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Buzz Briefs: John Cusack, Meat Loaf
Accused John Cusack stalker accepts plea deal. Rocker Meat Loaf is hospitalized. Singer Sheryl Crow creates her own designer duds. Actress Cloris Leachman has been chosen as grand marshal for next yea...
2008-10-10 17:01:26
Preity helped Isha Koppikar find soulmate
NAT1National/CinemaPreity helped Isha Koppikar find soulmateBy Devapriyo BhattacharjeeMumbai, Oct 10 IANS Isha Koppikar has finally found her soulmate in Timmy Narang, a restaurateur, and thanks her friend Preity Zinta for helping her find him."I have found my love in Timmy. I'm in a serious relationship with him. I'm happy to have a person like Timmy in my life and it is all because of one of our common friends Lina Mogre and Preity Zinta," Isha told IANS."It all started a year ago when I met Timmy through one of our common friends. We have common interests and share similar ideas and were communicating for a long time through SMSes," added the actress who hit the jackpot with the song "Khallas" in "Company".Asked how Preity came into the picture, Isha said: "Preity and I became very close during the shooting of 'Har Pal' and she promised me that she will find a suitable guy for me."After a year, Preity introduced me to Timmy, but we already knew each - however, we were not sure about relationship. We took the decision when Preity intervened and made things easier for us."Isha says marriage is not round the corner, but she is seriously thinking about it."May be within a year or two, we will get married," she said."I am seriously thinking of marriage as I don't want to remain like this for my whole life. I want to have babies and a family. After a certain time family becomes a priority in life as we have seen how the life of many actresses who do not have a family becomes. I don't want to be like them."About her past relationship with Inder Kumar, Isha said: "I had a relationship of 10 years with Inder and wanted to marry him, but it did not happen. Now, I want to move on and forget the past."Isha describes this as the best period of her life. "I am having the best days of my life - right movies, good work and my love."Isha is looking forward to six films which include "Ek Vivaah Aisa Bhi", "Hello", "Har Pal", "Shabri", "Hello Darling" and "Right Yaa Wrong"."Ek Vivaah Aisa Bhi" is Isha's first film as a solo heroine. "It is the best film I have done till date."She says Sooraj Barjatya's film has been a turning point in her career."Sooraj ji believed in me and went against the norm of the industry to give me the role. I had a glamorous image and he broke the type casting and went ahead to offer it. From now onwards whatever I do in my career, I will attribute it to him.""And to some extent, I would also say that Lalit Marathe's trust in me also mattered a lot," she added.Marathe is the director of "Shabri", produced by Ram Gopal Varma, where Isha plays the central character of a slum girl who later turns into a gangster.In "Right Yaa Wrong" she plays an interior designer and the character has grey shades. The film is a suspense thriller, which also stars Sunny Deol, Irrfan Khan and a host of other actors.In "Har Pal" she plays an air hostess, who is a close friend of Preity. The film is based on Preity's character. Directed by Jahnu Baruah, the film also stars Shiney Ahuja.About "Hello Darling", Isha said: "It is a comedy in which also I'm playing an important role that you have to watch out for."The film produced by Mukta Arts also stars Salman Khan, Celina Jaitley, Gul Panag, Javed Jaffrey and Rajpal Yadav.--Indo-Asian News Servicedb/ar/jg666 Words10100747
2008-10-10 00:00:00
Paris Designers Defy Economic Woes
As retail stocks plunged, Paris designers came up with antidotes to the economic blues plaguing the luxury industry. ...
2008-10-09 03:09:26
Time's green hero Dilawar Mohammed fights for the sparrow
NAT32National/Environment/SocietyTime's green hero Dilawar Mohammed fights for the sparrowMumbai, Oct 7 IANS Dilawar Mohammed, one of the winners of Time magazine's Heroes of the Environment-2008, is a crusader for the almost ignored bird - the common sparrow.He is almost single-handedly struggling to raise awareness about conserving the common sparrow, which he feels is facing a severe threat from humans.Based in the heart of India's wine country, Nashik, north-west Maharashtra, Dilawar, 28, tends to over 150 sparrows daily, giving them food and water to enable them survive, since he says the bird's natural food resources are being eaten away by massive urbanization."The common sparrow is under attack from many quarters. Hundreds of trees and bushes are being cleared and replaced with monstrous buildings, open spaces are being concretized, hundreds of mobile phone communication towers are being erected in cities, towns and villages. All this has hugely affected the tiny sparrow," Dilawar explained.He considers mobile phone towers as one of the biggest threats not only to the sparrows, but to all other birds like the tailorbird, mynah, sunbird, as well as the