Mumbai: Actor Tusshar Kapoor says Ajay Devgn is his lucky charm and that`s why he roped him in to do the voiceover in his forthcoming movie `Chaar Din Ki Chandni.`

"Yes, definitely, he is my lucky charm. We have done five films, of which four have been hit. I hope that even this film does well as he has done a voiceover for us in the film," Tusshar, who has worked with Ajay in `Khakee` and `Golmaal` franchise, said at an event here.

Tusshar developed a strong bonding with Ajay during the shoot of the `Golmaal` franchise.

"Our bonding strengthened as we have done so many films together, Kareena Kapoor, him and me have done three films together. It`s the same unit, same director, same set-up, same series. We do things together during shooting, so a friendship and a comfort level has developed. We chat together when the shoot is not on. We share a great professional relationship," he said.

Directed by Samir Karnik, `Chaar Din Ki Chandni` features Kulraj Randhawa of `Yamla Pagla Deewana` fame opposite Tusshar and hits theatres Holi.

Mumbai: Remake of Bollywood classic ‘Seeta aur Geeta’ might finally see the light of the day. Right from it’s onset, the modern version of this cult was jinxed as the script of the film ran into legal hassles over licensing issues.

However, according to latest reports it has been confirmed that the film is all set to go on floors and it will be made by Sunil Bohra and Viacom 18.

The makers have roped in Katrina Kaif to reprise Hema Malini’s role in the film. And insiders reveal that Abhay Deol and Akshay Kumar are being considered for the role of Sanjeev Kumar and Dharmendra respectively.

Considering nothing more than the lead has been finalised and revealed yet, we hope the makers do justice to the remake. And most of it all, the real question is – Will Katrina be able to re-create Hema’s magic? 

Chennai:  A German national has been deported back to his home country on charges of raising funds against Kudankulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu. He was detained from a hotel in Nagercoil.

Sonnteg Reiner Hermann, the German national, had close links with Udhayakumar who is spearheading protests against the nuclear plant. The tip-off came from Central agencies.

Sonnteg was under surveillance and the police say they have telephone records based on which they took the action.

The police also searched Sonnteg's hotel room before he was sent back to Germany.

The development comes a few days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in an interview to the 'Science' journal, blamed American NGOs for fuelling protests at the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu.

S P Udayakumar, the convenor of the People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy, leading the protest against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, had threatened to sue the Prime Minister for allegedly spreading false allegations against him.

On the state government appointed expert panel vouching for the safety of the nuclear plant, Mr Udayakumar said it was "unethical and unprofessional" to make such a statement even before the report was submitted to the government.

The commissioning of the Indo-Russian joint venture, originally scheduled for December last, has been delayed for several months following continuing protests against the Plant by the local population over safety concerns.

Talks initiated both by the Central and state governments with the agitators have failed to break the deadlock.

Rajnikanth can play the violin with a piano. Rajinikanth can divide by zero. Rajnikanth can count to infinity (he's done it twice). Rajinikanth can act.

The last from this list of four, is not a famed Rajini joke, but in fact, something the makers of his next historical production, Kochadaiyaan, directed by daughter Soundarya R Ashwin, have had to assure the media about.

That Thalaivar (leader), as he's fondly called by fanatic followers, will be acting, and performing his own stunts, is a vital piece of information to ease nerves twitching at the thought of 3D animation, which this Tamil film employs, overpowering Rajini's prowess. Nothing overpowers Rajini. Not even MOCAP.

The story of 8th century Pandya king, Kochadaiyaan Ranadhiran, is the first Indian film to use Motion Capture technology (MOCAP). The technique combines human actors with computer-generated animation, the way it was done to create the blue, 10-foot-tall creatures at the heart of James Cameron's Avatar. Actions of actors are recorded, and the information used to animate digital character models in 3D. When the process includes face and fingers, or captures subtle expressions, it's referred to as performance capture. The most recent film to rely on MOCAP was Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.

Kochadaiyaan co-producer Dr Murli Manohar, says, Rajinikanth, dressed in a body suit, will perform while 80 cameras capture his every move. "The idea is to enhance his performance, and construct visuals for a period piece that can't be created otherwise."

