Siddharth Suryanarayan on being part of ‘Escaype Live’: It’s a mirror to our society

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Mumbai, May 26 ‘Rang De Basanti’ fame Siddharth Suryanarayan is confident that his web series ‘Escaype Live’ is surely relatable.

The actor, who plays the central character in the Siddharth Kumar Tewary series, says that the storyline reflects exactly what goes on in society today.

“I believe ‘Escaype Live’ is a mirror to society. Siddharth Kumar Tewary believes that we are in India 2.0. And the show is a good depiction of the cross-section of Indian society in 2022. The show, not just shows people from very different varied social-cultural backgrounds and from all over our diverse country, but it also shows how all these people respond to technology, the benefits and the dangers of social media. So, I believe that, yes, it’s definitely a mirror to the society that we live in today,” he says.

It might seem that social media has made it very easy to get fame and even earn money. but content creators also struggle, says Siddharth. “I think it’s unfair to say that any kind of money-making is easy. It’s not easy to make money. If anybody believes that it’s easy to make money then they must know that this money will definitely come with its own consequences.”

“Social media is a new avenue. When we were in school and during our growing up years, when we were looking at employment opportunities, we had other things in mind. We wanted to work so that we could buy a house and we wanted job security. We wanted a job so that our family would be secure.”

“But now the criteria for selecting work has changed and I believe social media gives people an opportunity to start monetizing their talent very early. And like in any industry, there will be those who start really fast and then slow down later, and there’ll be those who start slowly and succeed in the long run, the same is true here as well,” he adds.

He continues that social media has lots of opportunities.

“Also, I believe any content is content. So, I think you shouldn’t look down on any content, Some people will say that this is pop, which is popular culture. And so, it’s less than, let’s say, something that’s more intelligent or arty. But it takes a lot for creators to create content and I respect all creators of content.

“I am glad that social media gives them the opportunity to be seen. And that the struggle now is still very much there but it’s a different kind of struggle. It’s about maintaining your startup as opposed to getting it to the first place,” he says.

However, the actor adds that one must draw our own limits. “I think what you post is an individual choice. Social media is the kind of space that I believe is too vast. It’s like an ocean. So, it’s difficult to say that if you are in it you must swim like this.”

“I think each individual must learn how to swim on their own, and if there are sharks around you, you should try to go back to the shore. Social media can be scary as well. The thing is that social media is like any addiction or any exposure to an addictive situation.

“It’s very difficult to leave it when you’re at the top. And for me, I’ve been lucky because we’ve been able to exercise control not just on social media but in life as well. I only do what I want to,” he concludes.

 

Power Peck: Wamiqa Gabbi reveals her first kiss experience

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Mumbai, May 26 Actress Wamiqa Gabbi, whose recent romantic web anthology ‘Modern Love Mumbai’ is getting a lot of positive response, has shared how she perceived the idea of love as a teenager and also spoke about her experience of her first kiss.

In the anthology, Wamiqa is a part of the episode directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, titled ‘Mumbai Dragon’, which tells the story of love beyond the boundaries of culture and traditions.

The actress shared, “I have always been a romantic soul – a firm believer in love stories, or even so, filmy love stories.”

Talking about her first kiss, she said, “I still remember being kissed for the first time when I was a teenager and not washing my face for two days. I was nervous yet excited and totally in love with the idea of being in love at the time.”

She further mentioned, “Fuelled by preadolescent hormones, this beautiful ‘puppy love’ phase in my life lasted for quite some time before I grew older and started to look at love stories through a more mature lens and all of this came rushing back to me recently, during the shoot of ‘Modern Love’. But it made me realize that you can fall in love more than once. You can fall in love over and over again. We have the capacity and we have the heart to do that.”

‘Modern Love Mumbai’ also stars Chitrangada Singh, Arshad Warsi, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Naseeruddin Shah, Prateik Babbar, Ahsaas Channa, Pratik Gandhi, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Kashmira Irani and Rahul Vohra.

The anthology, directed by six storytellers namely Shonali Bose, Hansal Mehta, Vishal Bhardwaj, Alankrita Shrivastava, Dhruv Sehgal and Nupur Asthana, is currently available to stream on Prime Video.

 

Vijay Deverakonda only Telugu hero to make it to KJo’s birthday bash

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Hyderabad, May 26 Famed for his role as ‘Arjun Reddy’, Vijay Deverakonda partied hard at Karan Johar’s birthday bash on Wednesday night.

The 50-year-old Bollywood writer, director, and producer had invited some of Hindi cinema’s biggest stars, with Vijay Deverakonda, the only Telugu actor in attendance.

