Mukesh Chhabra scores a century

Renowned casting director-filmmaker, Mukesh Chhabra has made a substantial contribution to Indian cinema by introducing some of the most remarkable talents in the country to the world. 

Close on the heels of clocking in 100 films as casting director in Bollywood, Mukesh has scored century with Anurag Kashyap’s latest release, Manmarziyaan. 

Mukesh informs, “People are beginning to respect the job only now. It is no longer about hiring the next available person. Casting, today, is about finding a talent that matches a story. The artiste must have the required look, attitude and dialect. Today, characters are more important than actors. Gone are the days when people would ask kaun kiska beta hai”. 

With years of cinema expertise and now also ruling the internet space, Mukesh has successfully spotted and honed the very best of acting talent in line with the exact requirements of feature films, TV commercials and other mediums. 

Having worked on three 100 crore grossers this year – Baaghi 2, Race 3 and Sanju, Mukesh has handpicked and trained competent artists to portray challenging roles that were seemingly in complete contrast to their inherent psyche and potential.

Introducing The Kaftan Company

The Kaftan Company is a niche brand aimed at bringing a stylish range of kaftans to accentuate the beauty of every woman.

A fusion of haute couture and tradition, our kaftans suit each and every occasion with style and grace. We use a variety of beautiful and soft flowing fabrics, mixed with trendy colours and matching ornaments in each and every detailed creation.

Our kaftans range from Small to Plus sizes; and we are delivering products for casual and everyday wear, resort and beach wear, cocktail and party wear, and lounge and night wear.

The Kaftan Company have recently launched their Fall/Winter 2018 Collection - a unique product offering, where the vision is to create comfortable, stylish and sustainable apparels for women all over the globe.

The look book of their latest collection is attached.

Official website - https://www.thekaftancompany.com/

Amyra Dastur joins Rajkummar Rao and Boman Irani in Made in China

Amyra Dastur, who has been extremely busy promoting her digital debut, Bindass’ The Trip 2, with co-stars Shweta Tripathi, Mallika Dua and Sapna Pabbi, has now shifted gear to Ahmedabad to commence shooting for her next film, Made in China. Amyra has joined her Mental Hai Kya co-star Rajkummar Rao with Boman Irani and Mouni Roy in Ahmedabad to shoot Mikhil Musale’s directorial venture. The film is produced under the banner of Dinesh Vijan whose film Stree has recently crossed the 150 crores mark at the box office.

Although the details of her character have been kept under wraps, she has a very pivotal role in the film. A major portion of the film is slated to be shot in China as well. This will be the first time Amyra is dabbling in light hearted comedy. When asked about her latest stint, the gorgeous actress replied, “I’m really excited to work with Maddock Films, their scripts are content driven and manage to give out a social message in a quirky way. Getting a chance to work with Rajkummar Rao again and now Boman Irani is truly a privilege. They’re amazing actors and it’ll be interesting to learn more from them, especially in a comedic space. This is going to be a fun movie and experience to be a part of.”

Amyra is carving her niche in Bollywood having already signed onto major productions like the Rajkummar and Kangana Ranaut starrer, as well as the Sanjay Dutt produced magnum opus, Prassthanam, opposite Ali Fazal. She also has a film, Leena Yadav’s Rajma Chawal, starring Rishi Kapoor and debutant Anirudh Tanwar, slated for release.

Aniruddh Dave bags a role in Patiala Babes

The much talked about show portraying the beautiful relationship of mother and daughter will soon be making way on Sony Entertainment Television. After Ashnoor Kaur as Mini Khurana and Paridhi sharma as Babita Khurana, now Handsome Aniruddh Dave has joined the ensemble cast. He will be seen essaying the role of Hanuman Singh, a Haryanvi cop who is honest, soft hearted and impulsive. 

Aniruddh Dave says, “I am really fortunate to get a high performance-oriented role. As the audience’s taste and industry is changing, I also want to explore myself as an actor and Patiala Babes is the right choice. I am playing character of a Haryanvi cop. It didn’t require me to put a lot of efforts as I recently completed a movie where I am playing a Haryanavi guy’s role.Talking about about Hanuman Singh, he is an obedient cop who works on his own principles in life. He may see strong from outside but is emotional at heart. I am delighted to work with Paridhi Sharma again after such a long time and excited to work with SET for the first time. Looking forward as this is really a different show which will surely make an impact over women.”  

The show revolves around the concept of a mother daughter relationship. They not just emote the feelings of mother and child but also of best friends. It talks about how a daughter gives a push to her mom to achieve what she desires. Talented and versatile Aniruddh has worked in many TV serials and web series and is very excited for the show.

Push the boundaries & look at newer platforms to perform on: Sherrin Varghese on Live music performers

Sherrin Varghese, the pop star who has claimed success with hit songs like Kya Raaz Hai Tu Zindagi, strongly feels that the music industry should open up to live performers; He believes that now singers and musicians should perform music they actually like & not necessarily perform Bollywood cliches to stay afloat.

“I have always been a admirer of genre bending initiatives. More of like a technologist who loves to experiment with tunes and not just go mainstream. Recently I performed at Hard Rock Cafe where everyone in the audience loved the 90 min Indie set that I was performing. The point is, everyone is tired of the Bollywood puppetry that our ears are subjected to. The audience now wants something fresh but the venues cannot spend beyond a stipulated marketing budget to fill it up & the artist cannot be expected to be only pushing to draw the audience. And to be honest it is a 2 hour task to get to any venue in Mumbai given the traffic and the pollution. This is where Live web streaming comes in."

Sherrin believes that the audience education for various sonic versions of the same live performance of an artist needs to be hammered and these different mixes for the live audience at the venue and the broadcast audience needs to be drilled in. He recommends that the industry should create more avenues and platforms where musicians can showcase their talent & perform their own music or renditions of songs their way keeping the end user in mind which is mostly someone looking down on a mobile phone.

“Now the opportunities for live performers have gone up substantially with the  Internet. An Imogen Heap can give a substantial immersive experience to her fans with her virtual reality concert and get audiences into her house without any of her fans leaving home. Closer home, recently VH1 put up a full web stream concert albeit with pathetic jittery sound quality on the streaming end for which they got a lot of flak. For the end user these new platforms are radical, immersive, new & very innovative as it’s like having a front row seat to every concert from the comfort of your bedroom. For the artist this can be a daunting experience as they are practically in an empty room & stand the risk of being judged by non-musical keyboard warriors ready to diss at the drop of a cursor owing to the anonymity of the internet but the good side is that the audience reach is unimaginable!”

“It’s time we have a proper education & dedicated venues & platforms where live performers get trained to modify their content to suit this laptop in a bedroom viewer. The artist community needs to pool in their experiences of how to deal with this new medium to maximise their visibility as increasingly no one’s getting out of their house after reaching home from a 9-5 job for which they just spent 4 hours on the road.”

Sherrin definitely makes a clear point in providing new dedicated platforms to artists & musicians. Also, his new hit, Kya Raaz Hai Tu Zindagi has already topped the charts in 2018 and his recent directorial work ‘Do Lafzon Ki’ tops up his game.