Anushka Sen, one of India’s most popular young actors, is now making an impact in Korea.
Sen gained fame as a child actor in Indian fantasy series “Baalveer” (2012) that aired on Sab TV. She burst upon the national consciousness in India playing the titular role of Rani Lakshmi Bai, a queen who fought against British colonizers in Viacom18’s Colors TV 110-episode show “Jhansi Ki Rani” (2019). In 2021, Sen became the youngest contestant on Endemol Shine India’s Colors TV reality series “Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi 11.”
A “huge fan” of Hallyu [Korean wave] in general and K-pop and K-drama in particular, Sen rates highly BTS, Blackpink and NewJeans on the music front. On the series front, Sen is an aficionado of actor Lee Min-ho, with “Heirs,” “Legend of the Blue Sea” and “The King: Eternal Monarch” among her favorites.
“During Covid times when I would watch K-dramas they would make me feel wholesome.
Sen gained fame as a child actor in Indian fantasy series “Baalveer” (2012) that aired on Sab TV. She burst upon the national consciousness in India playing the titular role of Rani Lakshmi Bai, a queen who fought against British colonizers in Viacom18’s Colors TV 110-episode show “Jhansi Ki Rani” (2019). In 2021, Sen became the youngest contestant on Endemol Shine India’s Colors TV reality series “Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi 11.”
A “huge fan” of Hallyu [Korean wave] in general and K-pop and K-drama in particular, Sen rates highly BTS, Blackpink and NewJeans on the music front. On the series front, Sen is an aficionado of actor Lee Min-ho, with “Heirs,” “Legend of the Blue Sea” and “The King: Eternal Monarch” among her favorites.
“During Covid times when I would watch K-dramas they would make me feel wholesome.
- 5/31/2024
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has named ten emerging talents from across the Indian film, gaming and television industries that will participate in the 2022 edition of its BAFTA Breakthrough India initiative supported by Netflix.
The 2022 contingent includes writer-director Ajitpal Singh; composer Alokananda Dasgupta (“Sacred Games”), writer-director Arati Kadav (“Cargo”), producer Mathivanan Rajendran (“Nirvana Inn”), writer-director Leena Manimekalai, game director Nakul Verma (“In My Shadow”), writer-director Prateek Vats (“Eeb Allay Ooo!”), cinematographer Saumyananda Sahi (“Eeb Allay Ooo!”), writer Shubham (“Eeb Allay Ooo!”) and performer Sumukhi Suresh (“Pushpavalli”).
The talents were selected by a jury consisting of BAFTA-winning composer A.R. Rahman, editor and writer Apurva Asrani, actors Anupam Kher and Ratna Pathak Shah, games producer Charu Desodt, Amazon India head Gaurav Gandhi, Netflix India content chief Monika Shergill, producers Siddharth Roy Kapur and Guneet Monga, BAFTA chair Krishnendu Majumdar, GOQii CEO Vishal Gondal and filmmaker Shonali Bose.
During the program,...
The 2022 contingent includes writer-director Ajitpal Singh; composer Alokananda Dasgupta (“Sacred Games”), writer-director Arati Kadav (“Cargo”), producer Mathivanan Rajendran (“Nirvana Inn”), writer-director Leena Manimekalai, game director Nakul Verma (“In My Shadow”), writer-director Prateek Vats (“Eeb Allay Ooo!”), cinematographer Saumyananda Sahi (“Eeb Allay Ooo!”), writer Shubham (“Eeb Allay Ooo!”) and performer Sumukhi Suresh (“Pushpavalli”).
The talents were selected by a jury consisting of BAFTA-winning composer A.R. Rahman, editor and writer Apurva Asrani, actors Anupam Kher and Ratna Pathak Shah, games producer Charu Desodt, Amazon India head Gaurav Gandhi, Netflix India content chief Monika Shergill, producers Siddharth Roy Kapur and Guneet Monga, BAFTA chair Krishnendu Majumdar, GOQii CEO Vishal Gondal and filmmaker Shonali Bose.
During the program,...
