Vidya Balan with a Big bump…

Director Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahaani with Vidya Balan as the lead is being shot in the skinny alleys of Kolkata.

The shot was captured in an intense moment as the director explained a complex shot to the beautiful Balan, who was sporting a poorly fitted baby bump next to the iconic Ambassador taxi.

Kahaani is said to be the story of a NRI woman who comes to Kolkata looking for her missing husband.

While Ghosh has been tight-lipped about his project, sources say it is a whodunit meets revenge drama.

Anurag Kashyap- Kalki Koechlin to tie the knot…

They have been together through thick and thin, completely different from each other and yet bonded by love — Anurag Kashyap and Kalki Koechlin have finally decided to get married.

April 30 is the day when these two lovebirds will take marital vows amidst family and friends. The marriage is reportedly in the beautiful hill city of Ooty where Kalki’s mother stays. The couple, who recently admitted that they got engaged in January, has invited around forty people. The marriage will be attended by only a few from the industry. Kalki has also met her in-laws in Benaras (Anurag’s hometown) during the shoot of Anurag’s forthcoming film, Gangs Of Wasseypur.

The maverick director of Dev D confirms the marriage to a tabloid, and clears that the marriage will be devoid of any pomp and show and would be a very simple ceremony. As both Kalki and Anurag are very private persons they don’t want media to be part of their wedding ceremony. The couple will wed in South Indian style, and as per reports, Kalki will wear a Kanjivaram saree and Anurag – a dhoti.

This is Anurag’s second marriage. His first wife was film editor Aarti Bajaj, with whom he has a daughter named Aaliya.

Kalki and Anurag’s love story started from the sets of Dev D, and since then the two are like inseparables. They have been living together for last two years, and have even bought a new house.

Now, Nargis under Salman’s wings…

News has it that, Salman Khan has chosen Nargis Fakhri as his heroine for a superhero film.

If buzz is to be believed, Salman Khan is looking forward to rope in Nargis for brother Sohail Khan’s production titled Sher Khan which will reportedly have Sallu playing a superhero.

Sohail wants a new girl to pair with Salman in the film. And Nargis — though she won’t be a newbie by the film Sher Khan goes on the floors — tops Khan’s wishlist.

The film is set to roll by the end of this year. More than anything, it offers Nargis a plum chance tocement her place in B-town.

Abhishek Bachchan out, Rana Duggubati in

Abhishek Bachchan has been replaced by Rana Daggubati in Ram Gopal Varma’s upcoming action thriller Department, which additionally headlines Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt and Kangana Ranaut.

Varma tweeted: “Due to date prblms to match combinations wth othr actors I am going ahead wth Rana daggubati instead of Abhishek bacchan in Department”

In the film, Amitabh Bachchan plays a gangster turned politician, Sanjay Dutt and Rana Daggubati play cops.

The story focuses on the unconventional methods used by three cops in the course of their duty. Kangana, the only headlining actress in the film, plays Daggubati’s wife and soulmate.

According to Varma, “It is very much a guys’ film, with only one major female character.”

“She plays a very intense role in this dark, gritty and real drama,” he says.

Filming was to start in April, 2011, but early in the month Varma announced that production start has been pushed back to May.

