Kangana works out hard for her Cannes look
Mumbai– Actress Kangana Ranaut has been working out hard to lose some weight she gained for her role in “Panga” so that she gets her look right at the Cannes Film Festival.
Kangana has been training at Yogesh Bhateja’s studio, and has lost about 5 kg in just 10 days, according to a source close to her.
Bhateja said in a statement: “Kangana was supposed to gain weight for ‘Panga’, so the calorie structure we followed was higher. So, all of a sudden it was not easy for any person to switch from a high-calorie diet to a calorie-deficit diet.
“Kangana worked out twice a day after an intense shoot for ‘Panga’ for 10-11 hours everyday.”
“Panga”, helmed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, is about the life of a kabaddi player.
For the Cannes gala’s red carpet, where she will represent a brand, the actress will dress up in a sari by designers Falguni and Shane Peacock.
B-Town wishes ‘graceful’ Madhuri a happy 52nd b’day
Mumbai– As actress Madhuri Dixit Nene turned 52 on Wednesday, her husband Shriram Nene penned a heart-warming message and tagged her as the “most beautiful woman on the planet”.
“To the most beautiful woman on the planet and my own soul mate, wanted to wish you a very happy bday and many happy returns. Loving the journey we are on and look forward to amazing things in the future,” Shriram wrote along with a photograph of himself with Madhuri.
The couple got married in 1999 and share two sons Arin and Raayan.
Madhuri ventured into Hindi cinema in 1984 with “Abodh” and rose to stardom with the 1988 film “Tezaab”.
She made a name for herself in the Hindi film industry with films such as “Ram Lakhan”, “Parinda”, “Dil”, “Saajan”, “Beta”, “Khalnayak”, “Hum Aapke Hain Koun!”, “Dil To Pagal Hai” and “Devdas”.
She was feted with the Padma Shri in 2008 for her contribution to cinema.
Madhuri ventured into film production with the Marathi comedy “15 August”.
Celebrities from the film fraternity too have wished the actress, who is fondly called the “Dhak-dhak” of Bollywood.
Here’s what they have tweeted:
Anil Kapoor: Wish you a very happy birthday Madhuri Dixit! You’ve always been a wonderful co-star and an even better friend! Working with you has given me memories that I’ll cherish forever. Here’s to many more! May you stay timeless, fabulous and glamorous as always! Lots of love and light.
Abhishek Bachchan: Wishing Madhuriji the happiest of birthdays. Lots of love and respect always.
Riteish Deshmukh: Happy Birthday my favouritest Madhuriji. May you forever brighten the silver screen. Keep Smiling. Happiness, good health and love always.
Kiara Advani: Happy Birthday to my first most favourite actress ma’am! It’s been such an honour to have worked with you and met you, forever inspired by your grace and humility. May this year be your bestest. God bless you! Lots of love always.
Anup Jalota: Madhuriji, no one till date is as graceful on screen and off screen. It’s a privilege to have been able to witness your commendable performances. Thank you for being you.
Maniesh Paul: Happy birthday to the woman with the best smile in the world! The most humble superstar and my palluprem. Loads of love.
Karan Johar gushes over Hrithik Roshan’s eyes
Mumbai– Filmmaker Karan Johar couldn’t stop gushing over actor Hrithik Roshan’s beautiful eyes.
Hrithik, who has been labelled the “Greek god” of Bollywood, on Tuesday shared a selfie of himself on Instagram. In the image, Hrithik is seen simply staring into the camera and captioned it: “Sun suits me selfie.”
But it was Hrithik’s hazel eyes that grabbed all the attention.
Filmmaker Karan Johar, who was among the first to react to the image, wrote “Those eyes” along with fire emojis and smileys.
On the Bollywood front, Karan is gearing up for his upcoming directorial venture with “Takht”, a multi-starrer period drama.
The film features an interesting cast including Ranveer Singh, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt, Vicky Kaushal, Bhumi Pednekar, Janhvi Kapoor and Anil Kapoor.
