You shouldn't ask strangers for their phone number imo! It can make people extremely uncomfortable!

In days when face-to-face interaction is so 2019 and millions of people all over the world are zooming in with other people, it is only natural that the people on the internet will find a way to get the cats involved too. 

So, they created a fake screenshot of a zoom call by taking a pic of a cat in a steamy position, put it in a video call frame, and adding a photo of another cat shocked by it. 

And the result? Simply brilliant. And hilarious. 

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Indian shuttlers Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy have finally got some time to pause and reflect due to the COVID-19 pandemic and they are making the most of it by creating a database to analyse their past performances while waiting for another shot at Olympic qualification. The coronavirus outbreak has left over 1.2 lakh people dead and infected nearly 2 million globally, and brought all sports activities, including badminton, to a halt after countries imposed lockdowns. Ashwini and Sikki are doubles specialists and endured an underwhelming season last year. The time at hand has given them a chace to analyse the past performances.

"We don't have any one to sit and do analysis for us, so now that we have time, I'm doing some analysis of our performance. I am jotting down points, about areas where I can improve. I started with my matches and then other players on tour," Ashwini, who represented India at the London and Rio Olympic Games, told PTI. "You can always watch and analyse and understand the patterns but it is different when you see things on paper. It is more concrete. So trying to set up a complete database. My brother will help me out. He made an app for me in the past." Ashwini and Sikki fell at the first hurdle 13 times in 20 tournaments last year, and exited from the second round thrice.

Ashwini also picked up a calf injury during the Syed Modi International but the duo was still confident of qualifying by performing well in the remaining Olympic qualifiers. But with Badminton World Federation (BWF) cancelling all tournaments due to the coronavirus pandemic, their fate remains uncertain. "The problem is we don't know the new BWF rules regarding the qualification. There is one year left now, you can't take a two year old performance to select for Olympics, it has to be present performance, so we have to wait," said Sikki. "In badminton, there is a ranking cut off, so how will they accommodate the cancelled qualifiers, how will they count the ranking points, everything is too messed up now," she added. Sikki and Ashwini had reached the finals at Hyderabad Open Super 100 and Maldives International Challenge, last year.

The Indian pair is ranked 28th and will need to be inside top 16 on April 29, 2021 -- the new Olympic cut off date. Ashwini said: "Me and Sikki were confident of doing well in the 4-5 tournaments left but now no one knows what would be the criteria of Olympic qualification and BWF can't really say anything with things changing every moment." They are using the coronavirus-forced break to learn cooking, besides doing some wall practice and exercises for physical fitness. Talking about the effects of the lockdown on mental health, Sikki said: "We have been travelling a lot all these years and now for a month, we are at home, it is fine. But what if it is for 2-3 months, then it will get tough to stay away from the game.

"So it is important to stay motivated for once the lockdown is lifted because you will in a comfortable zone in the break and then all of a sudden you will need to push yourself." Ashwini added: "...now that Olympics have been postponed, nothing is certain and it is tough, you have to be really strong." The economic fallout of the coronavirus outbreak has hit sports hard and Ashwini said badminton too will be affected. "It will hit in terms of sponsors, in terms of tournaments being conducted because countries need sponsors to host events, and after this, I'm not sure what the economic status of many countries would be. "The way things are, it is will be tough to host tournaments, it will not be easy for countries to have tournaments with many big companies shut and struggling to survive," she signed off.

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Mawa modak

Modak is Ganesha’s favourite dish and therefore, Ganesh Chaturthi celebration is incomplete without this Indian sweet. Modak has evolved with time and is now available in myriad forms, including steamed and fried forms. Thanks to restaurants and chefs in Mumbai, who are taking initiative to give a tasty twist to the traditional sweet dish.

This year on Ganesh Chaturthi, Executive chef Kamlesh Rawat of 180 Degrees Grand Sarovar Premiere in Goregaon has prepared a massive 5kg Mawa Modak to mark the occasion. The modak will be there on display until Sunday, August 27. Do not forget to drop in to take a glance of this mighty modak.

