Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha Entertain in Remake of Telugu’s ‘Vikramarkudu’

The pipeline between Bollywood and Tollywood has made for quite the wonderful exchange of actors who seamlessly switch back and forth between Hindi and Telugu. On the other side of the camera are directors, producers, and writers who are sometimes so blown away at what they have read or seen down South that they have to bring the story to its fan base. This weekend, yet another Telugu film has found a way into Bollywood cinemas, complete with Bollywood actors and Hindi dialog. That film is Prabhu Deva’s Rowdy Rathore, which stars Akshay “Akkie” Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha and is a remake of the 2006 blockbuster Telugu box-office hitVikramarkudu.

Already reincarnated in Tamil, Bengali, and Kannada,Rowdy Rathore arrived in Bollywood on June 1 with high expectations. Just like Tollywood’s Vikramarkudu, Rowdy Rathore is expected to dominate the box office both this weekend and next. In typical Akshay Kumar fashion, there is no shortage of masala in Rowdy Rathore. As expected from Mr. Deva, Rowdy Rathore stays true to its Southern roots but still has its own charm and character that distinguishes it from all the other iterations of the modern classic. Rowdy Rathore is everything you want in a masala hit arriving in theaters and multiplexes on the heels of summer. In many ways, Rowdy Rathore lives, eats, and breathes all things Bollywood. It is a masala film worthy of carrying “Rowdy” in its title.

So what is so entertaining about Rowdy Rathore? For starters, there are the dance routines. Remember a time when Bollywood’s producers and directors cared about silly little love songs played out on screen by a Prince Charming innocently pursuing his demure yet vivacious leading lady, Western audiences be damned? Rowdy Rathore erases any need to be nostalgic. Add in a smorgasbord of colors, a simple plot, and the proverbial romantic scenery, what you have is an old school Bollywood film that is plenty fun to watch.

Never one to shy away from masala films, Akkie is his usually dhamaka self in a double role. Quite convincing as the dashing cop and the hardcore petty thief, Mr. Kumar actually delivers a memorable performance after a growing string of forgettable films. He seems to have also developed quite the chemistry with Ms. Sinha, who connects rather easily with the audience. The supporting cast is sure to draw quite a bit of laughter, perfectly complementing the star-studded duo.

The screenplay is solid, the cinematography excellent, and the narrative moves at a brisk pace. Come the second half,Rowdy Rathore really picks up. (It’s about time a Bollywood film does not let down after intermission!)

Quite the masala film, Rowdy Rathore is one of the most entertaining films of the year and features a little dose of everything. The action will keep you on the edge of your seat. The comedy will make you laugh. The drama will make you think. All in all, we recommend Rowdy Rathore.

IRCTC joins hands with ITDC to offer better tourism services

Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) have joined hands to improve their tourism services by making use of each other's expertise and facilities. 

An agreement to this effect has been signed betweenIRCTC managing director Rakesh Tandon andITDC chairman Lalit K Panwar here last week. 

As per the MoU, the ITDC, which has a strong HRD division, will impart service training to IRCTC staff. It will also train the security staff for the tourist trains. 

IRCTC, which offers a wide range of travel and tourism services including Bharat Darshan tourist trains and Mahaparinirvan Express, will help ITDC in getting more customers in its chain of hotels. 

Both the organisations will benefit through this cooperation as they will work towards development of joint tourism products, opening and managing various catering and hospitality outlets and utilising their joint strength at railway and other locations, a senior IRCTC official said. 

MP Board Class 10 Results 2012 declared | mpresults.nic.in

Bhopal: The wait is finally over for students as MP Board Class 10 Results 2012 have been declared.

The results were declared at 6.30 pm on June 04 (Monday). 

The Madhya Pradesh Board of Secondary Education (MPBSE) was to earlier announce the results at 4.00 pm but was first postponed till 5 pm and later to 6.30 pm. 


Candidates can log on to the website: - http://mpresults.nic.in to access their results.

Students were waiting with bated breath as Class 10 Board result will play a pivotal role in shaping their future. 

The Board had announced higher secondary examination results on May 28. 

Rajat Gupta, Former Goldman Sachs Director, Hears CEO's Testimony At Insider Trading Trial

Lloyd Blankfein testified at the insider trading trial of former Goldman Sachs Director Rajat Gupta Monday

At the insider trading trial of former Goldman Sachs Director Rajat K. Gupta Monday, Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein offered testimony supporting key parts of the prosecution's case.

Gupta, who previously headed consulting firm McKinsey & Company, is accused of passing non-public information about Goldman on to jailed Galleon Management Founder Raj Rajaratnam, who allegedly used it in trading. Gupta is charged with conspiracy and securities fraud. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison.

