Screenings of ‘Emergency’ film cancelled in Punjab after protests by Sikh groups

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

Kangana Ranaut in Emergency (2025)

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Manikarnika Films

Movie theatres across Punjab on Friday cancelled screenings of the Hindi-language film Emergency after protests by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and other Sikh organisations calling for its ban, PTI reported.Emergency, starring actor-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut, was released on Friday.“This is complete harassment of art and the artist, from Punjab many cities are reporting that these people are not allowing Emergency to be screened,” Ranaut posted on X. “I have utmost respect for all religions and after studying and growing up in Chandigarh I have closely observed and followed Sikh religion. This is a complete lie and propaganda to tarnish my image and harm my film.” The film is based on the Emergency imposed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s government in 1975. Ranaut is also the writer and director of the film, besides having co-produced it through her company Manikarnika Films.The film was initially scheduled for release on September 6. This was delayed after protests from several quarters, including Sikh groups. Petitions were also filed in court claiming that the film contained objectionable portrayal of Sikhs infringed on the community’s fundamental rights.On Friday, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, which manages gurdwaras in India and other countries, protested outside cinemas, multiplexes and malls in Punjab. Theatres in Ludhiana, Amritsar, Patiala, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur and Bathinda did not screen the film, PTI reported.Police personnel were deployed outside cinemas and malls to maintain law and order.Kulwant Singh Manan, chief secretary of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, said that theatres had decided not to screen the film in view of its objections, The Indian Express reported. “We welcome the decision,” Manan added.“Ranaut is an MP from the BJP, and the responsibility of an MP is significant,” PTI quoted Manan as saying. “He or she should work to bring everyone in society together, but instead, she is creating divisions…”Another member of the organisation, Partap Singh, said that they had gathered to stop the release of the film because it was made to disturb peace in Punjab. “We spoke with the central government and the Punjab government to stop the release of the movie but no action was taken,” PTI quoted him as saying.A day earlier, Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee chief Harjinder Singh Dhami wrote to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann seeking a ban on the film, The Indian Express reported.However, an unidentified government official told the newspaper that the Aam Aadmi Party government in the state did not as a policy ban films.“The CM [chief minister] hasn’t issued any orders,” the official said. “There is no ban as of now…cinema owners have themselves not screened the movie.”The Opposition Congress also sought a ban on the film. Party leader Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said that the Aam Aadmi Party government should consider imposing a complete ban “given the already fragile law and order situation in the state”.In a post on X, Randhawa added that the film “depicts Sikhs in bad light and brings defamation to our state of Punjab”.Also read: ‘Emergency’ review – A parodic Indira Gandhi biopic

Thandiwe Newton, Steve Zahn join cast of new ‘Anaconda’ movie

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

The two actors will star alongside Paul Rudd and Jack Black, besides Selton Mello who makes his English-language debut, and actor Ione Skye in this Tom Gormican directorial which is a comedic reimagining of the 1997 horror movie ‘Anaconda’

Published Date – 18 January 2025, 08:01 PM

Thandiwe Newton and Steve Zahn join Anaconda movie

Los Angeles: British star Thandiwe Newton and ‘Silo’ actor Steve Zahn are set to feature in Columbia’s comedic reimagining of the 1997 horror movie ‘Anaconda’.
According to entertainment news outlet ‘The Hollywood Reporter’, the two actors will star alongside Paul Rudd and Jack Black. Selton Mello, who appears in the critically-acclaimed Brazilian movie ‘I’m Still Here’, has also boarded the film, which will mark his English-language debut, along with actor Ione Skye.

Tom Gormican, director of the Nicolas Cage meta-film ‘The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent’, is co-writing the script with his collaborator Kevin Etten and will also direct the feature.
The story will reportedly follow a group of friends facing mid-life crises who are remaking their favourite movie from their youth. They head to the rainforest, only to find themselves in a fight for their lives against natural disasters, giant snakes and violent criminals.
Black will play an erstwhile director, a man stuck in his job as a wedding videographer, while Rudd will play an actor who did a stint on a cop show but sees his Hollywood dreams slipping further and further away.
‘Anaconda’, directed by Luis Llosa, was about a documentary film crew in the Amazon that comes across an obsessed hunter looking to find a legendary anaconda. The 1997 film featured the likes of Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Eric Stoltz and Owen Wilson.
Despite average reviews, the film became a cult favourite for its creature horror and suspenseful jungle setting. It earned $135 million against its $45 million budget.
The franchise expanded with multiple sequels, including ‘Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid’ (2004), ‘Anaconda 3: Offspring’ (2008), ‘Anacondas: Trail of Blood’ (2009), and ‘Lake Placid vs. Anaconda’ (2015), a crossover with the ‘Lake Placid’ series.

