Nagma

Born Nandita Morarji
December 25, 1974 (age 35)
Mumbai, India
Other name(s) Namratha Sadhana
Years active 1990- present
Nandita Morarji or Namratha Sadanah better known as Nagma (Hindi: नघमा; Tamil: நக்மா) (born 25 December 1974), is an Indian actress of Bollywood, Tollywood and Kollywood. At her peak in the 1990s, she "dominated Tamil cinema," to quote The Hindu. Born of a Muslim mother and a Hindu father on Christmas Day. She began her acting career in Bollywood and acted in a few movies but shifted south where she met with greater success before returning to Mumbai. Although sometimes listed in film credits as Naghma, she should not to be confused with an earlier actress who went by the same stage name - that mistake is made in her listing on the Internet Movie Database website. Nagma is notable for having acted in a broad range of India's languages: Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, and now Marathi.

Personal life and education : Nagma's biological father was Sri Arvind Pratapsinh Morarji, the late textile magnate. Her mother is Seema Sadhana, who married Morarji in 1972, separating only "a few years later," as The Telegraph reported in 2006 when Nagma made the information public. According to Nagma's passport, the name given to her at birth was Nandita, and it is by that name that she was referred to in an obituary printed by the family when her father, Arvind Morarji, died. After divorcing Morarji "due to some family problems," Nagma's mother later married Chander Sadanah, a film producer, with whom she had two other daughters, Jyothika (herself a major Kollywood star) and Radhika, who also acted in a Tamil movie, as well as a son named Suraj. Through her biological father, who later re-married, Nagma has two more half-brothers, Dhanraj and Yuvraj.

Nagma remained close to her biological father up until his death on 1 January 2006. She explained to one Mumbai reporter that: "I am proud of the fact that I belong to the respectable Dharamsinh Morarji family. My mother was legally married to Arvind Morarji at a public function at Radio Club at Colaba." It was Nagma's mother who encouraged her to become an actress, and is said to have been her "constant companion on the film sets" for several years. In the spirit of her father's background in textiles, Nagma herself now has a clothing boutique on Mumbai's Hill Road called Nagma's, which was inaugurated in September 2003 by Akshay Kumar.

Nagma told Mid-Day in 2006 that "I am not hell-bent on getting married. ... Unless you are dead sure about your guy, you shouldn't get married. ... Marriage is an institution I would like to get into, but only if I find the perfect man."

Nagma had considerable success with her 1990 hit debut film Baaghi: A Rebel for Love, co-starring Salman Khan; she was 16 at the time. Along with Karisma Kapoor, she was also one of the female leads in 1994's Suhaag which also featured Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgan. Despite this initial success, she moved south to star in Telugu and Tamil movies at the behest of her friend Divya Bharti. Later explaining her shift south, she cited not only what she considers the higher quality of the work, but also stated that "I did what was best then! I was a girl with a Muslim name and the Shiv Sena was slowly raising its head." She became a major star in the south and remained so for much of the 1990s, at least until 1997, and reportedly had a temple dedicated to her by fans in Tamil Nadu.

Her major hits in Telugu include 1993's Gharana Mogudu with Chiranjeevi, Allari alludu with Nagarjuna_Akkineni and Major Chandrakanth with NTR and Mohan Babu. Her main Tamil hits were Baasha with superstar Rajnikanth and 1994's Kadhalan with Prabhu Deva In 1995. Most of her performances in this era were glamour oriented.

After moving back to Mumbai, she told an interviewer in 2001 that "The pressure of being the number one actress in Tamil cinema was getting to me. I was unhappy with the kind of films I was doing. I couldn't do the kind of work I wanted to because I had to go by the dictates of what the audience expected of a much-in-demand actress. I was stagnating so I decided to take a break.". Again based in Bollywood, she focused on supporting roles in major hits such as 2000's Chal Mere Bhai, which reunited her with former costars Karisma Kapoor, Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt. Within a year, Nagma enrolled in the spriritually-oriented Art of Living course, eventually teaching it herself in Mumbai and elsewhere. While based in Mumbai, she continued to worked in some Telugu and Tamil movies, such as Allari Ramudu and Citizen, playing significant supporting roles, as well as taking leading roles in some Malayalam films.

