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New Delhi, Sep 3 (IANS) Bollywood star Ranveer Singh has made his first startup investment in the direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand SUGAR Cosmetics, the company announced on Saturday. It, however, did not divulge the investment figure.

SUGAR Cosmetics started off as a D2C brand in 2015 and then ventured into offline trade in 2017.

Currently, it is clocking annual sales of more than Rs 550 crore with a physical presence with more than 45,000 retail touch points across the country.

"I have admired SUGAR's ability to build a tremendous fan-following over the years and I'm excited to be a part of this journey and help the brand achieve its mission of providing Indian women access to premium and quality makeup products specially formulated for them," said Singh.

In June, SUGAR Cosmetics raised $50 million in series D funding led by the Asia fund of L Catterton. The round also saw participation from existing investors: A91 Partners, Elevation Capital and India Quotient.

The new investment by Ranveer "is expected to further boost SUGAR's expansion in other potential markets," it said.

"SUGAR is the makeup of choice for bold, independent women who refuse to be stereotyped into roles and if someone shares the same DNA as ours, it is Ranveer," said Vineeta Singh, Cofounder and CEO, SUGAR Cosmetics.

"This will help supercharge our growth trajectory as we continue scaling SUGAR aggressively to build it into a large and much-loved makeup & beauty brand," added Kaushik Mukherjee, Cofounder and COO.

Ranveer's actor-wife Deepika Padukone has invested in several startups, via her investment arm KA Enterprises, like Epigamia, Nua, Blu Smart, Bellatrix Aerospace and Atomberg Technologies, etc.

--IANS
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Mumbai, Sep 3 (IANS) Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan, who will be playing Vedha in the upcoming film 'Vikram Vedha', will be seen in three different looks in the movie.

A source said: "As an actor, Hrithik has always dared to adapt into his onscreen characters. From looking the part, to imbibing the mannerisms, right from his debut film 'Kaho Naa.. Pyar Hai' to his last releases 'Super 30' and 'War', whenever Hrithik does a film, he makes it a point to transform and surprise."

Further adding: "'Vikram Vedha' will showcase the journey and backstory of Vedha. For this, Hrithik will be seen sporting 3 different looks in the film. The trailer opens up the world of Vikram Vedha a lot more, where the audience can witness Vedha in his full glory."

'Vikram Vedha' also marks a career milestone for Hrithik as the film stands to be his 25th film.

'Vikram Vedha' is an action-thriller written & directed by Pushkar-Gayatri.

The story of 'Vikram Vedha' is full of twists and turns, as a tough cop Vikram (Saif Ali Khan) sets out to track and chase a dreaded gangster Vedha (Hrithik Roshan).

What unfolds is a cat-and-mouse chase, where Vedha - a master storyteller helps Vikram peel back layers through a series of stories leading to thought-provoking moral ambiguities.

'Vikram Vedha' is presented by Gulshan Kumar, T-Series and Reliance Entertainment in association with Friday Filmworks & Jio Studios and a YNOT Studios Production.

The film is directed by Pushkar & Gayatri and produced by Bhushan Kumar and S. Sashikanth and Reliance Entertainment. Vikram Vedha will hit the big screens globally on September 30.

--IANS
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Los Angeles, Sep 2 (IANS) Rapper Kanye West has admitted that he is addicted to porn and said that it "destroyed" his family.

"Don't let Kris make you do playboy like she made (Kylie) and Kim do," he began in an Instagram post on Thursday, addressing Victoria Villarroel, Kylie Jenner's former assistant, reports pagesix.com.

"Hollywood is a giant brothel Pornography destroyed my family I deal with the addiction instagram promotes it Not gonna let it happen to Northy and Chicago," he continued.

The 'Donda' rapper was talking about Kris Jenner, who manages Kylie and his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, supporting her daughters as they shot for Playboy magazine in September 2019 and 2007 respectively.

