Top Bollywood stories of the week transcript
Let’s begin with the latest update. Bollywood star Salman Khan on Wednesday, 5th April took a jibe at the young actors in the Hindi film industry stating how the ‘five of them’ i.e – Shah Rukh Khan, Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar, Aamir Khan and Salman himself will give them a run for their money. At the 68th Filmfare Awards 2023 press conference, the actor was asked who among the new lot of actors has managed to impress him. Sharing that all of them are talented, focused and hardworking, Salman said that he and his contemporaries are not giving up so easily. He said – “We are not retiring anytime soon.”
Meanwhile, it’s going to be a clash of the titans as Jr NTR comes on board to star in the sequel of the blockbuster actioner War, where he will lock horns with actor Hrithik Roshan. War 2, set to be directed by Ayan Mukerji, will go on floors by the end of the year. The film is billed as a true blue pan-India outing with the coming together of Hrithik Roshan and Jr NTR, who is currently riding on a global wave of popularity with the Oscar-winning RRR. YRF’s ambitious spy universe, which was kicked off with Shah Rukh Khan’s global hit Pathaan, will now see films like Tiger 3, headlined by Salman Khan, War 2 and the Tiger v/s Pathaan film.
Actor Raveena Tandon, on Wednesday,5th April was awarded the fourth highest civilian award, Padma Shri, by President Draupadi Murmu at a gilded ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were in attendance during the presentation ceremony. Expressing her gratitude for being picked for the top honour, Tandon earlier said, “Honoured and grateful. Thank you so much, Government of India, for acknowledging my contributions to cinema and the arts, which allowed me to contribute, not only to the film industry but beyond. I owe this to my father.” Raveena received a lot of appreciation for her performance in the pan-India 2022 blockbuster KGF 2.
Moving on.The Priyanka Chopra-starrer Citadel will stream on Prime Video on April 28 and the global star is presently in India to promote her upcoming series. Also starring Richard Madden. PeeCee and Richard play globetrotting spies in the Russo Brothers produced series. On Tuesday, 4th April the Citadel team held a screening of the series in Mumbai which was attended by many celebrities including Rekha, Varun Dhawan, Neha Dhupia, Nora Fatehi, Jim Sarbh, and Patralekhaa among others. Priyanka looked stunning in an off-shoulder gown as she posed on the red carpet with Richard.
Nita and Mukesh Ambani, along with their family, hosted a two-day-long celebratory event on the occasion of the inauguration of the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai last weekend. The event saw some of the biggest celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood attend the bash. One of the clips from the event had Varun swooping American model Gigi Hadid in his arms and twirling her. He gave her a peck on the cheeks as the dance ended. This video later received a lot of criticism on Twitter. Addressing the controversy, Bollywood choreographer Shiamak Davar, who directed all the performances, in a recent interview said that it was “Gigi’s idea” and that “she asked Varun to do so”.
Meanwhile, Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha has made films like Tum Bin, Mulk, Article 15, Thappad and a few others. But his last film, Anek failed to find an audience in the cinema halls and Sinha had to apologise to those associated with the film. The political thriller Anek starred Ayushmann Khurrana and Andrea Kevichüsa in the lead roles and was set in the North-Eastern part of the country. In a recent interview, Sinha claimed that only 20 per cent of the audience understood what he wanted to convey with his film. Upon its release, Anek received mostly negative reviews from film critics. Anubhav Sinha’s recent release Bheed, starring Rajkummar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar among others is currently running in theatres.
Veteran actor Shabana Azmi says that marrying writer Javed Akhtar initially was not easy, as it involved heartaches, children and going against the tide. Javed was married to actor-screenwriter Honey Irani, with whom he had two children, Farhan and Zoya Akhtar. He then fell in love with Shabana, and the duo got married in 1984. A year later, Akhtar and Irani were divorced. In an interview with Curly Tales, Shabana opened up about the phase in the trio’s life. The veteran actor revealed that Javed and she tried to call off their relationship multiple times because children were involved. Today, Shabana feels blessed that she is close to both Zoya and Farhan and “Honey is like a family member.”
Lastly, Actor Kunal Kemmu believes in following his instinct, even if it means going against the tide and breaking set norms of the industry. Kunal, who started his journey as a child actor in Bollywood, says the film industry is a “tough” place and as an actor, one is constantly looking for validation from all quarters. Kunal started his career with dramas like Kalyug and Traffic Signal in the mid-2000s and soon changed gears with comedies like Golmaal 3 and Go Goa Gone, establishing himself as an actor with excellent hold on the genre. Kunal is currently seen in ZEE5 comedy Kanjoos Makhichoos, co-starring Shweta Tripathi and Piyush Mishra.