The inaugural edition of the World Series Hockey organised by the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) will have 176 internationals from India and other countries.

The tournament, which will have eight city-based teams, will be held from December 15 to January 22. The players will be allocated to the teams based on the internationally accepted and practiced 'Draft' system.

"The inaugural edition of the league comprises eight teams and players have signed contracts for the next three years," said Yannick Colaco, chief operating officer of Nimbus Sport, the promoter of the tournament.

Sashaying in Malayalam and Tamil films since 2001, Asin became a sensation in Bollywood when the Aamir Khan-starrer Ghajini hit cinema halls in 2008. Though her next Hindi film, London Dreams with Salman Khan didn't exactly make a mark, she tasted commercial success again with Annes Bazmee's Ready opposite Salman. Extremely selective about the films she takes up, this Keralite beauty looks like she's here to stay.

May it be for her bold role in ‘Saheb Biwi aur Gangster’ or for lip-locks to intimate scenes in ‘Not A Love Story’, Mahie Gill is often making into news these days.

The actress was showered with appreciation for her work in Ram Gopal Varma’s crime thriller based on the infamous Maria Susairaj. From lip-locks to intimate scenes, and even more, Mahie is said to have given 100% to whatever the script demanded. And the most-talked about the actress is that she did without questions.

And obviously, as one can guess, the most happy man is the film director RGV, who found it so easy to work with the actress.

He said “She understood the script so well. I felt odd that I had to put a girl in such a situation. There were retakes, too. And that felt more awkward," he said. 

Salman Khan knows how to make people close to him feel special. The actor on Thursday asked Shera, his bodyguard for 15 years, to launch the promo of his upcoming film "Bodyguard".

"This is a very big honour that bhai (Salman) has given me by giving me an opportunity to release his film's promo. I have been with bhai for 15 years now. I used to tell bhai that I can take a bullet for him. But the reality is that he protects his close ones so much that even he can take a bullet for them. He is the real life bodyguard," Shera told reporters.

The actor, who was also present at the event, said: "I can trust him with everything - with money, girls, family and even my life. He is very trustworthy. Apart from guarding me, his duty has also been to go with every girl who has been in my life. I knew he will take good care of them wherever they go.

Friday saw the release of two of the most anticipated films, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD) that had a high voltage star-cast like Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Abhay Deol, Katrina Kaif and Kalki Koechlin. Then there was the film from the Harry Potter franchise, which brings an end to its chapter, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Part 2. With the Bollywood and a Hollywood film at the tug-of-war, this weekend, it was a nail-biting situation at the box- office, but the results clearly state that it was a win-win situation for both films.




“ It was the biggest weekend of the year for the multiplexes all over India with two of the most-awaited films that released, “Sunil Punjabi, CEO of Cinemax, stated. “While ZNMD had 90 per cent and above occupancy, Harry Potter received 80 per cent. But as compared to Potter’s previous film releases, this one took away all the cream as it created record at the opening weekend of the box-office, as compared to any other international releases.”   

At a promotional event for his to-be-released Aarakshan, Prakash Jha made it clear that he was not going to have any special screening for the National Commission Of Schedule Castes (NSCS), which has demanded a preview before its release on August 12 to make sure that the film which is based on caste-based reservation in colleges did not show them in a poor light.




“I am not required to respond to any board that wants to sit in judgment over my film. If the film censor board wants, they can invite a person from the Commission. As a filmmaker who has been making films for about 30 years, I am well aware of the procedure I have to follow to get the clearances for the release of the film and I will be following due procedure,” Jha said, adding that his film did not support or contradict any policies but was a contemporary social drama. 

This elephant is graceful, elegant and sparkling, costs more than an arm and a leg and does not weigh a ton. It is also a headline piece in the collection, Emerald for Elephants, created by Mumbai-based artist Arzan Khambatta and uses 638 carat Gemfields’ Zambian emeralds. The collection was unveiled by Madhuri Dixit in Mumbai on July 20. An auction, organised by Sotheby’s, will be held at Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai in October.




The World Land Trust and gemstones mining company, Gemfields, together with Jaguar Land Rover and the Gemological Institute of America, have collaborated with 10 of India’s top jewellery designers to create a collection using Zambian Emerald jewellery. On display are bangles, rings and necklaces, all shaped like an elephant. 

