MUMBAI: The weekend is here and we bring you all the updates and fresh happenings from the world of Bollywood. Take a look-
Whether #MeToo stays or fizzles out, people will be wary: Neena Gupta
The most substantial impact of the #MeToo movement, which took off in India following actress Tanushree Dutta's sexual harassment allegations against actor Nana Patekar, is that people now will be wary of engaging in misconduct whether or not the movement continues, says veteran actress Neena Gupta.
Asked if she feels the #MeToo wave will stay in India or whether it will die down, Neena told a leading publication, "See, proving is very difficult here. Right now, girls have got the strength to speak up, but those girls will take names who have nothing to lose.
"Girls who have still something to lose, will not be able to say. But I think whether stays or fizzles out, people will be wary of doing anything of this sort now."
The #MeToo movement in India started after Tanushree in September recalled an unpleasant episode with veteran actor Nana Patekar from the sets of Horn OK Pleassss in 2008.
After that, a slew of controversies surrounding Vikas Bahl, Chetan Bhagat, Gursimran Khamba, Kailash Kher, Rajat Kapoor and Alok Nath have emerged. Why did naming and shaming come so late in Bollywood?
"That's how it is. That's how it works here. I say in conferences 'I think it's a curse to be born a woman in India, especially a poor woman'. Being a poor woman is a curse... It gives me so much pain when I see them," she said.
Neena has been in the industry for over three decades and has featured in films like Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron, Utsav, Trikaal, Khalnayak, Mulk, Veere Di Wedding and The Last Colour.
Asked if age is now detrimental for an actress' career in Bollywood, Neena agreed and said that after a certain age, they don't receive good offers.
"There are not many roles. I always say that, 'After a certain age, what is a woman's role? Taking care of the family and home. After that there is no role'. When the society will change, I think we would have more roles on screen."
Last year, Neena was in the spotlight after she took to social media to ask for "good roles". She has now been frequently seen in films.
Apart from Mulk and Veere Di Wedding this year, she has been seen in the latest release Badhaai Ho and will next be seen in commercial drama Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar.
"Earlier in these subjects, there were no big roles. We used to get small character roles. Now films are being made on solid and substantial roles," said Neena, who essays a 50-year-old pregnant woman in Badhaai Ho.
The film is about a couple that has a grown up son already, but they get set to become parents again.
She said the film is not only about breaking taboos, but about ageless love.
"It is an important thing and I don't think anyone has ever spoken about this. The more I worked in the film, the more I realised that it is very important and is more than just 'hasi, mazaak (humour)'," added Neena, who is the mother of popular designer Masaba Gupta, whom she had with legendary cricketer Vivian Richards.
She describes her own journey as a mother "very tough".
"My journey was very tough. I had no money. Money is the most important thing, I have realised in this world. I didn't have a husband and relatives. So it was really tough, but the joy Masaba gave me... The joy of motherhood... She was a very good child she did not trouble me much. The joy she gave me was enough to go through anything," said Neena, who raised Masaba as a single mother.
I represent a true 'Bharatiya': Usha Uthup
Usha Uthup's husky voice has brought her fame not only in Hindi songs in Bollywood but she is equally famous for singing hit regional songs in Punjabi, Bengali and Marathi. She says she represents a true Indian.
When asked that how she manages to sing songs in so many different languages, she said, "I represent a true 'Bharatiya'."
"What I love about myself is that I am a Madrasi (Tamilian), studied in Mumbai, married to a Keralite and live in Kolkata. Isn't it amazing," she asked.
Usha doesn't understand why people want to restrict themselves to a particular region they belong to.
"I have realised that when you sing in someone else's language, your language has a spark. Now I could do many shows in Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, South and other places because of the same spark," she shared on the sidelines of the MTV India Music Summit.
According to Usha, her love for different languages started way back during her school days when she had English, Hindi, Marathi and French as subjects and she performed equally good in all of them, unlike in Maths and Science.
