“Bollywood ‘Singham’ actor Ajay Devgn, director Rohit Shetty and Kannada actor Sudeep will grace the audio launch of Suriya’s ‘Singam 2′, which will take place on June 2,” said a statement from the production house.

“Singam 2″, directed by Hari Gopalakrishnan, also features Hansika Motwani, Anushka Shetty, Santhanam, Vivek, Vijay Kumar, Nassar, Radha Ravi and Anjali.

Ajay, Rohit and Sudeep have been invited as the guest of honours because of their association with the film in other languages.

While Devgn featured in the title role in the Hindi version of the film titled “Singham”, which was helmed by Rohit Shetty; Sudeep starred in the Kannada version of the film.

“Singam 2″, produced by Prince Pictures, will be an extension of its prequel “Singam”. Suriya will return as a righteous cop in the film.

The 28-year-old, currently playing with Al Rayyan in Qatar, hopes a return to Brazil could lead to an international recall ahead of next year’s World Cup, reports Xinhua.

Nilmar has scored 17 goals in 26 appearances for Al Rayyan since joining the club July last year.

Sao Paulo are seeking cover for veteran striker Luis Fabiano, who has struggled this year with a series of injuries.

Nilmar, who began his career with Porto Alegre club Internacional, has won 24 caps for Brazil and scored nine goals since making his international debut in 2003.

In the last 10 days alone, people resorted to violence in more than two dozen places across the sprawling state over incessant power cuts and the alleged indifference of officials.

In Lucknow, residents vandalised four power sub-stations and thrashed power officials late Thursday. They went on a rampage after going without power and water supply for more than 12 hours.

“Last year, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav blamed his predecessor Mayawati for the power mess and promised sufficient power this summer. But the situation has worsened,” moaned Ratan Sharga, a Lucknow resident.

A group of engineering students clashed with power department employees in the city’s Jankipuram area. Police used force to disperse them. But students re-grouped later and thrashed many police officials too.

At Vikasnagar too, a sub-station officer was roughed up.

All major localities in Lucknow including Aliganj, Kaporthala, Daliganj, Ashiana, Gokhaley Marg and Alambagh were hit by power outages.

The dental department of the King George’s Medical University (KGMU) and the Queen Mary Hospital, the maternity centre of KGMU, remained in dark for over 18 hours after a cable developed a snag and could not be repaired for hours.

Officials feel there is little they can do to help improve the power situation.

One official pointed out that the state was facing a shortfall of more than 1,500 MW daily. While extra units were purchased from the central pool and other sources, nothing seemed to be enough, the official added.

With the power generation at Harduaganj plant tripping Thursday and a unit at Roza malfunctioning, power officials expect more trouble in the coming days.

“A 210 unit of the Aanpara power plant has already tripped, crippling power supply,” an official said.

In all major cities of the state, power cuts vary 7-8 hours. The situation is worse in the countryside with villages getting power just for 5-7 hours a day, officials said.

Uttar Pradesh needs a minimum of 12,500 MW power daily. With the heat wave sweeping the state, the demand for power has peaked but the supply is about 9,000-11,000 MW per day, including 1,000 MW of electricity purchased from the energy exchange, an official told IANS.

More than 100 “sub-standard” transformers have burnt down in the state capital and neighbouring areas in the last one month.

Soon after taking over as chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav promised new transformers. Many suppliers engaged by the erstwhile Mayawati government were blacklisted.

However, the situation remains more or less the same, a senior official of the Uttar Pradesh Power Corp Ltd (UPPCL) told IANS.

While last year the power situation claimed Avanish Awasthi, the then chairman of UPPCL, this year another chairman, Sanjeev Mittal, has been axed.

A power department official said the government was clueless about the magnitude of the problem.

Police, already faced with a spiralling crime graph and breakdown in law and order, are facing mobs angered by long hours of power outages.

“The situation is indeed worrying,” a police officer said.

