Album: Notebook Genre: Bollywood

Directed by Nitin Kakkar and produced by Salman Khan, Notebook marks the Bollywood debut of Zaheer Iqbal and Pranutan Bahl. The romantic drama comprises five songs and Vishal Mishra has composed all of them, a rarity at a time when multi-composer albums are in vogue. The best part about the soundtrack is that it reflects the essence of Kashmir, where the film is set. Also, all the songs of Notebook are symphonic, which shows that a lot of emphasis has been given to orchestration and live recording.

The first song, Nai Lagda, is a soft, melodious number that has been penned by Akshay Tripathi. The fusion of Indian and western instruments, including the flute, tabla, guitar, bass, dholak and sarangi, and the way every instrument showcases its presence, form this track’s USP. The rendition by Vishal Mishra and Asees Kaur add colour to this longing number.

Singer Dhvani Bhanushali’s voice is a good fit for Laila, a soulful track that features lyrics by Abhendra Upadhyay and Vishal Mishra. Full marks to the composer and the Macedonian Symphonic Orchestra for doing justice to the soul of this track.

Though it’s not a recreation, Bumro will invariably remind you of Hrithik Roshan and Preity Zinta’s version of Bumro from Mission Kashmir (2000). Inspired by Kashmiri folk music, this song from Notebook sstarts with a couple of lines in Koshur (Kashmiri language). It has been written by Kaushal Kishore and sung by Kamaal Khan. The Kashmiri lyrics have been penned by Vibha Saraf. Vishal has used Kashmiri instruments and influences to retain the authenticity of the folk song.

Who can be better than Mohit Chauhan when it comes to rendering a song with a trance-like vibe. Remember Tumse Hi Din Hota Hai from Jab We Met (2007) and Tujhe Bhula Diya from Anjaana Anjaani (2010)?

Notebook’s Safar is a typical Mohit song, which commences at a slow pace and gains tempo mid-way. The number starts with the rabab, which adds a Kashmiri touch to it.

The guitar, saz, a 60-piece orchestra and over 100 live musicians come together to make this one worth listening to. Lyricist Kaushal Kishore’s work with the pen cannot be ignored.

Last but not the least, Salman Khan steps behind the mic again, this time for Main Taare, a meaningful, romantic track, penned by Manoj Muntashir. The last love song Salman sang was Main Hoon Hero Tera from Hero (2015), which was also his production. Though auto-tuner has been used for the vocals, it only betters the song. The composition is beautiful and Salman’s voice goes well with it. Besides the low-key notes, Salman also hits the high notes with ease, which is a pleasant surprise. The video of Main Taare, featuring a dapper-looking Salman, has become quite popular.

Album: Junglee Genre: Bollywood

While Bollywood’s love affair with recreated songs continues, there are still some composers and lyricists who strive to create originals. These include music albums with songs specifically created for a particular film, keeping in mind its story and feel of the movie; there is no attempt made to fit in random item numbers. And this is what we get to see in American filmmaker Chuck Russell’s action-adventure Junglee (a Junglee Pictures production, the film is produced by Vineet Jain and co-produced by Priti Shahani) starring Vidyut Jammwal, Pooja Sawant and Asha Bhat in lead roles.


A three-song album, its music has been composed by Sameer Uddin, who is known for his background scores in Pyar Ke Side Effects, Yahan, Phillauri and Kalakandi. His talent as a composer was seen in Badass Babuaa (Bareilly Ki Barfi). With Junglee, Sameer has created a pan-India soundscape with distinct flavours from across the country, especially North and South India. He uses instruments like nadaswaram, mridangam, tumbi, algoza and dhol along with drums and guitar with noteworthy élan.

The first track Fakeera Ghar Aaja has been penned by writer Anvita Dutt Guptan, who uses an asymmetrical style of writing to narrate a story. Jubin Nautiyal’s easy rendering adds to the soothing composition, which is an amalgamation of the sounds from across the country.

