1. Sonam’s Special Birthday Gift for Anand Ahuja
Actor Sonam Kapoor is currently vacationing in New York with her rumoured boyfriend Anand Ahuja. The couple also celebrated Anand’s birthday recently.
Both Sonam and Anand have been posting pictures of their New York vacation on social media and we got to know from their Instagram accounts that the actor has presented Anand with a special present, which he calls his “best birthday gift”.
Yes, Anand is pretty excited about his new bike.
Read the full story on The Quint.
2. Salman, Alia, Shahid and Other Stars at Big Zee Entertainment Awards
The Big Zee Entertainment awards were held on Saturday night in Mumbai. Shahid Kapoor and Alia Bhatt took home the Best Actor and Actress award for Udta Punjab but it was also a big night for the Bachchans. Amitabh Bachchan bagged the Most Entertaining Actor in Drama - Male for Pink and Abhishek Bachchan won the award for Most Entertaining Actor in Comedy - Male for Housefull 3 while Aishwarya Rai took home the honour for Most Entertaining Actor in Drama - Female for Sarbjit.
Check out pictures of stars at the awards nite:
For more pictures see the story on The Quint.
3. Rana Daggubati Reacts to the Hyderabad Drug Racket
In wake of a major drug bust earlier this month in Hyderabad, actor Rana Daggubati said it worries him and its really dangerous to know that school children have been involved in this racket.
The Telangana Prohibition and Excise Department had seized 700 dots of LSD worth Rs 20 lakh and 35gm of MDMA -- commonly known as Ecstasy -- worth Rs 1.4 lakh from three peddlers.
The month-long investigation brought to light the drug trade in Hyderabad, which involves not only Tollywood stars and MNC professionals, but also school students from reputed institutions.
Commenting on the drug bust scenario, Rana told IANS: "Honestly, the whole thing has been blown out of proportion. If a filmmaker or an actor takes drugs, it really doesn't bother me. They are adults and it's their lives and they can do whatever they want. I don't give a damn if you take drugs."
For more, read the story on The Quint.
4. Shahid Kapoor Opens Up About the Controversial Padmavati
Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor says his upcoming film Padmavati, marred by controversies, is made with a good intent.
Shahid, who won the Big Zee Entertainment Award for the best actor for Udta Punjab on Saturday, spoke to the media on the sidelines of the event.
Talking about the controversies surrounding the historical drama, whose shooting was disrupted for showing a romantic angle between Rajput queen Padmavati and Alauddin Khilji, Shahid said:
According to me, I have not shot any scene which has been changed. I think there were a lot of presumptions about the film, and people were presuming about the scenes.”“The clarification has been given that no such scene is there in the film. I hope when people see this film, they will realize that the heart of the film and intent of the film is very good.
"This country and the people who live in it, and specially the area we are talking about in the film, will be glorified. I play a Rajput king and my character, I feel, will be admired by people."
Read the full story on The Quint.
5. Stardom & Scandal: Rewind to Mandakini of ‘Ram Teri Ganga Maili’
“When those who’re alive can do their worst, why should I fear the dead?” she had asked famously in a graveyard scene where, as an unwed mother, she seeks refuge in the dead of the night.
The lacerating dialogue, her frank sexuality in the still-recalled waterfall and breast-feeding scenes, her dance moves to the song Sun Saiba Sun, all conceived and directed by Raj Kapoor for Ram Teri Ganga Maili, were and still are her ticket to fame.
Born Yasmeen Joseph in Meerut to a British father and an Indian mother, for starters she was screen-named Madhuri by a small-time film producer and then altered to Mandakini by the supremo showman.
Raj Kapoor’s search for a newcomer to play the title role of Ganga opposite his son Rajiv Kapoor, was one of those twists of Bollywood fate.
The Bobby heroine, Dimple Kapadia had been auditioned for the role of Ganga. The clip was shown on Doordarshan, as part of the footage for a portrait on Raj Kapoor made by Ramesh Sharma. Viewers across the nation gasped. Dimple looked great, acted perfectly for the audition. The showman wasn’t sure, he believed a newcomer was the answer to project the innocence and guilelessness of a pahadi girl who must endure travails of the lachrymose kind, following love interrupted with a shehari babu.
Now that was 32 years ago. I’m recalling the RK heroine since she turns 54 years old today, and has opted to lead “a normal life” on Mumbai’s Yari Road, Andheri, with her husband Dr Kagyur T Rinpoche Thakur. Together they run the Tibetan Herbal Centre. An all’s-well, that ends-well-wrap, it would seem. She’s been largely forgotten. After all, it’s out-of-sight-out-of-the-radar in showbiz.
That Mandakini was a one-film wonder could be debated (mildly). After all, in a little over a decade she did fetch up in as many as 40 films, B Subhash’s Dance Dance (1987) in which she sought to keep pace with Mithun Chakraborty’s mambo moves, and a cameo in N Chandra’s Tezaab (1988).
But think Mandakini and you think of that wet and wonderful waterfall splash of Ram Teri Ganga Maili. A boffo hit, the film did have its share of carping Cassandras, tsk tsking ‘the titillating, vulgar nudity.’
To this Raj Kapoor had shrugged, “If Federico Fellini shows nude women in Amarcord, it is called art and wins awards at premium festivals. If I dare to go towards nudity, it is called exploitation and voyeuristic.”
Did she have any qualms about the Maili act? On meeting her at a dubbing session of Aag aur Shola (1986) – a mega-melodrama top-lining Jeetendra and Sridevi — I found the new sensation to be either tongue-tied or clever. All questions were deflected with a, “I don’t know ji,”, “Who would dare to disobey Raj Kapoor ji?” and “That’s not a nice question ji.”
Read the full story on The Quint.
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