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London, March 29 (IANS) Pop star Madonna was recently accused of conducting a “puppy parade” by children’s charity Save The Children.

The charity criticised Madonna’s plans to adopt a second child, reports mirror.co.uk.

The Pop star is set to go to Malawi to adopt a four-year-old girl Mercy James. But the charity claims that the orphans should be taken care of by their extended families and kids going abroad is not the solution.

Charity’s spokesperson Dominic Nutt said: “What Madonna is doing verges on a puppy parade. People like her are looking for the most beautiful child. They wouldn’t choose a child with a disability or special needs. It doesn’t help to take one child out of an orphanage to a huge palace and buy them a pony. All these children who may only have one parent, or no parent, cannot be transported to Notting Hill by pop stars. Madonna’s heart may be in the right place, but other mothers will look up to her and she’s setting a terrible example.”

London, March 29 (IANS) Oscar winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow is scared that “Slumdog Millionaire” actress Freida Pinto will steal her 1 million pounds-a-year contract with Estee Lauder.

Paltrow replaced Elizabeth Hurley in 2005 as the younger and fresher face of Estee Lauder cosmetics. She is now afraid that Pinto will upstage her, reports dailymail.co.uk.

A source said: “Gwyneth makes millions through her sponsorship deals and it’s her commercial work that’s keeping her rich. The news that Estee Lauder is in talks with Freida caught her by complete surprise. Losing the Estee Lauder deal would be a huge blow to Gwyneth. She’s waiting for an exact outline of what Freida will be doing for the brand and hoping she won’t be sidelined.”

London, March 29 (IANS) Madonna is facing growing opposition to her plan to adopt another child from Malawi. Children’s charity Save the Children has urged the singer to rethink adoption, media reports said Sunday.

The 50-year-old star has filed papers in Malawi setting out her intention to adopt an orphan called Mercy James, the Sky News reported.

She hopes to take her back to the US if a Malawi court approves the plan. Madonna already has an adopted son from Malawi. However, there were reports the family of the toddler is fighting the adoption.

Dominic Nutt of Save The Children said the adoption of a child from an orphanage was a bad idea.

“We believe they are better looked after in their own country as far as is possible,” he said.

He suggested that the child’s extended family were better placed to look after the girl.

“International adoption can actually exacerbate the problem it hopes to solve,” said Nutt.

Questions were asked after Madonna adopted her first child David Banda with her then husband Guy Ritchie.

The pair took the Malawian child into their London home in 2006 when he was 13 months old. Their quest for a sister for him has sparked renewed criticism.

Mercy’s grandmother hit out at the Material Girl star, who will reportedly travel to Malawi Sunday to spend time with the girl and launch proceedings.

Lucy Chekechiwa, 61, told the Sun: “Why doesn’t this singer pick other children? It is stealing. I want to go to court, I won’t let her go.”

Mercy has been living in a Malawi orphanage and Chekechiwa claimed it had been agreed the child would go to her when she reaches the age of six.

According to the paper, Mercy’s 18-year-old mother died five days after her birth.

Nutt added: “We urge any celebrity to set an example, to follow internationally agreed procedures designed to protect the child, and to ensure that the child in question has no other options in their home community.”

The southern African nation of Malawi is one of the world’s most impoverished. Ravaged by Aids, the population have a life expectancy of just 44 years.

Madonna’s spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg was not immediately available for comment.

Washington, Mar 28 (ANI): American actor Jamie Kennedy is set to bare all in his new film.

The 38-year-old funnyman, who’s said to be dating Jennifer Love Hewitt, plays a porn star in the film Finding Bliss, and is seen taking steamy acting lessons from co-star Leelee Sobieski’s character.

‘The hardest part was being naked. I have a full frontal nudity scene,” Contactmusic quoted Kennedy as telling In Touch magazine.

‘I remember that day; I had them turn the heat up,’ he added. (ANI)

London, March 27 (IANS) Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle will head the jury at the Shanghai Film Festival June 13-21, the announcement coinciding with the premier of “Slumdog Millionaire”, the winner of this year’s best-picture Oscar, in mainland China.

Boyle suggested that watching festival selections made abroad would enable him approach the festival with an open mind, reports contactmusic.com.

He also indicated that he would like to film a feature in China.

