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Small Screen Round Up

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Mubu TV Channel Celebrates Its Recent Success  
 
Just recently Mubu TV Channel celebrated its successful four months by holding the preview of the 1st episode of its three serial. 
 
Hindi entertainment channel, Mubu TV celebrated the success of their channel with the cast & the guest at The Club, Andheri West (Mumbai).
 
‘The dream of every Indian’ is the tag line of Mubu TV Channel. Manish Srivastava & Narshi Vasani kept the screening of their three currently running shows with the media & the cast.
The 1st ever show is, Return Of School Days which stars Komal Kundar, Amit Das, Apeksha Deshmukh, Vishmitha Dsouza, Manjari Mishra, Aishani Yadav, Mayank Shekhar et al. Manish Srivastava is the writer & the director of this show. 
 
The 2nd show is flattering & light-hearted comedy show Ajab Saas Ki Gajab Bahu directed by Vidyut Shah and which stars. Himani Shivpuri, Kishori Ambiya, R K Datta, Ankita Khare & Vishal Naik. 
 
The 3rd show is Gujarat Bhavan directed by Dharmesh Mehta, which stars Dharmesh Vyas, Rajendra Gupta, Sheela Sharma, Soniya Shah, Ruchi Tripathi, Prince et al. 
 
The Mubi TV Channel also announced three news shows namely Sajana Saath Nibhana, Chor FOOLish & Vanazaa – The Wonder Girl. Naved Jafri, Rajesh Puri, Aarti Nagpal, Nikita Aastha Rawal, Raju Singhania & Yogesh Lakhani of Bright Outdoor Media came to be part the part of this preview event. Actress & model Ekta Jain anchored the event.

Bollywood Buzz

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Rani Mukherji’s Next Movie Will Be Mardaani 2
 
Rani Mukerji had wowed us all with her brilliantly feisty performance in the super-hit YRF movie Mardaani. She had played the role of a daredevil Senior Inspector, Crime Branch, Shivani Shivaji Roy & took on the kingpin of a child trafficking racket.
 
It is official now that Yash Raj Films is making the sequel to this much loved movie starting the Mardaani franchise. Over the years, YRF has excelled in discovering talented directors & Mardaani 2 will see the company launch Gopi Puthran, who incidentally was the writer of the first film. Produced by Aditya Chopra, this will be Rani Mukherji’s next release after the worldwide blockbuster Hichki that was hugely acclaimed by the audiences & the critics alike and marked her return to acting post her pregnancy.
 
Rani Mukherji, whose performance in Mardaani made it a cult film, says, “Mardaani is & will always be extremely close to my heart. Right since its release, everyone has asked me time & again when I would be doing Mardaani 2 and I’m sure this announcement will come as a pleasant surprise to them all. Gopi has written an extraordinary script that we all love and I can’t wait to start shooting this film soon.”
 
She also gives a sneak peek into the character of the chilling villain who she will have a big face off with. “Shivani will face a cold & merciless villain who has no empathy & no fear of God and is pure evil. The character has been written superbly and I’m excited to find out who the actor will be,” Rani Mukherjee adds.
 
YRF’s edge-of-the-seat entertainer, Mardaani 2, is all set to go on the floors next year and will release in the later half of the upcoming year 2019.
 

Case filed against ‘Kedarnath’ in UP court

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A case has been filed in a local court at Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh against the Bollywood flick “Kedarnath”, which is set against the backdrop of the 2013 flash floods.

The film which depicts the love story of a Muslim porter and a Hindu girl on a pilgrimage to Kedarnath sees the debut of Sara Ali Khan, daughter of actress Amrita Singh and Saif Ali Khan.

In his petition filed before the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM-II), Dhananjay Mishra on Monday, the petitioner Siddhartha Singh, has named the main lead Sushant Singh Rajput, Sara Ali Khan and director Abhishek Kapoor.

The petitioner, also a lawyer, has been represented by two lawyers Ravindra Vikram Singh and Himanshu Srivastava in the case who have pleaded before the court that a love story has been shown in the film at the time of the natural calamity of 2013 which killed thousands.

The petitioner has objected to the film, his lawyers pointed out, due to a variety of reasons including its passionate love scenes and alleged promotion of love jihad, obscene dance sequences in the backdrop of a major disaster, scars of which are still afresh in the minds of the victims and their families.

The court has fixed January 17 as the next date of hearing.

