Cricketer Yuvraj Singh and Bollywood beauty Aishwariya Rai have overtaken Katrina Kaif as the most dangerous Indian celebrity to search in cyberspace, according to Internet security company McAfee, Inc. (NYSE: MFE). For the second time in a row, McAfee researched India’s glamorous celebrities from the world of cinema, cricket and politics to reveal the riskiest celebrities on the Web.

Fans searching for ’’Yuvraj Singh downloads’’ or ’’Yuvaraj Singh wallpapers,’’ ’’ Yuvraj Singh photos,’’ ’’Aishwariya Rai wallpapers’’, ’’Aishwariya Rai screen savers and ’’Aishwariya Rai videos’’ have a one in five chance of landing at a Web site that’s tested positive for online threats, such as spyware, adware, spam, phishing, viruses and other malware. Searching for the latest celebrity news and downloads can cause serious damage to one’s personal computer.

Cricket Icons give tough competition to Bollywood Stars

Cricketers M S Dhoni and Harbhajan Singh rank third and sixth in the list giving some serious competition to our B’Town celebrities to grab the most dangerous web celeb title. It only proves the point that the successful and controversial stars are hot favourites amongst criminals of the Internet.

Kollywood fast picking up pace in the world of most Dangerous to Celebs

Young Kollywood siren (and popular tabloid subjects) Namitha and Shriya Saran edged out stars like Katrina Kaif. Namitha maintained her position consistently among the top five riskiest celebrities to search on the web.

McAfee compiled its second annual list using McAfee� SiteAdvisor� technology for celebrity names that produce the largest number of risky sites and overall risk percentage, when searched on the Web. The top 10 celebrities include:

Position Celebrity

Yuvraj Singh – His super sixes and his very controversial relationship status makes Yuvi an easy target for spammers and hackers.

Aishwariya Rai – Her marriage has not affected her popularity at all. Inputting ’’Aishwariya Rai screensavers’’ or ’’Aishwariya Rai wallpapers’’ into a search engine yielded a dangerous Web site linking to a distributor of adware and spyware.

M S Dhoni – The cricket heartthrob should be searched with caution. ’’Dhoni wallpapers’’ and ’’Dhoni videos’’ led to Web sites containing spyware which could make changes to a PC’s browser settings.

Namitha – The sexy siren from south seems to attract many fans including the hackers. But fans rarely know that their favourite could land them on Web sites containing browser exploits, as identified by McAfee SiteAdvisor technology.

Shriya Saran – The beautiful actress is as dangerous to search online as she is famous. Searching for ’’Shriya Saran’’ or Shriya Saran videos’’ can mislead unsuspecting surfers to sites with potentially damaging downloads.

Harbhajan Singh – Our very own spinner, Bhajji is a popular target for cybercriminals as well. A search for ’’Harbhajan Singh screensavers’’ can direct users to red-ranked sites that breached browser security and other unwanted programs in McAfee’s tests.

Sania Mirza – India’s No. 1 tennis star, who hit headlines recently with her engagement news, must have really broken a number of hearts. Fans searching for ’’Sania Mirza wallpapers/images’’ could be led to Web sites link to other harmful sites containing spyware and browser exploits.

Asin – When searching the latest B’Town damsel Asin, users could be lead to risky download Web sites, proving cybercriminals are in the business of capitalizing on the world’s most famous faces.

Bipasha Basu – The Bengali Beauty is a popular search term when it comes to searching for videos. A host of red and yellow rated sites show up containing numerous malware-laden downloads when searched for ’’Bipasha Basu videos’’.

Shahid Kapoor – Appearing in the second spot last year, the heartthrob fell towards the tenth position in this year’s list. However, the ’’Kaminey’’ star’s photos are the most searched for on the Web and lead to sites promoting free files with hidden malware or browser exploits

’’Cricket and Bollywood are two subjects about which every Indian is passionate about. It is no surprise that cybercriminals capitalize on celebrities from the world of sports and cinema to lure innocent fans to encourage the download of malicious software in disguise,’’ said Kartik Shahani, Regional Director – India, McAfee, Inc. ’’Its very common for malware authors to take advantage of current hot topics luring consumers to malicious websites they created. Users need to be cautious and should keep their antivirus/ security software updated with the latest versions.’’

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They were last seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas in 2002, and the famous rift during Shah Rukh’s Chalte Chalte seven years back turned their relations sour. And, the subsequent cold war between SRK and Amitabh Bachchan just made the scene shoddier.

However, there’s good news for all you Shah Rukh and Aishwarya fans! The duo has buried the past and has decided to move on. Reportedly, Ash would be seen in SRK’s next home production, which will get on floors in 2010.

We all are eager to see both together again.

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Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was last seen in Hollywood film Pink Panther 2 which came to India but Ash wasn’t the lead actress in it. So how long will fans of her Bollywood films have to wait to see the beauty set the screen on fire again? 

Ash had two releases in 2008: Jodhaa Akbar and Sarkar Raj. Both the films did well at the box office and Ash’s performance was appreciated in both. 

Jodhaa Akbar released in February while Sarkar Raj released in June 2008. Ash, who is currently in Delhi where she received India’s most prestigious awards premiere will return to Mumbai after some days to resume filming for Vipul Shah’s Action Replay.

But before that she was shooting with her hubby for Mani Ratnam’s Raavan which is set to release at the end of 2009 and is most likely going to be Ash’s next Hindi release after Sarkar Raj.

The film also stars Abhishek Bachchan, Vikram, Govinda and Manisha Koirala. The film is a modern day re-telling of the Ramayana. Ash will play Sita, a contemporary accomplished Carnatic musician while Vikram is Rama and Abhishek is Raavan.

