Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a prominent US Supreme Court Justice, is set to enter the universe of “The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part” – as a minifigure.
USA Today released a photo which shows the figurine of the 85-year-old Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court as part of the movie.
Director of the movie Mike Mitchell said the bizarreness of Ginsburg being part of the LEGO world was the very reason why they thought she should be included.
“These movies are so full of surprises. And we were thinking, ‘Who’s the last person you would think to see in a Lego film as a minifig?’ Ruth Bader Ginsburg!
“And we’re all huge fans. It made us laugh to think of having her enter this world,” Mitchell told the publication.
Ginsburg also gave her blessing to the move but she would apparently not voice star in the film.
The director said the team reached out to her office to ask permission to use her image.
“She said, ‘Of course, I’d love to be a Lego figure. That would be cool’,” Mitchell said.
“The LEGO Movie 2” has two siblings playing with their LEGO play sets, prompting a battle between Bricksburg and aliens from the Systar System, which is ruled by Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi (played by Tiffany Haddish).
Ginsburg’s figure is said to make an appearance within the little sister’s realm.
When Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) is abducted, Master Builder Emmett (Chris Pratt) and his brick buds set out on a mission to confront the enemies.
The film is slated to hit the screens February 8.
Ginsburg’s life and struggles at the Supreme Court were immortalised on celluloid through her biopic “On the Basis of Sex”, which released last year.
Felicity Jones played Ginsburg in the Mimi Leder-directed legal drama.
Alia Bhatt took to her Instagram page and shared a picture of Abhishek Varman and Aditya Roy Kapur following the wrap up of her period drama ‘Kalank’.
This is the second time that Alia Bhatt is teaming up with director Abhishek Varman after working with him in 2 States in 2014.
In the photo, Alia, Abhishek, and Aditya can be seen all smiles for the camera as they hug each other.
Taking to Instagram, a Bhatt captioned the photo, “KALANK has wrapped but the heart is still wide open!! For those who understand it and for those who don’t.. when you wrap a film it feels like a part of you just combusts.. especially when you’ve worked with your friends and family.. Crossing our fingers and toes for the journey ahead.. Cant wait for you guys to see the visuals.. ”
The ‘Brahmastra’ star had earlier taken to Instagram to post a heartfelt message for Varun following the wrap-up of ‘Kalank’ as well.
She wrote, “& it’s a film wrap for Varun on KALANK.. Our 4th film completed together and he still manages to surprise me with his hard work and crazy energy everyday.. Also manages to make me laugh like a crazy person by just being himself.. I can’t can’t can’t wait for you guys to see the stuff he’s done with his character in the film!!!!”
Apart from Alia and Aditya Roy Kapur, ‘Kalank’ also stars Varun Dhawan, Madhuri Dixit, Sanjay Dutt and Sonakshi Sinha and is slated for release on April 19, this year.
At a time when the older brigade of Bollywood superstars has failed to entertain the audience, Ajay Devgn believes come what may the star system will never fade away.
In the era of content driven cinema, Ajay says today audiences taste has evolved and they have become choosy about the kind of films they want to watch in a theatre.
“I don’t think the star system will fade away. The audience has become choosy and they will go for the product only if it is a good thing. And that keeps us on our toes.
“Earlier we used to do films left, right and centre, whatever we want to do we did that and they used to work also. But this is not (happening) in today’s time. In today’s time rest of the actors especially after our generation have to be more careful and they are careful. It is all about the product,” Ajay told an agency.
Ajay feels blessed to be in the industry for close to 28 years.
“I have been very lucky as I did not had to struggle much. But I have always worked hard. I feel hard work and struggle both are different things.”
Ajay is busy working on his next film “Tanaji: The Unsung Warrior”, in which he will be reuniting with wife Kajol after a gap of nine years.
Ajay thinks 90s stars including Kajol and his actor friend Tabu, with whom he has shared screen space in quite a few films, are relevant today as they are good performers.
“They are relevant because they are good performers. Good performers will work all their life. If you are there only because of your looks you will fade away. Performers never fade out, they rather grow,” he added.
The “Singham” star is tight-lipped about his most ambitious home production film at the moment and said, the team is concentrating on giving their best.
Speculation have been rife about Ajay’s daughter Nysa entering Bollywood and the 49-year-old superstar dismisses such rumours.
He said, “She is not in the country, she is studying right now. As of yet she has no intentions. But she can change her mind.
The government has sacked two executive directors of Nirav Modi scam-hit Punjab National Bank (PNB) for their alleged failure in exercising proper control over the functioning of the bank.
Their services were terminated from January 18, as per the Finance Ministry notification.
The central government has removed K V Brahmaji Rao and Sanjiv Sharan from the office of Executive Director (ED) of PNB with immediate effect, it said.
