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Bengaluru: Under attack from the Opposition over his luxurious watch, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddarmaiah on Thursday said he would declare it as a state asset and hand it over to the government.
“About the expensive watch I was wearing, which has been discussed almost everyday and reported in the media, I have this much to say that I will be declaring it as a state asset and deposit it with state secretariat,” he told reporters here.
(Agencies)
Producer: Vilas Mane and Umesh Nathani
Director: R Viraj
Star Cast: Sayaji Shinde, Shashank Shende, Aishwarya Narkar, Kamlesh Sawant, Chhaya Kadam, Aarti More, Kartik Chavan etc
Genre: Drama
Verdict: AVERAGE
Plot: Babaanchi Shaala is the story of a father and a daughter and how they are separated by fate when the father burns his wife in a fit of anger and when he is sentenced and sent to jail. Then the story focuses on the relationship between a jailor and the prison inmates and the how the jailor tries to bring a change between the relationship of the prison inmates and his relatives in tandem with the society at large who always has reservations of accepting these prisoners back into the normal life. So the jailor then tries to build a bridge between them by devising a project named Babaanchi Shala and when he fails to get the Government’s approval for his project the jailor sets out on his own to work on this novel project.
Aces: Kudos to director R Viraj and also to the 1st time producers namely Vilas Mane and Umesh Nathani for making such a meaning film and all the actors too, headed by Sayaji Shinde, deserves a special mention for trying to give off their best.
Minuses: The oft repeated scenes, the slow pace of the movie devoid of any commercial aspects may prove to be a hindrance in its smooth sailing at the Box office turnstiles.
Last Word: The Marathi audience used to routine commercial fare may not accept this experimental film which will be appreciated more in film festival circuit and garner awards galore.
Producer: Basil Iwanyk & Alex Proyas
Director: Alex Proyas
Star Cast: Nikolaj Coster- Waldau, Brenton Thwaites, Gerard Butler, Elodie Yung, Courtney Eaton, Chadwik Boseman, Rufus Sewell, Geofrey Rush and Bryan Brown
Verdict: GOOD
Genre: Action & Adventure
Alex Proyas a well – known Australian director has really made a mark, in his decade long career, with films like The Crow, Dark City, I, Robot and Knowing and now in his 6th outing Gods of Egypt he further asserts his directorial Prowess by taking up a semi – mythological history of the real to reel Gods of Egypt.
Plot: In this spectacular action – adventure inspired by the classic mythology of Egypt, the survival of mankind hangs in the balance as an unexpected mortal hero Bek (Brenton Thwaites) undertakes a thrilling journey to save the world and rescue his true love. In order to succeed, he must enlist the help of the powerful God Horus (Nikolaj Coster –Waldau) in an unlikely alliance against Set (Gerard Butler), the merciless God of darkness, who has usurped Egypt’s throne, plunging the once peaceful and prosperous empire into chaos and conflict. As their breathtaking battle against Set and his henchmen takes them into the afterlife and across the heavens, both God and mortal must pass tests of courage and sacrifice if they hope to prevail in the epic final confrontation.
Aces: The performance of the trio of male brigade of actors like Nikolaj Coster – Waldau, Brenton Thwaites and Gerard Butler, the costumes and the special effects.
Minuses: Too many sub plots and some mindless action hampers the smooth flow of the film.
Last Word: Gods Of Egypt is an entertaining film from mythological, action and adventure point of view.
Shaan, Sadhna Sargam & Divya Jain unveiled the Ravindra Jain Music award trophy at Ajivasan Hall, uhu.
Divya jain wife of Late Ravindra Jain has planned 1st Ravindra Jain music award on 28th Feb, 2016 at 7 pm at Iskon auditorium, Juhu. She kept the rehearsals at Ajivasan hall where she unveiled the trophy with Shaan & Sadhna Sargam.
New Delhi: Ever wondered why the blankets provided by the Indian railways during train journey stink at times? It may be because these are washed only once every two months.
Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha told the Rajya Sabha during Question Hour today that while bedsheets, bed roll and pillow covers are washed every day, the blankets are washed every two months.
His reply came to questions raised by various members of the Upper House regarding the quality and hygiene of laundry and linen supplied by the Indian Railways on trains.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari quipped that the earlier system of passengers bringing their own linen and pillows for train journeys seems to be better.
He was supported by a Congress MP who asked the Minister if this would be allowed.
In response, Sinha said it was a “good advice” and the Railways will not have a problem if passengers want to adopt the earlier practice.
