Abhimanyu Mathur (BOMBAY TIMES; February 17, 2020)

When filmmaker Anurag Kashyap reached Jamia Millia Islamia on Friday afternoon to address the anti-CAA/NRC protesters gathered there, people had been waiting for him for hours. “We all felt defeated for a long time,” the director said, addressing the crowd, “I had even quit social media. But when you guys started your protest, it gave me strength, enough strength that I decided to come back and speak my mind again.” Kashyap had deleted his Twitter account after being targeted by trolls early last year but joined the platform again, a few months ago. The director spoke to the protesters outside the University’s gate no. 7 for about half an hour. He said, “It is easy to start a movement but always difficult to sustain one. You people have been doing that and it is inspiring to see.” He even talked about his old association with Jamia. “This is the first time I am coming here. And that is because I could not get admission in this college. I tried but couldn’t get through. Toh ab issi tarah aana hua,” he said with a laugh.

Hundreds of protesters and bystanders swamped the road. Some even climbed walls and barricades to see the filmmaker speak. “I know you are worried about the silence of several prominent people,” he said, responding to a query from one of the protesters, “But let me tell you, there are many who’re supporting you despite being silent. Kuch logon ki majboori hai ki woh bol nahi sakte hain. Bas itna hai!” When some protesters on stage asked him to raise slogans to boost the morale of the protesters, he quipped, “Inko kya himmat doon. Inse toh mujhe himmat milti hai.”

With Woh hum nahin finding a spot on music app, singer-songwriter Ankur says track is an attempt to ‘identify what we stand for’
Sonia Lulla (MID-DAY; January 31, 2020)

Stunned on seeing the violence at Jamia Millia University earlier this month, composer-singer Ankur Tewari put pen to paper to voice his emotions, thus giving rise to Woh Hum Nahin. Unsurprisingly, his “anthem of love against the agents of hate” moved his fans on social media, and subsequently, the protestors at Carter Road, Bandra, where he performed it. The song also caught the attention of music-streaming app Jio Saavn, which invited Tewari to record it for the platform.

“They said the song is about peace and love, and has that feel of an anthem that can bring the world together. They felt it’s everything [their company] stands for, and that encouraged me to record it [for them],” Tewari tells mid-day as the track unveiled on the platform yesterday.

Pointing out that an opinion voiced with substantial logic should never be met with criticism, the singer- songwriter laments the atmosphere of fear that has gripped the country. “Violence is not a solution to anything, whether you are in uniform, or not. There are polarising views in the country, and I wanted to unite them, even if the views are opposing. The idea was to lyrically identify what we stand for,” he says of the track that reiterates that he isn’t one to cower in fear when those in power abuse it. “[With Woh hum nahin] if I constantly speak about the person that I am not, you’ll figure out the person that I am.”

He adds that the team chose to release the anthem on Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary because “on this day, our agent of love was killed by an agent of hate.”

The filmmaker says Shah Rukh Khan was ‘extremely gracious’ and rendered his voice as a narrator for his new web series within 48 hours
Kavita Awaasthi (HINDUSTAN TIMES; January 28, 2020)

Kabir Khan recently released his latest directorial, The Forgotten Army — Azaadi Ke Liye, and many viewers were surprised to hear the voice of Shah Rukh Khan as the narrator in the web show. “As this is a true story, we have a bit of real footage in the beginning of each episode and Shah Rukh has very graciously voiced the introductions to all the episodes. I have known Shah Rukh since my college days in Jamia Millia Islamia (Delhi), as he was my senior, and we also participated in a stage show, Westside Story, together. I also studied from his notes he gave me during college and for people who don’t know, he was a brilliant student,” shares Kabir.

The series starring Sunny Kaushal and Sharvari is based on true events tracing the story of the brave soldiers from the Indian National Army who marched towards the capital, with the war cry ‘Challo Dilli’, to win back their country from the British. Before making the web show, the filmmaker had made a documentary in 1999, called The Forgotten Army, and since then, he tried to make a film on this subject multiple times, and he also spoke to Shah Rukh about it.

“I wanted to do this film with Shah Rukh and we spoke about it many times but we never took it beyond a point. I reached out to him with no expectations. You can’t just ask a superstar to do something in a project. So, when I was making the web show, something in me urged me to reach out to him and he was extremely gracious. Within 48 hours, he was there recording for us. And that was incredible as with Shah Rukh, discussing a film takes a year but with this, he did it within two days,” says Kabir, revealing that the actor refused to be compensated for the same.

Kabir admits that while this was the “easiest part” of shooting the show, the tough part was actually shooting the series on location which included shooting in jungles, rivers, war torn land, and doing action scenes there. “I always react to locations and feel alive there. Put me in a studio and my creative juices dry up. I go brain dead. This is a story that needed to be told using in the real locations, including the tropical jungles of South East Asia, the banks of the river Kwai, Thailand, and borders of Burma to recreate the battle between Burma and India. The locations were tough and every day, we would drive for two hours followed by a trek for two more,” says the filmmaker.

According to sources, along with Baaghi 3, two other major films have cancelled or postponed their Delhi shoot schedule
Niharika Lal (BOMBAY TIMES; January 12, 2020)

Protests against CAA/NRC in the capital, and the subsequent violence and roadblocks have also hit film shoots in Delhi. Keeping in mind the sensitive situation in the capital, along with several small-budget film and ad shoots, the Delhi schedule of the Tiger Shroff-starrer Baaghi 3 and two other major productions have either been postponed or cancelled.

A line producer tells us, “The shooting of Baaghi 3 was scheduled in Delhi in December-January, but due to the situation in the city, the shoot was cancelled and is now happening in Jaipur.” A source, associated with a film starring Priyanka Chopra Jonas, says, “We were filming near Jamia before the Delhi Police crackdown. So, we had to cancel shooting there. Shoots of a number of films have been cancelled, rescheduled, or have been moved to other cities.”

Line producers say that while they had applied for day-long permissions, they got a go-ahead to shoot for only two-three hours in the New Delhi and Central Delhi districts. A source adds, “This has happened with three films with A-listers in the last month.” Sources say that permission for film shoots at India Gate will now be given after Republic Day. “There are certain areas for which we got the permission to shoot, but due to roadblocks and increased traffic, the shoots couldn’t be completed. We will now shoot in February,” says a line producer.

Amid rumours that Sushant Singh's participation in anti-CAA protest led to ouster from Savdhaan India, sources at Star say the decision has nothing to do with his stand on the issue
Shaheen Parkar (MID-DAY; December 18, 2019)

Twitterverse expressed its disappointment yesterday as another episode indicated that there was no room for dissent in the country. Sushant Singh, who has been the face of Savdhaan India for several years, suggested that his participation in the students' rally at Mumbai University to condemn the police crackdown on Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, had led to his ouster from the TV show. However, when mid-day investigated further, it was discovered that Singh was informed well in advance that his contract expires on January 15.

When Singh announced his exit from the show yesterday, a social media user asked whether it was the "price" he paid for "speaking the truth". He replied, "A very small price my friend (sic)," thus alluding that his anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) stand had influenced the suits at Star Bharat to arrive at the decision.

However, a source from the channel says, "Sushant knew that his contract expires on January 15. He has completed the shoot of this season's episodes. So, his tweet came as a surprise to us. There is no correlation between the protest and his exit." Over the past fortnight, there has been news of the show undergoing a revamp. "We are likely to bring in a new host," says the source, adding that Singh has not been responding to their calls since he posted the tweet. The channel officials are planning to take legal action against him for seeking mileage from the students' agitation. They are likely to release an official statement today.