Bollywood actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui will be playing a transgender in the film ‘Haddi’, a movie that will also star 300 transgenders, according to debutante producers Sanjay Saha and Raadhika Nanda.
“The process was very adventurous and hard at the same time. It was not very difficult to convince them as we were also learning their life experiences and making them a part of our film. We had a great time learning tons of things from them, including how their life and world is very different from us,” the producers have said.
The filmmakers also spoke about a transgender woman, Renuka, who had helped the filmmakers in researching the character.
“She helped us learn about their community,” revealed Sanjay, “and their upbringing, along with the challenges faced by them from childhood to their day-to-day life. She also made us visit many people from the community which helped us write the script and get a better understanding of their life. She had brought some of her friends from the community to Nawaz so that he could get into the character and deeply understand their life.”
“I’m glad how Nawaz has spent a lot of time with them and making sure he truly understands what they go through.”
Speaking about how Renuka had helped in making Haddi a more accurate film, the producer revealed:
“Renuka has helped us through the entire medical process too, including how the operation happens and what they have to go through post-operation. The writers sat with the transgender people to have a fair understanding of where they live, where they get treated, what they do in daily lives, and followed their lifestyle which helped us a lot to make Haddi a truth based film on them since Nawaz is playing a transgender.”
Bollywood veteran actress Sharmila Tagore made her comeback to the big screen recently with the film ‘Gulmohar’, and in an interview with Times of India, she believed that television today has gotten more regressive in how women are portrayed:
“The content TV is offering today is quite regressive. Most TV serials portray women as women’s worst enemies, and that is so unfortunate. The government does keep a tab on this, and then it finally comes to us.”
The actress, who is also a member of the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCI) had revealed she had often called producers to request them to remove objectionable material, but they refuse to, citing commericial reasons:
“Sometimes, we call the show makers, asking them to tweak or remove certain objectionable portions. But, producers mostly refuse to budge as commerce often overrides logic.”
Bollywood veteran Naseeruddin Shah is perhaps the closest thing to a creative genius we have seen so far, but the one thing that outshines him is his marriage to fireball actress Ratna Pathak, who is equally witty and blunt about the faults in the industry as him.
However, it wasn’t quite easy for the ‘Mirza Ghalib’ actor to marry his soulmate, as he recently revealed in an interview with Humans Of Bombay. Shah said that it took him seven years to convince Ratna’s parents to allow her to marry him.
“Her parents were against it because I was married before and I was a drug addict. I was an ill-tempered man and all that sort of thing. But, she didn’t pay heed to any of that. In between, she went to drama school for three years. But we were practically living together. So when she moved in with me, it was like the most normal thing in the world.”
Shah revealed that it was love at first sight for him while acting in a play with film maker Satyadev Dubey, and they got closer during rehearsals:
“I just felt I’d like to know this person. Over the process of rehearsals, we got to know each other. I think she also liked what she saw. It’s been a great blessing because we have stood by each other through thick and thin. She has stood by me rather through thick and thin, through very difficult times, and through very good times. I think the main reason for that is because we have remained friends – that’s the most important thing.”
Gushing about the ‘Kapoor and Sons’ actress, Shah declared that he loved how Ratna had stuck by him through thick and thin, which had resulted in a beatiful partnership and friendship between the two:
“Ratna was a blessing for me. In hindsight, she probably deserved better—I had been married before and was a drug addict when I met her. In fact, her parents never approved of our match. But Ratna being who she was, never paid any heed to it. We never paid any heed to it. We knew we wanted to be together and that’s what we did. And that resulted in this beautiful partnership and friendship that we share to this day. I consider myself very lucky to have had Ratna with me through every thick and thin, and every sadness and happiness. It’s beautiful how we still find something new about each other every day, even after all this time–something more to love and cherish about the other person. More than anything else, that is what I live for.”
The iconic Bollywood song ‘Tum Ko Dekha’ was the anthem for lovers for an entire generation. Our lives were never the same after the song debuted, ghum hour was coined and now Javed Akhtar, who wrote the song, has revealed that he wrote the lyrics in under nine freaking minutes.
Scoop Whoop revealed that while speaking at a recent FFCI event in Kolkata, Akhtar disclosed that he had been drinking a lot the night he received a phone call from late director Yash Chopra’s assistant, who forwarded the request to the lyricist to write a song for his upcoming film:
“Every evening, we’d drink and chit-chat and by 2 am, we’d decided that we would finish the song tomorrow. I kept delaying it, then one day, the poor guy asked again. This was past midnight, after the eighth or ninth peg, I asked for a piece of paper and a pen, and decided to get it over with. Jagjit Singh sang the song, it was ‘Tum Ko Dekha To Yeh Khayal Aaya’. It was written at perhaps 12:30 in the night, after eight or nine pegs, in nine minutes…”
Can you re-call a popular song that was only written in less than 10 minutes?
Hrithik Roshan became the subcontinent’s heartthrob when he made his debute at the age of 26 in ‘Kaho Naa… Pyaar Hai’. The film, directed, written and produced by Hrithik’s father Rakesh Roshan, went on to become a box office hit.
