Have you heard? Calling out hate and racism

Kangana Ranaut and Akshay Kumar

Over the weekend, several Bollywood celebrities cheered Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the Lakshadweep and batted for tourism in India. However, Akshay Kumar and Kangana Ranaut were the first ones to call out hateful posts by VIPs in the Maldives government against India and Indians. "Came across comments from prominent figures of Maldives passing hateful and racist comments on Indians. Surprised that they are doing this to a country that sends them the maximum number of tourists. We are good to our neighbours, but why should we tolerate such unprovoked hate?" wondered Akki. Sharing that he has visited the Maldives many times, he added, "But dignity first. Let us decide to explore Indian islands and support our own tourism." Quoting a post about smell in the Indian island, Kangana wrote, "Lakshadweep consists of 98 per cent Muslim population, this prominent public figure from Maldives calling them smelly and lowly is rather racist and uninformed." Asserting that with a population of barely 60,000 people, Lakshadweep is almost unexplored and unexploited natural island, she added, "For most people tourism is not just filthy luxury, it is rather exploration of nature, alignment with the source and above all, experiencing and enjoying the raw, untouched beauty of virgin beaches. Shame on you for being so crass and vulgarly racist."

Taking the next step?

Even though Rashmika Mandanna and Vijay Deverakonda have remained non-committal about their relationship in the media, buzz about them being a couple has only increased over the years. All thanks to her reported visits to his home during festivals or pictures of them on social media indicating their holidays together. Rumours are rife that the Dear Comrade jodi is looking to consolidate their relationship. It is being said that Rashmika and Vijay are planning to get engaged around the second week of February. There is nothing official about it yet.

Passing with flying colours

Vikrant Massey's 12th Fail might have taken a slow start, but it has finally become a winner. Based on Anurag Pathak's novel of the same name that tells the real-life story of IPS officer Manoj Kumar Sharma, the Vidhu Vinod Chopra directorial venture has been selected as the closing film for the Macau Asia-Europe Young Cinema Film Festival. The filmmaker is slated to attend the screening on January 12 in Macau. Incidentally, the biographical-drama has completed a 50-day run in cinemas and collected over R50 crore across India.

Criticism too much to digest for Animal team

Ever since Animal released last month, director Sandeep Reddy Vanga and the team have spoken against criticism of the action drama. Now, Javed Akhtar's observations have riled them. During a recent event, the veteran lyricist shared that "the image of the hero should be created with an awareness of what is right and how it should be". Without naming the Ranbir Kapoor-starrer, he said, "If there's a film in which a man asks a woman to lick his shoe or if a man says it's okay to slap a woman… and the film is a super hit, that's dangerous." Yesterday, the movie's official social media handle tagged Akhtar, tweeting, "Writer of your calibre cannot understand the betrayal of a lover (between Ranbir and Triptii Dimri's characters) then all your art form is big false. And if a woman (betrayed and fooled by a man in the name of love) would have said ‘lick my shoe', then you guys would have celebrated it by calling it feminism." Stating that love should be left free from the politics of gender, the post further read, "Let's call them lovers. Lover cheated and lied. Lover said ‘lick my shoe'. Period." Going by their post, it seems the Animal team is intolerant of any and every reasonable criticism too.

Language no bar for Salaar

Prabhas' latest release, Salaar: Part 1 - Ceasefire, is literally going places. Director Prashanth Neel's action thriller, which continues to rake in the moolah at the box-office in India and overseas, will soon release in Spanish and Japanese languages. The Spanish version of the film, which also stars Prithviraj Sukumaran and Shruti Haasan, opens in Latin American cinemas on March 7, while the Japanese edition's arrival date is yet to be finalised. Heralded as Prabhas' comeback after debacles like Radhe Shyam and Adipurush, Salaar: Part 1 - Ceasefire has collected R650 crore worldwide so far.

Shweta joins Rohit's copverse

We know that Rohit Shetty's cop universe is getting bigger with Singham Again. The third instalment of the Singham franchise, led by Ajay Devgn and Kareena Kapoor Khan, also features Akshay Kumar, Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Tiger Shroff. We hear that Shweta Tiwari has been onboarded to play an intel officer in the action drama. Incidentally, this marks her second collaboration with Rohit, after his maiden web series, Indian Police Force. Shweta recently revealed that when she got a call from the filmmaker's office for the show, she said yes to it immediately, without hearing the narration or her role. Rohit had promised to offer her another project if she got food for everyone on the Indian Police Force team, but cast her in Singham Again anyway. Nice.

To new collaborations

It is known that over 11 years since Rowdy Rathore, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Shabinaa Khan are planning a sequel. The Akshay Kumar-fronted superhit was director Prabhudheva's adaptation of SS Rajamouli's Vikramarkudu, starring Ravi Teja. Apparently, the producer duo have initiated talks with Rajinikanth's Kaala and Kabali director Pa Ranjith to helm Rowdy Rathore 2. If all goes well, the second edition of the action drama could mark Ranjith's Hindi directorial debut.