Have you heard? Fawad's series goes international

A still from the series

Fawad's series goes international

Fawad Khan's new series, Barzakh, has become the only South Asian selection for the Series Mania Festival in France. To be screened as part of the International Panorama line-up, the show is nominated in the Best Series, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor and Student Jury Award categories. Elated with the development, director Asim Abbasi says, "It is a momentous yet humbling occasion for us, not only because the show is close to my heart, but also because the selection is a strong validation of our belief in this story. [I am glad that] it is now finding its way among the best in
the world."

Just talking

Call it a blast from the past, or what you may, but Sara Ali Khan bumped into Kartik Aaryan in Udaipur. Well, she had gone to Rajasthan to celebrate her mom Amrita Singh's 65th birthday, oblivious that she would run into her Love Aaj Kal co-star there. We hear the two got talking - at first, it was idhar-udhar ki baatein, but they quickly progressed to fill each other in on their respective lives. Sara and Kartik were said to be dating during the making of director Imtiaz Ali's 2020 romantic drama. However, after the film bombed, their rumoured relationship too fizzled out. Though the two actors crossed paths at a few events since then, this was the first time that Sara and Kartik got chatty.

Spy act

While Salman Khan is synonymous with the Tiger franchise today, he was set to play a real-life spy on screen, not too long ago. Director Rajkumar Gupta wanted the actor to play The Black Tiger in his biopic on the R&AW agent, Ravindra Kaushik. At the time, Salman's brother-in-law Atul Agnihotri was reportedly backing the project. While the biopic didn't materialise, Anurag Basu has now announced a venture on the same subject. He'll double up as a producer on the film with R Vivek, Asvin Srivatsangam and Divay Dhamija.

Prabhas takes a health break

South superstar Prabhas has taken a break from his professional commitments. It turns out that he was pushing himself at work despite being unwell for a while. The Baahubali actor, who is reportedly suffering from exertion and running a high temperature, recently visited a hospital in Hyderabad for a check-up. We hear the doctors advised him to not exert at work, and take it easy for a week or two. Apparently, after some coaxing, Prabhas paid heed to his doctor's advice, and has informed his producers about his absence. The actor, who is working on Prashanth Neel's Salaar, and Nag Ashwin's Project K, is slated to return to the sets later this month.

Hirani reviving Amarnath biopic

Even as he is readying his Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Dunki for a Christmas 2023 release, Rajkumar Hirani is contemplating his next movie. He is said to be reviving his biopic on the late cricket legend, Lala Amarnath. The director was originally planning to make the film after the release of Sanju (2018). Interestingly, in 2019, when he began talks with SRK for a collaboration, the filmmaker also suggested the Lala Amarnath biopic. However, at the time, the actor chose Dunki. Now, Hirani has instructed his writing team to work on the movie about the former cricketer. While he is joining forces with producers Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani for the project, it remains to be seen who will play Lalaji on the big screen.

Life comes full circle for Namik

Unlike many who single-mindedly pursue acting career, Namik Paul shares that he had never planned to become an actor. After starting his career as a journalist for a news channel in Oregon, US, he then pursued modelling in Delhi, and learnt the ropes of acting by joining a theatre group. Namik shifted to Mumbai when he got a big break with the popular show, Qubool Hai. He says, "That's when I realised that acting is something that I enjoy. Now, playing the role of Shiv in Lag Ja Gale is a stepping stone for me to turn my dreams into reality. I am happy with how my journey is panning out."

Dance attack

Anupam Kher recently promoted his Shiv Shastri Balboa on The Kapil Sharma Show. The veteran actor revealed that the one thing he is terrible at is dancing. "The biggest tragedy of my life is that I have two left feet," he confessed, adding that he does the same step every time he comes for the show. That's when Archana Puran Singh recalled his argument with Aditya Chopra while filming a song for Mohabbatein (2000). She shared, "Anupam was hell-bent on not dancing. I believe that I am terrible at dancing, but Anupam is worse than me." It's another thing that Anupam gave in to Aditya's diktat and shook a leg for the song.