Jackie Chan is headed to Jodhpur, India, to film what is believed to be the most expensive leg in the Kung Fu Yoga production schedule. AFP PHOTO / JOHANNES EISELE
Jackie Chan is headed to Jodhpur, India, to film what is believed to be the most expensive leg in the Kung Fu Yoga production schedule. AFP PHOTO / JOHANNES EISELE

Holly to bolly: Jackie Chan to fly to India to film Kung Fu Yoga

Also, pic of baby Leo goes viral; first look of MS Dhoni biopic released; Jagga Jasoos resumes shooting; Hrithik to play Rambo in Hindi remake of Hollywood classic.

Sonali Kokra

10 March, 2016

International action star Jackie Chan is all set to fly to Jodhpur, India for the last schedule of his upcoming action-mystery-adventure drama Kung Fu Yoga. Chan will be shooting a Bollywood style dance number in a bright red kurta, green mojris and a dhol slung around his neck with his Indian co-stars Disha Patani and Amyra Dastur, reported The Mumbai Mirror. Kung Fu Yoga is the story of an archaeology professor whose search for a lost Indian treasure takes him around the world, before concluding in India. Actor Sonu Sood will play Randall, one of the many interesting characters the professor meets, who has a claim to the treasure. A portion of the movie will be shot in one more location in India, which is being kept a secret. The multilingual, Indo-Chinese production, directed by Stanley Tong, has been shot across Beijing, Dubai and Iceland, but the Indian schedule is expected to be the most expensive.

Pic of baby Leo goes viral

A 1976 baby photo of actor Leonardo DiCaprio with his parents, shared by the Facebook page of History in Pictures to celebrate the actor’s Oscar win, has gone viral and garnered a lot of attention for a very strange reason – the visible hair growth on his mother’s underarm. The photo, in which toddler Leo is seen sitting on his parents’ shoulders, has been shared almost 14,000 times, generated 8,000 comments and garnered over a 100,000 reactions on Facebook, since it was posted on March 1.

First look of MS Dhoni: The Untold Story

Fox Star Studios, the producers of M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story, have released the first look and poster of the biopic on the Indian cricket captain's life. The poster shows Sushant Singh Rajput, who portrays Dhoni's character in the film, on a bench at a platform in a train station, staring moodily at passenger train. A fitting location, considering Dhoni worked as a railway ticket collector in West Bengal before his cricketing career took off. The film, directed by Neeraj Pandey, also stars Kiara Advani and Disha Patani in leading roles as Dhoni's wife and a love interest, respectively, and will be released on September 1 in the UAE.

Katrina and Ranbir ‘reunite’ for Jagga Jasoos filming

The future of Anurag Basu's Jagga Jasoos has been uncertain ever since news of lead pair and real-life couple, Katrina Kaif and Ranbir Kapoor's break-up became public. Shooting is finally back on track now:the Indian Express published a photo in which the two are seen on set with director Ayan Mukherjee. According to an earlier report in Mumbai Mirror, Ranbir Kapoor had gone back to work solo on February 8, while Katrina Kaif resumed shooting on February 12, with two bouncers posted at the gates to keep prying cameras at bay. Jagga Jasoos is due out in the UAE on June 2.

Hrithik Roshan takes on title role in Bollywood’s Rambo remake

Hrithik Roshan will be playing Sylvester Stallone's iconic character as a Vietnam War hero in the Hindi remake of cult classic Rambo, according to a report on NDTV.com yesterday. Siddharth Anand, who directed Roshan in Bang Bang!, the 2014 Hindi remake of Tom Cruise-starrer Knight and Day, bought the rights to Rambo a couple of years ago. The Rambo franchise consists of four movies and is based on David Morrell's novel First Blood.

artslife@thenational.ae

More on this story
The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat

Kill

Director: Nikhil Nagesh Bhat

Starring: Lakshya, Tanya Maniktala, Ashish Vidyarthi, Harsh Chhaya, Raghav Juyal

Rating: 4.5/5

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”