25032023-LSTL-01.qxd 3/24/2023 10:19 PM Page 1 c m y b NEW BHOLAA TRACK UNVEILED Actor Ajay Devgn has unveiled the new track of his upcoming action thriller Bholaa. Titled Dil Hai Bholaa, the song has been sung by Amit Mishra and penned by Irshad Kamil. Taking to Instagram, Ajay shared a clip which he captioned as, “The Bholaa anthem you’ve been waiting for…” ANI TRIBUNE Back in time Friends star Courteney Cox had her fans in hysterics with her latest Instagram upload, as she channelled her inner Monica Geller. IANS LUDHIANA | SATURDAY | 25 MARCH 2023 Big B resumes work after suffering injury on the sets of Project K He’s back! Taking to social media, Amitabh Bachchan shared an update about his health on Thursday. He recently suffered an injury on the sets of Project K. The veteran actor broke his rib cartilage and suffered a muscle tear to his right rib cage while shooting for an action sequence in Hyderabad. The 80-year-old actor has shared that he has resumed work now. Big B wrote in his blog, “So despite the inconvenience of damaged body ... There must be desire and effort to repair … Which is being done with care and comfort of the EF (extended family) and wellwishers, and for which there is repeated gratitude and love...” He also added that he had not recovered completely and was being treated yet. Big B continued, “Work schedules have been done and the charts start filling up again... To the joy of the moi ... For there is no better pastime than work … Yes the rib and toe are in a state of revolt … But solutions must be found ... and find we must.” HELICOPTER EELA Dada will be missed Sheetal Mardaani-director Pradeep Sarkar passed away on Friday. He was 67. Sarkar was on dialysis and his potassium levels had dropped drastically. He passed away at the hospital at 3:30 am on Friday. Sarkar is known for films like Parineeta, Mardaani, Lafangey Parindey and Helicopter Eela. The writer-director started his career in films when he joined Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s production house. He was the editor of Munna Bhai MBBS. Later, for Chopra’s film Parineeta Sarkar won the National Award for the Best Debut Film of a Director. He had worked in the advertising field for 17 years as a creative director before foraying into direction of ad-films. He also launched his own production house in Delhi. Sarkar is behind some of the most successful commercials and even won the Abby Award, the top honour in the advertising field. Nimrat Kaur, who recalled her shooting days with the director, shared, “Had the great pleasure of being on his set a few times during my modelling days. His hearty laughter and relentless perfectionism will forever be etched in my heart. Deepest condolences to his loved ones. Rest on Dada, the heavens above are a happier place. #RIPPradeepSarkar.” Sarkar has also gifted some great music videos to the viewers such as Dhoom Pichak Dhoom and Maaeri by Euphoria’s, and Sultan Khan’s Piya Basanti. Remembering him Lafangey Parindey actor Neil Nitin Mukesh shared, “I’ll miss you dada. I will always remember you as that childhearted, full of life man who PARINEETA LAFANGEY PARINDEY Director Pradeep Sarkar, of Parineeta and Mardaani fame, is no more. His legacy lives on… TRIBUTE IN TWEETS “The news of Pradeep Sarkar’s demise, dadato some of us, is still hard to digest. My deepest condolences… RIP Dada.” “Deeply saddened to hear about the untimely demise of filmmaker #PardeepSarkar dada. My thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones during this difficult time. #OmShanti.” –AJAY DEVGN, ACTOR –MADHUR BHANDARKAR, DIRECTOR taught me so much. Your creation Lafangey Parindey will always remain close to my heart. My prayers are with the family.” The film Mardaani became quite a big hit of Sarkar’s career. Tahir Raj Bhasin, who shot to fame after playing the antagonist in Mardaani, expressed, “Woke up to the extremely sad news of the passing away of Pradeep dada. I will always remember him with eternal gratitude as the man who trusted me with Mardaani. He was a maestro, whose experience and guidance gave me the confidence to act to my fullest potential in my debut film. He mentored and then gave me space to create a part, and in this trust lay his genius.” MUNNA BHAI MBBS The actor even remembered how supportive Sarkar was on day one of the shoot. Tahir said, “It was a production heavy day, we were holding up traffic and there were 100 junior artistes on the sets. An intimidating environment for a first timer. After my first take, I waited with bated breath as he watched the monitor. After what seemed like an eternity, he yelled out for the entire set to hear, ‘that was great!’… He was a visionary par excellence, ahead of his time. He lives on in the films he created. May he rest in peace.” Bheed, a film on mass migrant movement during the lockdown, starkly presents our country’s caste, class, economic and religious divide Standing out in the bheed... MOVIE REVIEW Mona A motherless girl sick of washing utensils in the city is paddling her way home with her drunkard father; a night watchman has his entire clan pushed inside a chartered bus; a separated mother desperately tryies to reach her daughter in the hostel before her husband does...Are just three stories that form a part of Anubhav Sinha’s Bheed. The ace director, who has issue-based films Mulk, Article 15 and Thappad, to his credit, revisits mass migrant movement three years after the first pandemic lockdown. The film follows a cop, Surya Kumar Singh Tikas (Rajkummar Rao), who is made in-charge of the checkpost set outside Tejpur to stop migrants from entering their state. A victim of casteism, despite his uniform and an upper class girlfriend, he is yet to come to terms that he is the authority in such unprecedented times of crisis. Surya comes face-to-face Film: Bheed Director: Anubhav Sinha Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Bhumi Pednekar, Pankaj Kapur, Dia Mirza, Ashutosh Rana, Kritika Kamra Rating:  with the desperate bheed that gathers on