Online certification of films soon: Censor Board Chairman

Jul 6: Tony Award-nominated actor Nick Cordero, who specialized in playing tough guys on Broadway in such shows as Waitress, A Bronx Tale and Bullets Over Broadway, has died in Los Angeles after suffering severe medical complications after contracting the coronavirus. He was 41.

Cordero died Sunday at Cedars-Sinai hospital after more than 90 days in the hospital, according to his wife Amanda Kloots. “God has another angel in heaven now,” she posted on Instagram. “Nick was such a bright light. He was everyone’s friend, loved to listen, help and especially talk. He was an incredible actor and musician. He loved his family and loved being a father and husband.”

Nick Cordero entered the emergency room on March 30 and had a succession of health setbacks, including mini-strokes, blood clots, septis infections, a tracheostomy and a temporary pacemaker implanted. He had been on a ventilator and unconscious and had his right leg amputated. A double lung transplant was being explored.

Kloots, sent him daily videos of her and their 1-year-old son Elvis, so he could see them if he woke up, and urged friends and fans to join a daily sing-a-long. A GoFundMe page to pay for medical expenses has raised over $600,000.

“I tell him, I say, ‘You’re gonna walk out of this hospital, honey. I believe it. I know you can,’” she told “CBS This Morning” over the summer. ”‘We’re gonna dance again. You’re gonna hold your son again.’ My line is, ‘Don’t get lost. Get focused.’”

The lanky Cordero originated the menacing role of husband Earl opposite his estranged wife, played by Jessie Mueller, in Waitress as well as the role of Sonny in Chazz Palminteri’s A Bronx Tale. It was at Bullets Over Broadway where Cordero met his wife. The two married in 2017.

Cast members from “Waitress” — Jessie Mueller, Keala Settle, Kimik Glenn and songwriter Sara Bareilles — helped raise money for Cordero by covering his song “Live Your Life.” Sylvester Stallone sent a video with best wishes.

Kloots had said that it was difficult to tell whether Cordero understood what happened to him, but said he could respond to commands by looking up and down when he was alert.

Her husband played a mob soldier with a flare for the dramatic in Broadway’s Woody Allen 1994 film adaptation of Bullets Over Broadway, for which he received a Tony nomination for best-featured actor in a musical. He moved to Los Angeles to star in Rock of Ages.

On the small screen, Nick Cordero appeared in several episodes of Blue Bloods and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and he had a role in the film Going in Style.

Actor and guitarist for Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Van Zandt offered Cordero his first TV acting gig in the final episode of Lilyhammer. After he was hospitalized, Van Zandt teamed up with Constantine Maroulis and Vincent Pastore to make a video performing “Live Your Life.”

Cordero was last onstage in a Kennedy Center presentation of Littler Shop of Horrors. His off-Broadway credits include The Toxic Avenger and Brooklynite.

The coronavirus has sickened other Broadway veterans, including the actors Danny Burstein, Tony Shalhoub, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Gavin Creel, Aaron Tveit and Laura Bell Bundy as well as composer David Bryan. It has also claimed the life of Tony-winning playwright Terrence McNally.

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.

New Delhi, Feb 9: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader LK Advani got emotional while watching the movie "Shikara: The Untold Story Of Kashmiri Pandits". It is a Hindi-language period film produced and directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from Kashmir.

In a video clip, the political veteran is seen trying to hold back his tears at the end of the film while Mr Chopra rushes to console him. Other people around them were also seen getting emotional and congratulating the filmmaker for the movie.

"Shikara" is about how Kashmiri Pandits were forced to flee from their houses in the Kashmir Valley in early 1990, in the wake of insurgency. The filmmaker said the film showcases how Kashmiri Pandits rebuilt their lives in the aftermath of the tragic event.

Featuring Aadil Khan and Sadia, Shikara released on February 7. Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who is from Kashmir, dedicates his movie to his mother, who died in 2007.