Monday, August 31, 2009
Singer Christine Anderson's Image Gallery
Christine Anderson
Christine Anderson
Christine Anderson
Christine Anderson
Christine Anderson
Hot & Sexy Model Alexia Lei's Exclusive Images
Alexia Lei
Alexia Lei
Alexia Lei
Alexia Lei
Alexia Lei
Aimee Butler's Exclusive Hot & Sexy Images
Aimee Butler
Aimee Butler
Aimee Butler
Aimee Butler
Aimee Butler
25 Sexy Girls on a Boat Pics
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Has Bollywood shut its eyes to movies on farmers?
New Delhi, Emaciated farmers ploughing the fields, parched fields, scheming land sharks, broken down huts – these may reflect the reality of many Indian villages, but seldom get captured in Bollywood films.
Audiences prefer an escape from the hard life of rural, agrarian India on screen, while filmmakers resort to idyllic, picture postcard landscapes in films with villages as their backdrop.
Actor-producer Sohail Khan’s attempt to revive the forgotten rural essence in Hindi cinema with “Kisaan”, which released Friday, has got a lukewarm response and not-so-encouraging reviews. It revolves around farmers being forced to sell their lands to rich businessmen.
“Such films are appealing only if they are packaged in a viewer-friendly manner. Movies like ‘Mother India’ and the lot were epics and brought about an absolute change in movies thenceforth…The audience will only watch such films when the right minds work on them and make them in an authentic yet mass appeal manner,” Madhur Bhandarkar told IANS.
Agriculture’s share in India’s GDP has plummeted from 46 percent in 1960 to 20 percent at present despite the fact that about 70 percent of the population is still engaged in the rural sector. Simultaneously, films on the rural economy have also dwindled.
Puneet Sira, who has directed “Kisaan”, says his movie is a tribute to the country.
“India is going through an economic change and today more than ever, people are paying attention to the problems of the country… I am sure after ‘Kisaan’, we will realise that the audience is aware and ready for such issues to be brought on the big screen. We owe a lot to our motherland and this movie is a befitting tribute,” said Sira.
Arbaaz Khan, who plays one of the male leads, said: “Farmer deaths have reached an all time high in our country. It’s not like it’s a problem that has just started. On the contrary, it’s a problem our country has been facing for centuries. We just decided to make a film on the basic difficulty faced by our motherland.”
If “Kisaan” hasn’t got an encouraging response, “Summer 2007″ by producer Atul Pandey last year that focused on the issue of farmer suicides in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region was also a no show.
In fact, Bollywood has only had a handful of successful movies throwing light on farmers like “Do Bigha Zamin” (1953) and “Mother India” (1957) apart from “Upkar”, which was made by Manoj Kumar on late prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s request.
The 1965 slogan of “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisaan” hailed the soldier and the farmer as icons of patriotism and hard work. But today the Indian farmer is no longer counted upon as a hero in the nation’s growth, not even on the big screen.
Bhandarkar blames “lack of audience” as the main reason for the rural theme getting sidelined in Bollywood.
“Movie viewers usually go to cinema halls to escape reality. Most of the audience is made up of mall-hopping youngsters who will not be able to relate to the topic and hence will not enjoy it,” he said.
“These films should be presented in a way that best suits people’s mentality. Urban India is very unaware of the problems faced by farmers and unless they (films) are presented in a particular manner they will not work,” he said.
Mahesh Bhatt too feels that such films are not commercially viable.
“They are very appealing but not very financially viable. They are viable only if the names making these films are big or intelligence is used in making such projects. Filmmakers don’t want to use topics which might have any chances of not making it big and would rather stick to money minting projects,” he said.
In recent times Aamir Khan’s “Lagaan”, which was set in a village in pre-independent India, did exceptionally well. But many feel the film’s success was due to the sub theme of cricket.
Apparently, Bollywood perfectionist Aamir has shown interest in producing a film based on the plight of farmers in Bhopal. Anusha Rizvi, a former journalist with first hand knowledge of the issue, is going to direct it while Raghuvir Yadav has been roped in to play the lead.
“It’s not that these issues are irrelevant; on the contrary, they are more relevant now than ever before. These topics are very good and should be touched upon more often. There would be a large audience which would be interested in watching such meaningful cinema,” said Bhatt.
Indian-origin beauty is Miss Bollywood UK
London, A British beauty of Indian origin will be whisked off for a Bollywood role after being crowned the first ever Miss Bollywood UK at a gala event in Birmingham.
Reena Patel, from London, beat off 14 rivals – whittled down from a long list of 900 – at the star-studded event Saturday night to win the title which comes with the offer of a Bollywood role and a year’s modelling contract.
The runner up was Simran Chadha from Manchester and the third place was taken by Stacey Fox of Essex in an ethnically diverse contest held at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham.
The judges included Bollywood actress Manisha Koirala, said Miss Bollywood UK CEO Zia Choudhury, a Leicester-based model and actor.
