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Margaret Atwood is writing a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, her prescient 1985 novel later adapted for a hit series on Hulu. Announced last Wednesday and expected in September 2019, The Testaments is set 15 years after the protagonist’s final scene in the original book and is narrated by three female characters. An informed expert on dystopian, patriarchal societies, the prolific Canadian author of Alias Grace, Oryx and Crake and the MaddAddam trilogy will also be honoured today by leading women’s rights organisation Equality Now. The Make Equality Reality gala will also laud The Hate U Give actress Amandla Stenberg and behavioural geneticist Sue Smalley at the Beverly Hilton hotel. Atwood, 79, spoke with The Times about penning a Handmaid’s Tale sequel and writing work that inspires readers to take action. Congratulations on being honoured by Equality Now. Yes, I’m being honoured but really, I’m helping them to raise money. They fight for women’s rights, and that’s the kind of feminist I am. They’re based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which everyone should go back and read because they’ve forgotten about it. They are real activists, that’s what they do every day. I’m not a real activist. The difference between them and me is that I’m just a person who doesn’t have a job, so people like me have the privilege of getting to mouth off because nobody can fire them. The Handmaid’s Tale has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity, from the Hulu series adaptation to the use of its signature garb in legislative demonstrations. Why write a sequel? That’s easy to answer. Number one, it’s fun. But that’s a very frivolous answer. Number two, I’ve been asked these questions by readers for 35 years. “Oh, come on, Margaret!” So it’s time to address some of the requests. It’s not a continuation that starts five minutes after the book ends and then I tell you what happens next. It takes place 15 years after the book ends. [I’ve had the idea] over the past five years or so. I’m almost finished with it. Your Wednesday announcement said it’s inspired by “the world we’ve been living in.” What did you mean? The news has become so much more extreme. What about these people in Ohio that are saying motherhood should be mandatory? They haven’t done it yet, they’re talking about it. But when people talk about things like that, being the age I am, I’m remembering that Hitler said it all in Mein Kampf and then he did it. If they had the power, they would do it. These ideas have been tried before. What I’m fixated on now, of course, like all Canadians, is we’ve got our faces jammed up against the plate-glass window, looking into your country. What kind of shenanigans will they be up to next? What’s gonna happen next? I’ve never seen anything like it, and neither has anybody else. On one hand, it’s just riveting, and on the other hand, it’s quite appalling. What’s the key to any successful sequel, even if it’s more than 30 years after a previous instalment? Who knows? Let’s see if it does work. The jury is not in. But I did the MaddAddam trilogy, so I think this is true for any world invention: You have to be consistent with your own axioms. I’m not going to say more [about The Testaments]. You can’t pry it out of me. I can tell you that [my publishers] do have a cover, and they will be releasing it later. And they are going to release a newsletter that people can subscribe to. It’ll probably be things like, “Got up this morning, had some coffee, did some copy-editing … ” Stuff you really need to know. That’s their idea, that it’s sort of like a diary. “Now it’s at the printer, and I got it back, and there were 115 typographical errors!” [Laughs] Well, that is not going to happen. What women’s rights initiatives have excited you lately? Just yesterday, I was having a meeting about a new development under the umbrella of the Canadian Women’s Foundation called AfterMeToo. It will be a web-based initiative available to all that will provide people with the things they want and need the most: safe reporting, immediate counselling and third-party investigation. As in, not from within the company or educational institution because when it comes from within, is the main goal to fix our PR or to help the person? As we know, they tend to do what’s best for them. It’s been super troubling to watch over the years. This will help people make informed decisions, presenting them with their options and chances of success and steps you need to take. If I do this, what will happen? What sorts of resources can I depend on? If I’m going to be a witness in a court case, do I get to have a lawyer? The knowledge of this is almost nonexistent among the kinds of people who are the most vulnerable. What advice do you have for authors aligning their fiction with social-justice issues? People don’t like being preached to when they’re reading fiction, and avoiding that is manuscript-specific. And with any manuscript, some people are going to like it, some people are going to hate it and some people are going to be indifferent. You have a problem if everybody hates it, and you probably have a problem if everybody likes it. So it’s then, what is good writing? The “art for art’s sake” people will have a different answer than the Victorian moralists. Look at the trial of Madame Bovary. People forget these things and they forget that Hitler and Stalin and the Inquisition were big book burners. It’s always gonna be this tug of war between a freedom of expression and “in the interest of the public good, we’re not only gonna burn your book but also fry you at the stake.” So how much of a lynch mob do you want to inspire? We’re not there yet. We’re not seeing big piles of books being burnt in the streets. Remember, you can have totalitarianisms on the left as much as you can on the right. It’s not a question of, this side is good, this side is bad; it’s when things get to an extreme, they look much the same. You’re active on Twitter, which can be overwhelming with our current news cycle as well as reader questions. How do you manage? I can’t read everything. It’s not humanly possible. I have rules, but like everybody else, I don’t necessarily obey them. “Now I’m going to go to bed” isn’t always a self-admonishment to which I liveth. I would love to have a schedule that I actually paid any attention to.  —Los Angeles Times/TNS

Newly wed Ranveer Singh knows the secret for a happy married life: Say ‘yes’ to everything your wife says. He made the remark while looking at his wife Deepika Padukone at their wedding reception on Saturday night that brought together a host of personalities ranging from Bollywood megastar Big B to cricketer M S Dhoni. Amitabh danced to his song Jumma Chumma and superstar Shah Rukh Khan hit the dance floor with actress Malaika Arora on their hit track Chaiyya chaiyya at the star-studded gala which saw the stars letting their hair down. Ranveer and Deepika hosted a wedding reception, a black-tie industry party night at The Grand Hyatt on Saturday in Mumbai, where well-known personalities from Bollywood, sports and political background were present. From the pictures and videos of the party circulated on social media, it seems the celebs had a gala time at the event, which has rounded up days of celebrations around their nuptials which took place in mid-November in Lake Como, Italy. Not only Big B and SRK, actors like Karisma Kapoor and Varun Dhawan danced their heart out with Ranveer on a song from Judwaa. In one of the videos, the Band Baaja Baaraat actor can be seen rapping along with rapper Divine. But it was Ranveer’s speech which added a spunk. Though new to married life, Ranveer already seems to know what it takes to have a happily ever after. Actress Shilpa Shetty Kundra’s husband Raj Kundra uploaded a video in which Ranveer can be seen sharing words of wisdom. “The key to success in life is to say yes to everything that she says,” he said, pointing at Deepika. “So when baby says, ‘Baby, change the vibe of the music’, I have to oblige,” Ranveer said. The list of attendees also included, actor Hrithik Roshan, Sara Ali Khan, Ishaan Khatter, Disha Patani, Tiger Shroff, Aditi Rao Hydari, Radhika Apte, Jim Sarbh, Lara Dutta along with husband Mahesh Bhupathi, Vidya Balan with Siddharth Roy Kapoor, Hema Malini with son-in-law Bharat Takhtani, producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra and his wife Anupama Chopra, Vicky Kaushal, Rekha, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Kalki Koechlin, Nimrat Kaur, R Madhavan and his wife Sarita Birje. For the evening, the couple arrived looking nothing short of regal. Ranveer wore a classic black piece suit with a bow tie designed by Rohit Gandhi and Rahul Khanna. Deepika was dressed in a deep red Zuhair Murad ensemble. – IANS

