Siddharth Nigam Visits Kidzania Mumbai 

Siddharth Nigam visited Kidzania, the Global Indoor Theme Park at R-City Mall in Mumbai for a meet & greet with kids from the NGO. He also felicitated the winners of the contest. Kids from the NGO were invited to KidZania Mumbai in an effort to empower & inspire them through real life role playing activities that the establishment offers. Siddharth Nigam chose the best 3 & felicitated them with hampers. He encouraged the children to enjoy their childhood to the most as these are the best times & always respect your parents. Following this, Siddharth Nigam shook a leg with the kids on the beats of Dhoom 3 Songs & also cut a cake with them as a celebration of Chritsmas. Kids role-playing as budding journalists asked her about some of her crazy times in school as well as his childhood career aspirations apart from acting. 

 Amruta Khanvilkar’s X’mas Party With Special Children 

Christmas was here & the celebrations were all over the place. Dancing queen Amruta Khanvilkar decided to share the Christmas cheer with special children of Jagruti Palak Sanstha, Thane. Amruta Khanvilkar has been seen enjoying with kids of the dance reality show that she is judging! Amruta has become everyone’s favorite “Amu Didi”. So this year she decided to celebrate Christmas with these Special Children! These special children displayed their talent during the special activities like dancing & playing games & their Amu Didi cheered them by participating along! The children were also given lots of gifts & sweets from their favorite actress. Amruta said “My aim was to make this Christmas celebration more special for the special children because they are different, extremely talented & very special to all of us. Every year I spend my time with varied NGO’S but this was very special & emotional for me, the love I got from these kids is memorable & will be very close to my heart always”

Rishina Kandari Just Loves Christmas

  Christmas was celebrated all over the world, Rishina Kandhari says that she loves Christmas & and the festivity that surrounds it. “Christmas to me is all about Santa, gifts, lights & cakes. I am always excited about Christmas as I love the environment at Christmas. Everything is so positive, people are partying & even the weather is so beautiful,” she says. Ask her what she wished for this Christmas, and she says, “I just wanted a lots of positivity & happiness to be continued in my life. That’s all that I asked from Santa this year.” The actor has a lot of fond memories of Christmas this year. “I remember when I was a kid, I used to be excited for Christmas as we used to have this Christmas party at our school. We used to get lots of gifts, snacks, chocolates & cakes and then they used to play Christmas songs & we used to dance on them,” she says. The festival is still special for her. “Every Christmas, I get a Christmas tree at my place & my daughter & I decorate the tree together. She loves doing that & if she is not working, she bakes a chocolate cake at home which everyone loves.

Kannada Movie Butterfly’ Teaser Crosses 1.5million Views

The teaser of Kannada film Butterfly has already crossed over 1.5 Million views across all digital platforms & the people of Karnataka cannot stop gushing about it. The film stars the gorgeous Parul Yadav who skipped her glamorous avatar to look & behave just like a naive girl from Gokarna, Karnataka. The teaser reveals the fun & the colorful vibe of the film with exotic European locales & Amit Trivedi’s perky music composition, along with the emotional journey the protagonist (Parul Yadav) goes through. With this film, Parul Yadav also debuts as a co-producer. Being a woman oriented film; this score of over 1.5 Million views for a Kannada film in a span of 5 days is commendable. With so much love pouring in, undoubtedly, Butterfly becomes the most awaited film in Karnataka. Butterfly is directed by Ramesh Aravind, produced by Manu Kumaran, presented by Mediente Films, dialogues by Mamta Sagar & Ramesh Aravind.

Success Of Teaser Of ‘Queen’ Remake In South Shows The Strength Of the Original Hindi Movie+

