Los Angeles, June 3 (IANS) Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman’s daughter, Maya Hawke, believes her family connections influenced her casting in Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood’ as Flower Child, one of Charles Manson’s followers.

“I’ve been wildly made fun of for this clip where I said, on the red carpet, that I auditioned,” Maya told the Times of London about ‘Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood’.

“I never meant to imply that I didn’t get the part for nepotistic reasons — I think I totally did.”

Maya got her major break starring as Robin Buckley in the series ‘Stranger Things’. She has also worked on projects such as ‘Do Revenge’, ‘Asteroid City’, and ‘Maestro’.

When asked if she deserves the opportunities she’s had, Maya said: ” ‘Deserves’ is a complicated word… there are so many people who deserve to have this kind of life who don’t, but I think I’m comfortable with not deserving it and doing it anyway.”

“And I know that my not doing it wouldn’t help anyone. I saw two paths when I was first starting, and one of them was: change your name, get a nose job, and go to open casting roles.”

Hawke opted for the second path by embracing her nepotism, even if others judged her for it, reports variety.com.

“It’s OK to be made fun of when you’re in rarefied air,” she said.

“It’s a lucky place to be. My relationships with my parents are really honest and positive, and that supersedes anything anyone can say about it.”

–IANS

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Mumbai, June 2 (IANS) Actor Pankaj Jha, who has been revelling in appreciation for his performance in the recently released Season 3 of ‘Panchayat’, has made a bold statement saying that all the acting institutes in this world are nothing but shops that lure aspiring actors.

The actor, who plays the role of Vidhayak in the superhit streaming show, spoke with Digital Commentary on a podcast. He said, “All the acting institutes are nothing but shops.”

When the show host asked him, “Even NSD”, Pankaj blatantly said, “All of them.”

He continued: “Nobody can teach acting to anyone. There’s nothing like a characterisation. When you’re cast in a project, it’s because the casting directors or the makers feel that you’re close to the character in your personal life.”

Pankaj also slammed the content makers of Hindi cinema. He said, “When you look at Hindi cinema, 95 per cent to 99 per cent seems like it is made for some rehab centre. There’s no substance in them, there’s no script, no message or no conviction in them.”

“Aap dekh lo na, kis tarah ki filmein banti hai. People, who are not actors by any stretch of imagination, are the stars today,” he said.

–IANS

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Mumbai, June 2 (IANS) Actor Faisal Malik, who immortalised the character of police officer Gopal Singh in ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ and portrays the fan-favourite character of ‘Prahlad cha’ in ‘Panchayat’, has shared his inspiring story.

The actor worked on the reality show ‘Fame Gurukul’ as a promo producer. Narrating the story, Faisal told Digital Commentary that he worked on the episode of the show based on superstar singer Arijit Singh.

He shared that on July 26, 2005, when the city of Mumbai was struggling with heavy rains, he was in the editing studio working on the promo for the reality show.

He said, “‘Fame Gurukul’ was the only show that was aired on the day when heavy rains lashed the city of Mumbai on July 26, 2005. It was raining, and I was working on the edit in the office.”

The actor said that making a promo is an art.

“At the end of the day, a promo is an invitation to the potential audience. To cut a promo you have to watch a film 8-10 times. It helps you gauge the narrative of the film, then you have to script the promo,” he added.

–IANS

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Mumbai, June 2 (IANS) As Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha celebrates her 37th birthday on Sunday, her day was made even more special by her rumoured beau Zaheer Iqbal.

Zaheer Iqbal, who made his debut in 2019 with the film ‘Notebook’, took to his Instagram on Sunday, and dropped several pictures with the actress. The pictures show both of them sharing happy moments, laughing their hearts out and also vacationing at an undisclosed place dressed in woollens.

Zaheer wrote in the caption, “Happy Birthday Sonzzz”.

Sonakshi took to the comments section and dropped heart emojis and hug emojis.

Sonakshi, who was recently seen in ‘Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar’, is spending her birthday working on the sets of her upcoming film. She is working on debutant director Karan Rawal’s untitled film produced by Echelon Productions film. The film is a romantic thriller. A source from the production revealed that Sonakshi is shooting for the film in the Naigaon of northern Mumbai on Sunday.

The actress also has ‘Kakuda’ in the pipeline in which she will share the screen with Riteish Deshmukh and Saqib Saleem.

–IANS

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Mumbai, June 2 (IANS) Veteran playback singer-songwriter Udit Narayan, shared an interesting anecdote about ‘Gadar: Ek Prem Katha’ and ‘Gadar 2’ on the latest episode of the singing reality show ‘Superstar Singer 3’.

The show honours the veteran singer through its special episode titled ‘Udit Narayan’s Masterclass’. During the course of the episode, the young talents pay a heartfelt tribute by singing Udit Narayan’s timeless classics that are loved even today.

The 13-year-old singer Aryan from Gurdaspur, Punjab, leaves the audience spellbound with his rendition of ‘Udja Kale Kawan’ from the Sunny Deol-starrer ‘Gadar: Ek Prem Katha’.

While praising Aryan, Udit Narayan shared memories of the song, saying: “I am speechless and have no words to praise your performance. It was incredible. Aryan, you even sang in a higher range compared to what I did when I was performing this song. I still remember that 2001 was the year when ‘Gadar: Ek Prem Katha’ and ‘Lagaan’ were released on the same day, on 15th June, and both created history. They became musical blockbusters.”

He added that who knew that after 22 years, ‘Gadar 2’ would be made and Uttam Singh’s songs would be recreated by Mithoon. It’s a big challenge to recreate a hit.

The singer shared: “Anil Sharma, the director of both films, called me and Mithoon Ji and when we met, Mithoon said, ‘Udit Ji, when your film was released, I was in college, and I was your fan. But I want to tell you that when I started working on this film, I received so many requests through email – they said, ‘If you’re making Gadar again, you must take Udit Narayan’s voice again’. Hearing this I felt good.”

Super Judge Neha Kakkar also complimented Aryan, saying: “Aryan, this was your best performance, superb! It was so full of soul, it had so much power, and it was so full of emotions. I feel this show has been a good learning ground for you and all of you are going to go back with so much musical knowledge. And we all can see your growth already, God bless you. Beautiful.”

‘Superstar Singer 3’ airs Saturday and Sunday on Sony Entertainment Television.

–IANS

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