बॉलीवुड डायरेक्टर ने सीएम अरविंद केजरीवाल पर साधा निशाना, बोले- उनके यू-टर्न ने मेरा दिल... पढ़ें Tweet

दिल्ली सरकार (Delhi Government) ने शुक्रवार को दिल्ली पुलिस को जेएनयूएसयू (JNSU) के पूर्व...

from NDTV Khabar - Filmy https://ift.tt/32Ew7uY

Thappad was tough to write and shoot, but it's my best film to date: Anubhav Sinha

After Mulk and Article 15, Anubhav Sinha completes a trilogy of sorts with Thappad. His new film is yet another attempt at voicing deep-rooted prejudices and unjust norms of society. The Taapsee Pannu-starrer — a timely take on misogyny and male entitlement — traces the heart-wrenching story of a happily married woman, whose life changes after her ‘good’ husband slaps her for the first time, and what follows is her battle for equal rights and self-respect. The film questions – ‘Is one slap enough to re-examine your marriage?’

Anubhav Sinha

Firstpost catches up with Anubhav Sinha who is delighted to be known as the writer-director of a hard-hitting feminist film which is already making a lot of noise with its interesting and intriguing plot.

Edited excerpts.

Was this your most difficult film when it came to writing and executing as compared to your previous films?

Yes. It is my most difficult film in terms of writing and in terms of shooting it. Also, I think this is my best film till date. The issue that the film deals with seems insignificant but it is not. It is insignificant only in our minds. It was the most difficult film to write and by far the toughest film to shoot. I don’t know if I will ever make a tougher film than this again.

What prompted you to address this issue?

It’s not based on any one incident. It is all around us. I have seen this happen for years around me. It got triggered from there and then lot of time there is an emotion that touches you and stays with you. Finally you find a story that can conveniently convey that emotion. I have seen lot of women going through unequal relationship. On the surface it may look like just about domestic violence but it is not. It is not about that at all, it is about relationships.

You worked on the script along with a female writer Mrunmayee (Lagoo), were there disagreements as you or her might have had a different perspective? Or were both of you always on the same page?

I was very certain that I want to work with a woman co-writer. We thought a lot and finally we came on the same page which is the reason you have a co-writer because then you keep exploring more perspective and more logic and then try to do a script which is more logical and real. But yes, it was at one point Mrunmayee fought with me for the longest time. She felt the husband was too good a person and felt let’s make him a bad guy, but my argument was that if he was a bad guy then the wife should leave him anyway, and if the guy becomes too good then the girl will look bad. And at the same time we had to make the movie interesting. So there was a bit of struggle. But I wanted the audience to leave the theatre feeling that they wish he had not done what he did to her.

Was there a struggle in Taapsee’s characterisation?

With the kind of films she has done and the kind of person she is, she may not have been the perfect casting for the part. I wanted her to look docile. I wasn’t looking for that activist Taapsee for sure. But there is nothing known as perfect casting. It is the perfect marriage of the writer, the director, the script and the actor. It is how you interpret it and how it is executed.

Taapsee said she felt claustrophobic playing the part.

As long as you are portraying it you don’t realise...you realise it in hindsight because you are constantly feeling like her in the character.

What was Taapsee’s reaction when you approached her for the role?

She said (sounding a bit aggressive): ‘I will do this film, you can’t make it with anyone else’ (laughs).

Did you toy with the idea while writing that Taapsee can portray a working woman?

We wanted to show her as housewife not out of compulsion. Some women can choose to be housewives and be happy. Women who are housewives are not necessarily deprived. Amrita (Taapsee’s character) is a happy housewife.

You have made a complete shift from the kind of films you used to make earlier like Dus, Cash, and Ra.One. Will you go back to doing escapist cinema?

I don’t know. If one day I really get tired and I want to escape I will do a big action film (laughs). It seems difficult though. But the films that I am making now have been there with me for a long time.

Your previous two films were successful and you seem to be enjoying this journey. Do you feel more honest as a filmmaker that you’re making films you truly believe in and feel strongly about?

