Michael Jackson Earned $90 million after Death


Late pop legend Michael Jackson has earned $90 million since his death.

The singer, who died on June 25, came third in Forbes.com's annual top earning dead celebrities list with a huge financial haul, reported femalefirst.co.uk.

Jackson earned enormous sum from radio play, royalties from album sales, rights to his name and royalties from his stake in the Sony/ATV music catalogue.

Since Jackson's death, there have also been numerous sales of memorabilia, iconic outfits and even a lock of his hair.

Elvis Presley dropped down from first position last year to fourth this time with earnings of $55 million. Advertisement

Sarah Palin received $1.25m to pen memoir


Sarah Palin, the ex-governor of Alaska, was paid 1.25 million dollars to pen her memoir, official documents show.

Palin revealed the amount in a statement of her finances as Alaska governor before she tendered her resignation on July 27.

The sum was mentioned as a "retainer" received from publishers HarperCollins for her upcoming tome "Going Rogue: An American Life", reports the Telegraph.

However, the document does not say anything about the three months that she has been out of office and shows only a partial picture of the contract.

Palin is likely to make much more money as the book has already topped the popularity charts at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com, much before its November 17 release.

It was earlier believed that Palin had been paid 11 million dollars for the book. Advertisement

Queen wore a dress made from forgotten Indian cloth


The British Queen wore a dress fit for royals at her state banquet for President Pratibha Patil on Tuesday night - after finding the Indian fabric lying unused in a cupboard for decades.

Elizabeth II's stunning pale gold lame dress made its debut at the banquet after being delivered to her in the morning by her dresser.

"It's an Indian material from an earlier visit, but the Queen couldn't remember when," a royal spokeswoman told IANS at Windsor Castle, the 900-year-old castle where Elizabeth II hosted the dinner attended by 150 guests, including Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

"She had it in the cupboard and had forgotten about it. We think it could be from her first visit to India," the spokeswoman added.

The 83-year-old Queen had the fabric turned into a glamorous dress by her personal dresser Angela Kelly, said to be a close aide to her.

It turned out to be the most glamorous outfit of the evening.

The British monarch has visited India thrice - in 1961, 1983 and 1997. Advertisement

Amitabh touches Sanjay Dutt’s feet


Believe it or not Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan touched Sanjay Dutt’s feet. The unthinkable happened in the Sujoy Ghosh directed Aladin when it a particular scene Big B who plays the Genie had to kneel down and touch the feet of Ringmaster played by Sanjay Dutt. Sujoy Ghosh considered the scene to be very important as it contributed to the dramatic quotient of the movie.The entire team was apprehensive about shooting the scene as they were asking the living legend of Indian cinema to touch someone’s feet.

Director Sujoy Ghosh was worried about the reaction of millions of Indians to it.Sanjay Dutt too wasn’t game for the scene at first since Amitabh Bachchan is too big a name to be kneeling down on his feet.Amitabh Bachchan didn’t hesitate in going by the demand of the script and encouraged everyone including Ghosh to shoot the important sequence.

The movie will be worth a watch because never in his career the ‘angry young man’ of the 70s or the ‘Godfather’ of the millennium has been shot kneeling down in somebody’s feet.

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Kareena and SRK are superheroes


Kareena and SRK were paired with each other in Santosh Sivan’s Asoka in 2001. They will now be reunited as an onscreen pair in Anubhav Sinha’s Ra One, Shah Rukh’s home production.A source tells us, “Ra One is a science-fiction film set in the future in which Shah Rukh plays a superhero. So he will be seen wearing a cape, his underwear over his pants, flying over skyscrapers and saving the day.Technically, Ra One will be India’s third superhero film, Krishh and Drona being the first two. Ra One is a big budget film with never-before seen special effects.”

About Kareena’s role in the movie, our source said, “An actor and star of Kareena’s stature and caliber will not be happy playing just a glam doll so she has signed because she has been given a substantial role in the film.She is super fit and lean too and can mould herself according to any role. The stunning star will also get to kick some butt after Tashan.Being signed on for Ra One is a big deal for Kareena because it will be one of the most anticipated releases of 2010. She already has KJo’s Stepmom remake.

Moreover, working in Ra One will increase her chances of playing the lead in Farah Khan’s Happy New Year. Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone are the other actors who are eyeing the film.”Ra One is directed by Anubhav Sinha of Dus, Tum Bin and Cash fame. The director has an eye for action and his songs (Dus Bahane, Cash, and Naughty Naughty) are chartbusters. Filming will begin in US in December followed be a schedule in Mumbai.

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John Abraham miffed with Blue director


John Abraham is blue alright; the actor isn’t taking nicely to Anthony D’souza’s public claims to have approached him for his next two films. After the first week collections of Blue, the filmmakers went on to tag the disaster of a film as a boxoffice hit. However critics and audiences say otherwise. To distract the attention newbie director Anthony D’souza went on to announce his next two films, one being the sequel to Blue and one being Aerial, a film sources say loosely based on the Tom Cruise starrer Top Gun. However what miffed the rather cool and calm actor was when Anthony claimed that he had zeroed in on John for both the roles.

A source close to John reveals, “John didn’t take it well at all, while he has utmost respect for any director whatsoever, he was angry that Anthony told the media that John would be a part of his next two films. Which however is completely untrue and he was upset that Anthony would want to gain publicity by making such a claim. He later on spoke to Anthony about it and the director apologised in return. John only believes in the power of a script and not cheap publicity, considering Blue wasn’t well-received by the audience, he knows what to keep in mind before accepting a film.” John recently confirmed to the press saying, ‘I have immense respect for Anthony and the fact that he wants to work with me.

However, I am neither doing any film titled Aerial nor any underwater film. I am also not doing Blue 2.’When StarBoxOffice contacted Anthony D’souza about the same, he replied, “At the moment I am going through scripts and had only thought of making the sequel to Blue and Aerial. However that wasn’t set in stone and as far as John goes, I had hoped to star him in my forthcoming film but haven’t approached him or spoken to him as of yet. I will do that when I zero down on a good script or story.” If that’s the case we wonder why the hue and cry for eh!

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Aishwarya Rai in a courtroom drama


Aishwarya Rai, who has some of the plumiest project in her kitty, doesn’t have time for cameos, guest appearances or even TV shows, but she’s making an exception for her business manager Hari Singh.Hari has represented Ash ever since she began her Bollywood career and he is now turning producer with a film based on a woman-centric theme.

It tells the story of a war widow’s struggle for justice.Ash was approached to play the character of a lawyer who comes to the widow’s defence and she has reportedly given her nod. Ash would be part of a lot of courtroom drama in the second half of the film. Though it’s not the leading role, it’s very pivotal to the story.

The film will be directed by Jagmohan Mundhra who previously directed Ash as a battered Punjabi housewife in his film Provoked on domestic violence. Mundhra confirms that Ash would act in Hari Singh’s film but adds that her role isn’t a cameo.The remaining cast is yet to be finalized. The film will go on the floors next year.

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