Conspiracy of silence broken: Filmmaker on gangrape verdict

May 6, 2017

New Delhi, May 6: Filmmaker Vibha Bakshi, the director of a National Award winning documentary on the December 16 gangrape of a physiotherapy intern, today hailed the Supreme Court's verdict upholding the death sentence given to four convicts and said the "conspiracy of silence has been broken".

BakshiAnother filmmaker Leslee Udwin, whose film 'India's Daughter' had kicked up a row here for showing the interview of one of the convicts and was subsequently banned, said that she would release the unedited version of her film.

Bakshi, who had made a documentary 'Daughters of Mother India' in the aftermath of the horrific Delhi gangrape case, said that men need to start talking about the issue of women's safety.

"This is a landmark judgement. But we have to understand that as a society we need to change our mindset. It's not only about these four people being hanged," she stressed.

Bakshi said that it's the men who need to talk about women's safety and equality.

"It's not only a women's issue. Men need to talk about women's safety and equality and we need to change the biases. If men get involved we will win," said the filmmaker.

Bakshi said that people were discussing the gangrape verdict which was a good sign.

"The conspiracy of silence has been broken. Today the only conversation that is happening is about this verdict. We are directly or indirectly involved in it. This momentum must not stop," she hoped.

Meanwhile, Udwin wondered whether the ban on her film would be lifted now.

"Well now that the Supreme court judgement is out, will the government lift the ban? Are they prepared to look in the mirror? After the verdict, I'll release the unedited version of the film with new evidence which I'd left out not to prejudice Supreme Court trial," Udwin said in a series of tweets.

Despite several attempts, Edwin couldn't be reached.

A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, through a unanimous verdict, upheld the Delhi High Court judgement on death penalty to the four convicts.

The HC had concurred with the trial court decision in the gang rape that took place on December 16, 2012.

Those who will face the gallows are Mukesh (29), Pawan (22), Vinay Sharma (23) and Akshay Kumar Singh (31). One of the accused, Ram Singh, allegedly committed suicide in Tihar jail while a juvenile was sentenced to three years' punishment in a reform home, and released in 2015.

The six men had attacked the 23-year-old paramedic student, and a male friend in a moving bus as it drove through the streets of New Delhi on the night of December 16.

Later on, she succumbed to her injuries, on December 29, 2012 while undergoing treatment at Singapore's Mount Elizabeth Hospital where she was flown by the government.

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News Network
April 24,2020

Mumbai, Apr 24: A complaint has been filed with police against Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut for allegedly referring to members of a particular community as a terrorist in a video released in support of her sister Rangoli Chandel, an official said on Friday.

The complaint was filed by a lawyer, Ali Kashif Khan Deshmukh, at the suburban Amboli Police Station on Wednesday.

The Twitter account of Chandel, who is also the 33- year-old actor's manager, recently got suspended for alleged hate speech.

According to the complaint, while supporting her sister, Ranaut, in the video, allegedly referred to members of a particular community as "terrorist", the official said.

Ranaut had released the video some time back.

Following the release of the video, Deshmukh submitted an application to the Amboli police seeking registration of a case against the actor, the official said.

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Agencies
February 10,2020

Hollywood star Joaquin Phoenix finally ended his dry run at the Oscars as he picked up the best actor trophy for his performance in and as "Joker" at the 92nd Academy Awards.

The 45-year-old actor had earlier bagged a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his turn as a failed, unhinged stand-up comedian who descends into chaos.

In a lengthy and rambling speech, Phoenix touched upon racism, climate change and gender inequality. He also remembered his brother River Phoenix, who died of a drug overdose at the age of 23 in 1993.

"When he was 17, my brother wrote this lyric. He said, 'run to the rescue with love and peace will follow'," Phoenix said. At the Academy Awards and the entire Hollywood award season, Phoenix had emerged as an undisputed frontrunner even though he was up against the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio ("Once Upon a Time in Hollywood"), Adam Driver ("Marriage Story"), "Antonio Banderas ("Pain & Glory") and Jonathan Pryce ("The Two Popes").

An Oscar had eluded Phoenix for the most part of his career, despite his successful collaborations with Ridley Scott ("Gladiator"), James Mangold ("Walk The Line") and Paul Thomas Anderson ("The Master"), all of which had earned him nominations.

But as Arthur Fleck aka The Joker, Phoenix finally managed to break that jinx and became the second actor to win an Oscar for playing the DC comic book villain after the posthumous best supporting actor win to Heath Ledger in 2008.

As Joker, Phoenix took a deep dive into character, capturing its essence as well as maniacal spirit in both body and soul.

He lost 52 pounds to get into the physicality of Fleck and turned to a pathological disorder to get his distinct laughter right.

Phillips wrote the part keeping Phoenix in mind though the actor took some convincing to play the role.

Phoenix started the film's festival circuit tour on a positive note at Cannes last year that followed by stops at Venice and Toronto.

