Ali Fazal calls Vishal Bharadwaj, Anurag Basu, Ric Roman Waugh ‘cinematic heroes’
Mumbai– Actor Ali Fazal, who has collaborated with Vishal Bharadwaj for ‘Khufiya’, with Anurag Basu for ‘Metro In Dino’, and with Ric Roman Waugh for ‘Kandahar’, is all thrilled with the list of directors he is working with. He said that the three directors are “cinematic heroes” and that the visuals created by these directors have enhanced the storytelling on celluloid.
Talking about the same, Ali said, “One wishes to work with good people to begin with; compassionate leaders with a world view. I must have absolutely done something right to have gotten this opportunity. Vishalji, Anurag Basu and Ric are cinematic heroes”.
He further mentioned, “They have created visuals on screen that have enhanced the quality of storytelling. They have been the visionaries of our film industry”.
‘Khufiya’ is a spy thriller, which also stars Tabu, Ali, Wamiqa Gabbi, Ashish Vidyarthi, Haque Badhon and Alexx O’Nell. The film is set to release on Netflix. In ‘Kandahar’, Ali can be seen with Gerard Butler. The film released in the US on May 26 and has been garnering a lot of positive response.
Rani Mukerji: Made it a point to choose films where the girl is also pivotal to the plot
Mumbai– Actress Rani Mukerji has shared her vision to represent women correctly in Hindi cinema. She said that women are the backbone of a family and the society and that she has a responsibility to show this to people across the world.
Rani says, “As an actor, your vision for cinema and roles will constantly evolve but one thing that’s constantly stayed for me is the way I wanted to portray and represent women on screen. Women are the backbone of a family and the society, and I think, as an actor, I have a responsibility to show this to as many people as possible across my country and the world.”
She added: “Cinema can have a lasting impression on the minds of people. It is a very powerful tool to trigger a national conversation and I became conscious very early on in my career that I could make a real change in the way women are projected on-screen, that could be positive.”
Rani wanted to show girls as fiercely independent and self-reliant in films.
She says, “I made it a point to choose films where the girl is also pivotal to the plot, where the girl is projected with dignity and power.”
“For me, women have always been agents of change. They have been independent, courageous, caring, pursuers of dreams and the best multitasker you can ever find. I wanted to highlight these facets of a woman by choosing characters that echo this belief system of mine.”
Rani adds, “So, if you see films like ‘Black’, ‘Veer Zaara’, ‘Mardaani’ series, ‘Yuva’, ‘No One Killed Jessica’, ‘Hichki’ or even my latest film ‘Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway’, to name a few, the girls I play are central to the plot, the sheroes that people have adored and accepted for being who they are.”
In her last release, ‘Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway (MCVN)’, Rani again played a fiesty woman who took on a country to win back her children. The film was a resounding hit at the box-office and it brought back belief that content cinema could pull in people to theatres in this post pandemic world.
Rani says, “The fact that MCVN is a hit today is because people want to see strong woman protagonists like this on the big screen. There is constant chatter whether women-centric films are box office draws? That concerns me, of course they are box office draws.”
“A film is a hit when producers make money from it and it is not just about how much it collects at the box-office because one should also factor in the cost of the film.”
She adds, “There is a lot of misconception about what a hit means and I think people should pay attention to this before passing judgement if a film is profitable. A good film will always bring people to the theatres and their gender has no role to play.”
Kangana posts clip of dirty Mount Everest base camp: God’s favourite needs a reality check
Mumbai– Actress Kangana Ranaut took to social media where she posted a video of the base camp at Mount Everest dirtied with lots of trash.
Kangana also said that humans who thought themselves as God’s favourites needed a reality check. She re-shared a short video of the Mount Everest base camp with lots of trash outside the tents.
The video was captioned, “Shut down the Everest tours or fix this. Unacceptable scene near the top.”
She wrote: “Whoever thinks human is God’s favourite needs a reality check, look at this scene you would realise human is probably God’s least favourite, they tend to leave their smelly, stinky, filthy footprints everywhere. Save the world from humans please”
On the work front, Kangana will next be seen in ‘Emergency’. She also has ‘Tejas’, ‘Chandramukhi 2’ and ‘Manikarnika: The Queen Of Didda’.
Nimrat says ‘former student counsellor’ sister helped her with her ‘School of Lies’ role
Mumbai– Actress Nimrat Kaur, who is awaiting the release of her upcoming streaming series ‘School of Lies’, has said that being the sister of a former student counsellor came in handy for her role in the series.
In ‘School of Lies’, Nimrat essays the role of a student counsellor, who is roped to talk to students after one of them goes missing. Although the actress didn’t model the character on her sister, having real life inspiration at home did enhance her performance manifold.
Talking to IANS, Nimrat said, “My sister happens to be a former student counsellor. So, I have actually seen how she has dealt with students over many years. She used to sometimes be so drained because she couldn’t imagine little kids going through such insanely complex problems and even personally, I have seen her journey up close”.
She also shared that her sister’s work made her realise how dealing with kids can be really tricky as they are quite mysterious with a curious mind.
She further mentioned, “Although, I didn’t model this character on her but I know how difficult it gets and I’m aware of the challenges that a counsellor has to face by looking at my sister. Through her work, I understood how difficult the world can be for kids and how sensitively you have to talk to kids without making them feel like they’re kids. You have to meet them at eye level, talking down to them is a lost battle because kids are sensitive, mysterious and how withdrawn they can be”.
‘School of Lies’ is an eight episode series which will be available to stream on Disney+ Hotstar from June 2.
Abhishek Banerjee says his mom didn’t like him as Hathoda Tyagi
In the series, Abhishek’s Hathoda Tyagi, who doesn’t speak much, is known for murdering people in cold blood with a hammer.
Talking about it, Abhishek Banerjee said, “My mom didn’t like my role as Hathoda Tyagi in ‘Pataal Lok’. She said “kya hain ye” (what’s this)? “Hathoda mein tum kya kar rahe ho” (What are you doing in the role of Hathoda)? But she loved my role in ‘Bhediya'”.
He also spoke about how his perception about memes have changed. He mentioned, “At first I used to think memes are just for fun, but when Hathoda Tyagi memes got viral, I understood that it meant respect.”
On the work front, Abhishek Banerjee is all set to share the screen with Amitabh Bachchan in ‘Section 84’ which is a courtroom drama thriller. He also has films like ‘Stree 2’, ‘Dream Girl 2’ and ‘Apruva’ in the pipeline. (IANS)