The teaser of the Hindi movie Queen’s remakes in the 4 South languages Butterfly in Kannada, Paris in Tamil, That is Mahalakshmi in Telugu & Zam Zam in Malayalam has been receiving lots of love from audiences. The teaser was released 5 days back. The brand value of the original Queen is so high that even 5 years after its release the remakes in the other languages are eliciting so much interest across the 4 states.  That the film is spear headed by the top most actress in her region makes the film even more exciting. Manu Kumaran the producer says, “Queen is a story that deserves to be told in every language in every corner of the world. Women are conditioned to build their lives around this mythical magical moment called marriage after which everything will just be swell. Marriage is a milestone not a destination and this is why these films are so incredibly important” The Kannada remake of Queen is titled as Butterfly, directed by Ramesh Aravind, dialogues by Mamta Sagar & Ramesh Aravind and stars Parul Yadav. The Tamil remake of Queen is titled as Paris Paris, directed by Ramesh Aravind, dialogues by Thamizhachi Thangapandian & stars Kajal Aggarwal. The Telugu remake of Queen is titled as That Is Mahalakshmi whicstars Tamannaah Bhatia. The Malayalam remake of Queen is titled as Zam Zam, directed by Neelakanta, dialogues by Vipin Radhakrishnan & stars Manjima Mohan & Sunny Wayne. The films are presented by Taizoon Khorakiwala & produced by Manu Kumaran under the banner of Mediente Films.

Nikita Rawal To Play A Glamorous Role In A Tamil Film

Nikita Rawal who has to her credit as an actress many films in Hindi & South languages did a new glamorous photo shoot for her upcoming untitled Tamil movie which will  start in Feb, 2019. Nikita Rawal plays the role of a corporate business girl with Vijay Kumar Shetty. The film produced by Shiva Sharan Films & directed by Ravi Shankar, will be shot in India & Bali, Indonesia.

Himanshu Malhotra Is Back With Share & Grow Spotlight Season 2 

The 1^st ever season of Himanshu Malhotra’s talk show Share & Grow Spotlight was a major success. With the who’s who of the TV industry gracing the show, we saw many eminent personalities share their deepest secrets. The actor will soon be coming up with the 2^nd season of the show! The season 2 of Share & Grow Spotlight will be bigger as now we have tied up with acting institutes & colleges. We’re trying to help all these people as well. We will be having a live audience, consisting of these students, for the episodes now. Season 1 was not done with any live audience, we were only shooting in the studio. We want to reach out to so many people to share & the idea behind it is to provide guidance & inspiration to budding actors from these colleges. There are other surprises as well! The packaging will change. We will try to call more & bigger celebrities as well. We plan to get people like Shankar Mahadevan, Manoj Bajpayee & Imtiyaz Ali…varied  people of varied age groups & fraternities and people who are masters in their fields. I’m talking about the biggest celebrities. I plan to get in touch with my peers as well like Rithvik Dhanjani, Sargun Mehta, Ravi Dubey, Pooja Chopra. I am approaching people from various fraternities. The CEO of Salman Khan’s Being Human Foundation is also coming. We are also trying for singers such as Neha Kakkar & Shalmali Kholgade.”

Ahwaan Kumar Has An Accident While Shooting For ‘Kaal Bhairav Rahasaya 2’

Ahwaan Kumar loves being part of Kaal Bhairav Rahasya 2. However, the actor had to unfortunately, undergo an accident on the sets recently which resulted in his hair getting burnt. “Actually, we were shooting at night for Kaal Bhairav Rahasaya 2 in a jungle & we had a scene where Veer goes missing. So, Kashinath, I & the other people go and search for him in the jungle. As it is night time, we take fire torches & search around for Veer. Suddenly, we see Laali’s spirit & everyone runs away except me. So, when the person beside me was running, his fire torch slipped from his hand & that somehow touched my hair & it got burnt. But luckily, I managed to put the fire off,” says the actor. However, he is making sure to give his hair extra attention after the incident. “I am one of those people who really take care of their hair. For me, hair is something which is the most precious thing in my body. I always oil my hair, shampoo it & do everything to take care of it. So, after this incident I have been taking more care of it, I hope it never happens again in my life,” he says.

