MTV VJs who made it to Bollywood

Originally hired to anchor shows, these VJs traveled an extra mile and were lucky enough to make it in tinsel town. Take a look

One of the first MTV India VJs, she eventually anchored her own iterview show for the channel. Soon, she was co-anchoring with Cyrus Broacha on Love Line and Style Check, along with award ceremonies and concerts for MTV. Soon after entering modeling, Malaika scored successful ads and cameo roles, and shot to household popularity with her "Chaiyya Chaiyya" in the 'Dil Se', and cemented her item-girl tag with "Kaal Dhamaal" (Kaal) Heyy Babyy, Om Shanti Om, and Welcome. More recently, her "Munni Badnaam" in the 2010 super-blockbuster Dabangg brought her back to the item girl spotlight.

 The Lalitpur-born Jatt came from a Forces background. After graduating from Delhi University, he worked as a construction worker. Then, Roadies Season 1 happened to him in 2003. After winning the youth-based reality show, he went on to host its subsequent seasons. While Rannvijay's 2009 debut 'Toss' received bad reviews (crappy acting, awful direction), the 2011 'Dharti' , a Punjabi film, did comparatively better. 
Rannvijay's role in 'Action Replayy' was marred by a lazy storyline, boring drama, and crass humor.

Ayushmann spent 5 prolific years on the theater circuit, including iconic plays like 'Andha Yug' before making his MTV debut on - and winning - MTV Roadies Season 2. MTV's 'The Voice of Youngistan followed, along with other MTV productions (including 2 seasons of Roadies and anchor gigs at the channel's media events). Then, six months after the TV debut that could have made him a household name - on 'Ek Thi Rajkumari', he quit when Wassup Youngistan went daily. More recently, he is set to debut in Bollywood as a sperm donor in Shoorjit Sarcar's film, 'Vicky Donor.

Just like Ayushmann, even VJ Purab played a sperm donor in Onir's 'I Am'. Purab debuted with Supari (2003), and had a uninspired run with Vastu Shastra (2004), and 13th Floor (2005), but it was My Brother Nikhil (2005) in which he proved his acting abilities. After two villain roles (Who Lamhe and Awarapan), he hit gold with Rock On!! (2008 to get a Special Jury Mention at the 2009 Filmfare Awards in 2009.

 Before getting a VJ-ing gig with MTV Networks Asia, Shenaz was acting in ads forAkai and Philips. While she debuted on the big screen with the 2001 Telugu 'Eduruleni Manishi', it was the 2003 Bollywood film 'Ishq Vishk' that got her a best supporting actress Filmfare nomination, and fame. The 'Aagey Se Right' and 'Radio' in 2009. She also acted in Luv Ka The End (the screenplay was written by her) Most notably, she played Imran Khan's fiance. in Delhi Belly. Shenaz currently hosts Culture Shock on theTravel Channel, and has a role as Rama Patel on the American TV show 'One Life To Live'.

Sophie Choudhry, or 'VJ Sophie' took her it-girl image to Bollywood in Aamdani Atthani Kharcha Rupaiyaa. Other such roles followed, including Pyaar Ke Side Effects, Heyy Baby, and Money Hai to Honey Hai. 

After her flop debut opposite Fardeen Khan in 'Kitne Door Kitne Paas', she had a successful role in Awara Paagal Deewana. Then a long list of flops, inluding Girlfriend (2004), in which she played a jealous lesbian (appearing opposite Isha Koppikar) She was last seen in Deha, Team the Force and a supporting role in Kambakth Ishq.

 After marrying Arshad Warsi, she quit VJing for MTV. Last seen in Salaam Namaste , she also acted in Raghu Romeo.Maria currently hosts 'Do It Sweet' on NDTV Good Times.

 After her Bollywood debut as a temptress in 'Mumbai Matinee', Anusha acted in Viruddh opposite John Abraham, along with a a star cast that included Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, and Sharmila Tagore, and in 'Anthony Kaun Hai?' with Arshad Warsi and Sanjay Dutt. She was recently seen in Delhi Belly, playing VJ Soniya.

World Water Day

Water, a precious resource, is nature's most generous gift to mankind

March 22, International World Water Day is recognized globally as a day when individuals are called upon to focus attention on the importance of water and demand for the sustainable management of clean water resources. The day aims at building awareness about the precious resource that is fast depleting.


