After viral videos showed the Pakistani cricket team getting a warm reception at Hyderabad from fans and media alike, its clear that the politics of hate failed to diminish the love and respect Indian fans have for Pakistani celebrities, and vice versa. Given this, Indian director Rahul Dholakia has suggested that it’s about time Pakistani actors were given permission to act in Indian films.
“Now that Pakistani cricketers are officially here, can we also invite Pakistani actors to act in our films? Or musicians to perform?” the ‘Raees’ director wrote in a viral tweet.
Now that #Pakistani cricketers are officially here, can we also invite Pakistani actors to act in our films ? Or Musicians to perform?
Rahul Dholakia’s film ‘Raees’ starred Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and Pakistani actress Mahira Khan. Recently, in a podcast FWhy with Freiha Altaf, the actress spoke at length about the backlash she received after the ban was imposed, preventing Pakistani actors from working in India, and how it impacted her mental health. The ‘Razia’ actress revealed that she was diagnosed with manic depression and has been on medication for the past six to seven years.
“I talk it every chance I get. This is the first time I’m opening up about the fact that I’ve been taking medicine for so many years. And when I tried leaving it like I said it was bad… And I was again in and out of hospitals trying to get help. But yes, everybody has ups and downs, bad times and happy times, but clinical depression is real like any other mental illness or physical illness.”
Bollywood star Parineeti Chopra’s wedding to politician Raghav Chadha was the talk of the town all week. However, the absence of the actor’s cousin Priyanka Chopra, raised a lot of eyebrows.
The ‘Quantico’ actress uploaded a congratulatory post on her Instagram account, gushing about how gorgeous Parineeti Chopra looked on her big day. But, more than the picture, the hilarious convo taking place in the comments grabbed attention. Two desi people were trying to decode why Priyanka had not attended the wedding.
For context, the ghar kay halat kharab comment is about the divorce battle between Joe Jonas and actress Sophie Turner, who had filed a case against the ‘Jonas Brothers’ band member for wrongfully detaining their two daughters in the US.
Desi people will never change, chahe koi apna ho ya phir Priyanka Chopra ho. The internet was in fits after watching this hilarious interaction.
Indian director and actor Farhan Akhtar has talked to Variety about the reason why the iconic action franchise ‘Don’ has rebooted with Ranveer Singh and not Shah Rukh Khan, who played the role in 2006 and 2011.
The announcement that Ranveer Singh will play the iconic villain was made in August, leaving audiences divided.
Now, Akhtar has revealed that he and King Khan had parted mutually after they couldn’t find any common ground on how the story is supposed to go forward.
“I’m not in the position of replacing anybody. These are things that we discussed over the years, I wanted to take a certain direction with the story, somehow we just couldn’t find common ground. We just parted mutually knowing that it’s probably for the best. So that’s where it is.”
The son of lyricist Javed Akhtar went on to express his excitement about Ranveer playing Don, and said the actor was charged up for the project.
“I’m really excited Ranveer’s on board. He’s so charged and so ready to go. It’s a big film, just purely from the point of view of an actor, it’s a big thing to do, and we’re really excited to have him on board. His energy is energizing us, so to speak.”
In a lengthy post on his Instagram account, Ranveer gushed about this being a childhood dream that he was selected to perform the role of the iconic villain, previously played by Shah Rukh Khan and Amitabh Bachchan.
“As a child I fell in love with the movies, and like the rest of us,” gushed the ‘Rocky and Rani ki prem kahani actor. “Watching and worshipping Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan – the two G.O.A.Ts of Hindi Cinema. I dreamed of growing up to be like them. They are the very reason I wanted to become an actor and a ‘hindi film hero’. Their impact and influence on my life cannot be overstated. They’ve shaped the person and actor that I am. Taking their legacy forward is a manifestation of my childhood dream.”
Great news for Pakistani Bollywood fans who bemoaned missing out on the excitement surrounding the release of Karan Johar’s much-lauded romantic comedy ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani’, because there is finally a chance for them to watch the Alia Bhatt starrer on their screens. The Ranveer Singh-Alia Bhatt film is finally out on the streaming platform Amazon Prime with a special twist: it will feature a full-screen version of the song ‘Kudmayi’.
Director Karan Johar announced the release of the film on his Instagram account.
The romantic comedy stars Singh as a West Delhi playboy and Alia Bhatt as the headstrong feminist journalist, who cross paths after both realise there was a special connection between their grandparents. The film also stars veteran actors Jaya Bachchan, Dharmendra and Shabana Azmi.