5kg Mawa Modak at Grand Sarovar Premiere

Read the recipe of the modak here:

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

1. 3Kg Mawa(if hariyali mawa is good texture)
2. 1.5 Kg sugar or add as per taste
3. 200 Gm. Cardamom powder
4. 10 Gm. Saffron
5. 200 Gm. Ghee for Modak greasing

Method:
1. Heat pan in low flame and put mawa on it. As the mawa starts melting, keep stirring it on low flame.
2. When the mawa begins to melt add sugar in it and stir again.
3. When the mawa starts bubbling, add cardamom and saffron in the mixture.
4. Keep stirring on low flame until the mixture starts leaving the bottom of pan.
5. Transfer the mixture into a big bowl and wait for it to cool.
6. Place the mixer on a greased plate and mould it in the shape of a modak.
7. Garnish with saffron on top and the Mawa Modak is ready to be served

Where: Grand Sarovar Premiere, AK Plaza, SV Road, Goregaon West, Mumbai

Modak platter

Malai modak, chocolate modak, mawa modak, Ganpati Bappa's feast is incomplete without a plate of modaks. And, so is ours during Ganesh festival! But, this Ganeshotsav, ditch the calorie laden modaks and try their healthy alternatives. We bet the modaks taste yummy and are perfect sweets to indulge in during the festival in Mumbai. What more do you need when you have more 'goodness' on a platter?

1. Oats modak: Made with jaggery instead of sugar, Oats modak is an all time favourite healthy Indian dessert to savour during Ganesh festival. Crush the oats to give a fine texture to the dessert. Keep a frying pan in low flame and put jaggery on to it. Once the jaggery melts, add coconut oil, crushed coconut, powdered oats and assorted crushed dry fruits. Make a fine mixture and keep it aside to cool down. Once the mixture cools down, place it in a modak mould, press hard and take it out gently. Place it on a plate, garnish with pistachio and your nutritious oats modak is ready to be served.

Oats modak

2. Figs and dates modak: Soak dates and figs in hot water for some time. Once it turns soft, drain the water and grind it to make a fine paste. Take a handful of almonds and cashews and ground it into a fine powder. Heat a pan, add ghee, dates and figs mixture and powdered nuts gradually. Cook it for a while and place it aside to call down. Put the mixture in a modak mould, press it, and take out from the mould once the shape is formed.

3. Chana Dal ka Modak: Consumption of legumes in any form is good for health. Boil chana dal in a pressure cooker, drain out excess water and mash the dal to make a smooth paste. Add jaggery and ¼ water to a pan. Keep the pan in low flame and stir the jaggery until it melts. Add chana dal and 1/3 cup of grated coconut to the jaggery syrup. Mix everything and cook on a low flame until a thick mixture is formed. Let it cool down before you start shaping it in the form of modak. Fill the mould with the mixture for healthy and delicious chana dal modak.

Ukadiche Modak

4. Ukadiche Modak: Also known as steamed modak, this is one of the popular and nutritious versions of modak available in the market. The sweet dumplings are made from rice flour. Add rice flour in a pan of boiling water. Mix well, knead into a soft dough and keep it aside to cool down. Heat ghee and add coconut, jaggery and poppy seeds to it. Make a thick mixture and let it cool for a while. Make rice balls, stuff the centre of the balls with the mixture and put them in a modak mould. Moisten the modaks with little water and place them in a steamer. Steam for around 10 minutes and serve warm.

5. Dark chocolate modak: Heat dark chocolate and milk in a pan until it turns into a smooth mixture. Add crushed digestive biscuit crumbs to make the modak more nutritious and knead to form a soft dough. Once the paste cools down, put it in a modak mould and serve. Garnish it with finely chopped nuts.

None of these modaks is made of sugar and is therefore perfect for those on a diet plan or those who are looking out for healthy alternatives of the traditional dessert. Yet, these are delicious in taste and are ideal to indulge during the festival. The recipes are simply too. So, why not give it a try at home?

