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Movie Review: ‘Kapoor And Sons’ is a very sensitive, heart touching & heart warming film

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Alia-Bhatt-Sidharth-Fawad

Banner: Dharma Production
Producer: Karan Johar
Director: Shakun Batra
Star Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Fawad Khan, Alia Bhatt, Rajat Kapoor, Ratna Pathak Shah, Rishi Kapoor et al

Shakun Batra, in his 1st ever directorial outing had delivered an impresssive film namely the Kareena Kapoor & Imran Khan starrer Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu regardless of its Box Office prospects at the turnstiles, and now in his latest directorial offering Kapoor And Sons he has come up with an extremely sensitive & heart touching film harping on the dysfunctionality of a nuclear family ties.

The well – knitted scripted scenario of Kapoor And Sons kicks off with a 90 year old Daadu (Rishi Kapoor) who is rehearsing his death sequence and suddenly gets a heart attack. His son Harsh (Rajat Kapoor) & daughter -in – law Sunita (Ratna Pathak Shah) are forced to summon their 2 sons Rahul (Fawad Khan) & Arjun (Siddharth Malhotra). Rahul & Arjun are living a completely different life in London & New Jersey respectively. Rahul is the perfect son, mature, successful and an established writer and on the other hand Arjun works as a part time bartender who is struggling hard to make it big as a writer. Arjun is always over shadowed by his elder brother Rahul. Daadu is doing every bit to bring the family close. Harsh & Sunita whose marriage too has turned sour are also trying to rediscover love in their life. Here comes the entry of a cute & lively Tia (Alia Bhatt) who is also dealing with her past tragedy. Arjun & Tia’s friendship blossoms into love but Tia who kisses Arjun’s brother Rahul in a drunken state is scared of revealing this to Arjun. It is also revealed later that Rahul’s bestseller novel’s idea was similar to his younger brother Arjun. But Arjun never confronted Rahul as his mother had asked him not to do so. In the 2nd part there are some heart breaking revelations about the entire family. Rahul who portrays a perfect son is a gay. His life is not at all perfect. Harsh Kapoor is having a long time affair with his colleague. Arjun parted ways with Tia on learning about Tia’s & Rahul’s kissing incident. Sunita has a tussle with Harsh on learning about his affair. Harsh leaves the house in the heat of the moment. He meets with an accident and passes away. At the same time Arjun & Rahul have a tiff and it is revealed that Sunita gave Arjun’s novella’s script to Rahul in order to push his career to new heights. The entire family is now shattered beyond redemption.
Director Shakun Batra’s flawless directorial finesse is evident in the fact that he has made every actor to literally live up to their roles and Rishi Kapoor tops the list amongst all of them. Kudos also goes on a platter to Karan Johar for producing such a lovely film. Don’t miss some of the nicest comic punches. Besides cinematography is the main stay of Kapoor And Sons.

Performances wise after Rishi Kapoor’s par excellence act it is Pakistani heart throb Fawad Khan who walks away with an extraordinarily eye catching performance as a budding gay writer (Time to take a bow Karan Johar). Fawad Khan has really stunned one and all by portraying the hollowness of his gay oriented life very genuinely. That apart other actors like Rajat Kapoor & Ratna Pathak Shah are picture perfect in their respective roles. Siddharth Kapoor & Alia Bhatt are also good enough and have tried their level best to be the best.

Tail Piece: Kapoor And Sons is strongly recommended for one and all at least for a single viewing.

Bhumika: The Smita Patil Film Festival in Bengaluru from April 8-10, 2016

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smita_patil

Bengaluru: Trailblazer. Screen-scorcher. Essayer of powerful roles. Padma Shri and national award recipient who mesmerised the world in a short but brilliant career.

Say ‘Smita Patil’ and there is that special glint in the eye of movie enthusiasts who had the privilege of watching this charismatic actor on screen. Whether it was Bhumika, Manthan, Gaman, Arth or Mirch Masala, movie after movie Smita breathed magic into every role, transforming effortlessly into the character she played on screen. Achiever and performer extraordinaire, Smita would have been 60 if she were alive today.

Join us, a group of Bangaloreans, as we celebrate her life and cinema by screening nine of her movies across different languages, including Marathi, Tamil and Malayalam besides, of course, Hindi. All this over three days, beginning on the Kannada Ugadi habba and Maharashtrian Gudi Padwa festival, at the stately National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in Bengaluru.

