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Kannada film director Indrajit Lankesh roped in to direct a Hollywood film
From being a scribe to a filmmaker, the ‘Shakeela’ director now embarks on his first Hollywood venture
Indrajit Lankesh needs no introduction. The son of popular journalist-filmmaker, the Late P Lankesh, Indrajit too started off as a journalist. He worked with his father in the famous Kannada weekly tabloid Lankesh Patrike and heads it now.
The brother of Gauri Lankesh (who was assassinated in 2017) and award-winning director Kavitha Lankesh, Indrajit started off his journey in films as director with Tuntata. The film was not only a commercial success, but also won Indrajit the V Shantaram Award as the Best Director.
Monalisa (he won the Karnataka State Award in the best director category), Huduga Hudugi and Luv U Alia are some of his other films.
That is not all, Indrajit is also the man who gave Deepika Padukone her first break in films. He cast her as the leading lady with Upendra in his block buster hit film Aishwarya. “The moment I saw her, I knew she had it in her to be a star. She is great looking and has a great personality. She is also passionate about films,” says the director, who won the Filmfare Award in Best Director-Kannada category for Aishwarya.
The man, who is a permanent judge on the television reality comedy show Maja Talkies, is set to share another exciting announcement. “Before that I want to tell you that my film Shakeela is almost ready for release. It is a Hindi film which will be dubbed in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.”
Shakeela, he explains, is a biopic about the adult film star from Kerala. The film has award-winning actors Pankaj Tripathi and Richa Chadda in the lead roles.
Indrajt is all prasie for Richa and Pankaj. “They have given their best. Pankaj has a role, the like of which he has never played before. I am a big fan of his and am bowled over by his acting prowess. The film will hopefully hit screens by the end of this year. Also, Shakeela is my tenth film, and my eleventh will be in Hollywood… Yes, I have been asked to direct a Hollywood film now,” beams the director.
He will be the first director from the Kannada film industry to direct a Hollywood film. “I cannot share details as yet. But everything is finalised on paper. All I can say now is that I will off the coming week to Morocco to select the locations. The film is again about a woman, and an Oscar- nominated actress has accepted to play the protagonist. Soon, we will announce everything,” he smiles.
Then he shares the story of how this project came to be. “The producer of the Hollywood film saw the rushes of Shakeela, was impressed and approached me. I can’t express how thrilled I am. I like exploring new horizons and now it will be Hollywood,” says the man who now shuttles between running his father’s tabloid and filmmaking.
He says he ventured into films as he has “always been lured by the visual media and was influenced by my father” and the films he made. In fact, his father inspired him to tell stories. “Journalism runs in my veins. So I would like to say journalism is my profession and films my passion.” Will he ever make a film on a journalist? “I would love to! And it will be on my father His ideology, dedication and integrity need to be told as a story.”
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Entertainment> Movies / by Shilpa Sebastian R / September 23rd, 2019
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Google sets up AI research lab in Bengaluru
Google Research India will focus on advancing fundamental computer science and AI research.
Google on Thursday said it is setting up an artificial intelligence research unit at Bengaluru as the tech giant looks to continue developing products for India and taking them to global markets.
Google Research India, the artificial intelligence (AI) lab, will focus on advancing fundamental computer science and AI research.
Apart from the Google team led by AI scientist Manish Gupta, the company will also partner with the research community across the country to focus on tackling challenges in fields like healthcare, agriculture, and education.
“We are incredibly inspired by India. With a world-class engineering talent, strong computer science programs and entrepreneurial drive, India has the potential to contribute to advancements in AI and its application to tackle big challenges,” Google Vice President Next Billion Users and Payments Caeser Sengupta said.
He added that the company is rolling out new products and adding features to existing ones to help even the first-time internet users.
“Future is not about just tech but about inclusion, empowerment and economic opportunity. India inspires us,” Mr. Sengupta said at Google for India event.
IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who was also present at the event, said tech platforms like Google must ensure that their products are safe and secure for users.
“They must safeguard the privacy rights of individuals. Also, you must take extra efforts to ensure that people don’t abuse the system,” he added.
New programmes
Mr. Sengupta said under its Internet Saathi programme with Tata Trusts, about 80,000 ‘Saathis’ have been trained, who in turn have trained 30 million women.
