Kareena Kapoor will always be my first choice: Shabina

Mumbai, May 21 (PTI) Designer-turned-producer Shabina Khan says that Kareena Kapoor will always be her first choice for the films she would be producing.

Kareena appears in a song in Akshay Kumar-Sonakshi Sinha starrer 'Rowdy Rathore', co-produced by Shabina.

"I wanted her to be a part of my first film for emotional reasons. She is my close friend. Obviously I wanted her to be a part of my first film but she had three-four films with her. I wanted to start my film, so if she could not be a part of the film then I thought she can be a part of the song," Shabina told PTI.

"I would definitely offer her every film, it is up to her whether to do it or not. Our friendship does not mean she has to do every film that I offer to her. If she likes the script I am sure she will do it."

'Rowdy Rathore', jointly produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Shabina, is set to release on June 1.

"As Sanjay and I have a great rapport I went to him with this project and it all happened. We both always wanted to make movies together. I have assisted him in 'Black' and made costumes for many of his films. While we were discussing about movies, this film came up and that is how things fell into place," Shabina said

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Kalki Koechelin: I was told to look ugly in 'Shanghai'

New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) Kalki Koechelin had to go through quite a transformation for her role in 'Shanghai" as director Dibakar Banerjee wanted her to look ugly yet adorable.

The brief given by her director was quite simple - 'Look ugly'. However, it was nothing short of a nightmare to actually realise the filmmaker's vision.

"Dibakar wanted me to look ugly and vulnerable. The first thing that he did was chop my hair and make it really short. Then he gave me these clothes that were really grungy with jagged T-shirts and all. I wasn't allowed to look very comfortable or feminine.

"The idea was to bring on certain vulnerability and awkwardness to my character. There is not an ounce of glamour that I bring in 'Shanghai'. Dibakar said that I had to be ugly, but adorable. Now that was a strange mix I had to bring on screen," Kalki told PTI.

Though she has played troubled characters in films like 'Shaitan', 'That Girl in Yellow Boots' as well as 'Dev D', 'Shanghai' turned out to be a different experience as she had to enact the part of a complete outsider.

"Dibakar is presenting me as someone who is not an accepted person; she is an outsider. So basically everybody stares at her and people just think that she doesn't belong to their world," says Kalki.

Dibakar encourgaed the actress to change her looks by giving the examples of Emraan Hashmi and Abhay Deol who have gone through a similar transformation for their roles.

"Abhay is such a cool person in real life but here is shown as a stoic middle aged suited-booted character. Emraan has this paunch and blackened his teeth, which is a complete opposite of his romantic image. We were convinced by Dibakar's thought process and decided to take the plunge," she says.

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Our aim is to recover pre-crisis growth momentum: Pranab

Manila, May 4 (PTI) Amid perception of policy paralysis in the government, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today assured the global financial community of reverting the Indian economy to recovery path by creating conditions for revival of private investment.

"For the current fiscal year, we have set our objective to focus on recovering our pre-crisis growth momentum, create conditions for rapid revival of high growth in private investment and address supply bottlenecks in agriculture, energy and transport sectors," he said at the ADB Governor�s business session here.

The Finance Minister said despite adverse international environment, India managed to maintain GDP growth rate of about 7% in 2011-12.

"I am confident that the strong fundamentals of our economy will help us return to a sustained growth path of 8 to 10% per annum in the coming years," Mukherjee added.

Indian economy was expanding at over 9% before the global crisis of 2008 pulled down the growth rate to 6.7% in 2008-09.

He exuded confidence about rapid revival of growth in the private investment at a time when the government is facing charges of paralysis in policy making, and criticism over the proposed changes to tax laws with retrospective effect to bring in net Vodafone-Hutchison like deals that involve assets in India.

He further said India's banking has remained robust and the regulatory environment and environment in the financial sector have stood test of time.

Mukherjee told the gathering that the country's external commercial borrowings policy has been successful in maintaining external debt at sustainable levels.

At a time when public debt has emerged as major worry for several governments in Europe, India has managed well on this count. Indian government's outstanding internal debt at Rs 32,27,288 crore constituted 36.2% of GDP at the end of March 2012.

Bulk of India's GDP is domestic demand driven, and savings drives much of it investment rates of 35-37% of GDP.

Mukherjee's assertion on India's economic prospects comes at a time when uncertainty and risks in the global economy remain, though there are some welcome sings.

In 2011, developing Asia grew at an average rate of 7.2%.

"To sustain our economic growth, we need to keep our focus on the development agenda...Find new and renewable technologies to fuel our growth and invest in education and skill development" the minister said.

He laid emphasis on infrastructure development. India has planned USD 1 trillion investment in the sector for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) period, with half of it coming from the private sector.

Highlighting the role of ADB, Mukherjee said that with the help of the multilateral lending agency, Indian government has successfully pioneered a number of development innovations across the country.