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Mark Cuban: I was out of work and broke when I started the business that made me a millionaire—’if you’ve got nothing, it’s the perfect time’

Business News

When Mark Cuban started the company that made him a millionaire, he was nearly at rock bottom — and he doesn’t think that was a coincidence.
“If you’ve got nothing, it’s the perfect time to start a business,” Cuban told the “Lex Fridman Podcast,” in an episode that aired last year.

He cited himself as proof: He’d recently been fired from his job at a computer software store and was sleeping on the floor of a three-bedroom apartment with six roommates when he launched his first startup, a tech company called MicroSolutions, in 1983.
“I couldn’t go any lower,” said Cuban, now 66. “There was no downside for me starting a business.”
DON’T MISS: How to use AI to be more productive and successful at work
After roughly seven years — during which a secretary allegedly almost bankrupted the company, and Cuban himself, with forged checks — Cuban sold MicroSolutions to CompuServe for $6 million, becoming a millionaire in the process. He became a billionaire after his next tech company, an audio streaming service called Broadcast.com, sold to Yahoo for $6 billion in 1999.
The serial entrepreneur and startup investor currently has an estimated net worth of $7.79 billion, according to Bloomberg.
“If you want to take that next step, you have to be able to deal with the consequences of changing your circumstances,” Cuban said, noting that people with jobs, children or mortgages may have good reason to be uncomfortable with entrepreneurship’s uncertainty. “Creating a business gives you the greatest potential upside and the greatest leverage on your time, but it also creates the most risk.”
You can at least partially mitigate the risk by saving at least six months’ worth of living expenses, Cuban recommended in a 2023 Wired interview. And you should intensively study your prospective business’ industry ahead of time, he said on the podcast.
“I get emails and approached by people all the time [saying], ‘What kind of business should I start?’ That tells me you’re not ready to start a business,” he said.
Other successful entrepreneurs often agree: When you start a business, you need to take your research seriously and commit yourself — both personally and financially — to seeing your idea through, for better or worse.
“First, build conviction by learning more about what you want to do. Don’t just do some of the cursory work,” billionaire serial entrepreneur Jay Chaudhry told CNBC Make It last year. “Second, start by putting in your own money. That actually is part of testing your conviction. If you really have conviction, you’ll take a chance on yourself.”
Knowing what it feels like to struggle — and being comfortable with the idea of doing it again — can lend you some useful perspective, too.
“I know what the bottom feels like. I don’t mind if I go back. So, I’m just going to put all the chips on the table,” Jake Loosararian, CEO and co-founder of the $633 million robotics firm Gecko Robotics, told CNBC Make It last year, adding: “That actually is a superpower. Those scars allow you to act with confidence, courage and a will to make [your goals] become reality.”
Disclosure: CNBC owns the exclusive off-network cable rights to “Shark Tank,” which features Mark Cuban as a panelist.
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Govt to close six institutions of Ministry of Science

Science and Health

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The federal government’s Rightsizing Committee has approved the closure of six institutions under the Ministry of Science and the merger of four others, Express News reported.

The decision aims to streamline operations and reduce the ministry’s workforce, the Rightsizing Committee decided to retain only six of the ministry’s institutions with a reduced workforce.

The remaining entities will either be closed or merged. A report on the implementation of these recommendations is due by July 20.

Documents reveal that the Council for Works and Housing Research, Pakistan Council for Science and Technology, and the Pakistan Council for Renewable Energy Technology will be shut down.

Additionally, the National Institute of Electronics may either be merged or closed, while the Scientific and Technological Development Corporation will be dissolved.

The committee has also instructed a third-party evaluation of the Pakistan Halal Authority, and has directed the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) and Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) to undergo digitalisation.

The National University of Science and Technology (NUST) has been asked to propose a plan to enhance its standards and secure placements for 100 universities.

The National University of Technology is required to submit a five-year plan for self-sustainability, while the Pakistan Council for Scientific and Industrial Research will undergo a third-party performance review.

