I'm concerned about country's anger: Sonu Nigam

Agencies
December 25, 2018

New Delhi, Dec 25: Singer Sonu Nigam, who has been in the proverbial eye of the storm for his comments on Pakistani musicians and the #MeToo movement, says he is concerned about the "country's anger" and would like people to "smile and be a little easy". 

An eye for an eye leads to lynchings and road rage incidents and is just not his style, said the singer who ignited twin controversies last week.

He said during a media summit that it would be better if he was from Pakistan so he would get more offers from India. Nigam also attracted attention with his verbal spat with Sona Mohapatra on #MeToo movement. 

"I am very concerned about the country's anger. There has to be some decorum. The kind of language people use is unbelievable. The kind of language she (Sona) used, there is so much hatred. I maintained my decorum in all my statements. We need to smile and be a little easy," Nigam told PTI.

The 45-year-old said he became a victim of sensational headlines and their viral effect on social media.

"When I want to communicate something I will say what I know or believe in. I will speak the truth. Eye for an eye is not my style of dealing with things. This leads to mob lynching, road rage," he added. 

With his comments on Pakistan drawing flak, Nigam issued a statement saying he has immense respect for global musicians, including Pakistani singers, but wishes for Indian artistes to be given same facilities as their foreign counterparts.

He said he made the remarks in response to a question on the current situation of the country's music industry.

"I was asked about how the business of music functions in India. I was just giving them a clear understanding of the business status right now. These days music companies want to own the singers so when the artiste performs the companies get a cut from that," he said. 

"... The companies have this rule for Indian singers but not for the talent coming from Pakistan or any other country," he added. 

Nigam asserted that singers from Pakistan were his friends and he has been the only one in the last 20 years to criticise those banning Pakistani singers. 

"I don't believe in the banning politics. Having said that, if Indian singers are made to follow a certain rule, the same system should be implemented on people from abroad," he said.

At the summit, Nigam was quoted as saying that Anu Malik, his longtime friend, was accused without any proof and had maintained a dignified silence on the #MeToo allegations.

Mohapatra voiced her disapproval with Nigam for his comment on Anu. She had earlier called the music composer a "serial predator".

"The respectable lady vomiting on Twitter, is the wife of someone who I consider very close to me, so although she's has forgotten the relationship, I'd like to maintain the decorum," Nigam had said.

Mohapatra, who is married to music composer Ram Sampath, retorted that addressing her relationship with a man to describe her identity speaks a lot about his "conditioning and world view".

Nigam said his comments on #MeToo movement and Anu were misconstrued. 

"It is an evil thing to try to bring out something so negative from something so positive. One person is saying common people should decide the punishment for a culprit, the other person is saying law should decide. Common man should not have the right to punish the culprit. It will be a riot like situation if common man decides to give the judgement and punishment." 

He added that he has two sisters and had seen them going through a lot. 

"Why will I justify something which will harm any woman? Shaming is perfect, but to decide the punishment is not right. Let the law do its duty. Misconstruing my words like this is evil. But it's a part of life," he said.

The singer-actor reiterated his views on last year's 'azaan controversy', saying his comments were not directed towards any religion but at the use of loudspeakers.

"It was the headline which was given... 'Sonu against azaan'. If they would have written 'Sonu against loudspeaker' there would have been no controversy. If you play anything on loudspeaker, even a lullaby, I will have a problem with it." 

The singer said he objected to singing on the mic during a recent visit to a temple in Rishikesh. 

"In a civil society you need to behave in a certain way. You can't be doing anything in the garb of religion. I was right that day and I am right now as well," he said.

It may seem that Nigam, one of the biggest singers in Bollywood during '90s and early 2000s, is in the news more for his comments than his music, but he said he has been here for too long to use gimmicks to further his career.

"I don't want to impress people who are just talking about social issues to be in the news. I am not here to impress anyone. If I believe I make sense I will say what I want... My intent is very important to me. If my intent is wrong then I am wrong. If my intent is right then I do not care at all. I am answerable to myself," he added.

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News Network
July 3,2020

Mumbai, Jun 3: Investigators will subject the cloth allegedly used by actor Sushant Singh Rajput to hang himself to "tensile strength" analysis to determine whether it can bear the weight similar to that of the filmstar, as part of probe into his death, an official said on Friday.

