Actress Tamannaah Bhatia says she didn’t enjoy any administrative authority in the creative role play in the Telugu version of Kangana Ranaut-starrer Queen.

According to a report, National Award-winning director Neelakanta quit the remake of Queen” over “creative differences” with the actress.

Slamming it as baseless, Tamannaah said in a statement to IANS: “I would like to reiterate and clarify that no actor ever has had a say in the technical process of a film. My team or I didn’t enjoy any administrative authority in the creative role play for the Telugu version of Queen.”

The final call “always rests with the producer of the film”, she said.

Tamannaah is looking forward to resuming work and completing the final schedule of the film.

“I have great respect for Neelakanta sir and would like to put an end to all these speculative rumours. The producer (Manu Kumaran) had made some changes to the composition of the team in early November to streamline the execution of this extremely ambitious project,” she said.

“The four language simultaneous remakes of ‘Queen’ is a dream project for everyone involved and we all are collectively working towards giving the audience four beautiful and entertaining movies,” she added.

The Kangana Ranaut-starrer Hindi blockbuster is being made in Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada besides Telugu.

The Election Commission will felicitate 133-millennium voters of Meghalaya on National Voters Day on January 25, the state’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) F R Kharkongor said on Tuesday.

Those who were born on January 1 in the year 2000, the first day of the 21st century and have attained the age of 18 on the first day of this year are called millennium voters, the CEO explained.

The Election Commission had set January 1, 2000, as the cut-off date for this year s electoral process, he said.

Notably, elections are due in the state in the first quarter of this year as the tenure of the current Assembly ends on March 6.

The CEO said the 133-millennium voters from the state were among the 74,000 plus millennium voters identified nationwide.

They will be felicitated to welcome them to the democratic process of the country, the CEO said, adding, all the teenagers will get their voter’s ID cards on the 25th, he added.

A girl from South West Khasi Hills district called Millenium Grace Marwein, who is a millennium voter has been made one of the icons of the election department in the state for this year s election preparation.

She will be given a souvenir from the Election Commission (EC) along with her voter ID card during the National Voters Day celebration, the CEO said.

Kharkongor said the election department in the state, in consultation with the district health and medical officers and the municipal boards, had obtained the list of the 133 people who were born on the first day of 2000 and started looking for them.

They were located by January 10 this year, their names were registered with the Election Commission and now they will be able to cast their votes during the upcoming Assembly elections in the state, he said.

In the final electoral roll of the state, published on January 10, the names of 18,30,104 voters of the three million plus citizens, including 9,23,848 female voters, were enlisted after looking thoroughly into claims and objections.

Rebel AAP MLA Kapil Mishra and BJP MLA Manjinder Sirsa were marshalled out of Delhi Assembly House here on Tuesday.

Mishra was marshalled out after he ignored repeated warnings to desist from advancing to Speaker Ram Niwas Goel’s podium. Sirsa was marshalled out as he objected to this.

“Sirsa tried to stop the marshals’ way (while they were taking away Mishra). I’m forwarding this matter to the Privilege Committee,” Goel said.

Outside the House, Sirsa and Mishra objected to the Speaker’s decision.

“Rajya Sabha seats have been sold and there should be a discussion on this. Voters have been insulted,” Mishra said, holding out the poster of AAP Rajya Sabha-elect Sushil Gupta with a snake around Gupta’s neck and Kejriwal’s head instead of the snake’s.

He said that he was marshalled out for holding out the poster inside the House, while AAP MLAs had done the same in the House on Monday and no action was taken against them.

On Monday, AAP MLAs had protested in the well of the house by holding out posters against BJP and none were marshalled out for the conduct.

Meanwhile, Sirsa said that he was not blocking the way of Marshalls.

“I was just asking Kapil to go out. They (AAP) are scared of me,” he said.

Actress Sonam Kapoor, caught amidst wedding rumours, says it is high time people change their attitude towards married actresses.

