30082026-LSTC-01.qxd 8/29/2026 8:29 PM Page 1 c m y b A MESSAGE FROM BIG B Amitabh Bachchan’s Raksha Bandhan message for his fans also carried prayers for those affected by the devastating floods in Nepal. Sharing his thoughts on Raksha Bandhan, the actor wrote, “May this bond of love, affection and care live eternally…” TRIBUNE Swine flu +ve Life Emraan Hashmi has tested positive for swine flu (H1N1), with the actor currently recovering after feeling unwell for the past few days. Hashmi has been in the news for the success of his latest release, Awarapan 2. CHANDIGARH | SUNDAY | 30 AUGUST 2026 Turning small moments into big stories woman’s quiet defiance and the “utopic” world she helps build for the next generation. The film has since won Best International Film at the Oregon Doc Film Festival, Best Documentary at the Georgia Documentary Film Festival, and earned a Student Emmy nomination, alongside selections at five international festivals. AnanyaVerma I T took one week in Los Angeles to change the course of Manahar Kumar’s career. That week produced Beaten Down, a short film that premiered at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre, where the Academy announces its Oscar nominations each year. “It wasn’t planned, but I feel really lucky, and the performances were very well received,” Kumar says. At its core is a dark comedy about desperation, about how far someone would go for legal status and family, played for laughs before the ache underneath surfaces. Asked why comedy for a subject this heavy, Kumar’s answer is simple, “Dark comedy is a sub-genre which is underutilised. If you tell a serious subject lightly, people start understanding the seriousness while laughing.” It’s a pattern in his work: an ordinary moment that stays with him until it becomes a film. The instinct goes back further than Los Angeles, to stage plays in Chandigarh, where Kumar first performed before he ever picked up the camera. That grounding shows in the run of recognition since: three Student Emmys so far, starting in 2018 with Kya Chandigarh-based actor-filmmaker Manahar Kumar on listening before storytelling, finding films in the everyday life, and his hunger to make people laugh From actor to filmmaker Kumar once dreamt of acting, but his grandfather steered him toward film school instead. “As an actor, the power of yes or no stays on the other side. As a filmmaker, you create your own opportunities,” he says. Life, to him, works the same way. “Everything is transient. Just be present. Speak only when you have something important to say. Silence is truly golden.” There are two or three philosophies that I follow in life. I try to keep my ears closed to gossip and speak only when I truly have something important to say. Otherwise, silence is golden. Everything is transient. Just be present. Dekh Raha Hai?, a documentary marking his directorial debut, about children who make a living collecting and selling empty alcohol bottles. A thesis project at Savannah College of Art & Design later won him an Audience Award, and the most recent Student Emmy came not for directing but for acting, in Distant. Finding stories in the everyday His short Race began with a single image, in a park in Panchkula. “I saw a boy with striking yellow studs, competing against a boy who was barefoot. That image just stayed in my head,” he recalls. It grew into a film about a What’s next white American boy and a Black American girl in a bike race, carrying a double meaning in its title, the race between them, and the deeper one shaping how they're seen, set to an echo of Obama's 2008 speech. It won Best Indie Film at the New York Film Awards and Best Short Film at the Georgia Film Festival. c m y b Such stories, Kumar says, come from paying attention. "Everyone has a story. Be that listener."That same instinct led him to Badlaav Republic, born after he met a woman named Manju at a stitching station in Khuda Lahora, Chandigarh, and grew curious about her life. Manju is a member of Chhoti Si Asha, a women-led non-profit that teaches underprivileged women traditional crafts like stitching and tailoring — the very skill through which she broke a patriarchal barrier. The film sets her story beside Badlaav, an afterschool educational programme that tutors children from local village communities, weaving together one He’s writing two features, a family drama around an apple orchard, and a Partition-era story based on his great-grandmother’s journey. When it comes to acting, though, he’s ready to explore something lighter: “I’m hungry to act in a rom-com, something light, that makes people laugh.” For a filmmaker, who has spent years chasing weight and meaning, that’s its own kind of change. Krystle D’Souza’s game plan In the latest episode of Traitors 2, host Karan Johar spoke about Krystle D’Souza’s approach to the game and praised the way she has handled the pressure. Talking about her strategy, he told her, “You have played very, very smart game.” Krystle has largely stayed away from trying to control every conversation in the house. Her role as a 'Traitor' means that she has to keep her identity hidden while trying to send the 'Innocents' in the wrong direction. Krystle has managed to keep her reactions under control and has picked each of her moves carefully.