‘A Star Is Born’: Lady Gaga triumphs in movie debut at Venice

Agencies
September 1, 2018

Lady Gaga spoke of her painful road to fame after she shone in her big Hollywood movie debut, “A Star Is Born”, which premiered Friday at the Venice film festival.

“Many times at the beginning of my career I was not the most beautiful woman in the room — but I wrote my own songs,” she told reporters.

The story of an “ugly” girl who thinks her nose is too big and hides behind layers of outrageous makeup had obvious autobiographical echoes for US star.

A remake of the 1937 classic, the singer was stepping into some big shoes in reprising a role already immortalised by Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand.

But critics hailed her magnetic performance and on-screen chemistry with co-star Bradley Cooper of “American Sniper” fame, who also directed the film.

Lady Gaga said she dug deep into her own experiences for the role.

When she was trying to make it “they often wanted me to give my songs to other singers but I held onto my music with my cold dead fingers, ‘You are not going to take my songs from me’,” she said

‘I am my own woman’

“They made suggestions about how I should look,” said the superstar, who thanked a journalist for comparing her nose to that of another great diva, the soprano Maria Callas.

Lady Gaga she said had to be “very strong to negotiate” the music industry’s attempts to remake her.

“I would always take a left turn. I never wanted to be sexy or to be viewed like other women. I wanted to be my own artist and my own woman,” she added.

Gaga, 32, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, plays an Italian-American waitress and singer who meets a country music star on the slide in a drag club where she is performing Edith Piaf’s “La Vie en Rose”.

Sparks fly and soon this odd couple are making romantic and musical fireworks.

Gaga said her biggest fear was “being completely vulnerable and bare” on screen.

Took off her makeup

The first thing Cooper did at the screen test was wipe the makeup from her face, “and I was only wearing a little bit”, she said.

“I always love to transform myself and shape shift, it is part of my art and my music. But he wanted to see me with nothing… and he brought out this vulnerability in me, in someone who doesn’t necessarily feel safe to be vulnerable… he made me feel so free,” she added.

Cooper, 43, said their shared Italian-American roots helped weld the “amazing connection” between them, as well as the experience of shooting and singing live together in front of thousands of people at the Glastonbury and Coachella festivals in England and California.

Unlike the heroine of the film, Lady Gaga said she has never been a shrinking violet when it came to her own talent.

Never less than flamboyant, she made one of the most dramatic entrances in years at Venice, arriving on the eve of the premiere draped over the edge of a water taxi in a black bondage bustier dress with platinum blonde curls.

And her appearance at the film’s press conference was greeted by a clap of thunder across the Venetian lagoon.

“The character I play has completely given up on herself at the beginning of the movie. I was about 19 when I started as a singer and I hit the ground running. I was dragging my piano from dive bar to dive bar and I believed in myself.

“There can be 99 people in a room and you just need one to believe in you, and it was him (Cooper) for me,” the singer said of the director.

“I got to live my dream, I always wanted to be an actor.”

Meanwhile, the Coen brothers premiered their new Western “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”, a typically off-beat black comedy starring Tim Blake Nelson, Liam Neeson, Tom Waits and Zoe Kazan that gets off with a musical bang.

Joel Coen also took out his six-shooter to support Neflix, which financed the film, and has been locked in a bitter row with the rival Cannes film festival.

“The fact there are companies that are financing and making movies outside the mainstream is very important,” he told reporters.

“It’s what keeps the art form alive. The more the merrier.”

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News Network
July 21,2020

Mumbai, Jul 21: Police have recorded statements ofthree psychiatrists and a psychotherapist as part of their probe into the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput last month, a senior official said on Monday.

Their "statements were recorded over the last three- four days" by the Bandra police who are probing the case, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone IX) Abhishek Trimukhe.

The late actor was consulting these mental health professionals and hence their statements were recorded as part of the ongoing probe, police said.

Rajput was undergoing treatment for depression since November 2019, they said.

Rajput, 34, was found hanging in his suburban Bandra apartment on June 14 in what the police claimed was a case of suicide. In the initial investigation, the Mumbai police had found that the actor was under medication for depression.

