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Washington, May 1 (IANS) Oscar winning Indian music director A.R. Rahman of “Slumdog Millionaire” fame, his Sri Lankan co-performer M.I.A. of the hit “O Saya” song and Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani have made it to the Time 100 list of the World’s Most Influential People.

The new list to be published in the May 11 annual Time 100 issue is the pick of the magazine’s editors and may not be confused with the popular choice in TIME.com’s online poll that “just happened to be” won Monday by “moot – the mysterious 21-year-old creator of the influential Web message board 4chan.or”.

“In our annual TIME 100 issue, we do the impossible: name the people who most affect our world,” said the editors as they relegated moot to the 35th position and instead chose ailing Democratic senator Edward Kennedy for the top spot.

British premier Gordon Brown makes it to the second spot, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in the eighth place, Pakistan army chief Ashfaq Kayani is sitting pretty at the 19th position, just a spot ahead of President Barack Obama.

A.R. Rahman, who gets the 59th position in the editors list, “won two Oscars, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for giving Slumdog Millionaire its frenetic sound”, notes Padma Lakshmi actress, author and the host of “Bravo’s Top Chef”, in an accompanying piece.

“In India, a country of a billion inhabitants, where film and pop music are one, A.R. Rahman, 43, dominates the music industry so totally that he has supplied the sound track for a whole generation,” she writes.

“A veritable Pied Piper, he has shaped modern India’s music for more than a decade. Now the ‘Mozart of Madras’ has the world’s foot tapping along with him,” adds Lakshmi, noting the award winning “Jai Ho” is now the campaign song for India’s Congress Party.

Vikas Swarup, the author of the novel “Q&A” that became the Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire”, describes Nandan Nilekani, placed 31, “as a middle-class kid from a small town, (who) rose to become a co-founder and co-chairman of Infosys Technologies and a key player in India’s growth story”.

“In a blog post about ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, Nandan Nilekani alluded to the film’s valuable subtext – that it doesn’t matter where you come from, only where you are headed,” he writes. “That could serve equally as an epigraph for Nandan’s own life.”

“As the new India, fuelled by its robust democracy and favorable demographics, seeks to make the transition from a developing nation to a developed one, it will need the vision and talent of people like Nandan Nilekani,” Swarup adds.

The great thing about M.I.A., as Maya Arulpragasam placed 43rd is known, “is that she doesn’t have some global plan”, writes producer director Spike Jonze.

“She just has things she cares about and is interested in, from all over the world… She reacts to whatever is in front of her: ‘Those are booming Indian drums’, ‘That is a dope producer’, ‘Those kids are making sick beats’.”

“And she has great taste. Anyone can hear all this stuff, but to be able to

curate it, you have to have taste, and Maya Arulpragasam, 33, has it,” he adds.

New York, April 30 (IANS) She won the Best Actress Oscar earlier this year, but Kate Winslet hasn’t always been so popular. The stunning star has opened up about being nicknamed “blubber” when she was in school because of her chubby looks.

“I was bullied for being chubby,” she said, reports nydailynews.com.

“Even now I do not consider myself to be some kind of great, sexy beauty. Absolutely not,” she added.

Washington, April 29 (ANI): Scarlett Johansson has the best boobs in Hollywood, according to a new poll.

Salma Hayek’s twin assets came second in the poll compiled by U.S. TV show Access Hollywood, reports Contactmusic.

Halle Berry landed the third spot while Jessica Simpson stood fourth.

Jennifer Love Hewitt’s breasts rounded off the top five.

The top five actresses on the new list are:

1. Scarlett Johansson

2. Salma Hayek

3. Halle Berry

4. Jessica Simpson

5. Jennifer Love Hewitt (ANI)

London, Apr 29 (ANI): Hollywood actor Hugh Jackman contemplated quitting X-Men franchise after the third movie, because he felt his character ‘Wolverine’ had gone “too soft” and was lacking the much-hyped rage.

The Oz hunk thought of stepping down after he thought his character was not developing the way it was meant to.

‘One thing I never felt we got with Wolverine that I really wanted to get is that berserker rage which is talked about in the comic books,” The Daily Express quoted Hugh, as saying.

‘It felt like Wolverine had got a little soft by X-Men 3 and I wanted to take it back to that bad a** quality. He’s tough, he’s gruff, he’s not politically correct – he doesn’t say the right things.

‘There has to be complexity to this character. He’s very tough but there’s a lot of pain, history to his life that you find out about. It’s not pretty.

“He’s a flawed character. That’s what I like about it, that’s why I’m doing it for the fourth time or else I wouldn’t,” he concluded. (ANI)

Washington, April 29 (ANI): A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has issued a three-year restraining order against Britney Spears’ former manager Sam Lutfi.

