ShowBiz

Chennai, Oct 8 (IANS) Director Atlee, who is directing 'Jawan', featuring the Baadshah (King) of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan in the lead, has thanked the superstar for his decision to have the film's shooting in Chennai.

The move, the director disclosed, has resulted in thousands of families standing to benefit.

Taking to Twitter to respond to Shah Rukh Khan's late night tweet, Atlee wrote: "Thank you sir! It's an honour and a pleasure to have you here sir. Most memorable schedule in my career."

"Special thanks to you for having the shoot happen in Chennai sir, thousands of families were benefitted. 'KING IS A KING ALWAYS' -- a big bow and respect to you sir. Love you sir. See you in Mumbai soon sir."

Late on Friday, Shah Rukh Khan, who has finished his shooting schedule in Chennai, wrote: "What a 30 days blast RCE team! Thalaivar blessed our setsa Saw movie with Nayanthara, Partied with Anirudh, (held) deep discussions with Vijay Sethupathy and Thalapathy Vijay fed me delicious food. Thanks Atlee and Priya for your hospitality. Now, need to learn Chicken 65 recipe!"

Atlee's wife Priya too responded to Shah Rukh's tweet. She wrote: "Thank you so much for the abundant love and care you have for us sir. It's our pleasure always sir. Love you always sir. Recipe is on the way!"

--IANS
mani/aa/kvd

Chennai, Oct 8 (IANS) Dance Choreographer and director Brindha Gopal, who choreographed the songs in director Mani Ratnam's recently released magnum opus 'Ponniyin Selvan', has lauded her director's work in the film, saying, that he has "created magic on screen".

The ace choreographer, who watched the film only recently as she is in the US, took to Twitter to register her thoughts on the film.

She wrote: "Finally got to see the epic 'PS-1' in the USA. Mani Ratnam sir, you have created magic on screen. Such a mind-blowing experience. Amazing BGM (by) A R Rahman sir."

Congratulating the director of photography, S. Ravi Varman ISC (Indian Society of Cinematographers), she said: "Camera has made each and every frame look like a painting. Kudos to the entire team."

The ace dance choreographer, who is also directing a film called 'Thugs' now, also showered praise on all the actors in the film.

She wrote: "Happy to be part of this film. Chiyaan (Vikram) you have rocked as Aditha Karikalan. Karthi has lived his role as Vandhiyathevan."

Nobody could have portrayed Ponniyin Selvan better than actor Jayam Ravi. Ash has been bewitching as Nandini and Trisha as Kundhavai is beauty and brains personified", she added in her social media post.

The film, which is based on eminent writer Kalki's literary classic 'Ponniyin Selvan', has emerged a huge success and has already grossed over Rs 300 crore worldwide in a week's time.

--IANS
mani/aa/kvd

Mumbai, Oct 8 (IANS) The controversy around the upcoming Hindu mythological film 'Adipurush', which stars pan-India star Prabhas, Kriti Sanon and Saif Ali Khan in leading roles, seems to be gaining further momentum with each passing day.

The film was earlier trolled for its poor VFX that was visible in its teaser. Then the Home Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Narottam Mishra objected to Lord Hanuman being depicted in a 'leather costume'.

More recently, a section of people on the Internet are trolling the film because of Saif Ali Khan's look as Raavan in the film. Now, the director of the film, Om Raut has come out defending the portrayal and his creative choice.

Reacting to the film's heavy trolling over Saif's portrayal of Raavan, the director told Aaj Tak: "Our Ravan in today's time is demonic, he is cruel. The one who has abducted our Goddess Sita is cruel. We have shown what Raavan looks like in today's time. This is not a film or a project for us."

Calling the film "a mission" for the entire production team, Raut further said: "Our film is a symbol of our devotion and we need everyone's blessings for this. Whosoever is speaking about the film are our elders. I am listening to all of them and taking note of everything. When you will watch the film in January 2023, I will not disappoint anyone."

The film, which will see Prabhas as Lord Ram and Kriti essaying the role of Sita, will drop in theatres on January 12, 2023.

--IANS
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Mumbai, Oct 8 (IANS) Music directors Shankar Mahadevan and Anu Malik were impressed with the performance of 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs' contestant Atanu Mishra and called him "Mini Manna Dey" on the show.

The 9-year-old contestant, who hails from West Bengal, told the judges that he idolises the late singer and before starting his practice, he worships him.

Atanu stunned the judges and audience with his rendition of the track 'Ae Meri Zohra Jabeen' from the movie 'Waqt'. After listening to his melodious voice, judges Anu Malik and Shankar Mahadevan praised him and said he is a true follower of the late singer Manna Dey.

Shankar said: "We must name him as the 'Mini Manna Dey' of our show today itself."