Mohammad Nazim Says That These Days No One Typecasts An Actor 

Mohammad Nazim, who was seen as the negative lead in the show Udaan, says that he loved being part of the show. The actor adds that he loved his character & the feedback was amazing as well. “It is a very good experience as it was my 1^st ever time of playing a negative lead. It was a very good character & I tried my best to do justice to it. Now, I am also getting a good response from the audience as well,” he says. Ask him if he found playing a negative character challenging, and he says, “It was a very challenging role as I am a Punjabi & the character has a typical Bihari accent. It was a tough task to learn this accent as I have never spoken in Bihari. I did a lot of preparations to learn this accent. I think the most challenging role is a negative one. For this, I changed my driver to one who speaks in Bihari so that most of the time I could converse with him in Bihari & could understand the language & accent. You have to work more on your expression & your body language too to prepare for a negative role.” Contrary to what many may feel, Nazim doesn’t think people typecast you anymore. “I think there is no such thing as being typecast. It totally depends on your skills & your talent and how you play a character. For example, Shahrukh has done varied negative roles say in Baazigar, Don etc. It doesn’t mean that he was typecast for doing such roles and he will not get any positive roles. I think you never get typecast, it all depends on your acting skills & talent,” he says. Mohammed Nazim has a few dream roles in mind. “I would like to do historical shows like Karn Sangini, Dastaan – E – Mohabbat Salim Anarkali,” he says, adding, “I would love to do that type of shows if I get a chance as the audience will be able to see a different side of me. I think that physique doesn’t matter. All that matters is your talent, skills & hard work.” Talking about physique, the actor is a fitness enthusiast & even plans to open a gym in his hometown soon. “I will open a gym by 2020. I think going to the gym will spread a good message of living a healthy life. If somebody becomes Mr. Punjab or achieve any title, then the gym would be free of cost to them. The main aim is to achieve awareness about fitness in my hometown Markotla,” he says.

 Zero
SRK’s Zero Is A Biggest Disappointing Fare
Banner: Red Chillies Entertainment & Color Yellow Productions
Producer: Gauri Khan
Director: Aanand L Rai
Music: Ajay – Atul
Star Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Anushka Sharma, Katrina Kaif, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Brijendra Kala, Sheeba Chhadha, R. Madhvan, Abhay Deol, Salman Khan, Kajol, Rani Mukerji, Alia Bhatt, Deepika Padukone, Karisma Kapoor, Juhi Chawla & the late Sridevi

 ZERO is a crucial film for varied reasons. The main reason being, it’s the 1^st ever collaboration of Shah Rukh Khan & Aanand L Rai, who has a hat trick of hits to his credit like Tanu Weds Manu, Raanjhanaa & Tanu Weds Manu Returns.
Unlike their previous ventures, the stakes are high this time. The actor features in a role he hasn’t portrayed earlier, while a significant part of the 2^nd half has space travel interwoven in its screenplay. Naturally, the expectations are colossal.
Without giving away the minutest details of the story, here’s the spoiler-free plot: Bauua (Shah Rukh), a 38 year old man, lives with his family in Meerut. He comes across the profile of Aafia (Anushka Sharma) at a marriage bureau & decides to woo her.
Aafia doesn’t show interest in Bauua initially, but falls in love with him subsequently. Bauua backs off. A few months later, Bauua is shocked to see Aafia at his residence.
Bauua’s father (Tigmanshu Dhulia) decides to get Bauua & Aafia married & a reluctant Bauua agrees too. Meanwhile, Bauua had signed up for a dance competition where the winner will get to meet the superstar, Babita (Katrina Kaif).
An ardent fan of Babita, Bauua ditches Aafia on the day of marriage. What happens next forms the remainder of the film.
To begin with, the story by Himanshu Sharma hinges on a wafer thin plot. The writer has integrated space travel in the narrative & you may argue, and rightly so, that it’s this aspect that drives the story away from predictability. However, the writer fails to knit a compelling, riveting & captivating screenplay that stays with you.
ZERO appeals in bits & spurts & a few moments in the 1^st ever half do grab your attention, make you giggle & bring a smile on your face. A few individualistic sequences do catch your attention, but you realize, as the narrative progresses, there’s something amiss.
You invest hopes in the post intermission portions, hoping that the writing & the emotional quotient, the hallmark of Aanand’s previous movies, will change the scenario for better. Unfortunately, the writing goes for a toss as the fun portions fall flat, romance seems superficial & emotions appear fake!
What saves ZERO, besides the performances of its principal cast, are some sharp & witty lines. But the bitter truth is, great lines or individualistic sequences in a disjointed screenplay are forgotten once you exit the theatre.
Aanand L. Rai’s direction is a far cry from his previous works. In fact, the incredibly talented storyteller is known to make you smile, laugh & make you moist-eyed in his well-packaged movies. Everyone who recalls his works will be wondering, how did he okay a half-baked screenplay this time? Too many questions cross your mind as the drama unfolds & you soon realize, it’s a screenplay of convenience.
The graph of the film goes haywire in the 2^nd hour. Generally, you don’t complain about the length of the film / run time if the proceedings & sequence of events keep you hooked, enthralled & mesmerized. Sadly, ZERO lacks the power of a strong & a cohesive script.
Ajay-Atul’s soundtrack is a big plus. “Mere Naam Tu” is, undoubtedly, the best track. The song featuring Salman & SRK is a treat for the fans of the 2 superstars. Cinematography is brilliant. The DOP captures the varied moods & locales to perfection. The production design is top notch. A special mention must be made of VFX which matches the global standards.
Shah Rukh is the lifeline of Zero. He is in supreme form. The actor deserves 10/10 for a performance that’s absolutely fantastic. Anushka nails the part. There’s no doubt that she’s amongst the best & her act in Zero reiterates the fact. Katrina surprises you with a stunning performance. Some moments in the 2^nd half give her ample scope to shine.
Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub is dependable, contributing to the fun quotient. Tigmanshu Dhulia is perfect. Brijendra Kala is hardly there. Abhay Deol & R Madhavan hardly contribute!
Zero also features Sridevi, Kajol, Rani Mukerji, Alia Bhatt, Deepika Padukone, Karisma Kapoor & Juhi Chawla in an inconsequential sequence.
On the whole, Zero has several factors going for it: star presence, winsome performances, energetic soundtrack & of course, it’s timed during the Christmas & New Year vacations. Sadly, the weak, flawed & lackluster screenwriting is all that you recall after you’ve watched the much-awaited movie. This one’s an epic disappointment! 

