This duo has followers hooked on the social media with their unfiltered conversations and quirky humour
Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 20, 2018)

Those who follow Sikandar Kher and Rahul Khanna on Instagram are privy to their unfiltered conversations which often raise chuckles. The banter brings out the actors’ quirky sense of humour that has gone untapped on screen. It also showcases a bond not many outside of the duo’s friends circle are aware of.

Sikander when contacted guffawed in acknowledgement, “Yes, I’m always passing some comment or the other on Rahul’s posts.” He however surprised by admitting that though they both belong to film families — Rahul is Vinod Khanna’s son and Sikander Kirron and Anupam Kher’s — they weren’t chaddi-buddies. “I’m much younger than that generation so I wouldn’t say we are bumchums. We were part of the same circle and knew each other but we really connected during Games Night some time ago and now catch up regularly, hanging out together with industry friends and playing a general knowledge game called Articulate. It’s competitive and great fun,” he exults.

The actor loves his new buddie’s sharp wit and gives Rahul credit for taking his comments sportingly instead of misunderstanding or misinterpreting things and getting offended. “It’s all fun for us, we don’t bother about who’s reading the comments. If anybody chances on them and find them entertaining, super!” Sikandar shrugs nonchalantly, saying these posts and chats have encouraged him to try his hand at stand-up comedy. “I put up some fun videos during the just concluded FIFA World Cup and many seemed to enjoy them going by their encouraging comments.”

On the work front, the 36-year-old actor has wrapped up his portions in Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Milan Talkies and is currently shooting for RAW - Romeo Akbar Walter, which features John Abraham and Jackie Shroff in the lead roles. “I head back to Gujarat in a day. I’m looking forward to more work so the audience can see different sides of me, like these chats with Rahul have brought my sense of humour to light,” he signs off with a laugh.

Renuka Vyavahare (BOMBAY TIMES; July 17, 2018)

Saiyami Kher has been an ardent sports enthusiast and a diehard Roger Federer fan, and she prefers to catch sporting events during her vacations. The actress never misses an opportunity to watch her favourite tennis legend play live. No wonder then, that she chose Wimbledon over the just concluded FIFA World Cup. An ecstatic Saiyami shared from London, “It was a toss-up between Wimbledon and the football World Cup. I sacrificed football for Federer as I can watch the WC after four years but Federer may not continue playing till then, given the fact that he could possibly retire in the near future. I watched him play so no regrets. Of course, I was gutted to see him bow out in the quarter-final but (cricketer) Ajinkya Rahane and I thoroughly enjoyed watching him play at the Wimbledon and I will be here next year to watch him win. Rohan Bopanna, Javed (Akhtar) uncle and I watched the spectacular Rafael Nadal-Novak Djokovic semi-final, which was one of the best tennis games ever.”

To ensure, she doesn’t miss out on the football final, which partially overlapped with tennis, the actress watched it at the Wimbledon lounge! “As soon as the men’s Wimbledon final got over, we ran towards the lounge to see Croatia play against France”, she added. If football and tennis wasn’t enough, Saiyami also watched India-England’s 2nd cricket ODI (One Day International) at Lord’s. She concluded, “My holidays are always sports oriented. I will also participate in a half marathon in Berlin soon.”

Films, events, vacations and FIFA… here’s everything that’s keeping B-town folk away from the city of late
Nishi Tiwari (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 14, 2018)

Eyeing London
While Sonam Kapoor is back in Mumbai, her Veere, Kareena Kapoor, is still on vacation in the Queen’s City with son Tamiur. Shilpa Shetty, who shares a home there with husband Raj Kundra, is also on a family holiday, with their son, Viaan, joining them.

Ajay Devgn and Rakul Preet Singh, who play the leads in Luv Ranjan’s next production, which also features Tabu, are in the Brit Capital as well but for them, it’s all work. The actress recently got her first day off in 25 days and indulged in her two favourite pastimes — shopping and exploring local restaurants.

