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31Jan/081

The origin of Taj Mahal

For Shahjahan and Mumtaz it was a love at first sight, when in the year 1607 when Prince Khurram/Shahjahan of the royal Mughal household was strolling down Meena Bazaar, along with the courtiers, he wedged a glance of a girl Arjumand/Mumtaz Mahal glancing at glass beads. But Shahjahan's stepmother Noorjehan wanted Shah Jahan to marry her daughter Ladli Begum from her first marriage. Shah Jahan had great conflict with Empress Noorjehan on this issue, but his revolution against his father Jahangir, in 1622, was fruitless.

The origin of Taj Mahal

Shahjahan, however, ascended the throne on his father's death in 1627. At his juncture he married his dream girl at a time when Princes never married only for love. Other than Mumtaz, Shah Jahan had two wives and out of them Mumtaz was his true love. She gave birth to 14 out of his 16 children. Mumtaz Mahal obsessed immense supremacy authority and self-respect in her etiquette. Until her death, she was Shah Jahan's undividable mate and psychoanalyst.

While breathing her last, Mumtaz Mahal took a promise from her beloved to build an structure in reminiscence of their love. This was the cause of work of a monument that still to draw millions of lovers even today.

The monument environment eventually became Sha Jahan's prison as his son, Aurangzeb, detained the throne and caged his father for the last eight years of his life. Legend maintains that Shah Jahan spent his final years locked in the Agra Fort, gazing from the Jasmine Tower of his marble palace, down the Yamuna River to the Taj Mahal, the tomb of his dearly loved wife.

When Shah Jahan was on his deathbed, his eyes was constantly glancing at Taj Mahal where lied his beloved. After his death, Shah Jahan was buried there beside his dead queen, Mumtaz Mahal. Their love never detached them in life, miseries and ultimately in bereavement. Taj Mahal tantamount with Mumtaz Mahal relics the everlasting gravestone for their never-ending care for each other.

31Jan/080

The force behind Infosys

Before  returning to India and setting up his company Infosys, its Chairman Mr. Narayanmurthy worked in Bulgeria.  He had a very horrific time during his preceding days of staying there. Civil war cropped up there and Mr. Murthy had to proceed to his homeland. The money he possessed was also limited. He somehow caught a train to Paris. In the train journey he got acquainted with a girl and started conversing with her in French.

The force behind Infosys

Thinking that they were talking against communism, the  Communist soldiers on the platform seized and put him into jail. When the soldiers were sure that he is in Indian and thus they allowed to him after 48 hours. Two days of hunger and a long walk on the highway to grab hold of some transport to railways, he learnt his lesson of life.

It was at this time that he decided that not communalism but free enterprise with a flexible bend for ill-fated will resolve the predicament and removal of poverty to an extent.

31Jan/080

Reality Bytes

  • Riding a aeroplane is safer then riding a car or a mule
  • Albert Einstein was a below average student in school
  • The King of Denmark styles his own hair
  • One fifth of the planet Mars is owned by Eric Clapton
  • China sent 3 pandas into space in the year 1972.
  • In many Southern states of India, four sided graters are considered works of Satan.
  • One looses 150 calories per hour if you hit your head against the wall.
  • Barbara Millicent Roberts is the name of Barbi doll’s full name
  • The tomato is the world's largest selling vegetable/fruit more than apples.
  • In India, we have one language for each day, as there are 365 different languages spoken in India.
  • Cows don't have upper front teeth
  • 48 years after cans were introduced , then the invention of can opener came into being.
  • India produces more movies than in Hollywood
  • The colour of Coca-Cola was originally green
  • Hallmark makes cards for 105 different types of relationships
  • Men can read smaller print than women, but women can hear better
  • Men get hiccups more often than woman
  • Switzerland attracts the most suicide tourists
  • In olden times, iron cost more than gold
  • Silver can destroy 650 disease-causing bacteria
  • The banana will be extinct in 10 years time
  • On his 78th birthday, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee received a card that was over half a mile long and covered 1,470 sheets of paper. In making the card, over 750 pens and 200 bottles of ink were used.
  • The words ‘lakh’ and ‘crore’ do not exist in the English language. The two words are only used in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and are derivatives of the Hindi words laakh and karod.
  • Vinoba Bhave burnt all his certificates in his early life. One day, while sitting with his mother in the kitchen, he burned the certificates , telling his mother that he did not require them, as his direction in life was different. He Gave up his studies in 1916, to join Mahatma Gandhi’s ashram.
  • Ekambar Sahu of India allows over 4,000 bats to take refuge in his house every day at sunrise.
  • The Golden Paw pets-only hotel in San Diego, California, is sheer heaven for cats. At this hotel, cats can sleep in a deluxe suite overlooking a birdfeeder with an aquarium, a television and an attendant in a rocking chair who will pet the animal.
29Jan/080

Shah Rukh earns a smaller amount from movies than endorsements

If tax figures are to be believed, King Khan  is a bigger king of the marketing world too.

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A major share of his advance tax money has gone into paying for his income from endorsing a swerve of products and other sources, which is a whopping amount of Rs.270 million. Sources in the advertising agency for which the superstar has worked divulged that his income from endorsements fetches him Rs.1.5 billion ($38 million) a year, the highest for any Indian advertising "model".

