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The Great Emperor Raghu (Sanskrit: रघु) was a valorous king of the Ikshvaku dynasty. According to the Raghuvamsha, he was born to king Dilipa and his queen Sudakshina. His name in Sanskrit means the fast one, deriving from Raghu's chariot driving abilities. So celebrated were the exploits of Raghu, that his dynasty itself came to be known as the Raghuvamsha or the Raghukula after him. The history of his dynasty is elaborated upon by Kalidasa in his Raghuvamsha.

Lineage[link]

A number of Puranas, which include the Vishnu Purana, the Vayu Purana, the Linga Purana, mention Dirghabahu as the son of Dilipa and Raghu as the son of Dirghabahu. But the Harivamsha, the Brahma Purana and the Shiva Purana mention Raghu as son of Dilipa and Dirghavahu as his epithet.^[1] The lineage described in the Raghuvamsha mention Dilipa as the father of Raghu. According to most of the Puaranas, as well as Kalidasa, Raghu was succeeded by his son Aja, who was the father of Dasharatha, the father of Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrughna.

Life[link]

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The warrior Raghu Gopal leads a military expedition to Transoxiana. He defeats and subjugates local peoples along the way (presumably on his march through Central Asia) until he reaches the Vankshu or Caksu, the Vedic/Puranic names of the Oxus River. There, Raghu's army battles the Hepthalites, or White Huns, whom the Indians called Hunas and Mlecchas (barbarians). The Hepthalites are defeated, and the Raghuvamsha boasts of "The exploits of Raghu, whose valor expressed itself amongst the husbands of the Huna women, became manifest in the scarlet color of their cheeks."

Raghu was a great donor. It is said that no one returns from his palace empty-handed.

After crossing the Oxus, Raghu and his army encountered the Kambojas, an ancient Iranian people often mentioned in Indian texts. The Kambojas submitted to Raghu and offered him gifts and treasures. Evidently, the Kambojas dwelt in the vicinity of the Pamirs. Kalidasa describes the preponderance of walnut trees in the Oxus country and indeed, this particular region is still known for the cultivation of walnuts.

Raghu's father Dilipa was a very pious king, and performed as many as 100 yajnas or sacrificial rituals. Until he did so, only Indra, king of the Gods, had earned that distinction. In a bid to prevent Dilipa from equaling his record, Indra placed many hurdles in the path of the successful completion of the 100th sacrifice, but Raghu was able to prevail over the forces of Indra himself, and the sacrifice was completed successfully.

Legacy[link]

Raghu is best known today as the great-grandfather of Rama. There are indications that in the classical period, Raghu was a heroic personality of far greater importance than what one would imagine today. The mahakavya (epic) composed by the classical poet Kalidasa on the lives of the ancestors of Rama is entitled Raghuvamsha or the "Dynasty of Raghu". Indeed, Rama himself is known by many appellations (such as Raghava, Raghunandan and Raghukula Nayaka), indicative of his belonging to the family of Raghu, which again serves to underscore the great prestige enjoyed by Raghu in the puranic era.

During the early medieval period, Rajasekhara, a Sanskrit poet, in his plays, described his patrons, Gurjar rulers as Raghu-kula-tilaka (Ornament of the race of Raghu), Raghu-gramani (the leader of the Raghu family) and so forth.^[2]

See also[link]

• Ikshvaku dynasty
• Raghuvaṃśa

Notes[link]

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{{Infobox person | name = Raghu Ram | birth_name = Raghu Ramalingam | birth_date = (1975-04-15) 15 April 1975 (age 37) | image =Raghu_jootha_hi_sahi.jpg | alt = | caption = | image_size = | background = non_performing_personnel | birth_place = Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India | Ethnicity = Template:Andhrite | death_place = | occupation = Television producer, Actor | yearsactive = 1993–present | spouse = [[Sugandha Garg | }}

Raghu Ramalingam aka Raghu Ram (born 15 April 1975) is a senior supervising producer at MTV India and the executive producer of reality television shows MTV Roadies and MTV Splitsvilla.^[1]

Raghu was born an identical-twin in Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India, and raised in Delhi, India, along with his twin brother, Rajeev Lakshman. He studied at the Woodstock School in Landour, Uttarakhand, India, with his brother Rajeev. They later attended the University of Delhi in Delhi. In the first year, both were students of the university's Deshbandhu College, but in the second year, they joined its Sri Venkateswara College. They did not sit for the third year at all, and both brothers dropped out of the college.

