HM Rajnath Singh praises Akshay Kumar for supporting Indian soldiers


Home Minister Rajnath Singh has lauded Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar’s support for the Indian Army. Singh on Wednesday took to Twitter to share a video of Akshay. The actor was seen appealing to his fans and well-wishers to help martyrs’ families in the video. “Akshay Kumarji your support to Bharat Ke Veer is commendable,” Singh said in the video-caption.
In the over three-minutes long video Akshay said, “Friends yesterday we celebrated 70 years of our independence with great pride and honour. I want to ask you one thing — did you celebrate the Independence Day along with people who fill you with pride and provide your security? Those who put their lives on the line to gift us this independence every year…” 

The Rustom actor added, “Everyday in news we hear at some place or the other our soldiers have given up their lives just to protect us.”
Akshay also requested his fans and followers to contribute for the soldiers of the Indian Army. “Now it’s our turn to do something for them. This year our Home Ministry has launched a website through which you can directly donate money to the families of the martyrs — bharatkeveer.gov.in,” he said.
The National Award-winner said that the website has already collected more than Rs 10 crore. “Today, on August 16, the website has photographs and details of 114 soldiers. Yesterday… Rajnathji asked us to appeal that we all help the families of these martyrs. I request you all that in the next six months we have to help the families of these 114 soldiers and remove their photos from the website,” he said. 
Akshay concluded by saying: “They are there that’s why we are here. Nothing is more important than respecting these bravehearts. So let’s do this together and make them proud of us. Jai Hind.” (IANS)

Pahalaj Nihlani Chopped Out, Prasoon Joshi Is New CBFC Chief

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It has finally happened…

Pahlaj Nihalani has been removed from his post as that of the chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and Filmmaker Prasoon Joshi will reportedly replace Mr Nihalani as the new chairman of the censor board by next week.
Although Pahlaj Nihalani had taken over the office as the chairperson of the CBFC in January 2015, he has been embroiled into several controversies and his blatant comments ever since.
The controversies started as soon in 2015 when he chopped intimate scenes in the James Bond film SPECTRE. Next in line was Udta Punjab where objection was put on various scenes.Next Mr Pahlaj blocked Lipstick Under My Burkha on grounds of the film being ‘lady-oriented.’ He also objected to the word ‘intercourse’ which was used in one of the mini trails of Shah Rukh Khan’s film Jab Harry Met Sejal. The latest controversy involved in Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s Babumoshai Bandookbaaz as the board had demanded 48 cuts for his film.
Hope the new CBFC chairman would take some lessons from the past and the Censor Board would act like a mature board and take decisions in accordance to what’s right and wrong. 
All the best Mr Prasoon Joshi

Gimmickry Thy Name Is Film Promotions

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Rewind yourself to the olden times when if a new film was released, one would only get to know it through the show timings in the newspaper or through the big colourful hand painted posters in front of the cinema halls. That was the only promotion any film would get and still they went on to complete 25 weeks or 50 weeks at the box office.

Now, fast forward to the present times where film promotions have become more like a marketing thing in the film making aspect. Now you have directors announcing on social medias about their films going on floors in year 2035…and then during the shooting of the movies, we get to see the snippets of it on either the actor’s insta stories or some small peek which goes viral on the social media within few minutes.

And once the film is completed, oh God the line of promotions is so big that it goes on even when the film is released. So, you have like the actors promoting the film on all sorts of reality shows or the soap operas on the small screen. And if all this is seemingly less, they rope in their industry friends and make a dubsmash video or the industrywallahs start tweeting on their twitter handles showing their so called ‘excitement ‘for the upcoming movie. The teaser of the film first is unveiled, then the poster, then one or 2 songs and finally the trailer of the movie is released in some big way in some lavish auditorium or stadium and mind you it’s just the trailer!!!

