The plan was in full throttle, the venue had been finalized, and guests had been invited for the much-anticipated showcase of the principal characters of Nitesh Tiwari’s magnum opus, ‘Ramayana: Part One’. But no one expected the event to be postponed.

Sources close to the production inform mid-day that producer Namit Malhotra has decided to postpone the launch of the film’s promotional assets, which were originally scheduled to coincide with the Ram Navami festival on March 26.

The showcase, organised at Gateway of India, was set to unveil the look of the leading cast. However, the makers have opted to defer the unveiling in light of the ongoing US-Israel-Iran conflict that has triggered global tensions. They now plan to roll out promotional activities closer to May.

“The Ram Navami launch was planned as a massive moment for the film, but ‘Ramayana’ is not just a domestic project; it’s an international film with a global audience. The producers felt that the current situation worldwide is not the most conducive environment to unveil such important material,” informs an insider, adding that the makers do not want to rush the launch.

The first instalment of ‘Ramayana’ is slated for release during the Diwali 2026 window.

Soon after Iran’s attacks in Dubai and Abu Dhabi led to temporary closure of airspace, the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Civil Aviation Authority on March 2 announced that it would bear the expenses of food and accommodation of all affected travellers in the emirates. Now, actor Sonu Sood has also come forward to lend support to those stranded in Dubai, amid the US and Israel’s war with Iran.

“We want to provide safe and free accommodation to the families and individuals in need, in Dubai,” the actor told mid-day.

Sood revealed that he sprang into action on March 4 after the real estate development company, Dugasta Properties, of which he is a brand ambassador, agreed to give him on-ground support. The company has 11 properties in Dubai, the doors of which have been thrown open to travellers since Wednesday. 

Breaking down the process, Sood explained, “Those affected can DM [direct message] me or the real estate company on Instagram. A lot of people have contacted us. My NGO, Sood Charity Foundation, is coordinating over phone calls. They speak to the passengers, get details of their flights and how many days they need to stay before they can return to their country, and arrange their stay.”

Even as the actor lauded the UAE’s relief measures, he highlighted that in such a crisis, the demand sometimes outweighs the supply.

“The UAE government has been doing a wonderful job, but many may not get accommodation because of lack of hotel space. Hundreds of families have reached out, asking for help,” said Sood, emphasizing that the efforts are aimed at people across nationalities.

Basically, I didn’t have any childcare. Luckily, we had our domestic help who decided to live-in with us. But other than that, it was my partner and I who raised our baby. It was an intense time because I also had to look after my 13-year-old brother. My dad and his wife were stuck abroad as there were no international flights. My brother’s boarding school sent him to me. So, I had a newborn and a teenager. It was parenting 2.0! Between taking care of my teenage brother and changing diapers, there was no sleep at night. It was seven intense months.

I think it’s fantastic. But it needs a lot of planning. And you obviously need to check with a medical professional whether your body is fit enough to have a natural birth or if there are other complications. Sanam, my doula, was around and that gave us this extra sense of security because it’s not just the birth, it’s the pre and the post care too: How are you preparing mentally before and after the birth? How do you breastfeed the newborn? How do you keep this tiny thing alive? So, having a long chat with your gynaecologist and really writing down your birth plan — what you expect in those hours of labour, things that may go wrong, things you need to do then — is essential. You can really lay it out and come to an agreement. It’s sort of like an unofficial contract between you and your gynaecologist.

I love this time when they’re chatting and talking. They’re very entertaining. I want to frame a sentence of hers every day. There’s always some new funny sentence she has so it’s great fun. But of course, they are becoming cleverer and more manipulative. They know how to get something out of you by throwing a tantrum. And because she was a Covid baby, she had a lot of time with mama and she’s very attached to mama. So now comes the challenge of being away. I used to travel with her every time I went for a shoot but that’s not possible anymore. Now she needs to be in one place. So that challenge is coming up now.

