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Attending the three day fest, Cinema beyond Boundaries in New York, filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar feels good with the international film dignities. He is exchanging notes with Hollywood directors, writers and music composers on understanding the global perspective in cinema. The director also said that Indian film industry and Hollywood can learn a lot from each other as the two industries seek to cater to the evolving nature of cinema.“There will be something that I take from them and they will take from us. While Hollywood has had a huge influence on the Indian industry, Bollywood and its actors too are garnering a lot of attention in the western film world,” said the filmmaker, who is well-known for his films like Chandni Bar, Page 3, Fashion and Heroine. The event would focus on the global influence of Indian cinema, forecast changes in the fast growing and rapidly evolving filmmaking industry. “Cinema has changed drastically over the years and films are now being made in different genres like commercial, edgy and radical to cater to the tastes of an evolving viewership,” he added.“Indian cinema is no more limited to audiences in India. We have viewers all around the world and hence understanding the global perspective is a must. Cinema Beyond Boundaries would get the viewers and the filmmakers together and would help us in serving them with good quality cinema,” Bhandarkar said. Well said Madhur Bhandarkar!

Neeraj Pandey, one of India’s finest contemporary filmmakers, today launched his debut novel Ghalib Danger at an event that was attended by the stars of his cinematic ventures.  After entertaining Indians all over the world with memorable and much-loved films like A Wednesday and Special 26, the critically acclaimed director, who is no stranger to thrillers has further explored the genre with his first book.A fictional gangster saga set in the visually eclectic Mumbai underworld, Ghalib Danger makes Neeraj one of the rare Bollywood directors who have also authored novels. Ghalib Danger revolves around the life of its main protagonist Kamran Ali. A young taxi driver by profession, Kamran stays in Mumbai and dreams of making it big someday. However a twist of fate awaited him as on an eventful day his life transforms when he saves the life of a notorious underworld don from called Mirza. As an act of gratitude, Mirza takes Kamran under his tutelage.Speaking of his book, the celebrated film writer-director and now author says, ‘Writing has always been a passion and when the story of Kamran and his world took shape in my mind, I knew that only a book would do full justice to it. It’s a story of destinies that collide and shape the world of our characters’.The launch of Neeraj’s first book was also a special occasion for some of his favourite stars to come and cheer in support. While Anupam Kher, who credits Neeraj’s as giving him two out of his top 10 roles in the form of A Wednesday and Special 26, read out a chapter from the book to a live audience, Naseeruddin Shah penned the leading quote. Manoj Bajpayee not only joined the gathering but also lent his voice to the motion poster of the book as he read out couplets from Ghalib’s work. Divyaa Dutta dropped by to wish Neeraj good luck as well.

We all are aware of the fact that Aamir Khan is very much protective and concerned about his kids, whether they’re Junaid and daughter Ira from his first wife Reena Dutta or a one-year-old son Azad with second wife Kiran Rao. Whenever he gets time to spend with them, he never misses a chance and utilizes it to the core.Recently, while he was in Mumbai and he had taken time off from work to babysit one-year-old Azad because wife Kiran Rao was travelling. And as of now he is in Delhi, shooting for his forthcoming film Peekay for filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani, where he’s spending time with Junaid, who is being the assistant of the director in the film. Reportedly, Aamir is the one who suggested his 18-year-old son Junaid Khan not to take up acting yet, but instead start by learning about Indian cinema. Subsequently, Junaid has taken up the role of an assistant director to film-maker Rajkumar Hirani for Peekay.      Sources from the sets said it is gathered that Aamir was seen having heart-to-heart conversations with his young son. The actor knows that Junaid is on the threshold of adult life and he wants to be there for him when the young man makes important decisions, be it in matters of the heart or career.

Hailing from a middle class family of Haryana, where girls were not allowed to do job, and working in film industry is like a taboo, Mallika Sherawat, originally named as Reema Lamba, dared to pursue her dream of becoming an actress and is engaging it with a proud in her heart. Though she’s not accepted yet by her father, a conservative man, she finds their substitute in her brother Vikram, who she calls her soul mate.Mallika, pouring her heart out, said how difficult it is for a girl to face sociality if her family is not standing for her. She says her father hasn’t accepted her with her job yet. “A couple of years back, there was an assassination attempt on me for saying that in Haryana, women are treated like cattle at which point my brother got worried and shifted in with me to look after me. My father's relatives would have taunted him and said, badchallan hai, family ke muh pe kala daag hai, but I still felt very alone and hurt as anything could have happened to me then but still he did not call me.”She goes on, “Now that I am more mature, there is no resentment, but there is still anger and lot of hurt in me. My brother Vikram has always been attached to me and is my soulmate. After a while I started seeing my father in him and he became my pillar of strength. So much time has gone by and God has given you so much but you never recover from that pain. It's difficult to get over my father's betrayal as a protector that you expect as a young girl. I am his blood and who else can you look up to if not your own father?”Mallika is next to be seen in TV show The Bachelorette India-Mere Khayalo Ki Mallika, starting from Oct 7 on Life OK.

The Ashtami celebrations at The North Bengal Sarbajanin Durga Puja at The Tulip Star, Juhu on 12th Oct, 2013, had celebrated Music composer, Pritam and his musicians enthrall the audience with a show that got everyone to their feet from the word go. The show had Pritam and his band belt out one hit number after another with performances from renowned singers- Rekha Bhardwaj, Harshdeep Kaur, Neeti Mohan, Ash King and Javed Ali among others. The energy of the performances soon spread to the audience who were on their feet as the singers came down and mingled with them. We saw some cool dance moves from directors Anurag Basu, Ayan Mukerji and their families while Pritam matched them step by step!!The stage is now set for none other than Sukhwinder Singh who will perform on Nobomi night-13th Oct, 2013.