Holly to Bolly: Ben Stiller talks about his cancer battle, Aamir Khan wraps latest film, and more

AFP photo

Courtesy Nike

Julie Vrabelova

Courtesy Disney

Courtesy London Indian Film Festival

Ben Stiller talks about his cancer battle

Actor and director Ben Stiller has revealed he suffered from prostate cancer two years ago, and that early screening saved his life. The Zoolander star, 50, was diagnosed in June 2014 and he was declared cancer free three months after undergoing surgery. "So, I had cancer a couple of years ago and I wanted to talk about it. And the test that saved my life," Stiller tweeted linking to an essay on website Medium.com about his experience. He described the three months between his diagnosis and treatment as "a crazy rollercoaster ride with which about 180,000 men a year in America can identify". Stiller said he felt lucky that he had taken an early blood test called the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test. "Taking the PSA test saved my life," wrote Stiller. "Literally. That's why I'm writing this now." - Reuters

Aamir Khan latest film Secret Superstar wraps up

Bollywood actor Aamir Khan, known for experimenting with widely differing looks in each film, has wrapped up shooting for his latest film Secret Superstar. The 51-year-old superstar sports a sleek hairstyle and trimmed beard in the film. Secret Superstar, sees the directorial debut of Khan's former manager Advait Chandan. Khan will be seen in a special role as the mentor of an aspiring singer in the film. He started shooting scenes for the film as recently as September and wrapped it up with breakneck speed this week. Khan will next be seen in sports biopic Dangal this December. — Sonali Kokran

Self-lacing Nike trainers up for grabs

Sports giant Nike are giving away the first batch of self-lacing trainers that were made famous in the Back to the Future II movie from 1989. ESPN reports that Nike announced that only 89 pairs will be available through an online draw that began this week. Entries to the raffle are $10 each, with the proceeds going to the Michael J Fox Foundation to help fight for a cure to Parkinson's disease. Four additional pairs will be auctioned off in Hong Kong, London and New York during the next five weeks. Winners of the raffle will be informed on October 17. — The National staff

Intense tennis rivalry to hit big screens

A new film has been made about tennis rivals Bjorn Borg, from Sweden, and John McEnroe, from the United States. Borg/McEnroe stars Swedish actor Sverrir Gudnason as Borg and American star Shia LaBeouf as McEnroe and traces the rivalry between the two tennis players in the 1980 Wimbledon final, which is considered one of the best tennis matches ever played. It was their different styles of playing tennis as well as their temperament that made their rivalry more intense in the eyes of spectators. The film is currently being filmed in Sweden and is scheduled to be released after next summer. — Reuters

Disney announces Mulan release date

The live action version of Disney's Mulan has a release date of November 2, 2018. E! Online reports that after the project was announced in March last year, Disney launched a global search for a Chinese actress to play the lead role. Although no director has yet been announced, the movie is being fast-tracked. — The National staff

Litigation postpones Hindi film release date

Indian Hindi film 31st October starring Soha Ali Khan and Vir Das-starrer has run into legal trouble. A petition has been filed in the Delhi High Court to stop the film's release, claiming it is "an attack on the secular fabric of India and is contrary to the ideology of the country's oldest political party". The film is about the 1984 riots that happened in the aftermath of the assassination of former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi. While the petition does not explicitly name Gandhi, it claims "the action and words used by the characters are of offending nature" and seek to tarnish the reputation of political figures and are provocative in nature. The public interest litigation is aimed towards pressurising the filmmakers to delete several scenes, which has caused the film's release to be postponed to October 20. — Sonali Kokran