Mumbai Ballard Estate Festival (in pics)

Kartik Aaryan and Ash King celebrate Mumbai Ballard Estate Festival’s second signature weekend with Mumbaikars

The second edition of Mumbai Ballard Estate Festival (MBEF) launched with huge fanfare recently. It witnessed over 12,000 people, who were present to experience the biggest social extravaganza that the city of Mumbai has seen in recent times!

The innovative concept of ‘Silent Open Air Cinema’ which was introduced for the very first time in Mumbai turned out to be a sold out show. The Special Experience activity lived up to its title including Jalpa Vithalani’s exquisite artwork, Origami worfekshops, robotic displays, the interesting display of vintage cars and Heritage walks which provided an opportunity to discover the tremendous hidden gems and stories that are unknown to the world.

Shubhra Bhardwaj – Founder and Creative Director of Ferriswheel Entertainment Pvt Ltd ensured that the grand launch of the second signature weekend surpassed the benchmark that they had set last year.

She said, “It was heartwarming to see such a terrific response in just the second signature weekend of the Mumbai Ballard Estate Festival's season 2. We hosted over 12,000 guests over the weekend and that has provided us the impetus to keep getting better in the upcoming signature weekends.”

Among the special activities including Kid Zone, Pet Zone, Flea Market, Food Festival, Health and Wellness Zone, Island Stage, Main Stage and Special Experience at the festival, the spectators were pleasantly surprised to watch the special screening of Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 with Kartik Aaryan and mesmerising performances by Ash King, Akasa Singh, Siddharth Slathia and Ambilini Menon among others.

Kartik addressed his fans and clicked photos with kids during the screening of Pyaar Ka Panchnama 2. He said, “This is the first time I’m attending Mumbai Ballard Estate Festival – overall it's a celebration of the spirit of Mumbai and I am enjoying it.”

Ash King said, “ Mumbai Ballard Estate Festival is a fabulous event and it was a great opportunity to perform live in front of a huge crowd.”

The ‘Kheench Meri Photo’ girl Akasa Singh had a blast performing in front of a live audience. “I had a blast performing at the Mumbai Ballarad Estate Festival and I look forward to performing here again!”

 Siddharth Slathia, who rose to fame with Tere Sang Yaara (Rustom), said, “I would like to thank Ferriswheel Entertainment for inviting me and giving me the opportunity to perform in front of such an amazing crowd.”

Ambilini Menon said, “What I really enjoyed was meeting different people, family crowd, young kids and corporate people, so it was a mix bag of wonderful people enjoying all kinds of music.”

          

Peshwa meets Peshwa on Super Dancer!

It was a fan moment for fourteen-year-old Rudra Soni who is set to play Bajirao in Sony Entertainment Television’s upcoming historic show, Peshwa Bajirao. Rudra Soni who played Bajirao’s son Nanasaheb in Bajirao Mastani has now been roped in to play the titular character on the show, Peshwa Bajirao.Rudra recently reunited with his onscreen father, Ranveer Singh, on the sets of the kids dance reality show, Super Dancer, where the 31-year-old actor joined the show’s judges, Shilpa Shetty, Anurag Basu and Geeta Kapur, for a guest appearance.“I was very excited to meet Ranveer SIngh after a long time. He gave me a tight hug and we did the ‘Har Har Mahadev’ act from the film which was fun. I feel fortunate to have got the chance to play Bajirao’s son and now, I get to be Bajirao on a show. Ranveer wished me luck,” an excited Rudra said, adding that he bagged the show because of his turn in the film.“The makers felt I would fit the bill as I could connect with Bajirao’s story. We have already begun shooting in Satara.” 

Await the breath taking story unfold on your TV screens only on Sony Entertainment Television.

Harshvardhan Kapoor to learn Makgic Burat for Bhavesh Joshi

Known to be quite the perfectionist, Harshvardhan Kapoor , who has wowed everyone with his attention to detail and ability to get under the skin of his characters , will now train in Makgic Burat for his role in Vikramaditya Motwane's Bhavesh Joshi.

The newest Kapoor on the block, who is the front runner for all the best debut awards this year, had trained in horse riding ,  polo and archery for Mirzya and will now learn different taekwondo blocks called Makgic Burat for a highlight action sequence in his next.

Taekwondo blocks known as Makgi are used to stop and deflect an incoming attack. They engage various parts of the arm with the hand and are held in different positions such as knife-hand, closed fist etc. Each block is suitable for a particular kind of attack and may be combined with another punch or kick to make a counter-attack.

Says a source, "Harsh always goes the extra mile for his roles and enjoys the entire process - He has never had any martial art training before and hence wanted to train in it so that the scene looks as authentic as possible".

Manoj Bajpayee becomes the first Indian actor to bag the Best Actor Award at Asia Pacific Screen Awards

Actor Manoj Bajpayee proves yet again that he is one of the finest performers in Bollywood. This year, the two time national award winner had enthralled the audiences with his outstanding and unique performance in critically acclaimed films like Aligarh, Budhia Singh: Born to Run, Traffic and Saat Uchakkey.  Each film saw Manoj Bajpayee in a diverse and challenging role which was greatly appreciated by everyone.

Recently, the actor has set a record of being the first Indian actor to be awarded in the 'Best Actor' category at the prominent 10th Asia Pacific Screen Awards, which were held in Brisbane. Manoj Bajpayee was honored with ‘Best Actor’ award for his exceptional performance in Hansal Mehta’s Aligarh. The fine actor had made alive the character of a 64 years old gay professor Dr Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras, who was detained from his job due to his sexual orientation. Manoj Bajpayee had received high accolades for his performance and was also nominated in many international festivals too.  

Asia Pacific Screen Awards honor film making in the Asia Pacific region that best reflects its culture, origin and cinematic excellence and is said to be one of the highest accolades received in film making. This year 78 countries were competing with each other and amongst all the artists pitting for the awards, Manoj Bajpayee stands tall with the ‘Best Actor’ title bestowed upon him. He also makes the history of being the first Indian actor who has received this prestigious award thereby making the nation proud with his immense talent.

Expressing his happiness, Manoj Bajpayee said, “I am extremely happy and honored to receive this award at the prestigious 10th Asia Pacific Screen Awards.  It is an overwhelming feeling when such a prominent award which is known to be as the Indian Oscar has recognized my performance. It is double celebration as I am the first Indian actor to receive this title and I feel proud that I have made a my nations mark. Such awards strive me to work harder and keep entertaining my audiences”