Shah Rukh Khan represents the middle class boy who achieved it all: Aanand L Rai

Agencies
March 4, 2018

Mumbai, Mar 4: Aanand L Rai believes Shah Rukh Khan may have become a superstar but the actor still is the same Delhi boy at heart with humble beginnings and it was this quality that made him even more endearing for the filmmaker's next Zero.

In Zero, the 52-year-old actor, popular for portraying characters in love stories set abroad, plays a vertically challenged man who travels from Meerut to New York.

"I always felt he is a very basic Delhi boy. Whenever I saw him in those valleys of Switzerland, I felt 'Oh Delhi boy wahan tak pahuch gaya' (the Delhi boy has achieved great heights). I never felt he didn't belong there.

"That is the reason why I think he has a great connect in our country because he represents a basic middle class boy who has achieved it," Aanand told PTI when asked how does he see this transformation of the actor.

The movie reunites the cast of Jab Tak Hai Jaan with SRK, Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif featuring in the film.

For the first time, Aanand has teamed up with a star like Shah Rukh. Asked if the stakes have become higher, the 46-year-old director says, "There were bright chances."

He is, however, relieved to have SRK on board.

"Shah Rukh makes me feel so comfortable and makes you feel like he is the most obedient actor you have ever worked with. I have found a friend, a big brother in him. I am enjoying the process and he is letting me fly," he says.

As of now, Aanand is gearing up for the Christmas release of the film which, he says, is "shaping up great" and is a "lifetime of experiences".

Besides direction, Aanand is backing a string of new films under his company Colour Yellow Productions - from the sequel of Happy Bhaag Jayegi, Anurag Kashyap's next Manmarziyan to a project helmed by Rajkumar Santoshi.

Talking about his production spree, he says, "I will never do a film just for the sake of it. If I have nothing to contribute, I won't do it. If I don't have anything to bring on the table something which will make it easier for the director or the team, there is no reason to make it."

"I am not doing films to make money. If you make a good film, you will make money but that is not the prime reason to go for a film. My prime reason is what am I bringing new for my audience," he adds.

For the Raanjhanaa director, the success or failure of a film does not account to much, but what matters is the intention with which it was made.

Aanand's turn as a producer happened with the hit Tanu Weds Manu and he says the decision was largely driven by the idea to back the content he believes in.

"Producing a film was not to make money but only to get the freedom to make the kind of films I want to. I don't look at my bank (balance) in terms of what I am getting or not getting," he says.

"I am just enjoying the process of telling the stories I always wanted to be a part of. As a director I know I can do very few, but as a production house, I can tell more stories, which is fun," he says.

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News Network
January 9,2020

Los Angeles, Jan 9: Actors Salma Hayek and Tiffany Haddish are hopeful about the future for women in Hollywood and now cinema is making films about women because the audience was "neglected".

The duo along with Rose Byrne star in Like a Boss, a comedy directed by Miguel Arteta, which follows best friends Mia and Mel (Haddish and Byrne) who join forces to run their own boutique cosmetics company.

When the prospect of a big buyout offer from a notorious titan of the beauty industry (Hayek) tempts them, their lifelong bond - and their business - is put in jeopardy.

Hayek said she is happy with the increase in female-driven films in Hollywood.

"We're on the right path. And we're not going to stop," the actor told Variety.

"What I can tell you is that a lot more women are directing and acting and writing and producing. And there are a lot more movies made about women and for women because the audience was neglected, she said.

She was speaking at the premiere of the film in New York.

Haddish added that the mantle for change shouldn't be left to the traditional decision-makers.

To get things, one has to sometimes make noise, the actor-author said.

"It's about us putting in the work and creating the projects and creating the opportunities in order to do those things to make it better. I sit back and I listen to people talk sometimes, saying, 'They're not letting us; they're not giving it to us.' Why do we have to ask permission? Why can't we just start putting it together? If they want to come on board with it, come on board. And if not, oh well," Haddish said.

"I'm about creating an opportunity. People say I'm loud and obnoxious, but sometimes it’s the squeaky wheel that gets the oil and gets things done," she added.

The comedy comes on the heels of a year gone by in cinema that featured female protagonists in films like Little Women and Captain Marvel.

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News Network
April 6,2020

New Delhi, April 6: Acknowledging on being scared and talking of not seeing his family for three weeks, actor Salman Khan along with nephew Nirvaan on Sunday shared their lockdown experience in a video message.

The 54-year-old star, without disclosing where the actor actually is, shared a video message on Twitter along with his brother Sohail Khan's son, Nirvaan.

Salman began the one-minute and 26-seconds long video, by saying: "We came here for a few days and now we're stuck and scared"

The 'Bharat' actor then introduced Nirvaan and asked him "How long has it been since you saw your father?", to which Nirvaan replied, "It must have been three weeks."

"I have not seen my father for three weeks. We are here and he is alone at home," Salman added.

The 'Sultan' actor then asks the boy: "You remember the film dialogue, 'the one who got scared, died.' It does not apply here in this situation. We are scared and bravely we admit that we are scared. Please don't be brave in this situation."

Nirvaan also further requested everybody to stay safe and maintain social-distance.

"I think it's better for everyone to stay home, avoid contact and I think the longer we stay indoors the faster this ends," he added.

The 'Bajrangi Bhaijaan' star concluded the video by saying: "The one who got afraid saved himself and lives of others around him. Moral of the story, 'We're all scared'."

Urging people to take the government's advisory of self-isolation seriously amid the rising cases of coronavirus in the country, the megastar had earlier shared a video message for fans. 

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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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