MUMBAI: Here we bring you some interesting news from B-Town. Take a look.
Bollywood vanity van owners to go on strike over high state tax
Bollywood celebrities are in for a different kind of makeover. The vanity van body -- All Camper Van Owners Association -- has decided to go in for an indefinite "non-cooperation movement" from 10 December against what its members called were "exorbitant taxes".
The strike will leave 250 vanity vans idle, around 500 workers of such vans without a job and a halt in shoots, which, in turn, is likely to hit over 5,000 workers who earn daily wages, according to a statement issued by the Association.
The Association said the strike was being called against the Maharashtra government's rule which charges tax from each van at the rate of Rs 1.25 lakh per annum. This is equivalent to tax charged on 5,000 square metres.
"How does the government claim to say one-nation-one-tax? We are nowhere close to the same. Nowhere in India is tax charged on any vehicles on square-metre basis. This is happening only in Maharashtra for vanity vans," said Ketan Rawal, President of the Association.
He said that in other states, tax on vanity vans is no more than Rs 12,000 per year, or in some cases, a lifetime tax of Rs 1 lakh.
The Central Government Vahaan 4.0 policy shows tax of vanity van to be Rs 12,000 per year, but this is not accepted by the Maharashtra RTO. In Gujarat, the tax is Rs 57,725 for 10 years, while in Delhi it's charged on the weight of vehicle. In Telangana and Rajasthan the amount is Rs 12,000 per year while Tripura charges a one-time tax of Rs 68,175.
"Due to such high taxation by Maharashtra government, we are on the verge of closing down our business," Rawal added.
According to the statement from the Association, members had also complained that the service tax department was "harassing the van owners" since February 2018 to pay service tax of 14 per cent.
Ashutosh Desai, General Secretary, of the Association said that senior officials had threatened to seal the vans unless service tax for the last five years was paid.
Ali Fazal confirms 'Mirzapur' season 2
Mirzapur will have a second season, says actor Ali Fazal.
It will happen in 2019, said the actor who plays a gangster in the show.
On a possible season 2, Ali said in a statement, "Hopefully early next year. We are hoping to bring you back to the world of Mirzapur. So early next year we would, but before season 2, I have some film commitments to finish both here and abroad and yeah, then after that we will begin."
Mirzapur is a nine-episode series produced under the banner Excel Entertainment. It also stars Pankaj Tripathi, Vikrant Massey, Diveyndu Sharma, Rasika Dugal, Shriya Pilgaonkar and Shweta Tripathi.
On the movie front, he will be seen in Arranged Marriage directed by Pradeep Sarkar.
News about my retirement is fake: Lata Mangeshkar
On Monday, Asia's Nightingale woke up to a barrage of messages and calls expressing grief over her decision to retire from active singing.
A Marathi song titled Ata visavyacha kshan (it is time to rest now) sung by Lataji, which was posted in the social media, triggered off a wave of raging grief among her fans.
But rest assured, all you "Lata bhakts". She isn't hanging her boots yet.
In an exclusive conversation, Lataji said, "I don't know who started this rumour, or why. It seems like the work of an idle mind. Two days ago I suddenly started getting all these messages and calls anxiously inquiring about my retirement."
Lataji wondered where that came from. "I got to know that one of my Marathi songs Ata visavyachi kshan was being seen as my swan song. But I sang that song five years ago! In 2013, music director Salil Kulkarni came to me with the song. I agreed to sing it mainly because it was written by the well-known poet Balakrishna Bhagwant Borkar. I had never sung any of his poetry. How was I to know that five years later it would be used by mischievous minds as my retirement song!"
Lataji assured her fans she has no plans to retire.
"I will continue to sing till my last breath. Music is the essence of my existence. We Mangeshkars are a family devoted to music. Take music away from our lives and we are nothing."
We reminded her that jealous elements could be responsible for spreading retirement rumours, that in fact way back in the early 1960s an effort was made even to poison her.
Lataji replied softly, "I know. It is true that I was poisoned. But I don't want to blame anyone for any of the setbacks of my life. Why should anyone be jealous of me now? I have stopped singing film songs for some years now.
"No, I won't say, as you put it, they aren't worthy of me anymore...I just can't connect with today's film songs. So I have bowed out. As far as non-film songs are concerned, I will continue to sing them no matter what."
