'India, you are always special': Kurta-clad Ed Sheeran regales fans at Mumbai concert

Agencies
November 20, 2017

Mumbai, Nov 20: Thousands gathered on Sunday at the Jio Gardens, Bandra Kurla Complex, to catch a glimpse of British pop sensation Ed Sheeran, who belted out a set of 17 songs, including hits such as 'Shape Of You' and 'Galway Girl' with only a guitar and a loop station.

The 26-year-old singer-songwriter arrived in India on the Asia leg of his tour for his new album 'Divide'. He honoured his promise to Indian fans even though he recently suffered fractures in his right wrist and left elbow in a bicycle accident.

He was to trek in Taipei, Osaka, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong through November 5, which he had to cancel due to the injuries.

The gates of the venue opened at 5pm as a crowd of around 10,000 waited for Sheeran to crank up the jukebox.

American artiste Lauv regaled the fans with popular singles such as 'I Like Me Better' and 'Easy Love'.

"I am from California and this is my first show in Asia. I am having a great time here. Thanks to Sheeran and his team, he is such a talented genius, and down to earth guy. I am grateful to him, his team," he said.

The Grammy Award winner did not tease his fans as he sauntered onto the stage in a casual manner around 8pm in T-shirt and jeans.

Sheeran instantly struck a chord with the eager audience as he started the show while strumming to the ode to his hometown, 'Castle on the Hill.'

The stadium reverberated with the rock band-influenced guitar anthem by the singer, who went on to sing tracks such as 'Eraser', 'Bloodstream' and 'I See Fire', from the 2013 film 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' soundtrack.

Sheeran performed 10 songs from 'Divide,' while five came from 'Multiply' and two from his debut album 'Plus'.

During his gig, the singer had donned a turquoise kurta that had 'Divide' written on its back in Hindi.

Towards the end of the concert, Sheeran returned to the stage, wearing a blue T-shirt that read 'India', and sang hits such as, 'Shape of You' and 'You Need Me'.

A night high on octane was full of sing-alongs. The artiste engaged with the crowd and got them singing and dancing throughout his 90-minute long concert.

"India: you are always special and this night is magical. Thank you all so much. Hope you all are having a good evening? Pleasure to be back in India. I want the crowd to be involved in my show ... sing as loud as you can, you can dance out here ... I want to see you all dancing, singing and I am going to give you all," Sheeran told the crowd.

To the fans, who enjoyed and grooved on every song, Sheeran kept saying, "Mumbai sing out loud!"

Sheeran, who last came to Mumbai in 2015 for a gig, said he was happy to be back in India.

"This has been a cool year for me... I've been all over the world. Here, in Mumbai, it's a great crowd. When I came here last time, the crowd was so loud. I think you all can be loudest. I am so so happy, pleased to be here. This country is good, the people here are so good. It's amazing!"

Sheeran landed here on Friday amid heavy security and much fanfare. He was welcomed at the airport in a traditional ceremony with flowers, dancers and dhols.

After he landed, Sheeran partied with Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan, Shahid Kapoor with wife Mira, Malaika Arora and others, who enjoyed a party at filmmaker Farah Khan's residence, who hosted the much-publicised night in the honour of the 'Shape Of You' hitmaker.

According to the organisers, Sheeran is accompanied by an entourage of 45 people, and has put up in a hotel in south Mumbai.

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News Network
January 23,2020

Jan 23: Calling himself an optimist who believes in the goodness of people, director Kabir Khan says everything these days is being looked at through the prism of religion but India is about more than that.

The director of blockbusters such as Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Ek Tha Tiger said he is happy he has a platform as a filmmaker to present a counterpoint to the prevailing narrative based on religious fault lines.

"I’m an optimist who believes in the goodness of the people. But yes, there is a certain level of bigotry that has crept in. Everything is being looked at through the prism of religion but India is not about that.

"It sounds like a cliché but when I was growing up, I was not aware of my religion. That was the greatness of this country,” Kabir told news agency.

He said he is a product of a mixed marriage and is pained to see the social fabric being tattered.

“I have celebrated the best that Indian secularism has to offer. But to see the greatness of this country being simplified and broken down into religious fault lines is a painful experience,” he added.

According to Kabir, it is dangerous to see history through the prism of religion, whether in cinema or society. But it is important to revisit history to know what happened and one can always find something that is relevant for the present, he said.

The director, who started as a documentary filmmaker, returns to his roots for a five-episode series on Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army, The Forgotten Army: Azaadi Ke Liye, on Amazon Prime, his most expensive project yet.

Asked whether this is a difficult time for filmmakers, Kabir said he believes art thrives in the time of strife and, as a storyteller, his politics will always reflect in his work.

“Every film has its politics and every filmmaker has to reflect his or her politics. Every film of mine will reflect my politics and it will never change according to the popular mood of the audience. But a film should not be just about that. Politics should be in the layers beneath," he said.

