'Mowgli' Neel Sethi is bringing 'The Jungle Book' to India

March 24, 2016

Mumbai, Mar 24: Mowgli of the upcoming Hollywood film The Jungle Book, child actor Neel Sethi will begin the international promotional tour for the movie in India, later this month. The Disney live-action epic film will mark the debut of the 12-year-old actor, who plays the only human being in the story. Neil will visit India to present the film and visit some special sites in Mumbai.

JungleBook

"I have heard so many stories about the jungles of India from my maternal grandparents who live here. I am so excited to be visiting my homeland once again. When my parents heard that I got the part to play Mowgli, they were so excited because the stories are based in India," Neel said in a statement.

The New York-based actor was hand-picked by director Jon Favreau from over 2000 hopefuls to play the role of Mowgli. Neel says he is "thrilled" to play the iconic character and hopes people in India will enjoy the movie. "I am thrilled to have played Mowgli in my first film and befriend the much loved characters like Bagheera the Panther and Baloo, the Bear. India is the first country internationally that I will be presenting the film in. I really hope people in India enjoy watching the jungle come to life."

Favreau, who has directed films like Iron Man, The Office and Chef, had an "exhaustive worldwide search" to find the right child to play Mowgli but narrowed on Neel the moment he saw the young actor. "He was one of the last people that I looked at, and right away, I felt that he had the same emotional and physical qualities that Mowgli had in the '67 animated version. His look was uncanny in how much he evoked what we wanted. He inherently had a good sense of fun and humour," he said.

"Everything in this movie is geared towards the performance of this one kid. I've worked with enough kids to be confident in my own taste and my ability to get the performance. He was just so real. He felt right. We knew we found our Mowgli," the filmmaker added.

The Jungle Book will release in India on April 8, a week before coming out in the US.

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News Network
March 6,2020

Los Angeles, Mar 6: Filmmaker-writer Taika Waititi is set to direct two animated series based on Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" for Netflix.

Waititi, who won an Academy Award in February for his adapted screenplay, "Jojo Rabbit", will also serve as the writer and producer on the animated series.

According to Deadline, the first series will be based on the world of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", while the second will be an original take on the Oompa-Loompa characters from the book.

The Oompa-Loompas are little humans who were preyed upon in Loompaland before Wonka invited them to work at his chocolate factory. They are paid in cocoa beans and love practical jokes and singing songs.

Netflix said the animation series would "retain the quintessential spirit and tone of the original story while building out the world and characters far beyond the pages of the Dahl book for the very first time."

The series will follow in the footsteps of Gene Wilder's 1971 portrayal of Willy Wonka and Johnny Depp's 2005 interpretation.

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News Network
June 9,2020

Mumbai, Jun 9: Actor Sonu Sood, who has been arranging transport for migrant workers stranded in Mumbai and has faced criticism from the Shiv Sena for "enacting a political script written by BJP", was stopped outside the Bandra Terminus in Mumbai by police from meeting labourers.

A Mumbai Police official said the actor was stopped by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) when he reached the station on Monday night to meet some labourers, and added that they have not received any complaint so far in this connection.

The migrant labourers were supposed to take the Shramik Special train from Bandra Terminus to Uttar Pradesh.

Mumbai's Nirmal Nagar police station's senior inspector Shashikant Bhandare told news agency PTI that "The actor was stopped by the RPF, not by us. He wanted to meet labourers who were going to their native place. We have not received any complaint regarding this till now."

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday wondered whether the BJP propped up Sonu Sood to "offer help" to migrant workers from north India stranded in Maharashtra amidst the lockdown, with the political motive to show the Uddhav Thackeray government in poor light.

In his weekly column 'Rokhthok' in Shiv Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana', Sanjay Raut questioned the sudden rise of "Mahatma" Sood on the social scene of Maharashtra during the lockdown.

Mr Raut also referred to an alleged "sting operation" against Sonu Sood ahead of the 2019 general elections, saying he had agreed to promote the BJP-led government at various platforms through his official social media accounts.

However, later that day Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray lauded Sonu Sood's initiative to arrange buses for stranded migrant workers.

The actor met Uddhav Thackeray at the latter's residence 'Matoshree' in suburban Bandra on Sunday night.

On Monday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh backed Sonu Sood for his work for stranded migrant workers, and questioned the Maharashtra government's criticism of the actor.

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News Network
May 26,2020

Washington, May 26: Making a slight change to the name of their newborn, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his singer girlfriend Grimes have now named their first child X AE A-Xii.

The difference is only in the numeral part of the name which is now written in the Roman format.

Earlier this month, the celebrity couple hogged headlines for naming their son X AE A-12.

The change in the name came when an Instagram follower of the Canadian singer asked if she had considered changing the name of the child and she replied with, "X AE A-Xii."

However, the performer didn't provide further insight concerning the reason behind the change.

Canadian singer Grimes gave birth to her first child on May 4.

The 32-year-old had earlier taken to Twitter and explained the meaning of the baby's name.  

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