Arjun urges people to salute unsung heroes
Mumbai– Ahead of the release of his film “India’s Most Wanted”, actor Arjun Kapoor on Wednesday requested people to pay tribute to the unsung heroes of the country.
Arjun took to Instagram and uploaded a video message, appealing to citizens to take out time to thank the “unsung heroes”, who protect the country.
He said: “I launched the ‘Vande Mataram’ song yesterday and I realised ‘Vande Matram’ means a salute to motherland. I started thinking we don’t salute the people who actually protect the motherland. We don’t take out time to remember them and to be kind and grateful to them.
“Away from everything else, our film is about unsung heroes and we never got a day to celebrate them. We always waited for the perfect opportunity and perfect day. So, today I am requesting you all to take out 10 seconds from your time and thank those unsung brave people for their services. Jai Hind.”
The 33-year-old actor also tagged Anil Kapoor, Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon in his post, asking them to continue this “salute and tag their friends and family to take it forward.”
Directed by Raj Kumar Gupta, “India’s Most Wanted” is based on true events and is about five men who saved the lives of billions of people by hunting down a terrorist.
It is slated to release on May 24.
Taapsee combats mysterious identity in ‘Game Over’
Chennai– In the teaser of the upcoming multilingual thriller “Game Over”, which was released on Wednesday, Taapsee Pannu plays a wheelchair-bound gamer combating a mysterious identity.
The minute-long teaser, which mostly unfolds inside a house, looks chilling and intriguing.
The teaser features the text “We all have two lives; the second one starts when we realise we only have one”. It indicates that the film is shrouded in mystery and a lot of questions will be answered when the film releases on June 14 in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi.
Directed by Ashwin Saravanan, “Game Over” has been produced by Y Not Studios in association with Reliance Entertainment.
Last week, Anurag Kashyap revealed that he will present the Hindi version of “Game Over”, which has music by Ron Yohann.
Having already seen the film, he said he is kicked about presenting the film in Hindi.
“I am very kicked about presenting this game-changing film in Hindi. This film proves yet again that the quality of filmmaking from the South is just outstanding and it’s great to see how Ashwin Saravanan has pushed the boundaries and has made a genre-bending film, something that we all have never seen before,” Anurag said in a statement.
In an earlier chat with IANS, Ashwin described the film as a “quirky thriller” that mostly unfolds inside a house.
“It will feature very few characters. Ever since I saw ‘Pink’, I’ve wanted to work with Taapsee. I’m glad everything fell in place for this project and I’m excited to be working with her. She is someone who is not really screen-conscious and can really get under the skin of a character,” he said.
Kamal Haasan to return as host of Tamil ‘Bigg Boss’
Chennai– Actor-filmmaker-politician Kamal Haasan will return to host popular Tamil reality show Bigg Boss for its third season, its makers confirmed on Wednesday via a special promo video.
Star Vijay, the channel which will air the show, released a promo video to mark the return of Haasan as the show’s host.
If the industry grapevine is anything to go by, “Bigg Boss 3” will go on air from June. The names of the contestants for the third season are yet to be officially announced.
It was in 2017 that Kamal made his television debut with the first season of “Bigg Boss”.
Despite facing stiff opposition from some fringe groups who were against the culture the show was endorsing, the show went on to earn a cult following.
After some fringe groups protested against the show, Kamal had said in a media interaction that “Bigg Boss” was “as necessary as cricket in India”.
“I’m not answerable to the people who filed the complaint. I’m not worried about the case. I have immense faith in law and in our government. I don’t think ‘Bigg Boss’ is tarnishing Tamil culture. I have done kissing scenes in the past. Perhaps, they are seeking my arrest late,” he said.
On the film front, Kamal is expected to commence work on Shankar’s magnum opus “Indian 2” soon.
Mahesh Bhatt slams destruction of Vidyasagar’s statue
Mumbai–Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt on Wednesday condemned the destruction of Bengali polymath Vidyasagar’s bust during BJP President Amit Shah’s roadshow in Kolkata.
Bhatt tweeted: “To attack Pandit Vidyasagar is to attack Bangla language. To begin with, he simplified Bangla for studying through Borno Porichoy.”