The next, Garje Gajraj Hamare, which has lyrics by Kumar Suryavanshi, has been sung by Navraj Hans, Hamsika Iyer, Abhishek Nailwal and Gulshan Kumar. While Navraj enhances the song with his little harkats and other vocal nuances, all the while maintaining a powerful voice throw, it is Gulshan who takes you by surprise. The child singer packs a punch by lending a certain kind of freshness to this peppy, fun composition. He is also effortless with the rap portions, where he mouths lines like ‘Ye vaise to cool hai, par inka ik usool hai/Ye bhulte na bhai kuch bhi, inse panga lena bhool hai’. This ode to the mighty elephant stands out as a rare kid-friendly track in an era dominated by club music.

The next, Dosti, has been sung by Mohan Kanan, whose warm, rustic voice does justice to the song on friendship. Written by Kumar, Sameer has kept the chord structure quite simple for this song with guitar and flute progressions. This is one original album that deserves a hear.

Every little move can improve your health

Lovers of vigorous exercise aren’t the only ones who get health benefits from physical activity. Lowerkey workouts — even activities you’d never think of as exercise — can also improve your well-being, studies find. New research shows just how impactful any type of movement can be. Compared to women who get less exercise, those who get lots of light physical activity may have up to a 42 per cent lower risk of dying from coronary problems, such as heart attacks, and a 22 per cent lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease, the study says.

Light activity includes most of the movements of daily life, says study co-author Andrea LaCroix. Walking around, getting dressed, checking the mail, pruning the garden and doing dishes all count. “Those are examples of daily life activities that we don’t think of as exercise, but we spend a lot of time doing and they involve movement,” LaCroix said.


Researchers examined data from almost 6,000 healthy women ages 63 and older, all of whom wore fitness trackers to record activity levels for a week. During a follow-up period of up to five years, 143 people developed coronary heart disease and another 570 developed some type of cardiovascular disease, which can include heart attack, stroke and heart failure.

Women who appeared to be getting the biggest health boost from light exercise were doing lots of it — between 5.6 and 10.3 hours per day, compared to less than 3.9 hours per day in the least-active group.

Performing advanced Robotic Knee Replacement surgeries

Mumbai now has its very own centre for Robotic Knee Replacement. Upasani Super Speciality Hospital (USSH) in Mulund is the first centre in Mumbai to perform Robotic Knee Replacement. These surgeries are done using the NAVIO PFS Robotics surgical system, the latest generation robotic system in joint replacement from USA.

Robotic joint replacement surgery has definitive benefits over traditional joint replacement surgery. It ensures less blood loss, pain-free, faster and better post-operative outcomes for the patient. “Robotics assisted joint replacement is at a much higher pedestal than traditional joint replacement surgery. Despite it being a high-end technology, we have chosen to not make it expensive so more patients can benefit from this,” says Dr Tejas Upasani (MD and HOD, Orthopaedics, USSH.


Busting popular myths, Dr. Upasani adds, “I’m still doing the surgery, not the robot. The robotics enabled artificial intelligence helps achieve unparalleled precision and accuracy in the surgery with bone cuts, which was not possible with the manual method of surgery. This technology helps me create a 3D model of the patient’s knee. With this model, I can customise the surgery specifically to that particular patient because every knee is different. At the end of the surgery, the knee implant is almost a custom-fit for the patient and they forget they have even undergone a surgery.”

The Robotic Joint Replacement Centre at USSH was inaugurated by chief guest, actor Atul Kulkarni. Dr Upasani, when asked why he chose to get this technology, said “We, at USSH, have always believed in giving the best to patients. We always focus on patient safety and outcomes. With robotics, we are driving this and are at par with the world in healthcare.”

www.techkneelogy.com (*Procedures given are based on the expert’s understanding of the said field)

Hair regeneration and growth with skin micro grafting

Rigenera Activa is a one-hour easy, painless, US FDA approved, non-surgical hair regrowth treatment that depends on fine (capillary) regenerative therapy and done in a single sitting. Says Dr Dinesh, “It uses autologous micrografts in the treatment of male and female pattern baldness. It can be used for skin rejuvenation, non healing ulcers and acne scars.”