Renowned director Shyam Benegal, who drew out some of the finest facets of Smita the actor, has agreed to open ‘Bhumika’, the Smita Patil film festival, named after his own film. Mahesh Bhatt, whose Arth brought together two of India’s finest female actors, will be the guest of honour.

While the movies promise to be a treat for cine buffs, a collection of rare photographs featuring Smita as well as those shot by Smita will be on display at NGMA.

In tandem, at Alliance Francaise, the Bengaluru launch of the actor’s biography Smita Patil: A Brief Incandescence will take place in the presence of author Maithili Rao. We also wish to use the community-funded film festival as a forum to talk about two crucial issues that Indian cinema faces today: ‘Whither Parallel Cinema?’ and ‘Locating Women in Mainstream Indian Cinema’.

The festival will give us the perfect opportunity to hear both seasoned and fresh voices from the Hindi and Kannada cinema industry who are acting, directing, scripting, producing and collaborating on some sparkling work. This will be our tribute to what Smita so uniquely epitomised in her time – a new language of cinema which was also redefining and recasting the role of the woman, both on the screen and behind. Her Bhumika.

Abducted Indian priest is safe, Sushma tells church delegation

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Thomas Uzhunnallil

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday assured a Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) delegation that abducted Salesian Order priest Father Thomas Uzhunnallil is safe and all efforts are being taken to free him, a statement said.

“Sushma Swaraj has categorically assured the delegation that Fr. Tom Uzhunnallil is safe and that the government is adopting all possible means for the quick and safe release of Father Tom,” said a CBCI statement.

However, she did not reveal the finer details of the negotiations and the technicalities involved in securing the release of the Indian priest, abducted by the IS in Yemen, as it may jeopardise the entire process.

“The minister also said that the wild rumours being spread about any harm done to Fr. Tom, are totally baseless,” the statement said, thus quashing the rumours that Uzhunnallil was crucified by the IS terrorists on Good Friday.

The minister also told the delegation, led by CBCI deputy secretary general Joseph Chinnayyan, of the strenuous efforts being undertaken by the ministry and her personally to obtain the safe passage of the only surviving nun, sister Rema.

On March 4, the priest from Kerala was kidnapped after IS terrorists barged into a Missionaries of Charity care home in Aden for which he is the caretaker and shot dead many people, including four nuns, one of them from India.

Meanwhile, the Catholic Archbishop of Bengaluru, Father Bernard Moras, has called upon the general public in Bengaluru to join for a three-hour prayer vigil for Uzhunnalil to observe the completion of a month of his abduction.

(Agencies)

Mehbooba Mufti takes oath as first woman CM of J&K

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Mehbooba Mufti

Jammu: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday took oath as Jammu and Kashmir’s first woman chief minister, heading a 22-member ministry with the BJP as the junior ally.

Mehbooba Mufti, 56 and now a Lok Sabha member, was sworn in by Governor N.N. Vohra here, almost three months after the state came under Governor’s Rule on January 8.

The Peoples Democratic Party has nine cabinet and three junior ministers — the chief minister included — and the Bharatiya Janata Party has eight cabinet and two junior ministers in the new government.

BJP leader Nirmal Singh remains the deputy chief minister.

The new coalition takes office after three months of political uncertainty sparked by the death on January 7 of then chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.

The PDP dropped two cabinet ministers — Altaf Bukhari and Javaid Mustafa Mir and inducted three-time legislator Zahoor Mir.

The BJP dropped cabinet minister Chaudary Sukhnandan and brought in his place Shyam Lal Chaudhary. The BJP also dropped a junior minister, Pawan Gupta.

The BJP share of cabinet ministers includes People’s Conference leader Sajjad Lone, son of separatist politician Abdul Ghani Lone.

Mehbooba Mufti is the 13th chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state.

(IANS)

Double delight for West Indies in World T20 2016

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west-indies

Mumbai: The World Twenty20 2016 concluded in a most thrilling fashion with the West Indies scripting history by becoming the first team to clinch the title for the second time. The party for the Windies on Sunday at the iconic Eden Gardens got even bigger and better as before the men’s final, the women’s team won the Women’s World T20 to make it two world titles in a day.

Before the tournament actually kicked off, nobody gave the men from the Caribbean a chance to reach the final, because of their recent troubles off the field with their cricket board and with a few T20 specialists missing from their squad due to injury.

