Richa Chadha’s
next film is based
on the second
wave of Covid
that impacted
India in 2021
The frontline warrior
Richa Chadha will be seen playing a front-
line worker during the second wave of the
Covid crisis in an untitled film under the
banner of Zee Studios. Richa says, “This
is based on those real incidents that we all
witnessed during the second wave of
Covid. While there was loss
and despair, there was also hope.
In fact, I was so moved by this
kindness of strangers that I
started The Kindry, a small This film is
social media initiative that
amplified stories of good-
based on real
ness, selflessness incidents that we saw.
through the second wave. While there was loss
The film takes a hard look and despair, there was
at our lives during the pan-
demic, where we were
also hope.
RICHA CHADHA
afraid to be human. There was
enforced and mandatory dis-
tance. It talks about the doctors and nurs-
es who were doing their job selflessly. I am
honoured to play the role of one such
resilient nurse.”
The film is directed by Abhishek
Acharya. Apart from that Richa has
wrapped up the shoot of Girls Will Be
Girls, the first movie of her co-owned
home production. The film is an Indo-
French co-production, which is being
jointly produced by Pushing Buttons Stu-
dios, Crawling Angel Films and the
French company, Dolce Vita Films.
Novelty factor
Director Luv Ranjan, who is awaiting the
release of his upcoming theatrical rom-com,
Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, finally broke his
silence on why his films always have a
female as the antagonist.
The film, which stars the lead pair of Ran-
bir Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor, is
Ranjan’s first film in five years
after his last directorial Sonu Ke
Titu Ki Sweety, which again had
actress Nushrratt Bharuccha
playing the villain.
Talking to the media on Mon-
day, the director said, “Aur bhi
filmmakers hain jo ‘ladki seedhi
hai ladka chaalu hai’ ke space mein
acchi films bana rahe hain (there are oth-
er directors who are making good films on
the subject of a damsel in distress and the
male as a wicked character). As a filmmaker
I need to have a certain novelty in my films
and for my audience.”
He added, “Film mein jab tak ek negative
aur ek positive force na ho tab tak film audi-
ence ko engage nahi karegi, it’s purely a cre-
ative decision to have a female playing a
negative character in my films”.
Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, which marks
Ranbir’s return to the genre of rom-com,
also stars stand-up comedian Anubhav
Singh Bassi. The film is set to arrive in cine-
mas worldwide on March 8. — IANS
TRIBUNE Too much!
Cate Blanchett was left
so drained by her
latest role as obsessive
Lydia Tar in the movie
Tar, she thought about
quitting acting, which
she says has also left
her profoundly
homesick. IANS
LUDHIANA | TUESDAY | 24 JANUARY 2023
In the game of love...
Mona
C
Athiya Shetty & KL Rahul
INEMA and cricket are two biggest
religions in India, they say. The two
worlds often merge together. Athiya
Shetty and KL Rahul on Monday
joined the long list of actress-cricketer
jodis that dot the entertainment scene.
According to the grapevine, they met
through a common friend. Several ad
campaigns later, they started dating in
2018. The newlywed couple made
their relationship Insta official by shar-
ing their sun-kissed pictures and post-
ing sweet nothings only recently.
As the Motichoor Chaknachoor
actress and vice-captain of the Indian
cricket test team embark on a new
journey at father Suniel Shetty’s
Khandala bungalow Jahaan, we look
back at actresses and sports stars who
found love in each other.
As Athiya Shetty ties the knot
with KL Rahul, we take a look
at the cricketer-actress jodis
and their rocking love stories Yuvraj Singh &
Hazel Keech
■ Virat Kohli and Anushka Shar-
ma’s love story is the stuff dreams
are made of. Both from middle-class
families, caught the public eye in
2008 – she as an actress in Rab Ne
Bana Di Jodi opposite Shah Rukh
Khan and he as One Day Interna-
tional player. The duo, better known
as Virushka, met for an ad shoot and
hit it off. The public display of love
came in 2015 when Virat flew a kiss
from his bat to Anushka in stands as NATAŠA & HARDIK ZAHEER & SAGARIKA
he hit half a ton and became the
quickest batsman to score 6,000 runs Geeta Basra &
in ODIs. Their love story culminated Harbhajan Singh
in a dreamy wedding at a country-
side resort in Tuscany in December
2017. The Sufi song Peer Vi Tu, sung
by Harshadeep Kaur and Mohan
Kannan, was specially created for Virat Kohli &
Virushka’s wedding video. The cou- Anushka Sharma
ple is blessed with a daughter, Vami-
ka, whom they have kept away from
the limelight!
