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.