After that one Koffee with Karan episode with Sonam Kapoor, we all realized how vain Sonam can be! She’s got an opinion about everyone, and especially about Deepika Padukone.
Says Sonam: “She’s doing much better than I am. Her career has taken a completely different path from mine. She’s doing some amazing work. I’m happy for her and she deserves it.”
And she didn’t fail to add: “There’s definite growth in her work, choices and acting. She’s started looking better and she’s dressing better. She’s refined herself. She started off as a raw diamond and now she’s a beautiful piece. It’s fascinating. My journey hasn’t been as smooth and easy. But I’m trying to get there on a different path. We started off on the same road and went off in different directions.”
Dips and Sonam started her career together. While Sonam Kapoor debuted opposite Ranbir Kapoor in Saawariya, Deepika entered Bollywood with Om Shanti Om romancing Shahrukh Khan. Of course, OSO did much better, and from there it was uphill for Ms. Padukone.
Film-maker Leslee Udwin meets the mother of convicted rapist Mukesh Singh; her other son Ram died while in police custody in connection with the Jyoti Singh case. Mukesh and three other men have been sentenced to death.
Jyoti Singh, 23, had cause to celebrate. It was no ordinary Sunday. “Happiness was just a few steps away,” says her father, Badri Singh, a labourer. He and his wife, Asha, originally from Uttar Pradesh, had sold their family land, to provide schooling not just for their two sons but also Jyoti. “Papa,” Jyoti had instructed her father. “Whatever money you’ve saved for my wedding, use it for my education.” Badri’s brothers wondered why he was wasting money on a girl.
On this Sunday, 16 December 2012, Jyoti, a name that means light and happiness, had just completed her medical exams to become a doctor. Speaking excellent English, she spent nights working in a call centre from 8pm until 4am, slept for three hours, then studied. Her ambition was to build and run a hospital in her family’s village. “A girl can do anything,” she would say.
But that evening, in Delhi, she decided to go to the cinema to see The Life of Piwith a male friend. At 8.30pm, on the way home, the pair got into an off-duty charter bus. India’s Daughter, a powerful, brave and heart-wrenching documentary made by Leslee Udwin, provokes grief and anger but also pity for the ignorance. It charts what then happened on that moving bus as Jyoti was brutally raped by five men and a 17-year-old (“the juvenile”), eviscerated, then thrown on to the street. It shows how for the next 30 days across India, women and men demonstrated on the streets of the country’s cities, calling for the equality recognised in India’s constitution but never delivered, marking what a former solicitor general, Gopal Subramaniam, calls in the film “a momentous expression of hope for society”.
“It was an Arab spring for gender equality,” Udwin says. “What impelled me to leave my husband and two children for two years while I made the film in India was not so much the horror of the rape as the inspiring and extraordinary eruption on the streets. A cry of ‘enough is enough’. Unprecedented numbers of ordinary men and women, day after day, faced a ferocious government crackdown that included teargas, baton charges and water cannon. They were protesting for my rights and the rights of all women. That gives me optimism. I can’t recall another country having done that in my lifetime.”
Protesters mark the anniversary of the Delhi gang rape of Jyoti Singh in 2012. Despite legislation, rapes are increasing.Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters
India’s Daughter is broadcast on BBC4 next Sunday, International Women’s Day, and simultaneously shown in seven other countries including India, Switzerland, Norway and Canada. On Monday 9 March, actresses Freida Pinto and Meryl Streep will attend a screening in New York, launching a worldwide India’s Daughtercampaign against gender inequality and sexual violence against women and girls. It begins by 20 million pupils viewing the film and taking part in workshops in Maharashtra, a state that includes Mumbai.
Each country has its own appalling bloody tally. India has a population of 1.2 billion. A rape occurs every 20 minutes. In England and Wales, 85,000 women are raped every year. In Denmark one in five women has experienced a sexual assault. Sexual assault, rape, acid attacks, murder, domestic violence, the termination of female foetuses, sex trafficking and female genital mutilation are all manifestations of male power. What is writ very large in India’s Daughter, but camouflaged in other countries where equality is more strongly embedded in law, is the low value placed on females and the determination of some men, educated as well as the impoverished, to keep women padlocked to the past.
Poster of NH10
We have come across a poster of Hollywood film Black Widow that is quite similar to NH 10's poster. Is it just a co-incidence or a case of 'inspiration', we don't know yet. Poster of Black Widow.
Talking about the trailer of the film, Anushka Sharma walking with an iron rod in her hand in the dark deserted alleys of a nondescript village gives you the chill, any Bollywood film hasn't offered in the recent past.
But here again, the trailer's theme looks quite similar to Hollywood film Eaden
Another news doing the rounds some time back was that the two are taking their relationship to a new level and getting engaged. According to a report published on Mid-day.com, the buzz doing the rounds was that their respective families have met. Also, with Virat blowing a kiss to Anushka after scoring the fastest 6000 runs in one-day internationals, tongues have been wagging about an official announcement about their status soon, which might also mean an engagement.
your skin for granted, says actress Katrina Kaif, who believes in the use of sunscreen, right intake of water and ensures that her makeup is removed well. The brand ambassador of the skincare range of L’Oreal Paris also says that women must take care of their body and skin according to their age.
"We shouldn't take our skin for granted, especially since we are often exposed to dirt, heat and pollution daily. We should never underestimate the need for a sunscreen to protect your skin from strong UV rays," the 31-year-old said.
"Through the day I drink lots of fluids, especially water to have my face feel fresh and hydrated. I always remove my makeup once I'm home for the day/night and use a moisturiser to not let my skin dry, even when I'm at home," she added.
L'Oreal Paris's Skin Perfect range is backed by 10 years of research at the global and Indian L'Oreal Research and Innovation Labs. The new range from the brand addresses the skincare needs specific to that age.
Talking about the need for a range that suits different age groups, she said: "Every decade in a woman's life comes with a changing set of priorities. It also comes with a changing set of skincare needs. L'Oreal Paris is addressing these needs of every Indian woman who might be prone to skin problems at some point in her life."
Katrina agrees that while women are asked to take care of their skin with home remedies and traditional beauty products in addition to maintaining healthy food habits, from a young age, she stresses on the need to use special products later in life.
"As we grow older, the demands of a hectic lifestyle take a toll on your body and your skin. This is why, it is essential to use products that replenish the vitality of your skin. Through its Skin Perfect range, L'Oreal Paris has personalised skincare for every age group, making it easy for Indian consumers to improve their skin tone leaving it with a healthy glow," she added.
The Skin Perfect collection comprises three ranges to address skincare issues at every age -- 20+, 30+ and 40+.
For the brand, Katrina has shot for a television commercial with Lisa Ray, who has been signed by L'Oreal Paris to endorse the new range. Katrina says Lisa is an absolute professional and full of life
Bhumi Pednekar, who makes her debut in Dum Laga Ke Haisha, had to slap her hero Ayushmann Khurrana for a crucial scene. And being a newcomer, she was very hesitant about doing this scene.
Every time director Sharat Katariya would go for the take, the debutante would flinch. While she would give the perfect shot when she had to express her anger with her co-actor, the becharinewbie would get conscious just when she had to slap him. As a result of her nervousness, the slap part of the shot wouldn't make the required impact for the director.
