Shared a bond like that of siblings with Sridevi: Kamal Haasan

Agencies
March 1, 2018

Chennai, Mar 1: They may have been one of the most romantic pairs on screen, but Kamal Haasan and late female superstar Sridevi shared a bond like that of siblings.

"Sridevi en thangachi (Sridevi was my younger sister)," Haasan said, decades after he was paired opposite Sridevi in a number of Tamil films such as 'Guru', 'Varumayin Niram Sivappu', 'Vaazhve Maayam' and 'Moondram Pirai', the last one being also remade as Hindi classic 'Sadma' in 1983.

Sridevi, who died of accidental drowning in her hotel bath tub in Dubai last week, captured millions of hearts across India as a Bollywood diva. She had started her career in Tamil cinema industry, besides doing some Telugu films.

She later moved to Mumbai to enjoy a successful career in Hindi cinema.

Writing in the concluding part of his weekly series in Tamil magazine 'Ananda Vikatan,' Haasan, now a politician, said he was revealing the nature of his bond with the late Sridevi as he does not stand the risk of his "market" getting affected now.

"Those days, couples (at weddings) were compared to us, saying they looked like Kamal and Sridevi. They must have seen us singing duets and hugging. We hid the truth (about the nature of the relationship) so as to not shatter that dream," he said.

Drawing parallels with the children donning the roles of god couples Murugan-Valli or Krishna-Rukmini in plays, Haasan said the boy playing the said roles would often describe the girl as 'thangachi', meaning younger sister.

"I and Sridevi were like one such Annan-thangachi (brother and sister)," he added.

Indicating that people in the industry had a fair idea about this, Haasan said he was asked not to speak about it "since you are being celebrated as a couple."

Haasan said after doing three films together with her, he was in the mindset of "Sridevi again?" for another script, adding that she herself could have shared similar thoughts.

But none consulted the two and "they (apparently the producers and directors) decided "that the two will pair opposite each other," he said, adding, after a point of time, "all heroes desired to act with her."

"If our acting was watched keenly, we would look like siblings. One could find the resemblance of myself in her acting," he said.

During the course of their career, Sridevi would often seek Haasan's opinions on her films and would patiently listen to his criticism.

While she did not dub in her voice in her first two Hindi films, she did so in her third project, Haasan recalled.

The deceased actor "became Sridevi by sheer hard work," he said and pointed out to her commitment.

Expressing sadness over the death of his one-time co-star, he said many senior women actors had called him up and cried following the death of the 54-year-old actor.

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News Network
April 10,2020

New Delhi Apr 10:  Actor Salman Khan on Friday thanked people for staying indoors and shared two pictures, first showing Bada Qabaristan's (graveyard) gate which has been closed due to lockdown and the second was of an empty street in Mumbai.

The actor thanked the people for listening to the guidelines and understanding the gravity of this situation amid the 21-day government-imposed lockdown in view of coronavirus outbreak. The tweet by 'Dabangg' actor came soon after the conclusion of Shab-e-Barat.

Shab-e-Barat is observed as a day of forgiveness or atonement in Islam and leads to congregations at graveyards and religious places.

The 54-year-old actor took to Twitter and wrote, "Wah! Thank u for listening n understanding the gravity of this situation the country is in. God bless n protect each n every 1.

Over the past few days, appeals were made to the Muslim community from several quarters to not venture out of their houses to pray on Shab-e-Barat in view of the COVID-19 lockdown.

Earlier, the 'Tiger Zinda Hai' star shared his lockdown experience in a video message with nephew Nirvaan and urged people to take the government's advisory of self-isolation seriously amid the rising cases of coronavirus in the country.

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News Network
April 8,2020

Washington, Apr 8: Choosing stethoscope over the crown, Miss England 2019, Bhasha Mukherjee, has returned to work as a doctor as the world battles with coronavirus pandemic.

According to CNN, she was a junior doctor with a specialisation in respiratory medicine, before being crowned as Miss England in August last year. The beauty queen, who has her roots in India's Kolkata city, had taken a career break from the medical field.

She had paused her medical career for some humanitarian work that she was offered by several charities and was on a tour to different countries including India.

"I was invited to Africa, to Turkey, then to India, Pakistan and several other Asian countries to be an ambassador for various charity work," CNN quoted her as saying.

She had been in India at the beginning of March for four weeks. During her stay as an ambassador of the Coventry Mercia Lions Club, the 24-year-old had visited several schools and had donated stationery and other items to the needy.

Mukherjee then returned back UK as the situation worsened there with the coronavirus spreading at a fast rate. She then contacted the hospital and asked them that she wanted to rejoin.

According to CNN, the Miss England beauty pageant winner said that she felt wrong to be wearing the crown while people around the world were dying from the virus.

"When you are doing all this humanitarian work abroad, you're still expected to put the crown on, get ready... look pretty. I wanted to come back home. I wanted to come and go straight to work," CNN quoted her as saying.

"I felt a sense of this is what I'd got this degree for and what better time to be part of this particular sector than now. It was incredible the way the whole world was celebrating all key workers, and I wanted to be one of those, and I knew I could help," she added.

As the beauty queen has a recent travel history, she is currently in self-isolation and will return to work once her quarantine period is over.
She was crowned as Miss England 2019 in August last year.

According to World Health Organisation, 13,53,361people have been affected by coronavirus and over 80,000 people have lost their lives to it.

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News Network
March 21,2020

Mar 21: Singer Sonu Nigam has decided to extend his stay in Dubai as he believes travelling amid the coronavirus outbreak can put people around him at risk.

The singer was in the Himalayas earlier and wanted to come to Mumbai for a concert scheduled for March 6 but it got postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic.

He then decided to head to Dubai to be with his wife and son and has been there since a few weeks.

"I am fortunate that my wife and my son are in Dubai. My son studies here and I keep travelling here a lot, Dubai is like my second base. But my father, sister are alone in India. I wanted to come back to India and be at my father's side but I realised that if I do that, I'll be exposing him to the risk of me carrying this virus, who knows the extent of the danger," Sonu told

The 46-year-old singer said everybody is taking precautions and he wants to ensure that the health of those around him isn't at risk.

"I thought let's not outsmart the virus. I thought it's better for me to stay for a bit (till things go normal). Coming back to India, and then going in quarantine will still be a risk.

"I came to Dubai and I thought I'll be able to go back to India but I didn't know it's going to be such an issue eventually. But we are fine here."

On Friday, singer Kanika Kapoor become the first Bollywood celebrity to test positive for the deadly virus in the country and has said she is under complete quarantine and medical care.

The UP police later booked the singer for negligence and committing acts that are likely to spread disease dangerous to life after she attended at least three gatherings in Lucknow, including a party where political leaders were present.

When asked if his decision of staying back was in anyway related to what happened to Kanika, Sonu said that wasn't the case.

"The last time I was contemplating coming to India was on March 16 night, but thankfully my flight got cancelled. Then from March 17, there was this regulation from the government of India that you have to go on a self quarantine for 14 days, compulsorily. I decided I shouldn't take a chance. Being a potential carrier is the worst thing," he said

In Dubai, the singer said the family is taking extreme precautions.

"We all are being safe, staying indoors, not gathering with many people. Careless people shouldn't be around you at this point, people who are too brash, that 'oh nothing will happen.' I don't allow such people in my vicinity. I'm.very hygiene conscious anyway." said the singer.

Sonu said he will be conducting a live music concert on his social media on Sunday.

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