Sonali Bendre on why she didn’t hide her cancer diagnosis from son: We hoped one day he will not be lying to us

Agencies
March 3, 2019

Mumbai, Mar 3: Actor Sonali Bendre on Saturday said she wanted to be in control of her life story and that is the reason why she decided to share her cancer battle with the people on social media. The 44-year-old actor was diagnosed with high-grade cancer last year and had to undergo treatment in New York. She returned home in December and has resumed work.

Sonali had kept in loop her fans on social media about the various struggles she faced during her battle with the disease and she said it was important to be honest with people about what she went through, including the pain.

“I wanted to be charge of my narrative from the start. When you are a public figure, there are so many narratives that it out there. And suddenly you lose hold of that narrative very quickly. It becomes a different thing all together,” the actor said at the India Today Conclave 2019.

“As I went through the process, I realised that there are so many others that would be going to through it. I wouldn’t be honest that if I said, ‘Everything was sunshine’. It was not, it was painful and you do have to go through it,” she added.

Sonali said like many others, she also encountered pain and had many low phases and she learned that one can do nothing but to deal with it.

“Every time I kept thinking ‘Why am I not being positive?’ and then you start feeling ‘Did I do something wrong?’. But there is pain and what can you do about it. “You have to go through that pain. And that’s why I wanted it to be out that there is pain and it is hard. The point is to reduce that time to as minimum and prolong the good time for as long as you can,” the actor said.

Sonali, who ruled the ‘90s with movies such as Diljale, Sarfarosh, Duplicate and Hum Saath Saath Hain, is married to filmmaker Goldie Behl. The couple has a 13-year-old son Ranveer.

Goldie and her, Sonali said, were honest when it came to breaking the news of her cancer to Ranveer and they never concealed any part of that journey from their son.

“Ranveer was on a school trip and I could have sent him back home but I needed to see him. I need to be able to talk to him. That’s the way we have brought him up and we have always been very honest with him. “The only thing that we were hoping was that by not lying to him, one day he will not be lying to us. That he will be honest with us and that was the example we were trying to set.”

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Mumbai, Jan 9: A day after Deepika Padukone visited the JNU campus to express solidarity with students who had been attacked, her film "Chhapaak" made another splash on Wednesday over the name of its antagonist.

While Deepika was the focus of many a discussion on social media and beyond for showing up at a public meeting in the university, the film, based on the life of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal, was also making news for quite another reason.

In what could well be a storm in a 'Twitter cup', "Nadeem Khan" and "Rajesh" began trending on the microblogging site after a magazine article claimed the name of the antagonist had been changed. By 4 pm, 'Nadeem Khan' clocked close to 60,000 tweets and 'Rajesh' close behind with 50,000.

In 2005, Laxmi was disfigured for life when a man called Nadeem Khan and three others allegedly hurled acid at her in Delhi's upscale Khan Market.

In the film based on her life, the narrative remains the same but the names have been changed. So, Laxmi is 'Malti' Agarwal and Nadeem becomes 'Babboo' aka 'Bashir Khan'.

On Wednesday, Swarajya magazine wrote an article headlined, "The Ways Of Bollywood: In Deepika Padukone-Starer Chhapaak, Acid Attacker Naeem Khan Becomes ‘Rajesh'." "As part of a backlash against Padukone's JNU 'meet and greet', social media users researched the names of the characters involved in the movie Chhapaak and conspicuously found the name of main perpetrator Naeem Khan absent," the article alleged.

But in the Meghna Gulzar directed film, there is no mention of any Nadeem or Naeem Khan. Moreover, Rajesh is the name of Malti's boyfriend.

Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Babul Supriyo jumped into the controversy, saying it was another example of "absolute hypocrisy".

"...When you say all characters are fictitious and don't have any resemblance with living beings and all of that, this is absolute hypocrisy. When you change the name which also changes the religion, it has been done very deliberately," Supriyo told a TV channel when asked to comment on the controversy.

South Delhi BJP MP Ramesh Biduri also called for a boycott of the movie.

With Deepika grabbing attention by going to JNU, many appreciated her 'silent solidarity' but others criticised her for "supporting the Leftists" and said it was a promotional stunt ahead of the release.

"#BoycottChhapaak" was trending on Twitter as was "#ISupportDeepika".

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Agencies
June 6,2020

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie feels discrimination and impunity cannot be justified in any way, and says she hopes people in the US can come together to "address the deep structural wrongs in our society".

The Oscar-winning star, who turned 45 on Thursday, also donated $200,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, reports people.com.

"Rights don't belong to any one group to give to another. Discrimination and impunity cannot be tolerated, explained away or justified. I hope we can come together as Americans to address the deep structural wrongs in our society," Jolie said.

"I stand with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in their fight for racial equality, social justice, and their call for urgent legislative reform," she added.

Meanwhile, the actress celebrated her birthday amid lockdown with her six children -- Maddox, 18, Pax, 16, Zahara, 15, Shiloh, 14, and 11-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.

The actress and activist has been active since the COVID-19 pandemic spread around the world and has donated to different organisations.

Jolie previously donated $1 million to No Kid Hungry, the organisation working to feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I knew that there were problems in America, that there was poverty, but I could not believe when I realised how many school children in America were dependent on a meal to not go hungry. I was so disgusted that we have gotten to this point as a country and that we would let the most vulnerable be in such a state. I can't imagine what it feels like for those parents," she said while opening up about her reason to get associated with the organisation.

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News Network
February 11,2020

New Delhi, Feb 11: 'Housefull 4' actor Pooja Hegde will star opposite Salman Khan in his Eid 2021 release 'Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali'.

Film critic and trade analyst Taran Adarsh made the announcement on Twitter on Tuesday.

"CONFIRMED... #PoojaHegde opposite #SalmanKhan in #KabhiEidKabhiDiwali... Directed by Farhad Samji... Story and produced by Sajid Nadiadwala... #Eid2021 release," read Adarsh's tweet.

Earlier, Salman Khan had announced the title of the film 'Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali' in January, keeping the trend alive of gifting his fans a movie to enjoy on Eid al-Fitr.

The film is being co-produced by Salman Khan, Sohail Khan, and Atul Agnihotri under the banners Salman Khan Films, Sohail Khan Productions and Reel Life Production.

The flick will hit theatres on Eid 2021, which will be around May 21.

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