Clashes broke out between members of the Trinamool Congress students’ union and BJP supporters who participated in Shah’s massive road show in north Kolkata on Tuesday evening, following which a group of saffron party activists allegedly resorted to vandalism inside the Vidyasagar College campus and destroyed a bust of Vidyasagar.
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was a key figure of the Bengal Renaissance. He was a philosopher, academic educator, writer, translator, printer, publisher, entrepreneur, reformer and philanthropist.
Prakash Jha’s remark was on scene, not me: Aahana Kumra
New Delhi– Actress Aahana Kumra says she was “uncomfortable” with a remark made by filmmaker Prakash Jha during the shooting of “Lipstick Under My Burkha”, but the comment was on a scene and not on her.
Aahana has said this after a buzz that Jha made her uncomfortable while filming an intimate scene in the film, directed by Alankrita Shrivastava.
It was the first time that the 34-year-old actress was shooting such a scene and was conscious herself.
“My director Alankrita Shrivastava made sure that all the intimate scenes were shot in a closed set with few people around. Prakash Jha happened to drop by while I was shooting with my co-star Vikrant Massey. Since I had never shot an intimate scene before that, it was difficult to get in the right zone,” Aahana told IANS.
“Since he is also a director, he had a suggestion regarding the scene, but I wanted to hear it from my director, Alankrita. He was on the set for a while, and after he left, we continued to shoot and also implemented his suggestion,” she added.
Aahana felt a recent comment made on the incident by her was “blown out of proportion”.
“Mr. Jha has been extremely respectful of all of us actors at every time that we have met him… It’s not right to drag his name unnecessarily. The remark was not on me. It was regarding the scene purely,” Aahana told IANS.
Asked about what the remark was, the actress said: “I am not comfortable sharing that.”
Rishi, Neetu happy to meet Vicky, Boman in NY
New York– Veteran actors Rishi Kapoor and his wife Neetu Kapoor spent some “wonderful moments” with actors Vicky Kaushal and Boman Irani here.
Rishi has been in New York for several months for medical treatment, and film fraternity members are ensuring they meet the couple whenever they are in the city.
After meeting Vicky for the first time, Neetu praised the “Uri: The Surgical strike” actor on Instagram.
“Our library of wonderful moments is only getting bigger… met our very own Kamli (Vicky’s character from ‘Sanju’) for the first time. Such a humble, well brought up boy with goodness written all over him,” she wrote along with a photograph in which Vicky is seen posing with the Kapoors.
Vicky shared screenspace with Neetu and Rishi’s son Ranbir Kapoor in the film “Sanju”. He was seen as Ranbir’s on-screen best friend Kamli.
Neetu even shared a photograph featuring Boman and said they had a “two hour laugh riot” with him.
“He is all heart and so positive,” added the actress, who has been by Rishi’s side, and keeps fans updated with photographs of some of their special moments.
Various Bollywood stars, including Aamir Khan, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Deepika Padukone and Anupam Kher have met Rishi in New York.
Just last month, Rishi’s brother Randhir Kapoor said the 66-year-old actor will be back in India in a few months, amid reports that he is now “cancer free”.
Anil Kapoor to be felicitated by CEUCC
Mumbai– Actor Anil Kapoor will be felicitated by the Council of European Chambers of Commerce (CEUCC) in India and an European Union delegation as part of the ‘Europe Day’ celebrations here on Friday, an official spokesperson said.
The actor will be the chief guest for the celebrations, which will also be attended by EU Ambassador to India Tomasz Kozlowski, EU Member states Consuls and senior representatives from the European and Indian corporate world.
Europe Day is celebrated every year on May 9 to mark the formation of the European Union (EU).
“Anil Kapoor will be felicitated for his decade-long support to promoting the cause of children’s rights and his collaboration with the EU and Plan India in their girls’ rights endeavours,” said an official.
The event will highlight how Europe has always been a favourite shooting destination for Indian filmmakers for many decades. Bollywood movies have for long been using the picturesque locales of the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Italy and now even places like Greece, Hungary, Austria and Romania are gaining popularity for their natural beauty. (IANS)
