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Hindustan Times
30-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Aamir Khan apologises for lying about Sitaare Zameen Par's YouTube release; defends his stance on pay-per-view vs OTT
On Tuesday, Aamir Khan held a press conference in Mumbai to confirm what has long been rumoured: that his recent release, Sitaare Zameen Par, will skip OTT release and be released directly on YouTube. The actor apologised for lying about it for weeks while promoting the film during its theatrical release on 20 June and defended his stance on pay-per-view vs subscription models. (Also Read: Sitaare Zameen Par skips OTT release, Aamir Khan film to stream directly on YouTube for this amount) Bollywood actor Aamir Khan during the announcement of the release of his film Sitaare Zameen Par on YouTube in Mumbai.(PTI) Aamir Khan apologises for lying about digital release At the press conference, Aamir was asked if he knew Sitaare Zameen Par would be released on YouTube after its theatrical run and if he had lied to everyone. He admitted to doing so and said, 'I fold my hands and apologise because I lied when I said Sitaare Zameen Par wouldn't be released on YouTube. I did it because I had no other choice. I had to protect the film's theatrical business. I am very loyal to theatres, my life began with cinema. So, I have always strived to protect the theatrical business of my films. Still, I apologise because I had to lie. Otherwise, my dreams for this film would've ended there.' Defends his stance on pay-per-view vs OTT Aamir then spoke of how he still believes that films releasing on OTT platforms 8 weeks after their theatrical release didn't fare well for the film industry. 'There is a great difference between the pay-per-view model and the subscription model. When I release a film after 8 weeks on a subscription model, people aren't buying my film. They're only subscribing to the OTT platform. It wouldn't matter if someone wants to watch it or doesn't by then. I don't want ₹125 crore from a big company, I want ₹100 from my audience. I believe the subscription model is only causing us harm,' said the actor. After the press conference, the actor-producer also addressed the paparazzi and said, 'The OTT platforms are mostly interested in buying films featuring big stars. Where does everyone else go?' while discussing his plans for pay-per-view. Before the film was released in theatres, Aamir had claimed that it would not be available on any platform for at least six months. Sitaare Zameen Par will be released on YouTube on 1 August, six weeks after its theatrical release, and will be available to watch for ₹100. He plans to release every film he has made under the Aamir Khan Productions banner on YouTube, including the films Lagaan (2001), Taare Zameen Par (2007), and Peepli Live (2010). His father, late filmmaker Tahir Hussain's films, will also be uploaded to the platform.
New Indian Express
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
20 years of Delhi's Dastangoi Collective so it has to be a Dastan-ival!
It is said you have conceived the modern format of the dastangoi art form, what does that mean in terms of content and presentation? When I revived the form under the guidance of the great late Shamsur Rahman Faruqi none of us had ever seen a dastangoi performance. My innovation was, I thought, of having two people perform together. With Anusha's help [partner, writer and Peepli Live director Anusha Rizvi] and with my intuitive theatre training, we devised the modern form and presentation style as a combination of the traditional and the modern. We had a takht, katoras to drink from, Anusha devised the costumes, I insisted on a certain style of pajamas and topis. We used lights, sound, stage decorum, which made this much closer to a modern stage show, and thereby modern dastangoi was born as something that was akin to theatre, but also much more than that. Why did you think dastangoi would work in Delhi--there was already theatre present in various forms 20 years ago? Which story did you start with? When I read the traditional stories of Dastan-e-Amir hamza, I was flabbergasted at their plot turns, use of language, poetry and their uninhibited, unfettered imagination. They were the most outstanding thing I had ever come across in Indian literature and performance. So, I knew they would work. The first show was at the IIC in Delhi on May 4, 2005. Why has the story of the tilism (magical world) of Hoshruba become one of the foremost fantasy tales of Urdu and can one understand it if one doesn't know Urdu? Yes, Tilism-e-Hoshruba, the most famous chapter of the traditional Dastan-e-Amir Hamza [supposedly an uncle of the Prophet Mohammed], which is itself in eight volumes or over 8,000 pages, is in many ways the crowning glory not just of Urdu but also Indian literature and performance. It is full of wit, playfulness, literary flourishes, inventiveness and fantasy, and has several different rasas in it, as exhorted by the Natyashastra. It speaks wonderfully to non-Urdu speakers, too. In the Partition dastan, you liberally take material from Krishan Chander, Rahi Masoom Raza, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Amrita Pritam, Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali's Zamindar, Intizar Hussain, et al. Is dastangoi copyright-agnostic, or is this part of the dastan tradition? There is no stealing in paying homage. We draw upon poetry but not stories, we allude to those great works and adapt them and synergise them to our narration. All the readings I have done in my life, all the history I have studied at Delhi, Oxford, Cambridge, gets poured into the Dastan's research to re-direct the material and deploy it to new uses. Vazira's Zamindar book, for instance, has not sold as many copies as the number of people it may have reached via our Dastans. Dastangoi takes knowledge out of books, libraries and universities and puts it into the popular realm. In these 20 years, which dastan performance has been your most difficult, or that's given the audience most pleasure? Dastan-e-Karan from the Mahabharata. I put my life into it every time I do it. It has also earned a great response, and why not, it is after all the Mahabharata.
