Ranbir Kapoor Childhood Photos

Ranbir Kapoor just recently celebrates his 27th birthday (D.O.B. Sept. 28, 1992). Ranbir Kapoor is son of Rishi and Neetu Singh and he is the brother of Riddhima Kapoor, but he is great grandson son of Prithvi Kapoor, grandson of film maker Raj Kapoor (RK). In his family his uncles are Randhir Kapoor and Rajiv Kapoor and his cousins are Krishma, Kareena, Nikhil and Nanda. 

Kapoor’s family

Kalam awards Infosys prizes to six noted scientist

Bangalore: Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Monday awarded six distinguished scientists with the Infosys Prize 2011, instituted by the Infosys Science Foundation, a not-for-profit trust set up by India's IT bellwether.

The winners are Kanpur Genetic Algorithms Laboratory director Kalyanmoy Deb in engineering and computer science, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology scientist Imran Siddiqi in life sciences, Stanford University professor Kannan Soundararajan in mathematical sciences and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) physics professor Sriram Ramaswamy in physical sciences.

University of Chicago professor Raghuram G. Rajan and Centre for Policy Research chief executive Pratap Bhanu Mehta were awarded in Social Sciences (Economics and Political Science and International Relations respectively).

In recognition of their outstanding achievements and contributions in scientific field and social arena, Kalam honoured each of the winners with a prize money of Rs.50 lakh ($100,000), a 22-karat gold medallion and a citation expounding the Infosys laureate's work.

The noted scientists were selected by the Foundation trustees and the eminent jury panels comprising Nobel laureate Amartya Sen for Social Sciences, Shrinivas Kulkarni (physical sciences), Pradeep K. Khosla (engineering and computer science), S.R. Varadhan (mathematical sciences) and Inder Verma (life sciences).

The Foundation is funded by a corpus of Rs.100 crore (Rs.10 billion), contributed by the trustees and an annual grant from the global software major.

The Infosys Prize is amongst the highest in terms of money given for any award in India.

Trust president and the company's former director T.V. Mohandas Pai also announced on the occasion that the Foundation would introduce a prize for Humanities from this year (2012) covering philosophy, history, archaeology, linguistics and literary studies.

Congratulating the winners, Kalam said the awards celebrate the success of researchers, their research work and their teachers from school to university.

"We live in a knowledge-based era and a nation's strength is truly judged by the quality of collective knowledge. It is important to recognise and encourage productive academic pursuits. Initiatives like Infosys Prize will boost the confidence of researchers in physical, biological and social sciences and related fields," he said after presenting the awards.

Lauding the winners for world-class contributions in their respective areas of specialisation, Infosys chairman emeritus N.R. Narayana Murthy said the prestigious prize for the third year was a commitment to encourage the distinguished scientists at a time when it could make a greater difference to their career and attract young minds to research.

"The winners' effort and dedication to science, discovery and development will inspire educationists and researchers in India and the world over to strive harder to excel in science and technology and attain global recognition," he said on the occasion.

In his address on the occasion, Pai said scientific research was the bedrock of social and technological progress of any economy and the awards were not only intended to recognise outstanding scientists, but also to motivate the research community and persuade bright young people to adopt careers in research.

"There is a significant depth of scientific talent in the country and the objective of the Infosys Prize is to identify and encourage such outstanding talent," Pai added.

Players Movie Review

Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Bipasha Basu, Bobby Deol, Omi Vaidya, Sonam Kapoor, Vinod Khanna, Sikander Kher, Johnny Lever
Direction: Abbas Mustan
Genre: Thriller

Story: In 1915 Romania sent its pure gold collection worth a zillion crores to Russia for safe deposit. Russia of course chose to never give it back. But now good bilateral terms between the two countries means Russia is sending all that gold back to Romania. How? Just the way it came -- by train. That simple? Not really especially when there are some well trained players out there whose mission is to get that gold....

Movie Review: From its very original version in 1969, with its classic cast of Michael Caine, Noel Coward and Benny Hill to the much later 2003 version with Donald Sutherland, Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron and other stalwarts, the Italian Job has been entertaining its viewers as amongst Hollywood's most fascinating thriller films which involve a simple plot of stealing gold worth $35 million from the canals of Venice to LA. The transfer is supposed to take place over a high Alpine pass that hasn't been disturbed since the time of Hannibal and the fact that it all gets messed up due to human error and modern technology only makes humans to turn out more puny than they seem. Natural laws are after all always supreme, never to be challenged. But ah! for human greed... Can you expect something like this from our desi Players, a supposedly Indian vision of the Italian Job?

