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PEOPLE
Making the right moves
CANNES FEST
'Every Cannes Festival is a new challenge'
Since the start of this 66th Cannes Film Festival on May 15, the public has been regaled with a veritable fashion show on the red carpet of the Croisette. Apart from the steady stream of stunning outfits ascending the famed staircase, sometimes it's actually the make-up that makes the difference, that adds that special something extra—even sublime—to the faces of the most gorgeous...
OFFBEAT
Pizza-smelling DVD movies
Pizza restaurant chains are turning up the heat when it comes to innovative marketing campaigns, with the latest pitch out of Domino’s selling DVD discs that emerge out of the player smelling like pizza.In a marketing strategy meant to reinforce the lazy Friday night ritual of an at-home movie night and take-out pizza, Domino’s in Brazil created DVDs which release the smell of pizza...
OFFBEAT
Most gymgoers don't wash often?
When it comes to keeping gym clothes clean, a new survey finds that most people wash their clothes only after every third workout. Women are the worst offenders, the survey said, with just 21 per cent washing their gym clothes after each and every workout.A poll of 1,456 British fitness fans revealed that the top excuses included saving for a bigger wash, not having enough gym clothing, or just...
ART
Polish mine launches salt photo contest
One of the oldest salt mines in Europe, Poland's Wieliczka, on Tuesday called for photos of salt from across the globe for a contest and show at its underground museum."We thought it would be good to learn about the rest of the world's salt and compile a portrait of it," museum spokeswoman Malgorzata Bogucka said.She said submissions should focus on how NaCl is made, clarifying...
BOOKER PRIZE
US author Lydia Davis wins Man Booker
American short story writer Lydia Davis won the fifth Man Booker International Prize for fiction on Wednesday for a body of work that includes some of the briefest tales ever published.Davis, a professor of creative writing at the University of Albany, is best known for work that Observer critic William Skidelsky once said "redefines the meaning of brevity".She is also an accomplished...
OFFBEAT
Hawking's turn to star in comics
People can now learn about the life and times of physicist Stephen Hawking, 71, in a comic book. The British scientist is featuring as a comic book character for an illustrated series about his life.The book will cover Hawking's college days, his work as a researcher at Cambridge and some of his key discoveries, 'Sky News' reported. The series 'Stephen Hawking: Riddles Of Time...
HOLLYWOOD
Star Wars hero's pants auctioned for $36,100
The pants worn by actor Mark Hamill in the first Oscar-winning "Star Wars" film went under the hammer Tuesday for $36,100, according to auction house's website.The young Jedi Knight wore the sand-colored regular Levi's pants throughout the 1977 movie, which launched the world-beating franchise by director George Lucas.The pants had a pre-sale estimate of $70,000-$100,000, said...
CURTAINS DOWN
Crime show Dexter gets kill order
FICTION SELLS
Record price for rare 'Harry Potter' first edition
A unique first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone annotated by author J.K. Rowling has sold for a record 150,000 pounds ($227,421) at a London charity auction, Sotheby's said on Tuesday.The 1997 book, featuring handwritten notes, 22 original illustrations and a 43-page "second thoughts" commentary by the author, fetched the highest price to date for a printed...
HOLLYWOOD
Hangover 3 goes out with a bang
One of the oddest moments for Todd Phillips, director of the Hangover movies, was meeting a Zach Galifianakis lookalike on the Vegas Strip who refused to have his picture taken if not paid.Galifianakis' hilarious bearded misfit Alan—who takes center stage in the final installment, out this week—has become a staple image on T shirts and tourist trinkets in Vegas, where the first...
DAWN TO DUSK
Salaam, super-auditor
Under Vinod Rai, the CAG's office became feared, ferocious and fearless. As he prepares to retire, THE WEEK looks at the man who earned the nation's trust
STAR ATTACK
Jackman's whiskers provoke woman
A woman obsessed with Hugh Jackman attacked the actor with an electric razor in a gym because she didn't like his whiskers. Police officers arrested Katherine Thurston, 47, after she approached the Les Miserables star at his gym and threw the razor at him.Jackman, 44, was not injured in the incident.Thurston told cops she came to New York two months ago determined to become Jackman's...