With the changing narratives and various age representations of women in Hindi cinema, in the last few years, the Indian cine-goers have been exposed to many stories that celebrate women. Actresses like Kareena Kapoor Khan and Rani Mukerji are making their comeback this year after childbirth, and actress Anushka Sharma went right back to shooting her new film “Zero” after some days of travel.

There was also actress Surveen Chawla, who revealed her new relationship status only after two years of her marriage, stressing on how “being married does not make an actress less desirable”.

How does Sonam, who constantly tries to keep her personal life as private as possible, look at the whole change?

“I will start talking about it when the media will start asking the same questions to all the male actors in our industry — about how they will take up their career after marriage, when will they make a comeback after the birth of their baby… This whole attitude towards married actress should be changed,” Sonam said.

Citing references from the past, she said: “Whether it is Nutan, Nargis, Waheeda Rehman, Sharmila Tagore, Dimple Kapadia, Madhuri Dixit, Kajol, Kareena Kapoor Khan — they are all loved by our audience even after their marriage. So the mindset has been encouraged by a few filmmakers and media people.

“But hey, there are progressive and non-progressive minds in every business. So as in our industry. We should keep working… the change will come.”

Sonam’s next big screen outing is Pad Man. She essays a special character who supports and encourages a man to grow in his mission. The man on the mission in Pad Man is Akshay Kumar, who takes on a role inspired by a real life hero who devised a low-cost sanitary pad-making machine for women’s hygiene.

It’s interesting how well-known actors like Sonam are supporting content-driven films even with small roles.

The “Neerja” fame actress said: “I think it is important to make a film that is entertaining but also has a message along with it. And as an actor, if I have a reach to a wider audience, why not support a story that is deserved to be told? Otherwise, what is the point of making films that create no impact in the mind of our audience?”

Asked about her opinion on the issue surrounding how talks on menstruation are considered a social taboo, Sonam said she hopes the stigma attached to it would go away.

“In the first place, women are looked at differently in our society as we do not give them the same opportunity and respect of a man. That happens in most Indian households. When a girl child grows up and starts chumming, there is a stigma attached to it, and makes the girl feel less, inferior and under-confident.

“On the contrary, that whole physical transformation makes a girl special. She is enabled to reproduce. She should be taught to celebrate it, not to hide it. I hope that after the film releases, the stigma attached to menstruation and its hygiene will go away,” Sonam said.

Produced by Twinkle Khanna and directed by R. Balki, the film Pad Man is releasing on January 25.

After Newton, Mukkabaaz is one film to have done a box office turn-around. Producer Aanand L Rai, a common factor in both projects, says when the intention is right, success is the reward.

Anurag Kashyap directorial Mukkaabaaz is a small town boxer’s love story, and as per trade experts, it is picking up business gradually.

Rai seems to have hit the right formula on how to make successes out of small-budgeted out-of-the-box films. His journey as a producer started with “Nil Battey Sannata” in 2016, a straightforward film on female literacy which hit home. It was followed by Happy Bhag Jayegi, a romantic comedy on a runaway bride who lands up in Pakistan.

Questioned about the success, he modestly shrugs off all credit.

“I guess somewhere the filmmaker’s ‘neeyat’ — his intention — is bound to make an impression on the audience. I sincerely believe that if a filmmaker does his job well, he will be rewarded with success,” Rai said.

“As a director when I tried something very different within the commercial framework in ‘Tanu Weds Manu’ and ‘Raanjhanaa’, I was warned against taking a risk by signing R. Madhavan and Dhanush in the lead. Big names in the south, but more importantly, fabulous actors. To me, it didn’t matter which language they worked in. It was their talent, not their cultural identity that carried them forward,” he added.

If Rai’s gambit as a director has worked, as a producer he took even bigger risks by agreeing to back projects with new/unsuccessful directors Ashwini Iyer Tiwari (Nil Battey Sannata), Mudassar Aziz (Happy Bhaag Jayegi), R Prasanna (Shubh Mangal Saavdhan) , and now Anurag Kashyap (Mukaabaaz), who hasn’t had a box office success in a long time.

