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”).

Wish of millions of fans of Madhuri Dixit is about to come true. Yes, the rumors are true and she is moving back to India, along with her husband and kids.

The Dhak-Dhak girl, who created a huge storm with her last appearance on the TV show Jhalak Dikhlaja, is now going to live in Mumbai.

While talking to a daily newspaper in Mumbai, she said, “I think this was going to happen one day anyway…it’s pre-ordained. We are all very excited, the kids especially.”

Madhuri left movies and married a US based NRI doctor in 1998. They have two sons together. Her older son is in class 3^rd and younger one is in class 1^st. School hunting has already started for the tiny tots. Dr. Nene, Madhuri’s husband is also in talks with many top hospitals in the city, as he plans to start his practice through one of them.

Madhuri said, “Everything is changing rapidly in India. It’s a land of opportunities. There is so much to do there. So we thought this is the right time.”

When asked about the reason behind this big step, she said that she and her husband want their kids to grow up in an Indian environment. “It would be a great experience culturally for them. This is where their roots are. They are at an age where they can adapt quickly. They’ll be giving up their friends here, but they are looking forward to making friends there. I want them to learn Hindi and Marathi. I think it will be an exciting time for them too.”

The family will move back in the same apartment in Juhu where Madhuri used to stay before she moved to US.

Image via Wikipedia

Karan Johar is not only a successful movie maker and a prime player in Bollywood, but also a man who makes it to controversial news every now and then. Karan’s sexual orientation has been a question for a long time for both fans and his friends in the industry. Karan Johar pours his heart out to Simi Garewal in her talk show, ‘India’s Most Desirable’.

While asked about his sexual orientation in the talk show, filmmaker Karan Johar openly admits that he is 39 years old, single and has never fallen in love with anyone. He admits to the fact that he is scared to commit to any girl and has never once been in any relationship. It’s a well known fact that plenty of rumors surround his sexual orientation. In this show although he doesn’t clear the air, he comes up with a reasonable explanation and clearly reveals that he is not bothered about what the world thinks of him.

Answering the question about his sexual orientation, the filmmaker said, “It doesn’t bother me when people talk about my bisexual orientation. Obviously if I am 39 and single people will question me. Why should I say I am not gay or I am not bisexual or trisexual?”

As he is a very good friend of Kareena Kapoor, he also spoke about Saif and Kareena’s imminent wedding. After stating that he and Kareena are best friends, he said “They (Kareena and Saif) are going to marry and make the best fairy tale wedding. I love Kareena and I am the bride’s best friend. They are the royal couple of the country.”

While the interview was over, he also made some pretty good moves to songs like Sheila Ki Jawani and Munni Badnam Hui.

Another spicy news that the movie maker has gotten himself into is refusing to interview Paris Hilton. A reliable source reveals that the stage was all set for the interview. However, the media team of Hilton had laid down several conditions. It is believed that Karan was told not to ask any questions about her sex tapes, jail term or drug use.  Although initially Karan accepted to all these terms, he finally backed out.

Karan has never been instructed on what to talk on his talk show and hence he decided to drop out of the Hilton interview. Sources reveal that Paris’ media agents were completely aware of the format of the show and had agreed only after they had watched a few episodes. However, they kept on adding to the terms and conditions that Karan grew tired of it.

Rumors are around that the media agent of Paris is trying to pacify the filmmaker to consider the interview. We do not know how far this is true or how successful they might be. We would just have to wait and watch if the fashion icon can make it to KJo’s couch.

After immense support from every section and class of people in India, Anna Hazare has also started getting a lot of support from celebrities too. One of the latest ones is the King Khan himself. He has expressed that he firmly believes in the anti-corruption movement.”

Talking at a press conference during a recent event, Mr. Khan said, “I think we all support the cause. I think there should be no corruption in the country. I think this whole aspect is becoming so large and so big and there are so many aspects of it that we need to look at it seriously, quietly, step-backedly. We just can’t keep saying we support anti-corruption.

Shahrukh Khan was present at the opening of a hotel. However, he is also in strong support of holding serious discussion over this issue. “All of us want to support anti-corruption. It’s the worst kind of stigma that one can have for the country. But this wonderful cause has so many aspects too it….I think as an intelligent section of the society, we have to think about the implementation of it. What are the constitutional aspects of it? What are the parliamentarian processes of the same? What is the practicality of the same, how is it going to happen,” he said.

Concluding his answer, he added, “Unless we do that, we just keep talking about it, we just keep doing agitations. We should think how to take the best out of it so that it does not die out. That’s the second step.”Before Shahrukh, Mr. Bachchan had also expressed his solidarity with Anna Hazare when he was incarcerated by the government on 16th of August 2011. Mr. Hazare is on an indefinite strike for the implementation of a strong anti-corruption bill in the country.