Shahid Kapoor to play boxing hero Dingko Singh on screen

We have seen many films based on sports and the lives of sporting heroes in recent times. Actor Shahid Kapoor who is soaring high with the success of his last film Padmaavat, is all set to portray former boxing champ and Asian Games gold medallist Dingko Singh on screen. The film will be directed by Raja Krishna Menon who has earlier directed Airlift and Chef. It is expected to go on floors sometime around April 2019.

Ngangom Dingko Singh, known as Dingko Singh (from Manipur) was the first and only Asian gold medallist boxer from India in the Bantamweight category. In 2013, he was awarded the Padma Shri. Dingko has been an inspiration to many boxers who came into the ring after him, and he is so passionate about the sport, that he went on to become a coach for young boxers.

Talking about this being one of his most ambitious projects, Shahid says, " The thing that I loved about this story is that he is one of those superstars who we don’t know much about. If a film like Dangal (2016) wasn’t made, we wouldn’t know as much about the Phogat sisters. Dingko is a cancer survivor, and he went through 13 rounds of chemotherapy. He has even gone on to say that his biggest win was surviving cancer and not the gold medal he won at the age of 19 at the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok. In 2017, Gautam Gambhir became aware of his situation and sent money for his treatment. Soon, people found out who he was, and 13 doctors came forward to help him. He is a sports star who survived cancer. At some point in his past, he had almost become a Naxalite. His life story is unbelievably crazy; it is very human and extremely inspiring. Such amazing stories of heroes need to be told.”

The actor is currently busy promoting his next film Batti Gul Meter Chalu which is slated to release on 21st September 2018.

Rajkummar Rao crosses 1 Million on Instagram

Apart from being a recipient of a National Film Award, Rajkummar Rao has consistently delivered one great performance after another and continues to gather a large troop of fans not just on home turf but across the world .

While his recent film Newton, was India's official entry to the Oscars , his other films Shahid, Aligarh and Trapped were highly acclaimed by lovers of world cinema and film aficionados.

It's no wonder then that the multi-award winning star ,recently touched the coveted 1 million mark on photo-sharing app, Instagram - This close on the heels of discovering that Raj's social media following consists of a diverse group of fans across the globe ,who also happen to follow American actor, rapper, singer and songwriter Jaden Smith .(Hollywood superstar Will Smith's son)

What makes this achievement a special one , is the fact that it comes to the star as an early birthday present. Rajkummar Rao celebrates his birthday on the 31st August , coinciding with the release of his highly anticipated film Stree.

How Shraddha Kapoor was spooked by Pankaj Tripathi on the sets of Stree

Pankaj Tripathi who will soon be seen in the Rajkummar Rao and Shraddha Kapoor starring horror comedy, Stree, had a rather interesting pass time while he was shooting for the film.

For someone who, from the trailer, seems to have an affinity for all things paranormal in the film, which is based on the Kannada urban legend of Nale Ba, Pankaj narrated ghost stories on set to pass the time in between takes. Gathering the cast and crew of eager listeners, the Masaan actor would delve into stories he heard from his childhood to entertain everybody on sets and ended up spooking the leading lady of the film, Shraddha.

“I’ve always loved listening to stories, especially the paranormal kind. The fun was how people said it and how everyone seemed to have one. My village in Gopalgunj had so many stories like these that I had heard growing up. So on set it started as a joke where we one day decided to share ghost stories but soon it became a regular thing and all the ones I had heard in my childhood came in handy, as I had many stories to tell. The location made it even spookier.” Pankaj said of his innovative way of setting the mood just right for a horror comedy.

The Gurgaon actor will also be seen in the much awaited web series Mirzapur, starring Ali Fazal and Shweta Tripathi and will soon begin shooting for the Shakeela biopic alongside Richa Chadha who plays the titular role.

Amitabh Bachchan pays off farmers' loans and aids martyrs' families.

Earlier reports had surfaced of superstar Amitabh Bachchan's pledge to donate a significant amount to army widows and our suffering farmers of India.

After the recent announcement of his generous help towards Kerala relief funds, we hear that the government has given him a concrete list of Shaheed families and farmers to fructify his pledge and see it materialise.

He will be giving 1 crore to families of ‘Shaheed’ soldiers who sacrificed their lives for us . A list of 44 families has been given by the Maharashtra CM office and he has made demand drafts for them.

He will also be giving 1.25 cr to farmers who have taken loans. The Maharashtra government has identified 200 farmers from a nationalised bank, the NOC have bee  prepared by the bank and loans have been taken care of Mr Bachchan.

The thespian confirmed the same when asked about the two causes at the KBC Press conference, "While there are a lot of issues that have touched my hearts, the farmers’ suicide shocked me. Several years ago, when I was shooting in Vizag, I got to know that the farmers were taking their lives, not being able to pay off loans of some thousands. It felt terrible.

I got a list of around 50 families and paid off their loans. Recently also, through my bank, I got a list of 200 farmers and we have cleared their loans amounting to Rs 1.25 crores. And it also really pains me to see so many soldiers are losing their lives. I want to thank the CM’s office that helped us collate a list of 44 families. We have drafted 112 drafts of some crores towards them already.” said Mr Bachchan.

Well we hope his magnanimous gesture inspires others to follow suit.

Richa Chadha takes a unique way to help Kerala, advocates animal resource operations and helps sponsor education for young kids

Richa Chadha who has been busy shooting for her upcoming biopic Shakeela directed by Indrajit Lankesh has always been vocal with her support, no matter what the cause. With the Kerala floods that have ravaged the state and with many lives lost and upturned, the actress knew she had to do something for the state. Her costar, Rajeev Pillai who is from Kerala and who cancelled his wedding to help people affected by the floods was helping onground and needed as much support as possible. The actress immediately raised funds to help her costar rebuilding his native village. Apart from that she also donated monetary funds to various relief funds across the state.

Richa who is vocal when it comes to animal welfare didn’t just preach but practiced it wholeheartedly during the Kerala floods when she knew she needed to speak about the need for the desire operations of the animals who were stranded with nowhere to go in these catastrophic floods. The NGO, ResQ who Richa has been associated with for over a year deployed a team of volunteers to Kerala. Using her large social media fan base and voice, she took to the masses by posting videos for the help of those animal who need attention and how people can help regarding the same.

As the floods are subsiding now and people are beginning to rebuild their lives, Richa heard about the youth who have lost everything in the floods and whose family might not be able to send them back to school. With the help of her actor from her upcoming film, Rajeev Pillai the two are identifying kids who need financial help for education. With help of Rajeev, The actress who has always stressed on the importance of an education immediately have decided to pay for 5 young kids' education until class 10.

Speaking about it, Richa said, “It’s a human responsibility to come together during adverse times and everyone should do their best in their capacity to show compassion for those suffering. In times of calamities, it’s a collaborative efforts of all who are willing to help. You could be anywhere but can always make a difference but doing the best you can and I pledged to support the post floods rescue help by doing my bit”