Mira, Royal Detective, an animated mystery-adventure series inspired by the culture and customs of India, is slated to debut on Disney Junior channel and programming blocks around the world in 2020. The production has already begun. Set in the magical Indian-inspired land of Jalpur, the series follows the brave and resourceful Mira, a commoner who is appointed to the role of royal detective after solving a mystery that involves saving the kingdom’s young prince. The role of Mira will be voiced by 15-year-old newcomer Leela Ladnier. “We are eager to introduce kids and their families to the rich, diverse cultures and customs of India through Mira, a young girl who looks at things with her own unique lens to gain different perspectives and help others in her community. “We hope that she will encourage our audience to actively engage with the inspiring world around them and appreciate the little details that make life extraordinary,” Joe D’Ambrosia, Senior Vice President, Original Programming, Disney Junior, said in a statement. As a royal detective, Mira travels throughout the kingdom helping royals and commoners alike. Along with her friend Prince Neel, a talented inventor, creative cousin Priya, and comical mongoose sidekicks Mikku and Chikku, she will stop at nothing to solve a case, taking young viewers on adventures that highlight critical thinking and encourage deductive reasoning. Rooted in India’s vibrant heritage, each episode will weave authentic music, dance and customs into two 11 minutes stories. In addition to Ladnier, the Mira, Royal Detective voice cast includes, Freida Pinto as Queen Shanti; Hannah Simone as a young commoner named Pinky; Jameela Jamil as Mira’s Auntie Pushpa; Kal Penn and Utkarsh Ambudkar as Mikku and Chikku respectively; Aasif Mandvi as Mira’s father; Sahil; Sarita Choudhury as Prince Neel’s Great-Aunt Rupa; Aparna Nancherla as Mira’s cousin Meena; Kamran Lucas as Prince Neel; Karan Brar as Prince Veer; Karan Soni as twins Ranjeet and Manjeet; Sarayu Blue as the palace tailor; Parvesh Cheena and Sonal Shah as bandits, Manish and Poonam, respectively; and newcomer Roshni Edwards as Mira’s cousin Priya. – IANS

Dance like nobody’s watching, even when one of the most notable personalities of community is sitting right in front of you, watching. Now, that’s a bigger challenge. But, UNI proves their dancing prowess every time they take over a stage or two and puts up a performance to detail, and to remember. These are real dancers, dressed in sweatpants and tank tops; their beautiful, fluidly moving bodies are always the focus at any event.  UNI is a Doha-based Nepali dance troupe that frequently performs at local community events. Established in 2013 with merely five members, now UNI has grown to a cluster of 15 members including Nepali boys and girls from different age groups.  Given the freewheeling spirit of the performance, the group is well recognised among Indian, Bengali, Pakistani and Filipino communities in Doha. From performing at Qatar National Day celebrations, organised by Ministry of Interior, to staging a performance to raise funds for the earthquake victims of Nepal in 2015, UNI knows their business well and translates it to detail with self-expression. UNI has been a part of more than a dozen dance videos, including tutorials and have performed for various music experts including Nepathye, music band, and Pramod Kharel, Nepali singer.  Sometimes it’s a thwarting struggle, but UNI has successfully managed to place itself on the map of established performers in Doha in less than a decade.  Youb Raj Oli, Dance Director at UNI, came to Doha in 2011 to work as an accountant. For seven years Oli was a dance teacher in Kathmandu, before he moved to Qatar. “My first dance performance in Doha was not even scheduled. As I saw a couple of artistes performing at an event, I requested the organisers to give me a chance. That’s how it all started,” says Oli.  Oli founded UNI with his four friends including, Deepak Magar, Shekhar KC, Shekhar Tamang and Lucky Bista, who later left for Kathmandu to pursue dancing as a career, leaving Oli behind, with the sole responsibility of the troupe.  On talking about the experience of joining UNI, Rohit Bishwokarma, a dancer member of UNI, said, “I come from a poor family and I was always discouraged to dance because it didn’t pay well back then. But now, my friends and families are happy about it.” Munal Gurung, another dance member of UNI, came to Qatar in 2010 as a driver and later joined UNI to pursue his passion for dancing. Munal has been felicitated with numerous awards and certificates for dancing ever since. He also supports the crew from the backstage. Well how he joined the dance masters? “I met Youb Raj Oli at an event organised by Struggle Band and that’s how things came into place. I haven’t looked back, ever since.” Other members of UNI included Bhupendra Bharati who comes from east Nepal and specialises in traditional folk dance; Kisore Thapa, Sandip Pariyar, Romit Poudel, specialises in hip-hop genre; Mahesh Babu Chhetri, Nisha Sherpa, a female member of UNI; and Soni Bhujel among others. UNI also provides a platform to amateur and professional dancers from Nepal, who work partime with the dance group, juggling between their job and interest. The members of UNI aspires to establish a dance institute in their home country.

Actress Kangana Ranaut, who will be seen playing the role of Rani Laxmibai in Manikarnika - The Queen of Jhansi, hopes that her forthcoming film gets a solo release at the box office early next year. Kangana was interacting with the media at the 25th anniversary of Swiss Watchmaker brand Chopard where the brand unveiled ‘Happy Sport Collection’ yesterday. There were reports that Hrithik Roshan starrer Super 30 is running behind it’s due schedule since the time the film’s director Vikas Bahl’s name cropped up in harassment cases and therefore, the film will not be able to release on January 25 along with Manikarnika - The Queen of Jhansi. When asked whether this situation is favourable for her film, Kangana said, “It’s very good thing because I feel we should remember people who have sacrificed their lives for the freedom of our country on days like Independence Day and Republic Day.” “Our film has a patriotic theme so, that date is very important for us and we will be very happy to have a solo release on that day.” When asked how the post-production work of the film is going on, Kangana said, “Actually, we were feeling that we are in a war zone because the post-production of the film is taking place. “Our film is on a huge scale so there are lots of VFX involved in the film but now by the grace of God, our deadlines are under control. It’s an amazing experience. After January 25, I will be very happy to sort of take a little break and go somewhere because I have been working so long on this film.” Manikarnika - The Queen of Jhansi” also stars Ankita Lokhande, Atul Kulkarni, Vaibhav Tatwawaadi, Danny Denzongappa, Suresh Oberoi and Jisshu Sengupta in key roles. It is directed by Krish and produced by Zee Studios in association with Kamal Jain and Nishant Pitti. The film is scheduled to be released on January 25. – IANS