It is alleged that there were procedural lapses on part of both the EDs as they fail to take cognisance of the Reserve Bank of India advice of linking SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) with Core Banking Solution (CBS) system of the bank.
The circular was issued in 2016. Some banks implemented the directive, while some did not, including PNB.
Rao was to retire this month, while Sharan was to superannuate in May this year.
In August last year, the government dismissed Allahabad Bank’s Usha Ananathasubramanian in connection with country’s biggest bank fraud allegedly carried out by Nirav Modi and associates at PNB. She was MD and CEO of PNB before moving to Allahabad Bank.
Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi, in connivance with certain bank officials, allegedly cheated PNB of about Rs 14,000 crore through issuance of fraudulent letters of undertaking. A Mumbai branch of PNB had fraudulently issued LoUs for the group of companies belonging to Modi since March 2011.
The total number of LoUs issued to the companies of Nirav Modi, his relatives and the Nirav Modi Group are 1,213, and to Mehul Choksi, his relatives and the Gitanjali Group are 377.
The CBI has already filed chargesheet in this case. The chargesheet has mentioned names of many employees and top management, including former MD and EDs of the bank.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) has questioned the objectionable statements reportedly made by BJP MLA Sadhana Singh on BSP supremo Mayawati and said that it would formally issue a notice seeking an explanation from her.
According to media reports, Singh made objectionable remarks on Mayawati over an infamous episode when the BSP chief was reportedly assaulted by Samajwadi Party workers at a guest house in Lucknow in 1995 that triggered decades of animosity between the two parties.
Taking suo motu cognisance of the reports, an NCW official said that the Commission will send a notice on Monday to Singh regarding the statement and seek an explanation from her.
“Such derogatory statements are unbecoming of a leader and highly condemnable. NCW has taken suo motu cognisance and will be sending a notice to Sadhana Singh tomorrow,” NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma said.
Reports said that Singh had slammed Mayawati for forging an alliance with Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh, saying the BSP chief had “sold her dignity” for power and comfort and “is a blot on womankind”.
The measure for 10 per cent general category quota will boost the BJP-led NDA’s vote share by 10 per cent, paving the way for Narendra Modi’s re-election as Prime Minister, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Sunday, asserting that people will reject the opposition’s proposed grand alliance due to its inherent contradiction and instability.
The BJP ally and Lok Janshakti Party president said that the Modi government’s priority to long-term development policies over “populist” programmes may have caused at times some resentment in a section of society but people will vote for the prime minister’s “strong and stable” leadership in Lok Sabha elections.
He, however, hinted that the government will come out with a bevy of schemes in the run up to the election, saying that the ruling alliance has learnt its lessons from its loss in the recent state elections and that there are many arrows in the quiver of Prime Minister Modi.
The BJP lost power to Congress in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan in December.
“Some months are still left for the polls. The government will shoot one arrow after another. What will also weigh the most on people’s mind is who will be the opposition’s choice as prime minister. Whether the next government will be stable or temporary. People will prefer a strong, stable government to a weak, unstable government, leading to Modi’s victory,” he told agencies in an interview.
He also sounded upbeat about the political fallout of the constitutional amendment to give 10 per cent reservation in education and jobs for the general category poor.
“Let me tell you. This 10 per cent quota will lead to a rise of 10 per cent in our vote share,” the Dalit leader, who has long been a strong votary for quota for the general category poor, said.
In Bihar, parties like Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal will find it difficult to open their account after opposing the bill, he said, adding that the NDA will repeat its 2014 feat of winning more than 70 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.
In 2014, the NDA won 336 of the total 543 seats in Lok Sabha, with the BJP bagging a majority on its own by emerging victorious in 282 seats. Paswan’s party won six seats.
Asked about the likely voting trend among Dalits, who are a crucial vote bank in almost all states, as many Dalit groups have often attacked the Modi government over a host of issues, Paswan said the prime minister is seen by them as someone who has worked for them and that it will help the ruling alliance.
Paswan, however, lamented that had the NDA run a campaign among Dalits and tribals after the government passed a bill last year to nullify a Supreme Court order that had allegedly weakened a law on atrocities against these communities, then it would have drawn political mileage.
Statement by BJP leaders, including then Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, to placate caste groups protesting against the Union government’s decision meant that the Dalits backing it did not hit the road in the support of the exercise, he said.
“What is however clear is that Dalits now know that Modi is not anti-Dalit as used to be projected. He strengthened the law on atrocities against them and has done so much for highlighting the legacy of Bhim Rao Ambedkar. A majority of them will support him during the polls,” he said.
Besides taking measures for Dalits, the government also granted constitutional status to the Other Backward Classes commission and has now given 10 per cent quota to the general category poor, he said, adding that it has touched all sections of society in its term.
