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Film director Karan Johar on Wednesday posted yet another video of his twins entertaining him in the most adorable manner during the lockdown. In the latest video, Johar is seen flaunting the singing skills of his little munchkins - Roohi and Yash.

The twins are seen sitting on a sofa with a guitar in their hand and trying really hard to sing in their adorable voices but are only able to hum "La La La La La," in chorus. The video begins with Karan introducing the two little musicians saying, "We have two very talented musicians in the house, ladies, and gentlemen give it up for Roohi and Yash."

 

 

 

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A post shared by Karan Johar (@karanjohar) onApr 22, 2020 at 12:19am PDT

As the two began with their 'singing,' Karan takes a minute and then briefly interrupts them asking, "Excuse me! Can you please sing something more melodious?" Accepting that singing is something that the Johar family is not good at, the 47-year-old director wrote in the caption, "Clearly singing is not in our genes! Apologies in advance! #lockdownwiththejohars #toodles."

The 'Student of the Year' director has been spending time with his children and has been posting such video ever since the lockdown was imposed across the country.

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There is nothing like a blind tasting to make you realise how your senses need an overhaul. But when there is chocolate involved, then it's a worthwhile endeavour. Especially when the chocolate-maker that invites you is the 140-year old Du Rhone Chocolatier from Geneva, which is a Swiss handmade chocolate brand. After I tasted a few chocolates at the new Du Rhone Chocolatier store that opened this week at Peddar Road (our favourite was the Coline which is a dark ganache with 70 per cent cocoa beans from Brazil and Papua New Guinea), we were treated to a fun game of blind chocolate tasting. We liked what CEO and owner Frederico Marangoni had to say, when he said he never wants Du Rhone to be a mass produced chocolate. "It's as old school as it gets. Every flavour is taken directly from the root. When you taste raspberry, that's real raspberry jelly," said Marangoni, and we have to agree, especially after tasting the richness of the chocolates.

The game was simple — smell a flavour, taste a chocolate and then write down what we experienced. The first one was our lucky one, as it's the only one we got right. We took in a whiff of orange, and bit into a delicate slab of chocolate. And then what Marangoni said suddenly made sense to us. "Most factory made chocolates have thick outer crusts and barely any chocolate inside. Here, the exterior is thin and fine, and full of rich chocolate inside. You can't have more than two at a time." And he was right.

Pic/Sneha Kharabe

I then tasted lemon (which I identified as peppermint), raspberry (which I called strawberry) and passionfruit (which I felt was kiwi). If you are dying to eye roll right about now, know that I am already doing it. The best part of this experiment was that I got to try these ultra fine, luxurious chocolates that made me feel like we were getting a taste of Swiss tradition. It also made me sure of the fact that we would be visiting the store again soon, to try out the Mocca Glacé, whose ingredients are a well-kept secret. But when you make chocolate as good as Du Rhone, it makes sense to guard with your life.

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Bhrigu Sahni at a concert at antiSOCIAL earlier this week. Pic/Satej Shinde

The use of guitar isn't limited to playing solos and rhythms using a plectrum (a small flexible piece of plastic). When a discussion emerges about the co-existence of genres within the guitar language, there is a lack of clarity between Flamenco, Western Classical and finger-style. One can pluck (guitar) strings with their fingers but finger-style is a technique that involves the usage of fingertips, nails and the palm. You need to hit the woodwork for percussions. The sound is a perfect balance of bass, treble and harmonies. These days, Mumbai is witnessing the rise of finger-style guitarists. While some learnt from watching videos of legends like Andy McKee and Tommy Emmanuel, others took a cue out of popular songs.

Manan Gupta

One-man band
"By playing finger-style, one can arrange a whole song by playing the bass line, melody, rhythm and harmony simultaneously without using any backing track," shares Manan Gupta. The 23-year-old started off as a pianist but the track Drifting (by McKee) brought him closer to guitar.

