Earlier this month, Thalapathy Vijay’s announcement of his political debut and quitting acting left many of his fans devastated. Vijay will be next seen in a sci-fi movie, titled The ‘Greatest of All Time’. Helmed by Venkat Prabhu, Vijay will be seen in a dual role and is currently shooting for the same. However, the recent statement of Lokesh Kanagaraj has filled hopes among the fans of the Varisu actor that their matinee idol might extend his journey and end it with Leo 2.

Talking about the possibilities of Leo 2, Lokesh said, His (Vijay) intentions, goal is different now, but if he permits time and calls me to work on it, Leo 2 is 100 per cent possible.”

Thalapathy Vijay stepped into politics while remaining at the top of his game. He quit acting as he will be contesting in the 2026 Assembly polls instead of the 2024 elections.

Well, fans would definitely love to see their matinee idol onscreen as Leo. And, Thalapathy Vijay could bid goodbye to the silver screen as Leo with a grand farewell from fans. Well, the possibilities of Thalapathy Vijay ending his acting journey with Leo 2 seem to be less, but can’t be completely ruled out.

Arjun will be seen having a conversation with international filmmakers, producers, and market buyers during his visit. Also, he will interact with the international press alongside the screening.

The action drama also stars Fahadh Faasil and Rashmika Mandanna.

The first instalment depicts the rise of a coolie Pushpa Raj in the smuggling syndicate of red sandalwood, a rare wood that grows only in the Seshachalam Hills of Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.

The ‘Pushpa’ franchise has gained global success with ‘Pushpa The Rise’ in countries such as Russia, US, Gulf, Australia and UK.

The film’s second instalment christened ‘Pushpa 2 The Rule’ is all set to release on August 15. It will be released in Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam.

The romantic drama, written and directed by Amit Joshi and Aradhana Sah, has undergone some changes ahead of its release in theatres on February 9.

A scene featuring Shahid and Kriti showing an act of sex has been cut by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), according to Bollywood Hungama.

The censor board asked the film’s makers to reduce the scene of sex act by 25%, the report said. The intimate scene between the hero and heroine was cut down from 36 seconds to 27 seconds.

Among other changes, the makers were told to add anti-smoking static message in Hindi in bigger and more readable fonts.

After the changes were carried out, CBFC passed the film with U/A certificate. The run time of the movie is 2 hours and 23 minutes.

What is the film about?

The film explores a love story in the uncharted territory of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Shahid plays a robot scientist who develops feelings for Kriti’s character Sifra, an intelligent female robot, and marries him.

“When I heard the story of this movie, I enjoyed it a lot. The first thing when you listen to the script is if you are enjoying it and are having a good time… This film has a lot entertainment. I found this story very unique,” Kriti told ANI recently.

Angry netizens even demanded stringent action against her for playing with the emotions of her fans. Many even demanded that she should be arrested and taught a lesson.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police leveraged Poonam Pandey’s fake death hoax for a road safety message.

In a social media post, Delhi Police referred to the death controversy, urging safe driving habits. The post by Delhi Police in Hindi read, “Tum, Haan Tum, Tum Undertaker, Mihir Virani Ya Special Case Nahin Ho Jo Dobara Zinda Ho Jayoge, Isliye Hamesha Helmet, Seat Belt Lagaya Karo (You, yes you, you are not undertaker, Mihir Virani or special case (Poonam Pandey) who will come alive once again. So, always wear a helmet and seat belt).”

The hilarious tweet by Delhi Police has gone crazy viral with netizens heaping it with amusing comments.

For the unversed, The Undertaker is a WWE star who is famous for his dramatic entrances, signature moves, and especially his ability to ‘die’ and return from the dead. His gimmick is a very big hit in the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and has given him a successful career.

Secondly, Mihir Virani is a character from the popular daily soap Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, who rose to fame after experiencing death and once again returning to life.

And the third special case is none other than Poonam Pandey. Although Delhi Police did not mention anyone, netizens are confident that they meant Poonam Pandey, who recently faked her death.

While Vijay Sethupathi is known to be a versatile actor who has been accepted in both positive and negative roles be it in Jawan and Vikram Vedha, Katrina Kaif has struggled to come out of this image of a glamour doll and establish herself as an accomplished actress. With Merry Christmas, she seems to have taken the first step towards it.

Katrina Kaif found a common point in Merry Christmas’ Maria and herself
In a scene in Merry Christmas, both Katrina and Vijay Sethupathi start dancing to Charleston music. Both can be seen dancing in abandon without any choreography with their legs and arms moving in different directions, playfully. One of the important moments of this 18-minute one-take sequence is when the May 19 actor improvises a twist as Katrina twirls around with her hair flying and laughing.

It is one of the core moments of the murder mystery and has been done very creatively by the trio of the director Sriram Raghavan, Vijay, and Katrina. Talking about the same, the Tiger 3 actress who plays a single mother of the 1980s living in Mumbai said, “It’s an expression of release, of frustration and helplessness, given what she has just done, but also of freedom. She is clearly high on adrenaline but underlying that is also an anxiety about what will happen to her now.”

Katrina Kaif also revealed how there is this common point between her and Maria. The actress said that she has always found it better to express herself through her physicality rather than words.

Recalling how she connected her pain with the serious characters that she played in Zero (Babita) and Maria in Merry Christmas, Kat said, “There is so much pain in both Babita and Maria. What I start­ed doing is using personal pain and life experiences. I suffered as we all do, deeply, in private, in the room alone, where no one sees you. It is isolating, suffocating, and painful. In some ways it frees you. That’s the job of an artist.’

