Rajkummar Rao – Page 2

Patralekhaa is being talked about and it's not because of Rajkummar Rao

Nov 282017

Patralekhaa is being talked about and it’s not for being Rajkummar Rao’s ladylove. She is overwhelmed with the positive response to the web series, Bose: Dead/Alive, which has her play the character of Nandini who idolised Bose. The actor was earlier seen in Hansal Mehta’s Citylights (2014) and Vikram Bhatt’s Love Game (2016).

Patralekhaa

Though Citylights was critically acclaimed and Patralekhaa bagged the most promising newcomer award, it did little for her career. She’s probably hoping Bose: Dead/Alive put her back in the scheme of things. With her beau making rapid strides in B-Town, she needs to make her mark too.

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Here's why Kriti Sanon's act was axed from 'Lip Sing Battle'

Celebrities

Oct 252017

Kriti Sanon’s act has been axed from Farah Khan’s ‘Lip Sing Battle’. She was to take on Rajkummar Rao, who hurt himself in the celebrity show. Kriti needed a new partner, but at short notice it was difficult to match dates with another star. Kriti should have been on the show last week when rumoured beau Sushant Singh Rajput and Sania Mirza battled it out. It would have been fun to watch the rumoured lovebirds together, but Farah knows better.

Kriti Sanon

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Irrfan Khan reveals why Bollywood potboilers aren't working at Box Office

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Oct 062017

On Friday, the trailer of Irrfan Khan and Malayalam beauty Parvathy Menon’s rom-com film ‘Qarib Qarib Singlle’ was launched amidst much fanfare at a suburban multiplex. Irrfan and Parvathy’s characters are as quirky as the film’s title and they were at their casual best at the trailer launch.

Irrfan Khan

The Hindi film industry is seeing a drastic downfall in earning good reviews and collections at the Box Office, whereas content-driven films are at par with the reviews and its collections. Irrfan is one such actor, who delivers critically as well as commercially driven films, with the recent one being ‘Hindi Medium’. When the actor was quizzed about the drastic change in the scenario and content being the king, this is what the prodigious actor said.

“The audience has evolved and welcomed the change a long time ago. The change has already started. Footfalls in the main Hindi films have ended. People want to relate themselves with what they are watching. Audience shifts to watching Hollywood films or either regional films. They do not connect with these films. I want to be a part of films, wherein the people can keep talking about it even after watching the film.”

He even cited it as examples being of Rajkummar Rao’s recent released films, which was commercially and critically equally acclaimed.

“Recently, Rajkummar Rao’s content-driven films have done exceeding well. Nobody thought it would do such a kind of a business,” reiterated the ‘Hindi Medium’ actor.

Also, an elated Parvathy said that she was immediately hooked up to the film by hearing its genre ‘rom-com’. It was after reading the script she learned that she had to star opposite the phenomenal Irrfan Khan.

The new-age light-hearted film is slated to release on November 10.

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'Newton' box-office collection Day 4: Rajkummar Rao's film dips on Monday

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Sep 262017

After a decent opening weekend, the box office collection of Bollywood actor Rajkummar Rao’s film, which is India’s official entry to Oscars, ‘Newton’ has dropped on Day 4. According to reports, ‘Newton’ has earned Rs 1.40 crore on Monday, taking its total box office collection of 4 days to Rs 8.30 crore. ‘Newton’ has seemingly got a push after it was declared India’s official entry to Oscars and the word of mouth has helped the movie too.

'Newton' box-office collection Day 4: Rajkummar Rao's film dips on Monday
Rajkummar Rao in ‘Newton’

According to a report in Boxofficeindia.com, director Amit Masurkar’s ‘Newton’ slowed down on Monday after having a good jump in its collections over the weekend.

‘Newton’ clashed with Sanjay Dutt’s comeback film ‘Bhoomi’ and Shraddha Kapoor’s ‘Haseena Parkar’ on Friday. If the opening weekend collections are any indication, Rajkummar Rao’s satire seems to be the audience’s pick among the three Bollywood releases. While it did open on a weak note on Friday, the Amit Masurkar-directed black comedy showed an exponential rise over the following two days. With collections of Rs 2.52 crore on Saturday and Rs 3.42 crore on Sunday, it enjoyed a strong opening weekend of Rs 6.90 crore.

