Omicron fear: K’taka bans large gatherings for new year

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Omicron fear: K’taka bans large gatherings for new year

Karnataka government on Tuesday announced restrictions on new year celebrations in the wake of prevailing Covid situation in the state.

At Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said that the decision has been taken at a high-level meeting with authorities and Covid expert committee members who attended the meeting through video conferencing.

“The usual large gatherings at M.G.Road, Brigade Road and surrounding areas in Bengaluru has been banned this time. Large gatherings are also banned at any place across the state for new year celebrations,” he stated.

As for as clubs, pubs are concerned, DJ music, special events are not allowed. The entry has been restricted to 50 per cent capacity. Large scale parties are also not allowed anywhere in the state, he maintained.

Bommai further said that this applies to the apartment premises also. The resident welfare association’s must see to it that there are no large gatherings and parties on their premises. The entry is allowed only for those who have been administered with two doses of Covid vaccination.

The rules will be applied from December 30 to January 2. During the Christmas celebrations, mass gatherings are not allowed outside the premises and the prayers inside the church are allowed and church authorities should ensure social distancing, Bommai explained.

The state health department is worried over detection of 19 cases of Omicron variant in the state. The cases are reported in districts other than Bengaluru and health machinery is on firefighting mode. Fortunately, all Omicron patients are asymptomatic and recovering well.

Vignesh Shivan hopes ‘Pebbles’ makes it to shortlist of Oscar finalists

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Vignesh Shivan hopes ‘Pebbles’ makes it to shortlist of Oscar finalists

Vignesh Shivan, who along with actress Nayanthara, is the producer of ‘Pebbles’ – India’s official entry to the Oscars – is hoping that his film will be able to end India’s 20-year wait and manage to make it to the shortlist of 15 Oscar finalists.

Taking to Twitter, Vignesh Shivan said, “Hope ‘Pebbles’ enters the shortlist of fifteen finalists for the Best International Feature Film! After ‘Lagaan’, after almost 20 years an Indian film making it to the list will be a remarkable achievement! Director P S Vinothraj deserves it too!”

The Oscars are to be held in Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on March 27, 2022. The Oscar nominations will be announced on February 8, 2022.

The film, ‘Pebbles’ or ‘Koozhangal’ in Tamil, is based on a real life story.

The film has raised expectations, with a number of critics showering generous praise on it. The latest to praise ‘Koozhangal’ is Kirsten Kiwi Smith, the writer of ‘Legally Blonde’, who called the film, ‘a heartbreaking stunning gem’.

‘Bigg Boss 15’: Tejasswi, Rashami lock horns

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‘Bigg Boss 15’: Tejasswi, Rashami lock horns

‘Bigg Boss 15’ contestants Rashami Desai and Tejasswi Prakash will be seen getting into a heated argument in an upcoming episode of the controversial reality show.

In an upcoming episode, Tejasswi asks Umar Riaz whether he would date Rashami outside the house. Rashami overhears their conversation and gets annoyed with Tejasswi which leads to a heated argument between the two.

Rashami lashes out at her saying: “Main aapka aur Karan ka nahi puchhti, aap mera aur Umar ka bhi mat pucho. (I do not ask you about Karan. Don’t ask about Umar and I).”

The flames continue to burn with complete rage during the ‘Dragon Fire’ task.

Karan, Tejasswi, Abhijit Bichukale and Rashami stand a chance to become the second finalist of the season.

However, the catch here is that the nominated contestants, namely, Pratik, Nishant, Shamita, Umar and Devoleena will play this game and the winner gets a chance to eliminate one ‘Daawedaar’ contestant from the race to win ‘Ticket to Finale’.

Rakhi is the Sanchalak of this task and as the fate of the ‘Dawedaar’ contestants now lies within the hands of the nominated contestant.

Dulquer’s ‘Hey Sinamika’ first look out, to hit screens on Feb 25

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Dulquer’s ‘Hey Sinamika’ first look out, to hit screens on Feb 25

Several top actors from the Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam film industries including Suriya, Jyothika, Nagarjuna, Rana Daggubatti, Khushbu Sundar and Nazriya on Tuesday released the first look of choreographer-turned-director Brindha Gopal’s film ‘Hey Sinamika’.

