Filmmaker Karan Johar has quashed reports that the team of his upcoming production Brahmastra has to take pay cuts amid the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown. He has requested everyone to wait for an official announcement rather than jump to conclusions based on rumours.

Amitabh Bachchan, Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor star in the ambitious Ayan Mukerji-directed superhero adventure, which has been billed as the first part in a trilogy. The film also stars Nagarjuna and Mouni Roy.

There were reports stating that as a measure to keep the film commercially viable, the entire cast has volunteered pay cuts. Rumours suggested that Ranbir, Alia and Ayan came forward for a pay cut.

Johar took to Twitter to set the record straight. "My hugest request to my media friends not to reach any assumptions on our fraternity films...these are challenging times for the business and false news only makes the situation worse," the filmmaker tweeted.

"Please wait for official news on any account!! This is a humble request," he added.

Brahmastra: Part One is set to release in five languages -- Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, and is produced by Dharma Productions in association with Fox Star Studios.

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A few weeks back, actress Puja Banerjee took to her Instagram account and shared a romantic and passionate picture with her beau Kunal Verma and announced that she's about to tie the knot with him. However, little did she expect that the Coronavirus outbreak would turn our lives upside down. But as they say- Love conquers all.

Yes! You read that right, the couple has successfully got married and is together forever now. Now you all must be wondering how that happened. Well, Banerjee took to her Instagram account and shared this heartening news with all her fans. Read it from start to finish.

Have a look right here:

 

 

 

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This is a pic from last year durga puja sindoor khela. TODAY WAS SUPPOSED TO BE OUR WEDDING BUT THE SITUATION IS SUCH THAT WE HAVE CANCELLED ALL OUR CEREMONIES ALTHOUGH WE HAD REGISTERED OUR MARRIAGE BEFORE A MONTH SO WE ARE OFFICIALLY MARRIED AND TOGETHER FOREVER NOW. WITH THE BLESSING OF OUR PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS WE STARTING OUR NEW LIFE NEED ALL OF UR BEST WISHES. OUR FAMILY IS HAPPY AND SO ARE WE BUT GIVEN CIRCUMSTANCES OUR HEART GOES OUT TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO ARE FIGHTING FOR THEIR LIVES RIGHT NOW AND TO ALL THE FAMILIES WHO LOST THEIR LOVED ONES . OUR PRAYERS WITH ALL OF YOU AND A SMALL CONTRIBUTION FROM OUR SIDE AS THE MONEY WE WERE TO SPEND FOR OUR MARRIAGE FUNCTION WE ARE DONATING TO PEOPLE WHO ARE IN NEED NOW 🙏 THIS IS NO TIME TO CELEBRATE BUT WE WILL CELEBRATE WITH OUR LOVED ONES ONCE THE WORLD BECOMES A HAPPY PLACE AGAIN.🙏 JAI MATA DI

A post shared by Puja Banerjee (@banerjeepuja) onApr 15, 2020 at 6:59am PDT

This has to be the most unique wedding of all time that has united two people and two souls and a bond has formed without any social media pictures or any grand celebrations. Just the husband and the wife and their undying love! But we are sure once the lockdown ends, both Puja and Kunal will throw a grand party and invite all their friends and family members to celebrate this moment.

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Actress Debina Bonnerjee has turned a year older today, and inspite of the lockdown she has managed to celebrate her birthday in a very unique and special way, also keeping in mind all the current necassary rules and regulations!

Practicing the social distancing norm, Debina with the help of husband Gurmeet, her parents and a bunch of close friends 'virtually' brought in her birthday last night. A gang of her close friends logged in together at the same time via a digital medium from their respective homes to sing, cut the cake and be digitally present to make her special day a memorable one!

Speaking about how she enjoyed her virtual birthday celebration this year, Debina shares,"This birthday has been unlike any other celebration in the past, hence it will always be a very memorable one for me! Since nobody can get out of their homes due to the lockdown, Gurmeet and my close gang of friends planned a very special birthday celebration for me which was so amazing! I had around 15 of my friends come online together at the same time, who sang happy birthday for me at 12am last night and made my cake cutting a very cherish worthy moment with their digital presence! It did a feel a little weird to not be going out as I do every year, but being a responsible citizen is in the need of the hour right now. Hence I am very happy to have responsibly celebrated my birthday this year, in a unique and creative way."

