Baaghi 3

Baaghi 3

Baaghi 3 is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Ahmed Khan. Produced by Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment and Fox Star Studios, it is a spiritual sequel to Baaghi 2 (2018) and the third film in the Baaghi film series. Baaghi 3 stars Tiger Shroff, Riteish Deshmukh and Shraddha Kapoor.[4][5] A remake of the 2012 Tamil-language film Vettai[6], the film follows Ronnie, a young man who protects his timid brother Vikram from bullies. He convinces Vikram to join the police force and works with him to take down criminals without exposing himself. When Vikram receives nationwide praise, he is sent for a mission to Syria where Ronnie sees him getting beaten up and kidnapped over a video call. This prompts him to head to Syria and rescue Vikram.

The film co-stars Jaideep Ahlawat, Vijay Varma, Jameel Khoury and Ankita Lokhande. Disha Patani, who played the female lead in the previous film, makes a special appearance in the song "Do You Love Me".[7] The action sequences were choreographed by Ram Chella, Lakshman Chella, and Kecha Khampadkee.[8] Principal photography of the film began on 12 September 2019 in Mumbai.[9][10] The makers wanted to shoot in Syria but the producers Fox Star Studios declined due to safety issues, due to which sets resembling the Syrian topography were built in Serbia.[11]

Baaghi 3 was theatrically released in India on 6 March 2020, receiving mixed reviews; the action sequences were praised while the writing was criticized.[12] Despite a strong performance in its opening week, the film's collections were affected by the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic as the theatres were shut down. There were plans for a re-release once the outbreak would end, but the makers instead decided to release it on digital platforms.[13][14] Nevertheless, it became the second highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2020.

Plot

Ranveer "Ronnie" Chaturvedi is a young man who lives with his elder brother Vikram. Protective towards him since childhood, especially after their father's death, Ronnie is offered a job in the police force, but refuses due to his violent track record and instead convinces Vikram to take on the job. A timid and reluctant Vikram becomes a cop, and on his joining day sees a violent incident that introduces him to a goon named IPL. When a hostage situation arises, Vikram is assigned the job and is terrified to face the criminals, but Ronnie reassures him of safety and accompanies him to the spot where they together battle the goons. Ronnie fights them off and helps Vikram rescue the hostages but doesn't take the credit. This process is repeated, and which each case, Vikram starts getting popular among the public and his department. IPL decides to get Ronnie kidnapped in order to scare Vikram, but the table turn on IPL when Ronnie overpowers his henchmen and beats them up, following which they're captured by Vikram. In the meanwhile, Ronnie and Siya fall for each other and decide get their respective siblings Vikram and Ruchi married to each other. One day, Vikram is assigned by the government to go for a routine paperwork in Syria. Ruchi tells Vikram she's pregnant and that she would await his return. Upon arriving in Syria, Vikram chats with Ronnie over video call and tells him someone picked his pocket. Soon, there's a knock on the door and some men attack Vikram, kidnapping him as Ronnie watches helplessly.

Hiding the truth from Ruchi, Ronnie and Siya arrive in Syria where the police refuse to help them. They then meet Akhtar Lahori, a man who helps them track Vikram and his captors, leading them to a pickpocket after Ronnie recalls Vikram telling him his pocket was picked. Finding Vikram's wallet, they go to his hotel while the cops start looking for the trio. At his room, Ronnie finds a damaged phone and escapes with Siya and Lahori before the cops can catch them. The trio soon finds the attacker, resulting in a chase. The exhausted attacker agrees to help him before being hit by a truck and dying. Siya retrieves the attacker's phone from his wallet and texts IPL to meet at a hotel. Abu Jalal Gaza, the mastermind, also arrives at the hotel to avenge his brother, the attacker's death. He informs IPL has been texted by the killer instead, and IPL escapes as the cops arrive. However, the main cop sides with Ronnie and captures IPL while Abu escapes in disguise. Fearing betrayal from IPL since he's been arrested, Abu orders his men to take him down. Ronnie and team cleverly stage a series of events that lead to Abu's henchmen believing they've been betrayed by IPL. They attack him, and upon being rescued by Ronnie, IPL decides to help him and the cops. Soon, Vikram's friend Asif is made to carry a bomb inside a building in exchange for his family's safety. Siya arrives and stops Asif while the cops free his family. Ronnie, on the other hand, single-handedly battles Abu's army before going to rescue Vikram and the hostages. IPL sacrifices himself by saving a hostage from being killed by a landmine and instead lets it detonate once Lahori reluctantly leaves with the hostages and Abu's henchmen arrive. Abu agrees to free everyone but captures Siya instead who is then locked along with Vikram. Ronnie starts fighting Abu's henchmen, but as Vikram starts getting enraged to see Ronnie being hit, he stops fighting back. Ronnie is stabbed and nearly killed, transforming Vikram who jumps out of the cell and brutally fights off everyone and impales Abu on steel rods. Vikram and Siya try to revive Ronnie but think he's dead, and as Abu emerges to attack them from behind, Ronnie gets up and kills him.

Returning to India, Vikram is honored for his bravery while Ronnie imagines their father, a cop, saluting and hugging him for keeping his promise.

Cast

Tiger Shroff as Ranveer "Ronnie" Chaturvedi

Riteish Deshmukh as Vikram Charan Chaturvedi

Shraddha Kapoor as Siya Nandan

Ankita Lokhande as Ruchi Nandan

Jameel Khoury as Abu Jalal Gaza, the chief of ISIS

Jaideep Ahlawat as IPL

Vijay Varma as Akhtar Lahori

Jackie Shroff as Inspector Charan Chaturvedi

Satish Kaushik as Police Commissioner BMC

Virendra Saxena as Kailash Tripathi

Ivan Kostadinov as Zaidi

Manav Gohil as Asif

Sunit Morarjee as Inspector Sharad Kute

Shriswara Dubey as Hafeeza

Amit Sharma as Bajwa

Danish Bhatt as Bilal

Shaurya Bharadwaj as Chacha Ji

Disha Patani in a special appearance in the song "Do You Love Me"[7]

Production

The film was announced on 19 December 2018 with Tiger Shroff by Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment on their Twitter account by releasing a teaser poster.[16] On 12 February 2019 Shraddha Kapoor was signed to play lead opposite Tiger Shroff.[17] In June it was announced that Riteish Deshmukh has joined the cast of the film. [18] In August 2019, it was announced that shooting of the film will take place in Morocco, Egypt, Serbia and Turkey.[19]

The first schedule of filming began on 12 September in Mumbai and wrapped in early-October 2019.[20][21]

Promotion and release

On 6 February 2020 official trailer of the film was launched by Fox Star Studios.[22]

It was theatrically released in India on 6 March 2020.

أنوشكا شارما

أنوشكا شارما

أنوشكا شارما (بالهندية: अनुष्का शर्मा) من مواليد (الأول من ماي 1988)،  هي ممثلة وعارضة هندية. بدأت مسيرتها في بوليوود عام 2008 وكان عمرها 19 عاما، حيث لعبت دور البطولة في فيلم فيلم راب ني بانا دي جودي رفقة شاه روخ خان، الفيلم من إخراج أديتيا شوبرا، الذي أخرج أفلام شهيرة مثل ديلوالي دولهانيا لي جاينجي (1995) وومحاباتن (2000).، حقق راب ني بانا دي جودي نجاحا كبيرا وكان من أعلى الأفلام دخلا لسنة 2008، بعدها شاركت أنوشكا في الفيلم الكوميدي شركة النصابين مع شاهد كابور وفي الإخراج لأول مرة، حقق الفيلم نجاحا متوسطا بعدها شاركت أنوشكا ومع نفس شركة الإنتاج ياش راج فيلم وفي إطار عقد 3 أفلام مع الشركة فيلم باند باجا بارات مع الوافد الجديد رانفير سينغ وتقمصت دور شروتي كاكار منسقة الأعراس حقق الفيلم نجاحا منقطع النظير بسبب التناغم الكبير الذي اشترك فيه طاقم العمل.

