Author Archives: TARIQ ABDULLAH

MISA

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YOU CAN’T GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE GRACEFULLY

10/30

'Absolute trash'

(IANS)

Renowned Bharatanatyam and Odissi dance exponent Sonal Mansingh has strongly criticised actor Ananya Panday over her Bharatanatyam fusion performance in Chand Mera Dil, calling it ‘absolute trash’ and ‘unacceptable’.

Speaking to ANI amid the ongoing backlash surrounding the performance, Mansingh said the act could not even be described as a proper performance.

“I won’t even call it a performance. I’m sorry. If you can say that Sonal Mansingh performs and Ananya Panday also performs, we can’t say that,’ she said.

A clip from the film has gone viral online, showing Ananya Panday’s character performing Bharatanatyam while co-star Lakshya watches in admiration. The film seemingly intended the sequence to present a modern twist, it has sparked a heated debate on social media, with users flooding the internet with memes and detailed critiques.

Ananya has been receiving severe backlash over her Bharatanatyam fusion performance in Chand Mera Dil.

Sonal Mansingh also rejected claims that the performance represented Bharatanatyam or even a legitimate fusion interpretation of the classical dance form.

“This is not Bharatanatyam, of course not, whatever so-called movement, swinging out and in and all that. I don’t understand,’ she said.

The Padma Vibhushan awardee expressed concern over what she termed the ‘degeneration’ of creative sensibilities in Hindi cinema and accused filmmakers of disrespecting India’s cultural heritage.

“In our country, we ourselves are responsible, whether it is a Hindi film or a Bollywood. I was just watching a dance of Kamala Lakshman from Raj Kapoor’s Chori Chori. It’s unbelievable. People such as Raj Kapoor and others were inviting proper dancers to perform those so-called item numbers,’ she said.

The legendary dancer also referenced celebrated dancers and actors such as Padmini, Waheeda Rehman, Vyjayanthimala, and Sandhya and their contributions to Indian cinema.

(ANI) Netflix is all set to launch MED – its first-ever medical drama straight out of Brazil, reported Deadline. Netflix recently announced a slate of new Brazilian originals, including MED. Set to be backed by production company Paranoid, the show will feature Clara Moneke in the lead. The announcement came soon after Netflix greenlit its first legal drama from Brazil, titled Habeas Corpus, made by Cafe Royal and is currently in production. Among other titles in the slate is a documentary from Maria Farinha Filmes, which follows Brazilian sailor Tamara Klink’s solitary journey across the Arctic. A yet-to-be-titled melodrama series is also in the pipeline, set to be directed by acclaimed filmmaker Rogerio Gomes and produced by A Fabrica. Two comedies also round out the announcement, including comedy special ‘Os Crentes’ and an unnamed project on open marriage.

From Our Correspondent

From Our Correspondent

NONGPOH, May 26: The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) North Khasi Hills District unit on Tuesday welcomed the progress of several long-pending infrastructure projects along National Highway-6 in Ri-Bhoi.

A KSU delegation met with Deputy Commissioner Abhilash Baranwal to review the status of demands including the construction of foot overbridges (FOBs), road repairs, and the installation of streetlights. The union noted that these safety measures had remained unresolved for several years.

KSU district president Ferdynald Kharkamni told media persons that the construction of foot overbridges is gaining momentum at key locations, including Nongpoh, Umsning, Byrnihat, Arphewmer, and Mawlein-Mawkhan. He also confirmed that streetlight installation has commenced in Nongpoh town, with the remaining sections expected to be completed soon.

“Owing to the proactive approach of the Deputy Commissioner, these projects are finally moving forward,” Kharkamni said. He added that the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has repaired most of the damaged stretches along the highway, providing relief to commuters.

The union further suggested that the NHAI should bear the electricity costs for the new streetlights while the highway remains under its jurisdiction. According to Kharkamni, approximately 40 per cent of the union’s infrastructure demands have been fulfilled.

As a gesture of appreciation, the union—led by Kharkamni and District Secretary James Hitler Mawphniang—felicitated Baranwal with a traditional Ryndia muffler and a memento. The delegation also extended its best wishes to the Deputy Commissioner as he prepares to take charge of the East Khasi Hills district.

(PTI) Kajol shared a series of pictures on social media from her film Fanaa as it completed 20 years. The film released on May 26, 2006 and was directed by Kunal Kohli. It featured Kajol alongside Aamir Khan and revolved around blind girl Zooni, who falls in love with her tour guide Rehan, only to realise he is a terrorist and is presumably killed in a bomb blast. Kajol shared pictures on her Instagram handle on Tuesday as she went down memory lane. ‘20 years to Fanaa.. my daughter was 2 and a half years old and I was… but what I remember most was Poland in all its glory.. -27 degrees Celsius, beautiful forests and sleds used on sidewalks,’ she wrote.

Ranveer Singh is not working on any film at the moment. If he was, he would be in trouble after the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) asked its four lakh plus workers not to work with him, a ‘non-cooperation directive’ that could lead to serious trouble for his films.

Though such an order cannot restrain an individual’s freedom to work, it could definitely cause operational issues for his films, said Sonam Chandwani, managing partner, KS Legal and Associates.

‘Till the time he doesn’t come and attend a meeting with us, none of our members will work with him. He is not shooting for anything at the moment. If he begins, we will ensure none of us work with him,’ said a resolute B N Tiwari, president of FWICE.

