Indian Pad News

Carrying the hopes of a billion people is a ‘privilege’ for Sania Mirza and the Hyderabadi tennis ace vows to give everything it needs to bring home an individual Olympic medal, a feat only four Indians have managed since independence.

Sania will compete in the strongest ever singles field, led by world number one Serb Ana Ivanovic, in the history of the quadrennial extravaganza and the young Indian knows well that the road ahead is full of challenges.

Yet, she is determined to live up to the expectations. “Winning an Olympic medal in any discipline is not easy and the women’s singles field in tennis is very, very tough. Winning a medal in women’s singles or doubles will have to be against all odds.

“But as someone representing the country, it is my duty to do whatever I possibly can to try and achieve this glory for my country,” Sania said in an interview.

Whenever she enters the tennis courts, Sania knows the nation of one billion plus people is watching every movement curiously, but she says she does not buckle under the pressure.

“…it is a tremendous honour to represent India at the Olympics but I believe I carry the hopes of my people in every event that I participate in, including the Grand Slams. The pressure is not new to me and I consider it a great privilege,” she said.

Sania has just recovered from a wrist injury, which put her out of action for three months and did not have a comeback she would have preferred.

She did not go beyond second round in singles at any of the three tournaments, including Wimbledon, she played but had a good run in the doubles at the third Grand Slam of the year where she made her first quarter-final appearance along with Bethanie Mattek.

Sania said she was concentrating to get into a perfect shape before the big event.

“I’m playing in tournaments in Stanford, Los Angeles and Stockholm to get into the best shape I can before the Olympics.”

On her comeback and how her wrist was responding after the surgery, Sania says, “The power is gradually coming back and the control is better but it may still take me a few weeks before I’m back to the level I was playing at before my injury.

“When I underwent the surgery barely three months ago, I’d never imagined that I would be back competing at the highest level so soon and I’m happy with my comeback although I’m still finding my way around.”

She attributes her best doubles result at a Grand Slam to difference in intensity at doubles competition.

“Doubles is comparatively easier as the physical effort required to compete is not as demanding as in singles, in which even a minor injury can be ruthlessly exposed,” she said.

So far, whenever Sania claimed she is playing best tennis of her career, one or other injury halted her good run. Reacting to this, the Hyderabadi girl said the gruels and demands of professional tennis make player vulnerable to injuries.

“It is unfortunate but almost everyone in the top-100 is struggling with injuries. In order to compete today at the highest level, one needs to push one’s body to the limit and in doing so, we expose ourselves to various kinds of injuries.

“It’s a professional hazard and there are no guarantees to our physical well being,” she said.

Apart from singles, Sania would also compete in the doubles event at Olympics as the International Tennis Federation have given her and Sunitha Rao a wild card entry.

Sania and Sunitha have hardly been seen together as they play different tournaments due to difference in rankings. And unfortunately they can not pair up to play in any tournament ahead of Olympics.

However, Sania is not bothered about lack of match practice with the US-based Sunitha, who is India’s second best woman player.

“We will practise together in Beijing but there does not seem to be a possibility of us playing together in tournaments before the Olympics. We have not played together since a very long time but Sunitha has had some good results in doubles recently and I’m looking forward to playing with her.

“For me, sport is more about trying to capitalise on whatever opportunities one gets and not cribbing about what we do not or could not have.

Prayer is a way of meditation; it is a way of consolidation of ones energy, calming the mind and being blessed by the universe at the same time. Keeping in tune with the same philosophy ‘ Gayatri Mantra’ , the foremost mantra of Hinduism was a prayer that was religiously chanted by Akshay Kumar and his 13 beautiful participants before the commencement of each stunt.

Akshay Kumar recited the prayer to encourage the participants, increase their inner self- belief and make them fearless while performing death-defying stunts in South Africa. The teachings and powers incorporated in the ‘Gayatri Mantra’ fulfill this purpose.