While Shraddha Kapoor’s biopic lagged behind at Rs 6.1 crore, Sanjay Dutt’s father-daughter drama managed to garner Rs 7.48 crore over the first weekend. What is noteworthy though is that ‘Newton’ showed higher collections than both films on Saturday and Sunday. It can’t be denied that Newton’s selection as India’s official entry to Oscars raised the audience’s interest in the film.

Also read: Box office: ‘Newton’ beats Sanjay Dutt’s ‘Bhoomi’ and Shraddha Kapoor’s ‘Haseena Parkar’

‘Newton’, however, has courted controversy amid reports that the film has striking similarities with an Iranian movie ‘Secret Ballot’. ‘Newton’ director Amit V Masurkar says he was completely unaware of the Iranian film ‘Secret Ballot’ and that people should watch both the films and compare to find out if they are copied.

‘Newton’ has been chosen as India’s official selection for Oscars 2018. A day after this news was announced, several reports came out claiming that the film has been inspired by a 2001 Iranian movie titled ‘Secret Ballot’, helmed by Babak Payami. It focuses on the life of a ballot officer who visits a barren and desolate place to plead with voters to cast their votes and take part in the elections.

‘Newton’ had its world premiere at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival and won the International Confederation of Art Cinemas Award for best film in the ‘Forum Section’.

Also read: Newton Movie Review: It packs a full-ton and deserves full marks

‘Newton‘, which stars National Award-winning actor Rajkummar Rao, revolves around a government employee who struggles to supervise voting in a forest area of Chhattisgarh, controlled by Maoists.

Producer Marco Mueller feels that there was not even a hint of plagiarisation in Rajkummar Rao’s ‘Newton’, amidst claims that the movie has been inspired from his 2001 Iranian film ‘Secret Ballot’.

Also read: Anurag Kashyap takes a dig at those claiming ‘Newton’ is copied

On Monday night, filmmaker Anurag Kashyap, in a Facebook post, shared Muller’s opinion after watching ‘Newton’. The filmmaker praised the Amit Masurkar-directed movie. Kashyap also took a dig at those claiming the movie was inspired by Babak Payami’s 2001 directorial venture.

“Newton is as much a copy of Secret Ballot as The Avengers is of Watan Ke Rakhwale. Newton is an award winner from Berlin Fest and I can promise you those curators watch more films in a year than the rest of us do in a lifetime,” Kashyap wrote.

Have you seen ‘Newton’ yet? What’s your reaction to the movie? Tell us in comments below.

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Will Newton's Similarity With An Iranian Film Jeopardise India's Only Chance At The Oscars?

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Sep 242017

Well, ‘Newton’ is India’s official entry for the Oscars. Since its announcement, people couldn’t contain their excitement. The film has already gardened great review—both from the critics as well as the viewers. In fact, it even beat ‘Baahubali- The Conclusion’, to be selected as India’s entry for the Academy Awards.

While on one side people couldn’t stop raving about the decision of the panel, on the other hand, ‘Newton’ was also declared to be quite similar to a critically-acclaimed Iranian film ‘Secret Ballot’, which was released in 2001. Oh boy! That already doesn’t sound very good.

Newton (c) Eros

Apparently, the premise of both the films is very similar to each other. When Secret Ballot was released, it had already won the Silver Lion Award for Best Director at Venice.

One of the basic differences between the two films is that Secret Ballot had a female protagonist, while Newton has Rajkummar Rao playing the lead. And few alterations are made in the script keeping India in mind.

Secret Ballot (c) Twitter

This piece of news went viral on the social media within no time, once India declared ‘Newton’ as its official entry to the Oscars. Many might call the plot being similar as an inspiration; many might also think of it as a remake of someone else’s work. Either way, this doesn’t make a good picture for our entry at the Oscars.

But this ain’t the first time. A similar event occurred when Anurag Basu’s ‘Barfi’ was sent as our official entry to the Awards and later it was said to be adapted from Charlie Chaplin’s comedies and Hollywood sources.

Now that certainly doesn’t keep us in a good place. Especially when it has happened once, wouldn’t it be wise to do our homework rightfully before declaring our nominations?

Newton (c) Eros

Being said that, the director and co-writer of Rajkummar Rao starrer Amit Masurkar said that ‘Newton’ is as original as it can get and is just inspired by the Iranian film. With all the controversy going around, one thing can be said for sure that there will be an uproar about it going for the Oscars.

