Becki Newton's pregnancy shuffles NBC fall schedule

In the first schedule change to the fall TV season, NBC is pushing back anthology comedy Love Bites to midseason and will substitute a non-celebrity edition of The Apprentice, returning to its original home on Thursdays (10 ET/PT), USA TODAY 's Gary Levin reports.

NBC officials said casting issues on Love Bites, and a decision by executive producer Cindy Chupack (Sex and the City) to step back from overseeing the show for personal reasons, led to the delay. Love Bites features three loosely connected vignettes and a cast of mostly rotating guest stars, but actors portraying two recurring characters posed problems: Becki Newton (Ugly Betty) is pregnant, though in the pilot episode "she plays a virgin, so we have to make adjustments to that," says executive VP-current programming Vernon Sanders. Another regular, Jordana Spiro, is the star of TBS comedy My Boys, posing a conflict; her role will be eliminated. Greg Grunberg (Heroes) and Constance Zimmer (Entourage) have been named series regulars, playing a married couple.

Chupack will remain a writer on Love Bites, but says in a statement it's "become clear that for several reasons, some of them personal, this change (and a little more time) is what we need to launch this show properly." The last "civilian" Apprentice aired in 2007, but a fourth celebrity edition is still planned for March.

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Roshni Chopra To Take Her Desi Girl Title To Hollywood

Roshni recently got crowned as the winner in the reality show, ‘Desi Girl’. Now after chasing  cows and hens, she may debut into Hollywood too.

She is glamorous and posses the sharp looks of an actress, she is on cloud nine  after winning the title of ‘Desi Girl’. Presently, she is working on her Bollywood debut film, ‘Phirr’ where she stars opposite to Rajnish Duggal.

Phirr’ is directed by Vikram Bhatt and it is a romantic thriller. It also stars Ada Sharma.

Roshni adds, “I think its great time for me personally and professionally. As doors to bigger platforms have opened for me. I am rolling on a Hollywood project which makes me feel so content. However, it's too early to disclose details about it. And soon you will see me on the big screen in Vikram Bhatt's ‘Phirr’.”
So, if the actress is talking about some Hollywood projects, then certainly she has something in her kitty.
Apart from her Hollywood plans, the movie revolves around the story of a doctor and a law professor, it’s a romantic saga set against a thrilling background.
 
She adds, “In the film, I am playing an NRI girl who is living in Newcastle England. Rajnish is playing my husband. He is a doctor and I am a law professor.”
 
Roshni is married and she feels that her marriage has not created any obstacle in her career. She adds, “I know that the industry is opening up. But I want to be one of those actresses who make it big so that other people do not feel that they cannot get married. My career has not been affected so far."
 
Well, Roshni is over flooded with many attractive offers and one of them is the host of the cooking reality show, ‘Kitchen Champion’.

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I like Freida Pinto: Dev Patel

You cannot talk to Dev Patel without asking him questions about his rumoured girlfriend Freida Pinto. So, when DNA spoke to Dev during the promotion of his forthcoming Hollywood movie, we asked him to open his heart and share with us things he loves about Freida. We also asked him how he feels now that Freida has got much more attention than him after Slumdog success.

"I really don't know that but Freida has got universal beauty so she was bound to get all the attention and besides this industry functions that way. But she has really worked hard to get where she is today. So it's okay if she has got extra mileage," he told DNA.

When questioned on rumours of him not working with Freida in future, he says, "Oh, it was out of context. I meant if we work together we would just be giggling and having a gala time than really working. So, now you know what I meant. Otherwise it would be great as we would get to spend more time together. I like Freida."

Dev has become a household name after Danny Boyle's movie was a raging success. His next is directed by the Oscar-nominated M. Night Shyamalan. Asked why he chose to do an animated television series, an adaptation of Avatar, he says, "I was getting roles but they were similar to my role (Jamal) in Slumdog. I did not want to be typecast. So, when I was offered this role, where I play the prince and I fight, do stunts which I have never done in front of camera, I was game."

