Shah Rukh Khan shares images from Prague set
Shah Rukh Khan, who is in Prague filming Imtiaz Ali's The Ring, has shared with his fans some glimpses from the film's set. The superstar on Sunday night posted a photograph of himself standing in front of a monument holding an orange flag. "Imtiaz said I could post this picture from the sets ... Promised there will be some close-ups of me in the film too," reads the caption under the image. Anushka Sharma plays the female lead in the movie. A release date has yet to be announced. – IANS
Tyra Banks to teach business class at Stanford University
Tyra Banks is trading the catwalk for the classroom. The former host of America’s Next Top Model and FABLife will teach students at Stanford University in May. Banks, who launched a beauty line in 2014, will serve as a guest lecturer for two weeks for a class on creating and protecting a personal brand. The school says about 25 graduate students will receive instruction from the mogul and model on how to use media to showcase their business acumen and handle press exposure as a business leader. The class will culminate with the students sharing their personal brands with the public through video platforms. – AP
Mark Hamill supports terminally ill Star Wars fan
Star Wars actor Mark Hamill is among those lending his support to a terminally ill fan who wants to see Rogue One: A Star Wars Story before he dies. Hamill backed a social-media campaign launched last week by hospice worker Amy Duncan asking for the Star Wars spin-off to be screened for illustrator Neil Hanvey from Oldham, England. Duncan says the 36-year-old cancer patient was informed by doctors in April that he has six to eight months to live. Rogue One is set for release on December 16. The film stars Felicity Jones and is set between the third and fourth Star Wars instalments. Star Wars: The Force Awakens was screened for terminally ill fan Daniel Fleetwood on November. 5. He died days after seeing the movie. – AP
Priyanka Chopra scores more than 10m followers on Instagram
Indian actress Priyanka Chopra, who shot to international fame with her starring role in the American TV show Quantico, now has 10 million followers on Instagram. She posted a video clip on social media in which she is seen wearing sunglasses with the numbers 1 and 0 on each lens, along with the caption: "Thankful for our 10 million family on Instagram... Lots of love and gratitude! 10 Mn for Priyanka on Insta." The 34-year-old will next be seen in the Hollywood film Baywatch, alongside actors Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron. – IANS
Ben-Hur left in the dust at American box office
Paramount's US$100 million (Dh367m) remake of Ben-Hur bombed in its opening weekend at the North American box office, putting it on course to become the summer's biggest flop. The chariot-racing epic brought in just $11.2 million, making it the highest-profile casualty in a season that has seen several big studio movies crash and burn. Critics gave Timur Bekmambetov's reboot of the Biblical story – starring Jack Huston, Toby Kebbell and Morgan Freeman – the thumbs down across the board, with several dubbing it "Chariots of Misfire". Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes awarded the picture a 28 per cent rating. It is the fourth big-screen iteration of Lew Wallace's best-selling 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, following silent versions in 1907 and 1925, and William Wyler's 1959 opus, starring Charlton Heston, which won 11 Oscars. – AFP
Vivek Oberoi to be trained by Bond fitness expert
Indian actor Vivek Oberoi will be trained by Bond star Daniel Craig's trainer Anthony Pecora for two Hindi-language projects – a web series titled Khel and director Ram Gopal Varma's upcoming film Rai. "Vivek has already started working with Anthony. It includes weight training, FTX [fitness exchange] and cardio exercises," said a source close to the actor, adding that Oberoi is enjoying his sessions with Pecora, who worked with Craig on Bond films Casino Royale and Skyfall. "Both roles are special to me, so I want to ensure that my fans see me in a different avatar. We are spending two hours in the gym every day and I am enjoying it," said Oberoi. "The training is on a different level altogether." – IANS
Ian McKellen says no to million-dollar Gandalf deal
Ian McKellen turned down a 1.5 million-dollar deal to officiate at a wedding dressed as Gandalf, his famous character from The Lord of the Rings movie series. The 77-year-old actor was asked to appear at the wedding of Napster founder Sean Parker, according to the Daily Mail. "I was offered one-and-a-half million dollars to marry a very famous couple in California, which I would perhaps have considered doing, but I had to go dressed as Gandalf. So I said: 'I am sorry, Gandalf doesn't do weddings,'" said McKellen. – IANS
