Foolish and silly: R Balki on 'Padman' plagiarism claims

Agencies
February 12, 2018

Mumbai, Feb 12: "Padman" director R Balki has brushed off allegations of plagiarism against his recently- released film, calling the claims "silly" and "foolish".

Writer Ripu Daman Jaiswal has accused the makers of the Akshay Kumar-Radhika Apte starrer of copying 11 scenes from a script that he had written.

"That's so foolish. After every film, some people foolishly make these claims," Balki told PTI, dismissing the allegations.

The film is a fictionalised account of Tamil Nadu-based Arunachalam Muruganantham, who created affordable sanitary napkins for the women of his village.

"My film is an official biography of Muruganantham. Is he accusing Muruganantham of leading a life that has been copied from his writing? That's so silly," Balki said.

Jaiswal also alleged that a dialogue, narrated by megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the film, has been taken from his script that he had sent to Ryan Stephan, creative head of Karan Johar's Dharma Productions.

"I remember I was in the library when I wrote this dialogue and was truly elated. Honestly, I surprised myself that day. Tell me, how on earth can you steal someone's dialogue? This is unfair," he had tweeted.

The writer also said that he has filed an FIR against Akshay and the filmmakers.

"R Balki! I tried everything! I even filed a police complaint at Cuffe Parade station on 23rd of Jan against everyone. Tell me, what more can I do?

"S.I. told me I have a good case and they will look into the matter and will call me after investigation. Am still waiting for that call (sic)," Daman had tweeted.

When contacted Senior Police Inspector of Cuff Parade, Rashmi Jadhav said, "There is one application received from Jaiswal, in which he has claimed copyright of his script. But no offence has been registered in this case."

Two months ago, Daman had shared a post on Facebook where he attached the screenshots of the mail he had sent to Dharma Productions.

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News Network
April 2,2020

Mumbai, Apr 2: Ramayan, the over three-decade-old TV series based on Hindu mythology, garnered 170 million viewers in four shows over the last weekend in its new avatar, the BARC said on Thursday.

This catapulted the Ramanand Sagar production as the highest watched serial in the Hindi general entertainment space ever, the Broadcast Audience Research Council said.

The show was relaunched last Saturday amid the gloomy times of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and a lot of thrust laid by the government machinery to popularise the series.

BARC's chief executive Sunil Lulla said the numbers notched up by the series was a bit surprising and called the move as a brilliant one by the Prasar Bharti.

He said eventually, we will also see advertisers flock the series which will be running for a few more days.

The inaugural show of the series on Saturday morning had 34 million viewers glued to their TV sets watching and enjoyed a rating of 3.4 per cent, while a telecast the same evening had 45 million viewers and a rating of 5.2 per cent.

The show bettered its performance on Sunday, with 40 million and 51 million people watching it in the morning and evening telecasts, respectively.

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News Network
June 3,2020

New Delhi, Jun 3: "This year feels relentless," actor Priyanka Chopra said urging Mumbai residents to take precautionary measures in view of Cyclone Nisarga.

The cyclone storm is approaching the north coast of Maharashtra with a speed of 11 kilometres per hour, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday.

Sharing Mumbai's famous Bandra-Worli Sea Link road picture on her Instagram story, the actor wrote: "Cyclone Nisarga is making its way to Mumbai, my beloved home city of more than 20 million people, including my mom and brother."

"Mumbai hasn't experienced a serious cyclone landfall since 1891, and at a time when the world is so desperate, this could be especially devastating," the 'Don' actor added.

"This year feels relentless. Please, everyone, find cover, take precautions, and follow the guidelines outlines. Please stay safe everyone, " said Chopra as she shared a swipe up link to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) page that details the Do's and Don'ts for Mumbaikars to take on Cyclone Nisarga.

Earlier, the IMD had stated that the severe cyclonic storm is expected to impact the Maharashtra coast by the afternoon/evening of June 3.

On Tuesday, actor Vicky Kaushal shared a picture of the cloudy sky on the photo-sharing platform and hoped that the "first showers only bring relief and joy and not too much drama." The 'Raazi' actor also urged people to stay safe.

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Agencies
January 5,2020

Los Angeles: Kevin Feige may have confirmed that the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) will be getting its first transgender superhero but the Marvel Studios has said there is no definite timeline for that.

During a Q&A at the New York Film Academy, a fan had asked Feige about whether the studio plans to introduce LGBTQ characters into the MCU, "specifically the trans characters".

To this, the Marvel Studios president had replied, "Yes, absolutely, yes... And very soon. In a movie that we're shooting right now."

But sources in the company clarified to Variety that Feige only confirmed the first part of the comments that a trans character will appear in the MCU in future but he did not give a time period.

Though Feige did not reveal the name of the project that will introduce a LGBTQ character, fans speculate that he may have been referring to "The Eternals".

The film, which will feature an ensemble cast of Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Kit Harington and others, is set to unveil a gay superhero in the MCU.

Marvel Studios has been making efforts to incorporate more diversity in its films after the success of "Black Panther", which featured a virtually all-black cast, and its first woman-fronted superhero movie "Captain Marvel".

"Avengers: Endgame", which became the highest grossing movie of all-time, had featured the MCU's first gay character, a cameo by director Joe Russo.

In 2020, the studio has two releases -- Scarlett Johansson-starrer "Black Widow" and "The Eternals" -- which have been helmed by women directors.

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