But in an interview, the ‘Dhoom’ actor revealed that he was incredibly nervous about his first appearance on film, doing everything he could to look good on screen including meditating, singing and acting classes, and even seeking Salman Khan’s advice on body building.
“I knew the physicality was very important, especially for this film where I was doing a double role, Rohit in the first part and Raj in the second half. I thought it would be nice if I could, even physically show the difference between the two characters. So, I was training myself for a year but I was not seeing the kind of results I wanted to see.”
Roshan recalled speaking to the ‘Dabangg’ star, despite not knowing him at all:
“I did everything that I could, including calling the biggest star Salman Khan, who did not know me at all. I just asked myself who is the best in the business, it is Salman and I said, ‘I have to try this. I have to try asking him what you do,” he confessed.
Roshan also revealed his initial dislike of the script, finding it to be centered too much around the female perspective, and recalled complaining to his father about it. “On the script level, I thought it was a girl film and kept complaining to dad, ‘You know papa, I have got nothing to do. All I am doing is laughing or looking good, or dancing. How do I show people that I can do things,” re-called Hrithik.
The ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ actor confessed that after telling his complaint about the film to his dad, he remembered Rakesh shutting him down, by reminding him that he has no role in deciding the plot but is only acting in the film:
“He said, ‘I am making a movie, you want to act in it, do. But don’t tell me how to make the movie. I am not making the movie to launch you, I am making it because I have an idea, you are acting in it since you suit the part. You are a newcomer who just happens to be my son.’”
When Shah Rukh Khan announces another session of #AskSRK on Twitter, more often than not goes on to become a leading trend on Twitter, with fans coming up with all sorts of hilarious questions for the Badshah of Bollywood.
Whether it is about his secret to not aging (we’re stalking him until he answers that), on-set memories, hilarious quips to fans and love confessions, here is a round up of all that went down in the recent #AskSRK session.
The reason why he is King Khan
Mere paas DDLJ hai….KKHH hai, Devdas hai Swades hai Chak se India hai…Pathan hai…Om Shanti Om hai….ohh need to stop showing off!! Ha ha https://t.co/FE7JRfjHJB
So sorry to hear that. Don’t worry try again next year…maybe in my birthday this time?? All the best jokes apart u will be back don’t worry. https://t.co/9vgtDbOfdD
Vicky Kaushal is a treasure – a good looking and extremely talented man who knows that with a wife like Katrina Kaif, the proper thing to do is worship the ground she walks on.
Recently speaking to News Tak for the promotion of his upcoming film ‘Zara Hatke Zara Bachke’, the actor opened up about what his marriage to the Bollywood diva is like, describing it as “paratha weds pancakes”:
“She loves pancakes, I love parathas,” he revealed, adding that Kaif loves parathas too. “She loves mom ke haath ke paranthe.”
When Kaushal was asked about whether he would encourage people to have an arranged or love marriage, the ‘Raazi’ revealed that the most important thing is that the couple learn to accept differences and develop an understanding with each other.
“Love is important, marriage could be love or arranged. Understanding and compassion are important. It is important to understand that they are a different person, you are a different person and you have to come to an understanding as a couple. She doesn’t have to agree with me fully, and I don’t have to agree with her always. If that understanding exists, it doesn’t matter if the marriage is arranged or love. It should give happiness to the family, and to them most importantly.”
Humare tissues kidhar hain? Yaar ye bohat ziada hai.
Kaushal also said in the interview that despite having a committed acting career, Kaif is equally involved in household chores and how budget is planned:
“The most fun experience is when she (Katrina) holds a meeting in the house every week or every other week. She gets the entire staff together and discusses the budget of the house. She takes account of how the money is being spent, the expenses, and it’s a great thing. But when that discussion happens, I enjoy it. I’m an audience and I sit with popcorn.”
Shahid Kapoor is bobbing around in hot waters since yesterday when a clip from an interview he gave to ‘Film Companion’ went viral. In the video, the superstar was asked about his definition of marriage to which the ‘Jab We Met’ actor said:
“I finally have figured this out that this entire marriage thing is just about one thing you know. It’s that the guy was a mess and the woman came in to fix him. So the rest of this life is going to be a journey of being fixed and becoming a decent person. That pretty much is what life is about.”
Sorry sir, but did you marry a person or a full-time therapist? We’re scratching our heads because we’re confused.
Social media did not take well to the misogynist comments, as shown by the comment section under this post which was filled with women schooling the actor by calling him a ‘man child’.
One user wrote: “So women are marrying projects and not partners?”
TBH we’re thinking the same thing
Bollywood, which once made movies like DDLJ and ‘Queen has resorted to cringey storylines which promote such misogynist content is abysmal to witness
On Twitter, users slammed Kapoor for refusing to abandon his ‘man-child’ mentality, by pointing out that even though the actor was 36 years old (!!!) when he married his wife Mira, who was 21 (!!!!!), he doesn’t need fixing.