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE, California — After travelling 300 million miles through the solar system, Nasa’s InSight spacecraft descended through the Martian sky on Monday and touched down safely on the smooth surface of Elysium Planitia shortly before noon Pacific time. The news elicited cheers, high-fives and fist-bumps from the scientists and engineers assembled at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge. It means that the two-year mission to study the inside of Mars — formally called Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport — is a go. “Touchdown confirmed,” mission commentator Christine Szalai announced at 11:54am. InSight launched from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base in May and, after an uneventful seven-month cruise, closed in on Mars over Thanksgiving weekend. That meant engineers spent their holiday finessing the spacecraft’s final approach. They checked and double-checked InSight’s trajectory, aiming it toward a 6-by-15-mile keyhole in the Martian atmosphere that would guide the vehicle toward a carefully chosen landing spot on the ruddy surface. On Sunday afternoon, they gave the spacecraft one final nudge. Weather forecasts from Nasa’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter showed that the outlook was sunny with a low chance of dust storms, so engineers skipped their last chance to tweak InSight’s landing procedure Monday morning. The pieces were in place; there was nothing more for Earthlings to do. At 11:39am, InSight screamed into the Martian atmosphere and, as expected, lost communication with Earth. A focused quiet fell over the rows of engineers in mission control at JPL, as everyone waited for signals confirming that InSight had made it through a series of crucial steps. Some hunched close to their computer screens, others glanced around for updates. In this room, engineers have seen the delicate dance of entry, descent and landing go flawlessly — and fatally — on previous missions. Unlike on previous missions, however, the InSight team had the benefit of two experimental satellites that tracked InSight’s progress. The Mars Cube One satellites, known as MarCOs, locked onto the spacecraft before it entered the Martian atmosphere and continuously relayed information back to mission control. The signals were delayed by the eight minutes it took for radio waves to travel from Mars, meaning InSight’s fate had already been sealed by the time anyone at JPL heard about it. Still, the team members — all clad in burgundy shirts emblazoned with the InSight logo — watched with rapt attention. First, radio telescopes in West Virginia and Germany registered a slight change in the frequency of InSight’s signal, indicating that its parachute had inflated and the craft had slowed down. A round of applause rippled through mission control; one engineer flashed a thumbs up. Seconds later, InSight discarded its heat shield and deployed its legs. Then it informed the MarCOs that its radar found the ground, again prompting restrained clapping in mission control. Two engineers turned to each other and high-fived. “This is really good news,” said Rob Manning, JPL’s chief engineer. After it shed its back shell and chute, InSight fired its retrorockets. Szalai kept announcing its altitude as the craft floated down to the surface: 400 metres above Mars, 300 metres, 200 metres. The tension grew as the numbers fell. “The hairs on the back of my neck would start rising a little bit higher and a little bit higher,” said project manager Tom Hoffman. Finally, the MarCOs watched as InSight touched down on the surface of Mars. Mission control erupted into cheers as engineers leaped to their feet, shaking hands and hugging. “This never gets old,” Manning said. An added bonus arrived a few minutes later: The MarCOs transmitted a photo snapped by InSight of its new surroundings. Through the dust-speckled lens, it shows a flat surface with a rock in the foreground. InSight also caught one of its legs in the shot. The celebrations extended far beyond JPL. There was a party in New York’s Times Square, where people huddled under umbrellas to watch a live stream of the landing in the rain. Even the astronauts on the International Space Station radioed Houston to send their congratulations. On Monday evening, Nasa’s Mars Odyssey orbiter confirmed that InSight successfully unfurled its circular solar panels. Its landing sequence complete, InSight will get a few weeks’ rest after its long journey. But not the scientists and engineers working on the mission. “Now we start our work,” said Farah Alibay, a payload systems engineer whose job depended on a smooth landing. If one parachute string had become tangled, or one descent thruster failed to fire, the spacecraft may not have recovered, she said. “Every single thing had to go right.” The science team will have to decide exactly where and when to deploy InSight’s instruments, and they will get started by analysing details in the first photo, like how the lander’s foot has settled into the lava plain beneath it. “We’ll be studying that and looking at the amount of dirt on it, looking at the kind of dust, trying to figure out distribution of particle sizes, all this kind of stuff,” said Bruce Banerdt, InSight’s principal investigator. After that, Alibay and the rest of the surface operations team will test all their commands on ForeSight, a replica of the lander housed at JPL, before sending them to Mars. When engineers have ironed out all the kinks, InSight will wake up. Using a robotic arm, the lander will install a super-sensitive seismometer on the Martian surface, where it will listen for meteorite impacts and Marsquakes. The seismic waves from these events will give scientists a clearer picture of the planet’s internal structure. InSight will then deploy its heat probe, a self-hammering 16-inch nail that will burrow down as deep as 16 feet over the course of several weeks. The instrument will measure how much heat escapes from Mars’ interior, which will reveal the amount of heat-producing radioactive elements it contains and how geologically active the planet is today. InSight’s radio signals will also be used to track the wobble of Mars’ orbit. This will help researchers understand the size and state of the Martian core. Together, these experiments will crack open Mars and spill the planetary secrets scientists have sought for decades, said JPL geophysicist Suzanne Smrekar, the deputy principal investigator for the mission. “I can’t say how satisfying it is to be within a stone’s throw of getting that information about Mars,” she said.  —Los Angeles Times/TNS

The 7th Convention of Non-Resident Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NNFIN) was recently organised at Gulf Horizon Hotel. The programme was chaired by Debaraj Rai, President of NNFIN.  Narendra Gayawali, Labour Attaché at the Embassy of Nepal, along with other Nepali entrepreneurs, journalists and community leaders attended the event. The event was attended by over 300 members of Nepali community in Doha. All the participants attended the event dressed in their own traditional dress and attire.  The newly elected office bearers of NNFIN, includes Shiva Bhujel Pursatahm Sunawar, First Vice President; Ram Kumar Mandal, Second Vice President; Sagar Tungabafa, General Secretary; Yak Raj Rai, Co Secretary; Tej Gurung, Secretary; Mahila Bahiba Tamang, Treasurer; and Hari Bahadur Mahato, Co Treasurer. Other members of NNFIN, includes Pit Bahadur Gurung, Yubaraj Bhujel, Sohan Bhujel, Ramesh Bhujel, Vogandra Yakkumba Limbu, Bibash Madan Limbu, Sapana Jabagu Limbu, Gajendra Sunuwar, Kancha Ram Tamang, Rameshor Mandal, Suraj Mandal, Abi Ram Mandal, Narendra Chamling Rai, Gyanu Rai, Rup Narayan Chaudary and Pusma Moktan Tamang.

“Happy families are all alike,” Leo Tolstoy wrote, but Leo Tolstoy never met the Shibatas, front and centre in Shoplifters and happy in a way incontestably their own. The winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and another triumph for admired Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda, a master of unforced intimacy, this wise and insightful film is delicate, poignant and unexpectedly powerful. More than that, under Koreeda’s sensitive, casually assured direction, Shoplifters imperceptibly deepens as it goes on, revealing secrets and lies and expanding its emotional effect on the way to its moving ending. For Shoplifters well understands that family is the most intimate and problematic entity in all our lives. It calls on us to rethink its very nature, its limits, pleasures and responsibilities, unfolding a story that grows in complexity and intimacy almost without our knowing it. Shoplifters is in some ways the culmination of more than two decades of exemplary work, often involving family questions, by Koreeda, whose previous credits include the one-of-a-kind After Life, Nobody Knows, Still Walking and the Cannes jury prizewinning Like Father, Like Son. Although the multi-generational Shibatas are without a doubt happy, they are also an apologetically unconventional group, a family whose roots can be traced back to both Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist and the classic intergenerational dramas of Japan’s Yasujiro Ozu. Not to put too fine a point on it, but from the preschool-age youngest girl to the oldest grandmother, they are – as the title indicates – hustlers and scam artists every one, existing on society’s fringe, but bright-eyed despite it all. This good cheer comes from father Osamu (Koreeda veteran Lily Franky), a genial man employed as a day labourer on Tokyo construction sites but supplementing the family income with strategic shoplifting. After all, Osamu believes, as he tells anyone who will listen, “Whatever’s in a store doesn’t belong to anyone yet.” In fact, Shoplifters opens with a scene of artful pilfering in a neighbourhood supermarket, executed with the precision of a military operation by Osamu and his 12-year-old son Shota (Kairi Jyo) When the two return home, we meet the rest of the clan, including mother Nobuyo (Sakura Ando), older sister Aki (Mayu Matsuoka) and cranky grandmother Hatsue (the veteran Kirin Kiki, who died in September at age 75). The film’s actual plot begins with Osamu and No-buyo taking a walk around their neighbourhood on a cold night and hearing a small voice crying and sniveling plaintively from a ground-level balcony. The voice belongs to Juri (Miyu Sasaki), a woebegone 5-year-old waif with a pitiable face. Sensing neglect and acting on an altruistic impulse, they take her home for the night. Though Hatsue grumbles, “Can’t you bring home something to make money?,” once the discovery of bruises and scars indicates actual parental abuse, the decision is made to take her in permanently. As Juri integrates into the family and is shown the ropes of shoplifting, we gradually learn more about the people she shares a house with. Nobuyo, for instance, works at an industrial-scale laundry, grandmother Hatsue largely, but not entirely, depends on her pension, and Aki turns out to be a soft-core sex worker, dressing up like a schoolgirl and gyrating for anonymous men who sit stoically behind one-way glass. All these people, even those you might not think would, yearn for human connection and experience the complexity of that need, negotiating shifting relationships with one another as well as a society at large that has its own moralistic point of view and doesn’t necessarily understand the nuances of the Shibatas’ lives. Taking little Juri into their circle, though done with the best of intentions, leads to a crescendoing series of consequences that put the family in kinds of jeopardy no one anticipated while revealing things no one could know. One of the paradoxical qualities that makes Koreeda such an exceptional director is that his people-oriented stories – and this one is no different – tend to sound more ordinary and less magical than they play on-screen. In some ways, it makes more sense to describe a film like Shoplifters by what it doesn’t do as much as by what it does. It doesn’t oversimplify, it doesn’t overemphasise obvious points, it doesn’t hit viewers over the head. Instead, aided by sensitive, empathetic acting, Koreeda uses a quiet, humanistic touch that moves without smothering, that enables us to see his characters as whole people and to understand the difference between what society says it values and what it actually does. People and their stories, Koreeda believes, are what involve us most. Tolstoy would definitely understand. – Los Angeles Times/TNS

