Hindi
Ketan Mehta’s Rang Rasiya to open Chicago fest on 30 September
MUMBAI: The Chicago South Asian Film Festival has selected Ketan Mehta’s film Rang Rasiya to open the festival that starts on 30 September.
The film is the story of artist Raja Ravi Varma‘s passions, obsessions and his fierce struggle for creative freedom. He hurt the religious sentiments of the people by painting nudes of Indian mythological characters. Later on, his muse Sugandha inspired him to create exquisite paintings based on mythological themes and classic literature.
As many as 27 films have been selected across a variety of genres such as comedy, drama, romance, fantasy, and reality. Among them are Athula Liyanage‘s Bambara Wallala, Geeta Malik‘s Troublemaker, Moinak Biswas and Arjun Gourisaria‘s Spring In The Colony, Hemant Gaba‘s Shuttlecock Boys, Anu Rana‘s Ring Laila, Harjant Gill‘s Roots of Love, Nasir Khan‘s Made in Pakistan, Pankaj Johar‘s documentary Still Standing and Shelley Saywell‘s documentary In the Name of the Family amongst others.
The much appreciated Nila Madhab Panda‘s I Am Kalam has been selected as the centerpiece of the film festival. It is a heartwarming story of a 13-year-old slum boy who aspires to be like former president of India, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
Amole Gupte‘s Stanley Ka Dabba will also been screened in the feature films category of the festival.
The short film category will have Snehal Patel‘s The Eggie Files Director, Gursimran Sandhu‘s Homecoming, M.S. Srikanth‘s The Bridge, Vivek Shraya‘s Seeking Single White Male, Abi Varghese‘s The Return Address, Rakesh Chaudhary‘s The Eclipse of Taregna, Jason Wang‘s Second Best, Sofian Khan‘s Small Voices, Sandeep Sharma‘s A Portrait in Bombay and Kenneth Lawrence‘s Ronnie.
The festival will end on 2 October.
Hindi
Rashmika Mandanna, Shanaya Kapoor and Naila Grrewal climb IMDb’s Indian celebrity rankings
Upcoming films and returning shows are driving fan interest across Bollywood and streaming
MUMBAI: Bollywood’s popularity contest has a new weekly scorecard, and the numbers are telling. IMDb’s Popular Indian Celebrities list for this week places Shanaya Kapoor at number six, buoyed by buzz around her film Tu Yaa Main. Naila Grrewal slots in at seven on the back of the returning comedy series Maamla Legal Hai, while Rashmika Mandanna climbs to eighth, riding mounting anticipation for Cocktail 2.
The list, available exclusively on the IMDb app for Android and iOS, tracks trending Indian entertainers and filmmakers each week, drawing on data from more than 200m monthly visits to the platform worldwide.
Further down the rankings, Raaka is keeping two of its biggest names in the spotlight. Deepika Padukone holds 11th position, with Allu Arjun close behind at 13th, as the film continues to find traction with audiences.
The list offers fans a weekly pulse on who is breaking through, who is holding steady, and who is fading. It is a barometer as unsparing as the box office itself.
