This photo reminds me of a Shafiq-ur-Rehman joke. To count animals, a student first counts their legs and then divide the number by 4. One can use the same formula here to find out how many camels are shown.

She was rumoured to be dating Shahid Kapoor and then Hurman Baweja. But there is no one “special” in her life right now and she won’t think about marriage for the next 10 years, says actress Amrita Rao, who is all set to don a glamorous avatar in “Short Kut”.

“I’m not getting married for the next 10 years. I don’t have anyone special in my life at the moment and my complete focus is on my work,”

The 28-year-old entered the Hindi film industry seven years ago with “Ab Ke Baras”. She then featured in college love story “Ishq Vishk”, sex comedy “Masti”, shared screen space with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan in potboiler “Main Hoon Na” and social drama “Vivah”. She was also appreciated for her performance in Shyam Benegal’s non-commercial “Welcome To Sajjanpur”.

Now the actress is all set for her first release of the year, “Short Kut - The Con Is On”, in which she has teamed up with Akshaye Khanna and Arshad Warsi.

Set in Bollywood, the film is about two strugglers - one who makes it big as a superstar (Arshad) after stealing a script and the other (Akshaye) who continues to struggle as a director after his script gets stolen.

“I am playing an actress in the film. Neeraj Vora wanted to highlight the personal life of an actress through my character,” Amrita said.

The actress said that her bold avatar in the film was not a conscious decision.

“Everyone has been asking me whether I made a conscious decision to change my look. This is not the case. I haven’t sat and decided that I’m bored with one kind of role so give me something else. It’s just that I have got an opportunity to do different roles and I have moulded myself to suit the character,” she said.

“The same is the case with my character in this film. I wanted to do something different with the styling of this character and so the new look. Nothing more,” Amrita added.

Fashion designer Manish Malhotra is the one who has styled Amrita’s new look.

Produced by Anil Kapoor, “Short Kut…” is scheduled for a July 10 release. Amrita says she was thrilled to work with the actor-producer who used to give her pep talks during the shoot.

“Many times he used to give me pep talks, encouraging and motivating me. The whole energy and aura about him is great. He is an incredibly positive personality,” the actress said.

Talking about the two male actors in the film, Amrita said: “Akshaye is an actor who comes completely prepared and is a ‘one take’ actor so you also feel you should give your best.

“Arshad comes up with these impromptu additions to the dialogues which are just so funny. So matching that becomes a little difficult.”

Born in Mumbai, Aftab studied at St. Xavier’s High School, and later graduated from H. R.College of Commerce in Mumbai. Aftab’s first brush with the glamour world was at the age of 14 months when he was selected as the Farex baby (Baby food brand) and from then point on, Aftab shot for many TV commercials. Aftab was a fairly well-known child star in the late 1980s and early 1990s, making his Bollywood debut as a kid in Mr. India, then appearing in films such as Shahenshah, Chaalbaaz and Insaniyat.

In the film Chaalbaaz Aftab played the role of Sridevi’s kid brother, which made the actor known to have had a big crush on this gorgeous Bollywood actress. Post this Aftab continued modeling for commercials till the age of 19 until he finally got a break to play the lead role. He got his first leading role in Bollywood with a starring role in director Ram Gopal Varma’s Mast opposite Urmila Matondkar. At that point Aftab was still studying at H.R. College in Mumbai. The movie was however; a debacle at the box-office and Aftab was written off by the critics as he came across too young onscreen to play the lead. But Aftab won the 2000 Filmfare award’s Best Debute for his acclaimed performance. Aftab also won the Best Newcomer Award for his debut performance. Since then there has been no looking back for this star as he forged a way for himself.

So on this special day Bollywood Hungama wishes Aftab a very happy birthday and may he have many more to come. If you want to send in you birthday wished to Aftab

Pop star Michael Jackson has died in Los Angeles, aged 50, Paramedics were called to the singer’s home around midday local time Thursday after he stopped breathing and suffered a suspected cardiac arrest.

He was rushed by ambulance to a local medical centre, but his death was announced shortly afterwards.