An Interview With Kannada Star – Actor Sudeep

Pailwan, starring Sudeep, the biggest star from Sandalwood to make his mark in varied film industries across India, is one of the most awaited films in Kannada. It is the 3^rd film to be directed by cinematographer-turned-director S Krishna. Ever since its launch a few months ago, the film is in the news for one or the other reason. Sudeep the superstar of the film explains why Pailwan is a very special film for him. 

*After 2 decades as an actor, you started going to the gym for the 1^st time ever for Pailwan. What made you to become so serious? 

*You see as an actor, you always try to find variety in the roles you do. In the end, we actors are all entertainers. An actor will never reach a peak just like that. You are constantly trying to reach newer heights. That said, you cannot sell whatever you do to the audiences. The fact is that I do not show muscle on screen has lingered in my mind for some time. Then this script came along. Whether you like it or not, this kind of scripts motivates you. As the Pailwan script began to take shape, I realized that I needed to give more. When you are making a sports film, I should not be taking it lightly. I immediately joined the gym. Even before that I had a trainer who would come every day & I would have 10 reason every day to avoid him. The 2^nd reason was Kabir Duhan Singh. 6 months before I started with the film, I saw his photo on Twitter. It psyched me. The way he has done up his body. In the film, I will be in the same frame as Kabir. Both of us in our bare bodies! Forget how we look in the film, but what will the technicians and others on the sets think of me when they see me next to Kabir? That scared me. It was the question of my self-esteem. I did not want to become a joke in front of anybody. 50% of the credit therefore goes to Kabir. His dedication to his body motivated me. 

*How did you prepare yourself in terms of your body for this particular role?

*For the last 8 months, I have never cheated. Be it diet or workout. Even after the shooting for the fight scenes are complete, I have not stopped. Before this, I used to sleep at 2 am or even 4 am. But after I started training, I started waking up at 4 am. Even when I was shooting in Hyderabad, I would leave home at 4.30 am & spend time till 6.30 am in the gym. I would be ready for shooting at 7 am. After shooting, I would start swimming at 5.30 pm & go promptly to sleep at 9 pm. On weekends, when I shoot for Bigg Boss, I get sleep at 9 pm now. I have followed this routine for nearly 4 months. The actual training for the body started 8 months ago. 

