Bollywood star Ahuja bailed over maid case

MUMBAI: A court in the Indian city of Mumbai on Wednesday granted bail to Bollywood actor Shiney Ahuja.

The Bombay High Court ordered the release of Ahuja, star of several films including “Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi” (A Thousand Desires), “Gangster” and “Life in a Metro”, who was sentenced to seven years in jail last month.

He was told to pay a bond of 50,000 rupees ($1,100) and not to leave the country without permission.

Ahuja, 37, had denied the offence, which allegedly took place at his home in the city in June 2009. His legal team called the judgement “perverse and illegal”, questioning the strength of the victim’s evidence and medical tests.

The trial judge ruled that scratch marks and DNA results were sufficient proof.

The victim withdrew her complaint in September, claiming she was told to make a complaint by another woman who had initially got her the job with the star.

“Apart from the girl denying the alleged offence, even the medical evidence is in negative,” the appeal document said, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.

“Evidence given by doctors, who examined (Ahuja) and the victim, stated that there are no injuries on the girl’s body. Even the semen and blood samples were negative of (Ahuja)’s DNA.”

Slumdog child star’s Mumbai home burns down

MUMBAI: Slumdog Millionaire child star Rubina Ali said Saturday her home and the awards she won for the Oscar-winning film had been destroyed in a fire that raged through a congested Mumbai slum.

The family of 12-year-old Rubina, who played the role of young poverty-stricken Latika in Danny Boyle’s movie, watched helplessly as their tin-roofed shack in the crowded slum went up in flames late Friday.

“I have lost everything, including books and precious belongings like awards, photographs, newspaper clippings and memorabilia from the success of the film,” Rubina said, according to the Press Trust of India.

Rubina was just eight when she appeared in the rags-to-riches blockbuster, which won eight Oscars in 2009 and her journey from Mumbai slum to Hollywood red carpet made her famous around the world.

“We all were at home watching TV when a neighbour came to alert us about the fire. We all rushed out. We spent the entire night at the railway station,” Rubina said.

“So far nobody has come to help us.”

The blaze raced through the slum in the Mumbai suburb of Bandra on Friday evening, injuring at least 21 people and leaving 2,000 people homeless, a fire official said.

“We feel relieved to see that all our family members are safe. But all the good memories of my daughter’s fame have been reduced to ashes. We have lost everything,” Rubina’s father Rafiq Ali said.

Rubina said the family was yet to move into a new apartment paid for by a trust set up by Slumdog director Boyle.

More than half of Mumbai’s estimated 18 million residents live in either officially designated slums or illegal shanties. AGENCIES

World Cup final venue fails fire safety inspection

MUMBAI: Wankhede Stadium, venue for the Cricket World Cup final on April 2, has not met fire safety standards, the chief fire officer for Mumbai told the Press Trust of India on Friday.

“We will soon write a letter to the MCA (Mumbai Cricket Association) stating there is a need to comply with fire safety norms at the stadium. Once they abide by the terms we would again conduct an inspection,” chief fire officer Uday Tatkare was quoted as saying.

“The team has found that the newly renovated stadium has many loopholes in its fire safety mechanism. The stadium must be in compliance with the fire safety conditions,” Tatkare said. AGENCIES

When a film ‘flops’, always blame the actress

TrendPK.com: When a film ‘flops’, always blame the actress. If a film doesn’t flop, call it a flop and blame the actress. If a film is a hit, blame the actor.

The Huffington Post linked to the AP box office analysis piece yesterday with their own headline, titled simply ‘Gwyneth flops’. It wasn’t a surprise, as Huff Post (which I of course contribute to) and other entertainment websites and publications never miss a chance to trash any given actress for anything whatsoever. Never mind that Country Strong was a $15 million picture that opened with $7.3 million in the first three days, guaranteeing long-term profitability. Never mind that the opening weekend of Country Strong was nearly double the single-largest weekend ($4.2 million) for last year’s Crazy Heart. It’s no fun to merely report that Paltrow’s small picture had a modest opening that was relatively successful in regards to its budget and Paltrow’s long untested drawing power. It’s so much easier (and more fun) to just proclaim the film a flop and take the bitch down a peg or two. Because it’s always the girl’s fault, even when there is no fault to be had.

When The Tourist opened slightly below expectations, the headline everywhere was ‘Angelina Jolie BOMBS’. If you didn’t know better, you’d have no idea that Johnny Depp was the co-star of said movie and thus shared at least partial responsibility for the film’s relative under-performance over its first weekend. And the following week saw the very disappointing opening weekend for the James L. Brooks romantic comedy How Do You Know? The film starred Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd, and Jack Nicholson. Do you think the headlines all screamed about the box office failure of the all-star cast? Of course not, the blame fell entirely on the shoulders of Reese Witherspoon (who received $15 million for the film), as if Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd, and Jack Nicholson had no star power that justified their (respectively) $10 million, $3 million, and $12 million paydays for the $120 million comedy.

