I don’t think Indian showbiz is fairness driven: Ileana D’Cruz
Mumbai–Actress Ileana D’Cruz, who endorses Pond’s White Beauty, believes Indian showbiz is not driven by skin colour.
She doesn’t consider herself fair and says she falls in “the tanned category”.
“I don’t consider myself fair. I think I am in the tanned category. I don’t think we are fairness driven. We have some actresses and models who are really dusky and gorgeous, and I truly believe skin colour doesn’t matter,” Ileana told IANS.
“I feel being healthy is beautiful and being happy is beautiful. That’s what I endorse,” Ileana said.
The “Barfi!” actress spoke to IANS on the sidelines of an event by Pond’s Institute on Tuesday. The event highlighted the skin care innovations that Pond’s is working on towards in their mission to ‘Future-Proof’ the skin.
The brand’s latest innovation – the My Skin Advisor — a web application was also unveiled here. Ileana demonstrated the software and showed how she uses this technology to be her own skin care expert.
Vir Das happy for getting intense role in Raakh
Mumbai–Actor-comedian Vir Das, who features in “31st October” and a short film titled “Raakh”, says he is glad some intense roles are coming his way rather than the usual comical roles that he gets.
The first look of “Raakh”, writer-director Milap Zaveri’s maiden production venture, was released on October 11. It showed Vir in a different kind of role, in a brooding intense look, along with actors Richa Chadha and Shamas Randhawa.
“Doing ‘Raakh’ was challenging as an actor. Not because I found the role tough. It was just the sheer expectation to do something new for the audience that adds the rightful pressure,” Vir said in a statement.
“I have always been keen in dramatics since I was a kid and I’m happy that such roles are coming my way and filmmakers do accept to see me beyond a comedian,” he added.
“Raakh” will be out on November 7.
Anubhav Sinha’s Bond connect
Mumbai–Anubhav Sinha shot an important sequence of his forthcoming film “Tum Bin 2” at the same spot in Scotland where a dramatic scene of “Skyfall”, featuring Daniel Craig and Judi Dench, was canned. The filmmaker says he is a big fan of the James Bond franchise, and is glad that he could get associated with it in some way.
“It was an important scene and I’m a big James Bond fan. The day I decided to shoot ‘Tum Bin 2’ overseas, this was on my radar. My actors were very excited when I announced we are shooting at the Glen Etive Road which is now called the Skyfall Road,” Sinha said in a statement.
“Tum Bin 2” features Neha Sharma, Aditya Seal and Aashim Gulati.
“Unfortunately, all three of them fell sick the day before (the shoot). So this shot was quite hectic and we had to ensure a medical practitioner tagged along with the unit. Plus it’s a long winding path, so we initially found it difficult to locate the exact spot where Judi and Daniel shot so we wasted close to half a day locating the exact spot.
“Also, the weather was very unpredictable but during those two hours, the heavens above decided to favour us and it was seamless.”
The second instalment of the 2001 film “Tum Bin” franchise is written and directed by Sinha and jointly produced by him and Bhushan Kumar of the T-Series music label.
Shot in the aesthetic landscape of Scotland, “Tum Bin 2” reunites Sinha with Kumar after a gap of 15 years. The film will release on November 18.
Arjun Kapoor had fun because of me: Chetan Bhagat
Author Chetan Bhagat says it is not fair that he writes down kissing scenes in his books and actor Arjun Kapoor gets to do them in their cinematic adaptation.
Bhagat’s book “2 States: The Story of My Marriage” was made into a film titled “2 States”, which starred Arjun. And now he also features in “Half Girlfriend” — an adaptation of Bhagat’s eponymous book.
“Arjun has had fun in two ways on my account. First, he has never been to IIM, St Stephen’s, Bill Gates Foundation, or United Nations. But in my books, and then films, the character is from St Stephen’s who joins the United Nations. In ‘2 States’, he became an IIM student,” Bhagat said in a statement.
He added: “Another is that I write all the kissing scenes, but he gets to do it. Isn’t this unfair? I have seen that there are six takes for one scene, what is this? I also suggested them that I can show how it needs to be done, but they don’t allow me to do it.”
The author’s other books have also been made into films. While “3 Idiots” was based on “Five Point Someone”, “Hello” was based on “One Night @ The Call Centre” and “The Three Mistakes of My Life” was adapted as “Kai Po Che!”.
Bhagat expressed his views in a broadcast of Neha Dhupia’s audio talk “#NoFilterNeha”. He spoke in Hindi.
Alia cuter than other Bollywood actresses: Arjun Bijlani
Mumbai–Television actor Arjun Bijlani says he was an ardent fan of Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone, but finds actress Alia Bhatt cuter than all the other actresses in the Hindi film industry.
“I love Alia Bhatt. Earlier, I used to love Deepika, but since Alia has come in the picture, I find her the best. She’s really cute. I think Alia is cuter than any other Bollywood actress,” Arjun said on Zoom Channels’ show “Diwali Beats”.
Talking about his favourite Bollywood actor, he says: “King Khan (Shah Rukh Khan) is my idol. To remain on number one for so long and to maintain that position and be humble at the same time, it’s really wonderful.”
The actor, whose first show as a lead was in Balaji Telefilms’ youth show, “Kartika” on Disney Channel, also featured in shows like “Left Right Left” and “Miley Jab Hum Tum”.
He was seen as a contestant in “Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 9” and will next be seen in “Pardes Mein Hai Meraa Dil” opposite Drashti Dhami.
