Bangladesh bans Irrfan Khan-starrer 'No Bed of Roses'

February 18, 2017

Los Angeles, Feb 18: Bangladeshi filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki's "No Bed of Roses", starring and co-produced by India actor Irrfan Khan, has been effectively banned in Bangladesh.

irfanSpeculation has been rife in the Bangladeshi and Indian media that the film is a biopic loosely based on late Bangladeshi writer and filmmaker Humayun Ahmed who divorced his wife of 27 years and married an actress 33 years his junior. Farooki has denied that the film is a biopic.

According to Variety, the film begins with a disclaimer that the film has no resemblance to any real life characters alive or dead. Irrfan plays a filmmaker named Javed Hasan who leaves his wife and marries an actress who was his daughter's classmate in school.

"I am really surprised to know that the government of Bangladesh has blocked the film. This is a humane story that deals with complex male and female relationships in a subtle and balanced way. What harm will it cause to the society if seen?" Irrfan said.

The film is a co-production between Bangladesh's Jaaz Multimedia and India's Eskay Movies with Khan's IK Company as co-producer. The Bangladesh Film Development Corporation's (BFDC) Joint Venture Preview Committee approved the script on March 8, 2016 after which the film went into production.

The completed film was previewed for the BFDC on February 12, 2017 and received a No Objection Certificate on February 15. On February 16, the BFDC sent the production a letter stating that the certificate had been cancelled due to a letter from the Bangladesh Information Ministry.

When BFDC Managing Director Tapan Kumar Ghosh was asked about the reason for the revocation of the Certificate, he said that it is not the BFDC's prerogative to issue the certificate and it was up to the Bangladesh Film Censor Board to issue it.

However, all the letters issued to the production from the BFDC are all on the organization's official letterhead. In reality, international co-productions cannot approach the Censor Board without the BFDC certificate. "We have been blocked at the first gate. As the order does not explain any reason, I don't know why they thought screening of the film would be inappropriate.

"Yes, my film handles a so-called taboo subject but it doesn't show anything explicit and hence doesn't violate any censor code. This goes against the freedom of expression," said Farooki.

Farooki is now taking the matter to court.

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News Network
July 14,2020

Los Angeles, Jul 14: US officials on Monday found the body of "Glee" actress Naya Rivera in the Californian lake where she drowned last week during a boat trip with her four-year-old son.

Rivera's body was retrieved and an initial examination found no evidence of foul play or suicide, Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub told a press conference.

"We are confident the body we found is that of Naya Rivera," said Ayub, pointing to the location, appearance, clothing and condition of the body.

Her body was being taken to a medical examiner's office for a full autopsy and confirmation of her identity from dental records, though no other missing persons have been reported at Lake Piru, he added.

Rivera, 33, is believed to have accidentally drowned after renting the boat with her young son at the camping and recreational hotspot around an hour's drive northwest of Los Angeles.

She vanished on Wednesday afternoon, and a massive search involving divers, patrol boats and helicopters was launched after her sleeping son was spotted drifting alone in a boat on the lake.

The son later told investigators that Rivera had helped him into the boat before "he looked back and saw her disappear under the surface of the water," said the sheriff.

Ayub pointed to the lake's strong currents as a possible cause of a fatal accident.

"The idea perhaps being that the boat started drifting -- it was unanchored -- and that she mustered enough energy to get her son back onto the boat, but not enough to save herself," he said.

The lake has been closed to the public since Wednesday, with around 100 personnel, including the US Coast Guard and rescuers from neighboring counties, joining the search.

Search teams used footage from video messaging calls Rivera made from the boat before her disappearance, as well as interviews with her son, to scour portions of the lake bed for her remains over six days, with no success.

"We believe she was concealed within some of the shrubbery on the floor bed of the lake" before eventually floating to the surface due to natural decomposition, said Ayyub.

With less than one foot (30 centimeters) of visibility underwater in daylight, the recovery operation was a "complex search effort" even with use of sonar equipment, he said.

Rivera was best known for her role as high school cheerleader Santana Lopez in "Glee."

She starred for six seasons in the wildly popular musical television series set in a US high school that ended in 2015.

The "Glee" cast has been struck by tragedy before.

Actor Mark Salling took his own life in 2018, weeks before being sentenced for possession of child pornography.

Canadian castmate Cory Monteith died in July 2013 of an overdose of drugs and alcohol.

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Agencies
January 6,2020

Kochi, Jan 6: A trial court on Monday framed charges against Malayalam film actor Dileep and other accused in the case of alleged abduction and molestation of a south Indian actress in 2017.

The actor and nine other accused were present in the additional special sessions court in Ernakulamwhen the charges were framed against them.

All of them have denied the charges.

On Saturday, the Court had dismissed a plea filed by Dileep, seeking to exclude him from the list of accused.

The Court had admitted the prosecution argument that there is prima facie evidence against him in the crime and dismissed the plea of the actor, who is eighth accused in the case.

The court had also not allowed a plea by the actor to grant him 10 days time to file the appeal in a higher court in the light of the Supreme Court order in November 2019 that the trial should be completed in six months.

The court is hearing the case in-camera.

On December 19, Dileep, along with his lawyers and a technical expert, had examined the contents of the electronic records at the closed room of the court.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had directed that the actor be allowed to inspect the records to enable him to present an effective defence during the trial.

In February 2017, the actress was allegedly abducted and molested by the accused.

Seven people, including the key accused 'Pulsar' Suni were arrested in connection with the actress' abduction case.

There are 10 accused in the case.

The entire act had allegedly taken place in a moving vehicle, which was filmed by the accused to blackmail her.

Dileep was subsequently arrested and arrayed as an accused in connection with offences under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and IT Act.

The top court had directed that the trial in case be concluded expeditiously, preferably within six months from the date of the judgement.

A woman judge is hearing the case.

In February 2019, the High Court, while considering a plea seeking to transfer the case to a Sessions Court headed by a woman judge to conduct the trial, had ordered the CBI special court Judge-III Ernakulam Honey M Varghese to complete the trial expeditiously.

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News Network
May 26,2020

Washington, May 26: Making a slight change to the name of their newborn, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his singer girlfriend Grimes have now named their first child X AE A-Xii.

The difference is only in the numeral part of the name which is now written in the Roman format.

Earlier this month, the celebrity couple hogged headlines for naming their son X AE A-12.

The change in the name came when an Instagram follower of the Canadian singer asked if she had considered changing the name of the child and she replied with, "X AE A-Xii."

However, the performer didn't provide further insight concerning the reason behind the change.

Canadian singer Grimes gave birth to her first child on May 4.

The 32-year-old had earlier taken to Twitter and explained the meaning of the baby's name.  

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