Actor-producer Aamir Khan feels the Hindi industry needs to pay more to writers, who are a fundamental part of the moviemaking process. Aamir attended the grand finale of Cinestaan India’s Storyteller Script Contest 2018, and said such competitions could bring out more talent. He was joined by writers Juhi Chaturvedi and Anjum Rajabali. “I felt really happy when I came to know that Anjum (Rajabali) is very keen to organise the screenwriting competition because India is a huge country. There are people who want to tell different kind of stories but they don’t get the opportunity, so it’s a good platform where people can send their stories,” the PK actor said. “The film industry also needs competitions like these as we need fresh writers with different perspectives so, when Anjum invited me, Juhi (Chaturvedi) and Rajuji (Hirani). We thought it is a really nice attempt and we should support it,” the actor said. Writers’ remuneration has always been a talking point in the film industry. Asked whether writers should be paid enough so that they can come up with good stories, Aamir said: “This script writing competition is an endeavour to encourage people to come and write and we shouldn’t stop here. In the film industry as producers, we should be paying much more to the writers. “I choose my film on the basis of scripts, so I think writers are the most important aspect of filmmaking because a story is the origin of a film. When a writer writes a good script, after that we all associate with that project. In that sense, a writer is actually the fundamental person in this whole process.” Aamir said he is trying to create a revenue model for writers in the industry, in collaboration with writers and producers. “There is no doubt that a film is a director’s medium because he becomes the narrator of the story and it’s a team work where actors and technicians are also involved. But the writer is a person from whom a story originates, so I feel a writer should get revered position and the monetary compensation for a writer should definitely be higher in the industry. “On that issue, we have discussed a lot and we are trying to create a revenue model also for that.” As part of Cinestaan India’s Storytellers Script Contest, launched by Cinestaan Digital Pvt Ltd, winners were awarded cash prizes worth Rs50 lakh. While giving away the top award, Aamir said: “Without a good script, there can never be a good film. There are many good and deserving writers in our country. However, not all of them have the right platform or opportunities to showcase their talent. This platform aims at achieving precisely that.” – IANS

  This year has proved to be quite a memorable one for Sajal Aly; She appeared in two much-discussed drama serials: Yaqeen Ka Safar and O Rangreza, both on premier entertainment channel HUM TV. Sajal has been working steadily since her breakout in Mehmoodabad Ki Malkain (a family drama on the private TV channel ARY Digital in 2011) and she’s racked up a long list of accolades along the way, including winning two nominations at the prestigious Lux Style Awards 2018 for Best Actress category and bagging Best Female Actress Award at HUM Awards, not just once but thrice.  It is strange to see her on the television screen in difficult roles, that defines her intense small screen prowess, where in real life she is indissolubly refined, kind, polite and real. Well a lot of actors are in some sort of character in interviews, but the Sajal I meet is, I think, the Sajal you would meet at home. She is simply relaxed and very, very cool as she passes on a soda can and asks me to catch it instantly.  The 24-year-old’s eyes caterwauls as she moves from one project to another; completing her shoot for Aangan (Courtyard in English), an upcoming period drama serial on HUM TV starring alongside Ahad Raza Mir, Mawra Hocane, Ahsan Khan and Sonya Hussayn among others. As the first teaser of Aangan was released, there was deluge of love and appreciation from the fans of the young actress, sharing their videos dubbed with Sajal’s Aagan’s dialogues.  She laughs with gracefulness, even though her eyes are full of mischievous shine, that she then tempers with a deeper reflection or two.“Chammi is a larger than life character. She is the representation of the perseverance, heart and heart-breaking positivity. Every character in the play is equally important. Usually it happens that in a drama its one lead and the story revolves around that particular character, but in Aangan every character has its own journey. It’s about everyone involved and follows multiple beautiful characters. What makes it interesting is that it focuses on the partition of a family. The real ‘drama’ is seeing the physical and emotional divide of a country,” says Sajal Written by Mustafa Afridi, Aangan is set in 1940s touching the base of pre-partition era. Where viewers have already set a benchmark of a period drama with Daastan that was aired on HUM TV, in 2010, and featured Sanam Baloch and Fawad Khan as the protagonists. Is there any similarity between Aangan and Daastan? “Well except the timeline, there’s no similarity between the two,” says Sajal. “Why would we want to repeat the same thing? Even the shots we’ve taken are very different. You can sense that from the teasers,” she added.  The first teaser showed some intense chemistry between Sajal Aly and Ahad Raza Mir’s characters as Chammi and Jamil to which Sajal responds, “We’ve shot teasers for each character, not just me and Ahad. There are about eight teasers in total. I never wanted my teaser to come out first. But then the team decided to roll out the play with me and Ahad’s character. So here it is. You see we still have individual teasers to come out yet.” Almost a decade now since we’ve been seeing Sajal brightening up our television screens and portraying characters we can relate to in our everyday life. “For the past couple of years, I have been stressing more about me being relatable to the characters I play on screen. As an independent individual I have a certain set of principles that I follow in my life, taught to me by my beloved mother and the environment we live in; I tend to look for those principles in a script.” says Sajal Aly. Sajal Aly did Zindagi Kitni Haseen Hay, a Pakistani film in 2016, and then a Bollywood film, Mom (2017) alongside Siri Devi. So can we look forward to Sajal taking over the cinema screens yet again? “Yes. There are few things in the pipeline. But for me script is the most important thing. I’ll only go for it only if the script I’m offered is as strong as the characters I portray in my serials. I wouldn’t like to do something conventional – a deep rooted, strong character is all I’m looking forward to,” says Sajal Sajal is currently shooting for her upcoming drama serial Alif alongside Hamza Ali Abbasi, Kubra Khan and Ahsan Khan.

National Award-winning actor Sunny Deol says the art of acting cannot be learnt in classrooms and that it comes from observations in real life. Known for his performance in iconic films like Border, Gadar – Ek Prem Katha, The Hero: Love Story of a Spy, Yamla Pagla Deewana and Ghayal, Sunny said: “You cannot learn acting... The core of it cannot be learnt in a classroom. You learn acting from observation, from exploration as you progress in life.” “Of course when it comes to staging a performance, there are certain technicalities that can be taught, but one has to articulate and use their voice and body in a manner to perform because stage performance is live. When it comes to cinema, a camera can capture the finest movement of your eyes through close-ups. So as a film actor, one has to internalise the character to deliver it on-screen,” added Sunny, who went to a film school in London in his younger days and attended classes in theatre and performing arts. Asked if being the son of yesteryears superstar Dharmendra, acting was a natural choice for him, Sunny said: “As a child, I had problems in reading and writing. but my IQ and reflex was very good. Therefore, though in the class I was not a great student, I used to score pass marks. I was rather very good at sports and other co-curricular activities.” “After a certain age, of course, we all had to decide on our career and that is when I realised that acting and performance is my true calling. More than attending an acting class, I went abroad for my self-discovery which was not possible otherwise in India.” “It is only natural for people to find a shadow of my father in me... But as an individual, to find my own self I had to go away from all these,” he added. Having started his career in 1983 with Betaab, Sunny won National Awards for films like Ghayal in 1990 and Damini – Lightning in 1993. Known primarily for his action-oriented performances, he also bagged several awards for films. Sunny’s younger brother Bobby Deol and cousin Abhay Deol too are actors. Asked that being the elder in the family, how did he deal with the pressure as a youngster initially, Sunny said: “Of course I was aware of the pressure being the son of a superstar like my dad, but I never let the pressure pounce on me to find my signature as an actor. “One cannot grow under pressure, so I was never a youngster who was bothered about how the world is going to perceive me. My theory is, ‘I want to present myself the way I am, then let the world decide how they take it.’” So, is he now teaching the same to his elder son Karan, who is gearing up to make his Bollywood debut with Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas? “Look, I know that he is going to face the same pressure... The expectation is high from him and that is again, very natural. But the best way to grow in life is keeping the pressure and others’ expectation aside and focus on skill,” said the 62-year-old actor. – IANS

