Happy Birthday Ashton Kutcher!

It’s Ashton Kutcher’s 34th birthday, and boy has he had an eventful last few months. With his separation from Demi Moore, and his return to television as Walden, on Two and a half Men, Kutcher has been all over the news. 

Ashton Kutcher & Demi Moore in better times

Kutcher has been paying regular visits to Moore, who was recently rushed to the hospital, after allegedly smoking something similar to incense. Moore has reportedly been out of control since Kutcher cheated on her last year, and her ex-husband Bruce Willis, has been insisting she go to rehab. It is now rumoured that Moore has checked herself into a rehab facility for an eating disorder and addiction.

While Kutcher’s personal life has been going through tough times, his professional life improved, when he replaced Charlie Sheen on the hit sitcom Two and a half Men. Though the season premiered to an outstanding audience, with ratings going through the roof, Kutcher has received mixed reviews for his character and the overall story-line hasn’t kept people hooked.

Here’s wishing Kutcher’s personal life gets sorted and professional life continues to soar!

Madonna performing at the Super Bowl half-time show

Madonna’s performance at the Super Bowl was as energetic and grand as we all expected it to be; what we didn’t expect, was M.I.A to disregard the audience and flip them off.

The N.F.L. & N.B.C. has profusely apologized for the incident, which comes 8 years after Janet Jackson’s famous wardrobe incident. N.F.L. spokesperson, Brian McCarthy, said “The obscene gesture in the performance was completely inappropriate, very disappointing and we apologise to our fans.” N.B.C. is calling it, a “spontaneous gesture”, a phrase that will probably become part of our television dictionary.

What was M.I.A thinking? With 110 million people watching the show, did she think they wouldn’t notice her flipping them off? Hopefully people will forget about the incident and remember Madonna’s performance which also features Nicki Minaj, LMFAO and Cee Lo Green!

P.S. I’m having doubts that Madonna is actually 53 –  how does she look so young and where does she get her energy from?!

Lana Del Rey

The next big thing, erm, according to some. But her song Video Games, which catapulted her to the fore, sure is a thing of beauty. I’ve been listening to it on a loop for a good while now, and what a gorgeously haunting song it is. My pick for Best Song of 2011. Her sort of debut album, Born to Die, was released into the world last week and has already shot to No.1 in 13 countries. Sounds peachy? Far from it; she’s got tongues lashing wagging, read on to know Why This Kolaveri Di for Lana Del Rey.

Okay, take a deep breath. She was born as Elizabeth Grant in 1986 to *minted parents* (her dad’s a millionaire, just saying) in New York City, and grew up in another rich men’s playground Lake Placid, New York. While studying metaphysics (which is working out whether it’s possible to mathematically prove God’s existence, if you didn’t know!) at Fordham University in NYC, she trawled bars in Brooklyn for a singing gig. Persistence pays as they say, ‘cos she bagged a recording contract with New York indie label 5 Points Records. Under her own name, Lizzy Grant, she released an EP titled Kill, Kill in October, 2008 and a full-length album in *January, 2010* titled Lana Del Ray, both of which tanked. In *March, 2010*, bizarrely, that album, along with footage/recordings/anything to do with Lizzy Grant, was scrubbed from the Internet. That is, there was no trace of Lizzy Grant to be found in the virtual world, and she even decamped… to London.

Lana Del Rey

Skip to July, 2011, and enters Lana Del Rey, the pillow-lipped pouty, sultry, seductive version of Lizzy Grant to be known as of now, to sign a recording contract with Interscope Records (did daddy bribe the record execs?). Suspiciously, that deal was not made public.

Then, the supposedly self-made video for Video Games surfaced on the internet, and, just like that, it went on to become crazily viral (did Interscope seed and viralize it? Cynical git you’re for thinking so…), making her the poster child for indie kids along the way.

Lizzy Grant (photo courtesy | HipsterRunoff.com)

In September, 2011, noted indie music and meme interpreter Carles, of Hipster Runoff, posted a bunch of old photos of Lizzy Grant LDR in which she had smaller lips, and with it started the storm about her authenticity altogether. Then in an attempt to refute allegations of cosmetic surgery through an interview with Complex, she accidentally (ha!) muddled with her cushty background: “I haven’t had anything done at all. Anyone who’s known me will tell you that. I’m sorry, but I was living in a trailer park for a few years. I didn’t even have enough money to buy Cocoa Puffs. ”

All very petty and irrelevant, I know. But can she actually sing ‒ live? Her TV debut, on 11^th October, 2011, at Britain’s Later… with Jools Holland implied that, erm, she couldn’t. She made a few more live performances and unfortunately, none of them suggested otherwise.

But what really opened the floodgates was her performance on her U.S. television debut at Saturday Night Live on 14^th January, 2012, which, in all honesty, was shambles. Somewhere amidst it all ‒ and adding fuel to the fire ‒ Billboard confirmed the rumoured Interscope deal, and that her album would be coming out in early 2012. Which it did on 31^st of January ‒ to mixed reviews.