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Restrictions enforced in West Bengal to fight Covid-19 will continue till May 21 with curbs on normal life varying in intensity based on the extent of spread of the viral infection in a particular area, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Monday.

"We want the restrictions to continue till May 21. We have to be careful till that time," Banerjee told media persons at the state secretariat Nabanna.

The Chief Minister, however, clarified that she was not announcing any extension on lockdown, as that decision will be taken by the central government. "I am talking of restrictions, which is different from the lockdown," she added.

Banerjee said while the restrictions would be strictly implemented in every red zone (areas with a large number of corona positive cases), the impact will be less severe in orange zones (areas with a limited number of cases in the past and with no surge in positive cases recently, where restricted activities would be allowed).

Districts with no coronavirus positive cases are included in green zones.

"If an area which is now an orange zone, shows an increase in the prevalence of the disease and enters the red zone, the restrictions will be made stiffer, and vice versa. There will be more relaxations given in the green zones, but the areas will be placed under stiffer restrictions if more positive cases are detected putting them under orange or red zone categories," she said.

The Chief Minister announced the formation of a cabinet committee on COVID management, chaired by Finance and Industries Minister Amit Mitra. Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim, and Minister of State for Health Chandrima Bhattacharya will be part of the committee. Mitra and Chatterjee will work from home.

The Chief Secretary, the Health Secretary, and the Home Secretary will be among the committee members. Banerjee said her government was discussing on resuming more activities in rural areas that come under the green zone.

She announced that home delivery companies, which were so long allowed to ferry only essential goods, would now be permitted to reach non-essential items also.

"We have to think of giving relaxations that won't harm the people," she said. She said though relaxations have been given on 100 days' job guarantee scheme, the problem was in getting labourers.

The Chief Minister appealed to the centre to ensure international borders were closed, and not allow domestic and international flights, and train services till the situation normalises. Inter-state bus services or travel also should not be allowed, except for emergencies.

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While the Union government plans to help more than two lakh migrants to return home, it is the West Bengal government that is not supporting their cause and is not allowing trains carrying migrants to reach the state, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in a letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Shah claimed that migrants from West Bengal are eager to reach home, but the state government has not been allowing the trains to enter the state. "This is injustice with West Bengal migrant labourers. This will create further hardship for them," Shah said.

He claimed that the central government has been trying to aid more than two lakh migrants to return back to their home states, but it is only West Bengal that has not supported the initiative. "Migrants from West Bengal are also eager to reach home. Central govt is facilitating but we are not getting expected support from West Bengal," Shah wrote.

In the wake of demands by different state governments to run special trains to ferry people stuck in various states, Indian Railways on May 1 had said that it will run special trains from Friday itself to move labourers, pilgrims, tourists and students stranded across the country.

Railways Executive Director (Media) R.D. Bajpai had then said in a statement that as per the guidelines issued by Ministry of Home Affairs, it was decided to run "Shramik Special" trains to return migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students, and others to their native states.

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In a letter to Banerjee, Shah accused the Bengal government of not allowing "shramik (worker)" trains to reach Bengal and warned that non-cooperation would create hardship for state's migrants

Nursing has evolved into a modern medical profession and nurses have become an indispensable part of the country's health care system, says President Pranab Mukherjee.

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee said that nursing professionals were the backbone of the healthcare system and their contribution was critical in achievement of nation's healthcare goals.

President Pranab Mukherjee said nurses and midwives are crucial in delivering "cost-effective and good quality healthcare". He was speaking at Rashtrapati

Sexual harassment is the one major issue which has been bothering the film industry since its inception. Filmmakers demanding sexual favours in return for giving roles are not restricted to Hollywood, but every ‘wood’ in India. Two years ago, #MeToo movement had gained momentum where a lot of celebrities spoke about their stories on being sexually harassed. Well, even before this was kicked-off actress Payal Rohatgi had shocked the film industry by making allegations on director Dibakar Banerjee of Love Sex Aur Dhokha and Lust Stories (web series) fame. So, what did the actress say then?

Tannishtha Chatterjee will be directing the third season of Amazon Prime's web series Four More Shots Please.