*From budget to scale, Pailwan is reaching new heights.

*When you have a good story to tell, you cannot hesitate on the budget. It is not because we have money that we are spending. Krishna & Swapna have been very honest in their work & whatever they are spending is for the betterment of the film. It is not just to showcase the expenditure but to show what was required. Everything is shot on the sets. The honesty towards the script will show. Yes there was a calculation of how much the film would cost. But calculation alone will not make a film. The business today helps us make such a film. We are getting so many offers from people who have just seen the sets. It shows we have not compromised. Making a big-budget film was not the idea. We set out on a dream & every one of us is walking that dream. We have so far had 90 days of shooting & not a single day of that was unplanned. Every morning when I wake up for this film it excites me a lot. That has been the case every single day. 

*Dubbing for a film in 8 to 9 languages is a first for any Indian film. How did this happen?

*I always wanted to reach out in varied languages. By God’s grace I am known in the other markets. But I did not get to utilize it in my previous films. There were 1 or 2 failed plans. But here I got a very good platform & everyone agreed. It should have happened much earlier. But better late than never! Every single work, every single musical note in this film has been planned to cater to an all-India market. 

*But the film will not see a theatrical release in Hindi. Right?

*We are looking at much more specific markets. My films have been dubbed in Hindi for a long time. But a theatrical release in Marathi makes more sense. And so it is with Bhojpuri & Bengali languages. There will be Tamil, Telugu & Malayalam versions too. There is a culture of “kusti” in every region & culture that we are trying to reach out to. I have friends in these industries who are helping me. Ravi Kishan in Bhojpuri & Riteish Deshmukh in Marathi are setting it all up for me. 

*It seems that you forced S Krishna to get Suniel Shetty for the Kannada version. Is it true? *Yes! Indeed. Suniel Shetty is from here & it was his lifetime dream to act in a Kannada film. We are so proud that it is through this film. He is one of the biggest stars of his time. Anna has a beautiful role in the film. His character is called Sarkar & anyone will be impressed with what he has done. He was such a motivation on the sets. He would be ready on the sets at 7 am with makeup. He has raised the magnitude of the film. I saw an advertisement of his with the salt & pepper look. From that moment, I was behind S Krishna to get Anna for this film.

An Interview With Director S Krishna

 S. Krishna is an Indian cinematographer & film director who primarily works in Kannada films. He gave a new dimension for cinematography through his breath taking visuals in Mungaru Male which is considered as a romantic cult classic. His upcoming Kannada film is Pailwan which will have 9 other languge versions.  

*The budget of Pailwan has crossed Rs 45 crores. Had you planned the film this big?  *If we had a final budget in mind, we might have had to compromise. So we did not have a limit. We do not know how much more it will require. That is one of the reasons we are not finalizing on the deal for selling rights for which we are getting never before heard offers.  *What offers do you have? *We have been offered Rs 30 crores for the all-India TV rights (for all languages). This is the biggest offer ever for a film made in Kannada language. 

 *What was the need for such a huge budget?  The 1^st is the requirement of the script. It is a film with a huge canvas. Secondly, GST has made every industry equal. We do not have the luxury of subsidy. There was a little leeway when there were audiences who would choose a film whose ticket cost lesser. Now every film cost the same. We have to have Kannada films that compare favorably with all the high budget films of Hindi or others. We have to give justice to the paying audiences.  

*Is it a big risk you are taking with your 1^st ever home production?  *Making a film with a superstar is never a risk. And if you do good films, audiences will come to you. With films with superstars, you are guaranteed a minimum safety. That is why they are superstars. Be it audiences coming to theatres or TV telecast rights, you are assured of a return. As a film maker you need to enhance it. I did Hebbuli with Sudeep before this. It did great business. How do you enhance that? It is by adding more value to the film. 

 *There have been films on wrestling in Hindi recently. There will be obvious comparisons with your film Pailwan. Salman Khan’s Sultan & Aamir Khan’s Dangal released the same year within months of each other. Both were about wrestling & therefore similar. But both were also completely different. Audiences accepted both the films. It is good that the market for films on the subject is known to the audiences now. I am sure comparisons cannot be avoided. But those films give us the confidence that there is an audience for them.  

