Amitabh, Jaya to romance again

Kareena Kapoor shines at India Today Conclave

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Would do the same if asked to present budget again: Trivedi

New Delhi:  A day after he proposed a fare hike in the rail budget which has threatened his job, a defiant Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi today said he would repeat the same if he was asked to present the budget again.

Mr Trivedi, who Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has demanded to be sacked, also said that neither has he been contacted by Ms Banerjee nor he has spoken to her yet.

"I would do the same if I am asked to present the budget again," Mr Trivedi told reporters in New Delhi.

Mr Trivedi has in his budget proposed up to 20 per cent passenger fare hike in the rail budget for 2012-13, inviting the wrath of the Trinamool Congress chief who has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to sack him.

When it was pointed out that the fare hike proposals were contrary to his party's policy, he said "I have done it for the Railways and the country...not for party. If I have to please my party, then I am not doing my work."

On the possibility of a rollback of the hike in fares, Mr Trivedi said "the budget is in Parliament and I will be guided by Parliament. Parliament will be guided by the wisdom of people."

Referring to Lokpal, he said "why Lokpal has come? Because of the wisdom of the people. If Parliament tells me to cut down, then I will say okay I am cutting down on safety. But then do not blame me if something happens on safety."

Mr Trivedi said he is inspired by the great poet Rabindranath Tagore, one of whose poems reads "where the mind is without fear and the head is held high. It is all symbolic."

In an apparent dig at Ms Banerjee without naming her, Mr Trivedi said "what is the point of having Tagore's music at traffic junctions and not following him?"

Ms Banerjee, after becoming Chief Minister, has ensured playing of Tagore's songs at key traffic intersections in Kolkata.

"I want to carry myself with dignity. I follow the teachings of Tagore. That is why I invoke Tagore. My mind is without fear and head is held high", said the Railway Minister.

"I am receiving congratulatory messages from people from every walk of life across the country for the rail budget", Mr Trivedi claimed.

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Emraan Hashmi, Mallika Sherawat clash again!

Hrithik-Suzzane spooted with brood!

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Mamata strikes again, wants amendments to President Patil's address

New Delhi:  The latest panic attack for the Congress comes once again courtesy Mamata Banerjee. The West Bengal chief minister, who has made a habit of publicly challenging the policies of the UPA, has taken on the government once again over its new anti-terror agency.

Ms Banerjee has asked her MPs to move amendments to the address delivered by President Pratibha Patil to Parliament yesterday.  She wants the reference to the new National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) deleted. The President's address, which outlines the agenda of the government, formally launched the Budget session of Parliament.

Ms Banerjee has been the Group Captain for ten chief ministers who have objected to the NCTC on the grounds that its powers encroach upon those of state governments. The centre has delayed the commissioning of the NCTC till an extensive dialogue is completed with states. In the Lok Sabha today, Home Minister P Chidambaram defended the NCTC. "I believe NCTC is an absolute necessity; I do not believe it violates the federal structure," said Mr Chidambaram.

President Patil had said in para 91 of her speech , "The National Intelligence Grid and the National Counter Terrorism Centre aim to improve India's capability to counter  internal security threats." Because state governments have not lifted their objections to the NCTC, Ms Banerjee's party wants its mention to be removed.

Ms Banerjee late last year forced the government to suspend its reforms in retail just days after they were announced. With her 19 MPs, she is an indispensable partner in the UPA.  She also accused the centre of violating the principles of federalism late last year, when the centre introduced the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill in the Lok Sabha. Though the bill was passed there, it has yet to be cleared by the Rajya Sabha. She also accused the centre of violating the principles of federalism late last year, when the centre introduced the anti-corruption Lokpal Bill in the Lok Sabha.  Though the bill was passed there, it has yet to be cleared by the Rajya Sabha.

Though Ms Banerjee has said that she remains committed to the UPA, her recent gestures suggest she is not closed to exploring other options. She accepted invites to the swearing-in ceremonies for Akhilesh Yadav in UP and the Akali-BJP government in Punjab; the Congress took offense. Later, she said she would send representatives instead.

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Sunidhi Chauhan to tie the knot again!

By Hindustan Times
Singer Sunidhi Chauhan has decided to get married to music director Hitesh Sonik.
Though the 28-year-old Delhi-based singer was first married to director and choreographer Bobby Khan in 2002, they got divorced in a year’s time. Now, a decade later, Sunidhi will be again take the plunge.
“It is true. I’m getting married soon,” she reportedly confirmed.
Sunidhi, who is one of the top singers of the country, has been dating Hitesh since a year, just after they met during work. The singer refuses to give any other details about her awaited wedding.
Hitesh Sonik has composed music for Pyaar Ka Panchnama, My Friend Pinto and Stanley Ka Dabba.
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Rahul Bose to direct again!

By Hindustan Times

Mumbai, March. 6 -- Eleven years after his directorial debut, Everybody Says I'm Fine (2001), Rahul Bose gears up to go behind the camera again. After a decade of trying to raise funds, he's finally found a producer in Mahesh Bhupathi and Lara Dutta's Big Daddy Productions, with Anurag Kashyap jumping on board as co-producer. The film is an adaptation of Mohsin Hamid's novel Moth Smoke (2001) that was New York Times' 'Notable Book of the Year'.

"I read it 10 years ago and have lived with it for eight years," says Rahul, admitting the first draft was written six years ago and since then has been rewritten 15 times. "Preparations have been in-depth and the insecurity that every firsttime director goes through will be considerably less this time. Even our Indian technicians are more settled today, and with the producers being on the same page, I feel happy and safe with my international arthouse movie."

The film flags off on November 1, and Rahul plans to complete the shoot by the year-end, on location in Patiala, Delhi and Mumbai. "It'll be ready by March. We'll miss Berlin, but we should be able to showcase it at Cannes," he says, and is planning to tour with it to all the major festivals, including Sundance, Venice and Toronto.

Mira Nair's Reluctant Fundamentalist (2012), based on Mohsin's other cult novel, should be out by then as well. Rahul, who was recently honoured with an award for National Integration by the Maharana of Mewar Foundation, earlier bagged by the Dalai Lama, Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Shashi Tharoor and Teesta Setalvad, agrees that 2012 will be a memorable year.

"I started it with the Equations sports auction that raised over R1 crore for my charity, went on to bag an award at a time when there was an exaggerated sense of division between castes, religions and geographical communities, and should be finished with Moth Smoke by the year end," he says.

Prod him on his choice of Moth Smoke, and he says he was drawn by the madness, passion, sadness and subterranean eroticism running through the novel about a fatal and all-consuming love. So will he act in it? He laughs, "I want to, but the director doesn't want to cast me even though I've told him I'd be available for the casting couch."

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