Nagma was "a prominent campaigner for the Congress party... on the election trail for the party in Bihar and Jharkhand." She is quoted on the front page of the Telegraph as asking at the time "Why were the reports made public when I have just returned from successful political campaigning in Jharkhand?"

Nagma is currently a major star in Bhojpuri movies, where she has again found success as a leading lady. She was notably successful when paired against the "Big Boss" reality show participant Ravi Kishan, with whom she was also linked romantically in real life. Called by some "the Madhuri Dixit of Bhojpuri cinema," she won a Best Actress award at the 2005 Bhojpuri Film Awards for her performance in Dulha Milal Dildar. In 2006's Ganga, she starred as Ganga opposite Amitabh Bachchan and Hema Malini. When asked why she shifted to Bhojpuri films, she stated that "I wanted to do films in different languages. I have already done movies in 10 languages. My first Bhojpuri film 'Panditji Bataayina Biyaah Kab Hoii' was a huge hit. After that the offers poured in and they were too good to be ignored." When interviewed by The Hindu in Delhi in April 2007, she also indicated that another important reason for her decision to focus on Bhojpuri films was to help with her political campaigning.

In 2006, she made her Punjabi film debut, starring alongside Raj Babbar in Ek Jind Ek Jaan.

Discussing her career in a Mid-Day interview in September 2006, Nagma is quoted as saying: "I have learnt nine languages, so I want to do films in all languages. ... On the Hindi film front, I am in the process of signing a very big period thriller. I am getting to do a variety of roles with content, so I am satisfied." While noting her commitment to complete several Bhojpuri films she is currently involved with, in March 2007, she expressed her intention to next focus on returning to Hindi films after wrapping up her current projects. In her 2007 Hindustan Times interview, in which she discusses her future plans for cinema and politics, Nagma responded to a question about her reputation for controversy by saying: "You need guts to deal with controversies. Of course, whether it’s for negative or positive reasons, I’ve always been in the news."

Politics : A vocal supporter of India's Congress Party, in 2007 Nagma was recommended for an Andhra Pradesh Rajya Sabha seat. She had been a key star campaigner for the Congress Party in Andhra Pradesh during the April 2004 elections. She had only formally become a member of the Congress Party in Hyderabad earlier that same month, reportedly citing its 'commitment towards secularism and welfare of the poor and weaker sections' as her reason for joining. She is said to have been earlier courted by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which an Indo-Asian News Service report said "had even indicated that she might be fielded [as a BJP candidate] from Hyderabad" in the same election. Nagma has elsewhere been cited as saying that she first supported the Congress Party because of her admiration for Rajiv Gandhi.

In a 2006 interview, aptly titled "Nagma the Survivor," she made a direct link between her family history and her political activism: "My mom is Muslim and my dad is Hindu. We were brought up to respect all religions. Communal riots pained me. I wanted to do something. So I joined politics." In the same interview, she also notes that she turned down an offer to run for India's Lok Sabha because of her film career: "If I wanted to become a member of Parliament I would need to give 100 per cent to my constituency -- which I could not at that point of time." However, in an interview with the Hindustan Times in 2007, she said "politics will continue and so will my acting. Mind you, I’m an actress first. I want to act till my dying day." Interestingly, her last lead role in a major Bollywood film was opposite fellow Congress Party member and now M.P. Govinda, who continues to film movies while a member of the Lok Sabha.

Perhaps mindful of her nascent political career, Nagma has said that she medidates daily and considers herself to be "a very God-loving person." In line with her own family's mixed religious background, she has stated that she has read the Qur'an, Bhagavad Gita, and Bible. "Since I was spiritually inclined I read a lot of books in that genre. I also started practicing meditation. I was teaching Art of Living for nearly 12 years. But Jesus continued to intrigue me. Since one of my aunties was a Christian, I kept urging her to tell me more about Christ. In the year 2000, in one such discussion, I said my salvation prayer.While reading the New Testament, I realized the importance of baptism and also of joining a church. Therefore, I immediately joined Pastor Shekhar Kalyanpur’s New Life Fellowship in Juhu, Mumbai. I took baptism on Jan 4. Since 2007 was a year of rest I decided to take a break from films and continued my Bible study fervently".

