Over two decades of endless struggle, endless court cases, endless excuses and censuring of political parties. Everything seemed endless until a shoe put an end to it all in a mere fraction of a second. Now, we aren't getting into the political repercussions or morality of what Jarnail Singh did but just trying to unravel the psychology that made him do so. Though unintentionally, he did become leader for the masses and a catalyst for the society. And there are many like him, who on different issues set off the chain reaction. They channelised people's emotions by making them voicing out their concerns and brought about the much-needed change though their ways were very different. In fact, they were the change themselves.

The latest one was though wasn't very serious, left a lasting impact. Nisha Susan didn't shout any slogans against the moral policing instead adopted an amusing tool, the Pink Chaddi campaign. "People were angry at the Mangalore pub incident, Valentine's Day warnings and several attack on girls. This online campaign gave an outlet to their aggression." Designer of the campaign, she feels this was the only apt way to embarrass the moral police who support khakhi short pants, "And we were successful for we got close to 1000 pink chaddis at the various collection centres. We add colour to their lives." However, the campaign gives her another reason to be happy, "We generally believe that the public being dormant would avoid getting into any kind of controversy. But I discovered, all you need to do is jostle them a little, provide them a medium to react, and you will see politicians and administrators bowing down, something we all just rediscovered with the Jarnial Singh episode."

Aditya Raj Kaul feels humbled when his friends consider him their hero. The brain behind the first such campaign in India against the injustice done to Priyadarshini Matoo, he set off the trend of many candle light vigils. "The case was then lingering for seven years and it wasn't even very popular unlike the Jessica Lal murder case. It took me some time to convince people to take a stand for her cause and eventually yielded results." But what he didn't expect was the huge turn out of protestors. "I realised that people somewhere related the injustice to their own sufferings and that helped them vent out their emotions." Then came the candle light vigils for Jessica Lal and Nitish Katara, in which he again significantly contributed and the culprits were convicted.

Similar was the scene during the anti reservation campaign that was started by Dhruv Suri, a final year law student. And before he lets us know about it, he prefers to say something else, "Jarnail Singh's means were wrong but the end was met successfully and that is far more important." Besides protests, he also launched an online campaign that was signed by as many as two lakh people. He adds, "Most of the times, people don't know how to go about expressing their displeasure." So he showed them the way and the judiciary helped too. "It was only after rigorous protests that the Supreme Court demanded accountability from the government. Supreme Court passed the judgement that children of politicians will not be obliged with reserved seats and special provisions will be given to the creamy layer."

ashima@tribunemail.com

Soft and subtle, that is what entertainment is all about. Many might not hold the statement true when talking about Punjabi cinema, but the words come straight from the Big Daddy of the Punjabi entertainment industry, Manmohan Singh. Manji, famous for his isuue-based cinema, is ready with another dose of full desi fun, this time with a dash of humour. And the music release of his latest, Munde UK De, was a celebration of Punjabiyat, with the brightest and most happening stars of Punjabi entertainment adding the spark.

The film is a romantic comedy and revolves around the culture clash among Pujabis living abroad. It stars Jimmy Shergill, Neeru Bajwa and brings singer Amrinder Gill to the silver screen for the first time. And just like its embellished star cast, the music of the film too is a heavy-duty dose of Punjabi singing sensations. The list includes Jaswinder Jassi, Amrinder Gill, Labh Janjua, Ravinder Garewal, Sardool Sikander, Sunidhi Chauhan and Miss Pooja.

"The film, in all its elements, is light entertainment. The feel is young, characters are real and it is an attempt to bridge the gap between Punjabis here and those living outside the country," says Manmohan Singh. Of course, to give that young feel to the movie, he roped in young faces, the darlings of the current generation. Like Amrinder Gill, who he believes is a star already. "He is a combination of a good voice and innocent looks," he says. Ask him if Amrinder is a replacement for Harbhajan Mann, the singer who started his acting career with Manji and has done maximum movies with him, and he replies with humility, "All are equals, so there is no question of replacement." But he too had a question to ask, regarding the topic, “when i worked with Harbhajan, you complained that I don’t experiment with others. Now that I am, you ask me why Harbhajan is not in the movie?” well, any answers?

The popularity and growing glamourisation of Punjabi cinema notwithstanding, money is still a problem. "Every industry faces a crisis. Today, a host of Bollywood movies are crashing at the box office, reason being that we have made stars larger than life. The limelight is on the money being paid to the stars and not the story," he says.

Talk of crisis and the recent multiplex row is sure to come out, "It is an issue on a national scale and the industry is suffering heavy losses everyday. I hope it gets sorted out soon," says Manji. But isn't this a blessing in disguise for Punjabi movies, since they will have an increased audience. "It may benefit but then audience reception is a bigger concern," he says. 

While the recession has left the common man across the world with a pinched pocket, Hollywood celebrities, who are known for their extravagant lifestyle, are also adopting to cost cutting measures.

Celebrities like actor Nicolas Cage, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sharon Stone and many others have lost money due to the recession.

