Have you heard? Alia Bhatt and Ranbir Kapoor on a twinning spree

Ranbir Kapoor with wife Alia Bhatt

Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt are currently holidaying in Dubai with daughter Raha. Interestingly, the couple has been twinning ever since they flew out of Mumbai last Friday. Pictures of them sporting similar colours during their vacay have been making the rounds of social media. While they are having a good time, we hear that the Animal actor has been shopping extensively for Raha. "Whenever Ranbir travels anywhere, he makes it a point to pick up a few things for his daughter. Earlier this week, he spent the day at a shopping destination for kids. This time, even Alia couldn't stop him from going all out and buying clothes, accessories and toys for Raha," said a source.

Academy's new members

The Academy sent out membership invitations to 398 individuals globally for their contribution to motion pictures. Karan Johar, Ram Charan, Junior NTR, Mani Ratnam, Siddharth Roy Kapur are some of the new members. Jr NTR said, "It is such a proud moment for all of us in the RRR family that Ram Charan, MM Keeravaani, Senthil Kumar, Chandra Bose, Sabu Cyril, and I have been invited as members for The Academy Awards 2024. I thank the Academy for bestowing this honour on us. I congratulate my colleagues in the Indian film fraternity who have also received invitations from the Academy."

Celebration time

The team of Rafuchakkar is buoyed by the response to the con drama that is trending on JioCinema ever since its launch on the OTT platform. Maniesh Paul, who plays a conman in the thriller web series, joined creative producers Arjun Singh Baran and Kartk Nishandar, director Ritam Srivastav and co-actors Aksha Pardasany, Sushant Singh, Aakash Dahiya, Shirin Sewani and Vikram Kochhar for a round of celebrations on Wednesday evening. The team also cut a cake to mark the special occasion. "Rafuchakkar has been one of the closest shows for us. It has been almost a year-and-a-half of writing and a genre which has been very relatable but still untapped," said Arjun. Kartk added, "We are excited by the show's success. Kudos to the entire team."

Batting for women in cinema

Vidya Balan has constantly striven to push the envelope for female characters with her films. At an event organised by Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and US Consulate in Mumbai on Wednesday, she had a valid counter to former dean of the School of Media and Cultural Studies Dr Lakshmi Lingam's observation that most box-office hits revolved around war, crime and politics. Contradicting her point that women-centric subjects dealt with themes like families, coming-of-age, sexuality, and pursuit of ambition, Vidya said, "Women-led stories are very personal and yet we aren't talking about war or such things. Only a small fraction of women are living the life that we want to." The actor added, "Before we concern ourselves with worldly issues, I think it's about what's happening with ourselves, and I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing."

Abdu is back

Abdu Rozik became a household name with Bigg Boss 16. Now, he is set to enter the Bigg Boss OTT 2. Abdu says, "I'm happy to entertain all the wonderful people again. BB OTT 2 has been trending for the right reasons and I can't wait to meet everyone including my favourite bhaijaan [Salman Khan]. Toh swagat nahin karoge humara?"

Scripts wanted

His last venture, Bholaa, underperformed at the box-office. But that isn't deterring Ajay Devgn from producing more movies. Even though he is currently committed to a slate of films as an actor, Ajay has entrusted his team to scout for strong scripts. While some script supervisors at Ajay Devgn Ffilms are working with writers to develop powerful stories, they are also keen to pick up scripts that align with their vision. The actor will soon begin filming Vikas Bahl's Black Magic, followed by Rohit Shetty's Singham Again. He will next be seen in Amit R Sharma's period sports drama Maidaan, in which he plays Abdul Syed Rahim, who was the national coach during India's golden years in football.

It's all about the money

It is known that Varun Dhawan and Janhvi Kapoor's Bawaal is set to première on Amazon Prime Video on July 21. Considering the unpredictability over theatrical business, producer Sajid Nadiadwala and director Nitesh Tiwari decided to release the unique love story directly on OTT. Now, we hear that money also played a key role in their decision-making. The makers reportedly got R 110 crore for the deal. After weighing the pros and cons, they decided to give the theatres a miss in favour of the digital route. As they say, ‘the whole thing is that bhaiyya, sabse bada rupaiya.'