Amitabh Bachchan appointed WHO goodwill ambassador for Hepatitis

May 12, 2017

Mumbai, May 12: Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan has been appointed by the World Health Organization as its Goodwill Ambassador for Hepatitis in South-East Asia Region to boost awareness and intensify action to arrest the hepatitis epidemic.

amitabh“I am absolutely committed to the cause of hepatitis. As a person living with hepatitis B, I know the pain and sufferings that hepatitis causes. No one should ever suffer from viral hepatitis,” Bachchan said at an event here organized by World Health Organization.

Announcing Mr Bachchan’s association with WHO, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director for WHO South-East Asia, said, “this historic association is expected to help strengthen WHO’s efforts in reducing the high numbers of premature deaths and illnesses from viral hepatitis which is not only causing hardships to individuals and families, but also impacting health and development across the region."

Though preventable, viral hepatitis kills 410,000 people in the region every year, mostly people in their productive years. Nearly 90 million people suffer from chronic liver disease that is driving rates of liver cancer and cirrhosis in the region, according to the latest WHO estimates released this year.

As WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Hepatitis in the region, Bachchan will lend his voice and support to public awareness programmes that aim to scale up preventive measures and advocate for early diagnosis and treatment of viral hepatitis to reduce the disease burden.

Among preventive measures, hepatitis B vaccination – a dose within 24 hours of birth followed by three doses in the first six months of life, as per the national immunization schedule of countries in the region, – provides protection and prevents mother-to-child transmission of the disease. Safe practices related to injections, blood transfusions and other procedures can prevent the spread of hepatitis B and C while clean water and hygienic food can reduce the risk of hepatitis A and E infection.

This is the first formal association between WHO and Bachchan, who served as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Polio in India, and has been supporting and promoting various health related issues in the country such as childhood immunization programme, tuberculosis and ‘clean India’ campaign.

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News Network
June 6,2020

Indore, Jun 6: An FIR has been registered against television producer Ekta Kapoor and two others here in Madhya Pradesh on charges of spreading obscenity, hurting religious feelings, and improper use of national emblems in her web show 'Triple X season 2', police said on Saturday.

The FIR also mentions about a particular scene which allegedly portrays the Indian Army's uniform in a highly objectionable way, an officer said.

Besides Kapoor, the FIR names director of the web series Pankhudi Rodrigues and screenwriter Jessica Khurana, said Annapurna police station inspector Satish Kumar Dwivedi.

The complaint was lodged on Friday night by Valmik Sakaragaye and Neeraj Yagnik, both residents of Indore.

"Ekta Kapoor's OTT platform ALTBalaji streamed (erotic) web series 'Triple X season 2' which not only spread obscenity but also hurt religious feelings of a particular community," Dwivedi said quoting the complaint.

A scene in the web show portrayed the Indian Army's uniform in a highly objectionable manner and also disrespected the national emblems, he said.

Kapoor and others have been booked under sections 294 (obscene acts and songs) and 298 (Uttering, words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person) of the Indian Penal Code, Information Technology (IT) Act, and the State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act, 2005, Dwivedi said.

Mumbai-based Ekta Kapoor is the founder of ALTBalaji, which is owned by her production house, Balaji Telefilms.

Further investigation is underway, the police officer said.

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Agencies
March 3,2020

Chennai, Mar 3: Makkal Needhi Maiyam president and actor Kamal Hassan on Tuesday appeared before Chennai Police on Tuesday in connection the deaths last month of three people on the set of the movie, 'Indian 2'.

Hassan appeared before Chennai Police Commissioner in Egmore to record his statement.

Three people died while around 10 suffered injuries when a crane collapsed while shooting of the film was underway in Chennai at EVP Studios on February 19.

Madhu, personal assistant to director Shankar, Krishna, assistant director, and a staffer Chandran, lost their lives in the incident.

In an open letter, "Indian 2" Director S Shankar announced Rs 1 crore as financial assistance to the kin of the deceased.

'Indian 2' stars Kamal Haasan, Kajal Agarwal, Rakul Preet, Siddharth, Priya Bhavani Shankar, Delhi Ganesh and Nedumudi Venu in prominent roles.

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News Network
January 7,2020

Mumbai, Jan 7: Actor Anil Kapoor, who next will be seen onscreen in Malang, revealed that he always tells superstar Aamir Khan not to stop working with filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani.

Kapoor was interacting with the media at the trailer launch of Malang along with his co-actors Adtiya Roy Kapur, Disha Patani, Elli AvRam, film's director Mohit Suri and producers Luv Ranjan, Bhushan Kumar, Ankur Garg and Jay Shewakraman on Monday in Mumbai.

Anil Kapoor has worked with many directors and producers in his 40-year acting career.

Talking about camp culture in the Hindi film industry and praising makers of Malang, Kapoor said, "I feel we need producers like Ankur (Garg) and Luv (Ranjan). I have told Mohit (Suri) to continue doing films with them. I always tell Aamir Khan by calling him on the phone to say that you should not leave Raju Hirani (Rajkumar Hirani). Whenever I see films of both of them, I tell Aamir not to leave him."

He continued, "I feel whenever you make a good team then you should hold on to it. Team is very important and there are certain stars that come together to make something interesting and exciting."

Kapoor gave an example of Hollywood actors and filmmakers while backing his viewpoint.

"If you see Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio they do so many films together. They can work with others, too, but they keep working with each other. There is some magic, obviously. You have to go with the casting but somewhere I feel teams should stand by each other," the actor added.

Malang stars Aditya Roy Kapur, Disha Patani, Anil Kapoor and Kunal Khemu in lead roles. It is scheduled to release on February 7.

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