Raghu started at MTV India supervising shows including MTV Love Line with Malaika Arora Khan and Cyrus Broacha, video jockeys (VJ)s, and also lead MTV Select and the first few seasons of MTV Super Select with VJ Nikhil Chinapa. His idea of MTV Roadies was accepted as an experimental project by MTV in 2000. The show was tentatively entitled MTV: Find The Road, and was initially met with skepticism by the senior producers of the channel. Raghu has continuously been in controversies about his style of words, however he remains the sole responsible for rebirth of MTV.

Later in his life, he was married to actress Sugandha Garg who appeared as Shaleen in film Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na, Let's dace, Tere Bin Laden and My Name Is Khan.

Discography[link]

Singles[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• "Music Television (MTV) India", at the Internet Movie Database
• mtvindia.com, MTV India official website
• cooldose.com, Cool Dose official website

Jools Holland
Holland at the British Academy Television Awards 2009
Background information
Birth name	Julian Miles Holland
Born	(1958-01-24) 24 January 1958 (age 54) Blackheath, London, England
Genres	Boogie-woogie, jazz, blues, R&B
Occupations	Musician, composer, television presenter, bandleader
Instruments	Piano, keyboard, guitar
Years active	1974–present
Associated acts	Squeeze Rhythm & Blues Orchestra
Website	Official site

Julian Miles "Jools" Holland OBE, DL (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer, and television presenter. He was a founder of the band Squeeze (1974-1980 & 1985-1990) and his work has involved him with many artists including Sting, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, David Gilmour, Magazine and Bono.

Holland is a published author and appears on television shows besides his own and contributes to radio shows. In 2004, he collaborated with Tom Jones on an album of traditional R&B music. He currently hosts Later... with Jools Holland, a music-based show aired on BBC2, on which his annual show Hootenanny, is based.^[1]

Life and career[link]

His great grandfather came from Ireland.^[2]

Holland played as a session musician before finding fame, and his first studio session was with Wayne County & the Electric Chairs in 1976 on their track "F*ck Off."^[3]

Holland was a founding member of the British pop band Squeeze, formed in March 1974, in which he played keyboards until 1981 and helped the band to achieve millions of record sales, before pursuing his solo career.^[3]

Holland began issuing solo records in 1978, his first EP being Boogie Woogie '78. He continued his solo career through the early 1980s, releasing an album and several singles between 1981 and 1984. He branched out into TV, co-presenting the Newcastle-based TV music show The Tube with Paula Yates. Holland achieved notoriety by inadvertently using the phrase "groovy fuckers" in a live, early evening TV trailer for the show, causing it to be suspended for six weeks.^[4] He referred to this in his sitcom "The Groovy Fellers" with Rowland Rivron.

Holland at the Tsunami Relief concert in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, 22 January 2005

In 1983 Holland played an extended piano solo on The The's re-recording of "Uncertain Smile" for the album Soul Mining. In 1985, Squeeze (which had continued in Holland's absence through to 1982) unexpectedly regrouped including Jools Holland as their keyboard player. Holland remained in the band until 1990, at which point, he again departed Squeeze on amicable terms to resume his solo career as a musician and a TV host.

In 1987, Holland formed The Jools Holland Big Band which consisted of himself and Gilson Lavis from Squeeze. This gradually became his 18-piece Rhythm & Blues Orchestra.^[3]

Between 1988 and 1990 he performed and co-hosted along with David Sanborn during the two seasons of the music performance program Sunday Night on NBC late-night television.^[5] Since 1992 he has presented the music program Later... with Jools Holland, plus an annual New Year's Eve Hootenanny.

In 1996, Holland signed a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records,^[3] and his records are now marketed through Rhino Records.

Holland has a touring band, The Rhythm And Blues Orchestra, which often includes singers Sam Brown and Ruby Turner. In January 2005 Holland and his band performed with Eric Clapton as the headline act of the Tsunami Relief Cardiff.

Personal[link]

Holland lives in the Westcombe Park area of Blackheath in South East London, where he had his studio, Helicon Mountain, built to his design, inspired by Portmeirion, the setting for the 1960s TV series The Prisoner.^[6] Holland owns costumes and props from the series and occasionally appears wearing the trademark brown-with-white-pipe blazer featured in the series. In 1987, Holland demonstrated his love of the series and starred in a spoof documentary, The Laughing Prisoner, with Stephen Fry, Terence Alexander and Hugh Laurie.^[6] Much of it was shot on location in Portmeirion, with archive footage of Patrick McGoohan, and featuring musical numbers from Siouxsie and the Banshees, Magnum and XTC. Holland performed a number towards the end of the program. His younger brother, Christopher, also plays organ in the Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, as well as being a singer-songwriter.

Holland was an interviewer for The Beatles Anthology TV project, and appeared in the 1997 film Spiceworld as a musical director.