Fallen honoured at Anzac Cove, Western Front

Thousands of people have gathered at Anzac Cove and Western Front memorials to mark the 96th anniversary of Australian and New Zealand troops landing at Gallipoli.
Wreaths have been laid at a dawn service in Turkey to remember the 11,400 Anzacs who died during the World War I battle at Gallipoli.
The Minister for Veterans' Affairs, Warren Snowdon, saluted those who fought and are still fighting, telling those gathered it was up to them to make sure history was not repeated.
He says the Lone Pine memorial at Gallipoli is Australia's memorial to the missing.
More than 4,000 soldiers killed at Gallipoli have no known graves and their names are instead engraved on the memorial.
"While so many who came here remain lost in graves unknown, their spirit drives us to this day and behoves us to accept the responsibility to do whatever we can to avoid war and find peaceful resolution to our differences," he said.
"This is how we can honour them."
Mr Snowdon has also praised the original Anzacs and the sacrifices they made.
"The fact that we are all here, at this place and at this time, is testimony to the mutual respect and friendship that has grown since those terrible days now almost a century ago."
He said the spirit of Anzac lives on.
"The Anzacs could never have known the enduring legacy of their courage, of their service and sacrifice," he said.
New Zealand's foreign minister, Murray McCully, also paid tribute to the Anzac spirit, telling those gathered the past has taught us how to move on and forgive.
"It is possible, by remembering this important lesson of history," he said.
The battle of Lone Pine in 1915 was one of the fiercest fights of World War I.
Seven Victoria Crosses were awarded as a result of the four-day battle.
A relative of Albert Jacka - the first Australian to be awarded a VC during World War I - spoke of his courage.
"I know that on May 19 he jumped into a trench that had some Turkish soldiers that had just previously taken it over from some Australians and killed and wounded the soldiers in the trench," his great-great niece, Brooke Streatfeild, said.
"He took them on single-handedly - he shot five, he bayoneted two and he took three hostages, and then he held the trench for 15 minutes until reinforcements arrived."
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has told an Anzac Day service in France that Australian troops played a critical role on the Western Front during World War I.
Thousands of Australians died while helping to drive the Germans from Villers-Bretonneux and break the Hindenberg line in 1918.
Mr Rudd has given a commemorative address during a dawn service at Villers-Bretonneux remembering the price they paid.
"We come to honour the values for which they fought. For freedom, for a fair go for all - values which we hold to be true for all humankind, not just for some," he said.
"We come too to honour their feats of arms because their courage and skill helped change the course of the war, helped bring that war to an end."
Speaking in French and English, Mr Rudd told those gathered Australia would never forget their ally.
"And to the people of France who are with us today... We say thank you for looking after our fallen sons," he said.

"We know our sacrifice was small compared to the loss of 1.3 million sons of France."

More civilians shot dead in Syria crackdown

Syrian tanks have moved into the flashpoint towns of Daraa and Douma, where witnesses say there are new casualties as troops fire indiscriminately around the town.
Rights activists say at least 25 people have been killed and many more injured as thousands of Syrian troops swept into the towns on Monday (local time).
Daraa, in the far south, is where the wave of anti-government protests in Syria began more than five weeks ago.
Witnesses there report thousands of troops have begun attacking the town, killing and wounding an unknown number of people and leaving bodies lying in the streets.
Rights activists say snipers have taken up positions on rooftops.
The activists said the exact number of casualties was difficult to establish as the snipers made it impossible to reach them.
"Bodies are lying in the streets and we can't recover them," one activist said.
Another witness spoke of five people killed in Daraa when their car was raked by gunfire.
"We saw with our own eyes, they were in a car that was riddled with bullets," the witness said, adding that he was on a rooftop and could hear intense gunfire reverberating across the southern town near the Jordanian border.
"The minarets of the mosques are appealing for help. The security forces are entering houses. There is a curfew and they fire on those who leave their homes. They even shot at water tanks on roofs to deprive people of water."
Not long after the troops swept into Daraa, neighbouring Jordan announced Syria had sealed off its border with the kingdom. The move, to prevent people from fleeing the country, has been denied by Syria.
A massive crackdown was also underway in Douma, 15 kilometres north of Damascus, a rights activist said.
"Security forces have surrounded a mosque and are firing indiscriminately. Streets are cut off from each other and Douma is isolated from the outside world," the activist said, adding that there have been sweeping arrests in the town since Sunday.
He said communication network was also cut in the town, as he spoke from the edge of Douma.
The latest crackdown appears to be in retaliation for massive protests on Friday, in which tens of thousands of Syrians took to the streets demanding the fall of president Bashar al Assad's regime.
There are also reports of security forces raiding homes in two towns near the capital Damascus and rounding up opponents of the regime.
"There are injured people. Scores have been arrested. The security [forces] are repeating the same pattern in all the centres of the democratic uprising. They want to put down the revolution using the utmost brutality," the rights campaigner said from Damascus.
The campaigner said all telecommunications with the Damascus suburb of Douma had been cut, but one activist managed to escape the suburb after the attack began just before dawn on Monday and report on the situation.
At least 135 people are reported to have died since Friday, when security forces opened fire on huge protests and then attacked mourners who turned out on Saturday to bury the dead.
More than 350 civilians are believed to have been killed since unrest first broke out in Daraa on March 18.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least 13 civilians have been shot dead since security forces launched an attack on the coastal town of Jabla on Sunday.
The mass demonstrations around the country came despite Mr Assad signing decrees on Thursday ending a draconian state of emergency.
Activists say the violence the following day, when 100 people were killed during protests across the country, showed he was not serious about addressing calls for political freedom.
But despite the crackdowns the protests show no sign of abating, with pro-democracy activists renewing calls for action.

