A trailer has revealed Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange), Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort), Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy), Gary Oldman (Sirius Black), Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), James Phelps (Fred Weasley), Oliver Phelps (George Weasley), Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley), Alfred Enoch (Dean Thomas), and Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) are also set to appear, alongside “many more”.
Indian filmmaker gets death threat from RSS for her movie ‘Kali’ poster
Toronto, September 13 (KMS): Indian writer, poet and filmmaker Leena Manimekalai, based in Toronto, Canada, has said that she received death threats from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) regarding the poster of her latest film ‘Kaali’.
The poster shows a woman dressed as the Hindu goddess Kali smoking a cigarette.
Leena took to her Twitter handle and posted a picture of a letter that is reportedly being circulated by the RSS.
“RSS is circulating this death threat in Toronto. Someone from Etobicoke has sent me this image @TorontoPolice“, Leena Manimekalai Tweeted.
The filmmaker also tagged the Toronto police in the post.
“Her (Leena Manimekalai) abhorant attitude has defamed the Hindutva ideology,” said the letter in question. It also stated further that Leena won’t be allowed to move freely in India.
The letter also states that Leena’s family will have to face the consequences due to her actions.
What kind of king will Charles be?
Charles, the longest-serving heir to the throne in British history, is now King. His apprenticeship as heir, lasting 70 years, has made him the best-prepared and oldest new monarch ever to take to the throne.
Late RSS leader included in board members’ list released by union govt for rubber board
P Shankaranunni, an RSS leader, died in August 2021. His name was included in the list of board members released by the central government on June 30, 2022.
Bombs hurled at RSS office in Kerala | Cities News
The incident occurred around 1.00 AM, police said.
The number of attackers is not yet known and CCTV footage of the area was being examined to ascertain the same, they said.
An FIR under relevant provisions of the Explosives Act has been registered and the investigation was going on to trace the culprits.
It also said that RSS has accused CPI(M) workers of carrying out the attack.
According to CCTV visuals of the attack several explosions could be seen within the boundary wall of the RSS office with many of its windows damaged in the incident.
The attack comes days after a bomb was hurled at the wall of CPI(M)’s state headquarters, AKG Centre, on the night of June 30 and the attacker in that case is yet to be identified by police.
Secrets of Dumbledore is a box office disaster, does Fantastic Beasts franchise have a future?
This is a movie set in the same world as the cultural phenomenon and box office behemoth that was the Harry Potter series. It also shares the creative team. David Yates is at the helm of the franchise, just like he was with the last three Potter films. But for some reason, the franchise continues to be a case of diminishing returns.
At a budget of $200 million, Secrets of Dumbledore will have to earn around $800 million if it is to recover its budget, let alone earn profit. The film needs a miraculous recovery at the box office, driven by a never-before-seen section of fans to drive its business with positive word-of-mouth, who are now disillusioned with the franchise.
That, needless to say, is unlikely.
What is Fantastic Beasts?
The franchise is named after Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a book that is both real and fictional. Written by Magizoologist (a wizard or witch who studies magical creatures) Newt Scamander, it was also written by and released as an actual book by Rowling.
Played by Eddie Redmayne in the movie, the Hogwarts alumnus and Englishman Newt is extremely likable as a dorky but talented wizard. We find him in New York in the first film, ostensibly to release a trafficked thunderbird to its home in Arizona, but it is revealed in the sequel that he was sent there by Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law essaying the younger version of future headmaster of Hogwarts) to keep an eye out for Gellert Grindelwald, the supervillain of the franchise and the most powerful dark lord in history until Voldemort outdid him.
The subsequent films and the franchise as a whole is leading up to the titanic duel between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, who is his former lover. The face-off will establish Dumbledore as the greatest wizard of his age.
So why is the franchise a failure?
The first film, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, promised a return to the Wizarding World and was pretty well-made and received positive reviews (74 per cent on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes) and was a commercial success ($814 million worldwide box office).
But the follow-up, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, was summarily panned by critics (36 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes) and was also a box office failure ($654.85 million). And now, Secrets of Dumbledore, though better received than Crimes of Grindelwald is likely going to be an even bigger disaster.
