Sienna Miller denies flirting with Brad Pitt

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October 20, 2015

Sienna Miller has finally broken her silence on rumours saying that she’s getting flirtatious with Brad Pitt.

The 33-year-old British beauty, who is working on Pitt produced “The Lost City of Z”, set the record straight on the swirling rumours and said they hardly used to meet furing the shooting, reported Ace Showbiz.

“The brilliant thing about that rumour is that yeah I haven’t really read too much about it. So this is the truth about that, Brad Pitt is producing the movie that I just wrapped but I didn’t see him, he’s not been to the set,” she said.

Miller then claimed the idea that she’s dating her film’s producer whom she met only twice was crazy. “You know he’s the producer of the film and I’ve met him twice – it’s insane,” she said.

My daughter is critical about my work: Ajay Devgn

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Afternoon Voice

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October 20, 2015

Actor Ajay Devgn’s 12-year-old daughter Nysa is critical about her father’s films.

“We don’t discuss work at home. It’s very rare that we have discussed anything work related. Kajol doesn’t say anything about my work but my daughter does. She’s very critical of my work,” he said at an event.

The 46-year-old “Singham” star, who is married to Kajol and raises Nysa and Yug, said he has cut down on his work to spend time with his children.

“I do only one film in a year. I don’t work on Sundays and don’t shoot for more than eight hours a day. For me and Kajol, our children are our utmost priorities. They are our weakness too.”

Ajay is currently prepping for his directorial venture “Shivaay”. The film marks the debut of grand niece of Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu, Sayesha Saigal. Post “Shivaay”, the actor will start shooting for “Baadshaho” from next year.

Aishwarya starts shooting for ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’

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Afternoon Voice

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October 20, 2015

Bollywood stunner Aishwarya Rai Bachchan made a thundering comeback with Sabjay Gupta’s ‘Jazbaa’ this year. The film which released on October 9, 2015 might have got mixed reviews from the critics but Ash fans loved her tough avatar of a lawyer.

The gorgeous actress is back to work big time. Ash has started shooting for Karan Johar’s ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ with Ranbir Kapoor at Vienna. Several pictures of Ash and Ranbir while shooting their scene has been doing the rounds on the internet.

The film also stars Anushka Sharma as one of the leads besides Pakistan hottie Fawad Khan in a pivotal role.

Shiv Sena’s politics banging on Pakistan

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Afternoon Voice

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October 19, 2015

After protesting against Ghulam Ali’s concert and Kasuri’s book launch event Sena now opposes resumption of Indo-Pak bilateral cricketing ties.

Shiv Sena has always opposed the resumption of cricketing ties between India and Pakistan. Forty to 50 members of Sena stormed the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai and shouted slogans prior to Pakistan Cricket Board chief Shahryar Khan’s scheduled meeting with BCCI president Shashank Manohar for discussing the revival of cricket ties between both the nations. Sena had earlier protested against Pakistani artist Ghulam Ali concert forcing the organisers to cancel the event. Party activists went a step ahead by throwing ink on Sudheendra Kulkarni the organiser of former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri’s book launch in Mumbai. Sena is a junior coalition partner of Maharashtra state government and opposes any Indian engagement with Pakistan due to its role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. The party is flexing its political muscles as it doesn’t want to play second fiddle to BJP.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) demanded that the Shiv Sena be derecognised in the backdrop of the latter’s recent activities, including protests at BCCI office saying in its nearly 50 years of existence the regional party has only contributed to “politics of hate and goondaism”.

“It’s been nearly 50 years of Shiv Sena’s existence and other than politics of hate and goondaism it has not made one credible contribution to the nation,” AAP spokesperson Preeti Sharma Menon said.

Slamming the Sena, Menon said though the party has not ruled the state on its own even once, it claimed to be the voice of Maharashtra.

“So what exactly is the Shiv Sena? It is just a front for goondas who earn their living by threatening harmless people like singers, writers and holding the financial capital to ransom with its threats of bandhs and riots,” she said in a statement.

“This is completely unacceptable. Civil society must come together and demand a ban on Shiv Sena, as they neither understand, nor participate in upholding our Constitution or our democracy. Instead they are always ready to precipitate tensions with neighbouring countries,” she said.

“We are a democratic nation and every one has the right to protest on any issue in a democratic manner. But there is a difference between a democratic way and hoologanism. No one accepts such a kind of protest,” Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.

NCP leader Rahul Narvekar said Sena has been involved in such activities since very long.

