DR. A.R. Rahman

The musical genius will be conferred a doctorate by the Middlesex University!

A R Rahman is on the receiving end. After the honorary doctorate offered by the Anna University, Chennai for his achievements in the field of music, now it is the turn of Middlesex University, London.

The Mozart of Madras has been identified for an honorary degree by the reputed Middlesex University, London. The degree is likely to be conferred on the maestro on the day of the Graduation Ceremony to be held at Middlesex University in London in the month of July this year. Mr. Joe Victor, Regional Director of Middlesex University met Mr. A.R Rahman and Mr. T Selvakumar Co-founder & CEO of KM Music Conservatory in Chennai, regarding this issue.

KM Music Conservatory & Audio Media Education was launched in the month of July last year. Their main goal is to train Indian students in Western music performance, Composition and Music Technology so that they can compete in the international arena. They are also working towards forming their own symphony orchestra consisting of its own musicians.

Talks are on with the Regional Director South Asia of Middlesex University, London, for academic recognition for the Bachelor of Arts Honors Program for Music Composition and Music Performance. This will be a three year program the first two years of which will be at Chennai at the KM Conservatory and the final year in London. The course is likely to start from January 2010. The eligibility criteria to avail this degree would be a pass in twelfth standard and one year training in KM Music Conservatory Foundation Program.

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Who will be the next Miss India?

Sushmita Sen, Aishwarya Rai, Lara Dutta, Priyanka Chopra and yesteryear beauties like Zeenat Aman, Persis Khambatta and Nafisa Ali all owe their international fame and recognition to the 56 year old Femina Miss India contest which is all set to crown its next beauty queens.

AND as always, Bollywood will make its presence felt at the Pantaloons Femina Miss India 2009. Former beauty queen Priyanka Chopra, showstopper Kangana Ranaut and the lively Genelia D’souza will dance to their chartbusting numbers. The performances will be choreographed by function favourite Shiamak Davar and his inimitable troupe. Hot mama Malaika Arora Khan and humorous cutie R Madhavan will be hosts for the evening. Karan Wahi and Swapnil Joshi will keep the crowds and judges entertained. Kangana's spokesperson said, "Kangana will be wearing a yellow and silver ghaghra choli. She will be dancing to a medley of songs like Nimbooda, Dola Re Dola and Mera Piya Ghar Aaya."

The contestants’ perfect bodies will be draped in amazing creations by Rocky S, Rajesh and Anirban for Pantaloons, veteran designer Ritu Kumar and Prasad Bidappa and Rajan for Arabella. Expert choreographer Marc Robinson, who was the man behind the successful Barbie and Tarun Tahiliani for Levi’s shows at the recently held Lakme Fashion Week, has also trained the contestants to walk the ramp and is the fashion director for Pantaloons Femina Miss India 2009. So, expect a flawless fashion show.

Marc Robinson said, “I am extremely enthusiastic to be associated with Pantaloons Femina Miss India 2009 and I will do full justice to the cause. A Femina Miss India is a modern, confident, talented and independent Indian woman who can make India proud on the global platform.. We have received a fabulous response from across India and selecting a handful of girls from the numerous applications we have received has been quite a task. Given the recent success of Slumdog Millionaire, India is on a global high and the contemporary Indian woman today is a personification of such globalization and she is here to stay for good.”

Mr. Zahid Shaikh – Chief Marketing Pantaloons, said, “As the Pantaloons association with Femina Miss India now enters the third year, the pageant has moved from strength to strength. The success of the pageant has been to take this talent search to every corner of India up to Guwahati, Bhubaneshwar, Indore & Mangalore where Pantaloons has been an active partner in every city. Youth and Style is the cornerstone for both Pantaloons and Femina Miss India where Pantaloons is playing the effective part of grooming the contestants. With the success of Parvathy (Omanakuttan) on the international platform last year, we hope that this year the contestants’ talent will make this an eventful year for Pantaloons Femina Miss India as well.”

The grand finale of the Pantaloons Femina Miss India 2009 contest will take place tomorrow at the Andheri Sports Complex. The 20 contestants, who have undergone a month of intense training from personal grooming to fitness and speech training, will vie for the coveted crown(s) as three winners: Pantaloons Femina Miss India Universe, Pantaloons Femina Miss India Earth and Pantaloons Femina Miss India World will be chosen from amongst them.