Ash is also shooting for the Tamil version of the film, Ashokavanam, which will release at the same time as Raavan. Both the films have been shot in the interiors of South India.

After Raavan and Ashokavanam, Ash’s next release is Shankar’s sci-fi special-effects laden thriller Endhiran with Rajnikanth. 

The film has been shot in the exotic locales of Brazil and Goa in India. Ash will be seen in colorful costumes in this film. The plot of the film revolves around Ash and Rajnikanth.

The twist in the story is that Rajnikanth invents a robot called Endhiran who also falls in love with Ash. The film will release on April 2010 and after that Vipul Shah’s Action Replay with Akshay Kumar is also on the pipeline. The release date of that film is not yet out. 

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Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in 1994 won the Miss World title and since then there have been numerous attempts to immortalise the Indian beauty as a Barbie Doll. However due to her professional commitments she had to postpone their endeavour. At the turn of the century by which time Aishwarya Rai Bachchan had become a house hold name the world over Mattel again proposed that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan endorse the Barbie doll but as her prior commitments stretched her for time she had to decline yet again. The turn of the millennium special edition celebrity doll was to feature Naomi Campbel etc.

Here again on the eve of the favorite doll’s 50th Anniversary, Aishwarya is still the most sought after celebrities to be impersonated as a celebrity Barbie. Mattel was also keen to have her walk the ramp on Lakme Fashion Week ’Barbie dolled up’ in a winning design as Single Likeness Barbie , which would be unveiled and auctioned for a charity of her choice. Conversely due to her prior commitments (filming of Vipul Shah’s Action Replay & her being honored Padmashree ) she opted out of the event as she did not want to cause inconvenience to the producer/director anymore while taking time out to this event.

Nonetheless, the earlier ideas have been revised, all the possibilities and talks of a business venture with Aishwarya & Barbie is still in the process of being finalized. So, whether Ash-Barbie doll will hit the shelves or not is something only time will tell.

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Applying lip colour, chomping chocolate, gulping milk or driving cars, quite a few actors started out their career modelling for television commercials. At times as a young kid, on others a gawky teenager, compared to their big screen outings, their appearance on commercials is almost unrecognisable. To think you’ve seen them all along. And yet acknowledgement of this familiarity happened only after they achieved Bollywood brand of stardom.Want to check how good your memory is? Let’s see if you remember these stars from these old, forgotten ads.

Shahid Kapur, Ayesha Takia in Complan

He’s a Complan boy. And she’s a Complan girl . Together the fast-growing, cuteness-personified Complan duo turns chocolate drink into a rather healthy proposition. While as kids, Shahid and Ayesha made quite a team of siblings, their endeavour as an adult, romantic Jodi didn’t quite create the same impact in bloopers like Dil Maange More and Fool ’n’ Final.

Vidya Balan in Gits

Eating idlis will never be the same again. Long before, the Parineeta star was admired for her classic aura and compelling screen presence, she ventured out to dilate her pupils (reminiscent of Bhool Bhulaiya’s Manjulika) as a caricaturish ’super soft idli’ enthusiast in its unintentionally comical commercial. Moreover, there’s definitely no trace of Vidya Balan’s ’Good morning Mumbai’ brand of voice to be found.

Aishwarya Rai in Lakme

Unlike Balan, there’s nothing awkward or raw about Ash in this sleek ’She’s got the look’ Lakme nail colour ad, shot in the early days of her career. Not only does she look super stunning in those innumerable wardrobe/hair/cosmetic changes but actually serves the purpose behind the whole glamorous deal — make the product inviting to its discerning viewer. Why in the world would this woman not be destined for big things?

Deepika Padukone in Limca

Remember the Om Shanti Om girl in a just-woke-up, groggy state in PJs before she pastes some Close Up on her brush and enters Jim Carrey mode? Or better still, her guzzling down chilled Limca while getting drenched in pouring rain, in the middle of a road trip? Both the commercials have the model-turned-actress at her make-up-less, innocent best distinguishing Ms Padukone from her glitzy avatars on silver screen.

Shahid Kapoor in Pepsi

Long before Shahid developed a pumped up physique and groomed himself into a handsome young fella, he demonstrated us what the much-loathed ’awkward’ phase is all about as a star-struck adolescent dancing his way into the Kuch Kuch Hota Hai team — Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Rani Mukerji with some help from a catchy slogan, Yeh dil maange more. The commercial came out soon after the roaring success of Karan Johar’s emotional romance and did a swell job of bringing Shiamak Davar’s favourite dancer in public eye.

Anushka Sharma and Arjan Bajwa in Palio Stile

Before making their Bollywood debuts, in the same year, opposite biggies like Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra respectively, this duo collaborated on a mushy ’n’ musical commercial.But it’s only after Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and Fashion came out that one could put names to the faces of Anushka Sharma and Arjun Bajwa playing the quintessential lovebirds in a car vs train, Aradhana-inspired ’Mere sapno ki rani’ scenario.

Minissha Lamba in Cadburys

Main khush hoon aaj khaamka, lingers the melody of Cadburys through various feel-good sequences, one of which includes Minissha Lamba (looking very different with straightened hair) in a pretty floral dress having a chocolate-filled conversation with herself.

Genelia D’Souza in Parker pen

Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na’s free-spirited Aditi isn’t the real star of this ad. Amitabh Bachchan is. Even so, as the Big B goes about signing autographs for the swooning teenager’s doodhwala and paperwala, the visibly excited, Is-this-really-happening? expression on Genelia ’s countenance is just about priceless.

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Pink Panther 2 may not have opened well in America but the film has made its way to Spain. With Pink Panther, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan has become the first Indian actress to feature in a film showing in over 3,000 theatres in North America. Ash plays a detective, helping Steve Martin — a bumbling French police detective — solve a case.

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