Known for her sari and bindi-clad look, Usha, who has a distinct style of singing, said "What is this amma going to sing here?" was the first comment she received on the first day of her job at her first workplace a nightclub in Chennai which she had joined in the 1960s.
"I was draped in a sari covering myself, and besides me, there were singers who were dressed in small black dresses, reflecting glitz and glamour. Walking the aisle with glaring eyes targeting me for entering nightclub in a sari, I tried ignoring all comments and the glamour spread around and concentrated solely on giving the best performance," the renowned singer recounted.
But for her, the nightclub was like her "preliminary school where I learnt". She drew a monthly salary of Rs 750.
"My voice, which is quite distinguished, brought several laurels to me. It was here in the nightclub where I met my husband, Jani," Usha said.
She feels Bollywood has set certain stereotypes in the industry.
"While Lataji and Asha ji (Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhonsle) were given the songs of leading ladies, I was asked to sing for vamps in films. However, I managed to break this set notion of the film industry that good females shall always come with that feeble, sweet voice.
"Ultimately, there came a time when I sang for Bollywood divas -- be it Rekha, Sridevi among many others."
Nevertheless, she is proud to have her signature style of singing.
"I can't sing like anybody, but only like me. What I can do on stage, I can, but not all that everyone else is doing," she said.
This also goes for her sense of style.
"I love myself, my sari and my husky voice. We came from the middle class where I never thought what to wear before going for my show. My mother, my sisters all used to drape saris and so did I start doing and somehow, the bond between sari and me grew stronger with time," she added.
Speaking of her non-exhaustive energy on stage, she said, "It's all psychic. You need to give it to the audience and they shall give it back it's that simple."
#MeToo movement not about male bashing at all: Chitrangada Singh
Chitrangada Singh feels the #MeToo movement is not about bashing men, and not at all a battlefield for genders. The actress says it is about making society safe for all.
"The beginning of every change is when we start talking about it. And the talk has started. Realistically speaking, there is a huge difference in Western society and us. Just because we watch English shows and movies doesn't make us that society.
"There is a difference in our society and in our thought process, and that is the reason why we can't have a similar #MeToo movement in India," Chitrangada told a leading publication.
"I want to quote Tanushree Dutta here. She was right in saying that for a #MeToo movement to happen, society has to create that atmosphere. We need to be ready in our intent, not just an idea," added the actress, who has got associated with unique food-based show AXN Ultimate Cook-Off -- The Marriott International Challenge.
The actress feels men and women need to come together to bring about change.
"I don't think any movement works with just one gender going on about it, till the time the other gender doesn't come and stand next to you. Until the time the men in our society don't feel that it is their responsibility to come and stand next to that woman and make her feel safe, it (the impact of #MeToo) is very difficult."
Chitrangada stressed that "it is not at all about men versus woman".
"It is about making our society safe. It is not male bashing at all. #MeToo movement is for men as well."
After making quite an impact in the West, the #MeToo wave has swept into Bollywood and beyond following Tanushree revisiting an unpleasant episode with veteran actor Nana Patekar on the sets of Horn 'OK' Pleassss in 2008.
It has brought out many dark truths from the world of Bollywood, with women coming out to name and shame their predators. Big names like Vikas Bahl, Chetan Bhagat, Gursimran Khamba, Kailash Kher, Rajat Kapoor, Alok Nath, Anu Malik and Sajid Khan have been named for using their position to exploit the vulnerable.
Chitrangada, who has worked in the film Inkaar, which was based on sexual harassment at the work place, supported Tanushree.
"I believe her. I want to hear what Nana has to say. But my only take on this... and I am not only saying this for Tanushree... is that if there is truth, then it must be heard. It doesn't matter whether she came out after three years or five years or ten years."
"If there was rape or molestation or any kind of harassment -- whether it happened now or five years before, and if the person is choosing to talk about it now, you have to listen to her. It doesn't make that rape or molestation or assault or harassment any less," added the actress who had herself walked out of Babumoshai Bandookbaaz citing discomfort shooting intimate scenes with co-star Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
What hurts her most in the ongoing debate is when people say, "Tab kyun nahi boli (why didn't you say then)?".
