Nepalese transgender model makes dream debut in India

February 4, 2017

Mumbai, Feb 4: Coming from the hinterland of Nepal, Anjali Lama never imagined that she would one day walk the ramp at one of India's most reputed fashion shows, where she made history as the first transgender model to take on the catwalk.

anjalilamaAnjali was shortlisted through the model auditions for the ongoing Lakme Fashion Week Summer/Resort 2017, which began on Wednesday. She walked the ramp on the first day and is part of the model pool at this year's event.

The fashion event has been keeping Anjali busy till Sunday but earlier in an interview she said that post LFW, she wants to stay back in Mumbai, hire an agency and kick-start her career here.

"I have planned to settle in Mumbai. This city has given me hope and showered love in the most profuse way possible. I am planning to join an agency to work on dynamics even more professionally and strengthen my portfolio. I dream to win a renowned brand campaign feature while continuing to be walking the runway as this thrills me most," Anjali had said.

The model has already found fans in the audience in just three days of the event with people identifying her.

But Anjali is no stranger to attention. Her life struggle has been presented in a documentary movie called "Anjali - Living Inside Someone Else's Skin" that is based on transsexual lives.

The model has become an inspiration for many back home. Anjali was born in Nuwakot as a boy and was named Nabin Wabia. She changed her gender and became a woman once she moved to Kathmandu for her higher studies.

Anjali's friends realised her modelling potential and asked her think of it as a career option.

"I have always been told by my close friends regarding my good body features and this encouraged me to aspire for modelling as a career."

Her first assignment was of a photoshoot for the cover page of a magazine and the real challenge began after that. Anjali says it was a tough journey as several rejections came her way.

"I was broke but never gave up. The most disturbing thing to hear was the reason of the rejection which was being a 'transgender'. To the point, when my successive failures insisted my well-wishers to also suggest me to leave this career path. I took this as a challenge to debunk this myth and lay my own way forward of my choice which has brought me today to this prestigious runway."

Anjali, however, says that the fashion industry is all encompassing and she never felt discriminated.

"Fashion is conducive. The entire industry has a big global influence in a positive way.

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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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News Network
February 12,2020

London, Feb 12: Oscar-winning British director Steve McQueen is returning to his art roots with a series of short films at London's Tate Modern art gallery, offering a sensory exploration of black identity.

McQueen, who became the first black director to win the best picture Academy Award in 2014 for "12 Years a Slave", is now based between London and Amsterdam and is focused on championing diversity in the film industry.

Visitors to his new exhibition will be greeted by "Static", a film of New York's Statue of Liberty, scrutinising the iconic symbol from every possible angle at very close range against a deafening backdrop of the helicopter from where the footage was filmed.

"What interests Steve is our view of the world, how humans are trying to represent Liberty," said Fiontan Moran, assistant curator of the exhibition.

"7th Nov, 2001" features a still shot of a body while McQueen's cousin Marcus tells of how he accidentally killed his brother, a particularly traumatic experience for the artist.

"Western Deep" is another visceral work, giving a sense through sights and sounds in an interactive installation of the experiences of miners in South Africa, following them to the bottom of the mine.

"Ashes", meanwhile, is a tribute to a young fisherman from Grenada, the island where McQueen's family originated.

The images of beauty and sweetness filmed from his boat are tragically reversed on the other side of the projection screen, which shows a grave commissioned by McQueen for the eponymous young fisherman, who was killed by drug traffickers.

African-American singer, actor and civil rights activist Paul Robeson (1898-1976) is honoured in "End Credits".

The film shows censored FBI documents detailing the agency's surveillance of Robeson, read by a voice-over artist, for five hours.

"He is... testing the limits of how people can be documented in an era of mass surveillance," said Moran.

In a similarly militant vein, the exhibition features the sculpture "Weight", which was first shown in the prison cell where the writer and playwright Oscar Wilde was imprisoned.

It depicts a golden mosquito net draped over a metal prison bed frame, addressing the theme of confinement and the power of the imagination to break free.

The show runs alongside an exhibition of McQueen's giant portraits of London school classes, many of which appeared on the streets of London last year.

"I remember my first school trip to Tate when I was an impressionable eight-year-old, which was really the moment I gained an understanding that anything is possible," said McQueen, adding it was "where in some ways my journey as an artist first began".

He recently told the Financial Times newspaper the difference between his art films and his feature films was that the former were poetry, the latter like a novel.

"Poetry is condensed, precise, fragmented," he said. "The novel is the yarn".

The exhibition opens on February 13 and runs until May 11.

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Agencies
February 5,2020

Chennai, Feb 5: Income Tax sleuths on Wednesday raided top Tamil film actor Vijay's residence here besides conducting simultaneous searches at several premises linked to a film production house, movie financier and distributors in connection with suspected tax evasion.

The searches, which began in as many as 38 locations in Tamil Nadu, were still on and unaccounted cash of about Rs 25 crore was seized from the premises of a Tamil film financier who had faced allegations of intimidation and arm-twisting to recover money, official sources told PTI.

Also, several documents indicating substantial tax evasion has been seized, sources added.

Vijay, who was away in Cuddalore district for a film shoot, was apprised by authorities about the searches and he was en route to his residence here, they said.

So far nothing has been recovered from the actor's house and the inmates were cooperating with authorities in conducting the searches, sources said.

Raids were also on in the premises of the production house that had made Vijay's hugely successful recent Tamil movie 'Bigil.'

Further details are expected after completion of searches which is likely to continue tomorrow.

The State police has been providing security for carrying out the searches.

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