Taking potshots at the opposition, the Bihar leader said it is full of contradictions and many regional parties have not made their stand clear on the prime ministerial candidate from the Congress which, he noted, is the only real national party in the anti-BJP camp.
The RJD is with the Congress is Bihar and is backing in UP the Samajwadi Party-BSP alliance, which has kept the Congress out, he said, highlighting the “conflict and contradiction” among these parties.
With several opposition leaders like BSP’s Mayawati and Trinamool Congress’ Mamata Banerjee, seen to be nursing prime ministerial ambitions, Paswan said the Congress has a history of “destabilising” governments run by other parties as he referred to short tenures of former prime ministers H D Devegowda, I K Gujral, Chandra Shekhar and V P Singh among others.
“Any government of opposition parties will be weak and temporary,” he said.
Paswan was an ally of the Congress before he joined hands with the BJP in 2014 and has served in a number of governments headed by the Janata Dal, Congress and the BJP since 1989.
The Modi government, he said, has stressed on the long-term development measures by focusing on providing housing, toilet, electricity, bank account and loan facilities to the poor.
The country’s prestige abroad has also gone up by many notches due to the prime minister’s focus on international relations, he said. “This was not the case even during the rule of Nehru (India’s first PM),” he claimed.
Asked about the perception of the government among minorities, especially Muslims, he said stray comments by some BJP leaders at times send “negative message” but added that there should be no doubt that the Modi government has worked for all sections of society.
Paswan also reiterated his stand on the Ram temple issue that the matter should be solved either through a judicial order or agreement among different parties in the dispute.
The LJP president has announced that he will not fight the upcoming Lok Sabha poll, expected to be held in April-May, and is set to be sent to Rajya Sabha by the ruling alliance. His party will contest six of the 40 seats in Bihar.
Speaking on the sidelines of a seminar on investment opportunities organised by the Haryana government as part of the 9th edition of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit on Sunday, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that the opposition parties have united out of “fear” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity and their togetherness is not going to last.
This (opposition) unity is not going to last. They have united out of fear of Narendra Modi’s popularity and the country’s growing position in the world. The opposition unity is going to make no difference to the people. They (opposition parties) had looted the country for several years. They have united as they are not getting the opportunity to loot the country, Khattar said.
While responding to a query on the Trinamool Congress-led mega opposition rally, titled ‘United India Rally’, held in the Brigade Grounds in Kolkata on Saturday, he mocked the opposition parties’ lack of a leader acceptable to all constituents and claimed that it was a “baraat’ (marriage procession) without a groom. And then speaking on economic issues, Khattar said that his state was looking at investments and it had climbed up the ladder as far as ease of doing business rankings was concerned.
He further added that Haryana was now third on the ease of business ranking. We want to make use of Haryana’s locational advantage to bring in investments. We took steps to make clearances and licences simple from which people have benefited.
Sukalo spent 45 days in jail sleeping on the bathroom floor but, she says, that was not the worst pain she endured in prison. A member of the Gond tribe which is largely found in central India, she had to eat food infested with insects, drink contaminated water and share space with other women she did not know. Sukalo had to suffer the trauma daily for one and a half months because she was against an irrigation project in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh.
On Friday, Sukalo who is 51 now was among several women who gathered in the national capital to demand better living condition in prisons for women said that, we were targeted because we spoke against powerful people. I knew that I was in jail because of this movement (against the project). Recalling her days in prison, she further added that the food was infested with insects. Our drinking water was dirty; I survived by eating an apple every day. She also said that the inhuman treatment meted out to her in Mirzapur jail changed her as a person.
Soni Sori, a teacher, who became the symbol of resistance against brutal custodial torture, also attended the gathering in Delhi. Sori, who was arrested in 2011 charged with acting as a Maoist conduit, accused police of often subjecting her to electric shocks to extract a confession. I wonder what gave me the endurance to bear it all. Most inmates were ill and received little medical care. The food in the jail was infested with worms and insects. We resolved to go on hunger strike and threatened to produce the food in court. Only then were many of us made to oversee the kitchen. The situation in women prison was worse. We were made to clean the common toilets daily. Under-trials going through such things in jail are illegal. Adivasi prisoners are almost always the most vulnerable.
Anjum Zamarud Habib, an activist from Kashmir, was jailed and booked under POTA in 2003. Habib said that she was verbally stripped by police and had to face very hostile attitude. Getting a paper and pen was a struggle. Jail culture has rules and regulations of its own. There are customs one needs to follow and if you resist you are brutally abused.
Another issue flagged by these women was over-crowding. Sori said that over 600 women reside in a prison with a capacity for 250. Due to a lack of space, many of us would just have space to sit and not even to lie down.