■ Cricketer Yuvraj Singh and Hazel
Keech make for another lovely sto-
ry. The British actress and model
kept the debonair cricketer waiting belongs to a royal family and met
for three years before agreeing for a her beau at a Bollywood party. They ACTRESS-SPORTSMAN PAIRS MAKE SUCH PAIRINGS ARE NOT RESTRICTED
coffee date. While she has little love made it official at Yuvraj and FOR A RATHER LONG LIST... TO INDIA ALONE
for the gentleman’s game, her love Hazel’s wedding in 2016. Reported- ■ Mere Sapnon Ki Rani Sharmila Tagore ■ English footballer David Beckham is
for Yuvi culminated in the two tying ly, Khan introduced Sagrika by mak- married the Nawab of Pataudi, married to former Spice Girl Victoria
the knot in 2016. They welcomed ing his family watch Chak De! India! Mansoor Ali Khan, who was the Beckham since 1999.
their first child, a boy, Orion, in Jan- and his fluent Marathi won him captain of Indian cricket team in 70s. ■ Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen fell
uary 2022. Ghatke’s family’s love and bless- ■ Badhaai Ho actress Neena Gupta for American football quarterback Tom
■ Serbian dancer, model and actress ings. The duo got married in 2017. had an affair with West Indies Brady and they tied the knot.
Nataša Stankovic met cricketer ■ Harbhajan Singh and actress cricketer Vivian Richards with whom ■ Closer home, Pakistani cricketer Imran
Hardik Pandya at a night club in Geeta Basra dated for eight years she has a daughter, Masaba Gupta. Khan was married to English
Mumbai. She had no idea about his before they married in 2015 at a ■ Actress Reena Roy was married to screenwriter, television, film producer
cricket career. Post a brief courtship, Gurudwara near Jalandhar. Just Pakistani cricketer Mohsin Khan. They Jemima Goldsmith for almost a decade.
Pandya proposed to DJ Waley Babu like his teammate Yuvraj, even split later on. The duo later separated.
actress on a private boat on January Harbhajan had to wait long to win ■ Actress Sangeeta Bijlani was ■ Actress Elizabeth Hurley and Australian
1, 2022. They welcomed a son,
Agastya, later that year.
■ Preeti Sabarwal of Chak De!
India!, Sagarika Ghatge found love
his ladylove’s attention. He fell in
love at first sight when he saw her
in the song Woh Ajnabee. The cou-
ple is blessed with a daughter
married to former Indian captain
Mohammad Azharuddin. They later
divorced.
■ Actress Lara Dutta is married to
tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi.
cricketer Shane Warne had a whirlpool
romance which culminated in marriage.
■ Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias is
married to Russian tennis star Anna
Kournikova.
Luv Ranjan in cricketer Zaheer Khan. Sagarika, Hinaya Heer Plaha and a son,
reveals why a national-level hockey player, Jovan Veer Singh Plaha.
his films
always have
women as
villains
It got its way Portrait of a
happy family
It’s just six weeks since Avatar: The
award-winning filmmaker Way of Water
James Cameron’s block- becomes
buster sequel Avatar: The sixth film in Hrithik Roshan along with other family
Way of Water released and it history to members celebrated sister Sunaina’s birth-
has surpassed $2 billion in pass $2 bn day in style. The Roshan clan was also accom-
global ticket sales. It’s the globally panied by Hrithik’s girlfriend, Saba Azad.
sixth film in history Mother, Pinkie Roshan, took to social media
and first in the pan- and shared a glimpse of the party. The happy
demic times to cross family picture featured Hrithik, Saba,
the milestone, joining Sunaina, Rakesh Roshan, Pashmina Roshan
an exclusive club that (Hrithik’s cousin sister) and his kids from for-
includes Avatar, mer wife Suzanne, Hrehaan and Hridhaan.
