Kangna Ranaut's revenge

A day's shoot was cancelled, but Kangna wasn't informed until much later. Next day, she reported to sets late, keeping everyone waiting.
There is major stress on the sets of Tezzz in London. Last week, a day's shoot was called off due to sudden rains. 

While Ajay Devgn knew about this, Kangna Ranaut wasn't informed till much later and she was livid. 
The actress made her manager fire the production in-charge, and kick up a fuss about her not being informed sooner, leaving her to cool her heels at the hotel all day. 

Making a point

According to the source, "The following day, Ajay and Kangs were to shoot in Birmingham, but she reported late on the set, to make a point. She kept the entire cast and crew waiting for her." 

The actress' spokesperson denies anything of the sort happened, "Kangna is one of the most professional actresses going around and only under extenuating circumstances would she ever be late. 

If it rains and shooting got cancelled why would she have problems and throw a tantrum? She would have been happy to have gone shopping, like she did everyday after pack-up." 

Target of malice

She then adds that the actress was late on the concerned day as there was no water in the hotel. "She was late just one day because there was no water in her hotel. 

Finally she left for the shoot without taking a shower as she didn't want to keep the cast and crew waiting. Some person on the sets is out to malign her and are planting stories about her."

The Producer's Version

Producer Ratan Jain says, "We have been shooting for the last 12 days and lost a few hours in the evening because of rain. 

But Kangna wasn't required for those scenes only Ajay Devgn was." But he has a different version on why Kangna was late the next day.

"It was a temple sequence and she was to get ready as a bride. I think she must have got late because of the bridal make-up and sari takes time.

She was just late by half an hour. These small things happen all the time. There was no problem at all. Why should I blame anybody? 

In fact, Kangna has been very cooperative and professional through the shoot. I am very happy working with her." Tezzz also stars Anil Kapoor and Sameera Reddy.

Source: Mid Day

Most awaited 27 films of 2010

Most awaited films of 2010

Farah Khan's much awaited movie Tees Maar Khan starring Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif is slated for December 24 release.

Camera phone helps create world's smallest movie

Just 9 mm tall, Dot, the world's tiniest doll, is the hero of an action-packed adventure in a new stop-motion film created with a camera phone and a microscope.

The film, simply called Dot, was produced by Aardmann, the creators of Wallace and Gromit. It was commissioned as a 'viral' for Nokia and was made using the firm's Nokia N8 smartphone.

Wallace and Gromit are the main characters in a series comprising four British animated short films and a feature-length film by Nick Park of Aardman Animations.

Dot is to enter the Guinness Book of Records as the world's smallest film.

Dot finds herself in a magnified world and hears a noise coming from off-screen to her left. Suddenly she sees that the material on which she is standing is unstitching itself at an alarming rate, reports the Daily Mail.

Dot runs for her life, climbing flowers and even riding a bumble bee as she scampers to safety.

Animators used a 3D printer to make 50 different versions of Dot, because she is too tiny to manipulate or bend like they would other stop-motion animation characters - such as Wallace and Gromit.

The creators say that it was not possible to make her smaller or they would have found it hard to make separate limbs and a head.

Each one was hand-painted by artists and attached to an extremely thin wire. The animators used precision engineering to move the backdrop behind the tiny Dot models.

The animation was filmed through a CellScope - microscope for mobile phones - which was attached to the N8 and its 12MP camera.

CellScope was developed by Daniel Fletcher, a bioengineer at the University of California-Berkeley, in US, as an attachment for camera phones.

It is used in Africa to take photos of skin and blood cells and transmit the images to experts for diagnosis. It could soon be used by cancer patients in the US to take white-blood-cell counts at home.

Halle Berry for a cause

Halle Berry looks gorgeous in a Roberto Cavalli LBD as she arrives at Swarovski Elements' 22 Ways to Say Black event held in New York City. 

