Jagjit Singh is most Googled

New Delhi: Jagjit Singh continues to be popular with his fans more than a year after his death as the singer has topped the list of most searched ghazal singer online.

According to Google Search Trends, Jagjit Singh, whose 72nd birth anniversary falls on February 8, tops the list of popular singers in this genre.

In India, netizens of Ludhiana, Bhopal and Indore search the most for queries related to Singh. Pankaj Udhas comes second place in his online popularity in India, whereas it is Ghulam Ali worldwide.

Globally, the Indian subcontinent searches the highest for Jagjit Singh, followed by Pakistan, Bangladesh and United Arab Emirates.

The top five ghazal singers globally are: Jagjit Singh, Ghulam Ali, Mehdi Hassan, Pankaj Udhas and Talat Aziz.

'Hontho se chhoo lo tum', 'Jhuki Jhuki Si Nazar', 'Koi Yeh Kaise Bataye', 'Tere Khushboo Mein Base Khat', 'Tum Itna Jo Muskura Rahe Ho', 'Hosh Walon Ko', 'Koi Fariyaad', 'Tum paas aa rahe ho' and 'Tumse Bichhad Kar' are few hit ghazals of the late singer.

SRK, Rohit behind Dipy's 'lungi' look

New Delhi: Will Deepika Padukone's 'lungi' and shirt look from 'Chennai Express' posters spark a trend? Tough to predict whether Dipy will be as hot as Zeenie Baby who made a style statement with her ‘lungi’ looks in several films in the 70s.

The actress reveals that film's lead actor Shah Rukh Khan and director Rohit Shetty came up with the idea to dress her in a 'lungi'. "That's something new and I hope it works," says Deepika about her look.

"The idea to wear a 'lungi' is not mine actually. It was Shah Rukh and Rohit who came up with it. We had to quickly do a photoshoot because we were losing the light. They were like 'Why don't we give her this 'lungi' and make her look modern'. The shirt that I am wearing in the posters also belongs to SRK, only the sunglasses are mine," the actress said.

The pot-boiler, which reunites Deepika with SRK onscreen after her debut in 'Om Shanti Om', is slated to release this year.

Deepika, fresh from the success of 'Race 2', is looking forward to back-to-back releases this year.

"It has been a good year but my next next six months are very demanding in terms of my schedule. I hope all the hard work pays. I have 'Chennai Express' and 'Kochadaiyaan' with Rajini (Rajinikanth) sir is also ready for release," said Deepika.

She has two other films -'Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani', with Ranbik Kapoor and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Ram Leela'.

Rajjo starts Tollywood innings

New Delhi: Bollywood's 'Dabangg' actress Sonakshi Sinha will soon be seen grooving and romancing Tollywood superstar Mahesh Babu.

The Shotgun junior has signed writer-director Krish Jagarlamudi’s period film, 'Shivam', and is all set for her innings down South.

Bollywood actresses taking a route down South is nothing new, but what surprises us is that, this step is generally taken by stars when they are not doing great in Hindi film industry. But, what made Sonakshi take that step? Since the day she stepped into the film business, 'Rajjo' has given back-to-back hits, rather most of her films went on to make 100 crore at the box office.

'Dabangg' in 2010 opposite Salman Khan, 'Rowdy Rathore' in 2012 with Akshay Kumar, 'Son of Sardaar' in 2012 starring Ajay Devgn and last release of 2012, 'Dabangg 2' again with Salman Khan, were all blockbusters.

It seems an interesting script is what Sonakshi needs to sign a film, be it Bollywood or Tollywood.

Reportedly, Krish began writing the film three years ago, when he first saw Sonakshi in her debut film, 'Dabangg' opposite Salman. He wanted to narrate the script to 'Rajjo' back then, but Sonakshi was not too keen to divert her attention to any other industry that time.

It was Prabhu Deva who helped Krish meet Sonakshi, where she got the narration of the script as well.

“Recently, thanks to Prabhu Deva, Krish managed to meet Sonakshi and the first thing he told her was that he had written the film keeping her in mind. The narration was supposed to take only 45 minutes, but because Sonakshi wanted to know every detail, it only ended three hours later,” says the source.