The star, who had a history of health problems, had been due to begin a series of comeback concerts in Britain July 13.Concerns were raised last month when four of the concerts were postponed, but organisers insisted the dates had been moved due to the complexity of staging the show.A spokeswoman for The Outside Organisation, which was organising the publicity for the shows, said she had no comment at this time.Uri Gellar, a close friend of the star,  “I’m devastated - it’s very, very sad.”I’m still trying to hold on to the glimmer that it’s not true. It’s too surreal for me to absorb that Michael is no longer with us.”DJ Paul Gambaccini added: “There’s no doubt (his) records will be listened to for decades to come.

“There will be millions of people in the world who will have extreme emotional reactions.”

US media reports said paramedics were called to the singer’s house in Bel Air at midday.They performed CPR on Jackson and rushed him to the UCLA medical centre.Crowds have begun to gather outside the facility, whose emergency centre has been roped off by police.Jackson began his career as a child in family group The Jackson 5.He then went on to achieve global fame as a solo artist with smash hits such as “Billie Jean” and “Bad”.”Thriller”, released in 1982, is the biggest-selling album of all time, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.But the singer had been dogged by controversy and money trouble in recent years, becoming a virtual recluse.He was arrested in 2003 on charges of molesting a 14-year-old boy, but was found not guilty following a five-month trial.The star has three children, Michael Joseph Jackson Jr, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince Michael Jackson II.He is survived by his mother, Katherine, father, Joseph and eight siblings - including Janet, Randy, Jermaine and La Toya Jackson.

The short gap between the recently concluded ICC World Twenty20 and the next edition in the West Indies in April 2010 has robbed Pakistan of the chance to fully savour the triumph, the allrounder Shahid Afridi has said.

“I fail to understand why the next World Cup will be played in nine months time,” Afridi told reporters on arrival in Karachi. “If it was being organised after two years, people would have remembered Pakistan’s victory and it would have been more enjoyable.”

Pakistan’s title win at Lord’s on Sunday was their first victory in a major ICC tournament since the 1992 World Cup. The first edition of the World Twenty20 was held in South Africa in September 2007 and the champions, India, were able to savour their victory for nearly two years. Pakistan on the other hand will hold on to the tag of defending champions for just nine months.

Afridi, who was given a hero’s welcome in Karachi, said the people of Pakistan needed this triumph as a respite from the unstable political and security climate in the country.

“We all know how important this World Cup was with so much happening in Pakistan,” Afridi said. “The guys motivated themselves for this World Cup.”

Afridi had a quiet start to the tournament with the bat but responded strongly with match-winning half-centuries in the semi-final and final. He also took 11 wickets in the tournament.

He said the support staff, including the head coach Intikhab Alam and bowling coach Aaqib Javed, played a role in shaping the team’s victory.

“They all really worked hard with the guys and kept them united and close to each other, that’s why we had success,” Afridi said.

After many years of growth and foreign investment, Pakistan’s telecom industry has become one of the major contributors to Pakistan’s economy. Telecom industry pays taxes to the government in the form of GST/CED, Activation tax (Rs. 500 per activation), withholding tax (CBR collects withholding tax on prepaid calling cards), regulatory fee and Universal Service Fund contributions and duties. In addition to these taxes to the Federal Government, local governments and civic authorities also tax the sector.

Now we hear that a tax may - or may not - also be imposed on every SMS message sent. Is this fair? Is this just about revenue or is there more to this? Is it really happening, or not?

Nazim Karachi Mustafa Kamal has announced establishing “Karachi Development Trust” for the development and maintenance of infrastructure in city. This he did while dressing a gathering of thousands of employees of the CDGK, subsidiaries and the town administration. He said the funds collected will be utilized by a five member board comprised of non controversial and non political personalities. He personally submitted the form to donate RS. 1000 each month in the KDT account and added that if all account holders donate only Rs.5 in this account than we could collect Rs.45million monthly.

A day after a police complaint was filed against him for “hurting religious sentiments” in Islam, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh said Friday that his comments to a magazine were misinterpreted due to a “writing error”.