“When you have a city that is full of people and stories like Mumbai, Beijing or Shanghai, it’s just so much excitement and potential for a filmmaker,” he said.

London, March 27 (IANS) Pop diva Madonna has ditched her 22-year-old model boyfriend Jesus Luz and told fans on social networking website Twitter that she’s glad to be single again.

The 50-year-old singer, who is due to adopt a little girl from Malawi this weekend, whom she has wanted for nearly two years, joined her manager Guy Oseary on the micro-blogging site for a 10-minute chat with supporters, reports the Daily Mail online.

“Hello Madonna, honey I am glad you are single again…you made your best music as a single woman,” wrote a fan to her during the session.

Madonna apparently replied to the same: “Not as glad as I am.”

Speculations are rife that the “Music” crooner dumped her beau after Malawian officials questioned the appropriateness of her dating a man almost half her age.

‘Murder’ made Mallika Sherawat and she took full advantage of the international attention she got after the small role in Jackie Chan’s ‘The Myth’.

She tried to change her image with ‘Pyar Ke Side Effects’ and succeeded to an extent. But that was it.

Now her last hit was ‘Welcome’ where she had a bit role.

Two of her more recent movies ‘Ugly aur Pagli’ and ‘Maan Gaye Mughal-e-Azam’ failed badly.

But she’s not ready to give up yet.

Actresses she considers competition like Ash are still going strong. Plus there’s the rise of upstarts like Freida Pinto who came out of no where and getting loads of attention and money, thanks to ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.

We can sense Madame M fuming with jealousy

She was at the Indian Film Festival in Los Angeles recently and now the news is that the international brand ‘Playboy’ (not the magazine, but the perfume) has roped her in for its launch in India, which should happen anytime mid-April.

Now it’s not clear as to whether she will be endorsing the brand or be merely inaugurating the launch party.

Madame Mallika is known for a lot of stunts and antics. This could very well be one. -

New Delhi, Mar.27 (ANI): If the Congress’ controversial Jai ho campaign was not enough to the steal the show on the campaign trail, the party is soon going to launch Jai Ho 2.

Bollywood’s singing sensation Sukhwinder Singh will be singing for Jai Ho 2 for the Congress and has also done the lyrics of the high profile campaign according to the Amitava Mitra , Director of the Jai Ho campaign at Percept Holding.

Sukhwinder originally sang the song for Oscar-winning music director A R Rehman of Slumdog Millionaire fame. Jai Ho 2 will be launched closer to the elections.

According to sources although the principal music of ‘Jai Ho’ will remain intact, the new version will be in remix format.

The first Jai Ho campaign highlights the Congress party’s legacy, showcasing the likes of Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Rajiv Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Party sources have told ANI that Jai Ho 2 will focus on Rahul Gandhi’s achievements as a youth leader. (ANI)

London, Mar 27 (ANI): With the fever of ‘Twittering’ catching on, celebrities are increasingly turning to outside writers — ghost tweeters — to keep their fans updated on the latest twists and turns of their lives.

A number of A-listers including US president Barack Obama and Britney Spears are employing staff to update their microblogs on the social messaging website, reports The Telegraph.

Singer Spears – one of Twitter’s most popular subscribers – had recently posted an advert for an assistant whose duties would include managing her official Twitter and Facebook accounts.

And Mr. Obama is not far behind. He has employed the services of a dedicated ‘social networking team’ to create content for his online activities.

Other celebrities using Twitter include John Mayer, Ashton Kutcher, Lance Armstrong and Lily Allen. (ANI)

Washington, Mar 27 (ANI): Pop princess Britney Spears has condemned two of her Circus tour roadies for fighting with the police on March 25.

As per a criminal complaint, Rockey Lee DICkey, 34, had attempted to hit an officer who intervened during a drunken brawl with an unidentified man, and Alex Montes, 23, had allegedly stepped in and placed the officer in a headlock.

Montes later fled from the scene but was arrested shortly afterwards, while police had to reportedly use a Taser gun to subdue DICkey, who has been charged with simple assault and resisting arrest.

Both men have been charged with disorderly conduct, criminal conspiracy and public drunkenness, and are out on a 100,000 dollars bail.

Britney, 27, issued a statement on her blog, saying that the two men were not associated with the tour.

