Singh is Kinng - a tale of a happy-go-lucky Sikh

After striking a chord with audiences as a rustic Punjabi boy in last year's hit Namastey London, Akshay Kumar returns as Happy Singh, a gullible, foolhardy and accident-prone guy in romantic comedy Singh Is Kinng that releases Friday.

Directed by Anees Bazmee, the film got unexpected publicity when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pulled off a decisive win in the trust vote in parliament July 22.

"Congratulations India... Singh is King!" was the SMS circulated in Punjab and elsewhere soon after the results were announced.

"I could never ever imagine that the title of my film would become so popular. It has become such a rage after the trust vote. Singh is King has become synonymous with the power of the Singhs. I'm very glad," said producer Vipul Shah.

When Harbhajan Singh took six wickets Saturday to help India gain a lead on the third day of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Galle, again the headlines said Singh is King.

The film's USP is Akshay and Katrina Kaif, who teamed up in two of last year's biggest hits - Namastey London and Welcome.

The story of the singing, dancing sardarji goes like this:

Lakhan Singh aka Lucky (Sonu Sood) is the 'king' of the Australian underworld. He functions with the help of his associates - Javed Jaffrey, Neha Dhupia, Manoj Pahwa, Yashpal Sharma, Kamal Chopra and Sudhanshu Pande.

Far away, in Lucky's village in Punjab lives someone more notorious than him - Happy Singh (Akshay Kumar).

The villagers are fed up of Happy, the good samaritan, because most of his good deeds turn into hilarious, and often disastrous situations. Out of desperation, they decide to send him to Australia to bring Lucky back to Punjab.

The happy-go-lucky bumpkin, taking his mission a bit too seriously, embarks on his journey accompanied by his friend, Tony Singh (Om Puri).

The high point of his journey is his chance meeting with Sonia (Katrina Kaif) with whom he falls in love. But when he reaches his destination, things take a turn and Happy lands up in a series of comic misadventures, leaving him penniless.

An affectionate elderly lady (Kirron Kher) rescues him and also helps him meet Lucky.

Happy saves Lucky's life by risking his own. Following the hilarious altercation, Lucky lands up in hospital paralysed, and Happy, unexpectedly, finds the tables turned on him when he is expected to assume the role of the new leader of the gang.

The series of chaotic and comic misunderstandings eventually results in an accidental wedding!

Shot in Punjab, Australia and Egypt, the film's music is already doing well. American rapper Snoop Dogg features in the movie wearing a turban. Apart from Pritam Chakraborty, Britain's popular bhangra band RDB has also composed a song for the film.

Although Akshay's first release of the year Tashan turned out to be a box office dud, trade pundits are hoping this film will do well.

Why Smokers get hooked at First Puff?

Canadian researchers have found clues to why some people get hooked to smoking with their first puff. New research by the University of Western Ontario at London, about 120 km south of Toronto, is likely to lead to new therapies to help smokers give up the habit.

Steven Laviolette of the department of anatomy and cell biology at this famous university, who led the search, said: 'Nicotine interacts with a variety of neuro-chemical pathways within the brain to produce its rewarding and addictive effects.'

However, during the early phase of exposure to tobacco, he said, many individuals find nicotine highly unpleasant and aversive. 'Whereas others may become rapidly dependent on nicotine and find it highly rewarding. We wanted to explore that difference,' he added.

In their search for answer to this, the researchers found one brain pathway that particularly uses the neurotransmitter dopamine to transmit signals related to nicotine's rewarding properties.

Laviolette said this pathway is called the mesolimbic dopamine system and is involved in the addictive properties of many drugs including cocaine, alcohol and nicotine.

'While much progress has been made in understanding how the brain processes the rewarding effects of nicotine after the dependence is established, very little is known about how the mesolimbic dopamine system may control the initial vulnerability to nicotine.

'That is, why do some individuals become quickly addicted to nicotine while others do not, and in some cases, even find nicotine to be highly aversive,' he said.

Laviolette said his team first identified which specific dopamine receptor subtype controlled the brain's initial sensitivity to nicotine's rewarding and addictive properties. Then they were able to manipulate the receptors to control whether the nicotine was processed as rewarding or aversive.

'Importantly, our findings may explain an individual's vulnerability to nicotine addiction and may point to new pharmacological treatments for the prevention of it, and the treatment of nicotine withdrawal,' said Laviolette.