I'm arguably Mithun-da's biggest fan: Sajid Khan

By Hindustan Times

Sajid Khan, who has brought together three veteran actors - Rishi Kapoor, Randhir Kapoor and Mithun Chakraborty in Housefull 2, says his personal favourite is Mithun-da whom he has idolised ever since he was a kid. "Dada is my number one star since I was born. I have never ever
hero-worshipped anyone more than Dada. Arguably, I am Mithun-da's biggest fan. I used to do his mimicry, I used to talk like him, I have seen every film of Dada," the 40-year-old said here in an interview.

"The only person in this entire film and in my all three films, whose first shot I took and touched his feet, that is my Dada. I love Dada so much," he added.Meanwhile, Sajid says the public sees him as a brand. That's why after delivering a hit like "Housefull", he feels a slight pressure of not disappointing his audience.

"There is always pressure. If you make a flop film then you are under pressure to make a hit film. If you make a hit film then you are under pressure to surpass your own standard or at least deliver another hit because the audience also has expectations.

"You know that Sajid Khan is a brand name and that you will get a family entertainer from him. I will never change that. The only pressure on me is that I should never disappoint my audience," he added.

Produced by Sajid Nadiadwala, the film also features Boman Irani, Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, John Abraham, Shreyas Talpade, Asin, Jacqueline Fernandez, Zarine Khan and Shazahn Padamsee. It hits theatres April 5.

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India world's largest recipient of arms, Pak third

Stockholm:  India is the world's largest recipient of arms while South Korea is second and Pakistan and China are tied in third place, says the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in a study on international arms transfers.

The volume of worldwide arms transfers in 2007-11 was 24 per cent higher than in 2002-06 and the five largest arms importers in 2007-11 were all Asian states, said a press communique.

The data revealed that Asia and Oceania accounted for a whopping 44 per cent of global arms imports, followed by Europe 19 per cent, the Middle East 17 per cent, and the Americas 11 per cent. Africa was the lowest with 9 per cent.

India was the world's largest recipient of arms, accounting for 10 per cent of global arms imports.

The other large recipients of arms in 2007-11 were South Korea (6 per cent of arms transfers), Pakistan (5 per cent), China (5 per cent) and Singapore (4 per cent).

"Major Asian importing states are seeking to develop their own arms industries and decrease their reliance on external sources of supply," Pieter Wezeman, senior researcher with the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme, was quoted as saying.

"A large share of arms deliveries is due to licensed production."

India's neighbour China was the largest recipient of arms exports in 2002-06, but it fell to fourth place in 2007-11.

Between 2002-06 and 2007-11, the volume of Chinese arms exports increased by 95 per cent and now China ranks as the sixth largest supplier of arms in the world.

"While the volume of China's arms exports is increasing, this is largely a result of Pakistan importing more arms from China," said Paul Holtom, director of the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme.

"China has not yet achieved a major breakthrough in any other significant market."

The study said that major suppliers continued to deliver weapons to countries affected by the events of the Arab Spring.

Despite a review in 2011 of its arms transfer policies towards the region, the US remains a major supplier to both Tunisia and Egypt. In 2011, the US delivered 45 M-1A1 tanks to Egypt and agreed to deliver 125 more, the communique said.

"The transfer of arms to states affected by the Arab Spring has provoked public and parliamentary debate in a number of supplier states. However, the impact of these debates on states' arms export policies has, up to now, been limited," said Mark Bromley, senior researcher with the SIPRI Arms Transfers Programme.

The think-tank also noted that in 2011 Saudi Arabia placed an order with the US for 154 F-15SA combat aircraft, which was not only the most significant order placed by any state in 2011 but also the largest arms deal for at least two decades.

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Subhash Ghai gets relief in Haryana land case

By Hindustan Times

Filmmaker Subhash Ghai has got a breather in the Haryana land case after a court dismissed a public suit filed by people of Badhsa village against his acquiring 20 acres of land for setting up a film institute. Dismissing the plea, the court vacated the stay on the land purchased from the
panchayat in Badhsa village in Jhajjar district, the filmmaker's laywer Sanjay Sharma said Friday.

"The filmmaker had purchased 20 acres land from the gram panchayat for the construction of his institute with the permission of financial commissioner of Haryana, however, the villagers filed a PIL claiming that they are the proprietors of the land, which was not actually true," Sharma told IANS.

"However, now the Bahadurgarh court has dismissed the plea and we can begin the construction of our institute now," he added.

On March 1, after hearing the arguments of both sides, the court had reserved the order and was to be pronounce the verdict March 5, but later the date was fixed for March 16.

Ex-sarpanch of Badhsa Balbir Singh and former member of panchayat Rambir Singh filed the petition claiming that the land belonged to village communities and the gram panchayat and the government had no right to sell it to a private firm.

Ghai is equally delighted with the court's decision.

"I am glad that judiciary has given us justice and acknowledged the national importance for developing the skill based talent and technicians and media professionals nationwide," Ghai said in a statement.

