TAMANNAAH : SRIDEVI AWARD

Actress Tamannaah Bhatia, who has worked in both the Hindi film industry and southern cinema, will be felicitated with Sridevi Award at the Zee Apsara Awards this year.

She will be honoured for her contribution to cinema and as a deserving woman achiever.

“Sridevi was someone I looked up to during my formative years in the industry. It is such a privilege to be presented an award named after her. I started out really young in the industry just like her and I understand that it takes decades to build a legacy,” said Tamannaah.

Tamannaah also played the lead role in the late actress’s 1983 Himmatwala remake in 2013.

She will next be seen in projects like Kanne Kalai Maane, Naa Nuvve, Khamoshi and Queen Once Again

Dutt was sentenced to five years by the Supreme Court for illegal possession of weapons after the bloody Mumbai communal carnage of Decemebr 1992-Januarry 1993 and its fallout in the form of the March 12, 1993 serial bomb blasts, India’s biggest terror strike till date which left 257 dead.

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In May 2001, actor Fardeen Khan, son of the late Feroze Khan, shot into the headlines after he was arrested from Juhu for buying cocaine from a tout. He was tried before a Special NDPS Court, but after over a decade, granted conditional immunity from prosecution.

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The former Big Bucks of Bollywood, leading diamantaire Bharat Shah was involved in alleged shadow funding of the film Chori Chori, Chupke Chupe (coincidentally, starring Salman Khan), produced by Nasim Rizvi.

Shah was accused of allegedly financing the film which was made under orders from an absconder mafia don, but was later acquitted by a Special MCOCA Court.

** Actress Monica Bedi grabbed the headlines in September 2002 when she was arrested along with mafia don Abu Salem by the Portuguese authorities for entering the country with fake documents.

After a term in a Lisbon prison and a long legal battle, the duo was deported to India in November 2005 to face multiple cases by various agencies.

While Salem is in jail facing various cases, Bedi was arrested in a forged passport case. The Supreme Court upheld her conviction but reduced her sentence from five years jail to twoand-half years, which she had already spent in prison as an undertrial and she walked out free in July 2007.

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In June 2009, Bollywood was shocked when actor Shiney Ahuja was arrested on charges of raping his maid-servant.

Though the victim was later declared hostile, the case against Ahuja continued. He was sentenced to seven years in jail against which he appealed before Bombay High Court. He is currently out on bail.

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In a crime of passion, small-time actress Maria Susairaj and her exnaval officer boyfriend Emile Jerome Mathew allegedly joined hands to kill a TV company executive Neeraj Grover at his Mumbai flat in May 2008.

Later they chopped up the body into pieces, put it in a suitcase and dumped and burnt it on the outskirts of Mumbai.

After a three year legal battle, Maria was acquitted of the murder charge. She was held guilty for destruction of evidences and awarded three years in prison, while Mathew is serving a 10year jail sentence.

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Actor Sooraj Pancholi, son of Bollywood actor-couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab is embroiled in a case of abetment of suicide of BritishAmerican actress Jiah Khan, who was found dead at home in June 2013. The matter is in the courts.

** Bollywood’s ‘Chhote Nawab’ Saif Ali Khan, the 10th in the royal hierarchy of the erstwhile Patudi State in modern-day Haryana, got into fisticuffs with a NRI businessman Iqbal Mir Sharma, at a fivestar hotel in February 2012.

Accompanied by his friends, including future wife Kareena Kapooor, Saif was arrested and let out on bail and the matter has been referred for mediation by a Mumbai Court.

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Another headline grabber was the alleged involvement of well-known music director Nadeem Saifi, of the erstwhile Nadeem-Shravan duo, who is wantedaccused for the killing of music baron Gulshan Kumar in August 1997.

At that time, Nadeem was in London and to evade arrest he stayed there. Later, the UK House of Lords upheld the London High Court’s ruling against his extradition and rejected Indian government’s plea for a review of the decision.