And let’s not forget Nicole Kidman, who got tagged as ‘box office poison’ after a series of uber-expensive (and sometimes troubled) genre pictures only opened to ‘just’ $15-30 million. Did Will Ferrell’s career take any real damage after Bewitched opened to a ‘mere’ $20 million? Of course not. Did Daniel Craig take any of the blame for the disappointing opening numbers posted by The Invasion ($7.9 million) or The Golden Compass ($25 million)? Nope, he’s got a shiny new franchise this summer with Cowboys and Aliens, plus a starring role in David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo remake (and if that tanks, it will fall entirely on the shoulders of virtual unknown Rooney Mara). Did Hugh Jackman share any of the responsibility when the $120 million Australia opened with $15 million over Thanksgiving 2008? Nope, he still was able to star in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and got to host the Oscars to boot. But Nicole Kidman is of course box office poison.

But what if the film is a hit? Well, if at all possible, find a way to give credit to the male lead. Sandra Bullock had her (at the time) biggest hit ever with The Proposal in June of 2009, but if you read much of the press that followed, you would have sworn that most of that $33 million opening weekend and $164 million total came from fans of co-star Ryan Reynolds. And The Ugly Truth opened with $27 million later that summer on the strength of Katherine Heigl and Gerald Butler. He may have deserved some of that credit, but much of the press acted as if Gerald Butler was a known entity when it came to opening romantic comedies. So if he gets half the credit for that solid hit, why did he get none of the blame when it was falsely reported that The Bounty Hunter was a flop upon opening with ‘just’ $20 million? Because his costar was Jennifer Aniston, and no one, I mean no one, misses a chance to trash Aniston (notice how Jason Bateman escaped unscathed for the The Switch).

Call it sexism. Call it laziness. Call it a crass knee-jerk reaction to appeal to the baser instincts of uninformed readers. But pay close attention after this year’s Oscar ceremony. If it goes well, then more power to everyone involved. But if it fails as entertainment, who do you think the press will aim their swords at, James Franco or Anne Hathaway? As always, we’ll see…

Ahmadinejad slapped by top Revolutionary Guard: WikiLeaks

The chief of the Revolutionary Guard angrily slapped Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in early 2010, as Tehran was still dealing with the fallout from last year”s election, according to a leaked US diplomatic cable.

The cable, written in February, said Revolutionary Guard Chief of Staff Mohammed Ali Jafari blamed Ahmadinejad for the post-election “mess” in 2009, which saw the country roundly criticized by the West amid allegations of fraud and tough crackdowns on large-scale protests in Tehran.

The guard was founded after the Islamic revolution in 1979 to prevent dissident activity and is a strong internal force within the country, with economic and military wings.

Jafari is seen as close to the most conservative Iranian elements, but Ahmedinejad himself is also deemed a stalwart hawk.

The cable, titled “He who got slapped,” quotes an Iran watcher in Baku, Azerbaijan, who related that Ahmedinejad felt that in the aftermath of the post-election street protests, which turned violent, “people feel suffocated.”

In a meeting with his national security council, the president “mused that to defuse the situation it may be necessary to allow more personal and social freedoms, including more freedom of the press,” according to the source.

This provoked an angry retort from Jafari, according to the cable:

“You are wrong! (In fact) it is YOU who created this mess! And now you say give more freedom to the press?!”

The top guard then slapped the president in the face “causing an uproar and an immediate call for a break in the meeting” which did not resume for another two weeks, the cable said.

It took the intervention of Ayatollah Ahmad Janati, a senior member of the top oversight body, the Guardian Council, to get Jafari and Ahmedinejad back to the table, according to the cable.

The source cited in the cable released by WikiLeaks “predicted that events are trending towards major developments and a new phases” during 2010.

Rahaman nominated for Golden Globe Awards

MUMBAI: A. R. Rahaman – the musical genious from India – has been nominated in the Best Original Score for Motion Picture category for the 2011 Golden Globe Awards. The nomination of Rahaman is for his work in Danny Boyle”s 127 hours.

The composer himself reacted to the nomination by saying “This is a blessing beyond words.”

The Chennai based composer is a double Oscar winner. The two Oscars had been awarded to him in 2009 for the music in Slumdog Millionaire. Slumdog Millionaire too had been Danny Boyle”s film. AR Rahaman had also won a Golden Globe in the same year for the same film.

The Golden Globe Awards is being hosted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for the 68th time in January 2011.

Today, the Golden Globes recognize achievements in 25 categories; 14 in motion pictures and 11 in television.

Danny Boyle”s 127 Hours is nominated in two other categories – Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama) and Best Screenplay (Motion Picture).

