Katrina to do item number in Agneepath

Katrina Kaif has bagged another item number and this time it is in Hrithik Roshan starrer Agneepath. After making the nation go

crazy with ‘Sheila Ki Jawaani’ and recently grooving to the title track Bodyguard, news is that she will be seen doing an item number yet

again; this time with Sanjay Dutt, who plays the bad man Kancha Cheena in Agneepath.

This will be the first time Katrina and Sanjay will be sharing screen space. Katrina is a fantastic dancer and Dutt being a non-dancer has decided to take

two weeks off to rehearse his steps. He will also shave his head off for the third time for Agneepath.

The song is composed by National Award winning music directors Ajay and Atul Gogavale, who had composed the music of Singham.

The item number is going to be really sizzling. Reportedly, it is going to be on the lines of another Amitabh Bachchan chartbuster ‘Jhuma Chooma De

Dein’ from Mukul Anand’s Hum.

Now this is one song we are eagerly awaiting for.

53rd Annual Grammy Awards Sum Up

Sunday night the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards were held at the Staples center in Los Angeles. The nights entertainment saw 30 performers take to the stage. The night began with an Aretha Franklin tribute which included Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson and Florence Welch. There was also an unlikely duet performed by Eminem and Rihanna. Eminem took the award for best Rap album. Then the seemingly ever present Justin Bieber shared the stage with Usher, who won multiple awards during the evening.

Country stars Lady Antebellum collected five awards, their awards included record of the year and song of the year, “Need you Now”.

Many had expected Justin Bieber to take the award for best new artist but instead it was won by jazz bassist Esperanza Spalding.

Lady Gaga arrived onstage encased in a giant egg from which she emerged to perform “Born This Way”. She won best pop vocal album for The Fame Monster.

2011 SAG Award Winners

Last night the 17th annual SAG awards were held in Hollywood. ‘The King’s Speech’ was named top film and Colin Firth was honored for his role in the film. The King’s Speech also took the award for outstanding cast in a motion picture, the cast includes Geoffry Rush and Helena Bonham Carter.

Natalie Portman was given the award for the most outstanding performance by a female actor for her role ‘Black Swan’.

The top awards in Television were given to Steve Buscemi for his role in ‘Boardwalk Empire’ and the show also came out on top by taking the award for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series.

‘The Fighter’ also took home two awards.

Overall it was a fairly regular ceremony with not too many surprises. Now speculation is whether the 2011 Oscars awards will be as predictable and has ‘The Social Network’ been knocked out of the Oscars race?

Complete list of winners after the jump!

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A CAST IN A MOTION PICTURE
“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“The Kids Are Alright”
“The King’s Speech” – WINNER
“The Social Network”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Jesse Eisenberg, “The Social Network”
Colin Firth, “The King’s Speech” – WINNER
James Franco, “127 Hours”
Jeff Bridges, “True Grit”
Robert Duvall, “Get Low”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Annette Benning, “The Kids Are Alright”
Nicole Kidman, “The Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence, “Winter’s Bone”
Natalie Portman, “Black Swan” – WINNER
Hilary Swank, “Conviction”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Christian Bale, “The Fighter” – WINNER
Mark Ruffalo, “The Kids Are Alright”
John Hawkes, “Winter’s Bone”
Jeremy Renner, “The Town”
Geoffrey Rush, “The King’s Speech”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Amy Adams, “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter, “The King’s Speech”
Mila Kunis, “Black Swan”
Melissa Leo, “The Fighter” – WINNER
Hailee Steinfeld, “True Grit”