It's far from that easy, though. USbased firm, Giant Studios began experimenting with the technique in 1999 with Lord of the Rings. CEO Candice Alger says they use hundreds of thousands of lines of code to define the human skeleton of actors with scientifically accurate detail: bone length, density, connectivity, and rotation properties. All these parameters are modified to mirror the appropriate skeletal set-up for any mechanism that needs to be animated. Filming takes place on a spare motion-capture stage called 'the volume'. Actors dress in skin-tight bodysuits with reflective markers. Every movement is tracked by an army of fixed cameras, while a specialised headrig camera records the actor's face and eyes. "When the actors perform on stage, by using a software, it's possible to translate their performance onto the digital characters that they are playing in real time. When Spielberg was making Tintin.., the performers would act on stage and he could look into his monitor and see the characters in the digital environment. This helped him direct the film as if everything was happening as part of live action," she says.


It's the technology Giant relied on to create digital doubles of soldiers storming the beaches in Flags of Our Fathers and the appearance of humans moving through snow and water in The Day After Tomorrow.


"When Soundarya said she wanted to direct this film, I decided to support her desire to immortalise her father," says Dr Manohar. A team of Indian technicians has been trained by MOCAP experts from Hollywood, and the digital labour for Kochadaiyaan is expected to roll out in London. Three studios - Infinity, Image Matrix, and VTR - are working in tandem to create a world of retro fantasy. The shooting will begin next month at Pinewood Studios, south west of London, where all James Bond movies are shot. "We are attempting an audio-visual spectacle. Of course, it's going to be expensive but I will have a better idea of technology costs once we wrap up," Dr Manohar adds. India's growing appetite for action and fantasy-centric films means investments in animation are unlikely to derail.

Sony Pictures released Tintin.. in India six weeks before the US, and the film grossed Rs 21 crore in the first 17 days, making it the highest grossing animation film in India. The country is a market not just for audiences but technicians too, with foreign producers outsourcing VFX to Indian studios. Accel Animation Studios in Thiruvananthapuram is the only one in the country to offer MOCAP services. "We used MOCAP in bits in Enthiran. A more complex use may be attempted in Kochadaiyaan," says NR Panicker, chairman, Accel, who is awaiting the arrival of Paris-based director Fred Fougea, who intends to use Accel's facility for his next animated project, Why I Did Not Eat My Father. An interesting debate surrounding MOCAP is one that questions whether it's acting or animation. Avatar bagged nine nominations but not a single one for its actors. Alger says, "We don't believe it takes away from acting. In Tintin.., Steven wanted the characters to be human and believable. That's what happened." Trashing the contest, Spielberg said in an interview, it's a technique that creates an intimacy which only actors and directors who've worked in live theatre, have experienced.


Back home, the question, "Is Rajini really acting?" is one that we'd rather not dare to ask.

Mumbai: A number of players, now touring Australia, are likely to be axed when the national cricket selectors meet here on February 29 to choose the team for the Asia Cup cricket tournament, that will also feature Pakistan Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The meeting of the selection committee, to be chaired by Krishnamachari Srikkanth, comes after another crushing defeat for India in the tri-series match against Australia in Sydney in which players like Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja stood out as failures.

Jadeja, who was bought by skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni`s Chennai Super Kings for a whopping USD 2 million, failed again by making only 8 runs to give team a total of 101 runs in seven matches of the tri-series for an average of 16.83.


He has been touted as an all-rounder but has taken only two wickets for an average of 142.

The limitation of Raina, who has an excellent record at home, was exposed again in today`s match when he scored just 8 runs to give him an aggregate of 142 runs in seven matches for an average of 20.28.

His excellent fielding may not be enough for him to retain his place.

NOIDA: In yet another brutal assault on a girl in a moving car, a 17-year-old class X student of a city public school was allegedly gangrapedby five of her neighbours as they drove around Noida in their i10, police said.

As shocking as the rape, which took place on Friday night, was the appalling behaviour of the city police. They not only let out personal details about the minor victim at a press conference on Sunday, but also made tactless remarks about her character, declaring that she had been "willingly drinking vodka" with the boys to celebrate a birthday.

