Aishwarya made goodwill ambassador of Smile Train

The former Miss World Aishwarya Rai has been named the first goodwill ambassador for Smile Train, a charity that works worldwide for children with cleft lip.

Bollywood star has partnered with the NGO, in association with her own charity - Aishwarya Rai Foundation - and will spread awareness and garner resources to help the movement, said a press release.

“Working with Smile Train, if I can make a difference in their lives, it will certainly make me feel honoured and blessed,” Aishwarya said.

As the goodwill ambassador, Aishwarya will actively work to help Smile Train provide free cleft surgery to children in 76 developing countries around the world, including India.

Aishwarya Rai will celebrate her 36th birthday on Sunday,

Mandira Bedi kept spellbound audience in Kolkata Fashion Week

Mandira Bedi kept the Kolkata Fashion Week-II audience spellbound as she sashayed down the ramp for the Satya Paul collection that was showcased Saturday..

For the first time Mandira walked the ramp in the city of joy which is her birth place. She said that she prefers wearing Satya Paul saris.

Draped in a red woven zari sari, Mandira said that she walked the ramp for Satya Pual in Delhi and Dubai. Satya Paul, the designer brand celebrating its 25th year, showcased collections based on hand weaving.

He has named the collection ‘Resham (silk) and Zari’ to highlight the weaving that goes into fabrics like woven silk as well as jacards, georgette and satin. The collection had both saris and lehengas.

Lisa Ray suffering from incurable cancer

Actress Lisa Ray has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a rare cancer of the plasma cells, and says the disease is “incurable”.

“I was diagnosed with multiple myeloma on June 23. Started my first cycle of treatment July 2. Not long ago. For me, it was a relief to hear what was wrong,” Lisa, 37, posted on her blog .www.lisaraniray.wordpress.com.

Canadian born model-turned-actress Lisa is hopeful that “it can be cured” with the new treatments available in the healthcare sector these days.

Lisa was born to a Bengali father and a Polish mother. She joined showbiz as a model and later ventured into films with Tamil movie “Nethaji”. After that she was seen in Vikram Bhatt’s “Kasoor” in 2001, but stayed away from mainstream Hindi films as she could not speak the language fluently.

Priyanka Chopra supports ‘Save the Child’ campaign

Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra has come forward to support the ''Save the Children'' campaign which aims to provide quality education to eight million children living in conflict-affected areas.

''Save the Children'' also works to secure, protects children''s rights to food, shelter, health care, freedom from violence, abuse and exploitation.

Chopra, who has already been supporting various other social causes, said on the occasion on Monday that she was hopeful to spread awareness on how education can change the future of young children.

Over 12 million children under 14 years of age are working as domestic servants or other jobs such as in stone quarries, embroidery units, mining, carpet-weaving, tea stalls, restaurants and hotels, according to government data.

Divya Dutta buys first Gully Cricket Team

After the craze for owning a Twenty 20 team, now the game's T-10 format, called Gully Cricket, has started attracting celebrities.

Actress Divya bought the Ludhiana Gully Cricket team Saturday for season two that will kick-start Sep 19 and end in a grand finale at Kanpur Nov 20, a spokesperson said here Sunday.

It will be played amongst 896 players from 64 teams in Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Panchkula, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Ballia, Patna, Gwalior, Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad, Surat, Nashik, Latur and Daman and will be telecast live on DD Sports Channel.

Divya, who is from Ludhiana, will patronise the team and be responsible for marketing and promoting it nationally. She will also be involved in activities like grooming the players, cheering them and sponsorships for the team.

Film actor Riteish Deshmukh is the brand ambassador of the event, the first season of which was completed in January-February 2009.

Reporting time for Kangana

In Mani Shankar’s next film, Kangana Ranaut will be seen playing a journalist. This film will have her playing a top journo who works for a famous news channel. The role sounds slightly similar to that of journalist Barkha Dutt.

Kangana is very excited, as this will be her first time playing a journalist. Sanjay Dutt and Irrfan Khan will be playing government agents in the untitled film. Kangana will be cutting her hair for a cropped look.

Shilpa Shetty in silent mode

Shilpa Shetty is observing a vow of silence as part of a wellness course that she is pursuing in Oneness University on the outskirts of Chennai and says it helped her to connect with herself.