“This is not how you express your resentment to a particular thought. You adopt constitutional measures which are available with you,” he said.

On the other hand, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut defended the protest organised by party workers and said, “We have not committed any crime by protesting. We are opposing Pakistan and our stand against them is nothing new. This is not a political protest. We are only doing what is the feeling of the people of this country, because feelings of people are important to us…..The people of the nation do not want any relations with Pakistan till they stop terrorist activities and hatching conspiracies against India. There will be no cricket, cultural and political relations with them until they stop doing it.”

“If anyone tries to build relations with Pakistan through the medium of cricket, we will not let that happen and will not compromise on our stand. The BJP now needs to come forward and support us on this issue,” Raut said.

Mumbai police have detained around 20 Shiv Sena activists. Police said they have brought the situation under control and beefed up security to ensure the protest does not recur.

Writers should be the voice of voiceless

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Vaidehi Taman

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October 19, 2015

More than 40 writers and artists have returned top national awards in a protest against what they call a “climate of intolerance” in India over the past few weeks. Joining the army of protestors, one more renowned Urdu poet Munawwar Rana hit the headlines by justifying his decision to return Sahitya Akademi Award. I seriously feel this is the only option that the writers are left with? I am not doubting or questioning their integrity but curious to know why they all instead of lifting pen in protest and attacking politicians chose to surrender their awards? Writers in this country have not been left with any other strong methods to lodge their protest? These writers, those that have submitted their rewards back in no way indicate the sentiments of the nation. Let’s check the past, during which regime they were awarded and when nation saw these types of events like emergency, Sikh riots etc. Why these writers were not active at that time, why selective protest? What is actually bothering them?

In our country, anger politics has always played wonders. If we look at the success of Narendra Modi and BJP to power then the entire credit goes to Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare those who succeeded in creating anger in people against Congress government which has hugely benefited Modi in 2014 elections. In the same way, now these intellectual protestors are helping Congress for its comeback by creating anger against BJP-RSS. This anger politics and protest is not only dangerous but also lead the country to instability.

Writers, poets, saints, social workers and revolutionaries should keep themselves away from politics. They should not use it for securing political mileage under influence and pressure from politicians. However, irony is that they all have their personal political linkages, the current partisan and motivated action of few of these writers brought immense irreparable loss to entire literature community. If they want to do politics, they are free to do so, but they should be open to actions and reactions.

After the murder of rationalist MM Kalburgi and Narender Dabholkar many writers including Nayantara Sehgal, Ashok Vajpeyi announced that they will return their Sahitya Akademi awards. In the same row prominent Punjabi writers including Surjit Patar, Ajmer Aulakh, Atamjit, Gurbachan Bhullar, Waryam Sandhu, Jaswinder Singh, Baldev Singh Sadaknama and Darshan Bhuttar have also announced that they would give up their awards. They believe that India is a country having different languages and culture but it seems that now people have no right to express their thoughts. Sahitya Akademi is not fulfilling its proper role and intellectuals and rationalists are being killed. However, somewhere they are ignoring the fact that the writers are the voices of voiceless people and instead of returning awards, they could write a poem or article against communal politics which will be more effective as it will further raise the issue. These days, even social media is active to spread their views across people. By returning their awards literary world is not only chocking their voices but also the purpose behind those awards.

When this protest news went across the globe, Pen International has backed the dissenting writers and artists in India who are protesting against what the organization described as “a climate of growing intolerance in India”. PEN is an international organization that defends freedom of expression and advocates on behalf of writers persecuted because of their work. PEN said delegates from 73 countries from across the globe called on the government of India to “safeguard free speech as guaranteed by the Indian constitution”. The French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, targeted in a deadly attack earlier this year by Islamist gunmen, was honoured in May by PEN. This follows a series of incidents of communal violence and attacks on intellectuals and rationalists in various parts of the country by groups allegedly linked to the right-wing party in power in India. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party won power in a landslide election victory in India in 2014, showing hopes and change, but day by day India landed in different crises.

I wish to mention here, in an Independence Day speech earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said, “Be it casteism or communalism, there is no place for them. In no way can they be tolerated. If the unity of India is destroyed then the dreams of the people are also destroyed.” I hope, Modi remembers his own words and controls the situation in the country.

Indrani Mukerjea’s custody extended till Oct 31; CBI searches nine locations

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Afternoon Voice

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October 19, 2015

In the latest development in high-profile Sheena Bora murder case, judicial custody of key accused Indrani Mukerjea, her former husband Sanjiv Khanna and driver Shyam Rai has been extended till October 31.