But the depth in the batting and bowling line-up, the talent in their dressing room and their bench strength fought against all odds and proved the critics wrong by eventually claiming their second World T20 title after 2012.

Each and every member of the squad delivered when it mattered most and the final against England will be everlasting in their memories thanks to Carlos Brathwaite’s late assault with the bat which left 2010 winners England stunned.

With the West Indies also winning the U-19 World Cup earlier this year, 2016 is witnessing a revival of sorts for the former superpowers of the game. They may no longer be the same force they used to be in Test cricket, but Sunday’s triumph clearly demonstrated that they are still among the best when it comes to limited-overs cricket.

Besides the West Indies, hosts India, who were termed as favourites to win the title, gave it their all with three successive wins after a loss against New Zealand in the opener, but failed to hold on till the end.

With comfortable back-to-back victories against arch-rivals Pakistan, Bangladesh and Australia, Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men made their way through to the semi-finals, but surrendered to the mighty West Indians who took the game away from the hosts to leave India and their millions of fans shell-shocked.

Although the 2007 inaugural World T20 winners failed to make it to their third final, their all-win record against traditional rivals Pakistan in the World T20 and 50-over World Cup remained intact.

Courtesy of star batsman Virat Kohli’s sublime form, the hosts outplayed their neighbours in all departments of the game in the Group 2 match to make it 11-0 in their favour in both 20-over and 50-over World Cups.

But the sixth edition of the World T20, like the earlier editions, has seen big totals chased down with ease. New Zealand’s Martin Guptill starting off the tournament with a six off the first ball and Brathwaite finished it off on Sunday with another maximum — sums up why cricket is considered to be a batsman’s game.

But the team which surprised all with their consistency throughout the group stages of the tournament was ICC associate member nation Afghanistan.

After troubling England, South Africa and Sri Lanka, the talented and spirited side scripted one of the most memorable wins by coming out as the only team to have beaten eventual champions West Indies in the tournament.

With the sixth edition of the World T20 in the sub-continent done and dusted, Australia will host the seventh edition in 2020. Expect another run-feast and cracker of a contest between bat and ball.

(IANS)

Massive tax evasion: Amitabh, Aishwarya among 500 Indians with hidden assets

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aishwarya-rai-amitabh-bachchan

New Delhi: The names of actors Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, real estate tycoon KP Singh and late gangster Iqbal Mirchi figured in a list of over 500 Indians who allegedly used a law firm in Panama to set up offshore entities in tax havens across the world, a newspaper reported on Monday.

The Indian Express said a study of more than 11 million documents from the secret files of Mossack Fonseca, the Panama law firm, showed that Indians possibly violated tax rules or masked ownership of firms they allegedly set up abroad.

The newspaper claimed that while Aishwarya Rai was a shareholder of a firm in the British Virgin Islands, her father-in-law – superstar Amitabh Bachchan – was the director of four shipping companies in the Bahamas. It said Indiabulls owner Sameer Gahlaut acquired “three top London properties” via “entities” in the Bahamas and Jersey, and DLF promoter KP Singh and his family owned firms in the British Virgin Islands.

The promoters of Apollo Tyres, business tycoon Gautam Adani’s elder brother Vinod Adani, West Bengal politician Shishir Bajoria and former Loksatta Party leader Anurag Kejriwal were some other Indians named in the newspaper report.

Until 2003, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) norms did not allow an Indian citizen to set up an overseas entity. In 2004, resident Indians were allowed to remit funds of up to $25,000 a year under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) – the limit of which stands at $250,000 a year now.

The media claimed that while RBI let individuals buy shares under LRS, it never permitted them to set up companies abroad. The Mossack Fonseca documents allegedly show companies were set up long before the rules were changed, and the purpose may have been to park foreign exchange in a tax haven.

Individuals named in the newspaper report were yet to comment, and government officials were expected to respond later. The report in the Indian Express formed part of an investigation by an international coalition of media outlets into the offshore financial dealings of the rich and famous, based on a vast trove of documents provided by an anonymous source.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalism, a non-profit organisation based in Washington, said the cache of 11.5 million records detailed the offshore holdings of a dozen present and former world leaders, besides businessmen, criminals, celebrities and sports stars. Political figures from Iceland, Ukraine, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Argentina were named in the reports.

Hindustan Times wasn’t immediately able to verify the allegations made in the articles that were published by over 100 news organisations across the world.

