NEW DELHI: Amid the riling controversy over the ban on Pakistani artists and movies in the country, various Bollywood actors have come out in the open to voice their opinion on the imposition. While some refrained from putting it out explicitly, others opposed the ban out loud.
The Bollywood celebrities were speaking on the sidelines of the 18th edition of Jio MAMI (Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image) festival, where none of the Pakistani films will be screened this year.
Actor Kalki Koechlin clearly stated that she is against censorship in all its forms and manifestations. “Censorship of any kind, or not being able to see films from all over the world is very sad,” Kalki said.
Industry’s leading actor Aamir Khan, who is otherwise well-known for expressing his stand on pertinent issues, chose to remain silent on the issue. “You should ask MAMI about this,” he said.
The actors also commented on the raging controversy that’s looming large over Karan Johar’s Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’s release date. “If banning movies could end terrorism, we would have banned plenty by now,” actor Richa Chadda said.
Director Zoya Akhtar minced no words in saying that Karan Johar “was being bullied”. “He shot the film at a time when the situation was pleasant. Today at the time of film’s release he is being bullied,” Zoya said. “It is very unfortunate that a film and a filmmaker gets targeted like that,” she added.
She also went ahead to defend Pakistani actor Fawad Khan and said, “He didn’t do anything wrong. He has not broken the law. Visas are being granted by government. It is legal for people to work here”.
“Right now, it’s not looking like you mean it. It just looks like it gets you a lot of publicity and makes noise,” actor Abhay Deol said on the ongoing Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (ADHM) controversy.
The movie, slated for release on Diwali-eve, is facing a threat of disruption from the Raj Thackeray-led MNS as it features Pakistani actor Fawad Khan Try Know.
Actor Imran Khan chose to not comment on the present situation. But in denying to comment on the issue, he expressed a lot. “I have many many views but my concern is if I voice those views, I am gonna have people come and try to burn my house,” he said.
“I don’t want people to threaten me or beat me up, I want to avoid these things. Will keep my opinion to myself,” Imran added.
After the Uri terror attack, objections over Pakistani artists working in Hindi film industry have led to many differing points of view and debates in and outside the film industry.

READ MORE: 

• US travel advisory will not hit arrivals : Tour operators
• Melinda Gates Calls Out Gender Tech Divide in India
• Killer regrets blogger Nazim murder
• Akhil, Jitender Kumar target pro circuit through Vijender Singh’s IOS
• Ajay Devgn: Bored of seeing action in Bollywood films

Actor Ajay Devgn, son of veteran action choreographer Veeru Devgan, says he was bored of the action sequences in Bollywood films. And that’s why he has tried to up the ante in his upcoming directorial ‘Shivaay’, which also sees him as the lead actor.
“Action comes quite easy to me once I decide and I plan. This time I decided to execute… I’m bored and fed of action which we see in our films. I needed to take a step ahead,” Ajay.
The actor, who is known for his action sequences in films, says he rarely uses a body double and that is why it was tough shooting for ‘Shivaay’.
“But it went of well. You keep getting injured, but there was nothing major,” he added.
‘Shivaay’ is Ajay’s second directorial venture after the 2008 romantic drama ‘U Me Aur Hum’.
The 47-year-old actor also believes that it would have been difficult to make a film like ‘Shivaay’ five years ago.
“It would have been tougher to make this film five years ago. It’s just the visual effects and also the mixing of live shooting. It has to be shot right, it has to be shot at the right locations and then you enhance it. Five years ago, it wouldn’t have been possible,” he said.
The movie marks the acting debut of Sayyeshaa Saigal, who is the grand-niece of veteran actor Dilip Kumar.++

READ ALSO : 

• 5 Bollywood Movies That Totally Disappointed Us In 2016
• “Our actors don’t need Bollywood to become stars”: Pakistani blogger in reply to Indian Journalist
• Man held for murder of woman lawyer in Chennai
• Why enterprises are now opting for open source software
• Naspers: Master of consolidation in Indian Internet business

