New Delhi, Feb 12 - Known for her unconventional choice of scripts, Kalki Koechlin says it's time Bollywood filmmakers sat back and got the idea of commercial cinema right. The actress, who also supports bold portrayal of women on the big screen, says filmmakers should avoid mixing entertainment with a moral story.

Shimla, Feb 12 - A familiar figure strolling along Shimla's Mall, greeting friends and chatting animatedly in the coffee house is being missed with the death of actor Anupam Kher's father Pushkar Nath Kher, 84.

Nath's friends and local theatre artistes, who once shared stage with Kher, mourned his demise. Nath, a Kashmiri Pandit by origin, died in Mumbai after a brief illness Friday.

New Delhi, Feb 12 - Did you shelve love after marriage? Experts suggest that this Valentine's Day, with some planning, time management and surprises, couples can rekindle romance and brush away boredom from married life.

TV actor Pawan Shankar, married to Yukti for more than eight years, feels that priorities change after having kids, but it's the responsibility of the couples to keep the romance alive.

New Delhi, Feb 12 - High real estate costs, lack of any tax incentive and bureaucratic hurdles are huge problems for the growth of the hospitality industry that is one of the country's top job earners, a survey revealed Sunday.

"The high costs of real estate and lack of any tax incentives by the government are acting as hurdles for the hospitality sector. These challenges are further accentuated by overall infrastructure deficit in the country," said a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) survey.

Indian stock market ended the week lower with BSE Sensex at 17748 and NSE Nifty at 5381. The stock markets have given very positive returns in year 2012 and traders are expecting action in coming days in mid cap and small cap space.

As the BSE Sensex has seen a good bounce, many stocks have touched 52-week high during the last trading session of the previous week.

Cement major ACC touched 52-week high of Rs 1421 on Friday. In FMCG space, Britannia touched 52-week high of Rs 501.

Mumbai, Feb 12 - Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who underwent two abdominal surgeries Saturday, tweeted fans about his condition as soon as he could from the hospital bed and thanked them for their wishes, which he feels never fails.

Big B's scheduled abdominal surgery went off smoothly Saturday morning at the SevenHills Hospital here. His abdominal pain was due to an injury he suffered during shooting of "Coolie" in 1982.

Chennai, Feb 12 - Bollywood stars and filmmakers participating at the second edition of the Celebrity Cricket League here say it was a good break from their hectic schedules but at the same time represented a good challenge.

"It is indeed a good break as filming can be boring all together and sports and boys always go together," said actor Ashish Choudhary, team member of Sohail Khan owned Mumbai Heroes.

The 20-20 cricket tournament has teams not only from Bollywood but also from Telugu, Kannada, Bengali and Tamil cinema.

Chennai, Feb 12 - They got married in a lavish Maharashtrian style wedding just a week ago, and the newlywed couple Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia D'Souza are back to work ever since. The actor says it's only in March he would get some free time.

"Yes it has been hectic and tomorrow (Feb 12) I start promoting my film, which is releasing very soon. I think I'll get a break in March and then would only think of doing other things," Riteish told IANS on the sidelines of the semi-finals of Celebrity Cricket League held here Saturday.

The authorities in Pakistan have expressed concern over delays in removing non-tariff barriers by India, ahead of an important ministerial meeting in the coming week.

The Indian government officials have responded by saying that the delay is only due to procedural reason and the other side's concerns will be addressed. India's Commerce minister Anand Sharma is expected to meet his Pakistani counterpart, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, in Islamabad next week.

New Delhi, Feb 11 - She started off with supporting roles and now with "London, Paris, New York", Aditi Rao Hydari is set for her first lead role. The actress says she is humbled to see how accepting and friendly Bollywood is.

"When you look from outside, it looks like a dream. But at the same time, there is fear as you hear mysterious stories like people are mean, the industry is very competitive. However, I don't think that Bollywood is such a jungle as it is made out to be," Aditi told IANS in an interview.

