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Viewers of popular television soap Bade Acche Lagte Hain were in for a big surprise as the lead actors Ram Kapoor and Sakshi Tanvar indulged in a liplock which was part of good 17 minutes long love-making scene. The episode aired last night at 10.30 pm on Sony.
The channel was promoting the steamy episode for a while but an actual lip to lip wasn't really expected. People watching the episode with families were a bit scandalised.
Sakshi did a decent job but it was Ram who took the cake. His expressions of hesitation, desire and love came out quite naturally.
Bade Acche Lagte Hain, with television rating of 3.25% (as reported by Screen), is a story of two strangers from different backgrounds getting married and eventually falling in love. Kapoor plays business honcho Ram in his 40s while Tanwar portrays Priya, a teacher in her 30s. In the last episode, Ram confesses his love to Priya and consummates his marriage. And how!
The bedroom scene was enacted with, In Lamhon Ke Daaman Mein from Jodhaa Akbar playing in the backdrop. In the film too, Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan consummated their marriage in this song sequence. It's so obviously contrived.
However, the promo scene, which had Bahon Ke Darmiyan as the background score, wasn't aired. May be there's still more to come. So next time, be a little wary if your kids or parents are by your side when you are glued to another episode of BALH.
Love making scene from Bade Acche Lagte Hai.
While producer Ekta Kapoor says Ram makes 40 and fat look sexy, people on Twitter are making fun of his weight.
Rahul Nanda (@rahulnanda86): "Ram Kapoor is trending. What did he eat now!! Last heard he thought the taj mahal was milky bar"
Manudev Jain (@z_jain): "Move Aside ! Move Aside ! Ram Kapoor needs 6 of 10 trending spots to trend completely."
We_Wake (@TheMantallBwoy): "That awkward moment when #BALH production people call a crane to separate Ram Kapoor from Sakshi Tanwar after that love making scene."
Tulika (@TulikaP): "Size zero to size thousand! :-P RT "@Trendulkar: Q: What is the opposite of Ram kapoor? A: Kareena kapoor. #size0"
Rofl Indian (@Roflindian): "Ram Kapoor is a rare case of completely assimilated twins that grow up as a single entity."
KaamwaaliBai (@KaamwaaliBai): "Ram Kapoor had Adnan Sami for breakfast last year."
Abhishek Nanda (@abi_shake): "@wannabesanyasin: I think Ram Kapoor got laid. There is a God."hahaha...may god also bless d girl who had d courage to bed him"
Keyurious (@keyurbarad): "RT @thetanmay: You think Sakshi Tanwar woke up today next to Ram Kapoor and thought to herself.. "I'm never drinking again..."
Dakshin (@upsidedakshin): "Poonam Pandey recordered an all time low views on her videos yesterday thanks to Ram Kapoor and his 46-54-46 :P"
Rabat, Morocco: Outrage has been building in Morocco's online community over the case of a 16-year-old girl who committed suicide after being forced to marry her rapist.
According to the local press, Amina Filali died after taking rat poison on Saturday. She had been married for the last five months to a man who raped her a year earlier.
The Moroccan penal code allows for a rapist to marry his victim to escape prosecution and preserve her family's honour, according to traditional practice.
The victim's father said in an interview with online Moroccan newspaper goud.ma that the court pushed the marriage on her.
Activist Abadila Maaelaynine tweeted that Amina had been "triply violated," first by her rapist, then by tradition and then by the Moroccan penal code.
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Dinesh Trivedi, presenting his first rail budget, had his task cut out. His focus, he said, was three-pronged: "Safety, safety, safety." Following very closely behind were consolidation, decongestion and modernization. So aided by poetry, quotable quotes and many mentions of his party chief and predecessor Mamata Banerjee, the railway minister today proposed the first hike in passenger fares in nine years and the highest ever annual plan outlay for the railways at Rs 60,100 crore, of which Rs 15,000 crore he said, would be from market borrowing. The passenger fare hike is a bold step. The rail minister has proposed a 30 paisa per km hike for AC first class travel, a 15 paisa per km hike for AC second tier and a 10 paisa per km hike for AC third tier. Platform tickets would now cost Rs 5.
"The proposal to rationalize the fares will cause minimum impact on the common man," the minister said. Passenger fares are likely to add Rs 36,073 crore to the railway's revenue in the next fiscal.
The hike in fares snaps a populist trend to help mend the finances of a creaking network that is a bottleneck for growth in Asia's third-largest economy. The refusal by successive ministers to raise fares has strained the ministry's finances, which in turn has sapped the amount of money available to lay new track and modernise services.
Clogged freight lines, slow delivery times and overcrowded ports have dented Indian companies' competitiveness and slowed the pace at which crucial commodities such as coal are transported -- aggravating India's power shortages.
"Indian railways are passing through a difficult phase," Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi told parliament.
"If we do not strengthen Indian railways, I'm afraid we weaken our country," he added, in a speech that was littered with poetry and occasionally interrupted by jeers and laughter.
Mr Trivedi’s big emphasis will be on safety. This would include setting up an independent Railway safety authority and phasing out level crossings in five years among other initiatives.
Time now, said the minister, for a national policy on railways, as he sought big financial support from the government for the world’s second largest railway network. The minister says he needs to modernize 19000 km of rail tracks; also new tracks are needed, he says, in tribal areas and backward regions of the country need to be connected. The bill for this will be an estimated Rs 6,467 crore.
The minister said that 725 km of new lines will be completed in this year and proposed 700 km of new line to be built in 2012-13. 100 stations via the public-private partnership route have been planned over the next 5-years, he added.
The minister announced the introduction of 75 new express trains and 21 new passenger trains. The introduction of Guru Parikarma train covering Amritsar, Patna and Nanded was also announced.
Addressing the key issue of rising operating ratio, Mr Trivedi proposed to bring down the operating ratio from 95% currently to 84.9% in 2012-13. Operating ratio is the amount of money spent for every rupee earned and it has been rising to alarming levels.
Subsidies vs investment debate:
Successive railway ministers have belonged to powerful regional allies of the ruling party in New Delhi, who have tended to subsidise passenger fares at the expense of freight traffic, making goods transport expensive and slow.
Earlier this month, the government raised rail freight rates by nearly 20 percent.
India's railway network is one of the world's largest, but years of low investment and populist policies have crimped growth and hindered private investment in a sector seen as crucial to the country's economic expansion.
"We need to have a system that delivers," Trivedi said.
From 1990 to 2007, which parallels India's economic rise, the country built 960 km of tracks compared with China's 20,000 km over the same period.
Rail Budget at a glance:
Passenger fares:
*Passenger fares to be hiked by 2 paise per km for suburban and ordinary second class travel; 3 paise per km for mail/ express second class; 5 paise per km for sleeper class; 10 paise per km for AC chair car/AC 3-tier and First Class; 15 paise per km for AC 2-tier and 30 paise per km for AC 1-tier. *Minimum fare and platform tickets to cost Rs 5.
Amenities:
* The open discharge toilets on trains to be replaced with green (bio) toilets. *Steps to improve cleanliness and hygiene on trains and stations within six months. A special housekeeping body will be set up to take care of both stations and trains. *New passenger services include escalators at major stations; alternative train accommodation for wait-listed passengers, laundry services, AC lounges, coin/currency operated ticket vending machines. *On board passenger displays indicating next halt station and expected arrival time to be introduced. *Introduction of regional cuisine; Book-a-meal scheme to provide meals through SMS or email. *Specially designed coaches for differently-abled persons to be provided in each Mail/Express trains. *Wellness programme for railway staff at work places. *Institution of Rail Khel Ratna Award for 10 rail sports-persons every year.
New trains:
*75 mew Express trains to be introduced, along with 21 new passenger services, nine DEMU services and 8 MEMU services trains. *Route of 39 trains to be extended and frequency of 23 trains to be increased.
Hiring:
*Railways to hire more than one lakh employees in 2012-13; 80,000 persons hired last year.
Infrastructure:
*Indian Railways Stations Development Corp to be set up to re-develop stations and maintain them like airports. *To provide rail connectivity to neighbouring countries, a new line from Agartala to Akura in Bangladesh to be set up. *Double-decker container trains to be introduced. *National High Speed Rail Authority to be set-up; Pre-feasibility studies on six high speed corridors completed; study on Delhi-Jaipur-Ajmer-Jodhpur to be taken up in 2012-13. *A wagon factory at Sitapali, Odisha, rail coach factory at Palakkad, two additional new coach manufacturing units in Kutch (Gujarat) and Kolar (Karnataka); component factory at Shyamnagar (West Bengal); new coaching terminal at Naihati, the birth place of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.