On Monday, Blankfein confirmed Gupta's presence on a conference call the afternoon of Sept. 23, 2008, during which the Goldman Sachs Board of Directors debated whether to accept $5 billion from investor Warren Buffett at the onset of the financial crisis. Prosecutors allege that shortly after that call, Gupta phoned Rajaratnam to pass along information about the deal.

Rajaratnam immediately using that information to buy shares in Goldman, according to prosecutors -- a charge corroborated by Rajaratnam’s former assistant during separate testimony at the Gupta trial in May. Goldman didn’t announce that it was accepting the investment until after markets closed later that day.

Blankfein also testified that during a June 2008 meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Goldman board discussed the possibility of purchasing either a distressed commercial bank or the insurance giant AIG -- information that Gupta was heard relaying to Rajaratnam on a wiretapped phone conversation later that summer. That tape waspresented to jurors earlier in the trial.

“It was agreed that AIG would be a suitable target” at the St. Petersburg meeting, Blankfein told the jury Monday.

Any such information discussed in board meetings was secret, Blankfein said. “All parts of it were confidential. The fact that anything was discussed in the board meeting is itself a confidential fact.”

Gupta’s lawyers argued at the opening of the trial in late May that none of the evidence the prosecution is presenting conclusively links Gupta to a crime. "They're presenting a case based on speculation," Gupta’s lead attorney, Gary Naftalis, told jurors during his opening remarks.

This isn’t the first time Blankfein has testified in a case related to Galleon. In March 2011, he was a witness in the trial of Rajaratnam, who was sentenced last October to 11 years in federal prison for insider trading-related crimes.

During his testimony, Blankfein seemed at ease in the downtown Manhattan federal courtroom. Between questions from the prosecution, he leaned back in his chair and played with his tie, grinning widely for reasons not apparent to the audience.

He also laughed heartily as U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff gently bantered with him during various exchanges.

“I know counsel wants to hide this fact, but we should probably bring out that [Blankfein] was a lawyer” before going into the banking world, Rakoff said. When Blankfein acknowledged that he had worked as a tax attorney at Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine, Rakoff chided that Blankfein then “got religion” and left the legal world for Goldman Sachs in the early 1980s. There was uproarious laughter in the courtroom, which Blankfein joined with a hearty guffaw.

Blankfein’s demeanor was so relaxed that a reporter remarked on it outside the courtroom at the end of the day’s proceedings -- to which Blankfein responded, “I’m always comfortable, but I hope I don’t get too good at [this].”

Asked after the trial whether Blankfein was comfortable with Goldman's board now, Blankfein responded that he is. "I admire... my board," he said.

The Goldman chief’s often jovial posture contrasted sharply with a grim looking Gupta. At one point, Gupta briefly gripped the hand of his wife, who sat just behind him in the gallery. Whether Gupta will testify at his own trial is an open question the defense has yet to answer.

Blankfein is scheduled to continue testifying Wednesday. At the end of deliberations, Rakoff discussed scheduling with Blankfein, whose daughter will graduate from high school Wednesday.

Blankfein asked whether the court could allow him to attend both the morning ceremony and a luncheon immediately following at a restaurant in Yonkers, where Rakoff said he lives.

“I’m going to a restaurant in Yonkers which you probably know,” Blankfein said to the judge.

Rakoff responded, “If it’s the one I’m thinking of, I can’t afford it.”

Blankfein guffawed.

Rowdy Rathore (2012) WBRi Film Review - Akshay Kumar - Sonakshi Sinha Entertain in Spite of Plot on Weaker Side

Are you looking for a 2 ½ hour masaledaar entertainer, packed with slow motion action sequences, raunchy songs, laughable gigs and a passable plot? Well Rowdy Rathore (RR) could be the perfect choice matching the above fares and could be an enjoyable ride at the theatres, if you don’t care much about a decent plot.




This is because the movie, directed by Prabhudeva is very much predictable but ensures that your time in the dark halls remain entertaining and enjoyable. Above all, RR sets quite a number of facts straight on the table. First of all, it is the Hindi remake of Ravi Teja’s Telugu blockbuster ‘Vikramarkudu’ that enjoyed a cult status in the Telugu Kingdom. Secondly, it marks the return of Akshay Kumar to the khiladi-genre of movies which are packed with adrenaline pumped action sequences. Thirdly, it brings to the fore that the Indian audiences just can’t get enough of masala films and would always yearn for more.

Prabhudeva, understanding this simple premise, brings ‘Rowdy Rathore’ to Bollywood and attempts to score big at the box office after the success of ‘Wanted’.