New Indian Express
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Outsider by choice
The exercise, he says, was one of unlearning. 'To pretend to not know acting—when it's what I've done my entire life—is to go against my own instincts. And to do that without looking fake, to make the audience believe I was someone unequipped with technique, required a very different approach. I had to believe it myself first.' For Siddiqui, belief is the cornerstone of craft. 'You have to believe that this world you're in is real. In this case, I had to believe I was someone who had never acted before. That belief had to come before anything else.' Despite his success, Siddiqui remains deeply connected to the uncertainties that marked his early years. An alumnus of the National School of Drama, he began with minor, often overlooked roles in films like Sarfarosh and Munna Bhai MBBS. Recognition came gradually—first through Anurag Kashyap's Black Friday and then more substantially with Peepli Live and Gangs of Wasseypur, the latter making him a definitive voice in the new wave of Hindi cinema. Over the past decade, he has earned both acclaim and audience admiration for roles in Manto, Photograph, and the acclaimed Netflix series Sacred Games. Yet, for all his achievements, Siddiqui does not romanticise the industry. If anything, he is one of its most vocal critics. He speaks of a troubling creative stagnation, calling it a kind of 'creatocracy', a system where commerce replaces originality and comfort overrides experimentation. His concerns are not unfounded. 'We've normalised lifting—from songs to scripts, from international cinema to the Southern film industries. Even some so-called cult films are nothing more than polished remakes. Where is the originality in that?' He also points to the increasing reliance on marketing gimmicks and manipulated success metrics. 'You can inflate numbers, buy good reviews, and even book your own shows to make a film seem like a hit. But you can't sustain it. The audience is too intelligent now. They know the difference between what's being sold and what's being felt,' he adds.
Time of India
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Kritika Kamra wraps up shoot in Delhi
After completing her work on Matka King , actor has wrapped up filming her next project — a female-led dramedy helmed by Peepli Live director Anusha Rizvi. Shot entirely in Delhi, the film features an ensemble cast that includes , Juhi Babbar, and alongside Kamra in the lead role. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The untitled film marks a significant milestone in Kamra's career as she headlines a story driven by a predominantly female cast and infused with sharp humor. 'Shooting in Delhi brought an authenticity to the film that would have been hard to replicate elsewhere. Kritika, Juhi, and Shreya brought incredible energy to the set, and Anusha's vision for this project is both bold and refreshing,' said a source close to the production. With filming now complete, the project has moved into post-production and is expected to announce its release details soon.
Khaleej Times
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Khaleej Times
Kiran Rao to join jury of 27th Shanghai Film Festival
Indian filmmaker Kiran Rao will join the international jury at the upcoming 27th Shanghai International Film Festival, which commences on June 13. Rao said it was an honour to be part of a festival that champions international cinema and storytelling. "I look forward to experiencing the wide range of voices and perspectives on screen, and to engaging with my fellow jurors from around the world," she said in a statement. Rao will join a distinguished panel of global cinema voices led by Italian director and screenwriter Giuseppe Tornatore, best known for the Oscar-winning Cinema Paradiso. The jury includes a diverse lineup of celebrated film professionals: Argentine filmmaker Ivan Fund; Chinese actor and director Huang Bo; Greek producer Thanassis Karathanos; Chinese director and documentary filmmaker Yang Lina; and acclaimed Chinese actress Yong Mei. Rao's last directorial Laapataa Ladies won many hearts and awards, and is now streaming on Netflix. The Peepli Live producer recently reflected on the thought process behind its making and said she was aware of the "realistic limitations" of the film as it had a minimal budget and no big star. Yet, she believed in its content and trusted her team. "It was for me an incredible time to see that a film that, you know, like you said, had no known faces could do so well with word of mouth, which purely because people were, you know, telling each other to go and see it," she had said. Laapataa Ladies is a story set in 2001 in rural India about two young brides who get separated during a train journey and a police officer probes the missing case. It features Nitanshi Goel, Pratibha Ranta, Sparsh Shrivastava, Chhaya Kadam, and Ravi Kishan in key roles.