“I’ve taken out some ‘me’ time. I have been so busy with people, things and attaining my goals that I had forgotten about myself. This place has helped me get in touch with myself. You must be intrigued how… well right now am doing a mauna, that is, where I am not allowed to talk to anyone, so practicing that, it’s difficult but enjoying it,” Shilpa posted on www.shilpashettylive.com/blog.

The 34-year-old actress, who is a fitness and spirituality freak, says she seeks solace there in the company of her gurus — Amma and Bhagvan.

Shilpa has gone there for a special course to rejuvenate herself after a “hectic six months”.

Shilpa Shetty is going to launch meal chain

After dabbling in cricket and spas, Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty is now venturing into the F&B segment with a chain of readymade meals in Britain.

"It gives me great pleasure to announce that Raj Kundra (fiance) and me have invested with the V8 Gourmet Group... Got to acknowledge the fact that Indian food is much enjoyed (chicken tikka masala becoming the nation's favourite) and has a huge market in Britain," Shilpa posted on her blog shilpashettylive.com/blog from London Sunday.

"... this was only a sign for us to think it right to invest and procure a 33 percent stake in V8 that encompasses Vama, The Bombay Bicycle Club and Tiffinbites. We also do airline catering and the newest plan is to introduce readymade Indian meals that will be under 10 percent fat," she added.

Co-owned by celebrity chef Andy Varma, the 34-year-old actress has massive extension plans for the chain.

Shilpa also dismissed rumours that the food chain was in remembrance of late British reality TV star Jade Goody, whom she interacted with in "Celebrity Big Brother" in 2007 in Britain.

Katrina will participate Independence Day carnival in US

Katrina Kaif who is currently enjoying her month long vacation in Italy with her family will travel to the USA in August to celebrate Independence day, with the US based Indians and take part in the carnival.

A lot of B-Town bigwigs may be heading to the USA with Katrina for Independence Day festivities. Shah Rukh Khan, Bipasha Basu, Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan and other actors will be join with Katrina in the Chicago Carnival.

An event put together with an aim to bring the stars closer to their fan-base abroad, this carnival does not aim to gain financially from the Independence Day parade

Shruti Haasan will pay tribute to Michael Jackson

As a tribute to the late pop star, a group of young singers along with Shruti Haasan will be performing live in Chennai. A source said, “Shruti will be performing on three Michael Jackson numbers. However, they are still to zero in on the songs. Young talents like Benny Dayal and Krish will also be performing.”

The show will be held at the Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai. Many performers and celebrities are expected while the details of which are being finalised.

However, it’s also confirmed that Shruti’s father Kamal Haasan along with AR Rahman, Shankar Mahadevan and others shall attend the extravaganza! While news is abuzz that several legends from the music industry are likely to be present at the event!

Kareena no more Size Zero

Release of KAMBAKKTH ISHQ has made one thing for sure that Bollywood leading ladies, won’t be fixated with the concept of Size Zero. That’s because the biggest advocator of this ‘body killing’ phenomenon, Kareena Kapoor, has clearly sworn off it and is now ‘back in shape’.

Meanwhile other aspiring actresses Aarti Chabaria, who has been looking at making her presence, felt in Bollywood once again with her upcoming film TOSS confesses that being Size Zero is hardly ‘cool’ and she would carry on with the shape that suits her most.

Aishwarya gets Karate training for Endhiran Movie

After having learnt sword fights for her English movie The Last Legion, Aishwarya has been training herself in Karate for Endhiran. A noted stunt master Ramesh who has been running a Japan Shito-Ryu karate school in the South for over 30 years, which is affiliated to the World Karate Federation is training the actress for the movie. Ramesh is teaching Aishwarya the basics of Karate for now. In the movie Aishwarya Rai and the other girls in the film will be learning Karate from her hero. Rajnikant is already trained in Karate. Some interesting scenes were shot recently in the VIT University in Chennai.

Aishwarya Rai has always been a quick learner. Even during the making of the The Last Legion Aishwary Rai had trained herself in the sword fight. She took her skills forward in Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Jodhaa Akbar. Her trainers have always been enamoured by her quick learning skills. Apparently Ramesh was also charmed that the actress was able to repeat the karate movements easily.