Shooting duets with Sonakshi Sinha in 'Lingaa' were difficult, says Rajinikanth

December 9, 2014

Sinha LingaaHyderabad, Dec 9: He may have worked in about 170 films in a career spanning nearly four decades, but superstar Rajinikanth says he was tensed while shooting duets with Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha for his upcoming film Lingaa.

"I worked very hard for this film. Working hard does not mean the action scenes of a train fight or climax fight.

It is about doing duets with these two girls (Sonakshi and South Indian actress Anushka). I know Sonakshi since her childhood. She grew up at the same time like Aishwarya and Soundarya (his daughters) did.

"I was sweating when I had to do duets with her. I did not feel so tensed even while doing the first take in my first film. If God is to punish an artiste, it is by letting him do a duet after the age of 60," he said, evoking peels of laughter at a curtain-raiser event for Lingaa held here last evening.

The film, scheduled to hit the silver screens on December 12, would be released in Telugu as well.

Rajinikanth said he acted in Lingaa after a gap of about four-and-half years, as Kochadaiyan (released earlier this year), an animation film, belonged to a different genre. The storyline of Lingaa deals with the construction of a mega dam and is set in the pre-independence era.

"It is my luck that I have done such a film in my career," he said. Noting that the film wrapped up in just six months though it dealt with a big storyline, busy stars and technicians like A R Rahman, Sonakshi Sinha, Anushka and involved thousands of artistes, he praised the film's director KS Ravikumar, producer Rockline Venkatesh and the technicians for completing the movie in a short time.

Hollywood films are generally shot in a short period of a few months, though the film-makers work on it for months and years before beginning the shoot. Rajinikanth favoured such a practice being followed in India too.

The actor, however, said Telugu film Bahubali currently being made by ace Telugu director SS Rajamouli, is an exception as its requirements were different.

Appreciating Rajamouli, who made sensational hits in Telugu like Eega (Makkhi in Hindi), Magadheera, Maryada Ramanna and Vikramarkudu, he said the Telugu director is going to be "number one in India".

Rajinikanth said he would like to act in a film directed by Rajamouli.

On the occasion, the superstar condoled the deaths and devastation caused by cyclone Hudhud in Visakhapatnam and coastal Andhra Pradesh in October this year.

Regretting that he could not attend a fund-raiser event organised by the Telugu film industry for cyclone relief, Rajinikanth sought apology for it and said he would make a contribution for the same.

On the occasion, Sonakshi said it was an honour for her to share screen space with Rajinikanth in the film and that she learnt a lot from him.

Veteran Telugu director KViswananth (who made films like Eshwar in Hindi), South Indian actress Anushka who also stars in Lingaa, famous Telugu director Trivikram Srinivas, leading producer Allu Aravind and several other prominent film personalities attended the event.

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News Network
July 27,2020

Mumbai, Jul 27: Reel life villain Sonu Sood turned real life hero once again, this time by gifting a tractor on Sunday to a farmer in a remote village in Andhra Pradesh to help him till the land. The actor came up with the gift after coming through a video clip on Twitter wherein a tomato farmer in Madanapalle in Chittoor district was seen ploughing the land with his two daughters carrying the yoke on their shoulders.

In his instant reaction, Sood promised a pair of ox to the farmer, but later said the family deserved a tractor. "So sending you one. By evening a tractor will be ploughing your fields. Stay blessed," Sood, who acted as a villain in numerous Telugu films, said in a tweet.

True to his word, a new tractor was delivered to the elated farmer Nageswara Rao at his Mahalrajupalle village by Sunday night. Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, who belongs to Chittoor district, hailed the actor's gesture.

"Spoke with @sonusood ji and applauded him for his inspiring effort to send a tractor to Nageswara Rao's family in Chittoor district. Moved by the plight of the family, I have decided to take care of the education of the two daughters and help them pursue their dreams," Naidu said in a tweet.

Rao's elder daughter completed her Intermediate while the second one passed Class 10. Rao used to run a tea stall in Madanapalle before coronavirus left him out of business. He returned to his native Mahalrajupalle village to take up agriculture once again.