London’s also houseful with Sajid Nadiadwala’s squad. Director Sajid Khan, his sister-choreographer Farah Khan, and his actors — Akshay Kumar, Bobby Deol, Riteish Deshmukh, Kriti Sanon, Kriti Kharbanda and Pooja Hegde — are filming the ensemble comedy’s fourth instalment. They will return by the month-end.

Akki and Bobby’s respective spouses, Twinkle Khanna and Tanya Deol, have accompanied them. Mrs Funnybones was recently at the art school, Central Saint Martins, and enjoying being a student again. “Though my right hand is already cramping with all the line drawings and illustrating,” she revealed recently. Then, there’s solo flyer Farhan Akhtar who, after enjoying a spot of wanderlust across Europe, is reflecting on his travels in London. “Ooh… aah… take the world and paint it red,” the actor-filmmaker-musician quoted a song from his 2015 film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara while he was about town with Shibani Dandekar and some friends. He also accoampanied his dad, Javed Akhtar, to catch some of the Wimbledon action.

Saiyami Kher, Shabana’s sister-in-law Tanvi’s neice, was kicked about being at Wimbledon too, and watched two epic five-setter games. “Court 1 Roger Federer v/s Kevin Anderson and Centre court Rafael Nadal versus del Potro!) but the heartbreak of not seeing Fed win... how could Wimbledon put him on court 1 to play!” she shared. Farhan’s Wazir co-star, Aditi Rao Hydari, too was busy soaking up the sunshine.

Also taking in the sights is Sonal Chauhan, while debutante Isabelle Kaif is shooting for Remo D’souza’s Time to Dance with Sooraj Pancholi and Waluscha De Sousa.

Filmmaker Raja Krishna Menon is location-hunting around London and Manchester for his next.



Football fever
Kabir Khan headed to Russia after a recce in London for his upcoming Ranveer Singh-starrer 83. The filmmaker, who is accompanied by wife Mini Mathur and kids Vivaan and Sairah, informed that this is a complete football tourism trip for the family as they would be in St.Petersburg and Moscow for the semi-finals and finals of the FIFA World Cup. The family is scheduled to make a pit-stop in Amsterdam for a couple of days on their way home. Meanwhile, Kabir indulged his curious eye with an aesthetic picture, noting, “Walking to the Red Square... These frames remind me so much of all the Russian movies we used to watch in film school.”

Another filmmaker, Shoojit Sircar, who plays the sport for a Mumbai-based club, is also in the Red country with producer partner Ronnie Lahiri to catch the footie fever. Abhishek and Amitabh Bachchan were in St Petersburg too for the semi-final match between France and Belgium.


Shooting at site
The Brahmastra team of director Ayan Mukerji and his cast — Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Mouni Roy — are in the Bulgarian spa town of Devin for the film’s second schedule. En route, RK spent some time in Paris to ring in mom Neetu’s 60th birthday while Alia did some shopping in London.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui is in Rome with Tannishtha Chatterjee for the actress’s directorial debut while Taapsee Pannu is in action in Inverness, Scotland, for Sujoy Ghosh’s revenge-drama, Badla. Yami Gautam is filming Uri in Serbia while Sriram Raghavan is on recce in Europe for his next.

Harshvardhan Kapoor is in Switzerland for the screening of Bhavesh Joshi Superhero while Shamita Shetty is in Argemtina to shoot for the upcoming season of the celebrity reality show Khatron Ke Khiladi.




Living the American dream
Katrina Kaif is hanging out in New York with her Baar Baar Dekho director Nitya Mehra after wrapping up the Dabangg concert tour with Salman Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez and Sonakshi Sinha. Sushmita Sen reunited with her mother in Dubai after picture-perfect sojourns in Los Angeles and Miami with daughters, Renee and Alisah. Preity Zinta celebrated the Fourth of July with her in-laws in her new home away from home in a faux bikini.

Priyanka Chopra is also back in the US and Ayushmann Khurrana with wife Tahira Kashyap and their kids, Virajveer and Varushka, left for a holiday in the Promised Land a while ago. Abhay Deol is in LA too.


Family time
Anurag Kashyap is hanging out with daughter Aaliyah in Athens, Greece, their first stop. Shraddha and Siddha Kapoor, with parents Shakti and Shivangi, are touring Germany and France. Manoj Bajpayee with wife Shabana and daughte Ava is having a blast in the City of Angels.