Actor Nicolas Cage has sold his Bavarian castle Scholoss Neidstein to his lawyer for 100,000 pounds. Cage had bought the 28-room castle in 2006 for 1.6 million and had spent millions on renovation, the Daily Mail reported.

"Due to the difficult economic situation, unfortunately, I was no longer able to keep it," he said. The price of his mansion in Bel Air, which is on the market for a while, has also been reduced. The price, which started at 23 million is now available for a moderate 12 million pounds.

Similarly, Basic Instinct star Sharon Stone put her five-bedroom, Mediterranean-style property in Beverly Hills on the market for USD 7.5 million. But due to the worsening market conditions, the star has been unable to sell despite reducing it to USD 6.8 million. It has now been rented out for 24,000 pounds a month.

The wife of actor Mel Gibson filed for a divorce after 28 years of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences.

In divorce papers filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, Robyn Gibson asked for her 1980 marriage to the Lethal Weapon actor to be ended.

The couple, who have seven children, asked for privacy in a joint statement.

"Throughout our marriage and separation we have always strived to maintain the privacy and integrity of our family and will continue to do so," the statement said.

It was not clear how long the Gibsons have been separated but a report on the website for celebrity television show

Entertainment Tonight said they had been living apart for almost three years.

Six of the Gibson's children are adults. Robyn Gibson asked for joint custody of the only minor, Tom, who turns 10 on Tuesday.

Gibson, 53, a staunch Catholic, was raised in Australia and was one of the highest paid and most popular actors in the world in the 1990s, winning a best director and best picture

Looks like Johnny Depp is taking his role of Captain in Pirates of the Caribbean rather seriously, for the actor and his family are living on a luxury yacht while he shoots his new movie in Puerto Rico. According to Contactmusic, the star, who played the role of Captain Jack Sparrow in the trilogy, bought the classic 47 metre-long motor yacht last year.

Depp named the yacht Vajoliroja, a twist on pirate ensign The Jolly Roger, using the first two letters from the names of his partner Vanessa Paradis and their kids Lily-Rose and Jack.

Late last year, the actor and Paradis were spotted aboard the yacht during a holiday in the Mediterranean, and Depp also spent time as a sailor during a trip to Florida.

And now, Depp's floating hotel is anchored off the coast of Puerto Rico. — ANI 

David Hasselhoff certainly needs to know about anger management, for once again the actor got in a fit of rage and threatened to headbutt a co-judge on a TV reality show. The 56-year-old threatened to headbutt Piers Morgan in front of a stunned live television audience on the set of America's Got Talent.

A newspaper reported that the former Baywatch star began "verbally assaulting" his fellow judge following a difference in opinion on a magic act.

"It all flared up over a husband-and-wife magic act. The couple had lost all their money in the recession and this was their last chance. Hasselhoff voted no and the audience went crazy booing him," an audience was quoted as saying.

"Then Sharon Osbourne voted yes and so it all came down to Piers's vote. He voted to send them through to the next round, the crowd went crazy, the couple's kids came on in tears - and then Hasselhoff went nuts.

"He started yelling abuse at Piers, and Piers was giving back as good as he was getting, when suddenly David stood up, walked around the judges' table and got right in Piers's face.

"Then he threatened to headbutt him. He said it loudly and clearly and everyone heard him. David was out of control, shouting and swearing. It was a full-on verbal assault. He was hurling all sorts of abuse at Piers, who looked genuinely upset and was momentarily shocked into silence. He was shaking his head and just staring daggers at David," the audience member added.

Only two years ago, Hasselhoff was accused of violent behaviour towards his former wife Pamela Bach. — ANI 

For those who judge a rock band by its name, The Carrot Fish will be quite a shock. Sixteen bands rocked at the Rockathon, a national level competition organised by the ibibo.com at The Jaypee University of Information Technology, Shimla and The Carrot Fish emerged as the clear winner. Apart from team co-ordination, the judge- Gavin Pacheo of The Faridkot Fame was looking for originality. He found an answer in The Carrot Fish that got the crowd going with their original music.

It is not much of a surprise that the band won The Campus Rock Idol Chandigarh series 5 earlier this year in January and has already established a fan following for their unique style of music.

The five band members all aged between eighteen and twenty share a great chemistry. Sahib Singh, a second year student of PEC plays the Rhythm Guitar. Nitish Malhotra, who is also a second year student at PEC, plays the Lead Guitar. Joydeep Singh, from RIMT who plays the bass felt the tug when he heard the Rolling Stones for the first time. All three of them have never taken any guitar classes and are autodidacts.Pulkit Sharma, the lead vocalist draws in the crowd with his projection. He has been singing and playing ever since he can remember. He is an engineering student at Rayat & Bahra College. The drummer, Sahil Sarin, has been playing drums ever since he was five.

When asked about their driving strength, 'We make music we love, share it with the crowd and have a blast while we do it!' is their unanimous reply. -TNS

One of the pioneers of linen in India, Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd, has paid a tribute to the country's most sought-after fashion fabric by launching a new store "Linen Club The Ramp."Linen, which came to India in 1949, courtesy one of the scions of the Birla clan G.D. Birla, completes 60 years in 2009. 

