Gully Boy, Andhadhun bags big; as Tabu, Vijay Sethupathi and Shah Rukh walk off with top honours at IFFM Awards 2019

It is that evening of the year in Melbourne, when the annual awards night marked its gala presence in the cultural melting pot. 2019’s award function at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne was a special one for many reasons.

Zoya Akhtar's Gully Boy walked away with the top gong of Best Film honour, whereas Vijay Sethupathi won the Best Actor for his widely acclaimed film Tamil film Super Deluxe and Tabu was named Best Actress for her performance in Andhadhun.

Zoya said, “I am so excited. I am not going to forget this evening. This is my first award in the capacity of a producer. Gully boy was our first production. This is a good start. No one makes a movie alone and this wouldn’t be possible without my producers, my co-writer, my incredible actors and every member of my cast and crew. 54 invincible artists worked on this album. I owe this night to all of them.”

Sriram said on his win as best director, “I am thankful and overwhelmed with the response to Andhadhun and this award. A French short film inspired this movie. It was 7 years ago and the movie took a long time to make.”

Upon receiving her award, Tabu said, “It’s my first time in Australia but I will remember it for the rest of my life. Thank you Sriram for writing this for me.  This character is catalyst for change of roles for women that are being written and will be written in future. Thank you for trusting me with this character”.

Additionally, IFFM bestowed upon superstar Shah Rukh Khan - the  'Excellence In Cinema' award.

Shah Rukh Khan, in his usual candour, said, “Thank you all of you in Melbourne. It’s an honour and privilege for me. Awards are odd because to me an art form be judged for its quality feels counter intuitive. Art is an expression and cinema is the ability to create emotions and share experiences through stories. To be an actor, is to live to know that each one is a mere illusion. When you are making a movie you can change a lot by changing the angle of the light and it strikes you that life is a lot like that as well. It’s the simple things that can alter your journey and pondering makes your story worth telling. I shot a film here 12 years ago and it was a straightforward film about a man who has lost hope in life picks on a team of girls and then they go on to win a world championship. This city had the simplicity I had seen nowhere else. When you get older like me, you realise things. I realised that film changed my life. It’s not the awards you get, it’s just the part of creating process that is an exhilarating experience for an artiste.”

Here’s a complete list of winners -

IFFM Best Short Film : MY NAME IS MOHAMED AND RAGHAD, WE DON’T EXIST HERE ANYMORE by Ali Mousawi

BE MY BROTHER by Genevieve Clay

IFFM Diversity Award: Onir

Telstra People’s Choice Award: Simmba

Celebrating 20 years of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai: Karan Johar

IFFM Best Director : Sriram Raghavan for ANDHADHUN

IFFM Best Actor : Vijay Sethupathi for SUPER DELUXE

IFFM Best Actress : Tabu for ANDHADHUN

IFFM Best Indie film : BULBUL CAN SING

IFFM Best Film : GULLY BOY

PWC Equality in Cinema award an honorary award) - CHUSKIT & SUPER DELUXE

IFFM Excellence in Cinema - Shah Rukh Khan

Deepshika dons a Khaleesi inspired to look for her character in &TV’s Main Bhi Ardhangini

Shedding the royal and vibrant traditional attire that once defined Nilambari’s strength and power in &TV’s Main Bhi Ardhangini, Deepshikha Nagpal is all set to essay a new powerful character after the show moves into a supernatural narrative. The royal, smart yet sly Nilambari will now be the powerful and overambitious Mahamaya, an evil woman who has inhibited supernatural powers from Chitra (Anjali Priya) and is now out to control the entire world with these powers.

With a keen interest in styling and designing and taking inspiration from Khaleesi from Game of Thrones, Deepshika has styled her look in all-black sultry attire to bring alive her character. Talking about it, Deepshika said “Although Khaleesi has quite a westernized look to her character, I decided to give a slight indo-western appeal to my look. Considering Mahamaya has a dark and evil nature, I felt black would best represent this side keeping in mind the glamour quotient of the character. The accessories were handpicked to match the shades of the dress and although I am not a fan of dark nail colours, I decided to wear blue to match the personality of my character. My interest in styling and designing came about after assisting in Nilambari’s looks and thus decided to take up this character as a challenge.”

Where once Nilambari depicted grace and elegance in her appearance, Mahamaya brings forth power and control in her attitude. Deepshikha’s new character makes a rather sizzling entry into the show. Delivering a carefree extempore performance, the actress made her entry to the popular sizzling track, Dilbar Dilbar that was choreographed by the actress herself. Speaking about the same, Deepshikha said, “Despite shooting this sequence at 3 am in the night after a long working day, I was high on energy and quite excited to shoot this sequence. It was something different and interesting that had come my way in this show. I didn’t want the performance to look choreographed or restricted to certain movements. Mahamaya is one to control and that had to be represented in her stance and style. I took inspiration from Ranveer Singh’s performance in Binte Dil to depict the same flow and movement in my dance. I personally love this track a lot and performing on it, in a style comfortable to me was an exciting experience.”