He received an OBE in 2003 in the Queen's Birthday Honours list, for services to the British music industry as a television presenter and musician. In September 2006 Holland was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Kent.^[7] He is also known for his charity work: in June 2006 he performed in Southend for HIV/AIDS charity Mildmay,^[8] and in early 2007 he performed at Wells and Rochester Cathedrals to raise money for maintaining cathedral buildings.^[9] He is also patron of the Drake Music Project^[10] and has raised many thousands of pounds for the charity.

Holland was appointed an Honorary Fellow of Canterbury Christ Church University at a ceremony held at Canterbury Cathedral on 30 January 2009.^[11]

On 29 August 2005 Holland married Christabel McEwen, his girlfriend of 15 years (between 1983 and 1995 she had been married to Edward Lambton, 7th Earl of Durham, before they divorced). The wedding, at St James's Church, Cooling near Rochester, was attended by many celebrities, including Ringo Starr, Robbie Coltrane, Stephen Fry, Lenny Henry, Noel Gallagher, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders.^[12]

Holland is also a patron for The Milton Rooms, an Arts centre in Malton, North Yorkshire, along with Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton and Kathy Burke.^[13]

Writing[link]

His 2007 biography, Barefaced Lies and Boogie Woogie Boasts was BBC Radio 4 "Book of the Week" in the week beginning 8 October 2007 and was read by Holland. He is the author or joint author of four other books.

Discography[link]

Albums that have charted and gained Certifications[link]

Releases[link]

• 1978 "Boogie Woogie '78" (EP)
• 1981 Jools Holland and His Millionaires
• 1984 Jools Holland Meets Rock 'A' Boogie Billy (U.S. release only)
• 1990 World Of His Own
• 1991 The Full Complement
• 1992 "Together Again" (single with Sam Brown)
• 1992 The A-Z Geographer's Guide To The Piano
• 1994 Solo Piano
• 1994 Live Performance
• 1996 " Jazz & Rock & Roll
• 1997 Lift The Lid
• 1998 Best Of
• 1999 Sunset Over London
• 2000 Hop The Wag
• 2001 Small World Big Band
• 2002 SWBB Volume Two: More Friends
• 2003 Jack O The Green (SWBB Friends 3)
• 2004 Tom Jones & Jools Holland
• 2005 Beatroute
• 2005 Swinging the Blues, Dancing the Ska
• 2006 Moving Out To The Country
• 2007 Best of Friends
• 2008 The Collection
• 2008 The Informer (With Ruby Turner)
• 2008 "The Informer" (single with Ruby Turner)
• 2009 "I Went By" (single with Louise Marshall)
• 2010 Rockinghorse

Film and television[link]

• 1981 Urgh! A Music War
• 1982 Police: Around the World
• 1982 - 1987 The Tube (Host for 121 editions)
• 1983 Rebellious Jukebox: Compere
• 1984 The Young Ones: Punk (Episode entitled "Summer Holiday")
• 1985 Walking To New Orleans (Jools Holland in New Orleans)
• 1987 Eat the Rich: Sun Reporter
• 1987 Filthy Rich & Catflap: Strip Show Pianist (Episode #1.3)
• 1987 The Laughing Prisoner: No. 7
• 1987 French and Saunders (Episode 1.5)
• 1988 Sunday Night: Host (unknown episodes)
• 1989 Juke Box Jury: Host (unknown episodes)
• 1989 The Groovy Fellers Himself, 6 episodes
• 1991 Mr Roadrunner (Jools Holland in Memphis)
• 1994 There's No Business: Pianist
• 1994 - 1995 Don't Forget Your Toothbrush
• 1995 The Beatles Anthology
• 1997 Spice World: Musical Director
• 1997 Name That Tune: Host and Pianist
• 2003 Jool's History of the Piano : Presenter
• 2006 Top Gear: Star in a reasonably priced car.
• 2007 Fairport@Forty: Interview
• 2009 Chop Shop Rover Concept: The Jet 1 Car : Customer

Current television programmes[link]

• 1992–present Later... with Jools Holland
• 1993–present Hootenanny

Books[link]

• "Rolling Stones": A Life on the Road, (with Dora Loewenstein), Viking/Allen Lane (1998), (ISBN 0-670-88051-5)
• Beat Route: Journeys Through Six Counties, Weidenfeld & Nicholson (1998), (ISBN 0-575-06700-4)
• Ray Charles: Man and Music, (with Michael Lydon), Payback Press (1999), (ISBN 0-86241-929-8)
• Hand That Changed Its Mind , International Music Publications (2007), (ISBN 1-84328-645-9)
• Barefaced Lies and Boogie-woogie Boasts , Michael Joseph Ltd (2007), (ISBN 0-7181-4915-7)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Jools Holland at the Internet Movie Database
• Jools Holland's Radio 2 show at BBC Programmes
• Later...with Jools Holland at BBC Online

