Alia expresses gratitude on receiving Smita Patil Memorial Award

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Alia expresses gratitude on receiving Smita Patil Memorial Award

Bollywood actress Alia Bhatt, who is currently enjoying the response to her recently released fantasy adventure film ‘Brahmastra’ as it becomes the highest-grossing Hindi film of 2022, has been feted with the Smita Patil Memorial Award.

The actress took to the story section of her Instagram to share the news with her followers. Sharing the certificate of honor, she wrote on the picture: “Grateful and honored to receive the Smita Patil Memorial Award. Thank You to everyone (heart emoji).”

Established in 1986 by the Priyadarshni Academy in memory of actress Smita Patil, the Smita Patil Memorial Award is awarded to an Indian actress for her contribution to Indian cinema in the period prior to the ceremony, irrespective of a particular performance. Till 1994, the award was conferred every year to actresses. However, since 1994 the committee has been conferring the honor upon the actresses once every two years.

In the past, actresses like Madhuri Dixit, Sridevi, Tabu, Manisha Koirala, Urmila Matondkar, and Kareena Kapoor Khan have been honored with the award. The award committee drew flak in 2016 when it feted Bollywood star Katrina Kaif with the award as certain sections of media and the general populace felt that the actress was undeserving of the honor.

Taapsee Pannu was the last actress to be feted with the honor before Alia back in 2020.

Simbu thanks AR Rahman as ‘Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu’ rakes in Rs 50.56 crores in 4 days

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Simbu thanks AR Rahman as ‘Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu’ rakes in Rs 50.56 crores in 4 days

Actor Silambarasan, whose film ‘Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu’ has come in for praise from various quarters, especially for its music, has thanked the Mozart of Madras A. R. Rahman, “for always being there and making his films special”.

A. R. Rahman took to Twitter to thank fans and audiences for the love and positivity they had shown to ‘Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu’s’ songs and background score.

He tweeted: “Thank you audience, press friends, and fans for the unanimous love and positivity to ‘Vendhu Thaninthathu Kaadu’, the songs, and the background score. Ella Pughazhum Iraivanukke (All Glory to God).”

Responding to Rahman’s tweet, Simbu tweeted: “Thanks to my godfather A R Rahman
for ALWAYS being there and making my films special. #Mallipoo, #Marakkuma, BGM everything is special, like our journey!”

Meanwhile, the makers of the film officially announced that the film had grossed an impressive 50.56 crores worldwide in the first four days of its release.

The film, which is the first of two parts, revolves around a young boy called Muthu who goes on to become a dreaded gangster after facing many hurdles.

Lyrical video of ‘Alaikadal’ from Mani Ratnam’s ‘PS 1’ released

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Lyrical video of ‘Alaikadal’ from Mani Ratnam’s ‘PS 1’ released

The makers of director Mani Ratnam’s eagerly awaited magnum opus ‘Ponniyin Selvan 1’ have now released the lyric video of the soft and mellifluous number, ‘Alaikadal’ from the film.

‘Alaikadal’, from Mani Ratnam’s historic multi-starrer ‘Ponniyin Selvan-1’, features Aishwarya Lekshmi aka Poonguzhali and Karthi aka Vallavaraiyan Vanthiyathevan embarking on a journey across the sea in a boat.

The song opens on a soft note, showcasing the calmness of the sea in the night, adding an enchanting appeal of tranquillity to it. ‘Alaikadal’ is the song of the sea, more like a siren’s call to travelers and sailors. Antara Nandy’s alluring voice immediately creates a feeling of serenity and calmness.

Antara Nandy talking about the song said: “I consider myself extremely fortunate to be making my playback debut through Mani Ratnam sir’s Magnum Opus ‘Ponniyin Selvan-1’. I am ever thankful to A.R. Rahman sir for giving me the biggest milestone of my life and for giving me the chance to be a part of this monumental film by voicing – Doobi Doobi in four languages! I am in love with how hauntingly beautiful the melody is with a melancholic touch to it!”

Aishwarya Lekshmi talking about Alaikadal said: “Alaikadal and everything about the song is precious to me, it’s all about what my character yearns for. I am so glad to be a part of this soulful composition by Rahman sir and voiced by Antara Nandy. Forever grateful to Mani sir for this opportunity.”

Ponniyin Selvan will hit the screens on September 30 in five languages – Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada. Based on the novel by Kalki, PS-1 revolves around the 10th-century Chola Dynasty and the struggle for the throne.

The film has an ensemble star cast of Vikram, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Karthi, Jayam Ravi, and Trisha in lead roles. The supporting cast includes Prabhu, R. Sarath Kumar, Sobhita Dhulipala, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Prakash Raj, Jayaram, Vikram Prabhu, Rahman, Jayachitra, and Lal.

‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ maker Anees Bazmee to direct action comedy next

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‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ maker Anees Bazmee to direct action comedy next

After delivering a stellar hit in the form of ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’ and bailing Bollywood out of troubled waters as far as box-office figures are concerned, director Anees Bazmee is set to embark on his next directorial – a yet-to-be-titled film which will be a larger-than-life action comedy.

