After representing Shillong Football Club, Ali to mentor young football enthusiasts from Lucknow

Actor Ali Fazal is a sports enthusiast and has been associated with the game of Basketball and Football since his early days in school and college. There was a time when Ali hoped to represent India as a basketball player but destiny brought him to tinsel town and the rest is history. Other than playing basketball Ali is also a passionate about football too. He loves watching the game and plays whenever he has free time on his hands. A few years ago Ali mentored a team of children from Shillong as their brand ambassador. While shooting for one of his films in Goa, Ali initiated the idea to fly the boys from Shillong football club to Goa and mentor them side by side while shooting for his film. Taking the legacy forward Ali is now all set to mentor young football enthusiasts from Lucknow while shooting for his current film Prasthaanam.

Lucknow being his hometown holds an important place in his heart and Ali considers it his responsibility to give back in some way or another. What better way than to mentor some local young football players who work really hard to get the basic facilities to play the game they love. Ali like a good Samaritan took the onus to represent the young lads as their mentor while shooting for his film in Lucknow. Even after the completion of his film, Ali will continue mentoring these talented kids till the time their potential is recognised by professional football clubs of India.

Speaking of it, Ali said, “When I worked with the amazing team at Shillong and seeing the kids and their hard work, it really reminded me of my training not too long ago when I was an athlete during my college days. Being a fan of football, I have always had immense interest in the sport on and off the field. And when I met these young, very enthusiastic kids in Lucknow while I was shooting there I was really impressed with their talent on field and I feel with the right mentoring they can do a lot in the sport. They don’t even have proper fields at this point. I am also in hopes to get govt sanctions for multipurpose play fields in the city. So the idea is to, apart from encouraging them, also mentor them by providing them the right guidance and technical support which can help them brush their skills to take up the sport professionally if they wish to in their future. I will be tying up with various sponsors’ as well so push this initiative as game equipment needs to be bought.”

Prassthanam is the official remake of Telugu film with the same name directed by Deva Katta under Sanjay Dutt production. The cast includes Sanjay Dutt, Manisha Koirala, Ali Fazal, Amyra Dastur, and Satyajeet Dubey amongst others. Ali will be seen playing son to Sanjay Dutt in the film.

Recycling way of life for Keith Sequeira!

Actor, Model & VJ, Keith Sequeira has been spending more time at the gym & re-decorating his home post his exit from the show Udaan.

The actor who usually takes part in clean-up drives in & around the city confesses to having an OCD & is very particular about how things are arranged and how they look ; also he religiously follows the policy of best out of waste.

Keith shares, 'I'm a hoarder of furniture & I never let go. I consider it a challenge to change things around while redecorating. I still have a lot of the things I purchased with my first paycheck or even the gifts given to me. They always find a place in my home.'

'I started to do up the place before Rochelle moved in to give it a more “couple's” feeling from a “bachelor's” pad. I'm old school like that & believe in simplicity & functionality. And finally when she came home she added her “women’s touch” and the place just lit up .

Even though I read up a lot on trends , I prefer to keep reinventing/recycling old furniture pieces and not waste and do my part in conserving resources . In my free time I go through interior designing magazines & surf the internet . This time I stuck with rochelle’s idea of shabby chick and recently turned around a wooden table into a beautiful , classy Spanish tilled table .   Also this ends up being cost effective but more importantly creatively fulfilling and adds that extra special personal touch.

In times when actors have access to resources, Keith goes the conservation/recycling way of life “Home is my safe haven & I take more interest in how things should be, it is our space &  should reflect our personality and priorities . If not acting, maybe I would be an art collector, or an interior designer, maybe,' Keith concludes.

Will Elnaaz Norouzi take centerstage in second season of Sacred Games?

The first season of the Netflix series Sacred Games met with tremendous response. And the catch phrase, "Sab marr jaayenge, sirf Trivedi bachega" almost became iconic. So much so that, it was the most shared line from the show on social media and even attracted loads of speculation as well as memes. 

But not many have noticed that as far as the female characters go, most of the main female characters die in the series, with the exception of Zoya, played by Elnaaz Norouzi. 

So can we say, "Sab marr gaye, Elnaaz bach gayee"!! (wink, wink) The lady will have a pivotal part to play in the second season. "The response to the first season was much bigger than what I had imagined. So I'm definitely looking forward to the second season," says an elated Elnaaz.

Inspite of hailing from Iran and having studied in Germany, Elnaaz is particularly proud of the fact that she has herself dubbed her dialogues in Sacred Games, where she features along with established stars like Saif Ali Khan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte. 

In fact, Elnaaz who actually knows seven languages, has perfected her Hindi diction. Directed by Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane, the series is based on Vikram Chandra’s critically-acclaimed novel of the same name.

Manmarziyaan star Abhishek Bachchan visits the Golden Temple

Abhishek Bachchan who was recently in Amritsar to promote his film Manmarziyaan , paid a quick visit to the Golden Temple while in the city.

The star travelled with producer Aanand L Rai and the film’s writer Kanika Dhillon, after celebrating Raksha Bandhan in Mumbai.

Abhishek promoted Manmarziyaan in Nagpur and flew back to Mumbai to celebrate the festival. Later that day ,he took the afternoon flight to Amritsar, where he started the promotions on an auspicious note by visiting the temple.

The team later also visited Ahuja Lassi Shop and Kesar Da Dhaba, given that both Abhishek & Aanand Rai are foodies and wanted to try the local cuisine of Amritsar.

Sophie Choudry's Dua Lipa moment on the ramp

Last week saw Mumbai's anticipated fashion event of year with some of the biggest names in Bollywood walking at the Lakme Fashion Week that concluded last evening with Kareena Kapoor Khan as the showstopper.

The 5 day spread fashion soiree had quite a few highs with one of the highlight being VJ, actress & singer Sophie who's earlier graced the fashion week as a showstopper albeit this time with a legit live performance as she sang two of the greatest hits by Dua Lipa.

Originally British, Sophie Choudry moved to Mumbai to pursue her dreams & in no time rose to being called the original pop diva with her songs like 'Ek Pardesi & Mera Babhu Chail Chabeela' & now belongs to the creme de la creme crowd of the Bolly town. Sophie travels across the globe for her live gigs & this year made a debut at the Lakme fashion week as she performed live on stage.

Sophie took to her social media to share videos of her performance & in no time was flooded with messages being compared to the icon Dua Lipa herself. Her close friend Varun Dhawan was all praises for Sophie. Sophie shares her excitement, 'When designers ask you to be their showstopper, it's like being their muse & it's always special. In my case it was the designer's first show so hopefully it will always be memorable for him. What was even more special for me though was that I got to sing for SVA couture. Of course I do a lot of wedding & corporate performances but the fashion world doesn't get to see me sing live very often & I got to perform 2 of my favorite songs 'One Kiss' bu Dua Lipa & 'Ain't nobody' so it felt great since the response was so incredible.'