Sakshi Chaudhary to play Priyanka Chopra in 67 Days

New Delhi, Jun 22: Amidst a strain in the ties between India and Nepal, actor Manisha Koirala, a Nepali national, on Monday urged people of both the countries to be not "aggressive and disrespectful" towards each other.

Koirala, a leading Bollywood actor of her times, took to Twitter to request people to let the respective government resolve the issues and stay "civil."

"A heartfelt request please let's not be aggressive and disrespectful..we are in this situation together..our respective Gov's will resolve the issue. In the meantime we can be civil ..I remain hopeful," she tweeted.

Earlier last week, Nepal 's Upper House of Parliament endorsed a proposal to discuss the Constitution amendment bill to update the country's map that incorporates parts of Indian territory.

Nepal's House of Representatives had on June 10 endorsed a proposal seeking consideration of a constitution amendment bill for change of country's map after a lengthy discussion. Nepal has made offers to India to hold "diplomatic talks to resolve the territorial issue" between the two countries.

New Delhi has said that the updated map is "not based on historical facts and evidence" and termed the claims by Nepal as artificial enlargement.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava also said that the move is violative of the current understanding to hold talks on outstanding boundary issues.

Mumbai, Jul 25: Movie theatres have been shuttered for months due to the coronavirus pandemic in the country, but the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has now recommended that the Union Home Ministry allow cinema halls to reopen in August. 

I&B Secretary Amit Khare indicated this at a close-door industry interaction with the CII Media Committee on Friday. He said Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla at the Home Ministry would take the final call.

Khare said that he has recommended that cinema halls may be allowed to reopen all over India as early as August 1, or at the latest, around August 31.

The formula suggested is that alternate seats in the first row and then the next row be kept vacant, and proceeding in this fashion throughout.

Khare said that his ministry's recommendation takes into consideration the two metre social distancing norm, but tweaks it gently to two yards instead. The Home Ministry, however, still has to revert on the recommendation.

Cinema owners, present in the interaction, however, pushed back and said this formula is unwise and merely running films at 25% auditorium capacity is worse than keeping the cinemas shut.

The attendees at the meet included media CEOs like N.P. Singh of Sony, Sam Balsara (Madison), Megha Tata, (Discovery), Gaurav Gandhi (Amazon Prime), Manish Maheshwari (Twitter), S. Sivakumar (Bennett Coleman and Co Ltd), and K Madhavan, Star & Disney, and also Chairman, CII Media Committee.

The OTT platforms present, including Gandhi of Amazon Prime, did not push back. Some Bollywood producers, notably those of Amitabh Bachchan's Gulabo Sitabo, have posted their movies on OTT, rather than live out the lockdown uncertainty.

Mumbai, Jan 19: An FIR has been registered against actor Shabana Azmi's driver after the car they were travelling in met with an accident on the Mumbai-Pune expressway on Saturday afternoon, police said.

Ms Azmi's driver has been identified as Amlesh Yogendra Kamat.

According to the police, a complaint has been registered by Rajesh Pandurang Shinde, the truck driver whose vehicle was hit from behind by Ms Azmi's car.

"Due to rash driving by the driver, the car hit the moving truck on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway which resulted in the accident," the FIR copy read.

Soon after the accident, Shabana Azmi was immediately rushed to MGM Hospital in Navi Mumbai and was later shifted to the multi-specialty Kokilaben Hospital in Mumbai's Andheri.

According to doctors, she has suffered a head injury and slight damage to the backbone. Her condition is said to be stable, although, she remains under medical observation.

Her husband lyricist Javed Akhtar, who was travelling with her, escaped with a minor injury.