Famous artist Moin Akhter passes away

KARACHI: Veteran television, stage and film artist Moin Akhtar has died here on Friday at the age of 61, Geo News reported.

Moin Akhtar was under treatment at Combined Military Hospital (CMH) due to heart disease.

Moin Akhtar was a television, film and stage actor, as well as a comedian, impersonator, and a host. He was also a play writer, singer, film director and a producer.

Moin Akhtar was a highly dynamic and versatile performer from Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan, he made his debut for television on 6 September 1966, in a variety show held on PTV to celebrate the first defense day of Pakistan. Since then, he has performed several roles in TV plays/shows, later making a team with Anwar Maqsood and Bushra Ansari.

Whether on the stage or on the screen, Moin Akhtar is one of the most sought after actors in Pakistani entertainment industry. His apparent attempts to avoid vulgar in his humor has rendered him a favorite amongst family audiences.

He is an inspiration for the generations to come and is one of the few that stands out so distinguishably. Akhtar was fluent in several languages, including English, Bengali, Sindhi, Punjabi, Memon, Pushto, Gujarati and others, while in the Urdu-speaking world, he is beloved for providing humor for people of all ages, and with an etiquette that remains unmatched.

He has a following not only in Pakistan but on the other side of the border, India, too due to the stage shows, Bakra Qiston Pe and Buddha Ghar Pe Hai with Umer Sharif. It would not be wrong to say that his ardent fans are spread all around the globe.

Moin Akhtar rose to the national spotlight and gathered critical acclaim for his performance in the drama Rosy /Rozy, in which he played the role of a female TV artist. Rozy was an Urdu adaptation of Hollywood movie Tootsie starring Dustin Hoffman.

Moreover, in a talk-show namely Loose Talk, which began in 2005 on a private television channel, he has appeared as a different disguised guest who is interviewed by Anwar Maqsood, the writer and the host of the program. Loose Talk ended after over 400 episodes, each seen with Moin disguised as a different personality.

So embarrassing, Deepika Ko Roti Banana Nahin Aata

Deepika Padukone’s cooking lessons on the Aarakshan set

Knowing how to make a perfect round Roti is a basic skill that is deemed a must-know by any Indian girl, even a successful star like Deepika Padukone.

Deepika had to make roties in the movie Aarakshan, for a song sequence. Not knowing that the sequence involved her ‘actually’ making a roti, she froze on being presented with loose flour. With the whole unit waiting for her to do the action, Deepika just stood there.

As with most girls’ first attempts of making the simple roti, Deepika’s also came out in abstract shapes, sizes and maps of unknown countries. Seeing her comical trials and her gradually getting covered in white flour, Saif came to her rescue with not much success. Finally Prakash Jha came up with an innovative shortcut to a perfectly round roti.

Prakash Jha commented, “It was nothing major. Deepika was pretty comfortable in the kitchen. I just helped her a little bit.”

Saif Ali Khan commented, “It was interestingly funny, reminded me of the scene in Kaalia, where Amit ji helps Parveen Babi ji to make an egg. (laughs) thank god it wasn’t an egg for Deepika.”

Deepika Padukone commented, “ I was so embarrassed, I can totally cook but roti is a challenge. As with life the most simplest of things some times get to be a hardest to master.”

Salman tweaks 'Ready' made hit song Dinka Chika

Salman Khan ordered a change for Ready's Dinka Chika... and reshot it at his own expense

Salman Khan wants Ready to have a surefire hit track. He insisted on adapting Ringa Ringa (from hit Telugu flick Arya 2) and transformed it to Dhinka Chika for his upcoming Ready. Not just that, he was unhappy with the lyrics of the Hindi film's song and asked for them to be changed.

Better words, please

A source reveals, "Salman always gets what he wants. He has a great rapport with Ready producer Bhushan Kumar.

He rang him up saying the song needs new lyrics. In fact he refused to shoot the song until they came up with better words. Since they were on an outdoor shoot happening in Bangkok, the crew went ahead and shot the song nonetheless."

On returning to Mumbai, Khan sat with Devi Sri Prasad, the composer of the original Telugu track and came up with new lyrics. "He wants Dhinka Chika to be the song of 2011.

It already has the potential to be a huge chartbuster. Hence Salman got new lyrics penned and re-recorded the whole song." Buzz is that the actor bore the entire expenses of re-shooting the complete song with new lyrics.

Courtesy: Mid-Day.com

Aamir's favourite superhero is... Hint: It isn't SRK!

