Anushka Sharma decoded!: Birthday special

As the spunky star of Jab Tak Hai Jaan celebrates her 25th birthday today, we take a look at the rise and rise of brand Anushka Sharma

Born on May 1, 1998, Anushka Sharma’s claim to fame is no longer restricted to the fact that she worked with Shahrukh Khan in her very first movie. The gorgeous star has created a niche for herself in Bollywood with her effervescent personality, commendable acting and incredible style statements. Let’s take a look at what makes Anushka the darling of the audiences that she is!

Her movies: The girl had a spark waiting to ignite the silver-screen. We simply loved her in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. Stylewise too, she carried off vibrant traditional ensembles without looking over-the-top or gaudy. She got tremendous appreciation for her performance in her second film Band Baaja Baaraat. And just when we feared that the Sharma siren was on the verge of getting stereotyped as the Punjabi kudi, she quickly shifted gear and stepped into the shoes of the young, sexy, urban girl in her next projects – Badmaash Company and Ladies vs Ricky Bahl.

Over the last few months Anushka has quite successfully managed to break the mould with her films. If she played a sizzling village belle in Vishal Bhardwaj’s largely forgettable Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola, she had us astounded with her gripping presence in Yash Chopra’s last romantic project Jab Tak Hai Jaan, co-starring Shahrukh Khan and Katrina Kaif.

Is Sidharth Malhotra and Parineeti Chopra starring Hasee Toh Phasee inspired by Jackie Shroff’s Aaina?

Stardust

Karan Johar and Anurag Kashypa’s joint venture Hasee Toh Pahsee is based the 1993 movie starring Jackie Shroff and Juhi Chawla

Looks like our Bollywood wallas are running out of ideas. Or is it the overpowering trend of remakes that has caught the fancy of our filmmakers? We wonder! If we believe what our secret birdie has just chirped to us even fine filmmakers like Karan Johar and Anurag Kashyap want to try their hand at remaking.

KJo and Kashyap’s upcoming romantic triangle film – starring Sidharth Malhotra, Parineeti Chopra and Adah Sharma – seems to be inspired from Yash Chopra produced and Deepak Sareen directed 1993 movie Aaina that had Jackie Shroff, Amrita Singh and Juhi Chawla . We hear that Parineeti will essay Juhi Chawla’s role and Adah will don Amrita Singh’s character in the new film. It goes without saying that Sidharth Malhotra will play Jackie Shroff’s character.

Hasee Toh Phasee deals with Adah Sharma and Sidharth playing a couple who have been together for over eight years and then Adah’s younger sister Parineeti walks into the couple’s paradise.  Sidharth falls in love with Parineeti which incidentally was also the premise of the original movie.

Super Kings, the team to beat again

New Delhi: The India Cements-owned team has probably been the most consistent team in the IPL. Chennai Super Kings are the only team to qualify for the knockout stage in every edition of the tournament.

They also hold the impressive record of qualifying for the final of every IPL except one. They went on to win two of the four finals they were in. Led from the front by Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni; the men in yellow are once again one of the favourites in the tournament.

With the core of the team remaining same in all editions, Chennai Super Kings have one of the best team chemistry. A strong batting line-up and a gang of big hitters in the lower order, the Super Kings are capable of posting big scores.

With the addition of Dirk Nannes, Chennai have addressed their death bowling woes.

There is hard to pinpoint, specific weakness in the team, which has contested four finals. But nevertheless, the omission of Faf du Plessis through injury for the first four weeks would be a cause for concern, especially with no other big name for the opening slot besides Murali Vijay.

New recruits: Akila Dananjaya, Ben Laughlin, Chris Morris, Dirk Nannes, Jason Holder.

Players to watch out for: Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ravichandran Ashwin, Morne Morkel, Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay.

Microsoft introduces Skype for Outlook.com

Ever since Microsoft acquired Skype a couple of years back, it has promised to add the video calling feature on Outlook.com In the meantime, the Redmond-based company has been frequently updating its webmail service and has introduced a new UI, new features and an updated calendar. Finally after nearly a year and half, Microsoft announced that Outlook.com will support Skype video calling.

To add the video calling feature to the webmail, you will have to first install the Skype plugin on your browser. Once enabled, one can video chat, send texts or even place a call from inside Outlook.com Microsoft also adds that by using the integrated Skype feature, one can place a video call to users on Microsoft’s Messenger service.

Artist crochets fabulous playgrounds for kids

The concept of these lovely, loopy play structures was born when children started playing on the designer's crochet sculpture in an art gallery.

Photo: Masaki Koizumi

Once upon a time, Japanese-born fiber artist Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam was exhibiting a large crochet sculpture in a gallery in Japan, when children started playing on the piece. Three years later, MacAdam completed her first large-scale crochet for kids. The lovely, loopy play structures have been a hit ever since.

 

The whimsical net structures offer children an explosion of color, texture and the bounciness of net — no cold metal or lifeless plastic here. Happiness ensues!

 

In 1990, Toshiko and her husband, Charles MacAdam, established Interplay Design and Manufacturing in Nova Scotia, Canada, to develop the concept of play "sculptures" on a commercial scale. The first project was for a national park located in Tokyo. The children’s park-in-a-park won a national design award in 1992. To this day the project continues to offer thrills and delight to the children lucky to play there.

 

 

 

The structures are as strong as they are lovely to look at and rely upon specially designed net which is resilient and responsive to the slightest movement.

 

 

The innovative designs allow tension to be maintained as the fiber stretches, ensuring safe play. In fact, each project is engineered by Norihide Imagawa, one of Japan’s pre-eminent structural designers.

 

 

To see more of the wonderful work, visit NetPlayWorks.

 

The Best Mexican Food In Big Cities Around The US

Mexican Food Week is in full swing, and to keep things rolling we've rounded up our top-rated Mexican eateries in 15 U.S. cities.

Which joint near you came in numero uno?

Click through the slide show to find out and check out the full results of our Mexican Food Survey right here.

Share your thoughts on both via social media using hashtag #MexicanFoodWeek.

Facebook Installed This Art-Covered Hot Tub In Its Seattle Office

Facebook's Seattle office has a quirky piece of furniture.

In a corner of the office with a beautiful view, there's a graffiti-covered hot tub.

Alas, the hot tub is not filled with water. The landlord wouldn't let it happen.

In fact, before Facebook could bring the hot tub into its offices, it was forced to drill a hole in the bottom of the hot tub as a prophylactic measure to ensure it's never filled with water.

The hot tub was brought in ahead of one Facebook's hackathons. Hackathons are where Facebook's engineers build small new products that could eventually become something bigger. They're sort of like musicians just jamming.

The engineer who spearheaded the project, Philip Su, let us run photos he took documenting the installation of the hot tub.

It was painted by local artist Jeff Jacobson, also known as "Weirdo"

And, it's in. Loaded.

Philip Su/Facebook