Entertainment Highlights: Alia-Ranbir Attend RARKPK Screening; Varun Dhawan Reacts To Bawaal Criticism

Kamal Haasan, the prominent Tamil actor, filmmaker, and politician, is currently making headlines amid speculations about his possible candidacy for the Coimbatore Lok Sabha constituency in the upcoming 2024 general elections. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party seems interested in offering him the Coimbatore seat, considering his impressive performance in the 2021 Assembly polls, where he narrowly lost to the BJP's Vanathi Sreenivasan by a mere 1,728 votes.

On Wednesday, July 26, Tejnath Jha, father of Director Prakash Jha, passed away at the age of 95 in his residence at Jai Prakash Nagar in Patna. Though the filmmaker has not yet released a public statement about his father's demise, it is widely known that Tejnath had been facing health issues related to his age. According to reports from Zoom TV, he was admitted to the hospital earlier in the week, and unfortunately, his health condition worsened. Tejnath Jha, an administrative officer, leaves the family in deep sorrow as they mourn his loss.

After Juhi Parmar, TV actor Jay Bhanushali has called out Greta Gerwig's Hollywood movie Barbie, expressing that he regrets taking his little daughter to watch the film. On his Instagram Stories on Wednesday, he posted a video talking about his bad experience watching Barbie with his daughter. He said, "Trust me guys, bawasir hai. Bacha raha hu aapko. Aapke paise bacha raha hu. Aapka mansik santulan bacha raha hu. Kyunki issey buri movie maine aaj tak nahi dekhi hai. (I'm saving you. I'm saving your money and mental balance. I haven't seen a worse film than this). It's a super, super, super bad film. Trust me guys ye jitni havua aap dekh rahe hain, koi bolne ke layak bhi nahi hai. Matlab sachi bata raha hu (The hype is all false. Every one is stunned after the movie. I'm telling you the truth) it took two days for me to make this video because main aisa tha ki ye kya film bana di hai, aur promote aisa kar rahe hain ki mujhe laga bachcho ke liye hoga. Lekin na bachchon ke liye hai na bado ke liye."

In a new interview with The Times of India, filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri has reacted to the controversy surrounding Prabhas and Kriti Sanon’s starrer Adipurush. He also reflected on what went wrong with the movie. Vivek said, "When you make something you don't believe in, just because aajkal ye chal raha hai (today this topic is trending), you are definitely going to go wrong. When you pick up stories of faith, either you yourself should have 100% conviction or you should be well versed in the subject like a historian, but unfortunately no one does that in India... Anybody who will try to take stars for either Mahabharata or Ramayana, will never be able to complete it… There's a reason why Mahabharat, Bhagavad Gita and Ramayana have been entrenched in everyone's psyche for years. If something has lasted for 5000 years, there has to be a reason for it."

Amazon Prime Video’s most-awaited Made In Heaven Season 2 release date has been revealed. The show, starring Sobhita Dhulipala in the lead role, shared an update on her social media page with a poster that also introduces some new faces. Made In Heaven Season 2 will premiere on August 11 on Prime Video. The poster featured Sobhita, Arjun Mathur, Jim Sarbh, Mona Singh, Kalki Koechlin, Shashank Arora, and Trinetra. Dropping the post, Sobhita wrote, "Making it official, finally! Team Made In Heaven is ready to enter the shaadi business again."

Telly star couple Pankhuri Awasthy and Gautam Rode have been blessed with twins, a baby boy and a baby girl. Announcing the happy news, Pankhuri captioned her post in writing: "As we embrace this new chapter as a family of four, we are filled with heartfelt gratitude for the love and blessings showered upon us." The post had colourful images of babies and other things, with a sweet note on it.

