When Ssharad Malhotraa visited Balaji's institute

Actor Ssharad Malhotraa has become a household name now, but the actor has had his own struggle to reach the position he is at. He was reminded of this when he visited ICE (Balaji enterprise), as a guest lecturer recently. Talking about it, he says, “It was great. It’s not easy to lecture so many students. I was there for about 45 minutes. I spoke about my experience, the first time that I auditioned for Balaji in 2006. After 10 years, I am working with them. I spoke about my experience at Los Angeles, when I was studying. I felt like a student again. I also made them do activities. It was nice and fun,” says Ssharad, who did a diploma course(acting) from the New York Film Academy (Los Angeles). The actor adds that the institute is impressive. “There are a lot of different departments from acting to production. Ekta is a visionary. She had the vision to open to institute, where people can enrol. They have great faculty. Over all, the entire structure is amazing. People from all over the world can come and enrol,” he says. In fact, Ssharad would also want to study again. “I would like to do another diploma course after my show and update myself. This time it would not only be acting, but direction too,” he says.  Talking about his show Kasam Tere Pyar Ki, Ssharad adds, “We are getting a great response. The timing has changed but we are still getting good TRPs. We are hoping that people continue to watch the show.”

Sharanya and Vyom to honeymoon in Manali

The newly married on-screen couple, Sharanya (Donal Bisht) and Vyom (Vikram Singh Chauhan) from Ek Deewaana Tha are all set to embark a new journey and will soon head to Manali to start shooting for their honeymoon sequence. The lovebirds, who have been through several difficulties in the past few weeks will finally breathe a sigh of relief and will be seen enjoying time off from (Namik Paul) Shiv’s constant interruptions at the scenic locales of Manali.A source from the sets confirmed that a lot of fun and frolic is in the store and everyone is quite excited about the outdoor shoot schedule. The production house is leaving no stone unturned to make the most of this and intends to bring alive the element of romance through a special song and dance sequence. But they are yet to decide on how the track of Shiv will shape up in the coming days.The episodes are getting exciting by the day with several twists and turns in store. But whether Shiv can change the course of romance between Vyom and Sharanya after their wedding is something that the viewers will have to simply wait and watch.

Saiyami Kher: I would love to portray the role of Mithali Raj in her biopic

Saiyami Kher, who made a stellar debut with Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Mirzya alongside Harshvardhan Kapoor, is fast emerging as a celebrity sports icon for the youth. When the gorgeous actress is not facing the cameras, she loves to sweat it out on the badminton court. While she recently attended an event to felicitate ace shuttlers like Saina Nehwal and Pullela Gopichand, she also revealed that she has played badminton and cricket professionally. Saiyami informs, “I played badminton and cricket professionally until my college. I was even called during the Indian women’s cricket team selection, but I was already bitten by the acting bug by then.” Not surprising then that she wants to now combine her passions by featuring in a biopic of a sport star. “With so many biopics being made I would love to essay the role of , a sportswoman because that’s something I am very passionate about. It would be exciting to play Mithali Raj because of my cricketing history. Another athlete I would like to play on screen is paralympic athlete Deepa Malik, as I find her indomitable spirit inspiring,” she adds.

Esha Gupta to own a football team!

Esha Gupta, who loves football as a sport and follows it closely, is currently working on to form her own women football team as she wants to create and promote awareness about girls playing the sport. 

A source informs, “Esha is in talks with the football team association and also looking for women football players who don’t get an opportunity to showcase their talent. As there are rules created that prohibit girls from playing contact sports due to safety and “touching” concerns, Esha feel these rules are unfair. The actress feels everybody should get an opportunity to do what they like.” 

Esha says, “I feel if you love something enough, fight for it and achieve it. There are so many girls in villages and small city who have a hidden talent but are not confident enough to play so this initiative of forming a team will help these girls.” 

Esha feels she will be able to create awareness & opportunity for girls to play by forming a women football team.

Not necessary to create hyperbole around nepotism every time

‘Nepotism’ became word of the year and indeed the most discussed topic. But Karan Oberoi feels it was a clear case of exaggeration and hyping an irrelevant matter. 

Karan Oberoi, who is busy with the come back of his ‘Band of Boys’, simplified the meaning of nepotism   thereby calling it ‘quite a natural affinity to be a part of the industry your fathers and forefathers belong to.” 

Elaborating on the same, Karan puts up a question inquiring about the field where nepotism doesn’t exist. “Doesn’t a lawyer’s son want to become a lawyer?  A politician’s son a politician? A business man’s son wishes to end up taking over his dads business? Have we ever asked why would Mukesh Ambani’s son end up handling his Dad’s business empire?  Is there something strange about it??” 

“When one grows up in a surrounding that has one kind of skew, it’s a natural affinity to want to be a part of it. I wanted to be in the army because my dad was in it. Would my dad’s input have made my job easier to get into NDA, or would I have been preferred as an Army cadet because I came from a family of soldiers? I probably would have. But again, that’s natural and unavoidable. That’s how this world works. It’s just easy to point a finger at the film industry because it has a fishbowl existence,” he further added. 

Yet how would you defend the existence of nepotism when you agreed to the point that it’s easier for their kids to get noticed and make a debut in the specific industry? 

Proving his take, Karan went on to say, “Yes, getting an opportunity maybe easier, but eventually, the acceptance or rejection is always by the audience based on talent n merit alone.  And there are glaring examples of those around us.” 

Considering media as highly responsible for hyping things, Karan further mentioned, “Media, unfortunately, does play a huge role in creating this hypothesis based on their own obsession with the star kids. Would I have known SRK s children’s or Sridevi’s daughter’s name if the media had not talked about it to the extent it does? 

For heaven’s sake, I also end up knowing a toddlers name because he happens to be Saif and Kareena’s son. 

So why blame the film industry alone. When the media itself is investing huge time money and energy in making these star kids stars, even before they have taken their first baby steps in the industry. And if they are, why would any sane individual not avail the God-sent opportunity?”