One of the first things to do is just giving your child the space to talk whenever you are with them. Constantly being curious about their life in school helps: What they’re doing with their social life? Who are their best friends? Who are their teachers? What are the people they don’t like? All of that stuff. Being involved and curious about their life is very, very important to understand how things are going. And of course, the other is to start educating your child about their body boundaries. All of that is really important to us. So, we’ve explained good touch and bad touch. We’ve explained to her how to own your space, how you can ask for space if you want it.

Actually there’s a lot of support online. For example, a mother shared with me a song called ‘The boundaries song’ on YouTube. It’s made with cartoons which is perfect for this age group. It teaches them how some people love cuddles, some don’t; how some people’s kisses you like, some you don’t. It’s a really fun song. So, there’s an appropriate way to talk to even a three-year-old about these things. I don’t think there’s any sort of time limit; I think everybody can be spoken to. I always feel like the more I speak to my child as a human being and less as a little baby, and by being more honest with her, the better relationship we will have with each other.

I remember when I told my doula that I only want to use cloth diapers, she was like, “Oh, that’s very sweet and all but please, you use cloth diapers in the day and at night use proper diapers.” And it was good advice (laughs). But what I did do is go the extra mile to find out about throwaway diapers which are still sustainable. So, in the day I was dealing with a lot of laundry from the cloth diapers and, at night, I was using biodegradable, store-bought ones made of bamboo. In the beginning, it was all very hard to do but because I was home and there was a pandemic, I just started figuring out a lot of things (about sustainability) like ordering organic and non-toxic floor and bathroom cleaners, shampoos and soaps. It just became something that I did as a sort of a big chunk (of my time). Sometimes even at 2 am in the morning after I had done my breastfeeding! But one of the things we do now is swapping things like clothes and cribs. I know so many kids and so many parents now that it helps to pass things around because kids grow out of their clothes so quickly. It’s become like a system.

This poor child has been to more continents than most of us (laughs). After seven months of being in lockdown, we were so frustrated that we decided to drive across the country to south India where my mother has a big home. She was also projectile vomiting in the car, that was another thing! And then my partner is from Israel. As soon as we were allowed to travel abroad, we went to Israel to visit his whole family, his grandparents. Then I had to shoot my film ‘Goldfish’ in London. She came there. So, she has been moving a lot. She has been great with travel. I obviously haven’t started motorbike rides with her yet. I have to wait two more years for that.

My daughter is really into art. It’s really interesting because we have children’s books but her favourite ones are by (French painter) Claude Monet, Henri Matisse and Spanish painter Joan Miro. And she’s obsessed with these artists! All of these artists go to Paris at some point in the book. And she goes like “I’m going to be a real artist. I’m going to go to Paris. I’m going to study art.” And we also have some friends down the road here in Goa. One of them is actually the woman (Valeriya Polyanychko) who illustrated my book. She allows Sappho to paint on the walls of her house and Sappho goes nuts there. So. Guy and I have done a few projects with her. Recently, we made an owl together.

Recently, I was shooting a film in Portugal. It’s the first time I didn’t travel with Sappho. So, the first ten days were blissful. I was shooting for 12 hours a day and I still had so much time to myself after the shoot. I would do yoga, go to the pool and have a beer and chill with my co-actors. I was like, “Wow, what is this life that I had completely forgotten.” But having said that, after about 12 days, I had this physical pain to get back. It was hard to be away. But now I feel I’m also prioritizing differently. I like the space I’m getting even while being a parent. For example, during her school hours, I’m writing and doing other work like reading and researching stuff that I want to work on. It’s giving me a new shape as a person and I am discovering new sides to myself which is exciting.

I haven’t faced that issue yet, so I haven’t thought about it. But I don’t think there’s anything to hide. The parents we meet are quite progressive. Also, perhaps there’s no need for other parents to know. It’s none of their business whether you’re married or not. In my case, I’m a celebrity so people know. But in a lot of cases, I am sure people just will not say if they’re not married.