The Badhsa Gram Panchayat had sent a resolution to the Haryana government January 6, 2010, to permit them to sell land to Subhash Ghai's Mukta Arts. On September 22, 2010, the government allowed the panchayat to sell 20 acres of land at the rate of Rs 2,409,000 per acre. The deal was sealed October 11, 2010.

Earlier, Additional Civil Judge (Senior) Rajesh Sharma had issued notice to the Haryana government and Mukta Arts chairman Subhash Ghai and had stayed Mukta Arts from performing any type of activity on the 20 acres of land it purchased from the Gram Panchayat of Badhsa.

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Be patient, don't malign the party, says BJP to Yeddyurappa

Bangalore:  The BJP says that it is considering the demand made rather aggressively by BS Yeddurappa to be reinstated as Chief Minister of Karnataka. "We are a democratic party but we do not take decisions under pressure. We will come to the right decision and I would advise Mr Yeddyurappa to be patient and not do anything to malign the party," said the party president Nitin Gadkari today. Mr Yedyurappra earlier today allegedly rejected an offer to fly to Nagpur for peace talks.

Instead, the rebel leader is focussed on a five-star resort on the outskirts of Bangalore which has emerged as his centre of power. Here, 67 of the party's 120 MLAs are parked in a show of loyalty to Mr Yeddyurappa. Their camp is a clear message from Mr Yeddyurappra that unless he is reinstated as chief minister, the BJP could see a split in its Karnataka branch. 10 MPs from the BJP have also threatened to resign in support Mr Yeddyurappa.

Mr Yeddyurappa's group is demanding a legislature party meeting at which it can demonstrate its numbers. An additional pressure tactic lies in the fact that the dissidents are fielding their own candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections - Yeddyurappa loyalist B J Puttaswamy - in addition to the party's official candidates.

In July, Mr Yeddyurappa was forced by the BJP to quit office after a report on illegal mining indicted him for corruption. Last week, a court dismissed those charges. Mr Yeddyurappa says that's ground enough for his return to power.

But the man who was hand-picked by Mr Yeddyurappa as his successor, Sadananda Gowda, is reportedly unwilling to quit office. He said today that he is focussing on his job, and will respect whatever decision is taken by Mr Gadkari. One of the reasons why Mr Yeddyurappra has isolated his supporters at a hotel is to ensure the current chief minister cannot influence or woo them.

Mr Yeddyurappa and his family and he are accused of graft in other cases for buying land reserved for public use at bargain prices, allegedly made possible by Mr Yeddyurappa when he was chief minister. He was jailed in October last year for those cases and spent nearly a month in jail.

"After the HC order we are thinking about this. We are a democratic party but we do not take decisions under pressure. We will come to the right decision and I would advise Mr Yeddyurappa to be patient and not do anything to malign the party."

"Even earlier after the Lok Ayukta order we had replaced Yeddyurappa even though we had some reservations about it."

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Shyamalan stalls release of Amitanh Bachchan film?

By Hindustan Times

A few years ago, a heavily-bearded Amitabh Bachchan was often spotted roaming around places like Shimla and Nashik. Soon it was revealed that the superstar was shooting for director Shoojit Sircar’s film, Johnny Mastana (earlier titled Shoebite).

But the film hasn’t hit the theatres as yet, apparently at the behest of Hollywood filmmaker Manoj Night Shyamalan.

The story goes like this: In 1994, Shyamalan sold the rights to his story Labour Of Love to Fox Studios for a reported sum of $750,000, but the movie wasn’t made. Years later, UTV bought the rights of Labour Of Love to make into Johnny Mastana since Shyamalan was apparently not keen on turning the story into a film.

So UTV Motion Pictures — after buying the rights — almost completed the film with Bachchan in the lead. “But as Johnny Mastana neared completion, Shyamalan changed his mind and stated that he wanted to make the film based on his story. Later, Shyamalan, along with Fox, informed UTV that they shouldn’t release the film until the Hollywood filmmaker made his own version in the US and released it. But since there’s no talk of Shyamalan’s film based on Labour of Love, the Big B’s film is stuck indefinitely,” says an industry insider.

At the moment, Shyamalan is busy shooting the adventure/sci-fi film After Earth, that toplines actors Will Smith and Isabelle Fuhrman.

While UTV officials were unavailable for a comment, Sircar stated: “I hope UTV figures (things) out and completes whatever negotiations they have to do with Fox. It’s a good film not only for the actors and the director, but also the technicians. We have put our blood and sweat into it.” He confirms that Johnny Mastana’s storyline is based on Shyamalan’s original idea. “Rensil D’Silva has developed our script. M Knight Shyamalan never made it into a film. UTV needs to figure out everything because my job was to just direct it.”

Early roadblock
Shoebite is the story of a man in his early 60s named John Pereira. He sets out on a journey of self discovery and penance, which leads him to rediscover his love for his wife in the twilight years of their marriage.

The film had hit headlines in 2008 after the Delhi High Court granted an order restraining director Shoojit Sircar and producers UTV from infringing Percept’s copyright on their film, Johnny Walker. Reportedly, Sircar was to make Johnny Walker for Percept but later approached UTV with the same subject, renamed Shoebite. Percept approached the High Court, which ruled in their favour.

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