Anu also added: "It's very exciting to see such an extraordinary talent on the stage of 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs'. We all got emotional as we could literally feel Manna Dey's presence through Atanu's voice."

He called him the true devotee of the legendary singer: "I have understood that you are a true 'bhakt' of Manna Da and the song that you have sung is a 'qawwali' from the time when we were all kids. But the way you sang it, it was just fantastic.

'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs' airs on Zee TV.

--IANS
ila/aa/kvd

Mumbai, Oct 8 (IANS) Well-known actress and TV personality Archana Puran Singh recently remembered late comedian Raju Srivastav and shared her experience working with him in films.

She said: "I have done numerous films with him and realised that he was a very fine actor but then, he became more popular with his stand-up comedy. I think he was an actor, a stand-up and a wonderful comic talent. It is heartbreaking as we lost him too soon."

Archana added his last visit to a comedy reality show and the way he expressed his love for comedy.

"Just one week before he was hospitalised, he came on the set of 'India's Laughter Champion' and graced the sarpanch's chair. And in this very studio where the set was put up, standing on the stage he said 'I want to live on this stage, and I find my share of happiness here. He told me I am made for comedy and if I have to leave this world then I would want to leave making people laugh with my comedy.'"

"So I am happy that we are paying him a tribute not with tears but with laughter and that is the kind of tribute that Raju deserves."

Since the demise of Raju, popularly known as Gajodhar, on September 21, his industry friends and family members are in shock and remembering him for his contribution to comedy.

'The Kapil Sharma Show' is also going to pay homage to his work and different comedians are invited to be part of it.

They are Vijay Ishwarlal Pawar, Khayali Saharan, Ahsaan Qureshi, Sunil Pal, Rajiv Thakur, Navin Prabhakar, Rehman Khan, Suresh Albela, Rajeev Nigam, Rajat Sood, Jayvijay Sachan, Kettan Singh among others.

Archana concluded: "When I was informed that all these famous comedians will be coming to our show, the first name that popped up in my mind was Raju, but then I realised that this is going to be a tribute to him. I have to say that I stood up here because I wanted to personally pay my heartfelt tribute to Raju."

'The Kapil Sharma Show' airs on Sony Entertainment Television.

--IANS
ila/aa/kvd

Mumbai, Oct 7 (IANS) Superstar Salman Khan has returned as a host of 'Bigg Boss 16' and unlike last season this time he will be taking classes and assessing the weekly activities on a special episode of 'Shukravaar Ka Vaar'.

The host will start off by presenting a set of 2 kg dumbbells to Tajikistan singer and contestant Abdu Rozik.

The makers of the show released the episode's promo ahead of its broadcast.

Later, he organises a party for ten contestants of the house. Before the dinner begins, the host advises the contestants to be themselves.

He feels that 'Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 2' actor and contestant Gautam Singh Vig is not showing his real side on the show. Salman also asks for MC Stan's opinion on who's fake in the house. He also announces a dance performance by Gori Nagori and Sumbul Touqeer.

The former dances to 'Gori Naache' and the latter to 'Param Sundari'.

Furthermore, both TV actor Sreejita De and former Miss India runner-up Manya Singh will be seen getting into a heated argument and nasty fight.

They can be seen hurling insults at each other. 'Bigg Boss 16' airs on Colors.

--IANS
ila/aa/pgh

New York, Oct 7 (IANS) Proving yet again that age has g-ot nothing to do with success, seven Indian-American women have made it to the Forbes' '50 over 50' list of 200 entrepreneurs, investors, creators and entertainers.

While Manjusha Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, is listed in the 'Impact' section, the remaining six women are included in the 'Entrepreneurs' category of the coveted list.

Kulkari's Stop AAPI Hate is America's leading aggregator of Covid-19-related hate incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

She is also the Executive Director of AAPI Equity Alliance, a coalition of community-based organisations that advocate for the rights and needs of the Asian American community in Southern California.

In 2014, Kulkarni received the White House Champions of Change award for her dedication to improving healthcare access for South Asian Americans.

Revathi Advaithi took over as the CEO of the global manufacturing and supply-chain company, Flex in 2019. At Flex, Advaithi oversees 200,000 employees and sets the strategic direction for a company earning $26 billion in annual revenue.

Padmasree Warrior has served as CTO of Cisco and Motorola and is currently the founder-CEO of Fable, a platform for social reading and book clubs. It raised over $28 million in 2021. A Cornell-trained engineer, she believes a STEM education informs creativity: "Increasingly it's not about knowing all the answers but asking the right questions and figuring out how to get the right answer".

Poornima DeBolle is the co-founder and chief product officer at Menlo Security, a leading cloud and network security company. In 2020, Menlo Security announced it raised $100 million in Series E funding, with a company valuation of $800 million.