TELEVISION

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ENSEMBLE IN A DRAMA SERIES
“Boardwalk Empire” – WINNER
“Dexter”
“The Good Wife”
“Mad Men”
“The Closer”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ENSEMBLE IN A COMEDY SERIES
“30 Rock”
“The Office”
“Glee”
“Modern Family” – WINNER
“Hot in Cleveland”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Steve Buscemi, “Boardwalk Empire” – WINNER
Bryan Cranston, “Breaking Bad”
Michael C. Hall, “Dexter”
Jon Hamm, “Mad Men”
Hugh Laurie, “House”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
Julianna Margulies, “The Good Wife” – WINNER
Elisabeth Moss, “Mad Men”
Glenn Close, “Damages”
Mariska Hargitay, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”
Kyra Sedgwick, “The Closer”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Alec Baldwin, “30 Rock” – WINNER
Steve Carell, “The Office”
Chris Colfer, “Glee”
Ty Burrell, “Modern Family”
Ed O’Neill, “Modern Family”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES
Betty White, “Hot in Cleveland” – WINNER
Sofia Vergara, “Modern Family”
Tina Fey, “30 Rock”
Edie Falco “Nurse Jackie”
Jane Lynch, “Glee”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A TELEVISION MOVIE OR MINISERIES
John Goodman, “You Don’t Know Jack”
Al Pacino, “You Don’t Know Jack” – WINNER
Dennis Quaid, “The Special Relationship”
Edgar Ramirez, “Carlos”
Patrick Stewart, “MacBeth”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A TELEVISION MOVIE OR MINISERIES
Claire Danes, “Temple Grandin” – WINNER
Catherine O’Hara, “Temple Grandin”
Julia Ormond, “Temple Grandin”
Winona Ryder, “When Love Is Not Enough”
Susan Sarandon, “You Don’t Know Jack”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A STUNT ENSEMBLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
“Green Zone”
“Inception” – WINNER
“Robin Hood”

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A STUNT ENSEMBLE IN A TELEVISION SERIES
“Burn Notice”
“CSI: NY”
“Dexter”
“Southland”
“True Blood” – WINNER

SRK and Salman avoid bumping into each other at Star Screen Awards

Ever since their fallout, Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan have always avoided bumping into each other at social functions. Earlier this week, the two superstars missed clashing with each other at the Mumbai International airport by just a few minutes when both arrived from Dubai after celebrating New Year’s Eve with their respective families.

Last night also the media and fans were expecting to see SRK and Sallu together at the Star Screen Awards which took place in Mumbai. However, that was not to be. While SRK was the host for the evening along with Shahid Kapoor, Salman made an appearance for just a few minutes. Despite winning the Best Actor Award for Dabangg, Salman didn’t go up on stage to collect the award and it was his brother Arbaaz who collected the award.

The buzz is that Salman didn’t want any kind of unnecessary media-created controversy between SRK and him and hence he came to the venue, recorded his part for the T.V. telecast post the awards function, and left soon after.

Looks like these two superstars are in no mood to sort out their differences.

Facebooks CEO Zuckerberg named Time Person of the Year 2010

Adding one more feather to the largest social network in the cyber world, Time has selected the founder and CEO of Facebook- Mark Zuckerberg -as its Person of the Year 2010.

Considering his attempts to build up and run the biggest social networking site in the world, which made ground breaking changes to the way people communicate and interact, Time has found him as the most befitting personality for the award this year.

Though, the announcement comes at a point when there are apprehensions about the way Facebook proliferates in the cyber world and the way it handles the private data added to its databases every day, Zuckerberg getting this most coveted honor will help Facebook have some real party time. Time has found that the web service Zuckerberg started while he was just 19, from his Harvard dorm, almost seven years ago, has now stitched together a twelfth of the humanity. If Facebook was a country it would have been third with the population just behind China and India. Responding to the announcement, Zuckerberg said that the award is a real honor and recognition not only for him but also for the efforts of his little team.

In the run to be the Person of the Year 2010, Zuckerberg overtook the Tea Party, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange and the Chilean miners. Well, good day social networking.

12th Digicon6 Awards: China’s ‘See Through’ wins big, India gets regional grand

Tokyo: TBS DigiCon6 announced the winners for 12th TBS DigiCon6 Awards in a grand ceremony held at Marunouchi Building Hall on November 19, 2010. The event

was indeed a historic one for Asian Animation industry where creativity and effort got recognition and appreciation at the centre stage.