- 3/9/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
MollywoodPrithviraj Sukumaran and Biju Menon played the title roles in the Malayalam film.Digital NativeThe Malayalam movie Ayyappanum Koshiyum, released earlier this year, had received a lot of positive reviews. Following this, the Tamil remake rights of this flick have been bagged by producer Kathiresan, who has made critically acclaimed films such as Aadukalam and Jigarthanda. The producer is known for his penchant for good scripts. Both Aadukalam and Jigarthanda had bagged several awards and were box office success as well. Jigathanda, it may be mentioned here, won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize besides a host of awards such as Filmfare Awards South for Best Supporting Actor for Bobby Simha. Aadukalam, on the other hand, won six National awards - Best Director, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Choreography and Special Jury Award. It also won five Filmfare South Awards. After making two critically acclaimed films,...
- 3/15/2020
- by Cris
- The News Minute
OTTSumukhi is wonderful as the wounded but increasingly deranged Pushpavalli, still creeping around the one man she can’t get over. Saraswati DatarThe most heartbreaking words I have heard recently on any medium are said between Nikhil (Manish Anand) and Pushpavalli (Sumukhi Suresh) at a crucial juncture in Season 2 of Pushpavalli now streaming on Amazon Prime. Nikhil asks Pushpavalli why she didn’t just tell him how she felt instead of stalking him for so long. “Because you look like you, and I look like me” she says, voicing the reality of women around the world who have been told for years to aspire for love with reference to their looks. Season 1 of the show introduced us to Pushpavalli, or Lee as Nikhil calls her. She is smart, witty and ‘fun’, but in a world of photoshopped perfection, Pushpavalli is the opposite of what is projected as beauty. Obviously unfamiliar to kindness and attention,...
- 3/14/2020
- by Sowmya
- The News Minute
EntertainmentThe deleted scene involves Gemini Ganesan’s daughter Rekha who was born out of his relationship with Pushpavalli. Digital NativeDigital NativeMahanati, the biopic on the legendary actor Savitri, released to both critical acclaim and commercial success. The film threw light on Savitri’s life as an actor and her relationship with her husband and actor Gemini Ganesan, a legend in his own right. While there have been various controversies about the film with Gemini’s daughter through his first wife Alamelu, Dr Kamala Selvaraj claiming that her father was shown in poor light, the makers have now released a deleted scene from the film which shows Rekha and her mother Pushpavalli meeting Savitri and her daughter Vijaya Chamundeswari at their residence during the Navratri pooja. It is well known that Gemini was in a relationship with Pushpavalli when he was married to both Alamelu and Savitri and had two children out of it. Rekha, a popular Bollywood actor, had revealed that she never enjoyed a good relationship with her father and Gemini Ganesan, on the other hand, never acknowledged her as his daughter. In an interview with Simi Garewal, Rekha, when asked about her father, had said, “If you don’t taste something, you don’t know what it means. I didn’t know what the word “father” meant.” When Khalid Mohammed interviewed her in 2015, her perspective about her father seemed to have changed slightly as she said, “I adored my father but there was a distance which could never be covered. My father (Gemini Ganesan) wrote poetry fluidly, he was a man of literature. As an actor, he was a heartthrob for decades.” Rekha is an established actor in Bollywood with a number of hit movies to her credit. She made her acting debut in the Telugu film industry as a child artiste and went on to become a star in the Indian film industry. A talented actor, she has won numerous awards in her career. (Content provided by Digital Native)...
