London-based Laureti Automotive Corporation has evinced interest to set up its unit here to make electric SUV vehicles.
Puducherry Industries and Transport Minister M O H F Shah Jahan announced this on February 8 while inaugurating a one-day workshop on ‘Smart Mobility: Puducherry Forward’ organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
The London company would have an initial capacity to manufacture 10,000 electric SUV vehicles per annum with an investment of around Rs 2,800 crore, he said.
Laureti would expand production in the next stages, he said. Puducherry government has at its disposal around the 350-acre site in Karaikal region, which could be made available to the company, the Minister said.
The initiative of Laureti would be of help for Puducherry to meet the current challenges in the traffic and mobility sector, he said. Soon, a delegation of the UK company would hold talks with the territorial administration, the Minister said.
Traffic management was a big challenge for the government, as there were around nine lakh vehicles on road in the Union Territory, he said.
All strategies drawn up to manage the traffic were not cutting ice, and even the proposal to make helmet-wearing compulsory was meeting with resistance, he said. “We should go in for an effective masterplan to manage the traffic,” he said.
Honouring late A P J Abdul Kalam, the Tamil Nadu government on Friday announced that it would set up a new arts and science college named after the former President in his native town of Rameswaram. The college will be established next year, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam announced in the state budget for 2019-20 presented in the assembly.
“I am glad to announce that this government will establish a new arts and science college at Rameswaram during 2019-20, which will be named after Dr APJ Abdul Kalam,” he said.
Kalam, who was the President from 2002 to 2007, used to love interacting with student community and had collapsed and died while delivering a lecture at the IIM-Shillong on July 27, 2015. His body has been buried in Rameswaram, where he did his primary schooling.
After the death of the Missile Man in 2015, the then chief minister J Jayalalithaa had announced constituting an award named after Kalam to be given away to an individual in recognition of his or her contribution in scientific development, humanities and students’ welfare.
The Kalam Award carries a gold medal and a cash prize of Rs five lakh besides a certificate. She had also announced the government would celebrate Kalam’s birth anniversary — October 15 — every year as Youth Awakening Day.
“Captain Marvel” co-director Anna Boden believes that the much-awaited Marvel superhero film has more to it than just being a “feminist” movie. Boden has co-directed the Brie Larson-fronted movie with Ryan Fleck. The filmmaker said working with Larson was a pleasure as she brought uniqueness and a personal touch to the character of Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel.
“It’s not just a feminist movie. It’s also a humanist movie. As I have said before, Brie Larson in this role is so important because she is such a strong, such a dynamic and complex person and woman. She brings so much to the role. It was great to go on that journey with her and create Captain Marvel and just think about her as somebody who’s very specific and very unique. She doesn’t have to be every woman, but she does capture something about what it means to be a woman and what it means to be a powerful woman and ultimately what it means to be human,” Boden said in a statement.
As per the comics, Danvers is a US Air Force pilot whose DNA is fused with that of an alien during an accident, which imbues her with the powers of superhuman strength, energy projection, and flight. The director said that the film is about a woman who learns to embrace herself and her own independence.
“That’s about separating from the ideas of what she should be that have come before, either in her past as a human in the Air Force or as a Kree soldier. She really learns to find her true power when she accepts and embraces all the parts of her true self,” she added.
Boden said that she was drawn to the story as it was about an independent female character. One of the things that drew us to the character for sure was the fact that she was a really powerful, really interesting, really unique and independent female character.
“We are so excited to be telling this story about somebody who’s not just powerful but also really complicated and really interesting and really human,” she said.
The film will also feature Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury without his iconic eye-patch, Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn, Clark Gregg, Djimon Hounsou and Lee Pace. It will release on March 8 in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
Olympic and World Championship silver medallist P V Sindhu has signed a whopping four-year sports sponsorship deal in the tune of Rs 50 crore with Chinese sports brand Li Ning. The record deal comes after compatriot Kidambi Srikanth was offered a cool Rs 35 crore over a period of four years by the Chinese company last month.
“Sindhu’s deal is one of the biggest in world badminton. It is close to Rs 50 crore for sponsorship and equipment,” Mahender Kapoor, director, Sunlight Sports Pvt Ltd, the multi-national exclusive partner of Li-Ning in India, told media.