Gupta believes finger-style also helps a musician to be self-sufficient. "You are a one-man band; there is no need to rely on other musicians to co-ordinate rehearsal timings," chuckles Gupta, whose tune Dear Mother (released in 2013) is an online hit.

Local inspirations
Bhrigu Sahni, who has toured the Mumbai-Pune circuit, took to the genre after watching his father play Western Classical. "As a kid, I realised that this style had the ability to create a rich musical tapestry. It is challenging to sustain being just a finger-style player but that shouldn't deter one from following his heart," says Sahni, who is a Berklee graduate and has jammed with Karsh Kale and Angelique Kidjo.

Unlike others, he also pointed out a few names among Indians who inspired him. "I went to Rock and Jazz concerts when I was 15. I used to improvise after watching guitarists like Sanjay Joseph and Derek Julian," he adds. Sahni released his debut album, What is Now, last year in New York. "I shuffle between Brooklyn, Khadki (Pune) and Mumbai for gigs," he shares.

Varun Singh started his journey listening to Eric Clapton. He even played for Metal band Albatross for sometime, but the song More Than Words (Extreme) pushed him towards finger-style. He seconds Sahni highlighting guitarists from India who are fluent with it. "Mahesh Tinaikar (Indus Creed) and Floyd Fernandes are great examples. Clapton's Tears In Heaven is a finger-style song too," he shares. The 23-year-old recently released a video of a song called Midnight Express paying tribute to Nuno Bettencourt. "He is my hero."

The Philippines has launched a tax amnesty for those with unsettled estate tax liabilities.

With the increasing cases of the novel coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has extended the lockdown till May 17. The lockdown first commenced on March 25 for a 21 day period. But had to be extended owing to the increasing cases.

However, the lockdown has badly hit the economy of the country with several people going out of a job. One industry that has completely shut down is the entertainment industry. The cinema halls were the first one to shut down in the country. Speaking to a tabloid about resuming Bollywood movies shoots, Ashok Dubey, the General Secretary of Federation of Western Indian Cine employees said that they spoke to CINTAA recently and are making guidelines on how they can proceed with shootings. Ashok Dubey said that nothing has been finalised. He said that Mumbai is a red zone and so they cannot think of shooting right now. Dubey also spoke to Sidharth Roy Kapur who said that they will have a conference call with Indian Motion Picture Producers (IMPPA), Indian Film and Television Producers Council (IFTPC) and Western India Film Producers' Association on how to deal with the situation and go ahead.

A few days back, the Producers guild had shared a document that lists precautions to be taken while shooting including proper sanitation, use of masks, etc. Dubey said that the guidelines are correct but how are they to shoot when there are spot boys and workers who travel from their home and back and how they are supposed to test everyone daily when the reports take time to come.

He also questioned about reducing the number of people on the sets. He questioned how the people left out will manage their livelihood and how to assure them a salary. Dubey said that there are several factors to be considered before proceeding with the shoot.

Ashok Dubey said that the TV producer body is in a hurry to start shooting bit is not possible. He said that it will be like digging its own grave if it does something like this. He further said that social distancing is not possible on the sets and lightmen cannot work 12 hours with a PPR kit. Dubey said that there is a difference in giving suggestions and actually implementing it.

Dubey said that the Government has not released any guidelines for the film industry to start shooting. Producers' Guild has just said that these precautions are to be taken while shooting; they haven't said to start shooting and take these precautions.

ALSO READ: Actors to do makeup at home, doctors to be on set and more new safety measures set up by Cine bodies

It's impossible for someone's childhood to have existed without Tom and Jerry and Popeye. It's also difficult to imagine that someone might have grown up without reading the immensely enjoyable comic- Tom Terrific. The one thing that unites all three of them is Gene Deitch, the director of these historic cartoon characters! He passed away on April 16 at the age of 95.