”The King”s Speech” leads obvious Globe field

LOS ANGELES: “The King”s Speech” is precisely the kind of film that has long appealed to awards voters: It”s historical, focuses on royalty, depicts a character overcoming physical adversity and features a classy cast.

So it should come as no surprise that it received the most Golden Globe nominations Tuesday with seven, including best picture, on a morning when there were few surprises to be found. The film”s director, Tom Hooper, was also among the nominees, as were stars Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter.

Based on the story of how King George VI (Firth) battled a stammer with the help of an unorthodox speech therapist (Rush) just prior to World War II, “The King”s Speech” hits all the right notes and does it with impeccable polish. But beneath the flawless production values and period trappings is a relevant story about uplift – always popular come awards time.

Other top nominees were David Fincher”s “The Social Network,” which traces the origins of Facebook, and David O. Russell”s “The Fighter,” inspired by the true story of Boston-area boxer “Irish” Micky Ward. Both films received six nominations, including best picture and best director. “The Social Network” has been racking up top honors from critics groups across the country in recent days, including those in New York and Los Angeles.

These may all sound vastly different, but Rush, a supporting-actor nominee, sees a uniting thread among the front-runners.

“When I look at the films that have been nominated and the films that have been emerging through festivals in the last couple of months, it”s fascinating to me. Somebody actually did comment online that maybe we”re going back to the great old days of the ”70s where films had a bit of meat and a bit of bite and a bit of social commentary,” he said.

“The themes seem to be, particularly with our film, themes about leadership, communication, friendship – qualities that I think people are yearning for on some kind of grander scale. And that applies to certainly the ones I”ve seen, like ”The Social Network” or the individual ruggedness through ”127 Hours,” it”s quite fascinating how these things become the zeitgeist.”

The visceral, intimate “127 Hours,” based on the true story of a hiker who was trapped beneath a boulder for that duration, has also been a favorite so far, but it only received three Golden Globe nominations: best actor in a drama (James Franco), screenplay and original score. Still, it”s been in the mix among awards prognosticators and critics filling out their top-10 lists.

Even some of the wackier picks that had people all worked up Tuesday morning – the flashy but critically panned “Burlesque” and “The Tourist” earning three nominations each, including best musical or comedy – also make some sense historically. Yes, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which hands out the awards on Jan. 16, has been more in alignment with Academy Awards voters over the past decade or so. But the group – composed of about 85 critics and reporters for overseas outlets – also likes its international superstars.

And so we have Johnny Depp receiving not one but two nominations, competing against himself as best musical or comedy actor for “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Tourist,” and his “Tourist” co-star Angelina Jolie is a best-actress nominee.

“Three Golden Globe nominations for ”The Tourist” is a dream come true,” said German director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who was also a Golden Globe nominee and Academy Award winner for his 2007 debut, “The Lives of Others.” “No one is more fun to watch than Johnny and Angelina. They are great artists, and in my book, they deserve every nomination and award on the globe.”

Two songs from the guilty-pleasure “Burlesque” were nominated, ones sung by Cher and Christina Aguilera. Other glamorous surprise nominees include Anne Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal for “Love and Other Drugs” and Halle Berry for “Frankie and Alice.” Meanwhile, the Coen Brothers” acclaimed remake of the Western “True Grit” was oddly shut out.

It”s highly unlikely those lighter, frothier titles will surface again when Oscar nominations are announced Jan. 25 – after all, the Golden Globes are divided into drama and musical/comedy categories, so there”s room for a wider range of films. If any of the five best comedy nominees is likely to be included among the 10 best-picture slots at the Academy Awards, it”s “The Kids Are All Right,” starring Annette Bening and Julianne Moore, who were both nominated for playing a lesbian couple.

Still, while the obviousness of the Golden Globes doesn”t necessarily make it a surefire Oscar predictor, it can be pretty close. All four acting winners at the Academy Awards this past year had won previously at the Globes. But then there was the behemoth “Avatar,” which won at the Globes, while the independent “The Hurt Locker” quietly gathered steam and took home the best-picture Oscar.

One thing that”s certain: With Ricky Gervais hosting, and the drinks flowing as always, Golden Globe night will at least be entertaining to watch, even if not all of the nominated films themselves are.

Worldwide demos called to release Assange

Supporters of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange planned to hold protests in the capitals of Spain, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, Peru and the Netherlands to demand Assanges release, the re-establishment of Wikileaks domain and restoration of Visa and Mastercard services to the website.

A statement on the Spanish website Free Wikileaks said: We seek the liberation of Julian Assange in United Kingdom territory. It called on protesters to gather in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville and other Spanish cities. The rally in Amsterdam was sponsored by the Dutch Pirates Party to call for protection of freedom of the press and to express displeasure with the attempt to silence sites such as WikiLeaks.

