Don't try to pollute film industry with communal bias: Javed Akhtar

Agencies
March 28, 2018

Mumbai, Mar 28: Veteran screenwriter Javed Akhtar today warned "bigots" to be wary of communalising the Indian film industry, which he termed as "the citadel of secularism".

The 73-year-old lyricist-writer's comments come after India-based French journalist Francois Gautier had responded to reports of a planned on-screen adaptation of Mahabharat, in which Aamir Khan could possibly play Krishna, highlighting the Bollywood star's religion.

Without naming Gautier, Akhtar, who has spent 53-years in films, asked people to stop spreading hatred in the name of faith in the field of cinema.

"I had joined film industry in 1965 on a salary of 50 rupees per month. In these 53 years not for a second, I have experienced or even seen any communal bias in our industry.

"This film industry is the citadel of secularism. Bigots, don't try to pollute it," he tweeted today.

Gautier had tweeted, "Why should @AamirKhan, a Muslim, play in most ancient & sacred of Hindu epics, the Mahabharata? Is @BJP4India Govt of @narendramodi going to be like the @INCIndia & just stand by in name of secularism??? Would Muslims allow a Hindu to play life of Mohamed?"

Akhtar had earlier slammed the journalist for behaving like a PR machine, calling him "clueless" about Indian history and films.

"Can somebody educate this clueless idiot Gautier that a film Mahabharata was made in 1965 and had become a super hit. The producer's name was Ghaffar Bhai Nadiadwala. This is India that we are proud of. Can somebody explain it to the dimwit," Akhtar had written earlier.

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News Network
May 20,2020

New Delhi, May 20: Singer Justin Bieber on Wednesday thanked his Indian fans for showering love on his newly-launched song 'Stuck With U'.

The 26-year-old singer shared a video on Twitter, that featured many Indian music enthusiasts crooning and making their own individual creative videos with the song playing in the background.

In reaction to it, the 'Yummy' singer tweeted: "Thank You India"

Bieber and American singer Ariana Grande teamed up for the song earlier this month to help the people affected and who are in need during the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

The official music video was dropped on May 8. The romantic track marks the first collaboration of the duo.

The music video has cameos by the singer's partners and features many special moments shared by the couple amid lockdown.

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News Network
June 30,2020

California, Jun 30: Online video-sharing platform YouTube on Monday banned several prominent channels, including those belonging to Stefan Molyneux and Richard Spencer.

The company banned six channels for repeatedly violating YouTube's policies.

According to The Verge, other channels banned include American Renaissance (with its associated channel AmRen Podcasts) and the channel for Spencer's National Policy Institute.

YouTube began taking stern measures on supremacist channels in June 2019.

"We have strict policies prohibiting hate speech on YouTube, and terminate any channel that repeatedly or egregiously violates those policies," the Verge quoted a YouTube spokesperson as saying.

"After updating our guidelines to better address supremacist content, we saw a 5x spike in video removals and have terminated over 25,000 channels for violating our hate speech policies," the spokesperson added.

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Agencies
August 9,2020

Mumbai, Aug 9:The questioning of Rhea Chakraborty's brother Showik by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), in connection with the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, continued till around 6:30 am on Sunday, according to sources in the ED.

It is noteworthy that Showik Chakraborty had reached the ED office at around 12 pm on Saturday afternoon, following which the questioning by the investigative agency's officials went on for about 18 hours.

Tomorrow on August 10, Rhea, alongwith her father, Indrajit Chakraborty, are to be questioned by the ED officials.

Showik is named in the First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Rhea was earlier questioned by the ED at its office in Mumbai in connection with the case. The agency also questioned Showik and Shruti Modi, former business manager of Rajput.

According to sources in the investigation agency, the officials have got hold of electronic evidence in connection with the case and they are also searching for phone records of conversations between Rhea and her father and brother.

The ED had already questioned Rhea once on Saturday, following which she was called back on Monday.

Meanwhile, CBI has collected documents related to the actor's death from Bihar Police. The ED has also asked the late actor's friend, Siddharth Pithani, to appear before the agency on August 8.

The agency had on July 31 registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in the case after FIR was filed by KK Singh, the late actor's father, against Rhea in Bihar on July 28.
The ED earlier interrogated Samuel Miranda, an associate of Rhea over the latter's properties, sources said.

The investigating agency has registered a case against six accused including Rhea in connection with Rajput's death.

Rajput was found dead at his Mumbai residence on June 14.

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