Rajput (34) was found hanging at his suburban Bandra residence on June 14.

According to the investigators, the actor ended his life by hanging himself from the ceiling using a green coloured night gown made of cotton.

No suicide note was found from the spot, the police had said then.

Besides viscera from the actors body, the police also sent the gown for chemical and forensic analysis at the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in suburban Kalina, he said.

It will take at least three more days to get final forensic report, the official said.

To ascertain the exact cause of death, forensic experts will check pattern of ligature marks around the actors neck and also determine the strength of the gown with the help of "tensile strength" analysis, he said.

The tensile strength test will technically establish whether the cloth can bear around 80kg, the weight of the actor, he said.

The test will help determine if there was any foul play, the official said.

Tensile strength is maximum load that a material can support without fracture when being stretched.

Viscera analysis will help in checking whether there were any traces of chemical, poisonous or narcotics substance in his body, the official said.

"Usually, it takes eight to ten working days to get s report from the FSL in regular cases. But since this case is sensitive, experts are taking more precautions to avoid any kind of error in their analysis," the official said.

The forensic report of the actors mobile phone is also awaited, he said.

Recently, the police received the final post-mortem report of the actor from Cooper Hospital, which mentioned the cause of the death as asphyxia due to hanging"

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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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News Network
June 19,2020

New Delhi, Jun 19: After the recent sudden demise of Sushant Singh Rajput, actor Kangana Ranaut who went public slamming nepotism in the Hindi film industry, has now revealed that she faced similar struggles like that of Sushant.

In a new statement, the "Queen" actor alleged that she was asked to apologise to Hrithik Roshan's family in order to survive. Both Kangana and Hrithik had been in the public spotlight in the year 2016 over their alleged former relationship and legal battle.

The 'Queen' actor said: "Once Javed Akhtar had called me to his house and told me that Rakesh Roshan and his family are very big people. If you don't apologise to them, you will have nowhere to go. They will put you in jail, and eventually, the only path would be that of destruction...you will commit suicide. These were his words. Why did he think if I don't apologise to you will have nowhere to go. They will put you in jail, and eventually, the only path would be that of destruction...you will commit suicide. These were his words. Why did he think if I don't apologise to Hrithik Roshan, I would have to commit suicide? He shouted and yelled at me. I was shaking in his house,"

She further continued, "Were there people calling Sushant? Were there people putting such thoughts into his mind? I have no idea, but obviously, he was in a similar situation. In his interviews, he had said that nepotism cannot co-exist with talent because they don't allow the right talent to come up. I can relate to it, and hence I am raising questions. I want to know who played the catalyst in this situation?"

Kangana adds, "I know Sushant had a big fallout with Aditya Chopra also. When I refused Sultan, he had threatened he would never work with me. Ever since our industry ganged up on me. I remember so many times feeling really lonely and feeling what will happen to me..."

The 'Manikarnika' star also revealed that all this not only happened to her professionally but personally as well it hampered her relationships. "They are very insecure about things. Despite what they did to me, there was a guy who wanted to get married to me. But he distanced himself, they made sure he ran away. With no surety about my career, my love-life completely has gone awry, with six court-cases against me, they're still trying to put me in jail."

Kangana also talked about herself: "I'm a different person; I'm very expressive. I went out there, and I just vented it out. Sushant was not a person like that at all. He just bottled it up. Media too has played a considerable part in this--the kind of monster image that was given to him. Everybody who knew him closely agrees that he was a soft and emotional person. I think that after a point it really got to him. I can understand it because even I have been portrayed as a witch and as a stalker."

Sharing that the bullying and outbursts had a psychological impact on her life situations, Kangana says, "I remember initially when people used to come to my home, I felt so embarrassed to even offer them water. Forget having a relationship or going on a date post the disaster of a relationship I had. I can only imagine that even during Manikarnika what they did to me."

Talking about the 'Kai Po Che' star, she added, "But perhaps he was just not able to vent. In fact, all these constant jibes on these petty show that he should be killed and which rated him as the least efficient... his films have done more business than your Gully Boy. People like Salman Khan said who Sushant Singh Rajput? It was after M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story, everybody knew who Sushant was. We need to stop these."

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