Bollywood film industry celebrates Holi, the festival of colors, to welcome spring

Holi is a festival of colors and the celebrities of blockbuster movies join in the merry making and fun. They host their own parties and their guests add to the charm. Raj Kapoor in his lifetime threw lavish Holi parties at the RK Studio. They used to be joyous occasions for the entire film fraternity of Bollywood to come to a common platform, let down their hair and enjoy the songs and dances. In his hey days, Amitabh Bachchan sang a few memorable Holi songs. His house is the venue for high profile celebrations every year. Then there are others like Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar who throw Holi parties. Shah Rukh Khan and his wife Gauri are no exception.

It is customary for Ekta Kapoor to throw lavish Holi parties. Many stars from the world of TV and Bollywood attend the celebrations. Bollywood is in Mumbai, the financial capital of India. The city is accessible by rail, road and air and is a favorite travel destination. It has a cricket team Mumbai Indians that has won the Indian Premier League IPL trophy many times.


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Hugh Jackman loves Bollywood and cricket and had expressed that as far back as 2015. He now wants to see SRK as Wolverine and continue the series, once he leaves it after having done it for 17 years. Hugh Jackman was in Taiwan for the promotion of his film Logan in which he will be seen for the last time as Wolverine.
He made the comments on SRK during when he had come for promotion of Nolan.
This has been reported in indianexpress.com dated 2 March 2017.

When asked if he wished that he had the power to self-heal like Wolverine, he remarked that he would have loved to possess some of Logan’s healing powers.
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Pakistan government will lift the four-months-long ban on showing Indian films in Pakistan because of Indo-Pak tensions and that could happen with the screening of two Indian films with 'Raees' and 'Kaabil'. These could become the first Indian movies to be screened in Pakistan after lifting of the ban.
The suspension of the screenings of Indian films happened after several Bollywood producers put a ban on casting Pakistani artists in Indian movies due to the Uri terror attack and 'surgical strikes' that were conducted by the Indian Army on terror launch pads along the LoC in Kashmir.
This has been reported in deccanherald.com dated 25 January 2017.

The result of the ban began to hurt Pakistani cinema owners with loss in revenues. They, therefore, began to lobby with the government to go soft on Indian films and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif set up a committee to consult all stake holders. It seems the committee has made the recommendations to the PM's Secretariat to lift the ban.
Once formally sanctioned by the Prime Minister, the information ministry will issue suitable directives to allow import of Indian films.
In all probability, 'Raees' and 'Kaabil' are likely to be the first films to be screened after the lifting of ban. Shah Rukh Khan stars in Raees and it also features Pakistani artist Mahira Khan. In Kaabil, it is Hrithik Roshan who plays the lead.


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Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan plans to visit Dubai ahead of the release of his film Raees, a thriller. Nawazuddin Siddiqui is his co-star and the Dubai visit is to promote the action thriller directed by Rahul Dholakia.
Pakistani actress Mahira Khan features in Raees and has a pivotal role in the movie.
This has been reported in indianexpress.com dated 17 January 2017.

Shah Rukh and Nawazuddin will visit Bollywood Parks, a first-of-its-kind theme park. They will then go to the Night Court of Arabian Center where they will meet and greet fans. The visit would be for two days visit and there is suspense over the presence of Pakistani actress Mahira Khan and whether she will be part of the Dubai promotions.
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22nd Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) - focus country China

The 22nd Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) has the focus country as China and celebrities of the sliver screen came in large number to attend the inauguration ceremony held at Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata.
Among the celebrities of Bollywood were Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Kajol, Parineeti Chopra and there were international dignitaries from the focus country China.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 12 November 2016.

The grand event saw a huge turnout of 20,000 people, including big names of Tollywood apart from a couple of star tele-kids - they had truly lived up to chief minister Mamata Banerjee's vision of "cinema for all". Her paintings were also gifted to the dignitaries.
A Bengali film "Benche Thaakar Gaan" was chosen to inaugurate KIFF.
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There are a number of Bollywood movies in the pipeline in which Pakistani actors play some roles and, the ongoing tension with India's neighbor is creating problems for Indian movie makers. The right-wing brigade in Maharashtra, namely, the Raj Thackeray led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has set a 48-hour deadline on Friday for Mumbai-based Pakistani artistes to leave the country.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 24 September 2016.

MNS has categorically said that artistes from Pakistan, who have made Mumbai their home, should quit the city and the state of Maharashtra within next 48 hours. In the opinion of the agitators, actors like Fawad Khan (Ae Dil Hai Mushkil) and Mahira Khan (Shah Rukh Khan's costar in `Raees') are hijacking opportunities available to Indian artistes.
Incidentally, both the actors have big-budget starrers due for release next month. Actors Fawad Khan ('Madamji') and Ali Zafar ('Dear Zindagi') too will have to face the wrath of the MNS who will stop their shoots mid-way. In addition, party activists will ensure that films starring Pakistani artistes are not released either in Mumbai or in the state.
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Busan International Film Festival in Seoul, South Korea, will see several Indian films being screened. Two of these are superstars Shah Rukh and Salman Khan starrers “Fan” and “Sultan”. The festival runs from October 6 to 15 and it will screen Ali Abbas Zafar-directed sports drama in the ‘Open Cinema’ section.
“Fan”, directed by Maneesh Sharma stars Shah Rukh Khan in the dual role of a fan and a superstar and it will screen in the ‘A Window on Asian Cinema’ section.
This has been reported in indianexpress.com dated 14 September 2016.

Some of the other films thst would try to get attention at the festival are Konkona Sengupta’s directorial debut “A Death in the Gunj”, documentary “An Insignificant Man”, which chronicling the birth of Aam Aadmi Party and the rise of its leader Arvind Kejriwal, the now Delhi Chief Minister.
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This has been reported in khaleejtimes.com dated 14 July 2016.

Shah Rukh Khan also expressed hope that Indian sports films will soon be able to make a mark in the international arena because when sportswomen and sportsmen films are made there is a feeling of patriotism irrespective of the place they come from.
In his opinion, Sania Mirza's book will be quite inspirational. He is impressed by Sania's grit, determination and love for the sport to rise to the top ranking in doubles game in spite of injuries. Due to the injury she could not continue with the singles career but she overcame the problem to become the No.1 in doubles. He hopes that there should also be a part-two of this book.

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This has been reported in indianexpress.com dated 13 March 2016.

Alia had made her Bollywood debut with Karan Johar’s “Student of the Year” and then went on to give acclaimed performances in films like “Highway”, “2 States” and “Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania”. She is now confident about her craft of acting and, even though she has gained popularity through her work, her family has kept her grounded. Alia will now be seen in Karan Johar’s production “Kapoor & Sons”. And, she is also working with superstar Shah Rukh Khan in Gauri Shinde’s next and will also be seen in Shahid Kapoor-Kareena Kapoor Khan starrer “Udta Punjab”.


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