The committee also called for a 50% reduction in the staffing levels at the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Shock as ‘Kill A Tourist’ slogan graffiti seen in Tenerife, as local says anti-holidaymaker backlash now ‘frightening’

Travel

18 January 2025, 12:40 | Updated: 18 January 2025, 13:34

The shocking slogan was painted in Tenerife.

Picture:
Social media/Supplied

A shocking anti-tourist slogan has been seen graffitied on a wall in Tenerife, against the backdrop of a vehement protest movement.

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The graffiti, seen on a house in the south of the Spanish island, reads: “Kill A Tourist”.Tenerife and other Spanish holiday hotspots have seen several protests against overcrowding recently.The concerned resident, who did not want to be named due to safety worries, is in favour of the protest movement but is concerned that feelings are now running too high.They told LBC: “Things on the islands are getting worse due to the large number of tourists and new residents, which leave us without homes and severely affect our natural environment. Read more: Spain to slap 100% tax on foreign home-buyers in blow to British expat hopefulsRead more: Spanish police confiscate tourist loungers and umbrellas – and charge £210 to get them back from police station

The graffiti is in the south of Tenerife.

Picture:
Supplied

“People are desperate for change and for us to be respected, but perhaps this does not justify those actions, which seem to be escalating. It’s frightening.”Footage of the graffiti being painted on the was posted online by a group called Islas de Resistencia, which describes itself as “a project to recover the memory of social movements in the Canary Islands.”

Last summer thousands of tourists took to the streets to protest against the number of people visiting the popular spots.Activists are demanding the government make a change to prevent the number of tourists visiting the holiday hotspot amid soaring rents.

Anti-tourist protesters squirt dining tourists with water pistols in Barcelona

Carlos Tarife, the deputy mayor for Tenerife capital Santa Cruz, said earlier last year the island doesn’t want tourists coming on all-inclusive packages.He told a local outlet: “Where before there were hotels with 250 beds, today we are in hotels with fewer beds and higher quality.”I think that’s the tourism we need in our land, not the wristband and ‘all-inclusive’ kind of tourism of ‘I stay inside the hotel and do everything inside the hotel’.”That’s why there are other destinations.”It comes as Spain is also set to impose a 100% tax on non-EU citizens buying homes in the country as it moves to prioritise housing availability for locals.

Lake Geneva Business Improvement District Board elects officers

Business News

Dennis Hines

Two Lake Geneva Business Improvement District Board members will retain their positions on the board, while two other members will move into new positions.Members of the Business Improvement District Board elected their officers for 2025 during their Jan. 8 meeting.Angela Carlson was unanimously approved as the board’s secretary. Jessica Alethea Salgado, who served as the board’s secretary in 2024, indicated that she was interested in another position on the board.”If there’s an opportunity for a different position on the board, I would like to see what that entails,” Salgado said. “I don’t want to move anybody out of their spot. But if possible, I would be interested in being the treasurer or vice president if that’s an option for you folks.”Carlson indicated that she was interested in serving as the secretary for the board.

