29032023-LSTC-01.qxd 3/28/2023 9:48 PM Page 1 c m y b TRIBUNE Priyanka Chopra Jonas says she moved to Hollywood as she was ‘pushed into a corner’ It’s official Boney Kapoor’s daughter, Anshula Kapoor, has made her relationship with screenwriter Rohan Thakkar public. She shared a photo with her boyfriend on Instagram. CHANDIGARH | WEDNESDAY | 29 MARCH 2023 INSTAGRAM@DILJITDOSANJH When reality hurts Mona Confessions of Desi Girl Actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas has revealed the reason she left Bollywood and moved to working in the US. She said that she had “beef with people” (involved in dispute) and was pushed into a corner. She also revealed that she was not the happiest with the work she was getting from the Hindi film industry. Priyanka was speaking to Dax Shepherd on his podcast Armchair Expert and said that for the first time as she was KANGANA’S TAKE feeling “safe” during Kangana Ranaut, who their conversation. does not shy away from Talking about her speaking her mind, on music career, PriyanTuesday made an ka said Anjula allegation against Acharia of Desi Hits filmmaker Karan Johar, spotted her in a music saying that he “banned” video and called her global star Priyanka Chopra Jonas because of her up when she was friendship with superstar shooting for Saat Shah Rukh Khan. Khoon Maaf. She Captioning the article, asked if she would be Kangana tweeted: “This interested in a music is what @priyankachopra career in US. “I was has to say about being pushed into a Bollywood, people corner in the industry ganged up on her, bullied (Bollywood). I had her and chased her out people not casting me, of film industry” a self I had beef with peomade woman was made ple, I am not good at to leave India. Everyone knows Karan Johar had playing that game so I banned her.” She even kind of was tired of said that Karan the politics and I said I “harassed” Priyanka. needed a break,” she said.—IANS C Jennifer Aniston wears a Manish Malhotra lehenga in Murder Mystery 2 Imtiaz Ali and Diljit Dosanjh on the set of Chamkila MRS CHATTERJEE VS NORWAY As Imtiaz Ali’s Chamkilaruns into legal trouble, it shows how cinematic adaptation of real stories comes with its own set of challenges Many films have earned the wrath of particular groups over hurting the religious sentiments— Padmaavat, Jodha Akbar—some that fall in this bracket. Flight purser Neerja Bhanot’s family moved the court after failure to resolve the profit-sharing issue with the makers of Bollywood blockbuster, Neerja. Kabir Singh Chowdhry, who made a film Mehsampur, agrees that rights and copyrights can be a tricky territory. “But there are ways to navigate it too. I was in touch with Chamkila’s son but didn’t venture in that direction,” opens up the director, who weaved fiction around artistes who were associated with the legendary singer. Pretty sold on the legendary singer, Kabir is far from done. “I am working on a fiction around Chamkila, written by my partner Akshay Singh called Lal Pari. Chamkila’s is the story of true courage, how he kept performing amidst death threats and had accompanying artistes who stood by him.” Award-winning filmmaker-actor What a treat! The internet went into frenzy when Hollywood actress Jennifer Aniston wore an Indian traditional lehenga for a wedding sequence in her upcoming movie Murder Mystery 2. It was designed by celebrity designer Manish Malhotra. Aniston, who has a huge fan base in India, reacted to her look and called the attire beautiful. The chikankari lehenga was handpicked by renowned Hollywood costume designer Debra McGuire. Aniston said, “It was a beautiful, beautiful dress. It was extremely heavy and I wasn’t expecting that. So much respect for all the beautiful women of India who wear it.” Murder Mystery 2 is a sequel to the 2019 film Murder Mystery featuring Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler as Nick and Audrey. The second part of the movie is available to stream on Netflix from March 31. OPYRIGHT infringements, profit sharing, defamation suits, hurt sentiment – as much as the audience love to watch real stories on big screen, the filmmakers have to surmount tough challenges to bring them to fruition. The latest film to face legal tussle is Imtiaz Ali’s Diljit Dosanjh-Parineeti Chopra-starrer Chamkila. The rights of the biopic were earlier sold to another party. Recently, the Norwegian ambassador to India was put on the defensive and wrote how Ashima Chibber-directed Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway is ‘a fictional representation of the case that was resolved’ and that ‘a mother’s love in Norway if no different than a mother’s love in India’. In legal soup OTT giant Netflix has been served a legal notice from political analyst Mithun Vijay Kumar. Vijay has claimed that show The Big Bang Theory has used inappropriate language for actress Madhuri Dixit. In India, Netflix has the streaming rights of the show, therefore Vijay has moved forward his notice against the platform. In the first episode of the second season of The Big Bang Theory, character Raj Koothrapalli, played by Kunal Nayyar, says some SAAND KI AANKH It’s imperative Rahul Mittra, who is a property rights), compart of the Chamkila mercial understandthat intellectual biopic cast, says, property rights are sorted ing with regards to “Once you are profit-sharing and out between the person or clarity on disseminaadapting a real-life story into a screention of information family members & the play, there are multion real life events are production house. ple challenges. To sorted between the perRAHUL MITTRA begin with, the right son or family members time frame along with and the production house interesting anecdotes from so that no legal tangles arise in the protagonist’s life need to be hand- future,” adds Mittra. picked. While filmmakers and writers Balwinder Singh Janjua had two realcan take creative liberties with the sto- to-reel projects to his credit—Saand Ki ry and fictionalise some parts of it in Aankh as the writer and web series order to make it more