Sunny Leone on her Tamil film debut: I'm beyond excited to start shooting

Former adult film actress Sunny Leone made a swift move into the Hindi film industry in 2012. And now the Indo-Canadian actress is all set to make her debut in a Tamil film. She says south Indian films would help her grow as a person and an actress. Sunny, whose real name is Karenjit Kaur Vohra, will be launched in the Tamil film industry with the upcoming film Veeramdevi.
Asked if she agrees that working in a south Indian film will help to broaden her reach, Sunny told IANS in an e-mail interaction: "Yes, I agree that this film will help me grow as a person and as an actress. Being able to learn about a completely different culture is something that I like a lot and enjoy." But won't there be a language barrier?
"It will be challenging, but I am not worried about learning it for this film. I am actually very excited about this whole process," she said about the film in which she will play a warrior princess. "That is something that I have always wanted to do. The amount of effort that has gone into this character is amazing and I'm beyond excited to start shooting. I will be taking riding lessons… in Los Angeles and in India. And, of course, I will be attending workshops to learn Tamil," she added.
The actress does not want to limit herself to Hindi and south Indian films. She is interested in working in other regional language films as well”. 

World mourns Sridevi — an icon who left too soon

Major celebrities, politicians, and other notable names took to Twitter to express their shock and grief

Whirling and twirling to the music so perfectly that it looked as if she was born with the knowledge of tunes — and, in the process, making us all swoon — Sridevi was a name that rocked the Indian cinema.

The world woke up Sunday morning to the news of the legend's untimely passing, at the age of 55, due to a "massive heart attack".

Major celebrities, politicians, and other notable names took to Twitter to express their shock and grief."I have no words. Condolences to everyone who loved #Sridevi, Geo.tv reports.

A dark day. RIP," Priyanka Chopra wrote on Twitter.Kajol stated, "Still can’t believe it.

A huge loss.""She was truly iconic," noted Ajay Devgn.

Noting how "life is so fragile & unpredictable", Preity Zinta said Sridevi "will always live in our hearts forever".

"Really Shocked and disturbed to hear that Sridevi Ma’am is no more," said Sidharth Malhotra.

Akshay Kumar was totally grief-stricken: "Woken up to Absolute Shock and Disbelief! Tragic news!

Im at a loss of words, can’t comprehend this at all! Why?""Shocked beyond words to hear about the sad and untimely demise of #Sridevi," wrote Farah Khan.

"A dream for many, had the good fortune of sharing screen space with her long ago and witnessed her continued grace over the years," she added."The brightest Star is gone."

"An amazing talent and my favourite performer passes on. A tremendous loss to the industry," wrote a "shocked and devastated" Jaaved Jaaferi.

Neha Dhupia said, "we just lost our finest" and that Sridevi went away "way too soon".

Jacqueline Fernandez called her "an absolute icon".

"Just can’t believe somebody so powerful and pure to have passed. Rest in peace," wrote Tiger Shroff.

"I’m in shock," commented Armeena Khan.

Journalist Wajahat Ali, however, wrote about how Sridevi and her acting resonated with "an entire generation"."The loss of #Sridevi is a big deal for Bollywood but also an entire generation, like mine, that grew up with her movies. She went supernova in the 80s.

"She had charm, personality, wit and range. MR INDIA remains a classic. So sad that she passed so young," he wrote.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan also joined in the mourning, saying: "Really enjoyed meeting Bollywood icon Sri Devi on my recent trip to India. So sad to hear the news of the death of such a terrifically talented actress, performer and producer."

Russians sing banned anthem after beating Germany to win gold

Russian ice hockey players sang their national anthem after clinching the gold medal in overtime against Germany at the Winter Games on Sunday, despite the anthem being banned as punishment for a years-long Russian doping scandal.

Russia, competing as neutral athletes at Pyeongchang, scored in overtime through Kirill Kaprizov for a 4-3 victory in one of the most surprising finals in the history of the Olympic men's ice hockey tournament.

Later, at the medal ceremony, the winning team sang the Russian anthem over the sound of the Olympic anthem at the hockey arena, despite being barred by Olympic authorities from having their flag raised or anthem played.

With Germany's Patrick Reimer off for high sticking midway through the extra period, the Olympic Athletes from Russia went on a four-on-three man advantage and Kaprizov one-timed a pass from Nikita Gusev past German goaltender Danny aus den Birken.

The OAR found themselves evenly matched by a German team that had surprised the hockey world by making it to their first Olympic final. The Germans won silver, their best finish ever in Olympic ice hockey.