Aamir Khan’s Dangal is gearing up to be another smash from the Bollywood star. The film, which releases on December 23 in India, the U.S. and other key markets, will mark a return to the Christmas holiday frame for Khan since his 2014 starring vehicle PK shattered all previous box office records — including his own Dhoom 3 in 2013. Check out the official trailer above which already has nearly 24M YouTube views in less than a week. Putting that into perspective, the official Rogue One trailer released on August 11 has 24.7M. According to local reports, it took only 3.5 days for Dangal to cross 20M as it continued to trend in the Top 10 in India, Australia and elsewhere.
The biographical sports drama directed by Nitesh Tiwari is particularly timely. It’s centered on former wrestler Mahavir Singh Phogat and his two daughters who struggle toward glory on the mat at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. This summer, India’s Sakshi Malik scored a bronze at the Rio games, making her the first female wrestler from the country to medal at an Olympics — and a sensation at home. Wrestling has been a hot theme in Bollywood this year with Salman Khan’s Sultan having grossed about $70M worldwide. (That film boasts what is believed to be the most-watched Bollywood trailer ever with over 33M views.)
Dangal is also notable as one of the last films on the production slate of Disney-owned UTV Motion Pictures. Disney India recently said it was pulling out of Hindi film production, focusing instead on its Hollywood movies there. This year, Disney scored a coup when The Jungle Book became the highest-grossing Hollywood movie in India ever with just under $39M.
Khan’s last film, PK, was released in December 2014. It went on to become the highest-grossing Bollywood movie of all time with about $100M worldwide. Box office figures in India are not always cut-and-dried with local reporting putting PK at 340.8 crores or $51.2M + another $47.2M overseas. Other services have the total at just over $100M globally. Either way, it remains the biggest movie ever out of India and the one for Dangal to the top.

READ ALSO :

• A Feared Film Blogger, a Dancefloor and a Dark Accusation
• Journalists arrested as Ankara steps up crackdown on dissent
• WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg slams Wix: ‘Your app editor is built with stolen code’
• India: BREXIT – Trigger For Larger Things To Come?
• Kashmir row: Pakistan slaps ban on Bollywood films

Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (ADHM) and Shivaay (Shivay) have started with a bang at the Indian box office on the first day. But Karan Johar’s film is likely to witness a bigger collection than Ajay Devgn’s movie on the opening day.
Ae Dil Hai Mushkin has released a large number of multiplexes in all city centers across the country and its screen count is bigger than Shivaay in these areas. Ajay Devgn’s movie has a number of single screens to its credit in the domestic market than the Ranbir Kapoor starter. Ae Dil Hai Muskhil had the better advance booking in multiplexes, while Shivaay has got a good response in single screens.
Both the movies opened to fantastic response in the northern circuits, as there are no big ticket releases from any regional languages during this Diwali festival. But their occupancy was not the same in south India as they clashed with Tamil films Kaashmora and Kodi and Kannada movies Mukund Murari and Santa in this region. Both the movies registered an average of 70 percent occupancy in the morning shows.
Ae Dil Hai Muskhil and Shivaay have garnered the positive response from the audience and the word of mouth is expected to take their business upwards in the afternoon and evening shows. Ae Dil Hai Muskhil is set to be a treat for the lovers of musical romance drama, while Shivaay impresses action lovers.
Early trends show that Ae Dil Hai Muskhil and Shivaay will witness a good collection at the Indian box office on the first day. Ae Dil Hai Muskhil will break the record of Ranbir Kapoor’s last release Tamasha, which collected Rs 10.87 crore on its opening day. On the other hand, Shivaay will beat the opening day collection of Ajay Devgn’s previous outing Drishyam that raked in Rs 8.5 crore on its first day.
However, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Shivaay are most-awaited big-budget Bollywood movies and they had a massive amount of hype and publicity before their release. Ae Dil Hai Mushkil made it to the headlines almost everyday for the last few weeks due to Pakistani artist Fawad Khan’s appearance in it.
Trade analysts in the industry were skeptical on whether the sentiment of nationalism would work against Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and favor Shivaay to do well at the ticket windows. But the early response has cleared their doubt and the film is set to make a better collection than the latter. Ae Dil Hai Muskhil and Shivaay are likely to collect over Rs 20 crore together at the Indian box office on the first day.

READ ALSO : 

• Indian film producers ban Pakistani actors ‘for ever’ over Kashmir crisis
• A larger-than-life show
• Killer regrets blogger Nazim murder
• Lenovo Vibe K5 Note gets JIO 4G VoLTE update in India
• Kashmir row: Pakistan slaps ban on Bollywood films