Safety:
*To set up an independent Railway Safety Authority as a statutory body. *All unmanned level crossings to be abolished in next five years; to target zero deaths due to rail accidents. *Two new members, one for marketing, and other for safety, to be inducted into Railway Board.
Financials:
*Railway Tariff Regulatory Authority to be considered. *Freight loading of 1,025 MT targeted; 55 MT more than 2011-12; Passenger growth targeted at 5.4 per cent. *Passenger earnings to increase to Rs 36,200 crore. *Gross rail traffic targeted to increase by Rs 28,635 crore to Rs 1,32,552 crore in 2012-13.
(With inputs from Reuters and agencies)
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It is now more than a year since Sachin Tendulkar scored his 99th international hundred. On that day in the World Cup when he made South Africa look clueless for 40 overs in Nagpur, it seemed the 100th was imminent. At 37, he had just had his most productive year of a decorated career, and had made two masterly centuries against top opposition in the World Cup. (Also Read: Sachin Tendulkar's new look for Asia Cup)
Now, after 33 century-less innings, one less than his longest barren spell ever, and the disappointments of England and Australia, even the usually reverential media are raising questions about his place in the side, at least in one-dayers. Is the burden of the 100th weighing him down? The man himself hasn't said much. But would someone who has shouldered surreal amounts of pressure all through his cricketing career buckle when faced with a milestone that many have argued is a made-up one?
Tendulkar made his debut in 1989; in Tuesday's game against Sri Lanka, the team-mate with the next longest career span was Gautam Gambhir, who entered international cricket nearly 14 years after him. Was Tendulkar losing his appetite for the game, especially as the more familiar faces in the dressing room are starting to disappear? Not on the evidence of Wednesday's training session.
It was an optional session, and it was expected that on the day after the win against Sri Lanka, only the reserve players would turn up. Only three members of the 15-man squad showed up; Tendulkar was one of them.
A meticulous 70-minute batting session followed, as he faced Yusuf Pathan and Rahul Sharma, besides some sharp medium-pace from new bowling coach Joe Dawes, more mild medium from the computer analyst and throwdowns from fielding coach Trevor Penney. There was plenty of chat with the bowlers, and Fletcher kept a close eye on the batsman, providing the stray bit of advice. After the session, Tendulkar had a long conversation with Fletcher.
Till then, there had been a few laughs but the training had been mostly business-like, bearing the hallmarks of a batsman short of runs trying to iron out problems. He rarely bowls these days, and his practice for the day could have ended there, and he could have retired to the shade.
Instead, he stuck around and immensely enjoyed himself with a cat-and-mouse spell of legspin bowling to Rahul Sharma. First, he tested each of the bats Rahul had carried out, and picked out the best one for Rahul to use. He sent down a ripping legbreak that Rahul tried to clobber from the nets to the main Shere Bangla ground, only to be beaten by a long way, to Tendulkar's amusement. The next legbreak was solidly defended, prompting Tendulkar to jokingly ask why he didn't try to slam that one as well. There were googlies that thudded into Rahul's thigh, a straighter one which fizzed on to middle stump, and many times when the batsman struck the ball, Tendulkar would signal that it would have been caught at mid-on or midwicket. The session ended with Tendulkar giving Rahul some batting tips.
Tendulkar has already played more Tests and one-day matches than anybody else. Surely the relentless grind of international cricket would have bored him by now? Whenever asked why he continues to play, Tendulkar invariably says he does because he still loves the game and enjoys it.
Samir Karnik, the director of Chaar Din Ki Chandni has lashed out at critics in a recent press conference. He not only abused the "critics who are not qualified to write reviews," but also threatened to beat them up.
The director, who was seen in a visibly bad mood, wonders who gives critics the permission to write when they don't have knowledge about films. "They are brainwashing people's mind and they should not be allowed to do so. They have got some personal vendetta and they should be banned."
"Saale pata nahi kaun inko critic bana deta hai. In kutton ko to likne ki ijaazat bhi nahi deni chahiye. Mere saamne aa gaye to thok dalungo saalon ko," (I don't know who authorises them to be critics. These people should not be allowed to write), he says.
He goes on to add, "We conduct press shows in a hope that critics would say nice things about our film, but it's only a false hope."
The director is also upset about the fact that some critics watch free shows of the film and still write unpleasant things about him. "From now on, I won't conduct press shows. If they want to watch, they can spend their own money. Popcorn bhi mera khaate hai, aur likhte bhi mere baare mein hain. Sharam nahi aati," (They eat my popcorn, and write against me. Aren't they ashamed?), says a fuming Karnik.
Samir Karnik has also directed Kyun! Ho Gaya Na..., Nanhe Jaisalmer, Heroes, Vaada Raha and Yamla Pagla Deewana.
Samir Karnik also doubts the veracity of award functions. He says that while Yamla Pagla Deewana was a success at box office, he didn't get a single nomination for the film. "My film was not nominated because I didn't pay money to them. Are kisko doon ye to batao. Ajeeb Ajeeb nomination hain. Kuch to de dete, ek audiography ka nomination to de dete. I swear, mujhe pata chale kisko paise dene hai, to main de daloon. Poora system, poora desh bika hua hai. (Somebody should tell me who should I give money to. They did not give me a single nomination)."
Tweeple react to Samir Karnik's comments @pvijay: Samir Karnik wonderfully epitomises the Indian mainstream film industry of today. Take a bow, dude! :)
@AnOddYellow: Did Samir Karnik even watch his own film... stop abusing critics for doing their job !
@AniGuha: Interesting point Samir Karnik makes in that video. "There is Jeeturaaj." I have been wondering too: Who is Jeeturaaj?
@MaaNey: How can someone invest money into a script like Char din ki Chandni? I can do better jokes in my sleep. Shame on you Samir Karnik!!
Karan Johar has finalised Wake Up Sid fame director Ayan Mukerji to direct his next production venture Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani, which stars Ranbir Kapoor in the lead role.
"Our film Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani starts this month... directed by Ayan Mukherji and stars Ranbir-Deepika (Padukone) and Aditya Roy Kapur and Kalki (Koechlin)," Karan confirmed on micro-blogging site Twitter.
Music director Pritam will compose the music for the movie.
Mukerji created a stir with his directorial venture Wake Up Sid, about a guy who falls in love with an older girl, played by Konkona Sen Sharma. The romantic comedy with the unconventional pair turned out to be a big hit.
Mumbai, March 14 -- He played the underworld don to perfection in films like films like Aatish (1994), Vaastav (1999), Jung (2000) and Plan (2004). But not many know that Sanjay Dutt has spent the last 15 years "discussing and researching" real-life gangster Sarman Munja Jadeja's life.
So understandably, he "is excited" about playing the Gujarati don in Soham Shah and Ashtavinayak's upcoming film. "We have been working on the subject for over a decade. Over the years, Neeraj (writerdirector Vora), Paresh (actor Rawal) and I have discussed the subject and worked on it. Somehow, things never worked out. But now that the film is finally happening, it feels great," says Dutt, whose character in the film will also be called Sarman Munja. The Munjha family had a strong hold over Porbandar and other places in Saurashtra in the early '80s. Sarman Munja was also known as the Robin Hood of Gujarat.
"Yes, people say that. So, I am sure it will be interesting to explore this part of his life. The makers have come up with a great story and I am really looking forward to the film," says Sanjay. Directed by Soham, the film is also likely to star Vivek Oberoi and Chitrangada Singh. Interestingly, Bollywood has already made Godmother (1999) based on the life of Sarman's wife Santokben Jadeja. Although no official announcement has been made yet, the project, to be shot in a start-to-finish schedule, might go on the floors by May or June.
Ask Sanjay if he feels confident about the film, and he says, "I sincerely hope people appreciate what I do in it. We are working very hard on the project." Apparently, Sanjay's Satte Pe Satta (1982) remake with Soham and Ashtavinayak has been put on the backburner due to this gangster film. The remake of Amitabh BachchanHema Malini blockbuster will start once Sanjay wraps up the current project. Controversy under control! A few days ago, actor-writer Manoj Joshi had accused former associates of "backstabbing" him by joining Sanjay Dutt's Sarman Munja project.
Though the Bachchan family hasn't announced it officially, Beti B's name has been leaked by the media. The name of Aishwarya-Abhishek's adorable daughter is Aaradhya Bachchan, reports a daily.
Abhishek Bachchan had recently confirmed in a press conference that they have zeroed in on a name for their daughter.
"We’ve got a name, and I’ll announce it very soon, but in terms of releasing a photograph you know I... if people see her in everyday life that’s fine by me, but I just think releasing the photograph is a very pompous thing to do. We don’t believe in any ceremony in terms of naamkaran,” Abhishek had said.