BEHAVIOUR
We or me?
Picture this. You are on a bus when a stranger hops in, quickly scans the bus and plonks his rear on the seat beside you. This, despite half of the other seats being unoccupied. Sounds familiar? Here is another example. You are riding an elevator that is packed over and above the specified capacity. Yet, the liftman is keen on packing in additional people like a can of sardines. Creepy, right?...
CINEMA
A forgotten father
The country is celebrating 100 years of indigenous cinema. But, who remembers Dadasaheb Torne, whose movie predates Raja Harishchandra
MUSIC
Old-whirled charm
Born to New Zealander parents in Chennai, Mikey McCleary is fast becoming an ace in creating new versions of classic Bollywood songs
OFFBEAT
Oppa Google style
CINEMA
Review: The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Mira Nair’s latest offering, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, is one of the finest films you will see this year. Its success can be attributed to brilliant direction and masterful script. The movie is based on a novel with the same name by Mohsin Hamid.If you have read the novel, which came out in 2007, you will probably go to the theatre expecting it to be just that—a conversation...
GAGNAM STYLE
Now Psy in comics
The story of South Korean rap sensation Psy's ascent to global stardom with his megahit "Gangnam Style" has now been immortalised in full colour and with appropriate dramatic flourishes in a comic book."Fame:Psy", which went on sale in the US and South Korea on Wednesday, focuses mainly on what went into making "Gangnam Style," which catapulted the sunglassed...
ENTERTAINMENT
Ritwik Ghatak's life on celluloid
The turbulent personal life of filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak, which often finds an echo in his own films, is being brought alive on the big screen by actor Saswata Chatterjee.The 42-year-old actor says he is very excited for bagging the role in director Kamaleswar Mukherjee's film, which is the "most intense" in his career. "My role is the most intense in my career so far. It is not...
ADVENTURE
Surf, excel
Sun is shining, the weather is sweet, yeahMake you wanna move ya dancing feet now...The Bob Marley song kept flowing from several shacks at the Hawah and Lighthouse beaches in Kovalam, capturing the mood at India's first official surfing and stand-up paddle competition, Spice Coast Open.About 100 surfers from across India and abroad took part in the three-day event in May organised by the...
ENTERTAINMENT
Angry Birds to hit big screen
The popular video game Angry Birds is jumping off smart phones and onto the big screen in a new animated 3D film due to be released in 2016, Sony Pictures Entertainment announced on Wednesday.The film will be a joint venture between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Finnish game-maker Rovio, and follows the game's foray into television with an animated weekly series that began in March this...
ENTERTAINMENT
Deepa Mehta to film Secret Daughter
After Midnight's Children, Indo-Canadian director Deepa Mehta is bringing Shilpi Somaya Gowda's novel Secret Daughter to the big screen.Mehta is currently working on the script of the movie, which will be produced by Jody Colero of Silent Joe Inc and Hussain Amarshi of Mongrel Media. Secret Daughter revolves around two families, one in Mumbai, India forced to give a baby up for adoption,...
ROMANCE
'Women prefer men with guitar'
For men wanting to be more attractive to the opposite sex, new research suggests grabbing a guitar.Researchers at the University of Bretagne-Sud and the University of Paris-Sud enlisted the aid of an attractive young man who approached 300 women between the ages of 18 and 22 and ask them for their phone number, according to the Counsel & Heal website on Tuesday. A third of time he carried a...
HOLLYWOOD
Schwarzenegger in talks for The Toxic Avenger
Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to take on a lead role in a reboot of the cult '80s horror/comedy film "The Toxic Avenger," announced International Film Trust.Steve Pink, screenwriter of "High Fidelity" and director of "Hot Tub Time Machine," will direct.Schwarzenegger will play a former Special Forces agent called The Exterminator as he helps a young man who...
BOOK REVIEWS
Matters of the heart
Heartbreak has many shades. Blue, of course, is the chief colour that stands out in the spectrum. Think of any major love song. Cobalt Blue—even though the title does not really have anything to do with heartbreak—brings alive the sadness of the end of an affair beautifully. It is an unusual story, as love triangles go. A brother and sister are in love with the same man, the paying...
