BCCI announces Rs 20 lakh cash prize for India Under-19 squad

The BCCI on Sunday announced a cash prize of Rs 20 lakh each for members of the Indian team which lifted its third Under-19 World Cup title in Townsville after defeating defending champions Australia.

BCCI President N Srinivasan congratulated the team, which was led superbly by unbeaten centurion skipper Unmukt Chand in the final against the defending champions.

Chand led from the front with a magnificent 111 as the Indian colts beat Australia by six wickets.

"Many congratulations to the Indian team for winning the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup. We won the 'senior' World Cup last year, and now our boys have triumphed in the junior version of the tournament.

This is a great day for Indian cricket. The Board would like to announce a cash prize of Rs 20 lakh to each player, and Rs 15 lakh to each member of the support staff," Srinivasan said in a statement.

This was India U-19s first triumph after Mohammed Kaif and Virat Kohli led their respective teams to victory in 2000 and 2008 editions respectively.

BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale also extended his wishes to the Indian team and said every member of the squad worked hard towards this victory.

Raaz 3D role depressed and drained me: Bipasha Basu

   Bipasha says playing a jealous actress past her prime in Raaz 3D was emotionally draining as she could not identify with the evil nature of her character. Bipasha says she pushed herself maximum to portray the character of Shinaaya, an actress who resorts to black magic to get her career and lover back in the horror film, which hits the theatres on September 7.

"I did not know how to bring in so much darkness because I am a happy person. I did not have any reference point. But I had to deliver and I think it was the nervous energy that brought me into that zone. It is the maximum I have pushed as an individual to perform. This role has depressed me, drained me and has broken me down," Bipasha told PTI.

The Bong beauty says she is fascinated by the dark side of human nature and that was one of the reasons that prompted her to return to the franchise a decade later after 2002 Raaz, also her career's first hit. "All over the world, actors are fascinated by dark roles because the good is very predictable. We all are very normal beings who fear things. I have played such roles and it is fine but a dark character is always more exciting," says Bipasha.

The actress, who started her movie career with a grey role in Ajnabee, believes that Raaz 3 would be one of the darkest roles of her career. The 33-year-old, whose break-up with John Abraham hogged the limelight until recently, says playing an actress on-screen made her realise how vulnerable actors are in real life.

Soha Ali Khan cried badly after Shooting a scene

At times, it becomes very difficult for actresses to shoot rape and molestation scenes. Soha Ali Khan recently shot a molestation scene for her upcoming movie. But the actress got so hurt emotionally after shooting the scene that she started crying badly on the sets.

Soha Ali's next film is based on child trafficking, where she is playing an NRI. In the movie, there is a scene where she gets molested by a group of goons. When Soha came to know about the molestation scene, she requested the director to shoot the scene behind closed doors as Soha did not want any still photographer to be present there.

A source told a leading daily, "Soha was emotionally drained while shooting the sequence. In this particular scene, the goons drag her down to the floor and rip off her shirt and manhandle her."

Sunny Leone says sorry for not exposing in ‘Jism 2’

Stories of Sunny Leone’s erotic seduction spreads far and wide. And even as her debut in Bollywood created a lusty wave almost triggering a tsunami here in India, the angel looking porn star is gearing up with her new release titled ‘Ragini MMS 2’.

The entire nation was swept by Sunny mania as director Pooja Bhatt dared to cast a world renowned porn star in her film ‘Jism 2’. Men waited with bated breath to see the same girl they watched in x-rated films on the big screen now. But, to the disappointment of many, Sunny Leone didn’t live up to her standard.

When Sunny got to know about this, she said, “We have a different set of rules in India. There is a Censor Board we have to answer to, whose rules are pretty strict. There is an adult film industry everywhere. But I did this movie knowing it is mainstream Hindi cinema.”

When Sunny got to hear that her fans felt let down by her, she laughed and said, “I`m sorry for letting them down by not exposing. But hey! They bought the tickets, so I want to thank them!”