Names like Aaliya and Abhilasha were doing the rounds in media before.
We wonder if Amitabh or Abhishek will officially announce it on Twitter.
People discuss Beti B on Twitter @iMishaal: Just a temporary name, When she enters the industry name shall be changed!! :P RT @DsilvaStar: Nice name Beti B has got Aaradhya
@DsilvaStar: Nice name Beti B has got Aaradhya
@Rj_Animesh: Congrts @SrBachchan @juniorbachchan & Ash... Cutie Pie 'Beti B' has finally got a name: It's AARADHYA BACHCHAN.
@nidhi_relan: No hunky dories attached, and here comes out a Traditional name for the Beti-B- Aaradhya Bachan. Congratulations Bachan Parivar!
Women-oriented films are the flavour of the season. And even as female actors show their prowess in The Dirty Picture (2011), Kahaani (2012) or the upcoming Heroine, talk is rife about a sequel to Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion (2008). Although makers, including UTV, are non-committal about the project, Priyanka Chopra has opened up about it.
“I am not really aware of any such sequel. Fashion is a film that is closest my heart and if Madhur plans a part two, why not? I would love to be a part of the sequel,” says Priyanka. The actor, along with co-star Kangana Ranaut, had won the National Award for Best Actress in 2009 for the film.
Fashion was one of the first female-centric films to come out from Bollywood. “I completely agree that the wave was started by Fashion. Now there are many more women-oriented films or subjects. I believe it’s the best time to be an actress in our industry. Today, I am getting more women-centric scripts,” says Priyanka.
For some time now, rumours have been doing the rounds that Bhandarkar’s next project after Heroine would be the Fashion sequel. Reports also suggested that Madhur Dixit-Nene, who has recently shifted back to Mumbai, had a closed-door meeting with Madhur regarding Fashion 2. However, there is no confirmation on the project as yet.
Based on the dark side of the fashion world, the film starring Priyanka, Kangana and Mugdha Godse depicted the glamour world through the protagonist’s (Priyanka) eyes. The film went on to become a huge box-office success. Probably that’s why Bhandarkar and UTV’s head honcho Ronnie Screwvala are also believed to be keen on making the Fashion sequel. But it will have to wait. At the moment, Bhandarkar is busy wrapping up Kareena Kapoor’s Heroine that shows the life and times of a Bollywood star. It is likely to release this year.
Tokyo: A series of earthquakes rattled Tokyo and northeast Japan late Wednesday evening, but caused no apparent damage or injury in the same region hit by last year's devastating tsunami.
The first tremor off Hokkaido island was 6.8 magnitude and prompted some communities to issue evacuation orders or advisories to residents nearest the coast.
A swelling of 20 centimeters (8 inches) was observed in the port of Hachinohe in Aomori, northern Japan, about one hour after the quake struck the region. Smaller changes were also reported in several locations on Hokkaido island and Aomori prefecture.
The Japan Meteorological Agency lifted all tsunami advisories about an hour and half later.
The earthquake felt in Tokyo was magnitude 6.1 and centered just off the coast of Chiba, east of Tokyo, at a rather shallow 10 kilometers (6 miles) below the sea surface.
The town of Otsuchi in Iwate prefecture, where more than 800 died in last year's tsunami, issued an evacuation order to coastal households as a precaution after Wednesday's first quake, said prefectural disaster management official Shinichi Motoyama. No damage or injury was reported, he said.
Iwate was heavily damaged by last year's earthquake and tsunami. Thousands of aftershocks have shaken the region since then, nearly all of them of minor or moderate strength.
The magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011 left some 19,000 people dead or missing.
Japan marked the first anniversary of the disasters on Sunday, as the country still struggles to rebuild.
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New York: Today is my last day at Goldman Sachs. After almost 12 years at the firm - first as a summer intern while at Stanford, then in New York for 10 years, and now in London - I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity. And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.
To put the problem in the simplest terms, the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money. Goldman Sachs is one of the world's largest and most important investment banks and it is too integral to global finance to continue to act this way. The firm has veered so far from the place I joined right out of college that I can no longer in good conscience say that I identify with what it stands for.
It might sound surprising to a skeptical public, but culture was always a vital part of Goldman Sachs's success. It revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always doing right by our clients. The culture was the secret sauce that made this place great and allowed us to earn our clients' trust for 143 years. It wasn't just about making money; this alone will not sustain a firm for so long. It had something to do with pride and belief in the organization. I am sad to say that I look around today and see virtually no trace of the culture that made me love working for this firm for many years. I no longer have the pride, or the belief.
But this was not always the case. For more than a decade I recruited and mentored candidates through our grueling interview process. I was selected as one of 10 people (out of a firm of more than 30,000) to appear on our recruiting video, which is played on every college campus we visit around the world. In 2006 I managed the summer intern program in sales and trading in New York for the 80 college students who made the cut, out of the thousands who applied.
I knew it was time to leave when I realized I could no longer look students in the eye and tell them what a great place this was to work.
When the history books are written about Goldman Sachs, they may reflect that the current chief executive officer, Lloyd C. Blankfein, and the president, Gary D. Cohn, lost hold of the firm's culture on their watch. I truly believe that this decline in the firm's moral fiber represents the single most serious threat to its long-run survival.
Over the course of my career I have had the privilege of advising two of the largest hedge funds on the planet, five of the largest asset managers in the United States, and three of the most prominent sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Asia. My clients have a total asset base of more than a trillion dollars. I have always taken a lot of pride in advising my clients to do what I believe is right for them, even if it means less money for the firm. This view is becoming increasingly unpopular at Goldman Sachs. Another sign that it was time to leave.
How did we get here? The firm changed the way it thought about leadership. Leadership used to be about ideas, setting an example and doing the right thing. Today, if you make enough money for the firm (and are not currently an ax murderer) you will be promoted into a position of influence.
What are three quick ways to become a leader? a) Execute on the firm's "axes," which is Goldman-speak for persuading your clients to invest in the stocks or other products that we are trying to get rid of because they are not seen as having a lot of potential profit. b) "Hunt Elephants." In English: get your clients - some of whom are sophisticated, and some of whom aren't - to trade whatever will bring the biggest profit to Goldman. Call me old-fashioned, but I don't like selling my clients a product that is wrong for them. c) Find yourself sitting in a seat where your job is to trade any illiquid, opaque product with a three-letter acronym.
Today, many of these leaders display a Goldman Sachs culture quotient of exactly zero percent. I attend derivatives sales meetings where not one single minute is spent asking questions about how we can help clients. It's purely about how we can make the most possible money off of them. If you were an alien from Mars and sat in on one of these meetings, you would believe that a client's success or progress was not part of the thought process at all.
It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off. Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as "muppets," sometimes over internal e-mail. Even after the S.E.C., Fabulous Fab, Abacus, God's work, Carl Levin, Vampire Squids? No humility? I mean, come on. Integrity? It is eroding. I don't know of any illegal behavior, but will people push the envelope and pitch lucrative and complicated products to clients even if they are not the simplest investments or the ones most directly aligned with the client's goals? Absolutely. Every day, in fact.
It astounds me how little senior management gets a basic truth: If clients don't trust you they will eventually stop doing business with you. It doesn't matter how smart you are.
These days, the most common question I get from junior analysts about derivatives is, "How much money did we make off the client?" It bothers me every time I hear it, because it is a clear reflection of what they are observing from their leaders about the way they should behave. Now project 10 years into the future: You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the junior analyst sitting quietly in the corner of the room hearing about "muppets," "ripping eyeballs out" and "getting paid" doesn't exactly turn into a model citizen.
When I was a first-year analyst I didn't know where the bathroom was, or how to tie my shoelaces. I was taught to be concerned with learning the ropes, finding out what a derivative was, understanding finance, getting to know our clients and what motivated them, learning how they defined success and what we could do to help them get there.
My proudest moments in life - getting a full scholarship to go from South Africa to Stanford University, being selected as a Rhodes Scholar national finalist, winning a bronze medal for table tennis at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, known as the Jewish Olympics - have all come through hard work, with no shortcuts. Goldman Sachs today has become too much about shortcuts and not enough about achievement. It just doesn't feel right to me anymore.
I hope this can be a wake-up call to the board of directors. Make the client the focal point of your business again. Without clients you will not make money. In fact, you will not exist. Weed out the morally bankrupt people, no matter how much money they make for the firm. And get the culture right again, so people want to work here for the right reasons. People who care only about making money will not sustain this firm - or the trust of its clients - for very much longer.