Now wouldn’t it be interesting to see where does Newton’s law of gravity take this film?

Rajkummar Rao Starrer Movie Newton is India’s official entry to Oscars 2018

Celebrities

Sep 222017

Newton Director Amit Masurkar’s political satire “Newton”, starring Rajkummar Rao in the lead role, will be India’s official entry at Oscars 2018, the Film Federation of India announced today.

The Hindi film was the unanimous choice of FFI’s selection committee, headed by Telugu producer C V Reddy. “‘Newton’ has been selected as India’s official entry to the Oscars. It was unanimously chosen from 26 entries this year,” FFI secretary general Supran Sen told .

The decision to choose the film, which was released commercially today, for the Oscars was the proverbial “cherry on the cake”, said actor Rajkummar Rao. “It is a really honest film and we are already getting an overwhelming response. We will put all our energies to take the film forward,” the actor told .

Director Masurkar added that it was a double celebration for the team.”We are really happy. The fact that the film is releasing today doubles the happiness. We hope that people will now really head to the cinema halls to watch the film,” the director told .

The film is a political satire revolving around an honest election officer’s attempt to conduct a free and fair poll in a conflict-hit area of Chhatisgarh. It also stars Pankaj Tripathi, Raghubir Yadav and Anjali Patil.

“Newton” is Masurkar’s second directorial venture after the 2014 indie “Sulemani Keeda”.

'Newton' Becomes India's Official Entry To The Oscars And Twitter Is Bursting With Pride

Celebrities

Sep 222017

For anyone and everyone associated with the film industry, winning the Academy Award aka the Oscar is the ultimate goal. The Indian Film industry obviously doesn’t like lagging behind either. Every year, The Film Federation of India appoints a committee to choose one film among those released that year to be submitted as India’s official entry to the Academy as the nomination for the “Best Foreign Language Film” category.

This year too, the FFI nominated one movie for the category and unsurprisingly, it’s the Rajkummar Rao starrer ‘Newton’. The announcement was made by the Film Federation of India, who said the movie was selected out of 26 contenders.

The movie is a political satire and follows the story of Newton Kumar, a government clerk who is sent on election duty in the conflict-ridden jungles of the Chhattisgarh, reflecting the political reality of that area.

The film was premiered earlier at Berlin where it won the CICAE (International Confederation of Art Cinemas) award for best film in the forum section. It also managed to win a jury prize at the Hong Kong international film festival.

However, in India the movie has just released today and has already received positive reviews from both critics as well as the audience.

The news about the nomination was confirmed by Rajkummar Rao on his Twitter page.

Very happy to share this news that #NEWTON is India’s official entry to the #OSCARS this year. Congratulations team.

— Rajkummar Rao (@RajkummarRao) September 22, 2017

Director Amit V Masurkar, in an interview, expressed his joy over the news, “We are really happy. The fact that the film is releasing today doubles the happiness. We hope that people will now really head to the cinema halls to watch the film,” the director told PTI.

In a matter of a few hours, Twitter was buzzing with tweets of proud Indians who were on cloud nine after hearing the news.

Huge congrats to my favourite actor @RajkummarRao for Newton n hope you win the Oscar ! Good luck .

— Paresh Rawal (@SirPareshRawal) September 22, 2017

#Newton is India’s entry to the Oscars. The best choice in years by the federation.

— Hansal Mehta (@mehtahansal) September 22, 2017

#Newton as India’s official entry to the Oscars!Congratulations @aanandlrai @RajkummarRao & team,can imagine the joy you’ll must be feelingðŸ˜ƒ

— Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) September 22, 2017

#Newton is India’s entry to the Oscars. The best choice in years by the federation.

— Pooja Malik (@PoojaMalik2206) September 22, 2017

Legendary #Newton discovered the law of gravity & @RajkummarRao is discovering law to Oscars by his brilliant acting skills.

