Sushant Singh Rajput’s last film to release digitally

The late Sushant Singh Rajputs last film “Dil Bechara” will premiere on the OTT platform Disney+ Hotstar, on July 24.

“Sushant was not just the hero of my debut film as a director, but he was a dear friend who stood by me through thick and thin. We had been close right from ‘Kai Po Che’ to ‘Dil Bechara’,” said the film’s director Mukesh Chhabra.

“Dil Bechara” is the official remake of the 2014 Hollywood romantic drama “The Fault in our Stars”, based on John Green’s popular novel of the same name. Budding actress Sanjana Sanghi stars opposite Sushant in the film.

“He had promised me that he would be in my first film. So many plans were made together, so many dreams were dreamt together but never once did I ever imagine that I would be left alone to release this film. He always showered immense love on me while I was making it and his love will guide us as we release it,” Chhabra added.

The film will see Saif Ali Khan in a cameo. Composer AR Rahman and lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya have collaborated to create music for the project.

Sanjana shared the news on her social media, writing: “A story of love, of hope, and of endless memories. Celebrating our dearest, and the late #SushantSinghRajput ‘s legacy that will be etched in the minds of all and cherished forever.”

Talking about the decision to release it digitally, Uday Shankar, President, The Walt Disney Company APAC and Chairman, Star and Disney India, said: “We are humbled to be able to play a small part in sustaining the legacy of a fine actor like Sushant Singh Rajput. In celebration of his life and his extraordinary work, ‘Dil Bechara’ will be available to all subscribers and non-subscribers across India.”

Sushant was found hanging at his residence in Mumbai on June 14. He was 34.

Ankit Arora on shoots amid New Normal: Everyone will get used to it

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Actor Ankit Arora is eager to get back on the sets of “Alif Laila” as the show’s makers are gearing up to shoot new episodes after the lockdown.

“I think everyone who belongs to the media and entertainment industries is excited and eager to get back on sets after a really long break. But along with this enthusiasm, we all need to be alert and cautious for not only ourselves but for others too,” said Ankit, who plays an important role in the show.

“It is bound to take some time to settle with the new guidelines and adapt to the change. Eventually, everyone will get used to it. As actors, it is our responsibility to practice leading the conversation of being safe and sanitized. Some artists have a couple of people in their team, I’m sure they will be responsible and reduce these numbers, avoiding as much human intervention as possible,” he added.

Ankit has ensured maintaining a daily regime.

“I make sure I exercise daily as it helps me to stay alert, fresh, and focused. I have continued to keep my vocal cords in check and practice regularly,” he said.

Meanwhile, the lockdown, which began in March, gave him the opportunity to watch a lot of content and observe some great actors on-screen.

“I am a huge fan of Amitabh Bachchan sir, and I watched many of his films during these months. After a long break like this, I feel rested and ready to go with a roar,” he said.

“Alif Laila” is aired on Dangal TV.

‘Chintu Ka Birthday’ directors have an issue with Tarantino’s films

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The director duo of Devanshu Kumar and Satyanshu Singh, who recently garnered some praise for their digital film “Chintu Ka Birthday”, seem to have a problem with certain aspects of Hollywood maverick Quentin Tarantino’s cinema — particularly his propensity to project evil with swagger.

“When you see ‘Chintu Ka Birthday’, you see how we have exaggerated goodness, the positive side of life even at a war-zone. I always questioned in my mind and I want to ask you when we exaggerated evil on the screen when we watch world cinema — especially films of Quentin Tarantino — we glorify the exaggeration of evil, right? The audience takes that as ‘cool’. It gets celebrated in the film festival circuit. Critics and intellectuals call such film ‘edgy’ and audience search for such film to watch and call them ‘edgy’, ‘grappling’ films,” Devanshu told IANS.