Suzhou Ballet Theatre (SBT) from China is all set to perform Cinderella, an old classic story, at Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) for two days, tomorrow and November 30. The event is being organised Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra (QPO). The two-day performance will be followed with a workshop titled ‘Dance with Cinderella.’ The workshop will be held at QNCC on December 1 for the young people and children. The Suzhou artistes will explain the story behind the production of the ballet dance. According to the information gathered from QPO, The show will be conducted by Jingkai Sun. Other crew members, include Ying Li and Jiabin Pan, Artistic Directors and Choreographers; Jiang Han, Scenic Designer, Chen Xiaji, Lighting Designer; and Weihong Ran and Jiaguan Xu, Costume Designers. SBT, a dance company, was established in 2007, led by artistic directors Li Ying and Pan Jiabin. The company members come from major ballet companies and dance academies in China. The group is considered one of the youngest, most energetic and vibrant ballet companies in modern China. The company has performed a variety of works from classic to contemporary and modern repertoire. The two artistic directors have created most of the works since the company was established. In 2010, the company choreographed a Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet, which sets itself apart from other classical versions in the world. In 2016, a new production of Cinderella told the classic story in an innovative way to the audiences. The company has already received national and international respect. It has received many awards in China and abroad. As far as Cinderella, it is a well-known classic story, passed down through many generations. Cinderella was first made into a ballet in 1815, but the current Cinderella ballet was written by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev in 1944. It was first presented at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre in 1945. SBT is the first with an original production in China. In the story, Cinderella, a beautiful, brave and kind-hearted girl, loses her mother in her childhood. She never forgets her mother and remembers every piece of advice her mother had given her.  Cinderella’s father remarries a cold, cruel woman who has two daughters of her own. When the father dies, Cinderella’s wicked stepmother turns her into a virtual servant in her own house. Meanwhile, across town in the castle, the king determines that his son the prince should find a suitable bride. So the king invites every eligible maiden in the kingdom to a Royal Ball, where his son will be able to choose his bride.  Cinderella has no suitable party dress for a ball, but as she ends up making one on her own, the evil stepsisters immediately tear it apart on the evening of the ball.  After the stepmother ushers her daughters out the door, Cinderella rushes out of the chateau and into the garden, crying on a bench, that no matter how hard she tries to believe, things will never get better for her. However, she suddenly hears a voice, and encounters an cheerful woman in a light-blue cloak. The woman claims she is her fairy godmother, and intends to help Cinderella go to the ball. Using her magic wand, the Fairy turns a pumpkin into a coach, 4 of the mice into horses, the farm’s horse into a coachman, and the family dog into a footman. The final touch is fixing Cinderella’s dress, which is turned into a beautiful white gown, complete with glass slippers. However, the Fairy cautions her that she all these things will only last until the final stroke of midnight, when everything will turn back to normal. Cinderella then quickly boards her coach, and is taken to the castle. Losing the glass slipper, and the rest, as they say, is fairy tale history. Jingkai Sun is fast gaining an international reputation as one of the most exciting and promising Chinese conductors of his generation. In 2018,Sun was appointed as the resident conductor of the Tianjin Symphony Orchestra. In November 2016, Sun made his debut in Doha conducting the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra and Suzhou Ballet Theatre in the very first China-Qatar co-production of Nutcracker. However, Artistic directors Jiabin Pan and Ying Li are husband and wife. Both are trained dancers and have illustrious careers in ballet dance. They retired in 2006 after making their mark in the field.  In 2007, they returned to Suzhou to further their love of ballet and pursue their passion of choreography. Their creative works for SBT include, Double Happiness, Chopin’s Poem, Dancing on Rock (2008), Su Show (2009), Romeo and Juliet (2010), Coppelia (2011), Legend of Beauty (2012), The Nutcracker (2013), Carmen (2014) and Cinderella (2016). Their innovative creations have received extensive recognition. The other members of the ballet group include Shen Yuem, Liu Yuchengjie, Wu Xu, Shangguan Yuting, Min Xueqing, Wen Shaowei, Min Zihan, Zhou Qiran, Shen Jinyu, Hu Yang, Cui Saiwa, Su Yulin, Liu Yanxu, Zhang Yixu, Lu Zhen, Sun Yi, Chen Tingting, Tan Xianghuizi, Dong Qiang, Ouyang Sunan, Liao Ning, Hu Jiang, Xing Wei, Yang Tianbo, Sun Mengyao, Zhong Chongjia, and Zhao Xu.

In the luxurious surroundings of a top hotel, a parade of glamorous, impossibly slim women walk with gazelle-like grace down the catwalk. Bare midriffs and legs are proudly displayed in intricately embroidered golden fabrics, and there isn’t a veil in sight. This is Pakistan Fashion Week, the jewel in the country’s haute couture crown and an unrivalled glimpse into a creative industry that has surged in recent years.  “The religious identity that is given to our country to some extent precedes the cultural identity. Many things that are beautiful in our culture are often suppressed and not prominent to their full extent at times,” says the fashion designer Fahad Hussayn.  “There is a clash between the religious right and the cosmopolitan youth.” In Pakistan itself, the location of fashion shows is rarely publicised in advance and they are subject to strict security measures. The industry has become a battleground between the religious right, desperate to maintain its influence, and the growing strength of young people, particularly the burgeoning middle classes, with women at the forefront of the battle for Pakistan’s cultural identity. “It’s sad to see the kind of image that Pakistan has in the west. It’s a country that’s full of art, music and creativity and there are lots of talented people here that nobody gets to hear about. “All we hear about is the political turmoil and the religious issues. Everyone thinks it’s all bombs and burqas,” says Adnan Ansari, the celebrity make-up artist and fashion entrepreneur who eight years ago set up Pakistan Fashion Week. “People think the women are very oppressed, but we have a very strong cultural identity which is represented by our clothes. It’s not so much about projecting a positive image, but more a case of projecting a real image of what we are.” The renaissance of Pakistani fashion in the past five years has been the result of a seismic cultural shift where women are becoming more educated and independent with increased access to opportunities in the work place, and many are expressing their new-found socio-cultural freedom and economic power through fashion. Much of this has been fuelled by the boom in social media — to the chagrin of the religious conservatives who feel they are being influenced by the Kardashians. Fashion accounts for nearly 20% of the country’s exports, and with social media influencers hungry for the next big thing, western stars are looking east for inspiration: the supermodel Gigi Hadid hit the headlines in August when she posted a picture of herself on Instagram wearing a traditional Pakistani outfit from the brand Almirah. “Young women in Pakistan are more educated, well-travelled and independent than ever before,” says Ansari. “Middle-class women are very career-orientated and their spending power is very strong. They are very influenced by western media like Netflix and what they see online.”  The liberal attitude has filtered from the catwalk into colleges via Instagram with many young women choosing to forgo the traditional Pakistani shalwar kameez consisting of tunic and loose trousers for jeans and western styles. Consequently the fashion industry has attracted the ire of the increasingly vocal religious conservatives who see this cultural shift as a threat to their authority. “Fashion is criticised in our part of the world, where some parts of society are more conservative,” says the designer, Asim Jofa, who is considered the Pakistani equivalent of Gianni Versace, thanks to his regal and geometric embroidery. “Society is becoming more liberal and women are driving this. This change is reflected in our fashion, but it is going to be contentious for some conservatives because it shows their power is waning.” Sometimes the clash in visions proves more than just contentious. Qandeel Baloch, a model who was regularly targeted for her controversial fashion choices, was killed by her brother in 2016. Her death came after she revealed that she had a flirtatious meeting with a cleric. “People want change to come because the religious extremists don’t allow you to feel safe. It is very scary and painful and there is a real divide. Everyone is sick of it,” says the model, Hira Shah, 25. “Pakistan is changing a lot though and if we are going to change mindsets, we have to be strong.” The trend towards more cosmopolitan fashion is part of a cycle. “Pakistani fashion was very liberal in the 60s and early 70s, but there was a real crackdown under General Zia, who stamped a very religious identity on Pakistan. Women’s bodies were policed through Shariah law and through the media. This started to change in the 90s, but even today there is still the tension between the religious conservatives and the image of women,” said Amina Yaqin, a senior lecturer in post-colonial studies at SOAS. “The tension you see now is that women are taking a stance and want the freedom to wear what they want, but it is not freely available to all women because of a complex network of systems such as class, economic mobility and honour issues. “The new generation from the middle classes are fed up and don’t want to be restricted, and as they become more visible it starts to matter to them. The question is whether this power is real or just being offered for consumption by the fashion industry.” — The Guardian