Greg Smith, the writer of this article, is resigning today as a Goldman Sachs executive director and head of the firm's United States equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
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Karimganj, Assam: A woman bit her new-born daughter to death in Assam's Cachar district on Tuesday, police said today.
Amela Begum Laskar gave birth to her third daughter 18 days ago in Ganganagar area of the district. After this, she started behaving insanely, claim her neighbours.
Last night, she locked herself in a room. When her husband broke open the door after he heard the toddler cry, he found the child dead. The new-born had bite marks on her neck.
Police arrived on the spot and managed to overpower the woman.
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Tacoma, Washington: A 3-year-old boy shot and killed himself with a gun he found in a car as a family made a stop early on Wednesday at a gas station, police said.
It was the third recent shooting of a child in western Washington.
"It is incredible in light of the other ones," said Tacoma police Officer Naveed Benjamin. "You would think people would take more care, not less."
The family was traveling and had stopped for gas about 12:30 a.m. at the Tacoma station off Interstate 5. The man put his pistol under the seat and got out to pump gas while the boy's mother went inside the station, Mr Benjamin said.
They left her son and her boyfriend's 4- or 5-year-old daughter in the car, Mr Benjamin said.
The boy climbed out of his child seat, found the gun and shot himself. He was declared dead at a hospital.
The girl was not injured.
Detectives questioned the parents and have called the shooting a tragic accident, Mr Benjamin said.
The family has not been named. They are not from Tacoma and their car has Oregon plates.
The shooting follows the death of the 7-year-old daughter of a Marysville police officer in Stanwood on Saturday when a sibling found a gun and fired while the parents were out of their car. And on February 22, an 8-year-old girl was critically wounded in a Bremerton classroom when a gun fired from the backpack of a 9-year-old boy as he put it on a desk.
"It's another tragedy in a very short period of time," Mr Benjamin said.
It highlights the need for people to secure guns, he said.
"You can't predict what children are going to do," he said. "You need to unload and lock it up if you're not carrying it."
"And keep it out of the hands of children," Mr Benjamin said. "It's really not that hard to practice firearm safety."
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Kolkata: Mamata Banerjee's commitment to her fight against the National Counter Terrorism Centre could be tested tomorrow in Parliament. The head of the Trinamool Congress has field-marshalled a group of ten chief ministers who have opposed the centre's new anti-terror agency on the grounds that it erodes the autonomy of state governments.
Ms Banerjee's party members yesterday moved amendments to "the motion of thanks to the President" for her speech delivered this week to Parliament (the President's address outlines the government's agenda). In the Lok Sabha, these amendments have been rejected on technical grounds -the wording was incorrect and they were filed too late. But they've been accepted in the Rajya Sabha. The main opposition party, the BJP, has moved similar amendments. So if Ms Banerjee wants to further embarrass the government which she belongs to, her MPs could vote with the BJP and against the ruling UPA. That's not likely to happen, say sources.
The exit route for Ms Banerjee may come in the form of a protest by her MPs, who could walk out of the House before a vote, demanding financial assistance for Bengal, which is governed by their leader. Ms Banerjee has been asking the centre for 22000 crores; she also wants the centre to suspend the interest the state owes on loans already taken.
Financial assistance is the centre's only hold over Ms Banerjee, whose relationship with the UPA has been in the danger zone for a while now. At a dinner hosted by the Prime Minister last night, Ms Banerjee was missing - she chose to fly to Nagpur instead to attend a wedding. The fact that she deputed a first-time MP, Ratna De Nag, and not one of her senior ministers or leaders was seen as a flat snub to the Congress.
Pointedly, Ms Banerjee deputed two of her union ministers to attend the swearing-in today of the Punjab government, a partnership between the Akalis and the BJP. For the UPA's political rival, Ms Banerjee sent a senior delegation. The Prime Minister's dinner, in comparison, received minimal attention.
At the dinner last night, senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee made it clear that Ms Banerjee's amendments could cost the government heavily - if a vote was held, he warned, the government could lose.
Ms Banerjee's 19 Lok Sabha MPs give her the power to call the shots with the Congress - without her support, the UPA would collapse - and she has held the government and its policies to hostage with increasing daring. She recently forced the UPA to suspend its reforms in retail - the increased Foreign Direct Investment in shops or chains that stock different brands was a move by the Prime Minister and his team to prove wrong allegations of policy paralysis.
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New Delhi: NDTV: Mr Trivedi everybody is talking only about politics. How upset are you at what your party has done to you?
Dinesh Trivedi: I am not upset at all. In fact I am very happy with my budget because every Member of Parliament cutting across party lines have come and congratulated me. The aam aadmi on the street, the general feeling is it's a very good budget and more than anything else, I have done my duty to the best of my ability, and I am very happy and I am very relaxed as you can see my face.
NDTV: I can see your face and you are smiling but I am wondering if you are just putting on a brave face?
Dinesh Trivedi: You can't put on a brave face if you are not brave.
NDTV: Okay, you said Mr Trivedi, that every Member of Parliament and many other people congratulated you. But your own party did not. You know that. You know Derek O Brien tweeted, saying that he could not support a fare hike for upper class passengers. You know the Sudip Bandyopadhyay went on record to say that you did not consult the party. Do you feel backstabbed by your party or is it that you guys are playing good cop, bad cop? What is going on?
Dinesh Trivedi: I have done whatever is good for Indian Railways and which is good for the country and Barkha, I have been trained from my childhood. Whatever you do should be good for your country and for me and I have no hesitation in telling and it's not bravado. For me the country comes first and then comes my family and the rest. So I have just no problems. I am very happy about it and I am not even looking at whatever you are talking about. Whether 'A' or 'B' has tweeted, not tweeted, that is not my problem. My thinking is I should have done whatever I did, that's it.
NDTV: Do you stand by what you did? Because you said at your press conference, after you made the announcement in fare hikes, that if there is going to be roll back on hikes, then you may as well roll back on safety. Do you stand by that?
Dinesh Trivedi: Of course, of course. You know Barkha it's a package and I know Railways now little bit. I am concerned about the safety, where is the money for safety? Today I had to borrow 3000 crores from Finance Ministry to balance the Budget of 2011- 2012. Where is the money going to come? And tomorrow even I have to spend money for projects, which we have announced for all different states, including the state of West Bengal. Where is the money going to come?
NDTV: So do I take that to mean Mr Trivedi, and I know you to be a direct person, so I know you will answer me directly. Do I take it to mean that you are ruling out a roll back?
Dinesh Trivedi: I can only tell you that Parliament is in session and I cannot make any comments, which is supposed to be a policy decision, on camera like this. Because at the end of the day today I am the Railway Minister, so I can only tell you, and I think I have told you in no uncertain words, that I will only do what is good for Indian Railways.
NDTV: And you have actually said in no uncertain words that a roll back would mean a compromise in safety. You are at least standing by that?
Dinesh Trivedi: I am standing by that because I don't want to compromise on safety and if the Govt of India is willing to give me extra budgetary support, then it is. I have rolled out my entire plan, my entire plan will go; it's not the child's play. No?
NDTV: Mr Trivedi, when your party says that you did not consult them, you are a unilateralist. What would you say to them?
Dinesh Trivedi: No, it's a fact. NDTV: It's a fact?
Dinesh Trivedi: You know everybody's notion that Mamata Banerjee interferes; to be fair with her she has never interfered in my work. Never and I respect her for that.
NDTV: So in other words she has never interfered. But when they say that you didn't discuss the Rail Budget with them that is accurate as well?
Dinesh Trivedi: Absolutely accurate. Sure, sure, I didn't consult her.
NDTV: You did not consult her on the fare hike because you wanted to show that you are independent of Writers Building in Kolkata?
Dinesh Trivedi: There is no bravado to show something and not to show something. I did whatever I was asked to. If you are, and I am sure that she would have so much of confidence in me, if you Railway Minister, you are supposed to do whatever is good for Indian Railways. I have taken a conscious decision and that is it.
NDTV: But I want to understand what you mean when you say sure I didn't consult her. Are you saying that you believe that that was a professional thing to do, to leave the party out of it?
Dinesh Trivedi: No consult in what way? When you prepare a budget, budget is supposed to be a confidential document, right, even sometimes the Chairman of the State, sometimes the Prime Minister also doesn't know. Very honestly PM also did not know what exactly I was doing, it's your thing.
NDTV: I want to ask you something because I know you are among the Ministers who skipped the Prime Minister's dinner yesterday. When you present the Budget ..
Dinesh Trivedi: No I was, let me clarify, the invitation was to the party, not the individuals and whoever the party nominated, he or she went.