(Agencies)

England-West Indies lock horns to clinch World T20 for second time

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england-west-indies

Kolkata: This may not be the final sports buffs would have expected, but both the West Indies and England know they are on the doorstep of history to become the first team to win the World Twenty20 twice as they lock horns in the summit clash here on Sunday.

Very few would have given these two sides a chance when the tourney began, considering the subcontinental conditions. And also, neither of them were in champion form.

England were still recovering from their debacle in the 50-over World Cup last year while West Indies players had problems aplenty with their country’s cricket board, that led to some stars opting out.

The last time these two sides met was in the first match of Group 1 on March 16. Chasing a tough total of 182, Chris Gayle made it look ridiculously easy. The burly Jamaican remained unbeaten on 100 and took West Indies home with six wickets and 11 balls to spare.

However, England bounced back in some style by winning against South Africa in the next contest. With the help of Joe Root and other power hitters they chased down a target of 229.

The ‘Three Lions’ had a bit of a scare against minnows Afghanistan, but nevertheless they scraped past the finishing pole and then quite easily skipped past the Sri Lankan threat.

In the semis, it was opener Jason Roy who played an outstanding knock (44-ball, 78) chasing 153 to oust New Zealand from the competition.

On their way to the final, West Indies beat Sri Lanka by seven wickets and then went past South Africa by three wickets. But then they fell against Afghanistan.

However, the team showed great character to rally back from the disappointment and produced an all-round team effort against India in the semi-finals at the Wankhede on Thursday.

The Eden Gardens, however, will be a different strip altogether. The wickets here are known to have purchase for the bowlers and at this time of the year it turns too.

West Indies have come armed with all-rounders and spinners who are perfect for such conditions. And in the finals they are likely to go with the same outfit as they did against India.

However, if there is grass on the surface, pacer Jerome Taylor might get a look in.

The batting has been explosive to say the least. Lendl Simmons, who came into the side against India, has struck form and with players like Andrew Russell and Johnson Charles, the 2012 champions are a powerful batting unit.

Fighting fire with fire, England have their very own batting arsenal. Top order willowers Jason Roy and Alex Hales have been great, followed by consistency from the likes of Joe Root and Jos Buttler. It is also the time for their captain Eoin Morgan to come good.

“We’ve just got to do our business like we want to do — a style of cricket that is positive. Plan to do that on Sunday as well. We know how strong West Indies are as a side. We have to play well to beat them, make sure we look at our own game,” Root told reporters here ahead of the clash.

England have a young and inexperienced bowling line-up which will be put to the test here but then again they have been crafty about the trade and have yielded favourable results.

Head to head statistics show England have lost nine of their 13 T20 encounters against the West Indies. The Eden Gardens is also the stage where England had lost to Australia in the final of the 50-over World Cup in 1987 after their skipper Mike Gatting needlessly went for a famous reverse sweep that finished in the hands of the wicket-keeper.

Similarly, West Indies perished to Pakistan by five wickets from a favourable posiition in the invitational Nehru Cup final two years later.

Both sides, would be hoping to avoid any more reverse at the iconic venue.

Cricket lovers have to wait till Sunday night to see whether Morgan’s men create history in front of a packed stadium, or whether the West Indies cricketers end up dancing to their calypso.

Squads:

West Indies: Chris Gayle, Lendl Simmons, Johnson Charles, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo, Denesh Ramdin (wicketkeeper), Andre Russell, Darren Sammy (captain), Carlos Brathwaite, Samuel Badree, Sulieman Benn, Evin Lewis, Jason Holder, Ashley Nurse, Jerome Taylor.

England: Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan (captain), Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wicketkeeper), Moeen Ali, Chris Jordan, David Willey, Adil Rashid, Liam Plunkett.

(IANS)

Movie Review: ‘Ki & Ka’ is an interesting fare catering to classy audience

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Producer: R. Balki, R. K. Damani, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala & Sunil Lulla
Director: R. Balki
Star Cast: Kareena Kapoor – Khan, Arjun Kapoor, Swaroop Sampat, Rajit Kapoor & Amitabh Bachchan & Jaya Bachchan (Sp App)
Music: Ilayaraja, Mithoon, Meet Bros & Anjjan.

Kia (Kareena Kapoor Khan) and Kabir Bansal (Arjun Kapoor) meet on a flight and after a few drinking spree Kabeer proposes to Kia and they get married. But there is a catch as Kia is a successful marketing woman who prefers being the man of the house and Kabir does nothing and prefers to be a house husband. And what this role reversal leads them to, forms the crux of the story.