On Monday, the FWICE said its members would not work with Singh following his last minute exit from Farhan Akhtar’s Don 3.

According to Chandwani, who specialises in contract law, FWICE’s directive may carry “persuasive and operational weight” within the film industry but its legal enforceability is not absolute.

Courts in India, Chandwani added, have previously taken a cautious view against industry bodies attempting to impose blanket bans or blacklisting measures without due process or contractual backing.

The FWICE’s order came after Akhtar and his partner Ritesh Sidhwani filed a complaint against Singh before the Indian Film & Television Directors’ Association (IF-TDA), which then referred the matter to FWICE for further intervention.

Ranveer visits Chamundeshwari temple after HC directive

Ranveer Singh on Tuesday visited the Chamundeshwari temple here and offered prayers after the Karnataka High Court directed him to visit the shrine in the Kantara mimicry case against him, officials said. (Agencies)

DE PAUL + MANLEY, Falk

FINE WORK, TRUSTED MAN…!

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===AUTHOR===

Kyiv is warned to brace for possible major barrage

(AP)

KYIV, May 26: Russia fired more than 100 drones and two ballistic missiles at Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian air force said Tuesday, as the country’s foreign ministry noted that Moscow’s recent threat to hit Kyiv especially hard from the air brought nothing new.

Russia on Monday urged foreign citizens, including members of diplomatic mis-sions, to leave the Ukrainian capital as quickly as possible and told residents to steer clear of military and govern-ment facilities. It said that “systemic strikes” on Kyiv were being prepared.

Russia has regularly bom-barded Kyiv, often causing

dozens of civilian casualties with every attack, since it launched an all-out invasion of neighbouring Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

Russia’s Foreign Minis-ter Sergey Lavrov told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio by phone Monday that the US should evacuate its diplomatic staff from Kyiv, a foreign ministry statement said.

Rubio didn’t say whether the US State Department would take that step, but expressed concern during a trip to India that the “ter-rible” war in Ukraine could escalate further.

The Trump administra-tion has tried for more than

a year to stop the war. But its efforts yielded no significant breakthrough and are now on ice as Washington focuses on the Iran war.

No diplomats say they are leaving Kyiv

There were no announce-ments of diplomatic depar-tures from Kyiv. The Europe-an Union, French and Polish delegations publicly said that they would not leave.

The European Union summoned Russia’s rep-resentative in Brussels to convey its concerns Tuesday, with European Commission spokesperson Anita Hipper accusing Russia of “trying to sow panic.”

Iran condemns strikes as show of 'bad faith', warns of consequences

By AP

DUBAI, May 26: President Donald Trump insists a peace deal is close on the 88th day of the Iran war, but Iran on Tuesday denounced US airstrikes a day earlier as a sign of “bad faith and unreliability” as negotiations continue toward a possible deal to end the war.

The US military has characterised Monday’s strikes in southern Iran as defensive, saying targets included missile launch sites and boats placing mines, and said the US acted with “restraint” in light of the weeks-long ceasefire.

The strikes were done “to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces,” but the military was “using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire,” Capt Tim Hawkins, the spokesman for the US military’s Central Command, said in a statement.

Iran’s foreign ministry called the strikes a cease-fire violation and warned that Washington would bear responsibility for “all consequences”, without details.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran will leave no act of aggression unanswered,” it added in a statement.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard on Tuesday said it had shot down and deterred drones and a fighter jet that entered its airspace, according to Iran’s official Mizan news agency, which did not specify when the incident occurred.

It wasn’t immediately clear what the developments would mean for negotiations. The strikes came after Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghali-baf went to Qatar as part of the talks, which Trump said Monday were “proceeding nicely”.

The strikes were the lat-est flare-up in the fragile ceasefire that began April 7 and has largely held.

Negotiations centre in part on the Strait of Hor-muz, the crucial waterway off southern Iran through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil and natural gas passed before the war began with US-Israeli strikes in February. Tehran retaliated by effectively closing the strait, stranding hundreds of ships and shocking the global economy.

The strait has become a powerful lever for Tehran in talks, joining the long-run-ning issue of Iran’s nuclear programme and highly en-riched uranium. Iran in turn wants the US to lift its mili-tary blockade of Iranian ports that began on April 17.

The strait also is cause for growing concern as supplies of fertilizer are also badly af-fected for vulnerable global farmers.

“What we are witnessing today is not only a geopo-litical crisis, it is a systemic shock to the global agrifood system,” the director-general of the UN’s Food and Ag-riculture Organization, Qu Dongyu, said Tuesday.

Trump has introduced a new angle in negotiations for a deal on the war, saying any agreement to end the war should include a requirement for several additional coun-tries, including Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, to join the Abraham Accords, a series of US-brokered diplomatic, economic and security agree-ments aimed at normalising relations with Israel.

Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates became the first countries to join in 2020; Sudan, Morocco and Ka-zakhstan have followed. Egypt and Jordan already formally recognize Israel and have long-standing peace treaties. Turkey first recog-nised Israel in 1949.

Israel’s conduct against Palestinians, including in the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, has alien-ated Gulf Arab states and the wider Muslim world, but Trump has been keen to build on the Abraham Accords, forged during his first term. He even has suggested that Iran eventually could sign on.