Amyra supports young gymnasts pursue their dreams

Amyra Dastur is currently shooting for her film, Mental Hai Kya with Rajkummar Rao and Kangana Ranaut. Between her films and ad shoots, the actress takes time out to learn gymnastics as well. She started learning gymnastics over this last year and has already aced many techniques in the sport.

Ever since Amyra has learnt the sport, she has been wanting to take the sport forward and help in some way or another. Recently her gymnastics coach told her of a few young girls who were all gymnasts but needed help and support of some kind to participate in competitions and have the right kind of gear for practice. Amyra thought this was the best opportunity to help the young girls and did so by supporting and promoting them become better gymnasts. When asked about it the Rajma Chawal actress said, “I do consider myself someone who is more partial to girls and helping them achieve their dreams and break certain stereotypes. When I found out that there were 4 girls, aged between 10-14, who wanted to take up Gymnastics but didn’t have enough financial support to pay for the entire coaching sessions and the appropriate gear required, I requested my coach to please give them the proper training required and anything else they’d need and I would compensate him on their behalf. My coach (Umesh Hasolkar) has been teaching me since 2016 and he’s proud of how far I’ve reached. His older daughter (about 20) also joins our class and helps me with my flexibility training. Even he wants to see women taking up gymnastics and proving that it isn’t a male sport. He was kind enough to even give me a small discount for their fees and equipment required but I’ll more than happy to keep providing for these girls in this aspect, for however long they decide to keep pursuing the sport.”

We love the selflessness and pay it forward attitude Amyra takes always and hope the athletes someday go on to representing the country.

The team of Manmarziyaan brings the house down in Bangalore

The music of Dev D went on to win composer Amit Trivedi a National award and the maverick now reunites with director Anurag Kashyap for Manmarziyaan.

Anurag Kashyap is back with his rendition of a musical love story, this time around revisiting romance in the bylanes of Amritsar with colours, emotions and music pulsating through his story.

Already touted to be the album of the year , the music of the film came live to audiences across the country with the  “Manmarziyaan concerts”, as the starcast of the film Abhishek Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu & Vicky Kausal,director Anurag Kashyap, music director Amit Trivedi & his band and over 20 singers toured across main metro cities in India.

After touring across Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad ,Chandigarh and Delhi , the Manmarziyaan concert finally closed with a bang at Bangalore.

Apart from performing to the songs from the Manmarziyaan album, the starcast also danced to London Thumakda from Queen and Kajra Re from Bunty Aur Bubli .While Abhishek played the dhol, Vicky had a group of girls overwhelmed when he called them on stage to dance with him . Junior Bachchan even threw his jacket into the audience, on request of his female fans and performed Garba on stage with Amit Trivedi.

Sony Entertainment Television announces the launch of a high voltage dramedy, Main Maayke Chali Jaungi Tum Dekhte Rahiyo

Gone are the days where marriage would mean the end of parent’s direct involvement in their daughter’s life. Nuclear families, gender equality and many other progressive views have created a positive change in the society. The relationship between the parents and their daughters in today’s times doesn’t change much pre and post marriage, when it comes to being adequately involved in each other’s lives. However, in few cases, parental involvement can also turn into obsessive interference and this creates a new challenge for the married couple. 

Exploring one such mother-daughter relationship and the interference of this mother in her daughter’s marriage, Sony Entertainment Television is all geared up to present a slice of life dramedy - Main Maayke Chali Jaungi Tum Dekhte Rahiyo. This mother strongly believes in beti ko bas vida kiya hai, alvida nahin, maintaining a strong presence in her daughter’s life post marriage. Produced by Dheeraj Sarna’s Kagaz Kalam Films, the show is slated to launch on Sony Entertainment Television on September 11, 2018 and will air every Monday to Friday at 8:30 pm. 

The show follows the antics of the sweet and gullible bahu, Jaya, a wedding planner by profession, who keeps threatening her husband to go back to her maayka, under the influence of her overprotective mother Satya Devi. What might be the reason? One phone-call by her mother, leads her to believe that her independence is under threat at her sasuraal. But is her life post marriage really that miserable? How will Samar, the loving husband that he is, bridge the gap? Set in the lovely city of Bhopal, the show aims to capture the essence of how over interference of parents can become a nemesis to their children’s marital independence.

Main Maayke Chali Jaungi Tum Dekhte Rahiyo features a stellar cast with popular faces from the Indian television Industry. The show marks the return of actress Neelu Waghela on television as the no-nonsense lawyer Satya Devi. Popular actors Srishti Jain and Namish Taneja will be seen portraying the lead roles of Jaya and Samar – the married couple. Aditi Deshpande will be enacting the role of the accommodating and understanding mother-in-law, Rama.

Tune in to watch this dramedy, Main Maayke Chali Jaaungi Tum Dekhte Rahio, starting 11th September, every Monday to Friday at 8:30 pm only on Sony Entertainment Television

COMMENTS: 

Neelu Waghela, celebrated actor who essays the character of Satya Devi 

“I am still dependent on my own mother for a lot of things even though I am a mother myself now. So, it didn’t take me time to understand the character of Satya Devi. She is overprotective about her children and especially Jaya as she is the youngest one and I feel most women will relate to this emotion. In fact, my husband keeps joking that I am already being trained for the future considering I have a daughter (laughs). We have received some really good response to the promos that are on-air and I am certain the audience will also enjoy the show.”

