A R Murugadoss slams Priyadarshan-led National Awards jury, calls it biased

April 10, 2017

Mumbai, Apr 10: The 64th National Awards have found itself in controversy since the announcement took place few days back. One of the most surprising winners was Akshay Kumar, who won the best actor award for ‘Rustom’ and social media went berserk over the superstar's maiden win.

muruThe jury of the awards was led by Priyadarshan, who has directed Akshay in numerous films, and this frequent collaboration was attributed for Akshay’s award as they felt that several other performances of the year like Manoj Bajpayee in ‘Aligarh’, Aamir Khan in ‘Dangal’ and Shahid Kapoor in 'Udta Punjab' among others were far more deserving.

However, Priyadarshan had defended the ‘biased’ accusation against him by saying that Amitabh Bachchan and Ajay Devgn had also won National Awards when their respective frequent collaborators Ramesh Sippy and Prakash Jha were heads of the panel, but no one questioned it at that time.

One of the few celebrities to have expressed ‘disappointment’ over the awards was ‘Aligarh’ director Hansal Mehta, who later clarified that it was his personal views and not directed against anyone else.

Popular South filmmaker A. R. Murugadoss, who had films like ‘Ghajini’, ‘Holiday: A Soldier is Never Off Duty’ and ‘Akira’ in Bollywood and several other hits down South, was very vocal about his views on the awards and took to Twitter to call the jury partial and biased.

Incidentally, Murugadoss had directed Akshay in ‘Holiday: A Solider is Never Off Duty’ which was a hit at the box office.

Coming from Murugadoss, who is a man of few words, the comment does come as a surprise.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

Washington, Jan 11: Fresh off his win at the Golden Globes, actor Joaquin Phoenix participated in a climate change protest and was arrested by the police.

The "Joker" star took part in the weekly protests against climate change, started by Hollywood veteran Jane Fonda.

According to Variety, the 45-year-old actor also addressed the crowd of close to 300 people.

In his short speech, he took aim at the meat and dairy industry for being the third leading cause of the climate crisis.

"Sometimes we wonder what can we do in this fight against climate change, and there is something that you can do today and tomorrow, by making a choice about what you consume," Phoenix said.

"There are things I can't avoid. I flew a plane here today, or last night rather, but one thing I can do is change my eating habits," he added.

Besides Phoenix, veteran Hollywood star Martin Sheen also turned up for the protest and got arrested by the police. Actors Maggie Gyllenhaal and Susan Sarandon were also present.

Capitol Police said it arrested 147 people who were charged with crowding, obstructing or incommoding. All the protestors were later released.

Fonda, who was on stage with Phoenix, called him "one of the greatest living actors today".

She has been protesting weekly as part of her "Fire Drill Fridays" initiative since announcing she was moving to Washington "to be closer to the epicenter of the fight for our climate." Her participation has ended in multiple arrests.

Earlier this month, Phoenix had talked about climate change at the Golden Globes ceremony, asking Hollywood to walk the talk on the issue.

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News Network
July 12,2020

Mumbai, Jul 12: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has sealed actor Rekha’s bungalow in suburban Bandra after a security guard there tested positive for coronavirus, a civic official said on Sunday.

The guard at the 65-year-old actor’s bungalow ‘Sea Springs’ tested positive on Tuesday, the official said.

The BMC has put a board outside the premises declaring the are as a containment zone. The security guard has been hospitalised at the BMC’s COVID-19 care facility in Bandra Kurla Complex, he said.

As the bungalow is a standalone one, only a portion of it has been sealed, he said.

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Agencies
June 7,2020

Washington D.C., Jun 7: South Korean pop band BTS and their record label Big Hit Entertainment have donated USD one million to support Black Lives Matter.

According to Variety, the donation was transferred earlier this week, with Black Lives Matter confirming receipt to the label on Friday.

"Black people all over the world are in pain at this moment from the trauma of centuries of oppression. We are moved by the generosity of BTS and allies all over the world who stand in solidarity in the fight for Black lives," the outlet quoted Kailee Scales, managing director for Black Lives Matter as saying.

The widely lauded band, earlier on Wednesday, took to Twitter to show their solidarity with the people fighting against the social injustice.

"We stand against racial discrimination. We condemn violence. You, I and we all have the right to be respected. We will stand together," the tweet read.

The pledge of the donation from the Korean boy band and its label comes during a time when people and celebrities from the industry have come forward to demonstrate their support for the black community.

Several big names from the music and acting industry also observed 'Blackout Tuesday' earlier the week as a message of solidarity in response o the death of George Floyd, an African-American man in the United States.

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