I got angry when I watched 'Lipstick Under My Burkha': Ekta

Agencies
July 4, 2017

New Delhi, Jul 4: Producer Ekta Kapoor has said she came up with a "sassy promo" for "Lipstick Under My Burkha" as she wanted the film to reach out to wider audiences rather than being confined to the art film zone.Ekta

The movie hit a roadblock with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) soon after Ekta came onboard as a distributor but it only strengthened her desire to take the movie to the masses.

"The film made me angry. I saw the film and realised we really live in a world where as women we are not allowed to do or say anything. Here was this entertaining movie that spoke about what I think. Why didn't I think of it? I loved it," Ekta, 42, told PTI in an interview.

She came onboard the project when it had already hit a roadblock. Jha called her to watch the film and asked whether she would like to distribute and she immediately agreed.

"I decided to distribute this movie knowing that I might not earn profits. Then I was hoping we would get a certificate and that's when it landed into a soup with the censor board."

The board was criticised for being regressive by refusing certification to 'Lipstick...' as the film was "lady-oriented".

The makers approached the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT), which directed the CBFC to certify the film with few cuts.

After the film was cleared for release, Ekta's team came up with an edgy poster of the film, which depicts a woman showing her middle finger.

"I thought, will this be an 'artie' movie that 200 people will watch or a film where I'll get more and more women to see it? So, we got a sassy promo out, edgy as hell with great Hindi 'masala' music and have more women pay attention to it. I felt this was the way to go forward."

As someone who has produced shows on TV before venturing into cinema, Ekta understands the duality of the audiences in India.

"'Hamare khaane ke daant aur, dikhane ke daant aur hain'. What I say in front of my parents, I won't repeat the same with my friends. And we are okay with it.

"This is our society, this is how we've been brought up. But it doesn't mean I don't like discussing such topics. It means I will take up these issues in a different medium at the right time."

Ekta said lipstick, as a symbol, had less to do with vanity and more to do with freedom of choice.

"When you wear lipstick for vanity, it makes you look good. A lot of women say they wear lipstick when they want to feel good. I read somewhere 'there is nothing that a right shade of lipstick can't fix'. So many acts by us are a form of rebellion."

Spilling details about the first scene of the film, Ekta said one of the characters goes to a shop and steals a lipstick. "For me, that scene translates into a choice that she was not allowed to make. So she had to steal away that one thing."

Directed by Alankrita Shrivastava, "Lipstick..." has a stellar cast in Ratna Pathak Shah, Konkona Sensharma, Aahana Kumra, Plabita Borthakur, Sushant Singh and Vikrant Massey. The film releases on July 28.

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News Network
July 4,2020

London, Jul 4: Hollywood star Chris Hemsworth says he is really excited about the biopic on WWE legend Hulk Hogan, which is currently in development.

"The Thor" actor revealed that he will bulk up his physique for the much-anticipated film to be directed by “Joker” helmer Todd Phillips.

“This movie is going to be a really fun project. As you can imagine, the preparation for the role will be insanely physical. I will have to put on more size than I ever have before, even more than I put on for Thor.

''And then there is the accent as well as the physicality and the attitude. I will also have to do a deep dive into the rabbit hole of the wrestling world, which I'm really looking forward to doing,” Hemsworth told British magazine Total Film.

The project was announced last year, with “8 Mile” scribe Scott Silver and John Pollono attached to pen the script.

It is expected to look into Hogan's rise from the Florida wrestling circuit to becoming the face of the World Wrestling Federation in the 1980s where he squared off with villain Andre the Giant.

The 36-year-old actor, however, said that the team is still “quite a way away” from starting production on the film.

“'I haven't even seen a script yet. The project is deep in development. Todd Phillips and I met to chat about it maybe a year or two ago. We talked about the idea for the film, which I think was going to be a TV series at one point.

''There were a few different ideas about what portion of his life it was going to be set in, so we spitballed about what it could be and what I thought it might be. Thankfully, they ran with a few of those ideas and the script is in the process of being written - but Hulk Hogan is still quite a way away.''

The biopic will be produced by Michael Sugar through his Sugar23's first-look Netflix deal along with Joint Efforts' Phillips and Bradley Cooper, Eric Bischoff, and Hemsworth.

Hogan will also serve as executive producer along with Sugar23's Ashley Zalta. Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman will serve as co-producers.

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News Network
July 12,2020

Mumbai, Jul 12: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has sealed actor Rekha’s bungalow in suburban Bandra after a security guard there tested positive for coronavirus, a civic official said on Sunday.

The guard at the 65-year-old actor’s bungalow ‘Sea Springs’ tested positive on Tuesday, the official said.

The BMC has put a board outside the premises declaring the are as a containment zone. The security guard has been hospitalised at the BMC’s COVID-19 care facility in Bandra Kurla Complex, he said.

As the bungalow is a standalone one, only a portion of it has been sealed, he said.

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News Network
February 3,2020

Feb 3: Actor-cum-activist Swara Bhaskar on Sunday targetted the Central government over granting Padma Shri to Pakistan-origin singer Adnan Sami who became an Indian citizen in 2016.

Addressing "Save the Constitution, Save the Country" rally here in Madhya Pradesh, Bhaskar said that passing the new citizenship amendment act tantamount to "betrayal" of the Constitution.

Sami, born in London to a Pakistani Air force veteran, applied for Indian citizenship in 2015 and became a citizen of the country in January 2016.

He was one of the 118 people chosen for the Padma Shri awards by the Centre last month.

"The legal process to grant citizenship to refugees and arrest infiltrators already exists in India. You (the government) have granted Indian citizenship to Adnan Sami and now selected him for Padma Shri through that process. (If this is the case) What is the need and justification for the Citizenship Amendment Act?" Bhaskar asked.

"On the one hand you abuse us (anti-CAA protesters), cane-charge us, slap us, hurl teargas shells at us and on the other hand you award Padma Shri to a Pakistani," she said

Bhaskar said the government labels some people as the members of "tukde-tukde gang" and anti-nationals" as per its convenience.

"Supporters of the CAA and the NRC keep harping about the so-called infiltrators having entered our country. If that is the case then why are we unable to see these intruders?" she asked.

"The problem is that they have intruded into the minds of the government and the ruling party," she said.

Bhaskar said the government seems to have "fallen in love with Pakistan".

"It sees Pakistan everywhere. My devout grandmother doesn't chant Hanuman Chalisa as often as this government keeps chanting the Pakistan mantra," she said.

Without naming the RSS, the actor said, "Sitting in Nagpur, these people are spreading politics of hatred".

Bhaskar said Pakistan chose to become a religious nation after the Partition in 1947 unlike India which opted to become a "secular republic where one's religion has nothing to do with citizenship".

"(Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali) Jinnah died a long ago, but his admirers want to divide the country again in the name of a religion," Bhaskar said.

She criticised BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya for his controversial remarks about the 'presence' of Bangladeshi infiltrators in Indore, after some labourers were found eating poha and not rotis.

"If poha is Bangladeshi cuisine, then Kailash Vijayvariya, who grew up eating poha (in Indore), should be required to show his Indian citizenship papers," she demanded.

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