This was one of the many posts the rapper shared on Instagram, where he called out his former mother-in-law, as well as Hillary Clinton, Mark Zuckerberg and Charlamagne tha God, who he has feuded with in the past.

In his first post today, West greeted 'Hilary' and 'Mark' telling them that they were "gonna take me off Instagram."

He also declared, "My kids going to Donda / They not going to [their school] / Charlemagne the God [sic] and Kris / get your mother*-king popcorn."

West has previously disagreed with his four kids going to their school, which he also picked out.

In a second post, he shared a screenshot of his text messages where an unidentified person (presumably Kim) asked him "to stop".

"No, we need to talk in person, you don't have a say so of where the kids go to school. Why you get say say? Cause you half white?," he responded.

Amid their conversation, she told him that her mom was asking him to "please stop mentioning" her name. Since 2019, West has been publicly slamming Kris for allegedly trying to "lock him up".

"I'm almost 67 years old and I don't always feel great and this stresses me to no end," Kris seemingly begged him, according to Kim, to which he replied: "Y'all don't have so so over my black children and where they go to school."

He told Kim that "they will not do playboy and sex tapes" and to "tell your Clinton friends to come get" him.

"I'm here," he concluded his message.

But that wasn't the end as he proceeded to slam people who believed he was "spiraling" due to his tirade.

"Anybody that says I'm spiraling when I express the undeniable truths is a sheep," he wrote in yet another post, telling people to "shut the f-k up and worry about you're own kids."

"I obviously am dealing with wars at the highest levels of control and discrimination based on the level that I'm operating," he said as he compared himself to an orchestra conductor.

Kanye, who stated on social media that he was "the kids' father", said that he had been "driven crazy before", something he wasn't going to let happen again.

"It's not up to Calabasas or Hulu where my kids go to school. I'm not the crazy one," he said, adding, "I won't stop until I have a say so on my kids no matter what it legally takes."

Back in March, West claimed that his custody agreement with Kardashian was unfair after slamming her for letting their oldest daughter, North, have her own TikTok account.

"I just got off the phone with Kim," the Yeezy designer said in an Instagram video at the time. "I told her to stop antagonising me with this TikTok thing. I said, 'It's never again'. I am her father. I know y'all don't respect fathers and the idea of family and the media tries to promote something. I said, I am not allowing my daughter to be used by TikTok, by Disney. I have a say-so."

He continued: "And when people say, 'they're gonna use this (against) you in court', I didn't even have a say-so whether or not they went to (their school). Most men do not - there's no such thing has 50-50 custody in society today. It always leans toward the mom."

--IANS
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Chennai, Sep 2 (IANS) The unit of director K. S. Ravindra's upcoming explosive action entertainer, featuring Telugu Megastar Chiranjeevi and Ravi Teja in the lead, began a new shooting schedule of the film in Hyderabad on Friday.

Tentatively referred to as 'Mega154', the film, which is being directed by K. S. Ravindra, who is fondly referred to as Bobby, has raised huge expectations.

The film features Ravi Teja, who joined the unit in the last schedule, in a powerful role. Shruti Haasan plays the female lead opposite Chiranjeevi in the film.

On Friday, the new schedule, which also saw Chiranjeevi take part, began. Sources say this schedule will be a lengthy one and that some of the film's most key sequences will be filmed during this period.

A die-hard fan of Megastar Chiranjeevi himself, director Bobby is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the film has elements that appeal to the masses from start to end.

Naveen Yerneni and Y. Ravi Shankar are producing the film, while G.K. Mohan is the co-producer.

'Mega154' has music by music director Devi Sri Prasad and cinematography by Arthur A. Wilson.

Niranjan Devaramane is editing the film and Sushmita Konidela is the costume designer.

While story and dialogues for the film have been written by Bobby himself, Kona Venkat and K. Chakravarthy Reddy have penned the film's screenplay. The writing department also include Hari Mohana Krishna and Vineeth Potluri.

'Mega154' is scheduled to hit screens for Sankranthi, 2023.