Jude Law and Eddie Redmayne in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. (Photo: Warner Bros)
The franchise, some might say, has been doomed from the beginning. Harry Potter films worked because writers and directors had thousands of pages of source material at their disposal in the form of JK Rowling’s books. Fantastic Beasts, on the other had, did not have any concrete foundation from which to launch a franchise.
And the preliminary decision to divide the franchise into five parts, on the basis of outlines (perhaps) did not inspire a lot of confidence. The whole franchise smacked of cash grab by Warner Bros and Rowling, of trying to capitalise on the popularity of Harry Potter. The first movie was a success and the franchise should have gained popularity with future instalments. But Crimes of Grindelwald turned out to be a total mess with a plot that was at once too complicated and too simplistic. The film was overstuffed and overlong, and did not have many of those wow moments that peppered Potter movies.
It did not help that fans were not too happy about Johnny Depp, who essayed the supervillain of the film Grindelwald, being part of the cast. Depp had been accused of domestic violence by his ex-wife Amber Heard, and had become something of a pariah in Hollywood. But Warner Bros stuck with Depp, at least until he lost his libel case against UK tabloid The Sun that had called him a “wife-beater.”
But all hell broke loose when Rowling came under fire for her alleged transphobic tweets and statements. Her contention is that there should be a distinction between biological females and trans women, and that there are only two sex, as opposed to gender, which can be multiple.
She has angered transgenders, activists and their allies, many of whom have began re-evaluating the diversity quotient in her books. Once, she quote-tweeted an article whose headline read, ‘Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate.’ She joked, “People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”
Not only her fans, but even stars of Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts films sent messages in solidarity for trans community, insinuating that they did not support Rowling’s comments. Emma Watson, Hermione Granger of Harry Potter series, tweeted, “Trans people are who they say they are and deserve to live their lives without being constantly questioned or told they aren’t who they say they are.”
Eddie Redmayne, who plays the lead role of Newt Scamander in the Fantastic Beasts film series that falls under Rowling’s Wizarding World franchise, told Variety, “Respect for transgender people remains a cultural imperative, and over the years I have been trying to constantly educate myself. This is an ongoing process. As someone who has worked with both J.K. Rowling and members of the trans community, I wanted to make it absolutely clear where I stand. I disagree with Jo’s comments. Trans women are women, trans men are men and non-binary identities are valid.”
Can Fantastic Beasts recover?
The short answer is yes, but Rowling should probably remove herself as a screenwriter. I earlier said that Fantastic Beasts appeared to be a cash grab when it was announced, and it is true. But cash grabs have worked before. The Lego Movie, released in 2014, was the very definition of a corporate product, but its stellar creative team (Phil Lord and Chris Miller) made sure that the movie did not only justify its existence, it also proved that no matter what the subject matter is, great writers can always do wonders with it.
Rowling is certainly one of the greatest fantasists, of her age, the modern Enid Blyton, but as should be clear by now, she is not a good screenwriter. This is why Steve Cloves, who basically scripted the entire Harry Potter series, was invited to assist her with Secrets of Dumbledore. But even that was not enough. Perhaps Cloves should take up sold credit in future instalments — if, and this is a big if, the franchise has a future.
Gyanvapi Case: Varanasi Court Dismisses Masjid Committee’s Plea, Says Hindu Worshippers’ Suit Maintainable
The Varanasi District Court in Uttar Pradesh on Monday ruled that the petition of Hindu devotees in the Gyanvapi Mosque case is maintainable, rejecting the challenge to the petition by Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee.
Hindu petitioners have sought permission for daily prayers before the idols on outer walls of the Gyanvapi mosque. The Muslim petitioners had challeged the maintainability of the Hindu petitioners’ plea, arguing that it was not maintainable under the Places of Worship Act 1991 which prohibits conversion of any place of worship and mandates the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947.
The court also ruled to continue the hearing of the case. The next date of hearing is September 22.
Gyanvapi mosque case | The court rejected the Muslim side’s petition and said the suit could be maintained. Next hearing on September 22, says Hindu side Lawyer Vishnu Shankar Jain pic.twitter.com/rwUWBktjEl
— Prasar Bharati News Services Digital Platform (@PBNS_India) September 12, 2022
The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee had said the Gyanvapi mosque is a Waqf property and had questioned the maintainability of the plea. Madan Mohan Yadav, a lawyer of the Hindu side, had said that the mosque was constructed after demolishing the temple.