Four of the accused, identified as Himanshu Sharma, Rahul Arya, Sunil Singh, and Saurabh Chauhan, have been arrested while a fifth, Neeraj Singh, is absconding. All accused are 20 years old.

The incident took place around 8pm on February 24 when the five met the victim nearPriyadarshini Park in sector 12 and requested her to join them for the birthday celebrations of Rahul.

"They all went to a lodge in sector 53 for drinks after which the accused forced the girl into the car belonging to Chauhan. Inside, she was repeatedly raped by the five men while the car was being driven around the city," said Anant Dev Tiwari, SP City, Noida Police.

According to the police, the girl was then dumped outside Priyadarshini Park at around 9pm. The victim told TOI the accused threatened her not to report the crime. She said she went to a friend's house in the vicinity. The friend's mother, on seeing the girl's condition, called up her family.

The shocked parents then approached the police, who took her to the district hospital for a medical examination, which confirmed rape, police said.

"A case under relevant sections of IPC was registered and investigations initiated. We were able to arrest four of the accused, while the fifth will be caught soon," said Tiwari.

Police said the victim had known the accused for the past few months. In another shocking revelation, the victim told TOI that the same men had raped her on May 24 last year. There was no independent corroboration of this charge.

The victim lives with her parents and infant brother in Noida. Among the accused, Rahul Arya is an employee of a private city mall and Himanshu Sharma a student of ICWA in Delhi. Saurabh Chauhan owns an auto-parts dealership in the city, Sunil Singh is a mass-communication student while Neeraj Singh is studying management in Greater Noida.

Washington: Scientists have discovered a new gene that may increase the risk of breast cancer.

In the study from Finland, mutations in this gene, called Abraxas, were linked to cases of hereditary breast cancer.

Researchers have now identified more than 10 genes that increase breast cancer risk; perhaps the most well-known of these are the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.

But only about 20 percent of women with a family history of breast cancer have mutations in BRAC1 or BRAC2 — meaning in many cases, it’s likely other genes are at work.

The mutation does not appear to be common — it was found in 2.4 percent of families with a history of breast cancer. But importantly, the mutation was not found in anyone without breast cancer in the study.

Because the study was conducted in Finland, future studies will need to investigate how common the mutation is in other countries, said study researcher Roger Greenberg, an associate professor of cancer biology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

In the future, women with a family history of breast cancer might be tested for the Abraxas mutation, Greenbergsaid.

Greenberg and colleagues found the Abraxas mutation in three of 125 breast cancer patients from families with a history of the condition.

This gene had been suspected to play a role in breast cancer risk because it interacts with BRCA1.

When the researchers looked at an additional 991 breast cancer patients, they found the Abraxas mutation in one woman, who also turned out to have breast cancer in her family.

None of the 868 healthy patients in the study had the Abraxas mutation.

The mutated Abraxas gene prevents cells from fixing damaged DNA, increasing the risk that a cell will become cancerous. The gene may increase the risk of other cancers as well.

Indeed, one patient in the study was diagnosed with both breast and endometrial cancer, and some patients with the Abraxas mutation had family members with lung cancer, lip cancer and lymphoma.

More research is needed to know exactly how much of an increase in breast cancer risk the Abraxas mutation brings. But Greenberg noted women in the study with this mutation were diagnosed around the same age as those with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations — in their mid-40s.

Women with a mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2 are about five times more likely to develop breast cancer in their lifetimes compared with women who do not have this mutation, according to the National Cancer Institute.

“Identifying more of these mutations will make it easier for patients to know their risk of developing breast cancer,” said Dr. Kristin Byrne, chief of breast imaging at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, who was not involved in the study.

Such genetic information may even help doctors better diagnose breast cancer. Most patients with the Abraxas mutation in the study had a type of breast cancer called lobular carcinoma, which is harder to detect on a mammogram. Knowing that a patient has this mutation might mean doctors use additional screening methods, such as MRI, Dr Byrne added.

The study has been published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

BANGALORE: Lokayukta Court today issued summons to former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, his family members and others in an illegal land denotification case.

The summons, directing the accused to be present in the court on March 16, were issued by Special Lokayukta Court Justice N K Sudhindra Rao.

