Actress Melissa Leo's true grit leads to Oscar

As the supremely competent Detective Kay Howard on "Homicide: Life on the Street," Ms. Leo famously refused to make herself look glamorous. She told Terry Gross on NPR's "Fresh Air" that she didn't use makeup on the show because her male colleagues didn't.When she was unceremoniously dumped from "Homicide" at the end of its fifth season, Ms. Leo said collateral damage from her then-messy personal life and the flinty realness of her Kay Howard character...

Read More

Eminem 'most popular living person on Facebook'

Eminem has dethroned Lady Gaga as the most popular living person on Facebook.The rapper has almost 29 million 'likes', according to Famecount.comMeanwhile, Gaga, who briefly held the title after unseating U.S. President Barack Obama, is less than a million behind him.Only the late Michael Jackson has more Facebook followers - with just over 29 million, reports the Daily Star.Famecount.com bosses note that Eminem's Facebook fanbase is greater than...

Read More

Hollywood comes to Bollywood

Three new Hollywood films are set to be shot in India shortly as producers explore the Indian market with the help of an Indian American talent manager in Hollywood."The process of selecting India as a location has been easy," says Jai Khanna, a manager at Brillstein Entertainment Partners (BEP), a top Hollywood talent management film and television production company."The key is finding the right partners, those with the right sensibility, in order...

Read More

Stars gather as 'King's Speech' eyes Oscars crown

HOLLYWOOD: British royal drama "The King's Speech" got another boost on the eve of what supporters hope will be its Oscars coronation Sunday, as stars gather for the climax of Tinsel Town's annual awards season.The movie, nominated for 12 Academy Awards including best picture and best actor for Colin Firth, won best foreign film at the Spirit independent movie awards, barely 24 hours before the main Hollywood show.Ballet thriller "Black Swan," nominated...

Read More

2011 Academy Awards " The Winners "

With another year's ceremony having come and gone, the 2011 Academy Awards announced the big winners during a glitzy ceremony at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday night (February 27).Taking home the top prize of Best Picture at the Anne Hathaway and James Franco hosted event was "The King's Speech," which ended up winning a total of four Oscar trophies.As for the actor/actress categories, the Academy bestowed Best Actress honors upon Natalie...

Read More

My baby kicked at Oscars

Natalie Portman has revealed that her baby was kicking enthusiastically while she was at the Oscars ceremony at Los Angeles' Kodak Theatre last night.The actress, who won the coveted 'Best Actress' award for her performance as psychotic ballerina Nina Sayers in Black Swan, explained that her baby seemed to be enjoying the performances during the show.When asked how her baby had reacted to her win after she had collected her statuette, she replied:...

Read More

Drive Angry

Shaven-headed men in tattoos and ugly goatees. Pretty girls who punch guys out. Hash-slinging diners and trashy neon honky-tonk bars. A jet-black 1969 Dodge Charger. A cherry-red 1970 Chevelle SS 454. (Wow, just writing that made me feel like I know something about cars.) Nicolas Cage in thatchy frosted-blonde Owen Wilson-as-biker hair. (Another Nic Cage hair joke? I bring it up only because there's nothing else to the character.) A devil-worshipping...

Read More

Shweta reveals her latest flame

Bigg Boss 4 winner Shweta Tiwari, finds an emotional anchor in Abhinav Kohli, the new guy in her life.After her Bigg Boss 4 win, actress Shweta Tiwari opens up about the new love of her life, Abhinav Kohli, in People magazine’s March 11 issue. The two met on the sets of Jaane Kya Baat Hui in November 2008 and became close friends before getting into a relationship. Due to her past (her volatile marriage to actor Raja Choudhury) the actress was reluctant...

Read More

Hollywood illusionists sweep season of stupidity under Oscars red carpet

As the year's best films are honoured, Hollywood is ready to launch another season of recycled drivel. But there are signs that intelligent, low-budget moves can succeed at the box officeThe men from the American Turf and Carpet company were busy putting the final touches to their crowning achievement. Frantically cutting and taping their way along the middle of what in normal times is Hollywood Boulevard, they covered their creation with plastic...

Read More

Veena Malik is back, and this time, her dance number is possibly longer than her previous appearances on Bigg Boss.

Veena Malik is back in yet another Indian cricket-based reality TV show, ‘Bigg Toss’, and this time, her dance number is possibly longer than her previous appearances on Bigg Boss.According to the video description, 12 contestants will be pitted against each other to “cash in on the World Cup fever” with the centre of attraction being “television hotties, Veena Malik and Bollywood item girl Rakhi Sawant.”With such star power and a few more dance...

