'PK' row: Maha govt to look into content, promises necessary action

December 31, 2014

Mumbai, Dec 31: Amid protests by right wing groups demanding ban on the Aamir Khan-starrer movie 'PK', the BJP-led Maharashtra government Tuesday asked police to look into the "content" of the film and said it will "step in" if the issue blows into a major law and order problem.

PK row

Minister of State for Home and BJP leader Ram Shinde said that he has asked senior police officer Deven Bharti, IG (Law & Order), to look into objectionable scenes, if any, in the film and has promised "necessary" action if any "wrong" is found.

"The Censor board may have found the film fit to be released and hence they cleared it from their end. But after the release, some organisations have objected to some part of the film. Protests have been going on and information from social media suggests that protests against the film may intensify in the days ahead," Shinde said.

The Rajkumar Hirani-directed film has raised the hackles of the saffron brigade with the Bajrang Dal leading demonstrations against it's screening at various places in the country for "insulting" Hindu deities through their "objectionable" portrayal in the film.

Shinde said there was a precedent of government stepping in when certain films caused law and order problems in the past.

"The Censor board is an independent entity which is free to discharge its duties without any intervention from our end. It is fine if the Censor Board has given a go-ahead to this film. But when we find a threat to law and order in the state, we will intervene," the BJP leader said.

Leela Samson, chairperson of Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC), had already clarified that the board will not remove any scenes from the film as it has already been released.

Aamir has also trashed accusations of him having "insulted" the Hindu religion because he was a Muslim, saying, "We respect all religions. All my Hindu friends have seen the film and they have not felt the same".

"Taking cognisance of the complaints received by these (right wing) organisations, I have asked Deven Bharati to probe the issue and send us a report at the earliest. I am expecting a report in the next 3-4 days. If something wrong is indeed found, necessary action should be taken without delay," he said.

When contacted, Bharti said in a message, "I have not received the letter yet though I have been informed orally. Will speak when I receive the letter regarding the scope of inquiry."

A few theatres in Mumbai had reportedly stopped shows of the blockbuster movie amid protests and threats by right wing activists yesterday.

Bajrang Dal activists had yesterday vandalised theatres in Gujarat exhibiting the film for making "fun" of Hindu gods and godmen as well as asked that its screening to be stopped.

Besides Gujarat, right-wing activists also protested in Agra and Mau in Uttar Pradesh as well as Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, tearing up posters of the film.

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News Network
April 3,2020

Washington, April 3: American actor Kristen discussed her experience being isolated with husband and their two kiddos.

According to Fox News, the 39-year-old actor discussed how she and Shepard are finding quarantine to be a little tough in a video chat to Entertainment Tonight.

Bell admitted: "We've gotten on each other's last nerve these last couple days. We're doing much better now because were laughing about it. But when we were not laughing about it for the first couple of days, that's the hard spot."

The 'Bad Mom' actor then shared her thoughts on why quarantining with loved ones can be so tough. She explained that she loves spending time with her husband and he loves spending time with her.

But what she thinks is different about this quarantine time is you have so much more time to think about the other persona and their actions and sort of replay what they said or attach a meaning to something that they did.
Bell added: "Nobody really needs time for that. That's useless."

The 'Frozen' actor also discussed having to make adjustments in regards to her kids, 7-year-old Lincoln, and 5-year-old Delta, and the schedule she tried to keep once the quarantine began.

She said that the biggest lesson she learnt, in the beginning, was that she wrote out the colour coded schedule, and noted about when will be their academic and academic time.

Kristen explained that by day five of schedule, she was making everybody miserable. About a week ago, she woke her kids up and encouraged her daughters to rip up the schedule, explaining that the kids "felt so good."

"I said the learning lesson here is that if you make a plan and it's not working, you pivot," said Bell.

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News Network
February 12,2020

London, Feb 12: Oscar-winning British director Steve McQueen is returning to his art roots with a series of short films at London's Tate Modern art gallery, offering a sensory exploration of black identity.

McQueen, who became the first black director to win the best picture Academy Award in 2014 for "12 Years a Slave", is now based between London and Amsterdam and is focused on championing diversity in the film industry.

Visitors to his new exhibition will be greeted by "Static", a film of New York's Statue of Liberty, scrutinising the iconic symbol from every possible angle at very close range against a deafening backdrop of the helicopter from where the footage was filmed.

"What interests Steve is our view of the world, how humans are trying to represent Liberty," said Fiontan Moran, assistant curator of the exhibition.

"7th Nov, 2001" features a still shot of a body while McQueen's cousin Marcus tells of how he accidentally killed his brother, a particularly traumatic experience for the artist.

"Western Deep" is another visceral work, giving a sense through sights and sounds in an interactive installation of the experiences of miners in South Africa, following them to the bottom of the mine.

"Ashes", meanwhile, is a tribute to a young fisherman from Grenada, the island where McQueen's family originated.

The images of beauty and sweetness filmed from his boat are tragically reversed on the other side of the projection screen, which shows a grave commissioned by McQueen for the eponymous young fisherman, who was killed by drug traffickers.

African-American singer, actor and civil rights activist Paul Robeson (1898-1976) is honoured in "End Credits".

The film shows censored FBI documents detailing the agency's surveillance of Robeson, read by a voice-over artist, for five hours.

"He is... testing the limits of how people can be documented in an era of mass surveillance," said Moran.

In a similarly militant vein, the exhibition features the sculpture "Weight", which was first shown in the prison cell where the writer and playwright Oscar Wilde was imprisoned.

It depicts a golden mosquito net draped over a metal prison bed frame, addressing the theme of confinement and the power of the imagination to break free.

The show runs alongside an exhibition of McQueen's giant portraits of London school classes, many of which appeared on the streets of London last year.

"I remember my first school trip to Tate when I was an impressionable eight-year-old, which was really the moment I gained an understanding that anything is possible," said McQueen, adding it was "where in some ways my journey as an artist first began".

He recently told the Financial Times newspaper the difference between his art films and his feature films was that the former were poetry, the latter like a novel.

"Poetry is condensed, precise, fragmented," he said. "The novel is the yarn".

The exhibition opens on February 13 and runs until May 11.

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Agencies
July 31,2020

Mumbai, Jul 31: Maharashtra Leader of Opposition and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said that the Enforcement Directorate should carry out an investigation in actor Sushant Singh Rajput's suicide case.

"There is a huge public sentiment about handing over #SushantSinghRajput case to CBI but looking at the reluctance of State Government, atleast @dir_ed ED can register an ECIR since misappropriation and money laundering angle has come out," tweeted Fadnavis.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said that no FIR had been registered in Maharashtra yet and that the case must be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

"There is a confrontation between two states and there has been no FIR registered yet in Maharashtra. Chirag (Paswan) had spoken to CM Thackeray that there should be CBI probe. All political leaders are demanding for it. It should be handed over to CBI," Paswan said.

A team of the Bihar Police that arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday, recorded statements of two persons, including actor Sushant Singh Rajput's sister, on Wednesday in connection with the case.

An FIR was filed by Sushant Singh Rajput's father against actor Rhea Chakraborty in Bihar on Tuesday.

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

According to the Maharashtra Police, statements of 41 people, including filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, film critic Rajeev Masand, director-producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and filmmaker Aditya Chopra have been recorded in the investigation so far.

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