Urdu has become a minority language, laments Sharmila Tagore

February 19, 2017

New Delhi, Feb 19: Veteran actress Sharmila Tagore said that Urdu has "become static" and has been restricted to minority communities.Sharmila-Tagore

The 72-year-old actress, who was speaking at the "Jab Filmein Urdu Bolti Thi" session at the ongoing Jashn-e-Rekhta, said the language today is being spoken by "perhaps Muslims" alone.

"Traditions are vital to understand our history and to visualise a well-informed and balanced future. But Urdu, which has been an integral part of Indian history, has somehow become static. It has become a minority language, spoken by only the Muslims perhaps," Tagore said.
The language, which was once widely spoken in Delhi, bore the brunt of the Partition, which she said, "broke the literary tradition of the country".

While it became Pakistan's official language, in India it was left limited to mere corners of the country.

She went on to say that the language did not belong to any particular religion.
"It is not a language of Muslims only, or Pakistan's language. It is our language...and we would like to keep it like that," Tagore said.

Hailing from a Bengali family, the actress, who made her Bollywood debut with Shakti Samanta's 1964 film, "Kashmir Ki Kali" found it difficult to speak the Hindi prevalent in the industry at the time, let alone the nuances of Urdu.

"My will was negating (me) to learn it. But, I imbibed it and now I feel culturally rich and enhanced," she said.

But, it was her marriage to celebrated cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, who belonged to a traditional Urdu-speaking family that made her understand and learn the language better over the years.

Sharing an anecdote about her ignorance of Urdu literature during her early years in Bollywood, she recounted the instance when she told fellow actor Feroz Khan that her husband had penned a beautiful couplet for her, which was in fact written by Ghalib.

"I recited, 'Dil-e-nadan tujhe hua kya hai, aakhir is dard ki dawa kya hai.' Feroz said, 'You idiot woman, this is Ghalib, for God's sake'," she said.

Talking about the use of Urdu in Bollywood, she said it was actually Hindustani - a combination of Hindi and Urdu - that was widely popular in films.

"The marriage of the sister languages, Hindi and Urdu made the 1940s and 1960s very, very memorable," she said.

The actress was joined by legendary actor Prem Chopra and famous Hindi-Urdu screenwriter Javed Siddiqui on the panel.

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News Network
January 15,2020

Chennai, Jan 15: Superstar Rajinikanth on Tuesday called for neutrality in journalism and urged media outlets to report the truth.

Addressing an event organised by Tamil magazine ''Thuglak' in Chennai, the superstar-turned-politician said that the country needs a journalist like the late Cho S Ramaswamy, who helmed the publication for decades.

"The times, politics and society are going bad. In such a scenario, the media had a huge responsibility towards the people," he said.

Some television channels are biased towards political parties, Rajinikanth said. He added that media, critics and journalists must report the truth impartially.

Comparing true news to milk and fake reportage to water, Rajinikanth said people will not be able to distinguish between the two if they are mixed.

"Only journalists need to tell which portion is milk and which is water...write the truth and don't make a lie seem like truth," he said, amid applause.

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News Network
May 8,2020

London, May 8: Actor Florence Pugh says the most terrifying aspect of starring in the upcoming superhero film "Black Widow" was doing the Russian accent.

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe's stand-alone film, the Oscar-nominated actor plays Yelena Belova, a sister-figure to Scarlett Johansson's Natasha Romanoff/ the titular Black Widow who was trained in the Red Room.

"I was scared because my Russian accent was going to be out there and I didn't know what it sounded like.

"I'm also playing a character who no-one's seen before but they've read about her. I didn't know whether people were going to hate me!" Pugh told ELLE UK for its June issue.

The 24-year-old actor also said the idea of joining the MCU itself was quite "daunting".

"When you think of Marvel, it's big and daunting. Especially being a relatively small actor to look at it and go, 'Oh! I'm going to be a part of this', that's a big decision," she said.

"Black Widow", which was scheduled to hit the theatres on May 1, will now release on November 6 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Directed by Cate Shortland, the film also stars David Harbour and Rachel Weisz.

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News Network
June 27,2020

Patna, Jun 27: As Sushant Singh Rajput’s family tries to come to terms with his loss, they have decided to honour his legacy and celebrate his passion for cinema, science and sports.

In an emotional statement shared on Saturday, the Bollywood actor’s family remembered him as a “free-spirited” person who worked hard to turn his dreams into reality.

“He was free-spirited, talkative and incredibly bright. He was curious about just everything. He dreamed without restraints, and chased those dreams with the heart of a lion. He smiled generously. He was the pride and inspiration of the family,” the statement read.

Rajput, 34, known for films like Kai Po Che!, MS Dhoni: The Untold Story and Chhichhore, was found dead in his Bandra apartment on June 14, sending shockwaves in the film industry and elsewhere.

The family said that the actor’s untimely demise has created an irreparable void in their lives.

“We can’t bring ourselves to accept that we wouldn’t get to hear his easy laughs anymore. That we wouldn’t see his sparkling eyes again. That we wouldn’t hear his endless rants about science again. His loss has created a permanent, glaring void in the family that will never be filled.”

Thanking his admirers for being a constant support as they try and recover from the loss, the family added that Rajput, “truly loved and cherished every single one of his fans.”

The actor, who made the storybook transition from Patna boy to television and then the starry lights of the Hindi film industry, was the youngest of five siblings and is survived by his father and four sisters. His mother had passed away in 2002 when he was a young teen.

To honour his memory and legacy, the family has decided to set up Sushant Singh Rajput Foundation (SSRF) that will support young talents in cinema, science and sports.

His childhood home in Rajiv Nagar, Patna, will be turned into a memorial, where all his personal memorabilia and belongings, that include thousands of books, his Meade 14’’ LX-600 telescope, flight-simulator, will be on display for his fans and admirers.

The actor’s family, who used to fondly call him Gulshan, will also maintain his social media accounts as legacy accounts to keep his memories alive.

Rajput started his acting career with television after dropping out from Delhi Technological University in the early 2000s. He was one of the few talents to have made a successful transition to movies.

The actor made his Bollywood debut in 2013 with Kai Po Che!. In past seven years, he had featured in a number of hits including blockbusters Neeraj Pandey’s MS Dhoni: The Untold Story and Chhichhore by Nitesh Tiwari.

Tiwari’s 2019 hit was Rajput’s last theatrical release.

On Thursday, it was announced that Dil Bechara, which is the actor’s last movie he shot for, will premiere on Disney + Hotstar on July 24.

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