1. Siddhant Chaturvedi, Newcomer Sharvari Are the New Bunty Aur Babli
The 2005 romantic comedy Bunty Aur Babli garnered a lot of love for it’s lead pairing, dialogues, songs and more. Yash Raj Films has now announced the film’s sequel, which will star Gully Boy actor Siddhant Chaturvedi and debutante Sharvari as the new Bunty and Babli.
YRF took to Instagram to announce the new film and shared a picture of the lead pair. They wrote, “Meet the new Bunty aur Babli! @siddhantchaturvedi | @sharvari | #BuntyAurBabli2”
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2. Have Crawled Further Into Dark Tunnel: Twinkle on Jamia Violence
Twinkle Khanna took to Instagram to condemn the violence meted out by police officers on students during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act at Jamia Millia Islamia, Aligarh Muslim University and Delhi University. The actor shared her previous tweet which was in reference to the CAA and wrote, “That was last week and now add oppressing the voices of our students by using violence and we have crawled even further into the dark tunnel. I stand by a secular, democratic India where peaceful dissent is our constitutional right.”
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3. ‘Gully Boy’ out of Oscar Race as 10 Short-Listed Films Announced
Zoya Akhtar’s Gully Boy got a lot of support as the film became India’s official entry for the 92nd Academy Awards in the Best International Feature Film category. However, according to the Oscars shortlist, the Ranveer Singh-Alia Bhatt starrer is no longer a part of the race as it doesn’t feature in the list of 10 selected films.
The shortlisted films announced by the Academy include France’s Les Miserables, South Korea’s Parasite, Senegal’s Atlantics, Spain’s Pain and Glory, Estonia’s Truth and Justice, Czech Republic’s The Painted Bird, Hungary’s Those Who Remained, North Macedonia’s Honeyland, Poland’s Corpus Chishti and Russia’s Beanpole.
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4. Sushant Singh Exits ‘Saavdhan India’ Over Anti-CAA Comments?
Actor Sushant Singh has announced that he will be stepping down as host of popular television show Saavdhan India. The crime drama premiered in 2012 on Life OK and currently airs on Star Bharat.
“And my stint with Savdhaan India has ended,” the actor tweeted early morning on 17 December. Singh, who has featured in films such as Ambedkar and The Legend of Bhagat Singh, is one of the few members of the Indian film industry who has been vocal about the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which was passed in Parliament on 11 December. In an interview with The Indian Express, Sushant said that he found out that his contract had been terminated on Monday night. He claimed he “wasn’t given a particular reason” and that he didn’t want to “speculate”.
While there has been no official statement from the producers, fans have speculated whether his anti-CAA comments were a reason for Sushant Singh’s sudden departure from the show.
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5. Apple TV’s ‘Shantaram’ Goes on Floors, Filming in Bhopal & Mumbai
Apple TV+’s upcoming series Shantaram, based on the book of the same name by David Gregory Roberts, is currently being filmed in India. Shantaram was previously going to be adapted into a feature film produced by Johnny Depp. It was supposed to star Joel Edgerton. However that fell through, with Apple TV+ picking it up as its first international production.
A huge chunk of Shantaram is set in India. The film is currently being shot in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh and the filming is expected to move to Mumbai soon. While the story isn’t set in Bhopal, the town is being used to portray Mumbai of the eighties. Filming for Shantaram began in early December 2019 and is expected to go on till June 2020.
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