Beyoncé and Jay-Z attend Trayvon Martin rally

Plus: SRK confirms song with Honey Singh; Superman returning – this time with Batman; British comedian Mel Smith dies; Mehra says moviegoers' tastes are evolving.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z attended a Trayvon Martin rally in New York City on Saturday. Rallies took place in more than 100 cities across the US to protest the shooting of the 17-year-old by George Zimmerman, who was acquitted last week. The TV host Al Sharpton told the crowd: "Jay-Z and Beyoncé said they didn't want to speak and they didn't come for a photo op. Jay-Z told me: 'I'm a father. Beyoncé is a mother.'" On July 14, the day Zimmerman's non-guilty verdict came down, Beyoncé asked for a moment of silence at her concert that evening, after which she sang the chorus of I Will Always Love You. – IANS

2. SRK confirms song with Honey Singh

Shah Rukh Khan has confirmed his collaboration with the rapper Honey Singh – on a song titled Thalaivar Tribute – but denied rumours that it's a track for his latest film Chennai Express. The song, he says, is a tribute to the 62-year-old veteran actor Rajinikanth. "Who isn't a fan of The Rajinikanth?" Khan told reporters. "I had met Honey Singh five days back and he made me hear the song. I found it very apt for Rajini sir and wanted to be a part of it as a fan of one of the greatest actors we have." Composed and sung by Honey Singh, the track also features Deepika Padukone, Khan's co-star in Chennai Express. "Deepika, on my request, happily agreed to be a part of the song because even she is a huge fan of Rajini sir," said the actor. Chennai Express, an action comedy directed by Rohit Shetty, is scheduled for release in UAE cinemas on August 8. – IANS

3. Superman returning – this time with Batman

The Man of Steel director Zack Snyder made a surprise appearance at Comic-Con in San Diego on Saturday to announce he is making another Superman film and it will include Batman – the first time the two superheroes will be united on the big screen. He declined to reveal many details, saying the script is just being written. Snyder reimagined Superman in his June blockbuster Man of Steel, starring Henry Cavill and Amy Adams. Cavill and Adams will appear in the sequel, he said. The film is expected to be released in the summer of 2015.– AP

4. British comedian Mel Smith dies

The British comedian Mel Smith, who became a household name in Britain for a series of television sketch shows in the 1970s and 1980s which colleagues said had inspired a generation of comics, has died of a heart attack. Smith, who died on Friday at age 60, found fame starring in Not The Nine O'clock News and Alas Smith and Jones and went on to direct the films Bean and The Tall Guy. "To everybody who ever met him, Mel was a force for life. He was a gentleman and a scholar, a gambler and a wit," said Griff Rhys Jones, his comedy partner in his best-known TV shows. Together, they formed Talkback, a production house that spawned many hit British comedies including the Ali G series, which gave Sacha Baron Cohen his first big break. – Reuters

5. Mehra: moviegoers’ tastes are evolving

The director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra believes that the popularity of his latest film Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is a sign of demographic changes in India. The film, which features Farhan Akhtar in the lead, is a biopic of the former athlete Milkha Singh, the only Indian man to ever win athletics gold at the Commonwealth Games. "It's a great sign that the audience's taste is changing and it is evolving. It's the country which is changing and that is reflecting in our movies today," Mehra told reporters. "It's a happy sign, it gives us more latitude now to break the glass ceiling." – IANS

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