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Body business

For some, chiselled teeth are perfect beauty

THERE are many people around the world who would go to some lengths to sculpt their features even to the extent of crossing the line that divides sanity and madness.

Body Perfect on Tuesday at 9 p.m. on the National Geographic Channel showcases how the meaning of beauty differs from one community to another. In China, some people have their leg bones broken and ‘stretched’ to become taller.

On an island off the coast of Indonesian Sumatra, Mentawai women have their teeth chiselled to sharp points.

In the United States, while the tools are more sophisticated, the goals are the same as an increasing number of people embrace radical plastic surgery that ranges from liposuction to breast implants and from chin jobs to buttock lifting. Indeed, one culture’s beauty is another’s taboo.

IN the classroom they were geeks but on the casino floor they were unstoppable, five brilliant MIT students and highly skilled blackjack players who used their mathematical wizardry to beat the casinos.

Breaking Vegas airing January 19 at 9 p.m. on the History Channel is based on Bringing Down the House, the runaway bestseller by Ben Mezrich about a handful of cocky hotshots who put many casinos on the road to bankruptcy. Led by Semyon Dukach, a bored and broke MIT student, the five of them hopped from one casino to another with a winning formula no one understood — a formula that has never been revealed which was legal and more powerful than anything tried before.

Which is why Dukach along with Victor Cassius, Owen Keller and Allie Smith came in hard with stacks of cash and launched into the highest of high rollers — with bets reaching over hundreds of thousand dollars a night.

They were wined and dined and treated like royalty by casinos around the world — from Las Vegas to Atlantic City and from London to Barcelona — they won millions throughout the 1990s without anyone knowing how they did it. Don’t miss the fascinating true story of these brilliant students who turned the tables on some of the biggest casinos in the world.

More or less, money again

WITH Kaun Banega Crorepati taking time off, race has begun for the numero uno game show.

There is Super Sale on Star One and Deal Ya No Deal on Sony but it is Kam Ya Zyada on Zee TV hosted by the feisty Manoj Bajpai that is stealing the show.

Kam Ya Zyada revolves around a simple format where viewers can send an SMS to receive a set of questions. Every response to the question is in the form of Kam Ya Zyada.

Each response yields the participant loyalty points that can be redeemed later. More than Rs 3 crore can be won in the contest.

Oh Maria

MARIA CALLAS was not just the greatest and the most glamorous voice of the century but also the most impulsive person ever in the showbiz.

Maria Callas: A Big Destiny on January 15 at 5.40 p.m. on BBC World unveils the volatile life and times of the American-born Greek soprano who was romantically linked to shipping tycoon Aristotle Onasis. The nine-year-old relationship came to an end when Onasis married Jacqueline Kennedy.

Callas the best-known opera singer of the post World War-II era known equally for her singing as for her controversial life. She was rarely out of the headlines and her prima donna tantrums were legendary. Apart from a couple of abortive comeback attempts, her last years were lonely and embittered in a Paris flat. In 1977, the world was shocked at her early death at 53 from a mixture of anti-depressants and tranquillisers.

To this day, Maria Callas inspires both love and loathing. This stunning portrait paints a picture of this unique and enigmatic diva whose talent outlives her to the day. — NF

Crime check

Spurred by the success of crime series like Sansani and Crime Reporter, Punjabi channel, NRI TV, has started Crime Story.

The crime-based series, which is aired on every Sunday at 9.30 pm on NRI TV, aims to attract Punjabi viewers with its reporting of crime scene in Punjab.

This is the first Punjabi language crime show to be aired on a channel.

The series has been directed by Shallu Bajaj and Gurmeet Singh Saran. The show is hosted by Jaspreet Singh.

— Pankaj Vasudeva

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