MUMBAI: The daughter of talented actor Anil Kapoor and Sunita Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor has carved a niche for herself in Bollywood‘s tinsel town. Equipped with a beautiful smile that can swing a million hearts she is youth personified. One film old and second film on the threshold of release she is also the talk of the town. Delhi 6 her forthcoming film is the hot topic of discussion, and going by the promos of the film Sonam is sure to set the screens on fire. B4U VJ Salil chats with this talented actress on Starstop a show on B4U Music.

B4U STAR STOP is a programme with film related interviews on B4u Music Actors/directors talk about their forthcoming movie, their likes, dislikes and other things and chat with B4U VJS. Stars talk about their personal review of the film and share their anecdotes of their experiences during the making of the film

The debutante of a large film like Sawariya and working under Sanjay Leela Bhansali had put her on a scale with mammoth expectations. She sailed through the film effortlessly, winning rave reviews for her performance although the film didn‘t do well.

Her enthusiasm about her forthcoming film Delhi 6 is infectious. She says the director Rakyesh OmPrakash Mehra is a visionary and an idealistic person; and talks about how comfortable she was working with him. She shared a great rapport with her costar Abhishek Bachchan and states that she could connect with him as an equal and yet he advised her when she got stuck and helped her out.
The portrayal of a middle class girl in the film was a challenge as it was completely contrary to her real life image. She recalls how due to this her director was also reluctant to cast her in the film.

Vulnerable, yet independent and secure she shares a very open and easy relation with her father and is extremely proud of his achievements and the way her parents have brought her up. A perfect blend of youth with values and ideals this actress will go a long way.

To watch this youth icon, and presumably a huge star in the near future, tune into B4U Music on 22nd Feb at 19.10 hrs

MUMBAI: Well known industrialist Mr. Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata Group, spoke to NDTV Profit on the occasion of the ‘NDTV Profit Car and Bike Awards‘ ceremony in Mumbai yesterday. Delighted at being conferred the ‘The Automotive Man of the Year 2009‘ award for his contribution to the Indian automobile industry, Mr. Ratan Tata expressed his appreciation for NDTV Profit‘s initiative to recognize the best auto brands even in the current economic slowdown.

In his acceptance speech, Mr. Ratan Tata said, "Let me express appreciation for the honour you have bestowed on me. I cannot tell you how important this is to me and I do not say that lightly. This is a tremendous boost to my morale."

Commenting on his dream project, Nano, he said, "I think that Nano has been something that was a great challenge, an enjoyable challenge because it involved doing things that people said could not be done. And it has been done (despite) major hic-ups that we (won‘t) go into. But today I think we have overcome that. The car will be out soon and I hope it will live up to the expectations everyone has from it. What stands out as an issue of pride is that a group of young engineers did something that most people said could not be done. They did it as Indians. They attracted global attention for what they did and my role was to only support it and drive it through those critical and unbelievable days."

Speaking on his initiative to nurture a British brand in India, he said, "(About) this Jaguar Land Rover, I think that there were two brands that were coming as brands in their own field. They had become available for sale and we had our eyes wide open. The companies were on the cusps of recovery and were it not for this downturn, we would have equipped ourselves. There is a great deal of technology in those companies and the brands. I think that they can be nurtured to their original glory and I hope we can do that. I hope we can sustain ourselves through this difficult period and thereafter, looking back, people could say an Indian group nurtured the British brands, kept them British, kept the tone of the company, the heritage of those companies and put them back in the world market with the glory that they deserve."

MUMBAI: The Indian growth story has been chronicled by many, and at its heart has been the sometimes elusive, and sometimes exclusive, the Indian consumer. This March, India‘s No. 1 business medium CNBC-TV18 along with the most renowned worldwide firms in research, Boston Analytics will introduce the CNBC-TV18 Boston Analytics Consumer Confidence Index, that is conceived with an objective of providing, policy makers, corporates, market participants, researchers, industry leaders and trend watchers, an in depth insight into the minds of the Indian consumers.

The Customer Confidence Index (CCI) is defined as the degree of optimism on the state of the economy that consumers are expressing through their activities of savings and spending. The world‘s first CCI was introduced in the USA in 1985, and has a sample of 5000 people. It is a crucial tool that enables the user to understand the consumer‘s mindset and thus make an informed assessment about the future course of the economy. The CNBC-TV18 Boston Analytics Consumer Confidence Index is carefully designed to reflect the aspects of the Indian economy like employment, inflation, savings, spending and real estate through the eyes of the Indian consumer.

