Monday, November 02, 2009 MUMBAI: Shah Rukh Khan the superstar enters a make-or-break year on Monday — and 375 of his die-hard fans in Calcutta are seeking divine intervention to beat his 44th birthday blues.“SRK has been facing some personal and professional problems recently, so we thought of beginning the day with puja and rituals for him. We want him to emerge as the number one hero again,” said Arnab Roy, secretary of the 12-year-old Shah Rukh Khan Fan Club, at the thermocol-and-plywood shrine built for their screen god in Rajarhat.As he steps into his 45th year, the beleaguered badshah of Bollywood is battling a below-par box office, two Khans gunning for him, a Kumar packing a punch, a Roshan going strong, a host of young actors flexing their muscles, his endorsement count dropping and his Kolkata Knight Riders on a losing streak. Reason enough for his fan club in KKR country to pray for his success, on screens big and small and on the cricket pitch.“It took regular meetings every Sunday to plan it and one week to put together this 6ft-by-4ft temple created by pandal artisans from Girish Park. This is our gift to SRK and the puja is for his continued reign at the top, his family’s well being and for KKR to emerge champions at IPL 2010,” said Roy.There will be a daylong puja at the Rajarhat address complete with a yagna at an altar painted in KKR’s black-and-gold colours. The post-puja party will see actress Pallavie cutting the three-tier birthday cake.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
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