--IANS
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Chennai, Sep 2 (IANS) Ace director Shankar, who is now simultaneously directing Kamal Haasan-starrer 'Indian 2' and Telugu star Ram Charan's 'RC15', has showered praise on the recently released Dhanush-starrer 'Thiruchitrambalam', calling the film, 'a beautiful movie'.

Taking to Twitter, Shankar wrote: "'Thiruchitrambalam'. A beautiful movie. The beauty is in the lovely moments that follow the painful ones. Nithya Menon's character and superb performance seizes hearts, the writing by Mithran R Jawahar as well. #DNA at their best as usual. Love to Bharathiraja, Prakash Raaj and the whole team."

Dhanush was quick to respond to Shankar's praise.

The actor tweeted, "Thank you so much sir. This means a lot to me and my team."

The film has gone on to become an overwhelming success, making a good Rs 30 crores in the opening weekend itself. It has already crossed the Rs 60 crore mark in gross earnings worldwide.

'Thiruchitrambalam' has been doing brisk business not only in India but all over the world. In fact, the film's performance is one of the best overseas performances for a Dhanush film.

'Thiruchitrambalam' has already emerged as Dhanush's top grossing film in France with 10,000 entries. It is also the top grossing film of the actor in the UK, making 1,35,000 Euros so far.

--IANS
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Chennai, Sep 2 (IANS) Actress Ammu Abhirami, who impressed audiences with her brilliant performance in the Dhanush-starrer 'Asuran', will next be seen playing the lead along with seven others in the psychological, fantasy-thriller 'Pendulum', which went on the floors recently.

Directed by Sathish Kumaran, the new-fangled psychological fantasy thriller is being produced by Thiraviyam Bala of Surya Indrajit Films.

Over the years, Tamil cinema has witnessed psychological thrillers getting made. However, 'Pendulum' will be unique as it will feature eight people playing the lead.

'Asuran' fame Ammu Abhirami and Komal Sharma will be the prime lead characters. They will be seen alongside Sripathy, Sree Kumar, T.S.K., Vijith, Ram Jr. MGR and Prem Kumar.

Apart from these eight people who play the lead, actors Gajaraj and Chaams too will be seen playing important roles in the film.

This is the first-ever time, eight actors will be seen playing lead roles in a thriller movie.

B.Sathish Kumaran, who worked as a making cameraman in director Shankar's film 'I', is cranking the camera.

The team is planning to shoot the film in fresh locations in Chennai, Talakkonam, Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh, and Goa.

--IANS
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Chennai, Sep 2 (IANS) One of India's finest music directors, Isaignani Ilaiyaraaja, has got the background score of the musical film, 'Music School', orchestrated and recorded in Budapest, Hungary.

Sources say that the much-awaited musical with compositions by Ilaiyaraaja is getting its final touches in Budapest.

Featuring 11 songs, 'Music School' has been written and directed by Papa Rao Biyyala. The film includes three songs from the Oscar-winning and much-loved classic 'The Sound of Music'.

The film is produced by the Hyderabad-based company Yamini Films. The producers planned to record background music in Budapest to match the quality of the music from 'The Sound of Music'.

"Dr. Ilaiyaraaja has written many parts of the film's background music for a symphony orchestra," director Biyyala said. "Hence we approached the Budapest Symphony Orchestra - one of the leading orchestras in the world."

Earlier, three songs from 'The Sound of Music' were orchestrated by the London Philharmonic Orchestra before the shoot of the film.

So, the music composer and the director thought it would be wise to have an orchestra of equal stature like the Budapest Symphony score the rest of the music for the film.

The recording was done at the Tom-Tom Studio in Budapest and Laszlo Kovacs conducted the Budapest Symphony Orchestra.

"I am very happy that Raaja sir gave so much time and involvement to my film," director Biyyala said.

'Music School' is about how school systems and parents put pressure on children to continue with endless hours of studies, with the hope of producing doctors and engineers, thereby leaving no time for art and leisure activities.