The 44-year-old actress checked out amazing garments for a good cause - 22 one-of-a-kind dresses were auctioned off to benefit the American Cancer Society and France's La Ligue Nationale Contre Le Cancer. More than $100,000 was raised for breast cancer research. Lines featured at the event included 3.1 Philip Lim, Diane von Furstenberg, Catherine Malandrino, Lanvin, Givenchy, Donna Karan, and Jean Paul Gaultier.

Money first, duty later

That's the attitude of stars who endorse products harmful for children, believes Shekhar Kapoor

Shekhar Kapoor thinks it's about time the advertisments specially ones targetted at kids got more strictly censored. "While we talk about censorship in films, no one talks about censoring ads that damage impressionable minds," he says.


Crusader: Shekhar Kapoor


Cinema censorship, according to Shekhar, is nothing but humbug, "When you are older you can tell you are being taken for a ride. But what about that seven-year old kid who is told by his icon to drink Coco Cola?" 

Money first
Shekhar is deeply concerned about our top stars' right to endorse products that are damaging to our children. "Do our stars take responsibility for the products that they endorse? Do they realise how bad chips and colas are for their own kids? How many stars who endorse cola would actually allow their children to drink the beverage? Stars and cricketers are icons. They need to be socially responsible. They claim they are. Unfortunately the money involved overrides their social responsibility."

Impact on kids
The filmmaker thinks the young need to be led more carefully into doing the right thing. "I wouldn't drink something just because a star is seen recommending it. But I've a 10-year old daughter and I wonder how she reacts to such recommendations. I saw an ad where they told kids they'd grow taller if they drink their beverage. There's no scientific proof of this."

Shekhar admits he was himself guilty of endorsing a cigarette brand. "But then I was very young and I didn't know better. Today I'd never endorse a cigarettes even if I was offered a fortune to do so."

Shekhar has no solution to offer. "It's about the conscience. Stars should take a personal decision not to endorse harmful products. Coco Cola is under dispute in many parts of India, Kerala being the prime example. They (the cola company) are extracting ground water from our natural resources thereby drying up the paddy and farms." 

Growing shortage
Shekhar is carrying this campaign againstcolas to another level. "There's a growing shortage of natural resources in our country. Unless we take collective responsibility about the plundering of the environment we'd soon be in much more serious trouble."

Shekhar is working with Greenpeace and World Bank and other eco-friendly organisations. However he has no plans of urging stars to join him. "If the stars don't want to respond to their conscience it's their problem."
Shekhar has been researching on the progressively limited water resources of our country for his next film Paani.

Says the director, "It's funny. There's a slum called Nehru Nagar right in front of one of poshest housing colonies in Mumbai. In Nehru Nagar they don't get water more than three times a week. Across the road in the bungalows, stars can shower all day long. How long will this go on? The riots will start any time now.""

B-Town celebs express angst over CWG mess

"Disgraceful", "shame", "horror", "embarrassment" - these are some of the expressions that celebrities from the Hindi film industry have used to describe the mess in the arrangements for the Commonwealth Games (CWG)

Most actors have taken to micro-blogging site Twitter to express their views on the issue, following the collapse of a portion of a false ceiling Wednesday at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium complex, the main CWG venue.

The incident happened just a day after a foot overbridge at the stadium came crashing down, and complaints of the unhygienic conditions in the Games village hit the headlines.

Celebrities have expressed their concern over the image of the country due to the CWG mess.

Here's what they have to say:


Shilpa Shetty: (My) News that things are falling apart a week before the games begin and how! Athletes are pulling out due to health and safety concerns ¦just makes me cringe. This could have been a great opportunity to make our country proud. Unfortunately CWG hasn't brought us the pride and honour we thought it would.



Diya Mirza: All hopes despite every negative sign have been thwarted for good. National shame but more so, national horror the CWG has turned into. I just hope that this shakes us all out of our slumber. I think what we lack the most is respect. If we respected our country, would we be as corrupt? The values that we strongly uphold, integrity, honesty, respect all forgotten? I feel so angry, disappointed and let down.