ترشحت أنوشكا لجائزة أفضل ممثلة في العديد من مهرجانات الجوائز، بعد سنتين وأخيرا فازت بجائزة أفضل ممثلة مساعدة عن فيلمها الثاني مع شاروخان والخامس مع شركة ياش راج جاب تاك هاي جان 2012 وتلقى آداؤها إعجاب النقاد، فقد جسدت دور أكيرا الفتاة المستقلة والطموحة . سنة 2014 كانت سنة كبيرة لدى أنوشكا حيث إشتركت مع عامر خان لاول مرة في الفيلم الأعلى دخلا في تاريخ بولييود بي كي من إخراج راجكومار هيراني . بعدها دخلت أنوشكا مجال الإنتاج سنة 2015 بإنتاجها لفيلها الأول والذي لعبت فيه دور البطولة NH10 الذي نجح بشكل كبير وفازت أنوشكا عنه بجائزة أفضل فيلم قليل الميزانية لسنة 2015، لعبت أنوشكا دورا صعبا وغير تقليديا لإمرأة تهاجم هي وزوجها من طرف قطاع طرق، وأخرج الفيلم أنوشكا من صورة الفتاة الأنيقة بل جعلها ممثلة تستطيع تجسيد أي دور، وشاركت في فيلم سلطان 2016 مع سلمان خان

خلفية

ولدت أنوشكا شارما لأسرة عسكرية في بنجالور، والدها العقيد أجاي كومار شارما وهو ضابط في الجيش ووالدتها أشيما شارما وهي ربة بيت. كان لديها شقيق أكبر يدعى كارنيش الذي كان لاعب الكريكيت على مستوى الدولة، والآن في البحرية التجارية. درست في مدرسة الجيش وتخرجت من كلية جبل الكرمل تخصص فنون، بنجالور.

تقول شارما أنها لم لم تفكر يوما حينما كانت عارضة أن تدخل عالم التمثيل ولكن بعد دخولها له قالت أنها أحبت عالم التمثيل أكثر من عالم عرض الازياء.

بدأت مهنة عرض الأزياء في أسبوع الموضة "لكمي" كعارضة أزياء في عرض ويندل رودركس وأختيرت لكى تكون عارضة أزياء رودركس النهائي في ربيع صيف 2007، ومنذ ذلك الحين قامت بعمل إعلانات للحرير ومجوهرات نثيلا وفيات باليو.

أفلامها

قامت أنوشكا حتى الآن بعمل العديد من الأعمال، وأول دور تمثيل قامت به كان في أديتيا شوبرا (راب ني بانا دي جودي -2008) مع شاروخان، والفليم حقق نجاحا كبيرا.،

وثاني أفلامها كان مع شاهيد كابور (بادماش كمبني) (2010)، وثالث فيلم لها كان (باند باجا بارات) مع الممثل الجديد آنذاك رانفير سينغ والفيلم من إخراج مانيش شارما، وهذا الفيلم حقق نجاحا كبيرا، وقد فازت أنوشكا بجائرة أفضل ممثلة عن دورها في هذا الفيلم، وفازت أيضا بجائزة أفضل ثنائي مع الممثل رانفير سينغ، وتقول أنوشكا: أن فيلم باند باجا بارات هو أفضل عمل لها وقد أحب الناس شخصيتها في الفيلم (شروتي كاكر)، وبلغ تقييم هذا الفليم 7.3 وهذا أعلى فيلم تقييما بين أفلام أنوشكا الخمسة. ورابع أفلامها كان مع أكشاي كومار والفيلم بعنوان بيت التمرد (بتيلا هاوس) (2011)

و الفيلم الخامس لانوشكا - هو (السيدات ضد ريكي باهل) مع الممثل رانفير سنيغ والفليم من إخراج مانيش شارما -نفس الممثل ونفس المخرج ونفس فريق العمل لفليم (باند باجا بارات) ,

والفيلم السادس لانوشكا مع شاروخان وكاترينا كايف ((جاب تاك هاي جان)).

و الفيلم السابع لأنوشكا Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola مع عمران خان.

و الفيلم الثامن لأنوشكا بي كيه مع عامر خان 2014.

و الفيلم التاسع لأنوشكا nh10.

و الفيلم العاشر لأنوشكا Bombay velvet مع رانبير كابور 2015

و الفيلم الحادي عشر لأنوشكا dill dhadakne do مع فرحان اختر ' بريانكا شوبرا' انيل كابور ورانفير سينغ 2015

و من أبرز أفلامها هذا العام فيلم pk مع عامر خان وتصدر البوكس أوفس الهندي وحقق 120 مليون دولار أمريكي

و أيضأ لديها بعض الأعمال المهمة في قادم السنوات ...

Anushka Sharma

Anushka Sharma

Anushka Sharma (pronounced [əˈnʊʂkaː ˈʃərmaː]; born 1 May 1988) is an Indian actress and film producer who works in Hindi films. One of the most popular and highest-paid actresses in India, she has received several awards, including a Filmfare Award. She has appeared in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 since 2012 and was featured by Forbes Asia in their 30 Under 30 list of 2018.

Born in Ayodhya and raised in Bangalore, Sharma had her first modelling assignment for the fashion designer Wendell Rodricks in 2007 and later moved to Mumbai to pursue a full-time career as a model. She made her acting debut opposite Shah Rukh Khan in the highly successful romantic film Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008) and rose to prominence with starring roles in Yash Raj Films' romances Band Baaja Baaraat (2010) and Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012). For playing an aspiring filmmaker in the lattermost, she won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress. Sharma went on to earn praise for playing a woman troubled by criminals in the crime thriller NH10 (2015), a dancer in the comedy-drama Dil Dhadakne Do (2015), a free-spirited woman in the romantic drama Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (2016), and a struggling wife in the social drama Sui Dhaaga (2018). Her highest-grossing releases came with the sports drama Sultan (2016), and Rajkumar Hirani's religious satire PK (2014) and biopic Sanju (2018), all of which rank among the highest-grossing Indian films.

In addition to acting, Sharma is the ambassador for multiple brands and products and has designed her own line of clothing for women, named Nush. She supports various charities and causes, including gender equality and animal rights, and is the co-founder of the production company Clean Slate Films, under which she has produced three of her films, including NH10. Sharma is married to the cricketer Virat Kohli.

