After the success of Fashion and Dostana, Priyanka Chopra has become hot property and has been flooded with endorsement offers. According to a survey, Priyanka is the ‘Queen of Endorsements’. The actress ranked second on the list of top-quality brand ambassadors of 2008, the first being Shah Rukh Khan. She’s also looking forward to her 12 avatars in Ashutosh Gowariker’s What’s Your Rashee? With news of her getting back together with Hurman Baweja, this girl seems to be having all the luck in the world!
The queen of endorsements
‘I am paidwhat I’m worth’
Trisha, who’s reportedly demanded more than a crore for a Gopichand film, says she doesn’t hike or drop her price...
THE fun-loving Trisha is back from a long holiday. “I love to take long breaks and go on vacations. I usually do so twice a year,” says Trisha, who was on a trip to Australia. “My friends and I try to cover various parts of the world. We went to Australia last time and liked it so much that we decided to go there again,” she says.
She’s back to work now and has resumed shooting for the Telugu remake of Abhiyum Naanum, the Tamil version having become a big hit. And she’s excited about it. “Heroines
don’t get to do such
roles. I’m happy
with the response I’ve received,” she says. This is Trisha’s fourth movie with Prakash Raj. “Prakash Raj and I have played various kinds of roles in other movies. This is the first time we share screen space as father and daughter. It’s totally different from what we’ve done before, something the audience would never have imagined,” says Trisha, who also comments on the young Manmohan Singh’s role, played by newbie Ganesh Venkatraman. “He’s a very dedicated newcomer who has turned out to be a good friend,” she says.
Trisha, who’s also shooting for Vishnuvardhan’s Sarvam, will be seen in Gopichand’s next untitled film as well. Apparently, she’s charging a bit more than Rs one crore for the movie. “I don’t hike my price and neither do I reduce it. The producer pays what I’m worth. Many people say money is first, but to me it’s secondary,” she says.
Rumour has it that Trisha’s next film will be with Dhanush. This apart, Trisha will be starring in a Tamil and Hindi film, to be directed by Gautam Vasudev Menon. “I don’t like to discuss films that are still in the pipeline. And if I were to act in Gautam’s film, it will be only in Tamil,” she confirms. Why not Bollywood? “I know it’s the biggest industry. But right now I’m content here,” she says. Although she’s open to films in all languages, Trisha denies rumours of she being part of a Sandalwood project. “I need the time for it, which I don’t have right now,” she clarifies.
Trisha is constantly making headlines, be it for professional or personal reasons, but she’s resigned herself to the situation. “Whether it’s positive or negative news, I read the paper and keep it aside. Good or bad, I’m in the limelight,” she says.
HIS MASTER’S VOICE
Yuvraj Reveals Sachin’s Tips Helped Him Tame Mendis
In limited over cricket, he provides unlimited thrills. Be it the six sixes during the T20 World Cup or his entertaining annhilation of the Englishmen last year, Yuvraj Singh has been a delight for the Indian fans. Every time he scores big, he ends up giving a talismanic touch to the Indian team too. Of his 20 best knocks in ODI cricket, India have ended up winning 16 times for an amazing success percentage of 80. At the Premadasa Stadium on Tuesday, he once again displayed how the demolition job leaves the opposition in ruins.
His latest winning knock was sweet on many counts. He overcame a huge psychological barrier (read Ajantha Mendis), achieved a goal of scoring his first hundred against Lanka and also being part of an entertaining alliance with Virender Sehwag.
Mendis had made a mess of Yuvraj’s reputation six months ago when he claimed him thrice during the five-match series. Twice he was bowled and one he was leg before wicket which indicates the bowler’s dominance. In all he could muster just 72 runs from five matches. This time round, the Punjab batsman was determined in body and mind to deal with Mendis. “I was very disappointed with my performance in the last series,” he said on Tuesday night. “I worked a lot on my batting and had decided to prove the critics wrong. It was kind of a goal to come and do well in this series,” he said. There were some confessions too. “I felt I was a bit overweight in the last series. I felt I should be in top fitness condition this time round.”
Providing a huge dose of confidence was ‘The Master’ (as he is now referred to in the team), Sachin Tendulkar. “I talk to him about my batting often. He actually gave me plans to play Mendis in this series. He told me a few points which really helped in getting through my initial runs,” he said while explaining his extended celebration on getting the hundred last evening. “That’s why I showed the bat to him.” So what were the plans? “I can’t tell you what the plans were, but whatever he told me was really helpful.” It was learnt that Tendulkar spent close to an hour before the start of the series with Yuvraj. The tips have indeed proved helpful as Yuvarj’s scores in this series read a healthy 23, 66, 117 and is the highest rungetter (206) from either team in the ongoing series. A far cry from what he logged in the last series (23, 20, 12, 0, 17)
The 221-run partnership in 27.5 overs with Sehwag was another high for Yuvraj, who felt the man of the match award should have gone to both of them. “Kamaal ka batting tha,” he remarked. “It should have been better if the man of the match award was shared. Because he scored the runs at the same pace.” He doesn’t recall having batted together with Sehwag for so long. “I don’t remember me and Viru batting together and getting hundreds. Normally he is batting up the order and by the time I get to bat, he’s out on a hundred. If he is still there when I get in, he is getting 250 or 300. So I don’t get to bat much with him. It was a great partnership which I really enjoyed.”
So did every Indian cricket fan.