The film, which has been produced by Jio Studios, features Dulquer Salmaan, Aditi Rao Hydari and Kajal Aggarwal in the lead and will hit screens on February 25.

Tweeting the first look picture herself, dance choreographer Brindha Gopal, who is turning director with this film, said, “Wait is over. Presenting the super colourful First Look. The dashing Dulquer Salmaan as Yaazhan in ‘Hey Sinamika’. Film to hit big screens on Feb 25, 2022.”

The film has a number of women techinicians working on it. Preetha Jayaraman is the cinematographer of the film, while Radha Sridhar is its editor.

Sources say that Dulquer plays a radio jockey in the film and that the story would revolve around Dulquer and Aditi, who play a married couple in the film.

Vaani Kapoor: Ayushmann likes to walk on the road less travelled

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Vaani Kapoor: Ayushmann likes to walk on the road less travelled

Actress Vaani Kapoor has praised her ‘Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui’ co-star Ayushmann Khurrana for constantly putting himself up for test and said that the actor likes to walk on road less travelled, which is why he is so important in the landscape of Indian cinema today.

Vaani, who plays a transgender woman in ‘Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui’, said: “It is gutsy for an A-list actor like Ayushmann to constantly put himself up for test when he could easily choose conventional subjects for success.

“From what I know of Ayushmann, he likes to walk on the road less travelled and that’s why he is so important in the landscape of Indian cinema today.”

The actress said that he is “a genre-bending, envelope-pushing star who is restless to contribute towards societal good.”

“This is what makes him so endearing and incredibly unique.”

Vaani said that it was important that a film like ‘Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui’ had Ayushmann so that it became palatable for family audiences.

“That’s how important Ayushmann is to Indian cinema today. He will stand by projects that are disruptive and important for people to ponder over. He has created a genre of his own today and there are not many stars in the history of Indian cinema who have managed to do this.”

She is really happy that she got a chance to collaborate with Ayushmann and connect with him.

“I hope Ayushmann stays on course and further challenges the status quo in the Indian film industry.”

Ayushmann will be next seen in Anubhav Sinha’s ‘Anek’, Anubhuti Kashyap’s ‘Doctor G’ and filmmaker Aanand L. Rai’s ‘Action Hero’ being directed by debutant Anirudh Iyer.

Trailer rolls out for ‘Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts’

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Trailer rolls out for ‘Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts’

HBO Max has released the much-anticipated preview of “Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts”, its upcoming special that will reunite the actors and filmmakers from the eight-movie series, which will stream on January 1.

The only person missing from the reunion will be J.K. Rowling, the author of the books on which the films were based. Rowling has been under attack for remarks she had made about the trans community a year ago after retweeting an op-ed article on “people who menstruate”.

The multi-millionaire author now claims to be a victim of the ‘cancel culture’ and calls herself a TERF — or “trans exclusionary radical feminist”.

“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”, which kicked off the film arm of the Wizarding World, was released in November 2001 — and the special will commemorate the franchise’s 20th anniversary, reports ‘Variety’.

“Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts”, which will reunite actors Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, was taped at the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London.

It will feature other talent from the movies, including Helena Bonham Carter, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman, Tom Felton, James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Mark Williams, Bonnie Wright, Alfred Enoch, Matthew Lewis and Evanna Lynch. Filmmakers David Heyman, Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell and David Yates will also make appearances.

The trailer, according to ‘Variety’, features the cast reminiscing about the movies, as well as festivities in the Great Hall.

Watson says, “It feels like no time has passed — and loads of time has passed.” Radcliffe says that something that had scared him was “the implication that the most meaningful thing in our life was done”, and that seeing everyone is “joyous”, he realises “it wasn’t though”.

Not No. 3: ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ lands second-best Hollywood debut weekend

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Not No. 3: ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ lands second-best Hollywood debut weekend

With ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ netting more money ($260 million) than what was previously estimated, it has officially landed the second-biggest debut weekend in Hollywood history, behind only ‘Avengers: Endgame’ ($357 million), reports ‘Variety’.

Sony’s epic finale in the Tom Holland-led comic book trilogy collected $260 million in theatres across North America on its debut weekend, above Sunday’s estimates of $253 million. It means ‘No Way Home’ has surpassed ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ ($257 million), which was at No. 2.

