Roping in real footballers for '1911' will be great: John

June 18, 2014

New Delhi, June 18: John Abraham is currently living and loving the 2014 FIFA World Cup fever, but the actor-producer, who is also a co-owner of Indian Super League (ISL) Guwahati franchise North East United FC, may just rope in some real football players for his movie production "1911".John Abraham football

The film, he says, is a "truly inspirational" story of late Indian footballer Sibdas Bhaduri, who captained Mohun Bagan in the historic 1911 IFA Shield final when they defeated the East Yorkshire Regiment to become the maiden Asian team to emerge victorious in the competition.

John, a football fan himself, is upbeat about the project, which he is not just producing but also acting in. But how about getting some real players out of the IPL-style ISL football league to kick the ball as well?

"Great idea! Yeah, I think it's great, but unfortunately the league starts now, and the shooting of the film starts later...Maybe the people who are playing in the league, we can ask them if they want to shoot for the film (later)," John said on the phone from Mumbai..

While that could be a plan John seemed to keen to work on, he's quite confident that "1911", his project with the maverick Shoojit Sircar of "Vicky Donor" and "Madras Cafe" fame, will draw positive feedback.

The cameras will start rolling in early 2015 for the project.

"It's a truly inspirational football story or rather sport story. We are very proud to make this film. If 'Vicky Donor' and 'Madras Cafe' are any indications to go by, we'll give the audience an extremely good film," John said.

He says the movie will turn out to be as "different" as his past two productions, both of which pocketed National Film Awards in different categories.

"When people asked me about 'Vicky Donor' and 'Madras Cafe', I always said, 'They are different films', but people never really understood what it meant until they saw the films. I say '1911' will be the first Indian international film.

"I expect it to do good business not just in India, but if presented well by a forward thinking studio overseas, then we'd get huge results from this film overseas. It's got that flavour, very international and yet very Indian," he added of the project.

John earlier told IANS that he would have loved to play football for India, but perhaps he's living his passion by playing a footballer on the big screen. He had earlier played one in the 2007 film "Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal".

Produced by the actor's banner JA Entertainment in collaboration with Sunir Kheterpal's Azure Entertainment, "1911" happened on Sircar's insistence.

"Shoojit said, 'John, let's do this together. You're the only guy (in Bollywood) who understands football and really knows how to play football.' I felt good about it, and I think it's a wonderful script.

"Shoojit and I have a great working relationship," said the 41-year-old, who, for now is busy juggling between his "Rocky Handsome" production as well as as his duties as the 2014 FIFA World Cup brand ambassador in India, as appointed by sports and entertainment channel Sony SIX.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

Mumbai, Aug 2: Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuaron has come aboard as an executive producer on filmmaker Chaitanya Tamhane's movie The Disciple. The Marathi feature is set to represent India at the 77th edition of the Venice Film Festival. It will be screened in the Competition section of the prestigious film gala.

The movie, which is Tamhane's follow-up to his National Award-winning feature Court, has also been selected for 2020 Toronto International Film Festival's official line-up.

"I met Chaitanya through a mentorship program where I had the opportunity to watch his very superb debut film, Court  I was immediately impressed by his sense of cinema and fearless confidence to tell stories.

"He was part of most of Roma's process and I jumped to the opportunity to be part of the process of his second film The Disciple. I believe Chaitanya is one of the most important new voices of contemporary cinema," Cuaron said in a statement.

Tamhane said he is honoured to have Cuaron aboard the film.

"It’s a bit surreal and an incredible honour for me to have one of the most recognised and acclaimed filmmakers in the world be part of 'The Disciple'. In some ways, this validation from Alfonso Cuaron is even more," he added.

The Disciple, a 127-minute long feature, stars Aditya Modak, Arun Dravid, Sumitra Bhave, and Kiran Yadnyopavit. It has been produced by “Sir” actor Vivek Gomber through his Zoo Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.

The Disciple marks Tamhane’s return to Venice after he won the Best Film - Orizzonti and Lion of the Future award for Court in 2014.

Court, a poignant commentary on India's judicial system, also won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in 2015 and was India's official entry for the Best Foreign Film at the 2016 Oscars.

Endeavor Content will sell North American rights and New Europe Film Sales boards the film as an international sales agent.

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News Network
July 14,2020

Los Angeles, Jul 14: US officials on Monday found the body of "Glee" actress Naya Rivera in the Californian lake where she drowned last week during a boat trip with her four-year-old son.