The 39-year old Australian hacker is jailed at the Wandsworth isolation unit in London after he was arrested for charges of rape and sexual molestation of two women Sarah and Jessica, early this month.

The publishing website WikiLeaks insists that the allegations against Assange are politically motivated attempts in retaliation for the release of more than 250,000 confidential cables, believed to have been passed to WikiLeaks by a US Army private. A spokesman for Wikileaks spokesman said the arrest and detention of Assange was an attack on media freedom. They pledged to continue publishing the controversial US cables.

In the US, President Barack Obama expressed his regrets for Wikileaks deplorable documents dump as he assured Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that it will not influence the diplomatic relations between US and Turkey. Obama offered similar statements to Mexican president Felipe Calderon. The latest comments were Obamas strongest condemnation so far against the website. Assange is due to appear in court for the second time on Tuesday. He was denied by a London court to post bail due to risk of fleeing.

This week, hacktivists and supporters of Wikileaks, Assange launched Operation Payback and Operation Leakspin, the start of the so-called first global cyber war.

Huge traffic jam in Karachi causes nuisance for citizens

Huge traffic jam at different roads of Karachi including M.A.Jinnah Road, Shahra-e-Faisal, Shahra-e-Pakistan, Metropol, and I.I.Chundrigar Road caused nuisance for citizens. Thousands of vehicles got stuck on Friday evening due to Sindhi Topi and Ajrak rally. The participants of the rally reached before Press Club afterwards due to which traffic jammed at Press Club, Metropol, Zainab Market and Lucky Star. On the other hand, angry people protested against loadshedding in Liaquatabad area and burnt tyres due to which flow of traffic was affected.

Kayani mused takeover after ousting Zardari: Wikileaks

Pakistan’s army chief mused about forcing out civilian President Asif Ali Zardari who has made preparations for a coup or assassination, leaked US diplomatic cables said.

The latest tranche of memos, obtained by whistleblower site WikiLeaks and reported by The New York Times and The Guardian, also showed the US was more concerned than it let on publicly about Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. General Ashfaq Kayani, chief of Pakistan’s powerful military, told the US ambassador during a March 2009 meeting that he might, however reluctantly, pressure Zardari to resign, according to a cable cited by the Times.Kayani was quoted as saying that he might support Asfandyar Wali Khan, leader of the Awami National League Party, as the new president — not Zardari’s arch-nemesis Nawaz Sharif.In another cable quoted by both newspapers, US Vice President Joe Biden recounted to Britain’s then prime minister Gordon Brown a conversation with Zardari last year.Zardari told him that Kayani and the Inter-Services Intelligence agency will take me out, according to the cable. The Guardian said the cables also showed that Zardari has made extensive preparations in case he is killed.Zardari is the widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007.

He took power in 2008, returning Pakistan to civilian leadership after nearly a decade under military ruler Pervez Musharraf.Tensions between Zardari and the army are no secret, and Pakistan often witnesses coup rumors.After Kayani met in September with Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, the now-exiled Musharraf quipped: I can assure you they were not discussing the weather.The cables also laid bare US frustrations at what officials see as Pakistan’s refusal to cut off ties with extremists such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is blamed for carrying out the bloody 2008 siege of Mumbai.There is no chance that Pakistan will view enhanced assistance levels in any field as sufficient compensation for abandoning support for these groups, which it sees as an important part of its national security apparatus against India, Ambassador Anne Patterson said in a cable quoted by the Times.The cables show that the United States was mindful of Pakistani sensitivities about cooperation — both on military action and on Islamabad’s prized nuclear arsenal.One memo quoted by the Times said that 12 US Special Operations soldiers had deployed with Pakistani troops near the Afghan border.The cables also touch on allegations of extrajudicial killings by Pakistani forces, according to the Times.A cable last year suggested there was credible evidence that the Pakistani army or paramilitary forces killed some detainees after an offensive against Taliban insurgents in lawless northwestern regions.The embassy said that news of killings should not be leaked to the press, for fear of offending the Pakistani army. However, this year the United States said it would cut off support for some Pakistani units following the release of a video that appeared to show extrajudicial killings.Wikileaks divulged that Zardari had tried to make Chief Justice Iftikhar Chuadhry to governor of Balochistan well before he himself became president in 2008. Zulfiqar Magsis resignation was also a part of that game. Also, WikiLeaks disclosed the conversation between US Senator John McCain and former president Pervez Musharraf in which the latter talked about the possibility of the presence of Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri in Bajaur Agency. The US embassy cables disclosed Musharraf as saying that although he had no direct evidence, he thought al Qaeda leaders Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri were hiding in Bajaur Agency, bordering Afghanistan’s Konar province where US forces were not deployed.Musharraf, however, added that Mullah Omar was not present in Balochistan.

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