The Marvel adventure, writes ‘Variety’, has obliterated all Covid-era box-office benchmarks. Prior to this weekend, no movie, including the much-anticipated ‘No Time to Die’, Daniel Craig’s final outing as James Bond, had been able to cross even the $100-million mark in a single weekend.

The best attempt had been another of Sony’s comic book sequels, ‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’, which generated $90 million to start. “Given those constraints and the pandemic-related headwinds still facing the box-office,” reports ‘Variety’, “industry watchers struggled to ballpark opening weekend figures for ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’.”

Nani reveals he tried 15 different looks for ‘Shyam Singha Roy’

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Nani reveals he tried 15 different looks for ‘Shyam Singha Roy’

Telugu star Nani experimented with 15 different get-ups before finalising his look for ‘Shyam Singha Roy’.

For ‘Shyam Singha Roy’, Nani said he has come out of his comfort zone so as to look appealing in his role as a Bengali writer.

Nani appears in dual roles in Rahul Sankrityan’s ‘Shyam Singha Roy’. One of the roles Nani plays in the movie demanded he try a number of get-ups before choosing one.

In one of the video conversations with the media, Nani had mentioned that his role as a social reformer and a revolutionary writer in the movie demanded a brief makeover.

“Though the look doesn’t appear like an intense one, the makeover was a bit difficult. I tried around 15 get-ups before we got fixated on the current look in the movie ‘Shyam Singha Roy’.

An interesting aspect about his makeover is that Nani didn’t gain weight, though he looked a bit chubby as ‘Shyam Singha Roy’.

Nani’s looks had his hairstyle, moustache, and dressing style changed, which would represent the men in Bengal during the ’70s. Nani, who had to utter powerful dialogues in Bengali, also practiced the diction.

Nani and his team are all set with back-to-back promotions, as they wait for ‘Shyam Singha Roy’ to hit the screens on December 24.

Sai Pallavi, Krithi Shetty, and Madonna Sebastian are the female leads in the movie.

Kareena sends birthday wishes to son Taimur from isolation

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Kareena sends birthday wishes to son Taimur from isolation

Kareena Kapoor Khan, who is currently isolating herself after testing positive for Covid-19, wished her son Taimur Ali Khan on his 5th birthday.

The actress took to her Instagram to share a throwback video of her son, when he just started to walk on his wobbly feet.

Kareena captioned the video, “Your first steps your first fall… I recorded it with so much pride. This isn’t your first or last fall, my son, but I do know one thing for sure… you will always pick yourself up, take bigger strides, and march along head held high… ’cause you are my tiger… Happy Birthday my heartbeat… My Tim Tim no one like you mera beta #HappyBirthdayTimTim #MeraBeta #MyTiger (sic).”

Her sister Karishma wrote in the comments section, “Happy birthday to our Jaan.”

Kareena’s sister-in-law Soha Ali Khan also commented, “Happy birthday Tim! Onwards and upwards.”

Kareena is currently recovering in isolation after her Mumbai residence was sealed by the BMC following her test results turning out to be positive when she attended a small gathering at filmmaker Karan Johar’s house.

Manisha Yadav to play female lead in ‘Ninaivellam Neeyada’

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Manisha Yadav to play female lead in ‘Ninaivellam Neeyada’

Actress Manisha Yadav is to play one of the two female leads in director Adhirajan’s upcoming Tamil film ‘Ninaivellam Neeyada’.

Manisha is known for her performances in critically acclaimed films like ‘Vazhakku En 18/9’, ‘Aadhalal Kaadhal Seiveer’ and ‘Oru Kuppai Kadhai’.

The film, which features actor Prajin in the lead, has music by Ilaiyaraaja and Raja Bhattacharjee as its cameraman.

Says Manisha Yadav, “Films like Vazhakku En 18/9′ and ‘Oru Kuppai Kadhai’ helped me gain an identity among fans. This film too offers immense scope for acting. I liked the script as soon as director Adhirajan narrated it to me as this is a character that hides in it several other characters. I haven’t acted in such a forceful character as yet. This role will be quite a challenge for me.”

Sources close to the unit of the film say that 40 per cent of the film has already been shot in places in and around Chennai. Work on the film is progressing at a brisk pace, they added.

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