Kanchi has a new look!

Kanchi Kaul is looking ravishing in Ek Ladki Anjani Si these days - she has traded her curls for straight locks! Kanchi, who plays the 18-year-old Ananya in the Sony show gets artificially inseminated in the show and her life's still in doldrums, but the lady seems to have time for a little makeover. "I love the look I sport in Ek Ladki…it is very trendy and young keeping with my character and the newly acquired straight hair is just great," quips Kanchi. Kanchi dons long skirts and kurtis with embroidered bags to play Ananya. Does the new look suggest that the girl is maturing into a woman???? Fame Gurukul finalist sells Sauna Fit! Arpita Mukherjee, in one of her interviews to Tellychakkar.com, had expressed her desire to be a popular playback singer, but it seems that the lady has again put the desire on hold. The singer can be seen quite often on a local channel selling Sauna Fit, a kind of a belt that helps reduce body fat. No doubt that the lady does a great job, but it's a pity to see her on screen doing something like that and not singing her heart out! We hear that Arpita is doing a lot of stage shows (and surely earning big bucks!), but we hope we'll soon see the lady crooning in her melodious voice for the Bollywood glamour brigade! Gaurav and Maninee to host cricket show! Cricket fever seems to have taken a toll on celebs! Maninee Misra and VJ Gaurav Kapoor will soon be seen doing cricket commentry on Sahara One's Not Just Cricket. The trend, made popular by Mandira Bedi, will be continued by the duo who will begin their innings from 22 April, when the 14 match series starts. The duo will meet viewers an hour prior to every match at 3 pm (IST) on Filmy and at 3.30 pm (IST) on SaharaOne, during the half-hour break at 7.30 pm (IST) and post match. A bevy of expert commentators like Rameez Raja, Madan Lal, Arun Lal have been roped in for the live commentary from the grounds at Abu Dhabi, along with Ajay Jadeja, Ayaz Memon, and Jatin Paranjpe, who will join Gaurav and Maninee. Teh viewers will not only get an opportunity to laugh at their antics, but also win fabulous prizes for predicting the outcome of the matches. War for news...and how! It's a truth universally acknowledged that we reporters are a frustrated bunch! Constant deadlines and pressures to get that exclusive tag does something to our minds that make us do things that in other circumstances we wouldn't have done. Perhaps the same thing happened to the bunch who have started the blog, warfornews.blogspot.com. They encourage journos from the top three news channles of the country to wash their dirty linen in public...and do it in style! They abuse, criticise, praise (often themselves) and leak sensitive internal emails that cast aspersions on what we call the credibility of journalism. We wonder why reporters who are a lucky few to have got such good breaks with big channels would indulge in mindless chatter and inane gossip? Are they so desperate for attention that they need to promote themselves in this fashion? The comments section on the blog written supposedly by reporters themselves is an insult to the profession itself - foul language, discussion on intimate details (bordering on the crass) and references to female journos with utmost disregard...the blog thrives on this! It's sad to see journalists stoop to such levels...and surely there are better things to do for these people? Isn't this taking the dictum of war for news too far????? What say you? Shaktiman to endorse POGO chips Mukesh Khanna's added another feather to his already chequered cap! Gee Pee Foods (P) Ltd. a group company of Priya Biscuits has signed the actor as their new brand ambassador for POGO chips. Former Indian Cricket Captain Saurav Ganguly was the previous face of POGO chips. Mukesh Khanna a.k.a. Shaktiman is excited with the offer and was heard saying, "Shaktiman is the favorite Indian superhero among children and will always promote quality products for his young fans." Incidentally, Mukesh's production house, Bheeshma International will also be producing the advertisement. The production house has produced many successful ad films and the super hit kids show, Shaktiman. The ad film is said to be both entertaining and humorous and will begin shooting on 24 April.