Yes, it is a very good feeling that you make films that touch people deep inside. These are addictive, too, when people walk out of the theatre and you can see it in their eyes that they are touched. So yes, it is good fun, I am loving it, I am enjoying it.

But how do you feel when you look back at your films — Cash, Dus, and RaOne.

I feel as if I was doing a double role. It is a weird feeling actually (laughs).

Buzz is that you will soon make a political drama with Ayushmann Khurrana and Taapsee Pannu.

I have read about it and that is all. I am working on a film and I will talk about it soon.

How have your colleagues and fraternity responded to Thappad as you just had a premiere for them?

I am overwhelmed. I can’t begin to tell you how beautiful it has been till now.

from Firstpost Bollywood Latest News https://ift.tt/2TcUlt7

CAA विरोध में बांग्लादेश सीमा के करीब हिंसा, मेघालय में तीन मौतें, कर्फ्यू, इंटरनेट बंदी

ये हिंसा कथित रूप से पूर्वी खासी हिल्स जिले में गैर आदिवासी भीड़ द्वारा खासी व्यक्ति लुरशाई हायनिवता की मौत के बाद भड़की। इसमें असम के बरपेटा जिले के रहने वाले 29 वर्षीय रूपचंद दीवान की भी मौत हो गई।

from Jansattaराष्ट्रीय – Jansatta https://ift.tt/32I3T2o

यूपी सीएम ने फ्लू पर दिया ज्ञान, बोले- ये बीमारी नहीं, मौसम बदलने पर लग जाती है सर्दी

सीएम योगी कहा कि अगर कोई बीमारी फैल जाए तो इसे हौव्वा नहीं बनाएं बल्कि इसके लिए स्वास्थ्य विभाग बेहतर तरीके से कार्य योजना बनाए।

from Jansattaराष्ट्रीय – Jansatta https://ift.tt/399TtLz

निर्भया के दोषियों को कल सुबह होनी है फांसी, आज कोर्ट से मिलेगी राहत?

निर्भया के एक दोषी पवन कुमार ने फांसी से तीन दिन पहले यानी शुक्रवार को सुप्रीम कोर्ट में याचिका दायर...

from आज तक https://ift.tt/2IbS8rC

जम्मू में बदले गए दो चौक के नाम, सिटी चौक का नाम हुआ भारत माता चौक

जम्मू नगर निगम ने सिटी चौक का नाम बदलकर भारत माता चौक और सर्कुलर रोड चौक का नाम बदलकर अटल...

from आज तक https://ift.tt/2uJJtd3

MP: फर्जी दस्तावेजों से जमानत लेने को बनाया धंधा, पकड़ी गई शातिर महिला

भोपाल में क्राइम ब्रांच ने एक ऐसी शातिर महिला को गिरफ्तार किया है जो कोर्ट में अपना गोरखधंधा चला रही...

from आज तक https://ift.tt/2woFFy7

ईरान में फंसे भारतीय मछुआरे, केरल के CM ने विदेश मंत्री को लिखी चिट्ठी

ईरान में कोरोना वायरस की वजह से भारत के सैकड़ों लोगों में केरल के कई मछुआरे भी शामिल हैं. केरल...

from आज तक https://ift.tt/32I6w4E

पति ने नहीं दिलाई साड़ी तो 7 महीने की बेटी को पटक कर मार डाला

अलीगढ़ में एक मां ने छोटी सी बात का गुस्सा अपनी 7 महीने की बच्ची पर उतार डाला. महिला...

from आज तक https://ift.tt/2Vz03XU

दिल्ली हिंसा के बीच बजट सत्र का दूसरा चरण आज से, विपक्ष के निशाने पर रहेंगे शाह

विपक्षी दल दिल्‍ली हिंसा को लेकर केंद्र की मोदी सरकार को घेरने की कोशिश कर सकते हैं. कांग्रेस गृह...

from आज तक https://ift.tt/387u2ZO

जावेद जाफरी ने हिंसा को लेकर नेताओं पर साधा निशाना, बोले- समान मानसिकता वाले लोग, भारतीयों को..