“They were two employees of a company contracted to provide equipment for The Circus and were not employees of the singer. The Circus Starring Britney Spears tour does not support or tolerate this type of behaviour,” Contactmusic quoted her as having written. (ANI)

New Delhi, Mar 27 (ANI): Queen of Pop Madonna has confessed that she’s ‘glad’ she divorced British filmmaker Guy Ritchie.

While speaking to fans on her long-time friend and producer Guy Oseary’s Twitter page, the ’4 Minutes’ singer made the confession, reports The China Daily.

A fan wrote: ‘Hello Madonna honey am glad you are single again – you made your best music as a single woman! yeehaw! (sic)’

Just minutes later the singer apparently replied: ‘NOT AS GLAD AS I AM! M.’

The 50-year-old singer spent 10 minutes online chatting to members of her fan club to thank them for their support and get feedback on their favourite songs for her forthcoming greatest hits album. (ANI)

New Delhi, Mar 27 (ANI): It seems Paris Hilton isn’t ready to walk down the aisle with her new boyfriend Doug Reinhardt, for the socialite has apparently told her beau that she will ‘think about’ his marriage proposal.

It is being believed that the 28-year-old hotel heiress was less than impressed when her beau got down on one knee and asked for her hand in marriage, reports The China Daily.

Reinhardt proposed to her during dinner with her parents Kathy and Rick at The Ivy restaurant in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

Doug, 23, presented Paris with a Lorraine Schwartz engagement ring but instead of jumping for joy, the socialite snapped the ring box shut and said she would need time to consider his marriage offer.

Hours before the dinner, Doug had stated on his Twitter page, writing: ‘I’m about to do something very exciting and life-changing. I’ll announce what happens later.’ (ANI)

Washington, Mar 27 (ANI): Britney Spears’ sister Jamie Lynn has reportedly scrapped her plans to marry boyfriend Casey Aldridge.

The Zoey 101 star made headlines at 16 when she announced she was expecting a child with Aldridge.

After the birth of their daughter Maddie Brian, the couple was believed to be living apart after Aldridge cheated on Spears.

However, Jamie Lynn denied the speculations and confirmed they are very much together.

Now, according to U.S. magazine OK!, the 17 year old starlet has cancelled her wedding plans – after deciding she doesn’t need an official ceremony to make her happy.

‘The wedding’s off. They are still in love, living together and very happy, but they have no plans to get married,” Contactmusic quoted a source as saying.

“Jamie Lynn has everything she wants and feels no need for a ring and piece of paper,’ the source added.

She has also decided to give up her acting career to focus on raising Maddie Brian.

‘She has told friends and family she’s never coming back to Hollywood. She feels that part of her life is over. Jamie Lynn enjoyed every minute of doing Zoey, but since she’s had Maddie, her life has changed completely,” said an insider. (ANI)

London, Mar 27 (ANI): Celebrities like Lewis Hamilton, Paris Hilton, and Simon Cowell have decorated their own facemasks for an auction, aimed at raising 750,000 pounds for Africa.

Around 20 big names associated with business, sports, music and Hollywood have contributed to the auction by painting their own facemasks.

While Hilton has painted her mask with pink colour, including silver highlights with a purple headgear, Lewis Hamilton has painted his with red, black and silver colours.

Other celebrities to make their contributions to ‘The ‘Make a Face – transform a life’ campaign included Lily Cole, Jude Law, Sir Philip Green, Sir Stuart Rose, Sir David Tang, Annie Lennox, Amanda Holden, Piers Morgan, Sergio Garcia, Retief Goosen, Gary Player, Tim Henman, Bjorn Borg, Mel B, Cleo Rocos, and Tim Henman.

The campaign has been launched on eBay by the charity Education Africa.

The charity Education Africa has been helping poor children in South Africa by offering them education for 17 years.

The chairwoman of the charity, Jania Geoghegan, revealed that she was grateful to the celebrities for contributing to the campaign.

‘We have all been overwhelmed by the generous response of so many celebrities to our unique campaign,” Sky News quoted her as saying.

The masks painted by the celebrities will be exhibited at the Hay Hill Gallery, in Cork Street, Mayfair in London. (ANI)

London, March 27 (ANI): Renowned ‘Harry Potter’ author J. K. Rowling, pop princess Britney Spears, and ace footballer David Beckham may check out their family trees on the Internet within seconds, for their ancestors have been found in London records.