Samajwadi Party legislators too are concerned over how the crisis could affect their prospects in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Ravidas Mehrotra, a legislator from Lucknow (Central), has urged the chief minister to immediately end the power crisis.

“How are we expected to face the people?” Mehrotra asked, adding the entire system needed “a complete overhaul”.

People are angry that while 90 percent of the state is reeling under a power crisis, constituencies like Mainpuri, Etawah, Rae Bareili, Amethi, Rampur and Kannauj — which have elected VVIPs — get 24×7 power.

(Mohit Dubey can be contacted at mohit.d@ians.in)

Be they his rallies or statements, Hooda does not let go any occasion to first draw a comparison and then to claim that Haryana and his government are miles ahead of Gujarat and its Modi.

In a recent address, Hooda took a dig at the Gujarat chief minister.

“Mr Modi claimed that the entire milk to Delhi was being supplied from Gujarat. The reality is that the per capita milk production in Gujarat is just 400 gm whereas it is 750 gm in Haryana,” Hooda told his audience.

With Gujarat being referred to as the No. 1 state for big bucks investment, Hooda is in no mood to accept it.

“When I took over the reign of Haryana in 2005, Haryana was at 14th place in per capita investment. The planned budget of Haryana was only Rs.2,300 crore. But now, Haryana has a planned budget of Rs.26,000 crore and the state is ranked one in per capita investment,” Hooda claimed.

In the past one year, Hooda and other Congress leaders often draw comparisons with Gujarat and Modi to prove that Haryana and Hooda are better.

At most functions, rallies and even in statements, Hooda and his colleagues rattle out figures to prove their point that Gujarat, which is showcased as the ideal state and destination for big bucks investment, is actually behind Haryana on most parameters.

“People talk about development in Gujarat but, in fact, Haryana is ahead of Gujarat in 50 areas of development and Haryana is the second largest contributor of food grains to the central pool,” Hooda claims.

“Gujarat is at number six in per capita income, whereas Haryana is ahead of big states.”

The comparisons with Gujarat are regarding the plan budget, welfare schemes for students, old age people, Scheduled Castes, freedom fighters and widows, benefits for sportspersons and medal winners and many other categories.

Haryana’s claims of being better grew in the run-up to the assembly elections in Gujarat last year. Modi returned to power for a third consecutive time.

What Hooda is not able to explain is the why and how of public sector automobile giant Maruti-Suzuki going ahead with its multimillion dollars investment in Gujarat despite having its base in Haryana’s Gurgaon area for nearly three decades. Perhaps, Hooda can draw solace from the fact that the automobile giant first invested in Haryana and later moved to Gujarat.

(Jaideep Sarin can be contacted at jaideep.s@ians.in)

Khurshid, who arrived here Friday, was welcomed by Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Abdullah.

In his arrival statement, Khurshid said his visit was taking place “at a time when the Indian community in Saudi Arabia is engaged in an effort to utilize the three months grace period announced by His Majesty for the expatriates to correct their legal status or to return to their motherland without penal action and with dignity”.

The Indian minister’s visit comes when the Indian Embassy in Riyadh and the consulate in Jeddah and other centres in Dammam and the Eastern Province have issued a second lot of 27,000 Emergency Certificates to enable Indian citizens to leave Saudi Arabia for home.

The kingdom last month announced a three-month grace period, which expires July 3, after which they will begin to deport illegal workers.

Under Nitaqat, it is mandatory for local companies to hire one Saudi national for every 10 migrant workers. Over 300,000 firms in Saudi Arabia reportedly do not employ any locals and the Nitaqat policy seeks to deal firmly with this.

The new law also makes it mandatory for foreigners to only work for their legal sponsors, and their spouses can’t take up jobs. The expatriates cannot perform any job other than the one mentioned in their job cards – a rule which many Indians were flouting.

There are currently 2.8 million Indian workers in Saudi Arabia.

Before leaving for Jeddah, Khurshid said over 56,700 Indians are being repatriated from Saudi Arabia in the next one and half months as they have no valid passports and legal permits to stay in the kingdom.