- 6/9/2018
- by Monalisa
- The News Minute
OpinionThe characterisation of Gemini Ganesan, especially, has stirred a hornet's nest.CV AravindThe biopic Mahanati, which revolves around the life and times of actress Savitri who was a popular heroine in Telugu and Tamil cinema in the 50s and 60s, carries a caveat right at the beginning. It states that the film is a fictionalized account of the late actor's life. This disclaimer absolves the makers with regard to the inaccuracies and inconsistencies in the narration of the story, and in the depiction of the events in the life of the late star. But just as biographies often turn into hagiographies, biopics too can present a highly favourable picture of the protagonist, concealing warts if any and needlessly exaggerating hidden virtues while presenting other characters in a less than flattering light. Apart from a fleeting reference to thespian Sivaji Ganesan with whom she starred in several films, mostly tearjerkers, her association with actors like Mgr and even her husband Gemini Ganesan with whom she worked in a number of hits has been given the go by. She was equally popular in Tamil cinema as she was in Telugu and had a huge fan base in Tamil Nadu as well. But what has stirred a hornet’s nest is the characterisation of the man who shaped her life and destiny from a very young age, Gemini Ganesan. The authorisation to make a film on Savitri was given by Savitri’s daughter Vijaya Chamundeswari, who also provided vivid insights into her mother’s life and career. While she has not noticed any flaws in the representation of her father Gemin Ganesan on screen, Gemini’s daughter by his first wife Alamelu (Bobji), Kamala Selvaraj, a leading doctor in Chennai has taken umbrage at the supposed raw deal meted out to Gemini. Kamala is sore that in their overzealousness to put Savitri on a pedestal, they have allegedly denigrated Gemini. The late actor is alleged to have introduced Savitri to alcohol at a party and that eventually led to her lifelong affair with the bottle which ultimately took a heavy toll on her health and led her to an early grave. While this fact has been vouched for by those who were close to the actor, Kamala vehemently denies such a development. The film has also chosen to overlook the agony suffered by Gemini’s first wife when the realisation dawned on her that Gemini had taken on a new and much younger wife. But Savitri’s angst on hearing about the actor’s infatuation with a contemporary, Pushpavalli (mother of Bollywood siren Rekha) has been well documented. Did Gemini desert Savitri and leave her to her fate or was it vice versa is another matter where the film has taken a contrarian stand. This apart, Dulquer, the Malayalam actor and megastar Mammootty’s son who essays the character of Gemini is shown in a few frames as a jobless actor hanging around the sets where Savitri is shown as busily shooting for her films. This is in stark contrast to the real situation as Gemini was, right through his long and eventful career, a highly rated actor, third in the pecking order after Mgr and Sivaji Ganesan. He also had a considerable fan following. As a matter of fact it was Savitri who struck a lean patch towards the fag end of her career when she began to pile on the pounds and her health took a beating with diabetes setting in. Only directors like the late Dasari Narayan Rao continued to cast her in their films but the spark had long gone out of her acting and her performances too began to suffer. The first part of the film has detailed her advent into cinema, how she first met Gemini, then a manager in a studio and how she slowly worked her way up the ladder to fame and prosperity. She was by no means stylish or svelte like the actors of today but she had the innate ability to light up the screen with her nuanced portrayals. She was the ultimate tragedienne but was also adept at comedy. The film has highlighted all these features of the star in the early frames. Savitri’s alcoholism was not the only factor that debilitated her and turned her into a physical and mental wreck. Like Gemini who had a nose for business and invested heavily in real estate, Savitri too took a leaf from his book and followed suit. But where she really put her foot wrong was in turning director and producer. She ignored the sane advice given by, among others, the famous scriptwriter of the time, Aroor Das, who was also a close confidant. She sunk a fortune into the films she produced only to end up on the verge of bankruptcy as her ventures turned into duds at the box office. Generous to a fault she never turned down any request for money and this trait was often exploited by sycophants and hangers on who fleeced her. In the final analysis one can safely conclude that Mahanati is a biopic that blends fact and fiction. The makers have delved deep into the life of the star and have brought out the essence, highlighting her rise and fall in the process. But a dispassionate view of the roles played by all those associated with her at various phases of her life and her own failings is indeed conspicuous by its absence. (Views expressed are author's own.)...
