Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif gear up for Sri Lankan vacation?

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February 25, 2014

Alleged lovebirds RanbirKapoor and Katrina were believed to have called it quits after a spat but if the latest reports are anything to go by, then the two are still going strong together.

After a much controversial Spanish vacation last year, RK and Kat are reportedly planning to spend some time together in Sri Lanka. The couple had made desperate attempts to keep their trip to Ibiza hush-hush, but images of the two in their swimming costumes surfaced online, thereby creating much hullabaloo.

Both Ranbir and Katrina have been tight-lipped about their relationship and have categorically denied being in love with each other. But the pictures that emerged after their Spanish trip painted a different picture.

Nonetheless, the two seemingly have made up their minds to let bygones be bygones and plan yet another trip to be with one another amidst their busy schedules.

Katrina is currently busy shooting with HrithikRohsan for ‘Bang-Bang’ in Manali and her alleged beau is in Sri Lanka for AnuragKashyap’s ‘Bombay Velvet’.

Sangram Singh, PayalRohatgi to get engaged!

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Afternoon Voice

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February 25, 2014

Lovebirds Sangram Singh and PayalRohatgi are all set to take their relationship a step further. The actress will get engaged to the wrestler on 27th February, a leading daily reported.

Rohatgi, who was the first one to pop the question, is happy to have found a soul-mate in Sangram Singh. Payal had met him a few years ago on the sets of a reality show. They connected brilliantly and have since then been together.

Sangram was a part of the seventh edition of reality TV show ‘Bigg Boss’ and had confessed his love for Payal a number of times. And it is just a matter of time when the two take the marital plunge to become Man and Wife.

Here’s wishing the duo hearty congratulations in advance.

Randeep Hooda waiting for Naseeruddin to watch ‘Highway’

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Afternoon Voice

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February 25, 2014

Actor RandeepHooda, a huge fan of Naseeruddin Shah, says his latest film ‘Highway’ will remain incomplete until the veteran actor watches it.

“For me, `Highway` is incomplete till Naseeruddin sir watches it. I am eagerly waiting for his review. I want him to see the film and sit down with me and discuss about it,” Randeep said.

“He has been receiving a lot of calls from the many people praising my work. So he is very happy about it,” added the actor, who has worked with Naseeruddin on the theatre platform too.

Randeep had earlier organised a special screening of ‘Highway’ for Naseeruddin, but the latter could not make it.

“Unfortunately, he couldn`t make it for the screening. Nonetheless, he will soon watch the film,” he said.

‘Highway’ has opened to mixed reactions, but Randeep is confident that the movie will pick up on word of mouth.

“When we made this film, we were certain that this film was not a huge opener kind of a film. The film has received mixed reactions and I hope the film will pick up over word of mouth. So far the reviews have been favourable for me and for the film,” the 37-year-old said.

Directed by Imtiaz Ali, ‘Highway’ which released Feb 21, features Alia Bhatt as the female lead.

My daughters weren’t impressed by my six-pack abs: Farhan Akhtar

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Afternoon Voice

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February 25, 2014

Actor-filmmaker FarhanAkhtar, who worked out hard to get a perfect six-pack abs for his 2013 entertainer ‘BhaagMilkhaBhaag’, says his two daughters were not so impressed with his beefed up physique.

“Honestly, I don`t think they (my children) were so impressed by my six-pack abs. I think what they found very entertaining was the running,” Farhan said.

Recently, Farhan took part in racing events at his daughters` school, and he took the lead in all. His daughters Shakya and Akira were proud.

“They really saw the effects of it when I ran in the apparent race. That was truly an exciting moment for them. Unfortunately, all the others were left far behind. So for them it was a nice moment of victory,” said Farhan, who is married to celebrity hairstylist AdhunaAkhtar.

Currently, Farhan is busy promoting his forthcoming film ‘ShaadiKe Side Effects’.

He said: “This is a very relatable film about marriage and relationships. I hope everyone likes it.”

Directed by SaketChaudhary, the film also features VidyaBalan.

Lupita Nyong’o laughs off dating rumour

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Afternoon Voice

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February 25, 2014

Actress LupitaNyong`o has denied dating rumours with fellow Oscar nominee Jared Leto.

