Desi Galaxy

There had been so much in the media about Aishwarya Rai’s sickness. At first it was rumored that Aishwarya Rai is pregnant. Later the couple Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan denied the rumor. Then it was reported that Aishwarya Rai is sick due to some kind of throat infection. Amitabh Bachchan himself wrote on his blog that his daughter in law Aishwarya Rai is suffering from a throat infection.

More recently, a Mumbai based tabloid Mumbai Mirror reported that Aishwarya Rai is suffering from Stomach Tuberculosis. This was it the media frenzy started over the issue and soon it was reported as a fact that Aishwarya is diagnosed Stomach Tuberculosis. Some even reported that due to her disease Aishwarya Rai can’t risk getting pregnant.

Some tabloids reported that Aishwarya Rai does not have Stomach Tuberculosis, instead she had an abortion.

Amitabh Bachchan and his family always had a good relationship with the media. Even though media did cause torment to their personal lives before but they somehow managed to face adversity with grace and dignity. But this time media had crossed all the limits so the Bachchan Family announced that they will be boycotting Filmfare awards until Mumbai Mirror apologizes for their false reports. Amitabh also wrote on his blog that a legal action has been taken and the newspaper will be served with a legal notice soon. Bachchan family is also angry with the overall attitude of media that carried out these false reports and presented them as facts to their audiences.

Aishwarya Rai herself spoke up and clarified that she is not sick. She said she is healthy and perfectly fine.

We as fans of the Hindi films, Bachchans and Aishwarya Rai along with our readers stand with the Bachchans and Aishwarya Rai. We would also like to advise Aishwarya Rai that she should complete her upcoming movies as soon as possible. It’s been a long time since she had a major release and there is a huge demand from fans who want to hear about Aishwarya. Keeping up with the demands of their readership and their love of Aishwarya sometimes media gets crazy over such things. So the best way to shut all these rumor factories is by giving them a rock solid performance to talk about.

This week had been a little less eventful for the Bollywood as all the major releases are moved up to be released in the last of this month. We saw lots of Kareena and Saif together promoting their upcoming movie Kurbaan. We saw Aamir Khan talking about his upcoming idiotic adventure ‘3 idiots’ where Aamir Khan who is currently 44 years old is playing a 22 year old college student.

Now confirmed: Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone Breakup
According to Indiatimes Ranbir Kapoor’s good relations with Katrina Kaif was decessive turning point in the relationship. Deepika wanted Ranbir to put more effort in their relationship to succeed and Ranbir was unable to do that. Ranbir who was praised by critics after his first movie Saawariya has failed to maintain the success. Now his movie with Katrina Kaif ‘Ajab prem ki Ghazab Kahani’ is doing an average business and is expected to become a hit. Perhaps this was the time for Ranbir to change things in life to focus more on his career.

Kurbaan movie posters spark controversy:
Kareena’s pictures from Kurbaan has sparked the controversy. These images are used in the publicity posters for the movie showing Saif Ali Khan shirtless and Kareena Kapoor’s back. Shiv Sena spoke out against the posters…

Madhuri Dixit is offered a role to play Indira Gandhi
Krishna Shah has offered Maduri Dixit to play Indira Gandhi’s role in a project he is currently researching. Madhuri has not said yes to him as yet, but if she does this is going to be one hell of a movie. Madhuri is a living legend and since she got married she has strived to achieve balance between her family life and her film career. So much has been speculated about her next moves since Aaja Nachle. We at Desi Galaxy personally believe that Madhuri owes it to her fans to do more great films and a Bio pic on the India’s only ever to be elected woman Prime minister is definitely an interesting oppurtunity.

Mumbai terror suspects had links to Bollywood Stars
David Headley, one of the suspects in the Mumbai terror attacks met bollywood actors, worked out with them and even visited the targetted locations with them. Rahul Bhatt, Emran Hashmi and some other Bollywood names get involved in the ongoing investigation. Of course, all of the linked stars has denied their association. But it seems like there is a big mess that is going to uncovered really soon.

