Entertainment: Russians are crazy about me, says Hema Malini

Veteran actress and politician Hema Malini, who was in Moscow to receive an award for her contribution to cinema, is overwhelmed with the love she received in Russia. She says people want to see her in part two of her memorable film Seeta Aur Geeta.

Hema, 68, is here to attend the 4th Indian Film Festival of Russia (IFFR), which is honouring her and filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar.

Sharing glimpses from her trip and the event, Hema tweeted on Sunday: “In Moscow to receive an award for my contribution to Indian cinema and popularising it in Russia and the world. The way Russians are crazy about me is unbelievable.

Especially Seeta Aur Geeta. They are ready to see part 2 if I'm going to act in it even now 40 years later!”

Looking radiant in a red traditional sari, Bollywood’s ‘dreamgirl’ also shared some images with the Indian Ambassador to Russia Pankaj Saran, and his wife. She also posed with a fan, apart from doing some touristy things.

Confident we can recreate magic of Queen: Tamannaah

Telugu version of Kangana Ranaut-starrer Queen was officially launched on Sunday and actress Tamannaah Bhatia is confident that the magic of the film will be recreated in its remake. To be directed by Neelakanta Reddy, the film has been titled Queen Once Again.

“It's an exciting project and I love doing roles that talk about women empowerment. I'm confident we can recreate the magic of the original. At the same time, not make our film look like a frame-to-frame remake. We'll adapt it to suit Telugu sensibilities,” said Tamannaah.

Ever since she saw the Vikas Bahl-directed Queen, she wanted to be a part of its remake.

“I wasn't even sure if it was going to be remade. What makes Queen special is that it's one of those rare women-centric films which succeeded in reaching out to everybody, across all sections of the audience,” she said.

Tamannaah starts shooting for the project from October 25. The Kannada version, which has been titled Butterfly and stars Parul Yadav, has already gone on the floors.

Vivek Agnihotri starts working on film on Lal Bahadur Shastri

Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri is gearing up for his next project dedicated to former Prime Minister of India, Lal Bahadur Shastri.

The filmmaker on Monday took to Twitter to share the update about the project, and said that he is happy to start the film's journey on Shastri's 113th birth anniversary.

In January this year, Agnihotri had announced the project on Twitter via a post: “This is my next film dedicated to Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri... Please support and contribute ideas. #WhoKilledShashtriji.

“Death/assassination, questions must be answered. Contribute ideas. This will be first crowdsourcing of ideas for a film.”

Agnihotri, whose Buddha in a Traffic Jam found critical acclaim, also shared a poster, which read: “I think it is our democratic right to know if our 2nd Prime Minister Shri Lal Bahadur Shastriji died a natural death, or, as alleged, was it an assassination? Why the cover-up?”

Shastri was born to Sharada Prasad and Ramdulari Devi in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi on October 2, 1904. On January 11, 1966, he took his last breath in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, the day after signing the Tashkent Declaration, reportedly due to cardiac arrest. He was the first person to be posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award.

With inputs from IANS