squirrel - and human beings too. He quoted a recent survey by a New Delhi-based organisation, which found that electromagnetic radiation pollution in Mumbai due to mobile phone towers is 200 percent higher than the permissible limits."This means, we are sitting in an x-ray environment all the time. For the common sparrow, it causes irritation, it reduces their reproductive capacity. Even if it lays eggs, the hatchlings are either destroyed or born with serious deformities. Though the species is sturdy, sparrow chicks have a high mortality rate, as high as 50 percent, which affects its overall population," said Dilawar, a Masters in ecology and environmental studies, specializing in zoology from Manipal University.Dilawar compares the fate of the common sparrows to that of the "common man in a democracy - nobody bothers about him". Elaborating other examples of depleting space, he pointed out to the menace of corporates, housing complexes and even public authorities obsessed with landscaping using exotic and imported plants."They look very attractive but they repel insects and other natural food sources for the birds. In the long run, these landscapes will prove to be green deserts," he said.Sparrows, according to Dilawar are nature's bio-indicators. "They have lived with human beings for thousands of centuries, like squirrels, mynahs, tailorbirds and sunbirds - you don't find them in the jungles. If there is a significant shift in their population, its an alarm signal for us," Dilawar pointed out.Explaining the sparrow's characteristics, he said they survive in all temperatures from the humid coastal regions to the hot plains to the chills of Kashmir and beyond to Ladakh, up to 15,000 feet above sea level. In the open, a sparrow survives for around three years and up to 13 years in captivity.Referring to man's own contribution to the declining population, he said that in the cities, thousands of catapults are sold daily, which are used by children and youth to target birds. "As per the wildlife laws, selling catapults which can harm or kill creatures is an offence, but nobody has even thought of implementing and banning its sale. It's a lethal weapon which can shoot at a speed of 40 feet per second, fatal even for humans," he said.Even ordinary feeding of birds seen in cities is restricted to birds like pigeons and crows, mainly for religious purposes. "Nobody cares to throw seeds for the poor sparrows".He said that Time magazine's honour for him - first time it has gone to any ornithologist - will help highlight the cause of the common sparrow and all other common creatures facing threats of different kinds.Dilawar got married two years ago to Zainab, an interior designer who also manages to keep an eagle's eye on his uncommon obsession since four years - the common sparrow.--Indo-Asian News Serviceqn/rn/dg696 Words*07101543
2008-10-07 06:00:00
Bad Economy Equals Hum-Drum Fashion
Paris Fashion Week ended on Sunday, capping a season which saw designers play it safe to coax customers into stores despite the global financial crisis. ...
2008-10-06 17:14:39
Paris designers pull out the stops AP
AP - Paris designers sought a balance between showmanship and substance in their ready-to-wear displays on Saturday, as the fashion industry seeks new revenue sources to make up for the millions in Wa...
2008-10-05 04:01:53
West Bengal rocks to fusion Puja chic
NAT10National/Religion/Society/CultureWest Bengal rocks to fusion Puja chicBy Madhusree ChatterjeeKolkata, Oct 5 IANS The sultry October afternoon does not deter the crowd in a south Kolkata market from thronging the shops that line a busy thoroughfare. It is carnival time for shoppers in this eastern megalopolis scouting for the best festival bargains.For the Durga Puja, the biggest annual festival here, the flavour this year is fusion. It swings between the glittering chic from Gujarat and Maharashtra to eco-crafts from rural Bengal.The shop windows in the markets and the new malls that have mushroomed all over the city are crammed with the latest designer labels - the traditional Bengali sari, dhoti and kurta having taken a backseat.The look is a mix of mirrors, glass work, zari, zardosi, sequins, crystals, bamboo, palm fronds, shola weeds and clay puja pandals at the fashion counters.The budgets of puja organisers are big, Rs.500,000 on an average this year. The cost is no less than Rs.100,000 even for private family pujas."Security is tighter than usual because of the recent terrorist violence in northern and western India. But I am sure nothing will happen in Kolkata. All the terrorists stay here in the city," laughs Mayor Subroto Mukherjee over a cup of 'cutting chai' at the venue of one of the most expensive and prestigious Durga Pujas in the city, Ekdalia Park."It is a transit point for the Islamic terror modules sneaking in from Bangladesh, Nepal and the neighbouring states. They would not want to harm their safe transit hideout," Mukherjee told IANS.The residents of Ekdalia Park, who are celebrating their 65th Durga Puja, are creating a 100-foot artistic