"Are you serious? Are you kidding me that you would come up with a return like this? That is shocking and disheartening," she said.
However, somewhere, she understands the problem behind it.
"It is because somewhere men feel that they need to be defensive. It is not about men versus women. They should feel an ownership of the fact that if she is saying the right thing, we need to stand with her. Just stand with the right."
Chitrangada feels the onus lies on the media to keep the dialogue on.
"Please don't make it as a sensational headline and let it pass and move to the next -- this is my request to the media."
On the work front, she is excited about AXN Ultimate Cook-Off - The Marriott International Challenge, which marks her first appearance in the English general entertainment channel space.
It showcases a face-off between four celebrated chefs from various brands within Marriott International, with the winning dish set to make it to the menu of more than 100 Marriott International hotels across India. The show is aired on AXN.
Set aside apprehensions when you commit to a project: Big B
Superstars Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan underwent rigorous action training and learnt sword fighting for the upcoming film Thugs Of Hindostan. The senior actor says it's best to put aside apprehensions when one commits to a project.
The high-on-action film is directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya.
"Much before we actually went through these sequences, Viktor (Acharya) and Adi (producer Aditya Chopra) had said, 'Maybe you should train a bit'. So, we were doing a lot of sword moments in the gym. There is a lot of action, whether it is jumping off a building, doing summersaults, diving, climbing up. These were all done live," Amitabh, who plays the role of Khudabaksh in the movie, said in a statement.
"If you have committed yourself to a project then I guess you have to put aside all apprehensions and challenges and do what has been asked," added the 76-year-old.
Aamir said, "Just before I did Thugs Of Hindostan, I did Dangal. Two of us were training for a year and half in wrestling, and in wrestling, the stance is very low. You bend at the waist and you stand as low as possible. So instinctively, I used to stand low, so they had to try and get that out of me."
However, he said, the training gave Fatima and him "a good foundation" for a movie like Thugs of Hindostan, which also features Katrina Kaif.
The movie will release on 8 November in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
Creating cross-border conversations: Documentary sets out to humanise India's borderlands
What do pilgrims in Punjab's Dera Baba Nanak feel when faith travels across the border to Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan through binoculars or a telescope? At a time when borders have mental images as frontiers of cross-fire, illegal crossings and violence, a documentary filmmaker intends to humanise them and create conversations on cross-border relationships.
Director Samarth Mahajan, 27, comes from Dinanagar, a small town 10 miles from the India-Pakistan border. Interactions with borderland citizens were a way of life in his growing-up years.
After his National Award-winning non-feature film The Unreserved, which was an inquiry into the lives of passengers who use the unreserved compartment in trains, the idea of The Borderlands struck him.
"During The Unreserved, we met a young Kashmiri guy who told us how he supported Pakistan while his brother, being an army man, supported India. The conversation ended with him telling us that if he got a job in India, he would start supporting India too.
"It taught us something about the fluidity that a borderland citizen might experience due to the 'other' country being an immediate reality," Mahajan told leading publications.
This piqued his interest, resulting in researching stories from border areas.
"We found such counter-intuitive narratives that we had to start making the film. In the current context, when borders are being used as a divisive tool and depicted as hubs of violence, we intend to humanise them and create conversations on cross-border relationships," Mahajan added.
The intent of the film's team -- Camera and Shorts -- is to explore all of India's borders.
"Our journey is divided over three phases, Kutch to Punjab, then Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, and then our borders with Myanmar, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. We feel a film will be representative of the title The Borderlands only when we move beyond the set image of borders being the Indo-Pak border or the LoC in Kashmir," he said.
For example, he says, they are looking at how families cope when, in Diu and Kutch, fishermen looking for a better catch often drift into Pakistan's waters and are consequently jailed. Or how, in Jaisalmer and Barmer, grooms from a Pakistani Hindu community visit border towns in Rajasthan in search of brides. Can such alliances break stereotypes?
