Salman Khan turns down 7 crore offer to wear security company’s uniform in film; opts for his personal bodyguard’s brand instead

Salman Khan is playing the role of a security officer in Bodyguard. This bit of information excited top Indian security companies, who saw it as an opportunity to get the star to endorse their brand by wearing their uniform in the film. It is learnt that Salman was offered an obscene amount of money by various companies (one even dangled 7 crore as bait), but the actor declined all bids.

Says an insider, “Five security agencies were wooing Salman to wear their company’s uniform. They felt that would boost their business as the actor will be wearing the uniform in most parts of the film. However, bhai refused all offers and decided to endorse the uniform of his personal bodyguard, Shera. He wanted to help Shera’s company, who has been with him for almost a decade now.”

Producer Atul Agnihotri confirms, “Yes, we have been getting calls from various security agencies from the day we announced the film. However, Salman bhai made it absolutely clear that he won’t wear any agency’s uniform. He is very close to Shera and he has used his name (Tiger) as a tag.”

South side story….
Director Siddique, the man who wields the megaphone for Salman’s Bodyguard and the previous ones in Malayalam and Tamil, says, “When I looked at Salman, what struck me first was his innocence. And then, it was his personality. I was looking at an actor who had the innocence and humour that was essential to play the character. Salman had all that and more.” Meanwhile, the Telugu version of this film with south star Venkatesh in the lead was flagged off on Monday on the auspicious occasion of Ugadi. Trisha pairs with him for the third time. Gopichand Malineni will direct this version.

Fact File
Salman Khan returns to the big screens again on Eid this year with Bodyguard. This will be his trilogy of Eid releases, as in 2009 Wanted released and so did Dabangg in 2010.

As per the Met department the epicentre was at the Indo-Nepal border region. They said that the earthquake occurred at 5:01 pm.

The tremors were felt in the whole of North India including quake-prone Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chandigarh, Delhi and NCR.

In Uttarakhand the quake was felt in Dehra Dun, Nainital, Almora, Bageshwar, Pithoragarh, Udhamsingh Nagar and Chamoli and other parts of the hill state.

Powerful quakes had hit Uttarkashi in 1991 and Chamoli eight years later in then undivided Uttar Pradesh.

In Bahraich district, people came out of their houses and offices in Nanpara and Rupadiya villages located on the Indo-Nepal border.

Similar reports were received from districts sharing the border with Nepal, including Siddharth Nagar, Balrampur and Maharajganj.

The two units of Narora Atomic Power station in Bulandshahr district in Uttar Pradesh, which is located in the seismic zone and around 450 km from the epicentre of the quake, were safe.

The official’s remarks were reassuring as questions were raised about the safety of Indian nuclear power plants from effects of quake and tsunami in the wake of the nuclear disaster in Japan.

Facebook this week shut down the “Third Intifada” page, which had almost 500,000 fans, but the lawsuit filed in a court here claims that the social network showed “negligence” by not quickly responding to appeals to remove the page.

Besides awarding damages, the complaint calls on the court to bar Facebook “from allowing the Facebook page titled ‘Third Palestinian Intifada,’ and other related and similar sites, which advocate violence and death to Jews.”

The suit, a copy of which was obtained by technology blog TechCrunch, was filed in DC Superior Court by Larry Klayman, who describes himself in the complaint as “an American citizen of Jewish origin” who is “active in matters concerning the security of Israel and all people.”

Klayman also identifies himself as the founder of Freedom Watch, whose website describes it as a political advocacy group dedicated to protecting privacy, free speech and other rights and “our national sovereignty against the incompetent, terrorist state-controlled United Nations.”

Facebook dismissed the case as “without merit” and said it would fight.

“While we haven’t been served with a complaint, we believe the case is without merit and we will fight it vigorously,” a Facebook spokesman said.

Facebook shut down the page on Tuesday, several days after Israeli Public Diplomacy Minister Yuli Edelstein sent a letter to Zuckerberg urging him to remove it.

Facebook said the page was initially tolerated because it “began as a call for peaceful protest” but direct calls for violence began appearing and the page was removed for violating Facebook’s policies.

