Latest Bollywood News Today Transcript at 11:30 AM on 24 March 2023
Let’s begin with our top story. Bollywood actor-couple Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh attended Indian Sports Honours 2023 in Mumbai along with Deepika’s father and legendary Badminton player Prakash Padukone. The trio, twinning in black, were all smiles for the camera and struck picture-perfect poses at the event which took place on Thursday, 23rd March. While Deepika opted for a black saree with matching jewellery, Ranveer and Prakash chose black suits. Anushka Sharma with her husband, cricketer Virat Kohli, Abhishek Bachchan, Aparshakti Khurrana, Ajay Devgn, Neha Dhupia and Angad Bedi among others also dazzled on the red carpet.
Moving on. The trailer of the upcoming crime thriller Gumraah, starring Aditya Roy Kapur, Mrunal Thakur and Ronit Roy in the lead roles, was unveiled on Thursday, 23rd March. From the looks of it, the film appears to be an intense whodunnit drama with two major suspects, both twins. For the unversed, Gumraah is the Hindi remake of the 2019 Tamil hit Thadam. Ronit Roy is once again donning the ‘khaki’ uniform after starring in Shootout at Wadala, Boss and Ugly – all of which were released in 2013. Aditya Roy Kapur is coming straight from the success of the recently released Disney+ Hotstar series, The Night Manager. Gumraah will hit theatres on April 7.
Actor Mrunal Thakur says it was challenging to play a cop in her upcoming film Gumraah, a role that she has tried to deal with responsibly. Gumraah features Thakur as a cop while Aditya Roy Kapur will be seen in a double role. The Jersey actor said since her role as a cop demanded her to sound firm she was unsure if she could pull it off, primarily because of her soft voice. She said at the trailer launch – “When you play a cop there is a responsibility. But the way my character is written is interesting. It was challenging.” Gumraah is directed by Vardhan Ketkar and produced by Bhushan Kumar’s T-Series and Murad Khetani’s Cine1 Studios.
Meanwhile, Farhan Akhtar has confirmed that Alia Bhatt, Priyanka Chopra and Katrina Kaif are still on board to star in the upcoming road trip drama Jee Le Zaraa. The film marks Priyanka’s return to Bollywood and Farhan’s return to direction. It is also one of the rare examples of a Hindi movie led by three female stars at the peak of their popularity. On Thursday, 23rd March, Farhan took to Instagram to share a picture of an apparent recce. It showed him standing on a dune, looking into the distance. Farhan also identified the location as Rajasthan and credited cinematographer Jay Oza for the photo. He tagged all three stars in his post. Fans were overjoyed.
On Martyrs’ Day – Shaheed Diwas on Thursday, 23rd March, several Bollywood stars including Sonu Sood, Abhishek Bachchan and others paid tributes to freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev on social media. Sonu Sood took to Instagram and shared pictures from his debut film Shaheed-E-Azam in which he portrayed the character of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. Rajkummar Rao too dropped a portrait of the freedom fighters and captioned it, “Their bravery and valour will never be forgotten.” March 23 is observed as Shaheed Diwas paying tribute to the Indian revolutionaries who were hanged by the British Government in 1931 in the Lahore conspiracy case.
Meanwhile, Filmmaker Hansal Mehta took to social media to praise director Anubhav Sinha’s film Bheed. The film, which is led by Rajkummar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar, presents the plight of migrant workers who were forced to return to their native places after India announced a lockdown in 2020. Comparing the ensemble cast of the film to that of the critically acclaimed 2003 film Maqbool, Hansal appreciated the film. Ever since the film’s teaser was released, it has created discussion around the way the film is presenting migration and comparing it to the Partition. However, according to Hansal, with Bheed, Anubhav is at the top of his filmmaking game. Bheed is out in theatres today.
Amidst security concerns after Salman Khan received a threat email, reports suggested that the Bollywood superstar’s show Da-Bangg was cancelled. The show, also featuring Sonakshi Sinha, Jacqueline Fernandez, Prabhudheva, Ayush Sharma, and Guru Randhawa, was earlier scheduled to happen in April. The organizer, Rajdeep Chakraborty has debunked reports of Salman’s show being cancelled and has confirmed that the show will now happen in May-June instead of April. Reportedly, Salman’s brother Sohail Khan and his security guard Shera also visited Kolkata in November last year to inspect the security measures.
Lastly, Ananya Panday channels her inner Meryl Streep as she plays a fashion expert in Amazon Prime Video’s new show, Call Me Bae. The streaming platform, along with actor Varun Dhawan announced the launch of the show through a video where Ananya is seen scrutinising Varun’s lack of knowledge when it comes to fashion. She is a brutal fashion expert, seen schooling Varun on the nuances of fashion and couture. Fans were quick to notice how Ananya was channelling Meryl’s iconic character Miranda Priestly from the film “The Devil wears Prada”. Call Me Bae is produced by Karan Johar’s Dharmatic Entertainment, which is Dharma’s digital unit that focuses on delivering distinctive stories across fiction and non-fiction formats for OTTs.
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