NDTV: The question I was going to ask was, when you are working on a budget who is the boss for you? Is it the Prime Minister, because you are the Union Minister and the PM heads the Cabinet, or is it Mamata Banerjee, who put you in the Cabinet?
Dinesh Trivedi: See, no, as far as the system goes, that by and large you just tell your intentions that, this is when the Planning Commission is involved, but nobody is involved when I have to consult them on what should be the hike. How much should I do it, it's left to the Railway Minster. So you don't need to consult anybody. And I did not consult anybody including the Finance Minister. This is a loose rumour going around that it was Finance Minister or the Prime Minister, no.
NDTV: So it wasn't Pranab Mukherjee's bite that is what you are clarifying?
Dinesh Trivedi: Not at all. Not at all. Not at all. And I am sure, Pranab Mukherjee is a very wise person, and if I would have asked him, I know his answer would have been, consult your Leader first and then do whatever you want to do.
NDTV: Okay, got that. Dineshbhai, for those who are saying and many tongues wagging in Delhi today, as you know, to those who are saying that Mamata Banerjee is upset with Dinesh Trivedi because he is too close to the Congress, that's why this all has happened. What would you say?
Dinesh Trivedi: Well if you see a snake in a rope, I don't think there is any answer to that.
NDTV: Why do you believe that your party has believed the way it has?
Dinesh Trivedi: I don't know. I have no clue. Because I have been busy with my budget, I have been busy with the Media throughout, after the Budget, I have not had any time even to have a cup of tea.
NDTV: So you are clueless, you don't know why this has happened? Has Mamata Banerjee spoken to you? Has anyone from Trinamool spoken to you since you presented the Budget?
Dinesh Trivedi: No they have not spoken and then you know, I mean, Barkha, please understand I have taken a conscious decision. What is good for the Railway and that's it. And I am a proud patriotic citizen, and for me I will repeat, what comes first is the country. My family,.my child, my everybody comes second. I mean this is a great country where people have sacrificed their lives. They have gone to the gallows yaar, and if you have not taken any lessons from this, and if we have petty politics that we stick to our chairs, that is not the way you run a country. And that is not the way you should be in politics.
NDTV: So your duty comes first, politics comes second?
Dinesh Trivedi: Of course Party comes first. Politics doesn't come; my duty comes. I am in politics because of my duty to the country. I am not here just to warm up the chair and be in the chair at any cost even if the country goes to hell. No, I am very proud and that is the way I have been trained by my parents.
NDTV: What if this position costs you your job?
Dinesh Trivedi: I don't care about the job. I have told you. Bhagat Singh went on gallows to give his life. There are lots of soldiers who die. What is the job yaar? I don't understand this philosophy, nothing is permanent, your life is not permanent. NDTV: To those who think that you may resign instead of rolling back, because you have just said, what is a job yaar, are you going to resign Mr Trivedi?
Dinesh Trivedi: Nahi, that I am telling when you say, if you lose your job.
NDTV: But are you going to resign, instead of rolling back?
Dinesh Trivedi: But I don't do anything, which is not done in a disciplined manner. I will always do, tomorrow if my Leader tells 'you resign', I will resign. Because after all she has put me here which I said in my speech also.
NDTV: Dinesh Trivedi, I want to ask you and I would appeal you to speak directly, you have been speaking very directly, you said you will do nothing which is not in a disciplined way. If your Leader wants you to resign, you will. Many people believe that Mamata Banerjee has given you only two options, to roll back or to resign. Which one of these options is preferable to you?
Dinesh Trivedi: But the options have not come to me. Let it come. And whatever my conscience tells me at that moment, I will do that. Whatever is good for the country I will do that. You can be rest assured.
NDTV: You know I want to read out a tweet for you from Omar Abdullah and Omar Abdullah tweeting saying, it says, 'all said and done I would hate to be in Dinesh Trivedi's shoes today. Today was supposed to be the highlight of his political career. Poor chap'. Is that how you see yourself Dinesh?
Dinesh Trivedi: No, I thank Omar, he is a very dear friend and he must have really felt; but no, I have done my duty. When you do your duty, you don't feel bad. You feel bad if you have not done your duty. If I had not done my duty, then I would have had a sense of guilt. I am absolutely a free bird today and I am thankful to Almighty. Almighty has given me courage to go ahead and present this kind of budget.
NDTV: Last question, do you still believe that you will be Rail Minister tomorrow morning will you be Rail Minister? Will your Rail Budget get passed?
Trivedi: Can anybody say whether I am going to be alive or anybody would be alive tomorrow? Nothing is certain. So please have a philosophical and spiritual approach to life. Do your part of the duty to the best of your ability and that's it. This is a country, which has taught so much of spirituality. And if you have not learnt, then you haven't learnt life. You have wasted your time. You have wasted the birth also.
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elevision actor Rakhi Sawant on Monday visited parliament on the first day of the budget session, saying she wanted to see how it works. "No one invited me. I just came to meet the MPs. I've come to see parliament, to see how it works and how our leaders are working," she told reporters.
"I've come to convey the message to (Congress chief) Soniaji (Gandhi), on behalf of all the people and women that there should be something for women in the budget and it should be fair to everyone," she said.
Advising yoga guru Baba Ramdev not to dub all politicians as thieves, she said he should do yoga and not abuse others.
Appearing on a reality show last year, Rakhi had expressed her desire to marry Ramdev. She also said she admired Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.'
London: A pornographic website -- reportedly one of the world's top five -- was hacked and passwords of 72,000 users and credit card details of 40,000 others were stolen, a media report said on Wednesday.
The website, "Digital Playground", was hacked by a group that calls itself "The Consortium", the Daily Mail reported.
The hackers, reportedly affiliated with popular group Anonymous, said it will not publish the data
"We do this for the love of the game, not for profit. We will not be releasing or using this data - these people's only crime was wanting some porn," the group said in a public post.
Digital Playground is a pornographic movie studio in California.
The hacker group said the credit card details were all stored in plain text, rather than in encrypted form, a serious security failure that could leave users of the pornographic website open to other attacks.
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Mumbai, March 13 -- Vidya Balan's Kahaani (2012) got off to a slow start (R88 lakh on Friday). But business escalated over Saturday and Sunday, and it ended the weekend with R13.83 crore net. Sunil Punjabi, CEO, Cinemax theatres, points out that had the film not released during the board exams, numbers would have been better.
"She's delivered backto-back hits, with No One Killed Jessica (2011), The Dirty Picture (2011) and now Kahaani and is breaking her own records. Today, when it's Vidya on screen, the audience expects a quality film and performance," he says.
The film's director Sujoy Ghosh recalls how many people advised him not to make the film. "I'm grateful to them for trying to dissuade me because it only made me more determined. I wouldn't recommend such obduracy, but it's worked in the case of Kahaani, even if it didn't with Aladdin (2007)," he smiles, giving credit to the 'practical' Miss Balan for believing in his film.
Except for a brief period in her career, when she was trying to fit into the commercial Hindi film heroine mould with films like Heyy Baby (2007) and Kismet Konnection (2008), Vidya's always been ready for a gamble, be it a Parineeta (2005), Guru (2007), Paa (2009), Ishqiya or her last three films. And now it's paid off.
"Kahaani is here to stay," says trade analyst Taran Adarsh, putting it in the same league as previous small-budget superhits like Raaz (2002) and Bheja Fry (2007), and attributing its success to Sujoy's direction and the 'Vidya' factor. "She's the new Khan," he adds.
Given her variety of roles, performances and box-office success, says trade analyst Amod Mehra, Vidya can be called a female Aamir Khan. "I told her that two years ago and that's been proven true," he says. Delhi distributor Sanjay Ghai of Mukta Arts endorses the view: "There can be no male replacement for Aamir, but there was space for a female Aamir that Vidya's filled. She broke the new year jinx with No One Killed Jessica and The Dirty Picture helped us end 2011 on a high note. Now with Kahaani, she's flagged off an unexpected festival in lacklusture March. One more hit, and no heroine will be able to touch her.
New Delhi: Mamata Banerjee has proved that in its current state, the Congress cannot refuse any demand she presents. The Prime Minister will agree, say sources, that her own party colleague, Dinesh Trivedi, will be fired as Railways Minister. Sources also say Mr Trivedi has sent in his resignation to the PM. Ms Banerjee is punishing Mr Trivedi for announcing a nominal hike in passenger fares on Wednesday. The Railways budget he presented in Parliament had been described by the PM as progressive and modern. (Read: Who is Dinesh Trivedi?)
