YRF’s Sultan Bags Top Honors at Tehran International Sports Film Festival

YRF's Sultan- an inspiring, underdog tale that became a blockbuster in record time- continues to garner audiences worldwide. With a heartfelt, son of the soil story about a rural Indian wrestler’s struggle to prove himself in a modern sports and entertainment arena, Sultan has gone on to win major awards a the Tehran International Sports Film Festival.  

Ali Abbas Zafar, the director of Sultan has won the trophy and honorary diploma for the Best Director of Long Narrative. Anushka Sharma has won best actress trophy and honorary diploma in the Long Narrative category. And the film’s hero, the winsome Sultan has won the Best Actor trophy and diploma in the Long Narrative section. 

Director Ali Abbas Zafar says, "Sultan has cut across borders cultures and languages with its powerful story, performances and honest belief in the life changing impact of a sport. The team and I are very thankful to the organizers at Tehran International Sports Film Festival for their appreciation and love." 

Sultan has already made impact with standing ovations and high praise won at the Busan International Film Festival and at the Shanghai International Film Festival. The film’s success at Tehran reiterates it’s universal appeal and the power of cinema in entertaining and engaging with people worldwide.

Kylie Jenner to Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, a trend - shift towards natural looking lips: Dr Monica Kapoor

Meghan Markle has always managed to be the inspiration for uncountable women around, sometimes it's for unmatchable talent while the other times it's her irresistible looks. At the moment, her lips are catching eyeballs across the world as it gives highly desirable and perfectly proportioned pout. Well-known celebrity cosmetic surgeon Dr. Monica Kapoor, in fact, revealed the increase in the number of women, demanding lips like that of Meghan.

She mentions, "Many women come to me every week for lip enhancement procedure. Most of them want to change the shape of their lips like that of their favorite celebrity. Until 2017, Kylie Jenner's lips appealed and influenced people to undergo cosmetic lip treatment. Girls used to come with the picture of Kylie on their mobile, willing to get fuller and plumper lips like her in order to have that perfect pout".

“The trends are changing and women are asking lips more like Meghan Markle or our very own Aishwarya Rai Bachchan wherein the looks are more natural and less pouty." she added.

Explaining how these social influencers are setting a benchmark for beauty, Dr. Monica stated, "the common factors in the lips of both these stars Meghan or Aishwarya Rai are that their lower lips are slightly bigger than the upper lip, very prominent cupid’s bow thereby making it desirable. Tapering corners makes it look proportionate with other facial features like eyes, nose, and lips, hence complementing the overall facial beauty.”

"In Kylie Jenner lip type, the lips are more plump and fuller. Both upper and lower lips are almost of the same size and the cupid's bow is negligible. Such lips stand out giving a perfect pout. But sometimes they don't look proportionate with other facial features and the lips look odd giving the DUCK-LIP appearance. Lips should always be in proportion to other features to give harmony to beauty,” Dr. Kapoor explains.

Stating the technical side of the lip augmentation procedure, Dr. Kapoor stated, “In order to have lips like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan or Meghan Markle the Hyaluronic acid dermal fillers are the most popular and safer treatment to reshape or augment the lips. Hyaluronic acid is the natural substance injected into the lips to have desired results. It’s a lunchtime procedure and the results can last for almost one year. Also, with ‘dermal fillers’ one can also accentuate only the borders of the lips so as to have shape enhancement.”

She also shows her concern that the procedure should be done by a well-trained doctor in this field, otherwise it can turn out to be a disaster for face beauty.

Binaifer S. Kohli and Hiba Nawab grace Be Happy Street festival

This Sunday was a rather eventful day for the residents of Lokhandwala, Andheri. The locals as well as celebrities attended the Be Happy Street Festival, organized by 'Be Happy Foundation' founded by Mrs Shalini Jitendra Thackeray.

The festival was star studded with celebrities such as actress Hiba Nawab, who plays  the character of Elaichi in the television series 'Jijaji Chhat par hai' and 

Binaifer Sanjay Kohli (Edit II), the producer of the award winning series Bhabhiji Ghar Par hai', and ‘Jijaji Chhat par Hai’. Actor Rohtash Goud, who plays the character of Manmohan Tiwari in the television series 'Bhabhiji ghar par hai’ also graced the event.

In fact, the festival had a little something for everyone. Since 7 am in the morning, hundreds of young boys and girls were cycling and skating on the road. On one side of the street, a group of friends was playing carom and chess while at another spot, a few were playing badminton and football. The elderly were learning Yoga while some enthusiastic youth were found exercising and spreading the message of be healthy. Some were dancing, some were singing and some more were spreading some good laughter and humour.