Satyanshu added: “Now I want to cite an example. When Sooraj Barjatiya glorifies and exaggerates the happy, positive, and good deeds of characters in his story, why do we look down upon him, or his kind of films? We do not take such films seriously, why? We should not be ashamed of exaggerating the good side of human beings, because only that side can keep us afloat, especially in a crisis.”

“Chintu Ka Birthday” is the story of a little boy played by child-actor Vedant Chibber. The film released on the OTT platform ZEE5 also features Vinay Pathak, Tillotama Shome, and Seema Pahwa.

Lately, several crime thrillers and revenge stories on various digital platforms have depicted graphic violence on screen. The director duo feels that in the troublesome time that we are living in, we should rather summon the good in us.

Satyanshu said: “I think there is enough and more potential in every human being to be superhuman, to do things that are next to impossible. But in order to awaken that superhuman, you have to summon the good in you. We have to remember that we are capable of extremely shameful deeds as humans. We are also equally capable of putting out a God-like act. What I am trying to say is, we have the choice. We cannot say no to the dark side in us, we have to accept that. But at the same time, we can convince ourselves to bring out the good side and ask the devil inside us to stay quiet.”

About the inception of “Chintu Ka Birthday”, Satyanshu said, “The whole idea is to tell a simple human story and set it in an extraordinary situation where it looks impossible. Our story was a story of a birthday celebration of a little boy, set in an Iraq war zone. It started with the impossibility of it. You normally cannot make people laugh when you set a story in a war zone. That element of impossibility drove us to make the film.”

Gulshan Devaiah: I wish favouritism did not exist

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Actor Gulshan Devaiah feels there is a lot of misplaced anger among people following the passing of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and says it is time to introspect and not play blame games or find what pushed him to take his life.

“We should take this opportunity to think rather than point fingers because there are a lot of conspiracy theories. There is a lot of anger that is misplaced. If you ask me, the anger is misplaced,” Gulshan told IANS.

“One needs to mourn. Actors such as myself need to think about how we play the game, whether it’s worth it or not, whether we have the endurance and whether we have the chops, whether we can deal with our disappointments. Sometimes you work hard for years and years and years and nothing really happens. It has happened before and will happen again. What do you do then? People will judge you. They will say good things to your face, and vice versa. What do you do? What are you made of? Is it worth it? Will you go on or give up? We need to figure that out. We need to find these answers and not what killed Sushant. He has gone,” he added.

Sushant was found hanging in his Bandra residence on Sunday morning by his domestic help, which left the industry and his fans shocked. He was reportedly battling depression over the past few months and undergoing treatment. The suicide sparked off a conversation around the toxic culture of Bollywood, and Gulshan feels one needs to talk about favoritism more than nepotism.

“People say nepotism. Nepotism is about family lineage when you inherit something from your family. Let’s call it favoritism. The producer is making the movie with his money and not using taxpayer’s money, so people cannot say, ‘we paid, so we want you to make this kind of film only and we want to do it by merit’. No, because it is a private enterprise,” said the actor, who has appeared in films like “Shaitan”, “Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela”, “Hunterrr”, “A Death In The Gunj” and “Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota”.

He continued: “You can’t ask for merit when you can’t measure merit. How do you measure it? Everybody’s got to have an opinion. Sushant’s fans will think that Sushant deserved more. Rajkummar (Rao)’s fans will think he deserves more. My fans will think I deserve more. This is endless. This can’t be measured.”

Asked about the change he wants to see in Bollywood, he said: “People can be a little less judgmental and nicer to each other. People can stop blaming each other. I think there is an unreasonable expectation of meritocracy. Performance cannot be measured. It’s very subjective. There’s a little bit of the tendency in our industry to say that so and so is more deserving, but I feel it’s not because you cannot really measure it. But yes, I wish they were more reasonable with welding their power and wish favoritism didn’t exist.”

Gulshan understands that a “lot of people are feeling very guilty”.