Avengers: Endgame, Hrithik and Saba started dating in January
Titanic, Star Wars: 2022 and never shied away from making pub-
The Force Awakens, lic appearances together. The birthday girl,
and Avengers: Infinity Sunaina celebrated her 51st birthday with
War. Now, Cameron is family. Pinkie wrote a heartfelt post for her
responsible for three of the daughter, “Happy birthday to my darling
six-highest grossing movies daughter @roshansunaina … my sunshine,
of all time. He’s also the only
director with three films to
Hrithik’s girlfriend Saba Azad joins Roshan family my life, my heartbeat. your happiness means
the world to all of your family. We love you...
cross $2 billion. —IANS celebration for Sunaina’s birthday we want your life filled with colours.”—TMS
TRIBUNE
LUDHIANA | TUESDAY | 24 JANUARY 2023
‘Acting was
ONE-TO-ONE
Bigg
exit
planned for me’ Soundarya
Rachel Ann Mullins, who was seen in SonyLIV’s
web series Chutzpah, is all set for a B-town Sharma bids
debut with Pathaan. She gets candid... farewell to
Tell us about your background… Bigg Boss 16
I’m originally from Detroit and that’s where my mod-
elling career started when I was 12. The first fashion The race for ticket to the
show I walked in was for Maxara. When I was 19, I acci- finale week has already
dentally moved to LA and then spent 13 years model- picked pace in the Bigg
ling, acting, producing and directing. I’ve been very Boss 16 house. Nimrit
blessed that my career has grown into what it is today. Kaur Ahluwalia became
the first contestant to
How and when did you plan to take up acting as a career? grab the ticket and earn
I didn’t plan it, acting was planned for me! For the first captaincy at the same
two years that I lived in LA, I didn’t act. My acting time. Amidst this fierce
career grew over time because of modelling. competition for the tick-
et among housemates,
What was your first Indian project? during the Weekend ka
The first time I came to India was for a documentary, Vaar it was announced
which I was producing and directing. Interviewing girls that Tina Datta, Shalin
living in an acid attack survivor’s house in New Delhi Bhanot and Soundarya
changed my career and me as a person. Sharma were at the bot-
tom three, according to
How did you get a role in a Yash Raj Film? Please share details of your audiences’ votes.
role in Pathaan. Keeping in mind the
My agent Ravi put me up for it; he’s so wonderful and three-way tie, the host
always offers roles that really fit me. My character in Salman Khan then asked
Pathaan is that of a very sassy girl. the housemates to unan-
imously decide who they
You stay in US, how did you manage Pathaan shoot? wanted to evict out of the
I was living in New Delhi when I auditioned and shot for three through votes. As a
Pathaan. It was a lovely way to spend my first Christ- result, Soundarya stood
mas in India. evicted from the season.
Soundarya said, “I’ve
Who is your favourite Bollywood star and why? had a wonderful time in
Priyanka Chopra. We tried on jackets together at Sun- the house of Bigg Boss
dance a few years ago and she was so sweet! 16, and I have mixed feel-
ings as I bid adieu to it. I
You have worked in Hollywood as well. How is Hollywood different never thought I would
from Bollywood in terms of film-making? come so far along in the
There are things that are exactly the same. For example,
there will always be one crew member wearing shorts
season. It feels great to
have a proud family
no matter how cold it is! Hollywood is a union town, so waiting to celebrate my
there are a ton of labour bylaws. Bollywood doesn’t journey on the show. I
have such strict rules. Modern Bollywood is more like thank the viewers for
old Hollywood, everyone in Bollywood can act, sing and their love and support.
dance. That is a real rarity in Hollywood these days. I’m grateful to the con-
testants for teaching me
Tell us something interesting about your web series with SonyLIV… lessons that I couldn’t
I played Jeline Scott in the web series Chutzpah. have learnt elsewhere.
The assistant director wrote ‘gori’ boss on my trail- All the best to all of them
er door instead of my actual character’s name and it and I can’t wait to know
made me laugh! who wins this game-
changing season. I hope
One thing that you love about India? Archana wins.”
I love the work that I get to do in India. Everyone in Bol-
lywood is so talented.
Any upcoming projects? Jetshen Dohna Lama wins Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li’l ChampsSeason 9
Little
I have a fantasy film titled Empire Queen lined up.
wonder
Zee TV’s popular singing
reality show Sa Re Ga Ma
Pa Li’l Champs Season 9
finally came to a close on
Sunday (January 22). And
Jetshen Dohna Lama was
crowned the winner. A con-
sistent performer through-
out the season, who was
much-loved by the judges
and viewers of the show, Jet-
shen was presented with the
coveted trophy during the
grand finale. On the other
hand, finalists Harsh Sikan-
dar and Dnyaneshwari
Ghadge were announced as
the first and second run-
ners-up, respectively.
Says Jetshen, “This is a
dream come true for me!
