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

executive@coastaldigest.com (Agencies)
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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News Network
April 6,2020

New Delhi, April 6: Acknowledging on being scared and talking of not seeing his family for three weeks, actor Salman Khan along with nephew Nirvaan on Sunday shared their lockdown experience in a video message.

The 54-year-old star, without disclosing where the actor actually is, shared a video message on Twitter along with his brother Sohail Khan's son, Nirvaan.

Salman began the one-minute and 26-seconds long video, by saying: "We came here for a few days and now we're stuck and scared"

The 'Bharat' actor then introduced Nirvaan and asked him "How long has it been since you saw your father?", to which Nirvaan replied, "It must have been three weeks."

"I have not seen my father for three weeks. We are here and he is alone at home," Salman added.

The 'Sultan' actor then asks the boy: "You remember the film dialogue, 'the one who got scared, died.' It does not apply here in this situation. We are scared and bravely we admit that we are scared. Please don't be brave in this situation."

Nirvaan also further requested everybody to stay safe and maintain social-distance.

"I think it's better for everyone to stay home, avoid contact and I think the longer we stay indoors the faster this ends," he added.

The 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' star concluded the video by saying: "The one who got afraid saved himself and lives of others around him. Moral of the story, 'We're all scared'."

Urging people to take the government's advisory of self-isolation seriously amid the rising cases of coronavirus in the country, the megastar had earlier shared a video message for fans. 

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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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