the check-post. If law and order is one aspect, arrangements for healthcare, food and water also need be done, but everyone is as clueless as him. Anubhav Sinha presents a microcosm of our colourful country in black and white. It highlights the caste, class, economic and religious divide. ‘Check post se peeche tak bahut saare Singh hain, aur bahut Shukla, Trivedi hai, aur sabka kanoon same hai, says Surya. Powerful performances are the strength of this narrative, which is just under two hours. Bheed is full of characters, each representing their reality. Pankaj Kapur, as watchman Trivedi, in his ROBERT DOWNEY JR Soon, Vertigo remake earnest effort to take his entire clan home safely, is ready to use saam, daam, dand, bhed. His inventiveness to get through the circumstances, pain at not being about to provide small children food and the bewilderment at the treatment he receives from police at the end, Bheed is yet another example of his stellar craft. Rajkummar Rao’s acting prowess is pretty established; he does a befitting job as the vulnerable hero amidst a crisis. Bhumi Pednekar, as a frontline doctor, dealing with chaos does a fair job. She stands by her man, supporting him through the change and portrays a strong character. Kritika Kamra as an earnest journalist, Dia Mirza as a distressed mother in a hurry to reach her daughter, Ashutosh Rana as an officer caught in caste politics to Aditya Srivastava, as a corrupt cop, Ram Singh, lend able support. Doing the film in black and white was a bold decision and it pays; it displays the pain of the mass movement effectively. Sound design by Mangesh Dhakde is brilliant and cinematography by Soumik Mukherjee fair. It’s the crisp dialogues that win you over. Anurag Saikia’s song Herail Ba carries the sentiment powerfully. The film that opens with a migrant labour family being crushed on train tracks isn’t all dark though. What doesn’t work, however, is the fact that multiple strands have not been closed. While one is glad that the young girl has found direction to take her father home, and one is hopeful that she does, what happens to others is left open. Also, the film lacks cohesiveness; one cannot tell if just like the trailer some parts were removed from the film, which give it a certain incompleteness. The films asks real questions, but struggles to move you deeply despite a grave subject and powerful performances. c m y b Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 classic Vertigo is getting a remake with Hollywood star Robert Downey Jr circling the lead role. Dtudio Paramount Pictures has acquired the rights for the remake, which would be produced by Downey Jr and his wife Susan Downey through their banner, Team Downey. Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight will pen the script for the project. The original psychological thriller starred Jimmy Stewart as John ‘Scottie’ Ferguson, a police detective who has retired because an incident in the line of duty has caused him to develop acrophobia (an extreme fear of heights) and vertigo, a false sense of rotational movement. The remake will also be produced by John Davis and John Fox via Davis Entertainment. — PTI Sequel of 3 Idiots on way? Kareena Kapoor Khan, Boman Irani and Jaaved Jaaferi took to their social media handles on Friday (March 24) and dropped some videos in which they hinted at a sequel to the comedydrama film 3 Idiots. Kareena shared a video from a holiday with her family in Africa, where she is talking about Aamir Khan, Sharman Joshi and R Madhavan coming together for a press conference. She said, “This press conference clip that is going around is from that secret that these three are keeping from us. I think there’s something fishy and please don’t say that they are coming for Sharman’s movie promotion. I think they are coming for a sequel. This smells like a sequel for sure.” She ended the video by adding that she was calling Boman Irani. Soon after Kareena shared the video, actor Boman Irani also took to his Instagram account and posted a clip in which he said, “Whatever you guys are up to is out already and the clip has become viral. How can you even think of 3 Idiots’ sequel without Virus (played by Boman). It’s good that Kareena called and informed me. I would never have known. This is not fair, cooking up something this big and not even informing us. Is this your decency? Where is our friendship? I thought we were friends.” He ended the video by adding that he was calling actor Jaaved Jafferi. After Kareena and Boman, Jaaved also shared a clip on Instagram and expressed his disappointment. He said, “Have you watched the latest news? 3 Idiots Part 2 is in making without the original Rancho. I mean seriously? I was the original Rancho, he was Chote.” He ended up asking actor Mona Singh if she knew something about this or not. An official confirmation about the sequel of the film is still awaited. Helmed by Rajkumar Hirani 3 Idiots was released in 2009 and received a massive response from fans as well as critics. Celebration for team The Elephant Whisperers Moments of joy Netflix India hosted a celebration for its Oscar winning documentary ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ in Mumbai with filmmakers Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga on March 23. ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ made history by becoming the first film produced in India to win an Academy Award in the ‘Documentary Short Film’ cate- gory at the 95th Oscar Awards. To make the occasion even more special, Bomman and Bellie, the protagonists of the documentary, joined the press conference, coming all the way from the Theppakadu Elephant camp in Tamil Nadu. Shared Kartiki Gonsalves, “The Elephant Whisperers is a very special film about the GUNEET MONGA AND KARTIKI GONSALVES sacred bond between man and nature. Having grown up in this very space, I wanted the world to see and experi- ence the immense beauty of this breathtaking landscape. Being celebrated at the Academy Awards feels so surreal.”