Katrina Kaif gets relief in Rs 2.79-crore service tax case

Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif has got relief in the Rs 2.79-crore service tax case as a tribunal has ruled that this liability has been discharged by her agent for the the modelling assignments she has done.

"In this case, appellant (Katrina) has appointed Matrix as her agent to discharge her service tax liability on her behalf and the same has been discharged by Matrix," said a recent ruling by the Mumbai bench of Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT).

 The ruling follows an appeal by Katrina R Turcotte (Katrina Kaif) against an order of the Service Tax Commissioner asking her to clear service tax liability of Rs 2.79 crore under the head classified as 'Business Auxiliary Service'. The amount included an interest and penalty of Rs 33.68 lakh.

The service tax department had slapped the duty on her for providing services to various companies for promoting products through modelling assignments through advertisement films, TV commercials and still photography.

Katrina's lawyers said that she had discharged the service tax liability through her agent Matrix India Entertainment Consultants.

 The revenue department, however, contended that the tax liability was discharged under 'Advertisement Agency Service' head and not under 'Business Auxiliary Service' category and hence Katrina was liable to pay the service tax.

The tribunal ruled that "by mere paying the service tax liability under wrong head does not meant that service tax liability has not been discharged.... We hold that the appellant has discharged the service tax liability through her agent." 

Imam does not regret verbal spat with Salman Khan

Image consultant Imam Siddique, who had an argument with superstar Salman Khan during his stint in the just concluded reality show 'Bigg Boss', says he does not regret it.

During one of the nomination episodes, Imam had a spat with show's host Salman and he even said "time out" in his typical style to the actor.

"It (argument) was unpleasant and unwarranted. I think I should have done a reality check. He is a bigger superstar. I am ashamed of it. But I don't regret it," Imam told PTI.
 

On if he would meet Salman and clarify or resolve the matter, he said, "Why should I meet him... why to interact with him on that thing."

Imam was the runner up of 'Bigg Boss 6' that concluded last night, while popular television actress Urvashi Dholakia won the show by a narrow margin.

"I am happy Urvashi won the show. She reminds me of my sister. I respect her for what she is and the way she is taking care of her children," Imam said.

"I am happy I lost. I am happy for her," he said. During the show, Imam indulged in fighting, yelling, troubling co-contestants. "I did things for entertaining people," he said.

Urvashi surprised at winning Bigg Boss, says Imam deserved it

For popular television actress Urvashi Dholakia who won the sixth season of reality show Bigg Boss says, co-contestant Imam Siddique is the winner.

"I felt Imam would win the show considering the tagline of the show is alag che. I did not think I would win. I thought I had no chance of winning," Urvashi told PTI in an interview.
 

"I was also shocked when Delnaaz was out. I felt she was a strong contender and that she could win," she added. Even though Imam was known to be picking up fights with everyone, "Imam is a winner as a wild card entry to reach till the finale ...it is a big thing. He is a perfect entertainer for the audience," she said.

Urvashi, who won Rs 50 lakh in cash and a trophy, became the third TV actress in a row to have won the controversial reality show.

Throughout her stint in Bigg Boss, Urvashi remained just herself - being straight forward. "I was just being myself on the show. I was honest and truthful on the show. I never took sides and gave my straight forward opinion," she said.

Urvashi, known by her role as on-screen vamp Komalika, feels her journey on the reality show was a roller coaster ride.

"It has been a very nice experience. I learnt lot of things. Its been a roller coaster ride...there have been ups and downs. I have made new relations here like with Sana, Niketan, Mink, Navjot Singh Sidhu," Urvashi said.

'Life of Pi' wins Best Original Score at Golden Globes 2013

Ang Lee's 'Life of Pi' took home the best original score award at the 70th Golden Globes
announced today, while British songstress Adele collected a trophy for her rendition of the theme tune to the James Bond blockbuster "Skyfall."

Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez presented the Best original motion picture score trophy to Mychael Danna from the India-set drama 'Life of Pi', who was nominated alongside Dario Marianelli (Anna Karenina), Alexandre Desplat (Argo), John Williams (Lincoln) and Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek & Reinhold Heil (Cloud Atlas).

"Thank you to Fox for being crazy enough to make this movie," said Danna, who shares the award with the film's director Lee.

Adele, whose Sunday outing was her first red carpet appearance since giving birth to a baby boy in October, said the award was, "for my boyfriend Simon who convinced me to do
it, and my wonderful son."

"I wasn't expecting this. It's very strange to be here. Thank you for letting me be part of your lives," said Adele from the stage as she collected her very first Golden Globe.

She had some big names from music world as her competitors in the Best original song category - 'For You' (Keith Urban and Michael McDevitt from Act of Valor), 'Not Running Anymore' (Jon Bon Jovi for Stand Up Guys), 'Safe & Sound' (Taylor Swift and The Civil Wars for The Hunger Games) and 'Suddenly' (Claude-Michel Schonberg, Alain Boublil and Herbert Kretzmer for Les Miserables).