But even all this excitement built up and promotional gimmicks, why do these films only run a week or so? Why do they get erased so quickly from the minds of the audience unlike the earlier movies? Are we overdoing the promotions, or are the story lines so weak that all these marketing gimmicks are needed? Can there be any movie which can run without these promotions and just on their story and still do well… time to introspect…

Eros Looking For Buyers of Its Film Portfolio

Filmi Files Bureau

Well, Indian movie industry is surely going places whether it’s our films, our actors or even the way we market our films, we are all over the globe and day by day, we are growing. The latest addition to this growing bandwagon is the movie production and distribution giant EROS INTERNATIONAL who boasts of having films like Bajrangi Bhaijaan, BajiRao Mastani and Dabang in their kitty.

 News is that Eros International is in discussion with Apple, Netflix and Amazon to sell the rights of their 3000 plus film and music library. The deal could worth be around $1 billion as quoted by The Economic Times. Earlier Eros had attempted to buy the film and music library from Sony, Star India, Viacom and Zee.

 Although neither Eros or the other 3 have declined to comment on the news, however the shares of Eros International shot up more than 16% Monday on the reports of the talks. Let’s see what the future holds.

Movie Review: ‘Jab Harry Met Sejal’

If you are content to simply bask in the company of a middle-aged Shah Rukh Khan and half-his-age Anushka Sharma, the two attractive leads who star as Harinder Singh Nehra aka Harry, a Punjabi, and Sejal Jhaveri, a Gujarati, then this romance is for you. Otherwise, you would be questioning your motive for sitting through this film.

Once again, it’s hard to put too much hate on a film that clearly tries hard to dazzle its fans, but the elephant in the room here is clearly the script. Yes, this is a wonderful film to gawk at as the locales in Europe are beautiful, but you will find that you are doing just that. The plot meanders on multiple occasions and the characters, especially Sejal, is given some of the most atrocious dialogues that make you chuckle inadvertently.
Sejal is a tourist in Europe, who at the airport on her way back to India, realises that she has lost her engagement ring. Disappointed, dejected and defiant, she opts out of the group to search her ring. She ropes in her tour guide Harry in her endeavour. The premise, albeit cliched, and the setting promise an entertaining romance. But alas, it is nowhere palpable.
Imitaz Ali’s latest oeuvre seems to be mounted on an outdated, perfunctory script packed with cardboard thin characters, silly conversations and a weak plot that lacks depth, drama and the seriousness of a heart-felt romance. This makes the entire narrative seem forced and pretentious, and loses connect with the audience.
Added to the anguish are the performances. Though both the lead actors are ace performers, Shah Rukh does not seem to get out of his comfort zone. His performance lacks lustre and freshness. Anushka matches Shah Rukh with her energy levels but together their on-screen romance lacks chemistry and chutzpah. Her accent is fake and inconsistent.
Aru Krishansh Verma as Harry’s friend along with Evelyn Sharma as his love interest has nothing much to offer. Chandan Roy Sanyal as Gas, the illegal Bangladeshi immigrant thug, does have his moments of on-screen glory.
Director Imtiaz Ali seems to have taken the easy route assuming that a film with Shah Rukh Khan will automatically work. The film sorely lacks drama, interesting twists and freshness. It trudges along on an even keel throughout. The first half is watchable as it establishes the setting and characters, but the post interval half drags needlessly.
The songs “Hawaayein” and “Radha” are melodious and well-picturised, but do nothing to enhance the experience.
The film expectedly boasts of good production values and the cinematographer captures the beauty of Europe with utmost sincerity.
Overall, good actors cannot uplift a poor script and a ‘When Harry Met Sejal’ suffers from that and a lot more. With low entertainment quotient this one fails to appeal. (IANS)
Our Ratings: **

From Farts To Toilet: Is Bollywood Breaking Barriers? 


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Aren’t the titles of the films going really quirky and different? Imagine telling a movie illiterate person, oh I went to see ‘Fan’ or ‘Tubelight’… that poor chap would be wondering as to what’s so special seeing the basic things of existence. And now we are all geared up to see ‘Toilet’, funny indeed… you use it every day and infact see it more than you see your sweetheart, but yes you would be seeing ‘Toilet’. But this is not what are article is all about. It’s actually about how things that were perceived taboo earlier are slowly coming in the mainstream cinema. 