No prizes for guessing who Aamir Khan picked, when asked. Hint: It wasn't SRK!

Aamir Khan doesn't miss an opportunity to poke fun at Shah Rukh Khan. He did it again at an event held at his Pali Hill home to promote Darsheel Safary-starrer Zokkomon, which releases today.

Between the two, there was some light-hearted ribbing, at SRK's expense. King Khan's Ra.One was mentioned, simply by virtue of it also being a superhero flick.

Darsheel was asked if he had seen the promos of the SRK Ra.One. To which the child star quipped that in 30 seconds you can't figure out anything about a film. When the same question was posed to Aamir, he promptly said, "I'm happy and content being a hero and superhero means going a step ahead which I don't think I can, like the others."

Furthermore, Aamir claimed that he hadn't seen Ra.One's promos. AK chuckled while signing off and said, "Right now, I'm concentrating on Darsheel Safary's Zokkomon and he is my favourite superhero." The great Khan snub-fest continues..

PS: Is this Aamir's way of making his prot eg e's (Safary debuted in Aamir's Taare Zameen Par) film a talking point?

In the past

~~ Aamir Khan had blogged that his dog at his Panchgani farmhouse was called Shah Rukh!

~~ In the stakes of being the number 1, he had stated that he is No 2 because Shah Rukh always claimed that he is No 1

~~ During his birthday celebrations last month when he was asked about about film awards he said, "Like someone recently gave the Best Actor award to Shah Rukh Khan. Salman Khan should have won it for Dabangg or Ajay Devgn for Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai."

Taking short breaks helps the heart

ISLAMABAD: People who sit for extended periods of time without taking short breaks are at risk for heart disease than those who take more frequent timeouts to stand up and walk around, suggests a study.

The cardiovascular risk that stems from remaining sedentary for prolonged periods of time (at the office, for example) manifests itself in the form of larger waists, higher blood pressure, increased body inflammation and lower levels of `good' cholesterol.

In developed countries people spend more than half of their day sitting, on an average. To explore the potential connection between short breaks and cardiovascular risks, researchers from UK followed 4757 men and women aged 20 years and above for three years.

All participants had been outfitted with an accelerometer on their hips, to monitor a week's worth of walking, running and sitting routines.

Researchers also looked at heart disease-related risk factors, including blood pressure and cholesterol levels. The most sedentary participants were found to sit a little more than 21 hours per day, while the least sedentary sat just under two hours per day.

It was found that the longer the participants spent being sedentary the larger was their waist circumference. Overall, those who took the most breaks from sitting were found to have the smallest waists.

The findings suggest that even small changes to a person's activity levels might help to lower cardiovascular risk. These changes can be readily incorporated into the person's day-to-day life including the work environment.

Abhishek to release his hip-hop album this year

MUMBAI: Abhishek Bachchan's hip-hop album to be titled Side B (as a homage to those vinyl discs in the past which had two sides) composed by Vishal-Shekhar is finally moving into a gorgeous groove. Two years in the pipeline, the 6 tracks rendered by Abhishek for the album have been composed by Vishal-Shekhar.

With his two film-related hip-hop numbers doing well, Abhishek has now decided to complete the project in Los Angeles where Abhishek and Vishal-Shekhar will get the best sound-mixing engineers to work on his hip-hop sounds until they walk talk and sing.

Says a source, "Abhishek loves hip-hop. It's his favourite form of music. He loves to hear it and sing it. But he's not too confident about his voice. However, those who have heard him singing in the album by Vishal-Shekhar swear Abhishek has a winner on his hands."

Apparently the Big B, himself a Mr. Cool when it comes contemporary grooves, suggested that Abhishek and Vishal-Shekhar take the album to LA for the mixing and final version. The trio will head to the Mecca of modern grooves in the next couple of months.

The album Side B will be ready by the end of the year.

Says Abhishek, "I love hip-hop. But I don't know how well I sing. Vishal-Shekhar and I have been working on an album. We've some plans for making it sound better. Let's see how it goes."

Pakistan lose T20I by 7 runs against West Indies

GROS ISLET, Saint Lucia: Pakistan lost the only Twenty20 International by seven runs in an exciting finish here at the Beausejour Stadium on Thursday.

Chasing a modest target of 151 runs, they made 143 runs for nine wickets in the first ever T20I between the two countries.

For Pakistan, no batsman except Umar Akmal (41) and Asad Shafiq (25) could resist against accurate bowling by the West Indians as leg-break bowler Devendra Bishoo claimed four wickets for 17 runs and fast-medium bowler Ravi Rampaul took three for 31.