Even when I was shooting the film, I was so aware because I was playing a daughter even as I was just becoming a mother. And I suddenly had so much more empathy for Deepti’s character. I knew now what my mother went through because I fought like crazy with my mother as a teenager. And I was constantly thinking, will I get to this point with my daughter? I love her to bits, and she loves me to bits right now, but will we get to that point where she says, ‘I hate you, Mom’? So it made me very aware and appreciative of my mother. And yes, I’m totally joyous and happy to have a theatre release after four years.

My partner and I have very different techniques and parenting styles. Sometimes we get into fights because of that. We have started seeing a child psychologist every once in a while, because it helps us to understand what our child needs and which approach to take. So, I would really recommend that. If you can have someone just to consult — where somebody is able to hear both sides and also understand what the child’s perspective is and basically speaks for the child — then it really helps. 

Ankita Chaurasia (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 7, 2020)

Varun Dhawan, who has taken to sharing positive developments in the Coronavirus fight, retweeted an Israeli journalist’s post, which informed, “A significant breakthrough has been achieved in finding an antidote to the Coronavirus that attacks the virus and can neutralize it in the sick body.” The actor was quick to add that he hopes it is true. Israel’s official Twitter handle responded by quoting a dialogue from Varun’s 2015 film, ABCD - Any Body Can Dance - 2.

The dialogue is a part of the actor’s monologue and appears in the climax: “Sahi direction mein utha har kadam, apne aap mein ek manzil hai... Aakhir zindagi ka matlab hi apna agla kadam chunna hai.” Director Remo D’Souza revealed to Mirror that the lines were rooted in his childhood and struggle. “I asked my dialogue writer Mayur (Puri) to incorporate them. I live life by the same principle. Success is almost never achieved in the first go, but I believe in second chances,” he asserts.

While Varun said he was glad that the dialogue had reached all the way to Israel, Remo is not surprised. “Our films are huge hits there. Even Street Dancer 3D worked well. The dance fraternity around the world is aware of my work,” he concludes. 

Anshul Chaturvedi (BOMBAY TIMES; February 3, 2020)

Adnan Sami’s Padma Shri ran into controversy on two grounds. One, does his body of work merit it? That, however, is a question that comes up each year for one or more recipients, irrespective of the regime in power. The second question, however, is not so common — should a man whose father fought against India in a war be feted by the Indian state? When Adnan spoke to us last year, he recurrently emphasised the point that he was “loyal to India because of what my father taught me”. We ask him to comment on the recent outrage.

“See, if you have been indoctrinated with a particular belief or principle... it’s like this... once you have learnt engineering after that you apply that skill to a Maruti or a Mercedes, the principle is the same, right, because the education that you got was basically for an engine. So the indoctrination that I got from my father of the concept of loyalty, patriotism etc... he used it in his capacity, in his life for the country that he belonged to and he instilled those principles in me. Today, I am an Indian and the DNA of my upbringing and the principles that have been indoctrinated in me — I am using exactly the same principles but adopting it to my country. And so my sense of loyalty is absolutely intact, but for the country that I belong to,” he explains.

Adnan was born in the UK, his spouse is German. We put a question to him, hoping for insight: During and after WW2, nations in Europe fought bitterly, even viciously, and political and ethnic boundaries were drawn, erased, redrawn. Yet, they have been able to function collectively, even build an EU that is close to borderless – even after Brexit – without the fallout of the hatred and killing in the 1940s. How did they reintegrate while the subcontinent still simmers in the animosity of the 1940s?

“It’s a very interesting question, which I have pondered over.” He pauses for a bit.

