Where ‘local’ leads to international for artist Ashim Purkayastha

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Where ‘local’ leads to international for artist Ashim Purkayastha

In the year 2014, Delhi-based artist Ashim Purkayastha started collecting stones from different streets in Delhi. At that time, he had no idea that his work ‘Shelter’ would be a part of the Indian Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale.

A physical experience, the making of which involved moving around the city and collecting materials, ‘Shelter’, which is now being exhibited at KNMA’s online exhibition ‘City Tales’ included time and experience of different events. “While picking up stones from Delhi’s roadsides, ‘identity’ was at the center of the thought,” says Purkayastha.

Recalling the overwhelming response his work received in Venice, the artist says, “While ‘Shelter’ was displayed on the floor, the canvas ‘Untitled’ was on the wall. When I decided to paint on the wall, it was the more conceptual part of the work which had to be done at one go. Considering the fact that it could not be repainted, there was a certain conflict in my mind, it was also important that the stones should be scattered all over. During the exhibition’s opening, it was interesting to see the reactions of the viewers — such an incomparable experience.”

Purkayastha, who is known for his work on Gandhi including ‘Gandhi/Man Without Specs’ says that till now he is yet to experience any movement or protest, that does not have his name or image. He adds, “However, in face of this pandemic — when so much is happening — lockdown, migration and protests, it is for the first time we do not have any mention or reference to Gandhi.”

Known for highlighting social and political issues in his work, while laying stress on the local, the artist feels that the post-COVID times for artists and exhibitors would mean far more dependence on the virtual medium. “However, despite such a tough scenario, we may see the Kochi Biennale materializing.”

While he has experienced ‘lockdowns’ frequently considering he is from Assam, Purkayastha says the one in wake of the COVID pandemic is different for him. “There is this realization that the whole world is going through it. I have been using this time to collect material for my future work.”

Talk to him about the pathetic state of young artists in face of no measures announced by the government for the art community when the country was put under lockdown, and he laments, “The government is just highlighting its ‘success’ rate when it comes to a lower mortality rate and not talking about several related key issues. He adds, “Lakhs of people have become jobless, we saw the walking migrants, and now many migrant workers are back in the cities trying to look for work. These issues need to be addressed, no?”

Shruti Haasan on the price of sacrifice every profession demands

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Shruti Haasan on the price of sacrifice every profession demands

Actress Shruti Haasan says all professions come with a price, and that mostly involves what you are willing to sacrifice.

“I think that the price of what you are willing to sacrifice is a personal choice that comes with every profession,” Shruti told IANS.

The actress, who is the daughter of veteran stars Kamal Haasan and Sarika, shares it is mostly the personal life one sacrifice.

“Mostly it is time and relationships that you sacrifice. Whether you work in a bank or you work in the movies,” she added.

Shruti has completed 11 years as an actor. She says she is always looking to improve herself. The actress recently starred in the digitally-released film, “Yaara”, which also featured Vidyut Jammwal, Kenny Basumatry, Vijay Varma, and Amit Sadh.

The Tigmanshu Dhulia directorial is a Bollywood remake of the French film “Gang Story”. The story of the film is set in North India and is about the rise and fall of a group of four friends operating along the Indo-Nepal border.

Quickfix books on Sushant Singh Rajput flood the market

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Quickfix books on Sushant Singh Rajput flood the market

To provide fodder to the growing curiosity among the people about the late actor Sushant Singh Rajput, a number of books have mushroomed in the market over the past couple of months since his death.

The 34-year-old actor was found dead in his Mumbai residence on June 14. The books released soon after his death are available in hard copy as well as e-book format. With Sushant being in the headlines currently, people, in general, are curious to know more about the late actor.

On cue, the books available in the market talk of the kind of person he was, his thoughts, goals and ambitions, his personal life, professional life, struggles, heartbreaks, failures and success, and more.

Most of these books are rush jobs, poor research and not much ground-breaking information since the case is still to be solved. In many cases, the author admits having never met Sushant!

One such book is titled “The Legend Sushant Singh Rajput: The Heist Of National Treasure” written by Delhi-based author Pradeep Sharma, whose pen name is Walking. This is Sharma’s first book, published on July 16. The author claims he did not know Sushant personally but felt intrigued enough to write a book on him after the actor’s death.

