10.12.09 / Bollywood / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
Spurred by the poignant story of Auro in Balki’s Paa Bihar’s chief minister Nitish Kumar has announced financial aid for the two Bihari progeric brothers Eqramul and Ali Hussein.
Balki is delighted by the impact of the film. “Now that’s the kind of story one likes to hear about Paa. But let me repeat we did not make Paa to spotlight Progeria.”
However, distancing the film and its content from the disease seems to be getting progressively difficult.
The Progeria Research Foundation in the US is now showing a keen interest in Paa. Says Balki, “I’d be only too happy for them to watch the film and decide how Paa could spread awareness about Progeria.
Once members of the Progeria Research Foundation watch Paa, later this month, the director intends to take his film further as a progeric vehicle. Balki is amused by all the attacks on the Progeric theme that have come from within the industry.
A very prominent director says, “That isn’t how a Progeria patient looks. Balki has made Mr Bachchan look like a rubber doll.”
Balki can’t stop laughing. “I’m glad my film has made the whole industry experts on Progeria. But the fact of the matter is, we know exactly what Progeric kids look like. Amitji and I watched dozens of film clippings to understand the way Progeric children look and behave. And Amitji got it dead-on.”
10.12.09 / News / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
Horror movie director Eli Roth has revealed that he once worked as a sex chat room operator, posing as a woman.
The 37-year-old film-maker, whose credits include horror movie Hostel, said the student job helped him finance his early screen efforts.
“They hired guys because guys know what other guys want to hear,” Roth said in an interview with the New York Post.
Roth had an acting role in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds alongside its star Brad Pitt.
‘Dream actor’
He also played cameo roles in his own films, including Hostel and its sequel, as well as his 2002 movie Cabin Fever.
Roth added that his former job consisted of three men in their college dormitory and that he “could type 120 words a minute” while on duty in the chat rooms.
He said that he became proficient at cyberchatting to several people at once, but refused to disclose what his chat room name was.
“There were ads for me in magazines too!” he joked.
“The creepy thing was, because this was in 1991, we only got doctors and scientists because they were the ones using the Internet.”
Roth went on to discuss his role in war movie Inglourious Basterds, calling it “a once in a lifetime opportunity”.
“I wanted to make it great, make it memorable. This was my chance to create a classic Tarantino character.
“So I dropped everything, put on 40 pounds of muscle and was completely in character the whole time. I wanted to be the dream actor I always wish I had.
“It was one of the greatest experiences of my life,” added Roth.
10.12.09 / Bollywood / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
After Amitabh Bachchan’s ground breaking transformation to Auro in Paa, its now the turn of daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan to undergo a drastic makeover.
Buzz has it that Aishwarya will be playing an old lady in a few scenes in Vipul Shah’s forthcoming film Action Replay, for which she will have intensive make up sessions with Hollywood make up artists.
Besides Ash, Action Replay also stars Akshay Kumar and Randhir Kapoor. The film is currently under production and is expected to release in April 2010.
10.12.09 / News / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
The Indian government is to allow a new state to be carved out of part of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
Home Minister P Chidambaram said the process of forming Telangana state would begin soon. Campaigners say the region has long been neglected.
Supporters of the state are celebrating after days of violent protests. One of their leaders ended a hunger strike.
But many in India fear acceding to the protesters’ wishes could fuel demands for other new states across India.
Dozens of Andhra Pradesh assembly members and at least one Indian MP with a seat in the state have announced they are resigning in protest at the move.
Analysts say the flurry of resignations, mostly from the governing Congress party, could lead to a political crisis in Andhra Pradesh.
Correspondents say Telangana state is likely to include one of India’s major software hubs, Hyderabad.
The city, currently the Andhra Pradesh capital, is home to leading world companies in India like Microsoft and Google.
The government announcement came at midnight on Wednesday.
“The process of forming the state of Telangana will be initiated. An appropriate resolution will be moved in the state assembly,” Mr Chidambaram said after talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi.
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ANALYSIS
Sanjoy Majumder
BBC News, Delhi
Many are concerned that the move may open a Pandora’s box.
They fear that this will only fuel similar movements in other states and end up significantly redrawing the map of the country.