He further said that for developing new sources of growth within Asia, deepening of South-South ties is vital.

"Policy makers will need to remove barriers to trade and investment within the developing South. ADB should take up South-South cooperation as a priority..," the minister added.

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Now, a spray that makes you instantly drunk!

London, May 4 (PTI) No need to booze to get drunk. Researchers claim to have come up with a spray that can make you instantly drunk -- but wears off after a few seconds.

A team, led by David Edwards and designer Philippe Starck, says it has created WA|HH Quantum Sensations, a spray canister that puffs a whiff of alcohol that mimics the effects of a martini for just a moment, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

The duo unveiled their product on Wednesday in Paris and promise that the "food spray for the future" won't leave their customers with splitting headaches.

"We asked ourselves whether we might provide the same agreeable sensation as comes with a sip of alcohol without running the risk of drunkenness.A spray of WA|HH and the shock is immediate, like a sensorial alarm," Starck said.

Each WA|HH canister, which contains two millimeters of alcohol, delivers just 0.075 millimeters per dose, a thousand times less than a cocktail. People who puff will even be able to pass a breathalyzer test moments after ingesting the spray.

They promise that their product allows people to enjoy the "the pleasure of alcohol without worrying about negative consequences".

Users will feel instantly light-headed when the vapor hits the mouth, but the feeling will pass as quickly as it came. They hope that WA|HH will be more like an experience or memory, rather than a late-night foray, say the researchers.

Flash Quantum and Demon Quantum, the two WA|HH flavors, each cost 26 pounds.

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Valeria Lukyanova: Is something wrong with her?

 Valeria Lukyanova: A Model who Seeks To Be Real-Life Barbie Doll

Valeria Lukyanova is a living Barbie doll. She has big glassy eyes, a tiny waist, straight platinum blonde hair and large breasts. She doesn’t have the exact measurements of the famous girl from Mattel, but in the real world, she comes as close as you can get.

Lukyanova claims to be the “the most famous Russian woman on the Russian-language Internet.” Her Youtube page, Amatue, has millions of views and her Facebook page has a few thousand likes.

The International Business Times reports that the 21-year-old model has had plastic surgery to achieve her real-life Barbie doll look. She also spends a lot of time in the makeup chair to achieve the flawless skin and glassy, wide-eyed look of a doll.

Lukyanova’s strange appearance has some people claim that she’s an elaborate photo-shop hoax. Her Facebook page, however, is full of photos of the model without her makeup so it seems that the model is indeed real.

But that doesn’t mean people are a fan of her looks.

One Twitter user wrote: ”She looks not only ugly, but ridiculous.”

Another asked: “Isn’t unhealthy obsession on looking like a Barbie doll a part of her identity though?”

Another wrote: “A woman with completely perfect features is a boring woman.”

According to a Huffing Post article from 2011, if Barbie were an actual woman she’d have unrealistic proportions and would most likely be anorexic. Galia Slayen wrote:

“If Barbie were an actual women, she would be 5’9″ tall, have a 39″ bust, an 18″ waist, 33″ hips and a size 3 shoe. Barbie would have a BMI of 16.24 and fit the weight criteria for anorexia…. If Barbie was a real woman, she’d have to walk on all fours due to her proportions.”

What do you think of Valeria Lukyanova? Is she beautiful? Strange looking?

Here are some more photos of the real-life Barbie doll.

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Kim Kardashian shows hourglass figure in orange bikini

Poolside is your catwalk! Kim Kardashian sashays to the pool in a bright orange bikini

Standing at just 5ft 2in, Kim Kardashian is a bit too small to be a supermodel.

But in these latest snaps taken on her recent holiday to the Dominican Republic, it looks like she treats the walk to the pool like a catwalk.

Showing off her hourglass curves in a bright orange bikini, the reality star looks toned and tanned.

The sexy shots are the latest in a selection of photos taken during the recent Kardashian-Jenner family holiday to the Dominican Republic.

The large clan rented a $6,000-per-night 35,000-square-foot villa at the Casa De Campo complex on the Caribbean island.

The trip marked the Kardashian's annual family holiday following on from their trip to Bora Bora last year.

At the time, Kim was accompanied by her now-estranged-husband Kris Humphries, who ended up proposing to her weeks later.

Although Kim has been dating rapper Kanye West since before going to the Dominican, it may be a bit too early for him to join her on holiday.

No doubt it will be a bit overwhelming for Kanye to be subjected to scrutiny by the protective family so soon into a relationship.

And of course, as Kim is still legally married, the hip-hop star may well be biding his time out of respect.

Ahead of her trip to the Dominican, Kim embarked on a quick fix diet to get her figure bikini ready.

She lost 10lbs in 10 days after following the Sunfare's 1,300 calorie-a-day meal-delivery programme.

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