The research for the project involves a mix of visits to border towns in Punjab, Rajasthan and Gujarat, talking to locals, watching previous visual works on India's borderlands, reading travel books and ethnographic accounts of researchers.
Mahajan, who has taken the crowdfunding route through Wishberry for the movie, feels it could be image-changing for people who have grown up in the mainlands to know about life in the borders.
"As mainland citizens, it is quite easy for us to say that we want to wage war with another country, without having any idea of the effects on the lives of people on the borders. We are hardly taught to comprehend what it means to belong to a nation. Borderland narratives can shed a new understanding of fluidity in identities and movement across borders," said Mahajan.
When the film takes complete shape -- hopefully by April 2020 -- Mahajan hopes for a theatrical release for The Borderlands in tier-I and tier-II cities. They are also in talks with a few digital platforms.
"Our bare minimum budget for the film is Rs 25 lakh, yet to do it at the scale which the idea deserves, we need funds to the tune of Rs 1 crore. The crowdfunding campaign has inspired us by proving that people trust our idea and ability. Audiences are willing to invest in meaningful content."
Avani Rai excited about Dharamshala International Film Festival
Avani Rai, filmmaker and daughter of celebrated photographer Raghu Rai, is excited to screening her debut documentary Raghu Rai: An Unframed Portrait at the seventh edition of Dharamshala International Film Festival.
Raghu Rai: An Unframed Portrait is Avani's ode to her father.
The documentary shows two parallel worlds - one where the father and daughter explore the lanes and the Kashmir Valley through their lens, and in another, Raghu's journey in India till date as framed by him.
Avani's documentary premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam last year.
As the documentary features Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, Avani said, "Following the Dalai Lama in Dharamshala and Leh was a very important part of the Raghu Rai: An Unframed Portrait journey. I'm really excited to go back again and share my film with the people of Dharamshala."
Raghu Rai's work covers a wide swathe the Bangladesh war, Mother Teresa, former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, film directors Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen and the Dalai Lama, to name just a few, all of this has been recorded for posterity and the bulk of it in shades of black and white.
DIFF will take place from 1-4 November.
Karan Johar proud of his 'students'
Filmmaker Karan Johar, who launched actors Alia Bhatt, Sidharth Malhotra and Varun Dhawan in Bollywood six years ago with Student of the Year, says he is proud of how they have shaped up.
On the completion of six years of Punit Malhotra directorial film on Friday, Karan became nostalgic and thanked the actors for making the film a blockbuster.
"So Proud of Sidharth, Varun and Alia. Love you and thank you for making this film so special for all of us at Dharma Movies, Karan wrote on Twitter.
Student Of The Year was a film about friendship and love told through the story of three college friends.
Karan's production company Dharma Productions and Punit are now coming up with the sequel to Student of the Year. It will launch actor Chunky Pandey's daughter Ananya and ballet dancer Tara Sutaria, who will star along with actor Tiger Shroff.
Salman emotional after his dog's death
The demise of superstar Salman Khan's pet dog named My Love has left him emotional.
"My most beautiful My Love gone today. God bless her soul," Salman tweeted for his beloved Neapolitan Mastiff.
Along with the tweet, the 52-year-old actor posted a picture of himself with the dog in which he can be seen kissing My Love.
Remembering the pet, Salman's former co-stars actors Sonakshi Sinha and Daisy Shah too posted their pictures with My Love on Instagram.
Sonakshi said, "Rest in peace beautiful baby girl."
"You left your paw print on my heart My Love.. will miss you," wrote Daisy.
Iulia Vantur also shared My Love's pictures on Instagram, and wrote, "You taught us love... My love, Rest in peace... You will always live in my heart."
Everything I am is because of Kundan Shah: Preity
On the 71st birth anniversary of late director Kundan Shah on Friday, actress Preity Zinta said she owes her success to him.
Preity worked with Shah in films like Kya Kehna and Dil Hai Tumhaara.