Shalini Thackeray, Trustee of 'Be Happy Foundation' expressed happiness over the tremendous response of the citizens of Mumbai. "On other days, there is no place to walk due to hawkers and vehicles on the road. We organized this festival so that children, young people and senior citizens could also enjoy the pleasure of walking, playing to their heart's content, drawing, and cycling. This festival succeeded due to the immense response by thousands of citizens." said Shalini Thackeray.

Children from many organisations exhibited their art before the attendees with the help of the platform created by this festival. One of the most interesting presentations was made by little gymnasts, trained under Pooja Surve, an internationally renowned gymnast. The attendees cheered for this group of young gymnasts. On this occasion, the attendees received the opportunity to gain information on the importance of Yoga and Zumba  by retired Colonel Sumisha Shankar and renowned Zumba artist Almas Merchant, respectively.

Tejasswwi finds a shoulder to sit on

The shoot for the upcoming wedding track in Rishta Likhenge Hum Naya has been in full swing. The actors are having a blast and equally sweating it out to match their steps for the dance sequence. In fact, during one such shoot, Diya (Tejaswwi Prakash) and Ratan (Rohit Suchanti) were caught in a hilarious moment.

The duo after an elaborate dance practice session decided to take a break. Since there were no chairs in the vicinity, the spot boy ran to arrange chairs. At that moment, Tejasswi who was restless found solace in Rohit’s shoulders who was already sitting on the floor. She at once climbed up on his shoulders and found a comfortable seat for herself! Seeing her the entire crew burst out laughing and captured the moment in a camera. As for Rohit, he was totally amused by the entire situation and let the lady have her moment of rest after a tiring day like a true gentleman.

Says Rohit, “We had been practising the dance session since morning and towards the end of the day, we both were drained and tired. Since I could not find a chair around, I retired on the floor to get some rest. Tejasswi in the meantime was looking for a chair too. But suddenly she just turned to me and decided to sit on my shoulders! Initially, I was totally taken aback but when I saw the crew clicking pictures, I played along. It was indeed quite funny! We kept teasing Tejasswi for the rest of the evening, with everyone offering their shoulders to her to sit.”

In the upcoming track, Ratan has taken the moral responsibility of getting Diya and Abhay married. To ensure that everything happens as planned, Ratan will also keep a fast. Will this wedding happen without any hindrances? Or will fate play a different move?

like every girl, I want to be treated like a princess- Smirit Kalra

After ageing backwards — she played a wife in 12/24 Karol Bagh, an 18-year-old in Suvreen Guggal and a child-woman in Itti Si Khushi — actress Smriti Kalra is finally playing her age on television. The actress plays the glamorous Ahana in Dil Sambhal Jaa Zara, which marks both Sanjay Kapoor and Niki Walia’s comeback on the small screen. “I have either played bubbly or positive characters on screen, but Ahana is grey. She owns up her sexuality and is true to her emotions and thoughts,” she says.

Ask her if she felt any discomfort romancing a senior actor like Sanjay Kapoor on the show and she replies, “Not at all. We are both actors and it’s my job to play a character convincingly. He is sweet and has no airs about the fact that he belongs to one of the most prominent families in the industry.”

Smriti has been rather selective about her work, a fact that is evident from the fact that she has been a part of just four shows in a career spanning eight years. She explains, “I don’t want to play similar characters. Honestly, I wasn’t keen on acting. It was my father who convinced me to take up Karol Bagh. I thought that the stint would be over in two months, but it didn’t. After that, I started getting similar offers, but I didn’t want to be stereotyped. So, I decided to return with a makeover of sorts and bagged Suvreen Guggal. I live every character that I play. For example, for my character Simi in Karol Bagh, I had to put on weight and stop smiling. So, when I had to actually smile for a sequence, I couldn’t immediately do so, as I had forgotten how to smile. For Ahana, I decided to give a lopsided smile and tilt my head to lend that much-needed mystery. I may not be very famous or rich, but that has never been my agenda either — I want to be known for my talent.”

While she is single and wants to be in a relationship, Smriti is clear that she doesn’t want to date an actor. “That’s something I have lived by and maintained so far. Most actors are self-absorbed and I can’t stand a man checking himself out all the time. I would like to date a nice guy, with whom I can grow old together.  I should be able to have deep conversations with him; and, like every girl, I want to be treated like a princess,” she signs off.