WASHINGTON: Following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh- Prince Philip, his grandson Prince Harry is set to reunite with his family to pay his last respects at the funeral, but without wife Meghan Markle.

Page Six confirmed that the Duchess of Sussex who is due to give birth to the couple’s second child, a girl, in early summer will stay home in California on her doctor’s advice, Buckingham Palace announced. A source close to the royals told that Markle hoped to be at his husband’s side, but the trip, and the 12-hour flight, were deemed potentially too taxing.

“The Duke of Sussex is planning to attend. The Duchess of Sussex has been advised by her physician not to travel. So the duke will be attending,” a royal spokesman said, using Harry’s other title. Harry who currently resides in California with his wife Meghan Markle and son Archie Harrison will likely be in attendance at the service, which is set to take place at his and Meghan’s wedding venue, St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.

Page Six reported that the funeral will be an intimate affair, limited to 30 participants under strict UK social-distancing rules.

Even PM Boris Johnson will not attend the mourning ceremony, so as to allow space for as many royal family members as possible.

NEW DELHI: Bollywood actor Katrina Kaif, who recently tested positive for Covid-19, on Sunday shared her home quarantine photos while recovering from the virus.

The ‘Baar Baar Dekho’ actor took to her Instagram handle and shared a couple of sunkissed pictures of herself, along with the caption, “Time and Patience.” In the pictures Katrina could be seen sitting inside what seemed to be her room, sporting a no-makeup look with her hair open. The post got more than five lakh likes within the span of an hour.

Earlier this week, Katrina had announced that she had tested positive for Covid-19. She wrote in a statement posted on Instagram Stories that “I have tested positive for Covid-19. Have immediately isolated myself and will be under home quarantine. I’m following all safety protocols under the advice of my doctors. Requesting everyone who came in contact with me to get tested immediately too. Grateful for all your love and support. Please stay safe and take care.”

Kartina is among the growing list of Bollywood celebrities to be diagnosed with Covid-19 after Akshay Kumar, Vicky Kaushal, Bhumi Pednekar, Aamir Khan, Paresh Rawal, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Aditya Narayan, Kartik Aaryan, and Aamir Khan among others

Earlier, actors Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Arjun Kapoor, Malaika Arora, and some others were infected with the virus.

Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor became the first Bollywood celebrity to get infected with Covid-19.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Katrina and Akshay Kumar starrer ‘Sooryavanshi’, which was earlier scheduled to hit the big screens on April 20, recently got postponed due to the sudden surge of Covidcases in Mumbai. Apart from that, Katrina also has ‘Tiger 3’ with Salman Khan, ‘Phone Booth’ with Ishaan Khatter and Siddhant Chaturvedi, and a superhero film directed by Ali Abbas Zafar. 

NEW DELHI: As Bollywood director Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s ‘Chupke Chupke’ clocked 46 years on Sunday, veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan shared some interesting trivia about the movie on his social media.

The 78-year-old actor took to his Instagram handle and shared a still with Jaya Bachchan from ‘Chupke Chupke’ where both the actors can be seen standing against the backdrop of NC Sippy’s bungalow, now Jalsa. Along with the photo he revealed in caption, “‘Chupke Chupke’ our film by Hrishikesh MUKERJI.. closing today at 46 years ..!! This house you see in the picture is Producer NC Sippy’s house .. we bought it, then sold it, then bought it back again .. rebuilt it .. this is our home now JALSA !! Many films were shot here .. Anand, NamakHaram, Chupke Chupke, Satte pe Satta, and many more ..”

Bachchan shared the same post on his Twitter handle and a few more pictures from the 1975 film. The first photo was a behind-the-scenes one, featuring Amitabh with the film’s director, where Big B could be seen rehearsing a scene with the filmmaker. The second picture was a still from a scene that featured Amitabh with his co-stars Dharmendra and Asrani.

