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Los Angeles: Smile Pinki, the tale of a Uttar Pradesh girl and her fight against the social stigma of a cleft-lip, won the Oscar award for Best Documentary (Short).

Directed by Emmy-award winning Megan Mylan, the film was shot in Mirzapur and Varanasi of Uttar Pradesh.

Elated at the victory, Mylan thanked the eight-year-old girl, who could not smile due to her cleft-lip and was teased as othkatti (one with a cut lip) for letting her tell her story.

"Thank you Pinki. Thank you for letting me tell your incredible story," said Mylan while accepting the Oscar.

Pinki then underwent a simple surgery with the help of social workers that almost changed her life.

Mylan also thanked the NGO Smile Train, which funded the surgery and Pinki's Los Angeles trip to attend the Oscars.

Mylan also thanked Dr Subodh K Singh, who performed the surgery.

Smile Pinki edged past The Final Inch, which was also shot in India and documents the struggle of polio workers as they travel from village to village to administer polio drops under the polio eradication programme of India, to win the award.

Kareena now has a book dedicated in her name by her dietician

Kareena Kapoor recently launched a book Don't Lose Your Mind Lose Your Weight (Rs 199), penned by dietician Rujuta Diwekar, who's responsible for making the actress achieve her size-zero figure.

The book is No 1 on the bestseller list and has already sold 10,000 copies. Rujuta says, "Kareena had predicted that it'd be a sellout!

That's why I have dedicated this book to her." The book also carries a foreword by the actress.

Lose it, right

Talking about how she got the idea for the book, Rujuta says, "I once met a 24-year old girl who was planning to get married and wanted to lose weight.

She wore electric belts that gave her rectal bleeding. She also had lot of coffee with sweeteners, to kill hunger pangs. In the process, she got so dehydrated that for nine months, she didn't get her periods.

I wanted to write a book for people like her. To educate them about the right way to lose weight; in a healthy manner, without any side effects."

Finally, it was Kareena who made national headlines last year with anorexia and size-zero rumours, who suggested that Rujuta write a book.

Rujuta says, "Bebo told me there was so much media speculation about her diet that it was time to set the record straight. Essentially, it was about maintaining the body shape while keeping her energy levels high."

Rujuta took three months to complete the book. "From October to Deember 2008, I switched off my cell from 8 am to 8 pm and just wrote and wrote about all my experiences in my diary and laptop." She gifted the first copy of her book to Kareena.

Bebo: Diet stickler

Today, Rujuta prescribes diets for Kareena and her beau Saif Ali Khan. "Bebo follows everything strictly but Saif sometimes eats what he feeels like.

He asked me to help him, after seeing Bebo's weight loss and toned body."

Recently, Rujuta worked out a diet for Kareena in Delhi when she was shooting for Rensil D'Silva's film. "Kareena was having daal makhni, parathas and paneer tikkas.

Because of the Delhi smog, she got a throat infection but since she had been eating correctly, she recovered faster than she would have normally done.

I am amazed at Bebo's dedication. She is the most down-to-earth star I have met."

Excerpts from Kareena's foreword:

"Rujuta focuses on nutrition and not just calories. Amazingly, she helps you to keep the nutritional value of what you eat, as compared to how many calories you consume, high.

And still enjoy what you're eating! I have learnt what Rujuta means when she says, 'Be smart about food.' Now, thanks to her book, you can too. I'm certain you'll find it good enough to eat."

Excerpts from Don't Lose Your Mind Lose Your Weight

Anti-aging

To keep the face and body from aging, work at keeping body weight to optimum. To have a young face, you must not allow your body weight to go up from its optimum.

The second thing that you must do is include healthy fats in your diet, like nuts (including peanuts), cheese, ghee, paneer and fish.

Including fats not just provides your facial skin with the moisture and raw material that it needs to keep from wrinkling, but also helps you burn fat effectively there, by not allowing your body fat levels (body weight) to go up.

Coffee post dinner

Well, coffee for one, will come in the way of your sleep, you know that. It will interfere in the digestion, specifically in the absorption of minerals like iron and calcium.

