23052026-LSTL-01.qxd 5/22/2026 8:14 PM Page 1 c m y b CHRIST IS COMING! Actor and filmmaker Mel Gibson has unveiled the first look at his longawaited biblical epic, The Resurrection of Christ, the sequel to the 2004 blockbuster The Passion of the Christ. “I’m deeply grateful to my incredibly talented cast and crew for pouring their hearts into this production,” Gibson said. CHAT UP TRIBUNE Life Star attraction Actress Penelope Cruz walked on the red carpet for the screening of her film La bola negra (The Black Ball) in the competition segment at the 79th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France. LUDHIANA | SATURDAY | 23 MAY 2026 Subhash K Jha RICKY MARTIN ‘SAFE’ Ricky Martin is safe after his concert in Montenegro was briefly stopped when a fan sprayed tear gas toward the stage. The incident took place on May 21, during the opening show of the European leg of his Ricky Martin Live tour. As a safety step, Martin and his team left the stage while security staff and local authorities handled the situation. P ULKIT struck a note of dread with his series Bhakshak, which tackled the thorny theme of child abuse with a hammer like impact. In Kartavya, Pulkit is back with what he is best at — exploring the corruption and rot in India’s heartland. This is a director who know his debauched characters in and out. Your new work, Kartavya, exudes raw visceral vibes like your Bhakshak. Would you say urban violence is your forte? I don’t know if I would call urban violence my ‘forte’. Violence, for me, is never aesthetic or ornamental. It is usually a symptom of silence, power, fear, inequality, desperation, or systems collapsing around ordinary people. What interests me more is the human cost of it. The emotional debris it leaves behind. The anger people inherit. The survival instinct cities force upon you. Whether it’s Bhakshak or Kartavya, the attempt is not to glorify brutality, but to confront the discomfort of it honestly. STEPHEN COLBERT BIDS FAREWELL Stephen Colbert closed the final episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert with a star-filled goodbye. The last episode aired on May 21, and featured several surprise appearances from Colbert’s celebrity friends. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert first premiered in 2015 and went on to become one of the most watched late-night talk shows in the US. GOING PLACES The Indonesian-language adaptation of Mohanlal starrer Malayalam thriller Drishyam is all set to hit theatres on August 20. The update comes at a time when the third Drishyam instalment has opened in theatres in South India on Thursday. The Malayalam thriller has already been successfully adapted into four other Indian languages— Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Sinhala and a Chinese version. Saif Ali Khan seems an unusual choice to play a rustic cop? I never found the choice unusual, honestly. For me, casting is never about image, it’s about the emotional truth an actor can bring to a character. This cop is not a hero in the conventional sense. He is fractured, compromised, vulnerable, angry, weak at times… and that complexity needs an actor who is secure enough to expose his flaws without trying to look heroic every second. Saif has that rare ability. There is an intelligence and an unpredictability in him which makes the audience constantly question what the character is thinking. For a filmmaker, that is gold. Did you have to work hard on Saif’s diction and body language? Saif is an incredibly intelligent and instinctive actor. He understands the emotional rhythm of a character. Of course, with a character like this, we spent a lot of time discussing the internal world of the man, his silences, his fatigue, his moral compromises, the way power sits on his body. But I wouldn’t call it ‘work’ in the conventional sense because he came extremely prepared. The diction was more about finding honesty than trying to sound performative. A STILL FROM KARTAVYA ‘Saif is incredibly intelligent’ Pulkit on directing Saif Ali Khan in Kartavya The non-urban semi-lawless hinterland seems to be a favourite playground for filmmakers. Would you say this genre breeds a tempting violence? For a filmmaker, that world is dramatically very rich because people there don’t always have the luxury of politeness or emotional sophistication. Their anger is raw, their love is raw, their morality is often situational. Violence then becomes a language, sometimes of power, sometimes of helplessness, sometimes even of dignity. But I don’t think the genre ‘tempts’ violence. I think it exposes the consequences of it. If the audience only comes back remembering blood and brutality, then somewhere the storytelling has failed. BHAGYASHREE, GENELIA & RITEISH DESHMUKH Are you more comfortable on the digital domain? I wouldn’t call it comfort, I would call it freedom. The digital space allowed storytellers like us to experiment without constantly worrying about formula, opening weekends, or fitting into predefined boxes. It gave space to layered characters, uncomfortable truths, and stories rooted in realism. But cinema is still the ultimate dream. Nothing can replace the feeling of watching your story unfold on a massive screen with hundreds of strangers reacting together. There have been several recent films on small-town corruption and lawlessness. What sets Kartavya apart? I think the backdrop may feel familiar on the surface, small towns, corruption, power structures, moral decay because that reality exists all around us. But Kartavya is not just about lawlessness, it is about the emotional cost of surviving inside that system. For me, the difference lies in the human conflict. The film is not interested in glorifying violence or creating larger-than-life heroes. It explores what power does to ordinary people, how compromise slowly becomes habit, and how morality starts blurring when survival is at stake. What next? Right now I’m shooting Sundar Poonam, a feature film for Prime Video, produced by Vikram Malhotra. It stars Sanya Malhotra and Aditya Rawal. TIFFNZ set for grand debut Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal to launch New Zealand’s first Indian film festival Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal are set to bring a touch of Bollywood to New Zealand as they are set to attend the official launch of the country’s first-ever Indian film festival, The Indian Film Festival of New Zealand (TIFFNZ) on June 2. The actor-producer duo will headline the launch event, which will also include a special screening of their first ever production, the internationally celebrated film, Girls Will Be Girls. Set to debut in October, TIFFNZ marks a major milestone as New Zealand’s first dedicated Indian film festival. Aishwarya spotted at Mumbai airport Salman asks paps to apologise after losing cool earlier ‘Zor se sorry bolo’ Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was spotted at the Mumbai airport on Thursday night, likely leaving for the Cannes Film Festival with her daughter Aaradhya Bachchan. Her airport appearance came days after rumours about her absence from this year’s prestigious film festival. Aishwarya was seen dressed in an all-black outfit. She smiled at the paparazzi waiting outside the airport and also posed for a picture with a young fan before entering the terminal. Aaradhya was seen walking with her mother. — ANI Salman Khan has grabbed headlines again, asking the paparazzi to apologise during his recent outing. Salman attended the success party of Riteish Deshmukh’s latest release, Raja Shivaji. As he posed for the media, Salman directly addressed the photographers, playfully asking them to say sorry. “Zor se sorry bolo,” he said in a moment that quickly caught everyone’s attention, SALMAN KHAN c m y b even leaving Riteish Deshmukh in splits. Earlier this week, videos from outside Hinduja Hospital in Mumbai showed Salman visibly upset with photographers gathered outside the premises. Raja Shivaji, which was released on May 1, emerged as the biggest opening day grosser ever for a Marathi film, as per trade analyst Taran Adarsh. — ANI