— Belfiore Stores (@BelfioreStores) September 22, 2017

Congratulations sir. You make every character look real and that’s a very rare sight in Indian cinema. #Newton

— Ritesh (@IamRitzV) September 22, 2017

So glad to see such appreciation towards intelligent cinema. Congratulations @RajkummarRao #Newton

— Vullary Awasthi (@vullary) September 22, 2017

So glad to know it..@RajkummarRao making proud to us ,and taking an Indian cinema one level up#Oscars #Newton #indiancinema pic.twitter.com/t1eiKvWz5r

— Rajesh Jagani ðŸ?¦ (@imRajeshBJagani) September 22, 2017

Congratulations @rajkummarrao and team #Newton! Successfully putting Indian cinema on the world map! #Oscars2018

— Durgansh Dixit (@Itsreal_DD) September 22, 2017

This #Newton not gonna wait for Apple to fall but Gonna grab it at #OSCARS
“No force can stop the MOTION picture now! My best wishes ðŸ’?ðŸ‘?ðŸ?»ðŸ‘?ðŸ?»

— Vishal Sudarshanwar (@Vishal_Sud) September 22, 2017

Wowwww! A phenomenal actor @RajkummarRao in #Newton makes spot into #Oscars2018
Proud moment for indiaâ˜ºï¸? https://t.co/Ykrb4v0Zbt

— Deepak Thakur (@TechDeepak7) September 22, 2017

And then there is this gem called #Newton. Pure, timely, honest, humorous, wistful and sharp. ðŸ‘?ðŸ‘?ðŸ‘?ðŸ‘? @RajkummarRao @ManMundra @Amitmasurkar

— Vicky (@sundiairlifted) September 22, 2017

#NEWTON is honest and pure! Congratulations @RajkummarRao @TripathiiPankaj @ManMundra @Amit_Masurkar

— Vicky (@sundiairlifted) September 22, 2017

Over the years, India has bagged three Academy Award nominations in the foreign-language category; first in 1957 with ‘Mother India’, followed by 1989’s ‘Salaam Bombay’ and 2002’s ‘Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India’, however, the country has never won an Oscar.

This year, Newton will face serious competition from a number of movies from across the world- Ruben Ostlund’s ‘The Square’ from Sweden, Fatih Akin’s ‘In the Fade from Germany’, Angelina Jolie’s ‘First They Killed My Father from Cambodia’, Sebastian Lelio’s ‘A Fantastic Woman from Chile’, Farhan Alam’s ‘Sawan from Pakistan’ and Robin Campillo’s ‘BPM: Beats Per Minute from France’, among others.

We’ve got our fingers crossed as we hope that ‘Newton’ does make it to the Oscar nominations and maybe, even manages to win.

These Are All The Indian Movies Making A Mark At The Toronto Film Festival

Celebrities

Sep 102017

Indian cinema caters to the entire world; public has a huge appetite for our powerhouse and B-town has some wonderful people who make some stellar movies that don’t always compete with a Karan Johar movie at the box office, but leaves its mark on the world map. Film festivals are an amazing platform for such critically acclaimed work and here are some of the Indian movies which are making their mark and shining bright at the Toronto film festival:

1. The Brawler – Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Mukkabaaz’ tells the true story of a boxer who is trying to make his ends meet and also follow his passion to make it to the Indian National Boxing Championship.

2. Pahuna: The Little Visitors – Produced by our ‘desi’ girl Priyanka Chopra, the movie has received a standing ovation at the festival. The movie follows the lives of three Nepalese kids who make their way through Sikkim in search of their parents.

3. Village Rockstars: This one also has the flavours of the North East. The story tells the tale of a 10 year old girl who harbours a simple dream of making her own rock band.

4. Omerta- This is the brainchild of Hansal Mehta and tells the stark tale of Omar Saeed Sheikh, the man responsible behind the kidnapping and killing of famous journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002. Rajkummar Rao is the lead so you have no doubts about the credibility.

5.Azmaish: A Journey Through The Subcontinent – This is a unique combination of a Pakistani director and Indian actor Kalki Koechlin. The movie has Kalki interview the commoners in both the countries and draw parallel of how life is in both the places.

6. The Hungry- This is Bornila Chatterjee’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s ‘Titus Adronicus’. Starring Naseeruddin Shah and Tisca Chopra, the movie tells the tale of greed, revenge and murder.

Next time someone tells you that our film industry is only about larger than life movies and dancing around trees, you know what to recommend them.

