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Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 25: Malayalam actor Ravi Vallathol, well-known for his acting in television serials and movies, passed away on Saturday at a hospital here, family sources said.

Vallathol, son of drama legend T N Gopinathan Nair and Soudamini, was the nephew of the famous Malayalam poet Vallathol Narayana Menon.

The veteran actor had appeared in around 50 Malayalam movies and more than 50 television serials starting from1986 with the serial 'Vaitharani' on Doordarshan.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi VIjayan expressed condolences on the passing away of the actor.

"He had an extraordinary ability to immortalise the characters with a wide range of emotions," Vijayan said, adding that, his demise was a loss to both theatre, film and TV serial industry.

Opposition Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala also condoled the demise of the Vallathol.

Chennithala remembered Vallathol as a brilliant writer and social activist. Vallathol made his film debut in 'Swathi Thirunal' directed by the late Lenin Rajendran in 1987.

He had also played versatile characters in hit movies movies including Godfather, Mathilukal, Sargam, Vidheyan, Kottayam Kunjachan, Naalu Penningal, Idukki Gold among others.

He has penned more than 25 short stories among which two were adapted into television series.

He is survived by his wife Geethalakshmi.

Mumbai, May 12: Superstar Salman Khan on Tuesday released his latest romantic single "Tere Bina" featuring Jacqueline Fernandez while in quarantine at his Panvel farm house.

The actor, along with close family and friends from the industry, including Iulia Vantur, Waluscha De Sousa, is living in the farm house. This is the second song Salman has released amid the coronavirus pandemic, after "Pyaar Karona."

"About seven weeks ago, when we came to the farm, we didn't know we will be here under a lockdown. So we wanted to do things to keep ourselves busy. That's when we decided to do these songs. We launched 'Pyaar Karona' and now, we are launching 'Tere Bina'," Salman said in a statement.

The song, sung and directed by Salman, is composed by his friend Ajay Bhatia and written by Shab bir Ahmed.

The actor said he had the song "Tere Bina" with him for quite a while but because it wasn't fitting into any of his film, he decided to release it now.

Jacqueline said she didn't think they would be able to shoot the song, which they finished in four days of evening shoots, with such limitations.

"We are used to shooting songs on a large stage with grand production costs. There are costumes, hair, make up. All of a sudden, we find ourselves with a team of three people. For the first time, I was checking lighting and moving props around. It was a great experience and it taught us how to make the most of what we have," she said.

Salman recently sent out food packets and ration from his farm house to those affected by the lockdown.

Mumbai, Jul 22: Actor Sonu Sood on Wednesday launched an app to offer support to workers in finding right job opportunities in various sectors across the country.

Sood, who catapulted to the national spotlight for his work in helping migrants reach their homes amid the Covid-19 pandemic, has come out with a free of cost online platform called 'Pravasi Rojgar', which will provide all the necessary information and right linkages to find jobs.

The 47-year-old actor said while arranging travel for the migrants, their conversations would often revolve around how they were looking for the right work opportunity amid the pandemic.

"Lot of thinking, planning and preparation have gone into designing this initiative over the last few months, in order to ensure that it is holistic and builds on the work already being done in the country.

"Extensive consultations have been held with top organisations that're involved at the grassroots level in skilling and placing the youth below the poverty line, NGOs, philanthropic organisations, government functionaries, strategy consultants, technology start ups and above all the returned migrants whom I have helped," Sood said in a statement.

The initiative will be supported by community outreach in the villages to find the right employment opportunities for migrant workers in different parts of the country.

According to the release, the online platform has over 500 reputed companies related to construction, apparel, healthcare, engineering, BPOs, security, automobile, e-commerce and logistics sectors, offering job opportunities.

'Pravasi Rojgar' will also be offering specific job training programmes like spoken English.

A 24x7 helpline have been set up in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Coimbatore, Ahmedabad and Thiruvananthapuram.