The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Chandigarh Stories

Law sports quota admissions rescheduled
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 9
Admissions under the sports quota to the Department of Law in Panjab University could not take place today as the merit lists could only be procured around 6 pm. The admission for this category has been rescheduled for July 10.

For admissions in law at the university’s Ludhiana Regional Centre, counselling is scheduled to be held tomorrow. All 60 seats at Ludhiana are paid seats. Though reservations exist for different categories, PU officials said there would be no relaxation on the stipulated fees to be paid.

The department has so far received 50 applications against 58 seats reserved for NRI and NRI-sponsored candidates.

Meanwhile, the date of the specially designed aptitude test for admission to the Department of Indian Theatre has been fixed for July 11. It is scheduled to be held at 8.15 am in the department’s studio theatre, a statement issued here said.

Counselling for MCA (first year) at the Department of Computer Science and Applications in the university campus, here, has been scheduled for July 10, while for the PU Regional Centre at Muktsar, it is July 11. The physical aptitude test for the Department of Physical Education will be held tomorrow.

All seats in Bachelor of Engineering and B.Sc (honours school) courses in the university have been filled up. Admissions of candidates, who applied under the foreign nationals, NRI, NRI-sponsored and industry-sponsored categories, will be done tomorrow.

Interviews were held for admission to 60 seats in the Department of Political Science today. The cut-off was reported at 68 per cent. In Psychology, all seats have been filled, with the cut-off being 64 per cent.

SD College most sought after, claims Principal
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 9
The Principal of Sanatan Dharma College, Sector 32, Dr A.C. Vaid, has claimed that the college was the most sought after for commerce and other courses and attracts the cream of students. The college, he said, was the first choice for students seeking admission in the commerce stream. He was responding to a report captioned “DAV, GCG-11 most sought after”, published in these columns on June 29.

Though stating that the number of admission forms sold or received is no indication of an institute’s popularity, Dr Vaid maintained that during the admission process for the current academic session, the college sold 7,000 prospectuses and expects to sell more. Students with top scores had applied for admission to this college.

Giving details about the college’s achievements, he said the college bags the maximum number of merit positions at the university level, while the number of students achieving first division is more than in any other college in Chandigarh.

The college, he said, was the first and only college which was given approval to start courses biotechnology, advertisement, sales promotion, information technology, M.Com, BCA, BBA and industrial chemistry. He added that the college has the distinction of starting nine add-on courses and two professional courses including postgraduate diplomas in marketing management and management and labour welfare.

Stating that students from 18 states are pursuing education in the college, he added that the number of students has increased three-fold over the last eight years.

COURTS

Remand in Bhaddal murder case
Our Correspondent

Kharar, July 9
Mrs Baljinder Kaur Bhatia, Subdivisional Magistrate, on Monday remanded three accused, Bakhshish Singh Randhawa, Rachpal Singh and Satbir Singh, in judicial custody till July 19 in connection with the murder of the chairman of the Bhaddal engineering college, Gurcharan Singh. Mr Jatinderjeet Singh Punn, Public Prosecutor, while demanding a police remand for the accused, pleaded that further questioning of the accused was required. However, the court rejected the plea of the prosecution.

Meanwhile, the police moved two applications in the court requesting a DNA test of accused Rachpal Singh and sample signatures of Bakhshish Singh. They pleaded that Satbir Singh stayed in two Mohali hotels before the murder of Gurcharan Singh and he wrote his address in his own hand. They said that the writing of the accused needed to be matched. They said that when the accused attacked the deceased with a knife, the knife also hit the other accused, Rachpal Singh. The court fixed July 11 as the date of hearing of the above application.

CULTURE

Katrina leads the model brigade
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 9
There is more to the stunning Katrina Kaif than her much-rumoured relationship with Salman Khan. As such, the London-bred model-turned-actress has already learnt to live with misinformation. That is exactly why she easily overcame the consequences of rumours that she was kept out of Mukesh Bhatt’s film “Saaya” because of her association with Salman Khan.

Putting rumours behind her, Katrina is now walking the road to success which may come easy to her because of her natural elegance. Born as she is to a Kashmiri father and an English mother, Katrina has the best of both the worlds, although she rues that she cannot speak good Hindi. In the city (along with models Aditi Govitrikar, Roxxane Smith, Nikita Anand and Jesse Randhawa) to participate in National Institute of Fashion Design (NIFD) fashion show to be held tomorrow, Katrina talked about her role in the Jackie Shroff film ‘Boom’.

Being directed by Kaizad Gustad, known for bringing realism to films, ‘Boom’ exposes links between the underworld and the modelling world. The cast also includes Amitabh Bachchan, Zeenat Aman, Madhu Sapre and Padma Lakshmi (Salman Rushdie’s girlfriend). Ask Katrina how she reached India and she bares her urge to come back to her fatherland. Katrina had been modelling in London for four years when she met Kaizad Gustad who offered her the role. Katrina made the decision because her character in ‘Boom’ was impressive.