‘Let me light up lives’
It was Bollywood cutie Preity Zinta’s birthday recently. And the bubbly, 34-year-old actress has got a bagful of gifts — no, not the ones she got, but those that she wants to distribute, after a “small get-together with friends”. Says Preity, “I want to do something meaningful. I feel like it’s my new beginning and I want to do something completely different. I’m going to be a part of this campaign called Light a Billion Lights where you sponsor electricity to a complete village, that works on solar technology.” Preity also intends to sponsor the education of underprivileged children. “I feel the only difference between a rich and a poor kid is that the former has the resources to get proper education while the poor kid doesn’t. I feel if a poor kid is given the same, he has a chance to do much better than the rich kid,” says the actress, adding, “God has given me so much and now, I feel it’s my turn to give back.” But, if there is one wish she has for herself this year, then Preity wants her IPL team to lift the trophy this year. “It has these little diamonds on it and diamonds are a girl’s best friend, so you know what I mean, don’t you,” she smiles saucily.
In The End, Nadal Keeps Running And Running To Victory
10 HOURS, 3 DAYS, 1 RAFA
It was not quite another tennis masterpiece. The muchanticipated rematch between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer lacked the consistent quality and, above all, the crescendo finish of their five-act drama in fading light at Wimbledon last year. But this Australian Open final was certainly epic entertainment, too. It also lasted five sets and more than four hours. It also featured plenty of abrupt reversals of fortune and unexpected breaks of serve, and it also ended with Nadal triumphant and Federer devastated. Federer, the 27-year-old Swiss star, needed just one more victory to match Pete Sampras‘s all-time record of 14 Grand Slam singles titles. But he faded badly in the final set on Sunday night and was then unable to keep his composure after Nadal’s 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-2 victory. In the post-match ceremony, Federer choked up after receiving the runner’s-up plate from one of his idols, Rod Laver, and was unable to get more than a few sentences into his speech to the crowd before he began to cry in earnest. “God it’s killing me,” he said, eventually backing away from the microphone. But this historic rivalry, one of the best in any sport, is also a friendly rivalry, despite all the power and spin these two wellmannered young men employ against each other when they are on opposite sides of a net. And so it was no surprise that Nadal, the first Spanish player to win the Australian championships, was soon putting his left arm around Federer and helping him pull himself back together long enough to finish the speech that he had begun. “I don’t want to have the last word; this guy deserves it,” Federer said. “So Rafa, congratulations. You played incredible. You deserve it man.”
It is difficult to argue with that last sentence. To even reach the final, the top-seeded Nadal had to win the longest match in Australian Open history in the semifinals: a five-set, 5-hour-14-minute classic against his compatriot Fernando Verdasco. He then had one day less than the second-seeded Federer to prepare for the 19th installment of their rivalry: undergoing intense physical therapy in an attempt to recover the freshness of mind and body required to repulse a man on a mission.
“I knew it was not going to affect him a lot,” Federer said of Nadal’s abbreviated preparation. “It did not have any role to play in it, so I was ready for that.” Nadal was not nearly so certain that he would be in fine shape. After getting to sleep at 5 am on Saturday morning following his Friday night marathon with Verdasco, he woke at 1 pm. He practiced lightly that afternoon and again on Sunday afternoon. “I was having a bit of trouble practicing,” he said. “I felt a little nauseated when I practiced yesterday and today. I was pretty concerned, not being sure whether I could be at my best. It’s tough feeling that way when it’s your first final in Australia and you’re not sure you’re going to be 100 percent. But in the end everything worked out well for me.”
It was hardly a straightforward process, however. Nadal would need 4 hours 23 minutes to finish off Federer. He would need to rally from 2-4 down in the first set and save all six break points he faced in the third set.
He would also need Federer to serve much less convincingly than he had in his straight-set semifinal romp over Andy Roddick.
The Swiss put only 52 percent of his first serves in play on Sunday, which was by far his lowest percentage of the tournament. Perhaps the most remarkable statistic from this remarkable match was that Federer managed to win the second set with a first-serve percentage of 37 percent.
“Perhaps I should not have been out there in the fifth set at all,” said Federer, still red-eyed an hour after the match. “I should have won the first set and the third. The rest of the story, we all know it.”
Nadal, the swashbuckling 22-year-old from the Spanish island of Majorca, was considered a claycourt specialist early in his career. But he is now well on his way to becoming one of the game’s great multi-surface champions. He has won the last four French Opens on clay, last year’s Wimbledon title on grass and has now won his first Grand Slam title on a hardcourt: giving Spain the only major tennis trophy it lacked.
“It is a dream to win here,” Nadal said. “I’ve worked very hard the last, well, all my life to improve the tennis outside of clay.”
Nadal also has helped win tennis’s premier team competition, the Davis Cup, for Spain as well as last year’s Olympic gold medal in singles on a hardcourt in Beijing. The only major title he now lacks is the United States Open, where he was beaten in the semifinals last year.
But Nadal, for all the fire and brimstone in his flashy left-handed game, is also a self-effacing champion: one who has continued to affirm that Federer is the greatest player of all time even as he continues to build on his career edge against him.
Once he took the microphone himself on Sunday, with the trophy in his hands, his first words were for his opponent. “Well, first of all, sorry for today,” he said, turning to Federer. “I really know how you feel right now. It’s really tough. Remember you are a great champion. You are the best in history.” NYT News Service