The `12 Years a Slave` star, who is garnering much praise for her work in film, jokingly said on `The Ellen DeGeneres Show` that Miley Cyrus was the reason behind their break-up, reported Radar online.

“You`re actually in tabloids as well, which means you`ve really made it cause there`s rumours that you and Jared Leto are together,” DeGeneres joked.

“Ah, but I thought Miley Cyrus broke us up,” Nyong`o responded, laughing. “That was the last thing I heard,” she added.

Reports about Nyongo`s supposed relationship with the `Dallas Buyers Club` star were thwarted when rumours began to surface that Leto was actually hooking up with Cyrus.

“It`s crazy because when I read these rumours, I mean, they`re so detailed that even I start to question if they`re true or not,” Nyong`o told the host.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Sandra Bullock to win Oscars 2014 reveals Google search

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Afternoon Voice

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February 25, 2014

Whether you are a film buff, movie critic or a fashion fan, everyone is awaiting the Oscars with bated breath. Each year, as the Academy Awards inches closer, there is a major spike in search traffic related to the event.

Viewers and users search for their favourite celebrities, most stylish look etc.

Google has analysed the top category nominees and trends, based on the top searches on the search engine.

Following is the worldwide Google search trends on Oscars as released by the search engine in a statement:
Best movie: Directed by Martin Scorsese, ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ released a few weeks ahead of the New Year has gained much interest from viewers across the world and has topped the search charts in this category.

Best actor: Winner of the Golden Globe Award for best actor and Academy Award nominee American actor-producer Leonardo DiCaprio is the most popular nominee in the race for best actor.

Best actress: Academy Award Winner Sandra Bullock is leading the race in the best actress category, although Meryl Streep could well be a dark horse for this year’s Academy Award.

My son prompted me to direct ‘Gravity’: Alfonso Cuaron

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Afternoon Voice

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February 25, 2014

Director Alfonso Cuaron says it was his son who asked him to try out something new with space drama ‘Gravity’.

The 52-year-old filmmaker said his son Jonas Cuaron, who also co-wrote the script of the film with his father, was quite bored of his kind of films, reported the New York Post. “Not my idea. This excitement is my son’s fault. He told me, ‘You’re too rhetoric. Old-style. You repeat the same stories over and over’. So I said, ‘So?’ ‘So he said, ‘You need something new’. So I said, ‘Like what?’ So he said, ‘Like something cool. Like about the future. Like exploring technology’.

“So I said, ‘Please. I’m low-tech. I know nothing about that. I barely can do my cellphone’. So he said: ‘We should do a project about technology, tomorrow’s tool’,” Cuaron said.

‘Gravity’ starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney is leading in the Oscar race with ‘The American Hustle’. The Mexican filmmaker had no clue that the film will be a hit.

“Anyway, we never imagined we’d do anything that blew people away. Not our idea to revolutionise the industry or science or outer space or anything. I figured OK, it’s an interesting idea, I’ll wrap it up in a year. It took four years!”

Porn star reference to future wife irks Charlie Sheen

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Afternoon Voice

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February 25, 2014

Actor Charlie Sheen is annoyed that everyone keeps referring to his future wife Brett Rossi as a porn star.

“It’s absolutely making Charlie crazy that the media keeps referring to Brett as a porn star, because she no longer is doing that. She recently graduated from nursing school,” radaronline.com quoted a source as saying.

“Furthermore, her stage name is Brett Rossi, her legal name is Scottine Ross. He wants people to refer to her as Scotti, which is the name she goes by in her personal life. Charlie has told his publicist to tell media outlets to stop calling her a porn star,” the source added.

Sheen proposed to Rossi on Valentine’s Day but she is yet to officially separate from her husband Jonathan Ross.

War between Gujarati and Marathi candidates

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Afternoon Voice

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February 25, 2014

This might be the reason why BJP has not declared its candidates to contest election from Mumbai city.

The Bhartiya Janata Party is in a dilemma whether to field Marathi or Gujarati candidates for the upcoming LokSabha election. Some party workers is in favour of fielding Gujarati candidatesas BJP’s prime ministerial candidate NarendraModi hails from Gujarat and the party will benefit from this move. There is a sizeable number of Gujarati population in the city.