Read More

Four Oscars For "The King's Speech"

Hollywood - The royal drama "The King's Speech" took three top prizes of the Academy Awards, including best actor Colin Firth. The film took the Best Film and the coveted best director and the Firth gong for his portrayal of stuttering with King George VI, the coach for help in time of war Australian ballot rally Britain. He also won the Best Original Screenplay, giving the film four Oscars in common - the same as Hi-tech thriller "original" and...

Read More

Sridevi 'makes Hindi film comeback'

Sridevi is rumoured to be making a return to Indian cinema.The Lamhe actress is said to be playing a lead role in a project produced by R Balki and directed by Gauri Shinde.A source for Mumbai Mirror commented: "Balki and Gauri have worked very hard on this subject for the past few months and are now ready to roll. [Sridevi] loved Balki and Gauri's film offer. She requested all her friends and relatives to keep it under wraps."The Mr India star is...

Read More

A few surprises - including bad words - at the Oscars

The host was the youngest ever. The winning screenwriter was the oldest ever. The ceremony was hipper than usual - and a bit more vulgar.The 2011 Academy Awards came with a few surprises in the early going, which started by honouring the boxing drama The Fighter for its supporting performances.Christian Bale, whose portrayal of a crack addict almost overwhelmed the boxing movie, was named best supporting actor, and Melissa Leo - whose self-promoting...

Read More

Shah Rukh Khan ‘wants Lady Gaga for RA.ONE’

Shah Rukh Khan is reportedly keen on working with Lady Gaga in his upcoming sci-fi fantasy film Ra.One.According to Mid Day, the 45-year-old Bollywood superstar has asked Akon to persuade the 'Born This Way' singer to do a music video for the film. A source told the newspaper: "If she agrees to do Ra.One it would be a huge asset for the film. Akon has already bounced the idea to GaGa's management and her team. While she's touring right now, there's...

Read More

Balan, Kapur to become engaged?

Vidya Balan may reportedly get engaged to Siddharth Roy Kapur.According to The Times of India, the actress is rumoured to be in a relationship with the head of UTV Motion Pictures, with the pair said to be close to deciding to wed.A top industry source told the newspaper: “Vid and Sid are close. And in the past weeks they have been spotted spending quality time with each other on two occasions.” The critically-acclaimed actress recently worked in...

Read More

Tanu Weds Manu

Why should you watch "Tanu Weds Manu"? For R. Madhavan who will win you heart as a sweet lovable NRI doctor Manu who has the misfortune of falling in love with a Kanpur-girl Tanu (Kangana Ranaut) who not only rejects him as a suitor but also uses him to elope with her ruffian boyfriend. Hiding his heartbreak and disappointment behind a smile, Madhavan fits into the role of a goody goody NRI like a glove. He is hopelessly in love with Tanuja who doesn't...

Read More

I am stylish and glamorous

Lady GaGa has revealed that being "glamorous" and "stylish" has nothing to do with her wealth.The singer insisted that wearing flesh-coloured spikes on her forehead and platform shoes is ''just another day at the office".Speaking in an interview with Gayle King, while wearing spikes on her face and shoulders, huge platform shoes and a leather dress, she said: "I live a glamorous, stylish life. It's nothing to do with money or anything. It's just...

Read More

Of Gods and Men

Gravely serene and suffused with tenderness, Of Gods and Men takes the simple, profound stand that how a person of faith lives matters more than the circumstances of his death. I stick with the male pronoun here because this superb, award-laden French drama — a surprising omission among this year's Foreign Language Film Oscar nominees — is so essentially about how men behave in the name of religious conviction.The movie is loosely based on real events:...

Read More

Lara Bingle 'signs deal with photo agency'

Aussie bikini model Lara Bingle has reportedly signed a deal with a photo agency.She is said to have struck a deal with photo agency Big Pictures for a cut of profits made from her own photos.It is understood rival agencies are seething over the deal, which are generally commonplace in the US.The move means Bingle can create and control the pictures released for sale to magazines and newspapers.Bingle was snapped yesterday looking perfect after a...

Read More

Best film Cesar award goes to Des Hommes et des Dieux

PARIS - Director Xavier Beauvois on Friday won best film award for his "Des Hommes et des Dieux" in France's version of the Oscars, the Cesars, and said the movie about monks kidnapped and murdered in Algeria shed some "intelligence" on the 1996 event.Accepting the award Beauvois described the film as a "message of equality, liberty, fraternity" - referring to the French creed - and called for "brotherliness" toward French Muslims.The best director...

Read More

OSCAR packs his bags

U.S. film industry cashes in abroadLOS ANGELES — The awards season for films, which reaches its tearful climax with the Oscars on Sunday, has long been only loosely related to the film business. Hollywood is dedicated to the art of funnelling teenagers past popcorn stands, not art itself. But this year’s awards are less relevant than ever. The true worth of a film is no longer decided by the crowd that assembles in the Kodak Theatre — or, indeed,...