The Minister pointed out that while they have 41 mechanised laundries, plans are underway to increase their number by 25 more in the next two years so that these can serve about 85 percent of the passengers who use Railway linen and bed sheets.
He pointed out that in places which are not covered by the mechanised laundries, the job has been outsourced.
(PTI)
Hyderabad: The duty doctor at the University of Hyderabad health centre today appeared to contradict the claim of HRD Minister Smriti Irani that no doctor was allowed near the body of research scholar Rohith Vemula on the day he had died either to revive him or remove him to hospital.
Dr M Rajshree, the doctor on duty that fateful day when Rohith had allegedly committed suicide on Jan 17, said today she was the one who examined the body and had declared him dead.
She said the body of Rohit was lying on a cot and police had reached 15 minutes after she had gone to the hostel room on the day he had died after she got information at around 7.20 PM that one of the students had attempted suicide.
During a debate in the Lok Sabha yesterday on the controversies surrounding the Hyderabad University and the JNU, Irani had said nobody allowed a doctor near Rohith either to revive him or take him to the hospital.
“Nobody allowed a doctor near him. The police has reported that no one attempt was made to revive this child, not one attempt was made to take him to a doctor. Instead what was done was that his body was used as a political tool, hidden. No police was allowed till 6.30, the next morning. It is not me the Telangana police is saying this,” she had said.
Narrating the sequence of events today, Dr Jajshree said she rushed to NRS Hostel after she got information at around 7.20 pm on January 17 that one of the students attempted suicide in one of the rooms.
“The body was rigid and cold. I did the examination of the body. I found the body on a cot. The body with protruding tongue was rigid and cold. I checked for BP, for heartbeat. Then I came to the conclusion that he was dead. His body was cold. “It took 10 to 15 minutes. Then I declared him dead and informed the security officer. I saw police personnel 10 or 15 minutes after I reached the spot ” Rajshree told PTI.
She also said she was not prevented from examining the body by anyone.
Rohit Vemula’s suicide triggered a massive outrage and opposition parties launched a scathing attack on the Central Government and demanded action against Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, whose letters to Irani, were blamed for Rohith’s suicide, and Irani herself. The HRD Ministry appointed a judicial commission to look into the issue.
“The police started Panchanama. They checked the laptop and phone and collected suicide note. Rigor mortis of a body starts only after two hours. That is the minimum time for a body to stiffen. That’s what I told the police that it the death occurred before two hours,” she said.
When contacted, Dr Ravindra Kumar, Chief Medical Officer, said the duty doctor submitted a report in which he was declared dead.
(Agencies)
New Delhi: Opposition parties today sought an apology from HRD minister Smriti Irani for reading out in Rajya Sabha “objectionable” comments made outside against a god, as she defended herself saying she was asked for proof of her statements against JNU students.
BJP members also hit back at the Congress saying the opposition party was raising the issue due to the criticism of its Vice President Rahul Gandhi over his visit to JNU.
As the House met for the day, Deputy Leader of Congress in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma raised a point of order saying the Constitution and rules do not permit anything to be raised in the House which is blasphemous and can hurt religious sentiments.
Irani, he said, had read out “insulting” comments made against Goddess Durga “verbatim” in the House hurting sentiments and sought a ruling from the Chair as to whether such comments made outside Parliament against any religious figure or a deity can be read out inside the House.
Members of other opposition parties also agreed with K C Tyagi of JD(U) demanding that Irani should unconditionally apologise for the comments read out by her.
Irani, however, remained unfazed by the criticism and asserted that she herself was a “practising hindu and a Durga worshipper”.
The HRD minister also insisted that she had read out the comments from authenticated documents from JNU as she was repeatedly being asked to explain what was the evidence against students accused of anti-national acts, which some parties were giving respectability to.
Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad then said it is a “very serious issue” and the “minister should apologise for what she said yesterday.”
Azad said there were campaigns against many religious figures but all this cannot be raised in the House.
Coming to his colleague’s defence, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi attacked Congress and other opposition parties saying it had become a pattern for them to seek a Short Duration Discussion, a couple of Calling Attention Motions and an apology in every session while showing no interest in legislative business.
He also said that Congress was raising the issue as its Vice President was criticised for supporting those indulging in activities against the nation.
As the two sides indulged in heated exchanges, Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said there has been a tradition that nothing blasphemous or anything against any community will be raised in the House. He assured members that he would go through the records and expunge anything blasphemous.