Talking about the big ticket entertainer, the director said: “After the success of ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2’, I want to give our audiences an even bigger dose of entertainment, and this time it will be a larger-than-life action comedy.”

The film will mark his collaboration with Zee Studios and fellow producer Vishal Rana. Sharing his thoughts on the collaboration, Anees further mentioned: “I am very happy to team up with Zee Studios, Vishal Rana, and Rohini Vakil for this project. This film will be something that the Indian audiences have never seen before, and I am very excited about it.”

Lauding Anees, co-producer Vishal Rana from Echelon Production shared: “I am thrilled to team up with Anees Bazmee, who is one of the most successful filmmakers in our country today. This film will be a big-ticket theatrical entertainer.”

Presented and Produced by Zee Studios, the untitled film produced by Vishal Rana and Rohini Vakil of Echelon Productions will be released in 2023.

Google pilot to keep political campaign emails out of Gmail spam launched

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Google pilot to keep political campaign emails out of Gmail spam launched

Google has finally launched a new pilot programme to keep political campaign emails out of spam folders for Gmail users.

Gmail users could start seeing more campaign fundraising emails in their inboxes in the next couple of days, reports Axios.

Announced in June, the programme allows candidates, political party committees, and leadership political action committees to apply for spam folder exemptions.

The move is “partly a result of Google bowing to pressure from conservatives who claimed the company marked Republican emails as spam more often than others”.

The US Federal Election Commission approved the Google program in August.

“Google has come under fire that its algorithms unfairly target conservative content across its services and that its Gmail service filters more Republican fundraising and campaign emails to spam,” the report mentioned.

“We expect to begin the pilot with a small number of campaigns from both parties and will test whether these changes improve the user experience, and provide more certainty for senders during this election period,” a Google spokesperson was quoted as saying.

“We will continue to listen and respond to feedback as the pilot progresses,” the spokesperson added.

Google will now allow candidates and political party committees to apply for its programme that would make their messages exempt from Gmail’s spam detection systems.

Former US President Donald Trump’s campaigns were criticized for using spammy tactics in its fundraising emails.

Madhur Bhandarkar talks about why he chose to make ‘Babli Bouncer’

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Madhur Bhandarkar talks about why he chose to make ‘Babli Bouncer’

National Award-winning director Madhur Bhandarkar says he wanted to make a comedy and a slice-of-life film and that is how ‘Babli Bouncer’ happened to him.

Talking about directing a subject like this, Bhandarkar says: “I am a very humorous person in real life. It’s just that after ‘Chandni Bar’, people assumed that I love to do dark cinema. But when I got ‘Babli Bouncer’, I wanted to make a comedy, slice of life film.”

He added: “I felt I wanted to showcase a world of bouncers. It’s an interesting world and how these people come from their villages. On top of that, after the first pandemic hit us so badly, I felt we really need a comedy film that people can watch with their family.”

Produced by Star Studios and Junglee Pictures, ‘Babli Bouncer’ is directed by Madhur Bhandarkar and stars Tamannaah Bhatia, in the lead along with Saurabh Shukla, Abhishek Bajaj, and Sahil Vaid in pivotal roles.

‘Babli Bouncer’ releases on September 23 on Disney+ Hotstar in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.

BTS video of ‘Ratchasa Maamaney’ song from ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ released

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BTS video of ‘Ratchasa Maamaney’ song from ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ released

The makers of director Mani Ratnam’s upcoming magnum opus, ‘Ponniyin Selvan 1’, which is scheduled to hit screens on September 30, has now released a behind-the-scenes (BTS) video of the beautiful song, ‘Ratchasa Maamaney…’.

The video, which shows Karthi having to dance on a magnificent set, has Karthi, choreographer Brinda Master, and art director Thota Tharani talking about the song.

Karthi says, “This song happens when a princess attends a dance performance on Krishna Jayanthi. They have visualized how it would have been in the 10th century.”

The actor also explains a portion of the song in which women and children are seen pulling a rope to make a person fly. “They are doing a stage performance in that era. Yet it should feel real, so they have made women and children pull a rope to make them fly. It is a kind of showmanship,” he explains.

The actor also jokingly discloses how he had arrived at a secret arrangement with dance master Brinda to easily complete his dance portions but how director Mani Ratnam altered all his plans the next day.

“I told Brinda master, ‘Master you’ve taught me three dance bits for this song. I will dance all three bits separately.’ She said ‘Okay’. The next day, Mani sir said, ‘I want it in a single shot. Come down dancing, from the top of the stairs to the bottom. I glanced at the master and she said, ‘I can’t do anything about it.'”

In the BTS video, dance master Brinda says, “We had Bharathanatyam and Kathak in the song. I choreographed it with my assistants and we’d do a full rehearsal. Even the kids performed cutely. We had a lot of Bharathanatyam girls. Not only our movie dancers, but we also had some classical girls as well.”