“I didn’t know SSR personally, nor did I ever meet him. But, when I heard about the news of his death, I was not able to accept it and faced severe anxiety, and I thought I would write a blog or an article and post it on social media. But later it occurred to me that I can write a book on him, as a tribute,” Sharma told IANS.

“This book is all about how I feel after his death as a die-hard fan, and how he inspires me. You will find in the book, his achievements, passion, lust to explore new things, his dreams, and how he wanted to help others. In short, this is a tribute to SSR,” the author claimed.

Sharma admitted he has faced widespread criticism that he is “trying to mint money and get fame overnight”.

Is it a good strategy to release books about the late actor right now, even though the case is yet to be solved?

“Sushant’s untimely death has affected people from all walks of life. Right now, everybody is shocked. So naturally, people are curious to know more about him. However, writing books on him at this point in time, I feel, is a temporary trend aimed at grabbing the limelight quickly. This kind of literature is short-lived and doesn’t have a long term impact,” explains Tridib Chatterjee, President of the Publishers and Booksellers Guild, Kolkata, who has been into the business of book publishing for over 40 years.

A book written in Hindi by Harsh Vardhan Chouhan is titled “Sushant Singh Rajput: Mystery”. That there can be doubt about the credibility of the work is obvious from the spelling and grammatical gaffes in the book description on an online shopping site: “This book is about the mystery of Sushant Singh Rajput and we solve the mystery.” The claims of solving the ‘murder’ mystery seem a tad tall considering the book was published on July 29, just above a month after Sushant died.

Khushal Chawla has penned a book titled “Sushant’s Depression Story: Possible Reasons Behind Sushant’s Depression”. The author describes it as “a short book that tells you stories on Sushant’s depression. I write this book because I feel that his depression story needs to be told to the world. The book has an important message at the end which I feel will change the way people see Indian cinema.” However, Chawla cannot substantiate how he can be so sure the death was caused by suicide.

Ishan Martin has gone with the Mumbai Police theory in deciphering the death while writing “RIP Sushant Singh Rajput: The Life Of Bollywood Actor SSR”.

The description of Martin’s book mentions: “The news of Sushant Singh Rajput’s sudden demise comes as a shock for the entire film industry and his fans. The news comes just a few days after Sushant Singh Rajput’s former manager Disha Salian passed away. The news has left the actor’s fans heartbroken. Sushant Singh Rajput Bollywood Actor has killed himself in his home. His body was found at his Bandra home. Mumbai police confirmed it…”

Funnily, perhaps because most of these books were in a competition to hit the market first, all the works conveniently go with the initial police deduction that Sushant committed suicide.

Parikshita Garud describes her book, “Remembering: Sushant Singh Rajput”, saying: “This book is related to the legendary Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput. I am going to publish some important points of his life in series. This is the first series where I have introduced about Sushant Singh Rajput and depression. Nowadays depression and suicide are the most sensitive topics. I’m just trying to motivate people out there with the help of the remembering Sushant Singh Rajput.”

Currently, the death of the actor is being investigated by the CBI, as per the Supreme Court’s order. While fans wait with bated breath for answers to the yet unsolved mysteries surrounding his death, be sure there will be more books on Sushant coming up. Let’s hope those works are better researched.

Was model Jameela Calcuttawala the ‘mystery woman’ outside Sushant’s home on June 14?

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Was model Jameela Calcuttawala the ‘mystery woman’ outside Sushant’s home on June 14?

Fans of Sushant Singh Rajput have been speculating about the mystery woman who was spotted outside his Bandra residence on the day of his demise, June 14.

Reports doing the rounds in the media and social media seem to suggest the girl could be Jameela Calcuttawala, rumored girlfriend of Rhea Chakraborty’s brother Show.

The speculations stem from a pair of slippers! Jameela is a model, and her unverified private Instagram account has the late Sushant Singh Rajput, his girlfriend Rhea, and her brother Show among followers.

A group photograph posted on Instagram by Sushant in May last year (which is now deleted from the late actor’s account), and which was reposted by Rhea on her verified Instagram account on May 4 last year, reportedly features Jameela alongside Sushant, Rhea, and other friends. Not only this, several other posts on Rhea’s Instagram credit Jameela as the photographer, hinting at the model’s association with Rhea and her family.

Back to June 14, 2020, videos and photographs of a woman clicked outside Sushant’s residence on the day of his death, have led to conjectures over who she might be. The woman was wearing a COVID mask, along with a sleeveless blue top with white stripes, paired with khaki lowers. She slips into the building premise and disappears inside.