Attorneys for Britney’s father and conservator, Jamie, had been seeking a long-standing restraining order against Lutfi, the singer’s ex manager and close confidant during her personal meltdown.

And now, Judge Aviva Bobb has ordered Lutfi to keep at least 100 yards of distance from the singer, her two sons and her family members’ homes.

He further must not hassle the pop princess and her kids, or try to contact them through phone, mail and email.

The orders also forbid him from ‘acting on Ms. Spears’s behalf or purporting to act on her behalf.’

Lutfi’s lawyer Bryan Freedman said he would contest the judgement.

‘We absolutely will appeal this ruling. Never before in history has a restraining order been issued against someone who answered another person’s cries for help,’ People magazine quoted him as saying. (ANI)

London, April 29 (IANS) Pop star Britney Spears’ former manager Sam Lufti has been ordered to stay away from the pop superstar for three years.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Aviva Bobb issued a harsh restraining order against Lutfi and his legal associate Jon Eardley April 28, reported contactmusic.com.

Both men must stay at least 100 yards away from Spears, her two sons, and her family members’ homes. Under the terms of the new order, they cannot contact the singer via phone, mail or email.

Spears’ father Jamie filed the restraining order request in January after learning Lutfi had attempted to contact his daughter over Christmas, going so far as to smuggle a cell phone to the singer in a hotel.

Lutfi has filed a lawsuit against the Spears family for defamation and battery.

London, April 29 (IANS) Troubled singer Amy Winehouse is planning to stay in St Lucia in the Caribbean for good.

The troubled star, who returned to the Caribbean island this month following her 71-day Christmas holiday there, has told friends she doesn’t want to go back to Britain, reported thesun.co.uk

“Amy is fed up with all the stress and trauma that comes with being in London. She has made so many friends in St. Lucia and says it feels like home. When she returned to Britain in March she felt like a total outsider,” said a source close to the singer.

The “Rehab” singer has already started looking at properties to buy.

London, Apr 29 (ANI): Mel Gibson’s alleged lover Oksana Grigorieva showed off her explosive curves in saucy new lingerie photoshoot.

The 39-year-old Russian beauty, who has a son with James Bond star Timothy Dalton, stripped down to pink undies for a sizzling photo session.

She sat on a piano surrounded by roses for the pictures to promote her music, reports the Sun.

Grigorieva has been held responsible for breaking Gibson’s 28 years of marriage with Robyn after she was allegedly photographed embracing him in Costa Rica earlier this year.

He could lose half of his 680million pounds fortune in the divorce. (ANI)

New York, Apr 29 (ANI): Madonna’s alleged toyboy Jesus Luz’s instant fame seems to have not gone down well with his colleagues.

If sources are to be believed, Luz’s fellow models can’t wait for his career to die down.

‘None of the other models would talk to Jesus or even look at him. They were gossiping like catty girls about how they couldn’t wait for his career to fizzle out,’ the New York Daily News quoted a source as saying.

‘Jesus had no career until Madonna arrived, and even if people are coming to see him because of her, he’s still going to take it,’ another source added.

Luz’s instant fame has created jealousy in the modelling world.

‘He’s taking jobs from other models who feel they’ve worked harder and longer than he has,’ said one industry insider.

‘Madonna has catapulted Jesus on to the world’s stage. Sure, he’s beautiful, but he wouldn’t be where he is without her,’ the insider added.

Luz is certainly enjoying every bit of his fame.

After kicking off the Jeffrey Fashion Cares event last week, he is set to walk the ramp for Dolace & Gabbana’s fall-winter men’s wear campaign.

Madonna has also been, reportedly, chatting to Donatella Versace about a possible campaign.

‘Jesus is receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of free clothing from big-name designers. And Madonna is shopping for him as well!’ said a source.

However, it seems that the 22-year-old Brazilian model is finding hard to deal with the fame.

‘He has a big, swollen head,’ said a Madonna camp pal.

‘Jesus was trying to charge 100K per appearance in Brazil. Friends finally sat him down and told him to get real and to stop thinking he’s the male answer to Gisele, because he isn’t,’ the pal added.

Meanwhile, Madge’s rep has denied Madonna’s involvement in catapulting Luz to international fame.

‘Madonna has not been involved with any bookings Jesus has gotten. They were arranged through his agents. By the way, to me, he doesn’t look like he needs anyone’s help with that face – though I’d personally be happy to volunteer my services,’ said the rep. (ANI)

Last week ‘The Princess Diaries’ star showed up to support Natalie Portman’s new venture— the behind-the-scenes entertainment industry Web site MakingOf.com— at Tribeca’s Marble House.

It is believed that Portman was first considered for the role in Judy Garland’s biopic ‘Get Happy’, which finally went to Hathaway, thus sowing the seeds of an alleged rift between the two beauties.

