IIFA 2015's top honours: Kangana and Shahid win best actress/actor awards

June 8, 2015

Kuala Lumpur, Jun 8: Vikas Bahl's coming-of-age drama Queen and Vishal Bhardwaj's insurgency movie Haider, an adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet, on Sunday scooped the major trophies at the 16th IIFA awards, including the best actress honour for Kangana Ranaut and the best actor gong for Shahid Kapoor.

Shahid KapoorQueen, a middle class girl's self-discovery journey after getting ditched by her fiance, and the Shahid-Shraddha Kapoor starrer Kashmir-set drama took home three honours each.

Shahid, 34, dedicated his award to Vishal for giving him the opportunity and called the film a "scary" one.

"I would like to thank Vishal Bhardwaj for this recognition. A very big thank you to him for believing in me.

"Today, I am standing here because of him. It was a scary film to do because we thought people will never love and understand this film," said the actor, who gave a power-packed performance on the songs of Haider, in his acceptance speech.

Tabu's powerful portrayal of Shahid's mother in the film won her the best supporting actress award while Kay Kay Menon's role of a shrewd politician in the same bagged him the trophy for the best actor in a negative role.

Queen, a Phantom films and Viacom pictures co-produced drama set in Amsterdam and Paris, won the award for best picture and story, (Bahl, Chaitally Parmar and Parvez Shaikh) apart from the best actress trophy.

Anurag Kashyap, one of the honchos of Phantom Films, in a surprising gesture, expressed his love for fellow director Rajkumar Hirani, while receiving the best movie trophy for Queen.

"I don't know what to say. I love you Raju sir (Rajkumar Hirani). I don't know how this film happened and it happened somehow. When we started the film we didn't have any money...," he said.

Hirani won the best director gong for Aamir Khan starrer highly acclaimed PK, a satire on godmen, after beating Bahl (Queen), Vishal (Haider), Abhishek Varman (2 States) and Imtiaz Ali (Highway).

"This film fearlessly talked about religion in the country and I want to thank my father and mother for it. Like Subhash Ghai, I also feel a film is incomplete without the help of technicians and actors," Hirani said.

Deepika Padukone, who was nominated in the best actress category for her stint as a dance teacher in multi-starrer film Happy New Year, took home the woman of the year award.

The 29-year-old actress dedicated the honour to all the women across the globe.

"This award is for millions of women," said the Finding Fanny star, who looked gorgeous in a black and maroon saree.

Bollywood's showman Subhash Ghai was honoured with the prestigious award 'Outstanding contribution to Indian cinema'. It was presented to him by his Ram Lakhan stars Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor.

"I am going through so many emotions right now. I have so many memories. Over the years one learns, rises and falls.

"This is one of the most wonderful evenings for someone like me, to receive so much love and adulation. I have so many stories to share. I think success and awards are a trap. You achieve these for your past work but then you are expected to keep up that work," he said in his acceptance speech.

Riteish Deshmukh-starrer Ek Villain too won three gongs.

The father of one took home the best supporting role for portraying a cold-blooded serial killer in the film and the Mohit Suri-directed thriller won the best playback singing (male) for Ankit Tiwari (Galliyan) and best lyrics.

It was a big night for Riteish, who was accompanied by wife Genelia, as he was also awarded in a new category introduced this time at IIFA, 'Outstanding contribution to a regional film'. The couple's home production, Marathi film Lai Bhaari, won the honour.

"I dedicate my wins to my newly born son. Last year has been an amazing year for me because I played a negative role for the first time. I am lucky that both my stints as hero and villain in Lai Bhaari and Ek Villain were appreciated," Riteish said.

Alia Bhatt-Arjun Kapoor starrer 2 States, which lead the nominations with nine nods, settled with only one award in the best music direction category. Alia's another film Highway and Shah Rukh Khan-Deepika starrer heist drama Happy New Year came out as the main snubs at the awards despite nominations in key categories.

Heropanti stars Tiger Shroff and Kirti Sanon took home the best debut male and female category respectively.

The best debut director gong was shared by Omung Kumar (Mary Kom) and Sajid Nadiadwala for Kick.

Omung thanked Olmypian boxer Mary Kom for her help in making her biopic, which starred actress Priyanka Chopra in the titular role.

"This is the last award of the season and I never expected that the set which I design will ever climb the stairs to receive an award. Thanks Mary Kom for letting us make a film on you," Omung said, who is also a set designer.

Varun Dhawan won the best actor in a comic role award for his stint as a casanova in his father David Dhawan directed Main Tera Hero. David received the trophy on Varun's behalf owing to the actor's absence from the ceremony.

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Agencies
June 6,2020

Hollywood star Angelina Jolie feels discrimination and impunity cannot be justified in any way, and says she hopes people in the US can come together to "address the deep structural wrongs in our society".

The Oscar-winning star, who turned 45 on Thursday, also donated $200,000 to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, reports people.com.