*So what is so different about Pailwan?  For the Kannada audience, this is one of the rare films with a superstar doing a sports film. Apart from that for every audience, a sports film gives real emotions. These are universal emotions. You know in the very beginning what will happen in the end. But you still want to find out how the hero achieves it. In sports even losing teaches us how to win. It is one of the purest emotions that are used in every sports film.  

*Why did you think of having so many dubbed versions of the film in so many languages?  The 1^st & foremost reason for this is Sudeep. He is known everywhere. But as Kannada film makers we have not used his potential in other languages. If we start now, who knows what will happen in 2 to 3 years. The 2^nd reason is because this is a sports film. We are not behind money. But we have a story that we think will work everywhere. We want to show them what we have made here. 

 *Can you let us know more about Pailwan in detail!  *Paiwan is directed by me Film & my wife Swapna Krishna is producing this film under our home production banner namely RRR Productions. Paiwan stars Sudeep, Suniel Shetty, Aakanksha Singh, Kabir Duhan Singh, Sharath Lohitashva and others, music is by Arjun Janya, stunt choreographers are Larnell Stowell from Hollywood & Ravi Verma.  Bollywood’s star – actor Suniel Shetty is making his Kannada debut with this film. For the 1^st time in his career, Sudeep is sporting a bare body as a wrestler & a boxer. He went to gym for the 1^st time ever in his career. The budget of the film has already crossed Rs 45 crores. The film will be in 9 languages including Kannada & will have a theatrical release in 7 to 8 of them. In fact Pailwan is getting bigger with each passing day. The entire film has been shot in over 20 specially erected sets. From boxing rings & stadiums to wrestling “akhadas” to entire villages, the sets at the Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad is already attracting curious visitors even when the shooting is going on. The film is being dubbed & released in several Indian languages. Apart from Kannada the film will release in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, Bhojpuri & Bengali. The film will also be dubbed in Hindi for television. There are plans to dub it in Punjabi too. In total, the film will be available in 9 Indian languages. It will be for the 1^st time ever that any Indian film will have so many versions. 

‘Bete’ Released On Drishyam Films Youtube Platform

Cine Buzz : Hot on the heels of producing critically acclaimed short film, Paroksh, Drishyam Films is out with another heavy hitter short film titled Bete. Written & directed by Ganesh Shetty, a veteran Bollywood line producer with films like Company, Sarkar, Budhia Singh: Born to Run & Newton to his credit. Bete has also been officially selected at Teaneck Film Festival in New Jersey, USA. The film would be up for both juried & audience awards in the categories: “Best Of Festival”, “Best Documentary” & “Best Short”. The festivals’ theme is Activism: Making Change, encouraging efforts to help make the world a better place. Inspired by true events, Bete is a snapshot, a day in the life of a farmer & his wife in Mangalore. The film follows the everyday movements of a regular farmer & his wife, Ganesh Shetty has used non-actors in this short. Bete meaning HUNT in Kannada is inspired by true events in the State that led to the disruption of a farmer’s livelihood with often-tragic consequences. 

‘Pushpa I Hate Tears’ Nearing Completion

 With the completion of 14 days’ shooting schedule in Mumbai the entire talkie portion of Pushpa I Hate Tears is now complete & now only 2 songs remain to be canned. Being produced under the banner of Films At 50 Productions this suspense comic thriller was shot at Future Studio & Madh Island. The credits of the film are produced by Amulya Das, written & directed by Dinkar Kapoor, screenplay & dialogues by Adesh K Arjun, lyrics by Kanwar Juneja & Mack & music by Ramji Gulati. The film stars Krishna Abhishek, Jayram Karthik, Arjuman Mughal, Anusmriti Sarkar, Anang Desai, Pradeep Kabra, Jimmy Moses & Akhilendra Mishra. 