“This is a new Anurag Kashyap that audiences see in ‘Mukkaabaaz’. I firmly believe in the power of cinema to move audiences. Anurag has made a moving film. And the actor Vineet Kumar has slogged like a crazy man for his character. Vineet was disheartened when the film opened low.

“I told him to hang on. I was confident about the film,” said Rai, who is currently directing Shah Rukh Khan in Zero.

The director is confident about bringing a new twist to the superstar’s career.

“This will be a Shah Rukh Khan that audiences haven’t seen as yet,” he said.

India’s first space thriller Tik Tik Tik is all set to hit the cinema worldwide on Republic Day the January 26.

The film is directed by Shakti Soundar Rajan and produced by Hitesh Jhabak.

The film is one of the highly expected films of the year. The first look at the poster and the promo of the film have already grabbed the attention of the audience.

Countdown begins… The much-awaited Tamil film #TikTikTik to release on 26 Jan 2018… Stars Jayam Ravi… Directed by Shakti Soundar Rajan.

A post shared by Taran Adarsh (@taranadarsh) on Jan 15, 2018 at 8:07pm PST

Jayam Ravi is playing the lead role in India’s first ever space-based thriller. Censor Board Film Committee members have now passed U certificate to the film and finally, the release date is out.

Jayam Ravi will play a role of a magician as well as an astronaut. Ravi’s son Aarav Ravi will be making his acting debut with the co-actors in the film.

Nivetha Pethuraj is playing the female lead role in the film Tik Tik Tik. The film also features actors Jayaprakash, Ramesh Thilak, and Arjun.

Six actresses of colour urged people to say “time’s up” to harassment and abuse at the NAACP Image Awards here.

Kerry Washington, Tracee Ellis Ross, Lena Waithe, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Angela Robinson and Laverne Cox shared a message encouraging viewers to “stand by us, stand for us, stand with us” against harassment and for justice, at the event held on Monday night, reports hollywoodreporter.com.

They gave out a group message about the #MeToo movement before the Best Actress in a Drama Series prize. Each of the ladies delivered a sentence of the statement before passing it on to the other.

“We are America’s black women,” Washington said, with Ross adding in: “Forces of nature.”

The group said that black women had “always been on the front lines of change” and challenged viewers to “stand by us, stand for us, stand with us.”

They then delivered a series of messages starting with the phrase “Time’s up”.

“Time’s up on complaining about an imperfect system if we aren’t willing to fix it, time’s up on our silence, time’s up on the abuse of power,” the women said together.

Robinson received applause when she said: “The mid-terms are a perfect moment for us to use our voices.”

“We cannot sit this one out. If we can take back a senate seat in Alabama,” Smollett-Bell said, to more applause, “then we have the ability to shift the balance of power.”

After the speech, Robinson tweeted an image of the group with the caption, “Incredible sharing the stage with these incredible women at the NAACP Image Awards to represent Time’s Up.”

Two labourers were injured in an explosion inside an army field ammunition depot in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Tuesday, police said.

Police sources said two injured in the explosion at the Khundroo field ammunition depot was taken to the hospital.

“The cause of the explosion is being ascertained,” a police source said.

Four people were killed and over three dozen injured in explosions triggered by the fire inside this ammunition depot in August 2007.

Top seed GM Arkadij Naiditsch drew in the 10th and final round against Italian GM David Alberto to seal the Delhi GM Open 2018 title.

Naiditsch offered a draw after 18 moves with the white pieces in a Caro-Kann Exchange Variation. With 8.5/10, Naiditsch finished ahead by a half point over the rest of the field.

Bangladeshi GM Ziaur Rahman managed to draw with Indian GM Karthikeyan Murali with the black pieces. The game began as a Sicilian Defence where both the players were on their toes, move for move. In the end, the players settled for a draw in a rook endgame. Ziaur finished on 8.0/10 and tied for the second place.