Got married as a 34 Y.O to a 21 Y.O and still needs fixing. Typical Raja Beta Syndrome. Perhaps try marrying to actually start a commitment and family with love and care and then you know what real marriage is Men ☕ https://t.co/sFG00dp0LH
Naseeruddin Shah, Bollywood’s acting powerhouse, recently spoke to ‘Tried & Used Productions’ about the BJP government’s attacks on Urdu language. Condemning the enmity displayed towards Urdu, he said that other than Pakistan, India is the only country where the language is spoken.
However, a comment given by the actor ignited the ire of Pakistani Twitter users. Shah said that in Pakistan, people speak more Punjabi than Urdu, and Sindhi is not spoken there at all.
We would like to point out that Sindhi is the official language of Sindh province and is taught as a compulsory language in all schools there.
Turns out, Naseeruddin Shah may know everything there is to know about acting, but he doesn’t have much general knowledge.
Fact: There are 29.4 M Sindhi speakers in , 2017 Census. The numbers have risen from the census of ‘98.
Sindhi language is used by the Sindh government & has always been used in education as a L1, L2 and as medium of education in foundational ed. https://t.co/CcLD087nhE
— Dr Alia Amir (Suharwardy) ڈاکٹر عالیہ عامر (@aliawhs) June 6, 2023
Many users had to question Naseeruddin’s confidence in saying that Sindhi isn’t spoken in Pakistan, when in reality it is the official language of the province, and is proudly spoken by locals.
Pakistan doesn’t have a whole ass province named SINDH where Sindhi is spoken and TAUGHT in schools for you to say “of course not spoken in Pakistan” with such confidence. https://t.co/kFyk0wLiwL
The coming-of-age film ‘Ye Jawaani Hai Deewani’ was released on screens 10 years ago. The cult classic became a momunental part of the changing Bollywood industry. The film revolves around four friends, and shifts between their time as young graduates to ten years later when they become adults Ranbir Kapoor starred as the energetic and lively Kabir, who always dreamed of a career in journalism and flying around the world, while Deepika Padukone played the studious and quiet Naina, who has a secret crush on Kabir but fears telling him so.
To mark the occasion, fans from around the world, especially the cast and crew, celebrated by sharing hilarious anecdotes and heart warming messages for fans.
Director Ayan Mukerjee shared a video clip of memorable moments, and also sent out a heartfelt message for fans who had supported the film since its release:
“YJHD – My second child, a piece of my heart and soul – 10 years old today! ❤️
I think after all these years, I can confidently say that… Making this movie was one of the greatest joys of my life! And what we achieved with it – with all its perfections and imperfections – is a source of great eternal pride for me!
Strangely, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani fully from beginning to end, since the day it released … (Always pushing towards the next milestone, and not looking back enough…!)
But when I’m older and wiser – I think I will watch the movie atleast once a year – because a big part of who I was and how I looked at life – is forever captured in this movie !
In the recent months, I have often had people recognise me and come up to me… and I’m thinking they will say something about Brahmāstra, and then they started talking about YJHD !
So, putting out a whole lot of gratitude for Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani… and all the many people who connected deeply with the movie over the years ! ❤️
Also sharing a Director’s Note I had written at the time, in my story which someone special from my team shared with me a few days ago… and it brought back all kinds of memories for me !”
He even shared the director’s note on his Instagram stories where he had described the film as:
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is a cocktail of all these encounters and obsessions… It is a story of the exhilarating and terrifying journey of four characters as they navigate through their youth; from their carefree laughter as they set off on a holiday together in their colleges days, until their bittersweet tears as they watch the first of their bunch get married. It is an effort to somehow capture the spirit of their lives, wrestle with it and give it to our audience in a bottle. So that it might make them feel happy and joyful and sad and nostalgic. And like the characters in the film, it might make them seek for what it is, in all of the above, that truly gives our lives meaning.”
Mukerjee also posted never before seen pictures with Padukone and Kapoor:
Actors like Padukone, and Kalki Kanmani celebrated the anniversary of the film with the ‘Bajirao Mastani’ actress taking to Instagram to share the trailer of the film with the caption: ‘A piece of my heart’
While Kanmani, who played the outgoing and rough Aditi, recalled her experience by writing about how memorable working with the cast was:
“How we’ve all grown and learnt since then and yet some things I can’t imagine any different, like @deepikapadukone will always be teaching us a dance step we can’t follow, @adityaroykapur will always be our big Lebowski, Ranbir will always play a prank that makes us squeal and @ayan_mukerji will always ask us uncomfortably personal questions that lead to the best conversations loved the memories we collected here, happy 10 years guys ”
Fans on social media have celebrated the occasion by sharing their favorite scenes from the film:
happy 10 years to yjhd and deepika padukone as naina talwar. her most quintessential bollywood heroine moment. a role etched out in the hearts of a whole generation, to whom so many girls relate to. iconic, impactful and unparalleled #10YearsOfYJHDhttps://t.co/PwkTNixeMT
Fans of the film even shared some of their favorite dialogues, like the scene between Naina and Kabir when she tells him to learn to take life as it is rather than keep chasing the next best thing.
10 years of yjhd ♡ A movie that I love a lil more every time I rewatch <3