Amitabh Bachchan does more endorsement that King Khan, but his annual endorsements do not cross Rs.1.2 billion.

King Khan will continue to hold this position for more years as he has a strong threshold in the Bollywood compared to many others stars as there is no one yet who can opponent his magnetism.

In the current fiscal, his earnings from this source may go a little above Rs.1.5 billion as he has been made brand ambassador of more products - and more are waiting, the sources added. His movie does not fetch him more than 50-60 million per film.

A big large piece of his income from outside Bollywood in the current year also accrued from hosting STAR Plus' "Kaun Banega Crorepati" quiz series for which he received Rs.10 million per episode.

King Khan received a profit of Rs. 400 million on his home production Om Shanthi Om when he sold the right to Eros International for whopping Rs. 750 million whereas his original expenditure was only Rs.  350 million. Rs. 50 million was the fees which he gave himself for working as hero in that movie, which is not included in the profit of accounts.

King Khan does not augment his fees unlike his contenders. It is implicit that he is not avaricious on this part.  Even though his latest movie OSO is a super duper hit, he does not intend to increase his fees. That’s the star excellence he has, and that’s why he is victorious.


"Shah Rukh chooses his movies carefully. First, the subject matter must appeal to him and, if it does, his opting to star in the movie would largely depend on the credibility and antecedents of the producer and the director,”said an executive of the star's production banner, Red Chillies Production.

In disparity, Shah Rukh behaves like a 'star' when he shoots for TV commercials. There he refuses to negotiation on anything, particularly on his price. "Why should I compromise? TV commercials are what they are – commercials, laments the Badshah

"Had the industry not put me in a position where I am today, would the companies have chosen me to be their brand ambassadors?" he asks.

Is King Khan, then, robbing Peter to pay Paul? As one advertising agency executive put it: "He is, but his breaking and entering seem like a communal deal." 

28Jan/083

Homage to Legendary and the Eternal Tragic Queen Madhubala

Homage to the legendary and the eternal tragic queen Madhubala on her Birthday/Death Anniversary in February

Her childhood days

Madhubala is India's Hindi film industry’s, delicate, semi-tragic, mortal survival. She remains a seductress even 35+ year after her demise.

 Madhubala on her Birthday/Death Anniversary in February
Madhubala's father, was Ataullah Khan, a Pathan who had immigrated from the Pakistan. She was born, February 14, 1933, Valentines Day, in the Malad suburb of Bombay. Her birth name was Mumtaz Khan, the third of 11 children. Bombay Talkies studio was located in the Malad suburb where the Bombay Talkies was located. She was interviewed  at the age of 8 by DeviKa Rani and Himanshu Rai, for an audition. Having impressed by her performance they put her in the movie Basant. The song was a super hit, after she acted in many films as a child artiste.  

Under the direction of Kidar Sharma, at the age of 13 Mumtaz was signed as heroine opposite  Raj Kumar who done the debue with this movie. It was on this film that producer Devika Rani gave her the name Madhubala, which means, "young maiden made of honey". After that she acted in 17 movies, even when madhubala was not 17.

Madhubala grew within the studio complex. When her friends went to school she gave shooting for the movie, her father was very possessive about her and he doted on her money. 

Chemistry with Dilip Kumar

She featured with Dilip Kumar in the film Tarana and their off screen affair too started and it is said that this was one of the legendry tragic love affair.

Madhubala and Dilip Kumar

Madhubala and Dilip Kumar were deep in love, but her father opposed. He did not like the affair, as whole her money, property etc. was under his control. Their affair was at that time took to court also as Madhubala’s father did not allow her to go got location shoots with Dilip Kumar. Since her family was totally against the affair, it ended up on a bitter note. Dilip once told about Madhubala that "I love this woman and shall love her till my dying day." The affair though, had come to a bitter end.

Her love affairs

Old stalwarts say that her first director Mr Kidar Sharma, who gave her first break was in deeply love with her, but madhubla never reciprocated, he was a married man too. Later film Mahal was made by Kamal Amrohi, they too had a serious love affair. Film Mahal was a super hit due to their serious affair.Amrohi was again a married man,madhubala told him to divorce his first wife, she even offered him lakhs of rupees for that. But he wanted to be devoted to his first wife. She became heart broken and then left him in sway. 

Madhubala was proposed by three men, Pradeep Kumar, Bharat Bhushan and Kishor Kumar.  She selected Kishor.They had a civil marriage and Kishore converted to Islam and was renamed Karim Abdul . His parents refused to attend the wedding and never really accepted Madhubala as they thought she had broken their son’s marriage. When Madhubala went to touch her father in law’s feet they moved away. 
  
She moved back to her bungalow because her inlaws were torturing her. Madhubala realised that she had made a mistake in marrying Kishore; who was ineffective and parsimonious. What a catastrophe!! 

The Screen divinity

The Screen divinity

She is considered the most beautiful woman to have ever appeared on the Indian film screen. Her untimely death and tragic romance with Dilip Kumar has superior her to legendary significance. Many journalists have claimed that Madhubala was very immoral, and obsessed many lovers.  May be it is the thoughts of these journalists’ conjecture. Madhubala was lively and flirtatious, yet this is no proof of carelessness.