Kolkata, Feb 11 - State-owned Bank of Baroda (BoB) is expecting total business growth of about 24 percent over last year at the end of March 2012.

"We plan to achieve a total business of more than Rs. 6,50,000 crore at the end of March (2012). We are expecting a total business growth of about 24 percent year-on-year basis," Bank of Baroda chairman M. D. Mallya told reporters on the sidelines of "SME(small marginal enterprise) Festival 2012" here Friday evening.

Mallya said the bank will gain a domestic credit growth of 20 percent at the end of the current financial year.

According to estimates, the country's trade deficit might widen this year as impots continue to outgrow exports in recent months.

The country's current account deficit might increase to the level of 3.5% of GDP in the fiscal year. However, India is on target to achieve the target of $300 billion in exports in the year. According to official data, exports from India in the previous year were $246 billion. On the other hand, imports to India continued to out grow exports. The country's trade deficit in the month of January was recorded at $14.7 billion.

Mumbai, Feb 10 : Having started trade on a dull note, a benchmark index for Indian equities markets Friday slipped into the red amid profit booking in blue chips like Infosys and ICICI Bank.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which opened at 17,817.59 points, was ruling at 17,781.22 points, 49.53 points or 0.28 percent down from its previous close at 17,830.75 points. The 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange was also trading subdued at 5,400.55 points, down 11.8 points or 0.22 percent from its previous close.

Tourism sector giant, Thomas Cook is planning to sell its stake in its Indian operations under a new programme to sell its non-core assets in order to reduce debts.

The company said that it is inviting bids for its 77.1 per cent shareholding in the Indian unit, Thomas Cook India. The UK giant's Indian company has been profitable and has recorded strong growth over the years.

According to a new study, the floriculture industry in India is likely to cross the mark of Rs 8,000-crore mark by 2015 after recording strong growth in the recent years.

The industry has recorded an annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 30 per cent and is estimated to be worth about Rs 3,700 crore. However, the industry only has a 0.61 per cent share in the global floriculture industry.

The Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said asked tax officials from around the country to improve tax collections in order to close the widening fiscal deficit.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has expressed concern over the widening fiscal deficit, huge subsidy bills as well as lower-than-targeted direct tax collections. Mr. Das wrote to top IT officials on February 1 that the Rs. 5.32 lakh crore direct tax target must be achieved.

According to senior government officials, the country's current account deficit might increase to the level of 3.5% of GDP in the fiscal year.

The level is the worst in eight years as exports from the country are struggling to maintain growth due to continuing global economic uncertainties. The exports grew in April to September period but exporters are finding it difficult to maintain growth due to low demand.

Telecom service providers, Bharti Airtel's fell 2.4 percent on Thursday dropping further following a fall of 6.5 percent in the previous trading secession. The shares fell after broker houses cut their price target for the shares.

Bharti Airtel has reported a fall of 22 per cent to Rs 1,011 crore in the third quarter till December 2011. Credit Suisse said in a report that it has reduced its price target to Rs 330 from Rs 375 but maintained its rating at neutral.

Mumbai, Feb 9 - His fans look up to him as an idol, but superstar Shah Rukh Khan's daughter Suhana believes her father isn't the perfect youth icon as he smokes a lot.

"Daughter just reprimanded me... how can u be the HT survey youth role model if you smoke. So to all the youths out there... please don't smoke!!" tweeted Shah Rukh.

"Big reprimand for smoking from my strict little atom bomb of a daughter!!!" he added.

The 46-year-old is said to be a chain-smoker but has admitted smoking is the "worst habit". (IANS)

Mumbai, Feb 9 - Megastar Amitabh Bachchan has revealed that he will undergo abdominal surgery Saturday.

"There were some medical procedures today as well for -- and this is being disclosed to the Ef (extended family) at this point of time -- a surgery that I shall be undergoing on the 11th morning. I do not wish to talk much on my medical condition, but trust and faith in my FmXt (extended family) allows me to do so," Amitabh wrote on his blog bigb. bigadda. com.