Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty with husband Raj Kundra, son Viaan Raj Kundra, mother Sunanda Shetty and sister Shamita Shetty, poses for a picture during the preview of an upcoming song, in Mumbai.
Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha poses with a plant during an environment awareness campaign of Make Earth Green Again Foundation, in Mumbai. Her parents, Shatrughan Sinha and Poonam Sinha are also seen.
Always a very character-based intro scene. In Lagaan, the first time we see Aamir, he spoils Captain Russell’s hunting plans, a kind of foreshadowing of the whole film.
Lagaan was also Aamir’s maiden production and starred Gracy Singh, Rachel Shelley and Paul Blackthorne in supporting roles
The movie directed by Ashutosh Gowariker was then made on a then-unprecedented budget of approximately 25 crores.
The Aamir Khan starrer period-sports drama went on to receive a nomination at the 74th Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category.
98-year-old veteran actor Dilip Kumar being discharged from a hospital after undergoing treatment for bilateral pleural effusion, in Mumbai.
Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty spotted with her husband Raj Kundra on her birthday, at Juhu in Mumbai.
Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut visits her office in Khar, Mumbai. The same office was demolished by BMC a few months back.
Bollywood actress Sunny Leone distributes food to the needy during the lockdown to curb the COVID-19 spread, in Mumbai.
That there is a global market of appreciation and reward for well-meaning, bleeding heart initiatives (short on actual labour) for the targeted good of a community is well known. To game the thing to one’s advantage, one has to keep the message as vague as possible, then juxtapose it with high resolution imagery and propaganda. Thus with Jacqueline Fernandez. As demonstrated in these pages before, as a contortionist she has no parallel in Bollywood. She truly can rock, she shows here, a fetching leotard and stockings in delicious profile, with a tumble of hair for effect. What about her vaunted initiative, SheRox? It is to “empower women, be united, laugh, inspire and dream together…to create a safe space for common folk”. For this great, good burst, Jackie made it to an equally vague ‘list’ of inspiring people. Ah then, but she doth inspire, doesn’t she?
Young survivors of the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-20—many of whom were raised, after the disease carried off their parents, in foster homes and orphanages—were considered by doctors to be stronger and medically fitter. They fought the War, then helped usher in the post-War boom. Not such retrospective foresight, but the dire situation at hand, has actuated, yet again, the indefatigable Sonu Sood’s Covid philanthropy. With his focus on the thousands of ‘Covid orphans’ and their financial well-being, state governments were asked to start compensation/stipends for these unfortunates. Many replied positively. Sonu also intelligently and firmly unpacked another nauseous matter. “Compensation should also go to children in private schools,” he writes. “Orphaned children are equally vulnerable.” And you thought a handsome devil in a sharp suit, checked waistcoat, neatly quartered by the sun, wasn’t capable of such wise compassion.
Bollywood actress and politician Hema Malini with her daughter Esha Deol while planting a tree as as part of a campaign initiated by Make Earth Green Again (MEGA) Foundation in Mumbai.
In this video image provided by NBC, Priyanka Chopra Jonas introduces a performance by Duran Duran during the Billboard Music Awards.
If we have noted one thing about Sanjay Dutt’s late style, it’s how great a store he sets by his family, on his being a perfect family man. Barring film stills, the only other pictures are those of Sanjay with his wife Maanayata and children Shahraan and Iqra, often on the occasion of religious festivals. This Eid, the family found themselves in Dubai where an adorable scene was set up for the waiting lensman. Everyone played to the script, except Iqra, who chose the moment to slip across an impish smile. You think she has more than a passing resemblance to her paternal grandmother? We got to watch this girl.