Remember ‘Hum Dil Chuke Sanam’ and how coolly Ms Ash made fun of Sallu’s name as ‘Sameer, Hawa ka Jhoka’, which was a taunt at the fact that he farted in front of her. But on second thoughts how many movies ever since have actually shown the lead actors farting, c’mon its natural phenomenon, but still films are scared of showing it… scared of the smell it would generate? 

There are many things which were still considered a taboo or shame showing in movies but with the new breed of directors and writers and their innovative thinking, some of them are now being considered normal. Flashback yourself and think that had you ever seen the concept of ‘sperm donor’ in movies… shh what are we talking sperm and all that… but with movies like Vicky Donor and various web series, now we actually find the idea practical, it’s a way of helping the childless couple and in a way creating awareness. And talking about Sperms, the next thing which is haww so shameful to show in a movie is Oral Sex. Isn’t Sex an integral part of our lives and what’s wrong in showing the various forms of sex, thanks to films like Delhi Belly where the lead actor was actually shown going down on his girl rather than being on the top, we actually saw a little ‘different’ aspect of it even though it was not shown fully, but yes it was a change after all. 

And how many of us have actually seen frontal nudity in films? We go ga-ga when the man shows his 8 packs or when the heroine strips down to her bikini, but people there is more to that and it seems impossible that we shall see a full Monty in movies soon. But hopes are alive… one day …one day!!

Sex leads to think us about relationships and yes, the concept of ‘live-in’ are now being shown pretty commonly in movies and so are the ‘gay relationships’ with Mr Karan Johar contributing to it in a way, how can we forget ‘Kanta Ben’ looking all shaky and shocked seeing SRK and Saif in the same bed! But why is a gender discrimination here also, if Gays are shown why are we still scared to touch the topic of ‘Lesbianism’. After all, if men have feelings don’t do the females have and the one film that dared to show it was ‘Fire’ although it is still considered parallel cinema. Waiting for that day when Lesbians would be shown in a main stream masala movie.


Awareness is also being spread in the form of making movies which cater to a certain section of society like in the case of My brother Nikhil, where AIDS was discussed or for that matter Taare Zameen Par which dealt with the problem of Dyslexia which is something not talked about it so openly, but yes, these movies are breaking the barriers. Movies are not only generating awareness about superstitions in fairly dominant religious country thanks to movies like PK and OH! My God, but upcoming movies like Toilet- Ek prem Katha takes the social mission of ‘Swatch Bharat’ forward. 

When movies were just considered a mode of entertainment where you could forget about your life problems and just enjoy, the new trend is breaking barriers in making us sit and think and in a way making us aware, but there is still a long journey ahead and hopefully one day it would be achieved.

Robert Pattinson Sold Porn In School

Robert Pattinson has revealed that he once got expelled from his school for selling porn magazines. The 31-year-old actor shared the incident during his appearance on The Howard Stern Show, reported Us magazine.

“I’ve never actually said this before. I was stealing porno magazines and selling them at school. No one knew at all what to do with them, though…I’d sell them for a lot of money. I used to go in and take, like, one or two, and then put them in my bag. I was in my school uniform when I was doing it, and it was kind of risky. At the end, I got so cocky that I would take the entire rack,” Robert Pattinson said.

The actor finally got caught stealing the magazines by a store employee. “I remember the guy who worked in the store shouting, like, ‘Hey!’ and then my two friends ran off, and I turned around, like, ‘What?’ I walked back up to him. I hadn’t zipped up my bag. “This guy is pulling out all these porno magazines — and it was when porn used to have, like, VHS tapes in the plastic sheet with it — and he’s pulling all these things out, and I was sitting there humiliated with all the old people looking at me disgusted,” he recalled.

The employee then told his school that he had been stealing and selling the magazines. “Basically, a couple of days later, everything fell down. Basically every single one of my friends snitched on me, literally, across the board,” he said. (PTI)