Rivera's body was retrieved and an initial examination found no evidence of foul play or suicide, Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub told a press conference.

"We are confident the body we found is that of Naya Rivera," said Ayub, pointing to the location, appearance, clothing and condition of the body.

Her body was being taken to a medical examiner's office for a full autopsy and confirmation of her identity from dental records, though no other missing persons have been reported at Lake Piru, he added.

Rivera, 33, is believed to have accidentally drowned after renting the boat with her young son at the camping and recreational hotspot around an hour's drive northwest of Los Angeles.

She vanished on Wednesday afternoon, and a massive search involving divers, patrol boats and helicopters was launched after her sleeping son was spotted drifting alone in a boat on the lake.

The son later told investigators that Rivera had helped him into the boat before "he looked back and saw her disappear under the surface of the water," said the sheriff.

Ayub pointed to the lake's strong currents as a possible cause of a fatal accident.

"The idea perhaps being that the boat started drifting -- it was unanchored -- and that she mustered enough energy to get her son back onto the boat, but not enough to save herself," he said.

The lake has been closed to the public since Wednesday, with around 100 personnel, including the US Coast Guard and rescuers from neighboring counties, joining the search.

Search teams used footage from video messaging calls Rivera made from the boat before her disappearance, as well as interviews with her son, to scour portions of the lake bed for her remains over six days, with no success.

"We believe she was concealed within some of the shrubbery on the floor bed of the lake" before eventually floating to the surface due to natural decomposition, said Ayyub.

With less than one foot (30 centimeters) of visibility underwater in daylight, the recovery operation was a "complex search effort" even with use of sonar equipment, he said.

Rivera was best known for her role as high school cheerleader Santana Lopez in "Glee."

She starred for six seasons in the wildly popular musical television series set in a US high school that ended in 2015.

The "Glee" cast has been struck by tragedy before.

Actor Mark Salling took his own life in 2018, weeks before being sentenced for possession of child pornography.

Canadian castmate Cory Monteith died in July 2013 of an overdose of drugs and alcohol.

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News Network
January 30,2020

Mumbai, Jan 30: A day after a woman filed a complaint against Ganesh Acharya alleging that he had forced her to watch pornography, actor Tanushree Dutta said Bollywood should boycott the choreographer.

A 33-year-old woman, an assistant choreographer, has written to the National Commission for Women (NCW) alleging that Acharya used to make her watch porn videos whenever she visited his office in suburban Andheri.

She also alleged that Acharya and two women assaulted her during a function of the Indian Film and Television Choreographers Association (IFTCA) held in suburban Andheri on Sunday. A complaint has been filed in this regard with Amboli police.

"It's time Bollywood and the other Indian film industries boycott choreographer Ganesh Acharya completely. Hiding behind the male superstars who work with this despicable man, he has been abusing his power and position to harass, bully and take advantage of vulnerable young newcomers to the industry," Dutta said in a statement here.

Dutta had alleged that her co-star Nana Patekar harassed and misbehaved with her while shooting for a song for their 2008 film "Horn Ok Pleasss", and Acharya, who was the choreographer, introduced new steps which were "intimate".

Recalling the trauma she faced, Tanushree said even though Acharya was party to all the harassment she faced on the 'Horn ok Pleasss" set, he went on to spoil her name and reputation.

"Nobody had any regard for me and how much I had suffered psychologically and financially because of the turmoil I went though due to these people. I left the industry because I was so scared and hurt over the atrocious treatment meted out to me on 'Horn ok Pleasss' set.

"I had worked very sincerely to get to where I got in life and so went in shock for many years, over the whole episode on that set almost 12 years ago, that led to an attack on my car. They didn't just break my car, they broke my spirit that day," Dutta said, in reference to the attack on her car in 2008.

She expressed her displeasure over how "leading men" and "heroes" of Bollywood continued working with Acharya, whose most recent work includes "Simmba", "Zero", "Sanju" among others.

"Even after all the information of fraud, non payment of dues, sexual harassment of dancers, bullying and intimidation and even physical abuse of dancers is coming out about Ganesh Acharya in the media, if the actors, directors and producers still work with him, it would mean that they themselves are engaging in such acts also.

"It's a warning to the film industry to stay the hell away from Ganesh Acharya otherwise your own reputation will be joined to his character. I'm sure many more girls and boys will come out about his misbehaviour and shady business, opening floodgates in the future," she added.

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