“Muslim side will continue with its arguments. According to them, the case is not maintainable, but we’ve said that it’s maintainable. Our demand to grant worship there is legally valid,” said Advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain earlier, appearing for the Hindus, according to ANI.
The Gyanvapi mosque is located close to the Kashi Vishwanath temple. A Varanasi civil court had ordered the survey of the mosque complex while hearing a petition by five Hindu women seeking permission for daily prayers before the idols on its outer walls. It was claimed that a shivling was found in the mosque compound during the survey.
Tight security ahead of court order
Prohibitory orders were clamped and security was tightened in Varanasi ahead of the district court’s order on Monday.
Police Commissioner A Satish Ganesh said on Sunday that prohibitory orders have been issued in the Varanasi commissionerate and officers have been asked to interact with religious leaders in their respective areas to ensure that peace is maintained.
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To maintain law and order, he said, the entire city has been divided into sectors which have been allocated police force as per their requirement, adding that directives for flag march and foot march in sensitive areas have also been issued.
Security stepped up in sensitive areas in Varanasi ahead of the verdict. Similar heightened security measures are in place across several districts in the state. pic.twitter.com/vYwHGMxFFc
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) September 12, 2022
Ganesh further said that checking has been intensified in the district’s border areas, hotels, and guest houses, while an eye is being also kept on social media.
The Gyanvapi case proceedings so far
The court-appointed commission that surveyed the mosque complex submitted its report on May 19.
Vishnu Shankar Jain, the counsel for the Hindu side, told reporters in May that the court has categorically stated that the report on the videography survey of the complex will be made available to all the parties, but only the court will tell the conditions for this.
Earlier, the Supreme Court on May 20 transferred the civil suit filed by Hindu devotees on Gyanvapi mosque from civil judge (senior division) to district judge of Varanasi, citing complexities and sensitivity of the case and saying it is better for a senior judicial officer to handle it.
The apex court directed the district judge to first decide the application under Order 7 Rule 11 of CPC on maintainability filed by the Mosque committee saying the civil suit is barred by a law of Parliament.
The apex court said that its earlier interim order of May 17 directing protection of the area where “shivling” is said to be found and allowing Muslims to offer namaz in mosque premises shall remain in operation till the maintainability of the suit is decided by the district judge and thereafter for eight weeks to allow the aggrieved parties to approach the higher court.
The bench also directed the district magistrate to make adequate arrangements for “wazu” (ablution) for the Muslims coming for offering namaz in the mosque in consultation with the parties involved in the dispute.
On May 19, Special Advocate Commissioner Vishal Singh submitted the report of the survey work carried out on May 14-16 in the court of the District Civil Judge Ravi Kumar Diwakar, said advocate Madan Mohan Yadav, who is representing the Hindu side in the case. He added that Ajay Mishra, who was removed by the court as the advocate commissioner, had also filed a report on the survey conducted by him on May 6-7.
Earlier, a Varanasi court on May 16 ordered the spot in the Gyanvapi complex to be sealed where a “shivling” was reportedly found during the videography and survey of the complex.
Madan Mohan Yadav, an advocate of the Hindu side, earlier claimed that the survey team found shivling in the complex near “wazookhana” — a place inside a mosque where people wash hands before offering namaaz.
Here is a brief history of the case
Petitioner: The petitioner says that the self-styled Jyotirling of Lord Vishwanath in Kashi (Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh) is in the Gyanvapi complex. The petitioner also claimed Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb had destroyed a portion of the Kashi Vishwanath temple in 1669 and built a mosque named Gyanvapi Masjid. The petitioner wants the court to declare that Muslims have no right to occupy the Gyanvapi Masjid site and their entry should be barred.
Defence: The defence says that there was no temple in the Gyanvapi complex and the mosque is standing on the site from the very beginning.
Here we look at the timeline of events in Kashi Vishwanath Temple-Gyanvapi Mosque Complex case that is making headlines again.
Timeline:
In 1991, the first petition in the case was filed in Varanasi court by Swayambhu Jyotirlinga Bhagwan Vishweshwar. The petitioner had sought permission to worship in Gyanvapi complex.