Early life and modelling career

Anushka Sharma was born on 1 May 1988 in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh.[1][2] Her father, Colonel Ajay Kumar Sharma, is an army officer, and her mother, Ashima Sharma, is a homemaker.[2][3] Her father is a native of Uttar Pradesh, while her mother is a Garhwali.[4][5] Her elder brother is film producer Karnesh Sharma, who earlier served in the Merchant Navy.[6] Sharma has stated that being a military brat played an important role in shaping her as a person and contributing to her life.[2] In an interview with The Times of India in 2012, she said, "I take pride in saying that I am an army officer's daughter even more than being an actor."[2]

Sharma was raised in Bangalore.[2] She was educated at the Army School there, and received a degree in arts from Mount Carmel College.[7][8] She originally intended to pursue a career in modelling or journalism, and had no aspirations to be an actress.[7] After graduation, Sharma moved to Mumbai to further her modelling career.[9] She enrolled herself at the Elite Model Management, and was groomed by the style consultant Prasad Bidapa.[10] In 2007, Sharma made her runway debut at the Lakme Fashion Week for designer Wendell Rodricks's Les Vamps Show and was picked to be his finale model at the Spring Summer 2007 Collection.[9] Since then she has done campaigns for the brands Silk & Shine, Whisper, Nathella Jewelry and Fiat Palio.[10] Sharma later said, "I think I was born to emote and act. I would walk down the ramp and smile and they used to say, 'give us a blank look.' It was really difficult, not to smile".[9] Whilst modelling, Sharma also joined an acting school and began auditioning for film roles.[11][12]

Acting career

Film debut and breakthrough (2008–2013)

Sharma made her acting debut in Aditya Chopra's romantic drama Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008), opposite Shah Rukh Khan. She took a day to prepare for her screen test at the Yash Raj Films studio and refused to do an impromptu one.[9] She was signed for a three-film deal with the company and landed the leading role of Tani Sahni, a young bride to a middle-aged man, portrayed by Khan. Khalid Mohamed of Hindustan Times found her to be "assured and upright" in the film,[13] but Nikhat Kazmi thought that she "lacks all chutzpah and can barely hold your attention".[14] The film was a major commercial success, emerging as the second-highest grossing Hindi film of that year,[15] and earned Sharma Filmfare Award nominations for Best Actress and Best Female Debut.[16] Two years later, Sharma played the leading lady in the crime-comedy Badmaash Company, directed by Parmeet Sethi and co-starring Shahid Kapoor, Vir Das and Meiyang Chang. The film, which tells the story of four underachieving friends who begin a scam business enterprise, received mixed reviews.[17]

Later in 2010, Sharma completed her three-film contract with Yash Raj Films by starring in Band Baaja Baaraat, a romantic comedy directed by Maneesh Sharma and co-starring debutant Ranveer Singh.[18] Her role was that of Shruti Kakkar, an ambitious middle-class Punjabi girl who starts her own wedding planning business. In preparation for the part, Sharma learned to speak in the Punjabi dialect, which she cited as the toughest part of her role; she described the way the lead characters in the film interact as "crude but cute" and it required her to "talk fast, sometimes mix words and even omit words completely".[19] Trade analysts expressed doubt on Band Baaja Baaraat's financial prospect, citing the middling response to Yash Raj Films' last few productions, the lack of a male star, and saying that by then Sharma was an "almost-forgotten" actress.[20] However, Band Baaja Baaraat earned positive reviews and emerged as a sleeper hit.[21] Sharma's performance was praised by critics, many of whom cited it as her best work to that point.[22] The critic Anupama Chopra wrote that Sharma "comes into her own as the ambitious Delhi girl, who dreams of upgrading to multi-crore Sainik Farms weddings".[23] For her work in the film, Sharma received her second nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress.[24]

Sharma's first venture not to be produced by Yash Raj Films was the drama Patiala House (2011) directed by Nikhil Advani and co-starring Akshay Kumar.[25] The film tells the story of a budding cricketer (played by Kumar) who encounters trouble in convincing his father of his profession; Sharma was cast as the love interest of Kumar's character. Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com praised Sharma's work and labelled her a "metaphor for energy".[26] That same year, she re-united with co-star Ranveer Singh and director Maneesh Sharma for the comedy-drama Ladies vs Ricky Bahl. She featured as Ishika Desai, a salesgirl hired to outwit a conman (essayed by Singh), who ends up falling in love with him instead. The film and Sharma's performance received mixed reviews, with Piyali Dasgupta of NDTV calling her "believable but not endearing".[27] Despite mixed reviews, the film was a moderate success at the box office.[28][29]

In 2012, Sharma played a supporting role alongside Shah Rukh Khan and Katrina Kaif in Yash Chopra's "swan song", the romance Jab Tak Hai Jaan, which marked her fifth collaboration with Yash Raj Films and her second with Khan. She was cast as Akira Rai, a Discovery Channel reporter who harbours ambitions of being a documentary filmmaker. CNN-IBN's Rajeev Masand wrote that Sharma "brings a spark to the film",[30] but Raja Sen disagreed and said that "while Anushka can indeed play spunky, she needed here to tone it down several notches".[31] For her role, she won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress.[32] Jab Tak Hai Jaan proved to be the third highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2012.[33]

Sharma next appeared in Vishal Bhardwaj's Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola (2013), a political satire set in a village in Haryana. Co-starring alongside Pankaj Kapur, Imran Khan and Shabana Azmi, Sharma played the titular role of Bijlee Mandola, a strong-headed girl who engages in a romantic affair with Khan's character despite being engaged to another man. The film received positive to mixed reviews from critics,[34] and underperformed at the box office.[35][36] Several critics noted that Sharma was being stereotyped as a loud and loquacious girl; Raja Sen noted that she "is great in a couple of scenes near the climax,"[37] though Kanika Sikka of Daily News and Analysis was more critical and found her "unconvincing".[38]

Success and expansion into film production (2014–2016)

In 2014, Sharma played a television journalist who befriends an alien (played by Aamir Khan), in Rajkumar Hirani's religious satire PK. Critic Saibal Chatterjee wrote that Sharma plays "a feisty poetry-loving girl who knows her mind far more than most Hindi film heroines are allowed to" and praised her for "hold[ing] her own" against Khan.[39] Critically acclaimed, PK emerged as the highest-grossing Bollywood film with a worldwide revenue of over ₹7 billion (US$98 million).[40][41][42] Sharma launched a production company named Clean Slate Films, whose first release was Navdeep Singh's thriller NH10 (2015), in which she also played the lead role.[43] Screened at the 5th Beijing International Film Festival, it tells the story of a married couple whose lives are endangered after an encounter with a group of criminals.[44] In preparation, Sharma underwent interval training for three months to build her stamina.[45] Saibal Chatterjee found the film to be a "taut and riveting thriller" and praised Sharma for "conveying a range of moods as she moves from the vulnerable to the fearless in a battle in which the odds are stacked heavily against her",[46] and Prarthana Sarkar of International Business Times credited her for breaking away from her romantic comedy image.[47] The film also emerged as a box office success

In Anurag Kashyap's period crime drama Bombay Velvet (2015), (based on the historian Gyan Prakash's book Mumbai Fables) co-starring Ranbir Kapoor and Karan Johar, Sharma was cast as a jazz singer, Rosie Noronha. Her character was referenced from the actresses Brigitte Bardot, Helen and Waheeda Rehman.[50] To prepare, Sharma watched films of the 1950s and 1960s, and documentaries about hair and make-up.[50] She also used temporary lip enhancers for the part, citing it as the reason behind her changed appearance on a chat show in 2014, and refuted media speculation about having undergone plastic surgery.[51] Bombay Velvet was screened at the Locarno[52] and Bucheon film festivals;[53] critical opinion was mixed.[54] Writing for Business Standard, Ritika Bhatia praised Sharma's performance in the song "Dhadaam Dhadaam": "she fills the stage with such raw emotion that her mascara-laden tears and fake eyelashes flutter with arresting passion".[55] However, the film failed to recoup its ₹1.2 billion (US$17 million) investment.[54][56] In the same year, Sharma featured in the supporting role of a dancer aboard a cruise ship in Zoya Akhtar's Dil Dhadakne Do, an ensemble comedy-drama in which she was featured opposite Ranveer Singh.[57] The song sequence "Pehli Baar" was choreographed by her and Singh; Shilpa Jamkhandikar of Reuters praised their on-screen chemistry and described it as "crackling".[57][58] Her performances in NH10 and Dil Dhadakne Do earned Sharma Filmfare Award nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, respectively.[59]