The film had also courted controversies, owing to its theme of gun violence in the movie as well as Phoenix's temperamental press tour that saw him walking out of an interview midway.

But critics and the fans loved the actor's riveting turn in the movie and his pointed speeches.

At the Golden Globes, he called out the industry for its insensitivity towards climate change and pulled up his peers for using private jets for travel, while at the SAGs, he joked how he would always lose a role to DiCaprio and asked Christian Bale to deliver a bad performance for once in his career.

In his acceptance speech at the BAFTAs, Phoenix acknowledged the lack of diversity in the nominations, calling himself a part of the problem. Phoenix's career most praised performances include "Signs ", "We Own the Night", "Two Lovers", "The Immigrant", "Her", "You Were Never Really Here" and "Inherent Vice".

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News Network
February 26,2020

New York, Feb 26: Disney CEO Bob Iger, who steered the company’s absorption of Star Wars, Pixar, Marvel and Fox’s entertainment businesses and the launch of a Netflix challenger, is stepping down immediately, the company said in a surprise announcement Tuesday.

The Walt Disney Co. named as his replacement Bob Chapek, most recently chairman of Disney’s parks, experiences and products business.

“Did not see this coming -- Wowza,” tweeted LightShed media analyst Rich Greenfield.

Iger will remain executive chairman through the end of his contract on Dec. 31, 2021. Besides leading the board, Iger said he will spend more time on Disney’s creative endeavors, including the ESPN sports network, the newly acquired Fox studios and the Hulu and Disney Plus streaming services. He said he could not do that while running Disney on a day-to-day basis.

“It was not accelerated for any particular reason other than I felt the need was now to make this change,” Iger said on a conference call with reporters and analysts.

Iger steered Disney through the successful purchases of Lucasfilms, Marvel, Pixar and other brands that became big moneymakers for Disney. Last year, the top five movies in U.S. and Canada theaters were all Disney movies, including two from Marvel and one from Pixar. With the Dec. 20 release of the latest “Star Wars” movie, Disney had seven movies that each sold at least $1 billion in tickets worldwide last year.

Iger’s most recent coup was orchestrating a $71 billion purchase of Fox’s entertainment business in March and launching the Disney Plus streaming service in November. That service got nearly 29 million paid subscribers in less than three months. In a statement, Iger said it was the “optimal time” for a transition.

Pivotal Research Group analyst Jeffrey Wlodarczak said Iger had implied he would stay until his contract ended in 2021.

“On the other hand, they just successfully closed the Fox deal and had an unquestionably successful launch of Disney Plus so maybe he felt earlier was better to hand off the reins,” he said.

Colin Gillis, director of research at Chatham Road Partners, said the choice of Chapek seems solid because his parks division has had success.

Chapek said that while he has not led television networks or streaming services, his background in consumer-oriented businesses should help. Chapek and Iger both stressed that Disney would continue on the direction it had already been taking.

Disney is facing challenges to its traditional media business as cord-cutting picks up, meaning less fees from cable and satellite companies to carry Disney networks such as ABC, ESPN and Freeform. Disney’s own streaming services require the company to forgo money in licensing revenue, although the company is betting that money from subscriptions will eventually make up for that.

In the short term, Disney parks in Hong Kong and Shanghai, China, remain closed because of the coronavirus outbreak. In a CNBC interview, Chapek said the outbreak may be a “bump in the road,” but he said the company could weather it given “affinity for the brand.”

Iger told CNBC he had no plans to stay with Disney beyond next year.

Iger’s appointment as CEO in 2005 had been accompanied by controversy and protest from dissident shareholders Roy E. Disney and Stanley Gold. But he has come to be seen as a golden-boy top executive, and even someone who could run for president.

Iger told Vogue in 2018 that he had started seriously exploring a run for president because he is “horrified at the state of politics in America today,” but the Fox deal stopped his plans. Oprah Winfrey told Vogue that she “really, really pushed him to run.”

Iger, a former weatherman, joined ABC in 1974, 22 years before Disney bought the network.

At ABC, Iger developed such successful programs as “Home Improvement,” “The Drew Carey Show,” and “America’s Funniest Home Videos” and was instrumental in launching the quiz show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” He was also criticized for cancelling well-regarded but expensive shows such as “Twin Peaks” and “thirtysomething.”

Since Iger became CEO, Disney’s stock price has risen fivefold. Its stock fell more than 2% in extended trading following the announcement, on top of a broader market selloff on virus fears during regular trading.

Iger, 69, was the second-highest paid CEO in 2018, as calculated by The Associated Press and Equilar, an executive data firm. He earned $65.6 million. The top earner was Discovery’s David Zaslav who earned $129.5 million.

Susan Arnold, the independent lead director of the Disney board, said succession planning had been ongoing for several years.

Chapek, 60, is only the seventh CEO in Disney history. Chapek was head of the parks, experiences and products division since it was created in 2018. He was previously head of parks and resorts and before that president of consumer products.

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