Foolish and silly: R Balki on 'Padman' plagiarism claims

Agencies
February 12, 2018

Mumbai, Feb 12: "Padman" director R Balki has brushed off allegations of plagiarism against his recently- released film, calling the claims "silly" and "foolish".

Writer Ripu Daman Jaiswal has accused the makers of the Akshay Kumar-Radhika Apte starrer of copying 11 scenes from a script that he had written.

"That's so foolish. After every film, some people foolishly make these claims," Balki told PTI, dismissing the allegations.

The film is a fictionalised account of Tamil Nadu-based Arunachalam Muruganantham, who created affordable sanitary napkins for the women of his village.

"My film is an official biography of Muruganantham. Is he accusing Muruganantham of leading a life that has been copied from his writing? That's so silly," Balki said.

Jaiswal also alleged that a dialogue, narrated by megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the film, has been taken from his script that he had sent to Ryan Stephan, creative head of Karan Johar's Dharma Productions.

"I remember I was in the library when I wrote this dialogue and was truly elated. Honestly, I surprised myself that day. Tell me, how on earth can you steal someone's dialogue? This is unfair," he had tweeted.

The writer also said that he has filed an FIR against Akshay and the filmmakers.

"R Balki! I tried everything! I even filed a police complaint at Cuffe Parade station on 23rd of Jan against everyone. Tell me, what more can I do?

"S.I. told me I have a good case and they will look into the matter and will call me after investigation. Am still waiting for that call (sic)," Daman had tweeted.

When contacted Senior Police Inspector of Cuff Parade, Rashmi Jadhav said, "There is one application received from Jaiswal, in which he has claimed copyright of his script. But no offence has been registered in this case."

Two months ago, Daman had shared a post on Facebook where he attached the screenshots of the mail he had sent to Dharma Productions.

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News Network
July 20,2020

New Delhi, Jul 20: On the occasion of International Chess Day, former Miss World and actor Manushi Chhillar enjoyed a game of chess with her father Dr Mitra Basu Chhillar and revealed through an Instagram post that she is a "competitive" board game player.

The 23-year-old actor posted a picture of herself and her dad on Instagram where the two are seen deeply concentrating on the game.

"I'm the competitive one, he's the mind reader. Irrespective of who loses, I know he always wins!#InternationalChessDay."

Further elaborating on the importance of playing chess, Manushi who once pursued a career in medicine stressed that chess helps in stretching the human mind in terms of strategy and imagination.

"Chess stretches your mind in terms of strategy and imagination because you really have to outwit your opponent at any cost. 

Playing chess with my dad is something that I have always loved doing because he's the most unpredictable, intelligent, and sharpest person I've ever played with," said Chhillar.

The 23-year-old actor is gearing up for her debut in Yash Raj Films' 'Prithviraj' where she will be seen opposite actor Akshay Kumar.

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News Network
June 8,2020

Mumbai, Jun 8: Veteran writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar has won the 2020 Richard Dawkins Award for critical thinking, holding religious dogma up to scrutiny, advancing human progress and humanist values.

Akhtar has become the first Indian to be given the honour, which recognises a distinguished individual from the field of science, scholarship, education, or entertainment, who publicly proclaims the values of secularism and rationalism and upholding scientific truth.

Akhtar's wife, veteran actor Shabana Azmi said the award's relevance becomes more prominent especially in the current times when secularism is under attack.

"I am thrilled. I know what a hero Richard Dawkins has been for Javed. The award gains all the more significant because in today’s time when secularism is being attacked by religious fundamentalists of all hues, this award comes as a validation of Javed’s long service to rational thinking," Azmi told PTI.

The award is named after world-renowned English evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins. Actor-comedian Ricky Gervais received the honour last year.

Bollywood celebrities Anil Kapoor and Dia Mirza took to Twitter to congratulate the 75-year-old writer for the recognition.

"Knowing that Richard Dawkins has been your hero since you read 'The Selfish Gene', the prestigious Richard Dawkins Award must be extra special for you @Javedakhtarjadu Saab! It's a truly incredible honour! Congratulations!" Kapoor tweeted.

Dia said Akhtar's win is a proud moment for rhe country.

"Javed Akhtar Saab has won the prestigious Richard Dawkins Award 2020 for critical thinking, holding religious dogma upto scrutiny, advancing human progress and humanist values. He is the only Indian to have won this award! @Javedakhtarjadu Congratulations! You make us proud," Dia wrote.

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News Network
March 11,2020

Mar 11: The shooting of Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai has been completed, and the film will now release on schedule.

If one recalls, the film went on the floors in the first week of November 2019 and was supposed to be Salman’s fastest completed film. However, the movie faced a variety of roadblocks — It was first to be wrapped in the first week of February, “But Salman went off to his Panvel farmhouse after the release of Dabangg 3 and spent a while there ushering in his birthday,” a source reveals.

“Then, the extension of the show Bigg Boss 13 by five weeks also turned out to be another speed breaker. Then, Salman wanted to make sure that the film was being made as good as what his audiences wanted on Eid. He made sure that his director Prabhudeva got what he wanted from the performers and didn’t want to rush him.

"Additionally, the Azerbaijan schedule of the film also got cancelled as Salman did not want to take any chances with the cast and crew with the lurking Covid 19, and rescheduled the shoot in India. This is now complete, barring any patchwork that might emerge later,” our source adds.

Radhe is slated to be an Eid release, which will clash with Akshay Kumar’s Laxmmi Bomb.

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