“And I think, I mean it’s just my opinion... When Germany finally woke up and realised the horror of what their leaders had done... you see, the Nazis and Hitler, in particular, with the level of oratory skills that he had, had managed to convince the masses of their superiority, the Aryan race and the white supremacy that he had advocated and the illusions that he had created that we are going to take over the world — all of that came tumbling down at the defeat. And thereafter, with the entire world teaming up against Germany and telling them what a horrid leader they had, and the horror that he inflicted upon humanity and so on, somewhere the Germans realised ki yaar humne waaqyi bahut zyadti ki hai. Therefore, they were on an extreme back foot and they admitted defeat, they accepted humiliation and with that acceptance, they went and sought forgiveness. And when that happened, you know, humanity is such that when you do have that closure whereby the other person has admitted their mistake, things settle... If you speak to a German and you start talking about Nazis, the average German is gonna feel very embarrassed because of his history. I know this because I live there... live in the sense that I have got family there and as a result I have German friends. I know this. Today if you mention Hitler, they will feel very ashamed because they’ve realised what a monster he was. Now, in comparison, yahan pe there has been no such thing. Nobody has accepted defeat, nobody has accepted their mistake, nobody has turned around and made any apologies. Every time there has been a possibility of a handshake, the Pakistan Army decides to step in and do a Kargil or whatever in order to sabotage any possibility of reconciliation. It doesn’t suit them to have a reconciliation because then it’s going to have repercussions on their economy.”

Even his Padma award became a discussion about India and Pakistan. “When has there ever not been a discussion of India-Pakistan?” he laughs. “That is a perpetual discussion going on ever since Partition; it’s not a new phenomenon”.

That may be true, but Hindu-Muslim, majority-minority has perhaps not been as much of a perpetual discussion as it seems to be presently. As someone who moved from a ‘majority’ status to a ‘minority’ one by choice, what learnings and experiences does he have to share with us? How has his association been with those not of his faith after he moved to India?

“When it comes to my relationship with people in India, I have, frankly speaking, never been able to differentiate in my day-to-day dealings with people from different walks of life. I am not even able to sometimes tell what faith they belong to unless somewhere in the conversation or at the end of the conversation, the person turns around and says Allah hafiz or Khuda hafiz. I will only then get to know that he might be a Muslim. I have so many friends who are Hindu but they will say Khuda hafiz to me. There is no difference ki main goodbye kahoon ya namaskar kahoon ya Khuda hafiz kahoon, mere liye ek hi hai.”

And that does not make either of the two parties traitors to their respective cultures, does it?

“Of course not, of course not!” He exclaims. “The most beautiful thing in our country is that a Hindu will celebrate Eid with me, I will celebrate Diwali or Holi with him and all of us collectively will celebrate Christmas. Mere bahut saare dost joh Hindu hain woh Eid ke dauran aake kehte hain, ‘achha yaar sevaiyaan bhej rahe ho na?’ ya ‘biryani bhej rahe ho na?’. Aur hum unki Diwali ki mithaai bade shauk se khaate hain. And now that Medina (his daughter) is with us, I was telling my wife that next year we must have a Christmas tree in the house. It’s just such a beautiful thing for the child.”

What faith will Medina grow up to embrace? Will she be able to celebrate both Eid and Christmas or is that no longer politically correct in the times the world is living in?

“My child will grow up just like me. She will be able to embrace all and respect all faiths because that’s the way I have been brought up. When I was studying in England, in boarding school, the day used to start with the entire school going to the chapel. I grew up with all of those different faiths. My upbringing instilled in me to respect all faiths because at the end of the day, if you look at all faiths, the basic teaching of every faith is the same, love thy neighbour, don’t do to others what you wouldn’t have done to yourself. Which faith turns around and says that make sure that you sleep with your belly full while your neighbour is hungry? So these are the principles with which I intend to bring up Medina and that’s the way it should be.”

How do these principles play out in real life, beyond the words?

“I had gone to Israel just last year and I went to Jerusalem, I visited Masjid-E-Aqsa, I visited the Wailing Wall, which is for the Jews, and I also went on the ziyarat of Jesus Christ and paid my respects in all of these different places with the same sanctity. So that’s the way I am. Jab yahan pe Ganpati hota hai toh humein har taraf se daawatein aati hain ki please come and visit us and we go. The point is that you respect all faiths. You may have your own principles or your own beliefs, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot respect somebody else’s beliefs. To each his own. That’s the way I have been brought up and that is also the most beautiful thing about our country that we respect this,” concludes the expressive musician, who often reiterates that art is beyond politics.