‘Chupke Chupke’ had an ensemble cast including Dharmendra, Sharmila Tagore, Amitabh, Jaya, Om Prakash, among others. In the film, Amitabh played the role of Professor Sukumar Sinha with his co-star and wife Jaya, who played the role of Vasudha Kumar. Dharmendra was cast as Parimal Tripathi, a botany professor. Their camaraderie as friends was one of the major highlights in the movie and is still remembered.

Amitabh was recently cast for the Indian adaptation of ‘The Intern’ opposite Deepika Padukone.

NEW DELHI: Exuding elegance over the internet, Bollywood star Taapsee Pannu on Sunday reflected on how she is gazing at her weekend lockdown on social media. After one of the major hotspots for coronavirus in India- Maharashtra announced to observe a weekend lockdown in the state, Bollywood celebrities have started to share how they are reviving their isolation days by posting pictures and videos on social media. Joining the bandwagon, Taapsee Pannu also hopped on to her Instagram handle and shared an elegant monochromatic picture that shows her sporting a formal attire with sober makeup look and loosely tied hair bun. “My lockdown Sunday gaze,” the ‘Pink’ star wrote. The enchanting picture managed to gather more than 1 lakh likes within a few hours of being posted. Ace filmmaker Anubhav Sinha with whom Taapsee collaborated for her critical and commercial hit drama ‘Thappad’ also liked the picture. Meanwhile, on a professional note, the actor will be next seen in sports dramas ‘Shabaash Mithu’ and ‘Rashmi Rocket’. She also has an impressive line-up of films that include, ‘Haseen Dillruba’, ‘Looop Lapeta’ and the sci-fi thriller titled ‘Dobaaraa’.

Relatable content is always enthralling to the audience. Binge’s The Sarkari Karyalay is one such affair, where, taking a jibe at the challenges government officials make you go through for something as simple as updating one’s Aadhaar card, makers and cast of the show take you on a bittersweet journey with them.

Vaibhav Shukla, the male lead who plays Rohan in the show, in an interaction with The Sunday Guardian, shared insights from his personal and professional life. 

Being an NIT graduate with a decent job, Vaibhav decided to pay heed to his calling, which was, of course, acting. “I left my job and enrolled myself into a theatre group in Delhi and started to work towards my dreams, without ever looking back at what I left behind,” he said.

Hailing from Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur, Vaibhav has had his share of hardships but he makes it all sound like a cakewalk. “Things finally started to fall in place after I got a job as a writer at The Viral Fever, after having served as an intern for a period of three months.”

According to Vaibhav, the first time he ever acted was for a Nukkad Natak in his college on a friend’s advice. After coming to Delhi, he faced countless auditions, rejections, ups and downs but what remained stuck in his head was the determination and eagerness to live up to his dreams. For his fanbase which is flourishing already, Vaibhav is currently working on a number of projects, one among them is his new show, Teen Tigaada.

As a fan of Shah Rukh Khan and Sushant Singh Rajput, Vaibhav believes that content is the king for a show. On the quick decisions he took in his life, he said that he never contemplated or gave second thoughts to his desires. “I just worked towards them as no matter how intense a situation gets, it still passes,” he said.

Samurai cinema, also called “chanbara” or “chambara”, is the Japanese equivalent of the Western genre and it mostly deals with epic period dramas and swashbuckler films generally set during the Edo period or Tokugawa era (1600–1868 AD). Now, it was the Japanese master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa who first introduced the genre to the western audiences through a series of swashbuckling movies such as Seven Samurai (1954),  The Hidden Fortress (1958), Yojimbo (1961), and Sanjuro (1962).  Kurosawa’s samurai movies usually celebrated and glamorized the samurai tradition (pride, honor, and sacrifice as laid down by the code of Bushido) which basically made the samurai look cool. But there’s a flip side to every coin. Another master Japanese filmmaker Masaki Kobayashi presented a darker, grimmer, and perhaps a more realistic picture. His chanbara masterworks Harakiri (1962) and Samurai Rebellion (1967) are perhaps the earliest examples of realistic portrayal of samurai’s life in feudal Japan. Later on, however, Kurosawa did correct his course by making two of his finest masterworks—Kagemusha (1980) and Ran (1985). Both these films are evidently much closer to Kobayashi’s bleaker interpretation.

