Actress-activist Eva Longoria, a member of the Time's Up movement, says diversifying entertainment will be good for Hollywood.

Longoria, who is also a producer, has drawn attention to the need of diverse characters and stories in an article for Time.com.

"Audiences are sending Hollywood a clear message, turning out in record numbers to see films like COCO, BLACK PANTHER, GIRLS TRIP and WONDER WOMAN. Top television shows include 'Scandal', 'This is Us', 'Blackish', 'One Day At A Time', 'Jane the Virgin', 'Transparent', 'Fresh Off the Boat'… It turns out that viewers want shows that look like their lives — with diverse characters and stories.

"Even more importantly, the way we are represented in entertainment matters," she wrote.

She believes, "When a girl sees herself as a scientist, or a boy sees someone with his skin color as a law student, it plants a seed that this is possible".

To cite an example, Longoria said archery suddenly gained popularity with girls in 2012 coinciding with the releases of films including THE HUNGER GAMES and BRAVE, and after years of CSI breaking TV ratings records, there was an increase in forensics studies across the nation.

Of her own experience, she said: "As a little girl growing up in Corpus Christi, Texas, I was inspired by a young, Mexican American singer named Selena Quintanilla, whose skin looked like mine, whose hair texture resembled mine, who sounded like me.

"She wouldn't live long enough to see the impact her talent made in the world, but she is responsible for paving the way for a young girl like me to eventually portray Gabrielle Solis on 'Desperate Housewives'. It was during my time on 'Desperate Housewives' that I realised I wanted to create more opportunities for others in my community. And I couldn't do that without getting behind the camera as a producer and director."

Longoria stressed: "We should diversify entertainment and it will be good for Hollywood's bottom line. We need diverse decision-makers greenlighting and funding content; otherwise, similarity bias leads us to seek out people who share our backgrounds or experiences.

"And given that 95 per cent of Hollywood film executives are white, that bias doesn't seem likely to change.

"We must proactively diversify our ranks. We need diverse executives, casting directors, producers, and directors to look into the large untapped talent pool of women and minorities. This is why the Time's Up movement, of which I am a proud participant, is pushing our '50/50 by 2020' initiative.

"It will lead to a safer Hollywood and is proven to be produce profitable projects."

Actress-activist Eva Longoria, a member of the Time's Up movement, says diversifying entertainment will be good for Hollywood.

Longoria, who is also a producer, has drawn attention to the need of diverse characters and stories in an article for Time.com.

"Audiences are sending Hollywood a clear message, turning out in record numbers to see films like COCO, BLACK PANTHER, GIRLS TRIP and WONDER WOMAN. Top television shows include 'Scandal', 'This is Us', 'Blackish', 'One Day At A Time', 'Jane the Virgin', 'Transparent', 'Fresh Off the Boat'… It turns out that viewers want shows that look like their lives — with diverse characters and stories.

"Even more importantly, the way we are represented in entertainment matters," she wrote.

She believes, "When a girl sees herself as a scientist, or a boy sees someone with his skin color as a law student, it plants a seed that this is possible".

To cite an example, Longoria said archery suddenly gained popularity with girls in 2012 coinciding with the releases of films including THE HUNGER GAMES and BRAVE, and after years of CSI breaking TV ratings records, there was an increase in forensics studies across the nation.

Of her own experience, she said: "As a little girl growing up in Corpus Christi, Texas, I was inspired by a young, Mexican American singer named Selena Quintanilla, whose skin looked like mine, whose hair texture resembled mine, who sounded like me.

"She wouldn't live long enough to see the impact her talent made in the world, but she is responsible for paving the way for a young girl like me to eventually portray Gabrielle Solis on 'Desperate Housewives'. It was during my time on 'Desperate Housewives' that I realised I wanted to create more opportunities for others in my community. And I couldn't do that without getting behind the camera as a producer and director."

Longoria stressed: "We should diversify entertainment and it will be good for Hollywood's bottom line. We need diverse decision-makers greenlighting and funding content; otherwise, similarity bias leads us to seek out people who share our backgrounds or experiences.

"And given that 95 per cent of Hollywood film executives are white, that bias doesn't seem likely to change.

"We must proactively diversify our ranks. We need diverse executives, casting directors, producers, and directors to look into the large untapped talent pool of women and minorities. This is why the Time's Up movement, of which I am a proud participant, is pushing our '50/50 by 2020' initiative.

"It will lead to a safer Hollywood and is proven to be produce profitable projects."

Iconic American rapper Pharrell Williams celebrates his first ever Holi, along with Bollywood superstar Ranveer Singh on Friday in Mumbai.

The party was organised by the sportswear company Adidas, whereas Pharrell visited the city to unveil the Adidas Originals this Holi' collection special range of powder-dyed apparel and sneakers in pastel shades.

All the guests and host played with dry colours and flower petals on the open ground of Taj Land Ends, located in Bandra.

Many pretty faces like video jokey Anusha Dandekar, Celebrity chef Sarah Todd, Mini Mathur along with her two kids among others were present at the party.

Dressed in the white kurta and animal printed pants and white sports shoes, the 11 times Grammy Awards winner Pharrell seems to have a great time with the host Ranveer they danced on many Bollywood songs and Punjabi dance numbers including "Malharia, "Dil Dhadakne Do", "Subha Hone Na De", "Mundian To Bach Ke", "Khalibali", "Ainvayi Ainvayi" among many others.

Both the new releases of the week, Anushka Sharma’s horror flick PARI and Pulkit-Kirti’s comedy family drama VEEREY KI WEDDING, failed to appeal to the audience in a big way.