The film was hailed by audience members and film critics for the strong feminist message, as well as the performances by both Ranveer and Alia, with many saying this was Karan Johar’s comeback film. The film grossed more than $23 million in India and a further $21 million overseas, making it the fourth highest-grossing Hindi film of the year.
Canadian-Indian rapper Shubhneet Singh is facing backlash from conservative politicians and social media users accusing him of being a Khalistan supporter, after the rapper’s post from March recirculated around social media. Several cricket players like Virat Kohli, Hardick Panday and KL Rahul had unfollowed the rapper on Instagram following the controversy.
Singh’s tour in India in September was cancelled, after sponsor BoAt announced they were no longer sponsoring the tour as they announced in a post on their X, formerly Twitter, account.
“At boAt, while our commitment to the incredible music community runs deep, we are first and foremost a true Indian brand. Therefore, when we became aware of the remarks made by artist Shubh earlier this year, we chose to withdraw our sponsorship from the tour.”
BookMyShow, the online ticket portal confirmed on their X account that they were refunding customers who had purchased ticket’s for Shubh’s concert in Mumbai and other cities.
Singer Shubhneet Singh’s Still Rollin Tour for India stands cancelled. To that end, BookMyShow has initiated a complete refund of the ticket amount for all consumers who had purchased tickets for the show. The refund will be reflected within 7-10 working days in the customer’s…
In light of these accusations, Indian rapper AP Dhillon released a lengthy statement on his Instagram stories where he publicly sided with the ‘We Rollin’ rapper, condemning the way artists are targeted by special interest and political groups.
“As an artist it has become almost impossible to stay focused on your craft and do what you love. I try to be mindful of everyone’s sentiments but it has gotten to a point where we have to second and triple guess our every move due to the fear of unintentionally fueling even more division.”
“Spread love, not hate,” wrote the ‘Brown Munde’ rapper. “Let’s start thinking for ourselves and not let hateful influences program our beliefs. We are ALL one. Let’s not let man made social constructs divide us. Division has gotten us to this point but unity is the key to the future.”
Shubhneet Singh addressed the backlash in a lengthy statement posted on his Instagram account and said he found the allegations “extremely disheartening.”
“My intent in resharing that post on my story was only to pray for Punjab as there were reports of electricity and internet shutdowns throughout the state. There was no other thought behind it, and I definitely didn’t intend to hurt anyone’s sentiments.”
The backlash to Shubh arrives after relations between India and Canada took a sour turn when Justin Trudeau publicly accused the Indian government for being involved in the death of the Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who had been a vocal supporter of setting up a separate state for Sikhs living in India.
“Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty,” said Trudeau.
“In the strongest possible terms, I continue to urge the government of India to cooperate with Canada to get to the bottom of this matter.”
After the Instagram post by Shubhneet went viral, the youth wing of the BJP party in India BJYMP filed an FIR against the rapper with the Mumbai Police, calling Singh a Khalistan supporter.
“Shubh is openly a Khalistani supporter,” the complaint read. “And if he is allowed to hold a concert here, he will be influencing a lot of youth in Mumbai and our country to support his agenda…He has evidently proven that he is a pro-Khalistani activist and openly supports their agenda and [he] is also influencing the youth of the country to do the same and wage a war against the Government of India by posting such absurd and derogatory post about Government of India.”
Veteran Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor has won a landmark case preventing his image from being used in any manner by Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology.
The actor filed a case with the Delhi High Court, after numerous morphed videos and emojis featuring his iconic phrase ‘jhakas’ from the 1985 film ‘Yudh’ went viral on social media.
The suit had asked for protection for the actor’s personality rights including his name, image, likeness, voice against any misuse on social media, and listed various instances of how the actor’s attributes were being misused. After a detailed hearing, the court sided with Anil Kapoor by acknowledging his personality rights, and restrained users from misusing the attributes without his permission or consent.
Speaking to Variety, Anil Kapoor said he was happy with the order.
“I’m very happy with this court order, which has come in my favor, and I think it’s very progressive and great for not only me but for other actors also. Because of the way technology and the AI technology, which is which is evolving every day [and] which can completely take advantage of and be misused commercially, as well as where my image, voice, morphing, GIFs and deep fakes are concerned, I can straight away, if that happens, send a court order and injunction and they have to pull it down.”
“It’s not only for me,” the ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ actor stressed. “Today, I’m there to protect myself, but when I’m not there, the family should have the right to protect my [personality] and gain from it in future.”
