From exploring enchanting international destinations to immersing herself in the diverse cultures of India, Shriya Saran has consistently set remarkable travel goals over the years. Recently, the actor celebrates her 40th birthday in Kerala along with her family, as she wanted her toddler to soak up the rich tapestry of Indian culture.

“I made the choice of visiting Kovallam with my daughter to let her experience the serene environment. Also, my husband, Andrei Koscheev, had a strong desire to visit Kerala. While we spent limited time there, it was an absolutely amazing experience,” she says, adding, “We were in awe of the caves and the beaches that surrounded us. We also made a thrilling road trip to Kabini, where we savoured the flavours of Karnataka cuisine. The place offered authentic delicacies that were different from our usual culinary experiences.”

The Drishyam 2 (2022) actor and her husband want their daughter Radha to explore as many wonders of India as possible.

“I want my two-year-old to visit the Ellora Caves (Maharashtra) and other remarkable places. We still have a plethora of unexplored destinations in the eastern part of India, such as Darjeeling (West Bengal) and Assam. And I’m eager to take my daughter and husband to Hampi (Karnataka) and show them the rich culture, food and temples of Chettinad as well,” Saran says.

The RRR (2022) actor took the initiative to introduce her daughter to travel at a very young age by visiting Russia when she was just seven months old.

“It breaks the monotony of being confined to the familiarity of home. Just like Radha developed a fondness for pasta during her time in Italy, she has also discovered her taste preferences through our adventures. While exploring different cuisines during our travels, she sometimes finds them delightful, while other times they fail to impress her,” Saran added.

She believes planning a vacation with kids needs careful planning, especially when choosing the right destination. “It should align with their interests and preferences. There’s no point in taking them to a place where they won’t enjoy or cherish the experiences, as those moments will fade away from their memories. However, if you introduce them to an intriguing place where they can revel in the joy of just being there, they will undoubtedly develop a plethora of skills and create lasting memories,” she concludes.

During singer Kailash Kher and his band Kailasa’s performance at Hampi Utsav 2023 in Karnataka, a water bottle was hurled onstage. The reason? Audience members wanted to hear Kannada tunes. Kher, in an exclusive interview with us, addressed this earlier and said, “We had a surprise set planned, as I wanted to pay a musical tribute to (late actor) Puneeth Rajkumar sir. I had prepared a medley of the hit songs, and the plan was to perform it toward the middle of the show. But those guys lost patience.”

While the two people were arrested immediately, the music fraternity believes no performer should have to face something like this. Singer Raghu Dixit, who also performed at the fest, tells us, “The organizers need to [keep it] in check to avoid these incidents. I highly condemn the act of throwing anything on an artist, but I don’t believe anyone is at fault here because the singer had songs planned and the audience couldn’t wait any longer.”

Another artiste at Hampi Utsav, singer Pallavi MD, says, “It is a huge festival that invites multiple artistes, but it mainly hosts singers who have performed in Kannada. However, singers who come from other states should also perform in the local language so that the audiences can connect. Maybe a song or two to kickstart the setlist would have calmed the audience.”

Meanwhile, singer Sonu Nigam says, “A very small number of disruptive people are found everywhere and in every country. Thankfully, they are inconsequential.”

I believe Kailash Kher performed much after midnight that day, and the audience got very restless. But I highly condemn the act of throwing a water bottle on an artiste.

It’s a one-off incident. Let’s not give power to it. There are all kinds of people in the audience, mostly appreciative.

It is a big no-no to throw anything on stage or hurt artistes when they’re performing. However, singers who come from other states should also perform in the local language so that the audiences can connect.

A plastic bottle was hurled at singer Kailash Kher during his band, Kailasa’s performance at the Hampi Utsav in the Vijayanagara district of Karnataka on Sunday. “It was such an energetic crowd of close to 50,000 people and everyone was singing along. Par har jagah kuch log hote hain jo zyada excited ho jaate hain. Two impulsive young boys got restless,” says the singer.