Brothers! Ye may all look heavenwards at Bhai’s sudden, straight-faced antics or at his fanatical fan-following, but know this: he may not be as smoothly prepossessing as the other Khans, but Bhaijaan Salman is the one chosen to deliver that punch to our guts. If us sceptics were waiting for the hype around Radhe, Your Most Wanted Bhai to be caught in a bucket of bathos, we were more the fools for it. Released overseas in theatres and across multiple OTT platforms, it got a staggering 4.2 million views, ruining servers and raising cheers in distant lands. Nope, we won’t quibble over Radhe’s content; we just bow our head and accept the brain-addling, nerve-jangling truth of the matter.
We sing a song of praise to..Katrina Kaif, who spent the months of lockdown as well as this unending period of stasis out of limelight, posting a few photos of her washing dishes and other homely chores, with no accompanying homilies about society’s sufferers. Nor did she glide off to sunny Maldives and loll around like a beached whale. If she did, she kept outta sight of our withering gaze. Now, as news filters out of Katrina’s ‘bilingual blockbusters’ (a Tamil/Telugu-Hindi affair for a pan-India release)—Merry Christmas, opposite Vijay Sethupati and another with Vijay Deverakonda—we fish out a vintage Kat snap for you: a star-spangled little dress that sets of her gelled hair and which, if you care to get closer, seems to be made of chunky bits of light-gobbling silver ore. How can she carry all that weight!
Ranjit Dahiya of Bollywood Art Project makes graffiti as a tribute to bollywood actresses Asha Parekh and Helen at Bandra in Mumbai.
Bollywood actor Anupam Kher poses as he takes part in an initiative to provide essential medical equipment across India, as part of 'Project Heal India' to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, in Mumbai.
Bollywood playback singer Sonu Nigam checks facilities at a newly set up Covid-19 care center in Mumbai.
In this file photo actress Kangna attends 63rd National Film Awards function in New Delhi. Ranaut informed via her twitter account that she had tested positive for COVID-19.
While dutifully flagging the stream of celebrity flight to the Maldives, questions pricked our mind: while India groans under the sick and the dying, is it decent for public figures to traipse off for holidays? Is it even proper to boastfully demonstrate it on social media? Or even, what strings were pulled to get visas? As if echoing our thoughts, who has opened up about the holidaymakers but Nawazuddin Siddiqui, one of our best actors. “People don’t have food and you’re wasting money; have some shame…please don’t taunt those who are suffering,” fumed Nawaz in an interview. The preponderance of photos he attributes to the inner vacuity of the subjects, “What else will they talk about,” hissed Nawaz, his blood up. “Acting? They will run out of steam in two minutes.” Bull’s eye, Nawaz.
Bollywood actor Mithun Chakraborty flashes victory sign casting his vote at a polling station during the last phase of Assembly election, in Kolkata.
Bollywood actor Mithun Chakraborty talks with media after casting his vote at a polling station during the last phase of West Bengal Assembly elections, in Kolkata.
Another couple who schlepped off to the isles so favoured by those who fan the flames of fame through Instagram is Disha Patani, news of whose gorgeousness needs no reiteration and ‘rumoured’ beau Tiger Shroff, he of the chiseled trunk. No sooner had they plonked their bags on the bamboo floor of their beach shack than they started posing pictures, as if fans had crowd-funded their trip. But let us not cavil over trivialities. Shut in for days, we turn our bilious gaze towards the finest of sands, the bluest of skies and that figure holding centrestage—the breeze catching her tresses like it does a billowing sail, blowing it across her face, into our parched beings. For the pleasure of beholding perfect symmetry we overlook, for now, the hideous tassels that threatened to spoil, even for an instant, the effect only Disha can create.
If celebrities were to be held accountable for jumping in and hurling themselves into the herd instinct, most would be paying hefty fines. But we never expected Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt—both we deem sparklingly intelligent individuals, notwithstanding the public ridicule of the general state of her eneral knowledge—to make common cause with the uncommon ruck. Yet there they were, at the Mumbai airport, slipping away to where everyone beautiful is going, to sunny Maldives, as the nation sinks into a series of curfews. But then, as both have beaten back Covid in recent days, they deserve a break. Prominent black masks and the colour white dominate their attire. That and the clutched phones—why don’t celebrities ever put them in the bag or in their pockets like the rest of us?
