RampAGE
Chandigarh Fashion Week takes off in all splendour
Ramp set, lights on, audience eager, scribes ready, cameras on…Chandigarh readies for its first-ever fashion week on Friday. A rare opportunity for designers to explore the market and buyers to choose from a wide variety, the Chandigarh Fashion Week (CFW) began in all splendour. The three-day affair will showcase creations by over 20 designers from the region.

Udita, Shawar light it up
Where there's a fashion week, there's a Bollywood beauty! Chandigarh Fashion Week (CFW) is no exception and had Udita Goswami playing showstopper for designer Riyaaz's brand Libas on Friday. She had model Shawar Ali walking alongside, which will also go a long way in promoting their latest movie Amar Joshi’s Shaheed Ho Gaya. For the two professional model-turned-actors, CFW is another opportunity to enjoy what they have always done — walk the ramp. "It feels good that from one fashion week in Delhi eight years ago, there are now many such events. It means good work for models, designers and everybody else involved," says Shawar.  "They are making fashion more affordable and people more conscious," he adds. And what keeps them busy? "Movies, of course," he says. Shavar has finished shooting for Sunny Deol directed The Man. "I play a mafia don in it. Another movie that I am doing is Shock."

No skin show
I will never wear a bikini, says Vidya Balan
While her contemporaries Priyanka Chopra and Lara Dutta are flaunting their curves in bikinis, Bollywood actor Vidya Balan is happy and comfortable in her favourite attire - the sari - and says she will never wear a bikini. "I don't see myself in a bikini ever. I am very comfortable in my saris and other Indian attire. Even if the script demands, I don't think I will ever wear one," she said at a press conference. Previously, Vidya had received a lot of flak for her dressing sense and plump body. Taking all that criticism in a positive manner, the 30-year-old actor has slimmed drastically and is looking ravishing in her sleek avatar. She is seen wearing mostly saris at functions and promotional events.

Creative line

Actor Mughda Godse walks the ramp presenting the creation of designer Swapnil Shinde during the Blenders Pride Bangalore Fashion Week in Bangalore. — PTI photo

Arshad’s woes
I don't get good movies, grumbles Warsi
His role as Circuit in Munnabhai M.B.B.S fetched Arshad Warsi accolades, but not good movie offers. The actor rues that he has been typecast and doesn't get offers that could do justice to his acting skills. Mujhe aacche role milte nahi hai (I don't get good roles), "Warsi confessed at a press conference. "All the movies that I am being offered, 99 per cent of them are bad scripts. That leaves me with one per cent chance of getting a good movie," he added.

Papa don’t push
Known as ‘helicopter or pushy’, a group of worried moms and dads are on a perpetual hunt to supplement their kids’ learning
Tutoring is perhaps one of the few sectors that have registered a growth even during recession. Courtesy: Worried moms and dads who are on a perpetual hunt to supplement their kids' school learning with extracurricular cramming!

Different strokes
Artist Anu Ganju, whose paintings were on display at the Alliance Francaise Art Gallery, prefers to work without any specific theme
Toe ring' is in shades of grey except for the red dot on the toe. Next to it is 'Paradise' and 'Morning Has Broken' in bright colours - red, gren, blue, orange. On another wall hangs a portrait, a figurative work that has people sitting together. And next to it is 'Solitude', a semi-figurative artwork that depicts a lady standing behind the wall.

Bon Appetit
Steamy sensations
Winter weather is 'purrfect' for steaming puddings, laced with booze and served with ladleful of runny cream or custard! These moist delights truly and efficiently warm your insides as well as the cockles of your heart! The British claim pudding as part of their culinary heritage. In centuries old literature, there are references to a "Stir-Up Sunday" when traditionally everyone in the household gave the pudding mixture a stir, and made a wish while doing so.

Man behind the lens
There's hardly any actor who wouldn't want to be in front of the camera when Manmohan Singh brings in different angles 
What's in the name? For some, everything ends and begins with it while for others it's just a tag of reference. But when it comes to Punjabi cinema, Manmohan Singh is the name. There's hardly any actor who wouldn't want to be in front of the camera when he brings in different angles. Aman Dhaliwal of Jodhaa Akbar fame, Rana Ranbir, comedian, and Amrinder Gill, the Dildaarian guy, in city shooting for Manmohan Singh's Ik Kudi Punjab Di, share the experience of working with the director. Repetitive scripts, more or less similar shoot locales, a select audience, nothing matters! Here I come

What's brewing?
Thirteen inspirational years of being the place where millions of people have spent some special moments, Café Coffee Day, India's largest retail chain of coffee cafés, has unveiled a strategy that promises much more. Developed from in-depth dialogue with customers, coffee-lovers and stakeholders, the change entails an all-new 'smart' menu, fresh furniture design and placement, new uniforms, cutlery and total café rebranding. Most visible would be the famous Café Coffee Day squared logo in a new avatar - a dialogue box with the words Café Coffee Day written in a distinct, specially created font.