Not concerned about 'Mohenjo Daro' criticism: Hrithik

August 5, 2016

New Delhi, Aug 5: The trailer of "Mohenjo Daro" may have become a butt of jokes online and made historians cringe, but lead star Hrithik Roshan has brushed away the negativity saying the film will silence critics after its release.

HrithikThis is not the first time Hrithik's film has been accused of distorting historical facts.

His 2008 film, "Jodhaa Akbar", also directed by his "Mohenjo Daro" helmer Ashutosh Gowariker, was initially slammed for being historically inaccurate but that did not stop it from becoming box office success.

"I am not concerned about it (negativity around the trailer). This current situation reminds me of a time when Twitter was not there but when I played Akbar, I was in the spotlight right from the release of the first trailer.

"People said what I did was wrong as Akbar was only four feet ten inches tall, while I am over six feet. Also that I had light eyes, which Akbar did not," Hrithik said.

"People raised several objections about the film. And now who remembers that? They have all forgotten about it. Now when you talk about 'Jodhaa Akbar', you say how great the film was and how well it did."

The 42-year-old actor says the historians, who have raised objections about usage of lip colour on women, to the use of horses in certain scenes, are least of his concern as they are not the people who will go and watch the film in theatres on August 12.

"They are not our fans, who will go to cinemas to watch the film. These historians are voicing their opinion, they have no bearing on the film being good or bad. "They are talking about how they can have lipsticks but people of the Indus Valley used to crush rose petals and put it on their lips. Our film is fiction mixed with facts."

Hrithik says "Mohenjo Daro", which also features newcomer Pooja Hegde, is a simple love story set in the backdrop of the Indus Valley civilisation.

"It is a love story, a revenge drama in the backdrop of Indus Valley. It has not been made to teach people about Mohenjo Daro. It is like 'Titanic', which was not about how the ship works, it was about a love story with Titanic as the backdrop. That is where we are coming from."

"Mohenjo Daro" is Hrithik's second historically-themed film after "Jodhaa Akbar" but the actor says his upcoming movie was way more difficult to work on as it involved shooting in harsh conditions of Bhuj in Gujarat.

"It was in a lot of way tougher than 'Jodhaa' because of the setting we were put in, long hours on the sets in Bhuj. It was quite tiring."

Praising his co-star Hrithik says he was surprised to seen how confident the actress was right from the time of their first photo shoot for the film.

"The shooting conditions were tough but Pooja was unfazed. She gave her shots naturally and spontaneously. If it was my first film, I would go home, I couldn't have done it. She is very hard working."

"Mohenjo Daro", also stars Kabir Bedi, Arunoday Singh, Suhasini Mulay and Nitish Bharadwaj.

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News Network
March 21,2020

Mar 21: The novel coronavirus outbreak in the country may have brought the ever-bustling film industry to a halt but it hasn't stopped Bollywood celebrities from utilising their massive online influence to entertain their followers as well as engage them in fitness, dance and yoga routines.

According to the Health Ministry, the coronavirus cases in India rose to 258 on Saturday after 35 fresh cases were reported in various parts of the country.

As the government encourages more social distancing, people from the film fraternity are finding ways to connect to people and ensure their self-isolation isn't wasted.

On Sunday, actor Shilpa Shetty will hold a special live fitness session across digital platforms for people to follow from home.

"In times like these, it's important to stay fit, active, and healthy. Join me on Sunday, 22nd March at 4:00 pm IST as I go LIVE on Instagram-Facebook-Helo (@theshilpashetty) and on the @ShilpaShettyApp to show you some beneficial and helpful yoga asanas.

"You can watch, learn, and practice it from the comfort of your homes. Remember, staying indoors shouldn't be an excuse for deviating from your fitness routine," the actor wrote in an Instagram post.

Online yoga and fitness programs are picking up steam, with many celebrities pitching in.