Confirming this, Akshay Kumar, Host of Fear Factor Khatron Ke Khiladi said “Whenever I do my stunts I say the ‘ Gayatri Mantra’ in my mind. I strongly believe that our body is animated by life energy and according to India’s science of sound healing; you can gather and direct that healing life force through the power of sacred sound. Hence to help the girls overcome their fear, I thoughts its best to start their stunts with this ultimate chant”

Fear Factor- IDEA Khatron Ke Khiladi will be hosted by Bollywood’s ultimate action hero Akshay Kumar. The show takes the game to the highest level of physical and mental challenge, making it more gritty and edgy than ever before. Another attraction of ‘Fear Factor – Khatron Ke Khiladi’ is going to be the 13 Bollywood beauties, who will compete with each other, to be the last-one-standing. The girls include Yaana Gupta, Aditi Govtrikar, Pooja Bedi, Sonali Kulkarni, Anita Hasnandani, Meghna Naidu, Tapur Chatterjee, Tupur Cahtterjee, Nethra Raghuraman, Anjana Sukhani, Dipannita Sharma, Vidya Malvade and Urvashi Sharma.

That Amar Akbar Anthony will be remade is old news now. The Khan brothers — Salman, Arbaaz and Sohail — will reprise the roles made famous by Amitabh Bachchan, Vinod Khanna and Rishi Kapoor.

The latest buzz doing the rounds is that Katrina Kaif has joined the cast, and will be seen in Parveen Babi’s role.

This will be the second time that Salman and Katrina will romance each other on screen — the first time being in the hit, Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya.

Sohail Khan has bought the rights of Manmohan Desai’s 1977 blockbuster.

The new version will be directed by David Dhawan. It is likely to go on air early next year, after Salman completes his film, Veer, with Anil Sharma.

Those of you who have seen the film Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na could not have missed the guy who played Genelia D’Souza’s love interest. If Ayaz Khan looked familiar, it is because he has done more than 100 television commercials and 250 press advertisements!

And now with the film’s success, he has become even more visible. “I am getting messages from my well wishers, friends and even from people I do not know, congratulating me on my performance. I am very lucky that people liked my role,” says a beaming Ayaz.

Ayaz plays the role of Sushant, Aditi’s (Genelia) boyfriend, who is known as Mr Charming amongst his friends. “It was a challenge to portray a character which starts off as a happy-go-lucky character but slowly takes a serious turn developing attributes like possessiveness and some other gray shades,” says Ayaz, who is also doing a show on Star One titled Dlil Mill Gayee where he plays a doctor.

“My role in this show is more of a comic character. A doctor who is romantic — quite different from my character in Jaane Tu,” he adds.

But how did he bag the prized role in Aamir Khan’s production?

“When I came to know that Abbas (Tyrewalla) was directing a film, I sought an appointment and went over to meet him. After an initial discussion, we instantly hit it off and he selected me for the role of Sushant. He is a fantastic writer and an excellent director to work with,” Ayaz says.

So how was his experience working with a perfectionist like Aamir?

“Before I started shooting for the movie, Aamir briefed me on the role and its significance despite a late entry in the movie. He described his expectations from me and also explained how to act in some scenes. I tried my best to follow his directives and meet his expectations. After the movie got over, we met at the premiere. He patted me on my back and said I did a fantastic job. That, to me, was a big compliment,” recollects Ayaz who wants to continue being the guy next door despite his growing star status.

Baseball star Alex Rodriguez’s estranged wife Cynthia is threatening to release the text messages he sent to Madonna in a bid to prove that he was in love with her.

The 34-year-old has hit the New York Yankee star with a whopping 50 million pounds divorce suit, and claims that she has texts that will prove A-Rod’s relationship with Madge.

A source revealed that the steamy messages were what convinced Cynthia about her hubby’s feelings for the singer, and added that if they were released, then the divorce could quickly get very ugly.

‘They were instrumental in convincing her that he was besotted,’ The Sun quoted a source, as saying.

‘The messages could be released if things get really ugly.’

However, Cynthia’s lawyers have stated that the relationship between A-Rod and Madge was not sexual, rather ‘an affair of the heart.’

Madonna, in the meantime, has furiously denied claims about the affair.

Mallika Sherawat is all set to do a Sridevi in her next.

She will play Naagin, in a film called Naagin: The Snake Woman, to be directed by Hollywood director, Jennifer Lynch. The film also stars Irrfan Khan, playing a policeman, who tries to pin down the Naagin and destroy her legendary powers.

The film, to be made in Hindi, will be produced by Ratan Jain of Venus fame. Hollywood’s special effects wizard Robert Kurtzman has been roped in to create some cool graphics for the film.

Jennifer is the daughter of four-time Oscar nominee David Lynch. Her last film Surveillance, starring Bill Pullman and Julia Ormand, was premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year.

Before Mallika, we have seen quite a few actresses playing a nagin on screen, like Vyjayantimala, Reena Roy, Sridevi and Manisha Koirala.