Sonam, Nawazuddin win top awards at IFF Melbourne

August 13, 2016

Melbourne, Aug 13: Bollywood actors Sonam Kapoor and Nawazuddin Siddiqui bagged the best actress and best actor awards at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2016.

iffWhile Sonam, 31, was awarded for her performance in Neerja Bhanot's biopic, "Neerja," Nawazuddin won the award for his role of psycho serial killer in "Raman Raghav 2.0".

Expressing his delight over the award, Nawazuddin said "I am thankful for considering me for this award."

Other nominees in best male performance were Ranveer Singh for "Bajirao Mastaani," Shah Rukh Khan for "Fan" and Manoj Bajpai for "Aligargh."

Sonam dedicated her award to the Bhanot family.

"I am very lucky to be up here...This is a real story about a women who is only 23 years old. I want to thank Bhanot family specially the mother who passed away... Its a film about compassion more than anything else," she said.

Filmmaker Shakun Batra's "Kapoor and Sons" and Leena Yadav's "Parched" also scooped the top awards.

Batra's directorial venture won the best film award and Yadav's film lead the best indie film category. She also bagged the best director award.

Pakistani actor Fawad Khan was given a special diversity award by the state special minister Gavin Jennings.

Rishi Kapoor was honoured with the lifetime achievement award for excellence in cinema.

Expressing his happiness to receive the award, Rishi reminisced when his father Raj Kapoor thought of casting him as his younger version in "Mera Naam Joker".

"I remember when my father asked my mom...I went to my room and took out a paper and started practising my autographs," he recalled and added that he came from a family which gave 88 years to the Indian cinema out of 104 years.

"We are very grateful to people like you who have extended our legacy," he added.

The 63-year-old actor said though being a member of Kapoor family made it easy for him to get into film, it was his hardwork that made him sustain.

"It is very difficult.I was just not Raj Kapoor's son I have given lot of blood, sweat and tears to it," he said.

The star studded gala event that was held last night at the Melbourne Recital Centerer saw special performances by Pakistani singer-songwriter, Sara Haider, Shalmali Kholgade, Suzanne D'Mello, and other notable local performers.

Veteran actress Simi Grewal, Neetu Singh, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, Richa Chadha, Indian high commissioner Navdeep Suri, Consul General Manika Jain were also present at the occasion.

This year, the festival has screened a variety of films, features, shorts and documentaries in 17 languages. Around 50 films are shortlisted for the festival.

The theme for this edition is 'Women Empowerment'. "Angry India Goddesses," will bring the curtains down for the festival on August 21.

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News Network
June 19,2020

New Delhi, Jun 19: After the recent sudden demise of Sushant Singh Rajput, actor Kangana Ranaut who went public slamming nepotism in the Hindi film industry, has now revealed that she faced similar struggles like that of Sushant.

In a new statement, the "Queen" actor alleged that she was asked to apologise to Hrithik Roshan's family in order to survive. Both Kangana and Hrithik had been in the public spotlight in the year 2016 over their alleged former relationship and legal battle.

The 'Queen' actor said: "Once Javed Akhtar had called me to his house and told me that Rakesh Roshan and his family are very big people. If you don't apologise to them, you will have nowhere to go. They will put you in jail, and eventually, the only path would be that of destruction...you will commit suicide. These were his words. Why did he think if I don't apologise to you will have nowhere to go. They will put you in jail, and eventually, the only path would be that of destruction...you will commit suicide. These were his words. Why did he think if I don't apologise to Hrithik Roshan, I would have to commit suicide? He shouted and yelled at me. I was shaking in his house,"

She further continued, "Were there people calling Sushant? Were there people putting such thoughts into his mind? I have no idea, but obviously, he was in a similar situation. In his interviews, he had said that nepotism cannot co-exist with talent because they don't allow the right talent to come up. I can relate to it, and hence I am raising questions. I want to know who played the catalyst in this situation?"