So, yeah, some people feel victims of an immense confidence trick: far from being an organic wunderkind, her transformation from Lizzy to Lana was plotted all along by shrewd record execs ‒ and backed by her wealthy father. Is she actually talented; if so, why didn’t she take off when she was Lizzy Grant? SO, friends, would you give LDR a listen; or, has her spot of airbrushing the past backstory made you all too sceptical to give her any credibility as an artist? I’m yet to listen to the whole album but the three songs that I’ve heard so far, the misanthropic me loved ‒ think I’ll go for it.

Jerry Seinfeld in the Acura NSX ad

I have to admit, I’m not an American Football fan at all. To me, the Super Bowl always meant parties with friends, watching the extravagant half-time show and catching the funniest, most innovative ads. Here’s a look at some of the best ads from this years Super Bowl! 

Chrysler: It’s Halftime in America

Clint Eastwood features in this emotional ad, reflecting the current economical state of the U.S.

Volkswagen: The Dog Strikes Back

Last year everyone fell in love with Volkswagen’s brilliant Darth Vader commercial, and this year they’ve come back with an equally cute ad, featuring an overweight dog who wishes to lose weight. Adorable? I think so!

Honda CR-V – Matthew’s Day Off

Loved Ferris Bueller’s Day Off? Well Matthew Broderick is here to revisit the classic, with a new twist.

Acura NSX – Transactions

Jerry Seinfeld will evidently do anything for the new Acura NSX!

Metlife: Everyone

Cartoon lovers will love this ad, which features everyone from Scooby-Doo to the Jetsons and the Peanuts gang.

NBA Player, Kris Humphries, shot to fame last year after he got married to short-term girlfriend Kim Kardashian. Now, after their 72 day marriage, the exes are planning on televising the divorce proceedings! 

According to Reality Weekly, Kris is ready to fight the Kardashians in court, instead of settling outside, since he believes their marriage was a sham and he was tricked into it. Kris apparently got to know of their divorce while listening to a radio show, and believes the season of Kourtney & Kim Take New York, was based around the theme of divorce.

Now I’m a fan of Keeping up with the Kardashians but I think this is going a little too far. Televising divorce proceedings after making millions on their grand wedding, doesn’t seem appropirate. I guess the Kardashians will do whatever they can to stay in the limelight.

If Kris Humpries is telling the truth about being duped, then I hope he gets what he deserves and has a great 27th Birthday!

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Priyanka Chopra, Sonakshi Sinha, Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif, Kareena Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Kalki Koechlin

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Sheila Ki Jawani, Dum Maaro Dum, Munni Badnaam Hui, Ooh La La, Jalebi Bai, Chikni Chameli

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By Dhruvi Shah, Sue Castellino & Rashmi Daryanani

Oprah in Mumbai Exclusive!

Oprah’s recent visit to Mumbai caused quite a media stir, with every detail of her visit meticulously covered and analyzed. Or was it? MissMalini has just gotten her hands on exclusive, never before seen footage of Oprah’s trip, and you won’t believe what we’ve dug up! Click the thumbnails below to see all 6 exclusive stories, courtesy our intrepid reporter, Asif Rizwanullah!

Oprah Picks Her Favourite B-town Star

Oprah Surprises her Indian Audience!

Bachchans Take Oprah on a Memorable Ride

Oprah Finally Finds Her Next Look... in India

Oprah Pranks Salman Rushdie!

Oprah Finally Gives In to Indian Women

StylePolice Episode 11

The launch of the 6th annual Eskimo-Vie Calendar at Vie lounge was a sundown party, so the vibe was cool and relaxed, and the fashion equally so. Join MissMalini as she catches up with celebrities Rohit Roy, Smiley Suri and Naved Jafferi and asks them what they think is hot and not.

Tune in Monday 8pm Style Police with Girl About Town MissMalini on UTV Bindass!

Uma Thurman in salwar kameez!

That’s right! Who’d have thunk it that Uma Thurman would be seen prancing around NYC in gorgeous desi garb? But the reason…?

Absolutely loving everything about Debra Messing here

Errr… She and Debra Messing were actually filming scenes of the highly anticipated TV series titled Smash.

It is behind-the-scenes look at a team preparing to put on a Broadway musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe ‒ so I suppose it’s a musical series in the vein of Glee. Looks promising, no? I’m looking forward to it…

Smash poster

It’s due to hit the TV screens in the US on 6^th of February (actually, NBC has already put up the pilot episode online) and the rest of the world soon.

Love, love Uma Thurman's salwar kameez, too!

Debra Messing has a starring role in the series, and Uma Thurman is listed for one episode so far; episode 5 specifically, and as these pictures suggest it’ll have an Indian theme, so a must-watch then. Looks like the world can’t have enough of Marilyn Monroe!

Jessica Alba

Jessica Alba your confidence can’t save your fashion clueless-ness. While we agree that separately the doo.ri coat, Erdem pants and Acne sweater would look good, together they are just a mishap of epic proportions. It’s good that she took the coat off while filming the talk show Live with Kelly, because it she hadn’t, this colourful disaster would have had people changing the channel!