Muhammad Ali was on the short list to play Superman in 1978 film

Agencies
December 17, 2018

Los Angeles, Dec 17: Boxing legend Muhammad Ali and veteran actors Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman were on the short list to play Superman in the 1978 film, producer Ilya Salkind has said.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Salkind made the revelation on the commentary track in the newest edition of the film which was recently released to coincide with its 40th anniversary.

"One of the conditions with DC Comics was I had to make a list of actors to play Superman that they had to approve.

"I had a made a list that was absolutely hilarious because they had approved people like Cassius Clay then, they had approved Al Pacino, they had approved Dustin Hoffman. They had approved them, they could play Superman," Salkind said.

Christopher Reeve played the iconic DC superhero, but Ali and Superman teamed up in the comics to defeat an alien invasion of Earth.

The comics titled "Superman vs Muhammad Ali" also released in 1978.

Salkind shared the casting process was "complex" and confusing at times.

"One side, they were extraordinarily protective (of the character's image) and on the other side, they weren't so aware of reality because as much as Dustin Hoffman is a fantastic actor, I don't think he would have been a great Superman. Perhaps he could have been."

Hoffman was also considered for the role of Lex Luthor.

"We met with Dustin at Cannes... We had dinner with Dustin to play Lex Luthor, which would have been pretty exciting. But it didn't work out," Salkind said.

The role went to Gene Hackman.

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Mumbai, Jan 9: A day after Deepika Padukone visited the JNU campus to express solidarity with students who had been attacked, her film "Chhapaak" made another splash on Wednesday over the name of its antagonist.

While Deepika was the focus of many a discussion on social media and beyond for showing up at a public meeting in the university, the film, based on the life of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal, was also making news for quite another reason.

In what could well be a storm in a 'Twitter cup', "Nadeem Khan" and "Rajesh" began trending on the microblogging site after a magazine article claimed the name of the antagonist had been changed. By 4 pm, 'Nadeem Khan' clocked close to 60,000 tweets and 'Rajesh' close behind with 50,000.

In 2005, Laxmi was disfigured for life when a man called Nadeem Khan and three others allegedly hurled acid at her in Delhi's upscale Khan Market.

In the film based on her life, the narrative remains the same but the names have been changed. So, Laxmi is 'Malti' Agarwal and Nadeem becomes 'Babboo' aka 'Bashir Khan'.

On Wednesday, Swarajya magazine wrote an article headlined, "The Ways Of Bollywood: In Deepika Padukone-Starer Chhapaak, Acid Attacker Naeem Khan Becomes ‘Rajesh'." "As part of a backlash against Padukone's JNU 'meet and greet', social media users researched the names of the characters involved in the movie Chhapaak and conspicuously found the name of main perpetrator Naeem Khan absent," the article alleged.

But in the Meghna Gulzar directed film, there is no mention of any Nadeem or Naeem Khan. Moreover, Rajesh is the name of Malti's boyfriend.

Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Babul Supriyo jumped into the controversy, saying it was another example of "absolute hypocrisy".

"...When you say all characters are fictitious and don't have any resemblance with living beings and all of that, this is absolute hypocrisy. When you change the name which also changes the religion, it has been done very deliberately," Supriyo told a TV channel when asked to comment on the controversy.

South Delhi BJP MP Ramesh Biduri also called for a boycott of the movie.

With Deepika grabbing attention by going to JNU, many appreciated her 'silent solidarity' but others criticised her for "supporting the Leftists" and said it was a promotional stunt ahead of the release.

"#BoycottChhapaak" was trending on Twitter as was "#ISupportDeepika".

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News Network
March 11,2020

Washington, Mar 11: Pop star Selena Gomez made some revelations about her personal life in a recent interview.

While explaining the lyrics of her song "Rare" on the 'Genius' YouTube channel, the 27-year-old said that there are times when she feels that she will ever be able to find a suitable partner for herself, reported Fox News.

"Some days when I wake up and I am annoyed and I am like, 'I am going to be alone forever.' But after that 15 minutes go away, I say to myself, 'I know that there is someone for everybody," the singer told in the seven-and-a-half minute long video.

However, she remains optimistic as she is still young and "this isn't the end all be all".

Elaborating upon the chorus of her song, Gomez opened up and said, "self-esteem and confidence is a constant struggle".

"It's getting better with time and age, but it will always be something that I'm working on," she added while explaining the lyrics further.

"So what I think is so important about this chorus is that it's acknowledging, 'Hey, I don't have it all. I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I do know that I'm special,' and I think that is a humble approach of saying, 'Why don't you see that I am different?'" the singer added as reported by Fox News.

Touching upon her experiences from past relationships, she commented: "In certain relationships, I've heard and I've experienced and whatnot, I think men and women do it -- especially teenagers and young people in love -- is there's this satisfaction out of hurting someone because you know that they care. Purposefully putting someone down because they want to keep them at a level. I've had someone actually say that to me before".

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Agencies
July 30,2020

New Delhi, Jul 30: On his 47th birthday on Thursday, actor Sonu Sood announced three lakh jobs for migrant labourers on the job portal 'Pravasi Rojgar' that he had launched earlier this month.

The 'Dabangg' actor who has launched several initiatives for helping migrant labourers of the country made the announcement about the additional three lakh jobs on his Instagram account.

Sood posted two flyers of the employment application and shared that the jobs came with additional benefits like PF and ESI.

"On my birthday a small initiative from my side...3 lakh jobs tied up for Pravasirojgar.com. All these will provide good wages, PF, ESI, and other benefits," he wrote in the caption.

He further went on to thank the organisations that had partnered with him for the initiative.
"Thank you AEPC, CITI, Trident, Quesscorp, Amazon, Sodex, Urban Co, Portea, and all others for creating these opportunities with me. #AbIndiaBanegaKamyaab @pravasirojgar," he wrote.

Hailed as the 'messiah' of migrant labourers, Sood has helped hundreds of thousands of migrants to reach their native places amid the coronavirus induced lockdown when many like them were walking back to their homes.

Besides labourers, he has also helped students and other people stranded in different parts of the country amid the lockdown. 

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