The CNBC-TV18 Boston Analytics Consumer Confidence Index will be released every month and shall be based on a sample size of 10,000 respondents spanning 15 cities in India, thus making it the largest Consumer Confidence Index in the world. The index will be based on the level of consumer confidence over time on various parameters like Current Situation, Future Expectations, Inflation, Employment, Consumer Spending, Savings and Real Estate.

Speaking on the series, Mr. Neel Chowdhury- Vice President, Marketing, CNBC-TV18 and CNBC AWAAZ said, "The CNBC-TV18 Boston Analytics Consumer Confidence Index is a testament to the unparalleled leadership of both the brands, and will be the largest in the world. The CCI will not only add a totally new dimension to our programming mix, but more importantly it will provide India Inc. with a tool to gauge consumer sentiment, a subject that holds the key to their fortunes."

Rashid Bilimoria, CEO, Boston Analytics commented "We, at Boston Analytics, are very excited to collaborate with CNB- TV18 in releasing India‘s first monthly consumer confidence index. Any market driven economy is vastly influenced by consumer spending. For instance, in India, consumer spending accounts for over 60% of the GDP. This definitely explains the need to track consumer confidence in this country."

As a lead up to the launch of the Consumer Confidence Index, CNBC-TV18 will present two introductory episodes (1st at 10:30 PM on 22nd February and 2nd at 10:00 PM on 28th February) and the first findings of the Index will be presented on CNBC-TV18 on 3rd of March, 2009.

MUMBAI: In October 2008,Amrita TV had launched its novel reality show, Best Citizen Journalist-2 on prime time with 15 ordinary,but inspired citizens,competing with each other for the top spot.

Spread over 64 episodes(Mon-Thu 9.30 pm),contestants filed independent stories in diverse segments, such as, Story Round ,Investigation Round, Anti-Corruption Round, Crusader Round and Special Story Round.

The countdown from 15 contestants to five finalists was done through a process of public voting and jury panel scores?the jury comprising Mr Sasikumar, Chairman, Asian College of Journalism and Mr. M.G.Radhakrishnan, Asst.Editor , India Today, as also celebrity judges who were eminent persons from different walks of life.

At a tightly fought grand finale at Trivandrum ,each of the five citizen journalists held the jury and audiences spellbound with their amazing stories and scoops complemented by breathtaking footage ,some being sting operations .

The chief of jury panel, Ms Sugathakumari, renowned poet, environmentalist & social activist along with the two permanent jury members had a tough time in finalizing Shaijumon.A as the contestant to wear the crown of Best Citizen Journalist-2 .and bagged a cash prize of Rs 1.5 lakhs . Shaijumon. ,27, a postgraduate in Education, works as a lecturer in a BE.d. College in Kollam

The second prize winner, Seena.H.,28 ,an Assistant in Kerala Government Secretariat at Trivandrum , walked away with a cash prize of Rs 75,000.

Mr Sasikumar while announcing the winners complimented Amrita TV to hold the first ever citizen journalist reality show on Indian television, and persist with this initiative into the second season and telecast it as a weekday prime time show

Ms Sugathakumari commended the courage,insight and passion of the CJs for following leads across the length of the state, in search of stories that none had dared to tell ,‘breaking news‘ with every report. .The prizes were given away by Mr. Mullakkal Rathnakaran, Honourable Minister for Agriculture,Government of Kerala

The Grand Finale also became the platform for Amrita TV to to honour five veteran journalists for their lasting contribution to journalism,- Ms Leela Menon Mr.B R B Bhaskar ; Mr T V Achyutha Warrier ,Mr.T Venugopal and Mr.V P Ramachandran.;each of whom was bestowed with a memento and cash offering

The exciting Grand Finale of ‘Best Citizen Journalist-2‘, which will be telecast on Feb 21,2009 at 8 pm(IST) on Amrita TV, was held before an elite audience, well sprinkled with IAS and IPS officers and media persons.

MUMBAI: India‘s only international music and lifestyle channel and Rayban, jointly present their 3rd endeavor of Rayban Vh1 Global Music Xpress. Conceptualized by Viacom Brand Solutions, Global Music Xpress is India‘s biggest music initiative ever! With the back to back success of tours with British R&B artist Jay Sean and British singer Laura Critchley, Rayban Vh1 Global Music Xpress moved a step further and invited the very popular Indie rock and pop band ‘Goldspot‘ to India! Goldspot kick started their India tour on 18th February in Mumbai and will be followed by Pune, Hyderabad and Bangalore on the 20th, 21st and 22nd February respectively.