Talking about his female fan following, Dev reveals, "My mom is my biggest fan (laughs). Seriously, it's really cool as I am a very simple guy not a sex icon. It's a great feeling when people like you."

Finally, he says that he is very interested in working in a Bollywood movie, "Yes, of course I would just jump at it. I love watching Bollywood movies and my entire family does. So I really would love to be a part of it," he ends.

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Shah Rukh Khan, Charlize Theron have a date

Actor Shah Rukh Khan, who is travelling to South Africa to watch the FIFA World Cup finals with his children Aryan and Suhana, will be joined by the likes of Hollywood bombshell Charlize Theron in the VIP enclosure. There is a dinner and after-party post the finals between Netherlands and Spain where all the dignitaries are expected to meet up and sources say SRK has been specially invited to attend the event.

A highly placed insider reveals, “All the celebs have special protection and security cover and have got tickets to be seated in exclusive areas at the finals. What’s really interesting to hear is that SRK has got tickets in the same pavilion as South African diva Charlize Theron and a couple of other international celebs. However, complete plans about who’s sitting where will only be seen when the match begins.”

The informer adds, “Post the match there would an invite only get-together and party where the actors and other high profile celebs present in the stadium will be invited. Naturally, SRK will also be extended an invitation. The who’s who of the world will be present at this success party as it will be a celebration for South Africa for successfully hosting the world cup. Along with Hollywood celebrities and other stars from across the world, the party is also expected to see heavy political presence. Officials from South Africa, Netherlands and even Spain are expected to be there at the dinner.”

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Bollywood meets Hollywood to raise funds for Punjab eye hospital

 A colourful 'Bollywood meets Hollywood' event showcasing the culture of India, dance, music, and a fashion show, will be held here next Saturday to raise funds for a new eye hospital in Punjab.

One-third of the intake would be provided to Sankara Eye Foundation (SEF), a US registered non-profit organisation that plans to open another hospital in Punjab by the end of 2012 with a net budget of $4 million.

To raise funds, Tejash Natali, a supporter and donor of SEF along with Manan Singh Katohora, a South Asian filmmaker and events promoter, are hosting the 'Bollywood meets Hollywood' at the well-known upscale lounge 'I, Indian Experience' in Washington.

The event will feature a colourful, creative live art developed by Drishty D'Costa where women from different countries applaud India as a diversified country, the organisers said.

The women will present the vivid colours of a unified India, illustrating their culture and diversity uniting for a cause to help the underprivileged.

SEF works in partnership with Sankara Eye Care Institutions (SECI), India, towards eradicating curable blindness in India by raising funds to support eyecare activities, including construction of state-of-the-art free eye hospitals and conducting free eye surgeries.

Founded in 1998 by K. Muralidharan, K. Sridharan, and Khushnood Ahmad, SEF has performed more than 70,000 free cataract surgeries a year and has managed to double the funds every year to develop hospitals, cure blindness, and other eye-related diseases over the years.

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Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis's Secret Romance

Hollywood star Johnny Depp and his French girlfriend Vanessa Paradis have a great relationship because they spend time apart.

The French actress-and-singer, who has been dating the Pirates Of the Caribbean star since 1998, truly believes that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and says the couple appreciate the time they do have together when they are not busy working, Marie Claire magazine reported.

"The fact that we're not together every day plays a big part in keeping our relationship stable. And then we also have a lot of respect and admiration for each other. We understand that if we want our relationship to continue, we must give each other space, allow each other to go off on our own and trust each other," Paradis said.

Paradis, who has two children, Lily-Rose, 11, and Jack, eight, with Depp, also revealed the 47-year-old hollywood star "sums up romantic" and says he is the most wonderful man.

The 37-year-old beauty added, "I think he is magnificent. Truly magnificent."

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Lara Dutta dresses in lettuce leaves dress

After donning stylish clothes, beauty queen-turned-actress Lara Dutta wore a leaf dress for an ad campaign for animal right organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).

