Rasika Dugal shares ‘smiles and scowls of shootlife’

Actress Rasika Dugal on Thursday shared the “smiles and scowls of shoot life” on Instagram.

Rasika to Instagram and posted a set of pictures where she is seen smiling in some and sporting a serious look in other images.

“The smiles and scowls of shoot life… Package deal!” Rasika captioned the images.

Speaking about her work, Rasika was recently seen in season two of “Out Of Love”, directed by Oni Sen and co-starring Purab Kohli.

The actress will be soon seen sharing screen space with Naseeruddin Shah in “The Miniaturist Of Junagadh”.

Neena Gupta shares a still from the 1984 classic “Utsav”

Actress Neena Gupta on Thursday shared a throwback gem on social media, posting a picture from the 1984 classic “Utsav”.

In the mid-shot frame from the period film, a young Neena has a cloth wrapped around her bust like a bralette. She exchanges a coy glance with her co-actor, the late Shankar Nag.

“A still from a beautiful film Utsav with Shankar Nag miss you so much Shankar bohat jaldi chod gaye tum hamen,” Neena wrote remembering actor-director Shankar Nag, who died at the age of 35 in a car accident in 1990.

Shankar Nag was an actor, screenwriter, director, and producer known for his work in Kannada and Hindi films and television. He directed and acted in the Doordarshan series, “Malgudi Days”.

Shashi Kapoor’s production “Utsav” was a film ahead of its time. Based on the play “Mrichakatika”, the erotic drama was directed by Girish Karnad and starred Rekha, Anuradha Patel, Shekhar Suman, and Amjad Khan. Neena played Madanika, a courtesan slave.

On Neena’s picture post, actor Ramneek Pantal commented about Shankar Nag: “Looks like Shahrukh Khan from the profile.”

TV actor Sachin Shroff wrote: “He was such a fine actor.”

Neena Gupta recently launched her autobiography, “Sach Kahun Toh”, sharing many interesting insights from her life.

The actress, who was seen recently in the film “Sardar Ka Grandson”, will be seen next in a cricket drama “83” and the thriller “Dial 100”.

Ravi Teja starts shooting for 68th film

Telugu star Ravi Teja started shooting for his 68th film on Thursday and shared a glimpse of the film’s poster on Instagram.

The poster showcases Ravi, whose back is towards the camera, sitting on a chair typing a letter on a typewriter.

“And it begins…,” Ravi Teja, who enjoys the moniker of “Mass Maharaja”, captioned the image.

The actor did not share details about the film.

Ravi Teja’s latest released film was “Krack”. The Telugu action film co-starring Varalaxmi Sarathkumar and Shruti Haasan opened in January.

The actor currently awaits the release of his next titled “Khiladi”, an action-comedy written and directed by Ramesh Varma. The film also stars Arjun Sarja, Unni Mukundan, Meenakshi Chaudhary and Dimple Hayathi.

Sunny Leone is ‘one with the couch’

Sunny Leone shared a picture posing with a couch on Thursday. In the images, Sunny is dressed in powder pink sweat pants and a jacket paired with a black tube top.

“O.N.E W.I.T.H T.H.E C.O.U.C.H,” she wrote as the caption.

Sunny will soon make her digital debut with “Anamika”, an action series directed by Vikram Bhatt.

They also have “Shero ” and “The Battle Of Bheema Koregaon” coming up. Her latest assignment has been hosting the reality show “Splitsvilla” along with Rannvijay Singha.

Karisma Kapoor expresses gratitude for 30 years in Bollywood with a flashback video

Actress Karisma Kapoor on Thursday shared a retrospective of her 30 years in Bollywood, with a flashback video clip of her hit songs on Instagram.

“Replaying the memories with a dose of the 90’s #thirtyyearsofgratitude #90sjam,” she wrote as the caption with the clip.

The video clip features a mash-up of Karisma Kapoor’s popular song tracks from the films of the nineties and 2000s such as “Hero No 1”, “Coolie No 1”, “Dil Toh Pagal Hai”, “Zubeidaa”, “Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge”, “Hum Saath-Saath Hain”, “Raja Babu” and “Andaz Apna Apna” among others.

Karisma’s debut film “Prem Qaidi” released on June 21, 1991. The film was directed by K. Murali Mohan Rao and co-starred Harish. The actress was last seen on screen in her debut wen series “Mentalhood”, which released last year.

Minutes after her Instagram post, comments started pouring in from her industry friends and fans.

Sonam Kapoor’s sister Rhea Kapoor wrote “Fashion icon”.

Malaika Arora and Maheep Kapoor commented with heart emojis.

Her fans went crazy and flooded her Instagram page with comments like “You were just fabulous. Loved watching all your movies. U should come back again.”

“Such a phenomenal actress! Miss you on the silver screen,” wrote a fan.

Suchitra Pillai: OTT gave me new lease of life

Actress Suchitra Pillai, who is currently seen in the digitally-released Malayalam film “Cold Case”, says OTT content has given new opportunities to many actors like her.

“I think OTT has been fantastic. Last year during the pandemic it gave me a new lease of life. I had four releases on OTT platforms. Post lockdown, I shot for seven to eight projects, which will be out soon. It’s a new lease of life for any actor. It’s such a huge reach and your work gets to be seen all across the world. Somebody sitting in New Zealand or Hawai will be able to see Suchitra Pillai!” she tells IANS.

Does she feel in the future OTT has the power to become larger than the theatre experience?

“I think so and definitely hope so. How can you argue with a phone in your hand as opposed to going and buying a cinema ticket? That’s my logic,” she says, adding: “I see my building’s watchman sitting and watching something on OTT as opposed to spending his money and finding time to go and watch a movie. That whole process is passe now. I think the present is OTT,” she replies.