The actress recently caught a match between Djokovic and Khachanov; Kabir Khan can’t wait for FIFA finals
Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 12, 2018)

Juhi Chawla’s latest London vacation, which began last week, is all about trying out new things. On Monday, the actress watched the Wimbledon match between Novak Djokovic and Karen Khachanov. “I have to thank my daughter Jhanvi for that. She and my sister-in-law Radha are tennis fans and one of my daughter’s favourite things to do on a vacation is to either play the sport or read. Jay (Mehta, husband) arranged amazing passes for this match and I was excited because I’ve watched a bit of it on TV and it looked so glamorous,” Juhi beams.

She was fascinated by the rules to be followed while watching the match. “You can’t enter the premises in distressed jeans or keds, unless they are fashionable, oversized hats and so on. It took us some time to dress for the event,” she informs, adding, “We had a four-course meal at the Wimbledon club and joined thousands of fans to watch the match after that.”

Speaking of filmi sports enthusiasts, Kabir Khan is in Russia with wife Mini Mathur and kids Vivaan and Sairah to catch the final leg of the FIFA World Cup. “The atmosphere here is great. Fans from all over the world are celebrating the game. It’s football madness everywhere and I can’t wait to see the finals. I have rooted for Brazil ever since I was a child. They aren’t in the final four so I’m waiting for the England-France final. It’s time to celebrate the new order in the football world,” Kabir told Mirror.

As the 2018 FIFA World Cup gets underway we look at who our actor-footballers are rooting for and which team they think could pull off a surprise win
Sanyukta Iyer and Natasha Coutinho (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 19, 2018)

Ranbir Kapoor
Sports is a passion for me and I hope football becomes as famous in India as it is in Brazil and Argentina. I’m rooting for Argentina to win the FIFA World Cup this year.


John Abraham
I have a football club called the North-East United FC. We did not have a good season and hope to do better this year. As far as the World Cup goes, I wish I could say India but since that’s not happening, an exciting team I like and look out for is Germany. Will the Germans take the Cup home again? Well, this is the year of the underdog and I’d love to see an African nation lift the World Cup.


Abhishek Bachchan
In 2014, I cleared my schedule to fly off to Brazil to catch the semi final match of the FIFA World Cup, Germany versus Brazil, with the score card reading 7–1. I have supported Brazil since 1982 and it is my father’s (Amitabh Bachchan is a hardcore Brazil supporter) love for the team that influenced my liking for the boys in sunny yellow.


Bobby Deol
I used to play football in school. Then I stopped because I broke my leg, but I still watch it. It’s hard to predict who will win but I hope it’s Brazil. I’m rooting for Neymar and the boys. Iceland are the underdogs this year.


Ali Fazal
My association with football dates back to my days at the Doon School. I was really into hockey and basketball but football was the ‘joshila’ game we never missed. I’ve grown up juggling with the ball on the turf in school and also playing gali soccer in the sun and in the rain. I no longer play the game but when I see Ranbir (Kapoor) and the others, I think I should get back to the field again.

I’m very proud of India’s football team. We’re not playing the World Cup this year but it’s just a matter of time now. For now, I’m a die-hard Brazil fan, I grew up on their ball play and their flag tops my list. Brazil or Spain could win the Cup but Portugal could spring a surprise on fans.


Arjun Kapoor
I am cheering for Belgium this year, as well as England and Argentina. But France could prove to be the dark horse as the team has been consistently playing well. Yes, I am a football fanatic, and though I am right now on the road, I will make sure I catch the big matches.


Kartik Aaryan
I’ve been playing football since I was a child. I was the captain of my college football team and now I play for the All Stars Football Club. When work permits, I play every weekend as it keeps me fit and is a great stressbuster.

I think Croatia is going to surprise everyone this year. They have brilliant players like Ivan Rakitic and Luca. I’m supporting Portugal because I’m a huge Cristiano Ronaldo fan and he’s in top form right now. His hattrick against Spain was superb. They too have a good chance of winning.