Aditi Deshpande, noted actor who essays the character of Rama

“I look forward to spending time with my colleagues because we have all become one big happy family. It doesn’t feel like we are essaying characters… we are living the show. Main Maayke Chali Jaaungi Tum Dekhte Rahiyo is very beautifully written and I feel that as a show it caters to the entire family.”

Namish Taneja, popular actor who essays the character of Samar 

“Firstly, I must tell you that visiting Delhi is like homecoming for me! I will always be a Delhi boy at heart even though I have moved to Mumbai for my work commitments. My character Samar, in Main Maayke Chali Jaaungi shares a very close knot bond with his family and it wasn’t difficult for me to slip into this character. A lot of my mannerisms that you will see on-screen are a result of my observation within my own set of family and friends. The husband always gets stuck between his wife and family, but here you will see poor Samar stuck between his wife and his mother-in-law.” 

Srishti Jain, popular actor who essays the character of Jaya 

“Jaya is like Kareena Kapoor from Jab We Met. Full of life and vivacious. Her only weakness is the love she has for her mother Satya Devi. How this love over powers her relationships post marriage is what the audience will enjoy.”

Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil were Richa’s inspiration for Love Sonia

Actress Richa Chadha, who has been breaking barriers for doing unconventional roles right from her first film, is at it again. Currently, the Masaan actress is busy shooting for her next film a biopic on Shakeela, the adult film actress and is all geared up for her next release Tabrez Noorani's Love Sonia. The film has been well received at all international festivals where it was screened and is slated to release in India on 14th September. The film touches on a very sensitive subject, the international crisis of sex trafficking. Richa will be seen as a sex worker in the film.

Though many renowned Bollywood actors have played the role of a commercial sex worker in films it is never easy to play such a part. It takes a lot of effort and preparation to portray a character with certain finesse without giving into the stereotypes, especially one as touchy as a sex worker. One of the best films to have been made on the subject was 1983' satirical comedy on politics and prostitution called ‘Mandi’ by ace filmmaker Shyam Benegal. The film starred Shabana Azmi, Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Saeed Jaffrey, Neena Gupta amongst many others.  The film is undoubtedly a masterpiece. It was extremely different to the Bollywood films of the times that treated sex workers either as victims or villains and constantly acknowledging them as the ‘other.’ Every little detail was taken into consideration. All the female actors performed to the best of their abilities and it is considered as some of their finest work till date. The makers of Mandi constructed a set of a brothel back then, where the typical diction, accent, language, attire and body language were portrayed by all the actors. It was the truest someone had come to in portraying a sex worker as an individual too.

Richa watched the film Mandi a number of times to pick up diction, body language and clothing tips to get into the skin of her character Madhuri. Shabana Azmi played the role of brother owner in Mandi, Richa taking the cue from Shabana's role prepared herself to play the part.

“Mandi is a classic, a film and a compelling story told on celluloid by the maestro Shyam Benegal. Shabanaji and Smitaji essayed their roles with such ease and perfection. I idolise them in my real life too and I have great admiration for their work. When love Sonia came to me, and when I begun my prep for it, I wanted to study as much as possible to be the character Tabrez had etched for me. I took to watching this movie specifically. For anyone who’s seen this film, will know the nuances the film has essay so well. The world created in Mandi was a great reference point for me. The diction, the body language, the behaviour of the characters on screen, it really help me do justice to my role of Madhuri in the film. I tried to copy Soni razdaan's body language as well! Actresses like Anita Kanwar were so uninhibited.“

This role is Richa’s ode to all the brilliant actors who were on that set, who helped change the way Hindi Cinema looked at sex work, the lives of sex workers and the paradoxes within society that lead to their marginalization.

Love Sonia is all set to release on 14th September across India and cast included Manoj Bajpai, Mrunal Thakur, Richa Chadha, Frieda Pinto, Sai Tamhankar, Rajkummar Rao, Anupam Kher and Demi Moore.

Over 101 million views for Indian National Anthem, Piano rendition by Shayan Italia

Music aficionado and acclaimed pianist Shayan Italia's rendition of the Indian National Anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’, shot in 8K resolution video, has surpassed the French National Anthem record of 36 million views on YouTube and it has been received well on YouTube crossing 101 Million views and counting, thanks to young Shayan Italia’s #IWouldStandForThis initiative, in memory of his mother who passed away from cancer when Shayan was 10.

The National Anthem video has been directed by Dr. Farhad Vijay Arora, and features Shayan Italia. The ambitious video has broken numerous records world over. It is also the first 8K Resolution Ultra HD visual to be ever produced in India. It also boasts to be the most-watched National Anthem in the world and has also broken the record of being the most- viewed Indian National Anthem video within a short span of just 2 days. It is said to have been shot with the Red Weapon Helium Camera and has been recorded in 9.1.2 Digital Audio.

Shayan and his team’s ambitious venture has been made into reality with an alliance of studios from India, Russia and the United Kingdom. The piano used for the recording was made available just for the day as it is the limited edition and it took 24 hours to complete the shoot schedule. The treasured percussion instrument is given only to the most celebrated pianists to perform on it.

If this is not all, the entire post-production process for a 3 minute music video took more than 9 months. The team managed to complete their ambitious project locally, without a fully functioning production setup facility, catering to 8K UHD video content.

Being offered record deals from the biggest players in the music business wasn’t enough for Shayan. Having rejected them for personal reasons, he is keen on his first mainstream Hindi music project to be released in 2019. He has an untapped archive of music numbering over a hundred tracks.