The event will be telecast live on Sony Entertainment Television. Call your friends, get the popcorn and drinks out and get set to enjoy a grand, fun filled, exciting show on Sunday evening.
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Getting Priyanka-Shahid into a Kaminey look

Looks do matter. Especially when the female in question is Priyanka Chopra. She was a stunner in her last two successful outings at the box office - Dostana and Fashion. If in the former she was the editor of a fashion magazine, in the latter she was a show- stopper herself. Of course, all shows stopped at her arrival but she decided to take a different route altogether in her films to follow. She decided to be choosy about her work and picked on only two projects, Kaminey and What's Your Rashee. What makes Kaminey special is the fact that she got to work with director Vishal Bhardwaj, a master story teller when it comes to real cinema, and known for giving his leading ladies an entirely different look. While speculations were abounding about Priyanka Chopra's appearance in Kaminey, there has been a constant buzz ever since the first theatrical promo of the film hit the screens. Her hardcore Marathi girl act has made people sit up and take notice of Kaminey that has Shahid Kapoor in the lead. Says Priyanka's close associate, "In the film, she plays the role of Sweety who is not only a bindaas girl but also someone who is traditional to the core (watch her doing those typical Maharashtrian dance steps and you will know). She is on a complete tangent if one remembers her ultra chic and glam avtar in the films that she has been seen in over the years. Agrees Priyanka for whom Kaminey will be her first release of 2009 as a leading lady (after a hectic 2008 which saw her featuring in six back to back releases - Love Story 2050, God Tussi Great Ho, Chamku, Drona, Fashion and Dostana), "Yes, there has been an effort to make Sweety look completely different. She had to be believable and someone who isn't ultra glamorous. Also, I have gone with a minimal make-up look in the film." Even Shahid Kapoor seems to be enjoying his double role stint in the film where one of the characters played by him not just stammers but also keeps an unkempt look. 'Reality' is what Vishal Bhardwaj has ensured in his characters and the same holds good for Shahid Kapoor too. With both Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra seemingly going for a makeover and giving an altogether new account of themselves, the wait begins for this film which is all set to arrive at theaters on 26th June (yes, the film has been moved from it's original release date of 5th June). But poor Piggy Chops is is presently having fever and has therefore been advised complete bed rest by her personal doctor. Priyanka was shooting for Ashutosh Gowariker’s What’s Your Rashee when she started feeling a little under the weather. As her temperature increased, the concerned director Ashutosh Gowarikar, immediately cancelled shooting for his film. A close friend of Priyanka tells us, “Priyanka hates being sick but she has been down with viral fever since past three days. A high body temperature of 104 degrees has got her completely bed ridden. One can recollect when she was shooting for Dostana, she fell ill but when she came to know that the set they were shooting was going to be dismantled the following day, she got her physician to the set. After he had administered injections, Priyanka was able to complete shooting her portions for the day. But as there was no deadline for What’s Your Rashee? Priyanka was able to rest for two days.” We just hope Priyanka gets well soon. May be her good friend Shahid Kapoor should give her a visit and perhaps that would work as a wonder medicine.

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Genelia D Souza poses with the Samsung Ultra Touch mobile phone at it's launch in New Delhi

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Sushmita Sen at the launch of the channel 'P7' in New Delhi

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SRK: Cheerleading is not vulgar

If cricket is a no-nonsense sport for Badshah Khan, so is cheerleading.

For all those people who think cheerleading is a vulgar act, Knights and Angels was SRK’s answer to them. Supporting the sport, SRK says, “Knights and Angels is not a part of the marketing strategy for my cricket team. It is an extension of my belief in spreading the awareness of sports in India. Cheerleading is a big sport in America and cheerleaders have their own fan following.

As the controversy hit our nation last year regarding this new sport, I decided to add respectability to a profession which can create great opportunities for the youth brigade.” When somebody asked King Khan how he was managing to shoot for the finale despite being in pain because of the shoulder injury, pat came the witty reply from the Baadshah, “Iss saal sabko haraane ke liye meri team ka ek hi haat kaafi hai.” King Khan, all we can say is hats off for promoting and glamourising sports in our country. Tune in to Knights and Angels tonight at 9 pm only on NDTV Imagine.