‘Shiva’ (Akshay Kumar) is a small time crook in Mumbai who has the knack of stealing and making a living on the loot. But his stealing ways crash against a wall when he falls in love with a pretty damsel ‘Paro’ (Sonakshi Sinha) from Patna. ‘Shiva’ is forced to mend his ways as ‘Paro’ simply cannot accept the fact that her lover is a thief. Thus the first half of the movie is focused on the eternal love saga between ‘Shiva’ and ‘Paro’ who romance and dance around in idyllic locations. The plot seems to gather a little momentum when a small 6 year old girl ‘Neha’ comes into the picture and mistakes ‘Shiva’ as her father. Yes, here’s the twist. ‘Shiva’ is the complete lookalike of prudent cop ‘Vikram Rathore’ who happens to be ‘Neha’s father. ‘Rathore’ was a cop who was fiercely tortured by a rural gang leader by the name of ‘Baapji’ (Nasser) and now the villains mistake ‘Shiva’ for ‘Rathore’ and start attacking him. This is when ‘Shiva’ realizes that he must step into the shoes of the injured ‘Rathore’ and try to protect his daughter from the treacherous criminals.

What follows is a series of blood spewing action sequences which portrays the protagonist going in an all out avenging war against the villains. It is here that Prabhudeva shows his finesse as a master action director with stunts that have been meant to garner applause in the theater halls. The shots have been deftly edited and put together and therefore credit must go to the editor Santosh Pawar for having done commendable work in the movie. ‘Rowdy Rathore’ is a watchable flick as it is not only stylishly slick but accommodates all the features of a potential masala pot boiler. But if one were to go deeply into the qualms of the movie, that’s where the fissures and cracks would show up as the movie cannot take pride in a strong and quintessential plot. Well, that’s where we will have to make peace with the fact that when we are handed with a masaledaar film, we just cannot ask for anything more. The movie goers would also find it disappointing to observe the lead actress Sonakshi Sinha being sidestepped and overshadowed by the halo of Akshay Kumar. After all, the character of ‘Paro’ could certainly have been given more navigational space. In spite of all these flaws, ‘Rowdy Rathore’ manages to spring up an entertaining date at the theatres and is sure to achieve spirited success at the box office.

Common queries from students Delhi university

As Delhi University, with its labyrinth of colleges entwined across the city gears up for the admission season that is set to begin on Monday, some common questions from prospective students that kept cropping up during the “Open Days” or counselling sessions this past week must be answered in detail.

The most common question was: “What is the admission process?” The first step is to procure and fill out a pre-admission form, mentioning all the courses and colleges that you may be interested in. After the forms are collected, candidates will wait with bated breath for the colleges to come out with their cut-off lists. If your cut-off matches any of the colleges and course that you applied for, then you will have to go with your certificates and admit yourself in the college. There is a time limit of three days within which the admission process will have to be completed, but there is no policy of first-come-first served, and all colleges will have to admit all students meeting their cut-offs if they come within the stipulated time.

Many students wanted to know whether dual courses were possible. “No, it is illegal, and if the student is found out, the admission will be cancelled. However, courses from the School of Open Learning can be pursued along with regular courses,” was the repeated warnings of Deputy Dean of Students' Welfare Gulshan Sawhney while conducting the open days. The School started selling application forms on Friday, with the last date for applying being July 31. It offers courses like B.Com, B.Com (Honours.), B.A English (Honours) and B.A Political Science (Honours).

“What do I do if I am eligible for a course in the first cut-off list, and admit myself, but I qualify for another course that I am more interested to pursue, in the second cut-off list?” – was the worrisome question that kept cropping up repeatedly.

APPLICATION

The university said that the admissions will have to be cancelled in the first college, which will be done immediately on application, with the original certificates being returned almost immediately. The refund of fees may take up to a month, with fine being imposed depending upon the time taken to cancel admissions. The candidate may proceed to take admissions in the next college immediately after cancelling admissions in the first. The time limit given for admissions in the second list will have to be adhered to as the university is unwilling to give concessions for any reasons.

Another common question was whether all colleges in DU come under the common admission procedure. There are few courses for which independent entrance exams are conducted by the department. For example, Journalism, BA English (Honours) and Music. Colleges like St. Stephen's and Jesus and Mary College follow their own admission procedure. There are also some unique courses like Music on offer for which it is best to contact the individual departments.

The question of which additional subject from the CBSE exam is counted for admissions is decided by individual colleges. The Colleges will also have to be contacted individually for hostel accommodations and sports and ECA quotas.

Tamil Nadu HSC Results 2012 declared

Chennai: Tamil Nadu HSC Results 2012 were declared by the Directorate of Government Examinations at 11 am on Tuesday (May 22), ending days of anxious wait by students and their parents. 

Students can get their HSC Result (Class 12) 2012 by logging on the website http://dge1.tn.nic.in or /http://tnresults.nic.in/.

Tamil Nadu +2 Results can be obtained via sms too. Students need to type TN12(space)REGISTRATION NUMBER and send it to 5626. 

The Directorate will announce SSLC results in the first week of June.