MUMBAI: There is no better friend than a dog, and these B’Town boys surely understand that. Here’s looking at the four most suave heroes of the industry with the most adorable paw-friend.

Varun Dhawan who is known for his incredible filmography recently became a pet parent. Ever since he brought Joey home, he has been creating noise all across with their adorable pictures. Vidyut Jammwal is easily the toughest action hero in the town. So, watching him play with his little buddle of joy can melt anyone’s heart in no time. Siddhart Malhotra, who is soaking in the success of ‘Shershah,’ is also an avid animal lover. The actor and his bond with Oscar is known for setting friendship goals on the internet with their fun photoshoots. Marking his presence with the success of Ajeeb Daastan, Arman Ralhan’s love for his dog is too cute to miss. From working out together to slaying it in style, Arman’s Instagram handle is filled with such aww-dorable moments.

WASHINGTON: Grammy-winning singer Adele opened up about her romance with sports agent Rich Paul during her One Night Only concert special Sunday on CBS.

The 33-year-old singer spoke to American talk show host Oprah Winfrey about her relationship with the 39-year-old sports agent during the sit-down interview, reported People magazine. Gushing about her beau, Adele said, “He’s just hilarious. Oh, he’s so funny, he’s hilarious, yeah. And very smart. You know, he’s very, very smart. It’s quite incredible watching him do what he does.”

“And just the easiness of it. It’s just been very smooth,” she added.

She also shared that this relationship is the first time she’s “loved myself and been open to loving and being loved by someone else.” “It’s just timing. But it’d be interesting to see what my reaction is like in general to anything that hurts me now that I feel so secure in myself, and I’m talking outside of romance as well,” the ‘Hello’ singer continued.

Adele made her relationship with Paul Instagram official in September after months of speculation surrounding their dating status. A source told People magazine in July that the two had been dating for a few months.

MUMBAI: Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty Kundra, on Sunday, issued a strongly worded statement after an FIR was lodged against her and her husband Raj Kundra in an alleged case of fraud and cheating.

According to Mumbai Police, a complaint was filed by a person named Nitin Barai with Bandra police station in Mumbai against Raj Kundra, Shilpa Shetty, Kashiff Khan, the director of SFL Fitness Company and some others, alleging that they duped him of over Rs 1.59 crore and that he wants the couple to return his investment.

Shilpa Shetty took to her Twitter to post: “Woke up to an FIR registered in Raj and my name! Shocked!! To set the record straight, SFL Fitness, a venture run by Kashiff Khan. He had taken naming rights of brand SFL to open SFL Fitness gyms around the country. All deals were struck by him and he was a signatory in banking and day-to-day affairs.”

Shilpa further said that her reputation is being tarnished due to such complaints, “I have worked very hard over the last 28 years and it pains me to see that my name and reputation is getting damaged and dragged so loosely to get eyeballs. My rights as a law-abiding proud citizen in India should be protected. With gratitude, Shilpa Shetty Kundra.”

MUMBAI: Movie buffs will have to wait a little longer to watch Alia Bhatt as Gangubai in ace filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s upcoming film ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’.

The magnum opus, which was delayed multiple times owing to the coronavirus pandemic, has been postponed yet again. Bhansali Productions took to their Instagram account to share the new release date of the film. “Watch her rise with power, courage & fearlessness. #GangubaiKathiawadi coming to take over 2022 on 18th February, in cinemas near you.#SanjayLeelaBhansali @ajaydevgn @aliaabhatt @prerna_singh6 @jayantilalgadaofficial @saregama_officiaL,” the caption read.

The upcoming film, which also stars Ajay Devgn in a pivotal role and marks his reunion with SLB after their iconic movie ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’, has been produced by Bhansali and Jayantilal Gada (Pen Studios). The period drama, which has been adapted from one of the chapters of noted author Hussain Zaidi’s book, ‘Mafia Queens of Mumbai’, features Alia in the lead role of Gangubai, one of the most powerful, loved and respected madams from Kamathipura during the 1960s.

‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ also stars Vijay Raaz, Indira Tiwari, and Seema Pahwa. The film was earlier supposed to release in January 2022 when it would have clashed with ‘RRR’, starring Alia, Jr NTR, Ram Charan, and Ajay Devgn, as well as Prabhas-starrer ‘Radhe Shyam.’

Interesting things have been happening in the Indian entertainment space in the recent years. As far as the espionage genre is concerned, Neeraj Pandey has been making constant efforts to build a universe of sorts with an entire gamut of spy characters. It all started with “Baby” and then Pandey made a very interesting spinoff titled “Naam Shabana”. But somewhere he fell short of realising his dream of building a universe. Following the colossal failure of “Aiyaary,” he headed towards the web with “Special Ops”. The spy thriller series has a vast panoply of characters—bureaucrats, politicians, cops, soldiers, spies, terrorists, brokers, hackers, terrorists, etc.—with many subplots spread across two decades and an ideal setup to build a major universe. The best way to describe it is as a slow-burning thriller in the vein of John le Carré’s novels.