"Rights don't belong to any one group to give to another. Discrimination and impunity cannot be tolerated, explained away or justified. I hope we can come together as Americans to address the deep structural wrongs in our society," Jolie said.

"I stand with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in their fight for racial equality, social justice, and their call for urgent legislative reform," she added.

Meanwhile, the actress celebrated her birthday amid lockdown with her six children -- Maddox, 18, Pax, 16, Zahara, 15, Shiloh, 14, and 11-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne.

The actress and activist has been active since the COVID-19 pandemic spread around the world and has donated to different organisations.

Jolie previously donated $1 million to No Kid Hungry, the organisation working to feed children during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I knew that there were problems in America, that there was poverty, but I could not believe when I realised how many school children in America were dependent on a meal to not go hungry. I was so disgusted that we have gotten to this point as a country and that we would let the most vulnerable be in such a state. I can't imagine what it feels like for those parents," she said while opening up about her reason to get associated with the organisation.

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Agencies
March 1,2020

Washington D.C., Mar 1: British actor Daniel Radcliffe in a recent interview said he is not rushing back to reprise the role of young wizard, Harry Potter, anytime soon.

The 30-year-old star who rose to fame with the first eight films in J.K. Rowling's famed franchise, told Variety that he doesn't like to say no to things but reprising the role in the 'Fantastic Beasts' prequels is not something he's "rushing to do".

"I feel like those films have moved on and they're doing just fine without us. I'm happy to keep it that way. I like what my life is now," Radcliffe told the outlet.

"I'm not saying that I'll never go back into any franchise, but I like the flexibility that I have with my career now. And I don't want to get into a situation where I'm signed up for one series for years in advance," cited Variety as Radcliffe as saying.

Radcliffe is currently gearing up for his upcoming mystery-thriller 'Escape from Pretoria,' a true-life prison drama, where he is set to essay the character Tim Jenkin.

The forthcoming flick is set to hit the theatres on March 6.

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Agencies
July 11,2020

New Delhi, Jul 11: The COVID-19 triggered restrictions on cinema exhibition industry have not only disheartened movie goers, but axed several thousand jobs and costed the industry an estimated ₹ 5,000 crore in revenue.

The sector has been one of the hardest hit due to COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent restrictions implemented to curb its spread.

Presently, cinemas and multiplexes continue to remain in the list of prohibited activities under the Centre's Unlock 2.0 Guidelines.

In an interview to media persons, movie exhibition major Inox Leisure's Chief Executive Alok Tandon said, "The industry on an average collects about ₹ 1,000 crore a month of 'Box Office' and on an average generates about ₹ 500 crore a month of ancillary revenues."

"Keeping in mind that the lockdown has been effective for more than 100 days now, which is about 3.5 months, the cinema exhibition industry would have accumulated losses worth ₹ 5,000 crore so far."

According to Tandon, associated businesses such as pre and post-production, make-up artistes, graphics, film set fabrication, film crew, events, marketing, F&B services have all been impacted due to the restrictions.

"With the production and exhibition of movies coming to a halt, the industry was bound to witness some job losses," he said without divulging any estimates.

As per industry data, the multiplex industry in India employs more than 200,000 people directly and accounts for nearly 60 % of revenues of the film business.

On the way forward, Tandon elaborated that the industry expects to regain business momentum and sentiment post resumption of operations.

"We believe it will be a matter of a couple of blockbusters, and we will be back to our usual operational numbers," he said.

"We are rightfully relying on the unshakeable passion of the Indian movie lovers, who are yearning to step out and spend time enjoying the giant screen experience."

Furthermore, he cited that industry has sent representation to the Centre for immediate re-commencement of operations and a support package.

"We have requested for financial support in the form of salary subsidies during the lockdown period, interest-free loans for three years, exemptions from various taxes and duties, like 'GST, Show tax, LBETs and Property taxes' for a period of one year from the date of operations, waiver on electricity minimum demand charges for one year and auto renewal of licenses and permits for the next one year," he said.

"We have been talking to our mall developer partners and are working together with them to see through this phase."

However, even after re-commencement, the industry anticipates at least 3-6 months before things return anywhere close to normal.

"The cinema ecosystem is such that we will need all the aspects of the business to swing into action and fire together for us to see a resurgence, and we are highly optimistic about the same," he said.

In terms of global experience, Tandon pointed out that cinemas have started operating in more than 25 major countries, and some of those markets are witnessing a healthy response.

"India is a massive movie market and we are confident that the passionate and responsible movie lovers will turn up in huge numbers to enjoy their favourite form of entertainment and also follow the prevention guidelines at the same time, ensuring a safe and steady revival of the cinema exhibition sector," Tandon said.

The film exhibition industry in India is mainly comprised of single screen and multiplexes.

At present there are around 9,527 cinemas across the country, including 6,327 single and 3,200 multiplex screens.

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