SEX ABUSE IN BOLLYWOOD
THE former Hollywood manager of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan revealed disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein desperately tried to get the actor alone, but she didn’t allow it to happen. Although Aishwarya had a lucky escape because Weinstein has been accused of numerous sexual offences, I am sure she has been facing the same in India since the beginning of her career. I went on BBC Radio 5 Live recently and revealed the culture of hidden sexual abuse is far worse in Bollywood, but no one will ever get disgraced to the extent Weinstein has because the industry is too tight knit and always protects its own, even when they have done terrible things to women and men.
SHANKAR’S PERFECT SCORE
The most magical moment of the recent BFI London Film Festival was the premiere of the restored print of 1928 Indian film Shiraz with a brand new score by composer and musician Anoushka Shankar. The sitar maestro and her ensemble played live while the silent classic played, receiving a standing ovation at a sold out Barbican Theatre. They will now do a four-city tour of India. Shiraz will screen around the UK in January 2018 and be released on Blu-ray by BFI. This is the latest example of the BFI’s ongoing commitment to preserving and sharing world film heritage.
LOLLYWOOD CLASS ACT
This is the woman who will help change the face of Pakistani cinema next year. Her name is Ammara Hikmat and she is making her debut as a producer with the remake of classic Lollywood film Maula Jatt. She has helped assemble an incredible lead cast and given ace director Bilal Lashari space to make a movie with an international look. I have seen portions of the movie starring Fawad Khan, Hamza Ali Abbasi and Mahira Khan and predict it will clock up record-breaking numbers. This big thinking lady will deserve a large part of the credit.
NUSH NOT SO ORIGNAL
Recently Anushka Sharma launched her fashion label NUSH and proudly declared she was fully involved with designing the outfits. When it emerged that several of the creations were strikingly similar to ones available on a Chinese e-commerce website at wholesale rates her people said she was not part of the creation process. The whole episode came as a major embarrassment to the actress, who at the launch emphasised how involved she was and how much time had been taken to create them.
CUT DOWN TO SIZE
There were some great films shown at the recent BFI London Film Festival but by far the biggest disappointment was Hollywood comedy Downsizing. Director Alexander Payne took the great concept of people shrinking themselves to get a better life and royally destroyed it with an amateurish approach. I fully expect the movie to get murdered by critics when it finally releases and would advise you to not watch this self-indulgent nonsense.
JASSI’S EPIC TWEETS
A lot of celebrities follow football, but perhaps the most entertaining on social media is Liverpool’s biggest fan Jassi Sidhu. The chart-topping singer sends out some epic Tweets when his beloved club plays, especially when they start doing badly. You can follow him on Twitter: @Jassisidhu.
