“When I watched the film in Toronto for the first time, I didn’t know what I was getting into,” she says, sitting down to a plate of roti and chutney. “The first time I saw my face on screen I felt really nervous and self-conscious.” She needn’t have worried. Pinto has gone from fashion model and TV travel-show host to Hollywood star overnight and is enjoying every minute of it. “That dreams come true is the biggest surprise ever,” she says, revealing that she’s been collecting Freida Pinto place cards from the glittery parties she’s attended. “Every moment you blink, you miss something.”

Back in India, Pinto was a jeans-and-T-shirt kind of girl, but now designers are lining up to dress her. She’s worn Christian Lacroix haute couture, Zac Posen, Oscar de la Renta and Marchesa. Today, she’s paired her short floaty designer dress with shiny black lace-up Payless pumps picked up in Toronto. “Maybe they’ll offer you a shoe line,” I suggest. “I think they should,” Pinto responds. “In India, it’s hard to find a project, because most of it is Bollywood, which is very exaggerated,” says Pinto, who went through rounds of auditions for six months to land her role in Slumdog...

Back outside, she crosses the street in front of a grocery store window piled high with sacks of basmati rice. “It smells like India,” Pinto says, before walking into Cottage Art, a store full of colorful pillows, bangles and kurtas. Pinto is gracious, posing for photos and talking about how she’ll decorate when she moves out of her parents’ house. “White walls with a pop of red accessories,” she says. After all, this dream sequence can only go on so long, and the red carpet will come to an end. Pinto has yet to line up another project. Her dream role would be something that might otherwise go to Winslet or Meryl Streep. But with her looks and her twinkly smile, she might want to consider a romantic comedy. We do a little CD shopping, and she lights on A.R. Rahman, who did the music for Slumdog..., and an Indian artist named Kishore Kumar. Then Pinto and company are back in the car headed for Sona Chaandi, the mother of all sari shops that caters to Gwen Stefani and other celeb Indo-philes. Inside, room after room is filled with saris, which run up to $995, as well as traditional Indian pants, tunic and scarf ensembles. There’s also a beauty salon attached that offers threading (a kind of hair removal) and mehndi body art. “I don’t wear saris,” Pinto says, scanning the colorful yardage. “I feel I’m too young.” But she’s game to play dress-up, so in come saleswomen carrying saris by the armloads, shimmering with beads and embroidery. Pinto settles on a turquoise-and-gold brocade, which owner Mala Malani swirls around her in a flash of colour, adding a yellow gold and topaz suite of jewelry. Malani offers tea and snacks, even a free sari. But Pinto leaves empty-handed.

Back in the car, I ask her what she really wants—a Chanel purse, maybe? No doubt, designers are offering her the sun and the moon. “Something Prada ... or a watch,” she says, thinking. “No, no. I’ve got it—Harry Winston!” Yep, she’s learning fast. — LA Times-Washington Post

When Hollywood stars hit the red carpet in hopes of snagging an Oscar, sometimes they should be careful what they wish for. An Academy Award can cap a career like that of director Martin Scorsese The Departed or put a veteran actor like Chris Cooper Adaptation on Hollywood’s map with greater access to better roles and higher salaries. But for others it can be a box-office curse. Past winners Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellweger, Halle Berry, Adrien Brody and Cuba Gooding Jr. have not had a major hit in years, even though many are still sought after by Hollywood studios. Kidman won an Oscar for 2002’s The Hours, but has never headlined a big hit.

The actor starred in recent Oscar hopeful Australia, which failed to win any major awards and flopped at the box office.‘’Considering how many bombs she’s done, it’s pretty surprising that she’s still out there chugging away,’’ said John Wilson, who honours the year’s worst movies during the annual Razzie Awards. Since winning her Oscar for a supporting role in 2003’s Cold Mountain, Zellweger’s career went cold with such films as Cinderella Man and Leatherheads. Her last film, the romantic comedy New in Town, earned $6.7 million during its opening weekend last month.‘’I keep trying to remind myself when was she good?’’ said Us Weekly film critic Thelma Adams. Berry, the Oscar winner for 2001’s Monster’s Ball, added a Razzie three years later for Catwoman and gallantly showed up to accept. Berry, who gave birth to her first child in 2008, has not been seen in theaters since her Oscar hopeful Things We Lost in the Fire was quickly doused in 2007. Of course, not all Oscar winners suffer a similar fate. George Clooney and Sean Penn are A-list actor/directors with their pick of big-budget movies and personal projects. Nicolas Cage has appeared in two-dozen films since winning his best-actor Oscar for 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas. Cage’s 2007 film National Treasure: Book of Secrets was the biggest box office hit of his career at $457 million worldwide.‘’What he’s done is become a genre-movie maker, and it has nothing to do with the Oscar,’’ said Adams. Others haven’t been so lucky.