Ms Banerjee disagreed vehemently. She wrote to the Prime Minister earlier on Wednesday night asking for Mr Trivedi to be replaced by Mukul Roy, a union minister from her party. She also wants the government to reverse the hike in passenger fares announced by Mr Trivedi in Parliament today as he shared the Railways budget. Sources say the rollback might happen after March 16 - the day Union Budget will be presented in Parliament. The Congress' senior most leaders met tonight at the Prime Minister's residence where it was decided that its upto Ms Banerjee to decide her nominee to the union cabinet - she has suggested her party's Mukul Roy, currently a union minister. Mr Trivedi's removal will make political history - this is the first time that a minister will be fired even before Parliament debates his budget. (Read: Full text of Dinesh Trivedi speech on Railway Budget 2012)
The Congress has decided to accelerate its courtship of Mulayam Singh Yadav as a possible replacement for Ms Banerjee, who has whipped the government into submission on many occasions because her 19 Lok Sabha MPs make her essential to the survival of the coalition. Mr Yadav's 22 MPs make him a viable option and he has often rescued the government by voting in its favour on crucial legislation. So senior Congress leaders like Pawan Bansal will attend the swearing-in today of his son, Akhilesh, as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
Mr Trivedi said earlier today that he had done his duty and "now it is upto God." The hike in fares he announced were nominal, ranging from two paise per kilometre to 30 paise per kilometre. This is the first hike in fares in nine years. In a lengthy interview to NDTV this evening, he suggested that he was prepared for his dismissal. Mr Trivedi acknowledged that he had not briefed Ms Banerjee about the hike in fares. (Highlights - No clue why my party reacted this way: Dinesh Trivedi to NDTV)
Internally, say sources, the Trinamool Congress believes that if they don't oppose this hike they will find it difficult to object to the next petrol or diesel price hike - something they have done in the past to prove they stand for the aam admi or common man. (Railway Budget 2012 highlights)
Mr Trivedi was attacked by his own party immediately after he had presented his first rail budget. First, the Trinamool's Rajya Sabha MP Derek O Brien, tweeted, "Railway Budget... what was all that about increasing fares across the board? Upper class... maybe ok... but all? Sorry, cannot agree." Then, fellow TMC minister Sudip Bandopadhyay demanded that the hike be withdrawn. "We are opposing because of our party leader Mamata Banerjee who has taught us to protect interests of poor people."
The final word from Ms Banerjee came a little after 4 pm; she declared at a rally in Nandigram in Bengal, "We will not accept the hike, be sure of that." Ms Banerjee then headed back to Kolkata and reportedly wrote to the PM at around 8.30 in the evening asking that Mr Trivedi be removed. She has also summoned Mr Trivedi to Kolkata.
Earlier today, sources said that Mr Trivedi had been ordered by Ms Banerjee to either resign or roll back the increased prices. He had indicated that he would not change his mind. Referring to the precarious financial health of the railways, he said, "The railways was getting into the ICU and I have pulled it out of ICU. You cannot have everything together." (Full transcript: Dinesh Trivedi speaks to NDTV)
Sources say Ms Banerjee has been upset with Mr Trivedi for a while now, possibly because of his perceived closeness to the Congress. He also ran into trouble last week when he said that his party may not be opposed to early general elections, which means the UPA would not last its full term. Ms Banerjee later said that her MPs had been asked not to express their personal views.
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Hanumant Rao Patil, a notorious film federation employee (FWICE) barged into Salman Khan's shoot and stopped it. The shoot was taking place in Mehboob Studios in Bandra.
"Patil, a self-styled king (read mafia lord), who has been going on upstaging Bollywood shoots for the past few months and tormenting filmmakers in the Hindi cinema industry, recently stopped a commercial shoot featuring the actor. In fact Salman was left cooling his heels in his vanity van. And this unpleasant incident has not gone down too well with the other members of FWICE," reports Mumbai Mirror.
Patil reportedly asked Raman Lamba, in charge of the production, to cough up Rs 66,000. Introducing himself as the head of 'Still photography Department' of the FWICE, Patil asked Lamba to pay up the required sum before continuing with the shoot, as he's not registered with the organisation, according to the tabloid.
"Stopping Salman's shoot is just not done. The same goes for any other shoot actually. FWICE is not here to inconvenience people. We don't demand money from people. We resolve issues amicably. What Patil is doing is just not done," the Vice Chairman of Allied Mazdoor Union, a part of FWICE, Prem Singh Thakur told the tabloid.
As for Patil, the federation has now decided to take strict action against him. "Patil has been harassing filmmaker for a long time. We want to sack him very soon," a member informed Mumbai Mirror.
New Delhi: Dinesh Trivedi, presenting his first rail budget, had his task cut out. His focus, he said, was three-pronged: "Safety, safety, safety." Following very closely behind were consolidation, decongestion and modernisation.
Here's the full text of his speech:
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Aamir Khan fans will have to wait a little longer for his Talaash to hit theatres. Reema Kagti's upcoming action thriller, also starring Kareena Kapoor and Rani Mukherjee has now been postponed to later this year. The film will now hit theatres on November 30, 2012.
The film was earlier set to release on June 1.
"Though the film is complete and the post-production would also conclude much before the due date, the producers, Ritesh Sidhwani, Aamir Khan and Farhan Akhtar, have decided to push the release of the film ahead," writes Taran Adarsh.
"Aamir is occupied with his television show, which is starting around the same time. The perfectionist and uncompromising person that he is, Aamir will be left with little time on hand to promote Talaash. Since Talaash is the actor's next big release after 3 Idiots, we mutually decided to push the release of the film forward. Besides, Aamir will have sufficient time on hand to promote the film," producer Ritesh Sidhwani confirmed to Adarsh.
We're sure, Aamir Khan fans wouldn't mind waiting for the film.
Mumbai: Seven months after Deepak Pawar (32) was arrested for scripting a robbery at his employers' shop, in which two people were shot dead, Crime Branch officers allege that VP Road police made a wrongful arrest.
According to the Crime Branch, a different group, who were arrested while attempting to commit a crime yesterday, were responsible for the murder of the owner of Bharat Steel Yard, Lalchand Vishnoi, and his cousin, Ratna Ram on July 6, 2011.
"The accused were arrested with firearms in their possession from Sane Guruji circle, Tardeo. The dacoits were meeting to commit a crime, when we arrested them.
During interrogation, they have revealed that they were involved in firing at Vishnoi and Ram," said an officer from the Mumbai Crime Branch. The individuals arrested have been identified as Govindutta Rajput (28), Nauseb Khan (26), Mohmmad Alam (28), Rabiullah Khan (30) and Mohmmad Shakeel Khan (20).
Arrest in haste? VP Road police had then claimed to have solved the double murder case within 24 hours of the incident with the arrest of Pawar, who had been working in Bharat Steel Yard, an iron-and-steel trading firm, for the past seven years.
On learning of the fresh arrests, Senior PI Rajendra Chavan of VP Road police station said, "Two robbers who acted on the behest of Pawar are yet to be arrested and this is the reason why we have not been able to file a chargesheet.
There is a possibility that those arrested by the Crime Branch are the attackers who acted on Pawar's instructions.
Once we get the custody of the accused we will be able to get a clearer picture." However, when Crime branch officials were informed about the VP Road police comments, they claimed that these dacoits were not familiar with Pawar.
The incident On July 6, 2011, two men entered the shop in the 7th Lane of Khetwadi, V P Road. Pawar asked them what they wanted. One of the robbers slapped him and he fell down.
When manager Lalchand Vishnoi intervened, one of the robbers fired at him. Later, they fired at his cousin, Ratna Ram. Both were declared dead before they were admitted to the hospital.
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Lira, Uganda: Few faces evoke more hatred and fear in northern Uganda than Joseph Kony, one of Africa's most wanted men whose army of child soldiers preyed on this town for years and whose brutal legacy has been thrust back into the spotlight by a hugely popular U.S. video.
A wave of anger and depression swept over 27-year old Isaac Omodo as he stared at fuzzy images of young boys mutilated by the rebel warlord whose drugged and vicious fighters abducted Omodo's brother at the height of northern raids by Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in 2001.
Those grainy pictures came from the first screening in northern Uganda on Tuesday of a 30-minute YouTube video filmed by a California-based charity, whose appeal for U.S.-backed Ugandan troops to capture the LRA leader went viral on the Internet over the last week.
"When I see some of those things Kony did I get mad," said Omodo, whose sibling is still missing.
As the sun dipped over a dusty park in Lira, Omodo was among thousands who gathered to watch the screening of the video, which has been seen by more than 77 million people. It has attracted massive support on Twitter and Facebook and endorsements from celebrities like George Clooney and Oprah Winfrey in its quest to press for Kony's capture.