R. Madhavan: The CWG is already an embarrassment. I don't think we are firstly, morally prepared for something like this. Honestly there is a limit to things we can brush under the carpet and I believe everything the media has to say about this issue.

Vishal Dadlani: So, what's more disgraceful for India? Cancelling the damned CWG, or actually letting them happen? Thanks politicians, bureaucrats and contractors, for this CWG mess. I'm sure you made lots of money from the sale of our national pride.

Kunal Kapoor: CWG - What was supposed to be the nation's pride has turned out be it's shame! Actually, it is silly to expect pride when we are ruled by corrupt and shameless politicians. National pride is the last thing on their minds!

Ranvir Shorey: After the bridge, a ceiling has collapsed. Dogs, poop, falling buildings... I'm already enjoying the CWG. Waiting for something to collapse on one of the government officials who're telling us everything is alright at the CWG. Government expects support for the corruption that is bringing us international shame.

Rhea Kapoor: Apalling! The CWG seems to be going to the dogs! Who is in charge? Time to start praying for a miracle.

Roshan Abbas: What does one say, embarrassed by CWG. India will be the laughing stock and many will still line their pockets and not care a damn.

Gaurav Kapur: Shiela Ji namaste, mere paise lauta dijiye (Dear Shiela Dixit, Please return my money). Regards, taxpayer of India.

I will support athletes who don’t attend CWG: New Zealand PM

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key Wednesday said that he would support any athlete who decides not to participate in the Commonwealth Games and added: “they have to make their own decision on whether they feel comfortable or not with the risks involved”.


Key was briefed Tuesday night over the preparation for the Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi Oct 3-14.

The prime minister said that it was up to the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) to decide whether or not to send a team.

“I would love to see the Games go ahead, but if they are to go ahead, from New Zealand’s perspective, the conditions have to be safe and sound for our people,” stuff.co.nz quoted Key as saying.

He made it clear that he would support any individual athlete who decides not to go.

“I think in the end, they have to make their own decision on whether they feel comfortable or not with the risks involved,” he said, adding “we’re trying to give our people the best assessment that we can”.

He said: “Obviously there are lots of different pictures emerging and the British (athletes) pulling out is an interesting dynamic…I’m sure they (the NZOC) will compare notes with other countries and in due course make a decision they think is appropriate.”

“We know that the New Zealanders talk to the Brits, to the Australians and to the Canadians. They’ve been sharing similar information so one would assume that they would often draw similar conclusions.”

Sounding a word of caution, Key said: “If the Commonwealth Games did not go ahead that would have significant implications for the future of the Commonwealth Games and that’s not something we’d like to see and it also wouldn’t be good for India.”

Some 7,000 participants and officials from 71 countries and territories are expected to attend the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games, India’s biggest sporting event after the 1982 Asian Games it hosted in New Delhi.

Asia richer, but still leads world in poverty

Asia has slashed the number of people living in extreme poverty but is still struggling to meet ambitious development goals set at the United Nations, a UN report said on Monday.

"One of the region's greatest MDG successes has been a reduction in the number of people living on less than 1.25 dollars a day from 1.5 billion to 947 million between 1990 and 2005," the UN report on Asia's progress in the Millennium Development Goals said. "However, the region remains home to two-thirds of the world's poor and hungry, with one in six malnourished, and it has been slow to reduce child mortality and to improve maternal health."

The report was issued at a summit at UN headquarters in New York held five years before the MDG deadline of 2015.

Noeleen Heyzer, executive secretary of the UN's Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, said the region "had indeed made impressive progress." "The region is on track to meeting the target of halving the number of people living in poverty," she said. But the failure to reduce hunger, child mortality and poverty among women created "a mixed and worrying picture." Asia-Pacific faces a "race against time," she said.

Eight Millennium Development Goals were launched at a UN summit in 2000, including halving the number of people in extreme poverty, cutting by two thirds the number of children dying before five years of age, and spreading the availability of Internet facilities. More than 140 heads of state or government were attending the three-day summit.