Bollywood World

Mallika Sherawat surely knows how to grab eyeballs wherever she goes. The actress arrived in Mumbai a couple of days ago from Malaysia where she was invited as a guest speaker at the Global Brand Forum 2008, which was held in Kuala Lumpur last week.

Mallika was part of an expert panel where she shared her thoughts & comments with personalities like renowned Hollywood filmmaker Oliver Stone.

The actress impressed everyone present at the discussion with her insightful & original views about the exciting challenges and opportunities facing the film business and the impact of Indian movies in brands and business. The discussion was moderated by none other than celebrated international TV interviewer Riz Khan. A delighted Mallika says, “It was a huge surprise for me to be invited to the Global Brand Forum and share the same platform with someone as great as Oliver Stone. I asked myself- What do we have in common? I guess for better or for worse we both have our own brands - and as Oliver Stone says - people either love or hate his movies, but certainly have a strong opinion about him and his flicks. I guess it is pretty much the same with me - there are young people around the country who have embraced me, and on the other hand there are lots of people in the country and in the film industry who think I am too controversial, radical etc. for their liking”.

One can confidently say that the Indian cinema has definitely left a mark at the ongoing Dubai International Film Festival, which ends on 17 December 2008. The festival saw the unveiling of first look of the highly anticipated flick Dilli 6, which is jointly produced by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra Productions and UTV Motion Pictures.The first look of the movie was launched before the big daddies of entertainment around the world.

One also saw the likes of Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and UTV’s head honcho Siddharth Roy Kapoor, at the festival.Following the screening was an interactive Q and A round, comprising of the director with the rest of starcast and a vast audience.

During this interaction, Rakeysh spoke about his key influence and the theme of the movie, while the film’s actors described their experience of working with Rakeysh.All in all, the excitement and the curiosity of the viewers regarding Dilli 6 has now reached a different level altogther.

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It was a complete fun filled roller coaster ride for the winners of the Pogo Amazing Kids Awards 2008 that was held on Saturday night at Vrundavan Studio in Malad, Mumbai. Bollywood’s brightest stars- Akshay Kumar and Deepika Padukone descended upon the function to promote their film, ‘Chandani Chowk to China’ and to reward the winners of The Pogo Amazing Kids Awards 2008!

Deepika looked stunningly hot in blood red dress with a black patent headband; while Akshay performed an elaborate stage show with children decked up in chock-a-block Chinese gear. Flaunting her voted best body curves- Sexy siren Shilpa Shetty and ever smiling Mahima Chaudhary donning a black and orange mini; along with singing sensation Sonu Nigam also graced the occasion.

The Pogo channel developed by Turner Entertainment Networks Asia (Tena); awarded the kids a certificate for their wonderful achievements along with a benefit policy worth 500,000 rupees! Twenty four children chosen from Delhi, Hyderbad, Kolkata, Bhubaneshwar, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Allahbad, Bangalore and Mirzapur across eight categories including music, arts, singing, dance, genius, leadership, sports and entertainment were featured at the award ceremony. This was the fifth season of the show where more than three thousand kids of 6-14 age groups entered the competition!

The impressive panel of judges included- choreographer Ashley Lobo, politician Priya Dutt (Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt’s sister), renowned Bollywood singer-composer Shankar Mahadevan, artist Brinda Miller, actor Vinay Pathak, commentator Charu Sharma, and manipulative genius Shakuntala Devi. That sure is some sound jury! Thus, kiddos had pretty rocking time.