Bihari actor creates a buzz in Latin American film industry

Agencies
January 2, 2018

Washington, Jan 2: Patna-born Prabhakar Sharan has become a rising star in the Latin American film industry with his first Spanish movie "Enredados: la confusion" (Entangled: The Confusion), becoming one of the most popular films of the year in Costa Rica.

Said to be the first Latin American film made in typical Bollywood style of songs and dance, it was shot in Costa Rica, Mumbai and Panama.

Prabhakar, who plays the lead role opposite Nancy Dobles, a popular Costa Rican television hostess, plans to release his dream project in English, Hindi and Bhojpuri as "Ek Chor, Do Mastikhor" in March-April.

Ex-world wrestling champion and Hollywood actor, Scott Steiner plays a lead role in the movie, which has been produced by Costa Rica-based Pacific Investment Corporation.

The supporting cast includes local actors Mario Chacon and Jose Castro in the film. Panamanians, Colombians and Argentines have also collaborated on the project.

Released in February last year, and distributed by Cinepolis in six countries Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and San Salvador, the movie registered box office success.

Cinepolis is now planning to release the movie in more than a dozen Latin America countries in March or April this year and also in the US.

"Khiladi 786" fame Ashish Mohan initially directed the movie. However, Prabhakar himself ended up directing the movie after he and Mohan parted ways following differences.

"It is a film that bonds the two communities (Indian and Latins) together," Prabhakar said in an interview.

Jose Castro, film commissioner Costa Rica said it was for the first time that a Costa Rican cinema had such kind of production and entertainment.

"This movie is not a just a movie for theatre it has become a milestone in the Latin movie industry for the new difference and changes by its style," Prabhakar said.

But the journey to making the movie has not been easy.

Prabhakar landed in Costa Rica as a student for studies at Universidad Panamericana in 2000. After completing his studies, he started a chain of Indian clothing and restaurants.

By 2006, he started bringing Bollywood movies to Costa Rican theatres and Monster Truck shows from the US.

"My company was the first to bring Bollywood movies commercially to Central America," he said.

However, his endeavour in business was not successful.

He moved back to India between 2010 and 2013, during which he divorced from his wife.

With nothing working for him in India, Prabhakar decided to move back to Costa Rica in 2014 and revive his passion of making the first Bollywood movie in Latin America where he met Teresa Rodriguez Cerdas, a university owner, educationist and philanthropist.

"She took my dream as her own and helped me generate a sum of USD 1.5 million for the movie," he said.

He is a successful businessman now but cinema remains his passion. His next project is "Borders without Life", about people who risk their lives to come to the US illegally.

Prabhakar's parents Prabhunath Sharan and Subhadra Prasad are retired bankers from Motihari.

He was born in Patna and did his schooling from Bhurkunda and Ramnagar which is now in Jharkhand. He went to Rohtak for his college education and moved to Costa Rica to complete his studies.

Top Indian diplomats stationed in Latin America have praised Prabhakar for his effort in promoting Indian films.

"The movie is a proud step which will create the landmark in the Latin cinema industry, it promotes our culture and it's a fusion of Indian and Latin cinema...," said Sandeep Chakravorty, the former Indian Ambassador to Peru and the Consulate General of India in New York.

"Prabhakar Sharan is the flower of my garden and he has taken the first step to open a big market in Latin America for Bollywood. The movie entertains local community in our big Bollywood style," said Shamma Jain, Ambassador of India for Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua.

"Very entertaining and a big step for the two cultures and the two industries. 'Enredados: la Confusion' is just not a movie, it's the first step where we can see the local community enjoying Bollywood culture," said Sandeep Babu Kurup, Ambassador of India to Guatemala.

According to Mariela Cruz, Ambassador of Costa Rica to India, the film is an important initiative because of its fusion of two cultures.

"As an ambassador of Costa Rica to India, I am very proud of this great effort that will serve as a platform to enhance the beauty of our country and to make known in other latitudes the first Bollywood-style film produced in Costa Rica for all of Latin America," he said.

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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
July 24,2020

New Delhi, Jul 24: With more than 50 movies under her credits and being one of the few actors from Bollywood to make a strong imprint in Hollywood, actor Priyanka Chopra started it all by winning Miss India 2000 pageant.