“It will be a deal which is very close to Puma’s deal with Indian cricketer Virat Kohli in terms of yearly sponsorship. Sindhu will get Rs 40 crore as sponsorship while the rest will be for equipment, so it is close to Rs 50 crore,” Kapoor claimed.
In 2017, Puma had signed Kohli for reported deal of Rs 100 crore endorsement deal for a period of eight years, which came down to 12.5 crore per year. Sindhu, who rose to stardom after becoming the first Indian woman to win a silver medal at the Rio Olympics, was listed as the world’s seventh-highest paid sportswoman on the Forbes list last year.
This is Li-Ning’s second stint with Sindhu, who was with them for two years in 2014-2015 for a sum of Rs.1.25 crore a year. In 2016, Sindhu was back with Yonex for a Rs 3.5 crore per year contract for a period of three years. Li-Ning also roped in men’s doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy for a deal of Rs 4 crore each for two years, while former Commonwealth Games champion Parupalli Kashyap has been offered a Rs 8 crore deal for two years.
The Chinese sports brand had also signed a two-year deal with Indian Olympic Association last year. As part of the deal, it will provide Indian athletes and officials with competition and training apparel, leisure-wear and footwear for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) on Friday launched a middle-weight category bike CB300R priced at Rs 2.41 lakh (ex-showroom).
The 286-cc bike is the company’s second Neo Sports Cafe offering in India, which already sells CB1000R in the country.
“With a legacy spanning four continents, CB300R is a great introduction for new riders to brand Honda’s engineering prowess, design philosophy and build quality,” HMSI President and CEO Minoru Kato told reporters.
The deliveries of CB300R will begin from third week of March.
Ajay Devgn, who toplines “Golmaal” franchise and will next be seen in “Total Dhamaal”, fails to understand why comedy films are labelled “brainless” as he believes that it requires intellect to create funny content.
The 49-year-old actor said comedians rule the entertainment business across the globe.
“I don’t know why they say it is brainless. It is not easy to make people laugh. Today in our country or all over the world, comedians are the biggest stars. Like here in India, we have Kapil Sharma. It needs intelligence to make people laugh, you just can’t make faces and make people laugh,” Ajay told agencies.
“Who doesn’t want to laugh? Also, comedy films you can watch again and again. I don’t mean that other (kind) of cinema is not great but this is also good,” he added
Ajay is the new addition to Indra Kumar’s “Dhamaal” franchise, which was earlier headlined by Sanjay Dutt.
The actor said that he decided to come on board as he found the script “hilarious”.
“When I heard the script it was very funny. Every scene is a laugh riot. Such films do not have depth of story but you are meant to have fun. And it is funny.”
He said his approach towards every film is same — be it a commercial entertainer or a content driven story.
“With every film, including this one, I just follow the character. There is no technique. These things are done by heart, you have to feel and do it otherwise performances do not touch you.
“I do scenes as per the demand of the story. It is not easy doing over the top comedy. You have to find the right balance. Over the top doesn’t mean you do anything otherwise it will be irritating to watch,” he said.
Actors Anil Kapoor and Madhuri Dixit Nene too have been roped in for the first time while Riteish Deshmukh, Javed Jaffery and Arshad Warsi are reprising their roles.The film also features Sanjay Mishra.
“Total Dhamaal”, produced by Fox Star Studios, Ajay Devgn Films, Ashok Thakeria, Kumar, Sri Adhikari Brothers, Anand Pandit and co-produced by Sangeeta Ahir and Kumar Mangat Pathak, releases on February, 22.
Faulty provisions under present poll-laws and Income Tax Act are responsible ever-increasing non-serious registered mushrooming political parties now exceeding 2,000 out of which there are only very few political parties having seriously contested elections any time. It is ridiculous that the Election Commission has the power to register political party but without any provision to de-register any political party. Such non-serious political parties are mainly registered for whitening black money through the misused provision of tax-exemption on contributions made to and received by registered political parties.
The best and the only way to the nuisance of political parties involved in dirty affairs of unaccounted money is to abolish sections 13A, 80GGB and 80 GGC of Income Tax Act regarding exemptions available for contributions made-to and received-by political parties. Huge revenue so earned will be available for public welfare and national development. Otherwise, also Indian political parties seriously contesting elections are rich enough to do away with such undesired tax-exemption which is grossly misused also.
