12022021-LSTL-01.qxd 2/11/2021 11:38 PM Page 1 c m y b TRIBUNE With love In the run-up to this year’s Valentine’s Day, Arjun Kapoor has teamed up with the Cancer Patients Aids Association to help 100 cancer couples. LUDHIANA | FRIDAY | 12 FEBRUARY 2021 In the first-ever virtual Miss India contest, Manasa Varanasi bags the Miss India World 2020 title and Chandigarh girl Manika Sheokand is Miss Grand India W Sona shares a poem on farmers Sonakshi Sinha has shown her support towards farmers who are protesting against farm laws at Singhu border. After standing in solidarity, the actress has now shared a poem on farmers. Sharing the same on her Instagram, Sonakshi wrote, “Nazarein milake, khud se poocho- kyun? A tribute to the hands that feed us... a beautiful poem written by @varadbhatnagar. Shot and conceptualized by @gursanNAZAREIN MILAKE, KHUD SE jam.s.puri and narrated by POOCHO- KYUN? A TRIBUTE TO me. #farmersprotest.” Meanwhile, last week, THE HANDS THAT FEED US... A Sonakshi had shared a BEAUTIFUL POEM WRITTEN BY post made by an account @VARADBHATNAGAR. named Story Seller Comics that explained Rihanna and SONAKSHI SINHA environmentalist Greta Thunberg’s tweets on farmers protest. It highlighted human right violations. The post read, “The voices raised are about the violation of human rights, suppressions of free internet and expression, state propaganda, hate speech and abuse of power.” Sonakshi’s Instagram stories came a little after several celebrities tweeted in support of the hashtags #IndiaAgainstPropaganda and #IndiaTogether. ❝ INNERS of Miss India 2020 were announced in a star-studded ceremony in Mumbai on Wednesday. The pageant, held virtually for the first time ever, was conducted after a nationwide hunt. A total of 31 finalists were shortlisted who went through rigorous training and grooming sessions, mentored by Neha Dhupia. These girls then arrived in Mumbai to compete for the coveted crown at the finale held on February 10. Winner of Miss India 2020, who will represent India at Miss World this year, is Manasa Varanasi from Telangana. Manika Sheokand from Haryana was crowned as Miss Grand India 2020. And the third amongst the top three winners was runner up Manya Singh from Uttar Pradesh. CROWN GOES TO... With every announcement, my heart was skipping a beat. As soon as they announced my name, I started jumping with excitement. My mother teared up with joy, making the moment a bit emotional. I had goosebumps as the feeling sunk in. I’m finally a step closer to my dreams. I look forward to making my family proud by fulfilling my childhood dream of wearing a coveted crown. Mumbai, here I come!” And now when she finally lifted the title VLCC Femina Miss Grand India 2020, not to miss the Mohey Miss Photogenic title, we can only guess the due celebrations once she will be back from Mumbai. ON HER BIG WIN Amrit Pal Toor, Chairperson UICET says, “Manika was my student and I had no doubts about her win from the moment we came to know she had won Miss India Haryana pageant. We now hope for an international title.” CITY’S PRIDE NEW LAYOUT An excited Manika Sheokand who hails from Haryana said, “I am absolutely thrilled… It’s a dream come true.” A national-level netball player, chemical engineer, and an event organiser, Manika Sheokand, Miss Grand India 2020, has made the city proud. She passed out from University Institute of Chemical Engineering and Technology (UICET) in 2018 after Talking about the pageant, Neha Dhupia says, “It’s almost like reliving every moment of my journey with these young glamorous girls who are so full of enthusiasm and capability to take on the world with power and elegance.” The evening saw a performance by Vaani Kapoor and the show that will air on Colors on February 28, was hosted by Aparshakti Khurrana. —TNS MANYA SINGH, MANASA VARANASI AND MANIKA SHEOKAND completing five-year chemical engineering degree and is alumni of Kailash Bahl DAV Senior Secondary School, Sector 7, Chandigarh. She pens her debut fiction novel Mapping Love first novel was released by Rupa Publications on their social media, stating that the novel will release in May 2021. Speaking about her first novel, Ashwiny shared, “As a storyteller every once in a while there are stories I Sapna Choudhary in legal trouble An FIR has been registered against Haryanvi singer and dancer Sapna Choudhary, who rose to fame with Bigg Boss. Delhi Police’s Economic Offences Wing has registered a case against Sapna, her mother as well as her brother, on charges of cheating and breach of trust. The action was taken when a