Another MMS clip made in the University of Mumbai’s Kalina campus has sparked another scandal. The mms video clip shows two students of the university having sex on the floor of the student council office. The faces of both students are not visible in the video but the male student is the general secretary of the University’s student council. He is affiliated with Samatvadi Chatrabharati party.

Since the student polls are due in two months it seems like this new MMS clip scandal is politically motivated. According to police, the man who filed the complain and informed the media is National Students Union of India’s president Sadaf Aboli. Mr. Aboli has previously accused a college professor of sexually harassing a female student. However the professor was given clean chit by police. It looks like Aboli is a person with a very dangerous and dirty mind. Aboli told the media that they were at the second floor when they hear noises coming from the ground floor office. They went down to invesitgate, when the peered from the window they saw General Seceratry making out with a girl.

Meanwhile the accused male student claims to be innocent. He says that he was not involved in any such incident. His party’s senior leader claims that the boy shares a brotherly love with the girl in the mms clip.

It is not the first time that MMS video clips caused serious problems, previously a girl from Jamshedpur became a victim of such an incident. MMS videos are used for marketing latest bollywood movies and music albums and are very effective marketing. But such viral and pornographic desi mms clips are most of the time illegal and they cause serious damage to the lives of innocent girls on these videos.

In response to Zee network’s desire to create their own sporting content by organizing Indian Cricket League, BCCI decided to organize their own Indian Premier League.

The King of Indian Film Industry Shahrukh Khan decided to sponsor Kolkatta’s team which has resulted into termendous media response for Indian Premier League. Soon Priety Zinta with her boyfriend Ness Wadia joined the league as sponsor of Mohali. Reliance Industries’ Mukesh Ambani is sponsoring Mumbai’s team with the highest bid of 111.9 Million US Dollars.

This was quite enough for creating magnificent market buzz and spark interest among cricket crazy Indians. But then there was a bidding by sponsors to select players for their teams. Chennai made a bid of 1,500,000 US Dollars for India’s star cricketer Mahinder Singh Dhoni. Australia’s Andrew Symonds is part of Hyderabad’s team with the bidding amount of 1,350,000 US Dollars. Irfan Pathan and Yuvraj singh will be playing for Priety Zinta’s Mohali Team.

The groups investing huge amounts in the league’s cricketing event surely recognize the event as a great opportunity for them. Not to mention that the higher stakes involved in the process mean great mind blowing battles between the teams.

Further more:

Wikipedia Indian Premier League
Official Website Indian Premier League

I recently wrote a post about Bollywood Tourism. South Asian Post reports that Percept Holdings is planning to start a $100 million ‘Bollywood Experience’ venture. The project includes Bollywood cafes, museums, a theme park, film set replicas, movie memorabilia, simulator experiences, 3D virtual gaming booths, a walk of fame Shailendra Singh of Percept Holdings told South Asian post that:

Bollywood is 75 years old and it’s time we show our pride of this rich heritage. Watch out, Bollywood tourism will be big business.

It is really a wonderful idea. I mean just imagine a Bollywood Museum where you can learn about the history of Hindi movies, the legendary artists who remained behind the camera and other aspects of Bollywood. Walking down the sets of movies that you have seen and seeing for yourself how these scenes were filmed. Buy DVDs of popular Hindi movies. This sounds like a hell lot of fun to me. I wish Percept Holdings get in touch with Incredible India project and gets their Bollywood tourism packages showcased there as well.

Tags: Tourism, Travel, Incredible India. Image courtesy: David Wilmost, Wimbeldon, UK.

University of Washington President Mark Emmert and seven other university and government leaders are on a State Department-sponsored mission to Mumbai and New Delhi, India.

Talking of Music, check out a Treat for Bollywood Fans, Melvin Rivera shares an NPR interview with legendary Bollywood singer Asha Bhosle on NPR’s Soundcheck. Asha talks about the 20000 Hindi songs she has sung so far, the Hindi film music, bollywood and her husband R.D. Burman.

