Washington, Sep 6: Liz Hurley recently kissed a banker who paid 50,000pounds after winning the top prize at Sir Elton John's fundraising ball.
A smooch with the 49-year-old actress was "raffled' as the top prize at the charity, the Daily Star reported.
A partygoer said that the actress, who was earlier married to cricketer Shane Warne didn't hold back whilst kissing Indian origin Julian Bharti.
The observer said that Hurley pulled the man into a passionate embrace when the winner got on stage.
Mumbai, Jul 25: Movie theatres have been shuttered for months due to the coronavirus pandemic in the country, but the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has now recommended that the Union Home Ministry allow cinema halls to reopen in August.
I&B Secretary Amit Khare indicated this at a close-door industry interaction with the CII Media Committee on Friday. He said Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla at the Home Ministry would take the final call.
Khare said that he has recommended that cinema halls may be allowed to reopen all over India as early as August 1, or at the latest, around August 31.
The formula suggested is that alternate seats in the first row and then the next row be kept vacant, and proceeding in this fashion throughout.
Khare said that his ministry's recommendation takes into consideration the two metre social distancing norm, but tweaks it gently to two yards instead. The Home Ministry, however, still has to revert on the recommendation.
Cinema owners, present in the interaction, however, pushed back and said this formula is unwise and merely running films at 25% auditorium capacity is worse than keeping the cinemas shut.
The attendees at the meet included media CEOs like N.P. Singh of Sony, Sam Balsara (Madison), Megha Tata, (Discovery), Gaurav Gandhi (Amazon Prime), Manish Maheshwari (Twitter), S. Sivakumar (Bennett Coleman and Co Ltd), and K Madhavan, Star & Disney, and also Chairman, CII Media Committee.
The OTT platforms present, including Gandhi of Amazon Prime, did not push back. Some Bollywood producers, notably those of Amitabh Bachchan's Gulabo Sitabo, have posted their movies on OTT, rather than live out the lockdown uncertainty.
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.
Washington, Jan 11: Fresh off his win at the Golden Globes, actor Joaquin Phoenix participated in a climate change protest and was arrested by the police.
The "Joker" star took part in the weekly protests against climate change, started by Hollywood veteran Jane Fonda.
According to Variety, the 45-year-old actor also addressed the crowd of close to 300 people.
In his short speech, he took aim at the meat and dairy industry for being the third leading cause of the climate crisis.
"Sometimes we wonder what can we do in this fight against climate change, and there is something that you can do today and tomorrow, by making a choice about what you consume," Phoenix said.
"There are things I can't avoid. I flew a plane here today, or last night rather, but one thing I can do is change my eating habits," he added.
Besides Phoenix, veteran Hollywood star Martin Sheen also turned up for the protest and got arrested by the police. Actors Maggie Gyllenhaal and Susan Sarandon were also present.
Capitol Police said it arrested 147 people who were charged with crowding, obstructing or incommoding. All the protestors were later released.
Fonda, who was on stage with Phoenix, called him "one of the greatest living actors today".
She has been protesting weekly as part of her "Fire Drill Fridays" initiative since announcing she was moving to Washington "to be closer to the epicenter of the fight for our climate." Her participation has ended in multiple arrests.
Earlier this month, Phoenix had talked about climate change at the Golden Globes ceremony, asking Hollywood to walk the talk on the issue.
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