Sharma next reunited with Yash Raj Films in Sultan (2016), a romantic sports drama from the writer-director Ali Abbas Zafar. She took on the role of Aarfa Hussain, a wrestler from Haryana who inspires the title character (played by Salman Khan) to take up the sport.[60] Sharma was initially hesitant to play the part as she did not have the physique of a wrestler; she researched on different weight categories to "beat people's perception that all wrestlers are huge."[61] She trained for six weeks in the sport, learned to speak the Haryanvi dialect, and interacted with female wrestlers from the state.[62][63] The film and her performance received mixed reviews.[64] Critics were appreciative of her substantial role in an androcentric film;[64] Filmfare's Rachit Gupta described Sharma as "the best thing in the film" and noted that "[e]ven though she doesn't have the physique of a wrestler, her spirited performance makes you believe in her tough but emotional character."[65] However, Suprateek Chatterjee of The Huffington Post felt that she was unconvincing as a wrestler, writing that "she possesses literally zero muscles and somehow always finds the time to get her make-up just right."[60] With earnings of over ₹5 billion (US$70 million) worldwide, Sultan ranks among Indian cinema's biggest grossers.[66]

Sharma achieved further success later that year when she played the lead female role of Alizeh Khan, a free-spirited girl in a loveless relationship in Karan Johar's romantic drama Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, alongside Ranbir Kapoor and Aishwarya Rai. Mike Maccahil of The Guardian took note of how much Sharma "terrific spikiness" and her chemistry with Kapoor helped a mediocre picture.[67] In another typical mixed review, Sweta Kaushal of Hindustan Times praised Sharma's empowered female lead.[68] The film earned over ₹2 billion (US$28 million) worldwide, and Sharma received a Best Actress nomination at the 62nd Filmfare Awards.[69][70][71] With two top-grossing films in 2016, Bollywood Hungama ranked Sharma as the most successful Bollywood actress of the year.[72]

2017–present: Career fluctuations and further production ventures

The 2017 fantasy comedy Phillauri, co-starring Suraj Sharma and Diljit Dosanjh, featured Sharma as a friendly ghost who wants to reunite with her lover. In addition to acting and producing, Sharma also sang a song in it.[73][74] She next collaborated with Shah Rukh Khan for the third time in Imtiaz Ali's Jab Harry Met Sejal, a romance about a Gujrati tourist (Sharma) in Europe who falls in love with her tour guide. Commenting on Sharma's performances in Phillauri and Jab Harry Met Sejal, Uday Bhatia of Mint praised her ability for "straight-faced com[edy]".[75] Bhatia, however, criticised her pairing with Khan, 22 years her senior, in the latter film.[75] Unlike her 2016 releases, both these films were box office flops.[76][77]

Sharma's first film release of 2018 was the horror film Pari, which she starred in and produced. It tells the story of Rukhsana (Sharma), a battered young woman living in the wilderness, who is rescued by a benevolent man (played by Parambrata Chatterjee). Though Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express found the film "scatter-brained" and added that "nothing can rescue it, not even a leading lady who is determined to do something different with her producing heft", Sukanya Verma featured her performance in Rediff.com's annual list of best actresses, writing, "going from unhinged to ghastly to mesmeric, here's an actress who's game for everything."[78][79] It earned ₹400 million (US$5.6 million) worldwide against a production budget of ₹180 million (US$2.5 million).[80][81] Sharma next played a biographer documenting the life of the troubled actor Sanjay Dutt in Rajkumar Hirani's biopic Sanju, starring Ranbir Kapoor in the title role.[82] Rajeev Masand commended the film's ensemble but was critical of Sharma's performance, writing that she "sticks out with strange hair and stranger accent".[83] Even so, it emerged as her third release to earn over ₹5 billion (US$70 million) worldwide.[84]

In the same year, Sharma teamed with Yash Raj Films for the eighth time in Sui Dhaaga, a comedy-drama co-starring Varun Dhawan, about a poor, young couple who begin their own small-scale clothing industry. Ronak Kotecha of The Times of India praised the subtle chemistry between the leads and credited Sharma for playing the restrained role effortlessly.[85] She received a nomination for the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress.[86] Sharma's final film appearance of the year was in Zero, a drama about a dwarf's romantic tribulations involving two women, which reunited her with Shah Rukh Khan and Katrina Kaif.[87] She played a NASA scientist suffering from cerebral palsy, for which she met with an occupational therapist and an audiologist; she also stayed in character and chose to use a wheelchair between shots.[88][89][90] Anupama Chopra considered her portrayal of the condition to be "inconsistent and clumsy" but Namrata Joshi of The Hindu found her "earnest and invested".[91][92] As with her previous collaboration with Khan, Zero was a commercial failure.[93]

Sharma will next produce three projects for streaming television: a crime thriller titled Paatal Lok for Amazon Video; and two projects for Netflix, a period drama film entitled Bulbul, and a drama series named Mai about a middle-aged housewife fighting crime.[94][95][96]

Personal life and off-screen work

Sharma started practising vegetarianism in 2015. The Times of India has listed her as one of "Bollywood's hottest vegetarian celebrities".[97] She has also been named as "The Person of the Year" by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) on multiple occasions.[98][99][100] She is an avid practitioner of Transcendental Meditation.[6] Sharma has confessed to being a victim of anxiety disorder and seeking treatment for it

A practicing Hindu, Sharma along with her family is a follower of Anant Dham Atmabodh Ashram in Haridwar.[102] The ashram is headed by Maharaj Anant Baba, who is her family's spiritual guru and the actress is a regular visitor to the ashram.[103] Sharma's romantic relationship with the cricketer Virat Kohli has attracted substantial media coverage in India, though she has been reluctant to publicly talk about it.[104][105][106] The couple married in Italy on 11 December 2017.[107][108][109]

In September 2013, Sharma participated and walked the ramp in a fashion show that was held in memory of the late filmmaker, Yash Chopra.[110] She participated in the opening ceremony of the 2015 Indian Premier League held at Kolkata, along with other celebrities including Hrithik Roshan, Shahid Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Farhan Akhtar and composer Pritam.[111]

Apart from acting, Sharma supports a number of charities and causes. She walked the ramp to support Shabana Azmi's Mijwan Welfare Society, an NGO that helps empower women.[112] In 2013, alongside other Bollywood actors, she pledged to support the education of India's young girls as part of NDTV's "Our Girls, Our Pride" fundraiser.[113] That same year, she appeared alongside other celebrities in a commercial, produced by the National Film Development Corporation of India, to create awareness about the 'Right to Education' for children.[114] In December 2014, Sharma auctioned the leather jacket she wore in Jab Tak Hai Jaan on eBay, with proceeds going to the redevelopment of the flood-ravaged states of Kashmir and Assam.[115] Sharma had also fronted a campaign to collect donations for the victims of the April 2015 Nepal earthquake.[116][117] She supports the annual Mumbai Film Festival, and donated money in its cause in 2015.[118] Sharma has been vocal about the disparity in the pay that actresses command, in comparison with their male counterparts in the film industry.[119][120] In 2016, she supported India's first transgender band, the 6-Pack Band (initiated by Y-Films), by providing a voice over in their first single, "Hum Hain Happy."[121]

Sharma has also spoken up for animal rights on social media. In April 2014, she took to Twitter to ask for a ban on horse-drawn carriages in Mumbai.[122] In June 2015, she condemned the Yulin Dog Meat Festival in China, and urged her fans to sign an online petition aimed at stopping it.[123] In October 2015, she launched 'Pawsitivity', a campaign aimed at sensitising people about the adverse effects of noise, air, water and soil pollution on animals.[124] In October 2017, Sharma launched her own clothing line, named Nush.