Kangana adds, "I know Sushant had a big fallout with Aditya Chopra also. When I refused Sultan, he had threatened he would never work with me. Ever since our industry ganged up on me. I remember so many times feeling really lonely and feeling what will happen to me..."

The 'Manikarnika' star also revealed that all this not only happened to her professionally but personally as well it hampered her relationships. "They are very insecure about things. Despite what they did to me, there was a guy who wanted to get married to me. But he distanced himself, they made sure he ran away. With no surety about my career, my love-life completely has gone awry, with six court-cases against me, they're still trying to put me in jail."

Kangana also talked about herself: "I'm a different person; I'm very expressive. I went out there, and I just vented it out. Sushant was not a person like that at all. He just bottled it up. Media too has played a considerable part in this--the kind of monster image that was given to him. Everybody who knew him closely agrees that he was a soft and emotional person. I think that after a point it really got to him. I can understand it because even I have been portrayed as a witch and as a stalker."

Sharing that the bullying and outbursts had a psychological impact on her life situations, Kangana says, "I remember initially when people used to come to my home, I felt so embarrassed to even offer them water. Forget having a relationship or going on a date post the disaster of a relationship I had. I can only imagine that even during Manikarnika what they did to me."

Talking about the 'Kai Po Che' star, she added, "But perhaps he was just not able to vent. In fact, all these constant jibes on these petty show that he should be killed and which rated him as the least efficient... his films have done more business than your Gully Boy. People like Salman Khan said who Sushant Singh Rajput? It was after M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story, everybody knew who Sushant was. We need to stop these."

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News Network
May 28,2020

New Delhi, May 28: On the World Menstrual Hygiene Day, former Miss World Manushi Chhillar on Thursday underlined the need to spread awareness on feminine hygiene.

The 23-year-old star has been roped in by UNICEF to spread awareness on the need to educate girls on personal hygiene.

Chhillar put out a post on Instagram expressing the need to educate girls with all information on maintaining hygiene, constructing adequate sanitation facilities and providing quick access to feminine hygiene products.

Manushi, who is participating in the UNICEF global initiative called the Red Dot Challenge, stated, "Every young girl has the right to accurate information about her body. Without the right information, girls often don't know how to safely manage their period. It's time to break the silence. I am calling all girls, boys, women and men to take the #RedDotChallenge with me. Because of Menstruation Matters. @unicefindia."

Along with the post, Chhillar shared her pictures with red dots on her hand representing the 'Red Dot Challenge.'

The former Miss World runs her own initiative on menstrual hygiene called 'Project Shakti' that works across several states of India.

The beauty queen turned actor will debut in Bollywood with the highly anticipated historical-drama 'Prithviraj' opposite Akshay Kumar. She will be playing the royal princess Sanyogita, whose tales of beauty mesmerised an entire nation.

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News Network
March 11,2020

Mar 11: The shooting of Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai has been completed, and the film will now release on schedule.

If one recalls, the film went on the floors in the first week of November 2019 and was supposed to be Salman’s fastest completed film. However, the movie faced a variety of roadblocks — It was first to be wrapped in the first week of February, “But Salman went off to his Panvel farmhouse after the release of Dabangg 3 and spent a while there ushering in his birthday,” a source reveals.

“Then, the extension of the show Bigg Boss 13 by five weeks also turned out to be another speed breaker. Then, Salman wanted to make sure that the film was being made as good as what his audiences wanted on Eid. He made sure that his director Prabhudeva got what he wanted from the performers and didn’t want to rush him.

"Additionally, the Azerbaijan schedule of the film also got cancelled as Salman did not want to take any chances with the cast and crew with the lurking Covid 19, and rescheduled the shoot in India. This is now complete, barring any patchwork that might emerge later,” our source adds.

Radhe is slated to be an Eid release, which will clash with Akshay Kumar’s Laxmmi Bomb.

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