Indian films have been banned in cinemas across Pakistan as tension between the South Asian neighbors spills over into the arts.
The retaliation comes after a ban was placed by the Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association (IMPPA) on Pakistani actors and technicians from working in the Hindi-film industry, popularly known as Bollywood.
Cinema employees in Karachi were seen removing giant posters advertising Indian films over the weekend and replacing them with banners for Pakistani and Hollywood films.
“It is deeply regrettable that a film trade body, the IMPPA, has passed a resolution to ban Pakistani stars and technicians from working in India,” a statement from Pakistan’s Film Exhibitors and Distributors group said late on Friday.
FLASHBACK: After 43 years, Pakistan rethinks ban on Bollywood films
“[Following] the IMPPA decision … the majority stake holders of the [Pakistani] film industry have decided to suspend the screening of all Indian films until normalcy returns.”
Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Rawalpindi, said cinemas have already stopped showing Indian films.
“Most people here are saying, that if this is going to be a serious affair, it should not be forgotten that Pakistani television is also showing Indian movies and Indian dramas,” he said.
“There are thousands and thousands of CD shops across Pakistan, which sells Indian movies. So what they are saying is, if the government is indeed serious, then there should be more curbs on those as well.”
Simmering tension
Tension has been simmering for months between India and Pakistan but rose sharply on Thursday when India claimed it had carried out “surgical strikes” across the Line of Control, the de facto border in the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir.
The public admission of such an action against alleged “terrorist units” prompted anger in Pakistan, with both sides reporting fresh cross-border shootings but no casualties early on Saturday morning.
Celebrities on both sides of the border have now jumped into the debate.
Many Pakistani singers and film actors have been given permits to work in India’s entertainment industry in recent years in an attempt to improve contacts.
Salman Khan, the popular Indian film star, has faced criticism by Indians on social media for saying that Pakistani actors should not be equated with terrorists.
“These are artists, these are two different subjects. They’re terrorists, these are artists. What do you think? Is an artist a terrorist?”
Pakistan producers urge Bollywood ban to save the local film industry
By the same token, Adnan Sami, a British-born singer of Pakistani origin who received Indian citizenship last year, has been criticized on Twitter by Pakistanis for praising Indian forces.
Mahesh Bhatt, an Indian filmmaker, received similar treatment when he posted an image of himself calling for peace.
“Sadly, there isn’t much difference in the level of sanity on both sides,” observed Mango Baaz, a Pakistani media website, in a story comparing the online reactions across the border.
Indian films are screened in a majority of cinemas in Pakistan where filmmakers are trying revive its struggling motion picture industry.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since they gained independence from Britain seven decades ago, two of them over Kashmir.
Following the 1965 war, Indian films were banned in Pakistan for 43 years until the ban was lifted in 2008.

READ ALSO   : 

• Uniphore Launches Advanced Version of its Speech Analytics Software
• Jio SIM not working in your phone? Some tips to fix it
• Sebi mulls ban on social media tips
• Emerging Investment Opportunities in the Indian Education Sector
• Apple Won’t Give Us a New Mac Pro So Samsung Is Selling a Look-a-Like

2016 was a promising year for Bollywood as it saw some of the biggest releases. Movies like Pink, MS Dhoni: The Untold Story walked their way to the bank. However, not all lived up to the expectations they set. Some movies were lame, some left us heartbroken, and some movies made us want to run out of the theater, like in ten minutes. Here are the films that we had solid expectations from, but they failed to make it to our “Best 2016 Bollywood Movies” list!
Fitoor

When we saw the gorgeous Katrina Kaif being paired with his hotness, Aditya Roy Kapoor, in a musical love story, we couldn’t wait to see the film. But regret stood to wait for us in the aisles. The slow-pace of the story and the mediocre acting by the lead pair made us walk out of the theater with disappointment.
Wazir
The trailer of the film left us spellbound. Amitabh Bachchan looking intense in a wheelchair, Farhan Akhtar playing the perfect cop: the film released with a lot of promise. Though it started well initially, but soon the story totally fell apart. Disappointment!
Tere Bin Laden: Dead or Alive
The first installment of this movie series, Tere Bin Laden, was a hilarious ride. We expected the same from the second. But, the not so funny one-liners made it difficult to sit through the film.
Fan
The trailer of Fan build up a lot of expectations in the audience, but the movie turned out to be a damp squib. Although Shah Rukh Khan did a fabulous job, as the superstar and the fan, the story couldn’t match up to our expectations.
Baar Baar Dekho
Everyone was excited about Baar Baar Dekho. The trailer left us spellbound as the movie revolved around time travel. We wanted to know what happens further. From Katrina Kaif’s flat stomach to Sidharth’s good looks, everything was perfect in the film except one important thing- THE PLOT. Not only did the movie leave us dissatisfied, Katrina and Sidharth’s acting was not convincing either.

READ ALSO : 

• “Our actors don’t need Bollywood to become stars”: Pakistani blogger in reply to Indian Journalist
• Blue-Eyed Pakistani Chaiwala Becomes Internet Sensation
• MAMI an exception, most film festivals in India await sponsors
• Kashmir row: Pakistan slaps ban on Bollywood films
• Dubai Theme Park Unveils First Resident Bollywood Musical