He terms his 2015 Salman Khan-starrer Bajrangi Bhaijaan an "extremely political" film. At face value, it can also be enjoyed as the story of a mute Pakistani girl who drifts into India and is taken back to her homeland by a Hanuman devotee. But there is so much more. The "chicken song", for instance, was a sly reference to the beef ban controversy at the time, he said.

"I won’t say it is a difficult time for me as a filmmaker. It is good that I have a platform where I can talk and present a counterpoint and I refuse to believe that the entire country believes the narrative that is being sent out. There are millions and millions of people, and perhaps the majority, that does not believe. And if I present the counterpoint, they will think about it.”

Discussing his new series, the director said it has always fascinated him that the sacrifice of the men and women who comprised the INA is just a forgotten footnote in history.

“I wanted to make something that stands the test of time. It goes down in posterity,” Khan, who first explored the subject in a Doordarshan documentary 20 years ago, said.

For the documentary, he traveled with former INA officers Captain Lakshmi Sahgal and Captain Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon from Singapore to India via erstwhile Burma, retracing the route that the INA followed.

“The documentary got me a lot of attention and acclaim but the story just never left me. It's actually the first script I ever wrote and I landed up with that script in Bombay from Delhi. I realised very soon that nobody's going to give me a budget of this size to make my first film.

"And then after every film, I would pick up the script and say, ‘Okay, this is the one I want to make’, because this is the story that made me want to become a filmmaker. On the way, I ended up making eight other films but this is really the story that I wanted to make,” he said.

Kabir is happy that the story has come out as a series, not a film, as it would have required to compromise with the budget and other elements.

"Without giving any numbers, this is the most expensive project I have ever worked on… It required that kind of budget."

Kabir believes the INA was responsible for bringing down the morale of the British establishment, which realised it would be impossible to keep the country colonised without the support of the local army.

"There are a lot of debates and discussions about what happened with the INA and the controversies around it. The whole point is that, if you want to judge what the Army did, sure that's your prerogative, but at least get to know what they did. Nobody knows what happened with the Army from 1942 to 1945."

He added that 55,000 men and women of the INA fought for independence and 47,000 of them died.

"Not a single person from that Army was ever taken back into the independent Army, which is such an amazing fact... the fact that the British called them traitors became the narrative and we also started assuming that they were traitors."

"They were the only women's regiment in the whole world 70 years ago. That's what they thought about women's importance in society. I don't know whether they will be happy with what the current situation is," he said.

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Agencies
August 3,2020

Patna, Aug 3: Bihar DGP Gupteshwar Pandey on Sunday charged that Vinay Tiwari, the IPS officer from Patna who is in Mumbai to probe a case related to Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death, has been "forcibly quarantined" by civic authorities in the metropolis.

Tiwari is heading a Bihar Police team which is in Mumbai to investigate an ''abetment to suicide'' case on the basis of a complaint filed by the late actor's father in Patna.

"IPS officer Vinay Tiwari reached Mumbai today from Patna on official duty to lead the police team there but he has been forcibly quarantined by BMC officials at 11 PM today," Bihar Director General of Police (DGP) Pandey tweeted.

"He was not provided accommodation in the IPS mess, despite request, and was staying in a Guest House in Goregaon," he said.

Sushant's sister Shweta Singh Kirti has tweeted, " What? Is this even for real? How can an officer sent on duty be quarantined for 14 Days?".

Rajput, 34, was found hanging from the ceiling of his Bandra residence on June 24 last.

Last month, Rajput's father lodged an FIR here of abetment to suicide naming actress Rhea Chakraborty, said to be close to the deceased Patna-born actor, and her family members as accused. Tiwari was posted as the City SP (East) in Patna.

The Mumbai Police, which is also probing the death case, have so far recorded statements of nearly 40 people, including those from Rajput's family, his cook and people from the film industry that include filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, film critic Rajeev Masand, director-producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali and filmmaker Aditya Chopra.

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News Network
June 22,2020

New Delhi, Jun 22: Amidst a strain in the ties between India and Nepal, actor Manisha Koirala, a Nepali national, on Monday urged people of both the countries to be not "aggressive and disrespectful" towards each other.

Koirala, a leading Bollywood actor of her times, took to Twitter to request people to let the respective government resolve the issues and stay "civil."

"A heartfelt request please let's not be aggressive and disrespectful..we are in this situation together..our respective Gov's will resolve the issue. In the meantime we can be civil ..I remain hopeful," she tweeted.

Earlier last week, Nepal 's Upper House of Parliament endorsed a proposal to discuss the Constitution amendment bill to update the country's map that incorporates parts of Indian territory.

Nepal's House of Representatives had on June 10 endorsed a proposal seeking consideration of a constitution amendment bill for change of country's map after a lengthy discussion. Nepal has made offers to India to hold "diplomatic talks to resolve the territorial issue" between the two countries.

New Delhi has said that the updated map is "not based on historical facts and evidence" and termed the claims by Nepal as artificial enlargement.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava also said that the move is violative of the current understanding to hold talks on outstanding boundary issues.

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