Bollywood demands justice in Unnao, Kathua rape cases

Agencies
April 12, 2018

Mumbai, Apr 12: Angry, ashamed and heartbroken is how the Indian film industry personalities described their feelings over the Unnao and Kathua rapes and demanded swift action against the perpetrators.

Celebrities such as Javed Akhtar, Abhishek Bachchan, Swara Bhaskar and Hansal Mehta took to social media to condemn the two brutal incidents that have shocked the nation.

In Unnao, a teen rape survivor claimed BJP MP Kuldeep Singh Sengar had raped her and the death of her father in police custody.

The Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government has filed a first information report (FIR) against Sengar.

While in Kathua, eight-year-old Asifa was allegedly gangraped by six men who had held her in captivity in a small temple village for a week in January.

She was drugged so that she could be sexually assaulted again before being bludgeoned to death.

Noted screenwriter Javed Akhtar said it was high time that people came forward in support of women rights.

All those who wish justice for women should stand up and raise their voices against the rapists and their protectors in Unnao and Kathua.

In Unnao, the brother of the alleged rapist is arrested for beating the father of the rape victim which caused his death.

So far police has not taken any action in the rape case.

The MLA is walking free and has the audacity to call the victim and her family ‘lowly people',” he wrote.

Abhishek Bachchan shared Asifa's picture and hashtagged her name.

Director Hansal Mehta retweeted The New York Times piece which detailed how Asifa's rape and murder led to protests by Hindu nationalists who defended the accused in the case.

Is this nationalism? Mehta wrote alongside the link.

Sonam Kapoor also shared the same article and called out “fake nationals and fake Hindus” in her tweet.

Ashamed appalled and disgusted by fake nationals and fake Hindus.

I cannot believe this is happening in my country, she wrote.

Actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar pleaded the case of an eight-year-old who was subjected to unspeakable brutalities.

Imagine what goes through the mind of an 8 yr old as she is drugged, held captive, gang raped over days and then murdered.

If you don't feel her terror, you are not human.

If you don't demand Asifa get justice, you belong to nothing (sic)” Farhan tweeted.

Swara wrote, An 8 year old girl was gangraped & murdered in a temple because she belonged to a Muslim tribe that Hindu right wing goons wanted evicted from their area! #Kathua #India this is on us!!!! If in #Delhi pls join TODAY #JusticeforAsifa (sic).

Actor-comic Vir Das asked the people to set aside political differences and unite to fight the perpetrators of the crime.

I can't breathe after reading this. I need to share it. And so do you. Please do.Justice for Asifa.

Dear politicians, I'd like to see every one of you miserable scum and your army of slimy sycophants put your parties and your bullsh*t aside and do something to make sure that no child ever has to face what this girl did.

But you won't. Because you don't deserve this country, he tweeted.

Riteish Deshmukh wrote, A 8-year-old is drugged, raped & murdered and another one is fighting for justice for herself and the death of her father in custody.

We have a choice either raise your voice or be a silent spectator.

Stand up for what is right even if you are standing alone.

' #Kathua #Unnao Filmmaker Shirish Kunder shared a news article and wrote, Please read this.

If your blood boils, please share it. Because at a time when there's a section of people supporting these monsters, it'll mean some humanity is still alive.

Tisca Chopra also tweeted, So pained to read about #Unnao & #Kathua rapes. how strongly the government responds will be its true test @PMOIndia. At least I won't vote for them coming elections if they don't take action this time.

Actor Rahul Bose called the incidents gut wrenching.Unimaginable depravity that is disturbing on so many levels.

Our response will decide what we have become as a society, Bose added.

Actors Ranvir Shorey and Richa Chadha attacked the people who defended the accused in the name of religion.

If these people had an iota of reverence and respect for Hinduism, they'd be up in arms against the people who used a temple to torture, rape and murder a child! These are slogans to be used when the people who have committed these crimes are hanged! Utterly appalling that slogans like 'Jai Shri Ram' and 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' are being used to defend perpetrators of heinous crimes.

These vicious beasts will destroy India and Hinduism.

Unnao and Kathua, Shorey said These men fast on Navratras and pray to Devi Ma, yet they defend a man who plotted the rape, torture and murder of a child inside a temple.

Look at them, Shame them.

If a stray news report can make credible people.

Hindu haters why are these fake Hindus not unemployed, Chadha tweeted.

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News Network
March 19,2020

London, Mar 19: "Game of Thrones" star Indira Varma has revealed that she has tested positive for coronavirus.

Her diagnosis comes two days after fellow "Game of Thrones" actor Kristofer Hivju also said that he tested positive for the COVID-19 infection.

Varma, who played the role of Ellaria Sand in the epic HBO series, took to Instagram on Wednesday to share the news.

"I'm in bed with it and it's not nice. Stay safe and healthy and be kind to your fellow people," she wrote.

The 46-year-old actor was starring in the modern take of Anton Chekhov's play "The Seagull" in London's West End, alongside "Game of Thrones" alum Emilia Clarke.

The play is on hold due to the pandemic.

"So sad our and so many other shows around the world have gone dark affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. We hope to be back soon and urge you all (and the govt) to support us when we do. Phoenix/ Seagull rising from the ashes (sic)," Varma wrote in her post with photos from the rehearsals.

Varma and Hivju join Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Idris Elba, Olga Kurylenko, and Rachel Matthews among the Hollywood celebrities who contracted the virus.

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News Network
June 15,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 15: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has condoled the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and recalled his support to the state during the floods in 2018.

The 34-year old Bollywood actor was found hanging at his apartment in Mumbai on Sunday.

