'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
June 30,2020

Mumbai, Jun 30: Actor Aamir Khan on Tuesday issued a statement and confirmed that some of his staff members have tested positive for COVID-19, while the rest of his family members have tested negative.

Khan also announced that he was taking his mother for a COVID-19 test and urged his fans to pray for her test to come out as negative.

The '3 Idiots' star put out the statement on Instagram and said, "This is to inform you that some of my staff have tested positive. They were immediately quarantined, and BMC officials were very prompt and efficient in taking them to a medical facility."

Thanking the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for their precautionary steps, he added, "I would like to thank the BMC for taking such good care of them, and for fumigating and sterilising the entire society."

Informing about the health of his family members, the 'Thugs of Hindostan' actor added, "The rest of us have all been tested and found negative," and informed that, "Right now I am taking my mother to get her tested. She is the last person in the loop. Please pray that she is negative."

Thanking the BMC, and hospital authorities for their swift prompt, he added, "I would, once again, like to thank the BMC for the prompt, professional and caring manner in which they helped us. And a big thank you to Kokilaben Hospital and the doctors, nurses and staff there. They were very caring and professional with the testing process."

Aamir also urged his fans to be safe amid the coronavirus outbreak.

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News Network
June 22,2020

New Delhi, Jun 22: Musician Madonna, who is a mother of six, wished herself on the occasion of Father's Day on Sunday by posting adorable pictures with her kids.

Along with pictures, the 'Crazy For You' singer penned down a beautiful caption, wishing herself and every parent a 'Happy Father's Day' for nurturing and guiding their children in the best way possible.

"Happy Fathers Day to Me and to every parent out there doing their best to Nurture, Guide, Inspire, and Teach! #Lola #Rocco #David #Mercyjames #Estere #Stella," the 61-year-old singer wrote in the caption.

Madonna is the biological mother to two of her six children and has adopted the rest four.

She had adopted her first child Davida Banda back in 2006 and then she adopted a boy in 2009. The last addition to her family were the twins she adopted from Malawi.

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News Network
February 6,2020

Los Angeles, Feb 6: U.S. silver screen legend Kirk Douglas, the son of Jewish Russian immigrants who rose through the ranks to become one of Hollywood's biggest stars, has died, his family said Wednesday. He was 103.

One of the last survivors of the golden age of cinema and the father of Oscar-winning actor and film-maker Michael Douglas, the Spartacus actor was renowned for the macho tough guy roles he took on in around 90 movies over a six-decade career.

"It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103," Michael Douglas said in a statement posted to Facebook.

"To the world he was a legend, an actor from the golden age of movies who lived well into his golden years, a humanitarian whose commitment to justice and the causes he believed in set a standard for all of us to aspire to."

Douglas was Oscar-nominated for his roles as a double-crossing and womanizing boxer in Champion (1949), a ruthless movie producer in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) and tortured artist Vincent Van Gogh in Lust for Life (1956).

But his only Academy Award came in 1995 -- an honorary lifetime achievement statuette "for 50 years as a creative and moral force in the motion picture community."

Douglas is survived by second wife Anne Buydens, 100, and three sons. A fourth child, Eric, died of a drug overdose in his 40s, in 2004.

"(To) me and my brothers Joel and Peter he was simply Dad, to Catherine (Zeta-Jones), a wonderful father-in-law, to his grandchildren and great grandchild their loving grandfather, and to his wife Anne, a wonderful husband," said Michael.

"Kirk's life was well lived, and he leaves a legacy in film that will endure for generations to come, and a history as a renowned philanthropist who worked to aid the public and bring peace to the planet."

Kirk Douglas rose to the heights of Hollywood from an impoverished childhood as the son of Jewish Russian immigrants.

He was one of the last survivors of the golden age of cinema, often portraying the macho and not-always-likeable tough guy in around 90 movies over a six-decade career.

With charming dimples and a cleft chin, Douglas was a renowned ladies' man but also admitted to being angry into adulthood because of his difficult New York childhood.

"I still have anger in me," he said in a New York Times article in 1988 after the release of his first autobiography.

"I think I'm loath to let it go because I think that anger was the fuel I used in accomplishing what I wanted to do; you see it in my films, you see it in imitations people do of me."

Screen legend

The role that perhaps immortalized him as a star was that of a rebellious Roman Empire slave turned gladiator in the 1960 epic Spartacus.

Douglas also produced the film, which took four Oscars. He won praise for listing in the credits the real name of Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted for his Communist sympathies and wrote under a pen name.

There were Oscar nominations for his roles as a double-crossing and womanizing boxer in Champion (1949), a ruthless movie producer in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) and of tortured artist Vincent Van Gogh in Lust for Life (1956).

But his only Oscar came in 1995 as an honorary lifetime achievement award "for 50 years as a creative and moral force in the motion picture community."

Other major acting roles were as a French private in a botched suicidal mission in World War I in Paths of Glory (1957) and American Western legend Doc Holliday in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957).

"Often cast as a villain, amoral climber or self-obsessed grabber, Kirk Douglas took care to color his hard edges with suggestions of pain, wit and sympathy," says American Film Institute, which ranks him as 17th on its list of the greatest male screen legends.

In the 1970s he stood behind the camera, directing Scalawag (1973) and Posse (1975).

He also took up writing, penning his first autobiography The Ragman's Son in 1988 and following with around 10 other titles.

In the autobiography, Douglas writes: "I always worked in the theory that when you play a weak character, find a moment when he's strong. And if you're playing a strong character, find a moment when he's weak."

Tough childhood

Douglas was born in New York on December 9, 1916 to illiterate Jewish Russian immigrants, an only boy with six sisters.

He started out as Issur Danielovitch, later Izzy Demsky. It was tough, he recounted later, with the family poor, anti-Semitism rife and his distant alcoholic father forced to earn a living as a ragman.

"In a sense, I've always felt on the outside, looking in," he said in the New York Times article.

"It's my background, damn it. My father was an illiterate Russian immigrant, a ragman, the lowest rung on the economic scale."

His dream of a way out was through acting and he started in high school, eventually entering the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and changing his name along the way.

To survive he took jobs as a waiter, labourer and porter. In 1941 he hit Broadway but his budding career was interrupted by service in the Navy. After the war, he headed for Hollywood.

His romantic conquests were many, although he once said he had never counted, and included starls such as Rita Hayworth, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford and Ava Gardner.

Douglas' four sons followed him into cinema.

Oscar-winning actor and producer Michael and Joel were from a marriage to actress Diana Webster, whom he divorced in 1951.

Three years later he married Belgian-American Anne Buydens, having Peter and then Eric, who died in 2004 from an accidental overdose.

Douglas has also brushed death: he survived a helicopter crash in 1991 and a massive stroke in 1996 that nearly robbed him of speech.

Around the time of his 100th birthday in 2016, he attributed his remarkable longevity to his second marriage.

"I was lucky enough to find my soulmate 63 years ago, and I believe our wonderful marriage and our nightly 'golden hour' chats have helped me survive all things," he said in celebrity magazine Closer Weekly.

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