Around 850 people recently attended a public talk ‘Awakening Health, Harmony, and Happiness’ by Sister Shivani, India’s most sought after motivational speaker, at DPS-Modern Indian School (DPS-MIS). P Kumaran, Ambassador of India, was the chief guest at the event. The event was organised by Doha Meditation Space, in association with the Embassy of India, to promote India’s ancient cultural and social heritage and practices to enhance one’s experience of the ‘three Hs’ including health, harmony and happiness. Sister Shivani said that in order to improve our performance at work or at home, we take a pause, reflect and then change. Similarly, we also need to pause, reflect on our thoughts and look for improvement within. This, in simple terms, is meditation. “While situations may not be fully in my control, my thoughts and hence responses and emotions are fully in my control. Thoughts create my reality, thus I need to watch the frequency of my thoughts. I also need to watch the frequency of the words I use. Words including ‘problem’, ‘busy’ and ‘angry’ are low frequency and have to be transformed into words that reflect the outcome that we want, such as ‘I am successful’, ‘I have all the time I need’, and ‘I am peaceful’. This may seem wishful in the beginning, but as I begin using these words, and start believing in them, they will certainly become my reality. This way, I not only will begin the journey towards happiness and harmony but they also impact my health because every thought I create radiates through my body,” she said. P Kumaran in his address commended the talks of Sister Shivani especially how she inspires and guides others to create a positive mind set.  Sister Jyoti, Adviser to Doha Meditation Space, encouraged everyone to take the opportunities available to lead a healthy and happy lifestyle through the meditation programmes being offered by DMS.

Most record producers will freely admit their aspiration to be a performer before settling for production work. There are only a handful who quickly realise their special talent is in the studio rather than on stage. St. Louis native Leland Tyler Wayne fits neatly into this category. The 25-year-old is better known now as Metro Boomin. As a child, young Leland found production was much more enjoyable than rapping. “I got into the idea of being a rapper through Nelly’s Country Grammar album. Nelly was also from St. Louis and listening to his songs made me want to be the next big-name rapper from our city. “I was already into playing music. I played bass guitar in seventh grade band class at school. I got into production after my mom bought me a computer for Christmas. Friends told me about this FruityLoops software which was a free download and could be used to create songs. “The problem was I needed some beats to rap over and didn’t have the money to buy any. I started trying to make my own beats and found this was a much more interesting and fun way to spend my time rather than trying to rap.” He soon realised there were far more people who wanted to rap than wanted to produce. These prospective rappers needed beats and he could provide them. In high school, he was creating four or five beats virtually every day. “Everything was going well but my mom had an academic career planned out for me. I knew it wouldn’t be easy to convince her my future lay in music production. I put together a document filled with what I’d already achieved and the online research I’d done on the artistes I wanted to work with. Mom gave me her blessing so long as I stayed in school. “Atlanta’s hip hop scene had really taken off at that time. I’d used social media to connect with those southern rappers who were looking for beats. My mom could see I was really starting to make it in production and drove me between St. Louis and Atlanta, about 17 hours, so that I could work with these artistes on weekends. I was in the studio on weekends with people like OJ Da Juiceman and Gucci Mane and then back in high school on Monday morning. It was OJ Da Juiceman’s enthusiasm for his work which effectively gave Leland his professional name. “I’d called myself Metro. That came from the name of a bus line in St. Louis. But OJ kept saying my beats were booming. I liked the idea of having two names rather than just the one so I changed from Metro to Metro Boomin. In 2012, Leland gained a place at Morehouse College in Atlanta. He was now on hand to work with local artistes but still emphasised his education by only working in the studio during his free time. Things came to a head when Karate Chop, his collaboration with Future, became a big hit. “I made the beat when I was still in St. Louis. I didn’t particularly like it. Future actually did the rap for Karate Chop when I wasn’t in the studio with him. “He played me the track and I still didn’t like it even with the lyrics. He kept playing it for everyone who came to the studio. It didn’t grow on me, no matter how many times I heard the song. I was very pleased that so many other people had a completely different view.” The ever increasing demand for Leland’s beats prompted a difficult phone call to his mother. “I’d go to the studio after class, not just at weekends. I would often be working long after midnight and then have to get up early to go to class. Add in all the homework and it was just too much. “I knew I had to choose between college and music. I called my mom and told her I wanted to take a semester off. She was not happy. At the time, it was just going to be a semester rather than completely leaving college so that didn’t sound so bad. But mom has always been my biggest supporter and I’m so happy to be able to give her all the things she deserves.” He is able to do so because, nearly six years later, Metro Boomin is acknowledged as hip hop’s premier producer. He has worked with almost every major name in the genre. Drake, Kanye West, The Weeknd and Travis Scott are just a few of these artistes. He has also released music under his own name. But apart from the 2013 mixtape, 19 & Boomin, everything has been in collaboration with other artistes. He enjoyed a pair of massive hit albums on the Billboard 200 last year. But Without Warning was a collaboration with Offset and 21 Savage while Double or Nothing was with Big Sean. Now though, Metro Boomin has finally released his debut solo album. Not All Heroes Wear Capes has proved hugely successful. It debuted at number one on the Top Rap Albums chart, the Top R&B / Hip Hop Albums chart and the Billboard 200. Although he has co-written and produced or co-produced every track, it does seem a little incongruous to describe the album as a solo record. As with so many other producers, Metro Boomin relies on a collection of artistes to provide vocals for each song. Not that he is concerned about how the album is described. His only objective is to keep producing quality material. “I always want to keep moving forward. People probably won’t understand this but I’ve never really felt like I’ve made it. I just think I’ve made a good start to my career but there is still so much more to do. I always try not to be predictable. I try to be versatile and to keep breaking new ground in the field of production. I want to create songs which will live forever.” Ariana Grande Ariana Grande might be having a rough time in her personal life at the moment but her professional life could hardly be much better. The singer, songwriter and actress is enjoying her first Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper with Thank U, Next, the lead single and title-track from her forthcoming fifth studio album. The song debuted at number one becoming the 32nd single to do so on the Hot 100. It matched this feat on the UK chart and became Ariana’s first track to top the Canadian chart. Thank U, Next also established new records on Spotify. It initially broke the record for most streams in a single day by a female artist. But the mark of 8.19 million streams set on November 5 was surpassed four days later when the song registered 9.6 million streams. It then hit 100 million streams just 11 days after release becoming the fastest track to that number in Spotify history. Although Thank U, Next is Ariana’s first number one on Billboard’s Hot 100, it set a new record as her seventh song to debut in the top ten. Lady Gaga and Rihanna had previously shared the record with Ariana. She also extended her record of debuting in the Hot 100 top ten with the lead single from all five of her studio albums. Surprisingly, there is no official video for Thank U, Next. One should surely be available soon but fans currently have just an official audio at www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OeR5XBEahU, a lyric video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEhZAHZQyf4 and a live performance on the Ellen De Generes show at www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX_vx_s6Gr0 Cardi B Music stars can become extremely wealthy but it takes a while for the money to reach them when they start out in the business. So, it is that only now has rap star Cardi B been able to enjoy what she described as the happiest day of her life. Her delight came about from buying a dream home in New York for her mother. Cardi shared her joy with fans by posting a video on her Instagram page showing a walk-through of her mother’s new house. “I was so thirsty to buy a house for my mom last year,” she said. “But the kind of house I wanted her to have wasn’t in my price range at the time. I worked and worked to make the extra money and now I’m here. Thank you to everybody who supported me to make my childhood dream come true.” In other news, Cardi’s income received a considerable boost from the sales of her first clothing collection. She teamed with the Fashion Nova company to create 82 pieces which proved so popular that they sold out in minutes. The sales reportedly earned Cardi $10 million. “Fashion Nova gave me the opportunity to design whatever I liked,” she stated. “I wanted people to look good and high end but at an affordable price.”

Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar, who is gearing up for the release of Tamil entertainer 2.0 as a film distributor, says the southern film industry has made Hindi movie makers feel inferior in a good way. Karan was interacting with the media at a press conference on 2.0 along with film’s antagonist Akshay Kumar and director S Shankar here on Saturday. South Indian cinema has been always ahead in term of budget, scale and technology. Asked about how Bollywood needs to up its game, Karan said: “I think the great moves of many of the filmmakers in the south have encouraged that movement even in Hindi cinema. I think it is because there is a 2.0 and there was a Robot and a Baahubali, that there will be cinema spectacles which will actually follow them.” “We had the gumption, glory and guts to make it because we have seen the success. In many ways, the southern film industry has pioneered this movement of meeting narrative and technology for like, decades. They get their stories, emotions, scale and technology bang on.” Karan said the southern film industry has made Hindi filmmakers feel inferior, but in a positive way. “Some of us get stuck in a rut. We don’t get out of that rut. We believe that we are in a safe spot but the truth is that we are not. They have taught us and made us feel inferior in a good way.” “I say that with positivity because it encourages us to do much better. So far, we had very few big events in the last decade mainly by filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali who has given beautiful cinema spectacles. But now, you will see a flurry and a plethora of them and for that, thanks to the southern film industry.” “So, more power. And may the force of technology, narrative, emotion and success always be with them.” Since Karan has collaborated with two big South Indian films, when asked whether he will ever direct a south Indian film, he said: “No... I will always direct films in the language I know because I believe I will be able to justify the material much better but collaborating with their vision is something I hope I can always do.” “I hope I will get the opportunity where films will come to us at Dharma Productions which are of course the best of the lot... I am hopeful that will happen. I am somebody who is a huge fan of Shankar sir’s work, so I hope he brings back all his films to me and then we can do this together.” 2.0 is a science fiction action film written and directed by S Shankar, co-written by B Jeyamohan, and produced by A Subaskaran. The film serves as a sequel to the 2010 Tamil film Enthiran, and features Rajinikanth reprising the roles of Dr Vaseegaran and Chitti, alongside Akshay Kumar and Amy Jackson. The film is set for a worldwide theatrical release on November 29. – IANS

Black history museums and historic sites are flourishing across the South, riding a wave of interest in African-American history that has made a stunning success of the 2-year-old National Museum of African American History and Culture in the nation’s capital. In the past year, museums documenting the civil rights struggle and memorialising lynching victims have opened in Jackson, Mississippi, and Montgomery, Alabama. In Nashville, a museum focusing on African-American music is scheduled to open next year. And in Charleston, SC, construction is set to begin next year on a projected $75 million black history museum that will stand on the former site of Gadsden’s Wharf, the disembarkation point for more than 100,000 Africans brought to America and sold into slavery. At a time when attendance at some large museums is flagging — 12 of the 20 biggest US museums saw flat or lower attendance in 2017 compared with 2016 — the swirl of activity involving black history stands out. In Church Creek on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, for example, a year-old, 17-acre state-national park memorialising the place where Harriet Tubman was born and enslaved was expected to draw 75,000 visitors in its first year; it attracted 100,000. Meanwhile, curators have rewritten exhibits at sites such as Mount Vernon and Monticello, the homes of Presidents George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. They’ve also added information and buildings to teach visitors about the lives of enslaved people who worked on the plantations. “Relevant history is inclusive history. Everyone is racing to do that,” said John Dichtl, president and CEO of the American Association for State and Local History, based in Nashville. Museums and other institutions “are all working on emphasising the history of civil rights and the history of race relations and the history of slavery. It’s a priority for everyone.” History professionals cite several factors for the increased interest, including the availability of more federal money, Barack Obama’s presidency, and the 50th anniversaries of many civil rights milestones. The Black Lives Matter movement, controversies over Confederate monuments, protests by NFL players and last year’s violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, also have prompted more Americans to want to “grapple with these issues of identity, with race, with nationalism and what that means,” according to Brian Carter, president of the Association of African American Museums, based in Washington, DC. “The country is changing. It’s looking at itself in different ways than it has historically,” Carter said. “Museums help people make meaning of their own experiences.” New federal money also has helped. In 2016, the National Park Service began giving grants to African-American historical sites for personnel, programming and research, though not for construction. This year, the park service awarded $12.6 million in grants to 51 projects in 24 states, up from $7.8 million in grants to 39 projects in 2017. And last summer, the National Trust for Historic Preservation announced a $25 million grant campaign to support important African-American sites — including the home of jazz great John Coltrane in Dix Hills, New York. The new museums and historic sites would be happy to achieve a fraction of the success of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. That museum, which occupies a prime location on the National Mall, drew 2.4 million visitors in 2017, making it one of the 10 most-visited museums in the United States. The museum, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution, “raised the bar of awareness around African-American history and museums. It just stimulated wanting to know more,” said Michael Boulware Moore, president of Charleston’s International African American Museum. “This history has largely been muted forever and now this history has been coming out. Now African-Americans, and Americans broadly, are just curious about this.” When the national museum opened, “we thought that might have the impact of sucking all the air out of the room. Just the opposite,” Moore said. Instead, it has been a catalyst for more presentations of black history, rather than the final word on the subject. “I don’t think there’s going to be an oversaturation of African-American history in this country for quite some time,” Moore said. “There are art museums everywhere, and there are history museums everywhere. I see it as really healthy that there will be African-American museums everywhere.” The museum on the Mall also has provided concrete help to other African-American museums. It supports paid internships at museums, including some specifically for students at historically black colleges and universities, and subsidises professional development conferences for museum personnel. And it provides travel grants for museum professionals to attend the annual conference of the Association of African American Museums. States also are investing in campaigns to promote civil rights tourism. Prompted in part by the 50th anniversaries of seminal events of the 1960s, 14 Southern state tourism agencies in January unveiled a joint website detailing stops on what they are calling the US Civil Rights Trail. It lists about 130 destinations, from the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, NC, that was the site of the first sit-in by black students, to a statue of civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer in her birthplace of Ruleville, Mississippi. Obama declared national monuments at civil rights historic sites in Birmingham and Anniston, Alabama, just before leaving office. Now buildings at those sites — the AG Gaston Motel in Birmingham and the Greyhound bus station in Anniston, where Freedom Riders were attacked in 1961 — are being restored with local and federal funds. President Donald Trump last month designated his first national monument at Camp Nelson, near Lexington, Kentucky, where blacks fled during the Civil War to join the Union Army and where they and their families lived in refugee settlements and sought emancipation. His administration also has been expanding the African American Civil Rights Network of historic sites and started the process to designate the Medgar Evers home in Jackson, Miss., as a national monument. Civil rights landmarks have been “overwhelmed by the response and interest,” said Lee Sentell, tourism director for Alabama, which has had its own civil rights trail. “The idea of grouping them under one umbrella has been very well-received because it helps tell the general public that these landmarks are not one-offs,” Sentell said. Instead, the sites “collectively outline the progression that led to landmark Supreme Court decisions and congressional legislation that dismantled legal white supremacy.” The South Carolina African American Heritage Commission last year created a “Green Book” mobile app that includes 300 historic African-American sites in the state. The app is named for the Jim Crow-era guides for black travellers that detailed safe places to get food and lodging. North Carolina is planning its own Green Book app that will include sites that were in the original guidebook. “Cultural tourism, or heritage tourism, is one of the fastest growing markets in the country,” said Jannie Harriot, vice chairperson of the South Carolina commission. “(But) nothing that we do is limited to black people. Sometimes I think white people are more interested in our history than we are. They show up to conferences, they want the information, and sometimes I know it’s for economic reasons — because they know where the trend is now.”  – Stateline.org/TNS