In the ad, Lara will be seen in a Gavin Miguel designed full-length gown made of lettuce leaves and other vegetables. It was shot by ace fashion photographer Jatin Kampani.

"Even seemingly small choices can have a big impact on our health, our community and the world around us. Going vegetarian is one of the easiest ways to improve our health, help countless animals and protect the Earth," Lara said in a statement.

People who follow a plant-based diet have lower rates of heart disease, strokes, cancer, diabetes and obesity than meat-eaters.

Some of the other vegetarian celebrities include Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Mahima Chaudhary, R. Madhavan, Rajneesh Duggal and Aditi Govitrikar.

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Hrithik Roshan in Madame Tussauds Wax Museum

Hrithik Roshan is the proud Roshan to have his wax imitation bedded in Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. The man with two thumbs has made it possible in a decade of his enrolling in Bollywood. He had a smashing onset with “Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai” turning everyone crazy after him. His name is registered in Limca Book of Records for having achieved highest number of awards for “Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai”. He rose with “Koi Mil Gaya”, “Krishh” and also faced a downfall with “Mujhse Dosti Karoge”, “Na Tum Jaano Na Hum”. He grew up with “Jodha Akbar” and “Dhoom 2”. His power-packed and splendid performances have led him to goal the corner.

Hrithik’s replica will be the fourth Bollywood icon in Madame Tussauds Wax Museum fascinating the people. It will accompany great fellows like Amitabh Bachchan, Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aishwary Rai there. The culture of installing replicas of Bollywood celebrities began with the model of Big B at the inaugural International Indian Film Academy Awards in 2000. It is the matter of great honor and privilege for brilliant star to have a room reserved among highly esteemed people.

Hrithik’s imitation is expected to be exposed in early 2011. He has been heartthrob of millions already; his statue will be evidence of his achievements. It will be an added attraction to his repertoire of laurels. Hrithik, busy in Spain with Zoya Akthar’s ‘Zindagi Milegi Nahin Dobara’ is yet to confirm this news. However Andre Timmins, director of Wizcraft, confirms, “Yes, Hrithik Roshan will soon join the wax league at Madame Tussauds. It’s happened pretty early in his career, it’s a proud moment for the Roshans as well as the Hindi film industry.”

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Hollywood calling for Sonam Kapoor

Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor wooed Hollywood
and now it is his daughter Sonam to be wooed by the west. She has been offered two Hollywood films in the space of six months.

"While in LA, Anil met Ben Stiller to exchange ideas for a production company
they want to launch together for a joint production. During one such talk, the actor told him about his home production Aisha, starring his elder daughter," said a source.

"Ben asked to see the film's show reel as he was casting for the role of Kate for his production house's (Red Hour Films) $30 million film. Titled 30 Minutes Or Less, it is directed by Reuben Fleischer and stars Jesse Eisenberg and Danny MacBride. After Stiller saw the show reel, he sent an e-mail to Anil saying he thought Sonam was 'fantastic' and that he wanted to cast her."

Anil's business manager Udayan confirms, "Yes, Sonam has been offered 30 Minutes Or Less and we are working out the dates. It looks a bit difficult because of her tight schedule as she's shooting for Thank You with Akshay Kumar and Mausam with Shahid Kapoor and promoting her next release Aisha but we are still trying to work it out."

That isn't all. Within a month of Anil's return to India, he got a call for another offer for his beti. This time from Edoardo Ponti (son of Sophia Loren and Carlo Ponti's) who just announced a new project called Das and wants to cast the IHLS girl. The film would be made in India.

Says a source close to Anil, "Father and daughter are very clear about their strategy. Sonam is already committed to three releases this year -- Aisha and Mausam and Thank You. These also include promotion for Aisha. These are commitments made earlier and no big film can come in the way of that unless the projects are really exceptional."

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Justin Bieber 'most searched' on internet list

The 16-year-old Canadian has taken over from Lady Gaga as the person who features in the most web searches.

