Dutta was born on April 16, 1978, in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. Her father is Wing Commander L.K. Dutta (retired) and mother is Jennifer Dutta. she also has 2 older sisters, one of whom serves in the Indian Air Force, and a well known younger sister. Famed composer and DJ Nitin Sawhney is all three sisters cousin. The Dutta family moved to Bangalore in 1981 where she completed high school from Frank Anthony Public School. Lara graduated in economics with a minor in communications from Bombay University at Bangalore. She was crowned Miss Universe in 2000 which led to her appointment as a UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador in 2001. Dutta won the annual Gladsrags modelling competition in her native India, thus winning the right to be the first Indian representative at the 1997 Miss Intercontinental pageant, in which she took first place. Later, she was crowned Femina Miss India Universe and Miss Universe in 2000. At Miss Universe 2000 in Cyprus, Dutta was the clear favourite ahead of fierce competition from Venezuela, Spain, USA and Canada. Her finalist interview score, in the last year that such marks were televised, was the highest individual score in any category in the history of the Miss Universe contest, as her perfect interview saw a majority of the judges giving her the maximum 9.99 mark. After her final question, in which Dutta delivered a passionate defense of the Miss Universe contest (and other beauty pageants), she became the second Indian Miss Universe. In the same year Priyanka Chopra and Diya Mirza won their respective Miss World and Miss Asia Pacific titles which gave India a rare triple victory in the world of beauty pageants. She made her film debut in 2003 with the film Andaaz which was a box office success and won her a Filmfare Best Female Debut Award. She then appeared in a number of films, some of which failed at the box office and some of which were mildly successful. Her box office "hits" include Masti (2004), Kaal (2005),No Entry (2005) and Partner (2007). Dutta's first release of 2007 was Shaad Ali's Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. The film was a box office failure in India but did better overseas, especially in the U.K. She received mixed reviews for her performance in the film. Her latest release, Partner opened to a good response and became a hit. Lara Dutta currently resides in Mumbai. She dated Derek Jeter briefly before having an eight-year relationship with actor Kelly Dorjee. She is rumored to have broken up with Dorjee in July 2007.

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MOVIE NEWS

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Slumdog Millionaire hot favourite at Oscars

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Slumdog Millionaire, director Danny Boyle’s neo-realistic film with 10 Oscar nominations stood poised to ride into ultimate cinematic fame at the 81st Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday. Powered by a non-stop winning streak in other international awards, the story of a Mumbai slum teaboy’s unlikely road to riches, told in warm tones, was the favourite to win the most coveted Oscar — the best picture. Slumdog Millionaire has been nominated also for direction, cinematography, film and sound editing, original score, songs, sound mixing and screenplay adaptation. As the countdown began for the awards ceremony at the Kodak theatre and British bookmakers listed it their clear favourite, child actors, 10-year-old Azharuddin Ismail (who has never been on a plane) and his co-star Rubina Ali, 9, went round Mumbai on Friday in a Toyota Innova en route to Los Angeles. They excitedly spoke to the media and acknowledged the collective enthusiasm of the city. Those cheering included slum dwellers of Garib Nagar, near Bandra railway station which provided a score of child actors for the film. “It would be the biggest upset in modern Oscars history to see Slumdog Millionaire lose,” said Pete Hammond, an awards season expert and Hollywood film critic. Music maestro A.R. Rahman, who has three nominations for Slumdog Millionaire, was in Los Angeles preparing to perform at the ceremony. He said “it would be a great honour” although he did not think the awards were “a referendum on Bollywood.” He did not have an acceptance speech ready and was concentrating on a performance of “Jai Ho,” the lilting song from the film, for U.S. television.

Oh! Not again -- Perumal

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Storyline: Banned drugs find their way into hospitals and cause havoc. The hero isn’t going to keep quiet.

To be fair, Cirussti’s Perumal (U) does strive to convey a message. But caught in a quagmire of the commercial format, it slips into the routine of mundane sequences, unbelievable action and the three-duets-one-item-number norm. Like in most films, villainy is equated with cacophony, and the underworld don and his henchmen are pathetically dim-witted. The much-used mix has been tossed with gloss and glam and topped with superhuman feats of the hero!

The tagline of the film could have been ‘Scream’ — the villains and the comedian are out to puncture your eardrums. Perumal (Sundar C.) works for a financier. His job is to collect dues from defaulters by hook or by crook. Perumal runs into a gang in Cuddapah which sells spurious, banned drugs, and he isn’t going to let them get away …

The climax — the police and people move aside and passively watch the affected old woman walk towards the villain and hack him to death — is ridiculous.

Sundar C. once again proves that he is apt hero material. Sadly his talent comes to naught because he is not supported by a worthy screenplay. After a docile show in Karuppasamy Kuthagaitharar, Meenakshi returns to contribute her mite to the glam zone, but with Namita around she stands little chance. As she plays the serious role of a doc on the run because the villains are out to kill her, only a duet sequence on foreign roads allows her to prance around in skimpy skirts.

Vivekh and Sundar team up once again for Perumal. Both as Idithangi and Indrasena Reddy, Vivekh tickles the funny bone, offering humour sans double entendre and crude makeovers. But his ear-shattering decibel level is a negating aspect. It’s almost a competition between Kotta Srinivasa Rao and Vivekh on who shouts the most!

It is pointless discussing Srikanth Deva’s borrowed stuff that goes in the name of original music. Only the fact that Mu. Ka. Mu. Arivunidhi has sung the remix of ‘Kadhal Vaibogamae’ with S. Janaki might interest the viewers.

old news

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