Shah Rukh Khan's ‘Circus’ back on DD after 3 decades

Feb 6: The Income Tax Department on Thursday recovered Rs 65 crores from the residence of Tamil actor Joseph Vijay's financer in Chennai during raids which were carried out in the connection with an alleged tax evasion case linked to AGS Cinemas, said sources.

The department is conducting raids and surveys at Actor Vijay, Financer and Producer Anbu Chezhiyan residences.

Around 38 premises have been covered in the raid.

According to IT sources the counting of money is still on so there are chances that the amount will rise. Vijay's wife was at Chennai home when IT sleuths carried out a raid at his residence.

Speaking on the reports of the Actor being intervened during the shooting of the film, the income tax official said, "Actor Vijay was not picked up between his shooting as reported in some media reports."

The actor was shooting for his upcoming film "Master in Neyveli" when he received the news of the raid.

"Actor Vijay had cut short his shooting and returned to his home immediately after getting the news of raids, now the officials are ready to facilitate him to continue his shooting if he wishes to," sources from Income Tax told news agency.

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, Apr 10: Actor Akshay Kumar has pledged to contribute Rs 3 crore to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to assist the making of personal protection equipment, masks and rapid testing kits to help the battle against COVID-19.

Film critic and movie trade analyst Taran Adarsh announced on the same on Twitter on Friday and wrote, "After donating Rs25 crores to the PM CARES fund, Akshay Kumar contributes Rs3 crores to BMC to assist in the making of PPE, masks and rapid testing kits."

The 'Good Newwz' actor has been informing people about the necessary precautions to be taken to stay safe amid the coronavirus outbreak through his social media handles. On Thursday, Akshay acknowledged the contribution of all essential workers during the lockdown period, and encouraged people to use the hashtag 'Dil Se Thank You' to express their gratitude to the people "who work to ensure our safety."

Earlier, the 'Mission Mangal' actor joined hands with actors including, Kartik Aaryan, Tiger Shroff, Taapsee Pannu, Kiara Advani and launched a hope anthem - 'Muskurayega India,' and made an attempt to pump up Indians with positivity amid the testing times of coronavirus.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday informed that India's total number of COVID-19 positive cases now stands at 6,412.

Out of the total cases, 5,709 are active patients and 504 of them have been cured/discharged and migrated. With 30 new deaths reported in the last 12 hours, the death toll reached 199, according to the ministry.