Pandey tweeted: “3 days to go to Complete my Promise to INDIA ”

Her tweet came a few hours after India thrashed Pakistan by 29 runs in the semifinal held in Mohali, near Chandigarh.

India will now play Sri Lanka at the final that takes place in Mumbai on Saturday.

Pandey is not the first one to pledge to go naked if her country wins.

Model Larissa Riquelme had promised to run nude if her country, Paraguay, won the football World Cup last year. Paraguay lost, but she ran naked anyway.

The Bombay High Court had earlier in October 2009 granted bail to him.

Ahuja was arrested on June 15 after preliminary medical tests on the girl confirmed sexual assault. He was charged under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 376 with rape, along with wrongful restraint and intimidation.

Ahuja, however, earlier insisted that he is innocent.

Fat seems the most plausible answer.

“Fat is laid down on breasts as much as thighs or bottoms. We are experiencing an obesity ­epidemic, so the increase in women’s measurements isn’t that surprising,” the Daily Mail quoted Professor Michael Baum, an expert in breast cancer, as saying.

But that can’t be true for those who are slim elsewhere.

Dr Marilyn Glenville, a nutritionist ­specialising in women’s health and hormones, said, “It’s clear that we’re not just talking about fat, but increased levels of breast ­tissue, too.”

“So we have to look at what stimulates breast tissue growth — and that’s oestrogen, the female sex hormone. ­Oestrogen is what changes our body shape during puberty.”

Glenville said that ‘breast-enhancing’ ­supplements could be to blame. In addition, today’s young women were born to the first ­generation of women on the contraceptive Pill.

She added that pregnancy and breastfeeding have a positive effect because they control the hormones, which stimulate the growth of new cells in breasts but with more women opting for late pregnancies, there is an increased number of monthly cycles and therefore, more exposure to oestrogen.

And there’s no way to avoid them because they are found in items we use on a daily basis, just as cow’s milk.

“Pesticides, plastics and ­cosmetics are my main concerns. The same goes for ­xenoestrogens in the ­deodorants, make-up and moisturisers we use,” Glenville said. “We apply them to our skin and often directly on to the breast. Our skin absorbs those chemicals readily. It is not inconceivable that those chemicals stimulate growth in breast tissue.”

We also live more sedentary lifestyles these days, which may mean we metabolise these hormones less quickly, she added.

Ebrahim Fahimuddin Shaikh became the second millionaire in the year when the February draw of National Bonds Corporation picked his name.

Ebrahim’s father received the life changing call on Saturday.

“At first, I thought it was a prank call so I carried along with the call, shortly after it struck me, I am truly really speaking to National Bonds CEO in person,” he said.

“I was overwhelmed with joy and happiness for my son! I realised I have just become the father of a millionaire and that my continued dedication to teaching Ebrahim the importance of savings has just been rewarded,” Sheikh said.

Sheikh said he opted to save for his child’s future at a young age with National Bonds saving scheme.

“Thank You National Bonds. I want to buy candy and sweets with it, save like my dad and get toys and gifts for my family,” said the young winner.

Ebrahim’s family represents the rapidly growing segment of expats in the UAE who are realising the importance of committing to a financially-safe lifestyle and a brighter tomorrow, by taking control of their finances through responsible spending and regular saving with a trustworthy highly rewarding scheme.

Till date, 63 per cent of National Bonds’ millionaires have been expatriates, and more than 166 million Dirhams worth of prizes have been distributed to expat bondholders. With over 610,000 customers for the National Bonds, the number of expatriate bondholders increased by 8 percent between 2009 and 2010.

Mohammed Qasim Al Ali, CEO of National Bonds Corporation said that the scheme continues to exceed customers’ expectations by offering innovative initiatives to make saving a rewarding and enriching experience.

“Most of our customers have turned to more frequent savers since they joined the programme, giving them financial security and peace-of-mind. I am proud to see more and more customers and their families committing to savings and looking ahead for a better financial future.”

He said that minors such as Ebrahim form 13 per cent of the overall number of bondholders and this number has increased year on year.

“This means that we are encouraging positive savings values from a younger age and this enhanced financial responsibility will lead to a stable economy in the future,” he said.