The Bollywood superstar added, “You put yourself out there all the time. But in telling other people’s stories, you are healing your own wounds. The experiences we go through connect us all knowing we are not alone in our pain.”

She also revealed that as a teenager she was very shy and underconfident but started speaking and became open only after coming into this industry.

He was 55.

“We tried our best but failed. He passed away at around 3:45 PM,” an official of the private hospital where Khan was admitted said, NDTV reported.

The chief minister who visited the hospital said, “This is a great loss for the entire country and the entire music fraternity. I am in a lot of pain as I still can’t believe that Rashid Khan is no more.”

’12th Fail’ has left behind a few of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters of 2023, including Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (8.6), Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer (8.4), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (7.9), Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon (7.8), John Wick: Chapter 4 (7.7) and Gret Gerwig’s hit, Barbie (6.9), starring Margot Robbie.

Adapted from Anurag Pathak’s book and starring Vikrant Massey and Medha Shankar, ’12th Fail’ narrates the life story of Manoj Kumar Sharma. Overcoming severe poverty, Sharma went on to achieve the rank of Indian Police Service officer. The film sheds light on his journey, highlighting the pivotal role played by his wife, IRS officer Shraddha Joshi, in his success.

Speaking to ANI recently, Vikrant recalled the deep impact that the film had on him. “Even with Manoj Kumar Sharma, there were moments when Vinod sir would call a cut and I would continue weeping even after the cut was called because I just could not control myself,” he said.

Vikrant mentioned in the interview that some roles have a great impact on the actor personally. He also mentioned how playing his character in ‘A Death in the Gunj’ pushed him to dark corners. “That was the first time, after filming that film, I started taking therapy because I felt I needed to talk to someone. If you tell your parents about your worries, then they get worried so you really can’t share all these things with them,” he said.

What is IMDb rating?

As per Wikipedia, it is an acronym for Internet Movie Database, an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, plot summaries, trivia, ratings, and fan and critical reviews. IMDb began as a fan-operated movie database on the Usenet group “rec.arts.movies” in 1990, and moved to the Web in 1993. Since 1998, it has been owned and operated by IMDb.com, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon.

The site’s message boards were disabled in February 2017. As of 2019, IMDb was the 52nd most visited website on the Internet, as ranked by Alexa. As of March 2022, the database contained some 10.1 million titles (including television episodes), 11.5 million person records, and 83 million registered users.

However, Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s film has had its share of controversy as a section of the audience criticised the content and felt it was extremely violent and bold in parts. The gritty crime thriller was even brought up in Parliament last month.

Now, Javed Akhtar has spoken out on the kind of films and songs being made today without taking names, putting the onus on the audience to decide what they will accept.

“If there’s a film in which a man asks a woman to lick his shoe, if a man says it’s okay to slap a woman… and the film is a super hit, that’s dangerous,” said the eminent screenwriter, lyricist and poet, referring to the scene between Ranbir and Triptii Dimrii’s characters that generated controversy.

The ‘slapping of a woman’ seems to be in reference to Sandeep’s previous film ‘Kabir Singh’, which starred Shahid Kapoor and Kiara Advani.

Speaking at the Ajanta Ellora International Film Festival in Aurangabad, Akhtar drew a parallel with how the controversial lyrics penned by Anand Bakshi for the song ‘Choli ke peeche kya hai’ from ‘Khal Nayak’ became a massive hit in the 1990s.

“People wonder why songs are so problematic today. Take Choli Ke Peeche for example, the issue isn’t the seven men and the two women involved in the song’s making. They’re hardly the problem… The problem is that the audience made this song a massive hit. Crores of people liked the song, that’s scary,” said the 78-year-old Akhtar.

“More than the filmmaker, the onus lies with the audience… You take responsibility for the kind of films you watch. That’s what decides what kind of films will be made. You decide what’s made and what should be rejected. The value and moralities shown in our films lie in your hands,” he opined.

Recently, an old video of Ram from his acting school surfaced on the internet and his fans could not keep calm.

In the video, Ram is just unrecognizable without beard and moustache. He can be seen wearing a white colour t-shirt and jeans. Besides, his long hair reminded his fans of his debut days.

In the video, Ram can also be seen doing some funny movements with his hands, as a part of their opening exercise routine.

The video was shared on the X (formerly Twitter) handle of user NTRcult4ever. The video has so far amassed 99.4K views.

Although below expectations, his latest release ‘Dunki’ is also doing well and might soon enter the Rs 300-crore club. As King Khan is set to close off 2023 on a higher note with three successful films, fans are curious to know what 2024 has in store for him.

While SRK has not made any official announcement, there are speculations that he may star in the highly-anticipated Dhoom 4, the fourth installment of the ‘Dhoom’ franchise.

Dhoom 4 is trending on X, formerly known as Twitter, as fans are indulging in wild theories that SRK may headline the action-drama film that will be directed by Siddharth Anand.

Rumours are rife that YRF is in advance talks with King Khan and ‘RRR’ fame star Ram Charan will be seen as a cop. The box office would be set ablaze if fan theories of SRK and Ram Charan together in Dhoom 4 comes true.

Even actor Uday Chopra had earlier stated that SRK was the perfect choice to take the Dhoom franchise forward. During an interview, Uday said, “If think Shah Rukh would be great. He would make a great villain. He has done a little bit of the dark movies like Darr and Baazigar. We should come up with a story which really can portray Shah Rukh Khan in a never seen avatar.”

Echoing Uday’s words, actor Abhishek Bachchan who plays ACP Jai Dixit in the franchise also said that SRK would be great as a villain in Dhoom 4.

Earlier, there were reports that Salman Khan would be taking over the Dhoom franchise. However, the rumours were later rubbished.