“It’s very nice. It’s heartwarming that people feel that way. But it’s not their fault. I don’t know why somebody takes their life. If they leave a note then maybe there is some indication as to why they do that. Otherwise, we don’t know. So, no need to feel very guilty. We can all be very nice to each other,” added the actor, whose film “Commando 3” will air on June 21 on &pictures.

Natasa to Hardik: ‘You will forever be my always’

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Serbian dancer-actress Natasa Stankovic was in for a pleasant surprise from her fiance, Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya.

He presented her two big bouquets of roses, with a mushy note to boot.

Natasa took to Instagram Stories and re-posted a photograph of Pandya holding the two bouquets.

“Roses for my rose,” he wrote.

Natasa shared the photograph and put a sticker that read: “I’m so thankful for you.”

She also posted a photograph with Hardik and the bouquet of flowers and captioned it: “You will forever be mine always. @hardikpandya93.”

Natasa and Hardik are expecting their first child, and she recently shared a photograph flaunting her baby bump.

Natasa made her Bollywood debut with a dance number in the 2013 film “Satyagraha” and was later seen in films like “Action Jackson” (2014) and “Fukrey Returns” (2017). She has also appeared in the season eight of “Bigg Boss”, and appeared in the video of Badshah’s blockbuster track “DJ Waley Babu”.

Earlier this year, Hardik had announced his engagement to Natasa via social media. On January 1, Hardik shared an image where he is seen proposing to Natasa and had captioned it: “Mai Tera, Tu meri Jaane, Saara Hindustan. 01.01.2020 #engaged.”

Creative Director Sukumar making use of the time to fine-tune the script

When fans celebrated the second anniversary of ‘Rangasthalam’ movie recently, many felt sad that creative director Sukumar who has carved this brilliant movie isn’t seen in the action for two years.

While his film with Mahesh was supposed to start, the hero picked Sarileru Neekevvaru and Sukumar moved out to do #AA20. But then, due to various deals, now #AA20 is yet to get wrapped up and it looks like the film get released only next year.

Meanwhile, the director is not a panic mode or worried about the delays and is said to be considering the lockdown period as a blessing in disguise. He’s making use of the time to fine-tune the script more and also said to be preparing some storyboards for various scenes. That cuts down the production-time drastically as they will know which shot to shoot and how.

We hear that when shootings resume, then Sukumar is going to wrap the total film in a single most schedule if possible. Sukumar’s next features Allu Arjun in the lead, and plays the role of a lorry driver who smuggles red sanders in Nallamala forests.

Deepika Padukone’s Quarantine Time

Continuing with her trend of ‘productivity in the time of COVID-19’, actor Deepika Padukone spent her Monday at home organising pulses and other essentials in her kitchen.

The actor who shares insights from her days indoors on Instagram through different episodes revealed about her Monday plans.

The Bajirao Mastani actor posted a picture of slips that had name tags of different kitchen ingredients to be put up on the boxes kept next to a label printing machine.

The slips had names of ingredients like Poha, Besan, Rajma, Red Chana, Red Masoor Dal, and others. She also mentioned a famous Japanese organising consultant Marie Kondo and termed herself a “wannabe Marie Kondo”.

Many other Bollywood celebrities are currently staying at home to avoid the spread of novel coronavirus which has affected a total of 1071 people in India. Today is the sixth day of the government imposed 21-day lockdown, aimed at curbing the spread of the highly contagious infection.

Nithiin Postponed his Wedding & avoids Birthday celebration

The coronavirus as changed many scheduled events for everyone, nowhere the hero Nithiin announced to postpone his wedding with his sweetheart Shalini, the marriage which was scheduled on April 16th in Dubai as a Destination wedding as postponed. The family members said the new date will be announced soon.

In meanwhile, Nithiin also avoids his birthday celebrations in this year on March 30th, he also asks his fans not to conduct any birthday celebrations. He wants every stays home and stay safe as the corona is spreading very fast. Nithiin currently working for Multiple Projects.