Women should not seek approval from others: Kangana Ranaut

Independent Online/ Indian Express

A lot has changed for Kangana Ranaut in the last 10 years but the superstar, who was once mocked for her poor English speaking skills in Bollywood, says she never lost confidence in herself.

Speaking at the Women in the World Summit in London, Kangana said she encountered obstacles everywhere – be it her family or Bollywood. Kangana said she would get a lot of bashing for it but admitted “Bollywood films do objectify women, not all of them but some of them do.” 

She added that, “I don't thing we need anyone's approval for what we do… It's a lot more important for women to accept themselves as opposed to others' approval of them.”

“When I started out, they dismissed me like a nobody, but today I am who I am because my understanding of myself never changed. As women we shouldn't hope to get our due. We need to get up and get it ourselves.”

The 28-year-old actress believes most of the problems related to women stem from the fact that “feminine” and “compassion” are treated as inferior qualities.

Sridevi owes us money: Puli producers

Independent Online/IANS

Chennai: The makers of Tamil fantasy drama ‘Puli’ on Monday claimed that actress Sridevi, who played an evil queen in the film, owes them Rs.20 lakh and contrary to her reports, they don't owe her a single penny.

Sridevi had filed a complaint at the Mumbai Producer's Council that the producers of ‘Puli’ owe her Rs.50 lakh.

In a four-page statement, producers Thameens and P.T Selvakumar said they signed the veteran actress out of respect and agreed to pay Rs.2.7 crore as her salary along with Rs.30 lakh as service tax.

‘We were paying her as per the agreement she had signed at the beginning of the film. However, in the final stages of production, Sridevi's husband Boney Kapoor asked us to pay her extra as we were planning to release the film in other languages too,’ read the statement.

The statement said Boney Kapoor told the filmmakers that Sridevi would only come to the shoot if she was paid extra.

‘After much deliberation, we decided to pay her 20 percent of the film's Hindi satellite rights, which was Rs.55 lakh, and Rs.15 lakh for the dubbed Telugu version,’ the statement added.

It was at the behest of Boney Kapoor, who convinced them that Sridevi has very good market in Hindi, that the makers decided to release the film in Hindi.

‘We had hired three costume designers for 'Puli', but Sridevi insisted that we sign Manish Malhotra, and we paid him Rs.50 lakh. She also convinced us to pay Rs.8 lakh for the marketing designer for the film's Hindi version,’ read the statement.

The makers said they spent crores just for the sake of Sridevi. Despite doing so much, she didn't even come for the film's audio launch.

‘She owes us money,’ the statement concluded.

‘Puli’, directed by Chimbu Deven, stars Vijay, Shruti Haasan and Hansika Motwani in the lead roles.

Priyanka, Hrithik have the best bodies: Sunny Leone

Independent Online/IANS

Mumbai: After moving from porn industry to Bollywood, sensual star Sunny Leone, who now has stepped in healthy lifestyle with the launch of her workout DVD, says Priyanka Chopra and Hrithik Roshan have the best bodies in the Indian film industry.

‘Priyanka has a very well-shaped body. I wish I had body like her,’ Sunny, smoking hot in a blue one-sleeved ensemble, said at the launch of ‘Super-Hot Sunny Mornings’ on Sunday.  

Among males, Hrithik Roshan has the perfect sculpted body, she said. ‘We live in a world where most actors and actresses want to be fit, want to look good on the camera, and that requires working out,’ said Sunny.

The DVD features the actress doing a number of workout sessions; mostly basic workouts without any gym equipment that will help to get that healthy and toned body. But she also mentioned those workouts are the ‘toughest ones’.

Asked about controversies including Rakhi Sawants call for her to be banned from India to a politicians statement that her condom advertisement will give rise to more rapes, the ‘Jism 2’ actress says she prefers to see the brighter side of life.  

‘I am happy right now as you can see. When people say mean things about you, punch you, and push you and if you fall down, you have to get up and come back with a smile on your face.’

She looked happier while talking about her upcoming sex comedy ‘Mastizaade’, which is cleared for release. Apart from Sunny in a dual role, the film stars Tushar Kapoor and Vir Das in lead roles with Shaad Randhawa, Suresh Menon and Vivek Vaswani in supporting roles while Ritesh Deshmukh will appear in a cameo.