Fully bollywood

23 designers to debut at Lakmé Fashion Week

 

 

Mumbai: Twenty-three new designers, including TV host and actor Mandira Bedi, will make their debut at the Lakmé Fashion Week that is scheduled to begin next month.

"I am excited that I got a chance to showcase my collection. I am nervous as it's for the first time I will present my collection on a big platforms like LFW here. We will have light regular sarees and go with summery colors," Mandira told PTI.

Mandira launched her own store last year, which has a beautiful collection of saris. Bollywood's favourite designer Manish Malhotra will kickstart the event this season, while Rajesh Pratap Singh will present his collection as the grand finale designer.

UK-based accessory designer Mawi Keivom will mark her debut at LFW. Well-known designers this season, who will display their collection, include Anita Dongre, Neeta Lulla, Anju Modi, Tarun Tahiliani, Krishna Mehta, Gaurav Gupta and others.

"We have a mix of newcomers and established designers. This season we are infusing magic of color and light with Lakmé Absolute Color Illusion range that spells mystery with stroke of metallic shades.

We are planning something big and different for the Finale," Purnima Lamba, Head of Innovations at Lakmé said. With an aim to celebrate and pay a tribute to Indian textiles and crafts, the Indian Textile Day has been a dedicated feature at LFW.

This season will once again pay tribute to the rich heritage of Indian fabrics. Total 98 designers will present their "best ever" collection at the Lakmé Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2014. The fashion extravaganza will be held between March 12 and 16. 

 

 

Sanjay Dutt's parole extended again by a month

The parole of actor Sanjay Dutt, convicted in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, has been extended by one more month by the district authorities, sanctioning his request on the ground of his wife Manyata's illness.

Dutt, 53, convicted under the Arms Act for illegal possession of weapons, was supposed to return to Yerawada Jail on February 21 on the expiry of his month-long parole.

The divisional commissioner's office here granted extension till March 21 to the actor, who is serving remainder of his five year sentence, after receiving a mandatory report from the Mumbai police.

 The authorities said that as per the rules, this would be the last parole leave for Dutt this year.

Dutt sought extension of his parole to be able to look after his ailing wife, who recently underwent a surgery in Mumbai.

Last month, the Maharashtra government had extended Dutt's parole by another 30 days on the ground of his wife's illness.

The Bollywood actor was granted a month-long parole on December 6 last year, which triggered protests outside Pune's Yerawada Jail forcing the government to order an inquiry. Prior to it, he had availed of a month-long leave of furlough on medical grounds.

He was convicted by the Supreme Court last year and sentenced to five years in prison for illegal possession of arms in a case related to the 1993 bomb blasts.

He has already served 18 months of his term and is currently undergoing the remaining 42 months of the sentence.

 