Rohit Bal, who has been associated with linen for the past 19 years (since he became a fashion designer), inaugurated the store in the Capital recently.According to him, linen is the easiest of the designer's fabrics. "I prefer to describe it as one of the top three fabrics in the country along with khadi and muslin. You can do almost anything with it - dye it, block it, wash it to make it softer and better. It is an incredible natural fibre that best suits the Indian climate," Bal said. Linen is spun out of flax fibre imported from Belgium and France and grown in regions along the Mediterranean sea.Bal likes to work with all kinds of linen - striped, checked and plain. "But ivory is my favourite colour," Bal said. Almost all his collections feature linen clothes and he says the fabric enables the skin to breathe in summer. The "Linen Club The Ramp" offers a complete range of linen fabric, right from pure linen to linen blends with cotton, silk, wool, bamboo, lyocell, yarn dyed wovens, printed and embroidered linen. 

Its range of women's wear - mostly embroidered kurtis and tops in muted summer shades - and the men's collection of office shirts and formal sherwanis stand out for the designs and user-friendly cuts. "You can wear almost everything in linen," said Bal, whose repertoire includes jackets, skirts, shirts and even sherwanis in linen. The Linen Club chain, which targets the domestic high-end apparel market in metros, uses the expertise of Italian designers like Mario Talli and Raffaela Palmeiri to add value to its designs. "The brand is very popular with leading apparel manufacturers like Color Plus, Loius Phillipe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Benetton, Blackberry's and Levis," said Abhey Nair, senior vice president of Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd. Essentially a high-end fabric, it costs anywhere between Rs 350 to Rs 1,500 per metre depending on the quality. According to the company's president J.C. Soni, linen is a hit with women. "Nearly 70 percent of the consumers in Europe are women. In India too, women are using linen for everyday wear," he said. — IANS

Of course, the campus has a culture of its own! Apart from the cult characterised by geris, bunks, strikes, elections, issues, fests, fights, semesters, holidays, admissions …movements brew of the silent types. A thought, an idea, a gesture, an effort, a movement, typically in the same chronology, till it becomes a tradition, once again. Tradition, from where it all began. Some Tricity youth seem to have seized the battle head on.

Amrindra Pratap Singh, final year law student, questions, "Doesn't our identity stand defined by traditions? It's about valuing your roots, culture, and customs. Unfortunately, that's somewhere missing in today's youth." The recent meet of final year turbaned students on campus was the guy's brainchild. "It was an attempt at the revival of our traditions. Turban is the traditional headgear, a symbol of our identity." That's not it. "Shortly we are going to start an organization, the United Sikh Organisation" Yes, the ones not in traditional headgear, you can join in too! He explains, "The membership would be open to them as well and our main issues would be revival of the turban, eradicating drugs et al."

Cut across campus, the very recent heritage walk by the Chandigarh Chapter of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage was heavily peppered with youngsters along with the 'salt and pepper' gang. Yet another attempt at valuing past.

Isha Khanna, an enthusiastic participant says, "It's little alarming to observe the way our culture's dying slow death. Or so it seems." The mild outburst continues, "Look at the majority of Indian metro cityscapes. What do you see? I see all the people, places, history, heritage becoming cosmopolitan clones." Quite a regular at such events, the girl's previously been part of the same meet at Amritsar too. Vikramaditya Prakash, professor, University of Washington, had just the right words that ring a bell, "We don't have a sense of history, we don't value it coz we have so much of it."

U-turn to varsity grounds, Manveen from Savitri Bai hostel, recalls, "Whenever I can, I never lose the opportunity of being a part of Jaago." For those not conversant, Jaago is a ritual and in itself a ritual on the campus performed as part of the fest Jhankaar. She adds, "For me they are fun and I pity people who do not realise the worth of their culture"

Tashi Targais, from U.I.E.T, P U, says, "We have Ladakh Students Association, an organisation started with the objective of reviving culture from the region." Recently celebrated Losar, Tibetan calender's New Year, is the case in point. Do you too hear a chorus? 'Make antiquity cool. Solution lies in making people take pride in their roots', courtesy youngsters; there's a hope of a plausible way out. In between even they might tap to Apple I-pods, but it's the regional tracks, dhol beats, being shuffled down majority's play lists! 

A newspaper study has revealed that teenagers think that news is a free commodity and they love aggregation sites. The findings may acts as a bad news for online newspapers as two of the big industry ideas right now are-charge for content, and put the aggregators out of business.

"Not only are teens not rushing to pay for content, but they also struggle to envision in what realm they would need to pay for content," the study as stated. Conducted for the NAA by Northwestern University's Media Management Center, the study claimed that teenagers are less interested in news brands than a site's usability and depth of content.

The study said: "Ask teens where they find news, and they typically say Yahoo! Google, AOL or MSN. Whichever option they choose, it's clear that they believe such aggregators, portals and search engines serve them well. They like their brevity and compact approach." The teenagers want the news providers to reduce the volume of information and craved a "top headlines" approach — ANI