Attended by the who’s who of the Asian animation industry, the Golden Digicon6 Award was won by China’s official entry See Through, made by Jokelate.

India’s Wilson Periera made by National Institute of Design’s young turk Dhaneesh Jameson, won Asian Regional Grand Prize.

China’s representative Yang Yu, who was present at the ceremony on behalf of Jokelate, commented, “I am sure this award means a lot to the creative effort

put together by Jokelate and he would be very excited to know about his victory. This award is not going to be an end to his work and efforts but will be a

motivation for him to work further in his life.”

This year TBS DigiCon6 received over 2,000 entries from Japan and other Asian
regions such as China, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines,
Taiwan and Thailand. TBS DigiCon6 Asia jury selected the awards winners for six
categories and announced them at the ceremony. TBS DigiCon6 Japan jury selected the awards winners for nine categories and announced them, too.

An elated Dhaneesh added, “I really feel proud and honored to have won this prize and to represent the country. The film was well received at Digicon6 than

any other festivals that I have been till now. I got the biggest compliment for my film from the well known Korean director Kwak Jae-yong and I was

speechless when he said he personally got my film subtitled in Korean and watched it over 5 times!”

TBS DigiCon6 was organized in 2000 by Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc, one of major television stations, to discover and support new talent. It has been

inviting digital contents creators, both professionals and amateurs, to submit their original works in the competition, and it is widely recognized for its

achievement.

Complete list of 12th TBS DigiCon6 Awards winners:

12th TBS DigiCon6 Awards Winners
Golden DigiCon6 Award – See Through – Jokelate CHINA
Silver DigiCon6 Award – Googuri Googuri – Yoshiko Misumi JAPAN
Bronze DigiCon6 Award – Kung Fu Bunny 3 – Counterattack- Li Zhiyong CHINA

Encouragement Awards:
Fumiko’s Confession – Hiroyasu Ishida JAPAN
Temple Rider – Radio Television Hong Kong / Simage Animation & Media Ltd. HONG KONG
CONTAINED – Henry Zhuang & Harry Zhuang SINGAPORE

12th TBS DigiCon6 JAPAN Regional Awards Winners
Grand Prize – Fumiko’s Confession – Hiroyasu Ishida JAPAN

Outstanding Performance Awards:
The Light of Life – Daihei Shibata JAPAN
Googuri Googuri – Yoshiko Misumi JAPAN

Encouragement Awards:
UTOPIAN – TOKUNAGA MARIKO JAPAN
Dreamer – Naohisa Ikuta JAPAN
SUNRISE Award – Rainy Holiday – Kaneko Osamu JAPAN
Adobe Systems Award – ab-rah KOHEI YOSHINO JAPAN
Hewlett-Packard & ATI Award – Amagoi Suzuki Ippei JAPAN
Mitsubishi Estate Award – Travel of Art – YU MASHIMO JAPAN
BS-TBS Award – Sepia Clock – Gaku Kinoshita JAPAN
Hole Makino Atsushi JAPAN

Prize for Effort:
Hole – Makino Atsushi JAPAN
Tokyo Teleport – Takeda Yuta JAPAN
a song like a fish – Taijin Takeuchi JAPAN
A GUM BOY – Masaki Okuda JAPAN
flesh color – masahiko Adachi JAPAN

Asian Regional Awards Grand Prizes
CHINA: Kung Fu Bunny 3 – Counterattack – Li Zhiyong
HONGKONG: Temple Rider – Radio Television Hong Kong / Simage Animation & Media Ltd.
INDIA: WILSON PERIERA – Dhaneesh Jameson
KOREA: Tom N Jerry – CHOI JIN SUNG
MALAYSIA: Bo Boi Boy – ANIMONSTA STUDIOS SDN. BHD.
PHILIPPINES: Mutya – Nelson “Blog” A. Caliguia, Jr.
SINGAPORE: Calypso Agency – Jose Andres Velasco
TAIWAN: CREATION – Hsuan-Ying Lu
THAILAND: Impassable – NATTAPORN YIAMCHAWEE

Madhur Bhandarkar to receive Zenith Asia Award

He is a filmmaker par excellence for whom winning awards is second nature. After all, he has even won the prestigious National Award on more than one occasion. He is none other than Madhur Bhandarkar, director of hard-hitting films such as Chandni Bar, Page 3, Traffic Signal and Fashion.

