YUVRAAJ-Times Of India Review!!

 

Yuvvraaj (drama)
Cast: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Anil Kapoor, Zayed Khan
Direction: Subhash Ghai
Critic’s rating:

HE’S the last of the showmen left, apart from Yash Chopra, who seems to have taken a break from direction. Yes, not so long ago, Subhash Ghai was a synonym for Bollywood’s opulent extravaganzas of the ’80s-’90s, when cinema was still a larger-than-life narrative about good versus evil. Remember Karz , the original, Karma , Ram Lakhan , Khalnayak , Taal …an era of cinema where the formula not only held sway, but was a grand success too.

The onslaught of new storytellers and new styles may have pushed the old guard into the background, but it failed to dim the passion. Today, after a lean phase, the veteran filmmaker returns with Yuvvraaj , a grandiose film that has lots to boast about, even though it falters here and there in terms of script and narrative.

Topping the list of positives is AR Rahman’s scintillating music score which brings to life Gulzar’s poetry with sublime fluidity. And since the film is essentially set against a musical backdrop, where Katrina and Salman are members of an Austrain orchestra, Rahman’s ode to Beethoven seems in perfect sync with the script.

Secondly, it’s the aesthetics of the film which leaves a lasting impression. Mostly shot in Prague and Austria, the film is picture-postcard perfect, with cinematographer Kabir Lal capturing the exotic locales in splendid hues. And finally, the film scores with its performances, especially by Salman Khan who essentially plays himself — a super brat — with perfect elan.

He is the prodigal son, who was thrown out of the family mansion by his father because of his sibling rivalry with his mentally challenged elder brother, Anil Kapoor. As a choir boy in Prague, he finds a soulmate in cellist Katrina Kaif, but cannot marry her since her dad (billionaire Boman Irani) doesn’t approve of his impoverished situation.

Hoping to change his fortunes after the death of his dad, he rushes home to inherit the family millions, only to realise there’s nothing left for him and his younger, equally roguish brother, Zayed Khan. Nerd Anil has been declared the sole heir, with sundry greedy relatives eyeing the moolah around him. Time for the dysfunctional family to outwit each other and split or to outsmart the outsiders and come together, once again….

Essentially a tale of three brothers, who rediscover their ties after hating each other for years, Yuvvraaj does have some fine moments of bonding between Salman and Anil. Zayed, however fails to connect and remains the outsider in this Trimurti, though surprisingly, Katrina does manage to hold her own in this bhai-bhai business. We do wish the duo (Katrina-Salman) had more time to set the screen on fire with their crackling chemistry, especially since all that we manage to get is a tantalising teaser with Katrina handcuffing a bare-chested Salman with her silken scarf. Kendi pump up the jam, janah!

On the flip side, the story hangs loosely in the middle and winds up in a mothballed climax, where old-fashioned baddies try to bump off the goofy Anil Kapoor who does an Eeshwar all over again. But Salman Khan and AR Rahman more than make up for the lapses, carrying you off on a sonata and a song. Watch Yuvvraaj for an in-fashion retro feel.

Shahrukh Khan & Gauri Khan at a Children’s Day event at Dhirubhai Ambani International School

Activists hepls make LAMHAA more Realistic

Kashmiri human rights activist Parveena Angher has given Rahul Dholakia deep insights into the lives of women who mourn the disappearance of their sons

By Ashwini Deshmukh and Anil Raina (MUMBAI MIRROR; Nov 18, 2008)

Parveena Angher (circled) heading a rally in Srinagar

Rahul Dholakia has taken a page from Kashmiri human rights activist, Parveena Angher’s life for his film Lamhaa. Parveena, president of the Association of Parents of Disappeared Persons (APDP) in Kashmir, has given deep insights into the lives of people whose sons did not return after they were picked up by the army under the pretext of interrogating them because they suspected them to be terrorists. Rahul owes a lot to Parveena for helping him understand the pain of these women.

Rahul Dholakia confirmed the fact and said, “It was interesting meeting Parveena. As president of APDP, she represents 10,000 families that have lost their sons and I’ve picked up shades of her life for a character in Lamhaa. This activist is played by Shernaz Patel. Parveena’s son was taken away 17 years ago and she shared her experiences with me. She has visited almost all the jails in India in search of her son and is still hoping to find him one day. It’s amazing how she is carrying on with her struggle without financial support from politicians or the Kashmiri government.”

Added Dholakia, “Shernaz’s character partly represents Parveena and partly a half-widow of Kashmir.” Half-widow? Dholakia explained, “These are women whose husbands are missing. Unsure if they are dead or alive, they wait endlessly for their husbands to return. Not that Parveena is a half-widow, it’s just that I’ve taken a leaf out of her life. I couldn’t have based the character on her completely as it would be similar to Parzania in which the mother, Sarika, is in search of her lost son.”

Shernaz Patel’scharacter partly represents Parveena and partly a half-widow of Kashmir

Parveena’s son was taken away 17 years ago and she shared her experiences with me. She has visited almost all the jails in India in search of her son and is still hoping to find him one day – RAHUL DHOLAKIA

Bhansali’s Script touched me-Hrithik

Hrithik Roshan is excited about his next film with Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Hrithik Roshan has become quite choosy of late and this is quite apparent by the fact that the only film Hrithik has signed after his home production Kites is Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s next. Hrithik confirmed this and said, “Sanjay Bhansali’s film is the only film that I’ve accepted after Kites. I just jumped at it. We’re both very passionate film persons.Though there’s one other script that I’m looking at, nothing touched my soul except Bhansali’s script.”