Given the genre PARI did open better at around 15 percent while VEEREY KI WEDDING was lower at below 10 percent. Having said that, the Holi festivities did keep away the audience during the morning shows, and both PARI and VEEREY KI WEDDING can still hope for a turnaround during the remaining two days of the weekend.

In fact both the new releases took a hit from the week old SONU KE TITU KI SWEETY.

Meanwhile, Luv Ranjan’s (PYAAR KA PUNCHNAMA fame) SONU KE TITU KI SWEETY turned out to be a big winner and in fact a hit, netting 44-45 crore during the opening week from India and still has a lot of fire power left.

Concluding with Akshay Kumar’s PAD MAN, the film is ending its successful run and added another 4 crore, thus netting 80 crore (to be validated) in three weeks from India and is an above average fare.

Rani Mukerji is all set to enthrall the audience with her upcoming film HICHKI. The actress will be seen on silver screen after a four year hiatus. In the film Rani plays the role of a teacher who is having Tourette Syndrome.

Talking about how playing role of a differently abled roles affects her as an actor Rani shared, “The life that god has given is so special like when I had researched for my character in BLACK or HICHKI I started thanking god every day because suddenly you feel so blessed that you can see, hear, talk move your limbs, and do everything without anyone’s aid! So when you go through moments like that in your life you only become more humbled as a human being and all the other things stop to matter. You suddenly gain lot of wisdom through these experiences and you start to live truly. So when people tell me that despite being in this industry how I can survive without being on social media? I find that really funny because it’s not important to me or for my life! If some people are giving it so much importance then it’s their problem. All these PRship is of what use because if you actually see then everything boils down to the fact whether I was good in my film or not?”

Rani is not at all interested in using social media and she explains why, “When I meet journalist I treat it as meet and greet because I get some pointers from them about what are people thinking because I consider them as a medium between me and my fans as I am not on social media. I don’t use social media as a platform to connect with my fans because I think people behind a computer are not really genuine but when I meet someone personally and talk to them eye- to-eye we connect on personal level. How would I know you if you are behind the computer? When someone comes to me and tells me that I am your fan I can see those emotions on their face but how do I trust someone who is behind a computer? Earlier we used to get fan mails so that again was a very personal connection because there was no anonymity in that. I am still living in that world I don’t give importance to things that come just as a fashion so I like to live my life the way I feel is right.”

Since she is playing a teacher in HICHKI, when asked about how important formal education is for actors, Rani with her tongue firmly in her cheeks said, “I don’t see how academics aid actors but I think the way time is going our actors definitely need acting classes.”

A bunch of losers, a car with luggage on a highway, a man standing on top of the car looking for a way beneath a sun which is about to set..

The first look of Cinecloud Films Pvt Ltd DELHI 47 KM is intriguing and probing.

Revolving around a bunch of losers in life who are driven into helplessness due to the various flaws of the system present in our Indian society, the hard hitting drama stars Rajneesh Dubey, Dolly Tomar and Mustakeem Khan.
Produced by Jigar Rawal, Sachin Saxena, Rajneesh Dubey & Shadab Khan, DELHI 47 KM is all set to hit the theaters in April 2018.
The movie is written and directed by Shadab Khan, who has previously directed the sequel of the acclaimed B.A. PASS – B.A. PASS 2.

The trailer is expected to be launched soon.

A bunch of losers, a car with luggage on a highway, a man standing on top of the car looking for a way beneath a sun which is about to set..

The first look of Cinecloud Films Pvt Ltd DELHI 47 KM is intriguing and probing.

Revolving around a bunch of losers in life who are driven into helplessness due to the various flaws of the system present in our Indian society, the hard hitting drama stars Rajneesh Dubey, Dolly Tomar and Mustakeem Khan.
Produced by Jigar Rawal, Sachin Saxena, Rajneesh Dubey & Shadab Khan, DELHI 47 KM is all set to hit the theaters in April 2018.
The movie is written and directed by Shadab Khan, who has previously directed the sequel of the acclaimed B.A. PASS – B.A. PASS 2.

The trailer is expected to be launched soon.

Atmospheric horror PARI starring Anushka Sharma is already a success story. Find out how.

Produced by Anushka and Karnesh Sharma’s production banner, Clean Slate Films in association with KriArj Entertainment, PARI, is well on its way to turning profitable as the film comes to release this Friday.

Made at a budget of 10 crores with an additional P&A (print and advertising) of 8 crores, the total cost of PARI is 18 crores. So far, the film has already earned 10 crores from the sale of its satellite, music, digital & others ancillary rights.

With just 8 crores to recover from the box office, PARI is safe even before its release and looking at the buzz created with its promotions – the teasers and trailers, it seems the project will sail through and with the added benefit of releasing on a holiday weekend – Holi, PARI is set to write its success story.

After TOILET : EK PREM KATHA and PAD MAN KriArj Entertainment has taken a shift from issue based social dramas to horror in PARI. Says Prernaa Arora, “We’ve enjoyed working with the team at Clean Slate Films on PARI, for they maintain a balanced approach towards spends and production. Both Anushka and Karnesh are a delight to work with. KriArj will continue to make such films that hold potential to engage audiences.”

Adds Karnesh Sharma, “At Clean Slate, we emphasize on telling an engaging story within realistic costs without compromising with the audience experience in any way. So far, all our films have been profitable. We believe in cost control that benefits everyone involved in our projects."

The recovery of the COP (Cost of Production) for the film reflects smart thinking on the part of these new age film producers who believe in making good films for audiences in reasonable budgets.

Directed by Prosit Roy, PARI : NOT A FAIRYTALE is an Indian atmospheric starring Anushka Sharma in lead along with Parambrata Chatterjee, Ritabhari Chakraborty, Rajat Kapoor and Mansi Multani. The movie is slated to release on 2 March 2018.