Western governments, including Australia, are urging their citizens inside Syria to leave immediately, saying the security situation is becoming increasingly volatile.

Thorpe makes royal wedding cut

Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Olympic champion swimmer Ian Thorpe are among the names on the guest list for next week's wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in London.
The royal family has unveiled the confirmed guest list and seating plan for wedding, with celebrities, sports stars and foreign monarchs set to attend.

Musician Elton John, footballer David Beckham and his fashion designer wife Victoria and actor Rowan Atkinson are among the glittering line-up for the service in London's Westminster Abbey next Friday.
St James's Palace says Thorpe was invited after meeting Prince William last year.
Also invited are members of 46 foreign royal families, including the crown prince of Bahrain and the king of Swaziland, whose presence will be diplomatically sensitive because of the suppression by both states of anti-government protests.

In a nod to Prince William's military background and status as second-in-line to the throne, a British veteran of the war in Afghanistan will attend along with the families of soldiers killed in that country and in Iraq
Lance Corporal Martyn Compton, who served with Prince William, was so badly burned in an insurgent attack in Afghanistan in 2006 that he lost his ears and nose.

A number of Prince William's colleagues from his job as a search and rescue helicopter pilot for the Royal Air Force will also be attending, along with members of charities he supports.

Most of the guests are family or private friends of Prince William and Kate, with her guests reportedly including the butcher, the postman and the greengrocer from the rural English village of Bucklebury where she grew up.
The seating plan shows William's grandmother Queen Elizabeth II and other senior royals will be the front row, together with Kate's family on the other side of the aisle.
Kate's mother Carole will sit directly opposite the queen.
The Spencer family of William's mother Princess Diana, who died in a car crash in Paris in 1997, will sit behind the Middletons.
But as expected there is a snub for Sarah Ferguson, William's aunt and ex-wife of uncle Prince Andrew, following a series of tabloid scandals.
All the crowned heads of state of countries with which Britain has diplomatic relations were invited to send representatives to the wedding.
Only Cambodia has declined do so.
But much as the British Foreign Office might have hoped that the Bahraini royal family would also have been busy with other things on Friday, it seems that their crown prince will be heading to London.
That is despite the fact that British foreign secretary William Hague has spoken of his concern at the way in which the Bahraini authorities have been dealing with the pro-democracy protests.
Since the wedding is not a formal state occasion, world leaders such as US president Barack Obama and French president Nicolas Sarkozy have not been invited.

The wedding is expected to be watched by a worldwide television audience of around two billion.