Moreover,, the Election Commission should have the power to de-register any political party having not contested for some minimum number of seats in last say three years.
Funding to the political parties should be made transparent by making it compulsory for every political party for regularly updating data on website including the name of contributors about funding received including through electoral bonds where presently names of those making contributions through electoral bonds are not disclosable.
Madhu Agrawal
STOP PRESS!
The stock price of DHFL crumbled like cookies after Cobrapost revealed that the promoters of the company had siphoned off Rs 31,000 crores from the company. Such revelations without substantial proof are detrimental for all those who invest in the stock markets as the market capitalisation of companies listed on the stock exchanges gets eroded overnight. If the revelations are indeed true then why are not the culprits arrested and put behind the bars?
The press should play a matured role and not just create sensationalism for publicity and TRP’s. Thousands of crores of public money is involved and sometimes the intentions too of some people are dubious as they want to play and make money on the stock exchanges on account of volatility which such revelations create.
The govt, stock exchanges, and the regulator should not allow people to make such revelations through press conferences if the claims made are not backed by valid documentation. Media is the watchdog of society but should behave in a matured manner safeguarding the interest of all!
S.N.Kabra
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
There are some dancers who are in the news all the time. Something for what they themselves do and sometimes what people do for them. Today, I am talking about one such legendary dancer the Kathak maestro Padma Vibhushan Pandit Birju Maharaj.
Recently Maharaj Ji organised the countries first Kathak Competition titled ‘Kalashram Kathak Competition’. Kathak professionals from all over the nation had applied for this prestigious championship and finally, 16 contestants were brought together from all over India to showcase their skills at NCPA Mumbai and were judged by the best of the best from the art world. Kumudini Lakhia, Pt. Rajan Mishra, Pt. Sajan Mishra, Shekhar Sen, Padma Sharma, Maharaj himself and yours truly were the judges for the evening.
The super talented foremost disciple of Maharaj, Saswati Sen along with her able team of Renu Sharma, Vijayshree Choudhary, and many more tirelessly managed regional and the national event of his competition which saw Elisha Deep Garg from New Delhi win the Pt Birju Maharaj crown followed by Isha Phadke from Pune as the runners up. In the budding star category, the Tiara went was shining on the head of Siza Roy from Lucknow and Runners Up was bagged by Harendra Bhushan from New Delhi.
I asked Maharaj, as to how he felt organising a Kathak competition for the very first time, he said, “I feel humbled with the response we have received for KKC it was an idea that I conceived and Saswati Sen executed it to perfection and my colleagues from the art world and dance lovers like you gave furthermore support and made KKC and event to remember. This was the first step, but I promise you, each year we will make it better and bigger.’
On one hand, if KKC was an event organised by Maharaj, then ‘Vanaotsava’ is surely an event organised by all his admirers and fans. Maharaj Ji is one lucky man I must say. The legendary Kathak maestro turned 80 this year and like always, the dance enthusiasts from all over the world, came together to celebrate their favourite dance guru’s birthday with aplomb. If you think there was a cake cutting and a dance party, then you are totally mistaken. It was not any small time celebrations, rather it was done through a dance and music festival ‘Vanaotsava’, Curated by Kalashram.
Vanaotsava was held in the capital at the prestigious Kamani auditorium, this one of its kind festivals is a dance and music festival in its 20th year which celebrates the birthday of Kathak maestro Padma Vibhushan Pandit Birju Maharaj. This festival is especially celebrated in the month of February and to commemorate the achievement and the legacy of Birju Maharaj and this year the festival took a step further and honoured the world-renowned Embodiment of Dance itself Padma Vibhushan Dr. Sonal Mansingh.
After receiving the honour, Sonal Maa said, “Birju Maharaj and I go a long way; he is a wonderful artist, I wish him all the best on his birthday and would like to also thank him and Kalasharm for honouring me for my work. Best wishes to all.”
Vanaotsava, a three days celebration of dance and music, was well attended by who is who from the world of art. Day one of the festival comprised of arresting performances by different artists creating a whole mélange of stunning presentations. The first step of the evening comprised of a felicitation honouring Dr. Sonal Mansingh followed by winner of KKC Elisha and Siza doing solos, Maitreyee Pahari – a group dance, Vanashree Rao — Group dance, Ranchi Saini and Jyotsna Shula — Duet, Setika Singh and Surabhi Capoor — Geetopadesh, Krishna Mohan Misra — Group dance, Kavita Thakur and Barun Banerjee Duet, Sandeep Mahavir Kathak — group dance, Jai Kishan Maharaj — Group dance. Each performance that took place at this festival was simply perfect. All the dance lovers finally came together to wish their beloved Guru a year filled with happiness.