The First Information Report (FIR) was lodged by the Mumbai Aman Committee (MAC) at the Bandra police station here Thursday after they read in Time’N Style-Luxury that Shah Rukh had listed Prophet Mohammad as one of the most unimpressive personalities in history alongside Adolf Hitler and Winston Churchill.

But Shah Rukh said it was a “writing error” and that he had named the Prophet among the most impressive personalities in history.

“Obviously I think that there is no more important figure in history than Prophet Mohammad in the most positive way possible. Also, being a Muslim and standing up for the tenets of Islam is my most important agenda. If they (MAC) have seen my interviews on TV about Islam and Prophet Mohammad, they would know it’s a writing error and not a thought or view that I believe in.

“For all practical purposes, Prophet Mohammad is the most important positive figure in Islam,” he added.

A corrigendum from the magazine was also published across Mumbai newspapers Thursday wherein the magazine accepted the error.

The corrigendum stated: “This is with reference to the interview with Shah Rukh Khan that featured in Time’N Style-Luxury Vol-1 issue: The answer to question ‘According to you (Shah Rukh) who is the most impressive figure in history?’ should have appeared as: ‘There are lots of them. Some negative ones like Hitler. Then Napoleon, Winston Churchill were impressive.

” ‘If I can call it history then most impressive, positive figure Prophet Mohammad and from recent times there are the nice ones like Nelson Mandela, Gandhiji and Mother Teresa.’ This is a clarification and the error is deeply regretted.”

An official from the Bandra police station, however, confirmed that the FIR had not been withdrawn even after the corrigendum was published.

Pakistan has beaten Sri Lanka by 8 wickets to become the World Champions of T20 Cricket. Hard work of 14 and prayers of millions have paid off. Congratulations to all our readers and Pakistan zindabad. News channels are now full of reports of showing thousands of Pakistanis pouring into streets and celebrating like never before.

For the past hour or so, I’ve been reading different articles appearing at several cricket sites and to me following paragraph from Cricinfo’s Dileep Premachandran says it all:

Remember that this is the team that has no home series to look forward to in the foreseeable future, the country that had the ICC Champions Trophy taken away from it and given to South Africa. These are the players who were prevented from playing in the IPL, and the same side that was annihilated by South Africa and India in warm-up matches. But less than three weeks on, they are champions of the world.

Not knowing a single word of the Quran, Bollywood hero John Abraham, a Parsi, studied the holy book in a translation to prepare himself to play an NRI Muslim in Kabir Khan’s “New York”.”It’s part of my larger determination to prepare myself completely for a part. Whether it was ‘New York’ or now Abbas Tyrewala’s film, I’m taking time off to prepare for the film and the character. The audience today understands an honest film. That’s what I want to give,” Abraham told Earlier John learnt to play the flute, the Sanskrit language and how to wear a dhoti to give his character, Narayan, conviction in Oscar-nominated “Water”, a film about the plight of widows in pre-Independence India.

“I only want to do roles that take me out of my comfort zone. Through my characters and performances, I want to make people comfortable with what makes me uncomfortable as a human being and an Indian,” said Abraham, who believes that an actor has to break through his own stereotypes.He tried to break his image by doing films like “Water”, “No Smoking” and “Kabul Express”.Says one of Abraham’s close friends of “New York”: “He went very deep into the film’s theme of Islamic isolation. When he shot ‘Kabul Express’ with Kabir Khan in Afghanistan, John spoke to people….and began to understand the concept of jehad. He understood how dangerous it is to fight for a cause without knowing the history of that cause.”He went on the net, found legitimate and proper translations of the Quran. He learnt the proper pronunciations of words in the Quran”, the friend said.”John researched rigorously on Islam and its various aspects. His character in ‘New York’ is wrongly detained for terrorism. John based his character on three such real-life Muslims taken into custody in the US for wrongs they hadn’t committed.”John and Kabir Khan amalgamated the cases of three such unfortunate people to create John’s character. He actually lived, breathed, slept and wept like someone who had been wrongly ostracised,” said the friend.”He wouldn’t talk to people. He was completely in his own shell. It was a life-changing experience. Today, John knows what it feels to be a Muslim and a target of ceaseless suspicion and hostility in the US.