A register from All Saints church in Mile End New Town, east London, a 19-year-old blacksmith named William Rowling married his sweetheart Frances Andrews on December 8, 1872.

Publicly available records show that William and Frances had seven children, including a son called Frank, born a decade after their marriage.

According to the Telegraph, Frank Rowling’s son Ernest, born in 1916, in turn had a son called Peter in 1945, who is J. K. Rowling’s father.

As regards Britney’s family tree, a 1923 register from St John’s Church in Tottenham, north London, shows the marriage of her great grandfather George Portell, a Royal Naval seaman, to 25-year-old Lillian Lewis.

The newspaper also reports that David Beckham’s great-great-great grandparents John Beckham and Sarah Chandler appear on an 1868 marriage register from St Stephen’s church in Southwark. (ANI)

By Subhash K Jha

After the no-show that was No Smoking director Anurag Kashyap and John Abraham nonetheless vowed to work together come what may.

But then Anurag went into Dev D with Abhay Deol and another film with Kunal Kapoor.

Now John and Anurag are back together in a film to be entitled Bombay Velvet.

Says Anurag, "John is the lead in my next film Bombay Velvet where he plays a real life hero of the masses from the 1960s. It’s a thriller based on real incidents. It’s an idea that we developed over the last four years by several minds including the history professor Gyan Prakash ."

Bombay Velvet will be produced by TV 18. Besides John it will also star Naseeruddin Shah and KayKay Menon.

"I’ve never handled this kind of budget before. I want to be sure of the script. After No Smoking John and I want to make sure our film is accessible to the audience. Today I realize where I had gone wrong in my earlier cinema. I’m working on my weak points. I tend to get repetitive. So I’ve brought in two writers in Bombay Velvet who criticized me the most for No Smoking."

In-between Anurag had decided to make a no-holds-barred action film with Kunal Kapoor. A strange changeover of hero-giri considering John is built for the action routine.

"But that project Doga (based on the comics that are so popular in North India) to be produced by Sony International ( who entered the Indian market with Saawariya) requires a whole lot of preparation. It needs international –level special effects for which I need to go for internship to the US with my cinematographer Rajeev Ravi for some months. This would probably be the most expensive Indian film ever to be ever made. And I don’t want to slip up. And Kunal needs to do a helluva lot of preparation.I’ll go to Doga after Bombay Velvet,"informs Anurag.

At the moment Anurag is kicked by his deviant version of Saratchandra Chatterjee’s Devdas . "In Dev D I’ve taken just the spirit of Devdas and woven it around contemporary headlines from the last 10-15 years. I never liked Saratchandra’s novel. Often mediocre literature makes great cinema. What I liked about the novel was its honesty. But to me it’s more pulp fiction of its times than great literature."

Anurag sees his Dev D as a bridge between the original novel and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas. "That’s why I asked Sanjay Bhansali’s assistant Vikram Motwani to write Dev D. Vikram loves Devdas. I connected newspaper stories to the character of Devdas to explore the motivations of today’s youth."

One of the major themes in Devdas was miscommunication in a relationship. "In this era of sms that wouldn’t work," explains Anurag. "Today my Dev and Paro are in touch regularly. The miscommunication here is due to the ego. Also alcoholism was a major issue back then. When Guru Dutt’s Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam was submitted for the Oscars the academy wrote a letter to Guru Dutt saying a woman who drinks was not a permissible taboo in their culture. Today alcohol isn’t such a shocking means of selfdestruction in our society. I wanted to shoot my Devdas in a contemporary context. I shot it in Delhi and Punjab where the reckless adrift youth have a lot of money and no sense of responsibility."

Anurag who has a history of censorial run-ins, is surprised at how liberal the censorboard has been to Dev D. "They understood its theme. It’s definitely an adults film with minor cuts . My target audience is 18-35. If there was and Over -15 censor certificate in India I’d have definitely applied for it. Censorship in India is not obsolete any more. Sharmila Tagore and Vinayak Azad have brought in a liberal element to the censor board."

Anurag says he wrote the roles of Devdas and Paro for Abhay Deol and debutante Mahi Gill. "Today I’m proud to say Mahi is working extensively in the biggest of films."

Speaking on our market abroad and how it has broadened after Slumdog Milionaire, Anurag says, "Films that show the real heartland in India like Johnny Gaddar, Manorama 6 Feet Under or my Black Friday never get released overseas. Slumdog Millionaire is the first taste western audiences have had of the real India. That’s where filmmakers like Ashutosh Gowariker and Rakeysh Mehra come in. They shoot big-budget Indian films in the Indian heartland."