Caught on camera: Will Harbhajan Singh and Geeta Basra deny affair now?   Indian offie Harbhajan Singh and Bollywood actress Geeta Basra’s love affair had made the headlines in the past several times but duo rubbished the reports. But latest picture of Geeta Basra and Harbhajan Singh in Mumbai tells the different story. You can say that the pictures of Geeta Basra along with dropped cricketer suggest that duo is very much in a relationship. The actress, who blamed media of cooking stories of her engagement and break-up, was caught partying with cricketers, including Sachin tendulkar and his wife Anjali Tendulkar. It started with a song Anita Nair tells that a folk ballad served as a springboard for her historical novel, Idris The Idris journey began with a ballad. “It boils down to this folk ballad that I read,” says Anita Nair. “It refers to a mamangam (a kingship festival where all the vassal kings declare their allegiance and troth to the Zamorin) of 1683. That was set as a date for me and I worked backwards. Kandavar is mentioned in it. One of the things I found interesting is there is a reference to Kandavar’s dark complexion. That set me thinking. I know there was trade with East Africa at that point of time and I thought what if there was this tall, black man who landed in Malabar, what if Kandavar was his son…” Anita says she used that snatch of song to create Idris, a lyrical celebration of a journey from Malabar to Ceylon with stopovers in Thoothukudi and the diamond mines of Golconda. The novel is a breath-taking adventure, a passionate love story and a voyage of discovery with the tall, dark, mysterious traveller, Idris, as the still centre of the story. Idris didn’t start off being the centre of the story nor was the book the first of a trilogy. “The book was meant to be about this little boy, Kandavar, and his passage from boy to man,” the Bangalore-based writer says with a smile. “Idris was to play an insignificant role. One chapter was all he was going to get. And then suddenly he became so important that I thought instead of making it just one book and a rather cumbersome one at that, I would break it up into three sections which would allow me also to dwell on detail. “One of the most fascinating aspects of historical fiction for me, is understanding how people lived. If I were to try and put everything into one book, there would be an information overload that would weigh down the story. This way I can dwell on the 33-year period I am going to write about in three segments.” Describing the research as arduous, the 48-year-old author says: “We don’t have enough historical material of that period. Every resource I was looking at was going back to the same sources. Apart from Sanjay Subrahmanyam’s massive tome on the political and economic history of southern India of the 1600s, I relied on foreign traveller accounts. I got little bits and pieces from different sources. Like there might be a bit about navigating the seas around the peninsula where I might find some stray bit of information. It was really like scrounging around for information.” Anita says she intentionally kept the chapters short. “When you are filling in so much information, the reader is going to find it tedious. Whatever I wanted to share, I thought I have to do it in such a way that the excitement I felt is also felt by the reader. Short chapters keep the pace going.” There is a serendipity in how Anita zeroed in on the name Idris. “I was looking for a medieval Arabic name, I wanted something that had a flavour of distant lands. While I was doing my research for names, I found Idris, which means interpreter. In a strange coincidence I discovered Idris according to Wiki is supposed to have discovered celestial navigation and the use of pens; so it just fell into place beautifully.” Like the Ancient Mariner, Idris can literally fix you with his glittering eye. “I like to let Idris hover between this completely, cold, clinical man and this emotional, sensuous human being. The jewel in the eye became a kind of motif for me to represent that side of him which is removed from human relationships. It is basically a dead eye that shapes the person he is. There is a bit of vanity in him when he tells his son ‘I don’t want people to say he is the one with the dead eye’.” Idris describes the rigidity of the caste system, which is responsible for the heart-breaking ending. “That was how it was,” Anita comments. “If you were to juxtapose the things in the book against contemporary India, you realise that some things never change. Take the Chaver, warriors, whose sole mission is to assassinate the Zamorin. The reason for killing the Zamorin is lost in time. What I want to explore in the next two books is what goes on in a person’s mind, what turns them into somebody who believes in honour and death and so on.” Animals have a starring role in Idris and are treated very well. “I love animals!” Anita says as Sugar, her 11-year-old Labrador, sits contently at her feet. “I included the ox, cat, dog, horse and even a donkey as they seemed part of a journey.” Describing the novel as “a journey of a man discovering himself and that of a father and son,” Anita says: “We don’t understand what travel can throw up. Someone once told me, ‘The farther you travel, the closer you come to yourself.’ I wanted that to come out in the book.” Talking about Idris’ religious practices, Anita says: “He is so much of a traveller and has experienced so much that he perceives divinity in pretty much everything. He doesn’t need religion to reach divinity.” For all the mysticism, Idris’ encounters with women are a sensual celebration. “I wanted to lead up to the point when he comes to Thilothamma. It cannot be that he is celibate who suddenly discovers Thilothamma. He comes to her after two very different encounters. We see how he is with Kuttimalu, Kandavar’s mother, which is more like a one night stand. We also see him with the young sex worker, Margarida, who he goes to for release. By the time he comes to Thilothamma, it is an erotic need of the mind as much as of the body. The second book Anita said, “Ideally should be done with in two and a half years, so that the story is kept alive.” But the next book Anita is working on is a sequel to her police procedural, Cut Like Wound featuring Inspector Gowda. “I needed to work on it because I was getting kind of distanced from the here and now.” SRK to Replace Hrithik Roshan in Shuddhi? Karan Johar's 'Shuddhi' has been in news for quite some time due to casting issues. Initially Hrithik Roshan was signed to play the lead role and Karan did a casting coup of sorts by pairing him with the equally hot Kareena Kapoor. However, both of them quit due to personal reasons. Now a media report says that KJo has decided to break the jinx attached with the movie by signing on his best buddy Shah Rukh Khan. The movie is very close to the director's heart and he is apparently not willing to wait for its shoot. He recently tweeted,"SHUDDHI will release on Friday the 25th of December, 2015. The Lead cast will be announced shortly." It is said after Hrithik moved out of the film due to health issues, Kareena, too, quit the project. Though both Ranbir and Ranveer were top contenders, the film has apparently landed in SRK's lap. Rumours also suggest that Deepika Padukone will play his lady love. Well, we sure hope that SRK-Dips are able to create their 'Chennai Express' magic with this one. Rashid Khan leads Shubhkamna to title Mumbai, Feb 18 (PTI) Professional golfer Rashid Khan led his team Shubhkamna Delhi to victory in the Pro-Am event of the 3rd Louis Philippe Cup at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club, here today. Rashid and his teammates Deepak Yadav, Sharad Anand and Ashish Aggarwal carded a net team score of 25 under to emerge winners. They were followed by Vikrant Chopra's Navratna Ahmedabad, who, along with teammates Devang Nanavati, Mihir Sharma and Pranav Shah, finished with 24 under. Dippy Faints After Working For 30 Hours

After her back-to-back hits for Chennai Express and Ram Leela, Deepika Padukone has been having her hands full shooting for Happy New Year. The sizzling award winner, who bagged the Filmfare award for Best Actress for her role in Ram Leela, recently fell sick after working for 30 hours at a stretch.

 

Last week, Deepika was spotted shooting for 16 odd hours for her upcoming movie Happy New Year and subsequently she rushed for her dance performance. Even the day before performing at the 20^th Annual Screen Awards, she burnt the midnight coil rehearsing on the stage.

 

However, letting herself working overtime, she reportedly fell sick and fainted. A source close to her said, "She was working till late on Friday (February 14) when she almost fainted. After resting for a bit, when she woke up, she had a high fever and was feeling extremely weak." Deepika is now left with no choice, but to stay home and take rest. We hope that we will see her back in full form soon.