Now, at the centre of “Special Ops” is Himmat Singh (essayed by Kay Kay Menon) of Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), who draws similar patterns in various terrorist attacks carried on the Indian soil, starting with the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, and is convinced that a single person has masterminded all the attacks. He sets up a team of five agents living in various parts of the world in order to nab him. The story is inspired by the actual espionage missions carried by the Indian agents over the last couple of decades.

Kay Kay Menon essays Himmat Singh with a scalpel like precision. Singh may even remind some of le Carré’s iconic George Smiley. Like Smiley, Singh first comes across as innocuously polite, unassuming, and someone you don’t easily feel threatened by. He is clever enough to hide his razor-sharp memory, inner cunning, spy mastery, and his ability to quickly detach himself from his human subjects if need be. In other words, he is the quintessential spymaster who knows how to get the job done ‘Special Ops’, which was released on Disney+ Hotstar back in 2020, days before the lockdown came into effect, turned out to be a huge success and now Pandey is back with a new chapter in the ‘Special Ops’ saga titled ‘Special Ops 1.5: The Himmat Story’—a major step forward for Pandey in creating a full-fledged Special Ops universe.

As the title suggests, this time everything even more closely revolves around the character of Himmat Singh. Like most origin stories the focus is on addressing the all important question. How did Himmat Singh become the spymaster we know him to be? In order to achieve this, Pandey yet again goes back to the approach he employed in the first installment of Special Ops. Mr. Chadha (essayed by Parmeet Sethi) and Mr. Banerjee (portrayed by Kali Prasad Mukherjee), the members of the auditing committee, who were assigned the task to hold an inquiry against Singh, are back again. This time they have to submit an about Himmat who is about to retire. Their observations and comments will have a direct impact on the retirement benefits that will be granted to Himmat by the government for his services.

Knowing well that Himmat isn’t the easiest person to tackle, they instead invite Abbas Sheikh (played by Vinay Pathak) for the inquiry. Those who have seen Special Ops are aware of the special relationship that Abbas and Himmat share. And it’s though Abbas that we go back to the beginning of Himmat’s story back in 2001, following the Parliament attack. It goes without saying that while ‘Special Ops’ was plot-oriented, ‘Special Ops 1.5’ is more like a personal journey. This time, it is more about personal relationships than larger-than-life events. But the elements are all there. Kay Kay is one of the best actors working in the country and here again, he brings his a-game to the table. As opposed to a wise and mellowed-down Himmat who is on the brink of retirement in Special Ops, in the four-episode long second installment he gives us a Himmat who is still in his 30s. He is youthful, intelligent and impulsive and lacks the judgment and wisdom of the veteran spymaster he would become in the due course of time.

Writer-director Neeraj Pandey basically started a new trend with his debut film ‘A Wednesday,’ starring Naseeruddin Shah and Anupam Kher. Prior to it, Bollywood thrillers mostly had a noirish quality but it all changed thanks to Pandey’s brand of thrillers that varied both in terms of style as well as the content. While ‘A Wednesday’ can be described as a political thriller, his second directorial venture ‘Special 26’ fell in the realm of what can be described as a heist thriller. “Baby,” the third film to be directed by him, was actually an espionage thriller. Although in between, he did make the MSD biopic, it is making thrillers that seem to interest him the most. It’s quite evident from that fact that he chose a film like “Aiyaary,” an espionage thriller set in Lutyens’ Delhi, as his fifth directorial venture. And he seems to have taken his passion for espionage to the next level by setting up the Special Ops universe. And it wouldn’t really be a surprise if more Special Ops sequels and spinoffs are in the offing.

MUMBAI: Bollywood actor Kartik Aaryan, who is currently awaiting the release of his upcoming film ‘Dhamaka’, for promotions, recently visited the sets of ‘Bigg Boss 15’ where he met host Salman Khan and discussed films and work.

In the promo for the episode, Salman and Kartik could be seen having a fun time with each other while discussing the latter’s role as a journalist in ‘Dhamaka’. During a rapid-fire round on the show, Salman asked Kartik, “Agar mein actor nahi hota toh kya hota, koi option nahi.” To this, Kartik humorously replied by saying, “Sir agar aap actor nahi hote, toh hum kya karte?”

Salman then revealed, “Toh phir aap Salman khan the director ke saath kaam karte aur Salman Khan aapka competition nahi hota”.

“Sir sign kar lijiye!” Kartik cheekily replied. Both Kartik and Salman enjoyed a good laugh on the subject afterwards. It surely would have had been exciting to watch Salman direct Kartik and treat the audiences with some exciting content. ‘Bigg Boss 15’ airs from Monday to Friday at 10:30 PM and on weekends, at 9:30 PM.