बॉलीवुड एक्टर जावेद जाफरी (Jaaved Jaaferi) सोशल मीडिया पर काफी एक्टिव रहते हैं. हाल ही...

from NDTV Khabar - Filmy https://ift.tt/2TssHaK

Thappad Box Office Collection Day 3: तापसी पन्नू की 'थप्पड़' ने तीसरे दिन किया धांसू कलेक्शन, कमा डाले इतने करोड़

Thappad Box Office Collection Day 3: बॉलीवुड एक्ट्रेस तापसी पन्नू (Taapsee Pannu) की फिल्म 'थप्पड़ (Thappad)' को...

from NDTV Khabar - Filmy https://ift.tt/32Gp7Od

Spotify’s first year in India: 365 days of legal disputes, listenership growth and lingering questions

Spotify India turned one on 27 February. I don’t think a week has gone over the last year that the world’s most popular audio streaming service hasn’t been mentioned in the local press. While a fair amount of the coverage has been about its now settled, long-running dispute with Warner/Chappell, a lot of it has been related to the listenership statistics that the platform has regularly shared with music and tech reporters.

For instance, just a couple of days ago Spotify told us that, based on data from the past 12 months, its users in Goa mostly listen to international music, those in Gujarat mainly play Bollywood and those in the Northeast Indian states love K-Pop more than the rest of the country.

What Spotify hasn’t shared with us is the number of listeners they have in India. It’s been almost a year since they revealed that they have more than two million users in the country back in April 2019.

Conversations within the industry suggest that while Spotify may have some catching up to do with market leaders such as Gaana and JioSaavn, both of which claim to have monthly active users in the region of over 150 million, it has the highest engagement among all the streaming platforms operating here.

This has been validated by a recent survey, conducted by consultancy firm Kantar and audience measurement and analytics company VTION, of over 9,000 smartphone users in nine Indian cities. As per their findings, though Spotify has a 15 percent share of the audio streaming market, behind Gaana (30 percent) and JioSaavn (24 percent), its users spend more time on the service than those on other DSPs. Spotify’s listeners clock in 86 minutes every day, which is 35 percent more than people do on Gaana (63 minutes) and almost double the time consumed by those on JioSaavn (49 minutes).

Notably, the study pegs the total size of the audio OTT market at just 13 million. Now of course, most platforms will tell you a survey of only smartphone users in just nine cities doesn’t show the real picture. Spotify for instance has been streamed in 2,300 cities since launch, as they highlighted in their blog post to mark their first anniversary.

For an estimate of how much Spotify has grown and how its listenership has evolved, I looked to – what else but? – its weekly charts. The first No.1 proper (not counting the first week) was 'Sucker' by Jonas Brothers, which was streamed over 4.6 lakh times during the first week of March 2019. In comparison, the current No.1 'Shayad' from Love Aaj Kal (2020) was played over a million times over the last week.

Listenership seems to have got a boost in June 2019 after which, during most weeks Spotify India’s chart-topping track has crossed a million streams. The first tune to achieve this milestone was 'Senorita' by Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello, which did it for 11 non-consecutive weeks.

But the song, which was the most streamed track of 2019 and the only non-Indian one in its year-end top ten, seems to have been an outlier. Every single to reach No.1 after it has been a Hindi film or pop smash: 'Pachtaoge' by Arijit Singh, B. Praak and Jaani; 'Ghungroo' by Singh, Shilpa Rao and Vishal-Shekhar from War; 'Filhall' by B. Praak and Jaani; Tanishk Bagchi’s remixes of A. R. Rahman’s 'Muqabla' and Garry Sandhu and Jasmine Sandlas’s 'Illegal Weapon', both from Street Dancer 3D; and the aforementioned 'Shayad'.

