Shah Rukh has two wives, me and Gauri: Karan Johar

HindustanTimes.com
New Delhi, November 18, 2006

Bollywood's ace director Karan Johar, enthralled one and all with his witty one-liners and articulate answers at the second day of the Hindustan Times leadership summit in the capital.

Karan participated in the session 'Exploring New Frontiers' and shared stage with former Indian captain Saurav Ganguly. The one hour session saw them speak on a variety of subjects.

Excerpts from the session:

Who is the best actor in Bollywood, besides Shah Rukh and Amitabh Bachchan?
That's a tough one. I think Kajol. She is a fantastic actress. She has amazing screen presence and lights up the screen whenever she makes an appearance. She's a gifted actress, very very talented..I guess just like her mother.

One actor you want to work with.
Aamir Khan. He is one actor who is understated yet a brilliant actor. He is a power-house performer and never fails to make an impact. He's an actor who can convey so much through his eyes.

He was brilliant in Rang De Basanti. I very well remember the last scene which he has with south-Indian actor Siddarth where despite being in background, he stood throughout.

If you have to choose between Aamir and SRK....
Obviously SRK..He is the biggest actor in the world. Statistically speaking, if 4.5 billion people in the world know Tom Cruise, 3.2 billion people know SRK. So, undoubtedly he is one of the biggest actors in the world. Read on...

Captaining India is toughest job: Ganguly

HindustanTimes.com
New Delhi, November 18, 2006

Former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly on Saturday said he believed he still "has it in him" to make a comeback in the national side.

But Ganguly qualified his faith in self by saying that the ultimate decision of course would be of selectors, the captain and the coach.

Ganguly, mellowed and a far cry from the agressive-bordering-on-arrogant captian he used to be not so long ago, also regretted some of the things he could have avoided saying in the aftermath of his exclusion from the Indian team.

Sourav, taking part in a joint session along with Bollywood director Karan Johar at the fourth HT Leadership Summit, said prospects of his playing for the country again depended on the "outlook" of the team management. Hindustan Times Editorial Director Vir Sanghvi conducted the session.

"If they think I'm not good enough, they will think otherwise. Else, why not? I have got a hundred in the domestic cricket. And I'm trying my level best to come up to their expectations." Read on...

Sonia welcomes passage of nuclear deal

Saroj Nagi
New Delhi, November 17, 2006

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday welcomed the Indo-US nuclear deal passed by the US Senate but qualified it by saying that the Congress and the UPA would not accept anything that was outside the July 18 agreement.

"I don't know what position the Government will take. But the bill will have to be reconciled at the joint meeting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The position of the Congress party and the UPA is that nothing will be accepted which is outside the July 18 agreement...We sincerely hope that all those areas which are not acceptable to us are not included in the bill. Only then will we welcome it," Sonia said.

The Congress chief was responding to a question after addressing the Fourth Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on "India: The Next Global Superpower?" in which she underlined that India's "external strength" will derive from the country's internal cohesion and the manner in which "we nurture our secular values and strengthen our capacity to manage our diversities in harmony." Read on...

Osama bin Laden hiding on Pak-Afghan border: Karzai

HindustanTimes.com
New Delhi, November 18, 2006

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday hinted that Osama bin Laden could still be hiding in the region bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"He is in the region...That is if he hasn't run away," Karzai said, somewhat cautiously, during an interactive session with the audience after his address at the fourth HT Leadership Summit in the Capital.

A circumspect Karzai refused to go into the details. Read on...