In this undated photo, Bollywood actor Sonu Sood. Sood tested postive for the coronavirus on Saturday, April 17, 2021.
Actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas poses for photographers upon arrival at the Bafta Film Awards, in central London.
Bollywood actor Sonu Sood arrives for the flag off ceremony of India's biggest free vaccination drive at Attari-Wagha border.
Bollywood actor Malaika Arora with sister Amrita Arora and her sons Rayaan Ladak and Azaan Ladak outside her mother's residence, in Mumbai.
In this file photo, is seen Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar in New Delhi. Kumar has been tested positive for COVID-19 and is under home quarantine, in Mumbai.
Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officials take Bollywood actor and former Bigg Boss contestant Ajaz Khan for a medical test after arresting him in connection with a drugs case, in Mumbai.
Actors Mugdha Godse and Aseem Ali Khan during shooting of their upcoming film 'Shukradosh' in Bhopal.
Bollywood actors Manoj Bajpai And Prachi Desai during the screening of the film 'Silence', in Mumbai.
Bangled, braceleted and fettered mercilessly her one wrist may be, but Vaani Kapoor balances such uncharacteristic bondage with a cool, light airiness in her garb and the casual swing of her hips. Browned hair shown off to perfection, a yellow bikini top that’s straining at its leash and those clean, lean white trousers make for modelled perfection. We know the word ‘leonine’ is reserved for fiercely bewhiskered, bearded men now mostly encountered in classic movies and old photos. Yet a certain something in Vaani—casual, yet majestic deportment—leads us repeatedly to it. Can we extend the use of the word to some rare females of the species? Think about it.
After scarring the conscience of meat-eaters around the globe and shaming them into turning militantly vegan, the movement, aided by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), has trained its critical eye, crowned by a frown, on the fashion industry. PETA India’s Sustainable Fashion Day was thus a parade of leather-free products: vegan shoes, bags, jackets, accessories…the labour of fashionable conviction by top designers sounds eminently edible, doesn’t it? There was a lot of ho-hum about compassion, love and non-violence that went into creating the vegan ‘look book’. PETA ambassadors Milind Soman and wife Ankita Konwar had a busy day modelling various ensembles. When time came at last for a breather, they held each other and froze for a moment in a kiss. His pink jacket, wavy silvery strands and threads of silver sown the shirt front fused into her silver gown, bronze earring and that exquisite jawline. The effect is yours to evaluate.
It’s a kind of Bollywood rerun of the decade-old parlour game about your favourite Hollywood Jessica—Simpson, Biel, Alba, Chastain…which one do you fancy? (None? But surely you had liked the smoulderingly fragile Jessica Lange?) These days we have a surfeit of Kapoor girls (the men have had their place in the arclight long enough) and this week we have two bloomin’ roses for your appraisal. The first is Shanaya—Sanjay and Maheep Kapoor’s 21-year-old daughter who will start work on her debut movie. Here, she hones the essential seductive look—printed bikini, carefully undone bathrobe, a casual comb through ropes of wet hair, and a look that we take as a statement of intent. “My daughter is all set to take over your screen soon,” writes Sanjay. She’s welcome to do so.
Bollywood actress Huma Qureshi poses for photographs during the relaunch of Amiqur Saloon, at Kailash Colony in New Delhi.
Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut during the trailer launch of her upcoming film 'Thalaivi', on her birthday, at Juhu in Mumbai.
Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar with Raja Vimlendra Mohan Pratap Mishra and his son Yatindra Mishra during a meeting, before starting the shooting of their film' Ram Setu', in Ayodhya.
Bollywood actress and BJP leader Hema Malini releases poster of 4th 'Chitra Bharti Film Festival', during a press conference in New Delhi.
