Making Maharashtra drought-free important, says Aamir Khan
Mumbai– Bollywood actor Aamir Khan says that it is important to make Maharashtra drought-free as the state was already facing a huge water crisis.
Asked about the delay in his much awaited television show ‘Satyamev Jayate’, Aamir said, “Satyamev Jayate isn’t coming on television because the entire Satyamev Jayate team is engaged in this Paani Foundation work. We, all members of ‘Satyamev Jayate’, are busy with this water problem and we think making Maharashtra drought-free is more important.” He was speaking at the ‘Satyamev Jayate Water Cup Awards 2016’.
The actor and his wife Kiran Rao, along with the team of “Satyamev Jayate”, have formed Paani Foundation, which works in association with the state government to find ways to end water scarcity.
Talking about the initiative, the ‘PK’ actor said, “It is our dream that within 5 years we will try to make Maharashtra drought-free. And we are fortunate that we have got a Chief Minister who has taken a firm decision to solve the problem. His political will is strong and his administration is giving full support. So this is a great thing.”
Reportedly, the actor will be seen sharing screen space with Amitabh Bachchan in Vijay Krishna Acharya’s ‘Thug’. Acharya has previously worked with Aamir in ‘Dhoom 3’.
I’m opposed to any kind of censorship: Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Mumbai–Veteran filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, who awaits the release of his forthcoming Malayalam drama “Pinneyum”, has come down heavily on the very notion of censorship. He said that it is high time to scrap censorship.
“In a democracy, censorship has no place. Censorship works only in dictatorships, not in democracy. I am opposed to any kind of censorship,” Gopalakrishnan said while promoting his film at the Press Club here on Tuesday.
“I don’t want anyone to tell me what to do and what not to do,” he said.
Talking about piracy, which has plagued the film industry, the multiple National Award winning filmmaker said that there should be severe punishment for those who commit piracy.
“It is because of a lack of stringent punishment that people indulge in releasing films in the internet even before the official release of the films,” he said.
Gopalakrishnan also said that it’s wrong to address non-Hindi films as regional cinema.
“Every film is a national film. Nobody called Satyajit Ray as a Bengali filmmaker. Globally, Bollywood films have been identified as Indian films, which is totally wrong. Bollywood doesn’t represent Indian films,” he said, and rued that many good regional films don’t get the recognition and adulation they deserve as they get overwhelmed by Bollywood films.
“In one of the international film festivals, a foreign filmmaker was really surprised to know that we make good non-Hindi movies in India. It is very common to identify Hindi cinema for Indian cinema,” he said.
Not similar to my ‘Happy Bhag Jayegi’ character: Diana
Mumbai–Actress Diana Penty says she is completely different from her character in her forthcoming film “Happy Bhag Jayegi”.
“Happy (her character’s name) is not very close to what I am in real life. She is loud, wears her heart on her sleeves, very feisty. So in that respect, I am not like that,” Diana said.
She added: “However, there are some similarities as Happy is stubborn, independent and brave so I have these things. So the character is mixed of both.”
Diana, who was not seen on the big screen after her debut film “Cocktail” (2012), will be seen as Happy, who is running from her marriage.
Asked how she prepared for the role, Diana said: “I didn’t have to practice at all. I used to run a lot in school. However, it has been a long time. I did up and down exercise one day.”
Directed by Mudassar Aziz and produced by Anand L. Rai, the upcoming romantic comedy also features Abhay Deol, Ali Fazal, Jimmy Sheirgill and Piyush Mishra. It is set to release on August 19.
Ileana D’Cruz roots for freedom of expression
Mumbai–Actress Ileana D’Cruz says true freedom will come when everyone will be “completely free” to express whatever they want to, without people taking offence over it.
Asked what does freedom mean to her, Ileana said: “I would consider I am completely free when I get to say what I want to say without people taking it as a personal attack.”
The actress, who is currently basking in all the appreciation coming her way for “Rustom”, added: “I would like to put my view across and I have been doing it to a certain extent on Instagram, and there have been quite a few people who hate me for that.”
The “Barfi!” star shared that she doesn’t want to disrespect anyone, but just wants to put her view forward.
“I just want to say I don’t disrespect anyone but this is my opinion and I believe in equality and I would like to do that without causing any rucks between anyone,” she said.
Don’t know if I’m suitable for Bal Thackeray biopic: Akshay
Mumbai–Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar on Monday said that he doesn’t know if he is suitable to play late Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray in his biopic, something he feels that the makers need to decide.
At a media interaction for the success of his recent film “Rustom”, Akshay was asked if he would like to play the character of Balasaheb and he said, “I don’t know whether I suit the character first of all, whoever makes it will have to first think if I suit the character or not.”
When asked which actor he feels will be suitable, he said, “I don’t know about it. Rather people should think about it, because it is not a small personality, it’s a big personality that you’re talking about. So I cannot answer it like this.”
Akshay’s name is one of the names that has cropped up for the biopic. Thackeray’s grandson Rahul and his daughter-in-law Smita are currently in the process of making a biopic on the late leader.
Akshay’s “Rustom” was a sort of a biopic, as it was based on real events — a 1959 case where a naval officer had killed his wife’s lover.
Akshay will next be seen in the film “Jolly LLB 2” and the sequel of Rajinikanth’s “Robot”.
