BY SACNILK

Mumbai, April 24 (IANS) Shriya Pilgaonkar, daughter of talented actors Sachin and Supriya Pilgaonkar, feels her way of getting launched in mainstream cinema as an actress was quite different from most star kids.## "Compared to a lot of celebrity kids who have become actors, I feel the route I chose was quite unconventional in terms of the kind of work I started with. I started my journey doing a Marathi film, then I did a French film. So, for me it was not just about becoming an actor but also about honing my skills," Shriya told IANS.## Before foraying acting, Shriya worked as an assistant director on several projects.## "After graduating from college, I started learning Kathak and while I was learning Kathak, I was also working as an AD on several films and making short films. Acting happened very organically once I started doing theatre. It was not something that I had decided I would s do," she added.## Shriya made her Bollywood opposite Shah Rukh Khan in the 2016 film, "Fan". Later, she proved her mettle in the web show "Mirzapur".## Speaking of her journey so far, the young actress spoke of how her parents have always been a great source of inspiration.## "I feel blessed to be their daughter. They both have inspired me a lot. From discussing cinema to giving advice, they have always helped me through my thick and thin," she said.## Apart from films and web shows, Shriya works in plays, too. Recently, she featured in a virtual play, "Lockdown Love", to lighten up the mood of people amid the COVID-19 lockdown.## "It was a great experience performing live. It is a play about how a girl and guy who meet during the lockdown and start dating each other. So, it was a fun activity. We even rehearsed online and even changed our costumes like we normally do. It feels great to spread a smile among people with my work," Shriya added.## The play hosted by Roshan Abbas also features actor Priyanshu Painyuli.## It is presented under the initiative StayInalive.## Stay tuned...

BY SACNILK

Mumbai, April 23 (IANS) Despite being terminated abruptly, "Patiala Babes" producers have decided to pay a stipend to workers and the creative team till the lockdown ends.## They will be giving stipend ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 25000 per person to over 60 team members.## "Patiala Babes" was terminated owing to the ongoing nationwide COVID-19 lockdown.## The show's writer-producer Rajita Sharma has expressed her sadness and trauma in the story "remaining unfinished and untold".## "It was encouraging that Sony gave us a platform to bring to life our very bold narrative. Since the whole world is under siege, these times call for some unfortunate but necessary measures. 'Patiala Babes' will always remain close to our heart," Rajita added.## "The pandemic seems to be preparing for a long haul and as the show is shut, our workers are jobless." Vivek Budakoti and Rajita pointed out.## "We have decided to share whatever little profit we earned with our fellow workers who made us what we are as a production house," they said.## They have announced that the daily wage workers, including light men, spot boys, setting workers, sound assistants, assistant directors, production assistants, and the creative team will be given a regular fixed stipend every month till the time the lockdown is in effect.## "This is our commitment and support to our colleagues and will be on for as much time it takes for the industry to resume shoot," they added.## Stay tuned...

BY SACNILK

New Delhi, April 23 (IANS) Compared to the pre-Covid period, television viewership in India increased by 40 percent as more and more people stay at home due the restrictions, said a report on Thursday.## In the week starting April 11, individuals watching TV for all seven days increased to 48 percent, according to the latest report by TV viewership monitoring agency BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) and data measurement firm Nielsen.## For the study, the pre-Covid-19 period referred to January 13-February 2.## The highest growth in TV viewership was recorded in some of the biggest metros like Delhi and Mumbai, according to the report.## The results showed that viewership growth in the 15-21 age group is driven largely by the urban market.## The 15-21 age group contribute to 16 percent of the total TV viewership in India, said the report.## Compared to the pre-Covid period, the average time spent on TV in Mumbai grew by one hour and 42 minutes. In Delhi, the time spent rose by around an hour and 26 minutes.## In Mumbai and Delhi, where Covid-19 cases are among the highest in the country, news consumption on TV grew by 251 percent and 177 percent respectively.## Growth in movie viewership is coming largely from pay platforms across urban and rural markets - 82 percent and 69 percent respectively.## News stays strong in the Hindi speaking market with over 200 percent growth in week 15 over the pre-Covid period, said the report.## Stay tuned...

BY SACNILK

Mumbai, April 23 (IANS) "Bigg Boss 13" contestant and singer Shehnaz Gill on Thursday gave a fun-filled warning to China where novel coronavirus originated.## She made a TikTok video in which she is seen warning the people of China in Chinese.## Not only this, she is also seen performing some Kung fu steps.## Reacting to the video, a user wrote: "So cute. Chinese people beware."## Another one wrote: "Coronavirus will be gone after watching this video."## During her stint in "Bigg Boss" house, Shehnaz had made news with her equation with Sidharth Shukla, who went on to win the show. She recently featured along with Sidharth in the music video of Darshan Raval's song, "Bhula dunga".## Stay tuned...