Adriana Lima

Adriana Lima Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Top Model Supermodel from Brazil.

Adriana Lima, April 30, 2007
Birth name Adriana Francesca Lima
Date of birth June 12, 1981 (1981-06-12) (age 28)
Place of birth Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Hair color Brown
Eye color Blue
Measurements 86-61-89 (34-24-35)
Dress size 4 (US)
Shoe size 9 (US)
Agency Marilyn Agency
Spouse(s) Marko Jaric (2009–present)

Adriana Francesca Lima (born June 12, 1981) is a Brazilian model best known as a Victoria’s Secret Angel since 2000 and a spokesmodel for Maybelline cosmetics from 2003 to 2009. At age 15, Lima finished first place in Ford’s “Supermodel of Brazil” competition and took second place the following year in the Ford “Supermodel of the World” competition before signing with Elite Model Management in New York City.

Lima never thought about being a model, although she had won many beauty pageants in elementary school. However, she had a friend at school who wanted to enter a modeling contest and didn’t want to enter alone, so Lima entered with her. Both sent in pictures, and the contest sponsor soon asked Lima to come out for the competition. Soon after, at the age of 15, she entered and finished in first place in Ford’s “Supermodel of Brazil” model search. She subsequently entered the 1996 Ford “Supermodel of the World” contest and finished in second place. Three years later, Lima moved to New York City and signed with Elite Model Management. After acquiring representation, Lima’s modeling portfolio quickly began to expand, and she appeared in numerous international editions of Vogue and Marie Claire. As a runway model, she has walked the catwalks for designers such as Vera Wang, Christian Lacroix, Emanuel Ungaro, Giorgio Armani, Fendi, Ralph Lauren and Valentino, among others. Lima became a guess girl in 2000, appearing in that year’s fall ad campaign. She also appeared in the book A Second Decade of Guess? Images.

Lima continued to build upon her portfolio, doing more print work for Maybelline, for whom she worked as a spokesmodel from 2003 until 2009, the same year she appeared in the company’s first calendar, a limited edition run also featuring Kemp Muhl, Jessica White, Julia Stegner, and Anna Wang. Lima has also worked for notable fashion brands bebe, Mossimo, Armani, Bulgari, De Beers, FCUK, Intimissimi, Keds, Swatch, Versace, and BCBG. She also appeared on the covers and in the editorials of other fashion magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, GQ, Arena, Cosmopolitan, and Esquire. Her April 2006 GQ cover was the highest-selling issue that magazine for the year, while her April 2008 cover brought a record number of hits to the magazine’s website. She also appeared in the 2005 Pirelli Calendar and became the face of Italy’s cell phone carrier, Telecom Italia Mobile, a move that earned her the nickname, “the Catherine Zeta-Jones of Italy.”

In 2006, São Paulo Fashion Week released a calendar featuring twenty-five Brazilian models, including Lima. The calendar was accompanied by a movie containing interviews with the models, which was broadcasted at GNT in Brazil and then hit the shelves as a DVD.

In February 2008, she was featured on the cover of Esquire, re-creating the classic 1966 Angie Dickinson cover on Esquire’s 75th anniversary along with fellow Victoria’s Secret Angels Alessandra Ambrosio, Karolina Kurkova, Izabel Goulart and Selita Ebanks. She appeared only in shoes, diamonds and gloves for the November 2007 issue of Vanity Fair celebrating 20 years of supermodels with her fellow Angels. In February 2008, she was chosen to be the face of Mexico’s Liverpool department store chain and launched the partnership with a press conference, runway show, and summer campaign. Lima returned to the high fashion runway in 2009, walking for Givenchy. That same year, after visiting Turkey, Lima signed a contract with Doritos to appear in print campaigns and commercials which began airing in Turkey in April. She is also one of the faces of Givenchy for the Fall/Winter 2009 season, alongside Mariacarla Boscono and Iris Strubegger.

