Mumbai, July 27 (IANS) Playback singer Shaan is cheering for the Indian athletes for the ongoing Paris Olympics. The singer spoke with IANS and expressed his excitement for the biggest sporting event.

“There’s a lot of excitement. No pressure but, I’m sure all of them are going to do their best. We have to reach our optimum,” he told IANS.

He further mentioned, “I think that with all this enthusiasm and excitement, I’m sure our athletes are going to make us proud. Wishful thinking, but we are going to break all our previous Olympic medal records this time.”

Shaan recently lent his voice to the ‘Zara Muskura’ song from ‘Chhota Bheem and The Curse of Damyaan’. Directed by Rajiv Chilaka and produced by Rajiv Chilaka and Megha Chilaka, ‘Chhota Bheem and The Curse of Damyaan’ is written by Niraj Vikram and co-produced by Srinivas Chilakalapudi along with Bharath Laxmipati.

‘Zara Muskura’ is a soulful track that sets positive vibes in line with the film’s narrative.

–IANS

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Mumbai, July 27 (IANS) Bollywood superstar Ranbir Kapoor, who delivered the blockbuster ‘Animal’ last year, is reflecting on his career. The actor said that he is glad his debut movie ‘Saawariya’ turned out to be a box office disaster as it humbled him, and prepared him to not take failures or success seriously, and treat them as a part of his profession.

Ranbir also spoke about Indian auteur Sanjay Leela Bhansali (SLB), whom he assisted during the initial phase of his career after finishing his studies abroad.

He told Nikhil Kamath on his podcast, ‘People by WTF’, “When I came back, every director or producer in the industry wanted to launch me. But, I was a big fan of Sanjay Leela Bhansali. I thought, ‘Maybe he doesn’t know me’. So, I made a resume, and sat outside his office.”

He added, “I waited, he was not there, but he saw my resume, and understood who I was. The first day when he met me, he said, ‘I want to make a film with you’.

He then started working with Bhansali as one of his assistants, on 13-14 hours of shifts a day. Ranbir said that SLB is a hard taskmaster, and was very short-tempered.

He then said, “It hardened me. Then ‘Saawariya’ happened which again was a very big disaster. In hindsight, I’m glad it didn’t do well because that really prepared me for the life ahead.”

‘Saawariya’ which also marked the debut of actress Sonam Kapoor, who also assisted Bhansali, clashed at the box office against the Farah Khan directorial ‘Om Shanti Om’ which starred Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan and also marked the debut of Deepika Padukone.

Ranbir also spoke about the possibility of him joining politics. He said, “No, I like the world of art, creation, and being an artiste. I would like to die creating things, and directing movies, I know I’m not cut out to be a producer, I produced one film, ‘Jagga Jasoos’ which was a disaster at the box office. I realised it’s a skill set which I don’t have”.

He then said that he is not a people person before he asked Nikhil, “In politics, you have to be a people person?”.

When the latter responded in affirmation, Ranbir said, “So yeah, I’m not a people’s person.”

–IANS

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Mumbai, July 27 (IANS) Actress Rashmika Mandanna has shared a glimpse of her newfound passion that she has discovered in the past two months, which is reading books.

The diva took to Instagram Stories and shared a snap of some novels.

It is captioned: “These in the last 2 months..I can’t believe it’s taken me almost 28 years to find out how amazing reading feels..yes!! I would read before but it would be so hard to find books to enjoy and complete and then I entered the rom-com world..my god!!I should’ve started sooner.. please suggest some of your favourites.. I want to try reading them too..”

Rashmika made her acting debut in 2016 with the Kannada film ‘Kirik Party’. She has then featured in Kannada films like ‘Anjani Putra’, ‘Chamak’, Telugu movies– ‘Geetha Govindam’, ‘Devadas’, ‘Dear Comrade’, ‘Bheeshma’, ‘Pushpa: The Rise’.

She has also starred in the Hindi action drama movie ‘Animal’, directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga. The film stars Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol, and Triptii Dimri.

Rashmika has also featured alongside Sidharth Malhotra in the action thriller ‘Mission Majnu’ directed by Shantanu Bagchi and produced by Ronnie Screwvala, Amar Butala and Garima Mehta.

She next has ‘Pushpa 2 The Rule’ which stars Allu Arjun in the lead. Produced by Mythri Movie Makers and directed by Sukumar, ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’ is slated to release in theatres worldwide on August 15.

The 28-year-old actress also has ‘Rainbow’, ‘The Girlfriend’, ‘Chaava’, ‘Sikandar’ and ‘Kubera’ in the pipeline.

–IANS

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Mumbai, July 27 (IANS) Actress Smriti Irani shared a picture with Bill Gates, the former CEO of IT giant Microsoft. The former actress took to her Instagram and shared a picture from a wedding.

In the picture, Smriti can be seen wearing a pink coloured saree which she paired with a necklace. Bill Gates chose the Indian attire as he was dressed in a sherwani.

She wrote in the caption, “Kyunki Bill bhi kabhi baaraati tha #weddings India wali #saturdayvibes.”

Smriti Irani, who was earlier a Union Minister lost the Amethi seat on a ticket of BJP. She lost by a margin of 1,67,196 votes to Congress leader K.L. Sharma. She had previously defeated Rahul Gandhi in the 2019 elections to secure the Congress bastion.

The actress switched to politics in 2003 when she joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. She has been with BJP for over 20 years now. In 2024, she was appointed vice-president of the Maharashtra Youth Wing in 2004.

In the 14th Lok Sabha, she contested unsuccessfully against Kapil Sibal from the Chandni Chowk constituency in Delhi. This election also witnessed a shock defeat for the incumbent Vajpayee government.

–IANS

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Mumbai, July 27 (IANS) Actress Surbhi Chandna is currently shooting in Surat, Gujarat for her new project and the diva has shared a peek into the yummy local cuisines that she is bingeing upon.

Surbhi, who has 6.1 million followers on Instagram, took to the Stories section and shared some behind-the-scenes videos from the set of her new undisclosed project.

The first video gives an overall view of the set and it is captioned: “Girlie on set.”

The second snippet is of the Gujarati food items that are laid down on the table. The cuisines include jalebi, ganthiya, khandvi, fafda, patra, dhokla, and locho.

It is captioned as: “When in Surat.”

The last snap is a selfie of Surbhi, in which she is donning a red saree. She has opted for a smokey eye look, nude brown lips, and a perfectly contoured face. Her hair is tied in a neat bun and is sporting a mangalsutra.

The photo has a caption: “Let’s shoot.”

Surbhi tied the knot with her longtime boyfriend Karan Sharma on March 2 in Jaipur, Rajasthan. The couple have been together for over 13 years.

On the professional front, she marked her TV debut in 2009 with a cameo in the longest-running sitcom ‘Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah’. After a gap of four years, she played Suzanne in the show ‘Ek Nanad Ki Khushiyon Ki Chaabi… Meri Bhabhi’.

She then essayed the role of Haya in ‘Qubool Hai’. Surbhi has been a part of shows like ‘Ishqbaaaz’, ‘Dil Boley Oberoi’, ‘Sanjivani’, and ‘Naagin 5’.

She last featured in the show ‘Sherdil Shergill’.

–IANS

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