- 5/24/2018
- by Monalisa
- The News Minute
SeriesThe show pushes the envelope in terms of characterisation, exploring the many shades of grey in each personAnjana ShekarScreenshot - Amazon Prime VideoBoy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Girl does not feel the same way. Boy stalks girl, tries to woo her. Girl is still not interested. Boy kills girl. Now, if you thought that it escalated quickly, you haven't been paying attention to the news around you. Scorned lovers are not the only ones plotting acts of revenge anymore. Men who weren’t even a part of the picture, men who have been living lives inside their head, convinced the girl loves them, are also the ones who murder for ‘love’. Taking a 180-degree turn from this usual plot is Sumukhi Suresh’s Pushpavalli, a web series that premiered on Amazon Prime Video on December 15, 2017. The eight-episode series shows Pushpavalli as a seemingly normal girl-next-door who, slowly but surely, takes on darker tones – quickly becoming president of stalker-town. This unusual plot line is the result of Sumukhi questioning the unrealistic characterisation of women on screen. “I am tired of people expecting a female character to only be good. There are shades of grey as well and clearly, Pushpavalli here is the anti-hero. You empathise with her, but you never agree with her.” Decades of Indian cinema showed us that stalking as a means to woo the opposite sex is ‘normal’. Up until a few years ago, people never understood, or discussed, the gross negligence on the storyteller’s part for promoting such actions on screen. At this juncture, Pushpavalli is bold enough to venture into this line of thought and initiate an important dialogue. When does a seemingly normal relationship become an obsession? Are stalkers only men? Why does stalking hit the headlines only when it results in a violent crime? And do we take women stalkers seriously enough? ‘Looking up someone on social media’ (it’s stalking, guys, let’s call a spade a spade here) has become normalised in the digital world we live in. For those of us who have done that, we don’t have to take this series – that’s based on ‘true-ish events’– with a pinch of salt. This should be our wake-up call. Early on in the series, we get a whiff of Pushpavalli’s obsession with Nikhil, played by Manish Anand, whom she had met at a food expo in Bhopal. We also get to know that her intent to move to Bengaluru from Bhopal is to get closer to Nikhil (a lot like the American TV series, My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, but the similarities stop here). The series has a nonlinear storyline that jumps from the present to the past, where we get most of the backstory from. In retrospect, we also consider the possibility that if Nihkil lead her on during their short-lived encounter in Bhopal, does that justify Pushpavalli's obsession with him? The best part about the series is that with the anti-hero as the lead, we come to understand the shades of grey in every character. Pushpavalli’s well-meaning, conservative mother plays a part in making her daughter feel inadequate. Her roommates, who are always together and even talk at the same time, have a penchant for drama that stops at nothing. “She also turned out to be boring. Wish we could get a murderer like last year,” they say in one scene, referring to Pushpavalli. The dark comedy in the show also tries to dispel the aura of awkwardness that surrounds periods. In one scene, single mother Swati (Preetika Chawla) questions quick-tempered Pankaj’s (Naveen Richard) insensitive explanation of a period pad to a child. This rings a bell with so many of us who have dodged uneasy questions coming from children. The series effortlessly jumps from cringe-comedy to hard-hitting truth that culminates in the end with Pushpavalli’s breakdown. You feel sorry for her but you also don’t expect her to turn over a new leaf either. The success of the series lies in how it steers the focus away from the idea of what’s right and wrong. Instead, we look at its characters, their flaws and what makes them relatable. The series in itself is not without glitches. We've got loud characters who are always on the cusp of breakdowns and Pankaj's overuse of swear words becomes excessive after a point. Our conditioning as viewers has long demanded that in a story, the bad character repents, quarrels come to an end and problems are resolved. As an audience, we need closure - the ‘happily ever after’. “That is just lazy writing. Nobody turns over a new leaf just after one confrontation,” says Sumukhi. Which is true. Although, as a community, we’ve got a long way to go when it comes to identifying and fixing such behaviours, Sumukhi’s Pushpavalli creates the right kind of dialogue just in time for us to maybe start acting on it.
- 1/12/2018
- by Editor
- The News Minute
Actress Rekha turns 58 today. Her real name was Banurekha Ganeshan, which she shortened to Rekha. Rekha started her career as a child actress in a Telugu movie Rangula Ratnam. She was not interested in acting, but the financial problems in her family made her take up acting as a career. She was born to Tamil actor Gemini Ganeshan and actress Pushpavalli. However Gemini declined to be his father. Her first successful movie was a Kannada film, Goa dalli Cid 999, which was released in 1969. In the same year she moved to Bombay for a better career. But she was very vulnerable and men took benefit of that. Her first Hindi movie Sawan Bhado was ...
- 10/10/2012
- Bollywoodmantra.com
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