Patel, 23, now waits to be flown off to India to live the life of a Bollywood celebrity and will be automatically entered into the finals of Miss Universe Great Britain which will give her an opportunity to compete for the title of Miss Universe.
“The appeal in Bollywood is the song and dance, the glamour, the people – it is after all the largest film industry in the world,” Choudhury said.
“Suddenly we’ve got this cross-over between Hollywood and Bollywood which adds to the authenticity of the Indian film industry. It’s an exciting time to be part of Bollywood.”
The contest was open to women from all ethnicities as organisers wanted it to be as diverse as possible.
Patel follows the success of Liza Lazarus, a Welsh beauty who scooped the Miss Universe UK title last year, and then found herself starring with Salman Khan in the period drama “Veer”.
Hot and Spicy Bollywood Actress Minissha Lamba in a sexy dress
Lamba's long term ambition was to become a journalist. While studying for a degree in Delhi, Lamba pursued modelling as a hobby and soon became a well-placed model in the Indian modelling industry. Examples of Lamba's early modelling work include several television commercials for companies such as LG, Sony, Cadbury, Hajmola, Airtel, Sunsilk, and also others.In 2004, she majored in English with honours from Miranda House, University of Delhi.Then came her first movie in 2005 called "Yahaan", which was directed by Shoojit Sircar.In 2008, she acted in Siddharth Anand's film Bachna Ae Haseeno which stars Bipasha Basu, Deepika Padukone along with Ranbir Kapoor in the lead roles. This movie is produced by Yashraj Films.She will be soon featuring in a Shyam Benegal film to be released by mid September. It is a film about a father-daughter relationship staring Boman Irani as her father.
Minissha Lamba
Minissha Lamba
Minissha Lamba
Minissha Lamba
Minissha Lamba
Friday, August 28, 2009
Nude Model Arrested at an NYC Museum
After letting a naked pole dancer loose on the New York city subway, renowned photographer is now taking over the Met for his nude photography project. It was for his project that model Kathleen Neill was found posing without a stitch on at the museum, in full view of tourists, families and art buffs alike.
She was finally arrested by the police for nudity in public, a claim that the model's attorney dismisses as "ridiculous", pointing out that the Met is full of nude art.
Hey, we're all for exposure, but the difference between a Botticelli nude in oil and Kathleen Neill in the flesh are pretty apparent, no?
I Have Never... Been A Bikini Model : Mashoom Singha
Sitting Pretty: Mashoom Singha, supermodel
Cruel heat partnered in crime by a barren landscape, ramshackled walls and sweaty work conditions. What's glamorous about that? Enter celebrity photographer Jatin Kampani, Elle fashion magazine editor Nonita Kalra, make-up artist Mehra Kohla and a white-and-gold Louis Vuitton bikini. Just like that, a stellar team had transformed Colaba's rundown mill into a potential glossy magazine cover. Oh, and I was there too.
It wasn't the first time I was going to feature on the cover of Elle Magazine, but I was still excited as hell. We were shooting a summer fashion spread for the next issue. I could feel the heat.
Shot 1:
I tried my best to look unfazed in the scorching Mumbai heat. The sea on one side of Mukesh Mills provided some respite, but the multiple coats of bronzer I was breathing under had the upper hand. Flanked by Jatin and the Elle crew on one side, and local fishermen onlookers on the other, I stood tall in the middle, clad in nothing but a bathing suit. The day had just begun. I had five more changes to go.
Shot 2:
The next shot entailed a different look, but the same location. I was required to sit pretty on a couch. Sounds relaxing? Not if the couch is mounted on a taxi! The photograph needed to be taken from a certain angle, so to make matters easy for the photographer (and worse for me), the cab was slightly elevated. I was trying my best not to lose my balance, and deliver the desired expression at the same time.
Shot 3, 4, 5 and 6 continued - a montage of bright summer wear, bright lights and bright sun - the scene evaporated. Couple of weeks later, it all solidified into one glossy magazine cover (and spread), hot off the press. Seeing the pictures in print and on hoardings, I felt a great feeling of accomplishment. A happy rush I can't describe.
Fear of Flying
Another interesting magazine cover shoot I did was for L'Officiel in 2008, where I was posing for Jatin Kampani's camera once again. We were shooting on the terrace of a service apartment building in Colaba. What you can see in the picture is a flying model (me) in a pink bikini against the panoramic view of the Arabian Sea. What you don't see is that I was jumping up and down on the building's tanker, my fear of heights doing nothing for the fun. Every time I jumped, I felt like I was going to fall off the edge. But part of being a model is not letting your fears surface, while you strike a connection with the lens.
Happy Face
If you are happy while doing a photo shoot, it shows in the picture. Even if you aren't flashing a toothy grin at the camera. When I think back at my first magazine cover shoot (and the subsequent ones), I can't help but smile. They were great fun - a flurry of behind-the-scenes excitement, nervousness and sheer talent.