Mrs Serial Killer

Mrs Serial Killer

Mrs. Serial Killer, also spelt as Mrs Serial Killer is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language crime thriller film, produced as an Original for Netflix. The film is written and directed by Shirish Kunder and produced by his wife Farah Khan. The film stars Jacqueline Fernandez, Manoj Bajpayee and Mohit Raina in the main lead roles while Aamir Khan's niece Zayn Marie makes her acting debut appearance in a film.[1] This web film also marks second digital appearance for Fernandez who was last seen in Drive, also her first collaboration with Netflix.[2][3]

Jacqueline plays the titular role of the film. The film is scheduled to stream via Netflix on 1 May coinciding with the May Day.[4][5] The release date of the film was announced in a video by the actress herself on 14 April coinciding with the Puthandu.[6][7] The video was shared on Netflix India's social media account.

Plot

Sona Mukerjee, a medical professor, is married it a well respected gynaecologist, Dr. Mrityunjoy Mukerjee (Joy), who dotes on her like a loving husband. One day while on a business trip with his medical team, Sona video chats with him to tell him that she is pregnant, news he receives with excitement. After the call, there is knock on the door which Sona answers. Inspector Imran Shahid stumbles to the door, clearly intoxicated, telling Sona to let him in to question her about the whereabouts of 6 missing women. Sona flatly refuses to let him in which prompts Imran to show her a picture of both of them together in his wallet. After Sona tells him to go away, he barges into the house. Imran attempts to surreptitiously collect Joy's used cigarettes and comb while engaging in an argument with Sona. When Imran tries to leave, Sona notices what he was trying to do and confronts him. He tells her that if her husband is innocent then she has nothing to worry about.

The next day, Imran calls his partner and some volunteers to come to Joy's clinic as he has found something. When his partner and volunteers arrive, Imran stumbles out of a cellar door and vomits from what he has seen. Everyone goes down to see what is there and much to everyone's horror, find 6 fetuses in separate jars and a cut up woman hanging horizontally from the ceiling. Imran orders everyone to begin digging in the backyard of the clinic. Five young female bodies are found which causes the town to panic.

Joy is promptly arrested, leaving Sona distraught and worried. Throughout the chaos and riots for Joy to be hung, Sona sees him in jail. Joy tells her that he is innocent and that he loves her very much. She tells him that she knows he is not capable of doing such heinous things but due to the nature of the crime, no lawyer in town wants to defend him. He tells her to contact one of his former patients, Mr. Rastogi, who is a well known defense attorney. Sona promptly contacts Rastogi who agrees to defend Joy, since Joy has taken care of him so well. During the bail hearing, the prosecution demands that Joy be held without bail due to the severity of the crime and DNA evidence from hair and saliva (from the cigarette) found at the scene that matches Joy. Despite Rastogi's protest, the judge agrees with the prosecution and remands Joy. Terrified at the thought of losing her husband forever, Sona meets Rastogi again to ask what she should do to prove her husband's innocence. Rastogi asks her how she is so sure of Joy's innocence. Sona tells him that she knows her husband is innocent because she knows that the killer is none other than her ex boyfriend, Imran Shahid. She tells him that Imran planted the evidence against Joy because he was jealous of the fact that Sona married Joy and is happy with him. Rastogi says that it all makes sense how the evidence was so perfect, but unfortunately since they cannot prove that the evidence was planted, she has to either resign herself to the fact that her husband will be in jail forever or that she can take matters into her own hands. He tells her that the easiest way to prove her husband's innocence is by committing the murder of a single pregnant woman with the same modus operandi while her husband is in jail. Hesitant at first, Sona decides that she will do whatever it takes to save her husband.

Sona finds a list of pregnant women from a women's clinic by posing as a patient herself at the office. She finds that three women on the list are pregnant. In order to figure out whether or not they are single, she calls them on a burner phone posing as a secretary from a hotel offering a free stay for married couples. After striking out on the first two, she calls the third woman. Recognising her voice, Sona realises it is none other than Anushka Tiwari, one of her students and coincidentally her neighbour. Realising she has no choice but to chose Anushka as her victim, she begins stalking her to figure out her routine. She finds out that Anushka is an avid martial artist and that her boyfriend, Sid, is not very happy about the pregnancy. While planning the kidnapping mentally outside, Sona's maid accidentally breaks a glass of chloroform that was in the kitchen and fills it with water to avoid getting into trouble. Dressing up as a janitor, Sona follows Anushka into a dark alley with the intention of kidnapping her using chloroform to knock her out. Due to the chloroform really being water, Anushka begins to fights Sona off (still unaware of her true identity). After being chased into a flower field, Anushka begins to lose her breath. Sona realises that Anushka has asthma and throws pollen in her face to weaken her. Sona binds Anushka spread eagle to a bed and blind folds her while she is passed out. In order to mask her voice, she creates a voice board on her phone to prevent Anushka from recognising her. After a lot of research, Sona gains the courage to try to perform an abortion and kill Anushka, but is prevented from doing so after Anushka begs her to let her go and that she will not tell anyone anything since she does not know who the kidnapper even is. Swayed by Anushka's tactic, Sona goes outside the room to call Rastogi to ask if the kidnapping itself is sufficient enough to prove her husband's innocence and if she can let Anushka go because she cannot bring herself to commit murder. While Sona is on the phone, Anushka manages to escape and hide. When Sona re-enters the room, Anushka attacks her but apologises for attacking Sona because she meant to attack the killer. Sona lies to Anushka by telling her that she heard a noise and came to investigate. Anushka sees Sona's phone which is open to the voice board and realises that Sona is the one that kidnapped her. In another fight, Anushka attempts to incapacitate Sona, but Sona is able to quickly inject Anushka with anaesthetics. News spreads about Anushka's disappearance, which confuses and stuns Imran. As a result, the town believes the real killer is still out there and is angry at Imran for arresting the wrong person. This causes Imran to become a pariah for bad his poor detective work.

Soon a body is found in the same fashion as the other previous bodies, which leads the court to release Joy on bail pending trial. Once Joy is home, Sona takes Joy to the basement of the clinic and shows him Anushka, who is very much alive and tied up on the bed. She tells him that she bought an unclaimed body and fetus from the hospital that she uses to teach her students and used her tattoo skills to mimic Anushka's body and cut it up in the same fashion as the other girls. Sona asks Joy what to do with Anushka and he tells her that they need to think of a plan calmly. Unbeknownst to them, Sid sees them leaving the building as they go home to celebrate Joy's first night home and sneaks in to find Anushka. When trying to free her, he hears a noise and follows Anushka's instructions to grabs a rod and hide in the closet, only for it to jam shut locking him in.