Just this very minute in the T20 World Cup being played in Nottingham, the Pakistan (149-4) team has beaten South Africa (142-5) by 7 runs to reach the Finals of the Twenty-20 World Cup. Congratulations Pakistan.
I believe everyone who comes to this blog has already got the match details so I don’t need to delve on what happened when, except to say that Pakistan played superbly and they are now in the finals.

few weeks ago, I also saw a car with the number plate saying Benazir. It also had blackened windows.Excellent strategy to make sure you are never stopped by the police!  Take lesson folks.

News are coming from Nazimabad, North Nazimabad, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, PECHS, F.B Area, Defence and Clifton area that they are out of electricity.

It is expected that the KESC staff resolve this breakdown and we will cherish and live happily every after with electricity after midnight, this is not confirmed news but it’s like a thin beam on light in the darkness that makes us believe there’s a new day coming.

11:29 PM : MB just reported live from water pump area that still there is no electricity from M.A Jinnah road to water pump.

11:42 PM : Geo - The cause of outage is due to technical fault in Wapda’s transimmision line.

11:57 PM : MD pepco : Hubco power plant is supplying power again.

12:04 AM : Message from a friend “Happy Break Down Electricity in Karachi”

12:09 AM : MD pepco : All power stations will start working in 45 minutes.

12:27 AM : Signing out from the lavish office (Generator powered) to be among my masses to feel the pain and anguish of the missing electricity case.

3:57 AM : Gulshan-e-Iqbal - Electricity has been restored.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has appointed its Director Human Resources Wasim Bari as interim Chairman of Selection Committee to select the Pakistan cricket team for upcoming Sri Lanka tour,

Coach, Captain and Vice Captain of Pakistan team will be the interim members of this committee for Sri Lanka tour only, said a spokesman of PCB here on Tuesday. Final approval of the team will be given by Chairman PCB.

Wasim Bari, currently working with the PCB as its Director Human Resources, was reported to be willing to work with the Board as its chief selector as he did not have much interest in his existing post.

Bari, a former captain and wicketkeeper, has already had two stints as chief selector in the past.

The teams selected by him represented the country in the 2003 and 2007 World Cups, but Pakistan failed to qualify for the second round on both occasions.

Former Chief Selector Abdul Qadir was appointed chief selector about six months ago resigned on Monday after the PCB’s Governing Board members lashed out at him for mishandling the affairs of selection in their meeting of June 5. PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt, too, had earlier expressed his dissatisfaction over Qadir’s choice

The State Bank of Pakistan said Wednesday the interest rate will be brought down and the federal finance ministry decided to increase the power tariff in degrees by 17 percent.

A meeting of Senate Standing Committee was held here.

The State Bank of Pakistan Governor Saleem Raza said the inflation has come down to 14 percent, which has necessitated lowering the interest rate.

Suitable for a tombstone maybe but for car’s a number plate ! at least I wouldn’t want THAT on mine. And this number plate is seriously fake as the numbers are not embossed, there is no stamped government monogram, the letters are just hand painted on a green tin plate, and the car is yet on the road.

The families who were forced out of thier homes in minutes took nothing with them, crops were left standing and doors left open. They paid 10 times the normal fare to travel without food or water to a maladministered refugee camp. This Army operation has been started at the behest of the American govt - not the Pakistani people or the people of Swat. Barely ten days had passed since the parliament passed the Nizam-e-Adl agreement and since the very beginning statements of ill-intent starting pouring out of Washington. Peace was not given a chance and now the summer campaign to crush insurgency has been started - at what cost? We have created 1.3million refugees just to hunt down a few criminals? thats comparable to a carload of criminals coming into F10 and the govt reacting by clearing out the whole sector and bombing it with F16’s. This is nonsense. We should all stand up and say to our “brave” troops “Stop fighting America’s War“.