IANS

I don’t feel any pressure, but have responsibility towards acting: Ranveer Singh

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New Delhi Hopes are high from newly-married Ranveer Singh, who is set to woo quintessential Bollywood fans with “Simmba” later this month. After eight years of entertaining audiences, the actor says he does not feel any pressure to deliver his best as he sees it as a responsibility towards what he loves doing — acting.

Ranveer has a filmography boasting of titles like like “Band Baaja Baaraat”, “Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl”, “Lootera”, “Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela”, “Bajirao Mastani”, “Dil Dhadakne Do” and “Padmaavat”.

Asked if he feels pressure with so many hopes riding on him, Ranveer told IANS in an e-mail interaction from Mumbai: “I have been fortunate enough to experience both highs and lows. (I have been) Lucky and blessed that there have been more highs than lows, but I’m glad that the lows were there because they taught me a lot.”

The actor, who faced failure with films like “Befikre” and “Kill Dil”, says it taught him that filmmaking is a collaborative process.

“According to me, whether it’s my most successful film or least successful film — I know in my heart of hearts that I tried my best, I performed with all honesty and never gave less than a 100 per cent. If a film did not work, that is not in my hands. From my point of view, my perspective, I gave it everything.

“For a film to become a hit or a flop, there are many variables and many factors. That said, I don’t get pressurised. I see it as a responsibility to what I love doing,” he said.

Ranveer, who tied the knot with his long-time lady love Deepika Padukone in November, says he feels responsible when filmmakers come to him for collaborations.

“When filmmakers collaborate with me, I only assume that they expect me to bring something to the table creatively and I like that. I appreciate that the finest filmmakers look upon me as a collaborator. It’s something to be proud of and so I feel responsible,” said Ranveer, who has worked under the direction of Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Zoya Akhtar, Aditya Chopra and Vikramaditya Motwane.

As a performer, Ranveer said his effort is always to make people associated with him proud.

“I want to make my fans, family, my team everybody who is directly or indirectly connected to me, my life, my career — proud. So, I feel responsible in that way. So yes, I don’t feel pressurised, but I definitely do feel responsible,” he added.

Ranveer, who has been feted with the “entertainer of the year” award by a magazine, has a bag full of films coming up. His next his “Simmba”, where he is playing a flamboyant police officer. Then there’s “Gully Boy”, “’83” and a period drama “Takht”.

The actor’s last Bollywood outing was Bhansali’s “Padmaavat”, in which he essayed the role of Alauddin Khilji. Ranveer upped his own game with his powerful acting and eccentric mannerisms in the film, and captivated cine-goers with his stand-out performance, which set the bar higher for Bollywood villains.

Would he like to play an anti-hero again?

“Khilji’s part was mentally and emotionally taxing for me. I don’t think I’m keen on going into the dark space again anytime soon. That said, I want to keep doing different things. I will explore new characters that have a fresh set of layers to play. I never say never, but probably not anytime soon,” he said.

Ranveer was in fact advised by many people to not play Khilji.

“The rationale behind that was pretty convincing. They rationalised saying how audiences are very emotional, they even draw lines between actors and stars. If they love a character, they will shower the love on who played the character and if they hate the character, that hate will come upon the actor.”

But the 33-year-old star saw it differently.

“I trusted the audience, I trusted their maturity and the fact that they have evolved over time that they can see the performance for what it is. I felt that if I do this part well, they will appreciate me as an actor. I’m glad I trusted the audience and my trust in them paid off. It was a huge risk, but I’m never one to play it safe. So I’m glad I took the risk,” he said.

(IANS)

This ‘Kaala’ takes up racism against Africans in India

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 Rajinikanth-starrer “Kaala” had a socio-political message on the plight of Dalits, but here’s another “Kaala” — a short film by Tarun Jain — which aims to highlight the issue of racism in India, especially against Africans.

“My film ‘Kaala’ is my response to the troubled nights and anger which pushed me every day to tell this story. It is a socio-political film about the uncompromising issue of racism in India. Between 2016 and 2017, reports on brutal assaults on the Africans in parts of Delhi and its close by areas was covered by almost all media houses. The incidents shook me to the core,” Jain told IANS of the reason he chose the subject for a film.

“Delhi is my home and I have fond memories attached to it, but this city failed to offer equivalent memories to people from other inhabitants. It became a city filled with gory reminders of murders, deaths, brutal attacks, abuses and so on. With over a decade of experience in filmmaking, I decided to use my ability and not remain a silent watcher. Racism is enormously rooted in our society and ignorance will not take us further, but it will stop us from advancing,” he added in an email interview.