Sona wakes up in the middle of the night to find Joy missing and not answering his phone. She also notices Joy's car missing, which makes her believe he might be at the clinic with Anushka. As Sona arrives to the clinic, she hears noises coming from the room where Anushka is held. Much to her horror, she sees Joy preparing to perform an abortion on Anushka. Sona tries to stop him, which causes him to stab her hand with a scalpel, pinning her to a table. Joy reveals that he kills single pregnant women because they are whores like his mother who abandoned him as a child and left him to be molested by his adoptive parents. Sid, still trapped in the closet, yells out to distract Joy from hurting the women. Joy opens the closet and easily subdues Sids, tying him to a chair next to Sona. While Joy is distracted in his own lunacy, Sona manages to text Imran her location and what is happening. Imran manages to sneak in while Joy leaves the room to grab a new scalpel. Joy sees Imran and they engage in a fight, which results in Joy subduing Imran and tying him to a chair. Joy picks up Imran's fallen wallet and sees a picture of woman, Afreen, which is revealed to be Imran's sister. It is revealed that many years ago (in a different city) Sona and Imran were in love and wanted to get married but Sona's parents wanted her to marry a surgeon since they are surgeons as well. Sona and Imran "elope" joyfully. Later when Imran goes home, he finds out that Afreen had been brutally murdered, devastating him. After realising that his sister was seeing a gynaecologist due to an unwanted pregnancy, Imran figured out that it was Joy who killed his sister and he went to confront Joy at his clinic. Joy hit Imran from behind with a rod, which placed him in a coma for two years. In those two years, Sona, unaware of what happened to Imran, was coerced by her parents to marry Joy. Once Imran came out of his coma, he traced Joy to the city that he was newly residing in and in the process finds out that Sona was Joy's wife, devastating him that the person he loves the most married the person who he hates the most. Imran is able to free himself and fights with Joy while Sona frees Sid and attempts to escape with Anushka. In the ensuing chaos, Joy stabs Sona in the stomach killing their baby and Imran stabs Joy in the spine, presumably killing him.

Sona wakes up in the hospital with Imran by her side and Anushka thanking her for giving her and Sid a new beginning. When the doctor comes in to see Sona, he tells her that despite the fact she lost her baby, she will still be able to conceive again. Imran asks him if the body (Joy's) has been sent for post mortem. The doctor, confused, says that the man that was brought in is alive as they were able to revive him. In a panic, Imran runs to Joy's room only to find Joy missing.

In the final scene, we see Mrs. Rastogi rolling Joy into a black SVU with Mr. Rastogi being the driver. Mr. Rastogi asks her if anyone saw them, to which she replies no.

Labour Day

Labour Day

Labour Day (Labor Day in the United States) is an annual holiday to celebrate the achievements of workers. Labour Day has its origins in the labour union movement, specifically the eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest.

For most countries, Labour Day is synonymous with, or linked with, International Workers' Day, which occurs on 1 May. For other countries, Labour Day is celebrated on a different date, often one with special significance for the labour movement in that country. Labour Day is a public holiday in many countries.

In Canada and the United States, the holiday is celebrated on the first Monday of September and considered the unofficial end of summer, with summer vacations ending and students returning to school around then.

For most countries, "Labour Day" is synonymous with, or linked with, International Workers' Day, which occurs on 1 May. Some countries vary the actual date of their celebrations so that the holiday occurs on a Monday close to 1 May.

Some countries have a holiday at or around this date, but it is not a 'Labour day' celebration.

Other dates

Australia

Labour Day in Australia is a public holiday on dates which vary between states and territories. It is the first Monday in October in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and South Australia. In Victoria and Tasmania, it is the second Monday in March (though the latter calls it Eight Hours Day). In Western Australia, Labour Day is the first Monday in March. In Queensland and the Northern Territory, Labour Day occurs on the first Monday in May (though the latter calls it May Day).[1] It is on the fourth Monday of March in the territory of Christmas Island.

The first march for an eight-hour day by the labour movement occurred in Melbourne on 21 April 1856.[2] On this day stonemasons and building workers on building sites around Melbourne stopped work and marched from the University of Melbourne to Parliament House to achieve an eight-hour day. Their direct action protest was a success, and they are noted as being among the first organised workers in the world to achieve an 8-hour day, with no loss of pay.[3]

Bangladesh

Bangladesh Garment Sramik Sanghati, an organization working for the welfare of garment workers, has requested that 24 April be declared Labour Safety Day in Bangladesh, in memory of the victims of the Rana Plaza building collapse.[4][5]

Bahamas

Labour Day is a national holiday in the Bahamas, celebrated on the first Friday in June in order to create a long weekend for workers.[6] The traditional date of Labour Day in the Bahamas, however, is 7 June, in commemoration of a significant workers' strike that began on that day in 1942. Labour Day is meant to honor and celebrate workers and the importance of their contributions to the nation and society. In the capital city, Nassau, thousands of people come to watch a parade through the streets, which begins at mid-morning. Bands in colorful uniforms, traditional African junkanoo performers, and members of various labour unions and political parties are all part of the procession, which ends up at the Southern Recreation Grounds, where government officials make speeches for the occasion. For many residents and visitors to the Bahamas, the afternoon of Labour Day is a time to relax at home or perhaps visit the beach.

Labour Day (French: Fête du Travail) has been celebrated in Canada on the first Monday in September since the 1880s. The origins of Labour Day in Canada can be traced back to December 1872 when a parade was staged in support of the Toronto Typographical Union's strike for a 58-hour work-week,[7] almost a full decade before a similar event in New York City by the American Knights of Labor, a late 19th-century U.S. labor federation, launched the movement towards the American Labor Day holiday.[8] The Toronto Trades Assembly (TTA) called its 27 unions to demonstrate in support of the Typographical Union who had been on strike since 25 March.[7] George Brown, Canadian politician and editor of the Toronto Globe hit back at his striking employees, pressing police to charge the Typographical Union with "conspiracy."[7] Although the laws criminalising union activity were outdated and had already been abolished in Great Britain, they were still on the books in Canada and police arrested 24 leaders of the Typographical Union. Labour leaders decided to call another similar demonstration on 3 September to protest the arrests. Seven unions marched in Ottawa, prompting a promise by Canadian Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald to repeal the "barbarous" anti-union laws.[7] Parliament passed the Trade Union Act on 14 June the following year, and soon all unions were seeking a 54-hour work-week.

The Toronto Trades and Labour Council (successor to the TTA) held similar celebrations every spring. American Peter J. McGuire, co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, was asked to speak at a labour festival in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on 22 July 1882. Returning to the United States, McGuire and the Knights of Labor organised a similar parade based on the Canadian event on 5 September 1882 in New York City, USA. On 23 July 1894, Canadian Prime Minister John Thompson and his government made Labour Day, to be held in September, an official holiday. In the United States, the New York parade became an annual event that year, and in 1894 was adopted by American president Grover Cleveland to compete with International Workers' Day (May Day).

While Labour Day parades and picnics are organised by unions, many Canadians regard Labour Day as the Monday of the last long weekend of summer. Non-union celebrations include picnics, fireworks displays, water activities, and public art events. Since the new school year generally starts right after Labour Day, families with school-age children take it as the last chance to travel before the end of summer.

An old fashioned tradition in Canada and the United States frowns upon the wearing of white after Labour Day. Explanations for this tradition vary; the most common is that white is a summer colour and Labour Day unofficially marks the end of summer. The rule may have been intended as a status symbol for new members of the upper and middle classes in the late 19th and early 20th century.[9]

A Labour Day tradition in Atlantic Canada is the Wharf Rat Rally in Digby, Nova Scotia, while the rest of Canada watches the Labour Day Classic, a Canadian Football League event where rivals like Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos, Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts (except in 2011 and 2013, due to scheduling conflicts), and Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers play on Labour Day weekend. Before the demise of the Ottawa Renegades after the 2005 season, that team played the nearby Montreal Alouettes on Labour Day weekend. Since the 2014 CFL season, when the Ottawa Redblacks began play, the Montreal–Ottawa Labour Day tradition has once again been observed. Likewise, Ontario University Athletics has a long-established tradition to play university football on Labour Day.