“It was just the kind of role I would love doing — powerful and meaningful. Moreover, I had to act a model that I am,” says Katrina, making a mention of the other films she is being offered. She is also learning kathak and Urdu these days. After globe-trotting, the actress now plans to settle in India. She may also go back to Kashmir one day, “to gratify her long time passion of visiting the paradise.”

The NIFD show will also feature Aditi Govitrikar who is busy with films after winning the Mrs World title some years back. On the wishlist of many film producers, Aditi has done films like ‘16 December’, ‘Soch’ and ‘Dhund’ — the fog. Also present today was British model Roxxane Smith, who features in the 24 hour Rexona campaign. Having modelled for long in India, Roxxane feels at home in India. She says: “India is a better home than England now.”

Teaming up with Katrina, Aditi and Roxxane were Ms India Universe 2003 Nikita Anand and Jesse Randhawa. Unruffled with her defeat in the Ms Universe pageant, Nikita said she was going strong and had many ramp shows and special appearances at hand. As for Jesse, she is venturing into films with ‘Chot,’ being directed by Nav Kumar Raju.

The NIFD fashion show will be held in Panchkula tomorrow. It will feature 14 rounds showcasing designs prepared by NIFD students.

Countdown to NIFD show begins
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh girl Divya Jaitley, Femina Miss India finalist 2002, is one of the 10 top Indian models in the city for Haute and Kool, the NIFD fashion show, to be held in hotel North Park, Panchkula, on Thursday. — A Tribune photograph

Chandigarh, July 9
Starry events should take off in a starry style. As the countdown to the much hyped annual fashion show of the National Institute of Fashion Design (NIFD), Sector 8, begins, it is also time to get posted on models who will set the ramp on fire tomorrow.

In the city to add style to Haute and Kool, the fashion show which will showcase about 100 creations of NIFD students, are top models, who rule the Indian modelling world. Leading the list of celebrity models is Katrina Kaif, the Indo-Brit girl, who is ready to rock the Bollywood with her role in Kaizad Gustad’s “Boom”. Being produced by Ayesha and Jackie Shroff, the film is being rated high on the list of off-beat productions. Katrina is also the face for many leading brands. She is, however, better known as the hostess of MTV’s “Crush”.

Sharing the dais with Katrina will be other famous models, including Divya Jaitley, (Femina Miss India finalist 2002), Jaishree, Simran Sachdeva, Aakanksha, Shikha, Aditi Govitrikar, Jesse Randhawa and Roxxane Smith. Divya Jaitley, the Ambala girl who spent many years of her school life in Chandigarh, is currently featuring in various ad campaigns like Microsoft and Nestle Purelife. She also anchors a TV show called Indian Fashion Buzz.

Femina Miss India Talented, 1997, Jaishree also has many credits to show. She has also featured in music albums of Piyush Soni and Ila Arun. Simran Sachdeva, a much sought after ramp model and former Gladrags mega model runners up 2002, is also in town for the show.

The fashion show is being choreographed by Priyanka Singh and has some interesting features, like a complete round created out of wrapping papers.

No cameras please!

Courtesy reigning models Katrina Kaif, Aditi Govitrikar, Jesse Randhawa and Roxxane Smith, the NIFD campus resembled a set straight out of films. After landing late in Chandigarh (the flights were delayed du e to inclement weather), the models were a bit too tired to greet the scribes who had long been waiting for them. After much persistence, the models made an appearance. They, however, categorically denied being photographed.

“We have just landed and are not ready for photo shoots,” said the four models, who kept hiding in a room for about 15 minutes. Committed to the media, the NIFD authorities, however, talked the models into being photographed and interviewed. Finally, only Jesse Randhawa remained out of picture, evading the camera for long. The rest of the models were gracious enough to oblige!

Lending voice to prime time programmes
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 9
Ever since she took a one-year diploma in journalism from Sophiya College, Mumbai, Aashima Arora has not felt the urge to look back. Established as a much sought-after voice-over and dubbing artiste with channels like Discovery and Aastha, this city girl is now busy exploring newer possibilities.

For about seven years now, Aashima has been working as a voice-over artiste with many channels, apart from having served as a compere for some shows on AIR, Mumbai. The best credit she has is her stint with Cine Vista, the company of Siddharth Kak, who created the concept behind Surabhi, the famous Doordarshan serial. She is also involved in the post production of serials like “Koi hai...” on STAR Plus.

In the city to conduct a workshop for Info Hues, an audio-visual production house based in Sector 8, Aashima talked about the fast expanding world of voice-over and dubbing. She is herself a dubbing artiste for two prime time Discovery channel programmes — “Great hotels” and “FBI files”. Talking about the vast professional options which these rather new areas offer, Aashmia said, “We have Discovery dubbing all its programmes in Hindi. Similarly all other channels are dubbing their programmes in other languages. That is why this area is so rich when it comes to professional scope. It is also less competitive right now.”

Aashima, however, admitted that Chandigarh was not a rich ground for off beat professions like voice-over and dubbing. She said that moving out into metros was a must because there a number of channels were contesting for quality and hence offered a number of better opportunities as well.

While holding a session with participants, Aashima suggested them to keep in touch with cultural activities. She said, “Most dubbing artistes have roots in theatre. That gives them an edge.”