“Cold Case” is a mystery thriller film that casts the actress as a clairvoyant named Zara. “I have always been interested in the occult and I believe in spirit. So, when I got the role of Zara who uses the process of scrying, which I had not heard of earlier, I was interested. Of course, working with Prithviraj and Aditi Balan was so interesting,” she says about her experience of working in the film that is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Tamil composer Santhosh Narayanan: I call this golden time for indie music

Composer Santhosh Narayanan, who recently scored music for the Dhanush-starrer “Jagame Thandhiram”, feels independent music in the Tamil music industry is scaling new heights. He calls this a “Golden period” for indie artists.

Santhosh’s composition “Enjoy Enjaami” recently achieved global fame when French music producer DJ Snake remixed the track.

“The independent scene in Tamil is getting bigger and we are so glad that we had a breakthrough in the form ‘Enjoy Enjaami’, which connected well with the audience. There are many global collaborations happening that will open doors to an amazing set of musicians across India, not just North or South,” he says.

Santhosh adds: “I think the Indian music scene should be celebrated in a much bigger way across the world. I would call this a golden time for independent music.”

Santhosh, who has composed music for many Tamil films including “Soodhu Kavvum”, “Jigarthanda” and “Kabali” amongst others, started his musical journey as an independent composer in 2012. Things have drastically changed in the music industry since then, he observes.

“I have seen it all between 2012 and now when I was going around and trying so many different things as an independent artiste. I was a lot less prepared back then and my vision was completely different. I would say I have seen it all and did so many gigs. We were always trying to be relevant and ensure that our music reaches at least those few who look for it. It was a big struggle at that point, at least from my perspective,” he says.

The composer feels lucky to have never been pressurized for anything when it came to his music. “I call myself an independent artiste among the movie composers in the industry because I always felt that I was never pushed or pressurized to do something even when I was working on the movie’s side. I was lucky to be as independent as I could be even with the movie music,” says Santhosh, whose latest film “Jagame Thandhiram” is streaming on Netflix.

Konkana Sen Sharma makes a classic statement in saree

Konkona Sen Sharma’s love for sarees is well-known. On Wednesday afternoon, the actress-filmmaker took to Instagram and posted her pictures in a beautiful saree.

“That time I didn’t wear a blouse,” she wrote as the caption, with a symbol of a grin.

In the image, the actress is seen wearing a blue and green peacock motif vintage silk saree wrapped around her body in a stylish way. Vintage gold earrings and minimalistic makeup complete the look.

In the comments section, director Mira Nair appreciated the actress’s role in the recent anthology film, “Ajeeb Dastans”. Nair wrote: “How much did I love you in geeli puchi”. She also wrote to cast Konkona in her film “You knocked me out with every fiber of your wild hair and spirit and gait and fire… promise to cook something for you in celluloid soon.”

To which, Konkona couldn’t hold her excitement and wrote: “Omg I’m dead only now.”

Her Instagram page was flooded with emojis from actors like Plabita Borthakur, Shreya Dhanwanthary, Anindita Bose, Tara Sharma Saluja, and Monica Dogra.

Imaad Shah described the image as “classic”.

Rytasha Rathore wrote: “Ok WOW STOP IT.”

Kaneez Surka commented: “Oh Koko”

Konkona will next be seen in the film “The Rapist” opposite Arjun Rampal and Tanmay Dhanania. The film is directed by her mother Aparna Sen.

Kareena on 21 years in Bollywood: 21 more to go, I’m ready

Actress Kareena Kapoor Khan took to social media on Wednesday to express gratitude on her completion of 21 years in the film industry. Kareena’s debut film “Refugee” released on this day in 2000.

Kareena posted an Instagram video collage of several scenes from the JP Dutta directorial, which also marked the Bollywood debut of actor Abhishek Bachchan.

“21 years. Grateful, happy, blessed, motivated, passionate… 21 more to go… I’m ready. Thank you to everyone for the continuous love and support. #JPDutta #JPFilms @bachchan @nidhiduttaofficial,” she wrote.

The film also featured Suniel Shetty, Jackie Shroff, Anupam Kher, Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Reena Roy among others.

On the work front, Kareena is all set to share screen space with her “3 Idiots” co-star Aamir Khan in his upcoming film “Laal Singh Chaddha”. The film is an official remake of the Hollywood flick “Forrest Gump”.

Ayushmann Khurrana misses being on stage

Actor-singer Ayushmann Khurrana misses being on stage. The actor posted a long video clip of his stage performances as a singer on Wednesday to share his sentiment with fans on Instagram.

“Miss this! When are we going to experience this togetherness again? #Giglife @ayushmannbhava.” he wrote, tagging his Instagram page that features his performances of music gigs and concerts on stage.

The video clip shows Ayushmann’s stage performances on his hit songs and his interaction with the audience.

Thirty-six-year-old Ayushmann’s Instagram flooded with comments from family and friends.

Wife Tahira Kashyap and brother Aparshakti Khurana shared heart emojis in their comments.

Actress Prachee Shah Pandya resonated with his video and wrote: “That feeling of being on stage.”

The multi-talented actor-singer delivered several superhit songs. After his first hit song “Paani da rang” (“Vicky Donor”), he has sung songs such as “Sadi gali” (“Nautanki Saala”), “Mere liye tum kaafi ho” (“Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan”), “Nazm nazm” (“Bareilly Ki Barfi”) and “Naina da kya kasoor” (“Andhadhun”).

The actor’s upcoming films are “Doctor G”, “Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui” and “Anek”.