The Indian presence at the annual Cannes Film Festival just got hotter with another Bollywood hottie walking the red carpet besides Aishwarya Rai.
The hottie in question is Deepika Padukone who sashayed down the red carpet in a sensuous ivory coloured sari designed by Indian designer Rohit Bal.
Deepika arrived for the screening of the French film Tournee (On Tour) by director Mathieu Amalric. The film is competing for the festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or.
Deepika's sari was a novelty at the red carpet which is used to seeing mostly western wear.
In fact, this photographer took an extreme close up shot of Deepika's sari whose border was edged with elaborate gold embroidery. The gorgeous bangles complete the rich look.
Deepika, the 24-year-old Bollywood star’s first appearance at Cannes, and the first time a celebrity has walked the Cannes red carpet in the traditional Indian dress.
The home that Candy Spelling, widow of television producer Aaron, put on the market in 2008 outprices every other property in the U.S. The 56,500-square-foot English-style mansion has a bowling alley, wine cellar, rooms for gift-wrapping and silver and china display, a library, gym and media room. Its 4.6 acres include pools, a spa, landscaped gardens, a waterfall and parking for more than 100 cars. Jeff Hyland of Hilton & Hyland Real Estate and Sally Forster Jones of Coldwell Banker Previews International have the listing.
$125 million
Fleur de Lys
Beverly Hills, Calif.
This 35,000-square-foot home, listed in 2007, is said to be modeled after Versailles, and the mansion makes no attempt at understatement. Its 12 bedrooms, 15 bathrooms, 50-seat screening room, Italian marble and gold-embossed leather walls ooze wealth. Owner Suzanne Saperstein hasn't compromised on the price in three years. After all, it's a relative bargain compared with the manor, just a few blocks away. Shari Chase of Chase International has the listing.
$100 million
Tranquility Estate
Lake Tahoe, Nev.
Tommy Hilfiger co-founder Joel Horowitz's 210-acre spread features the third-highest price tag in America. The 20,000-square-foot main house has extras like a cigar lounge, art studio and sports gym, while its grounds feature a golf course, boathouse and views of Lake Tahoe. A staircase in the home replicates the stairs of the S.S. Titanic. The home has been on the market for almost four years. Shari Chase of Chase International has the listing.
$80 million
Kaiser Estate
Honolulu
Separately, the three coastal parcels that comprise the former estate of industrialist Henry J. Kaiser wouldn't make this year's list, but together, the 5.5-acre property becomes one of the country's most expensive. The island getaway offers coastal views and a sleek, midcentury-style 15,000-square-foot home, extensively landscaped tropical grounds and a 12,000-square-foot boathouse and marina. Tech tycoon Fred Chan and his wife, Annie, put the home on the market in January 2009. Mary Worell of Sotheby's International Realty has the listing.
$75 million
Humming Bird Nest Ranch
Simi Valley, Calif.
Though it's named after the tiniest of birds, this property spans 123 acres. In addition to a 17,000-square-foot Spanish-Revival-style main house, six guest homes and 10 town houses grace the estate, as do a fully equipped equestrian center and parking for 200 vehicles. If driving doesn't suit you, there's also a helicopter pad. It has been on the market since late 2007; Joyce Rey of Sotheby's International Realty has the listing.
Architect Patrick Michell and his partner, Claire McKeown, bought a three-bed house in Hackney, east London. The area boasts handsome terraces, but this house, a boarded-up former crack den, was in a sorry state. Fires had ripped through two rooms and there was a shabbily psychedelic paint scheme. Bailiffs had removed any character features that were left.
But to an architect wanting to make a property his own, it was perfect. "If there had been period features, we'd have worked more sensitively with them, but because it had all gone, we were free to give it a modernist slant," says Michell, 32.
He opened up the two front receptions, and transformed and expanded the narrow kitchen space at the back with a glass roof across the side return. The glass is one huge single piece, appearing to balance unaided on a wall of stone. The back wall is largely glass, too, with a ceiling-high, pivoting glass door to the garden and a glass box punched into the wall to create an appealing window seat. In summer, sunlight streams in, while at night trees tower in silhouette above your head. With a concrete floor inside extending out to the patio, the design aims to merge the two spaces.
