Akshay Kumar: Insulting to compare 'Airlift' with 'Argo'

January 19, 2016

Mumbai, Jan 19: Akshay Kumar's upcoming 'Airlift' shares the same genre as 'Argo' but the superstar says it is an insult to his film when people compare it to the Oscar-winning Hollywood movie as the story is inspired by a real incident.

airliftThe 48-year-old actor says while the Ben Affleck-starrer chronicled the evacuation of six Americans at the time of Iran hostage crisis, 'Airlift' is the story of 1,70,000 Indians who were rescued from Kuwait during the Iraq-Kuwait war. "Saying that our film is copied from 'Argo' is an insult. How can it be a copy when it is a true story? It is not a copy. It is something which you should be proud of. It is the story of the biggest ever human evacuation in the history of mankind," Akshay told reporters here.

Director Raja Krishna Menon says other than the common theme of evacuation, there is no similarity between his film and the 2012 Hollywood movie. "The only faint link is that some people were saved in a covert operation. Everything else is different. It is only a similar genre. Our film is about the single greatest achievement of independent India. 'Argo' is not in that space," Menon said.

The actor says he was not aware of the 1990 incident and only came to know about it when the director gave him the script of 'Airlift'. "At that time there was only one article about the evacuation. The government did it silently. It is not a matter of joke. When I met those people, they started crying at the mention of it. I was deeply inspired by the story. It shows the greatness of our country."

In the film, Akshay plays a businessman Ranjit Katyal, who negotiates with the government to evacuate 1,70,000 Indians stranded in Kuwait and fly them to India. 'Airlift' also stars Nimrat Kaur and Purab Kohli. In recent times, Akshay has successfully juggled between commercial potboilers like 'Singh is Bliing' and thrillers with patriotic themes like 'Baby' and 'Holiday'. The actor says he loves to keep challenging himself with different roles.

"I keep on challenging myself all the time. I want to be in my comfort zone and then try some roles which are challenging for me. 'Singh is Bliing' and 'Housefull 3' are in my comfort zone but this one is not, 'Baby' was not.

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June 2,2020

New Delhi, Jun 2: After Amitabh Bachchan, it is actor Akshay Kumar, who has come forward to support Bhumi Pednekar's initiative -- Climate Warrior -- urging the people to plant trees.

Bhumi Pednekar has sought to bring Bollywood together to spread awareness about mother nature through her campaign in view of the coming World Environment Day (June 5).

The campaign endeavours to get leaders from the entertainment industry to tell what is the 'one wish they have for the earth.'

Following the thread, the 'Kesari' actor was seen raising his voice on issues, and have taken steps to bring awareness to important causes like climate change.

"Our Beautiful Planet that has sustained us now needs us to protect it more than ever. During this time we as a community must tread carefully and act immediately" Akshay Kumar was seen saying in a video posted by Pednekar on Instagram.

"A lot of damage has been done and climate change is a grave reality that all of us are facing," he added.

Explaining his one wish to rebuild mother nature, is, as he says: "The simplest act of planting trees."

"I consider this as one of the most basic and efficient deeds that we can exercise individually and also urge others to do so. Let us do our bit to heal and rebuild the only planet we have. So join me and become a Climate Warrior," the 'Padman' actor concluded.

Ahead of the World Environment Day, and in support of Bhumi's initiative, legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan earlier in the day also pledged to be 'climate-conscious' in a bid to protect nature.

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June 17,2020

Jerusalem, Jun 17: Calling Sushant Singh Rajput as "a true friend", Israel has expressed its deepest condolences at the passing away of the young Bollywood star.

Rajput, 34, was found dead in his Bandra apartment on Sunday.

On Tuesday, Gilad Cohen, deputy director-general of Israel's foreign ministry, took to Twitter to mourn the actor's sudden demise.

"Sending my deepest condolences on the passing of Sushant Singh Rajput, a true friend of Israel. You will be missed!" Cohen wrote while sharing the link of the song "Makhna" from the actor's last film "Drive".

Sushant and his co-star Jacqueline Fernandez had shot the song in Israel as part of its ongoing efforts to bring Bollywood to the country.

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News Network
March 11,2020

Washington, Mar 11: Pop star Selena Gomez made some revelations about her personal life in a recent interview.

While explaining the lyrics of her song "Rare" on the 'Genius' YouTube channel, the 27-year-old said that there are times when she feels that she will ever be able to find a suitable partner for herself, reported Fox News.

"Some days when I wake up and I am annoyed and I am like, 'I am going to be alone forever.' But after that 15 minutes go away, I say to myself, 'I know that there is someone for everybody," the singer told in the seven-and-a-half minute long video.

However, she remains optimistic as she is still young and "this isn't the end all be all".

Elaborating upon the chorus of her song, Gomez opened up and said, "self-esteem and confidence is a constant struggle".

"It's getting better with time and age, but it will always be something that I'm working on," she added while explaining the lyrics further.

"So what I think is so important about this chorus is that it's acknowledging, 'Hey, I don't have it all. I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I do know that I'm special,' and I think that is a humble approach of saying, 'Why don't you see that I am different?'" the singer added as reported by Fox News.

Touching upon her experiences from past relationships, she commented: "In certain relationships, I've heard and I've experienced and whatnot, I think men and women do it -- especially teenagers and young people in love -- is there's this satisfaction out of hurting someone because you know that they care. Purposefully putting someone down because they want to keep them at a level. I've had someone actually say that to me before".

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