Despite the fact that he has yet to work on a major Hindi project, Vijay Deverakonda has a strong network in Mumbai, which he appears to have developed following the success of his film ‘Arjun Reddy’.

Vijay Deverakonda’s dazzling appearance at Bollywood’s most-awaited birthday bash is a classic example of his chemistry with the Mumbai film industry. For more than two years, Mumbai has felt like his second home, as he worked on his much-anticipated film ‘Liger’.

In his glowing black suit, the ‘Geetha Govindam’ actor dazzled the photographer at Karan’s birthday party. After completing the first schedule of ‘Kushi’ starring Samantha Ruth Prabhu, the actor was seen in his ‘Kushi’ look, having recently flown to Mumbai from Kashmir.

Puri Jagannadh, the director of ‘Liger’ and producer Charmme Kaur were also present at the event.

Kamal Haasan’s new movie ‘Vikram’ gets U/A certificate

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Chennai, May 26 Tamil superstar and politician Kamal Haasan’s latest movie ‘Vikram’ directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj has got a U/A certificate from the Censor Board.

The film, which is one of the most anticipated movies of 2022 has Vijay Sethupathi and Fahad Fazil playing major roles along with Kamal Haasan. Tamil actor Suriya is playing a cameo role. The movie kickstarted its promotion by releasing the trailer on May 19.

Lokesh Kanagaraj who has directed the movie is a popular Tamil director with movies like ‘Kaithi’, and ‘Master’ starring Karthik and Vijay were super-duper hits.

The director has tweeted that ‘Vikram’ got the U/A certificate from the Censor Board.

Kamal Haasan had announced at the Cannes Film Festival 2022 that the movie will be in Non-Fungible Token (NFT) and is on the Metaverse platform.

‘Vikram’ is an action thriller and is expected to hit the screens on June 3.

Ravi Teja’s ‘Rama Rao On Duty’ release postponed

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Hyderabad, May 26 Debutant director Sarath Mandava’s ‘Rama Rao On Duty,’ which stars Ravi Teja, has been delayed as the producers have now issued an official statement regarding the postponement of the release date.

The film was supposed to be released in theatres on June 17. However, due to post-production delays, the film will be released at a later date. The producers will soon announce a new release date.

Billed to be a film that is based on true events, Divyansha Kaushik and Rajisha Vijayan play the female lead roles. In his comeback, actor Venu Thottempudi will play a pivotal role in the film.

The soundtrack for the film is composed by Sam CS, while Sathyan Sooryan ISC is the cinematographer, and Praveen KL is the editor.

 

Tentative OTT release date for Mahesh Babu-starrer ‘SVP’ announced

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Hyderabad, May 26 The film ‘Sarkaru Vaari Paata’, starring Mahesh Babu and Keerthy Suresh, is doing well at the box office, even a couple of weeks post its theatrical release.

The latest news about the film, directed by Parasuram Petla, is that it will be available on OTT soon.

According to the latest reports, the film will be released on Amazon Prime Video either on June 10 or June 24.

For the time being, neither Prime Video nor the creators have made any announcements.

The film is produced by Mythri Movie Makers, GMB Entertainment, and 14 Reels Plus and stars Samuthirakani, Nadiya, Subbaraju, Brahmaji, and Vennela Kishore in pivotal roles. The music for this film was composed by Thaman.

Akshay Kumar: ‘Prithviraj Raso’ became the cornerstone of my prep for the project

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Mumbai, May 26 Actor Akshay Kumar and debutante Manushi Chhillar reveal that they relied heavily on ‘Prithviraj Raso’, the epic poem written by Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan’s court poet Chand Bardai to understand the life and daredevilry of the legendary warrior king.

Akshay says: “When you set out to make a historical like Prithviraj, which is based on the life and daredevilry of a mighty warrior who gave up his life to protect his motherland and countrymen, you need to be absolutely sure that you are being authentic to his life and times.”

“I was delighted that I was collaborating with a revered historian like Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi ji, who has shown with his earlier works that his research and mastery over Indian history is flawless.”

He added that during their initial meetings on this project, the director gifted him the “incredible Prithviraj Raso, which is a Brajbhasha epic poem about the life of Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan.”

“This book, written by Chand Bardai, who was a court poet of the Samrat, became the cornerstone of my prep. for the project. It was an eye-opener for me to read this book as I understood the life philosophies of the Samrat and it became invaluable research material that I kept referring to throughout the shooting of the film.”

Manushi says, “My director, Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi gifted me Prithviraj Raso and told me that if I want to understand the life and times of the mighty Samrat, I should read this. The book became invaluable source material for me to understand the mind of Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan and his life journey with Princess Sanyogita.”