Goldspot, a Los Angeles based band is led by Indian born Siddhartha Khosla (songwriter and lead singer). Hailed as "the best band to come out of America in years", they are a classic mix of Bollywood, the U.S. west coast and British guitar pop. And that‘s not it, Goldspot have also done the soundtrack for the popular motion picture ‘The President Is Coming.‘ Their songs ‘Rewind‘ and ‘Friday‘ have been used in various soundtracks of hit shows like The O.C., Gossip Girls, etc. An alternate version of "Tally" was released commercially in June 2007 featuring A. R. Rahman‘s Bollywood Orchestra, and was received with plaudits from UK press like Q magazine and The Guardian. The band has also played at the Glastonbury, O2 Wireless, and V Festivals throughout the summer of 2007 and performed in India at the One Tree Festival in February 2008. To add to glitz, in 2008, Goldspot received a nomination for Vh1 India‘s "Favorite Indian Artist" award.

Says lead singer, Siddhartha Khosla, "We are very excited to tour across India. I want to thank you -- all of our fans in India -- for all the support you‘ve given us. It‘s because of you that our songs ‘Friday‘ and ‘Rewind‘ and our album ‘Tally of the Yes Men‘ are such a success in India. We‘ll be playing all the music that you love, plus brand new tracks from our upcoming album (to be released this year) and a surprise song in the set! Keep a track of us at www.myspace.com/goldspot and find us on facebook for all updates. I also want to thank Vh1, and Ray-Ban for bringing us out to India."

Speaking on the initiative Ferzad Palia, Associate General Manager, Vh1 India says, "Our partnership with Rayban has been triumphant and we are delighted to successfully bring down International talent that we believe in. Goldspot is an immensely popular international band with India roots and we‘re bringing them home for a 4-city tour. I‘m sure Indian audiences across the country will find Goldspot a treat to their eyes."

On the association, Sudhanshu Arora, Marketing Manager, Ray-Ban Sun Optics India Ltd. says, "Rayban, ‘the official style partner of the music fraternity‘, is proud to be associated once again with RayBan Vh1 Global Music Xpress. It has always correlated itself with music aficionados who display power, passion and energy for the music culture. We are taking this partnership one step forward and presenting an upcoming talent in global music- Goldspot. Rayban will continue with its legacy of exposing the best in music talents across all genres through this partnership."

Aditya Swamy, Senior Vice President, Viacom Brand Solutions, says, "GMX is a platform we have specifically designed for Ray Ban which allows the brand to connect with urban cool audiences while leveraging the international equity of Vh1. Ray Ban gets to engage with their consumers in a real ‘touch n feel‘ manner in a high energy environment, while for Vh1 it is an opportunity to reinforce our position as the ultimate authority in international music. All of this while Goldspot gives the crowd a memorable evening with their unique sound. These set of gigs will definitely be something to remember."

MUMBAI: Johnnie Walker Classic, the premier golf tournament of the Asia Pacific, will be available live and exclusive on Ten Sports, the most watched sports channel in the Sub-continent.

American superstar Anthony Kim and Scotland?s Colin Montgomerie, who was recently announced the new European Ryder Cup captain are the latest players to add their names to the star-studded cast, which tees off from February 19 at The Vines Resort & Country Club in Perth, Western Australia.

Kim, World No9, and Montgomerie, the most successful player in European Tour history, join players like the legendary Aussie Greg Norman, World No8 Camilo Villegas of Colmbia, and England?s World No11 Lee Westwood, Paul Casey and Ian Poulter.

Live telecast of the tournament on Ten Sports starts at 11:00 am IST on Thursday, February 19, while the weekend rounds starts 8:30 am IST.

The lone Indian challenge in the tournament will be in the form of Shiv Kapur, who did well last week at the Malaysian Open.

The Johnnie Walker Classic?s tradition of attracting fields of the highest calibre has meant that past winners read like a who?s who of golf. Since 1990, the tournament has been won by the likes of Nick Faldo (1990 & 1993), Ernie Els (1997 & 2003), Retief Goosen (2002), Norman (1994), Adam Scott (2005), and Tiger Woods (1998 & 2000).

With the confirmation of so many talented players the 2009 event, which holds the unique status of being tri-sanctioned by the European Tour, Asian and Australasian Tours, promises to be no different, with the field boasting some of the best golfers from around the world.

Over the past 19 years, the Johnnie Walker Classic has been played in eight different countries ? it was held in India at the DLF Golf & Country Club last year ? and 13 different golf clubs around the Asia Pacific region.