Roma Malik, an activist fighting for the rights of women living in prisons, said that there is a kind of hierarchy one has to follow in jail. These women are fighting on many fronts. The irony is: they are invisible to most people and that is why not enough attention is paid to their suffering. Over-crowding is another very big issue. It can lead to rioting and fights among prisoners. And that is what commonly seen too.
Prominent lawyer Vrinda Grover said that there is a need for a movement to improve jail conditions and focus should be given to political prisoners. Special attention needs to be given to those women who are targeted because of their human rights activism. However, Human rights activist Uma Chakravorty echoed Grover, saying that the movement would need participation from all sectors and not just the civil society.
Human rights organisation Amnesty International has expressed concern on the condition of political prisoners in the country. Its report showed that India has the maximum acceptance of torture as a means of interrogation. About 74 per cent respondents in India feel that the torture can sometimes be justified to gain information that may protect the public.
Despite being a signatory to the United Nations’ Convention Against Torture, 1997, India has not ratified the convention so far, since ratification required an enabling legislation to reflect the definition and punishment for ‘torture’.
The Kanhar irrigation project was conceived more than 30 years ago, and was taken up in 2014. It, however, soon landed in trouble. In April 2015, there were violent protests by villagers who feared displacement and contamination of their source of water.
Actor Aamir Khan on Saturday was speaking on the sidelines of the inauguration of the National Museum of Indian Cinema (NMIC) by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His films may be one of the most money minting releases, but when it comes to choosing a story Aamir Khan follows his heart and the business aspect does not come into consideration.
The 53-year-old superstar, who made some unusual choices in his close to three-decade-long career, made experimental cinema mainstream by giving hits like “Sarfarosh”, “Lagaan”, “Dil Chahta Hai”, “Rang De Basanti”, “Taare Zameen Par”, “3 Idiots”, “Dangal” and “Secret Superstar”.
“As a creative person, I have always followed my heart and worked on films that have touched and moved me. And these are often films that are considered risky by the market and when these films get accepted by people it gives me lot of strength and confidence. Also, it reinforces the belief I have in storytelling and creativity,” Aamir told agencies.
Aamir praised the initiative by the government.
“I am a student of cinema and a lover of history. I am glad this museum has started. I am keen to look at it all through. I have a fascination for creative people, like who started the film industry and who made all these silent films, talkies, black and white and colour films. Whenever there is a book on any film personality I always buy, I like to read about that time.”
On the work front, there have been reports that Aamir will be part of an Osho biopic, based on spiritual guru Rajneesh but there is no official announcement from the actor on his upcoming films.
Former Karnataka deputy chief minister and BJP leader KS Eshwarappa has said that the Congress-JD(S) coalition government in the state would fall due to internal bickering and his party would form the government eventually. The present political turbulence is because of the internal bickering in the Congress and their leaders have been needlessly levelling allegations against the BJP.
There is no need for the BJP to indulge in Operation Kamala to topple the Congress-JD(S) coalition government. All our 104 MLAs are together, unlike the Congress where four to five of their MLAs are going to desert which could further precipitate confusion and culminate in the fall of the government and the BJP will form the government, Eshwarappa told reporters after arriving at the Bengaluru airport late Saturday night.
Former deputy chief minister R Ashoka, who also arrived along with Eshwarappa from Gurgaon, said that the present coalition government does not deserve to rule the state as it has failed to govern properly for the past seven months. However, another BJP MLA Kumar Bangarappa said that the Congress-JD(S) government is certain to fall because the Congress has no faith in its MLAs remaining with it and hence they have been whisked away to a resort on the city outskirts. Hundred per cent this government will fall. There is no doubt about it, because what is the necessity for the Congress to whisk its MLAs away to a resort. They can well be left free as we are being left free by our leadership. The Congress is afraid of losing its MLAs.
Another BJP MLA Raju Gowda said that some of the MLAs, including himself, had learnt the art of playing resort politics from Chief Minister and JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy. However, the Congress on Friday had swiftly moved all its MLAs to the resort on the city outskirts keeping them on leash to escape the BJP’s alleged onslaught to woo its MLAs with money and other allurements.
The government has sacked two executive directors of Nirav Modi scam-hit Punjab National Bank (PNB) for their alleged failure in exercising proper control over the functioning of the bank.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) has questioned the objectionable statements reportedly made by BJP MLA Sadhana Singh on BSP supremo Mayawati and said that it would formally issue a notice seeking an explanation from her.
The measure for 10 per cent general category quota will boost the BJP-led NDA’s vote share by 10 per cent, paving the way for Narendra Modi’s re-election as Prime Minister, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Sunday, asserting that people will reject the opposition’s proposed grand alliance due to its inherent contradiction and instability.