The Labour Day parade in Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland started in 1921 and still continues today, over 90 years later. The celebrations go on for three days with a parade on Labour Day Monday.

Jamaica

Before 1961, 24 May was celebrated in Jamaica as Empire Day in honour of the birthday of Queen Victoria and her emancipation of slaves in Jamaica.[10] As its name suggests, the day was used to celebrate the British Empire, complete with flag-raising ceremonies and the singing of patriotic songs. In 1961, Jamaican Chief Minister Norman Washington Manley proposed the replacement of Empire Day with Labour Day, a celebration in commemoration of 23 May 1938, when Alexander Bustamante led a labour rebellion leading to Jamaican independence.

In 1972, Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley promoted Labour Day as a showcase for the importance of labour to the development of Jamaica, and a day of voluntary community participation to beneficial projects.[10] Since then, Labour Day has been not only a public holiday but also a day of mass community involvement around the country.

Kazakhstan

Labor Day in Kazakhstan is celebrated on the last Sunday in September. The holiday was officially established in late 2013. In 1995, the government of Kazakhstan replaced International Workers' Day with Kazakhstan People's Unity Day. Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev also instituted a special medal that is awarded to veterans of labor on the occasion of the holiday. Labor Day it is widely celebrated across the country with official speeches, award ceremonies, cultural events, etc. It is a non-working holiday for most citizens of Kazakhstan because it always falls on a weekend.[11]

New Zealand

In New Zealand, Labour Day is a public holiday held on the fourth Monday in October. Its origins are traced back to the eight-hour working day movement that arose in the newly founded Wellington colony in 1840, primarily because of carpenter Samuel Parnell's refusal to work more than eight hours a day. He encouraged other tradesmen also to work for only eight hours a day and in October 1840, a workers' meeting passed a resolution supporting the idea. On 28 October 1890, the 50th anniversary of the eight-hour day was commemorated with a parade. The event was then celebrated annually in late October as either Labour Day or Eight-Hour Demonstration Day. In 1899 government legislated that the day be a public holiday from 1900. The day was celebrated on different days in different provinces. This led to ship owners complaining that seamen were taking excessive holidays by having one Labour Day in one port then another in their next port. In 1910 the government stipulated that the holiday would be observed on the same day throughout the nation.

Trinidad and Tobago

In Trinidad and Tobago, Labour Day is celebrated every 19 June. This holiday was proposed in 1973[12] to be commemorated on the anniversary of the 1937 Butler labour riots.

Ranveer Singh

Ranveer Singh

Ranveer Singh Bhavnani (born 6 July 1985) is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films. The recipient of several awards, including four Filmfare Awards, Singh is among the highest-paid actors in the country and has featured in Forbes India's Celebrity 100 list since 2012.

After completing a bachelor's degree from Indiana University Bloomington, Singh returned to India to pursue a career in film. He briefly worked in advertising and made his acting debut in 2010 with a leading role in Yash Raj Films' romantic comedy Band Baaja Baaraat. The film emerged as a critical and commercial success, earning him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. He gained praise for playing a melancholic thief in the drama Lootera (2013), and established himself with his collaborations with Sanjay Leela Bhansali, beginning with the romance Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela (2013).

Singh gained critical acclaim for portraying Bajirao I and Alauddin Khilji in Bhansali's period dramas Bajirao Mastani (2015) and Padmaavat (2018), respectively. He won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor for the former and the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor for the latter. These along with the action film Simmba (2018), in which he played the title character, rank among the highest-grossing Indian films. He won another Filmfare Award for Best Actor for playing an aspiring rapper in Zoya Akhtar's musical drama Gully Boy (2019). Singh is married to his frequent co-star Deepika Padukone.

Early life and education

Singh was born on 6 July 1985[1] into a Sindhi family in Bombay (now Mumbai), to Anju and Jagjit Singh Bhavnani.[2][3][4] His grandparents moved to Bombay from Karachi, Sindh, in present-day Pakistan, during the Partition of India.[5][6] He has an elder sister named Ritika Bhavnani.[1][7][8][9] Singh is the maternal third cousin of actress Sonam Kapoor daughter of actor Anil Kapoor and wife Sunita Kapoor (née Bhavnani).[10] Singh explains that he dropped his surname Bhavnani, since he felt that the name would have been "too long, too many syllables", thus downplaying his brand as a "saleable commodity".[11]

Singh always aspired to be an actor, participating in several school plays and debates.[12] Once when he had gone for a birthday party, his grandmother asked him to dance and entertain her.[13] Singh remembers that he suddenly jumped in the lawn and started dancing to the song "Chumma Chumma" from the 1991 action film, Hum.[12] He felt the thrill of performing and was interested in acting and dancing.[12] However, after he joined H.R. College of Commerce and Economics in Mumbai, Singh realised that getting a break in the film industry was not at all easy, as it was mostly people with a film background who got these opportunities. Feeling that the idea of acting was "too far-fetched", Singh focused on creative writing.[12] He went to the United States where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University.[8]

At the university, he decided to take acting classes and took up theatre as his minor.[12] After completing his studies and returning to Mumbai in 2007, Singh worked for a few years in advertising as a copywriter, with agencies like O&M and J. Walter Thompson.[8][13] He then worked as an assistant director, but left it to pursue acting. He then decided to send his portfolio to directors.[13] He would go for all kinds of auditions, but did not get any good opportunities, while only getting calls for minor roles: "Everything was so bleak. It was very frustrating. There were times I would think whether I was doing the right thing or not."[13]

Career

Film debut and breakthrough (2010–2014)

In January 2010, Singh was called for an audition by Shanoo Sharma, the head of the casting division for Yash Raj Films.[13] They informed him that it was for a lead role in their film titled Band Baaja Baaraat, a romantic comedy set in the world of wedding planning. Aditya Chopra, the vice president of the company, later saw the audition tapes on video and was impressed by Singh's acting, and decided that he fit the part of Bittoo Sharma, the hero of the film.[14] However, the director Maneesh Sharma needed some more convincing and he was called for a few more auditions over the next two weeks until they were completely convinced of his caliber.[8] After the two weeks of testing, Singh was confirmed for the role of Bittoo, with Anushka Sharma playing the female lead.[14]

Singh described the role of Bittoo Sharma as a typical Delhi boy.[8] To prepare for the role, he spent time with students at the Delhi University campus.[12] Prior to the release of the film, trade analysts were skeptical of the film's commercial potential, citing the middling response to Yash Raj Films' last few productions, the lack of a male star and the fact that the female lead, Anushka Sharma, was by then an "almost-forgotten" actress.[15] However, Band Baaja Baaraat went on to become a sleeper hit. Singh's portrayal of Bittoo was praised, with Anupama Chopra of NDTV writing that Singh was "pitch perfect in the role of the uncouth but good-hearted small town slacker who is a bit of a duffer when it comes to matters of the heart."[16] The film earned approximately ₹214 million (US$3.0 million) at the domestic box office.[17] At the 56th Filmfare Awards, Singh won the award for Best Male Debut.[18]