Given his penury, he could not hire either a pair of bulls or a tractor to till the land, when his daughters volunteered to help him on the chores. Their plight went viral on social media following which the actor stepped in with help.

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Agencies
July 11,2020

New Delhi, Jul 11: The COVID-19 triggered restrictions on cinema exhibition industry have not only disheartened movie goers, but axed several thousand jobs and costed the industry an estimated ₹ 5,000 crore in revenue.

The sector has been one of the hardest hit due to COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent restrictions implemented to curb its spread.

Presently, cinemas and multiplexes continue to remain in the list of prohibited activities under the Centre's Unlock 2.0 Guidelines.

In an interview to media persons, movie exhibition major Inox Leisure's Chief Executive Alok Tandon said, "The industry on an average collects about ₹ 1,000 crore a month of 'Box Office' and on an average generates about ₹ 500 crore a month of ancillary revenues."

"Keeping in mind that the lockdown has been effective for more than 100 days now, which is about 3.5 months, the cinema exhibition industry would have accumulated losses worth ₹ 5,000 crore so far."

According to Tandon, associated businesses such as pre and post-production, make-up artistes, graphics, film set fabrication, film crew, events, marketing, F&B services have all been impacted due to the restrictions.

"With the production and exhibition of movies coming to a halt, the industry was bound to witness some job losses," he said without divulging any estimates.

As per industry data, the multiplex industry in India employs more than 200,000 people directly and accounts for nearly 60 % of revenues of the film business.

On the way forward, Tandon elaborated that the industry expects to regain business momentum and sentiment post resumption of operations.

"We believe it will be a matter of a couple of blockbusters, and we will be back to our usual operational numbers," he said.

"We are rightfully relying on the unshakeable passion of the Indian movie lovers, who are yearning to step out and spend time enjoying the giant screen experience."

Furthermore, he cited that industry has sent representation to the Centre for immediate re-commencement of operations and a support package.

"We have requested for financial support in the form of salary subsidies during the lockdown period, interest-free loans for three years, exemptions from various taxes and duties, like 'GST, Show tax, LBETs and Property taxes' for a period of one year from the date of operations, waiver on electricity minimum demand charges for one year and auto renewal of licenses and permits for the next one year," he said.

"We have been talking to our mall developer partners and are working together with them to see through this phase."

However, even after re-commencement, the industry anticipates at least 3-6 months before things return anywhere close to normal.

"The cinema ecosystem is such that we will need all the aspects of the business to swing into action and fire together for us to see a resurgence, and we are highly optimistic about the same," he said.

In terms of global experience, Tandon pointed out that cinemas have started operating in more than 25 major countries, and some of those markets are witnessing a healthy response.

"India is a massive movie market and we are confident that the passionate and responsible movie lovers will turn up in huge numbers to enjoy their favourite form of entertainment and also follow the prevention guidelines at the same time, ensuring a safe and steady revival of the cinema exhibition sector," Tandon said.

The film exhibition industry in India is mainly comprised of single screen and multiplexes.

At present there are around 9,527 cinemas across the country, including 6,327 single and 3,200 multiplex screens.

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Agencies
June 26,2020

Los Angeles, Jun 26: Warner Bros has moved its Christopher Nolan-directed espionage thriller Tenet from July 31 to August 12.

It's the second delay for the highly-anticipated movie, which was originally scheduled to release on July 17 but was postponed to July 31 due to coronavirus pandemic.

Warner Bros. is committed to bringing Tenet' to audiences in theaters, on the big screen, when exhibitors are ready and public health officials say it's time. In this moment what we need to be is flexible, and we are not treating this as a traditional movie release.

We are choosing to open the movie mid-week to allow audiences to discover the film in their own time, and we plan to play longer, over an extended play period far beyond the norm, to develop a very different yet successful release strategy, a Warner Bros spokesperson said in a statement to Deadline.

The studio has also delayed the US re-release of Nolan's sci-fi blockbuster Inception, in honour of the film's 10th anniversary, to July 31.

Tenet features John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Kenneth Branagh, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Michael Caine, Clemence Poesy, Dimple Kapadia and Himesh Patel.

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