"Kundan Shah was the first director I ever worked with and learnt everything from him. He was obsessed with hard work and had a mad sense of humour. I miss you Mr Shah! Everything I am is because of you and your hard work. Mentor, miss you," the 43 year old actress wrote on Twitter.
Shah made his debut directorial with Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro in 1983. The movie won him a National Film Award. He passed away last year after a heart attack.
My only focus is acting, says Tejasswi
Actress Tejasswi Prakash says her only focus right now is acting.
"The people who praise you are the same people who pull you down. Hence, I do not let the comments (good or bad) get to my heart. And for this very reason, I am not very active on any social media platform. I never made a Twitter account. I try to stay away from negativity," Tejasswi said in a statement.
"My only focus is acting and as an actor, one needs to believe in one's own self and try not to get affected by what people have to say," she added.
She will be soon seen as Princess Uruvi in the show KarnSangini. It will premiere on StarPlus on 22 October.
Always backed filmmakers doing clutter-breaking work: Ayushmann Khuranna
His choice of off-beat films with dollops of entertainment has led Ayushmann Khurrana's career to be on a roll with the success of Bareilly Ki Barfi, Shubh Mangal Saavdhan, Andhadhun and now Badhaai Ho back-to-back.
Badhaai Ho, which released on Thursday, collected Rs 7.29 crore on Day 1 at the Indian box office, barring the Madhya Pradesh market where theatres are on strike, according to the film's makers.
The opening day figure is said to be the biggest in Ayushmann's career.
"It is an overwhelming and a humbling moment for me as an actor. As an artiste, I have always backed concepts, filmmakers who were doing clutter breaking work. I think I have been lucky enough in my journey to have got the right films and I'm thankful to all my filmmakers for believing in me," Ayushmann said in a statement.
Ayushmann, in a very short period of time, has become the poster boy of content films that do exceptionally well at the box office.
His acting career began with a film like Vicky Donor, which explored the concept of sperm donation in a very convincing and entertaining way. With his recent projects, he has become a poster boy of content-driven films which have fetched good results at the box office.
The actor said, "If a film is not watched and enjoyed and endorsed by audience, it is not a success. So, the rules don't change even if it's a content film. Whenever I get a script in my hand, I think from the position of whether I would want to watch this film as an audience.
"I always go with my instinct and my reading of audience. So far and thankfully, more often than not, I have got the right answers. This reward is extremely gratifying for me because it teaches me that I'm choosing the right films."
As Badhaai Ho, a film about a man whose mother becomes pregnant, is well on its way to become the fourth back-to-back success for Ayushmann, he said, "It is truly rare to receive so much love. As an artiste, you only want to entertain people. So, this appreciation is extremely moving and empowering.
"It motivates me to do better work, to scout for better scripts and to be disruptive yet entertaining."
Big B to pay off loans of over 850 UP farmers
Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan says over 850 farmers from Uttar Pradesh have been identified, and their loans to the tune of Rs 5.5 crore will be taken care of.
"A list of over 850 farmers from Uttar Pradesh have been identified and their loans amounting to over 5.5 crore shall be taken care of... The assistance from the Bank in question assists in its execution and its benevolence," the 76-year-old actor posted on his blog.
He had recently, through the government agencies, identified 44 families who had lost their loved ones - martyrs who gave up their lives for the country and distributed cash to them as a gesture.
Big B said on his blog that it was a "satisfying experience".
"44 families diversified into 112 entities were given out in my small way from Maharashtra. The Bravehearts, the shaheed... More needs to be done from other parts of the country too... it shall be done," he added.
He said over 350 farmers' loans that were difficult to pay off, were paid off too to prevent them from committing suicide.
The 76-year-old also said he will contribute to ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati Karmveer' Ajeet Singh, who works towards protection of girls forced into prostitution, in a gesture to help his endeavor. Apart from this, Big B said he will also contribute to Sarbani Das Roy, who has taken up the work to look after and protect those that are mentally ill.
(SOURCE: IANS)
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