World Premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Finally Harry Potter movie series comes to a near end. Yesterday London witnessed unimaginable public excitement and media hype for the premier of final Harry Potter movie – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 at Trafalgar Square in Central London, Britain. The movie will be released next week.

The eighth instalment of the Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 is the first in 3D format. Based on British author J. K. Rowling’s best-selling seven-book saga of the journey of a wizard boy begins in 1997 and concluded in 2007. More than 400 million copies have been sold so far around the globe, making Rowling the first billionaire author and providing a huge support base upon which the films were built.

The silver screen adventures of Harry, Ron and Hermione have been a magic journey for Hollywood studio Warner Bros. Till now with the seven films released, grossing $6.4 billion in ticket sales and billions more from DVDs and merchandise.

It was a very emotional for both the entire cast & crew member as well as for the fans of Harry Potter movies. Thousands of die-hard fans gathered into the packed Trafalgar square to say final bid to Potter movie & the star casts.

The actors who were cast in their roles aged between nine and 11 all grew up with Potter films. When British actor Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) walked the red carpet, thousand fans cheered and screamed.  The Actor told media that like their fans, they too have struggled to come to grips with a post-Potter world, despite being A-list stars with huge fortunes.

Emma Watson told media, "I'll just miss being Hermione and getting to live her life and in that world and getting to bring to life a set of books that I myself loved so much."

Rupert Grint who is now 22, came in the limelight after playing Potter's sidekick Ron Weasley, told in television interview, "It's hard for me to remember life before this and for it to come down to this two-hour and 10 minute film...I don't know -- it's very strange for me."

Hacking Scandal leads to shut down 'News of the World"

168 year old Britain's biggest-selling tabloid was shut down yesterday by the Murdoch family after phone hacking scandal surrounding the News of the World.

After severe outrage by all section of lives across Britain Rupert Murdoch decides to shut down the tabloid. Recent allegations said that investigators working for the newspaper had hacked into the mobile phones of military families, dead British soldiers, and murder victims, including hacking of a missing 13-year old girl Milly Dowler‘s voice mail. These create havoc criticism and followed by intervention of the British government, basically made Murdoch's decision for him.
 

"Having consulted senior colleagues, I have decided that we must take further decisive action with respect to the paper. This Sunday will be the last issue of the News of the World," said News Corp. Chairman James Murdoch.

200 employees of 'News of the World’ is now facing an uncertain future. Rebekah Brooks, CEO News International and former editor of the News of the World, has not been sacked yet, despite widespread pressure.

British Prime Minister David Cameron briefs the media about phone hacking by tabloid and stated this incident as "Simply Disgusting" and promised strong action. He has already given ordered for 2nd probe in the hacking led by a judge.

The biggest selling English-language newspaper in the world, ‘The News of the World’  is currently under scanner of two police  investigations, one into the alleged hacking, the other into payments allegedly made to police officers.

The final edition of “News of the World” would be published on this Sunday.

Indian Railways to Launch New e-Ticketing Service

Indian Railways has decided to launch an e-ticketing service of its own which bars travel agents from using the service. Individuals alone will be allowed to use the new service.

The current IRCTC e-ticketing service has been so systematically misused by travel agents selling the pre-booked tickets at a premium in turn that travel agents have been barred from booking tatkal tickets through the IRCTC portal during peak hours. The new service is expected to further improve the lot of the general travelling public.

The new e-ticket service will be available through its website www.indianrailways.gov.in. The service will be available between 12.30 AM and 11.30 PM everyday.

Individuals have to register themselves free of charge to avail themselves of the service. To start with, a user will be allowed no more than eight transaction per month. Service charges of Rs 5/- per ticket for sleeper class and Rs 10/- per ticket for all other classes will be levied under the proposed service.

The service is expected to be launched once the necessary clearances for payment gateway transactions are received.

A similar facility for booking tickets through mobile phones is also going to be launched. It would require a software application for mobile phones to be downloaded from the website of Indian Railways.

Facebook Launching Video Chat Today to Counter Google+ Video?

Though it's known that Facebook is going to launch "something awesome" today, the precise details are not known since Facebook, for obvious reasons, is holding its cards close to its chest.

However, the digital skies are abuzz with the elctro-magnetic waves whispering that the new service from Facebook is going to be a Video Chat Service based on Skype and working inside a browser. This is said to be Facebook's answer to the Video Functions in Google+ which has taken upon itself to take Facebook head on in the social networking arena.

Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook the Most Popular Man on Google+ !

It's an ironic twist to the tale but here it is: the page of Mark Zuckerberg - whose creation (Facebook) Google aims to take head on and outdo with its latest service Google+ - is currently the most popular on Google+.

According to a report by Social Statistics, an independent agency, Zuckerberg is being followed by some 35000 subscribers of Google+ while that of Larry Page, Co-founder and Chief Executive of Google has some 24,000 followers.

Though no official comments are available about the authenticity of Zuckerberg's page, the fact that his page is linked to the pages of several other important exutives of Facebook suggests that this indeed is the page of the real Mark Zuckerberg.