Meanwhile, the CBI searched out nine locations in five cities in connection with the case.

The CBI carried out searches at nine locations including at the premises of former media magnet Peter Mukerjea and his wife Indrani, Mikhail Bora’s residence in Guwahati, houses of driver Shyamvar Pinturam Rai in Mumbai and Chindwara, Madhya Pradesh and the residence of Sanjeev Khanna in Kolkata.

25-year-old Sheena, Indrani’s daughter from her first marriage, was murdered on 24 April, 2012, and her body was burnt and disposed off in a forest in Raigad district in Maharashtra the next day.

The agency has filed the case under various sections of Indian Penal Code including criminal conspiracy, murder, abduction, destruction of evidence, causing hurt by giving poison and Arms Act.

CBI took over the investigation of the case which was earlier probed by Mumbai Police on the allegations that the accused persons–Indrani, Khanna and Rai–hatched a criminal conspiracy to murder Sheena.

In pursuance of this conspiracy, the accused allegedly abducted Sheena, murdered her and disposed off her body, agency spokesperson had said in a statement.

The decision to handover the probe to CBI came after days of uncertainty on the supervisory role of former Mumbai Police chief Rakesh Maria, who was shunted out in the midst of the inquiry that he had helmed proactively.

The decision was taken by the state government after Maharashtra Director General of Police Sanjeev Dayal submitted a status report on the case which had concluded that the case is not limited to murder alone, but there are many questions on financial dealings that remain unanswered.

Haji Ali Durgah Trust says women’s entry banned in sanctorum

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Afternoon Voice

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October 19, 2015

Entry of women in close proximity of grave of a male Muslim saint is a grievous sin in Islam, the trustees of the iconic Haji Ali Dargah told the Bombay High Court on Monday.

Hearing a petition, the HC had earlier asked the trustees of the Dargah, which houses the tomb of the 15th century Sufi saint Haji Ali, to reconsider its rules which bar women’s entry into the ‘sanctum sanctorum’.

The trust gave a letter today to a bench headed by Justice V M Kanade in which it stated that a meeting had been convened recently in this regard in keeping with the HC order, and it had been again unanimously decided by the trustees not to allow women in the sanctum sanctorum.

“The trustees are unanimous on the point that entry of women in close proximity of a grave of male Muslim saint is a grievous sin as per Islam and as such governed by Constitution law and particularly Article 26 of the Constitution, which confers upon the Trust a fundamental right to manage its own affairs of religion and as such interference is uncalled for by any third agency,” the letter read.

“The existing arrangement for women provides a secure place to them. This has been decided in the interest of safety and security of the women close to the inner sanctum sanctorum of the tomb as possible, considering that the arrangement has been welcomed by women pilgrims,” the letter further said.

The letter was taken on record and the matter posted for hearing on November 17.

Hearing a petition which challenges entry of women into the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine, the court had earlier said, “If the issue is not resolved by the management amicably, then we would hear all the sides and give a decision on merits.”

The HC had also ruled that the petition, filed by two women, was ‘maintainable’ and admitted it for hearing.

The Trust, which manages the shrine, argued that the bar on entry is meant to protect women from “uncomfortable situations” and is restricted only to the sanctum sanctorum.

The petitioners claim that gender justice is inherent in Quran and the norm at the Dargah contravenes the Hadiths, which say that women are not prohibited from visiting tombs.

The restriction emanates from “a very conservative and extremist Salafi ideology” and in future “there may be an order banning the entry of women in the Dargah complex and banning the non-Muslims wholly,” the petition argued.

Raju Moray, the petitioners’ lawyer, argued that at other Dargahs or shrines women are not banned. Women can enter the sanctum sanctorum at the historic Makhdoom Shah Dargah in suburban Mahim, he pointed out.

Jaitapur project ‘bound to be scrapped’, says Shiv Sena

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Afternoon Voice

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October 19, 2015

Shiv Sena once again raked up the contentious issue of Jaitapur nuclear plant saying the project was “bound to be scrapped” and the party will continue to oppose it as long as locals do.

Senior BJP leader and Maharashtra revenue minister Eknath Khadse, however, cautioned the alliance partner to draw a line when it comes to protesting.

Sena has been opposing the 10,000 MW nuclear power plant project at Jaitapur in coastal Ratnagiri district, to be set up by the French firm Areva, while BJP-led governments in the state and the Centre support the project.

