CHANDIGARH INDEX


Alka Yagnik The lesser the merrier
Having been into Bollywood for over a decade, Alka Yagnik would rather take home a Filmfare award than an Oscar
 She has been in this industry for 25 years and every song for the past 10-15 years has her voice for sure. For some, Alka Yagnik is the voice of Bollywood, for others she is a melody in herself. But there is no denying the fact that if one generation idolised Lata Mangeshkar, another has defined rhythm in Alka Yagnik. The singer was back in town after almost 15 years, to perform live at the Rose festival. “It has been a long time since I did a show here. It feels good to be in Chandigarh, knowing that we still have cities that are so well maintained, neat and clean and done up pretty well,” she says.
                                                             Alka Yagnik — Photo: Parvesh Chauhan

Shaukat Ali Khan Sufiana
Singer Shaukat Ali Khan takes a trip back memory lane
 Shh…we’ll hush, sneak, tiptoe and ship you back to the times when singing was religion, love meant music, talent still unconnected to reality shows, and qualifications signified not a three years Bachelors in Music but two decades of untiring commitment to passion. Incredulously true! Courtesy renowned Sufi singer Shaukat Ali Khan. In city, for a performance at Chandigarh Club, the meeting shakes and stirs the newly acquired notions and concepts that’ve come to be associated with music. Join the retrospection.
                           Shaukat Ali Khan — Photo: Parvesh Chauhan

Sanober Kabir The diva queen
Actress, dancer and singer, Sanober Kabir loved the city crowd
 The mood was set, the crowd almost hysterical and the atmosphere was electric. And Sanobar Kabir made her sensational entry. The dazzling dancing diva was ready to rock on gyrating numbers, kajra re and bidi jalayele, and add the oomph factor to the Rose Festival. And with her on stage and her fans off it, excitement and energy were the buzzwords. “I have always maintained that Punjabi crowd is the best crowd in the world. The energy levels are tripled while performing in front of such audience,” she said after her performance.
                                        Sanober Kabir — Photo:S.Chandan

New VIP
Vijay Ishwar Pawar VIP. A brand synonymous with luggage, and another with mens’ undergarments. Now if you meet someone with this name, VIP, you can’t help push forth your query. VIP, what a name? Has it been shortened for convenience or twisted to add on extra funny affects. “It was always VIP,” smiles VIP. “The only difference was that earlier people used to call me Vijay Ishwar Pawar, and now they call me VIP. In fact, I was also apprehensive about using the abbreviated name, but now I think it has done me good.”
                 Vijay Ishwar Pawar — Photo:S.Chandan

(Auto)matically fashionable
Gayatri Khanna presnted her Mercedes-inspired collection at the Mercedes-Benz trophy event on Saturday. If someone asks the similarity between fashion and cars, the obvious choices would be luxury, design and exclusivity. But Saturday evening saw Gayatri Khanna blending the two into pure indulgence. In an exclusively designed collection for Mercedes Benz, ‘Exquisit’ was stylish, sophisticated and unique, everything that the brand stands for.


Gayatri Khanna presnted her Mercedes-inspired collection at the Mercedes-Benz trophy event on Saturday. Photo:Kamal Kishore

Flying machine
Fasten your seatbelts and get ready to ride with us. No bumps or traffic, this one is going to be smooth and recreational. Dilmeet Grewal, a trained pilot from Canada has brought to Chandigarh the concept of Powered parachute flying and have named it Club Ethereos to encourage para-tourism in the city. And what exactly is it, “Aero shoot is a light weight machine with a motor attached that thrusts it to take off and a parachute that enables it to glide. Before taking off, it rolls the distance of 300 feet and can go up to 1000 feet above the ground.” He mentions the most important fact, “Chandigarh is the first city in India to have aero shoot gliding.                         Photo: Vinay Malik

Body wise
Rev-upp your body
Metabolic Rate is the rate at which the body burns up calories. The secret of burning calories lies in knowing what determines your metabolic rate and what you can do to influence it.
You can speed up your rate of burning calories using some, or all, of the following tactics:

The Heritage cavalcade:


The Vintage car rally to promote heritage spots in Punjab set the city scape buzzzing. around 30 participants headed for Patiala as a part of Punjab Tourism’s attempt to promote the heritage sites in Patiala.

Anti-Oscars
For an industry that indulges in mere entertainment, Hollywood takes itself pretty seriously. But the overbearing self-importance displayed by many who work in the cinematic trades will be exquisitely deflated Saturday night when a group of renegade movie buffs delight in naming the worst movie moments of the year.The dubious Golden Raspberry dishonours, affectionately known as the Razzie awards, are now in their 29th year and never seem to lack worthy candidates.

Rohit for Rahman?
Will he, won’t he? The buzz around whether music maestro A.R. Rahman will flaunt an outfit by Rohit Bal or another designer at the Oscar ceremonies is gaining momentum as Bal reveals that the chances of Rahman wearing his outfit seem slim.Rahman is the first Indian to get three Oscar nominations for his score in British filmmaker Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, a rags-to-riches story set in India, which was also nominated for seven other categories including best film and best director.

A security officer stands next to an Oscar statue during preparations for the 81st Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California.
A security officer stands next to an Oscar statue during preparations for the 81st Academy Awards at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. The Oscars will be presented on February 22, 2009. Photo:REUTERS

Sliming Slumdog
As Slumdog Millionaire, the feel good film about a Mumbai tea boy, has grown to be more and more of an Oscar contender tonight, the murky Hollywood art of ‘sliming’ seems to have swung into action.A spate of negative stories about Slumdog has erupted in the local Hollywood newspapers ahead of the 81st Oscar, claiming the film to be ‘poverty porn’ and that its actors have been ripped off and exploited.

Sister’s hopes
She is hoping her brother will bring back at least two Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire. Music maestro A.R. Rahman’s elder sister Reihana, a well-known Tamil music composer and singer, says the family is very excited and deliriously happy at his super success.“We are hoping he will win at least two Oscars. We trust in god and have surrendered to him,” Reihana told. Rahman has been nominated for three Oscars - Best Original Score, for the song Jai Ho and for O Saya.Though Rahman’s bagging awards is nothing new for the family, an Academy Award will of course be special.

Madonna’s model date
Madonna will take Brazilian model Jesus Luz as her date to the Oscars, it has emerged. According to reports, the 50-year-old singer has been arranging matching outfits for the awards ceremony with the 22-year-old toy-boy.The pair, who has still not gone public with the romance, has been spotted kissing at a pre-Oscars dinner in Los Angeles.Luz has posed in a raunchy photo shoot with Madonna for W magazine.

Talent stand-in Marie Holton takes the place of actor Kate Winslet during the rehearsal for the red carpet arrival ceremonies in preparation for the 81st Academy Awards in Hollywood. Celeb security
Professional gatecrasher, who sneaked into last year’s Oscars, has been hired to secure this year’s ceremony to fill in any security cracks. Scott Weiss will keep fellow offenders from getting themselves to a shoulder-rubbing distance with the celebrities.
Talent stand-in Marie Holton takes the place of actor Kate Winslet during the rehearsal for the red carpet arrival ceremonies in preparation for the 81st Academy Awards in Hollywood. Photo : Reuters