Rakhi Sawant
Rakhi Sawant at a talk show with Kapil Dev for Aaj Tak channel.
Born	(1978-11-25) November 25, 1978 (age 33) Worli,Mumbai, India
Residence	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Occupation	Actress, Television presenter, Dancer
Years active	1997–Present

Rakhi Sawant (Hindi: राखी सावंत) (born on 25 November^[1] 1978^[2][3]) is an Indian dancer, Hindi film and television actress, model and television talk show host. She has appeared in many Hindi films and few Kannada, Marathi, Telugu and Tamil films in roles commonly attributed to item girls. She has converted to Christianity.^[4]

Early Life[link]

Rakhi was born as Neeru Bheda to Jaya Bheda. who married Sawant, a police constable at Worli Police Station, and gave her children her second husband's name Sawant. Rakhi attended Goklibai High School in the Vile Parle suburb of Mumbai and later studied at Mithibai College. She is the sister of film director Rakesh Sawant and former actress Usha Sawant.

Career[link]

In 1997, Rakhi debuted with the unnoticed film Agnnichakra as Ruhi Sawant. She continued acting in some low-budget Bollywood films. She did small roles & dance numbers as a junior artist in films like Joru Ka Ghulam, Jis Desh Mein Ganga Rehta Hain & Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke and went unnoticed.

In 2003, she auditioned for an item number in the Bollywood movie, Chura Liyaa Hai Tumne. She auditioned about four times before being finally selected for her breakthrough item number, "Mohabbat Hai Mirchi", composed by Himesh Reshammiya. She also bagged a small role in the movie for which she gained visibility. After that, Rakhi acted in small roles in some more films including Masti & Main Hoon Na

In 2005, she appeared in the music video "Pardesia" of music album D.J. Hot Remix-Vol.3 & gained popularity for her dancing abilities. After this song, she featured in music videos of many other music albums & Bollywood item numbers.

Television Debut & Success (2006–Present)[link]

In June 2006, Mika Singh, atried to kiss her at his birthday party, which converted into a major media controversy.^[5]. A few months later, she appeared in the first season of the reality show Bigg Boss and was among the top four finalists. She received wider notice as a contestant for her dramatic fights with her housemates in Big Boss's house.^{[citation needed]} In 2007, Rakhi made her singing debut in the album titled Super Girl launched by Venus Records & Tapes Pvt. Ltd. In 2008, She won Yeh Hai Jalwa, a dance-based reality show which aired on 9X. She was the leader of her group named 'Chillar Party'. In 2009, Sawant launched her reality show Rakhi Ka Swayamwar in which she planned to select her future husband by the ancient ritual of Swayamvar. The show became the highest rated in the history of the Imagine TV channel with both its premiere and finale setting records. On 2 August 2009 she chose her life partner, a contestant from Toronto, Canada, Elesh Parujanwala. However, during the finale of the reality show Pati, Patni Aur Woh several months later, Sawant announced that the couple had separated due to irreconcilable differences. She has appeared in number of reality shows as a host, contestant or judge and has become a controversial television personality. In May 2012, she announced that she would be working in the Bengali remake of the film The Dirty Picture.^[6]

Film Career[link]

Item Numbers[link]

Music Videos[link]

Acting Career[link]

Television Career[link]

Guest Appearances[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Rakhi Sawant at the Internet Movie Database

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Raghu Dixit
Raghu Dixit during a concert at IISc, Bangalore
Background information
Origin	Mysore, India
Genres	Folk, Fusion
Years active	2005–present
Website	http://raghudixit.com
Members
Raghu Dixit Gaurav Vaz Wilfred Demoz Bryden Lewis Parth Chandiramani
Past members
Joseph Vijay Karthick Iyer Darbuka Siva Jithin Das Bruce Lee Mani Rzhude David Anirban Chakravarthy Sandeep Vashista Rahool Pophali

Raghu Dixit ( Kannada: ರಘು ದೀಕ್ಷಿತ್), born on November 11, 1974, is an Indian singer-songwriter, producer, and film score composer based in Bangalore, India. He is most famous for fronting the Raghu Dixit Project, a multilingual folk music band. Though a gold medalist in Masters in Microbiology and a proficient Indian classical dancer (Vidwat in Bharatanatyam), Raghupathy Dixit is now known more as a self-taught composer and musician. Originally from Mysore, he settled in Bengaluru. As the founder-front man of his band Antaragni for more than eight years, and now of The Raghu Dixit Project, Dixit has performed more than 250 concerts all over India. In 2008, The Raghu Dixit Project launched its debut album Antaragni: The Fire Within. Raghu is a self-taught guitarist and singer. The most catchy part of Raghu's concert is his unique voice which goes beyond ranges and the measured humor that he puts in without any effort.

