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Last week on October 8^th Mumbai came alive with glamour and style. The red carpet was adorned by lovely ladies and handsome men at the event ‘Best Dressed
Awards 2011’, a joint venture of Mercedes Benz and People Magazine. The actress and fashionista who was the centre of attraction at the Grand Hyatt was Priyanka Chopra who won the title India’s Best Dressed Lady for 2011. The former Miss World proved to the audience that she is still in touch with her stylish side as she walked the red carpet wearing a gorgeous Lehnga designed by Bollywood’s ace designer, Manish Malhotra.

Priyanka’s excitement about the event started well ahead of Saturday. She expressed through her Twitter update as to how much she was looking forward to the event and how she couldn’t wait to wear the dress designed by Manish Malhotra. ‘Should be super fun’, she had written in the micro blogging website.

When questioned about how she felt about winning the title of the Best Dressed Lady for 2011, she answered with modesty “ I’m excited because I never thought I would get this title.” There is no denying that Priyanka deserved the title completely.

Apart from Priyanka, the showstopper Gul Panang looked fabulous in her python-print, body-hugging dress designed by Anita Dongre. The single shoulder dress helped to accentuate her well defined curves. Roopa Vohra’s jewelry and Aldo pumps complemented her beauty.

Priyanka’s First International Music Album

Priyanka has more than one reason to be happy. The actress has been working hard on her first ever international music album. She feels that creating music is a magical experience. Priyanka posted on her Twitter: “Packing packing…Craziness…off to LA tonight…Making music is magic! Will miss home but looking forward to new adventures”.

Priyanka has signed a contract with Desi Hits and Universal music to launch her first international music album that is expected to hit the market in the year 2012.

While talking about an event that’s a part of ‘Blender’s Pride Fashion Tour 2011’ she said ‘Yes, I am taking vocal lessons. I have been an actor all these years and now because I am singing I had to take vocal lessons and I am doing lot of vocal work’.

This leads us to another Big question about whether she would start singing for Bollywood movies. While addressing to this question, the national award winning actor explained “Right now I don’t have any such plans. Right now I am focusing on my international album for the time being”.

While talking about her new music album she said “The album is going to be pop music and I need lot of support from India. India has lot of talent and potential in the creative front… This is not only an opportunity for me but is an opportunity for India to become international”.

Cover of Jagjit Singh

The moving and soulful voice that bestowed upon the Hindi music industry several popular ghazals stilled forever on Monday. Jagjit Singh, 70 passed away due to brain hemorrhage. ‘Jhuki Jhuki si Nazar’, ‘Hontho se Choo lo Tum’ and ‘Tumko dekha toh yeh khayal aaya’ are some of his most famous songs of all times.  His death was not a blow just for his friends, family and fans but also a huge loss to the music industry which he constantly enriched with his lilting and soul-stirring melodies. He was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai due to brain hemorrhage on September 23^rd. He underwent a surgery the very day after which his health seemed to progress a bit. However, he succumbed to death on Monday and breathed his last with his wife Chitra Singh by his side.

The entire Bollywood film industry mourned for his death and paid respect to him through Twitter updates.

Superstar Amitabh Bachchan conveyed his condolences through twitter: “The sonorous silk voice of Jagjit Singh silent now!! A great loss to the world of music and Ghazal …Prayers and condolences.”

Music maestro A.R. Rahman expressed his grief on Twitter: “Rest in Peace Jagjitji…No one can replace your voice and the perfection you had towards your art”

He was cremated at 4:30 P.M. on Tuesday in South Mumbai’s Chandanwadi Crematorium. Several celebrities attended the funeral along with his relatives who arrived from Rajasthan.

Jagjit Singh was born on February 8^th, 1941, in Rajasthan to a Sikh couple. He completed his history post graduation degree from Haryana’s Kurukshetra University. He moved to the nation’s entertainment capital in the year 1965, where he started to search for a job as a singer.  It’s important to note that he is a recipient of Padma Bhushan award and has contributed generously to popular songs of Hindi films. He has sung in several languages like Gujarati, Nepali, Punjabi and Urdu. He has made about 50 albums in his career that contributed to devotional songs, ghazals and Bollywood music.

Music icons Asha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar expressed deep grief and believe that his music would live on forever.