When the actress was contacted she confirmed the news saying, "It’s a wonderful period film and will project Mahesh and me in a very different light. It will also give me tremendous scope to perform. Even though I have a packed schedule here in Bollywood, I will make time for this movie. I believe opportunities like these come only once in a lifetime.”

Sonakshi's green signal to join the project has left director Krish super-excited and thrilled. "Sonakshi is a combination of beauty, elegance and great acting skills. That’s why Mahesh, producer Aswani Dutt and I thought she should be introduced to the south Indian film industry too. She already has a fan following here."

The film is expected to go on the floors later this year.

This Friday, it will be Akki Vs Prabhu

New Delhi: This Friday it will be Prabhu Deva versus Akshay Kumar at the box office.

Prabhu Deva and Akshay Kumar who joined hands for their last project, 'Rowdy Rathore', will now come face-to-face at the ticket window.

Deva's film, 'ABCD – Any Body Can Dance' and Akki's film, 'Special Chabbis' both are all set to hit theatres on February 8.

'ABCD: Anybody Can Dance' is first of its kind Bollywood dance film, which is made in 3D for the first time. Directed by Remo d'souza and produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur, the film stars Prabhu Deva, Ganesh Acharya, Kay Kay Menon, Terence Lewis, Shakti Mohan, Lauren Gottlieb, Dharmesh Yelande and Salman Yusuff Khan.

In an exclusive interview with NEWS 24, director of the ambitious project Remo said, "I saw this dream of making a dance film 19 years ago."

When Prabhu was asked the reason for signing the film he said, "I did this film for Remo. Then later I came to know that it's a dance film, so it was double Ok from my side."

Films only female lead actress, Lauren Gottlieb expressed her excitement of being a part of the project to NEWS 24. She said, "I am really lucky to be a part of the film and very excited to be in India."

Remo who is a well known choreographer, finds choreographing slow songs or songs expressing emotions more difficult. He said, "Peppy numbers are much easy to choreograph than slow emotional songs."

Akshay's film 'Special Chabbis' also stars Jimmy Shergill, Kajal Aggarwal, Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher. It is directed by 'A Wednesday' fame director Neeraj Pandey.

Very soon we will tell you who passed and who failed at the box office

Salman knew he would kill people: Court

Actor Salman Khan had knowledge that his act of rash driving would result in death or injuries to people, a Magistrate observed while charging him with a more serious offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder in a decade-old hit-and-run case.

Salman was warned by his police bodyguard Ravindra Patil not to drive at a speed of 90 to 100 km per hour as there was a turning ahead or else the vehicle would meet with accident
but he did not pay heed to his advice, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate V S Patil noted last week in his order, a copy of which was made available on February 8.  

Salman's lawyer Dipesh Mehta told PTI that the actor would challenge the order, given on a Maharashtra Government plea, in the Bombay High Court soon.

On the night of September 28, 2002, Salman had allegedly rammed his Toyota Land Cruiser into a roadside bakery at suburban Bandra, killing one person and injuring four others
who were sleeping on the pavement.

The 47-year-old was earlier charged under IPC Section 304 A (rash and negligent driving) which attracts two years' punishment and is tried by a Magistrate. Now he has been charged under IPC Section 304 part II (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), for which maximum jail term is 10 years.

The Magistrate, in his order on January 31, said the actor was under the influence of liquor, according to reports of pathological tests.

The Court disagreed with Salman's argument that he had no knowledge that there would be an accident and people would die if he drove at a fast speed. On the contrary, the actor had
knowledge about this because he stays in the vicinity and knows the topography of the place, the Magistrate noted.

The Magistrate rejected Salman's contention that at the relevant time it was dark and the accident was not intentional but an act of God. He reiterated the actor had knowledge that
he would meet with accident if he drove at high speed because he was warned by the police bodyguard who was sitting next to him in the ill-fated car.

Salman argued that the Court cannot alter the charge on the basis of an application made by the prosecution. The Magistrate, however, felt that the Court can any time alter the charge before the trial concludes.

