NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Friday struck down the ban on smoking scenes in films and carrying of news items displaying cigarettes and other tobacco products by newspapers, saying the provisions dealing with the two issues were beyond the competency of the powers conferred by the anti-smoking Act and against the mandate of Articles 14 and 19 of the Constitution.
Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul gave this relief to the film industry and the print media on two separate petitions by film director Mahesh Bhatt and Kasturi & Sons, publishers …

For two days now, the city of Mumbai has been subject to a kind of violence more real and shocking than anything that its film industry could ever show onscreen. No wonder that Bollywood is still trying to come to terms with the terror in its backyard.
Lyricist Javed Akhtar insists the only way to defeat terrorists is to defeat terror. Indians, he says, must unite in the face of adversity rather than play into the hands of those who want the country to fracture along communal lines.
“It’s not the time …

At a launch party hosted by Producer Dr. Amanullah Khan of One World Entertainment and Mr.Vikram Khakhar of Wize Mindz Entertainment Pvt Ltd, veteran actor Raj Babbar flagged off the launch of his son Aarya Babbar’s debut International Punjabi film “Virsa” recently in Mumbai!
Present at the film launch were Raj Babbar and renowned Director Mahesh Bhatt who launched the film and the entire cast and crew of the film-Director Pankaj Batra, Aarya Babbar, Gulshan Grover, Kawaljeet Singh, Mehreen Raheal, Naumaan Ijaas, Amaan Ali and Aparna Sharma as well as other …

Lollywood star Meera is to become the first Pakistani to produce a Bollywood film, teaming up with director Karan Johar to make a movie based on her life.
“It is a great breakthrough in my reel life,” a happy and excited Meera told Daily Times on Saturday. She said she had got the confidence to produce an Indian film from having worked with some of the giants of the Pakistani film industry. The project will begin shooting in three months.
She said an estimated budget of Rs 60 million had been set …

Film actress Meera is to star in Adnan Sami’s new music video. The actress told that she had met with Mr Sami on a recent trip to Bombay.
He offered me work in his next video and hopefully I will be working in it,” she said. Part of the video is to be shot in India and the rest abroad. Mr Sami is one of the most popular singers in India.
Meera said she would return to India in a couple of days for shooting of Nazar Kay Samnay, a film written …

Meera’s big break in Indian films?
Meera surprised the Lollywood wallas recently when she flew back from Mumbai disclosing that she is acting in Mahesh Bhatt’s movie, Nazar Ke Saamne. Clad in a flaming red sari, Meera looked radiant (and also quite Indian), as she made a surprise public appearance at a music album launch.
Mumbai has taken time warming up to the dusky damsel, perhaps because they have quite a few of their own. According to an industry insider, Meera had certain problems initially with regard to her character in the …

A leading Pakistani actress, who makes her Bollywood debut this week, wants Islamabad to lift a 40-year ban on Hindi language films to give a boost to warming ties between arch-rivals India and Pakistan.
Meera, who has starred in more than 30 Urdu language films, told Reuters on Wednesday she could work in Bollywood only because of the improved diplomatic relations between the two countries in the past one year.

Ali Azmat was all set to act in Mahesh Bhatt’s Rog last year, but the Indian government denied him a visa. When asked why, Azmat calmly shrugs and says with a devious smile, ‘‘I don’t know why—there’s no because.’’ Maybe that’s why he doesn’t care much about acting these days. Currently in the city to promote his first solo album, Social Circus, the shiny-headed, irreverent and utterly candid former lead singer of Junoon says he actually quit acting seven years ago. ‘‘I’m not going to wait around for five hours …

Yousaf Salahuddin’s Haveli oozes cultural magnificence on this cold wintry evening. An unassuming façade, which could easily be missed from the road, opens into a wonderland of history and tradition. Cradled in the glory of the brilliantly lit-up Fort, it basks in the wonders of two worlds: the traditional, which encourages the use of old oil lamps in a power breakdown as opposed to a generator and the modern, which inspires him to build a comfortable living area in his bedroom and bathroom both. His rooftop springs color for Basant …

Renowned fashion designer Moazzam Abbasi, a die-hard fan of Parveen Babi pays a tribute to Bollywood’s all time favourite diva.
They blackballed and clapper clawed her. Hissing and hooting. Disparaging and damnatory.. A thousand deaths, that made her die. Helplessly, the more she tried to vivificate, the tighter they shut the grave on her, making her dance on shooting needles, to bury her alive. Mocking her controversial existence, her pravity, her depravity… Frowning faces that spat fire on her morality, smirking at her cloven foot. They kicked her harder when she …