Maha minister thanks SRK for providing 25,000 PPE kits

London, Mar 19: "Game of Thrones" star Indira Varma has revealed that she has tested positive for coronavirus.

Her diagnosis comes two days after fellow "Game of Thrones" actor Kristofer Hivju also said that he tested positive for the COVID-19 infection.

Varma, who played the role of Ellaria Sand in the epic HBO series, took to Instagram on Wednesday to share the news.

"I'm in bed with it and it's not nice. Stay safe and healthy and be kind to your fellow people," she wrote.

The 46-year-old actor was starring in the modern take of Anton Chekhov's play "The Seagull" in London's West End, alongside "Game of Thrones" alum Emilia Clarke.

The play is on hold due to the pandemic.

"So sad our and so many other shows around the world have gone dark affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. We hope to be back soon and urge you all (and the govt) to support us when we do. Phoenix/ Seagull rising from the ashes (sic)," Varma wrote in her post with photos from the rehearsals.

Varma and Hivju join Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Idris Elba, Olga Kurylenko, and Rachel Matthews among the Hollywood celebrities who contracted the virus.

New Delhi, Jan 9: A Delhi court Thursday directed the makers of the Deepika Padukone starer feature film 'Chhapaak' to give credit to acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal’s lawyer in the movie.

Additional Civil Judge Pankaj Sharma said it was necessary that advocate Aparna Bhat's contribution is acknowledged.

"This Court is of the considered view that facts are indicative that the plea of the plaintiff for interim injunction is well-founded and it is necessary that her contribution be acknowledged by providing on the slide on the actual footage and the images, the line 'Aparna Bhat continues to fight the cases of sexual and physical violence against women' during the screening of the film.

"The said line on screen maybe with a rider that the same is with the court order," the judge said.

Advocate Bhat filed the application saying that despite representing Agarwal in courts for several years and helping in the movie-making, she was not given credit in the movie.

She said the filmmakers took her help in the entire process of writing and shooting the movie, but did not give the credit.

Mumbai, Jul 25: Movie theatres have been shuttered for months due to the coronavirus pandemic in the country, but the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has now recommended that the Union Home Ministry allow cinema halls to reopen in August. 

I&B Secretary Amit Khare indicated this at a close-door industry interaction with the CII Media Committee on Friday. He said Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla at the Home Ministry would take the final call.

Khare said that he has recommended that cinema halls may be allowed to reopen all over India as early as August 1, or at the latest, around August 31.

The formula suggested is that alternate seats in the first row and then the next row be kept vacant, and proceeding in this fashion throughout.

Khare said that his ministry's recommendation takes into consideration the two metre social distancing norm, but tweaks it gently to two yards instead. The Home Ministry, however, still has to revert on the recommendation.

Cinema owners, present in the interaction, however, pushed back and said this formula is unwise and merely running films at 25% auditorium capacity is worse than keeping the cinemas shut.

The attendees at the meet included media CEOs like N.P. Singh of Sony, Sam Balsara (Madison), Megha Tata, (Discovery), Gaurav Gandhi (Amazon Prime), Manish Maheshwari (Twitter), S. Sivakumar (Bennett Coleman and Co Ltd), and K Madhavan, Star & Disney, and also Chairman, CII Media Committee.

The OTT platforms present, including Gandhi of Amazon Prime, did not push back. Some Bollywood producers, notably those of Amitabh Bachchan's Gulabo Sitabo, have posted their movies on OTT, rather than live out the lockdown uncertainty.