Dixit's music is an amalgamation of Indian ethnic music and styles from different parts of the world. In an interview with Vishnupriya Bhandaram of The Hindu, he mentions, "“Every 200 kilometres in this country, languages change, the dialects change and the food changes, lives and lifestyles change and my music is unique and probably the USP is that it's sung in a vernacular tongue… its adds mystery.” ^[1] His lyrics are about every common man's emotions and experience. His songs Mysore se aayi, Mumbai, Antaragni, Hey Bhagwan, Har Saans Mein, Gudugudiya, Khidki are popular among his fans. Most of his songs are influenced by Shishunala Sharif, a saint and poet from the state of Karnataka in India.

Dixit has produced music for contemporary dance and theatre productions. He has composed and produced music for most of the productions by the Indian contemporary dance group Nritarutya. Girish Karnad's Hayavadana for TopCast and Black Coffee's Body Catcher have been his most famous works that brought him critical acclaim as a composer for theatre productions.^{[citation needed]}

In May 2008 Dixit joined Springboard Surprises' Roots Festival for a number of shows, touring many towns and cities within Northeast India, with international acts including Israel's DUB LFO and England's Too Late Lucy. Raghu Dixit also composes music for feature films.

Discography[link]

[edit] 2008: Raghu Dixit

Dixit's self titled debut album was launched by the music director duo Vishal-Shekhar on their new independent record label Vishal & Shekhar Music which collaborated with Counter Culture Records for this release. Raghu Dixit was the first artist to be launched on this new label. He also released his debut album on world music label, Wrasse Records (Amadou & Mariam, Gilberto Gil, K’naan, Tinariwen) and, uniquely, for an Indian artist, a worldwide publishing deal with Sony/ATV, on 20 September 2010.^[2] The album reached #1 on the iTunes World Music charts in the UK.^[3]

In the season one finale of The Dewarists, The Raghu Dixit Project collaborated with songwriter Guru Rewben Mashangva on the song "Masti Ki Basti".

Films[link]

In 2008, he debuted as a music director in the Kannada film industry with Psycho.^[4] Raghu Dixit also composed and sang one song in the Bollywood movie Quick Gun Murugan. His new Kannada films, Just Math Mathalli and Kote, had soundtracks released recently, becoming a big hit with audiences. He made his Bollywood debut with the film Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge in 2011.^[5]

Concerts[link]

He has played many shows all over the world including in the United States, the UK, Korea, Japan, Russia, Hong Kong and India. He performed in the Parappana Agrahara Central Jail of Bengaluru City. He played at the SAMA Festival in North East England, as part of a 6-day collaborative project involving folk musicians from Rajasthan and Northumbrian folk musicians from the UK. In 2007, he played at the French Kiss Tour – World Music Day (Fete de la Musique). The Raghu Dixit Project performed with three French musicians Anaïs, Emily Loizeau and Mademoiselle K. In February 2008, the Raghu Dixit Project performed at IIT Guwahati's cultural festival Alcheringa, their first performance in any college cultural festival. He also performed in the Indian Institute of Science on the eve of Miditha, a cultural fest. He was also the headlining act at Strawberry Fields 2010. Recently he performed at Infosys on the eve of cultural Fest "FIESTA" also performed at MSRIT Bengaluru dated 12/03/2012

In June 2011 the Raghu Dixit Project appeared at the Glastonbury Festival in myriad venues: firstly on Saturday in the Croissant Neuf tent, followed by an appearance on the John Peel stage on Sunday. Then later that day, they were guests with Mark Radcliffe and Jo Wiley for a performance in the BBC Glastonbury garden and finally performed on the Leftfield stage, curated by Billy Bragg.

In December 2011, the Raghu Dixit Project performed with the Indian Rock Band Agnee at the Open Air Theater in IIT Bombay for the Mood Indigo cultural festival.He also performed at at the Festocomm 2012 at SIMC Pune in February 2012, and at MSRIT Bengaluru dated 12/03/2012. He performed in Jayciana 2011 at SJCE.

In March 2012, he performed at BITS Pilani KK Birla Goa Campus, at the evening of SPREE Goa Half Marathon 2012, and at P.E.S. Institute of Technology's fest Aatmatrisha.

Filmography[link]