Actress Janhvi Kapoor, in a recent chat with Pinkvilla, opened up about the prevalence of PR in Bollywood. She also talked about the pressure to conform to marketing and PR strategies. She said, "I think that there’s an intrinsic fear when you are in an industry or in an environment where everyone kind of has, you know those speaker phones and everybody is shouting to do this and do that, and you are scared that if I’m the only quite one, would anyone even notice. But I think it takes a lot of courage to stick to your guns and be like no, my work is enough. I think that takes a lot and it’s very daunting. And most times we can’t follow through with it and I know that I have wavered."

Katrina Kaif and Vikcy Kaushal attended the screening of Alia Bhatt and Ranveer Singh’s romantic family drama, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, in Mumbai. Post watching the film, when the couple headed to their home, a paps station outside asked them about how the film was. Walking hand-in-hand, the actress said, "Amazing" and "Wonderful". Vicky was seen calling the film good.

Renowned Punjabi singer Surinder Shinda breathed his last on July 26 in Ludhiana. As per reports, he was hospitalised at the DMC Hospital for the past 20 days and passed away at 7.30 a.m. Shinda was 64 years old. As per the report, Surinder breathed his last at DMC Hospital, Ludhiana, at 7.30 a.m. Earlier, he was admitted to Model Town Hospital, and then he was shifted to DMC. He was then put on a ventilator, and he passed away on Wednesday. Born Surinder Pal Dhammi, he was considered the "grandfather of Moc." He has given several hit songs, some of which include "Jatt Jeona Morh", "Putt Jattan De", "Truck Billiya", "Balbiro Bhabhi" and "Kaher Singh Di Mout". He has also appeared in Punjabi films such as Putt Jattan De and Ucha Dar Babe Nanak Da.

Actor Kiara Advani turned Barbie as she walked the ramp at India Couture Week 2023 yesterday night in Delhi. She truned showstopper for renowned designers Falguni and Shane Peacock. Thigh, her husband-actor Sidharth Malhotra, couldn't attend the event, but his mother Rimma Malhotra attended it and became Kiara's biggest cheerleader. Kiara, for the event, was dressed in a shimmery, bold pink blouse paired with a matching high-slit skirt. The outfit was paired with silver heels. With no accessories, Kiara’s look was complimented with soft and subtle makeup. In the video, we see Kiara’s mother-in-law, Rimma Malhotra, turning cheerleader for her and blowing kisses as she walks past her.

Varun Dhawan has reacted to Bawaal’s criticism over its insensitive treatment of the Holocaust and World War II with a love story. In a recent interview, Varun opened up about the criticism and also questioned audiences' sensitivity while watching an English film, citing the example of Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer's controversial Bhagavad Gita sex scene. He asked if people had found it okay. The scene where a Holocaust survivor says, "Every relationship goes through its Auschwitz," referring to Nazi Germany's infamous concentration camp where countless Jews were killed. In another scene, Janhvi says every human has a Hitler within. Speaking to Pinkvilla in an interview, Varun reacted to criticism and said, "Some people got trigged or sensitive about this. But I don't understand where that sensitivity or trigger go when they watch, suppose an English film, I'm saying for example. They're allowed to do everything there, they're allowed to take leaps and they're allowed to show things in a certain way, but you'll find that correct. I know people have got very triggered after watching a small scene in a brilliant film, recently released. It's a scene that's important to our culture and our country. But that's okay for you. You don't feel they should be more sensitive to you? So where does your criticism go then?"

Karan Johar’s Rocky Rani Ki Prem Kahani’s grand premiere was held last night, which saw a slew of A-listers from Bollywood in attendance. From Gauri Khan to Katrina Kaif to Neha Dhupia, the whos and whos of the industry were spotted arriving at the screening in their sartorial best. The leading lady of the film, Alia, arrived at the screening with her husband, Ranbir Kapoor. They were dressed in casual outfits. The couple wore sweatshorts that had 'Team Rocky Rani' written on them. While Alia teamed the sweatshirt with ribbed faded jeans, Ranbir was seen in black cargo torusers.