Aarumaname Tamil movie still

Actress Sindhu with Ganja Karuppu in the Tamil movie Aarumaname.

3 Idiots Star R Madhavan

r-madhavan-8245-maddy_photo1, originally uploaded by azi.ok.

The popular film actor, producer and TV personality R Madhavan, also known as Maddy, is ecstatic after scoring a huge hit with his latest Bollywood film ‘3 Idiots’ based on the novel ‘Five Point Someone’ by Chetan Bhagat. The movie, in which he played a supporting lead role, was produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra and directed by Rajkumar Hirani. He co-starred with stars such as Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Sharman Joshi, Omi Vaidya, Parikshit Sahni, Javed Jaffrey, Mona Singh and Boman Irani.

As of 8 January 2010, 3 Idiots was the "the highest grossing Bollywood movie of all time." It was released in 40 countries and is also "the highest grossing Indian film ever to release in the US, Middle East, Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, Kenya and Fiji."

Most of the shooting was done in Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Ladakh, Chail, Shimla and at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. As reported and according to Rajkumar Hirani, ‘the biggest joke while filming was that he was called the most idiotic director, as he had asked the heroine of the film to gain weight and the heroes to lose weight.’

The film ‘3 Idiots’ tells the story of Farhan Qureshi (R Madhavan), Raju Rastogi (Sharman Joshi) and Rancchoddas "Rancho" Shyamaldas Chanchad (Aamir Khan) who are engineering college students. While Farhan and Raju are students from modest backgrounds who want to lift their families out of poverty, Rancho is a wealthy genius who studies for the sheer joy of it. Kareena Kapoor plays the role of the medical student Pia, the love interest of Rancho. The film shows all types of college politics and hilarious situations, trials and tribulations, the problems the students face and in a way inspires students to overcome the problems. There are many funny scenes and many more to make people think about day-to-day problems.

The 39-year-old popular actor Madhavan is not new to Bollywood or Hindi film viewers as he had already starred in Hindi movies such as Dil Vil Pyar Vyar, Ramji Londonwaley, Mumbai Meri Jaan, 13 B (simultaneously made in Tamil as Yavarum Nalam), Sikandar and Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein (remake of the 2001 Tamil film Minnale), marking his debut in Bollywood, for which he was nominated for Zee Cine Award Best Male Debut and nominated for Star Screen Award for Most Promising Male Newcomer. His successful Bollywood films are blockbusters such as Rang De Basanti (2006), Guru (2007) and the latest being 3 Idiots (Dec 2009).

Born in Jamshedpur, the steel city in Jharkhand, India, Madhavan started his film career with Fred Olen Ray's English film ‘Inferno’ (1998) alongside Don Wilson, followed by the Kannada language film “Shanti Shanti Shanti” (1999) and the Tamil film Alaipayuthey (2000). So far he has acted in films of seven languages. He has received several awards for his acting in various categories. He was a very popular actor on television before starting acting in films. He has played major roles in Hindi TV serials such Saaya, Sea Hawks, Banegi Apni Baat, Tol Mol Ke Bol and Ghar Jamai.

Some of his memorable Tamil language films include Alaipayuthey (2000), Minnale (2001), Kannathil Muthamittal (2002 movie for which he was the winner, Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor), Run (2002), Anbe Sivam (2003 Tamil movie for which he won the ITFA Best Supporting Actor Award), Aayutha Ezhuthu (2004 movie for which he was the winner of Filmfare Best Tamil Supporting Actor Award), Evano Oruvan (produced and written by him in 2007 and he won the ITFA Best Actor Award), Rendu (his first dual role and one of his biggest successes), Yavarum Nalam (2009, bilingual horror film, simultaneously made in Hindi as 13 B). Some of his female co-stars include Simran Bagga, Meera Jasmine, Trisha Krishnan, Sadha, Jyothika Saravanan, Bhavana Balachandran, Reema Sen, Soha Ali Khan, Esha Deol and Vidya Balan.

Madhavan is expected to have four releases in 2010 with the long-delayed Naan Aval Adhu, Teen Patti (in which he shares screen space with internationally celebrated actors such as Sir Ben Kingsley -- English actor who has won Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards in his career, known for starring as Mohandas Gandhi in the film Gandhi in 1982, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor -- and Amitabh Bachchan, another delayed Hindi-Bengali bilingual Sunglass directed by Rituparno Ghosh and Tanu Weds Manu with Kangana Ranaut. Some other projects announced include a film on the life of the legendary Indian painter Raja Ravi Verma, a sequel to 13 B and an English film with Deepa Mehta as the director.