 “I can’t imagine the days when I will no longer be able to hear his silken voice, no longer be able to talk to him or listen to his new songs. Now his old ghazals is all we have. His soothing voice, his warm hearted nature are all gone now. He was the pride of India. I also feel bad for his wife Chitra, she is all alone now,” expressed Asha Bhosle.

Lata Mangeshkar with whom Jagjit Singh has performed an old and famous album ‘Sajda’ expressed: “It is such a big loss, an end of an era. He was one artist who never needed films to get popular. He was an instant hit.”

The singer blessed the music world with splendid songs like numbers like “Hontho se chhoo lo tum” (“Prem Geet”), “Kal chaudhavin ki raat”, “Shaam se aankh mein namin si hai”,  “Tumko dekha toh yeh khayal aaya” (“Saath Saath”), “Kiska chehra”. “Jhuki jhuki si nazar” (“Arth”), “Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho”, “Hoshwalon ko khabar kya” (“Sarfarosh”) “Koi ye kaise bataaye” and “Badi nazuk hai” (“Jogger’s Park”).

Did you like Force? If yes, then get jumping as Vipul Shah has already planned for its sequel
Force 2 and has also determined that he will cast Vidya Balan and John Abraham together in this
sequel of Force. Back in 2007, when Salaa-E-Ishq released, fans liked the chemistry of John and
Vidya. According to the sources, Vipul wants the sequel of Force to be a bigger hit as compared
to the original movie, and so he decided to choose Vidya for the main lead role. There is good
news, which is that original director of Force Nishikant Kamal will be the one directing the
sequel as well. It seems that Vipul do not want to keep any stone unturned for a bigger success
of Force 2. Vipul is all excited for Force 2 and said that it will a new villain that John will be
fighting this time, and the adventure is going to be crazier than the original film.

Well the new villain is still under wraps, but the lead roles are out and it seems that the duo is
also excited to be working again opposite each other. For now, Vipul is not ready to share any
other detail about the sequel of the film, but hope that the shoot will hit the floor very soon. The
casting is still under process, and the final draft of the sequel is yet to be finalized. In fact, You
will be surprised to know that Vipul is not the first one to set eyes on this pair, as Sanjay Gupta
also tried to get this duo for his film Shootout at Wadala, but was unable to make his dream
turn into a reality. However, the magic spell was casted by Vipul, who was keen on pairing the
muscular John Abraham opposite of the magical lady Vidya Balan, who has got praises for her
looks and role in The Dirty Picture.

For months, there were speculations that Southern superstar Rajnikanth will be making a guest appearance in the upcoming Sci-fi Ra.One. The speculations have now been realized and the Tamil superstar has now shot for a brief cameo in the film.

Superstar Shahrukh Khan’s mega budget magnum opus is releasing on October 26^th, this year. This feat was made possible by Rajnikanth’s daughter Soundarya. The actor has been on a sabbatical for the last few months due to a sudden illeness.

On Monday, Rajni arrived at Ghai’s studio and shot for a scene. He had flown directly from Chennai only for this shoot. The scene is now being edited by Shahrukh’s team, assisted by Saundarya herself.

After this scene, Ra.One is now finally completed. Sound designer Resul Pookutty, who especially took time for this shoot said, “The shooting went off like a dream. Watching Rajini Sir and SRK together was indeed a dream come true. The shooting went off so gracefully and with so much finesse. This is truly a great tribute from one superstar to an icon.”

He added, “The ‘Ra.One’ team feels the film is complete now after Rajini Sir’s shooting. Both Rajini Sir and Shah Rukh in one frame together are like wildfire! They were so comfortable together. It was hard to imagine they had never shot together before.”

He gave full credit to Soundarya, and said, “She came to Mumbai with her team to oversee every detail of the shooting. There is no one like Rajinikanth. He proved it when he set aside his health concerns and came to Mumbai on Sunday.”

A member of the film’s team, who was present on the shoot said, “Shah Rukh and Rajini Sir hit it off instantaneously. It was almost like their sequence together was meant to happen.”

“Shah Rukh and Rajni Sir were so comfortable with one another. Shah Rukh made the senior superstar so comfortable. There was no doubt that Shah Rukh is Rajinikanth’s fan and he didn’t hide it on Sunday afternoon as he faced the icon for the camera,” the member said.

Shahrukh later tweeted that he felt humbled and had tears in his eyes at the generosity that Mr. Rajnikanth showed to him.