Director R. Balki has taken up a novel idea of a young married couple contradicting the gender roles placed upon women and men in Indian society. Balki’s directorial treatment also deserves a special mention along with his technical crew namely the art director and music directors Ilyaraja, Mithoon, Meet Bros and Anjjan. Performance wise both the Kapoor’s Kareena and Arjun have excelled in their respective roles ably supported by Swaroop Sampat and Rajit Kapoor.

The bedroom and the smooching scenes galore between the lead couples which may not suit the Indian audience’s sensibilities.

Tail Piece: Although the central idea of Ki & Ka is appreciable its prospects at the Box office appears bleak. And one wonders where was the need to justify the role reversal idea by bringing in the Abhimaan movie angle by bringing in the Bachchan couple in cameo roles to stress the fact.

India to finally join nuclear security ‘gift baskets’

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Narendra Modi

Washington: India has finally decided to join “gift baskets” at the Fourth Nuclear Security Summit here on Friday even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi held meetings with several leaders, including British Prime Minister David Cameron, on the sidelines of the summit.

Addressing a media briefing here as the summit got underway, Amandeep Singh Gill, joint secretary (disarmament and international security affairs), said that India has decided to join some gift baskets, including those on counter nuclear smuggling and sharing best practices.

Gift basket diplomacy involves an approach to a crucial issue where, if consensus is not reached till the lowest common denominator, then those willing can join in. In other words, it is a system of getting around the system of universal consensus at any multilateral summit.

The US had first introduced the gift basket diplomacy during negotiations in 2011 for the Second Nuclear Security Summit.

Fourteen such gift baskets were put up in the summit held in Seoul next year.

India, which had so far refrained from joining any of these gift baskets, has finally decided to go for it.

Gill said India would join the Trilateral Initiative which is the joint statement of the previous three co-chairs of the nuclear security summit which has been circulated in the form of a document in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

“So, this group of countries which India is joining are committed to holding the bar high on nuclear security,” the joint secretary said.

“We will also be joining three other gift baskets in priority areas like counter nuclear smuggling, the sharing of best practices through centres of excellence such as GCNEP (Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership), and finally NSS follow-up through contact group in Vienna,” he said.

In Friday’s summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would underline that India would continue to reflect its nuclear obligations to the international community through its national actions, Gill said.

In the national progress report on the work India has done in terms of nuclear security in the two years since the last summit, Modi would underline the continued priority the country attached to nuclear security at home.

“Second, the prime minister will underline the continued priority we attach to the technology direction of nuclear security,” he said.

As leaders of over 50 nations met for the biennial summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also held bilateral meetings with British Prime Minister Cameron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“My meeting with PM @David_Cameron focused on defence cooperation, @makeinindia & other key issues,” Modi tweeted.

The meeting assumes significance as Tata Steel, after having suffered nearly $3 billion in losses on its British operations, is exploring to put its entire portfolio there up for sale, some 10 years after it forayed into Europe by acquiring Anglo-Dutch Corus for over $8.1 billion.

With around 40,000 jobs at stake, Cameron was expected to take up the matter with Modi during the meeting, according to media reports.

Earlier in the day, Modi met with Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau and invited Canadian faculty members to teach at institutes of higher learning in India for short stretches.

“He (Modi) said that Canadian professors and teachers, including retired faculty members, could consider coming to India during the harsh winter months in Canada and teaching at Indian universities for periods ranging from three to six months under the GIAN (Global Initiative of Academic Networks),” external affairs ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said at a media briefing here following the meeting.

GIAN is a programme under the union human resources ministry that aims at tapping the talent pool of academia and scientists internationally to encourage their engagement with institutes of higher education in India.

Trudeau, according to Swarup, said that there was “real potential for harnessing the opportunity of helping so many young people in India get better skills and Canada would also be happy to provide help in education and infrastructure support”.

Modi also invited Canadian companies to participate in India’s flagship development programmes such as the smart cities project and in India’s new policy for hydrocarbon sector, in particular for deep sea and high temperature exploration, that came into effect on Friday.

On the sidelines of the summit, Modi also had informal meetings with Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

This year’s summit is the fourth and final edition of the biennial affair.

The first summit was held in Washington in 2010 which was followed by the summits in Seoul in 2012 and The Hague in 2014.

(Agencies)

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