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Women are superior: Akshay

Is it sheer coincidence, pure conspiracy or a publicity stunt that whenever Akshay Kumar has a film ready for release, the action star gets embroiled in some controversy that takes on national proportions and gets played out on all channels with full drama?

It happened before Chandni Chowk To China and, earlier, Singh Is Kinng. Now just after the Khiladi’s new big film hit the screens yesterday, Akshay is in the thick of two burning issues relating to a promo for Sajid Nadiadwala’s July release Kambhakth Ishq and his being a somewhat daring showstopper at the Lakme Fashion Week for designer Tarun Tahiliani on Monday.

According to his detractors, the Kambhakth Ishq promo has Akshay holding the sexy Kareena Kapoor suggestively with his lines reading, “Women are good for only one thing...” The film promo, released on March 27, has tongues wagging in disapproval already. And at fashion week, well, his walking the ramp in jeans that were unbuttoned partially by wife Twinkle sitting among the frontbenchers, has led to a social worker filing a complaint with the police against the actor, his wife, the LFW organisers and also the hotel where the event was held for indecent, vulgar and obscene behaviour..

The police is uncertain whether it has a case. And legal experts vary between being vague about the law and dismissive of the complaint. But Akshay is furious. These aren’t publicity stunts, he declared.

Earlier when dragged through similar fires, the actor scoffed at the attempts to defame him as being the work of a leading contemporary in Bollywood who was insecure about his meteoric rise in the film industry. But this time, while not taking names and hinting that he knew who was behind the exercise, Akshay is determined to prove a point.

Apologising if the jeans-being-unbuttoned stunt hurt anybody’s sentiments, he said that the entire act was part of the storyboard and was no big deal — thereby shooting down the rumour that it was done at the last minute because SRK was going to be Manish Malhotra’s showstopper later that night. And of the Kambhakth Ishq promo, again he chose to take the actor’s way out by saying, “Why do people forget that actors play roles, enact parts and deliver lines to get reactions... they are never personal?”

The promo, incidentally, gives only half the line. “Wait for the complete line,” advised Akshay, “then women will be glad to know how the jerk I portray eventually sees the value and importance of the superior gender — the woman!”

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Prachi Desai: Tusshar is very supportive

After making a successful transition from television to films with her role opposite Farhan Akhtar in the hit Rock On!!, Prachi Desai’s next project in Bollywood is a romantic comedy titled Life Partner, releasing in May. The young actress stars opposite Tusshar Kapoor in the film which also features Govinda, Genelia D’Souza and Fardeen Khan.

SPEAKING about her character in Life Partner and how it differs from her role as a wife in Rock On!!, Prachi says, “My character in Life Partner is very chirpy, frank and modern. Despite being a modern girl, she regards upholding values and culture as very important. After paying an understanding wife in Rock On!!, this role offered me something different to do. I hope to play different roles in each of my films in the future too.”

As for the cast of the film, Prachi says, “I have worked with Tusshar for the first time in this film and he has been very supportive. He is a brilliant actor who has been a guide for me throughout the film. He has the ability to completely take hold of the character he is playing. Every member of the cast was really good. Genelia has also done a superb job.”

Her co-star Govinda is known for his superstitious nature; when asked if he displayed this trait on the sets, Prachi says, “I really don’t know anything about Govinda being superstitious and I have never encountered any such incidents on the sets. He is quite funny and I think that he does the best comedy onscreen.”

As an upcoming star in Bollywood, we asked Prachi to name her favourite Bollywood actors. She says, “I like quite a few stars such as Sridevi, Madhuri Dixit and Kajol. But my all-time favourite is Preity Zinta. She has a way of acting that makes her so lively and realistic. She has always been a pleasure to watch onscreen. As for the guys, I like Hrithik Roshan; he is my all-time favourite actor. He is perfect in every aspect.”

Surprisingly, Shah Rukh Khan is not on the favourite list. Reacting to this, she says, “He is also good. That way, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and everyone is good but I think Hrithik has a unique style of acting and stands out in the horde.”

Although Hrithik tops her list of favourite actors, given a chance Prachi's first choice to work with is none other than her first co-star. She says, “I would like to work with Farhan Akhtar once again. I think he is a great actor.”

Apart from Life Partner, Prachi has also signed for a role in the underworld-based film Once Upon A Time In Mumbai, directed by Milan Luthria starring Emraan Hashmi.
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