“My intention is not to interfere with anyone’s freedom of expression or to penalize anyone. My intent was to seek protection of my personality rights and prevent any misuse for commercial gains, particularly in the current scenario with rapid changes in technology and tools like artificial intelligence.”
AI is a central element to the SAG-AFTRA strikes in Hollywood. Anil Kapoor expressed solidarity with the ongoing strike.
“This [the court order] should be great positive news for all of them to a certain extent. And I am always, completely with them in every which way, and I feel their rights should be protected, because everybody, big, small, popular, not popular, every actor has the right to protect themselves and their rights.”
For fans in Pakistan who are bummed out on missing the opportunity to watch Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Jawan’ in theatres, there is finally a chance to see the film because the action thriller is coming to OTT platforms quite soon. According to India Today, the film is set to release on streaming platforms with a special twist: it will include scenes that were omitted from the theatrical release.
While the film was approximately two hours and 45 minutes long, the OTT release is expected to be 3 hours and 15 minutes with the extra scenes.
There is no release date confirmed yet by the team or Netflix.
‘Jawan’ has recently broken records, becoming one of the fastest Bollywood films to join the 500 crore club, beating Shah Rukh Khan’s previous film ‘Pathaan’ and Sunny Deol’s ‘Gadar 2’ according to Bollywood Hungama.
Looks like Naseem Shah is not only raking up trophies, but also the hearts of millions of girls, Bollywood being no exception.
After actress and model Urvashi Rautela, another Indian actress, Isha Shah, has expressed her admiration for the cricket star.
According to The Times Of India, the ‘Hate Story 4’ actress told media outlets she admired the cricket player “He (Naseem) is very good looking… and woh bahut zyada reels pe India me bhi trend kar rahe hain.”
Isha Shah definitely confirmed that she has a thing for the 20-year-old bowler when she said: “Khuda ne banaya to kya banaya, Naseem Shah banaya.”
Previously, model and actress Urvashi sparked rumors about having a crush on Naseem, when during the exhilarating match between India and Pakistan on September 3, she shared a post on her Instagram stories of her watching the match on the screen where Naseem Shah was featured.
Actress Meera recently appeared on Mohsin Abbas Haider’s show ‘Public Demand’ where she opened up about meeting various Bollywood actors during her trip to India.
Meera also met the legendary icon Dilip Kumar who invited the actress to dinner at his house, where she met his wife Saira Banu, staying there for three days. The ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ actor told Meera he knew she was from Lahore, because he could smell the scent of the city from her.
“Aap kay badan say khushbu arahi hai Pakistan aur Lahore ki. Mehak raha hoon mein,” Meera recalled the ‘Tragedy King’ telling her.
Meera also revealed that during her trips to India, she met Bollywood Badshah Shah Rukh Khan three times. The first time was after completing her film ‘Nazar’ and met the actor in London. The second time was at a dinner with celebrated director Yash Raj, Dilip Kumar and actress Rani Mukherjee. Her last meeting was at a birthday party held for actor Abhishek Bachchan, where she was invited along with actor Moammar Rana and singer Rafaqat Ali Khan by Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, who had personally called the ‘Baaji’ actress and requested her presence at the party.
Previously the ‘Mushkil’ actress was a guest at the comedy talk show ‘Hasna Mana Hai’ where she revealed that Shah Rukh Khan had personally wanted to cast her in his film ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’, but the offer didn’t work out as Meera revealed she wasn’t able to secure a visa to London.
Bollywood actress Ananya Panday spoke to The Times Of India about her close friendship with peers Sara Ali Khan and Janhvi Kapoor, sharing that these two were her closest friends. The ‘Dreamy Girl’ actress revealed she liked Sara and Janhvi because the three of them have always looked out for each other.
“It’s really good to have supportive contemporaries, we all know there’s heavy competition,” Ananya said, adding that she agrees with Sara’s comment about how only fellow actors can understand each other.
Previously, Ananya had spoken about her childhood friendships with Suhana Khan and Shanaya Kapoor, and opened up about the trio having a collective dream to become actors.
“You know we all had this collective dream while growing up. We all wanted to be actors. We used to play acting games together, do mimicry,” gushed the actress to Filmfare. “We have so many videos. Like Suhana would be the mother and Shanaya and I would be the daughters. And Suhana would be shouting at us because she was the tiny one. We have hours of footage. We’ve had so many memories and spoken about everything under the sun.”