It is her slippers that have been drawing attention. Many are certain that the woman in blue top wears the same slippers that she is seen wearing in the group photograph shared by Sushant and reposted by Rhea on May 4, 2019.

For the past few days, fans of the late actor have been sharing both photographs together on social media speculating Jameela could be the mystery woman spotted outside Sushant’s residence on June 14.

The plot thickens.

Sushant’s family to hold global prayer meet on Saturday

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Sushant’s family to hold global prayer meet on Saturday

Shweta Singh Kirti, sister of Sushant Singh Rajput, on Friday invited fans of the late actor to participate in a global prayer meet on Saturday to purge all negativity.

“Feel free to register: https://prayforsushant.com #GayatriMantra4SSR Gayatri Mantra helps in purification. Let’s all pray that the negativity is destroyed and God bestows us with the courage to fight for the right! #Warriors4SSR #JusticeForSSR #FaithInCBI #GlobalPrayers4SSR,” Shweta tweeted.

On Thursday, the CBI took over the case after a Supreme Court nod on Wednesday. A team of the central probe agency is already in Mumbai investigating into the death of the actor, who was found dead in his Mumbai residence on June 14.

The CBI has registered a case against Sushant’s girlfriend, actress Rhea Chakraborty, her father Indrajit, mother Sandhya, brother Show, Sushant’s ex-manager Shruti Modi and flatmate Samuel Miranda and unknown persons on the basis of his father KK Singh’s complaint, which was filed with the Bihar Police on July 25.

Shweta feels a CBI probe will bring out the truth. “#CBIInMumbai The whole world has relentlessly fought for CBI Enquiry and now it is the responsibility of CBI to uphold our trust in them, we have full faith that CBI will most definitely bring the truth out and justice will be served. #CBIForSSR,” tweeted Shweta.

Versatile singer SP Balasubramanyam continues to battle Covid

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Versatile singer SP Balasubramanyam continues to battle Covid

Famed playback singer and Padma awardee S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, or popularly SPB, who has recorded over 40,000 songs in 16 languages over a period of five decades continues to battle Covid-19 at a private hospital here.

The popular singer who was admitted to MGM Healthcare with mild Coronavirus infection some days back is now on ventilator and ECMO support and his condition is critical.

On August 5, in a Facebook post, the 74-year-old SPB said that he was suffering from a very mild attack of the Coronavirus and had got himself hospitalized to take rest.

He had said that though the doctors had advised him to stay at home and take rest, he decided to be in a hospital, as at home his family members would get concerned. He hoped to get discharged from the hospital in two days.

However, soon his condition deteriorated.

SPB, who has done playback for Bollywood star Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor besides legends like MGR and Rajinikanth among many others, while pursuing his engineering course, participated in singing competitions and won prizes.

“At one such competition, popular playback singer S. Janaki while giving the prize sowed the seed of singing in movies in me by saying that I can shine in the cine world. She encouraged me saying that she too was not a trained singer,” SPB had reminisced at a media meet.

Later he started visiting music directors seeking an opportunity to become a movie playback singer.

A humble person, SPB had earlier said that if a person achieves something significant in a field, then it is due to the nudgings and help rendered by several others; and in his case, there were a couple of people.

According to him, but for his friend and roommate Murali who had compelled him to reach the recording studio in 1966 December, he wouldn’t have become a movie singer.

SPB recorded his first song composed by music director and his mentor S.P. Kodandapani for the Telugu movie Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna.

Nearly a week later after his debut, he recorded his first Kannada song for the movie “Nakkare Ade Swarga” in 1967.

Soon he became busy with Telugu movie songs.

Looking back, SPB in an interview said that his evolution as a playback singer was largely due to Telugu music director Sathyam.

It was the Telugu movie “Sankarabharanam” that made the nation realize the potential of SPB. The movie directed by K. Viswanath and the music scored by K.V. Mahadevan turned out to be a big hit. SPB got his first National Film Award for Best Male Playback singer.

Though his first Tamil movie song was ‘Athaanodu Ippadi Irundhu Eththanai Naalaachu’ along with L.R. Eswari and music scored by another legend M.S.Viswanathan (MSV), the song and the movie “Hotel Ramba” did not come out. As the movie was stopped midway, no music company had bought the rights and made the gramophone recording.

