Imran Abbas’ Jaanisaar gets tax-free status in Indian state

Set in the pre-independence era, Pakistani actor Imran Abbas’ upcoming film Jaanisaar, directed by Muzaffar Ali of Umrao Jaan fame, has been given a tax-free status in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The director had earlier informed the Indian government that the film has been extensively shot in the state and has local artists contributing to its making. Moreover the film depicts the culture of Awadh in UP and is aimed at encouraging communal amity and peace. Hence, according to the Indian Express, due to the film’s significant contribution towards the state’s promotion, the government decided in making it tax-free.

Meanwhile the lead cast of the film Imran and Pernia Qureshi are busy promoting the project across various cities in India. On the release of the trailer, the couple received rave reviews for their on-screen presence and Imran too feels that audiences will witness great chemistry between the two. “We have a very sparkling chemistry in the film which one can see beautifully on screen. Pernia is a very fun and easy person to work with and I am glad that for my second film I got to work with such a talented person,” the actor said while speaking of his co-star Pernia.

Jaanisaar will release on August 7 and its success will eventually decide Imran’s fate in Bollywood since his debut film Creature 3D turned out to be a box office disaster.

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Robert Downey Jr. is the world’s highest-paid actor; Salman Khan ranks 7th

Forbes’ list for the World’s Highest-Paid actors 2015, released recently, brought in quite a few surprises. For starters, Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, who has long been at the top 10 of the list was ranked 18th this year, whereas Ranbir Kapoor was down on the 30th position perhaps because of the series of flops he has witnessed in recent past.

Avengers’ Iron Man, actor Robert Downey Jr., topped the list with earnings of $80 million all thanks to his top-grossing super hero movie Avengers: Age of Ultron. On the second spot is Jackie Chan with earnings of $50 million, Fast and Furious actor Vin Diesel at the third spot with earnings of $47 million and American Sniper actor Bradley Cooper on the 4th position with $41.5 million in earnings.

Surprisingly enough, B-town bad boys Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar made it to the top ten of the list ranking seventh and ninth respectively. Tying with Salman is Amitabh Bachchan, with each of them making an income of $33.5 million, which is more than American actors Chris Pratt and Oscar winner Gone Girl actor Ben Affleck combined, “without being US household names”, said Forbes.

Akshay, one of ‘Bollywood’s busiest leading men’ currently, ranks ninth on the list with $32.5 million in annual earnings – equal to Hollywood A-listers George Clooney and Brad Pitt’s combined haul in the same time frame.

Bollywood songs banned in Bangladesh?

Bollywood films have always remained a subject of scrutiny in neighbouring countries. Even now, when a number of Pakistani actors have crossed over to B-town to establish themselves in the world’s second biggest film industry and when artistic collaborations between the two nations are at an all-time high, there are certain individuals and groups who feel that the influx of Bollywood films are only affecting the growth of local cinema. And it seems the Bangladeshi film industry feels the same, so much so that they have even banned the use of Bollywood songs.

According to a Bangladeshi daily, the country’s high court has as issued a ruling that bans the use of songs from Indian movies and movies as ringtones, and caller tunes on mobile phones. The ban was passed after hearing a writ petition filed by Music Industries Owners Association President AKM Arifur Rahman and General Secretary SK Shahed Ali. Ever since the ruling, #WhyBanBollywood has been trending on the country’s Twitter circuit.

Earlier, popular actor Shakib Khan had also lead a protest to ban Bollywood films in Bangladesh claiming that they would cause the collapse of the already-crippled local film industry and received immense support from the country’s film fraternity.