“There’s buzz in Hollywood that Natalie should have gotten the part [in the Judy Garland biopic “Get Happy”] that Anne landed,” The New York Daily News quoted an industry insider as saying.

“Anne wanted to pay her respects and make sure there was no bad blood,” said the source.

And Hathaway toasted Portman with a glass of Moet at the bash. (ANI)

By Joginder Tuteja

It was one casting coup waiting to happen but that hasn’t been the case to be. For the ‘Vote Aapke Haath Mein Hai’ campaign produced by Karan Johar for Dharma Productions, John Abraham, Bipasha Basu and Katrina Kaif were the chosen ones (amongst a dozen odd other youth icons) to participate in a specially created video. However, at the last moment, the trio couldn’t be a part of the video for different reasons and director Tarun Mansukhani had to contend with other actors.

"That’s true. Earlier on John Abraham and Bipasha Basu were all set to be a part of this video that has been created to spread awareness around voting for our Government this election season. Even Katrina Kaif was finalised but in the final scheme of things, we had to shoot the video without the three of them. Such a pity", exclaims Tarun Mansukhani who has made a drastic shift from a colourful ‘Dostana’ to his recent campaign that has been shot in all Black & White.

The video now stars Abhishek Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Imran Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone, Asin, Ritiesh Deshmukh, Farhan Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor and Karan Johar himself.

So what really went wrong? What was the real reason behind John, Bipasha and Katrina opting out of ‘Vote Aapke Haath Mein Hai’ which is written by Niranjan Iyengar, the man who has written dialogues Karan Johar films like ‘Kal Ho Naa Ho’ and ‘Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna’?

"If you are searching for any controversies then there aren’t any. In fact it wasn’t even the matter of anyone opting out", Tarun is quick to react, "All three were quite sweet and were game to shoot for the video. But then on the day of the shoot, John and Katrina were not in the town due to which we had to go ahead without them."

How about Bipasha?

"Well, her ‘Aa Dekhen Zara’ was being released on the same day when we had to shoot for the video. Other than that, she was also a little hassled due to the multiplex issue. ‘Aa Dekhen Zara’ was engulfed in this situation where no one was sure if it would eventually see an all India multiplex release or not. It was all right if Bipasha couldn’t shoot for the video in such a scenario."

Though there have been accusations that his video, which carries the punch line of ‘Kuch Nahi Ho Sakta’, is an out-and-out copy of Hollywood’s ‘Don’t Vote’ commercial featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Forest Whitaker, Dustin Hoffman, Ellen DeGeneres, Jennifer Aniston, Ashton Kutcher and will.i.am amongst others, Tarun is completely unperturbed.

"I haven’t even seen the ‘Don’t Vote’ campaign and I don’t want to worry about that. The point at the end of the day is that the video has been liked and more than that the message is being rightly passed on to the youth. All celebrities coming together for this cause has helped create a great awareness around our right to vote and that’s what that matters at the end of the day", declares Tarun. -Sampurn Media

London, April 28 (IANS) Australian actor Hugh Jackman has revealed that he has kept unused footage of his naked shots from the film “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” locked in a safe.

The actor exposed himself several times while filming a particular scene for his forthcoming movie but none of the shots could be used in the final cut as the film has a PG-13 rating in the US, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

“After we finished filming our director gave me a small little bag and inside it were about eight bits of film, all cut. I said, ‘That’s interesting’, then I held it up to the light and I said, ‘Ok, now I know why that’s in a bag!’ Now it’s in my safe somewhere – my private parts in a bag,” said the 40-year-old actor.

Michelle Williams was heart broken as admitted by herself after former partner and father of her child, Heath Ledger died from an accidental overdose suddenly.

She wanted to grieve in private and talked about how she was proud of being the mom of Matilda, the spitting image of her father and about bringing her up with the best memories of him.

That was more than a year ago.

She started seeing director Spike Jonz towards mid 2008 and the buzz now is that she’s getting married to him.

The Daily Telegraph has quoted a source as telling US magazine Star: "They’re in love and absolutely thrilled with each other. They don’t see why they should wait much longer."

Jonze was married earlier to Hollywood royalty Sofia Coppola from the famous Coppola family. He’s now said to have charmed Matilda.

The source added: "Spike loves being with Matilda. He’s teaching her to skateboard and to ride a bike. He never makes Michelle feel like taking care of her is a burden, because he truly thinks of them all as a family."

Looks like Michelle has found a good husband and a father for Matilda in Spike. She seems to have happily moved on finally.-Sampurn Media

London, April 28 (ANI): Rihanna has been spotted soaking up the sun in swanky Barbados resort Sandy Lane.

It looks like the singer is trying to come to terms with her terrible split with rapper Chris Brown, right after he supposedly attacked her at the Grammys.