“I believe he’s passionate and his passion is evident in his films. I thought Devdas and Saawariya were spectacular. I’m no one to judge, but I thought Saawariya was wrongly marketed.Otherwise it was as passionate as his earlier films,” raved Hrithik about Bhansali

Hrithik is also pretty excited about Aishwarya Rai Bachchan being his co-star in the film. After all they shared a very special chemistry in Dhoom 2 and Jodhaa-Akbar. “The pairing with Aishwarya will be as special as the film that will project it. It’s always about how committed and passionate the script allows us to be. Given Sanjay’s calibre I don’t see why we won’t be able to recreate the same chemistry again. The project is definitely going into a different territory, in more ways than one,” he said, hinting at a unique shooting location.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali

(We hear that Sanjay is revisiting Goa for this film, a huge departure from his other set-bound films.)

The film will require a great deal of emotional wrenching from Hrithik. “I feel all the physical pain and turmoil that I’ve gone through in the recent past will add to my experiences as an actor. The more turmoil I go through the better I am as an actor. My work is about creativity and not about the business side of it. I know Sanjay’s film will offer me optimum emotional sustenance,” he signed off.

Homeopathic Medicine-Entrance Test to the PG Degree courses

Entrance Test for admission to the Postgraduate degree courses in
Homeopathic Medicine on December 13,2008 at Delhi
by the faculty of homeopathic medicines(www.du.ac.in),University of Delhi

Form: obtain from
The office of the assitant registrar,
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Delhi-110007.

Against DD for 600(by hand) in favour of registrar,University of Delhi payabale ar Delhi on any nationalised bank.

For more info,Check Here

Deadline:
November 28,2008 for form request by post and December 5,2008 for submission

Google creates tool to track flu outbreaks

If you have a fever, headache and runny nose, you might go to Google and type the words “flu symptoms” to see whether you’ve come down with influenza.

Google, the Internet search engine, has created a new tool that will help track illness, a development that could put in place early warning and control measures for flu outbreaks.

The tool developed by Google.org, the company’s philanthropic department, uses search terms that are commonly entered into the Internet to work out possible flu clusters.

“This is an example where Google can use the incredible systems that we have to come up with an interesting, predictive result,” said Eric E. Schmidt, Google’s chief executive.

“Flu trends” is based on the idea that people who feel sick will probably turn to the Internet for information by searching for terms such as muscle aches, thermometer and chest congestion etc.

“One thing we found last year when we validated this model is it tended to predict surveillance data. The data are really, really timely,” said Dr Lyn Finelli, chief of influenza surveillance at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US.

It tracks their ebb and flow, broken down by regions and states that can be notified to a central data control unit as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US.

“They (model) were able to tell us on a day-to-day basis the relative direction of flu activity for a given area. They were about a week ahead of us. They could be used… as early warning signal for flu activity,” Finelli, was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph newspaper on Wenesday.

According to the British daily, early tests suggest that the service may be able to detect regional outbreaks of the flu a week to 10 days before they are normally reported by the CDC. The company said it will keep user information confidential.

“What’s exciting about Flu Trends is that it lets anybody — epidemiologists, health officials, moms with sick children — learn about the current flu activity level in their own state based on data that’s coming in this week,” said Jeremy Ginsberg, the lead engineer who developed the site.

The tool, which launched Tuesday, operates on the idea that there’s likely to be a flu outbreak in states where flu-related search terms are currently popular.

“We really are excited about the future of using different technologies, including technology like this, in trying to figure out if there’s better ways to do surveillance for outbreaks of influenza or any other diseases in the United States,” he said. “In theory at least, this idea can be used for any disease and any health problem.”

Researchers found a tight correlation between the relative popularity of flu-related search terms and CDC’s surveillance data, Ginsberg said.

“Sacrificing accuracy may not necessarily carry a big penalty if you’re able to predict increasing flu incidence as well as the other systems, and do it more rapidly,” he said.

Still, there are limitations, Bresee said. The tool may miss cases of influenza spreading among elderly people, because they are less likely to use the Internet than younger people, Stafford said. He also noted that many people who search for flu-related terms have viral infections that are not actually influenza.

Google has also taken into account that people sometimes look for flu-related terms in response to certain news headlines and do not actually have the flu, Ginsberg said. The tool looks for terms that, for example, reflect searches by a person who has chest congestion or wants to buy a thermometer, he said.

Flu Trends may also help doctors make diagnoses, Ginsberg said.

“I would be very hesitant to diagnose influenza at this point in the year, but if the tool tells me influenza in California is really increasing dramatically, I might be more likely or willing to diagnose,” Stafford said.

Influenza is responsible for more than 500,000 deaths worldwide each year, according to the World Health Organization.

Flu Trends cannot be used to identify individual users, the company statement said. The search engine relies on aggregated counts, made anonymous, of how often certain search terms occur each week. But every computer connected to the Internet has its own internet protocol address, or IP address, which reveals its location to Google.

Software engineers and public health experts at Google.org, the company’s philanthropic arm, collaborated on the project, Ginsberg said. The search engine giant turned 10 years old this year.

The overall flu activity in the U.S. is low, although a few states — such as Hawaii, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky, Delaware and Maine — have “moderate” activity, according to Google’s map, based on data current through Monday.

“There’s no question that testing for virus in blood is the only way to get the most information, but having this sort of information earlier does make sense,” Stafford said.

Go Here To see the updated Flu symptoms in Google trends