BOOK REVIEWS
Stinger in the spy tale
The cold war between the US and the Soviet Union had spawned two good things. One, it gave some kind of stability to the world. Two, it gave rise to a genre of spy thrillers, including the James Bond books and movies.Strangely, hardly any cold war thriller writer wrote books set in India, though they did look at most other conflict zones of the world—Europe, the Koreas, Vietnam, West Asia,...
BOOK REVIEWS
It’s a man thing
There are many reasons to read this book. That it is a book on Bharatanatyam is not one of them. Nor that it is about a famous dancer, V.P. Dhananjayan. It is worth picking because it talks about a person—a male dancer—whose story mostly remains untold.“My guru created a space where none existed earlier,” says Tulsi Badrinath, talking about Dhananjayan. “There was no...
JAMMU&KASHMIR
Snowy adventure
BOOK REVIEWS
Right angle
The past few years, it has drizzled rights in India—Right to Information, Right to Education, and between the two, the national rural employment guarantee and forest rights. They have been hailed as baby steps taken by a growing democracy. Though most people know about the rights, as activists cry foul and show their thumbs down, in terms of implementation and enforcement, some are...
OFFBEAT
French firm makes sweet-smelling briefs for men
A company that specialises in "Made in France" underwear has raised nearly 19,000 euros from enthusiastic investors banking on its next titillating creation—sweet-smelling underpants for men.The so-called "Indomitable" briefs will be manufactured by Le Slip Francais, a company set up in 2011 by Guillaume Gibault, 27, who decided to bank on a trend for all things made in...
OFFBEAT
Darwin's letters to be available online
ENTERTAINMENT
Top Touring Artist award for Madonna
Queen of Pop Madonna will be awarded the Top Touring Artist award at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards on May 19.The 54-year-old 'Like a Virgin' hitmaker will be honoured for her top-grossing MDNA world tour that made a whopping USD 305 million, reported Aceshowbiz. Her 88-day long international tour proved to be the tenth highest-earning tour of all time. MDNA album debuted at No 1 on the...
MUSIC BAND
Museum for ABBA in Sweden
The catchy tunes, outlandish costumes and shimmering boots that made ABBA a global phenomenon all feature in a new museum dedicated to the band, but rumours the exhibition may presage a reunion by Sweden's most famous export were quickly quashed.The permanent exhibition within a hall of fame of Swedish pop music opens in Stockholm this week. Visitors will be able to sing along to ABBA hits...
PUBLIC ART
All the world's a canvas
OFFBEAT
Now 'print' real handgun
Computer files to create a handgun almost entirely from parts made with a 3D printer went online, alarming gun-control advocates after it was successfully test-fired by its inventor. The single-shot 0.380-caliber Liberator bears a vague resemblance to its namesake, the FP-45 Liberator pistol that the United States developed during World War II to be air-dropped to French Resistance...
FASHION
Wear winter so lightly
FOOD
Home baker, and loving it
It seems you do not say it with flowers anymore; you just say it with cupcakes. With the demand for sweet treats increasing, there has been a boom of those who can make them better and fresh. Hyderabad has almost suddenly witnessed the growth of a crop of bakers who use their homes as baking units and use social networking sites to market themselves. Most of them have left sought-after out jobs...
MEDIA
Elephantine leap
RECORD HIT
YouTube hits billion monthly users
YouTube, the world's largest online video-sharing platform, claimed it now has more than a billion unique users every month, or nearly one out of every two people on the Internet visits the Google-owned site.“If YouTube were a country, we would be the third largest in the world after China and India. Nearly one out of every two people on the Internet visits YouTube,” the YouTube...
FASHION
Gothic invasion
As American rock musician Marilyn Manson’s eerie music reverberated in the backdrop, pallid-faced models, dressed in dark outfits crafted by designer Siddharth Tytler, sashayed on the ramp. Their nails were painted black and lips, cherry red. If Tytler’s latest collection unnerved some fashionistas, those obsessed with the Goth subculture celebrated the Indian fashion mood turning...