In this case, the Magistrate pointed out, prosecution had only drawn the Court's attention to the evidence adduced by it to show that charge of 'culpable homicide not amounting to
murder' was made out against the accused.

Ultimately, it was the Court's decision to invoke this charge on the basis of evidence tabled before it.

Interestingly, this is the second time that Salman is being tried under the stringent provision of IPC. Earlier too, the Magistrate had charged with him with the same offence and referred the case to Sessions Court for trial.

The actor had challenged application of this charge in the Sessions Court which rejected his plea. He had then moved the Bombay High Court which ruled that the charge of 'culpable
homicide not amounting to murder' would not apply in the case.

Maharashtra Government approached the Supreme Court, which set aside the order of both Sessions Court and HC.

"But we make it very clear that at any appropriate stage if the Magistrate comes to the conclusion that there is sufficient material to charge the accused with a more serious offence than the one punishable u/s 304(A), he shall proceed to do so.

"As such decision of the Magistrate shall be purely based on the material brought in evidence at the time of trial," the apex court had observed.

Acting on a prosecution plea, the Magistrate last week slapped the charge of 'culpable homicide not amounting to murder' on the actor and referred the case to Sessions Court

Bolly babes copy Holly divas

New Delhi: Our Bollywood divas define fashion trends in our country. They are the real trend setters, and fashion gurus for many young girls. But is their fashion sense original? Ever wondered why do they keep copying Hollywood hotties, rather than donning something new and stylish?

Bollywood's latest copycat babe is Kareena Kapoor Khan. The actress was spotted in the same black long sleeved Tom Ford dress that was sported by Hollywood TV reality star Kim Kardashian, when she stepped out to promote her new perfume during Fashion’s Night Out in New York City.

Bebo, who was posing merrily at the launch of her book 'The Confessions of a Style Diva', matched her dress with black pumps and golden belt. Copying the style of a Hollywood celeb at the launch of your own "style" book is definitely a bad idea begum sahiba. And, think of your fans, this might not leave a good impression on them, Bebo.

This is not the first time a Bollywood actress has copied an international celebrity.

Also joining the league is B-Town’s fashionista Sonam Kapoor, who initially made us believe that her dressing style was original. But very soon everyone came to know that the actress is just a copycat and has nothing new to offer to her fans.

All her dresses, hairstyles, bags are nothing but a Xerox of what the international style icons are doing.

In 2011, Sonam was spotted wearing the same Prabal Gurung red & black pleated one shoulder dress at the Bombay Times 16th anniversary party that was worn by Hilary Rhoda at 2010 Costume Institute Gala, New York.

Any plans to leave this habit of copying other celebs, Sonam?

It seems B-Town babes are suffering from copycat syndrome. Come out of it girls! Your fans will definitely love your original sense of style.

Vishwaroop, David first weekend collection at Box Office

This weekend has once again proved that bulk release will always result in poor collection. This is the fate of new Hindi releases like Vishwaroop, David, Deewana Main Deewana, Mai, Midnight's Children, Listen Amaya and Unsound. Out of the six releases, Vishwaroop and David have had slightly better collection at the Indian Box Office than the others. But they have landed in the second and third spots respectively, while Race 2 topped the business chart. Of the new releases, Vishwaroop is leading the race at the domestic Box Office. The Kamal Hassan starrer opened to an average response on the first day and it showed good improvement in its collection on Saturday and Sunday. The movie has collected Rs 7.56 crores nett at the desi collection centres in the second weekend. Its breakup is Rs 1.89 cr on Fri, Rs 2.47 cr on Sat and Rs 3.2 cr on Sun. Another much-hyped movie David starring Vikram, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Vinay Virmani in leads, opened to below average response on the first day and it showed little growth in its business on Saturday and Sunday. It has collected Rs 2.41 crores nett at the domestic Box Office in the first weekend. Its breakup is Rs 69 lakhs on Fri, Rs 83 lakhs on Sat and Rs 89 cr on Sun. However, other new releases Deewana Main Deewana, Mai, Midnight's Children, Listen Amaya and Unsound registered very low amount of occupancy on the first day and they did not show improvement on Saturday and Sunday. They have collected negligible amount at the domestic Box Office in the first weekend.