(Agencies)
India’s Rohit Sharma plays a shot against Bangladesh during the Asia Cup Twenty20 international cricket match in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)
Mirpur: Rohit Sharma’s flamboyant innings of 83 runs not just took India out of trouble, but also helped win the Asia Cup opener against Bangladesh by a comprehensive 45 runs at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here on Wednesday.
Put in to bat in the first Twenty20 International match of an Asia Cup, India put up a challenging total of 166/6 with man-of-the-match Rohit notching up a strong 55-ball 83.
He got good support from Yuvraj Singh (15) and later all-rounder Hardik Pandya (31) played a superb cameo. The trio rescued the visiting team from a tottering position of 42/3 in the eighth over.
In reply, the hosts never really took off and kept losing wickets regularly which hindered their chances of winning on home soil to hand the match to India.
On what was a very green top which turned out to be low and slow with the ball not coming on to the bat, the Indian batsmen struggled early on. They misjudged the pace of the wicket and several of them perished due to wayward shots.
First to go was opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan (2), who was bowled by Al-Amin Hossain. Vice-captain Virat Kohli (8) did not get to the pitch of the ball to be caught at mid-off off hosts skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza.
Left-hander Suresh Raina looked dangerous after hitting two boundaries but he was also bowled for 13.
India were in more than a spot of bother at 42/3 when opening batsman Rohit stuck it out in the middle with Yuvraj to strike a 55-run fourth wicket partnership which consolidated the innings. Rohit was the aggressor of the two, smashing seven boundaries and three sixes.
After Yuvraj departed, Pandya took over and he upped the ante with his 18-ball 31 cameo, which included four boundaries and a huge six over deep mid-wicket.
Eventually, India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni smashed a six over deep square leg to take his team to 166/6.
Bangladesh pacer Hossain bowled well to take three wickets.
India pacer Ashish Nehra was on target right from the start of the Bangladeshi innings, taking a credible 3/23 from his four overs.
Bangladesh kept losing wickets at regular intervals and never got any partnership going. Sabbir Rahman was the only one who looked batting with intent in his knock of 44 runs, hitting two boundaries and sixes each.
But once he got out, it was more or less over the hosts as the asking rate kept climbing quite quickly.
Indian bowlers Jasprit Bumrah, Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were quite economical with none of them going for more than 6.5 runs per over.
(IANS)
Comic actor Krushna Abhishek came for mahurat with a song recording of his comedy film Jhunjhunaa at Kuber studio.
Nilkanth Regmi, Vanshmani Sharma & Kamal Kishor Mishra of Rock Mountain Productions kept the mahurat of their debut film Jhunjhunaa with a song recording at Kuber studio. Krushna Abhishek who is busy in comedy shows has signed this film as a main lead. Aman Trikha & Supriya Joshi came to sing the song written & composed by Praveen Bhardwaj. Manoj Sharma is the director of the film Jhunjhunaa. The film’s shooting will start from the 2nd week of Mar, 2016. Krushna Abhishek came specially from Haryana to be a part of this recording and mahurat.
New Delhi: Former Union Minister P Chidambaram who held the home and finance portfolios in the UPA government on Thursday sparked controversy that Afzal Guru’s role in 2001 Parliament attack was doubtful. Almost three years after Afzal Guru was hanged, Congress leader P Chidambaram is concerned to hold an ‘honest opinion’ and raised his doubts against the capital punishment of 2001 Parliament attack convict, report said.
Former Home Minister P Chidambaram was responding to a question on whether Afzal Guru’s execution ordered by the Supreme Court was appropriate. According to Chidambaram, Afzal Guru’s case was not correctly decided and there are possibility to hold an honest opinion in that matter. Chidambaram was quoted in an interview conducted by Economic Times.
Chidambaram was further quoted by ET where he said, “An independent person can hold an opinion that the case was not decided correctly”.
The comments of Chidambaram came in the backdrop of JNU incident in which three of its students are arrested on sedition charges and for commemorating Afzal Guru at the campus. Following the incident at JNU campus a nationwide debate is in motion. Those who hold a different opinion against the capital punishment of Afzal Guru are termed as anti-national.
However Chidambaram said that, “It is wrong to project anyone as an anti-national who holds that opinion”.
From 2008 to 2011 P Chidambaram, was home minister of India. In 2013 when Sushilkumar Shinde was home minister Afzal Guru was executed. Chidambaram raised doubt of extend of Afzal Guru’s involvement in 2001 Parliament Attack.
The Afzal Guru’s execution is a hot topic in India especially after JNU students were arrested on charges of sedition when the student union had organised a event on February 9, for commemorating Afzal Guru.
(Agencies)