“As of now 56,700 Indian have registered with the Indian Mission for getting exit permit as they have no valid passports or other travel documents,” Khurshid Friday told a group of Urdu editors in New Delhi.

The number is expected to grow.

On May 21, Indian Ambassador Hamid Ali Rao met the Saudi Deputy Minister for Interior Ahmed Al Salem during which they discussed the welfare of the Indian workers, including facilities for immigration and ‘exit’ for Indian nationals.

Kerala, which sends over 500,000 workers to Saudi Arabia, will not be affected much due to the Nitaqat policy, according to C.P. John, member of the Kerala State Planning Board.

Around 10 percent of the Indian workers hit by Nitaqat would be Malayalis, John told IANS.

“Most Malayalis have been adhering to the laws, so not many would be affected,” John said.

While the Nitaqat would hit Indian workers in cities and towns, there are thousands of Indians, mostly from Kerala, who have been staying in the kingdom for a few generations in far-flung rural areas.

“These Indians work on farms and are also involved in camel rearing,” said John.

The Indian embassy has also roped in a large number of Indians as volunteers to man the help desks in various cities of Saudi Arabia, especially for translation and interpretation work.

Khurshid is to hold talks with his Saudi counterpart Prince Saud Al-Faisal, as well as Labour Minister Adel Fakeih. The two sides would also discuss other issues of bilateral interest, including energy and counter-terrorism issues.

Ranbir, who has proved his mettle film after film since debuting with unimpressive “Saawariya” in 2007, credits the media with giving him the “pedestal” of a star.

“I am not here to be a star, I am here to be an actor. We have grown up watching Mr. Shah Rukh Khan, Mr. Salman Khan, Mr. Akshay Kumar or Mr. Ajay Devgn on the screen. They have an image, aura and stardom,” Ranbir told IANS in an interview.

“That (in their) time, they didn’t have (so much) media, but media has helped us a lot. It has put us on a pedestal. We are created stars,” he added.

The 30-year-old, son of veteran actors Neetu and Rishi Kapoor, and grandson of the legendary Raj Kapoor, believes his generation of actors need more time to prove themselves.

Talking about himself, he said: “It’s been only 10 films. I don’t take these tags (of a star) seriously. If someone compares me to them (stars like Shah Rukh, Salman, Akshay and Ajay), they must be embarrassed as these actors have been working for 25 years. I have just completed five years.”

Nevertheless, he finds it “encouraging” and he truly hopes, “I can live up to this.”

Even within five years of his Bollywood journey, Ranbir has shown an impressive variety with films like “Raajneeti”, “Rockstar” and “Barfi!”. He feels taking a “different path” helps people “recognise your work”.

Moreover, he feels it is vital for an actor to create his own “niche”.

The only ideology Kapoor goes by before selecting a film is whether people will like to watch it or not. He feels that it is important to make your own niche.

“When I heard ‘Barfi!’ and ‘Rockstar’, I thought of them as commercial films. I thought that these are films which I will want to see. So, (as an actor) you must have your own point of view.

“If you feel that people will like the film, then do it. If I see a (script of) ‘Dabangg’ or ’3 Idiots’, no one will let me do it. They will say we have Salman Khan and Aamir Khan (respectively) to do it. You have to make your own niche,” he said.

Never one to take the audience for granted, Ranbir said: “You want to reciprocate their support by giving them a good film. I just have to give them good movies and be good at my work.”

In the current scenario, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) categorises both adult and sleazy content under one umbrella of ‘A’ certificate.

Kapoor, the director of films like “Rock On!!” and “Kai Po Che!” suggests that “we can always put a rating system where we can distinguish between a good film and a sleazy film. A lot of people have been discussing this because censor thing is damaging us”.

“No one realises that it’s like a bottleneck for such a big industry and we have to figure this out keeping in mind that you don’t want to offend the sensibilities,” the filmmaker told IANS.

Censorship needs to shape up to offer innovative solutions, and to refrain from moral policing.