IM Md. Nubairshah Shaikh was black against IM Vignesh NR and the game was a Caro Kann Defence. Vignesh played by risking his position and had to pay the price as Nubair found all the right moves to scoop up two pawns for free. Nubair also finishes with 8.0/10 for a tie of second place. Earlier, Nubair had already completed his first GM norm in the ninth round.

Hungarian GM Adam Horvath finished with four consecutive wins to also finish with 8.0/10. In the final round, he managed to defeat Akash Pc Iyer who had earlier scored a GM norm.

Thus, Rahman, Nubairshah, and Horvath tied for the second place with 8.0/10.

Besides Akash and Nubair scoring their GM norms, Sammed Shete and Kaustav Chatterjee managed to complete his IM norm requirements.

The C-category being held simultaneously with 1273 players came to an end today. The tournament had a prize fund of Rs. 25 lakhs. 13-year-old Anirudh Jain of Delhi won the tournament and won the first prize of Rs 2,51,000.

Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger says he is “proud” of actress Eliza Dushku, who starred as his daughter in “True Lies”, for speaking out about her alleged molestation by the films stunt coordinator when she was 12 years old.

On Monday, the actor responded to a tweet from “True Lies” co-star Tom Arnold, who said that he, Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, and James Cameron would have done something if they had known what happened, reports ew.com.

“Tom, you bet your a** all of us would have done something,” Schwarzenegger said.

“I’m shocked and saddened for Eliza but I am also proud of her – beyond being a great talent and an amazing woman, she is so courageous.”

Dushku alleged in a Facebook post last week that Joel Kramer, a stunt coordinator, lured her to his Miami hotel room during production of the 1994 film and sexually assaulted her.

Dushku said she told several people what happened in the years since, but that “no one seemed ready to confront this taboo subject then, nor was I”.

Kramer has denied the allegations.

Schwarzenegger and Arnold’s comments are the latest from those involved with “True Lies”.

Curtis, who played Dushku’s mother, applauded the actress’ “courage and honour”, while Cameron called her “very brave for speaking up”.

At least two people died in an explosion that destroyed three apartment buildings in the Belgian city of Antwerp, police reported on Tuesday.

The blast, which rocked Paardenmarkt street late on Monday, injured 14 others, one of whom was in critical condition, Efe news agency reported.

“Police confirm two victims found under the rubble, both deceased. Victims not yet identified. The investigation into the cause of the explosion ongoing,” Antwerp Police tweeted.

No official confirmation has been yet given about the cause of the explosion, but police have ruled out terrorism.

Three apartment buildings collapsed onto a pizzeria and seven other neighbouring buildings were damaged.

The explosion occurred just 100 feet away from a 19th-century Neo-Gothic church.

Images by an EPA photographer on the ground showed firefighters crowded around the shell of the buildings, which were hollowed out by the blast.

Antwerp’s Mayor, Bart de Wever, said on Twitter that his thoughts were with the victims and their families. “Antwerp will support you,” he said.

Paardenmarkt is a busy street located near several university buildings and has many apartments where students live.

Fashion designer Manish Malhotra has bagged the Best Original Costume Design Award for “Mughal-e-Azam: The Musical” at the Broadway World India Awards.

“This is the 35th award in my career and I am very overwhelmed. This is the first time I have designed for a musical play and to get an award for that has been very touching. It has been a great experience to work on this musical extravaganza and also been very challenging as 600 costumes were required,” Malhotra said in a statement.

The designer, who has styled the likes of stars like Sridevi and Kareena Kapoor Khan, says a lot of hard work went into the creations.

“It has been days and nights of work and I went all out to use pure fabrics and intricate embroideries make the process and the journey worthwhile,” Malhotra said.

The musical, directed by Feroz Abbas Khan and produced by Shapoorji Pallonji, is based on the K. Asif-directorial “Mughal-e-Azam” which starred thespian Dilip Kumar and beautiful Madhubala.

“Working with Feroz who is a fabulous acclaimed play director and Shapoorji made it all tremendously satisfying experience,” he added.

“Mughal-e-Azam: The Musical” will return to regale Delhi audiences, staging its 100th show during its February 1-11 schedule at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.