Why title it “Kaala”?

“Kaala is a derogatory statement which we attempt to change. It’s more of a word which is used to define someone in disparaging terms. In our film, there is a dialogue, ‘Oye Kaluwe, kaha jaa raha hai?’. Kaala is not just restricted to skin colour, but it also reminds you that you that you are inferior. Rajinikanth’s ‘Kaala’ is also a socio-political film with a strong message.

“We too hope that our short film brings about an urgent change, more so now than ever before,” added Jain, who is rasing Rs 500,000 for the film’s post-production, via crowdfunding platform Wishberry.

India, the 33-year-old filmmaker said, has failed to consider racism a pressing issue.

“As a society, we failed miserably at accommodating a safe and respectful place for people of other communities, despite Indians facing invasive situations in other parts of the world. Our film questions ‘why we are doing the same things for which we have been battling the western world for generations?’

“How is skin colour enough to judge a person? How our opinion changes when we see a black as compared to a white? Why can’t we treat a human as human? Man as a man and a woman as a woman? My ‘Kaala’ is about the disturbing elements of how a society can abandon you for something as trivial as the colour of your skin. It takes you to an uncomfortable yet compelling space which makes you contemplate on your choices in life.”

The larger message, he said, is to help people reconnect to the most powerful human emotion, love.

“Kaala” features a non-actor of African descent as its main character.

Jain said their research for the movie mainly included meetings and interactions with people from the African community.

“During eight months of research, we met people from the embassies, students from different schools, universities, professionals and mainly indulged in conversations after conversations. Sometimes, it also led to heated arguments and ended up in a few fights as well. During those meetings, our intention was to meet African residents and know their experiences and their expectations.

“We also met a few victims and families of those who lost their lives. Our research also comprised reading a lot on incidents between 2016 and 2017, interacting with journalists who covered the attacks in the past, Indian government’s reactions and implementations after the attacks, and their outcomes,” said the Delhi-based filmmaker.

 

IANS

Bollywood Round Up

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A Candid Chat With Varun Dhawan & David Dhawan
 
It is a lesser known fact that David Dhawan started his journey as a filmmaker with editing and the latter is a craft he enjoys more than any other. That his actual name is Rajinder & David was a name fondly given to him by a Jew family in Kolkata, is another trivia. The In-Conversation session titled, “Dha-One”, featuring David Dhawan & his superstar son Varun Dhawan was full of such lesser-known facts surrounding the Dhawan family, a candid recollection of David & Varun’s journey in films and the changes in the film industry from the duo’s point of view. The massive DMK auditorium at Kala Academy failed to contain the huge swarm of Varun Dhawan’s fans who did not stop cheering, whistling & expressing their love for the young icon.
While recollecting his foray into the world of acting, Varun Dhawan was quite vocal about his love for films of darker shades. The actor was all praise for films like Dhobi Ghat, Black Friday & Badlapur. Varun said, “I would have given my right arm to be launched by Anurag Kashyap”, to which David quipped, “Thank God, not!” The senior Dhawan further added, “When I learnt that he had auditioned for Dhobi Ghat, I suggested him to give up the idea and instead do ‘proper’ Bollywood cinema. Later, when Karan (Johar) told me that he is casting Varun in a lead role in his film, I thought ‘what can be better than this?’ I asked Varun to step on his shoulder and take the leap.”
Using the example of the blockbuster film Amar Akbar Anthony, David said, “The scene where the brothers collectively donate blood to their mother still attracts applause. The idea is impractical, but cinema is all about what you make the audience believe. You’re selling dreams, at the end of the day.”
While speaking about what drew him to acting, Varun said, “I always wanted to be the funny guy in the group. I dreamt of owning a channel and do talk shows. I used to be obsessed with improvised  comedy.”
The session moderated by Rumi Jaffery then touched upon varied facets of the Dhawan family, including Varun’s brother Rohit Dhawan who is also a filmmaker, the bonding between the brothers, their mother & the times of growing up.
When asked if he was nervous about his debut film, Student Of The Year (SOTY), Varun surprisingly dismissed the notion. He said, “We all (Varun, Alia & Siddharth) were debutante actors. So Student Of The Year (SOTY) was all Karan’s headache. I knew that if the film did not do well, the blame would be all on Karan. I was stressed in the true sense for the 1st time ever before the release of Main Tera Hero. That was my first solo hero film. I was desperate to convince the audience that I’m their hero who can laugh, cry, dance & romance, be funny & do everything that a hero does.”
The actor said he is very excited about his upcoming film, Kalank, and that he is eager to see how the audience receives him & the film.