It seems Zuckerberg wants to have a first hand experience of what Google+ is about and size up his competition which, by all means, is formidable. Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, the man behind Social Statistics, says: "It makes sense that he wants to check it out. Everyone wants to keep an eye on the competition."

Facebook, Apple, Google, and Microsoft are all interested in social networking services because of the potential benefits of the huge data that people share publicly on these services. Facebook has had an advantage in the game so far - and now Google is concerted in its ambition to challenge Zuckerberg's Facebook posing the first serious potential threat to the hitherto unrivalled monopoly of social networking services by Facebook and Zuckerberg.

Facebook, for its part, has blocked an add-on application (for Google Chrome) created by an independent developer for exporting Facebook contacts to Google+. It is possible that Facebook has taken measures to block similar applications for other browsers. Well, Facebook isn't quite expected to hand success to Google on a platter, is it?!

The future, as they say, looks interesting!

GoDaddy Sold for $2.25 billion

Three equity firms KKR & Co, Silver Lake Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures have acquired the world's largest registrar of domain names: GoDaddy. Under the terms of the deal, valued at $2.25 billion, the three firms take over the debt of Godaddy which is said to be approximtely half the value of the deal.

Bob Parsons, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Godaddy said: ""What these guys see is a company with a lot more potential internationally and more potential to make partnerships and acquisitions. They’ll help us finance and they’ll help us recruit talent."

The sales of GoDaddy have risesn substantially in recent times; the sales rose to $947 million in 2010, a greowth of 25% over the previous year. If the growth continues at the same rate, the sales are expected to cross $1.1 billion in 2011.

According to a New Yoprk Times report, Parsons will be the Executive Chairman of the company once ghe deal comes into effect. According to a spokesperson of the company, parsons would continue to be the single largest stakeholder of the company once the deal is implemented. The spokesperson hastened to clarify: "This does not mean he has 51% - it means, as an individual, he would have as much ownership as any one entity."

DELHI BELLY: Movie Review

DELHI BELLY is the ultimate culture shock for Indian spectators - despite the fact that it has a strong element of nativity pervading it. It is a story saturated with the roughness, unbounded energy, and foul-mouthing antics of three ill-fated young men. Yet, it's an amazing movie which others would soon strive hard to imitate and surpass.

DELHI BELLY is the story of three Delhi bachelors, Tashi (Imran Khan), Arup (Vir Das) and Nitin (Kunaal Roy Kapoor) living in what might well be the filthiest bachelor den around. Tashi is eternally nonplussed and uncertain whether his fiancée is 'the one' for him.  Arup cannotdecide whether he is going to kill his annoying boss first or his ex-girlfriend. Nitin wants to discover the pleasures of eating that luscious, delicious tandoori chicken off a street vendor which is going to expose him to the worst-ever case of Delhi Belly he has yet experienced. Their routine life is soon blown to pieces as they land in the hit list of a  ruthless  crime syndicate.

'DELHI BELLY' holds the audience glued to their seats for all of an hour and half, thanks to the well-written screenplay by Akshat Verma. The magic of the movie is in the screen play which unveils one twist after another. The audience are totally clueless about what is waiting for them next - but in the process their interest and curiosity are perked up ratehr than the contrary.

Director Abhinay Deo’s DELHI BELLY is completely Indian to its core. The characters are completely Indian and the humour is purely native. One can effortlessly relate to the dialogues and the situations because of the nativity running deep through it. The locations are real, very down to earth middle class surroundings and the cramped, congested, crowded lanes and by-lanes of Delhi. The onscreen chemistry between the three main characters enlivens the action.The humor of each character gels with that of the others with perfect ease.

This is Imran's best work to date, Vir Das is incredible. Kunal Roy Kapur simply scintillates and is the best of them all. Vijay Raaz is exceptional. Others have really not fared much less. The music is fresh in conception and brilliant in execution. The music of Ram Sampat adds to the allure of the movie. 'DK Bose' is conspicuous.

DELHI BELLY breaks away from the rut of the stereotyped Bollywood movies and blows in more than a whiff of freshness while presenting a new recipe for a Bollywood movie on an all-new, sparkling platter. The originality of style, unabashed go at enterainment, brilliant characters, and exceptional acting make DELHI BELLY a scintillating movie without a parallel.

DELHI BELLY is a comic thriller packed with a lot of freshness and creative genious and is primarily aimed at the younger generations bubbling with a freshness verily their own.  It's certainly no movie for the prudish in prferences given the profusion of cuss words and slang and the rather 'colourful' (or off-colour, depending on how one looks at it!), adult comedy at times.Quite a few outside the young crowds might find it a tad (or two!) embarrassing to watch DELHI BELLY in the company of their children.


Director: Abhinay Deo
Producer: Amir Khan
Cast: Imran Khan, Kunal Roy Kapoor, Vir Das, Poorna Jagannathan, Shenaz Treasurywala, Vijay Raaz