Rajkummar Rao to star with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for Rakeysh Mehra’s Fanney Khan

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Aug 312017

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s new film Fanney Khan has had its fair share of headlines already – the movie has been trending on and off for reports suggesting probable actors to have been cast opposite the 43-year-old actress. Actor R Madhavan was the most prominent name which repeatedly featured in reports about Fanney Khan’s casting. Speculation followed that Madhavan was not really Aishwarya’s preferred co-star for the movie – it was Rajkummar Rao. Now, the producer of Fanney Khan – Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra – tweeted to welcome Rajkummar on board for the movie. “Welcome aboard Raj, tighten your seat belt for the roller coaster,” is what Mr Mehra tweeted on Wednesday.

In a recent interview with Mumbai Mirror, the Trapped actor has also revealed he’s been roped in for the much talked-about role in Fanney Khan. Rajkummar Rao is currently busy shooting for Hansal Mehta’s series Bose in Poland.

In his interview, Rajkummar said that he was being considered for the role for a while and received a confirmation from producer Prernaa Arora of KriArj Entertainment on Tuesday night, stated the Mumbai Mirror report. “We’re friends and have been discussing films for a while,” said the actor. Rajkummar Rao features in the recently released Bareilly Ki Barfi, co-starring Kriti Sanon and Ayushmann Khurrana.

Earlier this month, much was being speculated about Aishwarya not being too pleased with the makers for having reportedly chosen Madhavan over Rajkummar. But Mr Mehra dismissed such speculation telling news agency IANS, “It is quite unfortunate that such false and baseless stories are created to grab attention. There is zero truth to that, we are all a team and Fanney Khan is a dear project to the whole team.”

Arjun N Kapoor, the co-producer of the film also added: “There are some stories doing the rounds about disagreement in casting for the film. We want to put the record straight and deny any such so called competition or discord amongst the makers.” Fanney Khan is being considered to be a remake of the Dutch film Everybody’s Famous and will mark Atul Manjrekar’s debut as a director.

In the Mumbai Mirror interview, Rajkummar was asked about his co-star, the former beauty queen, when he said: “She’s the most beautiful woman in the world,” reported Mumbai Mirror. The actor also added the “detailed and different” story-line of Fanney Khan will keep him busy with script reading sessions once he’s back in Mumbai. “It’s a great story, there’s a lot of love, and the content is not just entertaining but is detailed and different. There will be lots of workshops and readings once I am back,” he informed. Will we hear him croon on screen? “I can’t reveal much about the character,” Rajkummar said.

Fanney Khan also stars Anil Kapoor as the father of a 16-year-old ambitious daughter and body-shaming is one of the issues that the movie tackles. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan was last seen in Karan Johar’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil while Bareilly Ki Barfi remains Rajkummar’s last film.

Was nervous about shooting with Rajkummar Rao: Naveen Kasturia

Celebrities

Aug 302017

'Was nervous about shooting with Rajkummar' Naveen Kasturia

He might have started out as an assistant director, but Naveen Kasturia knew that he belonged in front of the camera, not behind it.

His belief has been validated since — after winning acclaim for his acts in Sulemani Keeda (2014) and TVF Pitchers (2015), Kasturia has now been roped in to play Darbari Lal in the web series, Bose: Dead/Alive.

Kasturia tells mid-day, “The story is narrated from my point of view. I play a hawaldar who witnesses the revolution led by Subhash Chandra Bose.”

'Was nervous about shooting with Rajkummar' Naveen Kasturia’s look in Bose: Dead/Alive

Working with Rajkummar Rao, who plays the enigmatic leader, brought back memories for Kasturia — the latter was an assistant director on Rao’s ‘Love Sex Aur Dhokha’ (2010). “I remember I’d go to the vanity van to call Raj for his shots,” he reminisces and goes on to add, “I was nervous about shooting with Raj. He gave me tips to get my character right, also teaching me how to smoke, for a scene.”

'Was nervous about shooting with Rajkummar' Rajkummar Rao as Bose

Besides Bose, the actor has also begun shooting for a new web series, Social, that stars Rana Daggubati. About his role, Kasturia says, “I play a doting brother who is in search of his missing sister. The kidnapping goes on to unravel many more mysteries.”

With two web series and a film with Naseeruddin Shah under his belt, he feels his career is finally shaping up the way he had envisioned. “After Pitchers, I felt I had arrived. But, I wasn’t offered anything for a year. Now, things are finally picking up. Acting has given me respect and exposure. It’s all I want to do.”

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