“I think I could prep. thoroughly because I always had Prithviraj Raso to refer to.”

‘Prithviraj’ has been directed by Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi.

The film is set to release on June 3 in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.

B-Town stars lend glitter and glam to KJo’s 50th b’day bash

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Mumbai, May 26 Karan Johar celebrated his 50th birthday in grand style at the Yash Raj Films studio at Andheri West in Mumbai. The entire B-town erupted in celebrations as an array of celebrities swarmed the venue to celebrate the Dharma Productions head honcho’s birthday.

The red carpet event saw celebrities literally putting their best foot forward. The party theme was black and bling. The birthday boy dressed up in a green shimmery tuxedo, which he paired with a white shirt and black pants. He was joined by Dharma Productions CEO Apoorva Mehta.

Hrithik Roshan walked the red carpet holding hands with Saba Azad, thereby making their relationship official. His ex-wife Sussanne Khan also arrived with her date — boyfriend Arslan Goni.

Superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s wife Gauri Khan sizzled on the red carpet wearing a blingy peach coloured dress.

Katrina Kaif and Vicky Kaushal walked together wearing contrasting colours of white and black. Kriti Sanon was spotted wearing a red shimmery one-piece dress.

Red was also the colour of choice for Shweta Bachchan Nanda. Her daughter Navya Naveli Nanda arrived later, posing for shutterbugs with her friend Ananya Panday. Their other friend Shanaya Kapoor was there as well — Suhana Khan, the remaining member of their gang, gave the party a miss, like her father, Shah Rukh Khan.

Among the other absentees were Karan’s mentee Alia Bhatt, Deepika Padukone and Arjun Kapoor.

Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, Manushi Chillar and others also attended the bash, which was topped up by a lavish dinner spread crafted by celebrity chefs Marut Sikka and Harsha Kilachand.

Those who arrived single included Vijay Deverakonda, Tiger Shroff, Sidharth Malhotra, Siddhant Chaturvedi and Rajkummar Rao.

The party setup was designed by Amrita Mahal, who has created the sets of films such as ‘Kalank’, ‘Brahmastra’, ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’ and ‘Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani’.

B-Town stars lend glitter and glam to KJo's 50th b'day bash B-Town stars lend glitter and glam to KJo's 50th b'day bash B-Town stars lend glitter and glam to KJo's 50th b'day bash B-Town stars lend glitter and glam to KJo's 50th b'day bash B-Town stars lend glitter and glam to KJo's 50th b'day bash B-Town stars lend glitter and glam to KJo's 50th b'day bash B-Town stars lend glitter and glam to KJo's 50th b'day bash B-Town stars lend glitter and glam to KJo's 50th b'day bash

Adivi Sesh plans to arrange a special screening of ‘Major’ for Pawan Kalyan

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Hyderabad, May 26 ‘Major,’ starring Adivi Sesh, had already begun pre-screening and received a standing ovation at the Pune premiere.

The excitement has grown now as Adivi Sesh has said that he is planning a special screening of ‘Major’ for Telugu celebrities and dignitaries.

According to the latest reports, Adivi Sesh has stated that he will arrange a special show for actor Pawan Kalyan.

To a Twitter user who requested a special show for the ‘Gabbar Singh’ actor, the Goodachari actor replied, “Pakka (Sure).”

Earlier, Adivi Sesh had shared screen time with Pawan Kalyan in ‘Panjaa’.

The ‘Major’ team is also said to be having special screenings, on which the team will make an announcement soon.

The film is directed by Sashi Kiran Tikka and stars Saiee Manjrekar as the actor’s love interest.

Sobitha Dhulipala, Prakash Raj, Revathi, and others play pivotal roles in the biographical film.

‘Major’, which features Sricharan Pakala’s music, will be released on June 3.

 

Samantha, Vijay Deverakonda injured after vehicle falls into deep water during shoot in Kashmir

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Mumbai, May 24  South stars Samantha and Vijay Deverakonda were shooting for their upcoming project in Kashmir when their vehicle fell into deep water and they have reportedly sustained injuries due to the accident.

According to media reports, the two were immediately taken to a hospital and were helped with first-aid care.

According to a report, the stars while filming an action-packed scene got severely hurt, therefore the shooting had to be paused for a few hours.

The incident took place over the weekend. On Sunday, both Samantha and Vijay continued filming, this time at Dal Lake in Srinagar but both complained of backaches during the shoot.

A few days back, the two dropped a music video teaser of ‘Kushi’ title track.