And on low levels of calcium and iron, fat burning suffers (oh no!). Wait, one more, coffee makes your stomach acidic so you wake up bloated and constipated.

And now for the proof. When you wake up in the morning, brush your teeth, stand in front of a mirror, put your tongue out and look at its colour.

It will have a thick deposit. These are the toxins settled on your tongue after your night's sleep. Still want that coffee?

Chennai: She is hoping her brother will bring back at least two Oscars for Slumdog Millionaire. Music maestro A.R. Rahman's elder sister Reihana, a well-known Tamil music composer and singer, says the family is very excited and deliriously happy at his super success.

“We are hoping he will win at least two Oscars. We trust in god and have surrendered to him,” Reihana told IANS in Chennai.

Rahman has been nominated for three Oscars - Best Original Score, for the song Jai Ho and for O Saya.

Though Rahman's bagging awards is nothing new for the family, an Academy Award will of course be special.

”Awards may have become commonplace for Rahman, but we are deliriously happy on every occasion. The mood now is similar to that on the eve of his maiden honour for Roja. We are excited, but not nervous about the special honour," Reihana said.

Reihana has yet to wish her brother luck. “I will, when everybody else has finished doing that,” she said with a chuckle.

Tanvi Shah, who crooned the Oscar-nominated Jai Ho is optimistic and proud of her mentor.

”When Rahman Sir wins the Oscar, it would be for the whole nation,” Shah told IANS.

”Two weeks ago when I congratulated him breathlessly, he replied, 'Congrats to you too!' This shows why we have a proud sense of belonging as he values our team work. He may be thousands of miles away, in a different continent, but to us he is virtually next door,” Shah said.

Shah has also rendered another number Gangsta Blues in the movie.

Young Madhumita, another singer in Slumdog, is sure Rahman will bring home at least one Oscar.

“I have a very strong feeling that he will come home with an Oscar. I want to catch every second from the moment when Rahman's name is announced,” Madhumita told IANS.

Already in celebration mode, Madhumita is all keyed up to watch the big event and the man who, according to her, ‘unleashes the creativity in every singer’.

“I will always be grateful to Rahman Sir for the Slumdog... opportunity. I only came to know how big it was when I saw the album with Mia and Sukhvinder's names on it too,” she recalled.

“The Liquid Dance number was a challenge because Rahman asked me to rap with jathis (notations), which are normally used only in south Indian classical music,” Madhumita added.

PA Deepak, one of the main sound engineers for the movie and its songs, other than Jai Ho and Dreams on Fire which were done by the late H Sridhar, has expressed his 'wish' already to Rahman.

“He called me from LA for some work and asked me what I wanted from the US. I said to him 'I want an Oscar'. With intricate knowledge of the pluses of each technician and singer, Rahman brings out the best in us without pushing us too much. Working with him is indeed an inspiring pleasure," Deepak told IANS.

If Slumdog wins even one Oscar, its Tamil dubbed version Naanum Kodeeshwaran may get a windfall, according to Sunil Narvekar, who is currently exhibiting the movie here.

”The publicity generated during the run-up to the Oscars is a win-win situation for the movie. And when Rahman is given the gold-plated Oscar statuette, it would be our crowning glory,” Narvekar said.

Slumdog Millionaire stars Dev Patel and Freida Pinto have fuelled dating rumours after being spotted shopping for a ring on Valentine’s Day.

The report comes after their co-star Anil Kapoor recently revealed he could feel “the beginning of something exciting” between the two.

The 18-year-old lad was seen taking his six-year-senior “lady love” to a High Street jeweller’s on Oxford Street – and left without purchasing anything.

“Dev and Frieda seemed completely smitten with each other. They spent 15 minutes in the jeweller’s and were quite happy to sign autographs and talk to fans,” the Sun quoted an onlooker as saying.

“They paid particular attention to one of the cabinets which was full of the more expensive rings stocked by the store chain.

“They didn’t buy anything in the end, but they certainly spent plenty of time studying the range,” the onlooker added.