Uttarakhand HC refuses stay on ‘Kedarnath’ release

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The Uttarakhand High Court on Thursday refused to stay the release of forthcoming Bollywood film “Kedarnath”, starring debutante Sara Ali Khan along with Sushant Singh Rajput.

Swami Darshan Bharti of Garhwal had demanded that the film should be banned. The High Court said Bharti should go to the District Magistrate of Rudraprayag with his complaint.

A single bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan was told the film should be banned as it was hurt people who were affected by the 2013 flash floods rhat ravaged Kedarnath besides hurting Hindu sentiments.

The petitioner pleaded that the film promoted “love jihad” — a word coined by right-wing Hindu groups, to denote marriages between Muslim boys and Hindu girls.

Keeping in view the objections, the state government had formed a committee headed by Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj and comprising Home Secretary Nitesh Kumar Jha, Director General of Police Anit Ratoori and Tourism Secretary Dilip Jawalkar.

The committee has been asked to go through all aspects and submit a detailed report to the state government, after which a final decision on the film’s release in Uttarakhand would be taken, an official told IANS.

The film is slated for nationwide release on Friday.

  Festival Round Up

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Women Directors Gauri Shinde, Leena Yadav & Meghna Gulzar Discuss Gender Equality & Women-Centric Stories
Women directors in Indian Cinema, saw some of the most prolific filmmakers in India, Gauri Shinde, Leena Yadav & Meghna Gulzar engage in a conversation on gender equality, women-centric stories & their journey in the film industry, moderated exceptionally well by filmmaker Shashank Khaitan.
Usually a good male director is a “genius”, “has an eye for detail” & “knows what he wants”, but his female counterpart is usually perceived to be “finicky”, “too rigid” & “too authoritative”. When asked if this perception has changed, Meghna Gulzar quipped, “I hope not. We are finicky, we are detail-oriented. We like it like that way. That’s what shows in our work & that’s what you as an audience like.” Meghna Gulzar, the daughter of noted lyricist Gulzar, directed her 1st ever film Filhaal that dealt with surrogacy, in the year 2002 and followed it with films like Just Married, Talvar & Raazi.
Gauri Shinde’s film English Vinglish when looked in isolation is about a great character. But when looked through the lens of gender, it becomes a strong “female character” who breaks through after being subdued in society. When asked if she was subjected to questions surrounding gender & feminism a bit more, because of this, Gauri said, “I had never thought that a film about a middle class women & her middle class life could touch people’s hearts. I used to be offended with words like “female director” & “female protagonist” but after some time I learnt that I want to be proud of it. If this is what someone wants to call it, why not? I want to tell stories about women that are not told so often.”
Narrating her ordeal of entering the film industry, Leena Yadav said, “I had a lot of people refuse to work with me because I am a woman. I experienced harsh discrimination but I stopped working with such people. I have had a great journey from there on. But I experienced the existence of this recently when my 1stever assistant director called up a potential second assistant to hire him. The candidate said that working with a woman director will look good on his CV & followed it up by asking, “Does she know anything or do we have to do everything?”
What does the commercial failure of the 1st ever film do to the filmmaker mentally & to the prospects of the next film? Leena Yadav, whose 1st ever film, Shabd wasn’t received well at the box office turnstiles, said, “Post the release, I got an instant PhD into the politics of our film industry. It was heartbreaking; I had never experienced anything like it. I couldn’t function normally for about 6 months. It was like standing naked in the middle of the street & being whipped by everyone from everywhere. I then focused all my energies into writing. I wrote my next film which I thought nobody is going to do but I got to make my film. I think that’s what the journey is. They say, the 1st ever film is the toughest, but the truth is that it only starts getting tougher.”