Summons were issued to Yeddyurappa, his two sons, B Y Raghavendra and B Y Vijayendra, son-in-law Sohan Kumar and three others.

Two other accused, Bharathi Shetty, MLC and Selva Kumar have been dropped from the case as there was no prima facie evidence against them.

Taking a cognisance of the case filed by advocate Sirajin Basha (the fourth case out of the total five cases filed by him) the court observed that there was prima facie evidence to proceed against Yeddyurappa and his family members. The case pertains to illegal denotifcation of government land in Hebbal, Sreerampura and allotment of site in RMC-II stage.

This is the third corruption case (out of the five) in which Yeddyurappa has been issued summons.

In August last he was issued summons in two such corruption case resulting in his arrest during October. Yeddyurappa spent 24 days in Judicial custody and secured bail from High Court.

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Brisbane: The statements made by some of the senior players in press conferences indicate a clear dissent and failure of communication among the Indian team on tour in Australia for more than two months now. There has also been a near breakdown of communication between the selectors and the team management, ESPNcricinfo has learned.

Some of the statements the players have been making are not the sort they would if they didn't want to. If the media is enjoying the glut of bombshells that have punctuated the press conferences, it is only because the players, well-versed in the art of stonewalling tough questions during good times, are willing participants. It's been a long tour with little success to celebrate, and the differences and frustrations are coming out now.

Whether the former played some part in the latter - to put it all down to a rift would be disrespectful to Australia who have completely outplayed India - is the old chicken-and-egg question. Then again there is no dressing room that is completely devoid of personality and philosophy clashes. You don't need to go on double dates to ensure the requisite dressing-room atmosphere conducive to winning games of cricket. Insiders are of the view that MS Dhoni and Virender Sehwag have never been great friends, but until the last few months were mature team-mates. Now, though, their differences might have begun to hurt the team. There's no point wishing them away.

The latest bone of contention on a tour of discontent is Dhoni's policy to play only two out of Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar. Two of the three openers have made their discontent known. Through an earlier press conference, Sehwag made this policy public, including saying he had been told the three were to take turns at resting. There has to be a reason why a member of the team, not known to share any team news with the press, did so now. The pressure was on Dhoni now, to make Tendulkar sit out in the third game.

Dhoni did so. Then he followed up Gambhir's 92 with an innings that began slowly but finished the job, even if cutting it a little too fine. It was Gambhir's turn now to speak out. He said the game should not have gone into the final over, and that perhaps Dhoni was waiting for someone else to take up the responsibility of playing the big shots. It was India's first big win of the tour against Australia - the only other one until then being a Twenty20 - and Gambhir's sudden forthrightness didn't quite add up.

At the toss for the next game, while continuing his rotation policy like a law, Dhoni said it was imperative that set batsmen finished games off. Dhoni had earned himself some relief purely off his own bat, but the youngsters he was backing were not performing at all. And by the time the team reached Brisbane, Dhoni was of the view that the youngsters not only deserved a chance to fail, they had earned it through their fielding. That if all three openers were to be played, India would leak 20 extra runs on an average.

This did not sit well with certain members of the side at all. Minutes after that press conference, Dhoni heard the news of the match ban because of the slow over-rate. Now, with Sehwag as captain, the first thing thrown to the wind was the rotation policy. Out went Rohit Sharma. No bowling for Suresh Raina until the 49th over, whose part-time spin had been as much responsible for his continued selection as his batting. The vice-captain was hardly, as he often is, an extension of the captain. You didn't need to attend Sehwag's press conference to know he didn't quite agree with the captain.

Sehwag's interaction suggested the scarcely believable notion that Dhoni had not communicated either in personal chats or in team meetings that India couldn't afford too many relatively slow fielders, and that it all had an accumulative effect. While the apparent lack of communication is an issue, equally grave is the communication breakdown between the team management and selectors.

While Dhoni is almost out of the loop with the selection of the squad, the touring selectors are being returned the favour when it comes to selecting XIs. It can be argued it is an ideal situation, but there is nobody - at least during the Tests there was nobody - in the leadership group who found himself in a position to make big calls. India went through eight batting failures in the Tests, but neither the personnel nor their order was changed. Sources have told ESPNcricinfo that the team management had been waiting for the selectors to pull the plug on the seniors. During the last big tour before two years of home Tests, nobody wanted to be the one making tough calls.