celebrity management company, that was managing Sapna, filed a complaint against her and others, for criminal breach of trust, criminal conspiracy, cheating and misappropriation of funds. As per reports, the amount is close to Rs 4 crore. Reportedly, Sapna had signed an agreement with her celebrity management company for stage shows in 2018. She took an advance payment of Rs 1 crore. However, she violated the agreement and did not perform on stage. Gina Carano, who stars in Disney+ series The Mandalorian, is not a part of the show any more. She has been removed from the series over her controversial social media posts. On Wednesday, a statement was released by Lucas film that read, “Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucas film and there are no plans for her to be in the future. Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.” Carano had shared several offensive posts on her Instagram stories on Tuesday, including one that likened contemporary political differences to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany. On her Instagram, she wrote, “Jews were beaten in the streets, not by Nazi soldiers but by their neighbours…even by children. Because history is edited, most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbours hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views.” In another post, Carano shared a photo of a person wearing multiple cloth masks with the caption, “Meanwhile in California…” However, both these posts were deleted on Wednesday. The hashtag #FireGinaCarano started trending and many users tagged Lucas film as well as Disney in their posts. want to say in a medium that brings out the essence in true spirit. Mapping Love is that story of falling in love with art of writing all over again with stillness. It’s taken three years typing it to life and I am filled with happiness as Rupa Publications brings my debut novel to everyone.” Ashwiny says the novel has stayed with her for a very long time and hence it is even more special for her. Her work in the past has been nothing but beautifully etched stories. Owing it to the lovely teaser and all her wonderful past work, this book has us invested already. The book will be launched in May 2021. Taapsee Pannu and Anurag Kashyap’s recent tweets hint that the duo is collaborating again Actress Taapsee Pannu and filmmaker Anurag Kashyap’s cryptic tweets on Thursday have left fans wondering if the duo is set to return with a new film together. In the past they collaborated on the 2018 release, Manmarziyaan, co-starring Vicky Kaushal and Abhishek Bachchan. On Thursday, the actress and the filmmaker tweeted using the identical hashtag #WhatsCult. “Courage, creativity, clutter breaking, cult! Rare to find them all together... Any idea what I am hinting at? Guess what am I talking about?! #WhatsCult,” Taapsee Pannu wrote. “Collaborating with a ‘cult’ team on something special! Guess what? Confused? Hona bhi chahiye. Accha hain. Wait and watch #WhatsCult,” Kashyap tweeted. —IANS On being selected among the top 15 finalists, she wrote on her Instagram, “On the day of the Top 15 result, I was glued to my phone since morning. Gina removed from The Mandalorian Filmmaker Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari turns author Putting pen to paper, Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari dons the hat of an author for the first time with her fiction novel, Mapping Love. She is a celebrated Indian filmmaker who has made acclaimed films like Nil Battey Sannata, Bareilly Ki Barfi, Panga, to name a few. Teaser of her CHILDHOOD DREAM Join the dots The actress compared Republican backers to Jews in Holocaust Ligergets a release date Ananya Panday and SouthIndian superstar Vijay Deverakonda starrer Liger has finally got its theatrical release date. Liger is arriving in cinema halls on September 9, 2021. Karan Johar unveiled a new poster of the film on Thursday and tweeted, “All set to pack a punch around the globe! #Liger is releasing in theatres on 9th September worldwide in 5 languages—Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada & c m y b Malayalam. #Liger9thSept #SaalaCrossbreed.” The film also stars Ramya Krishnan, Ronit Roy, Vishu Reddy, Aali, Makarand Desh Pandey, and Getup Srinu in key roles. Another poster of the film was released earlier, which shows Vijay in a fierce look as he packs a punch in his red boxing gloves. The action drama will also mark Vijay’s debut in the Hindi film industry. Starring Ananya Panday and Vijay Deverakonda, it will hit the big screen on September 9