MUMBAI: Nandita Das has been called a film star ?with a social conscience?, more keen to talk about women?s empowerment and human rights than participate in the glamour of Bollywood. CNN?s Anjali Rao catches up with Das in a sound studio as she is post-producing her directorial movie debut ?In Such Times?. She tells Rao about her new film project, her controversial choice of film roles in ?Fire? and ?Bawandar?, an emotional visit to Sri Lanka in the aftermath of the Tsunami, and the honor of being a juror at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival.

For an actress who ?kind of stumbled upon acting? and ?didn?t ever want to be an actor to begin with?, Das? talents are well-recognised, most recently winning the French award of ?Ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres? for her contribution to cinema. Das tells Rao that she acts because ?there are stories to tell?wonderful stories?, and she explains how the lack of realism in typical Bollywood fare never attracted her: ?There?s a certain kind of cinema that I don?t relate to?I didn?t even grow up watching them.?

Das brushes off the controversy stirred up by her role in the film ?Fire?: ?The bigger evil was that how can you talk about homosexuality in a society that would rather not talk about it.? And of her role in ?Bawandar? playing a woman who is gang raped: ?I often tell women that you?ve got to be strong, why do you feel humiliated when you go through sexual abuse.? but she feels: ?I don?t think women?s empowerment is ever going to be possible without a society overall wanting to change things.?

Das tells Rao about her new role behind the camera, directing ?In Such Times?, a movie about how acts of violence affects its characters? lives: ?I think it?s a universal story, I think we are all concerned about violence?at some level, there is a collective desire for peace and it?s good to examine yourself.?

Besides telling stories on screen, Das also shares with Rao the experience of visiting Sri Lanka and seeing the children in the aftermath of the Tsunami, she says: ?they subconsciously get stored somewhere in your mind and form your overall thinking, or they help you to be a little more sensitive than one was.?

She also tells Rao about a very special experience, being selected to be a member of the Cannes Film Festival jury: ?The best part of being in Cannes was not just to see great films or to walk the red carpet and all the hype that is around it, but to have those sessions with 8 other brilliant mind.

MUMBAI: With a total of 5 Stations in Rajasthan, 94.3 MY FM Dil Se! has given the Rajasthan Royals a huge playing field quite literally! Bringing the team and its fans closer, 94.3 MY FM has all the match updates, contests and interesting information on air for its cricket crazy listeners. As the IPL fever burns through Rajasthan, 94.3 MY FM has also brought in entertainment fundas in the form of "Halla Bol", a big shout out to the Rajasthan Royals. With on-air contests and on-ground activities like a ‘Halla Bol‘ Bikers Troupe and The Loyals of Rajasthan Royals floats, 94.3 MY FM has gone all out in the Mega War of the Indian Premier League.

The on-ground floats have contests and interesting displays along with nets for fans to try out their cricketing and the ‘Halla Bol‘ Bikers take the excitement of the cricket to the nook and corner of the Pink City! Every MY FM city in Rajasthan (Jaipur, Ajmer, Kota, Jodhpur and Udaipur), also has cricket driven contests for selecting their own Loyals of Rajasthan Royals - a Team of 11 lucky winners gets free tickets to watch the home matches of the Rajasthan Royals. They also get 10 tickets each at discounted rates so they can bring their friends along.

Commenting on the Campaign, Mr Harrish M. Bhatia, COO, Synergy Media Entertainment Ltd. said "Cricket is undoubtedly the flavour of the season and with IPL coming in, the fever has caught up everywhere. 94.3 MY FM has stations in almost every part of Rajasthan, so we wanted to be closely associated with the Rajasthan Royals, bringing the entire state together as a team to support them and march into the cricketing warfare with ‘Halla Bol!‘ - our shout out as The Loyals of Rajasthan Royals"

MUMBAI: Taking the lead to present a robust, unified national campaign on IPL, Radio City 91.1FM, India‘s Leading Radio Network announced its national IPL extravaganza to bring all the cricketing action closer to listeners across the nation. Raising the entertainment quotient of the game, the station is taking listeners and cricket enthusiasts through a thrilling nationwide roller-coaster of action-packed initiatives! Having lined up a roster of associations and contests, the FM station is stashed with goodies up for grabs - match tickets, Limited Edition Team Merchandise and exclusive unlimited access to The Gods of Cricket themselves! Radio City 91.1FM is here to ensure a delightfully ‘Whatte Fun‘ experience for listeners across Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad!