And even though the service was largely known only among English music consumers before it officially arrived in India, the top five most streamed acts on Spotify since launch are all Bollywood biggies who occasionally or regularly dabble in pop: Singh, Bagchi, Neha Kakkar, Badshah and Shreya Ghoshal. Quite naturally, as the platform has adopted by more users across the country, the amount of local content being streamed has increased.

Clearly, the crores the company spent on its award-winning hyper-local outdoor advertising campaign and television commercials have started to pay off in the form of a pan-India presence, even if the total number of users isn’t quite close to those of its biggest rivals. Incumbent No.1 'Shayad' has been streamed over 5.5 million times on the app as compared to the more than 20 million plays it has on JioSaavn and Gaana.

Of course, the audience expansion has also come at the cost of offering the service at some of the lowest prices in the world, and they’re still not the cheapest in the business. A monthly subscription is presently priced at Rs 119, which is on par with JioSaavn, Wynk Music and Resso but more expensive than Gaana, Apple Music and Hungama’s tag of Rs 99.

Moreover, some of Spotify’s challenges remain unresolved. International music fans are still waiting for Warner Music’s catalogue to appear on the platform. Plus, Spotify is yet to sign a deal with Saregama, which owns the rights to many classic Bollywood soundtracks. Until then, we will have to do without hearing the likes of Ed Sheeran’s 'Shape Of You' or the Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge OST on the service.

We’re also hoping to see Spotify implement its international initiatives here like they did in December when they launched a series of original Indian podcasts. It would be great if they worked more closely with Indian independent music artists, something that has helped both JioSaavn and Apple Music distinguish their offerings.

While the kind of deep data Spotify For Artists provides has helped musicians across the board know exactly where their fans are located and which songs they love the most, thus far Spotify’s editorial involvement in the Indian indie scene has been limited to playlists. When will they bring to us a local line of Spotify Singles? Hopefully we’ll have answers to this and the other question marks that surround Spotify.

Recently played

This week, I listened into a compilation that musically encapsulates a lot of the emotions many of us have been feeling over the last couple of months and especially during the last week, which has been filled with devastating daily reports of communal violence in Delhi. Revolutions is a “mixtape” of recently released protest songs from around the country, put together by podcaster Mae Thomas for her long-running Indian independent music show Maed In India. It includes such searing tracks as 'Krantikari' by Kolkata hip-hop group Park Circus, 'The Police?' by Delhi-based Assamese singer-rapper Rahul Rajkhowa, and 'Acche Din Blues' by Bihar-born, Mumbai-residing poet-activist Aamir Aziz whose 'Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega' has become one of the main anthems of the ongoing protests against the CAA and NRC, the attacks on students in Jamia, JNU and AMU and the recent atrocities in the capital.

from Firstpost Bollywood Latest News https://ift.tt/2TtPtii

CAA के खिलाफ विरोध-प्रदर्शन में मेघालय में दो की मौत, शिलांग में 10 को चाकुओं से गोदा, अर्धसैनिक बलों की 8 कंपनियां तैनात

Anti CAA Protest: सरकार ने 1 मार्च की सुबह तक 'शिलांग बाजार और उसके आसपास के क्षेत्रों' में कर्फ्यू की घोषणा की है। केंद्रीय सशस्त्र पुलिस बलों की दो कंपनियां पहले ही आ चुकी हैं, जबकि छह और कथित तौर पर रास्ते में हैं।

from Jansattaराष्ट्रीय – Jansatta https://ift.tt/2vvGm8K

CAA, दिल्ली हिंसा के बीच दो देशों ने टेढ़ी की नजरें: इंडोनेशिया ने भारतीय राजदूत को किया तलब, शेख हसीना बोलीं- CAA की जरूरत थी ही नहीं

इंडोनेशियाई विदेश मंत्रालय का बयान देश के धार्मिक मामलों के मंत्रालय द्वारा भारत में 'मुसलमानों के खिलाफ हिंसा' की निंदा करने वाला बयान जारी करने के बाद आया है।

from Jansattaराष्ट्रीय – Jansatta https://ift.tt/2TcTM2s