Introducing the film to the audience at the iconic Roy Thomson Hall, Anurag said he could do this film only because "I was allowed to do what I wanted to do".
Anurag, who has almost become a permanent feature at TIFF as he is here every year with a film, said: "It is always great to come to TIFF... and I have maintained this. If you are a film buff, the best place to watch films and catch up on them is TIFF."
Introducing Abhishek to the audience, Anurag said: "He took a break from films for two years. I count myself lucky that he chose our script, saying that I want to come back and make a movie with this script."
As Abhishek walked to say a few words, someone shouted: "Abhishek, I love you."
Abhishek responded: "I love you too, man. We will make sure Karan makes 'Dostana'."
"Toronto has always been a very special for me. The last time I premiered my film here, I proposed to my wife. She warned me not to do any such thing after this premiere. So before I make any more mistake, Vicky it is all you..."
For his part, Vicky Kaushal had the audience in splits when he introduced himself as "husband material".
Turning to the audience, he said since nobody has seen film in India "you are the first audience to see this film".
As the audience cheered Taapsee, she said: "All the while I thought that girls would love me after the film I have done. It is my first visit to Toronto and my first-ever film festival... It is special special. Let us hope we get an opportunity to pop the champagne after the end of this one."
Through the darkness, a ray of hope emerged in the life of Aishwarya Rituparna Pradhan, the first state civil servant from transgender community, who now plans to marry her live-in partner.
In a historic verdict, the Supreme Court judgement declared Section 377 of IPC, the penal provision which criminalised gay sex, as ‘manifestly arbitrary’.
With this the Court paved the way for LGBTIQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/transsexual, intersex and queer/questioning) community stating that it was no longer an offence to engage in consensual sex between two adults in private.
Aishwarya, formerly named as Ratikanta Pradhan, is an MA in public administration and has also a post-graduate diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC). She chose a difficult path and came out successful in Odisha Public Service Commission (OPSC) conducted ‘Odisha Financial Service (OFS)’ examination in 2010.
She is currently posted as the Commercial Tax Officer (CTO) in Paradip. “My partner says only humans attract humans. And that is what attracted me the most. It’s more than two years that we are in a live-in relationship. I have a dream to have a family with my life partner. I have decided to adopt an orphan girl child after the marriage,” Aishwarya said.
After the Apex court ruling dated April 15, 2014 which recognised the transgender under the third gender category, she made up her mind to opt for third gender identity instead of male gender and this is how she turned Aishwarya from Ratikant. The Odisha government also conferred transgender identity to her through a gazette notification in 2017. “Only last year, I have been recognised officially as transgender on all official records," she said.
However, the Supreme Court is yet to stamp its seal of approval on same-sex marriage. If we look into the conditions for a Hindu marriage, Section 5(iii) of The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the bridegroom must have completed the age of 21 years and the bride should have attained the age of 18 years at the time of the marriage. Here, 'bridegroom' and 'bride' clearly mean a heterosexual marriage.
As same sex marriage is still not valid in India, Aishwarya says she is eagerly waiting for the implementation of special marriage act or a new law for LGBTIQ community.
Senior advocate Dharanidhar Nayak too stated, “The current laws contemplate marriage between people of different sexes and clearly object marriage between same sexes. If this is going to happen, a special marriage act should be implemented.”
Therefore, now, the only concern in everyone’s mind is without changes in the law and religion, how can a gay marriage be performed? And if at all, this happens, which way would Aishwarya choose?
The Goan Everyday photographed Aishwarya strolling bare foot on a beach with actor and husband Abhishek Bachchan and was wearing a white shirt and a pair of shorts. Looking at her bulging stomach, a couple of Twitter users felt Aishwarya was pregnant with her second child.
Pregnant ..? ?? https://t.co/6jV4OxJuyX
— Varun.P (@varunmanu) March 21, 2019
A social media user asked if the actress was pregnant. Another replied: "No she's not".
An excited fan tweeted: "I am also waiting Aish to having one more baby."
No she’s not https://t.co/qO9a6fVsPN
— Aishwarya Rai (@my_aishwarya) March 21, 2019
Aishwarya married Abhishek in 2007. They welcomed their first child, Aaradhya, a daughter, in 2011.
Aishwarya was last seen on screen in the 2018 film "Fanney Khan".
Aishwarya, summoned by the ED on Tuesday, appeared before the financial probe agency around 10.40 a.m and was questioned for over six hours. Shivakumar was also questioned by the agency during the afternoon.
"Aishwarya was questioned about the financial dealings of a trust, handled by her, and was also confronted with documents of the financial transaction of the trust," an ED official related to the probe told IANS.
She was also questioned about the 2017 business deal in Singapore with Coffee Day and Soul Space, and investments of several crores in her name, the official said.
