Have you heard? The national language debate continues

Ajay Devgn

The national language debate that has been simmering beneath the surface, has now been brought to the fore by Kiccha Sudeep. At a recent promotional event for R: The Deadliest Gangster Ever, the Kannada actor said, "Today, Hindi is no more the national language." While B-Town, by and large, remained silent, Ajay Devgn questioned Sudeep's decision to dub south Indian films in Hindi. The Runway actor-filmmaker wrote, "If, according to you, Hindi is not our national language, then why do you release your films, made in your mother-tongue, by dubbing them in Hindi? Hindi was, is and will always remain our mother-tongue and national language. Jan Gan Man." Sudeep replied, "The context to why I said that line is entirely different [from] the way I guess it has reached you. Probably I will emphasise on why the statement was made when I meet you in person. It wasn't to hurt, provoke or to start any debate. Why would I, sir?" In response, Ajay thanked him for "clearing the misunderstanding". He said, "I've always thought of the film industry as one. We respect all languages and we expect everyone to respect our language as well. Perhaps, something was lost in translation."

A marathon shooting day

Tamannaah Bhatia, who is playing a female bouncer in Madhur Bhandarkar's Babli Bouncer, recently shot an 18-hour shift. Reason being that they had a limited time with six other actors and the location was available only for that day, to shoot a couple of scenes and a song. Tamannaah shared a picture with Madhur online, saying, "Pulled an 18-hour marathon shoot of Babli Bouncer. Last few days to go." While she wraps up the unconventional drama soon, the actor has the comedy drama, F3 with Venkatesh and Varun Tej releasing on May 27.

Post ka post mortem

After the pandemic saw most events being cancelled and many delayed, the much-anticipated 2022 Cannes Film Festival is set to kick off on May 17 and wind up on May 28. What makes this year's event even more interesting is that Deepika Padukone will be on the jury of the prestigious film festival. The news was broken on social media by the festival's official account. However, the post shared by them had a few glaring typos and grammatical errors. After some netizens pointed out the goof-ups, several others joined in, wondering what it would take for the festival's social media team to proof the copy before sharing it.

Ishaan is living it up!

Ishaan Khatter knows how to live a life beyond films. Having gone on a road trip with brother Shahid Kapoor and friends a few years ago, the actor is now off to catch NBA (National Basketball Association) playoffs between Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets at the Barclays Centre, Brooklyn. Interestingly, it was a first in-arena experience of watching the NBA live for Ishaan, who was rooting for Kevin Durant and Brooklyn Nets. However, his favourite team lost the game and the series to their opponent. Nonetheless, he had a memorable time.

It's symphony for Akriti

Akriti Kakkar has embarked on a new mission - to record her tracks with a symphony. Along with her big team of musicians, she is creating a wide range of songs, from Bollywood retro to contemporary, Sufi to folk and mashups as well. Akriti says, "I thought it's time to reinvent myself and up the scale." The singer adds, "With this new stage outfit, I get to live in the bygone era. What is exceptional is that a lot of musicians are the ones who have played in actual recordings of legends like RD Burman, Laxmikant-Pyarelal and Kalyanji-Anandji, among several others. It's an honour for me."

In recovery mode

Pic/Instagram

Yesteryear cinema icon Mumtaz, who had been hospitalised due to severe stomach infection, is back home and in a quick recovery mode. The screen diva, who has been through some health issues in the past, was in a suburban hospital for a week. While she attributed her ability to fight back to her resilience and strength, her heart goes out to the vulnerable people out there who are forever at risk of dangerous infections. "I think we need much better health care for the underprivileged," she has reportedly said.

Bonding over dance

With Hrithik Roshan, one can always find some common ground to bond over. Ask Mouni Roy, who shot an ad campaign with him in Amsterdam some time ago. The Brahmastra actor shared a picture with him online, saying, "From an amazing shoot day with this wonderful human." We hear they bonded over dance. Even though it was a tight schedule with lots of scenes to be completed within a stipulated time, Duggu and Mouni chatted a lot about their favourite dance forms and how she continues to be amazed by his fluid moves in several chartbusters over the years.

Waiting for his Hollywood break

Tiger Shroff, who is gearing up for the release of Heropanti 2, recently revealed that he tried his luck with action in Hollywood films, but to no avail. "I have been offered [films] a couple of times. I have auditioned and failed a couple of times in auditions, but I am still trying. So let's see," the young action star has been quoted as saying.