It was a 'Pim-pom' greetings for ace fashion designer J.J. Valaya, who met his 1983 batchmates of YPS, Mohali, after a gap of almost 25 years. Clad in black-mystical, bewitching, bold, sinfully sexy yet a somber colour, JJ was at his best when it came to greeting his old pals, and well, they reciprocated with the same zest.

After having wowed the fashion glitterati across the globe, the stout sardar of the Indian fashion industry spoke at length about his school days, art, Hollywood, Bollywood and, of course, fashion…

Ask him has he been to the city in some years and he says, "I was here four months back and then four years back. But work keeps me busy and there's little time to visit and revisit the city." Fashion and city, " The city has yet to evolve. People don't have that much of disposable income here, and when I say that it means, hi-end fashion. What we make is a wee too expensive and people here are not ready to spend that much on clothes. They are more ready-to-wear brand guys, who love to pick from the shelves." Well, that means we don't see him in the city, "No that's not there. Valaya Quantum is my ready-to-wear brand and we plan to launch it in the city. But not right now, as the time is not right, with the global meltdown and economic crisis."

After making his presence felt in Bollywood, the icon of the Indian fashion industry created ripples in tinsel town with his designs for Victoria Beckham. On his designs for her, he says, "It was quite a surprise, she was to pose for 'Vogue' in Indian traditional wear and three other Indian designers, including me were there. Being a high-profile fashionista, she was asked what she would like to wear and she liked my collection."

Having completed his Class X, prep (XII) and B.Com from the city, he says fashion just happened. "It's like every parent wants there kid to be a doctor, engineer etc. I too followed the set educational norms, but then I was always interested in art and had a creative bend of mind, so I am here dressing people."

Well, fashion is not only his forte. He promotes education for the girl child too. Our man has a Valaya magic foundation that runs school for girls. "My foundation has two schools in Delhi and we plan to open more in villages and educate the masses about the girl child. Affluent in all other ways, it's a shame that Punjab has the lowest girl child ratio. People here should also promote the girl child and I plan to tie-up with film directors and make short movies to educate the people about it."

Talk Bollywood and he says, "We all swear by it. And fashion designers and film stars have a love-love relationship as we both need each other."

About his future projects, he says, "We are working on more brands. Have extended two stores at the Emporia Mall in Delhi and on Bollywood front I am working for costumes for JP Dutta's movie."

Last but not the least, what fashion means to him? "It means comfort. I don't believe in trends, they are hogwash. Be yourself and look into the mirror, it never lies," he adds.

jigyasachimra@tribunemail.com

In what seems to be a case of too much of a good thing two separate publications have declared Akshay Kumar and John Abraham the 'Sexiest Man' of the year 2008.

John Abraham has been adjudged 2008's sexiest Asian in the world in a poll conducted by British Asian weekly Eastern Eye. On the other hand People magazine has declared none other than the Khiladi Akshay Kumar as 'Sexiest Man Alive'.

John emerged on top of the list, defeating Hrithik Roshan and the Khans, while People threw up an interesting lot of names other than the usual Bollywood lot.

The list included cricketer Dhoni, Rahul Gandhi and names from down south like Suriya and also newcomers like Imran Khan and Prateik Babbar.

Newcomers in the Eastern Eyes year's list were Harman Baweja, Stephen Uppal, Upen Patel and boxer Amir Khan.

"John Abraham made up for a quiet year with a sensational look in Dostana with one of the greatest physiques ever seen on big screen.

His body helped to make the film a hit with Asian women," said Hamant Verma, Editor, Eastern Eye.Incidentally, John's girlfriend Bipasha Basu was voted as the Sexiest Asian Woman last year.

'In 2008 he made astute choices ....proving he is not just brawn and who else in Bollywood can carry off the turban with with as much panache' reasoned People bestowing the title on Akshay.

Both the lists had the usual suspects like Hrithik Roshan and the Khans on them.

British director Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire has picked up 20 more awards this week, including those for Indian music director A.R. Rahman, British Indian actor Dev Patel and child artiste Ayush Mahesh Khedekar.

The uplifting underdog tale, a Fox Searchlight release, won six awards - Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Score (Rahman) - from the San Diego Film Critics Society.

Shot in Mumbai, the film tells the heart warming story of an 18-year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai who goes on to win a staggering Rs.20 million ($420,000) on India's Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? game show.

It won six other awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Editing, Breakout on Camera (Dev), and Best Performance by a Youth - Male (Ayush) from the Phoenix Film Critics Society.

Dev plays the protagonist Jamal as a teenager, while Ayush plays Jamal in his childhood.

The film, which has been named in Time magazine's list of Top Ten Films of 2008, won Best Picture and Best Director awards from the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association as well as Best Director and Best Screenplay from the Houston Film Critics Society.

The St. Louis Film Critics Association gave it the Best Director and Best Foreign Language Film awards, while the Southeastern Film Critics Association chose it for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.

It has also earned six nominations for the Chicago Film Critics Awards, including Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Score, and Most Promising Performer (Dev).

The lilting melodies of Jhuki jhuki si nazar and Chupke chupke raat din never fail to impress music buffs even today, but the popular ghazal genre seems to have taken a backseat in Bollywood.

While the older generation blames the young brigade of composers, the latter says it is the script that determines a movie's music.

"The new filmmakers are more inspired by Western culture. They copy Western music and feel that they have made a song. Such people don't know what ghazals are all about," ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh said in an interview.