FILM REVIEW
Splendid sequel
MOVIE REVIEW
Watch it for the humour
Not again! Yet another film that panders to the west! Four directors—Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar and Anurag Kashyap—come together to celebrate 100 years of Indian cinema in Bombay Talkies, an anthology of short stories. For the uninitiated, one director’s story has nothing to do with the other’s. The film begins with Karan Johar’s story that shows the...
FILM
Bollywood shine at National awards
BOOK REVIEW
Gripping chronicle
So Emma gets to marry Harry and Giles gets his title. Despite all the suspense Jeffrey Archer created in the second volume of the Clifton Chronicles, The Sins of the Father, every reader knew this would be the only way in which the author could take forward the series. That did not stop the previous volume from being a gripping story.The latest book, too, is one which you read late into the...
GOOGLE DOODLE
Satyajit Ray's 92nd birthday celebrated
Legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray was today honoured on his 92nd birthday by search engine Google by presenting a doodle showing a scene from his iconic movie Pather Panchali.The doodle showed a famous scene from the movie where Apu, the protagonist, runs along with his sister Durga across the kash-reed fields to watch a train go by.Pather Panchali was Ray's first film, which based on the...
BOOK EXTRACTS
Iron man’s soft heart
Michael Shelden’s new book looks at Winston Churchill’s early career, which was as tumultuous as his prime ministerial days. Unknown to most, he was an incorrigible romantic
PHOTOGRAPHY
Hungarian's 'hunger' for birds
Laszlo Berta was still a student in the 1960s when he turned to what would be an intermittent, yet unshakeable passion—taking pictures. Born in the city of Hódmezõvásárhely, situated on the great Hungarian Plain in southeast Hungary, Laszlo found himself surrounded by scenic beauty. Hódmezõvásárhely stands at the meeting point of the...
BOOK REVIEWS
Zoo politics
SOCIETY
Khans, virtually
They sing, brew stories, initiate protests, have a fan following... the growing breed of cyber celebrities has brought power to the people
BOOKS
Fast like Chase
CINEMA
Mission: Invincible
Even at 53, there is something about Anil Kapoor that makes him appealing. He might not figure in the list of larger-than-life stars, but he is someone who can play a super cop and a doofus billionaire with ease. He is one of the few actors of his times who have survived the onslaught of younger actors and star kids with finesse.Though he made his debut in 1979, it was the 1983 hit, Woh Saat Din,...
GUEST COLUMN
A mixed bag market
LUXURY
Dance on the dial
Enamel paintings, paying tribute to the French dance school, add to the allure of Vacheron Constantin Métiers d’Art collection
LUXURY
Crystal lustre
THEATRE
Inheritance of roles
The setting seemed tailor-made. Despite the summer heat, the evening was balmy, with a slight breeze blowing. Golkonda Fort was lit up and the play Quli—Dilon ka Shehzada was to be performed in its shadow under a neem tree. As the love story of Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, fifth sultan of the Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golkonda and the founder of Hyderabad city, unfolded on the stage, all eyes were...
DAWN TO DUSK
Breath of life
From being a gujiya loving, paan eating, Cabarnet drinking, Farenheit sprinkling flautist to a teacher leading a disciplined life, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia has lived life to the fullest
BOLLYWOOD
Celebs unite for 'Bombay Talkies' title track
A host of Bollywood actors and industry veterans will be seen together in a title track of 'Bombay Talkies', the anthology tribute to 100 years of Indian cinema.The song will have Aamir Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Vidya Balan, Rani Mukherji, Farhan Akhtar, Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, Akshay Kumar, Karisma Kapoor and...
COMICS
Graphic passage
DAVID BALDACCI
Man who loves to thrill
It is post lunch in London. David Baldacci is in the Claridges Hotel spending his afternoon answering questions. The man who loves to thrill is all set with his latest shot of adrenaline, The Hit, exactly six months after his last book, The Forgotten, stubbornly has stayed at 15 in the New York Times bestseller list, this week.If his last offering was of John...