On Saturday, actor Tamannah Bhatia went live with Diva Yoga, a studio part of a larger yoga ecosystem called SARVA, where she participated in a one-hour virtual yoga class, to encourage people to pursue their fitness goals.

Malaika Arora, co-founder of the yoga studio, told news agency that as the world fights a public health crisis, "we must do our best to stay calm and safe."

"There is also a need to boost our immunity levels even if it means continuing our workout from home. The live sessions being conducted on the Diva Studios Instagram handle and immunity boosting modules being shared on the SARVA app and website are aimed at this.

"Our instructors will offer guided lessons every day... for everyone’s benefit. I encourage people to join in and be responsible for your own health. When you are fit and healthy, you can help others in a better manner. It is these small steps that will lead to a better outcome," she said.

With everything coming to a standstill, choreographer Terence Lewis has also figured out an alternate avenue to reach out to his students: through online classes.

As of now, those who are not his students do not have the access to it, but Lewis said that's going to change soon.

"In few days, we will be starting online dance tutorials for people who have no access and means to be a part of our institute directly. Since, we do not have any branches, neither do I believe in having one, we directly teach from our original space in Andheri.

"Here we have instructors who have learnt from me and is the only legit institute we have hence, we'll think of doing the online classes as way of engaging with people who are far away from us," Lewis told PTI.

As shootings of movies, TV shows and web series stand suspended till March 31, casting director and actor Abhishek Banerjee is encouraging artistes to send self tapes from their homes.

"We are encouraging that to minimise human to human contact and audition spaces. Some actors are known to us, some unknown. It's very difficult to track anybody's health of you don't know the person. So it's easier to see the self tapes and keep shortlisting them and maybe we will call them again for a proper audition when everything is alright," he said.

The process of recording a self audition, according to the "Stree" actor, isn't easy.

"Full marks and respect for actors who are sending the self tapes because audition process takes a lot of efforts and to do that alone, without any help in isolation, without cues, it's commendable."

Banerjee, who runs Casting Bay, a leading casting studios, along with his friend Anmol Ahuja, said on an average, any big casting office had around 100-150 footfalls everyday, which has now come to a griding halt.

"The minute the government decided, we stopped all auditions too. Everything is on a standstill now. The production houses have asked us to hold on the auditions and projects. The major worry is that many actors will have date issues now. Once everything opens in April, let's see how to tackle that. It'll be a very difficult situation," he added.

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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 2,2020

Mumbai, Aug 2: Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuaron has come aboard as an executive producer on filmmaker Chaitanya Tamhane's movie The Disciple. The Marathi feature is set to represent India at the 77th edition of the Venice Film Festival. It will be screened in the Competition section of the prestigious film gala.

The movie, which is Tamhane's follow-up to his National Award-winning feature Court, has also been selected for 2020 Toronto International Film Festival's official line-up.

"I met Chaitanya through a mentorship program where I had the opportunity to watch his very superb debut film, Court  I was immediately impressed by his sense of cinema and fearless confidence to tell stories.

"He was part of most of Roma's process and I jumped to the opportunity to be part of the process of his second film The Disciple. I believe Chaitanya is one of the most important new voices of contemporary cinema," Cuaron said in a statement.

Tamhane said he is honoured to have Cuaron aboard the film.

"It’s a bit surreal and an incredible honour for me to have one of the most recognised and acclaimed filmmakers in the world be part of 'The Disciple'. In some ways, this validation from Alfonso Cuaron is even more," he added.

The Disciple, a 127-minute long feature, stars Aditya Modak, Arun Dravid, Sumitra Bhave, and Kiran Yadnyopavit. It has been produced by “Sir” actor Vivek Gomber through his Zoo Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.

The Disciple marks Tamhane’s return to Venice after he won the Best Film - Orizzonti and Lion of the Future award for Court in 2014.

Court, a poignant commentary on India's judicial system, also won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in 2015 and was India's official entry for the Best Foreign Film at the 2016 Oscars.

Endeavor Content will sell North American rights and New Europe Film Sales boards the film as an international sales agent.

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