Adele's Golden Globe will share shelf space at home with her eight Grammys, four American Music Awards and three Brits, among a host of other honors.

She is up for an Oscar next month for the same song.

The Golden Globes 2013 is being held at the Beverly Hilton hotel in LA, hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler

Paan Singh Tomar`, `Barfi` rock Screen Awards

Mumbai: Offbeat cinema turned out to be the toast of the season with ‘Paan Singh Tomar’ and ‘Barfi!’ sharing the best film title, and its lead actors - Irrfan Khan and Ranbir Kapoor respectively, lifting the best actor`s trophy at the 19th Annual Colors Screen Awards Saturday night.

Vidya Balan won her fourth consecutive best actress Screen award for her role as Vidya Bagchi in hit thriller ‘Kahaani’. Her earlier wins were for ‘Paa’, ‘Ishqiya’ and ‘The Dirty Picture’.

Irrfan essayed the role of former national steeplechase champion-turned-bandit Paan Singh Tomar in the biopic ‘Paan Singh Tomar’, while Ranbir wowed everyone with his heart-warming performance as deaf and mute Murphy in ‘Barfi!’.

In terms of direction too, commercial entertainers took a backseat with Anurag Basu winning the best director award for ‘Barfi!’.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan received a special award at the event, while late filmmaker Yash Chopra, who died in October 2012, was conferred the lifetime achievement award.

The evening was laced with power-packed performances by’"Student of the Year’ stars Varun Dhawan, Sidharth Malhotra and Alia Bhatt, apart from livewire dances by Sonakshi Sinha, Ranveer Singh and Priyanka Chopra.

For the first time, the mother-son duo of Neetu Kapoor and Ranbir took onto the stage to pay a tribute to Bollywood.

The glittering ceremony saw Bollywood`s creme de la creme - Shah Rukh Khan, Katrina Kaif, Amitabh, Jaya Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan in attendance.

There were others too - Prem Chopra, Parineeti Chopra, Sudhir Mishra, Arjun Rampal, Arbaaz Khan, Malaika Arora Khan, Arjun Kapoor, Prabhudheva, Zeenat Aman, Sujoy Ghosh, Jacqueline Fernandez, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Abbas-Mustan, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Gulzar, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Sunny Leone.

The event was hosted by Shah Rukh, Karan Johar and Ayushmann Khurrana, who bagged the best newcomer (male) award for his performance in ‘Vicky Donor’.

Om Shanti Om releases again….in Japan!

It was six years ago that Om Shanti Om released and became a blockbuster. The movie had tough competition from Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya. However,it not only became a hit but also brought in great recognition to the lead actress Deepika Padukone.

Now, if reports are to be believed, the movie is all set to wow the Japanese audiences! The film is readying for a big release in Japan on March 16.

“Farah will also travel to Tokyo a few days before the release. The idea is to be part of the film’s marketing there. OSO will get one of the biggest releases an Indian film has seen till date (in Japan). Eros is working on the entire plan,” says an inside source who is in vicinity to the development.

However, it is not known whether the film’s lead cast Shahrukh Khan and Deepika Padukone will travel to Japan for the event. “Around the time of the Japan release, they will be wrapping up Chennai Express . So, they might not be able to travel with Farah,” adds the source. Coincidentally Chennai Express is their second film together after Om Shanti Om.

When contacted, Farah confirms: “Yes, I am thrilled to know that OSO is releasing in Japan. I have seen the trailer (dubbed in Japanese). When the film hit theatres in 2007, I was pregnant and couldn’t travel to the Berlin Film Festival (where it was screened) and for its London premiere. Now I’m set to tour.”

Let us hope the magic is going to repeat far East!

Farhan Akhtar ‘runs’ away from endorsements

It has been 18 months sinceFarhan Akhtar has stayed away from brand endorsements. Here is why he did so!

Farhan Akhtar is working in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’sBhaag Milkha Bhaag and he wants to keep his look under wraps.

Apart from this, the actor has taken his role very seriously and he even went through intense physical training to achieve the body of an athlete, Farhan has apparently even refused all endorsement deals until the release of the film. And all this is to avoid the audience getting a peek into his new look.

A source close to the actor said, “Farhan has worked really hard on this project. For the last one and a half years, he has been working out and has fully devoted his time to the film. Because it’s a biopic, he worked extra hard on developing his character and didn’t want his or his team’s efforts to go in vain. That’s the reason he refused to take up any endorsements.”

The source further added that Farhan did not want to break the continuity of the shoot and hence was not willing to let anything come in between.

The revealed posters of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag look very promising and it has been heard that Farhan has gone through so much of rigorous training that he was nearly transformed into a runner himself.

Says the source,”While he was training and shooting for the film, several brands got in touch with his endorsement agency to sign him up. Right from clothing brands, sports shoes, cameras, toiletries and beverages, he was offered deals that together summed up to roughly Rs.15 to Rs.18cr.”

Photographer Atul Kasbekar, whose company manages Farhan’s endorsements, confirmed the news saying, it is true that Farhan has not signed any brands as it would have compromised the look of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.