Kalyan Jewellers Withdraws Controversial Ad Starring Amitabh Bachchan, Daughter

Agencies
July 23, 2018

Kochi, Jul 23: A leading jewellery chain on Sunday withdrew a one-and-a-half minute long advertisement featuring Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan and his daughter after it came under attack from a bank union which said it was aimed at creating 'distrust' in the banking system.

"We sincerely regret the inadvertent hurt caused and withdraw the advertisement from all media with immediate effect," Executive Director of Kalyan Jewellers, Ramesh Kalyanaraman said in a statement here.

He said, "We understand that the advertisement has hurt sentiments of some people including members of our esteemed banking community. Any such hurtful interpretation being drawn is unintended."

"We state that the creative advertisement was a work of fiction and not a reflection of banking employees at large. Along with crores of Indians, we acknowledge the valuable contribution of the banking community to our country," the statement said.

All India Bank Officers' Confederation, an organization claiming to have membership of around 3,20,000 officers, last week threatened to sue Kalyan Jewellers accusing it of "casting aspersion and hurting the sentiments of millions of personnel" through the advertisement.

AIBOC general secretary Soumya Datta had alleged that the theme, tone and tenor of the advertisement were "disgusting, derogatory, to say the least and is aimed to create distrust in the banking system, for pure commercial gain."

However, Kalyan Jewellers had rejected the allegation, saying it was "pure fiction".

The advertisement features Bachchan as an old man and Shweta Bachchan Nanda as his daughter.

In the ad, Bachchan, depicted as a person with integrity and honesty, is seen visiting a bank branch along with his daughter to return the extra money credited in his pension account and his bitter encounter with bank employees in the process.

"The advertisement portrays banks in bad light, casting aspersion, hurting the sentiment of millions of personnel, stakeholders and is a direct attempt to ruin the trust and confidence of billions of citizenries in banks," Datta had said.

Bachchan had tweeted the video of the ad, saying "Emotional moment for me.. tears welling up every time I see it.. daughters are the best !!"

Popular Malayalam actress Manju Warrier acted as his daughter in the advertisement's Malayalam version.

AIBOC had said in the ad, Bachchan tried to exhibit his honesty by drumming around that "Honesty doesn't mean when everyone is watching, rather it is about being honest when nobody is looking at you.

But, Mr Bachchan perhaps was unaware that in the process of doing so on screen, he has made a mockery of the entire bankers' community in the ad which is deplorable and culpable."

Datta had said "we express our strong resentment against the management of Kalyan Jewellers and Mr Bachchan who have manifested a negative and false image of the Banks in the ad for their personal aggrandizement."

"We deem it as a case of defamation to all the banks as a whole," it had said.

Demanding an unconditional apology from the jewellery group, the AIBOC had said if the advertisement was not withdrawn, suitable "organisational action, including dharnas and litigation" would be initiated.

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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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Agencies
August 1,2020

Mumbai, Aug 1: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has said that Sushant Singh Rajput case should not be politicised or used to create friction between Maharashtra and Bihar.

Amid the ongoing criticism faced by the Mumbai Police following an investigation into Rajput's death case, the Chief Minister stressed that Mumbai Police is not "inefficient" while appealing those who have any evidence in regard to the case to step forward.

"Mumbai Police is not inefficient. If anyone has any evidence they can bring it to us and we will interrogate and punish the guilty. Please do not use this case (Sushant Singh Rajput death case) as an excuse to create friction between Maharashtra and Bihar," Thackeray said on Friday.

"Bringing politics in the case is the most deplorable thing to do," he added.

Maharashtra government has filed a caveat before the Supreme Court in the Rajput's death case.

Earlier, Bihar government and Rajput's family have filed caveats in the top court seeking to challenge actor Rhea Chakraborty's petition that sought transfer of the FIR registered in Patna to Mumbai in the actor's death case.

"After Bihar government and Rajput's family filed a caveat in the Supreme Court, Maharashtra government has filed a caveat before the SC today to ensure that no order is passed in Rhea Chakraborty's petition case without hearing its (Maharashtra) side," said Sachin Patil, standing counsel for Maharashtra Government.

A caveat is a legal process, in which the party which had filed it before the concerned court, shall have to be heard definitely before the concerned court passes any order in future.

Bihar Police has sought the assistance of Mumbai police to probe the Sushant Singh Rajput case, Mumbai police Crime Branch officials told ANI. However, the Police are still considering their request.

Bihar Police team reached after an FIR was filed by late actor's father KK Singh against Chakraborty in Bihar under several sections including abetment of suicide.

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

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News Network
July 1,2020

Los Angeles, Jul 1: Bollywood stars Alia Bhatt, Hrithik Roshan and costume designer Neeta Lulla are among the 819 artistes and executives who have received invitations to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

Bhatt's last movie, the Zoya Akhtar-directed Gully Boy was India's official entry for best international feature category at the 2019 Oscars. However, the film had failed to make it to the final five.

Other prominent Indian names to receive invitations are casting director Nandini Shrikent, documentary filmmakers Nishtha Jain, Shirley Abraham, Amit Madheshiya, visual effects supervisors Vishal Anand and Sandeep Kamal.

In a statement, the Academy said the new invitees include 36 per cent of people of colour and 45 per cent women. Artistes from 68 countries have been invited as members.

Those who accept the invitation will have voting rights at the 93rd Academy Awards, scheduled to be held on April 25, 2021.

"The Academy is delighted to welcome these distinguished fellow travellers in the motion picture arts and sciences. We have always embraced extraordinary talent that reflects the rich variety of our global film community, and never more so than now," Academy President David Rubin said.

The Academy has been actively working to introduce more diversity in its voting to avoid a controversy like 2016 when the Oscars were dubbed "white" for failing to recognise talents of colour.

The 2020 batch boasts of major Hollywood names like Cynthia Erivo, John David Washington, Constance Wu, Zazie Beetz, Florence Pugh, Zendaya, Awkwafina, Yalitza Aparicio, Mackenzie Davis, Ana de Armas, Adele Haenel, Thomasin McKenzie, Olivia Wilde and others.

The stars of multiple Oscar-winning South Korean movie Parasite -- Jang Hye-Jin, Jo Yeo-Jeong, Park So-Dam and Lee Jung-Eun -- are among the invitees.

Directors Lulu Wang, Ari Aster, Terence Davies, Matthew Vaughn, Robert Eggers, Matt Reeves, Alma Har’el are on the list as well.

The Academy has announced a new five-year plan that includes implementing inclusion standards for nominees.

"We take great pride in the strides we have made in exceeding our initial inclusion goals set back in 2016, but acknowledge the road ahead is a long one.  We are committed to staying the course.

"We look forward to continuing to foster an Academy that reflects the world around us in our membership, our programs, our new Museum, and in our awards," Academy CEO Dawn Hudson said.

In 2019, the organisation had invited 842 new members which included Indian names such as filmmakers Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap and veteran actor Anupam Kher.

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