Flashback 2019 (Mar 5)

“Even though my father was originally Afghan, but because of the fact that he became part of Pakistan by default because of the Partition, his blood or DNA said that I will have to now show my allegiance to this country. Because that’s the Pathan way — this is the country that I’m in now, I will show my allegiance to this country. So therefore today, I have my oath to India to honour. This is a very important thing in our blood that we honour our zabaan, our oath. If I have sworn allegiance to you, by god, I’ll give my life to you. For a Pathan, his zabaan is a very important thing, ghairat is a very important thing. Aapne agar allegiance show kar di hai... he would have said to me that you better be true to the oath that you’ve taken. He was very clear about those things. And so today, if I am patriotic or nationalistic or whatever you want to call it, it is because of the upbringing that I have from my father, and the fact that he placed so much emphasis on loyalty, allegiance and honour...”

Flashback 2018 (Aug 14)

WHAT ADNAN TOLD US:
“I have been granted citizenship under a very special clause, and that is Section 6 (1) of the Citizenship Act 1955, in which the Government of India has discretionary powers to grant citizenship to any individual who they feel has extraordinary talent or exceptional talent in various fields such as science, art, culture, and they can do so at will.”

WHAT SECTION 6 (1) OF THE CITIZENSHIP ACT, 1955 SAYS:
Section 6 (1) in the Citizenship Act, 1955 deals with citizenship by naturalisation and provides for fast-tracking of the citizenship process of an applicant based on their contribution in the field of arts and sciences. It states, “Provided that, if in the opinion of the Central Government, the applicant is a person who has rendered distinguished service to the cause of science, philosophy, art, literature, world peace or human progress generally, it may waive all or any of the conditions specified in the Third Schedule.”

With the third Baaghi film, producer Sajid Nadiadwala and director Ahmed Khan up the action ante by pitting their hero against a location; the film will be shot in Georgia, Serbia, Turkey and India
Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; July 11, 2019)

Ahmed Khan who recently returned to the Bay from Agra where he was on a recce for the third instalment of the Sajid Nadiadwala-produced Baaghi franchise which reunites Tiger Shroff and Shraddha Kapoor, is all set to take the action one level up in the film which is expected to roll by August-end. He promises that his leading man “will cross all limits this time”, pointing out that after the previous film, the responsibility has multiplied three-fold and he has to make sure that he delivers on expectations.

“In Baaghi 2, Tiger jumped off a cliff to land on a mid-air chopper. He also performed stunts on water. This time we have him taking over a city and breaking it down, besides jumping off cliffs and skyscrapers and setting off blasts,” informs Ahmed.

As part of his prep, his hero will be going to Israel to train in Krav Maga as soon as he wraps up his film with Hrithik Roshan. Krav Maga is a military self-defence and fighting system developed for the Israel Defence Forces and security, derived from a combination of techniques sourced from boxing, wrestling, aikido, judo, karate and realistic fighting. “Tiger will be there for eight-10 days and is really looking forward to it. He has so much to give and always up for it,” says the director.

After Israel, the actor will be travelling to Georgia for training in machine guns, pistols, shotguns and other weapons. “We are not naming any place in particular and will be filming in Georgia, Turkey and Serbia. We are also building sets and have a schedule in India too and should lock the location by this week,” says Ahmed who will be travelling to Georgia a couple of more times before the film rolls.

He is all praise for his leading lady who will next be seen with Prabhas in Saaho which opens on Independence Day. “It’s a different kind of action for Shraddha, not gimmicky or typical maar-dhaad. It’s a combination of mind and speed, very slick and international. We are still planning what kind of training she will need to go through, but I can assure that she will surprise everyone,” promises Ahmed who has Chashme Buddoor and Katha director Sai Paranjpye’s grandson Abeer Abhyankar and yesteryear villain ‘Loin’ Ajit’s grandson Faaris Khan assisting him on the film. “I have known them for a while, they had assisted me on a commercial earlier. Sai ma’am and Ajit saab have given so much to the industry, we can only take their legacy forward,” he signs off with a smile.