Madhur is now being honoured with yet another award which is the Zenith Asia Award. The filmmaker is surely elated at being chosen for the Zenith Asia Award, which is also popularly known as the PL Deshpande Award.

PL Deshpande was a renowned writer, stage and film actor and his literary works are still revered in Maharashtra and others parts of the world. The award will be presented to Madhur at a function in Pune on November 16.

Manoj Kumar & Oliver Stone honoured at 12th Mumbai Film Festival

Click above for more stills

The eight day gala affair at the 12th Mumbai film Festival concluded last night with Fardeen Khan and Raima Sen hosting the event at Chandan Cinema.

The Indian Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Manoj Kumar and International Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Oliver Stone. After receiving the award Manoj Kumar said, “Oliver Stone was Oliver Stone until he came to India, after landing here, he became a precious gem and priceless stone.” In turn Oliver thanked Mumbai, the Festival and Manoj Kumar for his kind words and said, “India has great culture, you make great movies and I am honoured to accept this award.”

The Golden Gateway Award for the best film in the international competition category was presented to Turkish film Majority directed by Seren Yuce. The award was presented by director Girish Kasarvalli and Festival jury member Samira Makhmalbaf.

The Silver Gateway Award Jury Grand Prize film in the international competition category was presented to the Danish film “R” directed by Michael Noer & Tobias Lindholm

The Silver Gateway Award for Best Director was presented to Anocha Suwichakornpong for her film from Thailand Mundane History. Anocha was the only female director competing in the International Competition Category.

The Silver Gateway Award For Best Actor was presented to Bartu Kucukcaglayan for his performance in the film Majority. The Silver Gateway Award For Best Actress was presented to Marie Helene Bellavance for her performance in Canadian film Vital Signs.

The Jury award For Technical Excellence was presented to a Greek film Black Field directed by Vardis Marinakis.

The Audience Choice Silver Gateway Award was presented to Spanish film Biutiful directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

In the Dimensions Mumbai section, The Best Film Award was won by Mumbaikar Ganesh directed by Collin D’cunha. The runner up position was shared by two films Tee directed by Avinash Medhe and Mera Ghar directed by Abhay Kumar. Mumbai Retina directed by Narayan Vijay Thakur won the special mention award. Dimensions Mumbai was juried by Dev Benegal, Vishaka Dutta, Ashim Ahluwalia, Brahmanand Singh and Manish Acharya.

The Harmony Celebrate Age was presented to Mama Gogo directed by Fridrik Por Fridriksson and the runner up prize was given to Forget Me Not directed by Katia Grivot.

The Mumbai Young Critics Silver Gateway Award was given to Octubre co- directed by Daniel Vega & Diego Vega.

The closing ceremony witnessed great participation from the film industry with the likes of Yash Chopra, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Ashutosh Gowarikar, Sudhir Mishra, Madhur Bhandarkar, Arunoday Singh, Satish Kaushik, Prem Chopra, Hrishita Bhatt, Rituparno Sengupta, Rajshree Ojha, and Aamir Bashir.

The ceremony was followed by the screening of RED starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Mary Louise Parker and John Malkovich and directed by Robert Schwentke.

Yash Chopra felicitated with Swiss Ambassador’s Award 2010

The Embassy of Switzerland felicitated Bollywood dream merchant Yash Chopra with the Swiss Ambassador’s Award 2010 for his contribution in promoting ‘Brand Switzerland’ through his movies. The award was presented at a scintillating evening hosted at the lawns of the Swiss Ambassador’s residence on Monday, October 25, 2010.