So far, the police have recorded statements of over 36 people, including director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Bollywood casting director Mukesh Chhabra, actress Sanjana Sanghi and Rajput's friend Sandip Singh, among others.

Rajput's friend, actor Rhea Chakraborty, has also given her statement to the police.

Filmmaker Aditya Chopra recorded his statement in connection with the case at the Versova Police Station on Saturday.

Rajput starred in films such as 'Shuddh Desi Romance', 'Raabta', 'Kedarnath' and 'Sonchiriya'. But his most prominent role came as cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the biopic, 'MS Dhoni: The Untold Story'.

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News Network
April 29,2020

Mumbai, Apr 29: Irrfan Khan, one of India's finest and most versatile actors, lost his battle with a rare form of cancer and died in a Mumbai hospital on Wednesday, a statement from his family said. He was 54

Irrfan, who was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumour in 2018, is survived by his wife Sutapa and his sons Babil and Ayaan.

It is the second tragedy for the family in less than a week. The ?Maqbool? actor lost his mother, 95-year-old Saeeda Begum, in Jaipur just four days ago and could not attend the funeral because of the nationwide lockdown.

Irrfan, that rare actor who straddled multiple worlds, making his mark in both international and Indian cinema in roles intense and light-hearted, was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital with a colon infection

?It's saddening that this day, we have to bring forward the news of him passing away. Irrfan was a strong soul, someone who fought till the very end and always inspired everyone who came close to him. After having been struck by lightning in 2018 with the news of a rare cancer, he took life soon after as it came and he fought the many battles that came with it,? the statement from his family said

?Surrounded by his love, his family for whom he most cared about, he left for heavenly abode, leaving behind truly a legacy of his own. We all pray and hope that he is at peace. And to resonate and part with his words he had said, 'As if I was tasting life for the first time, the magical side of it',? it added.

The news of his death was first confirmed by his "Piku" director Shoojit Sircar who sent his condolences to the family and doffed his hat to the actor's fighting spirit

"My dear friend Irfaan. You fought and fought and fought. I will always be proud of you.. we shall meet again.. condolences to Sutapa and Babil.. you too fought, Sutapa you gave everything possible in this fight. Peace and Om shanti. Irfaan Khan salute," the director said on Twitter.

Irrfan's death came the morning after news that he had been admitted to the ICU with a colon infection.

The self-effacing National Award winner, who acted in films as diverse as ?Life of Pi?, ?The Namesake? and ?Haasil?, had stayed away from the public eye after his diagnosis in 2018 when he went to the UK for treatment.

He returned home in 2019 and shot for "Angrezi Medium", the sequel to his 2017 hit "Hindi Medium". However, his health condition prevented him from promoting the movie, which hit the theatres in March just before the lockdown that began on March 25.

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News Network
May 28,2020

Agartala, May 28: Tripura Police has registered a complaint against Bangladeshi singer Mainul Ahsan Nobel, who earned fame in the music reality show 'Sa Re Ga Ma Pa' in Kolkata, for allegedly humiliating Prime Minister Narendra Modi over social media.

The complaint was filed by a resident of Belonia town in South Tripura district who is a student of Pandit Deen Dayal Petroleum University at Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

The complaint was filed on May 25, the person who is called Suman Paul said.

Nobel is not yet a popular singer in Bangladesh and has always been rejected by the audience of that country. He participated in the TV music reality show called Sa Re Ga Ma Pa in Kolkata, earned money, gained fame and returned to Bangladesh. If the person insults our prime minister it cannot be accepted. So I filed the FIR, Paul told reporters.

Belonia superintendent of police Jal Singh Meena confirmed that the complaint was registered and forwarded to Tripura Polices cyber crime cell.

The complaint was registered the same day it was filed at Belonia police station under Indian Penal code sections 500 (punishment for defamation), 504 (intentional insult), 505 (public mischief) and the IT Act.

We have registered the complaint and forwarded it to the cybercrime cell because it is not in the Indian cyberspace. We have started an investigation into the issue, the SP said.

Rajib Dutta, the officer-in-charge of Belonia police station said that as per the complaint the Bangladeshi singer had abused Modi in a Facebook post calling him a "mere chaiwala (tea seller)'.

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