BY SACNILK

Mumbai, April 23 (IANS) Actor Vidyut Jammwal says he and his "Commando 3" co-star Adah Sharma are "not at all" just friends.## A Twitter user asked Vidyut: "Are you and Adah are 'just friends'?"## Vidyut was quick to respond. He said: "'Just friends' not at all ..we are courageous, kind,intuitive, focused, greatful, open minded, unassuming, considerate, sharing, Educated, happy, calm, quite and BEST FRIENDS.. I wish upon you someone like u @adah_sharma."## This comes right after Adah posted: "My TED talk !! Tell me what u think ! I'm free now I will read all youtube comments loooollll"## A lot of her followers found the video "awesome".## Praising her, Vidyut recommended others to watch it too and he wrote: "My personal favourite..articulate and funny..A must watch."## On the work front, Vidyut will soon be seen in "Khuda Hafiz".## "'Khuda Hafiz' is a romantic movie. It a true story, about a man who is madly in love with his wife, and gets married in 2009 during the recession. They go abroad and get a job. (The story is about) how this girl gets picked up and how the guy gets her back. It's a hardcore, true romantic movie with a little action," Vidyut had told IANS earlier.## Stay tuned...

BY SACNILK

Mumbai, April 23 (IANS) A complaint has been registered against actress Anita Raaj for allegedly throwing a party amid the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown.## Anita and her husband Sunil Hingorani were reportedly accused by neighbours for hosting a party for their friends, reports timesofindia.com, flouting the nationwide lockdown imposed by the government in order to curb the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus.## According to the report, the neighbours said that the 57-year-old actress Anita and her filmmaker husband had invited guests at their Pali Hill residence.## The report quoted a source who revealed that the neighbours were concerned about the threat the party posed due to the visitors in the vicinity, following which the local police were informed.## However, Anita Raaj, in a statement, said that it was a medical emergency and police came on a false complaint.## Stay tuned...

BY SACNILK

Los Angeles, April 23 (IANS) Hollywood star Chris Hemsworth says "Thor: Love and Thunder" is "going to be pretty insane".## In an interview to Philadelphia Inquirer, the 36-year-old actor opened up about the upcoming instalment of "Thor" franchise, dailymail.co.uk.## "It's one of the best scripts I've read in years. It's Taika at his most extreme, and at his best. If the version I read is the one we get running with, it's going to be pretty insane," he said.## The movie, the fourth in the action franchise, reunites Hemsworth with Tessa Thompson and Natalie Portman. Actor Christian Bale will be joining the star-cast for this part.## Taika Waititi took the "Thor" franchise to new comedic heights as he introduced hard drinking Valkyrie (Thompson) and exiled Avenger Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) in "Thor: Ragnorak". The much anticipated "Love and Thunder" will catch up with Thor and Valkyrie after the events of "Avengers: Endgame".## Hemsworth also shared that he has had a rare chance for introspection amid the shutdown caused by the COVID-19 crisis.## "Not to diminish by any means the challenges that are occurring, the absolute uncertainty, the anxiety that is happening in the world, but me personally, and to that question, it's (created) a forced sort of meditation and forced sort of stillness that I haven't been able to dive into like I've wanted to for many years," he said.## The actor, who is father to India, and twins Tristan and Sasha, said that he was enjoying the extended time with his family.## He said: "For 10 years I've been part of the machine, and I've been thankful for it, and done so many wonderful things and traveled so much, but what it meant was, I was away from my family. A lot. I've wanted to just stop being controlled by a schedule."## For more and latest news about Hollywood, stay tuned with us.

BY SACNILK

Mumbai, April 23 (IANS) Actor Sonu Sood has decided to provide meal kits to over 25,000 migrants on a daily basis in Mumbai during the Muslim holy month of Ramzan, which begins from Thursday.## "Times are so difficult today that it's very important for each one of us to stand for each other. Through this initiative, I would be helping all those who would be fasting during this period and we would provide special meal kits so they don't stay hungry after fasting all day," Sonu said.## The initiative will help these migrants who have come from faraway places like Bengal, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.## Before this, Sonu started a ration drive to help the needy during the ongoing lockdown.## Under an initiative called Shakti, Annadanam launched in the name of his late father Shakti Sagar Sood, Sonu aims to feed more than 45,000 people on a daily basis in Mumbai.## He also offered his hotel in Juhu for healthcare workers including doctors, nurses, and paramedical staff.## Stay tuned...

BY SACNILK

Mumbai, April 23 (IANS) Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar and singer B Praak are coming up with a new song to pay tribute to doctors who are relentlessly working to save lives amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The song, announced by the actor on Thursday, is titled "Teri mitti", and is a inspired by B. Praak's "Teri mitti" number in last year's Akshay Kumar-starrer, "Kesari".## "Kisi ne sahi kaha hai, mushkil ke samay sirf apne sath dete hain aur hamare sath is mushkil mein sabse aage hain hamare doctors jo safed coat mein sainiko se kam nahin hain. Hamari taraf se khas unke liye #DirectDilSe (Someone has rightly said that in tough times, only your loved ones offer help; today, in these most difficult times, doctors in white coat are no less than soldiers," he wrote.## Said B Praak, who has also sung the new song: "It's a tribute to the doctors out there who are fighting for us and working day and night to save the world."## The tribute number will be out on Friday at 12:30 pm.## Stay tuned...