Crackerjack's famous catchphrase: 'It's Friday. It's five-to-five. And it's Crackerjack!' will be tweaked to accommodate the new incarnation's later start time.

Jessie J and Channing Tatum couldn't wipe the smile off their faces when they left the Republic Records Grammy after-party hand-in-hand on Sunday evening.

Supporters gathered outside Mamata's house and chanted slogans like Thanda thanda cool, cool; ghore ghore Trinamool'

Banerjee's current triumph comes even as multi-crore scams like Saradha and Narada have dented the image of her party

Trinamool Congress (TMC) ahead in 200 of the state's 294 seats in West Bengal

Despite the Narada sting and Saradha scam, the TMC government sailed through due to its laser-like focus on primary areas

For the first time in 49 years such a massive mandate has been given to a single party, says Banerjee

BJP has finally achieved its objective of capturing power in Assam, a goal which it had been pursuing since the 1980s

The West Bengal CM said that there was an attempt to create fear among people but they overcame and voted fearlessly

Referring to charges of corruption against her party, she dubbed it as 'a propaganda by a section of media and that Bengal is a corruption free state'

Banerjee will take oath for her second tenure as CM on May 27

Dignitaries including Nitish Kumar, Arvind Kejriwal, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Farooq Abdullah to attend the ceremony

Mamata Banerjee's, who took the oath of office for a second consecutive term, will head a 42-member Cabinet

Allegations of corruption dented image of her party and opposition made it a prime issue during elections

Defining itself as a 'pay now, buy later' scheme, HyperJar wants to put as much distance as possible between the 'toxic' buy now, pay later sites that lure in 'younger shoppers' and itself.

It will debut Suzuki’s small displacement turbocharged petrol engines - Boosterjet in the country, expected to launch few months after the expo!   Country’s largest automobile manufacturer is all set to join the small displacement turbocharged ...

It is an opportunity for the President to assert the authority and independence of his office by rejecting a clearly political move that is a slap in the face of constitutional morality, writes Nitin Pai.

Home Minister asks CM Mamata Banerjee to arrange for return of migrant Bengal workers

The photo is taken during the filming of Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Ayan Mukerji's big collaboration, Brahmāstra: Part One of Three or Brahmastra.

Despite the coronavirus slowdown, director Ayan Mukerji is reportedly trying to ensure work on the Ranbir Kapoor starrer is completed.

Vishal Jethwa as the villain of the piece is quite a find. He performs exceedingly well as the psychotic mercenary-on-hire with no redeeming qualities.

'Mardaani 2' holds up a mirror to our times when crimes against women are an unfortunate reality. Read our full review of the latest Bollywood film below.

Urging the TMC supremo 'to shun politics and confrontational approach', Jagdeep Dhankhar said her conduct is only compounding the miseries of the people of West Bengal.

Rahul Gandhi has started a series of talk shows to speak about COVID-19 and how the country can come back on track economically. In the conversations he has stressed that India needs more testing

On May 4, the Congress party tweeted a 1.44-minute clip from their conversation and the full interview was released on Wednesday.

Debina decided to display her acting chops and lipsynced to a scene by the famous character of Daya, played by actor Disha Vakani, in the popular sitcom Taarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashmah.

Within days of receiving immense praise, love and appreciation for the second season, Amazon Prime Video has announced today (May 8, 2020) that fans can look forward to a third season of the Amazon Original Series, Four More Shots Please.Created by

This throwback song 'Dushman Banal Zamana' is a heartbreak track sung by Khesari Lal Yadav and the lyrics are penned by Pyarelal Yadav. 

Debina also shared that she wants to take her mom to the Maldives after lockdown.

Ayan Mukerji's multi-starrer Brahmastra has delayed its shoot completion and therefore its release, quite a few times. It looks like the film, starring Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan and Mouni Roy, may be delayed yet again due to the Coronavirus

Kajol's sister and Bollywood-South Indian film actress Tanishaa Mukerji has been doing rounds on the internet these days. She has been treating her fans with her beautiful pictures one after the other and her recent traditional look is what we

London : Hurst & Company, 2020.

Singapore : Springer, 2020.

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2019.

Hayden Library - QB817.5.I58 2018

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