"We are deeply saddened to hear of the death of Sushant Singh Rajput. His early demise is a great loss to the Indian Film industry. Our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and supporters," Vijayan said in a tweet.

"We take a moment to remember his support during the time of Kerala floods

During the deluge in August, 2018, a fan had tagged him in a comment on his Instagram post and said, he don't have the money, but wanted to donate some food.

The actor, who spotted the comment, replied that he will donate Rs one crore in his fan's name.

Rajput donated Rs one crore to CMDRF in the name of his fan and uploaded the screenshot saying, My Kerala.

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News Network
February 6,2020

Los Angeles, Feb 6: U.S. silver screen legend Kirk Douglas, the son of Jewish Russian immigrants who rose through the ranks to become one of Hollywood's biggest stars, has died, his family said Wednesday. He was 103.

One of the last survivors of the golden age of cinema and the father of Oscar-winning actor and film-maker Michael Douglas, the Spartacus actor was renowned for the macho tough guy roles he took on in around 90 movies over a six-decade career.

"It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103," Michael Douglas said in a statement posted to Facebook.

"To the world he was a legend, an actor from the golden age of movies who lived well into his golden years, a humanitarian whose commitment to justice and the causes he believed in set a standard for all of us to aspire to."

Douglas was Oscar-nominated for his roles as a double-crossing and womanizing boxer in Champion (1949), a ruthless movie producer in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) and tortured artist Vincent Van Gogh in Lust for Life (1956).

But his only Academy Award came in 1995 -- an honorary lifetime achievement statuette "for 50 years as a creative and moral force in the motion picture community."

Douglas is survived by second wife Anne Buydens, 100, and three sons. A fourth child, Eric, died of a drug overdose in his 40s, in 2004.

"(To) me and my brothers Joel and Peter he was simply Dad, to Catherine (Zeta-Jones), a wonderful father-in-law, to his grandchildren and great grandchild their loving grandfather, and to his wife Anne, a wonderful husband," said Michael.

"Kirk's life was well lived, and he leaves a legacy in film that will endure for generations to come, and a history as a renowned philanthropist who worked to aid the public and bring peace to the planet."

Kirk Douglas rose to the heights of Hollywood from an impoverished childhood as the son of Jewish Russian immigrants.

He was one of the last survivors of the golden age of cinema, often portraying the macho and not-always-likeable tough guy in around 90 movies over a six-decade career.

With charming dimples and a cleft chin, Douglas was a renowned ladies' man but also admitted to being angry into adulthood because of his difficult New York childhood.

"I still have anger in me," he said in a New York Times article in 1988 after the release of his first autobiography.

"I think I'm loath to let it go because I think that anger was the fuel I used in accomplishing what I wanted to do; you see it in my films, you see it in imitations people do of me."

Screen legend

The role that perhaps immortalized him as a star was that of a rebellious Roman Empire slave turned gladiator in the 1960 epic Spartacus.

Douglas also produced the film, which took four Oscars. He won praise for listing in the credits the real name of Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted for his Communist sympathies and wrote under a pen name.

There were Oscar nominations for his roles as a double-crossing and womanizing boxer in Champion (1949), a ruthless movie producer in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) and of tortured artist Vincent Van Gogh in Lust for Life (1956).

But his only Oscar came in 1995 as an honorary lifetime achievement award "for 50 years as a creative and moral force in the motion picture community."

Other major acting roles were as a French private in a botched suicidal mission in World War I in Paths of Glory (1957) and American Western legend Doc Holliday in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957).

"Often cast as a villain, amoral climber or self-obsessed grabber, Kirk Douglas took care to color his hard edges with suggestions of pain, wit and sympathy," says American Film Institute, which ranks him as 17th on its list of the greatest male screen legends.

In the 1970s he stood behind the camera, directing Scalawag (1973) and Posse (1975).

He also took up writing, penning his first autobiography The Ragman's Son in 1988 and following with around 10 other titles.

In the autobiography, Douglas writes: "I always worked in the theory that when you play a weak character, find a moment when he's strong. And if you're playing a strong character, find a moment when he's weak."

Tough childhood

Douglas was born in New York on December 9, 1916 to illiterate Jewish Russian immigrants, an only boy with six sisters.

He started out as Issur Danielovitch, later Izzy Demsky. It was tough, he recounted later, with the family poor, anti-Semitism rife and his distant alcoholic father forced to earn a living as a ragman.

"In a sense, I've always felt on the outside, looking in," he said in the New York Times article.

"It's my background, damn it. My father was an illiterate Russian immigrant, a ragman, the lowest rung on the economic scale."

His dream of a way out was through acting and he started in high school, eventually entering the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and changing his name along the way.

To survive he took jobs as a waiter, labourer and porter. In 1941 he hit Broadway but his budding career was interrupted by service in the Navy. After the war, he headed for Hollywood.

His romantic conquests were many, although he once said he had never counted, and included starls such as Rita Hayworth, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford and Ava Gardner.

Douglas' four sons followed him into cinema.

Oscar-winning actor and producer Michael and Joel were from a marriage to actress Diana Webster, whom he divorced in 1951.

Three years later he married Belgian-American Anne Buydens, having Peter and then Eric, who died in 2004 from an accidental overdose.

Douglas has also brushed death: he survived a helicopter crash in 1991 and a massive stroke in 1996 that nearly robbed him of speech.

Around the time of his 100th birthday in 2016, he attributed his remarkable longevity to his second marriage.

"I was lucky enough to find my soulmate 63 years ago, and I believe our wonderful marriage and our nightly 'golden hour' chats have helped me survive all things," he said in celebrity magazine Closer Weekly.

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