BIG B NOMINATED AmitabhBachchan’s first blog entry in the newyear announced that he has been nom-inated for the Best Actor (jury) and thepopular category Best Actor (male) inthe Screen Awards that will be held onJanuary 9. “R Balki calls me to informthat Paa is up for 10 nominations and3 Idiots sizably greater,” blogged BigB. According to sources, 3 Idiots hasbeen nominated in 21 categories andKatrina Kai has been nominated asBest Actress for New York. Kat wasalso voted the ‘Most Paisa VasoolMultiplex star’. —AGENCIES

JLO LIVE ON TIME SQUAREPopstar-actress JenniferLopez performed live at TimesSquare in New York on NewYear’s eve. Jlo wore a blackspangled body suit as sheheadlined the live TV segmentof Dick Clark’s New Year’sRockin’ Eve that was hosted byRyan Seacrest. Though itstarted raining at the venuewhile JLO was practicing earlierin the evening, the performancewent off without a glitch.

—AGENCIES

stoppress

Kate’sweighty issues — Pg13NEW DELHI , SATURDAY JANUARY 02, 2010 , 14 PAGES www.h indus tan t imes .com

10 MINUTES,5 CRORESKINGKHANSPENTNEWYEAR’S EVE PERFORMINGAT A PRIVATE BASH INGURGAON...ANDMADEMILLIONS INMINUTESZabeeh Afaque andMinakshi Saini■zabeeh.afaque@hindustantimes.com

Those who said Delhiwill not see any starson New Year’s eve can

eat their words. ShahRukh Khan decided tousher in 2010 in Delhi, andmore than made up for anylack of star power. Andwhile he was at it, he alsomade a whopping Rs 5crores for a 10 minuteperformance on Thursdaynight at a private party atGurgaon’s Umrao Resort.Deepti Sharma, a guest atthe bash told HHTT CCiittyy,“The party anyway was infull swing with a rockingperformance bySukhwinder Singh butShah Rukh’s startlingentry close to midnightwas the biggest surprise.People went berserk.Ladies dumped theirplates, men left theirdrinks and everyone rantowards the stage shoutingShah Rukh Khan aa gaya.”“SRK’s appearance at

the party was kept as atotally hush-hush affair bythe hosts, who did not wantany undue publicity. He issaid to have been paid 5crores for making thatappearance,” said a sourcenot wanting to be named.The host, however, refusedto confirm or comment.“Shah Rukh danced with

Sukhwinder to the tunes ofHaule Haule from Rab NeBana Di Jodi and Chak DeIndia’s title track,” saidDeepti, and added, “ShahRukh was wearing a longblack coat with a mufflerand sweater inside. Hetook off his coat and raisedhis hands up in the air.People went crazy, hootingand whistling, on spottingthe famous six pack abs.”The party, high on the

glamour quotient withBollywood and TV starsflown in, was clearly themost lavish display ofwealth. With Rolls RoyceGhost and Hummersparked proudly in thearena, the guests, close to3,000 in number, werebrought inside in decorat-ed horse carriages afterthe valets took their carsfor parking. Every roundtable had expensiveimported liquor, juices anddry fruits, with more than250 varieties of dishesfrom world cuisine beingserved for dinner. A coffeebar, with over 20 flavoursof hot and cold coffee, amake-shift ice bar kept ata temperature of minus 11degrees and a counterwith over a 100 varietiesjust of paan were thebiggest crowd pullers.There was also a speciallavish buffet, in the sidelawns, for over 400drivers of the guests.

1 Actress MinisshaLamba (L) and VidyaMalvade

2 Actors Dino Morea(L) and AftabShivdasani

3 (L-R) Actors BakhtiyarIrani, Tanaaz Iraniand Prachi Desai

Actor Shah Rukh Khan (R) dancing onstage with singer Sukhwinder Singhat the New Year’s eve party

1 2 3

Recently, the human resourcedevelopment ministry issued aproposal to amend the

Copyright Bill so that lyricists, com-posers and other music creators mayretain the right to royalties on theirwork. Wait, don’t they already havethat? Isn’t it ridiculous that this is whatmusicians have to be fighting for in thisday and age? Thank God it’s at leasthappening now! I’m so grateful to thepeople in the HRD ministry responsiblefor amending these acts in our favour.This week, a press conference was heldin Delhi, where legends like JavedAkhtar, the person largely responsiblefor spearheading the movementamongst artists to help update thelaws, along with my father Pandit RaviShankar, Shubha Mudgal and Shankar Mahadevan cametogether to express gratitude to the HRD Ministry, and also toraise awareness about the situation, so that hopefully thegovernment will accept the amendment when the Bill goesbefore Parliament in February.Currently, all laws are in favour of record companies, rather

than the artists. All the music of this country recorded over the last70 years or so is owned by just a few music companies. They havedone the contracts in such a way that they can re-release musicany way they want or license music to foreign territories and dif-ferent companies as much as they want, all without permission ofthe performers or creators of the music. The relationship betweenmusic companies and artists is closer to bonded labour than any-thing else; artists are exploited as they are forced to take theseunfair deals in order to get work and the earnings from successfulsongs or musical pieces only go to the record companies, ratherthan the creators. It’s just not fair that artists have no say abouttheir own creations, it’s wrong financially, but fundamentally too.As you can imagine, the Music Houses are fighting to keep their

unfair advantage, and they will do all they can to make sure the lawsare not updated. It’s good to see a collective springing forthamongst artists because no artist, however successful, will be ableto fight the record companies alone. We have to be responsible toeach other and fight together for the correct representation in ourcontracts and deals. Sometimes it’s exhausting; I’ve seen in myfather’s case for example, literally hundreds of illegal releases,copies or bootlegs of his music. And trying to take on each andevery case would take several lifetimes. I thought it to be a hopelesssituation. But finally, I have a glimmer of hope that the Indian musicindustry will cease to be an embarrassment and that we will giveartists the rights they enjoy in the rest of the world. I really hope theBill is passed by our government. I hope music companies will bereasonable and that this exploitation will come to an end.

anoushka.shankar@hindustantimes.com

HOPING FOR JUSTICEANOUSHKA SHANKAR

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