Following Band Baaja Baarat, Singh signed on for Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, a romantic comedy produced by Chopra and directed by Maneesh Sharma. He played a conman Ricky Bahl who cons girls for a living but finally meets his match. The film co-starred Anushka Sharma, Parineeti Chopra, Dipannita Sharma and Aditi Sharma.[19] According to Singh, the title character had various avatars in the film, including a chirpy, entertaining side and a sinister side.[7] Nikhat Kazmi of The Times of India wrote, "Ranveer is, well Ranveer: your average Joe kind of hero who looks convincing enough as Sunny, Deven, Iqbal, Ricky, his sundry avatars."[20] Commercially, Ladies vs Ricky Bahl earned ₹370 million (US$5.2 million) domestically.[21]

Singh's next release was Lootera (2013), a period romance, written and directed by Vikramaditya Motwane, and co-starring Sonakshi Sinha.[22] An adaptation of O. Henry's short story The Last Leaf, Lootera was critically acclaimed.[23][24] Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN wrote that Singh "brings a quiet sensitivity to Varun, and occasionally a smoldering intensity. Offering a finely internalized performance, he leaves a lasting impression."[25] However, Lootera performed poorly at the box office

Singh next starred opposite Deepika Padukone in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, entitled Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, in which he played Ram, a Gujarati boy based on the character of Romeo.[27] Bhansali was impressed by Singh's performance in Band Baaja Baaraat and decided to cast him for the film.[28] Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela generated positive reviews from critics, as did Singh's performance.[29] Writing for India Today, Rohit Khilnani commented that "Singh has everything going for him here. His Bollywood hero entry scene lying down on a bike in the song 'Tattad Tattad' is outstanding. He learnt a new language to better his performance for the character Ram and it paid off. In his fourth film he has the presence of a star."[30] The film emerged as Singh's biggest commercial success,[31][32] with worldwide revenues of ₹2.02 billion (US$28 million).[33][34] For his portrayal, he received several recognitions, including a Best Actor nomination at Filmfare.[35]

In 2014, Singh starred as a Bengali criminal in Ali Abbas Zafar's Gunday, alongside Arjun Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Irrfan Khan.[36][37] David Chute of Variety praised Singh's screen presence and wrote that he "tucks the movie's center of interest under his arm and takes it with him — even though he has the could-be-thankless "good brother" role".[38] Also, Singh's chemistry with Kapoor was considered by critic Rohit Khilnani to the prime asset of the film.[39] Gunday proved to be Singh's biggest box office opener,[40] and eventually emerged a box-office success with a revenue of ₹1 billion (US$14 million) worldwide.[41] After a cameo appearance in Finding Fanny, Singh starred as a gangster in Shaad Ali's unsuccessful crime drama Kill Dil opposite Parineeti Chopra and Ali Zafar and received negative reviews.[42][43]

Established actor (2015–present)

Clara Rockmore

Clara Rockmore

Clara Reisenberg Rockmore (9 March 1911 – 10 May 1998[2]) was a classical violin prodigy[3] and a virtuoso performer of the theremin, an electronic musical instrument.[4][5][6][7][8] She was the sister of pianist Nadia Reisenberg.

Clara Reisenberg was born in Vilnius, then in the Russian Empire, to a family of Lithuanian Jews.[9] She had two elder sisters, Anna and Nadia.[10] Early in her childhood she emerged as a violin prodigy. At the age of four, she became the youngest ever student at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, where she studied under the prominent violinist Leopold Auer.[3] After the October Revolution the family moved back to Vilnius, and then to Warsaw, before obtaining visas and leaving for the United States in 1921.[10]

In America, Rockmore enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music. As a teenager, tendinitis affected her bow arm, attributed to childhood malnutrition, and resulted in her giving up the violin. However, after meeting fellow immigrant Léon Theremin and being introduced to his electronic instrument, the theremin, she became its most prominent player. She performed widely and helped Theremin to refine his instrument.[11][12]

Career

Rockmore made orchestral appearances in New York and Philadelphia and went on coast-to-coast tours with Paul Robeson, but it was not until 1977 that she released a commercial recording called The Art of the Theremin. The album, which was produced by Bob Moog and Shirleigh Moog, featured Rockmore's theremin playing with piano accompaniment by her sister Nadia.[13] Rockmore’s approach to theremin playing emphasized physical and emotional control.[14]

As she described it herself in an interview: "You must not only hit a note, but you must hit the center of it. You cannot register any of your internal emotion at all. You cannot shake your head, for instance, or sway back and forth on your feet. That would change your tone."[14]

Personal life and death

Although Léon Theremin had proposed to her several times, she married attorney Robert Rockmore, and thereafter used his name professionally. They had no children.[13]

She died in New York City on May 10, 1998, aged 87. Although her health had been in rapid decline for almost a year, she declared her determination to live to see the birth of her great-grandniece, who was born just two days before her death.[13]

Contributions to the theremin

Rockmore's classical training gave her an advantage over the many other theremin performers of the time. The intonation control she acquired as a violinist and her innate absolute pitch were both helpful in playing the instrument.[13]

She had extremely precise, rapid control of her movements, important in playing an instrument that depends on the performer's motion and proximity rather than touch. She developed a unique technique for playing the instrument, including a fingering system that allowed her to perform accurately fast passages and large note leaps without the more familiar portamento, or glide, on theremin.[15]

She also discovered that she could achieve a steadier tone and control the vibrato by keeping the tips of her right-hand thumb and forefinger in contact.[14]

Developmental influence

Rockmore saw limitations of the original instrument and helped to develop the theremin to fulfill her needs. Working together with Léon Theremin her suggestions and changes included increasing the sensitivity of the theremin's volume control to facilitate rapid staccato, lowering the profile of the instrument so the performer is more visible, increasing the sensitivity of the pitch antenna, and increasing range from three octaves to five.[15]

Public influence

By the time Rockmore was playing large scale public concerts, such as New York City's Town Hall in 1938, she was becoming increasingly known for impressing critics with her artistry of the theremin during a time in which much of the general public had come to rather negative conclusions of what was possible on the instrument.[6]

These performances with world class orchestras were also critical in establishing “electronic and experimental music as a viable art form in the public imagination.” [16]

Clara owned an RCA theremin given to her and substantially modified by Theremin. Through his modifications, the instrument's normal 5 to 5.5 octave playable range was expanded by 1.5 octaves. Theremin made several other customizations including improvements to tonal quality and its responsiveness to hand movements. The tubes are also customized and labeled in Theremin's own writing.[citation needed]

This instrument was later restored by Robert Moog in October 1998; it can be viewed at the Clara Rockmore exhibit in the Artist's Gallery of the Musical Instruments Museum in Phoenix, Arizona and is on long-term loan to the museum by Peter Sherman of the Reisenberg family.[17][18]

Albums

The Art of the Theremin (1977)

Clara Rockmore's Lost Theremin Album (2006)

Film and video

Martin, Steven M. (Director) (1995). Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (Film and DVD). MGM. Retrieved 2017-12-20.

Moog, Robert (Producer) (1998). Clara Rockmore: The Greatest Theremin Virtuosa (Videotape (VHS)). Moog Music and Little Big Films. Archived from the original on 2008-12-22.

Moog, Robert (Producer) (2005). Two Theremin Classics (DVD). Moog Music and Little Big Films.

In popular culture

The Irish electropop band The Garland Cult included the song "Clara Rockmore" on their 2007 album Protect Yourself from Hollywood.

Sean Michaels' novel Us Conductors, the winner of the 2014 Scotiabank Giller Prize, is a fictionalized account of the relationship between Rockmore and Léon Theremin.

Rockmore was the subject of a Google Doodle on March 9, 2016, which would have been her 105th birthday