Amitabh Hit by His Own Joke

Heard of the classic saying, “meri billi mujh hi ko meow?” Now that is exactly what is happening to megastar Amitabh Bachchan.

The superstar, who gave the posted dialogue of a southern film, “I will hit you so hard even Google will not be able to find you”, on a social networking site, is being bombarded with the joke from people claiming it to be an original.

Apparently, the dialogue was posted by Big B and it took no time to become an instant hit in the networking sites. Needless to say, nobody cared about mentioning the credits. The dialogue saw it hay days, getting used as status updates and messages all around the sites and then it made its way back to Big B. Five days after he started the joke, people have started sending his own handiwork back to him, not knowing his involvement in the whole matter. Apparently, rights are not a big thing in this country. And the worst part is Google really isn’t helping much here.

Chitragada Let her Heart Rule

The dazzling damsel Chitrangada Singh, decided to quit Bollywood, soon after “Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi”, much to the disappointment of her fans. But she could not keep away for long. The actress had to return to what she does best—acting.

Apparently, soon after quitting Bollywood, she was planning to take up a course in art appreciation abroad, and take it up as a full time career. But guess, the plans are on hold right now, since the actress decided to make a comeback.

“Yes, I am glad that I let my heart rule my head and I decided to come back in Bollywood. And now that I’m here, I don’t think I’m giving it up ever again,” said the gorgeous actress.

We sure hope that we get to see a lot more of her in the coming years.

7 Crore Offer for Junior B

Buzz is that Abhishek Bachchan has landed himself a handsome deal of a whopping 7 crore. Even though his last film, Mani Ratnam’s “Raavan” fell flat on its face, apparently, the flop is not doing nay harm to Abhi’s career. Since the chemistry between Abhi-Ash could not salvage “Raavan”, this time the filmmaker is not taking any chances and has signed the whole Bachchan family: Abhishek-Aishwarya and Amitabh Bachchan.

The film was offered to the Bachchan family by Raj Kumar Santoshi. The film will be produced by a film corporation which has not yet been identified. But the 7 crore amount has been offered exclusively to Abhishek. We wonder what the amount will look like, including Amitabh and Aishwarya’s paycheques.

LSD’s International Journey

Love, Sex Aur Dhokha is going places. After making huge news in the country and receiving much commercial and critical acclaim, the film is set to begin its international journey.

Dibakar Bannerjee’s LSD has been selected for screening in 3 international film festivals around the world, a rare feat to achieve. It is set to be screened at Munich International Film Festival at the end of June, followed by London Indian Film Festival and Melbourne International Film Festival in July.

Dibakar Bannerjee is over the moon with the response his film has generated. The film has been quite a rage among the youngsters of the country. And now internationally too, it is on its way. “Finally films that show the real here and now of India are finding a truly international audience. They are looking forward to what’s beyond the Bollywood Star Studded Vehicles – the alternative layers of reality of the modern Indian society. Frankly we have a long way to go – but I’m proud to see LSD as a small beginning to big things!” exclaimed Dibakar.

Vikram Malhotra, COO- Motion Pictures, Balaji Telefilms said, “Given the nature of the film and its contemporary appeal, we were always confident that the film would find immense acceptance outside the country as well. It has doubled our confidence in the kind of films we green light and we hope to take LSD to more film lovers across the globe.”

Amir does not want an IPL Team

The adrenalin rush for the next IPL season has already started, and several stars are already in the middle of negotiations for the next Indian Premier League season.

Amir Khan though is one actor who has shown no interest in the recent buzz. The actor who has been sought by many to become the face of one of the IPL teams have straightway refused to comply with this demand. The actor, who is known to be a perfectionist, is not ready to compromise his first love cinema due to any other interest. According to him, taking on the responsibility of an IPL team will result in loss of focus for him. “I want to enjoy cricket. I don’t want the stress of it. I enjoy playing cricket and I’m a huge fan of the game. Owning a cricket team comes with a lot of responsibility. Those responsibilities will take me away from cinema, which is my passion. People have approached me to invest in a team, but I have declined.”