The general saying goes as ‘Whatever a King does, he does in style’. But, in Bollywood, whatever its King (aka Amitabh Bachchan) does, it becomes a style in itself! We are very sure that this piece of information will sound like music to the ears of one and all. If the hush-hush market buzz is to be believed, a major event is being planned by the entertainment major Reliance, to celebrate Amitabh Bachchan’s whopping 40 years of being in films!

Well, the good news just does not end there. Our source also went onto add that there’s also a grand event with lots of stars planned around his birthday (which is on 11th October). We are very sure that many of you out there must be religiously following his blog. For those who don’t, here’s what you have missed. The Big B, late last month, gave a slight ‘hint’ of what to expect in the forthcoming days. Here’s what he had written: “A prominent corporate wishes to celebrate my 40 years in the Industry and unfolds an elaborate plan. It is embarrassing for me to even think the way they do. It is like a self promotion. Of talking about yourself with a great amount of ‘I’ ‘me’ ‘myself’ thrown in. I am uncomfortable doing that, or even permitting someone to perceive what it all could be. The initial working of such a program has been approved upon. In the end due to the pressure of relationships, I shall perforce have to succumb. And that is the crux. How does one say ‘no’ to enthusiasm.”

Priyanka Chopra has signed her first Yash Raj film and says she was completely bowled over by the script of “Pyaar Impossible”, penned by Uday Chopra, who also plays male lead in the love story.”It’s the only script I’ve liked in recent months. I can’t tell you much about the film’s plot. But when I heard the script, I jumped. I’ve been hearing a lot of scripts because I’ve really not been sure about what to do after Ashutosh Gowariker’s ‘What’s Your Raashee?’.”When I heard the script for Uday’s film, I got so excited. It was….so beautiful! Any actress’ dream role. I reacted as a member of the audience,” Priyanka told IANS.Uday was last seen in the 2006 movie “Dhoom 2″ and is now back in action with “Hook Ya Crook” and “Pyaar Impossible”.

Priyanka and Uday are not exactly friends.”Uday and I have bumped into each other socially. I know him. But not well enough to call him a friend,” said Priyanka.It’s rumoured that before “Pyaar Impossible” Priyanka was offered the chance to do a cameo in a song with Shah Rukh Khan in Yash Raj Films’ “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi”. An offer she declined since she had to share the song with three other leading ladies.”Not true,” corrected Priyanka. “I’ve done a song with Shah Rukh in ‘Billu Barber’. And there’re two other songs with other actresses (Deepika Padukone and Kareena Kapoor). I was never offered ‘Rab Ne…’ So this film with Uday will be my first Yash Raj movie. So it’s special on many counts,” said the actress.Most Yash Raj watchers also feel screenwriting is a giant step for Uday towards turning director. In David Dhawan’s “Hook Ya Crook”, Uday teams up with his “Dhoom” co-star John Abraham.

Nintendo’s Wiimote has been a big hit. Now a new mouse from HillCrest Labs uses similar motion-sensing technology to let users control an on-screen cursor with the flick of their wrist.The bangle-shaped mouse called the Loop Pointer is designed for use by consumers who connect their PC or Mac to a TV, says the company. Through a combination of sensors and accelerometers, the remote feels the users’ movements and reflects it on the screen, much like the Wiimote. Users can then click the right or the left button on the remote to make their selections.With the growth of online video and sites such as Hulu, an increasing number of consumers are connecting their home television sets to a personal computer. The Consumer Electronics Association estimates more than 7 million U.S. households have their PCs and TVs linked.The Loop Pointer will make it easy for these consumers to search, browse and navigate the internet in a way that’s more fun than using the traditional two-button click mouse, says HillCrest Labs. To use the Loop, consumers have to plug a small USB 2.0 transceiver into their PC and get started.The product was originally been developed as a concept to demonstrate Hillcrest’ motion control technology and we saw it showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show this year.The Loop can also be used with the PlayStation 3’s web browser and can also work for Apple TV users who use aTV Flash software.The Loop is available through Amazon and the company’s website for $100.And if you are wondering about the similarity between the Loop and the Wiimote, it may not be entirely coincidental. Last year, HillCrest Labs filed a lawsuit against Nintendo alleging patent infringement over the motion-sensing technology.