CINEMA
Book, screenplay, action
ZANJEER REMAKE
Approval of Salim-Javed must: Arbaaz Khan
Actor Arbaaz Khan, whose father Salim co-scripted the film, feels that it's important to take the consent of all the people who were part of the original while remaking a movie.The remake of the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer has been in news regarding copyright and royalty issues. Both Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar who scripted the original, have been fighting for the intellectual rights of the new...
BOOK REVIEW
Royal innings
BOOK REVIEW
Murder and mayhem
Kishwar Desai's The Sea of Innocence is a whodunit about the gang-rape of a girl, written in the wake of the brutal gang-rape of a 23-year-old student in Delhi. She seems to know her world well and recreates the drug-induced haze of Goa with considerable skill. She doesn't make any pretensions to high-brow literature so the writing is jaunty, conversational.The story follows social worker...
CINEMA
Monologue of a struggling actor
I don’t mind waiting for the right role, says actor Rajeev Khandelwal, who quit a successful career on the small screen to try his luck in B-town
CELEB
Valley's vassal
Bollywood lyricist Gulzar on his latest short story collection, his love for the Kashmir Valley and how reading Tagore changed his life
DAWN TO DUSK
Small-town wonder
Manoj Bajpai is living the Bollywood dream but misses his village. The actor on his struggling days, the shortage of good roles and his love for shoes, books and food
BOOK ON TAGORE
Indo-Bangla effort to materialise in May
The first ever India-Bangladesh joint venture book on Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore will be launched at a function in New Delhi on May 8 to commemorate the birth anniversary of the poet.The 500-page book "Contemporising Tagore", a collaborative effort by India and Bangladesh, which jointly celebrated Tagore's 150th birth anniversary, a year-long event from May 7, 2011, contains...
TELEVISION
Blame it on Ekta
CINEMA
The curious case of Ram Gopal Varma
Some say you cannot write him off that easily; others swear that it won’t be long before he springs back. What makes him a filmmaker everybody loves to hate?
BOOK REVIEW
The wonder that is India
India is a photographer’s delight. No other country in the world offers such an incredible variety of sights for the lenses. From wonders of the nature and architectural splendours to diverse cultures, festivals, celebrations, lifestyles and landscapes, India offers something new to all,  all the time. From this bountiful inventory, selecting the best visuals that represent India is...
BOOK EXCERPTS
On the road with Hillary Clinton
A journalist's account of Hillary Clinton's years as secretary of state. THE WEEK reproduces the chapter where Kim Ghattas brings alive the meeting of two powerful women, Hillary Clinton and Aung San Suu Kyi
FESTIVAL
In full bloom
LUXURY
The dame game
The temperature was soaring at Gartenpalais Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna as the halls of the huge art library recently played host to Omega's 'La Nuit Enchantée'. The gala evening in the Austrian capital saw Nicole Kidman launch a new dual-tone watch under the brand's iconic Ladymatic Collection.The Australia-born Hollywood actor—called the 'Face of...
CINEMA
When dream met reality...
BOOK REVIEW
The good, the bad and the ugly
Dear Amish, It is great to know you have got a whopping Rs.5 crore advance from Westland for your next book, even though you have not decided the story yet. My suggestion is that you invest a wee bit of that money into some lessons in writing.Your idea of humanising the mighty Shiva worked brilliantly for your debut, The Immortals of Meluha, making you a best selling author overnight and getting...
OSCAR 13
Argo wins best picture
CINEMA
Retell therapy
Smack in the middle of colourful pots the heroine, accompanied by a cluster of background dancers, is cavorting to the beats of ‘Ta thaiya ta thaiya.’ The hero, usually scoffed at for having two left feet, is all too happy to shake a leg. The overall tackiness is further matched by an out-of-step musical score that screams Bappi Lahiri. Now, hang on, has the clock wound back to the...