Chopra who is currently celebrating the completion of 20 years in the entertainment industry, on Friday looked back and reacted to the video where she was crowned as Miss India.
The' Fashion' actor shared a video on Instagram, where she is seen watching the throwback video. The 'Dostana' actor recalled winning the title and joked about her sense of style and poses back then.

Sharing the reaction video, she wrote: "Alright guys, we're doing this! I'm watching footage from my Miss India pageant in 2000! This is where it all began... If you've never seen these before, you are in for quite a treat. #20in2020 @feminamissindia."

Throughout the video, the 'Gunday' actor is seen casually commenting on her hairstyle, enacting her own movement on stage, and also recalled her luscious hair, which she now wonders where it all got lost.

However, she took a moment to appreciate the "clever and profound" answer she gave for the question that won her the crown.

While watching the winning moment, the 'Don' star noted how she never expected to win it. She explained that she had a train booked as she was to go back and take her board exams.

Going through the old photographs that run parallel to the video, she says: "These pictures are hard to look at." Pausing at a particular photograph, she laughs and says, "I don't even know how to do that pose."

"Well, this is where everything started. These are the pictures that sent me to Tinseltown," said the actor towards the end of the video.

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News Network
June 1,2020

Mumbai, Jun 1: Singer-composer Wajid Khan of music director duo Sajid-Wajid, popular for their work on superstar Salman Khan's films such as "Wanted", "Dabangg" and "Ek Tha Tiger", died in early hours of Monday in a city hospital due to complications arising from a kidney infection. He was 42.

Music composer Salim Merchant, who confirmed the news of Wajid's death, said the composer was hospitalised few days ago at Surana Hospital, Chembur where his condition deteriorated.

"He had multiple issues. He had a kidney issue and had a transplant a while ago. But recently he got to know about kidney infection... He was on the ventilator for the last four days, after his situation started getting worse. Kidney infection was the beginning and then he got critical," Salim told PTI.

The music composer duo made their Bollywood debut with Salman's 1998 movie "Pyaar Kiya Toh Darna Kya" and went on to work on actor's various films including "Garv", "Tere Naam", "Tumko Na Bhool Payenge", "Partner" and the popular "Dabangg" franchise.

Wajid also did playback for Salman in chartbusters like "Mera He Jalwa", "Fevicol Se" and for Akshay Kumar in "Chinta Ta Chita Chita" from the film "Rowdy Rathore", among others. He recently co-composed Salman's songs "Pyaar Karona" and "Bhai Bhai", which the actor released on his YouTube channel.

Wajid along with his brother Sajid served as mentor on singing reality shows "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa 2012" and "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Singing Superstar".

The composer duo also scored IPL 4 theme song, "Dhoom Dhoom Dhoom Dhadaka", which was sung by Wajid.

Soon after the news of the composer's demise broke, many from the film fraternity took to Twitter to pay tributes.

Actor Priyanka Chopra said she will always remember Wajid's smile.

"The one thing I will always remember is Wajid bhai's laugh. Always smiling. Gone too soon. My condolences to his family and everyone grieving. Rest in peace my friend. You are in my thoughts and prayers," she posted on Twitter.

Actor Parineeti Chopra said Wajid was one of the "nicest" men in the industry.

"Always singing. All heart. Always positive. You will truly be missed Wajid bhai," she tweeted.

Actor Varun Dhawan shared a picture of his filmmaker-father David Dhawan with Wajid and remembered the musician as one of the most positive people in Bollywood.

"Shocked hearing this news @wajidkhan7 bhai was extremely close to me and my family. He was one of the most positive people to be around. We will miss you Wajid bhai thank you for the music," he wrote.

Music composer-singer Vishal Dadlani said he was "heartbroken" after hearing the news.

"Both @SajidMusicKhan and @wajidkhan7 have been close & true friends. The kind who might see the light on and show up at our studio in the middle of the night just to meet and talk and share a laugh. Can't believe Wajid and I will never speak again," he wrote.

Singer-composer Shankar Mahadevan said he was still unable to come to terms with the news of Wajid's demise.

"Shocking ! Good bye dear brother.. love you .. till we meet on the other side ! Prayers for your peaceful journey Wajid bhai," he tweeted.

Singer Javed Ali posted, "Feeling Deeply Saddened after hearing shocking news of the sudden demise of Wajid Khan. May his Soul Rest in Peace. My heartfelt condolences to his family. May Allah give strength to the family."

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