Later SPB sang for actor Gemini Ganesan (Iyarkai Ennum Ilaya Kanni), for M.G. Ramachandran or MGR (Aayiram Nilavae Vaa) and went on to the Malayalam movie industry.

At a media meet SPB had said he was grateful to MGR for postponing the shooting for `Aayiram Nilavae Vaa’ by a month so that the song was ready.

The singer said he was then down with a fever. Given his stature, MGR could have recorded the song with a different singer and gone ahead with the shooting.

“I had asked MGR about that later. He said after the audition, I would have told my friends that I will be singing for MGR. And if I was replaced the talk would be that MGR didn’t like my voice and so he chose some other singer. That would have been a big setback for my Tamil movie career, which he (MGR) didna¿t want to happen,” SPB recalled the incident.

After that, there was no looking back for him. In the Tamil movie world, he has sung for MGR, Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth, and others.

At one point he was so prolific that he recorded over 15 songs in a day.

The mid-1970s saw the entry of music director Illaiyaraaja who later became a major force in the Tamil movie industry. The two-SPB and Ilaiyaraaja-had known each other even before the latter became a music director.

The 1980s saw the trio — Illaiyaraaja, SPB, and S. Janaki- recording a large number of songs and most of them became great hits.

It is a different matter that Illaiyaraaja and SPB had some differences of opinion on the royalty issue. Citing law Illaiyaraaja had demanded that SPB pay him a royalty for singing his songs on-stage performances. The two patched up soon.

It was in 1981that SPB made his debut in the Hindi movie world singing for Kamal Haasan in Ek Duuje Ke Liye and went on to sing in movies like Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun, and others.

“It was K.Balachander, Director, Ek Duuje Ke Liye who had insisted that I should sing for Kamal Haasan through the music composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal were bit reluctant to try me out,” SPB reminisced.

It is a different matter SPB got a National Award for one of the songs in that movie.

During the 1990s the list of music directors he worked with increased like Deva, S.A.Rajkumar, Vidyasagar, and A.R. Rahman in the hit movie Roja.

Apart from singing, SPB has also dubbed for several leading artists in Tamil and Telugu movies. For Kamal Haasan he was the default voice in Telugu movies. He had dubbed for Ben Kingsley in the Telugu dubbing of English movie Gandhi.

As an actor too, SPB made a mark in movies like “Kadhalan”, “Keladi Kanmani”, “Thiruda Thiruda” and others.

Honored with Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan awards in 2001 and 2011 respectively, SPB has won six National Film Awards for the best male playback singer and several other state awards.

His fans are praying for SPB to get well soon and start singing.

Gurmeet Choudhary launches his YouTube channel

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Gurmeet Choudhary launches his YouTube channel

Actor Gurmeet Choudhary has launched his YouTube channel. The channel will have videos featuring him, giving a quirky take on various aspects of his life.

Being a martial artist and a fitness enthusiast, videos that Gurmeet will share will include tips on health and fitness. He will also share aspects of his life including cooking and recipes, filmmaking, and what a day in his life looks like — all with a touch of humor.

He will also be sharing a pro tip at the end of each video called ‘Guru Gyaan’.

“I’m really excited to show a different side of me that my fans haven’t had the chance to see before. My primary reason to launch a YouTube channel is to give my fans access to my long videos which isn’t available on other platforms,” he said.

“I really want to connect with my fans and keep them entertained while keeping them informed at the same time. It is going to be a quirky take on how I deal with all aspects of my life be it cooking, fitness, filmmaking, and everything else I do. I am looking forward to having my fans get to know me better,” added the “Ramayan” actor.

Gurmeet is currently shooting an urban horror film titled “The Wife” in Jaipur.

Michael Pena opens up about his love for horror

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Michael Pena opens up about his love for horror

Actor Michael Pena says horror films are like roller coaster rides, adding that he is a big fan of the genre.

Pena recalled falling in love with horror flicks as a child. “When I was a kid and I was younger, my mom used to take us to a theatre where we would pay two dollars and then be able to see multiple movies. We’d watch (legendary Mexican comedian) Cantinflas and then immediately afterward it would be followed by an American movie. There would be a complete 180 of what we expected to see. I watched all these horror movies — ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’, ‘Rosemary’s Baby’, ‘The Shining’, ‘The Exorcist’, they were so scary,” he said.