But Omodo said he felt his raw emotional scars were being reopened.
"Why are we being reminded? I feel bad. We want to just forget all about Kony and the LRA madness," Omodo told Reuters.
Some jeered as the projection neared its end and scuffles broke out as simmering frustrations boiled over.
Notorious for his use of children as fighters and sex slaves, as well as his fighters' fondness for hacking off limbs, Kony terrorised northern Uganda for nearly 20 years until he was chased out of the area in 2005.
However, the campaign behind the online video, which is the work of the previously little-known Invisible Children non-profit group, has met with a skeptical backlash from some quarters, not least among Kony's victims.
"Why make Kony famous? It baffles them," said Victor Ochen, director for African Youth Initiative Network, the charity behind the showing, speaking of those who watched the video in Lira.
Nonetheless, Ochen said, it was important to show the film in a region long marginalized by the government in Kampala, more than 370 kilometers away, and where few have access to the Internet.
STILL HAUNTED
Kony, a self-styled mystic leader who at one time was bent on ruling Uganda by the ten commandments, fled northern Uganda to roam the thick forests of South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Central African Republic.
Attempts by regional forces and foreign troops to corner the fugitive warlord, who faces war crimes charges at the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC), have failed.
In a fresh push to bring Kony to justice, U.S. President Barack Obama sent 100 U.S. military advisers to the region last year to help Ugandan forces hunt him down.
Critics of the video say it oversimplifies a long-standing human rights crisis. Of course it does, filmmaker Jason Russell has said, pointing out the video was not intended as an answer to the crisis, but as a catalyst for action.
Reed Brody, Counsel and spokesperson of U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, told Reuters he generally welcomed the public awareness raised by the film. But he said any increased military action against Kony in central Africa by the U.S.-backed Ugandan military should be "really targeted and protect civilians".
Otherwise, he said, it risked being counter-productive. "We don't really want to see Afghanistan in a corner of a forest in Africa", he added, referring to Kony's secluded bush hideaway.
In Lira, a town still clearly haunted by the horrors of Kony's atrocities, disappointment and scorn filled many watching the scratchy images.
"We expected serious action, Americans fighting Kony like in a real movie," one LRA victim, Okello Jifony, who was forced to fight under Kony for 18 months, told Reuters before giving a more somber assessment.
"Why didn't they use the real victims in this film?" he added, referring to the shots of Russell's young son juxtaposed during the film. The film does however show some Ugandan victims of the LRA.
Screening organizer Ochen said he would reconsider his plans to show the video elsewhere in northern Uganda, reminded of how painful the trauma remains.
"We start to believe Kony might come here again," said Omodo, unsure whether he would ever see his brother again.
Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012
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Mumbai, March 13 -- Movie buffs will soon be treated to a sneak peek into the undisclosed work of two popular Bollywood directors.
At the upcoming Wassup Andheri Festival, the first of its kind in the movie-obsessed suburb, Imtiaz Ali (Rockstar, 2011) and Anurag Kashyap (Dev D, 2009) will screen two of their unreleased films for attendees.
The initiative is part of a filmmaking workshop to be held on location, where 12 aspiring directors will get a chance to be mentored by the acclaimed directors. "Imtiaz and Anurag have two very distinct styles of filmmaking. On the first day, as part of our launch, they will each screen an unreleased film for the public to watch. They are close friends too, so the session should be fun to watch," says Ajay Modgil, initiator of the festival, adding, "We've shortlisted 12 contestants, who'll be divided into two groups of six. Each group will be under the tutelage of one director, who will guide them in making their films."
Based on the topic 'the girl and the autorickshaw', each of the contestants will have to shoot at least 30 seconds of their short film during the festival. Once the work is complete, the mentors will switch roles, and judge each other's teams. "Two finalists will be chosen, and their film will be screened for the audience, who will vote to decide the winner," says Modgil. While there is a cash bounty awaiting the winner, Modgil reveals that there is a larger pay-off for whoever impress es the celebrity judges. "The exact amount for the cash prize hasn't been finalised yet. But the real reward is s that the winner can choose which of the two directors, Imtiaz or Anurag, he or she would like to assist on their next film."
Tacoma, Washington: Facebook's automatic efforts to connect users through "friends" they may know recently led two Washington women to find out they were married to the same man, at the same time.
That led to the man, corrections officer Alan L. O'Neill, being slapped with bigamy charges.
According to charging documents filed on Thursday, O'Neill married a woman in 2001, moved out in 2009, changed his name and remarried without divorcing her. The first wife first noticed O'Neill had moved on to another woman when Facebook suggested the friendship connection to wife No. 2 under the "People You May Know" feature.
"Wife No. 1 went to wife No. 2's page and saw a picture of her and her husband with a wedding cake," said Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist told The Associated Press.
Wife No. 1 then called the defendant's mother.
"An hour later the defendant arrived at (Wife No. 1's) apartment, and she asked him several times if they were divorced," court records show. "The defendant said, 'No, we are still married.'"
Neither Mr O'Neill nor his first wife had filed for divorce, according to charging documents. The name change came in December, and later that month he married his second wife.
Mr O'Neill allegedly told Wife No. 1 not to tell anybody about his dual marriages, that he would fix it, the documents state. But wife No. 1 alerted authorities.
"Facebook is now some place where people discover things about each other that end up reporting that to law enforcement," Mr Lindquist said.
Mr O'Neill, 41, was previously known at Alan Fulk. He has worked as a Pierce County corrections officer for five years, sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said. He was placed on administrative leave after prosecutors charged him on Thursday. He could face up to a year in jail if convicted.
Mr O'Neill is free, but due in court later this month, which is standard procedure for non-violent crimes, Mr Lindquist said.
"About the only danger he would pose is marrying a third woman," he said.
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Hyderabad: The Boeing Co. has agreed to compensate Air India $500 million for the delay in the delivery of 50 aircraft, but the state-run carrier is pushing for more, a senior official said.
Air India has sought $1 billion as compensation for the three-year delay in the delivery of 50 long-range Boeing jets worth about $6 billion.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of India Aviation 2012, which began here Wednesday, Prashant Sukul, joint secretary in the civil aviation ministry, said Boeing had agreed to pay $500 million. He, however, said the talks were still on with the aircraft maker.
The aircraft include 27 Boeing 787 Dreamliner that is being showcased at India Aviation.
Earlier, replying to a query at the news conference, Ajit Singh said the negotiations about compensation were on with the Boeing. He did not elaborate.
Dinesh A Keskar, president, Boeing India and senior vice president, sales, Asia Pacific and India, refused to comment. "We don't discuss such issues in public," was all he said when asked about the official's comment that the company has agreed to pay compensation.
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New Delhi: For once, it's not the Congress that's feeling Mamata Banerjee's wrath. The Trinamool Party chief directed her ire at the Railways Minister, who is her own nominee to the union cabinet. Ms Banerjee has rejected the nominal increase in passenger fares announced by Dinesh Trivedi. Sources say he has been asked to either withdraw the hike, or resign. The diktat is humiliating for her minister, and embarrassing for the government.
The respite of indirect fire for Congress is sweetened by the fact that Ms Banerjee's party has tripped over its own attempts to challenge the union government on another front -the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC). Her MPs yesterday moved amendments to the President's address - the speech delivered by the President to Parliament that outlines the government's agenda.
Those amendments have been rejected for technical reasons- they were not worded correctly. Ms Banerjee's MPs had asked for the reference to the National Counter Terrorism Centre to be deleted from the President's speech. The opposition BJP had moved a similar amendment; if it pushed for a vote, Ms Banerjee's MPs would have been obliged to vote alongside the opposition and against the government that they are a part of.
The gaffe brings huge respite to the Congress whose relationship with Ms Banerjee has been in the danger zone for a while now. At a dinner hosted by the Prime Minister last night, Ms Banerjee was missing - she chose to fly to Nagpur instead to attend a wedding. The fact that she deputed a first-time MP, Ratna De Nag, and not one of her senior ministers or leaders was seen as a flat snub to the Congress.
Pointedly, Ms Banerjee deputed two of her union ministers to attend the swearing-in today of the Punjab government, a partnership between the Akalis and the BJP. For the UPA's political rival, Ms Banerjee sent a senior delegation. The Prime Minister's dinner, in comparison, received minimal attention.
At the dinner last night, senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee made it clear that Ms Banerjee's amendments could cost the government heavily- if a vote was held, he warned, the government could lose.
