Latest Bollywood News Today Transcript at 11:30 AM on 26 April 2023
Let’s begin with our top story. The nominations for the 68th Filmfare Awards 2023 were announced on April 25th, Tuesday. Superstar Salman Khan will host the ceremony, alongside co-hosts Ayushmann Khurrana and Maniesh Paul. Actors Vicky Kaushal, Govinda, Tiger Shroff, Janhvi Kapoor, and Jacqueline Fernandez are also set to perform at the award ceremony. The highest number of nominations are led by filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Gangubai Kathiawadi, which landed ten nods including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor for Alia Bhatt, Best Music and Best debut male for actor Shantanu Maheshwari. The Kashmir Files has also bagged six nominations, in categories including Best Film, Best Director for Vivek Agnihotri and Best Actor for Anupam Kher, among others.
Moving on. Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and his son Aryan Khan recently featured together in a commercial for a clothing brand. The video not only has Aryan showcasing his acting skills, but he has also directed the video. The over-a-minute-long TVC begins with Aryan scribbling some words on a blackboard and striking them off in frustration. He then walks away by leaving a stroke in red with a paintbrush. Moments later, Shah Rukh appears on the screen and he picks up the paintbrush. He then makes a ‘x’ on the board completing the name of the brand. The description for the video reads, “D’YAVOL X is a limited-release streetwear brand, established by Aryan Khan, Leti Blagoeva and Bunty Singh.
Actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan on Tuesday, April 25th, addressed the “insensitive writing” on her daughter, Aaradhya. Aishwarya was speaking at the press conference of Ponniyin Selvan 2 in Mumbai. Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai’s daughter Aaradhya Bachchan, 11, recently moved the Delhi High Court against a YouTube channel for deliberately peddling fake news about her health. The Delhi HC on April 20, restrained several YouTube channels from publishing misleading content on Aaradhya’s health. At the press conference, when Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was asked about it, she said – “It’s so nice that a member from the media is recognising that it does exist. Thank you very much for your wise recognition of the negative impact of false writing which is insensitive and unnecessary.”
Meanwhile, Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap recently admitted that he spent the last few years working on others’ films, to avoid repeating himself creatively. In an interview with Variety, Kashyap addressed how tumultuous the last few years have been for him, as he spoke about returning to his roots with Kennedy. The film stars Rahul Bhat and Sunny Leone. Kashyap said, “I’ve liked everything that I’ve done. For me personally, I will not do what I don’t want to do. But then in between, this whole Phantom fiasco happened, then the lockdown happened, and there were a lot of things going on. So I worked on other people’s scripts. I was bored of people expecting me to create another gangster movie.”
Filmmaker Hansal Mehta said the audience should focus on their experience of films, rather than fixate on their box office collections. Mehta, who has directed films like Faraaz, Aligarh and Citylights, said box office collections aren’t any indicator of a good film. Responding to a tweet by a trade analyst, who had mentioned the difference between a producer’s figure and that of the trade, Mehta wrote, “Bottom Line: A films box-office is nobody’s business. Terrible films sometimes make a lot of money and good films make less money. Focus on your experience of the film as an audience and not on the film’s collections.”
Meanwhile, Actor Vidya Balan was honoured with the Deenanath Mangeshkar Award for her contribution to cinema, on Monday, April 24th. While accepting the prestigious award, Vidya got emotional as she remembered the Nightingale of India, the late singer Lata Mangeshkar. Vidya shared that the saree she had draped for the award function was gifted by the legendary icon. Vidya shared, “As a new actress I was watching Lata Mangeshkar with awe, at an event. Later, I mustered the courage to call her. I heard her divine voice on the phone and she sent me a saree home. And here I am wearing this saree, and receiving this prestigious Award. It is indeed a blessing for me.”
Zeenat Aman made her debut in the movies with Dev Anand’s Hare Rama Hare Krishna. In her latest Instagram post, the veteran actor shared the story of how she got her first big break and how she was one of the lucky ones to find her “star-maker” in Dev Anand. Zeenat shared that back in 1970, she had plans of moving to Malta with her mother and stepfather. She shared – “I vividly remember what I wore that day. A fitted yellow top, a fawn-coloured skirt and glasses with yellow frames. My mother was at the meeting. So she held the fort, while I spoke when spoken to. Dev Saab persuaded my mother and me to delay our travels.”
Lastly, months, after she suffered a heart attack during the shoot of the latest season of her, hit Disney+ Hotstar series, Aarya, actor Sushmita Sen on Tuesday, April 25th, announced she is back on set. In a video posted on Twitter, Sen said she has resumed filming, with “twice the strength”. The teaser, showcases Sen in full form, displaying her sword fighting skills with the actor’s voiceover, “One life. Twice the strength. It’s time for round three.” The teaser ends with a close-up of Sen, as the title card reads, “Aarya season 3, created by Ram Madhvani, back to shoot.”
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