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In April 2016, the Thane police busted an international narcotics racket in which one of the prime suspects named is well-known actress Mamta Kulkarni and her husband, alleged drug lord Vicky Goswami.

The case acquired international dimensions with the Indian, American and Kenyan authorities investigating the matter. A Mumbai court has declared the Kulkarni-Goswami couple as absconders.

KJO’S ‘STUDENTS’ GET SET FOR SOTY 2

As the shoot of Student Of The Year 2 gets set to begin this month, producer Karan Johar says the original 2012 film will always be special to him.

“Walked into the old Dharma Productions office in Bandra! Got all nostalgic about the times in this solid space and this is what I saw! The three sparkling students! While the new ones are going on set tomorrow, SOTY will always be special to me,” Karan tweeted recently.

In other news, KJo is set for the sixth season of Koffee With Karan to be aired in September. Sources say Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma will be the first guests.

VARUN DHAWAN WAS NOT ON MY CASTING LIST AT ALL: SHOOJIT SIRCAR

Filmmaker Shoojit Sircar, who has teamed up with actor Varun Dhawan for the first time in his forthcoming film October revealed that he had not been on his casting list at all.

“We needed someone young and fresh, like 20 years old, so Varun Dhawan was not on my casting list at all. Also I had not seen his films,” Sircar revealed.

But he claimed he found the actor perfect for his character Dan. “Varun has

WHO WORE IT BETTER?

KAREENA KAPOOR or DEMI LOVATO in BIBHU MOHAPATRA?

Share your views with us on our Facebook page /IndianLinkAustralia something different in his eyes... honesty and innocence. There is something very warm and vulnerable about him.”

The Vicky Donor director also said it was very brave of Varun to act in an unconventional and unusual movie.

EXPLORING THE VILLAIN INSIDE ME: RAJKUMMAR

Actor Rajkummar Rao, currently promoting his upcoming film Omerta, says that he wanted to explore his villainous side with this film.

Asked that what prompted him to play the dark character of terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh, he said, “As an actor, we get fascinated with villains sometimes. Shah Rukh Khan has played grey or negative characters in Baazigar and Darr, Aamir (Khan) in Earth, Sanjay Dutt in Khalnayak and recently Ranveeer Singh in Padmaavat,” he said.

“It’s a story of Omar Saeed Sheikh and many young people like him who gets brainwashed and become a part of terrorist activities,” he added.

The film is a biographical crime drama film directed by Hansal Mehta and stars Rajkummar in the role of Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, British terrorist of Pakistani descent. It explores the 1994 kidnappings of Westerners in India for which Omar was arrested and served time in prison and the plotting of murder of Wall Street journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.

WHAT DO RICHA AND DEV DAS’ PARO HAVE IN COMMON?

Richa Chadda is a talent powerhouse and has been known to essay every role given to her with admirable ease. Her latest role for Sudhir Mishra’s Daas Dev, however, was quite an interesting challenge, the actor says.

Richa plays Paro in the film, set against the political backdrop of Uttar Pradesh. “I work hard to get into the skin of every character I play. Paro resonates with me personally and I find many of her traits true to mine. An interesting challenge was learning and absorbing how to play a woman politician and to this end, I did a fair amount of research,” Richa said.

On her look for the role, she said, “It is always crucial, and so, a part of my research was on how to comprehensively look like a young woman politician who would be taken seriously.”

What’s the chit-chat between SUNIEL SHETTY and AKSHAY KUMAR?

Send your response to: media@indianlink.com.au TO WIN A MOVIE TICKET!!

Last Issue Caption Contest Winner

What’s the chit-chat here between ALIA BHATT and RANVEER SINGH?

Vandana D’souza: Don’t talk to me. I’m concentrating on my photo shoot.

Congrats, Vandana! You win a movie ticket!

Some other good ones: Rishi Singh: I’m a free bird and you are still stuck with ‘weight’y issues.

Leyla Singh: U better drop those weights & rescue me if I fall

April 2018 By Minnal Khona

Minal Khona has been reading tarot cards for the last two decades. She uses her intuition and connect with the cards mostly to help people.