Harshvardhan Kapoor
I’ve been watching football since I was 7–8 years old. I play once or twice a week but stopped playing during the release of Bhavesh Joshi Superhero as I was busy and wanted to avoid injuries. I hope England win, they have a lot of Manchester United players in the squad, but I know it’s a long shot. I think Spain will take the trophy.


Sikandar Kher
I have always loved Brazil since I saw the re-runs of Pele playing. I have loved Ronaldo and now it’s Neymar Junior who’s fantastic. Brazil doesn’t play football, they dance under the leadership of Captain Marcelo Silva. I love cheering for them.


Amit Sadh
Growing up, I used to play in and after school every day. Now, given our hectic schedule, it can be tough to gather players and commit to a league.

There are a few teams this year that look really strong, including Brazil, Germany, France, Spain and Belgium. I’m rooting for France, it’s a fantastic young team with hard-working players with a lot of flair. The underdog is Colombia. It’s not a team that figures in the list of potential winners for many but it’s a solid team — team being the key word — and it’s in the easiest group.

Rithvik Dhanjani
I am a Messi fan but unfortunately, he hasn’t performed well at FIFA in the past so I don’t know what he will do this year. Although I’m busy shooting I heard stories of the freekick Ronaldo took the other day so I’m rooting for Portugal but I’m also cheering for Spain. Colombia are the underdogs.

Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 12, 2018)

On Sunday, Indian football captain Sunil Chhetri, with 102 appearances, joined Argentinian star Lionel Messi (with 124 internationals) at the coveted 21st position in the all-time list of goal scorers. Chhetri scored twice, taking his tally to 64 over the weekend and making him the second highest international goal-scorer among active players. The news comes right before the 2018 FIFA World Cup on June 14 in Moscow, and sent the social media into a spin, with football fans, which included some of Bollywood’s big names, lauding Chhetri for the growth of the sport in the country. Among them was filmmaker Shoojit Sircar who had earlier pleaded for fellow Indians to follow the 33-year-old-footballer and the Indian Super League.

“Football has made me the person I am today,” admits Shoojit who is flying to Russia to catch the action live, as Argentina take on Iceland on June 16 and Germany lock horns with Mexico the following day. His wife Jhuma, daughters, Ananya and Koyna, and his Vicky Donor, Pink and October co-producer Ronnie Lahiri will be with him on this football pilgrimage. “I’m excited about watching the World Cup for the first time with my family. My daughters are football fanatics like me and Jhuma has never watched a match in a stadium so it’ll be a novel experience for her.”

Shoojit will return to Russia in the first week of July for the quarter-finals and semi-finals and is most excited to watch his all-time favourite player, Messi, dazzle on the field. The Germany-Mexico match too is a big draw for him and he admits he’ll be rooting for four teams this year — Brazil, Argentina, Belgium and Spain.

With actors like Ranveer Singh promoting a football league and Ranbir Kapoor buying himself a local football team while playing the sport every weekend in Bandra, Shoojit is confident that India will be playing in the big arena in the near future. “I was pleasantly surprised to find that so many young actors follow football as I had assumed that the film frat was hooked on cricket,” acknowledges the producer-director who frequently plays for Bunty Walia and Abhishek Bachchan’s All Star Football Club (ASFC).

He was in South Africa for the 2010 World Cup too and though he refers to football as a “poor man’s sport” because anyone can play it anywhere, his love affair with it started way back in 1974-’75 when his family moved to Bengal from Delhi. “There were a lot of boys of my age and we’d get together to play football, irrespective of our backgrounds. Watching the World Cup every four years was a childhood dream that I’m living out now that I’ve earned a bit of money. When I played in local tournaments as a young boy, I never thought I’d ever be able to watch a World Cup, forget multiple World Cups,” he says, sighing over the fact that he had to miss the 2014 World Cup in Brazil because he was on a deadline with Piku. “The World Cup season is like a carnival for football fans. The game teaches you everything about unity, patience, discipline and the importance of teamwork. All great ideas related to scripting and filmmaking come to me when I am on the field with a ball. Football will always be my first love.”