Nobody knows when the lockdown will end and when life will come back to normal. But for those who have access, they are spending their quarantine by watching web-series, films, and reruns of classic television shows. So on one hand, we have Ramayan and Mahabharat, on the other spectrum lies something called Four More Shots Please, Season 2!

This show is what we call the ultimate triumph of a woman's liberation. Their tendency to do all the possible shenanigans and be unabashed and unapologetic about it is what has made this web-series so catchy and contagious. And one of the leads, Sayani Gupta, a fine actor to the hoot, recently in an interview with Radio City's RJ Harshil, she talked about the show's popularly, how she has been spending time at home, and a lot of other entertaining stuff.

As expected, the first question was about the number of interviews she has given about the show amid this lockdown. She sounds perplexed and says, "I have really lost track, so many, it's insane you know. I give at least 1 or 2 interviews every day. But I have now started my own live videos that is a series of my interactions with some of my friends from the industry, it's called Shy-Me-Not. I've had four sessions so far."

The next question is about her journey from FTII (The Film and Television Institute of India) to films and she takes a deep breath since the answer is going to be really long. She says, "I am from Kolkata and went to Delhi for college and did theatre. I wanted to go to the National School of Drama but decided against it because my seniors, M.K Raina and Habib Tanvir, told me how it was going through a turmoil in terms of syllabus and management. But going to FTII was one of the best decisions of my life, I spent three-and-a-half years over there. It's because of the institute that I'm sitting for this interview today."

She added, "I knew nobody would spot me at a cafe and cast me for a film, and I knew this process would take time but I actually got my first film in the first month of being in Bombay, Second Marriage Dot Com. The director had seen my short film that was made during my education at the FTII. I don't like the world struggle, I feel the journey has been very interesting. I also did a travel show that was once in a lifetime experience, I also assisted Manav Kaul on a film that's going to come out soon."

She also spoke about her character Khanum from Shonali Bose's Margarita With A Straw and said, "To get such a character is a once in a lifetime opportunity, for both Kalki and me. Such films aren't made too often. It was a very performance-heavy part, she was blind and an activist. There was so much to do, and of course, she was homosexual. There was so much scope for performance. I'm happy people took me seriously."

We have seen Gupta in a lot of films over the last few years like Fan, Jolly LLB 2, Jagga Jasoos, and Article 15, so how has she been balancing between this medium and the OTT platform! This is what she has to say, "In these last three years, I have been shooting every day and I've actually done two shifts, three shifts. I have done Inside Edge 1 & 2, Four More Shots 1 & 2, a British series called The Good Karma Hospital that's out now, but I've also done nine films," and she flashes her smile! Talking about her character Rohini from Inside Edge, she says, "I don't know anything about cricket, I have seen the sport with my parents. My father was working for All India Radio and his office was right next to the Eden Garden. But I was never aware of the technicalities of cricket and neither was I interested."

She continued, "Karan Anshuman told me about this even before Excel was producing it. After a few months, the creative producer of Excel called me and said they have a fabulous role, come and meet us. When I read the part, I asked them if they were sure they wanted me to play this, but I guess all of them were confident about me as an actor for some reason and I'm really grateful to them." And then it was time to talk about her character Damini Rizvi Roy from Four More Shots Please, and her initial reaction on reading it.

"I hate the word bold and the context in which you are using it is wrong because even according to the dictionary, it's the boldness of mind. People really misinterpret things by using the term bold. Four More Shots was a very important show when I read it for the first time, and I felt it was amazing that a group of women was trying to make a show which actually was about women. It was trying to normalise everything about the life of a woman. I think it's one of those very important shows, and it's crucial to have such a show in the mainstream narrative, and even the criticism that comes and mostly from men about our sex and smoking, you can understand how regressive, repressed and patriarchal our society is even now."