Nor does it help that Dhoni remains non-committal about his future in Test cricket. While he shows remarkable foresight when he says that he will retire in 2013 if he doesn't feel he can give it his best in the 2015 World Cup, his statement that he could retire from Tests in 2013 has left everybody in a panic mode, because in 2013 starts India's next away Test series, followed by two more important away tours.

When Dhoni did assume a degree of control as a leader in his format, the ODIs, his stubbornness as a captain hasn't gone down well with some players. There are certain players he backs until they have played themselves out of the team, and there are certain few who find it really hard to come back into reckoning. Ravindra Jadeja playing ahead of Irfan Pathan as the allrounder in Australian conditions in just one example.

However, by all evidence, Dhoni remains the best choice to captain India at the moment. The challenge for him is to keep the team together. The situation is not downright nasty yet, in that this still falls in PG category as opposed to the R-rated times of Greg Chappell and Sourav Ganguly. Nonetheless it is difficult for players to perform at such times. Sehwag himself has always said he plays his best cricket when he has emptied his mind of all thoughts, when he is just reacting to the next ball. It is not happening here.

There are two must-win matches coming up, India's last chance to salvage something out of a tour during which they capped their biggest low in Test cricket since the 1960s. As of now, if they are to do it, they will have to do it despite the less-than-ideal dressing-room atmosphere. It doesn't help that the custodian of the team, the BCCI, right now believes this is all evil misquoting by the evil media.

Mumbai:  Saif Ali Khan has filed a counter complaint with the Mumbai police against Iqbal Sharma, the man who claims that the actor assaulted him and fractured his nose at a restaurant in Mumbai late on Tuesday night. In his complaint, Saif has alleged that Mr Sharma's father-in-law punched him first and that the duo abused the women who were accompanying him at the restaurant.

Yesterday, at around 7:50 pm, Saif was arrested by the police at his lawyer's office based on the complaint filed by Iqbal Sharma. The actor arrived at the Colaba police station at 8 pm. Girlfriend and co-star Kareena Kapoor accompanied him. Around 90 minutes later, he left after having paid Rs. 15,000 and being granted bail.

Mr Sharma, a businessman from South Africa, says he was seated at the table next to Saif and his group at Wasabi, the uber-fancy restaurant at the Taj hotel in Colaba. The actor had other Bollywood friends with him - Kareena Kapoor, Kareena's sister Karisma Kapoor, actor Amrita Arora and her husband, Shakeel Ladak, and Bilal Amrohi, a producer.  (Watch: The man whose nose Saif allegedly fractured)

In his version of events, Mr Sharma says he sent a note to Saif's table, asking his group to talk a little softer. "They were making a lot of noise. And we asked the management to ask them to be quiet so that we could also enjoy our evening. This failed on about three occasions at least." Mr Sharma says his family and he decided to leave the restaurant; on their way out, they ran into Saif who had left Wasabi and was on his way back in. At this point, Mr Sharma says, Saif struck.

But the actor says that's not the case. He claims he was hit first and so he acted in self defence. He adds that Mr Sharma was rude to the women at his table and that when he intervened, Mr Sharma threw the first punch. "I acted in self-defence. I was hit...I've got hit on the eye," he said in a press conference on Wednesday evening.  Earlier, in a press statement released just after he got bail, Saif said, "I don't think any gentleman would have behaved differently. The CCTV footage in the restaurant will prove everything." (Full text of Saif's statement to the police)

In his complaint, the actor has also alleged that his eye got swollen after he was punched and that Bilal Amrohi and Shakeel Ladak too have got bruises on their chest.

Police say they will study Saif's application and then decide if it's a cognizable offence. So far, they insist, they haven't given a clean chit to either the actor or Mr Sharma.

"We are studying the restaurant's CCTV footage. The security cameras at the staircase of the restaurant where the incident occurred did not capture the fight," a senior police official said, adding that statements of actresses Kareena Kapoor and Amrita Arora will now be recorded.