TRAVEL
A walk in the Rann
The 45-day annual utsav enlivens the white salt desert of the Rann of Kutch with Gujarati folk art, music and good food
BOOK REVIEW
To daughter, with love
When Deepika Padukone is home visiting her parents, she makes her own bed, clears the dining table after meals and sleeps on the floor.Her father, Prakash Padukone, has a reason for making Deepika do the household chores. “If you occasionally wonder why we refuse to treat you like a star, it is because you are our daughter first and a film star later, and we want you to remember that you...
PHOTOGRAPHY
Stills that moved
THE WEEK brings you pictures from conflict zones across the world, which won awards at the prestigious World Press Photo competition. These pictures, selected from 1,03,481 entries by 5,666 photographers from 124 countries, will be part of an exhibition travelling to more than 100 cities in 45 countries. Last year, THE WEEK's Chief Photographer Salil Bera had won honourable mention in the...
DAWN TO DUSK
Banking on Shiva
Amish Tripathi on how the math geek became an author and his Shiva trilogy that was turned down by more than 20 publishers
OSCAR 2013
Waltz, Brave win early
ON TIME COVER
Aamir Khan among the 100 global titans
Along with Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, Rapper Jay-Z, Pakistan teenager Malala Yousufzai, Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Lawrence and SpaceX founder Elon Musk were named among Time magazine's most influential people in the world.While Khan,48, will be featured on the front of international editions, Jay-Z, Lawrence, Musk, Yousufzai and US Republican Senator Rand Paul will be featured on five...
CINEMA
Cry of victory
ADVENTURE
He and sea
150 days and 23,000 nautical miles later, Lt Cdr Abhilash Tomy becomes the first Indian to circumnavigate the globe solo and unassisted
ART
Moving with the flow
Sculptor K.S. Radhakrishnan, who is back on native soil with a solo show after three years, speaks on his long-time muses Musui and Maiya
AIR SHOW
Wing-side view
OFFBEAT
Mandela loved an Indian-origin lady
South Africa might have had an Indian-origin First Lady if Amina Cachalia had agreed to a proposal of marriage from the country's first democratically elected President Nelson Mandela. He proposed to Amina, the widow of veteran ANC activist Yusuf Cachalia, after his 27 years of imprisonment and his marriage to Winnie Mandela ended. But, she dismissed his declarations of love, she wrote in her...
ART
The naked truth
TECHNOLOGY
FB envy making you miserable?
Witnessing friends' vacations, love lives and work successes on Facebook can cause envy and trigger feelings of misery and loneliness, according to German researchers. A study conducted jointly by two German universities found rampant envy on Facebook, the world's largest social network that now has over one billion users and has produced an unprecedented platform for social...
DAWN TO DUSK
Gallop to glory
This beautician has taken the racing world by storm. R. Rajamma talks about winning India's richest horse racing event, the Indian derby and her success mantra
POETRY
A purist’s conscience
OFFBEAT
Kumbh Mela now a Harvard case study
The Maha Kumbh Mela, considered the largest public gathering in the world, will be the subject of a case study at Harvard University, which will study the logistics and economics behind it and the ‘pop-up mega-city’ that comes to life in Allahabad during the religious event.A team of faculty and students from Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), School of Design, Harvard...
OFFBEAT
Da Vinci drew another Mona Lisa?
OFFBEAT
Two and a half day kiss!
LOVE & TREND
Love in the time of Google
TV SERIALS
Soaps and mother-in-laws
Mothers-in-law are not a joke on Indian TV. They are the law.Soap operas dominate prime time here, and the mother-in-law reigns in almost all of them. However plucky the heroine or serpentine the plot, every love story seems to circle back to marriage and the many relatives who come with the words “I do”.The extended family is still the bedrock of Indian society, where modernisation...
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Water war
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Last Word  |  Binayak & Ilina Sen
The voice that rebelled
Listening to Paul Robeson’s rare recordings of two very special concerts, during a recent visit to the US, was an emotional experience for us. The first concert was at the AME Zion Church in New York on June ...  »
Power Point  |  Sachidananda Murthy
Cagey about the CBI
The brouhaha over the Supreme Court description of the CBI as a “caged parrot” has led to the formation of a group of ministers to consider granting autonomy to the agency. The GoM, led by Finance Minister ...  »
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