Honestly, the competition
was tough as all the contest-
ants of the season were very
talented and I really feel
grateful that I got to share
the stage with them. My
journey on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa
Li’l Champs Season 9 has
been a great learning expe-
rience for me and I am
immensely grateful to all
Shoaib, Dipika to be parents
Television couple, Shoaib suffered a miscarriage last
Ibrahim and Dipika Kakar February after being six
announced on Sunday that weeks pregnant.
they were expecting their He said, “Many of you don’t
first child. Their love story know that last year in Febru-
began on the sets of Sasural ary, she suffered a miscar-
Simar Ka. They shared a riage in the sixth week of
vlog about how they were pregnancy.” Dipika added,
equally excited and scared “Because of that, we were a
about embracing this new bit scared this time and I am
phase. The actor while talk- sure all of you would under-
ing about the same in the stand that. It’s not just us,
clip also revealed that Dipika many go through this.”
my mentors, who have con-
stantly supported and
helped me understand my
potential as a singer. I am
He called the new respon-
sibility as parents a ‘beauti-
ful phase of life’ while stat-
ing that they were scared
too after the past incident.
Dipika further clarified the
reason why she was not
making vlogs and stayed
away from social media. “We
didn’t want to hide from
anyone and so we thought of
taking a break from all our
vlogs. The first three
months are very delicate
and crucial, hence we took
precautions,” she said.
UP & ABOUT 3
Friends
forever
Meiyang Chang
celebrates
Chinese New Year
Indian Idol 3-fame and actor close friends from the televi- does this annual celebration
Meiyang Chang celebrated sion industry. He wrote, “To a at his place something all of
Chinese New Year on Sunday man who I could not have us look forward to? Toh aisa
(January 22) with friends Rid- even imagined to have hai, ki we get awesome food
hi Dogra, Karan Wahi, Asha crossed paths with, and now made by aunty, and we get to
Negi, Abhijeet Sawant and we have to meet and spend time with the ever lov-
others. Meiyang’s friend hug…Because we are neigh- able, lively nani, who is one of
Gautam Hegde shared a long bours, friends and pet lovers, the most beautiful women I
note on social media where and we like bad jokes and wit- have ever met. Soft speech,
he thanked Meiyang and his ty puns apart from a bunch of sharp memory, silver hair
family for always celebrating common friends.” and her shining skin…Long
the Chinese New Year with Gautam added, “But why live nani!”
An inspiring
tale
Ahead of India’s Republic
Day celebrations, Prime
Video has launched the first-
look of the upcoming Ama-
zon Original Ae Watan Mere
Watan, an inspiring tribute to
the fearless heroes of India’s
struggle for freedom. A Dhar-
matic Entertainment Produc-
tion, the movie is being pro-
duced by Karan Johar and
Apoorva Mehta, with Somen
Mishra serving as the co-pro-
ducer. Directed by Kannan
Iyer, and written jointly by
Darab Farooqui and Kannan
Iyer, the film is a thriller-dra-
ma inspired by true events
and will see Sara Ali Khan
play the character of a valiant
freedom fighter.
Sara Ali Khan says, “As an
actor and more importantly
as an Indian, I am proud to be
able to portray a character
that echoes bravery, strength
and courage. Working with
Kannan Iyer sir is a sheer
privilege, as he is so passion-
ate and emotionally invested
in this story himself. And
while of course it is very chal-
lenging to essay a character
Actor Sheezan Khan’s sister
that is vastly different from
anything that I’ve done
Falaq Naaz hospitalised
definitely taking a bundle
of memories along with me
before, it is a project I’m
going to work really hard on.
And most importantly, I’m
going to cherish every day
Tough times
and am looking forward to that I get to play an enigmat- Sheezan Khan has been and for what crime? My son
my new singing journey.” ic freedom fighter.” refused bail in the Tunisha Sheezan has spent the past
Sharma death case. Amidst one month in jail, despite
the legal controversy, the there being no evidence
Khan family has been hit against him.”
with another major crisis as
Sheezan’s sister Falaq Naaz
is admitted to the hospital.
She continued, “My daugh-
ter Falaq has been admitted
to the hospital. Sheezan’s
Sheezan’s mother Kehke- younger brother is an autistic
shan Faizi confirmed the kid, who is also unwell. Can’t
details on social media han- a mother love someone
dle, where she posted a pho- else’s kid the same way she
to of Falaq Naaz from the loves her own…Is that a
hospital and also a long note crime or is it illegal? Was it a
about the legal hassles her crime or illegal for Falaq to
family has been undergoing love Tunisha as her own
due to the Tunisha Sharma younger sister? Or was it a
case. In the note she wrote crime or illegal for Sheezan
in Hindi and it translates to, and Tunisha to give space to
“I can’t understand why my their relationship or to break-
family is being punished up with each other?”