Music director Shekhar Ravjiani of the duo Vishal and Shekhar who have composed music for films like Om Shanti Om, Tashan and Dostana among others - has a different take on the issue. He says the script is the main determinant of the genre of music to be used in a particular film.

"As a music director, we have to keep in mind the sound that is required by the script and the film. If a ghazal is required, then we would love to use it. It actually depends on what kind of film the director is making," Shekhar said.

Bollywood has been providing soulful renditions in the form of ghazals since the time of legendary K.L. Saigal. Later it was popularised by singers like Talat Mahmood, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Jagjit Singh, Talat Aziz and Pankaj Udhas among others. With hits like Tum itna jo muskura rahe ho (Arth), Tumko dekha toh yeh khayal aaya (Saath Saath), Dil cheez kya hai (Umrao Jaan) and Chupke chupke raat din (Nikaah), the genre that entails the combination of soothing lyrics and dulcet voices received a huge impetus and left an indelible mark on listeners everywhere.

However, there has been a marked decline in the number of ghazals in Hindi movies and the trend has moved towards creating fast, rhythmic songs in place of the traditional melodic, sentimental styles.

"Ghazal is soft music; it is not making noises like most of the songs today. Of 100 songs that are churned out, only two-three are worth listening. The rest are mere shouting, which is not music," Singh said.

Added Shekhar: "It's true that we have not heard ghazals in films for quite some time now and I hope that it comes back." Although the ghazal's versatile formal structure could conceivably have been modified to suit the taste of the Gen-Y, the genre has remained too closely associated with its traditional subject matter of broken hearts, weepy lovers and the stylised refinement of Urdu culture in general.

"People feel that a ghazal cannot be a commercial hit in today's time. But this is actually a myth. If it is composed well, it can rule the charts. But people in the industry today don't have that kind of taste," Singh said.

The theme of most films churned out today is more fast-paced and inclined towards action, and ghazals don't fit in their scheme of things, say music directors.

One of the last memorable ghazals used in a Bollywood film was Hoshwaalon ko khabar in John Mathew Mathan's 1999 hit Sarfarosh. He too could fit in a ghazal mainly because he had Naseeruddin Shah play a ghazal singer in the movie. J.P. Dutta used ghazals in the remake of Umrao Jaan, but they failed to click with audiences.

"Songs are made to suit the need of a particular scene. Ghazals have taken a backseat because the kind of films and the kind of scenes today don't demand a ghazal," said composer Sachin Gupta of Dil Kabaddi fame.

However, the industry maintains that people's preferences have not changed.

"It's not that people's preference of music has changed. If we give them a soulful ghazal that suits the film, they will certainly appreciate it," said Kaushik Ghatak, who debuted as a director with Ek Vivaah... Aisa Bhi.

Ravjiani shared his view and said: "People still love ghazals, they still go for concerts and appreciate them; so it's not true that people don't prefer ghazals any more." — IANS, PTI, UNI

Mallika Sherawat is certainly going places. The actor recently shared the stage with renowned Hollywood director Oliver Stone at the Global Brand Forum 2008 held in Kuala Lumpur.

Mallika was invited as a guest speaker at the forum as part of an expert panel where she shared stage space with Stone among other personalities.

"It was a huge surprise for me to be invited to the global forum along with Oliver Stone. He has a genius who has achieved so much and I've just begun my tough climb. But to share the same stage with someone who's made JFK, Platoon, Natural Born Killers and U Turn - All I can say is Wow!," the actor said in a release.

Talking about Oliver Stone, Mallika said, "What do we have in common, I asked myself. I guess for better or for worse we both have our own brands - and as Oliver Stone says - people either love or hate his films, but certainly have a strong opinion about him, his politics and his films.

"I guess it's the same for me. There are young people around the country who have embraced me, and on the other hand there are lots of people in the country and in the film industry and in advertising who think I'm too controversial, radical etc, for their liking, " she said.

Mallika, who is currently working on 'Hissss' a Hollywood-Bollywood film directed by Jennifer Lynch, will be seen in the character of a snake woman.

The actor, who began her career with film 'Murder,' went on to work in movies like 'Pyar Ke Side Effects,' 'Maan Gaye Mughle Azam', recently won the 2008 Renaissance Artist Award at the 16th Annual Diversity Awards held at California's Universal City.

Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone offered prayers at world famous Venkateswara swamy here.

The super model-turned-actor Deepika, who became the top grossing movie of Bollywood Om Shanti Om in 2007, was received at the temple by TTD officials last night.

After the darshan, Deepika, who is the daughter of the famous badminton player Prakash Padukone, was offered sri vari prasadams by the TTD officials.

Huge fans waited near the temple greeted her when she came out from the temple.

Later briefing the media, she said she wants to do sports-based film preferably on badminton, her father's sport.

Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan advocated for equipping the security personnel with better protective gear to help protect them while fighting for the country. At an event, Khan expressed gratitude towards the security personnel who risked their own lives to save hundreds of innocents, during the deadly terror attacks.

He advocated for the need to provide the personnel with better equipment and gear to help them save their lives while tackling a situation like Mumbai attacks.

"I think we can only thank them (security personnel) as they risked their lives to save our lives. I would like to give this suggestion that the people who save our lives like army officers, ATS officers, police, navy, air force, should be provided with better protective gear and equipment to help them save themselves while fighting for us," he said.