Bieber, who was discovered on YouTube, is getting three times as many searches as footballer David Beckham, despite being relatively unheard of in the UK, according to website Ask Jeeves.

The site, which deals with questions about his music and love life, said: “It’s as though to millions he only exists on the net.”

It is not the first example of Bieber’s huge popularity on the internet. He topped Twitter’s list of “trending topics” for several months earlier this year.

In April this year he came seventh – bizarrely – on a list of the 50 most popular women on the internet, compiled by COEDMagazine.

He has also been the subject of several internet hoaxes and hacks.

Hackers managed to abuse a flaw in the YouTube site which allowed them to redirect users to adult sites and send them fake pop-up messages.

Several of Bieber’s music videos were targeted, with abusive comments about the singer appearing beneath certain clips and banner messages appearing claiming the singer was dead.

It was the latest in a series of internet pranks against the young singer, whose ‘My World Tour’ page on his website has become the target of an international joke, after a public vote was posted asking where Bieber should tour next – with no restrictions on location.

The despotic North Korea, followed by Israel, has topped the list, with just over half a million votes having been cast. The singer was forced to tweet confirming he is alive.

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Emma Brown Garett chooses Bollywood over Hollywood

Emma Brown Garett, who made her acting debut with Bengali film 'Shukno Lanka', is determined to stay here and make it big in the Indian film industry.

Brown is the latest addition to the list which includes 'Raajneeti' actress Sarah Thompson, 'Kites' star Barabara Mori and 'Rang De Basanti's Alice Patten. But unlike her contemporaries, who disappear after one film, Brown shifted to Mumbai two-and-a-half years ago with her husband to act in Bollywood.

"There is a romantic element to coming and working in India. It is challenging as an actress. Everybody asks me, 'Why dont you go to Hollywood?' I say, 'Why not Bollywood?' As an actress I always want to try something different. And the work is here. So I am here to stay," Brown told.

Brown, who has trained at the Dramatic arts school in Australia, has made the maximum city her home and has no intention of going back anytime soon.

The actress will be next seen in Rohan Sippy's 'Dum Maro Dum' with Abhiskek Bachchan and Bipasha Basu and Dharmendra-Sunny Deol starrer 'Yamla Pagla Deewana'.

Although she began her career with a Bengali film and then went onto work in Bollywood, Brown insists the transition has been an exciting challenge.

"It is a big difference going from Tollywood to Bollywood. You can't judge one against the another but I have quite enjoyed the transition," said Brown, refusing to divulge further details about her roles in the two films.

The actress feels that directors are making way for foreign characters in movies in order to give their films an international appeal.

"Bollywood scripts are changing. A lot of these actresses are playing wives and girlfriends. Directors and writers are using these characters to have a greater appeal in the international film fests. It is an added way of getting noticed," said Brown.

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Freida Pinto is very inspiring: Dev Patel

Slumdog Millionaire stars Dev Patel and Freida Pinto may not be walking down the aisle any time soon, but their love is going strong.

The actors met while shooting for Danny Boyle’s multiple-Oscar-winning film and have been dating since, People magazine reported. “She’s very inspiring to me and just great support. She’s a great friend and amazing,” Patel said about his 25-year-old girlfriend.

The couple initially denied dating rumours, but they finally went public with their romance. Their relationship has always been under the media scrutiny. So much so that once Patel’s mother believed that he had got engaged to the Indian beauty.

I was like, Mum, ‘I didn’t, trust me,’” the 20-year-old star said, quashing widespread rumours that he and the Indian beauty were planning to tie the knot. “Nothing’s happened. Everything is absolutely fine. I’m just shooting a film,” he said.

But, the rumours became so strong that his mother had to step in. “My mum will go to work and explain to everyone why they have written that her son is going to get engaged, and how it’s all not true.” Patel stars in Night Shyamalan’s action-fantasy The Last Airbender.

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Katrina Kaif gets dirty with Hrithik Roshan

Bollywood stars have all the fun when they are shooting overseas. If they had the same masti on the sets of some filmi studio here in Mumbai, they would invariably get romantically linked with each other.