In 2007 Madhavan set up his own production company, ‘Leukos Films’. He is also associated with various social causes such as PETA, and he is a staunch vegetarian. In July 2006 he was voted the "cutest male vegetarian" in an online poll conducted by PETA, along with Kareena Kapoor who won the female award. He is also a popular star in mobile games.

The little great actor

WWW.OKGOT.COM, originally uploaded by nith007.

The comedy actor Ajay Kumar, popularly known as Unda Pakru or Guinness Pakru, is the little great actor who has the rare distinction of being honoured as the shortest actor (64.008 cm height or approximately 2 feet 10 inches) leading an adult role in a commercial film for his performance in Athbhutha Dweep (Wonder Island) by the Guinness Book of Records (2008 edition). The movie is about a mysterious island where all the men are dwarfs and all the women are of normal height. Besides, he has also bagged the special Kerala State Award and a Tamil Nadu state award for his performance in the film ‘Dishyum' in 2006.

The film Athbhutha Dweepu, directed by Vinayan and starring Undapakru as the dwarf prince Gajendra of the Vamanapuri Kingdom on a fantasy island, is about the story of men who were cursed to be dwarfs and whose women were of normal height. Around 300 dwarfs acted in that film, apart from popular Malayalam actors including Prithviraj Sukumaran.

Ajay Kumar (Undapakru) started his career as a mimicry artist, then entered films with the 1994 children's film Ambili Ammavan (The moon), and continued by performing full-fledged character roles. He is very popular in television serials and other TV events. Hailing from Aymanam (in Kerala, India), he is a university graduate (BA Economics) and has diploma in computer science. He married Gayatri Mohan (152.4 cm/ 5 feet height) in March 2006.

Al Gore style Namasté

Nobel Namasté, originally uploaded by jurvetson.

Namasté: Al Gore responds to the standing ovation at TED for his new slide show.

Mega Hit Magadheera Gallery #1

Charan3, originally uploaded by vebtoday9.

Ram Charan Teja acts as the 16th century warrior general Kalabharaiva in the Telugu movie Magadheera, the biggest blockbuster ever in Telugu film industry's history, raking in Rs 22 crores in the first week, a kind of success that surpasses even his dad the Tollywood superstar Chiranjeevi.

Giselle Monteiro with Saif Ali Khan in Love Aaj Kal

Harleen Kaur aka Giselle Monterio, originally uploaded by Bombayite.

Giselle Monteiro, the Brazilian model and actress who was born in 1988 in Espirito Santo, Brazil, made her film debut in the 2009 Bollywood film Love Aaj Kal directed by Imtiaz Ali. She played the role of the Punjabi girl Harleen Kaur, who is wooed and won by Saif Ali Khan. Monteiro began modeling career at the age of seventeen. She came to Mumbai, India in 2008 and became a Bollywood actress.

Brandon Routh - Superman Returns

Brandon Routh Superman Returns, originally uploaded by Comic.Freak2Geek.

American actor, former fashion model and the titular hero of the 2006 film Superman Returns Brandon Routh appears in a cameo role playing himself in the Bollywood movie Kambakkht Ishq.

Nadigar Thilagam Sivaji Ganesan's statue

"Nadigar Thilagam" Sivaji Ganesan, originally uploaded by India Pictures.

Sivaji Ganesan, one of the most talented and celebrated actors of Indian cinema of yesteryears, was the reigning king of Tamil Film Industry in the later part of the 20th Century. He acted in more than 300 films, performing as the lead actor. This statue in his honour was erected in 2006 at the Marina Beach Road circle, Kamaraj Salai, Chennai, India.

Angels & Demons: Tom Hanks, Ayelet Zurer

Tom Hanks and Ayelet Zurer on Angels&Demons set, originally uploaded by *Denise_.

The photo shows Tom Hanks and the Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer during the shooting of Ron Howard's new movie "Angels & Demons", based on The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown's book. The movie is due for release on May 15, 2009. The promotional trailers, posters, videos, etc. are out to promote the movie. At the same time, there are protests from Catholics and other Christian faiths from world over that the movie is yet another attempt to hurt religious sentiments.