Actor Govinda says the environment in the film industry is not good. The actor said he is disappointed about the Central Board of Film Certification’s (CBFC) opposition to his forthcoming film Rangeela Raja. The censor board has suggested 20 cuts in Rangeela Raja for its theatrical release. To oppose the CBFC’s decision, producer Pahlaj Nihalani had filed a petition earlier this month saying the suggestions were unjustified and uncalled for as he firmly believed that the film was not vulgar in any manner. He also hit out at the present CBFC head Prasoon Joshi, accusing him of being “politically motivated”. When asked when the film will get released, Govinda said: “We will let media and audiences know about the release date of the film. It is unfortunate that CBFC has censored few scenes of our film and because of that, we had to take legal route to release the film.” Govinda said this kind of environment is not good for the film industry. “I don’t see any controversial scenes which are there in the film. I think it has been deliberately done to stop release of the film and it’s not a good environment in the film industry to release the film. I have started my film career with Pahlaj Nihalani’s film, so I hope this film releases without any difficulties,” he added. Earlier, at a press conference, Govinda said that since the last few years some people are deliberately opposing his films’ release by not giving enough screen space and now CBFC has stopped the release of his upcoming film. Do these things hurt him? “It doesn’t hurt me as a person because in the initial period of my career, I haven’t seen such kind of treatment to my films but now people from politics are entering into film business and people from film industry are entering into politics, so that could be the reason that such kind of things are happening in the film industry.” “In the south film industry, we will never see such things because they co-operate with each other. So, we should learn something from them.” Rangeela Raja is a comedy film, written and produced by Nihalani, and directed by Sikander Bharti. The film also features Shakti Kapoor, Prem Chopra and Mishika Chourasia and Anupama Agnihotri in lead roles. – IANS

She was advised to spend at least 20 years in the Asian film market before heading to the West, some asked her to go for something else and some made remarks about her looks. But that didn’t deter actress Claudia Kim from making her Hollywood dream come true. After being part of big films like Avengers: Age of Ultron, The Dark Tower and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, the actress hopes she is representing Asians in the West well, and calls it a “huge responsibility”. “Everyone gets their own story. Before Hollywood happened to me, I just took a break to think about whether I belong in the industry or whether I should be listening to whatever people were telling me,” Kim said in an exclusive interview. “And I was dreaming that maybe there aren’t any boundaries. And also with my identity – being Korean, not American – I had to take time to think about things and take the fact that those things, which might be considered insecurities, could work better and come as a blessing,” she added. What were people telling her when she was introspecting about her career? “That I need to spend at least 20-30 years in the Asian market. Or that I couldn’t do both. (About) Looks and anything. Some people suggested that I should try something else. It was a lot of things but nothing really stood out for me. Nothing felt right and this job as an actor happened by coincidence... but maybe it was not a coincidence. I like to think that it was fate and there was a reason that they found me first.” With conversation around diversity gaining steam in Hollywood, Kim hopes she is representing Asians well. “That is definitely a huge responsibility that I will be carrying throughout my career.” She continued: “We are just starting that movement. Diversity has definitely been increasing but still we have the issue of inclusion and that is why I am so grateful about playing the role of Nagini in the Fantastic Beasts franchise. It is great to have other platforms being developed and to see a lot of Asians being included in a project. To come into a huge franchise where most of the actors and crew are not Asians is important. That is something we all have to work on. I hope for it to flourish.” Talking about getting the role of Nagini, she said: “It was all very inviting. Everyone was so supportive. I watched the trailer with some influencers in New York. I was so nervous to walk into that room because I didn’t expect to have to reveal my character before the film premieres. I didn’t know what to expect and all I heard was cheering, clapping and screaming. And all the people back home are supporting me. It is an honour to play such an iconic and loved character.” Her character is introduced in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, which explores the fight between good and evil, right and wrong – with a focus on belief, tolerance and acceptance. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is set in 1927, 70 years before the Harry Potter franchise. It is the second in the planned five-movie spin-off franchise from the Harry Potter films. The Warner Bros Pictures project opened in India on November 16. What next? “There are some discussions going on. I am also looking to do Asian projects. I always wanted to do both.” – IANS

Clara Figares and Juan M S Clark, journalists and writers from Spain, are the co-founders of Unlocking the Mentors, a private company working on different projects about inspirational persons around the world and relating their stories in book form to the young people. The company’s motto is: “They say a picture is worth a thousand words. We say our inspirational books are worth hundreds of mentors.” The duo is currently in Qatar. They have a select profile of 65 inspirational persons in Qatar and are conducting interviews with these people to bring out a book. Community recently caught up with them to talk about the idea and project at length. How will you best describe the project? Clara: “We are both professionals. We used to work for the media industry in Spain. We have stinted in print, TV and radio. We also worked for same media companies. We have worked in different countries. We used to produce a lot of media content related to economic development and cover different markets and highlight economic opportunities. While working in different countries and meeting different set of inspirational people, we realised that there was not enough attention given to inspiration, when, in fact, human capital is the main resource that spurs economic growth. So, we both realised that there was actually a need to share different inspirational stories from around the world. We decided to create something that is more related to human capital. Then, we realised that the young generations in many countries around the world are looking for inspiration, mentorship and role models. We find that there is a gap that needs to be filled to connect the young people with their role models. We have been working on the idea for over a year. Qatar and Spain form the first part of that endeavor at our end. Juan is currently working on the Spanish edition. Spain is a big market and the work there will take a lot of time. At parallel, I am working on the Qatar edition. Why have you selected Qatar as your first choice? Clara: We both have worked in Qatar earlier. I have worked for over a year and Juan has worked for three years. I have produced different TV documentaries here. We were inspired by some of the Qatari people we met here. This is one of the reasons that we have selected Qatar along with Spain as our first step. Juan is here for few weeks helping me out in collecting the profile of 65 people. Qatar is the first step in our movement. It is going to be a global movement. Qatar and Spain are going to be the leading countries in our movement. I had worked in other countries in the Middle East. The country which inspired me by way of meeting a lot of inspiring people is actually Qatar. That is why, as a personal choice, Qatar comes first for my special edition. One of the other reasons is that Qatar is a country that pushed itself considerably in terms of human capital development. There are plenty of people running different initiatives. They try and encourage youth empowerment. There are different organisations and projects that are very much related to youth empowerment. It makes a lot of sense to come here and run ‘Unlock the Mentors’ here. Our aim is also to empower the younger generation. How has been your experience of working in Qatar? For this project, we have been here for just nine weeks. The experience has been amazing. There has been a lot of enthusiasm and excitement to create this sort of initiative, which I think has not been attempted before. People are actually excited and looking forward to seeing the final print. We have been very lucky. We have gathered 65 profiles across the board — both locals and expatriates — ranging from ministers, CEOs, artists, sportspersons, videographers, and chefs.  What was the criterion to select the profiles? Juan: We have good connections in the country. We have selected different profiles from different disciplines. We are looking for real special stories and mentors that do not come mainly from the business world. Consider: we have included mothers who have done something special for their children; we have climbers, inventors, scientists, and social media figures. We have looked for profiles that are inclusive and respond to gender equality. We give space to voices that do not find space in the media. Can you explain why you have selected two culturally different countries at one time to do your project? Juan: First of all, we both are connected with Qatar as we have worked here. There is a vision in Qatar for future generations. The country is doing a great job and we are very happy to be a part of it. Then, Spain is our home country. It is a big country and a part of Europe. It is the world’s 13th largest economy. There are a lot of things happening in Spain, especially on the entrepreneurship side. Spain is a sort of mirror that we look into, especially for sports and acting. We are doing our project in Qatar and Spain. It will have a domino effect, pushing country to country and going beyond boundaries. We live in a world where things are changing in all fields. We think that we can be a bridge connecting today’s doers with tomorrow’s achievers. We are targeting those human beings who are making remarkable achievements. Clara: Each country will have a different edition. Each county has its own success stories. There will be two different books for the two countries. Eventually, we want to have worldwide collection of books. The Qatar edition may be published in March or April next year. It will also have a digital edition. We plan to have a book launch event where young people will be able to meet their mentors. It appears to be a big project. Do you have other partners as well? Juan: Yes, there is a lot of investment in the project. We have used some personal resources to put this project together. However, we also have local partners in the country. There are some companies that actually believe what we are doing is beautiful. There are lots of success stories shared every day. How is yours going to be any different? Juan: We are professional media persons. It is our passion and, universe. However, we want to add something more inspirational with a socio-entrepreneurial touch. We have been doing a lot of interviews. We have a lot of material. (So we thought) Let’s create a book. Let’s get in touch with those generations. Clara: So far as we know, this book is going to be first of its kind. There is no such book in Qatar. Juan: We want to go beyond the inspirational stories. We talk about mentorship. The inspirational ones are also sharing their contact details with us and they are ready to mentor young people.