West Indies picked a youthful team for the one-off game and the upcoming ODI series, having dropped experienced batsmen Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

One of the young faces, opening batsman Lendl Simmons got West Indies off to a great start with a lively 65 off 44 balls and left-hander Darren Bravo struck 42 off 33 as the Caribbean side brought up their 100 in the 13th over.

But, as so often, Darren Sammy's side failed to build on their good foundation and ended up falling short of a really strong total, with just two other players making double figures.

Pakistan lost both their openers, Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez, early but Umar Akmal's 41 from 60 balls put them in with a chance.

Bishoo, who caught the eye of West Indies selectors with his performances in regional Twenty20 cricket, then showed his value in the shortest form of the game with some astute bowling.

The vital breakthrough came when Sammmy made a fine catch at extra-cover off Bishoo, to dismiss skipper Shahid Afridi (12) and break up what was a potentially match winning partnership.

Sammy then ran out Mohammand Salman and when Marlon Samuels caught Umar at deep midwicket off Ravi Rampaul, Pakistan were in trouble at 109-7.
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But some loose bowling and some spirited resistance from Saeed Ajmal (21 not out) at the end gave the tourists a glimmer of hope and the last pair needed 14 from the final over.

Jamaican all-rounder Andre Russell kept his composure, after a no-ball with his first delivery of the over, and the West Indies had cause for celebration at the start of their home campaigns which also includes two Tests with Pakistan in May and three against India in June.

Sindh CNG stations to shut down for 36 hrs

 KARACHI: All Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations in Karachi and Sindh Interior would close down their operations for 36 hours from midnight of Friday (April 22) till noon on Sunday April 24.

According to Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) spokesman, this was mutually agreed in a meeting of the SSGC’s top management and the elected representatives of several CNG associations at SSGC Head Office on Thursday, presided by SSGC’s Deputy Managing Director Azim Iqbal Siddiqui.

The decision was taken in the larger interest of maintaining uninterrupted gas supply across the company’s franchise areas in Sindh and Balochistan.

There was a need for this decision keeping in view of Bhit Gas Field Annual Turn-Around (ATA), which has been in effect since April 12.

It was also agreed between the SSGC and the representatives of CNG associations that the company’s monitoring teams will be strictly checking all the stations during this 36-hour agreed shut-down.

The CNG stations found operating during the agreed shut down period of 36 hours will have their gas supply disconnected and will not be restored for 24 hours beyond the closure period and until the filing of a ‘non objection certificate’ (NOC) from the respective CNG association.

The gas utility through its advertisements in national press has been requesting all its customers to voluntarily reduce their gas consumption by 15 to 20 percent, which will facilitate the utility in providing uninterrupted gas supply to all its valued customers throughout its franchise area during the period of the annual maintenance of Bhit Gas Field. The SSGC regrets this situation for the inconvenience, which will be caused to the CNG users during 36-hour shutdown.

US to deploy drones against Kadhafi: Gates

WASHINGTON: The US military will use armed drones over Libya, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday, calling them a ‘modest contribution’ to international coalition efforts there. 

Gates said the decision to use unmanned drones armed with missiles was made "because of the humanitarian situation" in Libya, where strongman Moamer Kadhafi's forces are battling a Western-backed insurgency.

"They give you a capability that even the A10 (anti-tank aircraft) and AC130 (ground attack aircraft) couldn't provide" in the conflict in the North African nation, he told a press briefing. (AFP)

Load shedding won’t end in 2011: Qamar

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar on Friday said that electricity load shedding would not end in the current fiscal year.

During question-hour session of the National Assembly, Naveed Qamar said that India had so far constructed 43 hydro-electric projects on our western rivers of Indus, Jhelum and Chenab.

He said that power shortfall would remain more than 3,500 MW after four months.

Qamar said that during the last three years, all power distribution companies suffered loses of Rs 225.467 billion due to load shedding.

He said that that Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) had been assigned to carry out planning and construction of 32 small and medium dams across the country in two phases.

During question-hour session of the National Assembly, he said 12 small and medium dams would be constructed in different parts of the country in Phase-I.

According to the schedule, he said, the dams would be completed by 2014, however "the start and completion of these projects depends on availability of funds."

In first phase two water reservoirs would be built in Sindh, five in Balochistan, three in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas and two in Punjab. Work on some dams has already been started, he added.

He said that 20 other water reservoirs would be constructed in Phase-II.