Salma the No.1

Hollywood actress Salma Hayek has been voted the hottest celebrity in the world by an Internet poll.A total of 3,000 celebrities were ranked by E-Poll, in which a whopping 65 percent of the US population felt Hayek was super glamorous, World Entertainment News Network reported.
The 40-year-old actress elbowed out Jessica Alba, who took the second spot. Carmen Electra finished third.
The top 15 celebrities and the percentage of the population who found them hot are as follows:
1. Salma Hayek - 65 percent

2. Jessica Alba - 64 percent

3. Carmen Electra - 64 percent

4. Shakira - 63 percent

5. Halle Berry - 59 percent

6. Beyonce Knowles - 59 percent

7. Eva Longoria - 59 percent

8. Catherine Zeta-Jones - 57 percent

9. Jessica Biel - 56 percent

10. Elizabeth Hurley - 56 percent

11. Raquel Welch - 56 percent

12. Jennifer Lopez - 54 percent

13. Alyssa Milano - 54 percent

14. Pamela Anderson - 53 percent

15. Angelina Jolie - 53 percent

Source: msn.com

"Taj" on Thames

LONDON: A Taj Mahal on the Thames? Tourists stopped to take pictures and bored Londoners, stiffly rushing past Westminster, paused in amusement as a replica of the Taj floated down the Thames on Tuesday morning.
No, it was not the Uttar Pradesh Tourism Board promoting the newest wonder of the world, but the Mayor of London Ken Livingstone trying to market London to Indians!
And on hand were a host of Indian celebrities, including (yes, you guessed it!) Shilpa Shetty, to lend a touch of glamour to the launch of a three-month “celebration” of contemporary Indian art and culture.

Source: Hindu.com

Harry vs Hanuman: Where are Indian superheroes?

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has whisked its way to number one position at the box offices world over. With weekend ticket sales of $77.4 million and a five-day total of over $140 million in United States alone, Order of the Phoenix has in fact sold more tickets in its initial five days than the first three Potter movies in their initial week.
Rowling's seventh and final novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is set to debut on bookshelves on July 21, and Warner Bros already is working on movies number six and seven.
Harry Potter and his battles against evil forces is a story that children world-over now swear by. The series has broken all records in terms of sales and visibility. But wasn’t the entire concept of ‘victory of good over evil’ an Indian one originally?
What were the greatest mythological epics of all times—Mahabharata and Ramayana—all about? They too got converted into television epics but failed to make a mark ala Potter way.
Though trends are changing at the box office, the success of animation films like Hanuman (2005) and more recently My friend Ganesha stand no where in comparison to Harry Potter series.

Where are we lagging behind? Is it the large-scale marketing and millions-dollars worth publicity that’s making Harry Potter a success in India? Or is it the conceptualization where Indian film-makers need to work more if they want to create something even close to Harry Potter?
On CNN-IBN Sunday Special, Bhupendra Chaubey posed the question to animation director Aman Khan (the man behind animation film Krishna), author Samit Basu and comic book writer Pran (creator of Indian comic legend Chacha Chaudhry).

Baigan Ki

"Baigan Ki" - a phrase with which we the people of Hyderabad get recognized and associated with across the globe. Literally translated in English it means "Brinjal's", but the original meaning of the phrase goes farther deeper into the actual laid back and relaxed physiology of the Hyderabadi's. It is a phrase related to the wise old men of the Old city, a way of being skeptical, being a critic and at the same time showing love and affection in an odd way. It's used as an expression of disbelief. But not everyone can express or convey the same meaning of it except a Hyderabadi with their peculiar slang and intonation of the Hindi language. You walk into any of the Irani cafe near Charminar, every table would be rhyming with similar words, all used as figure of speech blending well with the Hyderabadi Hindi and able to convey 100% of the message. And no don't be under the impression that only the illiterate people use it, no matter how well educated the person is or no matter what post he is in, once they walk into the cafe, this phrase along with others are the only ones used during the course of one's speech. And to highlight my case - i am ending this blog with a quote from one of my all time favorite movies on Hyderabad "The Angrez" - "Ismail bhai ko Bhikari samjhe kya - baigan ki"