Latest Bollywood News Today Transcript at 11:30 AM on 17 July 2023
In our top story. Bollywood actor Alia Bhatt is all set to become the first woman to headline a film in Yash Raj Film’s spy universe. According to a Variety report, the film, in which Alia is set to play a “super agent”, will begin production in 2024. Created by producer Aditya Chopra, the spy universe kicked off with the Tiger franchise, starring Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif in Ek Tha Tiger and Tiger Zinda Hai, and continued with War in 2019, starring Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff. The latest instalment, Pathaan, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and John Abraham, is the biggest hit of the year so far.
Moving on. Newcomers Shanaya Kapoor and Zahrah S Khan have joined the cast of superstar Mohanlal’s pan-India film Vrushabha, the makers said on 15th July. Ektaa R Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms has teamed up with Connekkt Media and AVS Studios for the multilingual project directed by Nanda Kishore. It will also feature actor Roshan Meka. Shanaya, the daughter of actor Sanjay Kapoor, will soon debut in her Hindi film with Karan Johar’s home production Bedhadak. Zahrah is the daughter of veteran star Salma Agha. Shanaya told PTI – “It’s a dream come true.” Vrushabha will start production later this month. The movie will hit the screens in 2024 in Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Hindi.
Actor R Madhavan attended the banquet dinner hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron in honour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Louvre Museum in Paris. The actor in a post on his Instagram shared several pictures from the event and wrote – “The passion and dedication to doing good for the Indo-French relationship, as well as for the people of both countries was palpable and intense during the Bastille Day celebration in Paris. I was in complete awe at the dinner hosted by President Emmanuel Macron in honour of our Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi at the Louvre, of both these world leaders, as they passionately described their vision for the future of these two great friendly nations.”
Meanwhile, actor Katrina Kaif’s 40th birthday celebration was a grand affair as she and her actor husband Vicky Kaushal celebrated together on the high seas. Vicky took to Instagram to wish his wife and shared photos from a boat as they posed together. While Katrina was dressed in an orange one-shoulder dress, Vicky chose white. Vicky wrote – “In awe of your magic, every day. Happy Birthday my love!” The actor couple had left Mumbai together ahead of Katrina’s birthday and are speculated to be spending some time together in the Maldives. Katrina also received wishes from her friends from the industry and family. Vicky and Katrina married in December 2021 in Rajasthan in a private ceremony.
The last year had been merciless on the Hindi film industry as audiences rejected films and massive titles fell through. Ahead of Bawaal’s release, its actors Janhvi Kapoor and Varun Dhawan, and director Nitesh Tiwari, opened up about what the film industry’s stand is. Nitesh told indianexpress.com – “The audience is aware of the finer points of filmmaking after being exposed to content from across the world. Earlier, no one would comment on technical aspects like people are doing now. You cannot take your audience for granted.” Janhvi, meanwhile, believes that filmmakers have also seen the response and assimilated it into their work. Varun opined that the solution is to leverage the strengths and explore the options.
Meanwhile, filmmaker Rohit Shetty’s Cirkus, the highly anticipated movie that was touted as one of 2022’s biggest films, was rejected by moviegoers upon its release in the theatres. Shetty recently said that he takes ‘ownership’ for the failure of the film. The filmmaker told India Today – “I know what we did. We went wrong somewhere. It was made right after Sooryavanshi and in the middle of the pandemic for the workers. It was a small film meant for the audience of that time.” The film, which is based on Shakespeare’s popular play “The Comedy of Errors”, recorded dismal numbers at the box office. Cirkus was backed by an ensemble cast including Ranveer Singh, Jacqueline Fernandez and Pooja Hegde.
Actor Sunny Singh, known for his roles in films like Aakash Vani, Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2, and Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, recently opened up about his friendship with co-star Kartik Aaryan. In an interview with Siddharth Kannan, Sunny said, “The bond between me and Kartik has always been good. We are like school, and college friends and we keep laughing whenever we are together. We go to the same gym now too. But sometimes we get busy. I feel good that we are busy. But whenever we talk on the phone or we meet, we go back to laughing and having fun.” Sunny Singh was recently seen in the Prabhas-starrer Adipurush.
Lastly, Actor Rahul Roy began his career in the Hindi film industry by delivering a hit. He starred in Mahesh Bhatt’s musical romantic drama Aashiqui and became an overnight star. However, despite signing 47 films immediately after the film’s success, Rahul couldn’t register another hit to his name. Roy, in a recent interaction with Siddharth Kanan, revealed what went wrong for him after Aashiqui. He said he was “duped” by several filmmakers. Rahul shared – “Whatever they wanted of me, they took everything, but they didn’t give me what I was looking for. When I started shooting for these people, I realised what they told me was very different from what was happening on set.”