Ms Banerjee's 19 Lok Sabha MPs give her the power to call the shots with the Congress -without her support, the UPA would collapse - and she has held the government and its policies to hostage with increasing daring. She recently forced the UPA to suspend its reforms in retail - the increased Foreign Direct Investment in shops or chains that stock different brands was a move by the Prime Minister and his team to prove wrong allegations of policy paralysis.
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Mumbai, March 13 -- It opened to rave reviews, has been packing in the crowds thanks to strong word-of-mouth publicity, d now lead actor Irrfan, director Tigmashu Dhulia and producer Ronnie Screwvala of UTV are on their way to Delhi with a print of their film, Paan Singh Tomar.
A special screening is being organised at the Mahadev Auditorium at 5 pm tomorrow, for Ambika Soni and the Information & Broadcasting Ministry. After the 'aam janta' (common man), it's the top-ranking government officials who are keen to watch the biopic on the seven-time National steeplechase champion turned Chambal outlaw, for the interest it has generated in the plight of sportspersons, many of whom are living in penury after doing the country proud.
"I'm really happy. This screening is sure to generate a lot of media attention that I hope will eventually translate into some kind of a trust we're hoping to set up for these forgotten heroes. Once Irrfan is through with Qissi, the international co-production he's shooting in Chandigarh, we will sit and brainstorm on how we can take the idea forward. It should happen by the month end," says Tigmashu.
The director has been watching the film with audiences in Mumbai and Delhi and is encouraged by the response. "Even without glamour, big names and item numbers, this rebel runner seems to have brought out the goodness in people. Their response is not just positive but so pure," he marvels.
Bring up the subject of the Summer Olympics in London and India's chances, and he admits he doesn't see too many of our athletes holding up against stronger competitors from the US and countries that offer better training facilities. Even Paan Singh, Milkha Singh and Dhyan Chand, who won us our medals, he points out, were from the army and owe their discipline and success to the services. "But I'm pretty hopeful for Indian hockey," he adds. "After years, we are playing as a team and I see a silver there."
Mumbai, March 13 -- Punjab's Ferozepur district is infamous for its drug network. But a Bollywood film, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, has apparently played a positive part in alleviating the problem.
The story goes like this: when Rakeysh started shooting in the mofussil town on March 9 for the Farhan Akhtar film, the unit was surprised to see the streets deserted after sunset. In fact, the entire town was so quiet, that some of the streetlights were even turned off after a point in the evening.
"All of us were shocked when we arrived. But after we started shooting, the town was lit up and seemed busy again, thanks to the number of unit members working on location. Later, the locals observed that the usual drug peddlers were not to be seen on the streets. We have been told that the dealers are scared to continue their illegal activities amidst so many people," says a unit hand.
Apparently, the locals of the Indo-Pakistan border town are happy that the film unit has made the place safer for them to move around after dark. When contacted, Mehra confirms, "We were all taken aback to see the town so dead in the evening on the first two days. That's when we found out the ground reality from one of the locals. It's great that our shooting schedule in Ferozpur has affected the town in a positive way."
Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is the biopic of legendary Indian athlete Milkha Singh. While Farhan plays the title role in the film, actor Sonam Kapoor is the female lead.
New Delhi: After Railways Minister Dinesh Trivedi announced a nominal hike in train ticket fares today - the first in nine years - sources say his party chief Mamata Banerjee has told him to either resign or roll back the increased prices. Publically she has said that the hike is not acceptable.
The railway minister said, "I have done my duty... now I leave it to God." Referring to the precarious financial health of the railways, he said, "The railways was getting into the ICU and I have pulled it out of ICU. You cannot have everything together." The fares are nominal - two paise per km for the cheapest tickets and 30 paise per kilometre for the more expensive ones.
This was my Budget, not Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's, not Mamata Banerjee's, said Mr Trivedi, hours after being publically reprimanded by his party for hiking fares. The Railway minister held that he was "very happy with my budget...MPs across party lines have congratulated me. The general feeling is it is a very good budget. I have done my duty to the best of my ability." He said the country came first, he had taken a conscious decision and that "I have no clue" why his party was hitting out at his budget, for he had been "too busy" with his budget. He also said that he would resign if he was asked to by his leader, who he said he had not consulted on his budget, but insisted he would stand by good economics versus politics.
The final Triamool word comes from Nandigram in West Bengal, where Mamata Banerjee said, "I assure you that we will not accept this fare hike." Mr Trivedi said he would try to convince Ms Banerjee.
Immediately after Mr Trivedi presented his first rail budget, his party colleagues attacked him. First, the Trinamool's Rajya Sabha MP Derek O Brien, tweeted, "Railway Budget... what was all that about increasing fares across the board? Upper class... maybe ok... but all? Sorry, cannot agree." Then, fellow TMC minister Sudip Bandopadhyay demanded that the hike be withdrawn. "We are opposing because of our party leader Mamata Banerjee who has taught us to protect interests of poor people. We have told Dinesh Trivedi to withdraw the hike. The party has not discussed anything with minister on the railway budget," he said.
Ms Banerjee's diktat today causes huge embarrassment not just for Mr Trivedi, but for the UPA as well, where her party is a senior member. The Prime Minister praised Mr Trivedi's Railways budget, describing it as "forward-looking with emphasis on safety and modernisation." First reactions from passengers all over the country have been largely the same: that the fare hike is too nominal to really hurt passengers; they all said they would readily pay a little more for a safer journey. (Rail Budget: Passenger fares hiked after eight years; focus on safety, fiscal prudence) But with her 19 Lok Sabha MPs, Ms Banerjee has the power to topple the government. So no demand is dismissed out of hand. Referring to reports of her differences with the Railways Minister, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said this was "an internal TMC matter" and said issues like a potential rollback of fares would have to be "looked into."
"If you roll back the fares, you have to roll back safety too," countered the Railways Minister. His party chief's opposition was ideological, he said, making a point of the fact that "it is wrong to think that the railways ministry is run from Writer's Building (the seat of the West Bengal government in Kolkata)." The minister also said a difference of opinion did not mean a falling apart.
But sources say Ms Banerjee has been upset with Mr Trivedi for a while now, possibly because of his perceived closeness to the Congress. They say that Mr Trivedi meeting Rahul Gandhi recently did not wash well with Ms Banerjee, though Mr Trivedi had said it was to discuss some railway related matter. The, last week, Mr Trivedi said that his party may not be opposed to early general elections - Ms Banerjee later said that her MPs had been asked not to express their personal views.
As Dinesh Trivedi braves it out in political isolation, there is also a theory doing the rounds that Ms Banerjee and her minister could be playing good cop, bad cop. That the entire drama will play out to a denouement where Mr Trivedi will eventually roll back the fare hike and Ms Banerjee will be the political hero. For now, Mr Trivedi is resolute that there shall be no roll back.
Sitaram Yechury of the Left says Ms Banerjee's stand today is duplicitous. "The Rail Budget is cleared by the government of which Dinesh is a part then they (TMC) go and protest," he said.
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NEW DELHI, March 13 -- She is best known or her internaional films like Brick Lane (2007) and Bhopal: A Prayer For Rain (2011). But now actor Tannishtha Chatterjee will also be seen in the Sunny Deol-Kangana Ranaut, romantic comedy, I Love New Year.
"You can call it my first 'typical' Bollywood film," she says with a laugh, adding, "But like all my films, my role in this one will be very different from the usual fare. That's why I accepted the offer." Ask Tannishtha about her action hero co-star and she says, "Sunny is one of the best human beings I have ever met. He was very cordial on the sets."
Tannishtha has just wrapped up work on Joe Wright's Anna Karenina, starring Jude Law and Keira Knightley.
It is now more than a year since Sachin Tendulkar scored his 99th international hundred. On that day in the World Cup when he made South Africa look clueless for 40 overs in Nagpur, it seemed the 100th was imminent. At 37, he had just had his most productive year of a decorated career, and had made two masterly centuries against top opposition in the World Cup. (Also Read: Sachin Tendulkar's new look for Asia Cup)
Ms Banerjee's diktat today causes huge embarrassment not just for Mr Trivedi, but for the UPA as well, where her party is a senior member. The Prime Minister praised Mr Trivedi's Railways budget, describing it as "forward-looking with emphasis on safety and modernisation." First reactions from passengers all over the country have been largely the same: that the fare hike is too nominal to really hurt passengers; they all said they would readily pay a little more for a safer journey. (Rail Budget: Passenger fares hiked after eight years; focus on safety, fiscal prudence) But with her 19 Lok Sabha MPs, Ms Banerjee has the power to topple the government. So no demand is dismissed out of hand. Referring to reports of her differences with the Railways Minister, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said this was "an internal TMC matter" and said issues like a potential rollback of fares would have to be "looked into."