While speaking about her film Parched, Leena Yadav said, “When Parched was travelling at the film festivals worldwide & winning accolades, a common question that people there asked was, “Are people in India going to see the same film as the international audiences?” When we were called by Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), we realized that they were slightly on the backfoot because of the awards that the film had bagged internationally. They told us that the film would be given an “A” rating, which we were fine with. Then they pointed at the chest area and said that “it” will have to be blurred, referring to the scenes involving frontal nudity. I asked them, “It what? Breasts?” The panel members jumped in shock at my utterance of the word. It is sad that in a country that gave the world Kamasutra, we are hesitant to talk about sex, because well you know, children in India are found in temples & sex has nothing to do with it.”
In a society that is still trying to understand & be comfortable with gender equality, it is quite possible that women directors may be treated or looked at differently by big stars? When asked about if they ever experienced this, all 3 of them answered in a negative fashion, thereby dismissing the notion. Meghna Gulzar said, “All actors will always test you to see how much you know about your craft. It is about winning their confidence. It has got nothing to do with gender.” Leena Yadav while agreeing with the thought, added, “All the actors that I have worked with, they know that I know their characters better than them. I have never had any issues. Working with Amitabh Bachchan & Ben Kingsley (on Teen Patti) was amazing.”  

Amitabh Bachchan shoots for ‘Jhund’ in Nagpur

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Mumbai Megastar Amitabh Bachchan has started shooting for his upcoming film “Jhund” in Nagpur.

The cine icon on Monday evening took to Twitter and shared a few photograph of himself and captioned: “‘Nagpur’ for ‘Jhund’ — the new project by Nagraj , his first in Hindi, the maker of ‘Sairat’ the Marathi block buster .. a centre of attraction and ‘Nagpur’, geographically apparently the centre of geographic India. May the two centres thrive!”

Directed by Nagraj Manjule, “Jhund” is reportedly based on the life of Vijay Barse, who is the founder of Slum Soccers. Big B plays role of a professor who channelises the street children to build a soccer team.

“Jhund” is produced by Bhushan Kumar’s T-Series, Savita Raj Hiremath, Manjule under the banner of T-Series Films, Taandav Films Entertainment Ltd, and Aatpat.

Amitabh will also be seen in Sujoy Ghosh’s “Badla” along with actress Taapsee Pannu.

(IANS)

Want to explore different things till I’m 70, says Kareena By Durga Chakravarty

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Mumbai From doing films as different as chalk and cheese to redefining professionalism for working mothers to trying her hands at a radio show, top actress Kareena Kapoor Khan does not want to stop there and says she would like to keep exploring “different things” till she is 70 years old.

Kareena made her acting debut in 2000 with “Refugee”. She was later seen in films like “Ajnabee”, “Asoka”, “Chameli”, “Yuva”, “Omkara”, “Jab We Met”, “Heroine”, “Satyagraha”, “Ki&Ka” and “Udta Punjab”. She launched her radio show titled “What Women Want with Kareena Kapoor Khan” on Ishq 104.8 FM last month.

Asked if she aspires to do something more, Kareena told IANS here: “The idea today is only about content — and being a part of good content, whether it is the web, cinema, stage or radio. I think today artists and actors are all about supporting content. I am just happy that I have got to try my hand… It’s the first time for me. So, lets see… I would like to try different things till probably I am 70.”

The 38-year-old actress, who hails from Indian cinema’s first film family, redefined professionalism by returning to work soon after delivering her first son named Taimur in 2016.

Kareena, who married actor Saif Ali Khan in 2012, also praised digital platforms and added: “I am glad all this is opening up for us.” She added: “The content in cinema and different platforms is changing. There are so many options to do what you want in today’s time and I think it’s the best time to be an actor.”

The “Veere Di Wedding” actress has lent her voice to the character of the hypnotic python Kaa in the Hindi version of actor-filmmaker Andy Serkis’ forthcoming film “Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle”, which is slated to have a global release on the streaming site Netflix on December 7.

Kareena, who is excited to be a part of the eternal classic originally written as “The Jungle Book” by author Rudyard Kipling, says: “Mowgli was one of the closest characters to my heart because his journey has been very interesting…. The journey of (his) self-discovery is something every young adult gets attracted to.”

Is she excited to share the film with her two-year-old son, when he grows up?

“When he turns 13, he will be there watching it with me… But that is why I couldn’t say no.”

She said being offered to lend her voice to Kaa is an absolute honour.

Talking about Kaa, she said: “She (Kaa) is quite a seductress. Dubbing for it was quite unique… She had to sound hypnotic… I have not played a character like that. In most of the movies, you have seen me playing a girl-next-door or a homemaker, but to play this seductress of the jungle was super fun.”

(IANS)

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