BY SACNILK

New York, April 23 (IANS) What makes evil characters like the Joker or Lord Voldemort more interesting and likable? Researchers have found that people may find fictional villains surprisingly likable when they share similarities with the viewer or reader.## The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, indicated one reason for this shift is that fiction acts as a cognitive safety net, allowing us to identify with villainous characters without tainting our self-image.## "Our research suggests that stories and fictional worlds can offer a 'safe haven' for comparison to our darker selves. When people feel safe, they are more interested in comparisons to negative characters that are similar to themselves in other respects," said study lead author Rebecca Krause from Northwestern University in the US.## "For example, people who see themselves as tricky and chaotic may feel especially drawn to the character of The Joker in the Batman movies, while a person who shares Lord Voldemort's intellect and ambition may feel more drawn to that character in the Harry Potter series," Krause added.## To test this idea, the researchers analyzed data from the website CharacTour, an online, character-focused entertainment platform that had approximately 232,500 registered users at the time of analysis.## One of the site's features allows users to take a personality quiz and see their similarity to different characters who had been coded as either villainous or not.## Villains included characters such as Maleficent, The Joker, and Darth Vader. Nonvillains included Sherlock Holmes, Joey Tribbiani, and Yoda.## The anonymous data from these quizzes allowed the researchers to test whether people were attracted to or repulsed by similar villains, using nonvillains as a baseline.## Not surprisingly, people were drawn to nonvillains as their similarity increased. However, the results further suggested that users were most drawn to villains who share similarities with them.## The researchers believe that similarities to story villains do not threaten the self in the way real-life villains would. "Given the common finding that people are uncomfortable with and tend to avoid people who are similar to them and bad in some way, the fact that people actually prefer similar villains over dissimilar villains was surprising to us," said study co-author Derek Rucker.## The current data do not identify which behaviors or characteristics the participants found attractive.## Further research is needed to explore the psychological pull of villains and whether people are drawn toward similar villains in fiction because people look for chances to explore their own personal dark side.## "Perhaps fiction provides a way to engage with the dark aspects of your personality without making you question whether you are a good person in general," concluded Krause.## For more and latest news about Hollywood, stay tuned with us.

BY SACNILK

Mumbai, April 23 (IANS) Taapsee Pannu has opened up about the incident the made her accept her flaws and helped her acquire an identity.## Though the ongoing lockdown, Taapsee has kept regaling fans with interesting anecdotes from her life. These include her growing-up years and film shoots. In her latest post, the actress talks about an incident that changed the way she perceives herself.## Taking to Instagram, the actress shared a picture that has her wearing a gorgeous blue saree.## "This is like a BTS from a shoot I did for Gaurang. I remember how I was concerned that my short hair won't suit the sarees he makes Coz they r so traditional but he was so nonchalant about it n said we will use your original hair length, color, texture, everything natural, everything YOU. That really made me think sometimes you just have to embrace how you look only then the world will embrace it. Shying away from how you look is never going to help you grow in life. The day I accepted my flaws was the day I came into my true self n my flaws helped me get a unique identity #Throwback #Archive #QuarantinePost," she wrote.## While Taapsee keeps fans entertained with her posts, she recently confessed she was missing returning to the film set. Sharing a photo from her 2018 film, "Manmarziyaan", she wrote: "This throwback is clearly out of missing the madness we thrive on as actors. The calm we find in the craziest situations. Need to get back to the chaos soon."## Stay tuned...

BY SACNILK

Mumbai, April 23 (IANS) Riteish Deshmukh has come up with a hilarious TikTok video, where he imitates a funny conversation between Salman Khan and Asma Rafi, a contestant of a singing reality show that happened a few years ago.## In the original episode of the singing reality show, Salman Khan had requested the contestant to sing his popular song "Chunari chunari" (from the 1999 superhit "Biwi No. 1") in Arabic. Asma, who hails from Oman, said she only knew the Hindi version -- that too, learned with great difficulty. When the superstar asked her to sing any other Arabic song, she replied with a smile: "Na kar Salman na Kar!"## In the hilarious TikTok video, Riteish Deshmukh imitates Asma while someone mouths Salman's lines from behind!## Riteish has been keeping fans entertained during the lockdown period by sharing many funny TikTok videos featuring himself.## In a recent video, the actor and his wife Genelia performed to the melodious number "Mera dil bhi kitna paagal hai" from the musical hit "Saajan". The song was originally filmed on Madhuri Dixit and Sanjay Dutt.## Stay tuned...