In 2006, Lima ranked as the fifth highest paid supermodel. In 2007 and 2008, she ranked as the world’s fourth highest paid supermodel by Forbes Magazine.

Victoria’s Secret : Lima is probably best known for her work with Victoria’s Secret. Her first fashion show for the company came in 1999, and since being contracted as an Angel in 2000, she has appeared on subsequent shows ever since, opening the show in 2003, 2007, and 2008, in which she also closed the opening segment. Lima has appeared on several television ads for the brand, including the praised and criticized “Angel in Venice” commercial of 2003 with Bob Dylan and her solo Victoria’s Secret’s Super Bowl XLII ad, the single most-seen ad of the game, watched by 103.7 million viewers. 2008 continued for Lima with hosting the What Is Sexy? program for the E! Entertainment Network and a July tour for the BioFit Uplift Bra launch, with stops in Long Island, Boston, and Miami Beach. She was also featured in November’s Miracle Bra relaunch. Topping the year off, Lima wore the “Fantasy Bra” for the 2008 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. In 2009, Lima launched the company’s new makeup line, “Christian Siriano for VS Makeup.”

Acting : Lima’s first acting role was the wife, alongside Mickey Rourke and Forest Whitaker, in The Follow (2001), a short film in BMW’s series The Hire, starring Clive Owen. She also appeared with her fellow Angels in a guest spot playing herself in the series How I Met Your Mother in November 2007.
In 2008, Lima appeared on the American television series Ugly Betty, where she played herself and made friends with the series’ title character, played by America Ferrera. According to her publicist, Liza Anderson, “Adriana has always been a huge fan of Ugly Betty and is thrilled for the opportunity to make a guest star appearance.”

Reception : Since her rise to fame, Lima is often cited by popular media as one of the world’s sexiest women. Lima was listed in the 2005 Forbes’ edition of The World’s Best-Paid Celebrities Under 25. Also, she ranked No.99th in the 2006 Forbes’ edition of The Celebrity 100 (Forbes’ Highest Paid and Powerful Celebrities in the World). Lima was chosen to be a part of People magazine’s 100 most beautiful people in the world list, sharing that space with the Angels, with whom she also received a star on the Hollywood “Walk of Fame” prior to the 2007 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. That same year, she ranked 7th on FHM’s “100 Sexiest Women 2007″ list and was awarded as the “Hottest Girl on the Planet” at the first Spike TV Guys’ Choice Awards, although the category was not mentioned in the actual broadcast. Lima was also voted on the Maxim “Hot 100″ 2007 at the #53 spot. She was voted #1 as the Most Desirable Woman in 2005 by visitors of the men’s lifestyle website, Askmen.com (she placed 4th in 2006 and 2007, 10th in 2008, and 19th in 2009). Lima is also listed in the 2009 Guinness Book of World Records as the youngest model on Forbes’ Celebrity 100 List. As of November 2008, Models.com featured her at No.1 on the list of the Sexiest Models today. In 2009, she was voted sixth in “FHM’s Sexiest Women In The World”.

Public image and Personal life : Victoria’s Secret Angels Adriana Lima (left), Marisa Miller and Selita Ebanks ride in the Guantanamo Bay Christmas Parade Dec. 1, 2007

In addition to her native Portuguese, Lima speaks English, French, and a bit of Italian. Lima was shy around boys when she was younger, not receiving her first kiss until she was 17 years old. Afterward, the boy went directly to her mother to ask if he could marry her. She is a devout Catholic who attends church every Sunday. In April 2006, she told GQ that she was a virgin. “Sex is for after marriage,” she explained. “They have to respect that this is my choice. If there’s no respect, that means they don’t want me.” Staying true to her religious roots, she is known for taking a Bible backstage to read.