So is the case with Katrina Kaif and Hrithik Roshan. The two along with the rest of the cast of Zoya Akhtar’s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, are having a blast in Spain. They were out on the streets of Spain smashing tomatoes on each other at the annual Tomato festival that was held there.

“I had only heard about it, but now I got to experience it. The ritual brings in good luck. People from all over the world come to witness it. I had a lot of fun,” she said from Spain. Unfortunately, the one who missed out on all the fun was Mrs Roshan. Sussanne, who is also there, didn’t want to participate in it as the smell of rotting tomato pulp was driving her crazy. But other than her, nobody’s complaining!

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India among Top 10 online pirates

Barbara Mori was not the only foreign body to ensure a reasonable audience for 'Kites'. Just before the almost-Mexican film released in May, a coalition of Hollywood and Bollywood studios clandestinely divided Mumbai into various geographical zones. Each zone was planted with a set of enforcement consultants, who made sure that at least for the first five days, the city found no pirated DVDs of 'Kites'. This level of non-availability is extremely difficult to sustain, according to American desi Rajiv Dalal, the managing director of Motion Pictures Distributors Association (MPDA) and member of this coalition which was recently christened AACT or Alliance Against Copyright Theft.

Over a year after the MPDA tied up with Bollywood studios and resolutely embarked on the seemingly impossible mission of fighting piracy, AACT can boast not just a number of jobless pirates or an inspiring comic book but also of a helpline number which is being flashed in the ads of 'I Hate Luv Storys'. This toll-free number, where anyone from India can report a copyright theft, is just one of many weapons in their inevitable battle against piracy in the country, says Dalal in an interview with TOI.

How exactly does the toll-free number work?

Anybody from India, who spots a pirated DVD stall, can call on the number 1800-103-1919, even anonymously. The person manning the helpline will immediately SMS or email the enforcement consultant in the said location, who will then take action. They are operating currently in Mumbai, Thane, Ahmedabad, Delhi and the NCR region.
Have you personally come across piracy in India? 

Of course. One distinct memory I have is from the initial days of MPDA in India when I was visiting various studios. Here, I saw that even within the premises of these studios, pirated DVDs were being sold floor to floor.
What's the toughest part of fighting piracy here?

It's the lack of awareness within the industry and among consumers. Piracy is often seen as a victimless crime, something that's not harming the well-being of society. We have to change that perception.
Does the film industry understand piracy?

The industry only recognises hard goods or DVD piracy. It's not aware of the extent of damage caused by camcorder and internet piracy. India is eighth among the top ten countries in online piracy, despite its low internet penetration. 'Kaminey', for instance, was downloaded over three lakh times in the opening week itself. In a ten-week survey we conducted, we found that most of the major Hindi titles were out within an average of two days after the first screening and made available on the net. When 3G technology gains ground here, the number of illicit downloads will spike exponentially.

How bad is the film and TV content piracy in India?
A study by the US-India Business Council says the Indian film industry lost $959 million and over 5 lakh jobs to piracy. Television suffered heavier losses (2.6 billion dollars).

Why AACT?
The name resonated. Also, as a Hollywood-Bollywood coalition with a purpose, we needed a legal identity. What's the strategy adopted by AACT to fight piracy?

We take a multi-pronged approach to piracy — be it hard goods, internet or camcorder piracy. The key is to raise awareness through education. Recently, we launched a comic book on the dangers of p2p-file-sharing for kids (5 to 15 years) at the primary school level. This is when their minds are impressionable. We have even got the nod from HRD ministry to include it in the curriculum. We are also tying up with internet service providers, and lobbying for them to have the authority to issue notices and take action against illegal file-sharing.

What about camcorder piracy? 
Globally, 90% of infringement starts with sneaking in a camcorder on the opening night. So, in Sept last year, we launched the Make A Difference campaign. Here, we approached multiplexes and handed out manuals which told employees what to do when they spotted a camcorder pirate.

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