Jacqueline Fernandez again being quizzed in Rs 200 cr extortion case

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Jacqueline Fernandez again being quizzed in Rs 200 cr extortion case

Bollywood actor Jacqueline Fernandez on Monday reached the office of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police to join the investigation in connection with the Rs 200 crore extortion case involving multimillionaire conman Sukesh Chandrashekhar.

She will be confronted with the testimonies of Bollywood actress Nora Fatehi and Pinky Irani, who was an aide of Chandrashekhar.

The EOW had earlier recorded Fernandez’s statement, but they found contradictions. To clear the contradictions they quizzed Fatehi and Pinky Irani following which the EOW decided to record Fernandez’s statement once again.

Now, EOW will question Jacqueline Fernandez regarding the contradictions.

Chandrashekhar was arrested for allegedly cheating and extorting money from some high-profile people, including former Fortis Healthcare promoter Shivinder Mohan Singh’s wife Aditi Singh. Many Bollywood actors and models have been questioned by the Enforcement Directorate for their alleged links to Chandrashekhar.

In April last year, Chandrashekhar was arrested in another money laundering case linked to the 2017 Election Commission bribery case, which allegedly involved a former AIADMK leader, among others.

21 yrs after she first dreamt of being on KBC, Kolhapur homemaker is a crorepati

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21 yrs after she first dreamt of being on KBC, Kolhapur homemaker is a crorepati

Kavita Chawla, a homemaker from Kolhapur, Maharashtra, became the first ‘crorepati’ in the quiz-based reality show ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati 14’ hosted by Amitabh Bachchan.

The 45-year-old talked about how she was able to complete her education, despite her father not being prepared to educate her after Class X. She was able to clear Class XII before marriage only because her teacher intervened and reasoned with her father.

Talking about how she prepared for the show, Chawla said: “I used to teach my son Vivek at home and have taught him from KG to Class VIII. I used to prepare for the show along with it because I have always dreamt about going to ‘KBC’ since the time it began.

She continued: “When I used to teach him, I used to study as well and I knew that the knowledge would help me in the future. Whenever I used to get some time off from my household chores I would study to remain updated about current affairs and brush up my general knowledge.”

Kavita added that preparing for the show was not easy. “For a housewife, studies do feel like multitasking and on top of it I had a child and my in-laws to take care of,” Chawla said, adding: “Shouldering those responsibilities and also studying had me understand time management. I did not want to waste time by going out, for instance.”

It took her 21 years and 10 months to finally reach the hotseat and fulfill her dream. On many occasions, in fact, her son would prank her, claiming a call had come from the makers of the reality show.

“The journey from registrations to the hotseat is not that easy and is tediously long,” Chawla said. “Sometimes, when I would register, I would not get the call. Then when I did get the call, I did not get the call for the procedures that follow. If I got the call for an audition, I did not get the call for the interview. I took time to reach the hotseat because I was moving ahead step by step and it took really long to reach here,” she exclaimed.

Talking about meeting Amitabh Bachchan, Chawla said: “It was surreal. I was mesmerized by sir. The most beautiful part of meeting him was the conversations that we had and the most glorious part of meeting him was the time he announced my name for the hotseat and when I won Rs 1 crore.”

Chawla plans to invest the money she has won “in my son’s future because I want him to study further. I want my son to study and grow and make the country proud.” As for her, she said: “I want to travel across India and experience its beauty.”

Kavita Chawla will be seen on the hotseat on September 19 and 20 on ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati 14’, Sony Entertainment Television.

Rana Daggubati releases Kannada action movie ‘Kabzaa’ teaser

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Rana Daggubati releases Kannada action movie ‘Kabzaa’ teaser

After the recent back-to-back successes of ‘KGF 2’, ‘777 Charlie’ and ‘Vikrant Rona’, the Kannada film industry is all set to roll out another major action entertainer with an all-star cast titled ‘Kabzaa’.

The film directed by R. Chandru features Kannada award-winning stars Upendra Rao, Kichcha Sudeep, Shriya Saran, Manoj Bajpayee, and Nawab Shah. It is set to be released in seven languages.

The makers released the film’s teaser a day before Upendra’s birthday. It was released by ‘Bahubali’ star Rana Daggubati, who has become a popular name all across India.

‘Kabzaa’ is a period film about the rise of gangsters in India, set between 1947 to 1984. It is all about a freedom fighter’s son who gets trapped in the world of the mafia. The film is billed as a large-scale action film.

Talking about the film, director Chandru said: “The film has already created a lot of buzzes and we wanted to treat our fans with the teaser. Tomorrow being Upendra’s birthday, we thought it would be a good gift to all his fans.”

Presented by M.T.B. Nagaraj, and produced by Chandru under the Sri Siddeshwara Enterprises banner, the film will be released in Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Oriya, and Marathi.

The film’s music is composed by Ravi Basrur of ‘KGF’ fame, A.J. Shetty is the cinematographer and Mahesh Reddy is the editor.

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