After the announcement of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan's pregnancy, Madhur Bhandarkar had been endlessly searching for a new item girl to be cast in his dream project, Heroine. Bhandarkar can finally get back to business as Kareena Kapoor has agreed to step in to the role.

Earlier this week, it was reported that Siddharth Roy Kaur, CEO of UTV, and the film’s writer, Niranjan Iyengar, flew down to Hyderabad to meet Kareena and convince her to take part in the movie. Kareena Kapoor was visiting boyfriend Saif Ali Khan, who is shooting for his next film.


The meeting obviously went well as Kareena Kapoor agreed to take part in Heroine, but only under a few conditions. Kareena Kapoor is uncomfortable with the intense lovemaking scenes with Arjun Rampal and Arunoday Singh.

“Kareena has consented to the snorting, drinking and smoking scenes. Earlier, she had strong reservations against them. Now, she just doesn’t want to do the explicit lovemaking scenes with Arjun Rampal and Sudhir Mishra’s discovery Arunoday Singh. Those scenes are extremely sexy and Kareena is just not comfortable doing them,” a source told Mumbai Mirror.

The lure of a free 4 GB pen-drive and a dekko of Salman Khan saw the crowds queueing up for the blood donation camp organised on the occasion of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's 52nd birthday at the Sambhaji Garden on J M Road on Thursday.




As 10,000-odd blood donors and Salman Khan fans gathered in front of Sambhaji Park on J M road on Thursday morning, even the one-way traffic was blocked for about an hour despite huge police bandobast.




Police, however, claimed that there was no traffic jam but the traffic was moving slowly for some time. Asked about hundreds of fans running behind the Khan's car which in worst case could have resulted into a stampede, police said they could not control the crowd.  

Singer Elvis Presley has been immortalised into a comic book character.

The comic book will be called Graphic Elvis. It's a limited edition comic created by Liquid Comics and Elvis Presley Enterprises to commemorate the 35th death anniversary of the singer.

"Comics influenced so much of his life," contactmusic.com quoted Sharad Devarajan, the co-founder of Los Angeles-based Liquid Comics, as saying.

A number of Presley's handwritten notes, rarely seen by the public, will also be included in the cartoon creation. The book will hit the market in December.

Hindi GEC Colors has lined up some big plans for its marquee format show – ‘Bigg Boss’. This year, the channel has signed up Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt as hosts for ‘Bigg Boss Season-5’.

Commenting on the ‘Bigg Boss Season-5 plans’, Raj Nayak, CEO, Colors, said “‘Bigg Boss’ is one of our flagship shows, which has been successfully running on the channel over the last four seasons. It’s a unique format that provides brands an exciting and innovative platform, spread over more than three months. This year, with two of Bollywoods biggest super stars – Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt – as hosts, we’re confident of making ‘Bigg Boss’ even bigger and generating both higher revenues as well as stickier eye-balls.”

The first Indian transsexual model has arrived. Nikkiey Chawla, 26, who was born a man and underwent a sex change surgery to turn into a woman in 2009, is busy doing Indian and international ramp shows and will next be seen on a popular reality show.


“I was born a boy but I always
felt like a female trapped in a male body. That is why I decided to undergo a sex change. I always wanted to be part of the glamour world as a woman,” says Delhi-based Chawla, who will feature in an episode of UTV Bindass’s show Emotional Atyachaar.

Several well known artists showcased their talent at the event organised by The Oberoi group. Journeying into its fourteenth year of success, The Oberoi Art Camp is hosting creative geniuses of contemporary art, for all of this week at their Nariman Point property.

This event gives a platform to new talent and recognises established artists — many of who have grown with the camp from its nascent years.

Some of the artists featured in this event include Jayashree Chakravarty, Chandra Bhattacharjee, Preetha Kannan, Ashish Dubey, Binoy Varghese, Rajan Krishnan and many more.

A R Rahman, Gurinder Chadha and Paul Berges are coming together for director Kevin Lima's Bollywood-style animated musical adventure 'Monkeys of Mumbai'.


Lima, who directed Disney's animated 'Tarzan' before turning to the live-action hits like '102 Dalmations' and 'Enchanted', has signed on to helm Dream Works Animation's new project, whose story is somewhat similar to the great Indian epic the Ramayana.


The movie centers around a man whose wife is kidnapped by a demon king, the Hollywood Reporter said.


Lima will approach the story through the point of view of two common monkeys who become unlikely heroes.