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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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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Agencies
July 28,2020

Mumbai, Jul 28: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan says he was left in tears as his daughter-in-law, actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, and granddaughter Aaradhya Bachchan were discharged from hospital after testing negative for coronavirus.

Aishwarya and her eight-year-old daughter, who were shifted to the isolation ward of Nanavati Hospital on July 17, were discharged on Monday.

Amitabh, 77, and his actor-son Abhishek are still in hospital after they were admitted on July 11.

In a post on official blog, the Bollywood veteran said that he became emotional when Aaradhya told him that he would be "back home soon".

"They go home, the little one and Bahurani... and the tears flow out... the little one embraces and tells me not to cry... 'You’ll be home soon', she assures... I must believe her," he said.

On Monday, Abhishek had said that he and his father were still under the care of medical staff at the Nanavati Hospital's isolation ward.

"My father and I remain in hospital under the care of the medical staff. Thank you all for your continued prayers and good wishes. Indebted forever," the 44-year-old actor tweeted.

Both Amitabh and Abhishek have been sharing their health updates with fans on various social media platforms.

Last week, Amitabh had dismissed reports that he had finally tested negative for coronavirus, calling the piece of news "an incorrigible lie".

Mumbai's Covid-19 tally rose to 1,10,129 on Monday with addition of 1,033 new cases.

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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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