Both teams scored twice in a back-and-forth third period with Nikita Gusev knotting the game with a short-handed goal with less than a minute to go to force the overtime period.

The Russians hit the ice hours after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided not to restore their delegation's Olympic status, which would have enabled them to march under their flag at the closing ceremony later on Sunday.

As the OAR players received their gold medals on the ice, the Olympic flag was raised in place of the Russian flag and the Olympic anthem was played. But the players, arms around each other, sang the Russian anthem instead.

Singing the Russian anthem on the field of play is a violation of the IOC's rules on neutrality, which were imposed on Russia as part of sanctions punishing the nation over systematic doping across many sports.

On paper the final shouldn't have been a fair fight but the Germans skated evenly with the OAR.

Loaded with top home-grown talent from Russia's Kontinental Hockey League, seen as the world's second-best league after the NHL, and led by ex-NHL all stars Pavel Datsyuk and Ilya Kovalchuk, the OAR finally edged past a team that had punched above its weight.

Aside from Kaprizov with the game winner, Gusev was the other hero for the OAR, scoring two third-period goals and getting an assist to become the tournament's points leader.

New mother says she 'found bandages in my body'

The NHS is investigating claims by a new mother who says she found bandages in her body seven weeks after giving birth at Wexham Park Hospital, Slough.

"I took out a large piece of decomposing material from inside me that was soaked in blood," Alexandra Loredana told BBC News.

Ms Loredana added that she had suffered from thrush and 'light vaginal wounds'.

A hospital trust spokesman told the BBC: "We are aware. We have started an investigation."

The new mother, from Slough, Berkshire, gave birth to baby Dominic in January.

Ms Loredana said she initially explained to her midwife how she felt uncomfortable going to the toilet and that something smelled terrible - her midwife checked her stitches and said 'everything was fine'.

The new mother said she was unable to get an appointment with her local walk-in centre until 7 March, 2018.

She said: "For seven weeks I changed my pads more than 10 times a day.

Whether I had bleeding or not I just wanted my pads to absorb the horrible smell.

"Last night I had a bath for the first time and I felt courageous enough to wash with my fingers inside my vagina to clean it.

"I was breathless when I took out a large piece of decomposing material from inside me that smelled horrible and was soaked in blood.

'Black Panther' heads to glory with $235 million holiday weekend

Disney-Marvel's "Black Panther" is heading for a stunning $235 million debut over the four-day President's Day weekend at 4,020 North American locations, estimates showed Monday.

"Black Panther," starring Chadwick Boseman and directed by Ryan Coogler, has blown away its original tracking in less than a month. The film, which carries an estimated $200 million production cost, had been tracking to bring in between an impressive $100 and $120 million when first estimates emerged on Jan. 25.

Since then, "Black Panther" has become far more than just a popular tentpole title. Instead, it's become a must-see event as it veers into record-setting territory. Thursday previews brought in $25.2 million, the largest Thursday night preview gross for a February opener and the second-largest preview gross for a Marvel film. The film has continued to shatter all projections since then.

On Sunday, Disney estimated that "Black Panther" would take in $218 million for Presidents Day weekend, then revised that number upward on Monday morning by an astounding $17 million. The movie finished Sunday with a $60.1 million -- the second best Sunday in industry history, just slightly behind 2015's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" record of $60.6 million.

With 73% of schools closed, "Black Panther" business should decline 45% from Sunday for a $33 million Monday and $235 million four-day debut.

"Black Panther" has also pushed the 2018 year to date domestic gross up 6.9% to $1.65 billion, according to comScore. It is the highest three-day debut ever for a February film and the fifth highest of all time behind only "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" at $248 million, "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" at $220 million, "Jurassic World" at $208.8 million and "The Avengers" at $207.4 million.

"Black Panther" has demolished the record for the largest President's Day weekend, blowing past "Deadpool's" 2016 mark of $152 million. Overall North American moviegoing for the four-day period should hit an eye-popping $340 million -- far above the $278 million mark in 2016, according to comScore.

Boseman portrays T'Challa, the ruler of Wakanda, a technologically advanced society, who conflicts with Michael B. Jordan's Eric Killmonger, who intends to take over the throne. Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong'o, Angela Bassett, Danai Gurira, and Daniel Kaluuya also star.

"Black Panther" should dominate moviegoing for several weeks. Three new films launch next weekend with initial tracking on Feb. 1 showing Warner Bros.' comedy "Game Night" was projecting an opening in the $15 million to $20 million range on Feb. 23-25, while Paramount's sci-fi thriller "Annihilation" debuting in the $12 million to $15 million area during the same weekend.

