Bollywood Newsmakers Of The Week: 'Animal' OTT Release Row, Siddharth Anand Reacts To Pak Celebs Slamming 'Fighter' And More

We are on the third Sunday of January and wrapping up all the week's top stories that grabbed the headlines. This week was filled with exciting news from B-town. From Twinkle Khanna graduating with a Master's degree to 'Animal' landing into controversy ahead of its OTT release, we have listed down the top news of the week. 

Here are the top five Bollywood newsmakers of the week. 

Twinkle Khanna's graduation

Akshay Kumar's wife, actress Twinkle Khanna received her master's degree from the University of London. Akshay shared a picture with Twinkle to congratulate her on her achievement. She was seen in a graduation cape and cap over a green saree, while Akshay wore a black overcoat over his formals. Sharing the pic on his Instagram handle, Akshay captioned it, "Two years ago when you told me you wanted to take up studies all over again, I wondered if you meant it. But the day I saw you work so hard and perfectly manage a full-fledged student life along with home, career, me and kids, I knew I had married a super woman. Today on your graduation, I also wish I had studied a bit more to know enough words to tell you how proud you make me, Tina. Congratulations and all my love."

Twinkle also shared a video and wrote, "And it’s here. Graduation day. My first day at Goldsmiths feels like it was both yesterday and years ago. A sunny day, a pretty sari, and having my family with me make this day even more perfect than I ever imagined. There comes a stage when the easiest way to grow is horizontally, but we have to push ourselves to grow in myriad other ways:)"

Siddharth Anand responds to Pak celebs criticising 'Fighter'

The story of 'Fighter' reportedly revolves around “the deadliest terror attack on Indian air forces” in Pulwama and how the IAF officers avenge these attacks. Hrithik Roshan, Deepika Padukone and Anil Kapoor play IAF officers in the film. A few Pakistani actors expressed their displeasure over the trailer of 'Fighter'. Celebs like Hania Aamir and Adnan Siddiqui among others took to social media to slam the film for allegedly 'spreading hate'.

Hania wrote, “So sad and unfortunate to know that there are artists out there in this day and age who are aware of the power that the cinema holds and still go ahead and feed the riff between the two countries. I feel sorry for the artists who try to bridge the gap by trusting their art as a medium.” 

Director Siddharth Anand reacted to a post on X which questioned Hania Aamir for slamming 'Fighter'. The 'Pathaan' director dropped a thinking face emoji. 

While reacting to another post about the 2018 Pakistani film 'Parwaaz Hai Junoon', the 'War' director wrote, “Oh!!”. The post read, “Parwaaz Hai Junoon was an anti-Indian Air Force movie and Hania Aamir starred in it''.

'Animal' OTT  release controversy

Ranbir Kapoor's film landed into yet another controversy as Cine 1 Studios, the co-producer of ‘Animal’, approached the Delhi High Court and sought a stay on the release of the film on OTT.  The production house has alleged that there was a breach of the agreement and also claimed that they haven't received payment. Cine 1 Studios had filed a complaint against T-Series. The former alleged that both the production houses had a deal to make Sandeep Reddy Vanga directorial with a 35 percent profit-sharing arrangement but T-Series allegedly didn't pay them their share. 

The culprit of Rashmika Mandanna's Deepfake video arrested

Finally, the creator who made the Deepfake video of actress Rashmika Mandanna was arrested by Delhi Police on Saturday. The accused has been identified as 23-year-old Eemani Naveen, who is a B-Tech graduate from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. He had created the video to increase the followers on his fan page of Rashmika Mandanna on Instagram, an official said.

For the unversed, on November 10, an FIR was registered under sections 465 (punishment for forgery) and 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 66C and 66E of the Information Technology Act at the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) Unit of the Delhi Police's Special Cell.

The case was registered based on the complaint of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW).

Bobby Deol, not part of Nitesh Tiwari's 'Ramayana'

Nitesh Tiwari's 'Ramayana' is one of the most anticipated movies. The film stars Ranbir Kapoor and Sai Pallavi. There were reports that 'Animal' star Bobby Deol is also part of the magnum opus. It was reported that he will play the role of Kumbhakaran. When ETimes reached out to Bobby's team, they categorically denied the speculations and said that the actor is not part of Nitesh Tiwari's upcoming film.