The Karnataka Congress leader's daughter was questioned about her net worth, which grew from around Rs 1 crore in 2013 to over Rs 100 crore in 2018, and whether the financial transactions recorded between the father and the daughter also linked to the allegedly laundered money.
In his 2018 election affidavit, Shivakumar had declared Rs 618 crore assets and Rs 108 crore properties in the name of his daughter.
The ED arrested Shivakumar on September 3 after questioning him for over four days in connection with case. A day later, a Delhi court sent Shivakumar to the 10-day ED custody. Shivakumar was on the radar of the Income-Tax Department and the ED since demonetisation in 2016.
An Income-Tax search at his New Delhi flat on August 2, 2017 led to seizure of Rs 8.59 crore unaccounted cash. The the I-T Department lodged cases against Shivakumar and his four associates under sections 277 and 278 of the Income-Tax Act, 1961, and sections 120(B), 193 and 199 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Although the couple is happily married as of now with two children there was a time when the Ranjhanna actor’s affairs did unsettle their paradise.
Dhanush And Trisha Bonding
In 2015, Trisha and Varun Manian announced the engagement and abruptly parted ways shocking the fandom. Incidentally, what shocked the fans most was Dhanush’s alleged involvement in this separation. It is a known fact that Trisha shares a good bond with Dhanush whereas Varun does not like the actor. Even then Trisha invited Dhanush to the engagement which caused a rift between her and Varun leading to a breakup.
During the same time, many pictures of Trisha partying with Dhanush went viral that indicated that she is very close to the actor. Rumors started circulating that the two were having an affair, however, both Dhanush and Trisha never expressed their opinion on it. Rather a source close to both of them said that Trisha is equally friendly with Dhanush’s wife Aishwarya and it is highly unlikely that the two stars are having an affair.
[caption id="attachment_452783" align="aligncenter" width="750"] Image Source: Twitter[/caption]
Dhanush And Shruti Haasan Linkup-Was It Serious?
It was during the shooting of 3 that Dhanush and Shruti Haasan came closer. Aishwarya was debuting as a director with this flick and had chosen Shruti as the female lead opposite her husband. Little did she know that it can be a big blow to her marriage with Dhanush. Although the film got mixed reviews for its love story, it was the romance behind the scene that was discussed a lot in Kollywood at that time.
Dhanush walking away with an excuse of headache during a radio show with Shruti Haasan the moment Aishwarya joined them or the actor’s comments made publicly regarding his director wife were all an indication that things were not all well between the two. Rather Dhanush allegedly had started spending more time with Shruti during the promotions of the movie and the actor even avoided being seen with his wife in public.
@ash_r_dhanush @dhanushkraja @shrutihaasan @ShrutiHaasan_FC @nivihaasan #shruti and #dhanush new still so cute pair. pic.twitter.com/uL4kmgDkp9
— AJI (@AjidS6) August 26, 2014
According to reports, the matter had started going out of hand with the relationship going berserk. It is at this time that Rajinikanth and Dhanush’s family intervened and forced Dhanush and Aishwarya to stay together and give their relationship another chance. It seems things have settled between the two as they are still married and living together. Shruti, on the other hand, denied having a fling with Dhanush stating that she only shared a professional relationship with the actor.
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Importantly, Abhishek Bachchan also stays with his father along with his wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and daughter Aaradhya. Earlier both Shweta and Aishwarya had a good bonding, especially when the latter was staying in Delhi. But since Shweta has moved in with her parents, things have gone a bit sour between the two. Since she has good backing from her father, Aishwarya probably cannot do anything about it.
When during the lockdown, the whole family was up on the terrace clapping to support the frontline corona warriors Shweta was seen alongside her father whereas Aishwarya seemed a bit distant standing with her daughter beside Abhishek.
Shweta Dislikes A Few Things About Aishwarya
During one of her interviews, the daughter of the legendary actor said that Ash has a habit of not replying to messages and phone calls which she finds annoying. Shweta also complained that Aishwarya is bad at maintaining time discipline and is often late. Even Amitabh Bachchan had complained of the same in one of the episodes of Koffee With Karan.
The silent feud between Aishwarya and Shweta became clear last year when the latter shared the couch with her brother Abhishek on the last season of Karan Johar’s chat show. When asked who he is most afraid of –mom or wife, Abhishek replied that he fears his mom, of course respectfully. But Shweta immediately said that her brother is lying and that he is worried about Aishwarya’s reactions more.
Earlier Aishwarya used to accompany the Bachchans and they would attend a function as a family. But nowadays, it is Shweta who is with her parents whereas Aishwarya comes with her husband and daughter separately. The animosity between the two is quite clear although neither of the two has spoken anything much against each other in public.
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