Maradona film premieres in Cannes in legend's absence

Agencies
May 20, 2019

Cannes, May 20: British director Asif Kapadia's highly anticipated third documentary feature, "Diego Maradona", premiered Out of Competition at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival on Sunday night.

Expectations ran high but the football legend could not make it to the festival owing to shoulder surgery that he is undergoing in Mexico.

Kapadia, an Indian-origin filmmaker whose association with the festival goes back to 1998, when he won the Cinefondation second prize for his Royal College of Art graduation film "The Sheep Thief", made his narrative feature debut with "The Warrior" (2001), starring Irrfan Khan.

He has since earned the reputation as one of the world's most bankable biographical documentary makers following the success of the BAFTA Award-winning "Senna" and the Oscar-winning "Amy".

"Both those documentaries," the director said during a Talent Talk session organised in the UK Film Centre in its Pavilion here, "were about great people who died young. I did not want to repeat myself. That is why it felt right to do a film on a man who is still living and growing old."

"Diego Maradona" the film has emerged out of several years of rummaging through video footage, researching innumerable published articles and conducting 80-odd interviews.

The 130-minute film focuses on the Argentine football legend's turbulent and triumphant seven-year stint with SSC Napoli, which he joined in 1984 for a then world record fee.

The film captures the life and times of the genius through his triumphs and tribulations of the 1980s and early 1990s. It was a period during which Maradona saw great highs, including Argentina's 1986 World Cup victory, and lows, which included messy run-ins with authority.

"This film was a new challenge," said Kapadia. "Diego wasn't the most reliable witness. His version of events was often exactly the opposite of what is on record. But he is obviously a very charismatic person and a great storyteller."

"The film also addresses a lot of issues away from football – racism, family problems, addiction issues, troubles with the mafia. It is a crazy operatic film," Kapadia said.

It was a topsy-turvy ride that included Maradona leading the Naples club to its first-ever title.

Comparing it with his earlier two documentaries, the second of which ('Amy') played in Cannes in 2015, Kapadia said, "'Senna' was an all-action hero film, 'Amy' was a musical and this one is like a gangster film."

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News Network
July 14,2020

Los Angeles, Jul 14: US officials on Monday found the body of "Glee" actress Naya Rivera in the Californian lake where she drowned last week during a boat trip with her four-year-old son.

Rivera's body was retrieved and an initial examination found no evidence of foul play or suicide, Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub told a press conference.

"We are confident the body we found is that of Naya Rivera," said Ayub, pointing to the location, appearance, clothing and condition of the body.

Her body was being taken to a medical examiner's office for a full autopsy and confirmation of her identity from dental records, though no other missing persons have been reported at Lake Piru, he added.

Rivera, 33, is believed to have accidentally drowned after renting the boat with her young son at the camping and recreational hotspot around an hour's drive northwest of Los Angeles.

She vanished on Wednesday afternoon, and a massive search involving divers, patrol boats and helicopters was launched after her sleeping son was spotted drifting alone in a boat on the lake.

The son later told investigators that Rivera had helped him into the boat before "he looked back and saw her disappear under the surface of the water," said the sheriff.

Ayub pointed to the lake's strong currents as a possible cause of a fatal accident.

"The idea perhaps being that the boat started drifting -- it was unanchored -- and that she mustered enough energy to get her son back onto the boat, but not enough to save herself," he said.

The lake has been closed to the public since Wednesday, with around 100 personnel, including the US Coast Guard and rescuers from neighboring counties, joining the search.

Search teams used footage from video messaging calls Rivera made from the boat before her disappearance, as well as interviews with her son, to scour portions of the lake bed for her remains over six days, with no success.

"We believe she was concealed within some of the shrubbery on the floor bed of the lake" before eventually floating to the surface due to natural decomposition, said Ayyub.

With less than one foot (30 centimeters) of visibility underwater in daylight, the recovery operation was a "complex search effort" even with use of sonar equipment, he said.

Rivera was best known for her role as high school cheerleader Santana Lopez in "Glee."

She starred for six seasons in the wildly popular musical television series set in a US high school that ended in 2015.

The "Glee" cast has been struck by tragedy before.

Actor Mark Salling took his own life in 2018, weeks before being sentenced for possession of child pornography.

Canadian castmate Cory Monteith died in July 2013 of an overdose of drugs and alcohol.

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Agencies
August 5,2020

New Delhi, Aug 5: Playback singer S P Balasubrahmanyam on Wednesday confirmed testing positive for COVID-19 with 'mild' symptoms.

The 74-year-old musician shared the information through a video message posted on his official Facebook page.

In the video, the singer detailed about having a little "discomfort" for two days, stating he had chest congestion along with cold and on-off fever, which led him to get tested for the virus.

However, he also mentioned that he could have stayed at home in self-quarantine, as advised, but did not want to put his family in danger, and hence got admitted by his own choice, to recover quickly.

"I am in good hand, I am in good health. Nobody has to worry about this. The fever has subsided, and in two days I'll be discharged and I'll be home. Thanks for the concern," he said in the video message.

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Agencies
July 28,2020

Mumbai, Jul 28: Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Manoj Tiwari has urged Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to look into the case of actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death and direct the state police to register an FIR in this connection.

Wishing Thackeray on Monday on his birthday, Tiwari, who has acted in Bhojpuri films, pointed out that over 40 days have passed since the death of Rajput, but an FIR is yet to be registered.

"Many happy returns of the Day @CMOMaharashtra Shri Uddhav Ji, on this day I request with folded hands to give justice to Sushant who died 43 days ago, but no FIR has been registered so far. I hope you will help. Please do justice to millions of SSR fans," he tweeted.

Bollywood actor Rajput was found dead at his Mumbai residence on June 14, which the police said was a case of suicide. His death had triggered an outcry from several quarters alleging that the late actor, who hailed from Bihar, was a victim of nepotism in the film industry.

The lawmaker from Northeast Delhi's Lok Sabha seat, who visited the deceased actor's family in Patna last month had then said: "Sushant's father and sister requested me to take up the issue and get him justice. It was really a sentimental moment for me".

Previously, Tiwari had demanded a CBI investigation into the matter

According to the police, statements of 40 people including film critic Rajeev Masand, director-producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and filmmaker Aditya Chopra and actor Rhea Chakraborty have been recorded in the investigation so far.

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