It wouldn't be wrong to describe him as the man that accidentally created history. He was trained to become a pilot but destiny pushed him towards the field of creativity and cartoons. And as he began to get excited and enamoured by the world of animation, he gave birth to some characters that not only defined our childhoods but somehow became an integral and important part of them- Tom and Jerry and Popeye! 

He also went on to create another fantastic and funny comic book- Tom Terrific. But his work goes beyond and so does his contribution to the field of cartoons and animation. In 1960, he was awarded the Oscar for the animated short film, Munro, and the Winsor McCay Award for his contribution to the field of animation in 2004.

He's survived by three children from his first wife and all of them are in the same field as their father. They have rightly inherited his genes and genius, but to face the truth, it's hard to imagine any piece of work that can even come close to the history that Tom and Jerry and Popeye created. It's impossible for the childhood of today to be the same as the childhood of the people back then, and it's impossible to have another Gene Deitch. Rest In Peace!

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EU-funded researchers have developed innovative genetic reprogramming techniques to replace and repair brain cells, opening up novel therapeutic pathways to combat debilitating disorders such as Parkinson's and Huntington's disease.

The great Michael Holding has picked South African Dale Steyn among his top-four fast bowlers across generations and his list includes fellow West Indians Malcolm Marshall and Andy Roberts besides Australian Denis Lillee. In a Sky Sports podcast, the 66-year-old said he would pay to watch Steyn, who retired from Tests last year.

"I have experience with those three guys (Marshall, Roberts and Lillee, but just watching, you can't go Dale Steyn outside of photography. He has been one of the great fast bowlers in an era. You'd pay to see it," said Holding, who picked 249 wickets in 60 Tests at 23.68. Steyn picked 439 Test wickets at a stellar average of 22.95 and has one of the smoothest actions in the game. Talking about Lillee, Holding said he was a complete package. "Lillee had it all: rhythm, aggression control. He was extremely fast when he started, but he had to completely reshape his action after a back injury and find different ways to get hitters out after losing a lot of rhythm.

"When you see that someone can adapt in that way, you have to rate him highly, as many players are not as effective when they miss a beat," said Holding, who was nicknamed 'Whispering Death' for his smooth and silent run-up. On fellow West Indians Marshall and Roberts, Holding said: "Malcolm started with a good rhythm, but as time went on he learned a lot about fast bowling. He could evaluate opposition hitters so quickly and so easily.

"In those days you didn't have many tapes or computers, it was all in his head. He understood how to deal with hitters." On Roberts, he added: "Andy was someone I learned a lot from. He hardly ever spoke, he used to walk around the field with a sullen face and people thought he looked aggressive and must be a miserable guy. But that wasn't Andy. "He was my roommate for most of my career and we used to talk about cricket almost every night. A lot of times, we would order food, we would stay in our room and talk about cricket. You would never believe how much this guy knows."

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England Test captain Joe Root has revealed that he has faced a variety of sledges in his cricketing career, including comparison with American comedian and chat show host Ellen DeGeneres for his looks.

"I've been called Ellen DeGeneres on a number of occasions over the course of my career," Root told BBC Radio 1.

"I think there's a likeness there," he added.

The 29-year-old opted for 'Mardy Bum' by the Arctic Monkeys and 'She Moves In Her Own Way' by the Kooks as his opening two 'Mancave Anthems' while appearing on the pop music station to select some of his favourite records.

Earlier in March, Root, in an open letter addressed to the British public, had stressed on the importance of team work as a society in their fight to defeat the coronavirus pandemic which has swept the world off its feet.

"As England players we've tasted some desperate days and enjoyed exhilarating highs and tried to stay grounded throughout.

"But over the last few weeks I'm sure that many of you, like us, have experienced intense emotions as the pandemic has spread. Perhaps you have lost a loved one, fear for someone who is ill or are sick yourself.

"Perhaps you are worried about families and friends and are anxious about what the future holds. Never has teamwork been more important in our society," Root had written in the letter.

Professional cricket in England remains suspended till July 1 because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which has claimed over 2 lakh lives across the world thus far.

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