One interesting development in this context is that, Preity Zinta is all set to sell her IPL team after a fall out with ex-fiancé and co owner of the team, Ness Wadia.

Holbrooke’s plane lands in Afghanistan despite small arms fire

The US special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, landed in Afghanistan’s contested Marjah region despite small-arms fire on the ground, US officials said Monday.

P.J. Crowley, spokesman for the US State Department, dismissed reports that Holbrooke’s Osprey aircraft was fired on by insurgents. He said it belonged in the category of “first reports are usually wrong”.

Crowley said Holbrooke was airborne, and his plane was not affected or hit by enemy fire.

“While they were airborne, they were aware of small-arms fire below in the general vicinity of Marjah, but it did not affect the airplane itself,” Crowley said.

According to ABC News, Taliban gunmen tried to shoot down the Osprey. Several suicide bombings were carried out after his departure, the report said.

Holbrooke was visiting Marjah for a first-hand assessment of US-led NATO efforts to take over a Taliban-controlled region that they had hoped would set an example for tougher battles to follow.

Troops have met with stiff resistance, which has delayed plans to take on the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar province this summer. Holbrooke was also to visit Kandahar.

Australian model Miranda Kerr engaged to Bloom

Supermodels Miranda Kerr of Australia and her Hollywood beau Orlando Bloom are set to tie the knot as they are engaged now. Publicist of Bloom further confirmed the news of the engagement. For a long period they have been denying any relationship between them. Kerr has specially condemned all such reports of her relationship in media for long time.

The representative told a newspaper that they are engaged. Kerr, 27, was brought up in the NSW county town of Gunnedah. Bloom and she met at backstage at a Victoria’s Secret lingerie show in New York in 2006. Bloom is English-born actor of 37 years of age. Both of them had little publicity about their relationship.

Kerr has been speaking almost nothing about her relationship with Bloom. In 2008, while in an interview to People magazine, she did not disclose more than that he was a sweetheart and that is all she was going to say.

The couple even refused the reports in Australian media that they were engaged. At that Kerr’s publicist had described the story as false and misleading as well. But now the fact has come out and they are now a confirmed engaged couple.

Metro service connecting Delhi, Gurgaon starts

The Metro rail service on the 14.47 km Gurgaon-New Delhi route started Monday morning, ending the long wait of commuters for an effective transport system connecting this satellite town with the national capital.

The first Metro trains began running simultaneously from the HUDA City Centre in Gurgaon and the Qutub Minar in south Delhi at 8 a.m. The line will be extended in a month to Central Secretariat and Jehangirpuri in north Delhi.

“We have been craving for good public transport for long. There have been several announcements of starting a bus service and construction of the Metro was also going on simultaneously. The inauguration came as a respite and we are hopeful that the line will be connected to other lines of DMRC soon,” said Sukanya, a resident of Heritage city of Gurgaon.

Staff of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) and some passengers were seen on the first few trains but the crowds started gathering by 11 a.m.

As of now, the entire 14.47 km section is not ready and trains will not initially stop at the Chhattarpur station, which is likely to be opened to the public only by August.

“The construction work on the station was delayed as the land for building the station was made available only in October last year,” said a DMRC spokesperson.

The trains will run at a frequency of 12 minutes on this corridor from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

“Five trains have been pressed into service initially and their number will be increased gradually. On June 11, the corridor had received the statutory safety clearance from the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) after he inspected the entire stretch,” the spokesperson added.

The 10 stations on this elevated section are HUDA City Centre, IFFCO Chowk, MG Road, Sikanderpur, Guru Dronacharya, Arjangarh, Ghitorni, Sultanpur, Chhattarpur and Qutub Minar.

Despite being the first day of the week, the new Metro line attracted comparatively lesser number of passengers than expected. Metro officials, however, said that more crowds are expected once the complete line becomes operational.