There is something new always happening in the high profile life of Pandit Ji either in the form of KKC, Vanaotsava, being invited as Chief guest, receiving awards and honours or simply taking workshops all over the world. Doing all of this at the age of 80 is remarkable; all I can say is Maharaj Ji is that you indeed have the blessings of Lord Natraj and prayers of all your admirers. You are one lucky man for sure, God bless you always may you have a life filled with good health and loads of nonstop Dancing.
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.)
Vaani Kapoor will soon begin her extensive shoot with Ranbir Kapoor for “Shamshera” and says that she finds the actor extremely cooperative and humble.
Vaani, who was last seen in “Befikre”, will feature in the Karan Malhotra-project, which is set in the 1800s and chronicles the story of a dacoit tribe fighting for their right and independence from the British.
“I’ve barely shot for the film, as of now but Ranbir is very cooperative, sweet, humble and so normal! That sense of normalcy is very hard to find,” Vaani told media.
“I come from a non-film background, so in your head also you build apprehensions about people you’ve heard of. This ice, that one needs to break, I’m very bad at it. But Ranbir has been so kind and welcoming to me,” she added.
“Shamshera” features Sanjay Dutt as the antagonist. When asked if she will be seen doing action sequences in the film, Vaani said it is a “possibility”.
“There is a very different, cool, quirky sense of this character that, of course, I’ve never played before, but also you don’t get to see too often. There could be a possibility of you seeing me do action but I believe that there’s a lot more to the character that you’ll be seeing,” she said.
Vaani was speaking at the launch of Marks & Spencer’s new spring summer collection on Thursday. The actor walked the ramp for the brand, which has come out with a “Rethink” philosophy for style.
When asked if she’s had to rethink the kind of films she would want to feature in, Vaani said “enough thought” has already gone into what she wants to do and feels glad of her lineup of films.
Apart from “Shamshera”, the actor also has Siddharth Anand’s untitled action-thriller featuring Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff.
“I feel I’m blessed. I’m grateful to the directors who have cast me in big films like these, the magnum opus that they are being called. I’m so fortunate to work with such talented co-actors at such an early stage of my career. I’m yet to shoot a lot with Ranbir but I’ve shot extensively with Hrithik and he’s extremely kind, nice and too wonderful.
Actor Juliette Binoche has defended embattled Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, saying that the courts should decided whether he is guilty of the allegations against him.
It was the allegations against the media mogul, first reported by the New York Times and New Yorker, that gave birth to worldwide movement of #MeToo against the workplace sexual harassment and misbehaviour.
Weinstein, the then chief of powerful production banner, The Weinstein Company, has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by more than 70 women. He has denied all the allegations.
According to Variety, Binoche, who is currently serving as the jury head of Berlin Film Festival, said at a press conference in the German capital that Weinstein always behaved professionally with her.
“I never had problems with him, but I could see that he had problems. As a producer, he was wonderful, most of the time. I think he was a great producer. We shouldn’t forget (that), even though it has been difficult for some directors and actors, and especially actresses,” she said.
She said that Weinstein has experienced enough trial by people and added that it is time to let “justice” prevail.
“I almost want to say peace to his mind and heart, that’s all. I’m trying to put my feet in his shoes. He’s had enough, I think. A lot of people have expressed themselves. Now justice has to do its work,” Binoche said.
The French star has worked with Weinstein on two films — “Chocolat” (2000) and “The English Patient” (1996).
London-based Laureti Automotive Corporation has evinced interest to set up its unit here to make electric SUV vehicles.
Ajay Devgn, who toplines “Golmaal” franchise and will next be seen in “Total Dhamaal”, fails to understand why comedy films are labelled “brainless” as he believes that it requires intellect to create funny content.
Dirty affairs of unaccounted money 
There are some dancers who are in the news all the time. Something for what they themselves do and sometimes what people do for them. Today, I am talking about one such legendary dancer the Kathak maestro Padma Vibhushan Pandit Birju Maharaj.