Read More

Chopra dropped after film flop?

Priyanka Chopra is reportedly no longer the front-runner for a new project after the disappointing box-office performance of 7 Khoon Maaf.The actress was said to be the favourite for director Vishal Bhardwaj's planned adaptation of the best-selling Indian novel 2 States, Mumbai Mirror reports.However, a source told the paper: "It is now a toss-up mainly between Kareena Kapoor and Katrina Kaif, the latter having a slight edge. It might even be......

Read More

Playboy covergirl makes Bollywood debut with 'Aazaan'

Playboy covergirl Candice Boucher will make her Bollywood debut as a sand artist in director Prashant Chadha's "Aazaan".Acclaimed sand artist Alexandra Konofalskaya was flown down from Belarus to train Candice for her role."I never imagined myself in a Bollywood film but now I'm looking forward to its premiere. I love your country and I want to see a lot of India," she said in a press statement."Aazaan" is an international espionage film about an...

Read More

Salman Khan jumps from 10,000 feet up for soft drink ad

Bollywood's "Dabangg" actor Salman Khan will be seen doing a daredevil stunt in PepsiCo's new Mountain Dew ad - he jumps from 10,000 feet in a "wingsuit" from which a parachute springs open."Everyone is afraid of something or the other at some point of his or her life. But if you try to run away from fear, you'd be tired and eventually fear will win. So the best way to overcome fear is to face it, run through it because 'Darr Ke Aage Jeet Hai',"...

Read More

Abhi-Ash to attend Oscars?

Bollywood's star couple Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, who are currently in Los Angeles for a holiday, will be attending the 83rd Annual Academy Awards Sunday, according to megastar Amitabh Bachchan."Ya, Abhishek and Aishwarya have been invited by the Academy to attend the Oscars on Sunday … so … (sic)," Amitabh posted on his blog www.bigb.bigadda.com.Amitabh spilled the duo's plans while sharing how American actor Warren Beatty met Abhishek...

Read More

Bollywood stars are self-obsessed

Kangana Ranaut has accused fellow Bollywood stars of being self-obsessed.The actress's next big film will be the ensemble action movie Game, also starring Abhishek Bachchan and Jimmy Shergill.In an interview with the Times of India, she said: "I could never develop friends in this industry. I don't like filmi life. "Most people are self-obsessed here and can't have a good conversation."She also denied that she had been asked to leave after gatecrashing...

Read More

Lara Dutta cheers hubby Mahesh Bhupathi at Dubai tennis match

Newlywed Bollywood actress Lara Dutta was seen cheering her husband Mahesh Bhupathi during a tennis match in Dubai.Bhupathi, 36, was paired with fellow Indian tennis player Leander Paes, 37, against the Djokovic brothers, Novak and Marko, at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Gulf News reported.Dutta, 32, who has just returned from her wedding reception in Goa, dressed casually in a light, summery, floral top with her hair tied back in a short...

Read More

Oops, Rakhi does it again!

Rakhi Sawant has stirred the hornet’s nest again. Not long after she was in the dock for allegedly driving a young man to suicide after she called him impotent, the starlet, 32, has been accused of molesting a Delhi-based guru, Swami Arvind, giving him a panic attack that landed him in hospital. The two were part of a reality show on India TV — Bigg Toss — loosely based on Bigg Boss, which makes contestants stay together in a villa in Noida. “I have...

Read More

Oscar-Nominated Short Films 2011: Live Action

There are no handy publicity campaigns to introduce you to the five live-action shorts and five animated shorts nominated for Oscars, but I can help. Here's what's in the running — and which are my favorites. Then it's your turn to take a look — in theaters, on demand, or on iTunes — and pick your own. (As for Oscar odds, you're asking the wrong bookie.)In a generally unexciting live-action field, Na Wewe, by Belgian filmmaker Ivan Goldschmidt, gets...

Read More

Maintaining long hair is a real problem

Superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who has donned a new look in the sequel of his film "Don", says it is a real problem to maintain long hair and wonders how girls manage them so easily."It's a real problem maintaining such strings of hairs attached. I haven't shaved for so many days. I have huge respect for women, but really want to ask them how they maintain their long hair," Shah Rukh told the media at the launch of a documentary his production house made...

Read More

‘Faiz in Beirut’ published

The Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) has published a special book on Faiz Ahmed Faiz, which is written by Tasleem Elahi Zulfi.The book, ‘Faiz Ahmed Faiz in Beirut’, focuses on Faizís activities and routine during his stay in Beirut as an expatriate. The book brings new aspects of the poetís life in light for the first time. Giving a briefing on the release of the book, Fakhar Zaman, Chairman PAL, said that the book had been published in the light...

Read More