If you rifle through a few back issues of Outlook, you’ll come across in these pages our rapturous reaction to Jacqueline Fernandez’s stretching preps for what we thought was ballet—a sober avocation. Now, another possibility presents itelf—that those were merely limb-strengthening exercises that would allow her to mount her latest hobby horse. This, though, is real enough—a white steed, no less, that needs petting and endearing words. That’s before Jackie, still in glamorous garb, as if conscious of our prying presence, changes into her riding breeches, boots, short jacket and gets astride Espuela, canters off to her riding lesson. Why no mention of a cap, you’re asking? Because we bet she’d keep her hair loose for the wind to work through it.
More than anything, the motion picture camera loves beautiful women. Yet dark patches speckle this object of adoration—the exploitation of actresses, their relentless objectification and inbuilt bias against female directors. The mould was broken by early pioneer directors like Dorothy Arzner (US) and Karin Swanstrom (from Sweden, who discovered Ingrid Bergman), and followed by greats like Agnes Varda, Liliana Cavani, Catherine Breillat etc. Our own Anushka Sharma, much the camera’s inamorata in a short, Oriental print dress that’s lent a touch of the risqué by those stockings, feels strongly about women’s portrayal in Bollywood. Speaking on World Women’s Day as a producer and an actress who’s played free-spirited souls, she writes: “By being clear about how we’ll portray women, we can alter people’s mindset towards how they perceive women and shatter regressive beliefs….” We laud her noble manifesto.
Bollywood actor Rajkummar Rao holding the tickets of his film 'Roohi' poses for photographs, at PVR Plaza in Connaught Place, New Delhi.
Bollywood filmmaker JP Dutta poses for a photograph with his wife Bindiya Goswami, and newlywed daughter Nidhi Dutta and son-in-law Binoy Gandhi during the wedding ceremony at Rambagh Palace, in Jaipur.
Bollywood actor Mithun Chakraborty addresses a public meeting after he joined BJP ahead of West Bengal Assembly Polls, at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi being felicitated by Bollywood actor Mithun Chakraborty during a public meeting ahead of West Bengal Assembly Polls, at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata.
Bollywood actor Mithun Chakraborty addresses a public meeting after he joined BJP ahead of West Bengal Assembly Polls, at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata.
Bollywood actor Mithun Chakraborty along with state BJP President Dilip Ghosh and other leaders after he joined the party during a public meeting ahead of West Bengal Assembly Polls, at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata.
No, we are not suggesting this as a representational image of Parineeti Chopra’s hectic prepping for the final shoots of Saina—the much awaited biopic of India’s first woman badminton ace—the inimitable Saina Nehwal. Indeed, any medieval knight templar would have loved to don this heavy-set gown, with its furry extremities, intricate lacework and endless sparkles that mirror a starry sky, and march on to the Crusades (he’d probably change into something comfy before a showdown). Nope, Parineeti, who makes the most of a generous breathing space in the formidable armour, is probably celebrating her two other imminent releases—Sandeep Aur Pinky Faarrar and The Girl On The Train. Reminded of the 2016 Emily Blunt starrer? We’re sure they have made a few changes.
Bollywood actress Janhvi Kapoor poses for a photograph during an promotional event for her upcoming movie, 'Roohi', in New Delhi.
Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan arrives at Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) to record a statement in a case he registered against Kangana Ranaut in 2016 involving alleged e-mail exchanges, in Mumbai.
Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan arrives at Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) to record a statement in a case he registered against Kangana Ranaut in 2016 involving alleged e-mail exchanges, in Mumbai.
Bollywood actress Janhvi Kapoor, with a placard supporting farmers pasted on a vehicle behind her, during shooting of her upcoming film ‘Good Luck Jerry’, in Patiala.
Bollywood actors John Abraham (L) and Emraan Hashmi pose for photographs during the trailer launch of their upcoming film 'Mumbai Saga', in Mumbai.
Bollywood actors Amrita Singh and Sara Ali Khan visit the shrine of Sufi Moinuddin Chishti, in Ajmer.
Bollywood actors Sharman Joshi during the promotion of his upcoming movie 'Fauji Calling', in Kolkata.