In this gallery, we bring to you spectacular images from around the world with a common theme: water. The gallery includes pictures of droughts, floods, homeless children seeking water, residents squabbling over the limited resource, among others.


In Photo:


An earthquake survivor drinks water from a well in a provisional camp at downtown Port-au-Prince October 30, 2010. The unusually high death rate in Haiti's cholera epidemic is slowing as people become aware of the disease and health experts provide treatment, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Wednesday. The United Nations' key aim now is to prevent the disease from spreading south to the capital Port-au-Prince and the camps for homeless survivors of the January 12 earthquake, from the northern department of Artibonite where it is concentrated.

Residents of a slum collect drinking water from a tanker at a roadside in Kolkata December 11, 2009. India's growing water shortages are seen as a potential dangerous trigger for wider social unrest. The government has been criticised for failing to address water and electricity shortages, both from the industry and the 1.1 billion population.

 A Sudanese girl from the war-torn Blue Nile state collects water from a muddy pond, in order to avoid a 12-hour wait at a water pump, in South Sudan's Doro refugee camp on December 10, 2011. More than 80,000 Sudanese have sought refuge in South Sudan from clashes between government forces and insurgents on the northern side of the poorly-marked and tense border, according to the United Nations.

 A starving Somali child is given water in Baidoa December 15, 1992.

Residents being evacuated through flood waters dodge an army truck carrying relief supplies for flood victims in Pakistan's Muzaffargarh district in Punjab province on August 11, 2010. The floods have ploughed a swathe of destruction more than 1,000 km (600 miles) long from northern Pakistan to the south, killing more than 1,600 people.

 A mental patient named Totok reacts as he is given a shower at the Galuh foundation house in East Bekasi, outskirt of Jakarta on October 23, 2009. The Galuh foundation house has housed more than 285 underprivileged mental patients since it was founded in 1982 by Gendu Mulatip.

A boat is seen stranded on the cracked bed of a dried area of Xieshan, which is part of Poyang Lake in east China's Jiangxi Province on May 4, 2011. Chinese officials warned that an extended low-flow period, caused by the lingering spring drought in central China, might pose a threat to navigation in parts of the Yangtze River, the longest waterway in China, Xinhua News Agency reported.

 A woman falls off her board as she surfs in the Mediterranean Sea off Tel Aviv during a windy winter day. Picture taken on January 16, 2012.

A man drinks water on a mattress floating along a flooded street in central Bangkok October 29, 2011. Receding floodwaters north of Bangkok have reduced the threat to the Thai capital, the prime minister said, but high tides in the Gulf of Thailand will still test the city's flood defences. 

A journalist takes a sample of the red polluted water in the Jianhe River in Luoyang, Henan province on December 13, 2011. According to the local media, the sources of the pollution are two illegal chemical plants discharging their production waste water into the rain sewer pipes.

A boat is seen at a frozen lagoon in Venice on February 6, 2012. Bitterly cold weather sweeping across Europe claimed victims, brought widespread disruption to transport services, and left thousands without power with warnings that low temperatures would continue into the following week. 

A homeless child tries to drink water from a plastic container on a beach in Mumbai October 10, 2010.

 A man and a dog drink water from a fountain during a sunny day in Prague as temperatures hovered over 28 degrees Celsius on July 12, 2011. 

A man swims in waist deep flood waters in Pakistan's Muzaffargarh district in Punjab province on August 11, 2010. The floods have ploughed a swathe of destruction more than 1,000 km (600 miles) long from northern Pakistan to the south, killing more than 1,600 people. 

 A Sri Lankan boy displaced due to the tsunami drinks water from a tap at a make-shift shelter in a school in the town of Kalmunai on Sri Lanka's east coast on January 15, 2005.

 A boy rides a bicycle behind a water tanker to cool himself at a road construction site on a hot day in the northern Indian city of Agra June 3, 2010.

A man holds a plastic bag with oil from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill south of Freemason Island, Louisiana on May 7, 2010. BP Plc engineers using undersea robots maneuvered a massive metal chamber to fit over a gushing ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico in their best chance yet to contain a leak that threatens an environmental catastrophe on US shores.

A man fills containers at a water station at a slum district in Manila on March 21, 2010. The Earth is literally covered in water, but more than a billion people lack access to clean water for drinking or sanitation as most water is salty or dirty.