I don’t think a day will do anymore…it’s not enough to recognise, celebrate or shows thanks to every woman that inhabits the world and whose presence makes a perceptible difference to everyone’s life.

I am honoured to have been asked to be the Guest Editor of the After Hrs Women’s Day Special edition. As I assimilated my thoughts, it was fairly evident that this topic is very vast and it would be quite difficult to narrow my thoughts to a few hundred words…but I’ll try!

President Barack Obama once said: “The best judge of whether or not a country is going to develop is how it treats its women. If it’s educating its girls, if women have equal rights, that country is going to move forward. But if women are oppressed and abused, then they’re going to fall behind.”

Given where India stands today and the giant strides it has been taking, this is a very key point. The empowerment of women in our country is quite complex because you are tackling issues in different contexts and levels.

From a professional perspective, we have made some definite strides. If I take a small example of my industry, over the past few years, the role of a woman in Indian cinema has changed dramatically and evolved to a space where women-oriented films are accepted and successful.

There are so many success stories of women from across industries that support this fact. We have come a long way but we
still have a long way to go.

However, from a social perspective, we have barely scratched the surface…the emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, ‘It’s a girl’.

From infant foeticide, lack of education to child marriage, the Indian girl child and woman still continues to deal with the lack of basic human rights and much more.

The positive aspect is that there is a growing recognition of the areas of concern and there are big steps being taken to work towards a change. I am certain the momentum will continue.

There is so much more I would like to add but for now I’ll leave you with a thought — “I am a woman in process. I’m just trying like everybody else. I try to take every conflict, every experience, and learn from it. Life is never dull.”

Last year, when Hollywood actor Gerard Butler came to Mumbai, Priyanka Chopra had played a gracious host at a special party thrown exclusively for him. In fact, the bonhomie between the duo wasn’t restricted to just friendship, as reports claimed. To put all doubts to rest, Gerard had even said in an interview: “I don’t mind marrying an Indian girl, too bad Priyanka already has a boyfriend!”

So we’re not surprised to hear that last week Butler visited the sets of Anjaana Anjaani which Priyanka has been shooting with Ranbir Kapoor in New York.

Butler reportedly bonded with Priyanka again and the duo chatted to their heart’s content. Not just that, Butler hung around on the sets to see the shoot.

Whether something is brewing between PC and the ‘300’ star is hard to say, but the twosome does seem to have a soft spot for each other.

Will Cupid play his trick? Now, that’s the question.

She later tweeted from Johannesburg, “Wow! Eerie feeling.. I’m so excited! … Sitting and watching the rehearsals.. All the girls walking out in their finery… So nostalgic.. It’s almost like I can hear their thoughts.”

Before leaving for the pageant, where Miss Gibraltar was crowned Miss World and Pantaloons Femina Miss India Pooja Chopra was crowned Beauty With A Purpose, Priyanka did a mock poll on whether she should wear her hair straight or sports curls with her sari.

At Johannesburg, Priyanka told PTI that it is wrong to expect the winning beauty to change the world. “Miss World is not the President of a country, and people should not expect her to be that,” she said.

The 59th edition of the contest saw beauties from 112 countries participating, and Priyanka says that the winner of the pageant is just another girl doing her bit to help.

“She’s just a girl who has been given this pedestal of power and position and she is going to do her bit to help whoever needs help, especially because the Miss World organisation does so much for children who are disadvantaged, sick and underprivileged,” Priyanka said.

July 12: With her sensuous body moves and exotic frame, Priyanka Chopra, boasts of a legion of male fan following. The sultry beauty, who has been flaunting her curves on every given occasion, is now gearing up to shake her booty to the beats of UK based pop star Jay Sean for a sizzling, thumping music video.

Known for being a music junkie, the actress is said to be quite a fan of the pop star and the two are also said to share a cushy rapport.

So much so is Piggy chops said to be in awe of the singer that she gave her consent without even going though the final draft of the music video. In fact, the deal between the two was signed and sealed on Twitter.

Talking of the close bond between the two, a daily quoted a source as saying, “Priyanka is a big R&B fan and she has been following Jay Sean closely over the years and grooving to his music. She was shooting in Hyderabad and she got to know that Jay was performing there and that there was a big concert happening. She made it a point that she wrapped up her shoot in time and got tickets for the show.”

The actress confirmed saying, “It`s been fun Twittering. I love R&B music and I enjoyed his last album a hell of a lot”.