As suggested in The Da Vinci Code, historically, there are evidences that a secret society that believed that Jesus Christ was not crucified but escaped to Galle (France) along with Mary Magdalene and they had children and their next generations. The then Roman Church had its own interests to kill all the members of the Jesus bloodline and their followers. This is the background on which the The Da Vinci Code story was based. Also, there is no hard evidence to prove that the Catholic Church did anything against the secret society or its members. There are claims and anti-claims on these aspects. And there are people who build their careers, fortunes, and fame kicking up past wrongs and rights, including religious sentiments.

The story of Angels & Demons is based on a similar theme that another secret society, the illuminati, that was interested in overthrowing rulers and authorities want to blow up the top order of the church and install their own Pope. There have always been clashes between hardcore believers in science and the church, throughout the History. The story of this film also takes advantage of similar views, interwoven with religious facts.

As a free individual, you are the judge to believe or not to believe what Dan Brown says in his books and the films based on them. You are free to believe or disbelieve what the secret societies say through Dan Brown’s stories. Some people even claim that the followers of secret societies and the believers in the next generations of Christ and Magdalene exist.

Watching TV to rejuvenate the mind

I think it will be crazy to ask people if they like to watch TV. Without fail, ask anyone, the answer will be, “Yes, why not?” The right thing to ask would be about one’s favorite channel, TV show, actor or actress. However, I prefer to watch TV regularly every day for some time, just to keep me away from the day-to-day professional tensions and to relax my mind. I feel fresh after viewing TV for some time. It rather rejuvenates my mind, as exercise keeps the body fit.

Mostly, at home, we watch movies, reality shows, contests, sports, and news. I do not have any favorite channel, show, actor or actress as far as watching TV is concerned. But I like to see any good performance by any actor or actress or TV personality or channel. I like to get the best quality pictures, sound and above all the program must be entertaining, not necessarily informative. I do not want to put my brain to drudgery, as my aim is to refresh my mind and enjoy watching TV.

I immensely love viewing Oprah Winfrey and Kim Kardashian (Keeping Up with the Kardashians). For news, I love CNN and BBC. When cricket matches are being aired live, I make it a point to view them, and I equally love football and Tennis live on TV.

I love watching James Bond (based on Ian Fleming’s novels) movies very much. I have seen almost all Bond movies starting with the first movie, “Dr. No”, featuring Sean Connery as James Bond. George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig are also fine actors who effectively portrayed “Mr. Bond”, the trend and style of whom were undoubtedly set by Sean Connery in the first movie itself. However, I think Sean Connery was the best Bond, though many of my friends have other favorites. Thankfully, many of my favorites are available on TV, excepting the new releases.

I like to watch TV from Direct TV satellite television, especially watching High Definition TV (HD TV programs) is quite interesting. I would like to take part in DIRECTV Awards contests. There can be quite a good number of contestants, and the competition can be tough! I expect most of my friends like you to vote for me to win DIRECTV BoB Awards for this post. Will you vote for me? Any way, take time and spend some time before your TV set and relax your mind.

Aishwarya Rai receives Padma Shree Award from the President Mrs. Pratibha Patil

Padma Award -- Blue White Red, originally uploaded by sujathafan.

The Bollywood actress Aishwarya Rai has been honored with Padma Shri award. This photo shows Aishwarya Rai receiving the award from the President of India, Smt. Pratibha Patil. Apart from her, Akshay Kumar's name was also announced for this recognition.

The legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai’s father-in-law, who was present in the award ceremony said, "She will become the 5th Padma Award recipient in our family. First my father was awarded with the Padma Bhushan, then the Padma Shri for me, followed again by the Padma Bhushan to me some years later, Jaya's Padma Shri and now Aishwarya's. This must be a record for the country. 5 Padma Awards in one family. God has been very kind to us. The people of this land have been very kind to us. We are humbled and with bended knee and bowed heads acknowledge your affection and care and love."

Padma Shri (also spelt as Padmashri, Padma Shree or Padmashree), an award given by the Government of India, generally to Indian citizens, is to recognize significant contributions to national life by distinguished persons in the fields of arts, education, industry, literature, science, sports, social service, public life, etc.

Padma Shri is the fourth in the hierarchy of civilian awards of India after Bharat Ratna, Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan.

Ghajini - Amir Khan and Asin

Ghajini, originally uploaded by PIG media.

This is a shot of Asin Thottumkal and Amir Khan from the forthcoming film, "Ghajini" to be released on 25 December 2008. It is a remake of the Tamil film of the same name, which was a huge hit. Asin starred in the original Tamil film too. The Hindi version has Jiah Khan also. It has six songs composed by the inimitable A. R. Rehman.