Recalling the incident, he adds, “They wanted to hear Kannada songs. Since we had a pre-decided sequence of the tracks, I asked them to have patience. We had a surprise set planned, as I wanted to pay a musical tribute to Puneeth Rajkumar sir (late Kannada actor). I had prepared a medley of the hit songs I had sung for him. The plan was to render it towards the middle of the show. But those guys lost patience,” Kher tells us.

The Teri Deewani singer adds that the atmosphere was so energetic that he didn’t even realise when the incident took place: “I continued with the performance. The situation was handled so well by the management and Karnataka police that I didn’t even come to know about the incident. I found out much later when my team informed me about it.”

The two locals, who threw the bottle, were immediately arrested by the police.

Actor Adil Hussain came back to Delhi recently from Hampi, only to be greeted by the weekend curfews, and soon restrictions were imposed.

“An entire lockdown is not going to work economically for anybody. There’s a huge section of middle-class families who’ve been sort of devastated. Today, people know how to look after themselves so as to not contract the virus. They can also look at themselves as what went wrong in terms of our healthy lives. All these questions have to come into the mainstream conversation,” he says.

The 57-year-old reveals that he had no professional commitments, so nothing got hampered in the pandemic. In fact, Hussain had shot for multiple projects in 2020 ever since restrictions were eased and shoots were allowed. “I had shot for three films back-to-back. First it was Bellbottom in United Kingdom, then I came back for an Assamese film, and then again went back to the UK for a film called Footprints On Water,” says the actor, who then came to Delhi in September last year, to meet his 90-year-old mother.

“Then me and my family went to Hampi to meet my friend. I’ll begin my next film in June in UK. I have nothing that got postponed. I wanted a break,” he adds.

As the number of Coronavirus cases continue to rise, it warrants the question what led to this. Hussain feels it’s little tricky to say where things went so wrong. “After a year of lockdown, things started opening up, and we forgot about it. We didn’t learn our lesson properly. At this time, you don’t know... even scientists don’t. They’re saying now the virus has mutated, it’s in the air. We need to find a solution instead of pointing fingers.”

We live in the era of speed dating and dating apps, with love supposed to be just a tap away. Old school love seems to have faded. Which is why actor Suhasini Mulay’s love story comes as a breath of fresh air! Deciding to take the plunge at 59, actor Suhasini Mulay broke a lot of societal norms. “I met my husband on Facebook! I didn’t have an account till then. A colleague once said I should open one, usse kaam milta hai. She did it for me,” recalls Mulay, who became “cautious” upon receiving weird responses.

One day, she found a suggestion on her feed about a particle physicist, Atul Gurtu. “I had some interest in science. He was working on an experiment; there was then this whole business about the God particle. I wrote to him, asking if he was working on that; he said yes. I sent another question, and we got talking,” shares the National Film Award winner, 70, adding, “He was looking for a change in life; he was a widower. He once asked if he could have my mobile number, and I wrote back, ‘Good girls don’t give mobile number to strangers’. I checked out his photo, the website of his institute; the name and face matched, so he was not bullshi**ing about that!”

Marriage wasn’t on the cards, she asserts, but Gurtu made her think. “He wrote, ‘You are happy busy running around, but if you want change, it won’t happen automatically’. I thought baat waajib hai. I was going on 60 then, but then I thought ‘Kya jata hai...’ We met, and had a long conversation,” the Jodhaa Akbar (2008) actor adds.

One of her friends, who had also married again after losing his wife, helped her make up her mind. She was told that if the other person is rational, and if things don’t work out, one can say it. “You commit because you want to, not because society is pushing you. There is enough pressure from friends... luckily not from my mother, who I wanted him to meet first. We got married within a month and half of meeting. It has been 10 years now,” shares Mulay, who recently came back from a vacation in Hampi with her husband.