Ann Mukherjee became the first woman of colour to assume the position of chair and CEO at wine and spirits company Pernod Ricard North America in 2019. Inspired by her own experiences, she launched Absolut's #SexResponsibly campaign to raise awareness of the connection between responsible drinking and consent and to take a stand against perpetrators who use alcohol as a tool or excuse to commit crimes.

Anita Gupta is a founder and chief portfolio officer at Kiwitech, a company that helps early to growth-stage startups build viable products, raise capital, and scale their businesses. She has dedicated her fifth decade to creating disruptive innovation through her company KiwiTech's investment in over 500 startups.

Jayshree Ullal has been president and CEO of Arista Networks, a computer networking firm, since 2008. Born in London and raised in India, she is one of America's wealthiest female executives. She joined the board of directors of Snowflake, a cloud computing company that went public in September 2020. Ullal owns about 5% of Arista's stock, some of which is earmarked for her two children, niece, and nephew.

--IANS
mi/arm

Mumbai, Oct 7 (IANS) Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit, whose streaming movie 'Maja Ma' released recently, is chuffed with the response so far to the film.

The actress is playing the role of a lesbian in the film, and making a statement on the new-age brave content from Bollywood, she shared her thoughts on the subject.

Excited about the response that the movie has been receiving, Madhuri Dixit shared: "Maja Ma' proves that the era of boxing people and characters is over. Pallavi's sexual orientation is just one of the many facets of her identity. She is much more than that - a brilliant dancer, a doting mother, a friend and above all, a human being who can inspire others around her."

Further talking about the arc of her character in the film, the actress said: "The storyline depicts a journey of evolution and Pallavi's character showcases that journey with a myriad of emotions and feelings a" ranging from confusion, fear, to acceptance and courage to accept one's own true identity."

"This movie is about love, family and acceptance, but all of it is said without being preachy. In a way, Maja Ma encourages people to not be judgmental and embrace others for who they are," she added.

'Maja Ma' is currently streaming on Prime Video.

--IANS
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Chennai, Oct 7 (IANS) Director Mohan Raja's 'GodFather', featuring superstar Chiranjeevi in the lead, has grossed an impressive Rs 69 crore worldwide in two days.

Sources in the industry say that the lavishly-made political action thriller, which took a grand opening for Dussehra, dominated the box office on day two as well.

The movie is expected to record massive numbers during the extended weekend.

The film, which has Salman Khan appearing in a brief but powerful role, seems to be performing reasonably well, with positive reports coming in from almost everywhere.

'GodFather', which collected a worldwide gross of Rs 38 crore on its opening day, has raked in Rs 31 crore on its second day. The total amount it has grossed worldwide after two days stands at Rs 69 crore.

The makers believe that as the Dussehra holidays are still on, the numbers will continue to be massive even during the weekend.

The film's story is quite gripping as it revolves around the power struggle in a political party soon after the death of the state's Chief Minister. While the Chief Minister's daughter (Nayanthara) is not interested, his son-in-law (Satya Dev), and a few others in the party are at the heart of a power grab.

Brahma (Chiranjeevi), the trusted man of the fallen stalwart, is drawn into murky affairs and is keen to keep greedy sharks at bay.

The film has cinematography by Nirav Shah and music by Thaman.

--IANS
mani/svn/

Chennai, Oct 7 (IANS) Continuing its fantastic run in theatres, director Mani Ratnam's magnum opus 'Ponniyin Selvan 1', which is based on eminent writer Kalki's literary classic of the same name, has grossed over Rs 300 crore worldwide in a week, its makers announced on Friday.

Lyca Productions, which has jointly produced the critically acclaimed superhit film along with director Mani Ratnam's Madras Talkies, on Friday tweeted, "Success beyond boundaries! Thank you for this tremendous response" and posted a motion poster that claimed that the film had grossed over Rs 300 crore worldwide."

'Ponniyin Selvan 1', which has already entered history books by becoming the film with the biggest ever opening in Tamil cinema, has been drawing huge crowds to the theatres, where it is having a strong run.

The film grossed Rs 80 crore on its very first day of release. In three days, that sum touched the Rs 200 crore mark. Now, the film has gone past the Rs 300 crore mark in a week's time.

'Ponniyin Selvan 1', which had triggered huge expectations, released last Friday much to the delight of the fans and received a thunderous welcome from audiences.

The film seems to have struck a chord with audiences of all age groups. In particular, the film has caught the attention of senior citizens as it is based on the literary classic.

'Ponniyin Selvan' is a brilliant story that is based on the early life of prince Arun Mozhi Varman, who later went on to be known as the great Raja Raja Chozhan.

--IANS
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