Basab Pradhan writes an Open letter to the Bollywood Music Industry.

Most people want to buy music legally, if it is made simple and inexpensive for them to get it. Say this to yourself three times every morning after your morning prayers. And then think about your pricing strategy. There is a vast, relatively untapped appetite for Bollywood music amongst NRIs. If you just got rid of your pre-conceived notions.

Suneil Shetty’s company Popcorn entertainment offers Bollywood Tourism package in collabration with Travel Mart India. The Bollywood Tourism package is your chance to see the real bollywood on the actual sets and locations and meet the people involved in making those fantastic movies that you have loved so much. It is a day long trip to bollywood, during the first session you are taken to a specially created studio called BollywooDrome. This will be an interactive session where tourists are told about the filming and technical aspects of movie making. Choreographers would show you how they arrange dance sequences and action directors would tell you how they perform those fight scene stunts. At the end there would be a Q&A session where you can ask questions directly to the artists and technicians.

Lunch is offered at the studio just like a studio lunch is served during the shooting of a movie.

In the next session you will be taken to a real set to witness the making of an upcoming Bollywood movie or a tele-serial.

Sounds like a fantastic package. Prices are nominal and travel accommodation at hotels in Mumbai, dinner and transportation is available with platinum and other packages. You can also arrange for tavel lodge on your own before arriving to save some money. So if you are a Bollywood fan it is a perfect travel plan to see how dreams are transformed into movies.

I feel that people from other parts of the world should contact Tavel Mart India first as they might have plans to arrange better tours. They can arrange tickets for flights to India, find hotel, assist you with travel insurance and other travel hassle. I mean traveling all the way to India just to spend a day in bollywood is not as satisfactory as one might wish for. Instead it would be better if you start from different Indian towns, see the Indian culture, Indian art and the impact bollywood has on the lives of Indians. Visit historical ruins, temples, forts and palaces. Travel to India and see the life in the big cities of India like Mumbai, Bangalore, New Delhi, etc. But don’t forget to get vaccination for travel to India information before arriving. These tours will familiarize you with the country itself and then you can truly understand and appreciate these people who are converting dreams into movies.

Tags: Travel, incredible india, Tourism, movies, hindi movies.

[This post is part of Babe of the Month Series. Desi Galaxy's Babe of the month for March 2007 is Aishwarya Rai]

The Telegraph India reported on February 26 that the venue of Aishwarya Abhishek wedding is Grand Hyatt, Mumbai. The guest list includes, Ambanis, Amar Singh and Bollywood fraternity. Neeta Lulla and Anna Singh are working on Aishwarya’s wedding trousseau, Sharbari Datta is doing Abhishek’s Kurtas and Shawls.

There is contradiction between the Observer’s report and The Telegraph’s fact check. It is also reported that the venue is actually Jaipur India Rajasthan and the date is 19th March but this news is not officially confirmed by either Bachchans or Rais.

We still haven’t got a date. The two of them are so busy, we haven’t been able to sit down and work it out. Amitabh told while talking to IANS. “Now Abhishek’s schedule for ‘Drona’ is postponed so I’m hoping we’ll be able to sit down and work out a date. But Aishwarya is in Karjat shooting and Jaya has gone off to parliament. Everyone is impatient. So are Aishwarya and Abhishek. Let’s see. I think far too much is being made of this affair. It’s just another wedding.”

During the recent Award marathons, we have seen that the Bachchan family has already whole heartedly accepted Aishwarya Rai as a part of their family. During the Stardust Awards when Aishwarya came on stage to recieve her award from her soon to be father in law Amitabh Bachchan, she took wrapped her Sari around the shoulder, like typical Indian daughter in law and touched Amitabh’s feet for blessings.

“The day Abhishek announced Aishwarya was the girl he was going to marry, she became a part of our family. I look on Aishwarya as a daughter” said Amitabh Bachchan while talking to IANS.