Popular actor Deepika Padukone was present on the occasion and congratulated Yashji on being presented this prestigious award. The highlight of the evening’s cultural performances was the Swiss Ambassador’s opening of the ceremony with music from Waqt (1965) that he brilliantly played on a Flügelhorn. This was followed by colourful dance performances by troupes to songs from Yash Chopra’s films.

While presenting the award to Mr. Chopra, the Swiss Ambassador H.E Mr. Philippe Welti said “We are pleased to honour Mr. Yash Chopra with the first of its kind award. Mr. Chopra’s association with Switzerland dates back to 1965 when he was present at the very same lawns while shooting for his golden jubilee hit, Waqt. Our association has come a long way since then with numerous of his movies showing the splendid serenity of Switzerland. To many Indians, a Yash Chopra movie has been their window to a scenic dreamland… a window to Switzerland.”

“I am honoured by the gesture shown by the Swiss Ambassador H.E Philippe Welti by giving me this award. Switzerland has always been my first choice of destination for shooting outside India. Be it for its picture perfect snow capped mountains or lush green fields, it is truly a heaven on earth that has made every angle, every shot and every frame of my movies breathtaking with the scenes vividly etched in peoples’ minds” said Yash Chopra on receiving the Swiss Ambassador’s Award.

Mr. Chopra’s romance with Switzerland began during his honeymoon and has continued ever since. On many instances in the past, the Swiss Government has honored Yash Chopra for helping rediscover Switzerland- for e.g. he was presented a special Award by screen goddess Ursula Andress, on behalf of the Swiss Government. The entire unit of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, the 1995 Bollywood blockbuster shot extensively in Switzerland, was given a rare Swiss recognition in Mumbai for its successful running for over 500 weeks. In fact, a lake in Switzerland has been unofficially named ‘The Chopra Lake’ because of the way Mr. Chopra has used it in films.

Hence it was only apt when Mr. Chopra, who has shot a portion of all his films in Switzerland, felt the need to share his romance with the country with his fans and decided to partner with the reputed Brandinvest AG, in bringing the “YRF Enchanted Journey” to life – a tour which gives consumers a firsthand opportunity to live the authentic YRF experience by visiting original sites and locations in Switzerland used by Yash Raj Films.

Swiss Ambassador’s Award is presented to personalities, who have played an outstanding role in promoting relations between India and Switzerland. This award is being presented for the first time in 2010.

Yash Chopra honoured with prestigious National Kishore Kumar Award

The prestigious ‘National Kishore Kumar Award’ for the year 2009-10, given by the Madhya Pradesh Government, was conferred on Yash Chopra, at an investiture ceremony held yesterday (October 14th, 2010). This ceremony took place at Khandwa, MP, which also happens to be the birthplace of the late Kishore Kumar, on the eve of his birth anniversary, October 13.

It’s totally needless to say that Yash Chopra, a contemporary legend in Hindi cinema, has played a seminal role in the Indian film industry. With this award, he has added yet another prestigious accolade to his long list of achievements. Laxmikant Sharma, the State Cultural Minister presented him with the award, a traditional shawl and also a cash prize.

Archana Tipnis, the State Education Minister and Vijay Shah, State Tribal Welfare Minister, were present at the occasion. “By agreeing to accept this award, Mr. Yash Chopra has added to the reputation of MP as a state. He is one such great director whose films have been socially relevant since more than 50 years”, said Laxmikant Sharma.

Yash Chopra was overwhelmed at receiving this award and thanked the Madhya Pradesh government for the same. He fondly recalled his association with the late Kishore Kumar, while appreciating the great work done by the Madhya Pradesh government in Kishore Kumar’s honour.

The National Kishore Kumar award, instituted by the Madhya Pradesh government in 1997, is given away for direction, acting, script writing and lyrics every year. Past recipients of the prestigious award have been the late Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Gulzar, Shyam Benegal and also Amitabh Bachchan.

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