Sony's second weekend of family comedy "Peter Rabbit" is finishing a distant second with about $23 million at 3,725 sites for an 11-day total of $54 million, followed by Universal's second session of "Fifty Shades Freed" with $19.4 million at 3,768 venues. The finale of the erotic trilogy has taken in $78.6 million domestically so far.

Sony's ninth weekend of its action-comedy "Jumanji: Welcome to Jungle" finished fourth with $10 million at 2,800 venues. The 62-day domestic total has hit $380 million, just behind 2005's "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" for 32nd spot on the all-time list. "Jumanji" declined only 21% from the eighth weekend and its ninth weekend is the ninth highest of all time.

Clint Eastwood's thriller "15:17 to Paris" followed in fifth with $9.1 million at 3,042 locations for an 11-day total of nearly $27 million for Warner Bros.

Fox's ninth weekend of "The Greatest Showman" finished sixth with $6.4 million at 1,936 venues to bring its 64-day domestic take to $156 million. Lionsgate's stop-motion animation comedy "Early Man" launched quietly in seventh with $4.2 million at 2,494 sites.

Fox's fourth weekend of "Maze Runner: The Death Cure" slid 58% and took in $3.2 million at 1,892 venues in eighth place for a 25-day total of $54.6 million. Lionsgate-CBS Films' third weekend of Helen Mirren's "Winchester" came in ninth with $2.6 million at 1,479 sites for an 18-day take of $22.2 million.

Fox's ninth weekend of Steven Spielberg's "The Post" rounded out the top 10 with $2.5 million at 1,050 venues for a total of $77.1 million. That was enough to edge Pure Flix's launch of its faith-based Biblical story "Samson" with a modest $2.3 million at 1,249 sites.

Fox Searchlight's 12th weekend of "The Shape of Water" came in 12th place with $2.1 million at 957 locations for an 81-day total of $53.7 million. The Guillermo del Toro fantasy romance scored a leading 13 Academy Award nominations on Jan. 23.

Priyanka Chopra terminates contract with Nirav Modi, not suing him yet

Priyanka Chopra has decided to cut ties with billionaire diamond trader Nirav Modi's brand following the news about the alleged banking fraud carried out by him. "In the light of recent allegations, Priyanka Chopra has chosen to terminate her contract with the Nirav Modi brand," a spokesperson of Priyanka, who was the global brand ambassador for Nirav Modi, said in a statement issued on Friday.
As the news about the multi-crore scam involving Nirav Modi came to light earlier this month, a statement from the actor read that she was seeking legal opinion on her contract. There were also speculations that she is suing the brand for non-payment of dues. But her spokesperson denied this. 
The termination news comes in the wake of after Kangana Ranaut and Bipasha Basu accusing Mehul Choksi-owned Gitanjali Group of breaching the contracts with them and not paying their dues. 
Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, along with the directors of the Nirav Modi and Gitanjali groups, are under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for an alleged Rs 11,300 crore fraud on Punjab National Bank through illegal use of Letters of Undertaking and Foreign Letters of Credit to raise and roll over money.
Both Nirav Modi and Choksi are said to have left the country, along with their family members, in early January.

Amin Khan, Popy share screen after a long time

After a long hiatus, popular actor Amin Khan and National Film Award-winning actress Sadika Parvin Popy are coming together in big screen once again. The audience admired the duo. DhakaLive reporter is confirmed that they will be seen together in the film titled ‘Sahoshi Joddha’— directed by Sadek Siddiqui.

Shubha maharat of the film will take place tomorrow. The entire shooting of ‘Sahoshi Joddha’ is expected to complete by March.

Amin Khan said, “Most of  the films that we have paired together were huge successes and we have worked in many films come to think of it.” About Popy he said, Popy is an actress who has been trying her best to perform for last twenty years. Because of her hardwork, she received the national film award for three times. In this long run she still looks just as beautiful as she was before.”

Popy said, “Amin Khan is one of the noted heroes in our country’s acting industry. He is an excellent person with a good heart. Whenever he appears as my co-worker, I feel relief as he is always helpful and down to earth person. I am hopeful about this film and I am also thankful to director Sadek Siddiqui for paring us in the film ‘Sahoshi Joddha’”

To note, the acting duo first appeared together in Dilip Som’s film ‘Tomar Jonno Valobasha’. Later they presented, either as a pair or as co-worker, commercially hit films like ‘Ma Amar Behest’, ‘Lutpat’, ‘Mon Dewana’, ‘Bishwa Batpar’ and others.