Already one member of parliament from Andhra Pradesh has resigned in protest over the decision to create Telangana.
The government appears to have given into the demands of protesters, particularly after the leader of the campaign became dangerously ill following a hunger strike to press home his point.
It’s clear this is not the last that has been heard on this volatile issue.
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On hearing the news, crowds in Hyderabad and nine other districts of Telangana erupted in celebration, reports the BBC’s Omer Farooq in the state capital.
Mr Chidambaram said the government had asked for court cases against leaders, students and others “associated with the present agitation” to be dropped.
He also appealed to protesters to call off their demonstrations.
His announcement was greeted with jubilation among protesters, who let off fire crackers, beat drums, danced and sang songs.
Some of the celebrations took place outside the Hyderabad hospital where one of the campaign leaders, K Chandrasekara Rao of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) party, had been admitted during his fast.
Mr Rao said: “I am happy that this is the victory of 35 million people who live in the Telangana region.”
Protest rallies seeking a separate state planned for Thursday were called off.
Thousands of police had been deployed for the rallies, but after Mr Chidambaram’s announcement security was relaxed, our correspondent says.
Long campaign
Telangana region is spread over 10 northern districts of Andhra Pradesh.
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INDIA’S NEWEST STATE
Population of 35 million
Formed from 10 districts of Andhra Pradesh, including city of Hyderabad
Landlocked, predominantly agricultural area
One of the most under-developed regions in India
Culmination of 50-year campaign
More than 400 people died in 1969 crackdown
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The demand for separate state status for the underdeveloped and drought-prone area dates back 50 years.
More than 400 people died in violence over the demand for a Telangana state in 1969.
Campaigners say Telangana’s economic development has been neglected in favour of the richer and more powerful Andhra region – and that a new state is the only solution.
The last three new states in India were formed in 2000: Chhattisgarh was created out of eastern Madhya Pradesh; Uttarakhand was created out of the hilly areas of northern Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand was carved from Bihar’s southern districts.
India currently has 28 states.
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10.12.09 / News / Author: timepasss / Comments: (0)
The FBI is investigating the arrest in Pakistan of five suspected US nationals for possible extremist links.
The men were held in a raid on a house in Sarghoda in eastern Punjab province, Pakistan’s US embassy told the BBC.
The FBI said it was trying to determine whether they were the same men reported missing from their homes in the US state of Virginia late last month.
Relatives reportedly found a farewell video message, showing scenes of war and saying Muslims must be defended.
The US state department is also seeking information on the men.
Pakistani police told the BBC that the passports of the five were all American, but they are being checked to make sure they are not forged.
Three of the men are reported to be of Pakistani descent, one of Egyptian heritage and the other of Yemeni background.
The BBC’s Syed Shoaib Hasan in Islamabad says that while it is not unusual for foreigners with suspected hard-line Islamic links to be arrested in Pakistan, it is unusual for Americans who may be wanted by the FBI to be detained.
‘Video message’
“If they are American citizens, we of course are going to be very interested in the charges that they’ve been detained on and in what sort of circumstances they’re being held,” said state department spokesman Ian Kelly.
FBI spokeswoman Katherine Schweit said the agency was aware of the arrests and was in contact with the families of the missing students.
“We are working with Pakistan authorities to determine their identities and the nature of their business there, if indeed these are the students who had gone missing,” she said.
The Pakistani embassy in Washington said the men were arrested in a house belonging to an uncle of one of them.
He said the house was already of interest to local police and that no charges had yet been filed against the arrested men.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declined to comment on the arrests, reported the Reuters news agency, but said the US had to “work more closely with both Afghanistan and Pakistan to try to root out the infrastructure of terrorism that continues to recruit and train people”.
The five students were reported missing from their homes in northern Virginia by their families in late November.
The families reportedly passed on a video to members of the US Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Nihad Awad, the leader of CAIR, said it appeared to be “like a farewell”.
“One person appeared in that video and they made references to the ongoing conflict in the world, and that young Muslims have to do something,” Mr Awad told Associated Press news agency.
He said the video had made him “uncomfortable” and he had advised the men’s families to contact the FBI.