Making this cricketing season especially memorable for listeners and cricket fans in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, the FM station has introduced ‘Radio City 11‘ on its breakfast show ‘Whatte Fun Mornings‘ and evening drive-time show ‘Joyride‘. This is an exclusive contest which allows 11 lucky Radio Cityzens to form their own team with their favourite RJ and attend each and every IPL match in their home city to root for their favourite team! The action on this continues right till the Grand Finale of the Series on June 1, 2008 in Mumbai. For more details on ‘Radio City 11‘, tune into Radio City 91.1FM!

In yet another coup of sorts, Radio City 91.1FM is the Official and Exclusive Radio Partner for Dr. Vijay Mallya‘s Bangalore Royal Challengers! As part of this association, Bangalore‘s ‘Radio City 11‘ will get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet the Royal Challengers team along with the renowned cricket commentator and CEO of IPL Bangalore - Mr Charu Sharma! Listeners can also win to loads of goodies and merchandise, personally autographed by the Royal Challengers themselves! Cricket fanatics, who won‘t make it through the ‘Radio City 11‘ can enjoy a range of exclusive content presented by the station. Apart from catching the LIVE cricket updates at regular intervals, the FM station will have Mr. Charu Sharma, himself, giving his opinions and analysis per and post every match. The station will air interactions with the Kannada superstar - Upendra, actress Ramya and the ravishing Deepika Padukone - the brand ambassadors for the team and have Mr. Chandrashekar Swamy, the famous astrologer, offering his match predictions!

Commenting on this national IPL extravaganza, Mr, Rana Barua, National Head - Programming and Marketing, Radio City 91.1FM, said, "It gives me immense pleasure to present our initiatives for the IPL season! Our national contest, partnership with Bangalore Royal Challengers and association with the ‘Chennai Super Kings Warrior Anthem‘ - each present a rich bouquet of irresistible offerings to the listener. Thus be it cheering for IPL teams, providing our listeners exclusive match and player access or expert on-the-spot match updates - we are gunning for sheer listener delight by ensuring LIVE and wholesome cricket infotainment!"

Radio City is also associating with Big Music for the album release of the ‘Chennai Super Kings Warrior Anthem‘. As part of this association, Chennai‘s Radio City had an exclusive 7 day access for the radio play of the Chennai Super Kings Warrior Anthem. The station is also hosting a unique contest, called the ‘Magic Ball Contest‘ wherein listeners can with a mere click through their mobile phones hit a ‘four‘ to meet with 4 top players from the team of Chennai Super Kings or a ‘six‘ to greet 6 of the top level players from the famous IPL team. The FM station has also invited Chennai‘s Radio Cityzens to participate in a ‘Whatte Fun‘ slogan contest where 50 lucky listeners stand to win Invites for the Exclusive Music Release of the Album to meet Chennai Super Kings as well as their favourite Radio City RJs!

A sustained focus on understanding listeners and leveraging the synergies of music expertise and innovative programming, allows Radio City to deliver a unique listening experience and be an integral part of the lives of listeners. Aggressively looking at spreading the Radio City experience to new markets across the country, Radio City 91.1FM is committed to growing the market and creating superlative content for mass premium audiences.

MUMBAI: Beginning Friday, May 2, the viewers of STAR Plus‘ Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar will witness a format change with not one but two contestants being eliminated form the show every Friday. In the wake of Champion Aishwarya Nigam‘s ouster from the show despite being the top performer of the series, the jury (Vishal-Shekhar and Farah Khan) decided to revise the format and start eliminating the weakest performer, i.e. the lowest scorer of the episode, from the Challengers‘ squad every Friday.

So far on the show, it was observed that since only the Champions qualified for eliminations, the Challengers were giving average performances each time with no risk of elimination for them. The jury took the consensus of all the Champion and Challenger contestants and decided to bring about this change in the interest of the show.