Mr. Sengupta said in the last 12 months, Google Pay has grown more than three times to 67 million monthly active users, driving transactions worth over $110 billion on an annualised basis across offline and online merchants.
About two-thirds of the transactions are coming from tier-II and -III cities and towns.
Google Pay, which competes with players like Paytm and PhonePe, is introducing the ‘Spot’ platform that will enable merchants to create branded commercial experiences and reach new customers.
Google has already onboarded merchants like UrbanClap, Goibibo, MakeMyTrip, RedBus, Eat.Fit and Oven Story through its early access programme.
In addition, Google Pay is aslso rolling out ‘tokenized cards’ in the next few weeks to offer a secure way of paying for things using a digital token on the phone rather than the actual card number. Tokenized cards on Google Pay — already available in some countries globally — will be rolled out with Visa cards for banks including HDFC, Axis, Kotak and Standard Chartered.
“We will roll out support to cover Mastercard and Rupay and more banks in the coming months,” Mr. Sengupta said.
He added that Google Pay is also deepening the support for small businesses through a new app called ‘Google Pay for Business’
This is a free app for small and medium-sized merchants to enable digital payments where verification process is carried out remotely. Despite the massive growth in digital payments, a vast majority of India’s over 60 million small businesses is still not benefiting from the growing digital economy, Mr. Sengupta said.
“We hope these initiatives will help merchants adopt digital payments with more confidence and help contribute to the long term growth of online financial services,” he added.
Google has also launched ‘Jobs’ as a ‘Spot’ on Google Pay to help job seekers find and prepare for entry-level positions. “Since a number of small merchants is present on Google Pay, it provides an easy mechanism to connect with potential employees. Machine learning is used to recommend jobs and training content to help job seekers prepare for interviews and learn new skills,” Mr. Sengupta said.
Google is also introducing Job Spot with 24 early partners in retail like 24Seven and Healthkart, delivery and logistics partners like Swiggy, Zomato and Dunzo and hospitality providers like Fabhotels.
Besides, it is partnering with the National Skills Development Corporation for its Skill India programme.
Google said it is partnering state-run BSNL to bring high-speed public WiFi to villages in Gujarat, Bihar and Maharashtra. It had previously worked with Railtel to provide WiFi services at 400 train stations in the country.
It also announced its collaboration with Vodafone Idea for ‘Vodafone-Idea Phone Line’ to enable 2G customers of the telecom major get access to information without using data. The users can call a toll-free number to get answers to questions ranging from sports scores to traffic conditions or even getting help with homework.
The service, supported by Google Assistant, will be available in Hindi and English.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sci-Tech> Technology / by PTI / New Delhi – September 19th, 2019
With free lessons, this Bengaluru-based Taekwondo trainer aims to create little champs
Hailing from an underprivileged background, Chanakya couldn’t afford to pay his coach and was fortunate to get a trainer who coached him for free.
Bengaluru :
Harish S Chanakya has loved martial arts since childhood. However, it was in 2008 that his parents saw his dedication towards the sport, and put him in touch with a Taekwondo coach in Sree Kanteerava Stadium. The 26-year-old has gone on to not only bagging medals in championships but also training about 200 underprivileged children for free.
The Korean martial art lays emphasis on head-height kicks, jumping and spinning kicks, and fast kicking techniques, Chanakya explained. “What makes Taekwondo different is that it is an activity for survival in difficult situations,” Chanakya, a Kempegowda Award winner, said.
Hailing from an underprivileged background, Chanakya couldn’t afford to pay his coach and was fortunate to get a trainer who coached him for free. He now wants to do his bit for children in similar situations.
He conducts classes in an open hall at Vidyaranyapura for three hours every evening. Many of his students have now turned champions, winning more than 10 medals in state and national championships. Chanakya has also launched CURES Foundation, wherein people can sponsor the children.
“I had support from Arvind Venkatesh Reddy, the owner of Bellary Turskers in Karnataka Premier League, who sponsored my trips and tournaments. But I can’t sponsor so many children. I hope the foundation will help us make many Taekwondo champions,” he added.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Bengaluru / by Iffath Fathima / Express News Service / September 17th, 2019