marvel in glass, mirrors and plywood painted in a dull shade of ochre with a square chandelier for a ceiling. It has a distinct Gujarati look.Mukherjee, the president of the puja committee, holds forth: "We will not take away from the traditional core of the festivities despite the new ethnic look."At Park Circus, a few kilometres away, an army of artisans is building a 75-foot ethnic temple in bamboo, dry date palm fronds and hemp. The indigenous "mooli" bamboo has been sourced from Kamalgachi, 30 km from the city.Along the eastern Metropolitan Bypass, the organisers of a community puja are recreating Bengali novelist Manik Bandopadhyay's "Padma Nadir Majhi" The Boatmen of River Padma in bamboo and thatch. An artificial river will have seven country boats to round off the ambience from Bangladesh, where the novel is set.In Behala, almost all the pujas are themed on ethnic crafts from across the country.The central theme of glass and mirrors spills over into the markets as well. The accessories shops in the bazaars of south Kolkata, New Market and College Street in north Kolkata shone with the glitter of crystal, mirror and glass eardrops, danglers and kundan jewellery from Rajasthan."The designs are a bit north Indian this year, but that is what women are looking for this season. They have been inspired by Bollywood," a shopkeeper in south Kolkata said.The usual explosion of street-side kiosks hawking terracotta jewellery from the villages of Bengal is missing. "I could find only one shop that was selling terracotta jewellery in Gariahat," said Rashi Bhatnagar, a tourist, who wanted to pick up clay trinkets for her family back home in Haryana.The icons of the goddess and her four children are also moving towards Bollywood glitter in Kumartuli, a 250-year-old colony of traditional craftsmen, where most of the idols are made. Glass, mirrors and zari have replaced the traditional shola a thin white paper-like weed used as ornaments and finery to deck up the gods. Artisans attribute it to two reasons."The supply of shola weeds has dwindled because the rivers are drying up in south and north Bengal, where the weeds are cultivated in the shallow waters of the rivulets."Second, the community puja committees want their icons to stand out and are willing to fork out more money for idols decorated with zari and mirror chalchitra traditional background motifs that adorn the central frame of the icons in true tradition of Bollywood film sets."Tradition is being compromised," rued master craftsman Pashupati Rudra Paul, nephew of legendary artisan Rakhal Paul of Kumartuli, in a chat with IANS.--Indo-Asian News Servicemch/ak/jg770 Words**05101112
2008-10-05 02:00:00
CCTV photos show shop ram-raiders
Police release CCTV photographs of suspects after an early morning ram-raid on a designer clothes store....
2008-10-04 04:37:20
Narendra Kumar unveils Sunsilk style range at Lakme Fashion Week
Mumbai, Oct 03 ANI/Business Wire India: Sunsilk, the premium hair care brand from Hindustan Unilever Limited, will launch its new styling range- 'Sunsilk style', at the Lakme Fashion Week LFW this year by Narendra Kumar. Inspired by the Sunsilk style range, the celebrity designer will unveil his new collection called, 'Nari Nari'. The Sunsilk style range will create buzz in the hair fashion circuit with three signature hairstyles: Straight and Sleek, Curls and Waves and Layered and Textured. Commenting on his association with Sunsilk, Narendra Kumar said, "Sunsilk is a stylish, colourful and a youth brand. It was a great opportunity for me to be associated with such a global brand. My new label called 'Nari Nari', which is inspired by the Sunsilk style range is very young, hip and for the stylish women of today exactly like Sunsilk." Narendra Kumar has worked in tandem with Andrew Barton Global Hair Expert for Sunsilk to create his new collection based on the three signature hairstyles - Straight, Curls and Layers. Speaking on his creative collaboration, Narendra said, "It was a pleasure working with Andrew, whose experience and vision helped me to create this innovative and inspiring couture collection. Together we have created the look that is innovative yet fashionable, that a 20-Something Girl would love to wear everyday." Popularly known as Nari, a respected veteran involved in the fashion designing business for over 13 years, he has styled clothes for stars like John Abraham, Bipasha Basu and Kangana Ranaut. Stay tuned for the trendy Sunsilk show at the Lakme Fashion Week this year. ANI
2008-10-03 23:00:00
Electric Italians
Porsche designer goes battery-powered...
2008-10-02 17:30:08

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Buzz Briefs: John Cusack, Meat Loaf

Preity helped Isha Koppikar find soulmate

Paris Designers Defy Economic Woes

Time's green hero Dilawar Mohammed fights for the sparrow

Bad Economy Equals Hum-Drum Fashion

Paris designers pull out the stops AP

West Bengal rocks to fusion Puja chic

CCTV photos show shop ram-raiders

Narendra Kumar unveils Sunsilk style range at Lakme Fashion Week

Electric Italians