Dressed in a skimpy bikini, the singer was seen sipping a few fizzy lagers quite a few times.

It seems the dusky beauty is making the most of being single, reports the Sun.

Meanwhile, Rihanna wants LAPD to return the nearly million-dollar worth jewellery taken into evidence for investigation in her alleged beating case.

The singer, who was allegedly punched, choked, and bitten by her former boyfriend Chris Brown before the Grammy’s, had borrowed the expensive accessories from four jewellers, who now want it back.

The R&B lady was said to have been trying to recover the bling from the officials since late March. (ANI)

London, Apr 28 (ANI): Legendary Hollywood actress Meryl Streep is to be honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Rome film festival.

The ‘Out of Africa’ star will receive the Marcus Aurelius Lifetime Achievement Award, reports The Daily Star.

Streep will hold an onstage conversation about her stellar career during the event’s fourth edition.

The gong had earlier been presented to Sir Sean Connery and Al Pacino.

The 4th annual Rome Film Festival will run from 15 to 23 October (09). (ANI)

London, April 28 (IANS) Pop singer Pink regrets staging a circus themed show for her ongoing world tour because she has been plagued by comparisons to Britney Spears.

The “So what” hitmaker is taking her “Funhouse” world tour to the US this summer and has been bombarded by critics accusing her of copying Spears who launched her own “Circus” tour in the country in March.

Both singers based their tours on the title of their latest albums and feature high-flying dancers, acrobats and wild acts in their stage shows, reported femalefirst.com

But Pink, whose album debuted last year just weeks before Spears’ release, insists she was oblivious to the trend.

“Had I known that certain other people were going to base their latest thing about circus things, I probably would have went into another direction. I was six months before that and didn’t really understand that it was a trend that was happening. I’m pretty out of the loop,” said the singer.

London, April 28 (IANS) “Hannah Montana” star Miley Cyrus thrilled youngsters at a British school when she visited their classroom to give them a lesson on how to be a celebrity.

The 16-year-old was in Britain to promote “Hannah Montana: The Movie” and visited a London school April 24, reported contactmusic.com.

The awestruck students bombarded the singer-actress with questions about how she handles her fame and life in the spotlight. In return, Cyrus taught the group the dance routine to “Hoedown Throwdown”, which features in the movie.

New York, April 28 (IANS) “Hannah Montana” star Miley Cyrus thrilled youngsters at a British school when she visited their classroom to give them a lesson on how to be a star.

The 16-year-old was in Britain to promote “Hannah Montana: The Movie” last week when she visited a London school. Imdb.com reports that the starstruck students were in awe and bombarded the singer-actress with questions about how she handles her fame and life in the spotlight.

And in return Cyrus taught the enraptured group the dance routine to “Hoedown Throwdown”, which features in the smash movie.

Melbourne, Apr 28 (ANI): Making a rather surprising revelation, an investigative celebrity blogger and biographer has claimed that Brad Pitt dumped Jennifer Aniston because he thought she was a lesbian.

Writing on his blog, Ian Halperin, revealed that a source named Toni (who is reportedly a friend of Angelina Jolie) said Pitt started dating Jolie because his marriage to former ‘Friends’ star wasn’t fulfilling enough.

Halperin also claimed that the ‘Troy’ star finally pulled the string on his relationship with Aniston because she never wanted to have sex with him.

“Brad likes to have sex a lot and Jennifer never wanted to sleep with him,” The Daily Telegraph quoted Toni as saying.

He added: “He started to speculate that she was gay, though he never caught her with another woman or anything like that. He was very frustrated for a long time. Then he met Angelina, who is insatiable in bed, and the rest is history.”

He further revealed that stories about Jennifer not wanting kids were just a ploy by Jolie to justify the affair.

The insider said: “Brad always said that was a lie. Jen actually was ready to settle down and have kids the day Friends wrapped. That’s not why he left her. He really did love Jen but she just wasn’t fulfilling his needs.

“I don’t really know Jen and I found it hard to believe she swings both ways. When Brad confided his suspicions, I told him, ‘no way!’

“But when she started dating John Mayer, I thought hey maybe there is something to Brad’s theory. Everybody knows that Mayer is gay. Not a big secret. I can see the appeal of him hooking up with Jennifer but what does she have to gain by dating him if she’s straight?” (ANI)

London, April 27 (IANS) Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Rome Film Festival.

The “Out of Africa” star will receive the Marcus Aurelius Lifetime Achievement Award, which has previously been bestowed upon industry legends such as Sir Sean Connery and Al Pacino, reports contactmusic.com.

Streep will reflect upon her four decades career as she hosts an on-stage discussion for the event’s guests.

The fourth annual Rome Film Festival is scheduled to run from Oct 15-23 2009.