‘I wish I worked with Ritu da’
Elated at having worked with a talented cast and crew in her first Bengali film Nirbaak, former Miss Universe and actress Sushmita Sen said actors in the Hindi film industry are spoilt. She “regrets” missing the opportunity to work with national award-winning film-maker Rituparno Ghosh. “This will remain a regret. Ritu da, before he passed away, was discussing a film. He was coming to Mumbai quite often. That was the film I would have done. But he left us before that happened and I will regret that,” she said. The actress said that Ghosh was an honest person and film-maker. “As a human being and director, he was honest. He was my kind of a person,” Sushmita said.
Amitabh Bachchan is planning to create a website dedicated to his late father, poet Harivansh Rai Bachchan, which will have comprehensive facts about the literary personality. The 72-year-old actor appealed to his fans to share with him all the information they have about the noted poet, including pictures. “I wish to put up a comprehensive website, giving correct information because many sites carry his name but incorrect information. I am collecting any information, details, snippets (sic),” he tweeted.
Salma Hayek has received the 2015 Khalil Gibran Spirit of Humanity award from the Arab American Institute. Hayek was recognised in the Individual Achievement category for her role as producer of the animated film The Prophet, inspired by Khalil Gibran’s book. “I'm a citizen of the world, and my country is humanity, kids are poets from the moment they're born; they get Gibran's message without thinking about the meaning of individual words,” Hayek said during the award ceremony.
A campaign to end child hunger
About 16 million American children battle hunger, unsure where their next meal will come from, actress Scarlett Johansson says, calling for an end to hunger in the country. The 30-year-old actress also drew on her own experiences to raise awareness about an issue that is often swept under the carpet in the US. “My family grew up relying on public assistance to help provide meals for our family,” femalefirst.co.uk quoted her as saying.
“Child hunger in America is a real and often overlooked problem but we can fix the problem together. There are 16 million children struggling with hunger in America. That's one in five daughters, sons, neighbours and classmates who don't know where their next meal is coming from, yet billions of pounds of good food go to waste every year. It's time we do something about it,” Johansson added.