What is Rigenera Activa?


Rigenera is a device specially created and fabricated for clinical utilisation of regenerative treatments utilising autologous micrografts.

What are these micrografts made up of?

Rigenera micrografts comprise around 70,000 cells consisting of 85 per cent progenitor cells, extracellular matrix and growth factor.

How does hair regenerate and grow?

Micrografts are taken from the nape of the neck and exposed to mechanical preparing and filtration in this way yielding cells and growth factors, which have regenerative limits. They are then infused to the affected areas of the scalp which recover the affected hair follicles.

For hair and skin-related queries, visit Hairline Diagnostics and Research Institute, which provides services like hair transplant, various PRP treatments, skin whitening, peels, scalp micro pigmentation, permanent make-up and CNC (3D printed hair remodelling) and more.

Where: Hairline Clinic, Andheri, 022-66963303, 022-66963304.

(*Procedures given are based on the expert’s understanding of the said field)

Zakir Naik diverted donations to buy flats, mutual funds: ED

The Enforcement Directorate’s money laundering probe against absconding preacher Zakir Naik has found undisclosed assets worth over Rs 193 crore — including investments in 20 flats in Mumbai and Pune, besides bank deposits. Naik is accused of diverting funds and donations received from Islamic countries for “welfare of Muslims” to buy real estate.

ED, likely to file a chargesheet soon, has attached Naik’s assets worth Rs 51 crore, including multiple properties and mutual funds of Rs 9.41 crore.ED, in a status report on Naik, said the preacher used his Islamic Research Foundation, meant for Muslim welfare, to organise “dubious donations” and diverted the proceeds to buy properties.


It said Naik raised donations of about Rs 65 crore from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, besides India, between 2004 and 2017. It tracked Rs 49 crore received from unexplained sources in Dubai, which Naik further used to book at least 20 flats in Mumbai and Pune.

The ED’s probe found that Naik booked nine flats worth over Rs 13 crore in Fatima Heights and Aafiyah Heights in Mumbai in the name of his wife and son and 11 flats in Engracia in Pune. “The booking amounts were paid by routing unexplained funds received by Naik through the bank accounts of his wife, son and niece,” a source said. The transaction trail of the Rs 13 crore revealed that the money was routed through the bank accounts of his mother, father and sister. The source of funds remained unexplained, the ED said.

Short-course treatment may not work on MDR-TB

Short-course treatment may not work on MDR-TB


Mumbai:

Majority of Indian multidrug resistant TB (MDR-TB) patients may not benefit from the shorter treatment regimen spanning nine to 11 months that has worked effectively in several other countries.


A study conducted by a city hospital has found the reason is most MDR-TB patients are resistant to second-line TB drugs and injectables that form the backbone of the shorter regime. Presently, MDR-TB treatment runs up to 24 months, besides being painful and causing serious side-effects.

Doctors at Mahim’s PD Hinduja Hospital have published a study in the BMC Infectious Diseases journal stating only 3% MDR-TB patients will qualify for the ‘short course’ regimen that relies on antibiotics fluoroquinolones and second-line injectable drugs. Evaluation of 559 patients showed that 75% were already resistant to fluoroquinolones, injectable drugs amikacin, kanamycin and anti-TB drug rifampicin. When their samples were studied for sensitivity to all drugs in the short course regimen, as many as 97% patients were resistant.

Interestingly, the Hinduja findings have come at a time when results of the first multi-country trial are just out. The STREAM trial carried out in Vietnam, Mongolia, South Africa and Ethiopia showed the short-course treatment outcome was as good as the conventional twoyear regimen (79-80%).

“The STREAM trial findings, though exciting, may not hold true for Indian patients, where the resistance patterns are complex,” said chest physician Dr Zarir Udwadia and lead researcher of the Hinduja study.

New treatment centre
PD Hinduja will soon start the city’s first MDRTB centre under privatepublic partnership, where patients can consult their experts but get free medicines under the national programme. TNN