The sharp showers last evening did not deter the enthusiasm of fashion lovers who gathered at Jayachamarajendra Golf Club here yesterday to witness the fashion show organised jointly by Fashion Designer Jayanthi Ballal and Country Inn.

The catwalk and sashaying of lissome models was delectable to watch. The combination of male and female models attired in black dress received a good applause by the discerning gathering of fashion lovers of city.

The star attraction of the show was actor Harshika Poonacha and Bhuvan Ponnanna who came on the ramp together. The models comprised college students from city and Bangalore.

Most of the fashion shows usually play western tunes to enthuse the models during catwalk. To beat the monotony, old Hindi songs were played during the ramp show to arrive at a new trend without compromising on glamour and glitter.

Speaking on the occasion, Harshika opined that compared to Hollywood and Bollywood, a good platform was rarely available in the South for fashion shows despite the presence of promising models here. She commended Jayanthi Ballal in hosting a good show opening vistas for upcoming models.

Addressing the gathering, Jayanthi said that she has been arranging fashion shows for the last three years in city to provide a platform for budding models and fashion designers. However, she opined that the people of city were still a bit conservative and situation should improve gradually. She said that it was heartening that some parents were willingly encouraging their children to participate in fashion shows. She reiterated that it was a wrong notion that modelling and fashion shows would drive youngsters astray.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / April 20th, 2014

By D. Lalitha Rao

Since I last shared snippets of my old lady life with readers, it’s been a month of charming and also sad events. While these happened at different times and in different places, the common factor was that they all related to books, a topic on which as everyone knows, I can natter on till the monsoons arrive.

I attended the book reading of my friend Dr. Latha Muthanna, who has produced a quaint and most enjoyable translation of her mother’s memoirs originally written in Kodava dialect. Very simply and honestly told, she let on to us that some of her huge family in Coorg were aghast at her frankness and questioned whether certain things needed to be mentioned? She however was quite firm about painting the whole picture and the result was “Lopamudra’s Daughter: Memoirs of a Kodava Lady.” It is the kind of book you’d like to have at your bedside, to calm your psyche after an overdose of thrillers. I tend to read thriller after thriller till something forces me to stop.

At the reading, while Latha was fielding questions from the audience, I was struck by the fact that doctors often make excellent writers. Offhand I can name at least three who have written best-selling novels — Abraham Verghese (Cutting for Stone), Robin Cook with a long list of thrillers, and Kalpana Swaminathan, a surgeon in Mumbai whose ‘Lalli’ series of murder and mayhem has become immensely popular. Despite their famously bad handwriting, doctors churn out pretty readable stuff, wouldn’t you say? And going back in history, can we forget Dr. Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes?

A couple of weeks ago we were privileged to host Aroon Raman, bestselling author, who talked about his latest book ‘The Treasure of Kafur.’ The select audience at the Sankalp Central Park Library was treated to a splendid history lesson complete with slides and a riveting commentary on the life and times of medieval India and the reign of Akbar, when the action of the story takes place. While there are not many Indian authors today who deal in magic realism [defined by Wikipedia as “what happens when a highly detailed, realistic setting is invaded by something too strange to believe”], Raman has no qualms about introducing talking animals, magic healers and such, to create a pretty marvelous tale of adventure and romance. I definitely will be waiting for a sequel, as the story has ended at a critical juncture.

By now many things nice and not so nice have been said about the late Khushwant Singh, man of letters, historian, celebrity sardar, a man whom you either adored or viewed with dislike. I thought he was great. He never minced words, his vision was crystal clear and whatever his political views may have been, he was a captivating writer. It takes courage in India to write about taboo topics, and he just went right ahead, never giving a damn about what critics thought, always with a wicked gleam of irreverence in his attitude. Khushwant Singh’s readership is a broad spectrum, from those who just pick up his compilations of jokes to read on journeys to those who read his collections of short stories and novels. On the serious side, his history of the Sikhs and his biography of Maharaja Ranjit Singh are profound works.