Gillard talks up trade ties in Seoul

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has arrived in Seoul and immediately delivered a speech highlighting the significance of Australia's relationship with South Korea.
The countries are celebrating 50 years of diplomatic relations this year.
"I do want to assure you we see this relationship as 50 years young rather than 50 years old," Ms Gillard said.
She told the Korea International Trade Association dinner in Seoul that she is confident the two nations can strike a free trade deal.
Officials say it could be wrapped up by the end of this year.
"This is a partnership full of promise and potential," Ms Gillard said.
The Prime Minister told attendees the Australian government would commit $10 million towards an environmental program.
The money will go to the Global Green Growth Institute, which South Korea established last year to support the development of environmentally friendly growth strategies in developing countries.
The announcement was met with applause.

"We look forward to joining the institute as a core partner and being represented on its board of directors," Ms Gillard said.

She said Australia was also a partner with Korea on regional security, singling out the threat posed by North Korea

"Australia remains committed to the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula," she said
Ms Gillard will today mark the anniversary of the Battle of Kapyong.

The so-called 'forgotten battle of the forgotten war', which ended 60 years ago today, claimed 32 Australian lives.

"The outcome of this battle helped stop the Chinese spring offensive and proved crucial in preventing a Chinese breakthrough here, towards Seoul," Ms Gillard said.
It is considered one of the decisive battles of the three-year Korean War.
The prime minister will join a special commemorative event this morning involving 36 veterans and family members.
Seventeen thousand Australian troops served in Korea as part of the UN multi-national force and 340 Australian soldiers were killed.
"I will honour their memory and their sacrifice," Ms Gillard said.

The Prime Minister will host a special dinner for the veterans tonight, before holding talks with South Korean president Lee Myung-bak tomorrow.

Snipers kill mourners at Syrian funeral

A human rights organisation in Syria says security forces have killed at least 12 people during funerals for pro-democracy demonstrators shot dead the day before.

The killings reportedly took place in Damascus and two other cities and towns although the deaths cannot be independently verified.

All over the country, Syrians turned out to bury the 80 or more protesters shot dead on Friday, reportedly by state security forces in civilian clothes.

It was the worst bloodshed in Syria since anti-government protests erupted five weeks ago.

But even as the mourners buried the dead, they too were shot and killed.

Many of them were at the southern town of Ezreh.

Two independent Syrian MPs have told Al Jazeera television they are resigning in frustration at not being able to protect their constituents.

They were the first resignations from within Bashar al-Assad's autocratic rule.

But the ongoing violence shows the president will not tolerate any show of dissent, despite agreeing to revoke Syria's decades-old emergency laws last week.

'Down with Bashar!'

Witnesses said the mourners were chanting: "Bashar al-Assad, you traitor! Long live Syria, down with Bashar!"

"There was a heavy volley of gunfire in our direction as we approached Izra'a to join the funerals of martyrs," a witness in the southern town of Izra'a said.

Independent human rights organisation Sawasiah said security forces killed mourners in Damascus and surrounding areas and near Izra'a.

Security forces opened fire in Damascus's Douma suburb, wounding three people, witnesses there said.

Mourners in Harasta, a town near Damascus, also came under fire from security forces, before staging a sit-in to demand the release of detainees arrested in the last few weeks.

Protesters staged another sit-in after a funeral for four people from Irbeen, near Damascus.

"We are not leaving until the political prisoners are released," one protester said by phone.

Friday was by far the bloodiest day in over a month of demonstrations to demand political freedoms and an end to corruption, with at least 100 people killed, according to two activists.

The government-appointed mufti, or Muslim preacher, for Deraa has resigned in protest.

"Being assigned to give fatwas [religious edicts], I submit my resignation as a result of the fall of victims and martyrs by police fire," Rezq Abdulrahman Abazeid told Al Jazeera.

'Anger is rising'

The violence brings the death toll to more than 300 since unrest broke out on March 18 in Deraa, according to activists.

Damascus remained tense on Saturday and many people stayed indoors, one activist in the capital said

"This is becoming like a snowball and getting bigger and bigger every week. Anger is rising, the street is boiling," he said.

