates for a cheerful celebration. Imtiaz turned out to be the wrecker-in-chief with a lion-hearted effort of 5 for 21 in 8. 3 overs, as CAG subdued Chemplast for 178 chasing a modest target of 211.

The final - that made the winner rich by Rs. 1 crore and the runner-up by Rs. 50 lakh - was a story dominated by seam bowlers. They showed their bag of tricks on a surface that offered hope right through the match, by way of extra bounce in particular.

First, Chemplast’s Sandeep Sharma caused the downfall of five CAG batsmen for 26 runs in 10. 4 overs. He was well supported by R. Suthesh as CAG, put into bat, declined to 56 for 4 by the 18th over and 150 for 7 by the 39th over before its lower middle-order showed some spirit and hit out to post a fighting 210.

The Chemplast chase followed a similar pattern with its top four - K. H. Gopinath, M. Vijay, Mayank Agarwal and Napolean Einstein - falling to Imtiaz and Rituraj Singh for 30 runs by the 12th over. Robin Bist and skipper Hemant Kumar put their head down to make 52 for the fifth-wicket. Bist was unlucky, forced to play a delivery that lifted awkwardly and went into the direction of Biplab Samantry in the cordon of a thick edge.

Thereafter Hemant Kumar, R. Satish and Piyush Chawla showed pluck to stay in the fray, but in the end Imtiaz had the last laugh mopping up the tail in an emphatic manner. The game perhaps drifted in CAG’s favour when Hemant Kumar, after a persevering 85-ball 49, lobbed a catch to off-spinner Jalaj Saxena in the 43rd over.

The BCCI and MCA vice-president Ravi Savant gave away the trophy to the winning team. The tournament also carried a man of the match prize of Rs. 25,000 for each of the 27 league and knock-out matches.

The scores: CAG 210 in 46. 4 overs (Rameez Khan 41, Arpit Vasavada 24, Avi Barot 35, Biplab Samantray 24, Sandeep Sharma 5 for 26, R. Suthesh 2 for 45) bt Chemplast 178 in 46.3 overs (Robin Bist 25, Hemant Kumar 49, R. Satish 34, Piyush Chawla 24, Rituraj Singh 3 for 32, Imtiaz Ahmed 5 for 21).