New Woody Allen film to open Cannes film festival

Ravindranath K / The National

AFP

AFP

Courtesy Twentieth Century Fox

Courtesy TOIFA

The Cannes film festival will kick off with a screening of Woody Allen's film Cafe Society. It will be the third time a movie by the American writer and director has opened the event – Hollywood Ending was the opening film in 2002 and Midnight in Paris in 2011. Cafe Society, which stars The Social Network and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice actor Jesse Eisenberg and Twilight star Kristen Stewart, will screen out of competition on May 11. The film tells the story of a young man who arrives in Hollywood in the 1930s hoping to work in the film industry, falls in love and finds himself swept up in the cafe society that defined the spirit of the age. The 69th Cannes film festival runs from May 11 to 22. Mad Max director George Miller will head the competition jury. – Reuters

National Film Awards of India winners announced

The list of the National Film Awards of India have been announced and it was a good news for Bollywood. Amitabh Bachchan and Kangana Ranaut bagged the awards for the best actor and actress for Piku and Tanu Weds Manu. The writers of those films, Juhi Chaturvedi (Piku) and Himanshu Sharma (Tanu Weds Manu) also shared the Best Screenplay and Best Screenplay Writer (Original). The magnum opus Baahubali won the Best Feature Film award, while the Salman Khan-starrer Bajrangi Bhaijaan bagged the Best Popular Film honour. Bajirao Mastani claimed three awards: Sanjay Leela Bhansali for Best Director, Tanve Azmi for Best Supporting Actress and Remo D'Souza for Best Choreography. Other winning Bollywood films included Talvar, Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Margarita With A Straw and Masaan. The winners are selected by a jury set up by the Information & Broadcasting Ministry of India and the awards will be presented during a ceremony on May 3. – Sonali Kokra

Trolls target cricketer’s ex on social media

After India’s spectacular wins at the T20 World Cup’s qualifying matches against Pakistan, Bangladesh and Australia, thanks to Virat Kohli’s stellar performance on field, fans of the game took to Twitter to troll actress Anushka Sharma, Kohli’s ex, for breaking up with him, which helped him focus and win the match. On Monday, March 28, a day after India qualified for the semi finals, the social-networking site was flooded with memes and jokes targeting the 27-year-old star. While Sharma chose to ignore the trolls, Kohli took on the haters by tweeting that they should be ashamed for going after a woman who had only given him positivity. His tweet was much appreciated by the women on Twitter and was retweeted almost 34,000 times. – Sonali Kokra

Statement over Arora-Khan marriage sparks controversy

Malaika Arora and her husband Arbaaz Khan have been in the news for the last couple of months due to persistent rumours about an impending divorce. The couple have now released a joint statement admitting that while they are separated, they are simply taking time off to figure out their lives. But Mumbai Mirror reported a friend as saying that the statement had been released by Khan, 48, without consulting Arora, 42, and that she has made up her mind and has been consulting divorce lawyer Vandana Shah for the past month. The pair have been married for 18 years and have a 13-year-old son. – Sonali Kokra

Deadpool becomes highest-grossing R-rated movie

Tim Miller's superhero film Deadpool, starring Ryan Reynolds, has raked in more than $745million worldwide, passing 2003's The Matrix Reloaded to become the highest-grossing R-rated movie in box-office history. The film, a spin-off from the X-Men movies, tells the story of Wade Wilson (Reynolds), who hunts the man who gave him an accelerated healing factor but scarred him for life. In North America, Deadpool has taken $349.4 million, and is likely to surpass American Sniper ($350.1 million) to take second place on the domestic list of highest-grossing R-rated movies, reports ew.com. Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ is at number one with a box office of $370.8 million. Deadpool shattered expectations when it opened in February to $132.4 million over three days and $152.2 million over the four-day Presidents' Day weekend. Not only did that earn the film the biggest R-rated opening of all time, becoming the first R movie to pass $100 million in its opening weekend, but Deadpool had the biggest February opening in box office history. – IANS

Salman Khan welcomes dad to Twitter

Bollywood star Salman Khan has welcomed his actor-scriptwriter father Salim Khan on Twitter. The 80-year-old made his debut on the microblogging website with the @luvsalimkhan handle on Tuesday. Salman tweeted on his father's debut on social media: "Love you dad, welcome to twitter @luvsalimkhan (Salim Khan)." Salim Khan's first three tweets were about veteran writer and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's statement on Bharat Mata Ki Jai. "Mohan Bhagwat has said we have to create an India so great that people will themselves say Bharat Mata Ki Jai. Salaam Bhagwat Saab! Lot of people say with pride that they haven't changed. That means they are not growing." "Change is growth. Bharat Mata Ki Jai. -Luv, Salim Khan," read the veteran writer's first few tweets, which were also shared by Salman. On the work front, Salman is shooting Sultan, directed by Ali Abbas Zafar. It also stars actress Anushka Sharma. The film will feature Salman in the role of a wrestler, and he has also gained weight for his character. Even Anushka has undergone rigorous training for six weeks for her role as a wrestler in the movie. – IANS