"I’ve mellowed. I’m not angry any more. I guess it’s age. And I’ve found a sense of belonging," says Anurag referring to the other debutante actress Kalki in Dev D whom he shares a relationship with. "I’m very happy in my relationship with Kalki. She has brought great stability to me life."

So was she Anurag’s muse, like V Shantaram? "No our relationship started after Dev D started. I want her in my life, but not necessarily in all my films."
Kalki plays a character derived from Saratchandra’s Chandramukhi. "Again I’m happy for what Sanjay Bhansali did to Chandramukhi’s character in his Devdas. He fleshed her out and much stronger than in the novel. -

London, March 26 (IANS) Hollywood actor Johnny Depp has topped a WWF poll for being the star most women would love to share a candlelit dinner with.

The “Pirates Of The Caribbean” actor was first choice in the poll to find the most popular celebrity dates, with women choosing him as their favourite fantasy companion beating George Clooney into second place, reports contactmusic.com.

“Girls Aloud” band singer Cheryl Cole was top amongst the females polled, with Jennifer Aniston and British model Kelly Brook also proving popular.

The survey, for environmental charity WWF, also found that Elvis Presley, Freddie Mercury and Marilyn Monroe were the three late celebrities that would be most welcome at the dinner table.

Jennifer Aniston might be 40 and unlucky in love, but she sure has new found reasons to celebrate. The status of her retionship with singer John Mayer is confusing but she’s doing well.

The former “Friends” star has just topped the list of Hollywood’s sexiest women in the men’s magazine Details.

According to contactmusic.com, she’s beat the much younger girls like ‘Transformers’ actress Megan Fox and Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen in the poll.

The top five included Slumdog Millionaire’s Indian actress Freida Pinto (who’s suddenly gotten lucky and is flying in the air) and socialite-actress Kim Kardashian.

In the midst of all this wonder what she was trying to hide under a hood while filming filming baby comedy ‘The Baster’ with Jason Bateman in New York.

She wore a gigantic black hood so that photographers wouldn’t be able to get pics of her face as she jumped into a waiting vehicle.

It was like taking paparazzi avoidance to a whole new level.

Maybe she was trying to hide some hideous makeup or hair which didn’t go with her ‘sexy’ image. –

Chennai, March 26 (IANS) Multilingual film actor Kamal Haasan Thursday slammed the critics who say that Oscar winning film “Slumdog Millionaire” showed India in a bad light.

“I am tired of hearing allegations about ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ showing India in a bad light instead of rejoicing over the achievement of A.R. Rahman and Resul Pookutty,” Haasan said at the audio launch Wednesday of “Pasanga” a children’s film being by Sasi Kumar.

“Director Danny Boyle shot on location and did not create a set to depict Mumbai’s underbelly. Further, foreigners see the slums of India’s financial capital first and then its skyscrapers.”

“If good films are made and showcased, bad films will fade away naturally,” Haasan added.

According to the matinee idol, the showbiz’s prevalent fetish for “success formulae” on pure commercial terms was leading the audience astray and in turn resulting in mediocre movies.

Haasan advised all concerned – especially fans – to encourage healthy, meaningful and decent cinema to help the society at large correct itself.

Chennai, March 26 (IANS) Multilingual film actor Kamal Haasan Thursday slammed the critics who say that Oscar winning film “Slumdog Millionaire” showed India in a bad light.

“I am tired of hearing allegations about ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ showing India in a bad light instead of rejoicing over the achievement of A.R. Rahman and Resul Pookutty,” Haasan said at the audio launch Wednesday of “Pasanga” a children’s film being by Sasi Kumar.

“Director Danny Boyle shot on location and did not create a set to depict Mumbai’s underbelly. Further, foreigners see the slums of India’s financial capital first and then its skyscrapers.”

“If good films are made and showcased, bad films will fade away naturally,” Haasan added.

According to the matinee idol, the showbiz’s prevalent fetish for “success formulae” on pure commercial terms was leading the audience astray and in turn resulting in mediocre movies.

Haasan advised all concerned – especially fans – to encourage healthy, meaningful and decent cinema to help the society at large correct itself.