US president Barack Obama condemned the violence and accused Mr Assad of seeking help from Iran.

"This outrageous use of violence to quell protests must come to an end now," he said in a statement.

"Instead of listening to their own people, president Assad is blaming outsiders while seeking Iranian assistance in repressing Syria's citizens."

A Syrian government source said in a statement published on official state media that Mr Obama's statement "was not based on objective vision."

Aided by his family and a pervasive security apparatus, Mr Assad, 45, has absolute power, having ignored demands to transform the anachronistic autocratic system he inherited when he succeeded his late father, president Hafez al-Assad, in 2000

Opposition calls for force to end Villawood protest

Three protesters remain on the roof of the Villawood detention centre in Sydney's west amid Opposition calls for immediate police intervention.One protester voluntarily came down from the roof about midday and has been receiving medical treatment.The Federal Opposition says police should immediately force the remaining protesters down from the roof to regain control of the western Sydney facility.
The rooftop protest follows riots earlier in the week, which saw nine buildings destroyed by fire.
Twenty-two detainees have been taken to Sydney's Silverwater jail for questioning but no charges have yet been laid.
Federal Opposition Immigration spokesman Scott Morrison says there should be police intervention and the Government must take a stronger stance.
"What is needed is for the police to take control of the situation and for those men to be brought down and that the normal processes of justice are applied," he said.
"There should be no special rules for people breaking the law in detention centres, as opposed to those outside detention centres.
"There should be one rule for all and those involved in criminal acts should be prosecuted and charged. If you want to get in the line for a visa, then you can't get in the line for violence and if you do that, then you can't get a visa."
The Immigration Department has also confirmed that two people have escaped from residential houses attached to Villawood.
A spokeswoman says two others who tried to escape were arrested soon afterwards.
She says the houses hold low-risk detainees separately from the general detention centre.
The Australian Federal Police says its emphasis is on the security and safety of the protesters and that no further comment is appropriate.
The Immigration Department says Villawood Detention Centre is calm, despite the ongoing rooftop protest, and denies the centre is in lockdown.
A spokeswoman says the department is working hard to restore key services to detainees.
Ian Rintoul, from the Refugee Action Coalition, says he is concerned that the 22 men being held in prison over the riot are not being made aware of their rights.
"In many of the countries they come from [people are] seized by the police and placed in jail in places where they have no legal rights," he said.
"They do not necessarily understand that they don't have to give a statement. They don't have to talk to the police.
"We are very concerned that no statements are made and there are no interviews with the police until they understand their rights."
The men are believed to be protesting against their failed visa applications.
The protest reached its peak when a small protest on Wednesday afternoon developed into a full-scale riot in which close to 100 asylum seekers burned down nine buildings at the centre.
A computer room, kitchen and medical centre were destroyed by fire and a large gas cylinder also exploded.
A former Villawood guard told ABC Television's Lateline program on Thursday that problems at the Sydney centre have been building for some time and he is not surprised about the riots.
In a statement, Serco, the private operator of detention centres in Australia, acknowledged an increased number of arrivals and longer periods of detention have placed significant pressures on their operations.
The company said it has provided additional training to staff beyond contractual requirements and has invested $1.5 million in staff training.
Villawood is the second Australian immigration detention centre to be set on fire this year.
A Federal Government-ordered review into riots at the Christmas Island centre in March, which saw tear gas and bean bag rounds being fired at asylum seekers, will now also investigate the Villawood protests.
Meanwhile, the Immigration Department has confirmed three former detainees convicted over the 2009 Christmas Island riots have since been granted visas to stay in Australia.
Mr Morrison says it makes a mockery of the immigration system and of the Government's claims it will use its powers under the migration act to weed out people of bad character.

"I think what it does at the end of the day is proves hollow, the resolve and threats of the minister to take action when clearly he has been put to the test and has failed," he said.