THE WORLD PORTAL

LISA RAY

Model turned Indian origin actress Lisa Ray was selected as one of the ‘50 Most Beautiful People’ of the Canada, by the entertainment magazine Hello. Canadian pop star Shania Twain has been reached in the top position of this list. This list also includes Indian-origin Canadian MP Ruby Dhalla, ‘Complicated’ singer Avril Lavigne, actor Keifer Sutherland, ‘Sex and the City’ star Kim Catrall and model Gabriel Aubry.

BIOGRAPHY

Indo - Canadian actress Lisa Ray was born in Toronto, Canada as the daughter of a Bengali father and a Polish mother. She was born and brought up from Canada. She did not gain more education, and she started her modeling career at age 16 and her appearance with Karan Kapoor in an advertisement for Bombay Dyeing wearing a high-cut black swimsuit is brought public attention towards her. She made numerous advertisements for various Indian companies including Lakme, Sprite, Matiz, Monte Carlo etc before becoming involved in films. She started her acting career with the Bollywood film “Kasoor”in 2001 opposite Aftab Shivdasani. Through this film, she captured a lot of attention of the public. In 2002, she appeared in Tollywood film “Takkari Donga” with Mahesh Babu. She has also acted in a Kannada film “Yuvaraja” with Shiva Rajkumar. Then she acted in Indian-Canadian director Deepa Mehta’s romantic comedy film “Bollywood, Hollywood” in 2002, which made a huge success in Canada. In 2005, she worked again with Deepa Mehta in the critically lauded film “Water”. In this Oscar-nominated film, she plays the role of a widow who lives in a Varanasi ashram. She captured the international recognition through this film. She is also acted in many films including “Quarter Life Crisis”, “The World Unseen”, “I Can’t Think Straight”, “Kill Kill Faster Faster” etc. She also appeared in Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s “Afreen Afreen” music video. She did many challenging roles in her films, which is an evidence to her versatility and desire for the challenge.

AWARDS AND HONORS

Former model Lisa Ray gained many awards and honors in her life. She was selected as the “Star of the Future” at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival and “Top Ten most Beautiful Indian Woman of the Millennium” by the Times of India and won the best actress in a Canadian film for Water by the Vancouver Critics Circle. Now she was selected as one of the ‘50 Most Beautiful People’ of the Canada by the entertainment magazine Hello.

PRAKASH MEHRA

The Bollywood Industry lost their famous film maker Prakash Mehra. He passed away on 17th May at the Kokilaben Hospital in Andheri in Mumbai. He was in a hospital for last several days and he died of pneumonia and multiple organ failure. He was a famous Bollywood film producer and director and he was directed many films and he has given some of the memorable hit movies in Bollywood. He is the only director that had received a lifetime achievement award from the India Motion Picture Directors Association in 2006.

BIOGRAPHY

The great film director Prakash Mehra was born in Uttar Pradesh. His cinema career had started as a production controller in late 50s and turned director with the musical super hit “Haseena Man Jaayegi” starring Shashi Kapoor. Prakash Mehra’s another success came in 1971 with ‘Mela’. This movie brought together the Khan brothers Feroz Khan and Sanjay Khan. In 1973 he was introduced famous actor Amitabh Bachchan with his blockbuster film “Zanjeer”. It was Amitab Batchan’s first hit movie and the movie create a box-office history. Prakash Mehra was continued to great relationship with the actor Amithab Batchan and together they went on to make seven films including “Hera Pheri” in 1976,”Muqaddar Ka Sikandar” in 1978, “Laawaris” in 1981, “Namak Halal” in 1982 and “Sharaabi” in 1984 etc. In 1991, he was directed and produced another hit movie “Zindagi Ek Jua” starring Anil Kapoor. In 1996, Prakash Mehra Introduced another actor Raaj Kumar’s son Puru Raajkumar in “Bal Brahmachari”. This was his last directed film and it was not success in box -office. In mid-1990s, he produced the film “Dalaal” with Mithun Chakraborthy, which was a commercial success. His last produced film was the Rekha starrer “Mujhe Meri Biwi Se Bachao” in 2001. He was one of the first Bombay directors who had crossed the boundaries of Bollywood and try venture into Hollywood. In late 80’s he tried to make the movie “The God Connection” with Frank Yandolino. This movie was to include Hollywood actors such as Charles Bronson among others, but this project never took off. He gained many awards in his filmy career. He had received a lifetime achievement award from the India Motion Picture Directors Association in 2006 and also received Lifetime Achievement award from IMPAA in 2008 for his role as a producer. Really, he is a simple man who had the capacity to depict great stories through the medium of cinema in the simplest manner.