compelling, the CAT as writer and director, finds the narrative should not be bereft of real process stimulating. “The subject or characters, locations and primary the family must be on board. The legal events of one’s life as this would contract should detail all the clauses amount to the audiences losing their and also the makers should have the trust while relating to the film.” subject’s consent on how far you take Another important challenge in real to the artistic liberty,” says Janjua, reel adaptation is the legal connotation. adding, “When I wrote Saand Ki “Today, filmmaking is a serious busi- Aankh, I had to have both the dadis on ness with crores of rupees involved. It’s board,” says Janjua. imperative that the IPR (intellectual Historical films face pressures of Netflix gets notice for offensive remarks on Madhuri Dixit in The Big Bang Theory A STILL FROM THE BIG BANG THEORY deregatory words for Madhuri Dixit. In a statement, Vijay said, “It is important to hold companies like Netflix accountable for their actions and ensure that they are sensitive to the cultural values and sentiments of the communities they serve. I strongly believe that streaming service providers have a responsibility to carefully curate the content that they offer on their platforms. It is their duty to ensure that the material they present does not include derogatory, offensive, or defamatory content. I was deeply troubled by the use of a derogatory term in one of the shows on Netflix - Big Bang Theory. This term was used in reference to the acclaimed actress Madhuri Dixit, and it was not only offensive and deeply hurtful but also showed a lack of regard for her dignity.” Of haunting notes & paper boats MM Keeravani tests positive for Covid Oscar winner MM Keeravani is down with Covid-19. Keeravani said, “All the travel and excitement have caught up with me. I am down with Covid and advised complete bed rest.” Meanwhile, during a recent interaction, Keeravani revealed that Guneet Monga was hospitalised because of breathlessness after her Oscar win. He said, “The universe was listening to my prayers and it happened. Which left me in great excitement, but not to an extent where you go breathless, like the other award winner–Guneet Monga.” MOHAMMAD MUNEEM ( SECOND FROM LEFT) WITH MEMBERS OF ALIF music band has been slow but consistent. It performed as one of the finale acts at the closing day of the Sacred Amritsar Festival in Amritsar. The band performs in Koshur, Hindi and English and Muneem’s poetry in Kashmiri and Urdu, forms the basis of most of their songs. The four-member band that came into existence in 2008 has now per- c m y b Jonathan Majors charged with assault Actor Jonathan Majors was arraigned on several assault and harassment charges, according to the Manhattan DA’s office. In the complaint, the unnamed female accuser claims the defendant did “strike her about the face with an open hand, causing substantial pain and a laceration behind her ear”. She also claims he “put his hand on her neck, causing bruising and substantial pain.” Majors was arrested on Saturday in Manhattan in an alleged “domestic dispute.” He was arraigned on Sunday on several assault and harassment charges. — IANS Alif asks people to find their own Jhelum and flow with it… Neha Saini Ten minutes into the live performance of Alif, a music band that brings the sounds from the valley that resonate with the rest of us, a few paper boats made it through the audience. These boats had few lines of poetry, one for every receiver. Mine read, To you, who is reading this…. You hold the power of jhelumas (Jhelum)…. A river of resilience, calmness, continuity, birth, death rebirth, belief, strength, peace, love and countless dreams… This letter ended with a silent encouragement and courage to find our Jehlum and flow with it, the paper boat being a reminder to make that journey. Led by Mohammad Muneem, the lead vocalist, Alif’s journey as an indie their own. Chandraprakash Dwivedi, known for acclaimed Chanakya and Pinjar, says, “There is a huge difference between the perception of a filmmaker, his research team and common people when it comes to history. Anarkali and Jodha are popular characters in muchloved films but historians refute their existence at all.” In the world of social media, one cannot reply to everyone. “If you start answering the trolls you would only do that every single day and not make films,” he laughs. “There is no one history and the films are “inspired’, so far I haven’t seen any credible historian complain about the films but social media users with little or no knowledge take up the cudgels.” His latest film, Samrat Prithviraj, had its share of controversies but that isn’t going to make Dwivedi change his course. “Period films are my domain and here I stay. People can oppose, it’s their right but to defame and indulge in propaganda isn’t right.” formed at major music festivals. Their singles have found audience across the country. Metaphorically Alif, the first letter in Urdu alphabet, means ‘the oneness of everything’. That’s how Mohammed Muneem describes his music. “The idea was to write original music and content,” shared Muneem, he explained his music. “I grew up listen- ing to ghazals, to Queen and a range of music. However, I cannot say that we have a particular sound. It’s like where compositions end, words take you forward and where words end, visuals continue the journey,” said Muneem, who teaches poetry writing. Most of their songs represent contemporary issues, about youth and life. At Sacred Amritsar, they performed some of the popular songs, including the moving tribute to the resilience of Kashmiris, Jhelamas; Like A Sufi, a song that celebrates death, a song where a person on the verge of death is asking his grandmother to cook him haag (Kashmiri saag) for his last meal; or a version of their heart- touching Katyu Chuko that also featured in Imtiaz Ali’s Laila Majnu. “My subjects are a reflection my experiences, people I meet and everything that I see happening around me,” said Muneem.