DMRC officials told IANS that the total footfall at the new Metro link till Monday afternoon was around 12,000 and sale of tokens and smart cards crossed over Rs.1 lakh.

“The new Metro stretch till 2 p.m. saw a nominal crowd. This line will attract more commuters only when it is extended next month to Central Secretariat and Jehangirpuri,” an official told IANS.

“By 2011 we expect a footfall of 1.6 lakh every day,” the official added.

Meanwhile, the Gurgaon administration has planned to run connecting buses on six different routes within the city for Metro passengers, officials said.

“Both AC and non-AC buses will ply on these routes,” Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner Rajender Kataria said.

Some routes of the buses have been finalized but the routes and number of buses can be increased depending on the number of passengers.

The minimum fare for the Metro route is Rs.8 and the maximum is Rs.30. With this line coming into service, the Delhi Metro will cover a total stretch of 125 km with 107 stations.

Once it gets connected with the Central Secretariat-Jehangirpuri line in north Delhi by July, the Metro will have greater connectivity. The entire stretch of 45 km will connect north Delhi (Jahangirpuri), south Delhi (Green Park, Saket, AIIMS, Hauz Khas) and Gurgaon (HUDA City Centre).

In November last year Delhi Metro started its services to the satellite town of Noida in Uttar Pradesh.

Delhi Metro makes over 1,900 trips on its five lines and covers a distance of 111 km excluding the new metro corridor.

By the October Commonwealth Games, the Metro network is expected to reach nearly all areas of the capital as well as suburbs like Gurgaon, covering nearly 190 km.

About one million commuters use the Metro on weekdays. During the Games, about two million commuters are expected to use the Metro on weekdays.

No easy solution to Maoist challenge: Buddhadeb

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Monday said there was no easy solution to the Maoist challenge and the issue has become “very complicated” due to support to the rebels by main opposition Trinamool Congress and others.

Admitting that the killings and terror unleashed by the Leftwing extremists in parts of the state posed a big problem, Bhattacharjee said the government was meeting the challenge through political and administrative actions.

“But the main opposition party, some organisations and individuals are providing direct and indirect encouragement to the guerrillas. This has made the problem more complicated,” the chief minister said in an interview to the Communist Party of India- Marxist’s (CPI-M) mouthpiece “Ganashakti”.

However, he stressed that the Maoist issue was basically a political problem and has to be dealt with politically.

Bhattacharjee said the problem has to be viewed in the all-India context as the rebels were active in seven to eight states.

“Since they have chosen areas which are remote and populated by the poorest sections of the society, we have to take socio-economic programmes to isolate them. On the other hand, we have to activate the police and the administration and fight them politically also,” Bhattacharjee told the Bengali morninger on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the Left Front government’s uninterrupted rule in the state.

Bhattacharjee said his government was working on all flanks to combat the ultras. “But it is a long-drawn battle. There is no easy solution”.

Ameesha’s Accessory Fetish

It is not usual vices like jealousy or over possessiveness or even promiscuity that is the reason behind Ameesha Patel’s long term single status. The pretty actress bared her heart recently where she revealed the reason.

Ameesha is apparently pretty high maintenance. With her expensive taste in designer handbags and accessories, she becomes a bit difficult for men to handle. The actress who has a huge collection of handbags loves them as her pets and takes care of them religiously. And not just caring for them, but the lady is well researched in her starry collection too. Thus Ameesha is not ready to do with just any guy who is not as knowledgeable and fashionable as herself in his taste. The actress who keeps the hoard of her bags carefully wrapped and packed in designer cartons said, “They are my pets. I clean them all once a month. I massage them, feel them, and touch them. Yes, you’re right. A man in my life would have to love my bags like my pets. Only then I will be convinced of his class.”

Well, her hand bag fetish is definitely doing much harm to her personal life. But Ameesha doesn’t seem to be aware of the actual price she is paying for her designer hand-bags.