La Trobe to honour Shah Rukh Khan with An Honorary Doctorate

Global icon, multi-award winning actor, producer and women’s equality advocate, Shah Rukh Khan, will be awarded La Trobe University’s highest accolade during his visit to Australia for the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne.

La Trobe is the first Australian University to award Mr Khan with an Honorary Doctor of Letters (honoris causa), in recognition of his efforts to support underprivileged children, his unwavering dedication to the fight for women’s empowerment through MEER Foundation and his unparalleled achievements in the Indian entertainment industry.

Meer Foundation is a philanthropic foundation named after Shah Rukh Khan’s father Meer Taj Mohammed Khan which aims to effect change at ground level and works to build a world that empowers women. One of the key focus areas under women empowerment has been to support the cause of acid attack survivors. The Foundation provides support to women victims of acid attacks and major burn injuries through a 360-degree approach that helps them with their medical treatment, legal aid, vocational training as well as rehabilitation and livelihood support. The foundation’s efforts are not limited to helping acid attack victims alone. It has sponsored treatment and surgeries for women and children at several hospitals across the country.

Mr Khan said having his humanitarian endeavours recognised for the first time in Australia was a great honour, “I’m proud to be conferred with a great University like La Trobe which has a long-standing relationship with Indian culture and impressive track record in advocating for women’s equality. I feel truly privileged to receive this Honorary Doctorate and I would like to sincerely thank La Trobe for choosing to recognise my achievements in such a humbling way.”

La Trobe will present Mr Khan with his Honorary Doctorate ‪on Friday 9th August at its Melbourne campus in Bundoora.

Times Music Naam Ada Likhna video launched

Times Music have launched Varun Sood and Divya Agarwal’s new video ‘Naam Ada Likhna’ at Sin City Rooftop Resto & Lounge Andheri (W), Mumbai yesterday. The song is sung by Madhubanti Bagchi and Shreyas Puranik. The event was graced by Vikas Gupta, Sahil Anand, Chetna Pande, Krissann Barretto, Sunil Pal, Faisal Khan, Rohit Suchanti and many more.

Times Music exclusive release 'Naam Ada Likhna' is a recreation of Shantanu Moitra's song of the same name, from the movie 'Yahaan'. Originally sung by Shreya Ghoshal and Shaan, the track first released in 2005. The music for the new rendition has been re-produced by Harshit Chauhan and is voiced by Madhubanti Bagchi and Shreyas Puranik.

The music video features the supremely gorgeous Divya Agarwal, and the very handsome Varun Sood. This adorable couple is placed in the picturesque locations of Ladakh and the entire video is a vision to watch. Lyrics written by Gulzaar Sahab come to life as the video explores deeper meaning of love and togetherness.

Character designer Preetisheel Singh's new office showcases fantasy with eye-catching murals

Once upon a time, Mumbai used to be famous for poster art and murals. Even today, we look at Mario Mirinda's paintings at Cafe Mondegar in Colaba and gaze in delight. In recent times, the Mahatama Gandhi mural at Churchgate Station is also looked upon with awe. But from the last few years, not many have explored this art... at least, not in the suburbs.

But that's just changed this week, with National Award-winning makeup, hair and prosthetic designer Preetisheel Singh and her partner-husband Mark D'souza at their company Da Makeup Lab, having set up their new office in Versova with a huge floral mask mural on its two-storied building wall. It's the biggest mural on the building, with a face emerging from a large, vivid and burlesque flower. 

Mark D'souza, business head of Da Makeup Lab explains, "At our company, what we do is transform an actor into a character. The murals depicts that. Here, the art is the flower, and the face is what emerges from this art." 

The ruling queen of prosthetics, Preetisheel Singh, who has designed the looks for Bollywood's topline actors in films like Padmaavat, Bajirao Mastani, Andhadhun, Mom, Mulk, 102 Not Out, Thackeray and many others, is about to begin 'Preetisheel's School of Character Design' at this place soon. "We intend to let the calm of our surroundings in Versova inspire the imagination of our students when we roll with the school in September,” says Mark.

Made by Delhi artist Amrai Dua, the murals are quite a sight for passerbys. So catchy are they, that they can give any eclectic Hollywood studio a run for its money. Apart from the humungous floral mask mural on the front, the second mural is of a fantasy-based devilish creature. The third has three masks, all emoting differently. A portion of the wall has a mural of Preetisheel doing what she knows best, transforming someone with a brush in her hand. 

“Prosthetic is quite new to Bollywood. But we have got rave reviews for our work in the last few years. So our aim is to let filmmakers know that drastic transformation of characters are also possible in India. And the artworks are trying to convey that. One of the murals -- the creature -- is our way of telling people we can do world-class fantasy-based transformations, so the industry should start thinking about it,” says Mark.

Jassi Gill wraps his shoot for Panga

Actor and singer Jassi Gill has finished his shoot schedule for Ashwini Iyer Tiwari's upcoming film Panga. The versatile actor gave a heartfelt message on the video.

The actor, who started shooting for the film almost a year back, stars in the lead opposite actress Kangana Ranaut. He has worked hard to fit for the role and learnt kabaddi from state level players.

On the last day of the sets, Jassi says, "Today is the last day when Ashwiny ma'am had to tolerate me. Thank you so much ma'am. Had a great time working with you and I am going to miss everyone."

While Ashwini Iyer, the director of Panga, pens down an emotional quote, ‘’Our sunshine wrapped #panga today. The rays of his beautiful energy on set and off set will continue for long. Thank-you for being the ‘Spreading Joy’ human on set.Jassie Gill you are a bright hope in reel and real sense. Thank-you for being a part of Panga and owning your character straight from the heart. ,"

Now that they have wrapped up and hearing this heartful message we are excited to see Jassi in the lead.

Cosmos-Maya’s ViR: The Robot Boy and Alexa – The new Artificially Intelligent best friends

With the new Amazon Echo Show, young viewers can now watch their favorite ViR: The Robot Boy episodes using nothing but their voice.

Cosmos-Maya has been a frontrunner in shaping industry trends. It’s recent skill for Amazon Alexa is indicative of its 360-degree-presence approach. Young viewers can use brand new ViR: The Robot Boy skill for Alexa to watch episodes of the show on Amazon’s range of Echo devices with a screen. The interactive skill makes it fun for users by integrating a simple quiz with each episode. Just say “Alexa, Open Vir the Robot Boy” to start enjoying.

ViR: The Robot Boy, an eponymous sci-fi show chronicling the exploits of the Artificially Intelligent humanoid, is one of the most successful Indian shows and has been on air for the past 6 years on Disney’s Hungama TV. The show has garnered more than 4 billion views on Cosmos-Maya’s YouTube platform, WowKidz and is also available for viewing on Netflix and Zee5. It has been syndicated to more than 50 countries worldwide.

Speaking on the development, Anish Mehta, CEO Cosmos-Maya said, “We are thrilled to launch the Alexa skill. Cosmos-Maya’s ethos of providing best in class entertainment to audiences seamlessly, matches that of Amazon Echo. Alexa and ViR will be the young users’ new best friends. They will interact with the users, entertain them and keep them engaged with enthralling narratives and storytelling.”

Dilip R.S., Country Manager for Alexa Skills, Amazon India said, “Many customers have shared that their kids love engaging with Alexa. ViR: The Robot Boy is one of the most successful Indian shows and we are happy to have its presence on the Echo Show.”