MUMBAI: India Idol has taken the nation by storm. With an overwhelming response and great opening ratings of 3.7 on Friday & Saturday in the first week and 3.2 on Friday and 4 on Saturday, in the second week, the show reached over 54 million people all over India in just two weeks.

Indian Idol which currently plays out on every Friday & Saturday from 9.00 to 10.00 p.m will soon give the viewers the treat of a lifetime. Come June 1 and the stage is set for the next stage ? The Piano Round. After accomplishing the mammoth task of selecting 123 contestants from over 25,000 contestants across India and overseas, the judges have carefully handpicked 28 talented aspirants (14 girls and 14 boys) whose dreams now lay in the hands of the viewers.

The channel has decided to engage the viewers with the Piano Round episodes every day for one full week. During the one-week, as the Idol fever catches on, the daily soaps(Ek Ladki Anjaani Sii & Virrudh) on Sony Entertainment Television, will take a week‘s hiatus as your favorite stars from these daily soaps join the nation‘s frenzy in picking the FINAL 10 contestants. The Piano Rounds will take audiences through an emotional journey with performances and results everyday!

Play out for the Piano Round of ‘ Indian Idol‘

MUMBAI: Reliance Communications Limited , has commenced the rollout of Rural Infrastructure project.This announcement came within a day of signing the MoU for the universal service obligation program of the Department of Telecommunication. The project comprising of commissioning 8982 base terminal stations, when completed would provide telecom services in 0.234 million Indian villages which do not have any telecom connectivity at present.

"Dhirubhai dreamt of a world without borders and man-made limits - a global village where everyone, but most of all every Indian, would have the chance to communicate and connect, compete and collaborate", said Rcom chairman Anil Dhirubhai Ambani. "The commencement of Worlds fastest and largest rural telephony rollout project is a step forward in bridging the digital divide, that would provide telecom coverage to millions of Indians living in the remotest part of country", he added.

Rcom has emerged as a successful telecom operator in bagging the maximum sites under the USO initiative of the Department of Telecommunications. Rcom has formed a special task force for the national rural rollout. The national rural marketing team would be responsible for completing this task within tight deadlines, as well as come up with attractive offerings to promote the growth of telecom services among the rural population. The company aims to launch its telecom services within two months, after provisioning of passive infrastructure in these locations.

In addition, Rcom plans to enhance its network coverage to 25000 towns and 0.45 million villages by March 2008. The company has already earmarked a capex of $ 2.5 billion for its network expansion plans during this fiscal. Says an official release.

MUMBAI:Shaadi.com - The No.1 Matrimonial Services Provider in the world treated one and all who logged on to the site to an exclusive live chat with none other than Irrfan Khan & Konkona Sen Sharma - the lead stars of the movie "Metro". This initiative of Shaadi.com has helped million of its members to live their dream of interacting one on one with the stars.

This interesting initiative by Shaadi.com witnessed Konkona & Irrfan answer questions from Shaadi.com ranging from ‘Metro‘ to Shaadi.com‘s association with the movie and the star‘s future plans, amongst a variety of other topics.Shaadi.com has forged a strong association with "Metro" and the characters of Irrfan Khan and Konkona Sen Sharma meet on this portal to become life partners in this movie.

Commenting on the occasion, Mr Anupam Mittal, Chairman & Managing Director, People Interactive said "The internet has always been the fastest medium to connect to one‘s loved ones. Shaadi.com has used this excellent platform to offer its members a chance to live their dreams and interact with their favourite stars. It has always been our constant Endeavour to provide our members with more than what they expect. We will continue to ensure that such efforts make our members experiences more memorable"

Shaadi.com has time and again proven that it is indeed a place to find true happiness.

MUMBAI: This month Myleene Klass travels to the south of France as THE SCREENING ROOM celebrates the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, which is widely considered to be the world‘s most prestigious film festival.

THE SCREENING ROOM presents an insider‘s guide to the festival from famous faces to the hottest new releases as Myleene Klass moves amongst some of the biggest names in the business - Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon with the premiere of "Ocean‘s 13", Angelina Jolie launching her new film "A Mighty Heart", Michael Moore‘s new documentary "Sicko", Jude Law, Natalie Portman and singer-turned-actress Norah Jones with "My Blueberry Nights".

Myleene also meets top directors including Roman Polanski, Stephen Frears, Ken Loach, Wim Wenders and Wong Kar Wei, who all jostle for attention alongside a master-class from Martin Scorsese. All this, plus Myleene gets to chat one-on-one with Hollywood star Johnny Depp and viewers have a chance to see rock giants U2 in 3-D!

THE SCREENING ROOM is CNN‘s new half-hour monthly movie show that offers a compelling international perspective on the world of film, travelling around the globe to bring viewers the inside track on all aspects of the movie business.

MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel, the telecom services provider introduced its lifetime prepaid of Rs 495.
Bharti Airtel Limited mobile services president Sanjay Kapoor said, " Airtel has always been at the forefront of driving growth and expanding the market horizon in the telecom space. Lifetime prepaid is a revolutionary concept that we had earlier introduced to the Indian mobile user. Our 495 lifetime product is at an attractive price point and it marks our strategic intent to drive affordability and consumption in the prepaid category further. Going forward, we will continue to explore innovative products such as these that will enhance our customer‘s value and significantly contribute towards increasing Airtel‘s market and revenue share in the future."

The 495 lifetime prepaid offers an Airtel user full talk time on all future recharges. Under the new lifetime prepaid, the customer can stay mobile by paying just Rs 495 and using a minimum of Rs 200 every 180 days to continue enjoying lifetime validity benefits. With effect from 18 May 2007, lifetime prepaid 495 is available to all existing as well as new Airtel mobile users. The new subscriber can avail this service which also includes processing fees of Rs 430.55 and a talktime of Rs 10.

MUMBAI: Catch the ever so perfect and elegant Shabana Azmi in a candid conversation with host Tarana Raja Kapoor on the celebrity chat show Let‘s Talk on 19 May, Saturday at 09:00 pm on Zoom.

Shabana gave an interesting peek into her professional and personal life. Speaking about her Bollywood career, she admits that she is not at all a spontaneous actor and for every role she does lots of home work and research to bring out the best in her. Shabana puts in her best effort in every project she undertakes be it films, politics or as a social activist. She shopped for her own clothes for ‘Rice Plate‘ which is a part of ‘Dus Kahaniyan while for ‘Morning Raga‘, Shabana even learnt karnatic music. Shabana says, "One of my most memorable moments was when Pt. Ravi Shankar called to congratulate on her brilliant performance." She enchanted all on the sets of Let‘s Talk by showing her singing skills.

She also spoke about her life as a social activist and the fact that she resorted to a five day bhookh hartal for the cause of slum dwellers in Mumbai. Speaking on her personal life Shabana says that she and Jaaved Akhthar get along very well and share common views on almost on topics. Jokingly she claims that her husband always teases her that he is married not to one person but to many since she takes every sphere of her life very seriously.

Known as a woman of substance, Shabana had shaved her head for a film. She was a hot topic of discussion and even her husband joked about it. She shared exciting anecdotes about Jaaved feeling that she looked very nice with this new look and would looks absolutely stunning if she had to the parliament with a shaved head without any stole or hat or anything to cover it. So much so for son Farhan Akhthar‘s wedding, she wore huge jhumkas and was completely dressed in Indian attire wearing a huge sindoor on her bald head.