For most of the world, these films are an entry point to what it meant to be a samurai and there is hardly anything known beyond the scope of these films as well as others subsequently made by filmmakers like Yôji Yamada, Takashi Miike, and Takeshi Kitano. But what if someone wants to get into the intricacies beyond the scope of these films? What it really meant to be a samurai? What did it take to become one? Where did they come from? Well, if you too are looking for answers then you needn’t look any further than the six-part documentary series by Netflix titled “Age of Samurai: Battle for Japan”. Relying on graphic re-enactments, voiceover narration, and interviews of historians, the series tells the story of the bloodiest period in Japanese history when the country was facing a civil war with several powerful daimyo (warlords) vying for supremacy during the final phase of the Sengoku period in feudal Japan from 1551 to 1616.

Some of the key historical figures that the series brings to life include the unpredictable and bloodthirsty Oda Nobunaga who becomes head of the Oda clan upon the death of his father Oda Nobuhide in 1551. Nobunaga launches a war against other daimyo with the aim of unifying Japan. Ruling with an iron fist and showing zero tolerance for those who dared defy his authority, Nobunaga ingeniously devises an uninterrupted infantry fire (called the volley fire) by shooting arquebuses (an early type of portable gun) in rotating ranks. The ploy proves to be decisive for Nobunaga at the Battle of Nagashino (the battle and the resulting carnage forms the chilling climax of Kurosawa’s Kagemusha) in 1575 where his men decimate the formidable army of Takeda Katsuyori (the son of Japan’s pre-eminent daimyo Takeda Shingen, portrayed by the legendary Tatsuya Nakadai in Kagemusha). But, at the height of his glory, Nobunaga is eliminated by his own samurai general Akechi Mitsuhide in 1582. Mitsuhide in turn is killed by Nobunaga’s loyal retainer Toyotomi Hideyoshi at the Battle of Yamazaki, only a couple of weeks later.

Age of Samurai then follows Hideyoshi’s quest for supremacy. A peasant with no traceable samurai lineage, Hideyoshi had risen in stature under Nobunaga who unlike other warlords put merit about lineage. After Nobunaga’s death, Hideyoshi kills Mitsuhide and goes on to fulfill Nobunaga’s dream of unifying Japan. But soon he is consumed by power and in the year 1592 he sends his forces to invade Korea with the ultimate aim of conquering China. But after tasting some early success, his forces are unable to overcome the local Korean resistance and the invasion ultimately proves to be a suicidal mission. Unable to come to terms with the reality, Hideyoshi grows more and more delirious, refusing to call his troops back. When he breathes his last in 1598, his council finally withdraws the forces from Korea.

Hideyoshi’s death provides an easy passage to power to the cunning and calculative Tokugawa Ieyasu who has been waiting in the ranks for his turn to finally claim the throne for himself. After the decisive Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, Ieyasu slowly begins to destroy all the opposing factions. In 1603, Ieyasu is conferred with the title of shogun, having outlived all the other great warlords of his times. The Sengoku period ends when Toyotomi loyalists get defeated at the siege of Osaka in 1615. The Tokugawa shogunate would rule Japan for the next 250 years until the Meiji Restoration in 1868.

Age of Samurai has been criticized for leaving out some important events as well as for its several other minor inconsistencies such as inaccurate depiction of samurai hairstyles, armor, etc. Also, unlike some of the other documentary series relying on re-enactments, Age of Samurai provides little dialog to the actors portraying the various warlords and relies mostly on the voiceover and the interviews which somewhere distances us from these characters. However, despite the shortcomings, it serves as a veritable primer on the most turbulent period in Japanese history.