‘Dhoka Cola’ Is The Title Of Tannishtha Chatterjee’s Rom Com  

Dhoka Cola is a contemporary rom-com with an element of dhoka & fraud. Tanishtha Chatterjee will direct this script after the release of her directorial debut Roam Rome Mein. Dhoka Cola will be produced by Ravi Walia of Rising Star Entertainment. Dhoka Cola’s concept & treatment was shortlisted amongst the 15 “Best Concepts” for the prestigious Asia Pacific Screen Awards Fund. Many Film Fund projects in the past have premiered to acclaim & awards and have put the APSA message in front of millions of viewers across the world. Filmmakers like Lee Chang-dong, Haifaa AlMansour, Rolf de Heer, Signe Byrge Sørensen & Asghar Farhadi have all been recipients of the funding initiative over its 1^stever 8 years. Films produced with the assistance of the Film Fund have gone on to win the Academy Award®, the Silver Bear at Berlin Film Festival, the International Emmy & have also played the Cannes, Venice & Toronto Festivals MPA APSA Academy Film Fund recipients nominated for APSA this year include Burning, The River, Memories Of My Body, Ayka & Bomb, A Love Story. Says Tannishtha Chatterjee,  ”When I told Ravi Walia that I have written a Romcom called Dhokacola which has been shortlisted for the APSA MPA film fund he immediately said “it’s a quirky title I want to produce it.” Writer-director-actor Tannishtha Chatterjee is currently working on the post production of her directorial debut Rome Rome Mein, which stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui.

 Nivedita Basu Launches NGO “Pehla Kadam”  

“Pehla Kadam”, an initiative by Nivedita Basu for the welfare of the girl child & women, was held at Bombay Adda, Bandra and was a huge success. The event was all about women celebrating their feminity as well as men celebrating the women in their lives. The who’s who of the entertainment industry was in attendance. A calender featuring TV celebrities styled by Lalit Dalmia was also launched. Ashish Rai also joined hands with Nivedita to take the NGO plan forward. Says Nivedita, “Pehla Kadam is going to take care of a girl child from the time she’s born. So whether it’s her education, her profession or good health care, good upbringing or anything to do with a girl. Pehla Kadam will help any & every woman to fulfill her dreams.  I always had this thought because my grandparents did 3 decades of charitable work in Vrindavan. When I told Lalit Dalmia about Pehla Kadam, he was on board. We decided to call our 1^st ever chapter “Pehla Kadam”. This was a calendar shoot & a video shoot. We did this with 30 actors from the film industry.There are times girls are not allowed to study further & grow in life. So, “Pehla Kadam” will help them nurture their skill set. There are a lot of things women can do even if they are not educated I will provide them a platform & connect A to B.” 

Dia Mirza Launches New Herbal Tea!  

Singer -actor Sophie Choudry says that you can get high on tea, specifically her brand new Ayurvedic herbal tea, Daily Brew which was launched by her close friend, actor, UN goodwill ambassador & nature lover, Dia Mirza, who said that if anyone cares about fitness & wellness, it’s Sophie Chaudhary & that she was proud Sophie Chaudhary had ventured into this field last year with Fittox and now her Daily brew! And not only that, she spoke about how great the tea tasted as she sipped it on stage! In fact the 2 friends & stunning ladies indulged in a fun Q&A “Shots with Sophie” where they spoke about fitness, crushes & cheat meals and drank a tea shot every time they answered yes to a question!.The tea party was held at a suburban watering hole & the ever-fit Sophie Chaudhary shared tips on health & well-being accompanied by her partners & founders of Fittox, Gaurav Kumar & Hansika Chandiramani. Last year they had launched India’s first Ayurvedic Detox Tea, fitTOX paving the way for a unique tea offering which offered 30 days Teatox. Bollywood & Fitness enthusiast celebs including Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, Kriti Sanon, Bipasha Basu were also seen loving fitTOX and raving about its benefits! And now the same trio is back with an all day tea!  Daily Brew by fitTOX is an All Day, Anytime Herbal Tea with Zero Caffeine. It is meant to replace your daily need for that hot cup of tea without the worry of high caffeine and with the benefit of great taste. With premium ingredients like Rosehip, Spearmint, Fennel, Lemongrass, Cinnamon, Daily Brew helps in building good gut health, lowering stress levels, managing weight, has anti-ageing properties & reduces bloating & cramping. All ingredients of Daily Brew are 100% Organic, Gluten Free & Hand Picked to give you the best brew possible!