Relive the magic of first love with Zee Studios & Sunny Deol’s Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas

It was in 1983 when Sunny Deol won millions of hearts with his debut film, a blockbuster hit, Betaab. 36 years later, his son, Karan Deol is all set to woo the audiences on the same day as we get a glimpse into his debut film, Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas with the film’s teaser that launched today. Teaser: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddQRdVXjYO8 

Set in the mystical land of snow-capped peaks and waterfalls of Himachal Pradesh, Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas will take us on a memorable journey of a young love story that captures the magical essence of first, innocent love. The young and fresh pairing of Karan and Sahher, whose characters come from two different worlds, will be seen on a never-seen-before adventure bound to enthral audiences.

The wait is finally over! Ever since the announcement of the film, there has been tremendous buzz around the newcomer pair of Karan Deol and Sahher Bambba who are now all set to be introduced to the world. The much-awaited third directorial of Sunny Deol is majorly set in the picturesque locales of Himachal, where the team braved extreme outdoor conditions, shooting at high altitudes on snow-capped mountains in sub-zero temperatures.

Continuing the long-standing relationship, after the blockbuster film Gadar, Sunny Deol once again joins hands with Zee Studios to introduce Karan and Sahher in Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas.

Speaking on the film, director Sunny Deol shares, “It is a very emotional moment for me to see my son Karan make his debut on the big screen. I hope the audience appreciates him and showers the same kind of love that they have given me for so many years.”

Shariq Patel, CEO, Zee Studios adds, “We are excited to introduce two new stars in Karan and Sahher—whose hard work and dedication will show on the big screen. I am sure they will be welcomed and appreciated as they take audiences on an adventurous, romantic journey of first love. Sunny Deol has presented a vision of love which is intimate yet mounted on a huge scale.”

Produced by Zee Studios and Sunny Sounds Pvt Ltd, Sunny Deol’s directorial, Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas will release worldwide on September 20, 2019.

When Sidharth Malhotra ate ‘aloo kachori’ with his co-star Mohit Baghel on the streets of Lucknow

When Sidharth Malhotra was shooting for his latest film Jabariya Jodi on the streets of Lucknow, he could resist gorging on the street food as he enjoyed some ‘aloo kachori’.

His co-star Mohit, who was there with him, reveals, “Sidharth and I were shooting on the streets of Lucknow when we spotted some yummy aloo kachori. I asked him, he would like to eat some. It was so good that we ended up eating quite a bit. It is impossible to shoot in Lucknow and not enjoy the local cuisine.”

From playing Amar Chaudhary in Ready to portraying Qurbaan in Milan Talkies, Bollywood actor Mohit Baghel has come a long way.

The talented actor will be now seen as Halla in Sidharth Malhotra and Parineeti Chopra starrer Jabariya Jodi.

The film will release on August 9.

Saumya Ganesh the first Bollywood Romantic film with a Diabetic Twist

Under the banner of Padma Siddhi Films, the actor-director-writer Avinash Dhyani had announced his upcoming Hindi film Saumya Ganesh, Mumbai with much fun-fare. The event was attended by the lead heroine Sanskriti Bhatt, co-producer Sachin Garg, music director Sujoy Bose and Co-dialogue writer Rishi Raj Bhatt. film distributor Jayveer Panghal and Muzahid Khan, Master Shivansh Garg, Rohit Garg, were also present at the event.

Bollywood first ever romantic comedy film which has major aspects of diabetes (a metabolic disease that cause high blood sugar). Such disease sometimes either break a relationship or strengthen it. Sanskriti Bhatt and Avinash Dhyani are in the leads. Under the banner of Padma Siddhi Films, the film Saumya Ganesh is produced, directed and written by Avinash Dhyani, who has also been the Actor-Director of 72 hours:Martyr who never died.

The film revolves around a guy who is type 2 diabetic which decreases male fertility as it lowers the testosterone level. The film shows the unconditional love of Saumya and Ganesh. The story has no villain.

The shooting of the film will started from 20th September, 2019 at alluring location of Rishikesh, Haridwar, Dehradun, New Delhi and Mumbai.

On this occasion Avinash Dhyani quoted, "the film Saumya Ganesh is a simple childhood love story inspired by common people.The film is all about living the life to the fullest regardless of the circumstance. If you have  a partner who stands by you in all the situation, life becomes easy and you got the power to tackle any situation. Saumya  Ganesh gives the message of love which is beyond only physical attraction. Its a soul love story."

 About the shooting of the film he said that they are done with the workshops and will begin the shooting soon at Rishikesh, Haridwar, Dehradun, New Delhi and Mumbai.