The film's cast is led by Shriya Saran, Sharman Joshi, Shaan, Prakash Raj, Suhasini Mulay, Benjamin Gilani, Gracy Goswami and Ozu Barua. One of India's ace cinematographers Kiran Deohans has filmed 'Music School'.

'Music School' is to be screened on September 12 and 18 in the industry/market section of the Toronto International Film Festival.

--IANS
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Mumbai, Sep 2 (IANS) Comedian and politician Raju Srivastava has been put on ventilator again after he ran a mild fever of about 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

The actor had gained consciousness on August 25 and had been recovering since then but the latest development has once again made his fans worry about his health.

As per a report by India Today, Raju is still conscious and with normal body movements. The comedian was earlier registering Spo2 levels of 80 per cent to 90 per cent without oxygen support.

Raju Srivastava was admitted to AIIMS in Delhi on August 10 after he suffered a heart attack following his gym routine. His trainer immediately took him to the hospital. Over the past few days, the comedian's health has witnessed significant fluctuations. On August 25, Raju finally regained consciousness around 8:00 a.m.

Currently the comedian is being closely monitored for fever as he continues to recuperate.

--IANS
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Los Angeles, Sep 2 (IANS) Director Stephen Merchant has shared that Hollywood star Dwayne Johnson brings his own meals to restaurants for 'regimented' diet'.

Merchant, who worked with Johnson on 'Fighting with My Family', described the actor's "regimented" diet while speaking to Jim Norton and Sam Roberts on SiriusXM, reports foxnews.com.

"I do remember having a meeting with him just in Texas just before WrestleMania and we were having a meeting about the movie and his alarm would go off at like 3:17 p.m. and he would go to the fridge and there would be turkey and rice with '3:17 p.m.' written on it and he would microwave it," Merchant recalled.

"It was so regimented. It's extraordinary," he added.

The director went on to say he was once told Johnson has even brought his own meals out to restaurants.

"I think someone told me, maybe he told me, that when he goes for dinner with friends he has to take his food to the restaurant and have them heat it up because it's such a structured diet he has to have," he said.

Johnson is known to follow strict diets and exercise programmes in order to maintain his ripped physique.

However, he does partake in cheat meals every once in a while.

Johnson recently tried In-N-Out Burger for the first time and shared his cheat meal for "the history books."

The former WWE wrestler ordered two Double-Double cheeseburgers and two large fries.

"A solid start with a bite of good fries," he wrote before adding: "as we know s----- fries can ruin the whole experience."

He paired the meal with some tequila, according to his post.

Johnson revealed his motivation to keep up his workout routine in a YouTube video shared in February.

--IANS
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Mumbai, Sep 2 (IANS) Megastar Amitabh Bachchan on the sets of 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' went down memory lane with a contestant who shared that his strict father would not allow him to play cricket, and the cine icon talked about how his mother, Teji Bachchan, would catch him listening to cricket commentary under covers.

Narrating the incident, contestant Saurabh Shekhar shares: "I have been an ardent follower of cricket since childhood and was very fascinated by the game when I was a kid. When I used to live in the village with my family, my father thought that there was no scope for sports. Even so, I was mad about cricket!"

Shekhar added: "My father used to think that if he lets us siblings play, it would be like sparing the rod, we won't study. There was also a time when we did not have a television set in our house and a match was on. My older brother would listen to the commentary on the transistor and there were only a few overs left."

"In our excitement, we went to our neighbour's house to watch TV and celebrated the last few overs that were left. No sooner than we left the house, our father woke up and then, all hell broke loose."

Big B too followed Shekhar's story with his own in which he spoke about his mother. He will be seen talking about how he used to go under the covers in his bed and listen to the commentary on the transistor from there. And when his mother caught him, she questioned him and asked him to focus on his studies.

'Kaun Banega Crorepati' Season 14 airs on Sony Entertainment Television.

--IANS
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