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November 16, 2006

Aishwarya Rai: still India's most beautiful

Vinay Kumar, Vinayworld.blogspot.com, November 15, 2006

Aishwarya Rai was born in the south Indian state of Karnataka in Mangalore on 1st Nov 1973. She was younger of the two siblings, her brother being 3 yrs elder. When she was about 4 years old her family moved to Bombay permanently. Her father worked as a merchant navy officer. Aishwarya did her schooling at Arya Vidya Mandir, Santacruz. Academically, she did very well and earned her position as the head girl of her school. Ash chose the science stream while at DG Ruparel College, her favorite subject being Zoology. Aishwarya wanted to do medicine, but circumstances didn't let her. Instead she chose Architecture and passed the interview at Raheja College with flying colors. By this time, Aishwarya had started getting modelling assignments. She then decided to take a break from architecture and concentrate on modelling. From that point there was no looking back. Ash became a household name with the pepsi ad campaign. She was crowned Miss Femina World and went on to win the Miss world title at Sun City in 1994. Ash had now joined the Bollywood film industry and working under many prestigious banners.

Her film debut in Mani Rathnam’s ‘Iruvar’ (1997) received critical acclaim and her performance in Rahul Rawail’s ‘…Aur Paar Ho Gaya’ (1997) garnered her the Best Female Debutante Award. In 2000 she was awarded Best Actress by FilmFare and Zee Cine for her work in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam”, in that same year, nominated for Best SUPPORTING Actress for her special appearance in Aditya Chopra’s MOHABBATEIN. In 2001 Ash was nominated for FilmFare’s Best Actress Award for Satish Kaushik’s “Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai”.

Ash’s star continued to rise in 2002 working again with Sajay Leela Bhansali in ‘Devdas’. ‘Devdas’ is the most ambitious and most successful film in Bollywood history. It became the first Bollywood picture to ever receive a special screening at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and broke box-office records in India and the United States. Daily Variety’s (06/12/02) Derek Elley describes ‘Devdas’ as “…some of the most sumptuous production values in Bollywood history…” Elley describes Ash as “almost Audrey Hepburn-like”, Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann says “I loved her in Devdas” and Julia Roberts calls her “the world’s most beautiful woman”.

Some of her new films to be released in 2007:

# Singularity (2006/I) (in production)

# Bhopal Movie (2007) (in production)

# Chaos (2007) (in production)

# The Rebel (2007) (announced)

# Sarkar 2 (2007) (pre-production)

# Jodha-Akbar (2007) (filming)

# The Heart of India (2006) (filming)

# Guru (2006/I) (post-production)

# Dhoom 2 (2006) (post-production)

# The Last Legion (2007) (completed)

Posted by bhola at 09:49 AM | Comments (0)

November 04, 2006

Centre urged to declare entire Bhopal as gas-hit

Central Chronicle, November 2, 2006

Bhopal.net comment: To get a perspective on this bid to buy votes in non-affected parts of the city, please also read:
The sordid political truths behind the Rs 1,544.84 crore payout to gas tragedy victims
and
Politician finds $180 million for fountains and badminton courts while children starve and families drink poisoned water.

Uma Shankar Gupta, who tabled the motion. Read the linked reports for the story of his birthday cake

Bhopal, Nov 3: The Madhya Pradesh government today passed a non-official resolution urging the Centre to declare all 56 wards of this city as affected by the 1984 Gas Tragedy - the world's worst industrial disaster - and thereby eligible for compensation. Replying to a discussion on the resolution tabled by Umashankar Gupta (Bharatiya Janata Party), Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Babulal Gaur said, "all wards were affected by the tragedy on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984.

"At that juncture, the Centre did not consult the state government while reaching an understanding with Union Carbide. Therefore those in the remaining 20 wards are being denied compensation."

Referring to the AR Antulay Committee's recommendations, Gaur said that the Committee also suggested review of the Centre's decision. "At a Group of Ministers meeting in Delhi, the Centre later recommended inclusion of all the wards for compensation. However, compensation has been provided to all those who submitted medical certificates," he pointed out.

Madhya Pradesh has urged the Centre to arrange for an additional Rs 763 crore for the 20 wards so that a minimum of Rs 25,000 could be provided per person.

Raising a voice of protest, former Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation minister Arif Aqueel blamed the BJP for delay in declaring entire Bhopal as Gas Tragedy-affected as that party's government took no action on the matter while in power at the Centre.

Ram Lakhan Sharma (Communist Party of India-Marxist) and IMP Verma (Bahujan Samaj Party) also took part in the discussion.

Posted by bhola at 07:22 AM | Comments (0)