“The problem is you can’t show an A-certificate film (on TV) because if you show that, you will also end up showing some absolute sleaze porn as well because they both go with A-certificate.

“There should be a bifurcation what can be shown in adult certification and what can be shown on television or what cannot be shown on television so that one can come up with some other certification,” he added.

His films have been clean so far, but Kapoor feels that when he ventures into bolder subjects, his film should not fall pray to censor certification.

“Tomorrow, if I make an adult film, nobody should be able to stop me like that. You can keep a separate rating for it.”

Citing the example of National Award winning film “The Dirty Picture”, he said the film “had to go through so much of embarrassing humiliating experience because at the end of the day it’s not just a business, it is a piece of art and it’s treated so badly that it’s very humiliating”.

“India’s realism is over the top. If you see folk theatre also, they are larger than life. Even when someone dies, people often beat themselves and cry. So our culture is over the top. So people like over the top things,” Gour told IANS.

But having said that, the actor admits seeing “realistic” changes and added: “…I am seeing that this trend is slowly changing. Now situations are more believable.”

How do you control over the top roles?

“If things go over the top, I try to control it. It also depends on the kind of scenes. Sometimes scenes demand over acting. When I was doing ‘Hum Aapke Hain In Laws’, my character was supposed to be over the top, so that is what I used to do,” he said.

The actor will be seen in the second season of SAB TV’s popular show “Lapataganj”, which, according to Rohitashv, will show a complex father-son relationship.

“There is a conflict between the father and the son. This will be shown in the comedy. Mukundilal (Rohitashv) is a little frustrated. This is a shade that has been added to the character,” he said, adding that even though the show will have real emotions, they will be portrayed in a funny manner.

“The language will have comedy. It will be reflected through the dialogues. The emotions to be shown are real,” he said.

The show has also taken a leap and the actor feels it will “help” as after a while “the audience starts finding things a bit stale”.

“This had started happening (in ‘Lapataganj’) as well. Some things were becoming stale and we were little bored with characters as well. I think the idea of season two is very good,” Gaur said who has also been part of shows like “Yeh Pyar Na Hoga Kam”.

A federal court from New York wanted Portillo to face a legal process for conspiracy to launder some $70 million which had gone through US banks to legitimize the money, reports Xinhua.

“Thanks to the efforts of the democratically elected Guatemalan government and to the legal and police officials for the extradition, which was authorized since 2011 by the Guatemalan Supreme Court,” the US embassy said in a statement.

Guatemala’s Minister of Interior Mauricio Lopez Bonilla validated the extradition according to the country’s law. Portillo traveled in an air ambulance to New York city.

Four days after the 22-year-old woman was gang-raped and her friend beaten up by three men in the state’s Banka district, the victim’s friend married her at a temple late Friday.

“The wedding was solemnised in a simple way at the temple in the presence of dozens of people, including police officials,” Hiralal Mandal, a social activist said, adding that the wedding found the support of relatives and villagers.

The bridegroom, who is a student of engineering, told police officials that he decided to go ahead with the marriage.

“I accept her as my life partner. I know she was gang-raped a few days ago. The incident occurred in my presence,” a district police official quoted him as saying.

The father of the victim was present at the ceremony and gave his daughter away in the traditional ceremony, called kanyadaan, police officials said.

“Before their marriage in the temple, they married in the court on the basis of an affidavit,” a police official said.

Early this week, when the woman and her friend were on a trip to Banka’s Mandar Parvat, they asked a group of shepherds for directions. They were taken to a secluded spot, held hostage for three hours, and three men raped the woman.

“The two were held hostage, and three men took turns to rape the woman. The assailants also looted cash from the duo before leaving,” Dhirendra Kumar, a district police official, said.

The victims later reached the Barahat police station and registered a first information report, police said.

Mandar Parvat is a small hill frequented by pilgrims, who believe that this is the mountain referred to in Hindu mythology as Mandarachal Parvat, the mountain used by the gods to churn the ocean in the “samudra manthan” to obtain the elixir that would grant immortality.