A friend of ours from Muscat had sat in a goods train on piles of gunny sacks, and travelled from Jalandar to Lahore as a refugee in 1947 when she was eight years old. Spending the rest of her life in Lahore, she yearned always to visit Jalandar once again but now in her seventies and confined to her wheelchair she felt it was no longer possible. We attended the launch of her autobiography organised by her son who lived in Muscat. At the launch she requested us to get her a copy of Khushwant Singh’s Train to Pakistan which she had not found anywhere in the bookshops in Lahore. So we did get her a copy much to her delight and she read it with great emotion, as though her own life was being described.

So there we have it — the new authors who will go a long way; and the sadness of the passing of a literary giant who left his mark on Indian writing for always. It so happens that I have with me some books written by modern authors like Anthony Horowitz and Sebastian Faulks. They are based on characters we know and have loved over the decades. While Horowitz has written a Sherlock Holmes mystery called The House of Silk, Faulks has written Jeeves and The Wedding Bells, bringing back to life the inimitable creation of PG Wodehouse. Can the masters be successfully imitated? Are the stories the same in quality? You might be surprised.

[e-mail:raolalitha@hotmail.com]

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / April 20th, 2014

In his films, he is always the not-so-regular guy. In real life, he doesn’t speak in a diplomatic manner unlike other Bollywood actors. Gulshan Devaiah has a theory about his tribe too. “People who choose to become actors are somewhere insecure about themselves,” he says. He candidly shares a recurring personal childhood dream which gives an insight into his own insecurity. “I used to have this dream, where I am waiting for the school bus and when the bus arrives, I realise I have no pants on,” he says. Over the years he has learnt to get a grip on his insecurity and focus only on the acting. “I have learnt things. Hopefully I am wiser now. I am not as insecure as I used to be when I was 18 years old,” says the 35-year-old actor.

Currently on a career high post Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram- Leela, Devaiah is now looking forward to his forthcoming film Hunter, which is the directorial debut of Harshavardhan Kulkarni, who wrote Hasee Toh Phasee. Devaiah plays a sex addict in the film and it’s turning out to be quite a trip. “I play this ordinary sort of a character, something like what Amol Palekar used to play. He’s even more ordinary in the sense that Amol Palekar used to sing songs but this guy doesn’t even do that. He’s not a head turner at all but he likes to sleep with women. He is sort of a sex addict. He can’t give up his urge even after he gets married. It’s like nicotine. He wants to be loyal, but he gets this khujli. Hunter deals with this subject but treats it in a lighthearted manner,” he says.

There’s another film that he’s deeply invested in — Vasan Bala’s Peddlers, which went to the Cannes Film Festival in 2012, but is yet to see a cinema release in India. “Peddlers is my most intense performance,” says Devaiah. He will also be seen in Pooja Bhatt’s Cabaret and a horror film.

His priorities as an actor are clear — he selects roles based on his instinct but one thing he is very clear about — no television. “I have nothing against TV actors, but the only reason I don’t do TV is because I think it’s really boring. I can’t do it for the money,” he says. Even the idea of doing commercials doesn’t excite him. “I can’t do commercials. I used to get offers. Now they have stopped calling me also because they know I am going to say no,” he says.

source: http://www.indianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Entertainment> Play / by Ranjib Mazuder / Mumbai – April 18th, 2014

Nara Rohit-starrer Pratinidhi is heading for release on April 25. The film is done with the shooting part and is currently in post production. Tipped to be a political thriller, Pratinidhi has debutant director Prashanth Mandava wielding the megaphone while Anand Ravi penned the script.

The film’s trailer and audio, which were released a couple of months back, received good response. Shubra Aiyappa is playing the leading lady.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Entertainment> Telugu Movies / TNN / April 13th, 2014

Coorg-born and currently Mumbai-based Sandalwood actress Nidhi Subbaiah will soon be seen on television, this time endorsing a face wash powder. The actress recently shot for a sulphate-free face wash powder, which she will be seen endorsing on national television soon.

Incidentally, Nidhi’s first brush with showbiz also began on television, where she was noticed when she did the Fair & Lovely advertisement, which was directed by adman-turned-Bollywood filmmaker R Balki. It was this advertisement that got people to sit up and take notice of her, paving her way into the film industry.

With Nidhi’s new advertisement slated to hit television soon, we wonder if this will cause an upswing in her career.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> Entertainment> Kannada> TV / TNN / April 13th, 2014