Britney makes breakthrough

Ever since her separation from her second husband Kevin Federline, Britney Spears has been going through rough times. She seems to have been fighting with her own public image, damaging it time and again with her rather outrageous behaviour.

She was in an out of rehab owing to her alcoholic problems, and has even gone in for psychiatric evaluation following some inexplicable outbursts. Losing custody over her kids to Kevin only escalated her instability. Her comeback stage performance at the MTV Awards was a disaster and every other public appearance since has been blown out of proportion. Now however, after years of snubbing the media and being snubbed in return, at last the there is something good to write about the star.

Britney’s recent appearance on the TV show ‘How I Met your Mother’, which at first was criticized, turned out to be the best thing she’s done in ages! While shooting for the show, Britney said that she was having a blast and when the show was aired, the TV station had a blast! TRPs for the show increased manifold as viewership increased by over 3 million people! And now they want to have her on one more show as well, but she has to be available, of course!

It’s like her song goes, whether she’s neck-deep in scandal or washed spotlessly clean, somebody always wants a piece of her!

Madonna to adopt Indian kid

It’s taken six months to get Malawian officials to let Madonna mother a Malawian child, and one would think she would be over with her adopting dreams. But no!

Madonna, in spite of Guy Richie’s difference of opinion, wanted to adopt an African child. However, the adoption procedures were a total putoff and so the pop legend decided to let go of the aspiration for the time being. The couple were busy working their way through Malawian law and have at last been declared okay to adopt a Malwaian kid who will now move in with them into their London home. But instead of sitting back and enjoying being with her newly-adopted son, is now considering her next adoption. This time Madonna has decided it will be a child from India!

Guy Richie, however, is not too inclined towards the idea, but Madonna always has her way. The couple and their kids were recently in India and she was very much taken in with the country, its people and their culture. And has hence set her mind on giving an underprivileged Indian tot a life.

Superstar's super daughters!

Though their father is reigning in the Tamil film industry both the daughters chose to take a different path, well not too far away for the film field.

Soundarya Rajinikanth, the second daughter is as busy as a bee with her Ocher Studios and the filming of the 3D movie 'Sultan-The Warrior'.

And now Aishwarya Dhanush, the first daughter of Rajinikanth and wife of actor Dhanush has divulged her interest in directing films.

As the next step to attain her mission, reports indicate that Aishwarya has joined as the assistant director to Selvaraghavan in his film 'Ayirathil Oruvan'. This flick features Karthik of 'Paruthi Veeran' fame in the lead role.

Now again Selvaraghavan is the brother of Aishwarya's hubby, Dhanush. Aishwarya had joined as Selva's assistant recently, to be exact from the second schedule of 'Ayirathil Oruvan'.

It was actress Sonia Agarwal and wife of Selvaraghavan who was the assistant director for this film.

Shriya's slap

On the day of Ugadi Shriya slapped a fan.

Shriya visited the Tirupathi temple at 2.30 in the morning to worship the deity on the Telugu New Year Day. The local M.L.A. had made all the arrangements. That dutiful M.L.A. had also arranged for the lone security.

After the worship she left the premises at 4 in the morning. A fan that was fascinated by her divine look followed her very closely. It is said that he tried to shake hands with Shriya.

As if stung, Shriya pulled back her hand.Not discouraged by this, the fan tried to touch her thigh and a thunderous slap hit his cheek. It is just that Shriya slapped him.

What a way for Shriya to start the New Year with action!

Aamir leads, many blog along

When some men take the lead others follow. Only a few men can make people follow without persuasion and Aamir Khan seems to be one of them. Following a good example is not a bad thing, the only condition being that the pioneer must not be replicated. Every inspiration must have its own identity, only time will tell whether everyone has managed a distinct identity. We are talking about the new craze that Aamir seems to have sparked off in Bollywood. No, it is not the shaving of the head or refusing awards, it is as simple as blogging. Well, blogging was a simple thing just a few a months back but after Aamir’s personal blog became very popular with his fans many film personalities have discovered that it is indeed a great way to keep in touch with fans, get constructive feedback and realize certain ground realities without having to go into a crowd and running the risk of being mobbed, as Shriya might know.

So, as an offshoot of Aamir Khan’s blog we now have three other personalities who have launched their own. Amrita Rao, then item girl Koena Mitra and the latest addition - ace director Kunal Kohli. Now, each of them claims to be different. And they are different. Kunal Kohli has said that he will not use his blog to promote his films, only to receive feedback from the audience first hand. Amrita Rao’s is more of a full-fledged site with filmographies, biographies etc, while Koena Mitra’s blog is a lot more personal. It seems like a means to counter the umpteen number of stories that keep circulating about her in the media, all thanks to her item girl image.

Aamir lead and 3 followed. Any other takers?

Rajini’s statement and the aftermath

Looks like superstar Rajinikanth’s opinion about the Hogenakkal water issue has stirred more than a hornet. While Karnataka fumed over his statement that bashed the miscreants who disrupted peace in the lives of poor Tamils who made Bangalore their abode and asked for an unconditional apology, the superstar reiterated his opinion and further declared that he did not hurt the sentiments of people in Karnataka.

Rajini also snubbed reports that claimed to ban his movies in Karnataka until he offered an unconditional apology. The extremist factions in Karnataka have refused to accept Rajini’s statement and are stubborn for an unconditional apology warning to refuse his entry into the state.

Following this, Rajini fans have staged a protest in Coimbatore and distributed posters that contained slogans supporting the superstar. The demonstration also witnessed announcements being made by the fans on widespread protests if organizations in Karnataka did not drop charges against Rajini.

First Tamil movie in iPod

That Vallamai Thaaraayo, starring Parthiban and Chaya Singh, is going to be different is evident right away. Directed by a woman – Madhumitha – a filmmaker of short film from the U.S., the film affirms that there is life after divorce for a woman. Its audio release held last evening at the Rani Seethai hall had the grandeur and excitement of a wedding. For onlookers outside and those inside, the hall was decorated tastefully. Skipping conventional ways of releasing an audio (with a CD or a cardboard cutout of a CD) the people behind Vallamai Thaaraayo released it with an iPod. The team members received the first copy. And instead of merely screening the songs, they had playbacks singers (Anuradha Sriram, Baradwaj) and dancers actually sing and dance the tracks live on stage. Legendary singer P.B. Srinivas released the iPod-CD combo. Bharadwaj is the music composer.

Vallamai Thaaraayo is produced by the director’s parents, Nalini Sunderaman and SriSakthi Sunderaman, and they intended the function to also be a time of honoring seasoned artists such as MN Rajam, A.L. Ragahavan, Veneeradai Nirmala, Manjula and Vijaykumar, Ravichandran, Srkanth, Sankar Ganesh, Sathya Priya and Veeraswamy – all of whom came up on stage and received mementos. Also starring in the film are Anandraj, Kuyili, Devi Priya and Karna, all of whom were present.

Director Madumitha said Vallamai Thorai is “a sensitive portrait of a woman, her feelings and her desires. It explores my convictions that life does not need to be accepted as it is.” Like the movie, the songs have a very different feel to them.