“But it was safe to me like you wanted to be scared, you wanted to feel that same scare. It was like riding a roller coaster because for all intents and purposes, roller coasters are really safe and so when you are on a roller coaster, you know you are going to go really fast, but at the same time it’s locked down and it gives you that extra safety net to experience something like this,” he added.

It is a reason Pena enjoyed working in the horror film, “Fantasy Island”.

“When I read the initial draft, it had a bunch of different storylines, so from the get-go, I knew that it was going to have multiple fantasies. I think it also gives you a break when you are diving into someone else’s fantasy. It gives you a little time to breathe,” he said.

“As for the film, I mean I really liked what he did to be honest; I saw that on ‘Truth or Dare’. You kind of want a little bit of everything, a bit of humor, even if it’s dark, so that you can pace it up a bit and have breaks, or else it’s kind of unrelenting,” Pena added about the film, which airs in India on August 30 on &flix and Zee Cafe.

Kailash Kher: Rs 72 lakh could educate children instead of buying fake followers

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Kailash Kher: Rs 72 lakh could educate children instead of buying fake followers

Rapper Badshah drew widespread criticism after it emerged that he spent Rs 72 lakh to buy 75 million fake views on social media for his recent song, Paagal. Singer Kailash Kher feels a true artiste would rather have used such a big amount for a cause like educating underprivileged children.

“We are living in a society where such disparity exists. On the one hand, people have money to buy fake popularity while on the other hand there are children on the road, without food and education. Any artiste with real knowledge would have used the popularity, money, and celebrity status for the betterment of society. The 72 lakh rupees could have been used for the education of underprivileged children,” Kher told IANS.

“I, too, get suggestions from the so-called business-minded people to market myself and engage in paid PR. For me, when I go to live shows and I see how people sing along with me, is bigger than anything else. We all know how a section of musicians is constantly selling music with ugly, double meaning lyrics and videos. They are popular among the youth. Unfortunately, they are influencing the youth in the wrong direction,” added the singer, who recently recorded a new version of “Vande Mataram”.

Kher recalled recording the song with a hundred artistes. “It is our way to contribute to the idea of Atmanirbhar Bharat. Until a few years ago, speaking in Hindi was considered ‘un-cool’ for the youth of the nation, because we were losing the vision of India. Now that we have a great visionary, we artistes gathered and recreated ‘Vande Mataram”, composed by Aashish Rego. Hopefully, we will bring our youth back to the roots, back in the right direction,” he concluded.

Sushant and Sara were ‘totally in love’ during ‘Kedarnath’ promotions: actor’s friend

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Sushant and Sara were ‘totally in love’ during ‘Kedarnath’ promotions: actor’s friend

During the promotional activity of their 2018 film Kedarnath, Sushant Singh Rajput and Sara Ali Khan were in love with each other, claims Samuel Haokip, a friend of the late actor.

Samuel took to his verified Instagram account on Thursday to open up on the love story between the “Kedarnath” co-stars, a film that marked Sara Ali Khan’s debut in Bollywood. He also speculates whether the Bollywood Mafia played a role in causing their break-up after the release of Sushant’s 2019 release “Sonchiriya”, which failed at the box office.

“I remember the time during Kedarnath promotions… Sushant and Sara were totally in love…they were inseparable… So pure and childlike innocence. They both had tremendous respect for each other which was so rare to see nowadays in relationships,” Samuel wrote in an Instagram post.

Talking about how much respect Sara had for Sushant’s friends, family, and even his staff, Samuel added: “Sara along with Sushant head genuine respect for everyone in Sushant’s life…be it family, friends and even staff. I wonder whether Sara’s decision to break up with Sushant right after Sonchiriya’s box office performance was due to any pressure by the Bollywood Mafia.”

Commenting on Samuel’s post, “Pavitra Rishta” director Kushal Zaveri, who was a close friend of the late actor, wrote: “Someone had to say it! More power to you bro.”

From Samuel’s post and Kushal’s comment on the same, it seems the relationship between Sushant and Sara was not a very hushed-hushed affair as his friends, family, and staff knew about it.

Sara had shared an Instagram post on July 24, the day Sushant’s last film “Dil Bechara” released. Sharing a photo of Sushant along with her father Saif Ali Khan, who has played a cameo role in the film, Sara had written: “The only two gentlemen that have spoken to me about Sartre, Van Gogh, telescopes and constellations, guitars, the Northern lights, cricket, Pink Floyd, Nusrat Saab, and acting techniques. This is to the last thing you two have in common- #DilBechara.”

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