When AV spoke to a senior BJP leader he was in favour of fielding Maharashtrian candidate if the party wants to make a major impact in the forthcoming LokSabha election.

“The BJP should field Marathi candidates in Maharashtra as there are more Marathi speaking people in the state. Fielding candidates from Gujarati community will prove counterproductive for the party. I don’t want more seats to be allotted to Gujarati candidates” said the BJP leader on the condition of anonymity.

“BJP leader KiritSomaiya must not be offered a ticket to contest election fromNorth East Mumbaieven though more Gujarati people reside there. Instead PoonamMahajan, National secretary of BJP should be fielded from this constituency as she is a Maharashtrian and can attract Marathi voters” he added further.

The sources also cited the example of Maharashtra NavnirmanSena (MNS)which has managed to garner Marathi votes. The party also has been responsible for splitting the Marathi votes thereby weakening the Shiv Sena. The BJP too can take a leaf out of MNS’s books and field more Marathi candidates for the forthcoming election which will prove beneficial for the party.

It won’t be beneficial for the party to field non Marathi candidates like ManojKamboj, GopalShetty, KiritSomaiya for the upcoming election.

AshishShelar and SmritiIrani are in fray for contesting election from theMumbai North Central constituency in which the former is a Maharashtrain while Smriti is a Gujrati candidate.Since both of them are capable leaders hence it is becoming difficult for the party to decide who should contest election from this constituency.

While some other leaders from the saffron party also suggested thata combination of all the three communities such as Gujarati, Maharashtrian and Uttar Bhartiya candidates will prove beneficial for the party.

When asked about how much seats the BJP will be able to win he replied, “Right now, it is difficult to answer how much seats will be won by our party. A clear picture will emerge only after the conclusion of LokSabha election.”

PIL disputes government contention over double allotment of flats

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Afternoon Voice

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February 24, 2014

The Maharashtra government on Monday informed the Bombay High Court that it had started taking action in cases of double allotment of houses to beneficiaries or their family members under Chief Minister’s discretionary quota but the petitioner disagreed saying the state had not done anything concrete in this regard.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by ex-scribe Ketan Tirodkar challenging double or multiple allotment of houses from the CM’s quota.

Tirodkar said the government had not taken action against those who were allotted more than one flats, either by filing FIR or cancelling their allotments. He said the list submitted by the state to the court was not exhaustive and some names of such double allottees were missing.

The government on Monday filed two affidavits stating what action they had taken against such beneficiaries of double allotment of flats from CM’s quota.

One of the affidavit said 14 cases were identified wherein the same person or his/her spouse had been allotted more than one house in state under the chief minister’s five per cent discretionary housing quota.

In two of these cases, the affidavit said, action had been initiated. In one case, FIR had been filed against the allottee by the competent authority and in the other; the state had taken back the tenement. The state is going to take appropriate legal action against the remaining allottees also.

The petitioner pointed out that it was wrongly stated in the government affidavit that a journalist couple, who were allotted two houses in their individual names in 1995, were not related to each other. However, in fact, they were happily married and staying together, he said.

A bench headed by Justice Abhay Oka then asked the petitioner to file an affidavit within a week pointing out such irregularities and also asked him to mention names of the beneficiaries whom he considered were double or multiple allottees of flats from CM’s quota.

The matter has been posted for further hearing on March 10.

An earlier affidavit said that the state government had detected 101 cases where blood relatives of allottees have been given houses from the CM’s quota in the same urban agglomeration or in other urban area.

Besides, ten cases have been identified where same persons have been allotted tenements in 2 per cent quota of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) as well as in 5 per cent quota under the Urban Land Ceiling Act, according to the affidavit filed by S K Salimath, Deputy Secretary, Urban Development Department.

The petitioner, Ketan Tirodkar, alleged that politicians and journalists were main beneficiaries of such allotments.

He said “resourceful” people were allotted flats at concessional rates from the CM’s discretionary quota, while the needy and common people were ignored.

Tirodkar gave examples of journalist-couples, who were allotted adjacent flats and cited names of some politicians and their kin who were given flats under the CM’s quota.

The petitioner has annexed to his PIL, a reply received under the Right To Information (RTI) Act from the state government, which included names of allottees from 1989 to 2010. However, it did not contain names of multiple allottees.