Producers refute Mariah Carey’s ‘sabotage’ claim
Dick Clark Productions has hit back at Mariah Carey's claim the company sabotaged her live performance on its 'New Year's Rockin' Eve' special in Times Square. The star vocally stumbled through her set, failing to sing most of it, despite a pre-recorded track of her songs playing in the background. Carey's representative Nicole Perna blamed technical difficulties and a faulty earpiece in an interview with Billboard, saying Dick Clark Productions "set her up to fail". Dick Clark Productions responded to the claims by saying the suggestion they, "would ever intentionally compromise the success of any artist is defamatory, outrageous and frankly absurd". - IANS
Shah Rukh Khan shares poster of new movie
Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan has given fans a sneak peek of his upcoming film Raees. Set against the backdrop of the prohibition in Gujarat, Khan plays the title role of a bootlegger in the movie directed by Rahul Dholakia. SRK shared two posters on social media, the first of which saw him posing with an intense expression while wearing Aviator sunglasses. The second shows Khan tightly embracing his co-star, Pakistani actress Mahira Khan. The actor captioned the post: "Hope you all liked the new poster of Raees. Action ho gaya romance to follow". The film is slated for release on January 25. — IANS
TIFF producer Bill Marshall dies
Producer Bill Marshall, who cofounded the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in 1976, has died from a heart attack, he was 77. Marshall produced feature films and documentaries — the most noted of which was the Canadian film Outrageous! A statement from the festival read: "We are deeply saddened by the passing of our friend and TIFF Chair Emeritus Bill Marshall. He was a pioneer in the Canadian film industry and his vision of creating a public festival that would bring the world to Toronto through the transformative power of cinema stands today as one of his most significant legacies." Marshall is survived by his wife Sari Ruda, his children Lee, Stephen and Shelagh and six grandchildren. — IANS
Film producers interested in making Brexit film
Three film production companies, including Netflix are interested in making a screen dramatisation of Nigel Farage's insurgent Brexit campaign, according to an associate of politician. Britons voted to leave the European Union in June last year, and Farage has since befriended US president-elect Donald Trump. The project would be based on The Bad Boys of Brexit, an account of Farage's campaign by Arron Banks — a multimillionaire British tycoon who bankrolled the campaign — according to Andy Wigmore, a spokesman for Banks. "We have three interested parties in the rights to the book and we will be meeting representatives from three studios including a Netflix representative on January 19 in Washington DC," Wigmore confirmed. — Reuters
Actor Ramesh Thilak to wed
Popular radio disc-jockey-turned-actor Ramesh Thilak is to marry fellow radio presenter RJ Navalakshmi later this year. "Happy New Year to all. Starting this year in this fashion. She's Navalakshmi," Thilak wrote on his Twitter page, sharing a picture of his bride-to-be. "They've been seeing each other for quite some time. It's with the consent of their families, they have finally decided to get hitched," a source close to the couple said. Best known for his role in Tamil comedy Soodhu Kavvum, Thilak is currently shooting a thriller called Imaikaa Nodiga, and will also be part of an upcoming movie titled Tik Tik Tik. — IANS
Art critic John Berger dies
John Berger, the British art critic, intellectual and prodigious author whose pioneering 1972 book and the BBC series it spawned, Ways of Seeing, redefined the way a generation saw art, has died. He was 90. A respected author of novels, poetry, screenplays and critical essays, Berger had considerable influence as a late 20th-century thinker. He famously examined the role that consumerism played in the rise of Picasso in 1965's The Success and Failure of Picasso. When he won the prestigious Booker Prize in 1972 for his novel G, Berger spoke against the prize's roots in Caribbean slave labour and pledged to give half his reward to the Black Panthers, a group he said more accurately reflected his own politics. — AP
Carrie Fisher, left, and daughter Billie Lourd. Jordan Strauss / Invision / AP file
Billie Lourd thanks public for support
American actress Billie Lourd says the support she’s received since the deaths of her mother, Carrie Fisher, and her grandmother, Debbie Reynolds, has buoyed her spirits. Lourd posted a photo of herself with Fisher and Reynolds on Instagram, along with the caption: “Receiving all of your prayers and kind words over the past week has given me strength during a time I thought strength could not exist.” She went on to say “there are no words” to describe how much she will miss them. Fisher and Reynolds died a day apart last week. Lourd is the 24-year-old daughter of Fisher and talent agent Bryan Lourd. — AP