Uttarakhand HC refuses stay on 'Kedarnath' release
The Uttarakhand High Court on Thursday refused to stay the release of forthcoming Bollywood film Kedarnath, starring debutante Sara Ali Khan along with Sushant Singh Rajput.
Swami Darshan Bharti of Garhwal had demanded that the film should be banned. The High Court said Bharti should go to the District Magistrate of Rudraprayag with his complaint.
A single bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan was told the film should be banned as it was hurt people who were affected by the 2013 flash floods rhat ravaged Kedarnath besides hurting Hindu sentiments.
The petitioner pleaded that the film promoted "love jihad" -- a word coined by right-wing Hindu groups, to denote marriages between Muslim boys and Hindu girls.
Keeping in view the objections, the state government had formed a committee headed by Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj and comprising Home Secretary Nitesh Kumar Jha, Director General of Police Anit Ratoori and Tourism Secretary Dilip Jawalkar.
The committee has been asked to go through all aspects and submit a detailed report to the state government, after which a final decision on the film's release in Uttarakhand would be taken, an official told leading publication.
The film is slated for nationwide release on Friday.
Eros Now to invest $70 mn in original content
Indian OTT service Eros Now will invest $70 million in original content and roll out 100 new Originals.
The information was shared by Eros Digital Chief Operating Officer Ali Hussein in an interview to Variety.
He is a panellist at Singapore's Asia TV Forum & Market. Eros Digital is an arm of Bollywood studio Eros International.
"Over the last six to nine months, what Eros has made known to the rest of the industry is that we are looking to scale up our investment in the Eros Now platform," Hussein said.
The company recently launched digital shows Side Hero and Smoke and a made-for-digital feature Meri Nimmo, directed by Bollywood hitmaker Aanand L. Rai.
Rolling out over the next 18 months will be original digital series, films and short-form content, reports variety.com.
"We are looking to make more relevant programming for the right kind of audience set in the country," Hussein said.
The total investment in the original content slate will be in the range of $50 to $70 million.
"As a company, the logic is that we want to be genre agnostic. The comfort space is the work we do in fiction. Non-fiction is not necessarily a natural comfort area, but that's an area we are trying to learn," said Hussein.
(Source: IANS)
Ranveer-Sara’s song ‘Aankh Marey’ will be pleasing to the ear
Ranveer Singh and Sara Ali Khan's much-awaited movie, Simmba, is all set to release. The trailer was out a couple of days back and it promises to be just like the previous Rohit Shetty films. The trailer has left the audience amazed. Ranveer also shared a snippet of the first song, Aankh Marey, on his Instagram. It surely is going to be the party anthem of the year.
Take a look:
Arjun Kapoor’s heartfelt message for sister Anshula Kapoor
Siblings, Arjun Kapoor and Anshula Kapoor, always express their love for each other on social media. Anshula took to Instagram and wrote a very emotional post, but this time, it wasn’t related to Arjun; it was for her mother, Mona Kapoor, who passed away in March 2012. To which, Arjun replied, “I know she is my sister and I can pick up the phone and tell her this… But strangely sometimes it’s easier posting things it feels cathartic… It’s okay Anshula Kapoor, you don’t have to be an adult all the time. You handle me, the most useless man-child in the world and you still manage to keep your sanity. It’s fine. We will take things one day at a time. I wish I could be more like her or just give you the time with her that you crave but the reality is that I can’t even be like her even if I try. She was special and unique and you are more of an extension of her than I can be… Love you. (I’ll be home soon to trouble you).”
Check out her post below:
Deepika Padukone poses for Forbes
Deepika Padukone is the only female actress to feature in the top five of the Forbes India's 2018 list of richest Indian celebrities with the earnings of Rs. 112.8 crore. She has made a striking presence with films like Bajirao Mastani, Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani, and Piku to name a few. The actress posed for the cover of Forbes, and gave refined looks.
Check the post below:
This is how Anil Kapoor respects Sri Devi...
Anil Kapoor and Jeetendra shot with the participants of Dance Plus to pay a tribute to Sri Devi as they both worked with the late actress in many iconic films. On the show, Anil Kapoor shared some fond memories and revealed that he touched Sri Devi’s feet every time they met and respects her a lot.
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