Here’s a look at the Twitter chat between Jay Sean and Priyanka

jaysean@priyankachopra: so….this time, i dont even care if ur shooting with al pacino, im stealing u for my vid!!! hows ur film going? 4:03 AM Jul 11th

What she replied priyankachopra@jaysean: fow show!! no excuses.. shoot going really well.. hows `down` doin??10:55 AM Jul 11th

Did you know?

Jay Sean`s earlier muse from Bollywood was the sultry Bipasha Basu who made a guest appearance in his music video ‘Stolen’. ‘Stolen’ is the second single from Jay Sean`s debut album ‘Me Against Myself’ that was released in 2004.

After becoming a controversy girl in Bollywood and being asked all sorts of questions about her relationship with Shahid Kapur, Gerard Butler and Harman Baweja, she urges media to take it all easy and has decided to stick to questions pertaining to her films only.

The actress is currently shooting for the film ‘What’s Your Rashee’, being directed by Ashutosh Gowariker. He is the same director who told her that Aishwarya is more deserving for the Best Actress award. But that statement has not led her to underperform in the film.

She is in fact learning contemporary jazz and describes the dance form as painful. “Contemporary jazz is painful. Rehearsing for ‘What’s Your Rashee?’ is killing me! But it’s an awesome kind of pain! But I’m still wondering, how do they do it?”, Priyanka says.

After many national and international celebrities, Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra is the latest to have taken to social networking website Twitter in a big way.

“Priyanka has recently taken to Twitter and she is quite regular as she updates her account at least once a day,” a source close to the actress told IANS.

The Twitter page of the actress, who created waves with her performance in “Fashion” and “Dostana”, can be found on www.twitter.com/priyankachopra and www.twitter.com/priyankaonline

The latest updates by Priyanka also include her feelings on pop icon Michael Jackson’s demise Thursday.

“I cannot believe it! MJ no more… He was the reason I started loving music. Thank you MJ the inspiration for all of us. The true king of pop,” wrote Priyanka, who is a good singer herself.

Promo of Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra’s Movie “Kaminey”

Mumbai, June 18: Perhaps no other actress has managed to get this privilege. Priyanka Chopra will be grooving to 12 songs that will pay tribute to the 12 sun signs she plays in What’s Your Raashee?.

Not so long ago, there were rumours of Piggy chops being upset with her director Ashutosh Gowarikar for making a comment on stage that Aishwarya Rai deserved the Best Actress award that Chopra got. Standing there on the stage, when the IIFA awards at Macau were coming to a close, Ashutosh out of the blue announced that he wished Ash had won the award for Jodhaa Akbar (his film) rather than Priyanka winning it for Fashion. (Ashutosh seems to be becoming quite adept at creating controversies at award ceremonies). To make it worse, he further added that Jaya Bachchan also thought so.

Later, there were reports that Priyanka took it badly and seemed very upset. But looks like things are not as bad as it seems. According to a source close to the actor, “Priyanka and Ashu are very fond of each other and there is no tension between them.”

And the 12 special songs might look like Ashutosh’s way of making up for the humiliation, but sources insist the songs were well planned even before the incident. “Ashutosh is not doing anything out of the way. It’s a plan that they always had,” the source says.

When contacted Priyanka only chose to say, “There are 12 characters belonging to different zodiac signs, so the 12 songs. It’s amazing how Sohail Sen (the music composer) has brought all of them together with a range and mixture of distinctive sounds. Each song is unique and depicts each character’s story.”

It has taken almost seven years for one of the top rated actress in Bollywood to land up in a Yash Raj banner movie. Yes we are talking about none other than Dostana actress Priyanka Chopra. Although she has worked with all the top directors and producers in Bollywood the Yash Raj tag somehow eluded her. Not any more Priyanka has signed her movie Pyaar Impossible with Yash Raj Films.

The movie has been scripted by Uday Chopra who will also play the male lead in the story. Priyanka said that she was completely bowled by the script and jumped with joy on hearing it. The actress however said she can’t reveal much about the plot of the movie. Pyaar Impossible will be a relaunch of sorts for Uday Chopra who was last seen in Dhoom 2 and has been unable to deliver a solo hit in his career.

Pyaar Impossible will be directed by Uday’s Mohabbatein co-star Jugal Hansraj who had directed the animated Roadside Romeo also under the Yash Raj banner. The movie will also star Dino Morea and Anupam Kher. The buzz around the tinsel town is that the movie is a remake of the Hollywood flick Notting Hill starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant which talked about the relationship between a star and her fan.