It also figured in the pacts signed during the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to France.

“Nothing will happen as far as the Jaitapur project is concerned and the plant will finally be shut down. It has been seen several times that others mock us in the beginning but finally toe our line. Same would be the case here,” Sena leader and Maharashtra industries minister Subhash Desai said.

Desai also took a swipe at the BJP; saying of the five changes Sena had suggested in the controversial land acquisition bill, the Centre had to accept three. “If the BJP had listened to us when we first protested against the bill, it would not have to bear so much humiliation.”

He said the Sena would continue to oppose the Jaitapur project as long as the local did. “Fishermen are operating there for so many years. Everything will close down. While setting up Tarapur Atomic Power station, the government had assured that there would be no impact on people’s livelihood, but later they banned fishing within 10 km radius,” he said.

Reacting to Desai’s statements, Khadse said, the party should not waste time opposing development projects.

“Whenever, development work is to be done, sacrifices have to be made….Wasting time on protesting development work is uncalled for. On one hand they say stop load-shedding and on the other hand they are opposing a power plant,” said Khadse.

“The Sena should understand where to draw the line and stop protesting,” he said.

‘No proposal to rename health scheme named after Rajiv Gandhi’

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Afternoon Voice

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October 19, 2015

Maharashtra government has no plans to rename the ‘Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayi Arogya Yogana’, a health care scheme for the economically poor sections of the society, state Agriculture Minister Eknath Khadse said.

Khadse told reporters that there is no proposal to rename the scheme after Shiv Sena supremo late Bal Thackeray.

Opposition Congress had last week asked the BJP-led government to refrain from bringing politics in welfare schemes over its move to rename the ‘Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayee Arogya Yojana’ after Thackeray.

In a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, state unit Congress president Ashok Chavan had suggested that the government should focus on improving the quality and scope of the scheme so that the maximum number of citizens get healthcare facilities.

“Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayee scheme was a flagship programme of the Congress regime to provide heathery to economically backward people. In the last few years, the scheme has benefited large sections of the society. Renaming the scheme by making minor changes would be inappropriate,” Chavan had said.

When asked about it today, Khadse said the government has no proposal to rename the scheme.

“I don’t think the scheme will be renamed. It would smack of political bias. There are few instances in the state where flagship schemes of previous governments have been renamed after a new dispensation took charge. New governments have continued to old schemes and started new ones in name of their own leaders,” Khadse said referring to his government’s new schemes like Deendayal Upadhyay Gharkul Yojana and Pramod Mahajan Skilled Development Scheme.

Shiv Sena, which is partner in the Maharashtra government wants the scheme to be named after Bal Thackeray and Health Minister Deepak Sawant had earlier said that a proposal would be sent to the Cabinet.

PIL on FTII row: HC issues notice to Centre, others

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Afternoon Voice

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October 19, 2015

The Bombay High Court issued notice to the Union I&B and Home ministries, the Maharashtra government and student leader of FTII on a PIL seeking to put an end to the ongoing strike at the Pune-based film institute.

The notices were issued by Justices V M Kanade and Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi, who heard the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Supreme Court lawyer Vineet Dhanda.

The Union Ministries of Information and Broadcasting and Home are respondents in the petition, which has prayed that the Centre may be directed to end the ongoing crisis at Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).

It also sought that those students who want to attend the classes may be allowed to do so under police protection.

The PIL also prayed for a direction to the Centre to make transparent policies for the appointment of heads/chairpersons of such institutions in future.

Jayprakash Dhanda, lawyer for the petitioner, said there is resentment among students over the appointment of TV actor Gajendra Chauhan as the institute’s chairman.

He said the students are demanding that a more experienced and talented person from the industry may be appointed as the head of FTII so that they can benefit from his teaching.

The lawyer further said that 18 students were ready to attend the classes immediately, provided police protection was given to them. He also urged the court to issue a direction accordingly in the interest of students.

However, the judges said that they would consider this only after the petitioner had served all the respondents and after all the parties were heard in the matter.

The petition was posted for further hearing after two weeks.

The students have been boycotting classes since June 12 opposing appointment of Chauhan, who they claim lacks credentials to head FTII.

The I&B Ministry has, however, cold-shouldered their main demand for cancellation of Chauhan’s appointment while keeping the dialogue channel open to resolve the prolonged deadlock that has brought academic activity on the campus to a standstill.