Perhaps the deepest fall from Oscar grace has been that of Gooding, who famously yelled Show me the money! to Oscar-winning effect in 1996’s Jerry Maguire. Since then, Gooding has filled his resume with not-quite classics such as Boat Trip, Norbit and Daddy Day Camp. ‘’He had shown so much promise in Jerry Maguire and he went from supporting player to star, and sometimes that jump is difficult,’’ Adams said. The problem for many newly minted Oscar nominees and winners, said Wilson, is that their handlers are inundated with lucrative offers for dubious projects.‘’If you’re not known, the industry also doesn’t know what you’re capable of. They may throw stuff at you that’s out of your league, over your head or beneath your talents,’’ he said. —Reuters

The cultural and botanical fiesta of the city, the Rose festival has begun and so you expect nothing less than a full house, curious but admiring tourists, cultural panorama of folk artists from the country, the playful but wobbly camel rides and a dozen varieties of roses everywhere. Well, the ones who took the conscious decision of being present on the inaugural day of festival were witness to some 'reality check'. Sticking to its tradition, this year rose festival is all this, but still not in its true colours.

The tourists were there, with curiosity overtaking admiration, the folk artists were dressed up for the show too, lets call them school children for reality sakes, the camels were there dutifully doing their job of pleasing the jhoothe-wali brigade, and the roses were there too, only to make one wonder if the recession has casted its spell on them too. All those who came to see a new side of the festival were served the same recipe, with a little less salt though. Like always, floral collection stood apart with competition winning entries making for a visual and aesthetic treat. The rangoli and marigold decoration were eye-catching (with an extra dose of gainde ka phool, it looked more like a marigold festival).

Out of the ordinary activities, one interesting was formed by the stone and wood sculptures, thanks to the talent from Govt Art College-10, that complemented the flowers in an amalgamation of natural elements. But the overall mood left the public asking for more. The commercial stalls that generated some good crowd have also been done away with. The cultural scene is also low, just giddha, bhangra and few Rajasthani performances were worth watching. No food stalls to lure the public as well, but the kids did find their fun-part in checking out flowers and vegetable and fruit carvings.

Some felt that the reason for rose recession in the festival is because of its wrong timing. "I feel it should be held in January end. Most of the flowers have withered away," says Dr. Archana, a city resident. But she does add that it's just the first day and the festival still has its charm. Though one passing youngster didn't hide his disappointment, "Bekaar hai yaar Rose festival." A blunt truth this is, with no new activities, the mundane look of the festival hampers its fervor. "The festival has reached its stagnation. It needs to build a novel character and live participation of city people. The place can be a good platform for educational and cultural activities. It needs to be taken from grass root to global level," says Bibi Harjinder Kaur, chairman, Punjab Kala Bhawan. Well, it isn't any Herculean task, to reinvent our interest in the Rose festival, as it's a passion that we have all shared. It's a place where Chandigarh is at its best, and all we need is to add a little tadka to its flavour, aren't we good at that?

They have never boarded a plane, lived in a pucca house or attended a proper school. But little Rubina Ali and Azharuddin Ismail will still journey into a star-studded world as they attend the glitzy Oscars ceremony on Feburary 22.

The lives of these Mumbai slum children have taken a fairytale spin just like the story of Slumdog Millionaire, the film by director Danny Boyle that they famously star in and which has bagged 10 nominations at the 81st Academy Awards.On Thursday, they will fly off to walk the red carpet and rub shoulders with the who’s who of Hollywood at the Oscars.“I think we will win all the awards. We will win 10 out of 10,” Azharuddin, 10, who essayed the role of a young Salim, the protagonist’s brother, said. Rubina, 9, who played young Latika, added: “I don’t know anything now. I will see what happens there.”Just a few days back, their dream to attend one of the most glamorous events of the world was jeopardised by their poverty stricken life. Their parents were not keen on sending them to the Oscars and instead wanted the plane fare to be utilised for other necessities.

However, after a change of plan, Rubina will be escorted by her uncle and Azharuddin will be accompanied by his mother to the event. Rubina and Azharuddin now want to become actors even though they continue to live in their makeshift homes in a slum in the Bandra neighbourhood. Thanks to the director, they are also going to a proper school and might move into better houses soon. For these two, a life out of the slum will be a long journey encompassing hardships, but with this opportunity they will get to enjoy the best of the world. Another kid, Mozhim Shakim Sheikh Qureshi, who played a cripple in the movie, however, was not as lucky as his friends. The 13-year-old got injured while jumping off a train. His left arm is badly damaged and will take at least a month for him to recover.—IANS