She added, "When men do all these things and we all have seen it, nobody bats an eyelid, and everyone is like,'Oh my god! Friendship'! The moment it's about women that have chosen to live a particular life and are normal with it, like I am, people tend to have issues. There are lots of topics that are being handled with a lot of sensitivity and depth in the second season. You have workplace gender bias, you have body shaming, you have LGBT rights, you have a homosexual wedding, freedom of expression, freedom of speech. It has everything a woman faces in the urban space or rural space. We are getting long letters and messages, it's crazy."

She continued, "It's moving people because it is making a difference to them." In between, she answers a fan who asks if a woman having sex with multiple men is empowerment for her. She says, "No, it's not, and nobody is saying drinking and smoking is empowerment. But people do go out and drink and smoking is not even shown in the entire season two. Women who go out and drink and choose to have sex with whom they want to, and have control over their sexuality, should be not looked at as a taboo. It's normal, we all do it!"

"Also, you have to realise it's about celebrating yourself and women for their rights, it's about subverting these constant pressures of women. The problem is that women are always shown as these crazy stereotypes, either she's virginal and the hero is trying to woo her and have sex with her, the hero is marrying her, or a vamp who's breaking the hero and heroine's home. Nowhere are women, in most of the mainstream narratives, shown as themselves. What is the problem with having sex with multiple partners? So many people do."

She seems to be raising the right points and makes a very important observation. "Sex was always shown as something done to women and never a choice that women are making. If I want to be intimate with someone or be in a romantic liaison with someone, it's my choice. That needs to be respected and celebrated. Having said that, our intention is never to encourage smoking and drinking or go out and partying, that's not the point. But if there are people who do it, there shouldn't be a taboo about it, even in India. You see Sex in the City, you see Girls, you see Friends, any Hollywood series or show or film and it's fine, but the moment you see Indian girls doing it, you're like, 'OMG'!

"Everyone does it so what's the problem in showing it or representing it authentically! It's a show made by women, it was the need of the hour to represent women authentically," she added. Well, this was truly straight from the heart, and in case you are yet to discover Four More Shots Please, watch it and decide whether you agree with Sayani Gupta or not! But one thing people will agree with is that she's truly a fine actor!

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Irrfan's passing is a huge loss for the entire film fraternity, but I have lost a dear friend today. We were destined to be friends. I was 19 when I first met him at the National School of Drama, where I was a few years junior to him. Since then, Irrfan has played different roles in my life — sometimes he was a pal, other times, an elder brother. There were times when he would push me to work harder, like a mentor.

Not many know that he was a part of my first directorial venture in Mumbai — a show called Hum Bambai Nahin Jayenge for Business India TV (BITV). Shekhar Kapur was the creative head of the channel, and asked me to direct the show. I reached out to Irrfan, who had come to Mumbai four years before me, and that was the beginning [of our professional collaboration]. We worked on several serials for Star Bestsellers, and finally collaborated on Haasil (2003).

Tigmanshu Dhulia

He was a gentle human being who was so evolved in his ideas. He was an outdoor guy who expressed concern for the environment. In fact, he used to love flying kites. Whenever we needed time to prepare for a shot, we used to hand him a kite. He would happily indulge in it till we were ready. He was a charming, happy-go-lucky guy.

Over the last few months, we could not speak regularly because he had stopped using his cell phone. So, I would keep in touch with his wife Sutapa. I visited him at the hospital on Tuesday. He was unconscious but breathing; it was heart-wrenching to see him like that. Right now, I am numb; it will take time to process his loss. I will miss a friend with whom I could have any discussion without the fear of being judged. I will miss hearing his insightful views and taking his advice on matters.

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"The first day of Sadak 2 shoot brought back memories of the '90s," says Sanjay Dutt, who has reunited with Mahesh Bhatt for the sequel to the 1991 hit, Sadak. The drama holds an all-important place in the actor's career — not only does Sadak 2 have the potential to be that elusive hit he has been seeking over the past three years, but it also marks Bhatt's return to direction after 20 years.