Khan, 41, and two of his friends friends Bilal Amrohi and Shakeel Ladak were granted bail on a surety of Rs 3000. The midnight brawl at the Wasabi restaurant in the Taj Hotel got ugly when Iqbal Sharma, a South African businessman of Indian origin, complained to Khan and his guests, including actor Malaika Arora Khan, her sister Amrita Arora and Amrita's husband Ladak, that they were making too much noise at their table.
Sharma, who was seated at an adjacent table at the time of the incident, claimed he did not know who Khan was.
Sharma said Saif called him an "idiot" for complaining about the actor's loud conduct and asked him to go to a library if he wanted peace and quiet before assaulting him. The police registered an FIR against Khan and his friends under sections 325 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intent) of IPC.
Assistant Commisssioner of police Iqbal Shaikh told reporters that the complainant went to the G T Hospital following the incident and then reported the matter to the police around 2:30 this morning.
Meanwhile, Khan said: "I hope the media is able to remain impartial while the matter is being decided. I don't think any gentleman would have behaved differently." Khan said it was he who was assaulted and that he only defended himself.
"I think they have the CCTV footage in the restaurant that will prove everything. I was hit and I defended myself. I have been to the police station to answer the requirements of law as I am a law abiding citizen. I have also filed a complaint about what happened last night and I am confident justice will be done," Khan said.
The incident, according to the complaint registered by Sharma with the Colaba police station, occurred just past midnight when Khan along with Kareena and some others were having dinner at the restaurant.
Earlier in the day, Shaikh said a police team was despatched to the actor's Bandra residence but he was not present there and his mobile phone was also switched off. Sharma said that the security personnel at the hotel were nowhere to be seen during the incident.
Sharma and his 68-year-old father-in-law, who was also allegedly beaten by Saif and his three male friends, said they were abused before being assaulted for their "audacity to complain to the management asking them to keep their voice down". "As we were going down the stairs, Saif was coming up, probably from the toilet. As he passed me, he called me an idiot and asked 'do you know who I am?'"
Sharma said the actor first pushed him and then assaulted his father-in-law who fell on the stairs and bruised his jaw.
He said he had discovered that one of the assailants was Ladak. "The other two gentlemen I don't know." Asked if Khan and his friends were under the influence of alcohol, his father-in-law, who identified himself only as Patel, said,"I cannot say but they were very rowdy." On whether it was a drunken brawl, Sharma said, "We can't say they were drunk or intoxicated, but sober people don't behave like that." Khan has been involved in public spats earlier too, including some photo journalists in Patiala in September 2008.
When asked whether he would consider a compromise if approached by Khan as the offence under which the actor had been charged was compoundable, Sharma said,
"We have not been approached by Saif or anybody. It is too late for a compromise
or apology. He should have apologised to Daddy then. This is not how you behave with a senior citizen. Now it is too late."
Incidentally, Sharma, the man at the receiving end of Khan's wrath at The Taj, is the former Deputy Director General of South Africa's department of Trade and Industry. He is also the CEO of Trade and Investment South Africa (TISA). Currently, Sharma is working as a non-executive director on the board of Transnet.
He has worked closely with the South African government and has played a part in South Africa's bilateral trade relations and negotiations. Iqbal Sharma's CV features the names of companies such as PepsiCo and the Bank of America.

In a span of ten months, model Poonam Pandeyhas succeeded in becoming a house-hold name world wide. 

Some applaud her for the bold attitude that she wears while the rest get scandalized on seeing her wear 'almost close to no' clothes!Braving all controversies, the girl has come a long way from becoming a model to an Bollywood actress. But that hasn't stopped her from inciting her followers from going ga-ga over her curves that she keeps flaunting time and again.The girl posted yet another saucy picture of hers with a caption that reads, "Attitude is like your underwear; you must wear it, but never show it.

But then i like Flaunting the right Attitude a lot :P(sic)."Looks like Poonam loves slipping into her attitude over clothes that can keep her modesty under wraps! But as the girl tweeted, "It's not what you wear; it's how you take it off (sic)", Poonam seems to be in love with all the world wide attention that she grabs after her strip acts! What say girlie?