He had placed three demands before the court including that the court should declare the entire Gyanvapi complex as a part of the Kashi temple.
Besides, he also sought eviction of Muslims from the complex area and also sought mosque in the complex to be demolished. The petitioner had also pleaded before the court that Hindus should be given permission to rebuild the temple.
In 1998, Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee filed a case at the Allahabad High Court. The committee in their plea before the court asserted that the temple-mosque land dispute could not be adjudicated by a civil court as it was barred by the law. It was on the directions of the high court that the proceedings in the lower court got stayed which continued for the past 22 years.
In 2019, a person named Rastogi filed a plea on behalf of Swayambhu Jyotirlinga Bhagwan Vishweshwar in Varanasi district court. The petitioner demanded that an archaeological survey of the entire Gyanvapi mosque complex should be carried out. In his plea, the petitioner mentioned himself as the “next friend” of Swayambhu Jyotirlinga Bhagwan Vishweshwar.
In 2020, Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee opposed the petition seeking ASI survey of the entire Gyanvapi complex. In the same year, the petitioner again approached the lower court with a petition, requesting to resume the hearing as the Allahabad High Court had not extended the stay further.
Now, the court is hearing a petition by five Hindu women seeking daily prayers before the idols on the mosque’s outer wall. Following the survey and the reported finding of a shivling inside the complex, the court ordered the spot in the complex to be sealed.
(With PTI inputs)
New Christian Music Releases For September 09, 2022
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Adele on Emmy win: Trust me to officially have an EGO
HBO’s ferocious family drama Succession is the front-runner for the main ceremony, which takes place on 13 September. The show received 25 nominations in total, including acting nods for almost all of the main cast – Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, J Smith Cameron, Sarah Snook, Nicholas Braun, Kieran Culkin, and Matthew McFayden.
Awesome Second Trailer for ‘Bullet Train’ Action Movie with Brad Pitt
Awesome Second Trailer for ‘Bullet Train’ Action Movie with Brad Pitt
by Alex Billington
June 7, 2022
Source: YouTube
“What’s waiting for us in Kyoto?” “The White Death, and his army of assassins.” Sony Pictures debuts the second full-length trailer for Bullet Train, an action movie set mostly on a Japanese bullet train, pulling into theaters this summer. The plot involves five assassins aboard this train who discover their missions all have something in common. From the director of Deadpool 2, David Leitch, “the end of the line is only the beginning in a wild, non-stop thrill ride through modern-day Japan.” Brad Pitt headlines an ensemble cast of eclectic, diverse assassins – all with connected yet conflicting objectives. Also starring Sandra Bullock (“Maria Beetle”), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (“Tangerine”), Joey King, Zazie Beetz, Logan Lerman, Michael Shannon, Brian Tyree Henry (“Lemon”), Hiroyuki Sanada, Andrew Koji (“Kimura”), Masi Oka and Andrea Muñoz. This is one of my most antiicpated summer action movies! I dig everything about it, from the train setting to the cast, and I think it’s going to be filled with awesome fights. All aboard!
Here’s the second official trailer (+ poster) for David Leitch’s Bullet Train, direct from Sony’s YouTube:
You can rewatch the first full trailer for David Leitch’s Bullet Train here, for even more footage from this.
For more info, follow the Nippon Speed Line pages – @nipponspeedline on Instagram and on YouTube here.
In Sony’s action movie Bullet Train, Brad Pitt stars as “Ladybug”, an unlucky assassin determined to do his job peacefully after one too many gigs gone off the rails. Fate, however, may have other plans, as Ladybug’s latest mission puts him on a collision course with lethal adversaries from around the globe – all with connected, yet conflicting, objectives – on the world’s fastest train…and he’s got to figure out how to get off. Bullet Train is directed by American stuntman / filmmaker David Leitch, director of the films John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, and Fast Furious Presents: Hobbs Shaw previously; he also works as a stunt coordinator stuntman. The screenplay is written by Zak Olkewicz, adapted from Kôtarô Isaka’s novel. Produced by Antoine Fuqua, David Leitch, and Kelly McCormick. Sony Pictures will release Leitch’s Bullet Train movie in theaters starting August 5th, 2022 this summer. Do you have your tickets?