Dutt notes that the past two decades have not dampened Bhatt's enthusiasm or inquisitiveness — two qualities that make him a fine storyteller. "Bhatt saab's vision remains unchanged. He still seeks perfection in every shot, and his passion for filmmaking has remained intact all these years. I am glad to be a part of Sadak 2 and work with the maestro," says the actor, who shares screen space with Pooja and Alia Bhatt, and Aditya Roy Kapur in the latest instalment.

Currently waiting to resume work on the last stint of the sequel, Dutt is using the time to sift through scripts coming his way. With an increasing number of actors being web-bound, Dutt reveals he too is keen to dabble in digital entertainment. "OTT platforms are flourishing, and have brought about so much variety in terms of content. They also enable artistes to experiment with material and characters. If I get a script that excites me, I would love to [foray into digital entertainment]."

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Sudip Sharma's Paatal Lok, which is produced by Anushka Sharma and will drop on Amazon Prime Video on May 15, was shot in 110 locations across six Indian cities. "We wanted to explore different cultures, and perspectives, and [narrate] tales from various regions of India. The idea was to present to the audience what they possibly didn't know, or at least, in a manner they weren't familiar with. It is set in parts of Delhi and Punjab," says Sharma of the nine-part investigative crime drama that follows an inspector chasing four suspects nabbed in the assassination of a renowned journalist, and the subsequent dangerous fate he is met with.

Anushka Sharma

"I have spent a lot of time in Delhi, Punjab, Bundelkhand, and UP while researching for previous projects. Delhi is also the apex of Indian politics, and where the power centres lie. That most media channels operate out of Delhi was another reason to set the series there. The city is fascinating owing to its location too. It has the feel of a frontier town, bordering certain lawless parts of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan."

Gurgaon, and parts of Haryana, particularly Rohtak, were the primary areas where the Jaideep Ahlawat, Neeraj Kabi, and Gul Panag starrer was filmed.

Sudip Sharma

"While 70 per cent of the show has been shot at actual locations, the rest was done in Mumbai, where we recreated certain areas. We researched on various aspects, like what a cop station actually looks like, and the design and aesthetics of a Delhi policeman's home, and [integrated] that into the show to make it authentic," says Sharma, who filmed in Delhi, Gurgaon, Rohtak, Chitrakoot, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai.

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Within days of receiving immense praise, love and appreciation for the second season, Amazon Prime Video has announced today that fans can look forward to a third season of the Amazon Original Series Four More Shots Please!

Created by Rangita Pritish Nandy and produced by Pritish Nandy Communications Ltd., Season 2 was directed by Nupur Asthana and headlined by Sayani Gupta, Kirti Kulhari, Bani J and Maanvi Gagroo. Prime members in more than 200 countries and territories can currently binge-watch both, season 1 and 2, of the much-loved Amazon Original Series Four More Shots Please! on Amazon Prime Video.

“The response to Four More Shots Please! has been phenomenal; it has already become the most-watched show from India this year. The first season was one of the top 3 most-watched Amazon Original Series from India in 2019, and season two has set yet another benchmark”, said Aparna Purohit, Head of Amazon Originals, Amazon Prime Video India. “We are thrilled to be associated with Pritish Nandy Communications and are looking forward to another groundbreaking season.”

“In the new season, the unapologetically flawed girls will face even greater challenges and stereotypes thrown at them but all the while their friendship will be their driving force”, said Pritish Nandy, Chairman, Pritish Nandy Communications Ltd.

“After the unconditional love received over two seasons not only by women but men as well, together with Amazon Prime Video we are pleased to bring our viewers a third season. The third season will pick up from where the four girls are left at the end of season two and will take forward their stories as they journey ahead in their career, relationships, love and, most importantly, the passion and beauty of their friendship!”
Devika Bhagat who wrote season 1 and 2, returns to write season 3.

Tannishtha Chatterjee, a revered actor, writer and director, will direct all episodes of the new season while dialogue will continue to be penned by Ishita Moitra.

Both seasons of the Amazon Original Series Four More Shots Please! are part of the thousands of TV shows and movies from Hollywood and Bollywood in the Prime Video catalogue, including various acclaimed Indian produced Amazon Original series.

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