She has been romantically linked to musician/singer Lenny Kravitz and Prince Wenzeslaus of Liechtenstein. In 2009 she married Serbian basketball player Marko Jaric’; they wed in a private civil ceremony in Jackson Hole, Wyoming on Valentines Day. The couple originally planned on a large wedding in Salvador in June 2009, but the couple decided to opt for a wedding in each of their hometowns; both are scheduled to take place at the end of 2009.

Lima and Jaric’ are reportedly expecting their first child together in December 2009. Lima’s representative told People magazine: “Adriana and Marko are overjoyed that they are expecting their first child together and are excited to share the happy news and start their family together.” She has also recently applied for Serbian citizenship in order to promote a positive image of Serbia abroad.

Charity : Lima does charitable work helping with an orphanage, “Caminhos da Luz” (Ways of Light), located in her hometown. She helps with construction to expand the orphanage, and buys clothes for poor children in Salvador, Bahia. She appeared on Var Yok musun, the Turkish version of Deal or No Deal, where her prize money went to a hospital in Istanbul for children fighting leukemia.

Kirsty Gallacher's Kool

Monica Bellucci

Monica Bellucci is an Italian actress and fashion model.In 1988, Bellucci moved to one of Europe’s fashion centers, Milan, where she signed with Elite Model Management. By 1989, she was becoming prominent as a fashion model in Paris and across the Atlantic, in New York City. She posed for Dolce & Gabbana and French ELLE, among others. In that year, Bellucci made the transition to acting and began taking acting classes.

The February 2001 Esquire Magazine’s feature on Desire featured Ms. Bellucci on the cover and in an article on the five senses. In 2003, she was featured in Maxim. In 2004, she topped AskMen’s 100 Most Beautiful Women in the World annual list. Bellucci’s modelling career is managed by Elite+ in NYC. She is considered an Italian sex symbol.She is currently a face of a range of Dior Cosmetics. Bellucci is also signed to Storm Model Management in London.

Elisabetta Canalis

Elisabetta Canalis is an Italian model and actress. A popular personality on Italian television, Canalis had very minor roles in the films Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo and Virgin Territory. She was also a “velina” in one of Italy’s most popular television shows, Striscia la notizia. In 2007, she hosted the annual music festival, Festivalbar.

Bamboo Car

Developed by Kyoto University Venture Business Laboratory, Bambgoo is a fully functional vehicle that runs for 50 kilometers on a single charge. This ecological concept car is 270 cm long, 130 cm wide, 165 cm high and only 60 kg heavy. That’s what’s so special about Bambgoo, its body is made out of bamboo. If you happen to pass through Japan these days, you might want to check it out and maybe even take it for a short drive-test.

Animal Slaughter Festival In Nepal

November 24, about one million people gathered in a small village in Bariyapur, Nepal, they witness a large-scale sacrifice ceremony, tens of thousands of animals will be slaughtered, the festival was widely criticized. Followers travel long distances to attend this traditional Gadhimai festival, some of the devotees who come from neighboring India. Gadhimai Festivals worship Goddess symbol of power, it hold in southern Nepal every five years.

It is the world's largest animal slaughter festival, in the past each time, hundreds of thousands of cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens and other animals were killed in two days, this year the number is as high as 300,000. Then the crowd flock to the ground near the temple Gadhimai, there are 250 butchers waiting for the ceremony. Followers take approximate 20000 buffalo, then the animal was slaughtered.

Animal organization alleging such cruel activities ceremony is unnecessary ,but the Government of Nepal refuses to prohibit this religious tradition which has already lasted for several centuries.

Tyra Banks

The first African American model to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated's swimsuit edition, Tyra comes in close second to her foe turned friend Naomi Campbell. Like most models she dated John Singleton from films like 2Fast 2Furious, Shaft and many more. Later on she also dated the Sacramento Kings player Chris Webber for over three years.

As a model, Tyra has some pretty strict rules she following rigidly: - No Frontal Nudity - No Birds - No Cats - No Fish - No Cigarettes - No Alcohol. Despite all this she has still been elected as the sexiest woman by a plethora of magazines. In 2007, the Forbes Magazine estimated her earnings for the year at $18 million.