Charlie ( Abhishek Bachchan) is the catalyst behind the mission to steal gold worth crores for himself and his role model Victor Dada ( Vinod Khanna). Naturally then, Dada, the bad man in jail repenting for his earlier sins, helps Charlie form a team of the world's best players. Once the team is in place, the deadline is 10 odd minutes to steal the gold from a moving train. This leads to a series of events where traitors and loyals are revealed creating mayhem in the hurriedly patched up team. While Bilal ( Sikander Kher) as the explosive expert and Rony ( Bobby Deol) as the illusionist make a brief cameo, it is Johnny Lever as the auto expert and Sunny ( Omi Vaidya) as the makeup expert who do manage to tickle the funny bone with their usual antics. On the other hand, Abhishek once again reprises the character of Dhoom he seems to have perfected while Bipasha goes glam as in Race. She doesn't mind bad company as long as it takes her to the pinnacle of material success. Sonam Kapoor (Naina) joins the team in the second half (though she is there in bits and piece in the first half). She wants to meet Neil since he is the one who killed her dad. That's where she puts her hacking knowledge and her body/looks to use since she is the only one Neil has not met before. But eventually, it is Neil Nitin Mukesh (Spider), the ultimate no-strings-attached man, wild gambler at heart with a twist in the soul and tango in the feet, who slam dances his way away as the ultimate crook. Music by Pritam is good while it lasts. Some editing sorely needed, visual imagery quite polished, and the look as usual is of new age Bollywood.

But would you go out for a DVD of Players and put it in that cherished section of your home video corner saying: Hundred movies to see before you die! All you brave Indian filmmakers, do pick up classics, but first, get a bit classic yourself and learn about cult film making which is so much different from commercial cinema. You'll find the difference. Your Bollywood ventures end up like cold cuts - stylishly done - are so different from piping hot goulash.

Pooja Bedi to file a case against Colors?

The fifth season of Colors' Bigg Boss has been a controversy magnet right from the word go.

The evicted contestants have declared war on twitter and are supporting their friends inside the house and have not spared even a big star like Salman Khan. After Bedi decided to go public about her views on Salman not treating Sky properly and 'trying to demoralise, confuse, hurt and lie to him', Reports surfaced that she has been asked to be away from the finale. Rumours suggest that the channel has taken this step because she spoke against the show, the host and its contestants.

According to our sources, "The channel, at the last minute cancelled her performances and banned her without giving any explanation. A rather upset Pooja Bedi is planning to file a case against the channel and the production house. As per the contract, every contestant participates in the finale but the channel cancelled her performance four days ago without giving out a proper reason. It's nothing but the power game."

Says a disheartened Pooja, "I am taken aback. It's in my contract that I am to attend finale. They blocked my dates and even informed me I was to do a medley. And three days ago abruptly the production house informed me that I was to not attend the finale. They told me that it was the channel's decision, however, the channel blamed the production house.

They are putting blame on each other, no one is taking responsibility for the decision and no one is giving me a valid explanation. Other contestants were banned but have now been re-invited. It's all very bizarre! Perhaps a legal notice is only way to get some logical/valid answers for this abrupt decision and why no one is taking responsibility! I am contemplating.. Not sure! Why are they singling me out?

Let's see what the channel and the host has to say on this!

Rajinikanth's biography to hit stands on 12.12.12

 A biography of Rajinikanth will hit book stands in the superstar's true style on 12.12.12.

Publishers Penguin Books India said that "Rajinikanth" by critic-producer Naman Ramachandaran will be the first and only definitive biography of one of India's biggest stars and the launch will commemorate his 62nd birthday on the unique date December 12, 2012.

"The book will comprehensively analyse his meteoric career in the movie industry from his debut performance to his forthcoming blockbuster "Rana", releasing this year.

"With never before presented insights on his personal and political life, this book, for the first time analyses the unmatched charm and magic of Rajinikanth that bridges the unique boy-next-door, down to earth persona, with that of his larger than life superstar image," the publishers said in a statement. The book will also contain rare pictures and anecdotes.