Most of the contestants of Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar have gladly consented to the change in format, including weak performers, Amit Sana and Ravindra Ravi despite knowing that they could be the most likely ones to be eliminated next.

With the new format being introduced this weak, gear up to watch the contestants give their best performances in Clinic All Clear Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar, Friday, May 2, 2008 at 10 pm only on Star Plus.

MUMBAI: 94.3 MY FM, the DBCL Group radio station has undertaken to promote Gender Sensitization by supporting the UNFPA-Laadli Media Awards. These awards are based on gender sensitization project called Laadli, which is supported by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The awards are given to different media persons and outfits for promoting the cause of Gender Sensitivity through various media. The Northern regional UNFPA-Laadli Media Awards shall be presented on Thursday the 26th April at Chandigarh.

94.3 MY FM has launched this campaign in cooperation with the NGO-Population First. The campaign is being promoted in Chandigarh, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh through MY FM‘s 17 radio stations. MY FM stations are making announcements and playing radio spots on Gender Discrimination & Women Empowerment. 94.3 MY FM has also conducted contests relating to theme of gender, girl child and women. The interviews of awardees and the jury members are also being aired.

Thirty one winners have been chosen in different categories from the Northern states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chattisgarh, and UTs of Chandigarh and Delhi.

The winners in the Electronic Media category are Braj Mohan- Chandigarh, Ravinder Bawa, Natasha Jha, Anureet Sidhu, Suraj and Rajvir-Chandigarh and Jalandhar, TVCs of Draft FCB Ulka, Leo Burnett, and Lowe.

In the Print section, the awards in different journalism categories have gone to Mohammad Atahar (Urdu), Sayyed Asgar Ali (Urdu), Dr Harsh Inder Kaur, an expert freelance contributor, (Punjabi), Aditi Tandon, Tarannum Manjul-Lucknow, Anilesh Mahajan, Gayatri Rajwade, Damayanti Datta, Sushma Verma, Annu Anand, Dayashankar Mishra and Sultan Ahmed.

In addition to the above, there are special awards to be given to Dr Gurmel Chahel for his telefilm, Dheeyan Maro Na, Avinash for his web initiative, Betiyon Ka Blog, Sandhya Raman, for her conceptualization of the multi-media performance, Mythologies Retold, and Afsana Rashid of Etalaat, J & K, for the best reporting in adverse conditions.

The "Jury Nominated" awards in theatre are Dr Gurcharan‘s Neon Jarh (Punjabi), Raman Mittal‘s street play, Kiran (Punjabi), Sandhya Deep‘s Teesra Machan, and Shubha‘s Ek Nayi Shuruat.

The awardees have been judged by an eminent panel of judges from various creative fields. The Jury comprised the following people : Shivjeet Kullar (Advertising), Anuja Chauhan Alva (Advertising, JWT ), Nawed Akhter (Advertising, Shop Communications), M K Raina (theatre), Neelam Mansingh (theatre, Chandigarh), Lalit Pokharia (theatre, Lucknow), SM Kulsreshtha (theatre), G S Chani (theatre and films, Chandigarh), Abhijit Sarkar (media man, Sahara), H K Dua (Tribune), Rahul Dev (Veteran journalist), Usha Rai (veteran journalist), Farhat Ehsas (veteran journalist, Urdu), Salma Sultan (News reader, media person), and Raji Srivastava (IAS officer handling gender issues, Chandigarh).

Says, Harrish M. Bhatia, Business Head, 94.3 MY FM, "We are happy to offer Gender Sensitivity Laadli Awards Campaign through a strong network across 7 states and 17 stations. Such initiatives help in making the listeners aware of the pressing need to end gender discrimination in all forms. We want to offer listeners more and more in terms of great music and bits of valuable information that can enlighten them about important social issues."

MUMBAI: Chak de Fattey? Radio Mirchi ka hai Happy Birthday..!!! It‘s party time at Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM Delhi, as the station completes five astoundingly successful years in the Indian entertainment and music industry.