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“If you’re open to move out of that spot I’m open to being the secretary, if you want to vacate,” Carlson told Salgado.The Business Improvement District Board secretary is responsible for scheduling board meetings, assisting with board member orientations, taking attendance for the board meetings, maintaining the board’s records, securing the board’s documents and contracts and keeping track of the board members’ terms.”All of this is in tandem with myself. So we work together, so we have a two-tier team,” Business Improvement Director Alexandria Binanti said. “So that’s the position in a nutshell. I can tell you scheduling the board meetings is pretty easy.”Salgado was then unanimously elected treasurer for the board. Previous board treasurer Anthony Silvestri indicated that he had no issue with Salgado’s appointment.”I would just be interested in learning more about how this sort of thing operates as far as from a financial perspective by getting involved with it, as well, so I can have a pulse on the budgets,” Salgado said.The board’s treasurer is responsible for helping to manage the Business Improvement District’s budget, working with financial institutions for signer responsibilities and working with the executive director to make sure the financial reports are updated.”Right now, our finances are all managed by the city of Lake Geneva. So it’s been a weird position to be on,” Binanti said. “It’s more of being an oversight than being hands-on.”Binanti said, in the future, the Business Improvement District Board will establish a finance committee which will assist the treasurer. “It’s just not on you and me,” Binanti told Salgado. “It is multiple people because basically we’re all financially responsible, myself included and all of us, so it’s not an all-on-your-own thing as changes are made.” Beth Tumas was unanimously re-elected as the board’s vice president. Tumas served as the board’s vice president in 2024, as well. The vice president is responsible for operating the board’s meetings when the president is absent, serving as the Business Improvement District’s spokesperson when needed, assisting with the president’s duties and completing special tasks when requested.”It’s a cool job because it’s being the ultimate assistant to the president,” Binanti said. “It has the same duties and responsibilities as the other board members. The vice president usually serves as the back-up leader to the president, so the board has that leadership.”Janine Osborne was unanimously re-elected as the board’s president. She served as the board’s president in 2024.Board member Spyro Condos said Osborne has done a quality job serving as the board’s president during the past year. Condos previously served as the board’s president from 2020 through 2023.”She’s done a very good job. She’s been a good image,” Condos said. “She’s got a nice, sweet voice, not rough and gruff like the past president.” Salgado said she also is pleased with the work Osborne has done as the board’s president.”I’ve been really impressed with how you’ve conducted yourself in these meetings in the last year,” Salgado told Osborne. “You come in when it’s really important, and I think that’s great. Your comments are always so purposeful and intentional.”Osborne said she has enjoyed serving as the board’s president during the past year.”I love doing this,” Osborne said. “I love being a part of this.”Welcoming new membersThe Business Improvement District Board also welcomed three new members during the meeting, Alastair Cumming, co-owner of Sopra Bistro; Emily Trainor, co-owner of Queen Bee Artisan Market; and Stephen Schroeder, co-owner of Lake City Social.Members of the Lake Geneva City Council approved Cumming’s, Trainor’s and Schroeder’s appointments Jan. 13. Their terms are set to expire Jan. 1, 2027. Cumming said he is looking forward to being a member of the board.”I’m very happy to be here. I hope to make a contribution. I’m very passionate about this town,” Cumming said. “I’m all about bringing more people into the town and bringing back people who have come into town. I think it’s going to be a very interesting two years.”Binanti said part of the reason Trainor was selected to the board is because of her past experience working with nonprofit organizations.”Emily comes with a lot of nonprofit experience from other communities,” Binanti said. “So I’m excited to have her on.”Reasons for more membersMembers of the Lake Geneva City Council approved last year to allow the Business Improvement District Board to update its bylaws to increase the number of its voting members from seven to nine.Alderwoman Sherri Ames serves as a non-voting member of the board and as a representative from the City Council.Binanti said part of the reason for increasing the number of members is to allow for more members to serve on the Business Improvement District’s committees and for the committees to meet more often.The Business Improvement District includes a promotions committee,  economic vitality committee, organizational committee, beautification committee and executive committee.Binanti said because there are more board members, the executive committee will now have its own meetings in addition to the full board meetings. “I am requesting that we do that now. We couldn’t before because we wouldn’t of had a quorum. So now that we have a larger board, we can move that forward,” Binanti said. “I know it’s a lot of commitment and time here. We’re talking about two to three meetings a month depending on what committees you serve.”Binanti said the committees will consist of board members, as well as non-board members.”It’s just not board members on those committees. I do have some committee members that showed an interest in being on the board of directors. They’re going to be doing some of that,” Binanti said. “We will assign committee chairs in the future. It can be anyone and that will be discussed with me and Janine, who will be making that decision.”Members of the Business Improvement District Board discuss and vote on issues related to maintaining and beautifying downtown Lake Geneva and helping to attract people to the downtown businesses.About half of the board members must be commercial property owners within the Business Improvement District, which is located in the downtown area, and the other half must either be owners or managers of a business in the district.Members serve two-year terms. The board also includes an alderman who serves as a non-voting member. The board members usually meet during the first Wednesday of the month, 9 a.m. at Harbor Shores on Lake Geneva, 300 Wrigley Drive.Members are recommended by the Business Improvement District Board, appointed by the mayor and then the approved by the City Council. Business Improvement District officials help maintain the downtown area and host several events throughout the year including Spring Wine Walk, Maxwell Street Days, Lake Geneva Oktoberfest, Fall Wine Walk and Christmas tree lighting ceremony. 
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The greatest Beatles song of all time, according to science

Science and Health

(Credits: Far Out / Apple Corps) Sat 18 January 2025 12:00, UK How on earth do you measure the impact of The Beatles? The size and scope of their success are barely reconcilable. We might view Taylor Swift as a giant of modern times thanks to the 114 million albums she has sold, but the Fab Four have flogged in excess of 600million. And when the young Liverpudlian lads burst on the scene, the world’s population was only 3.1billion, remarkably about 38.75% of what it is today. That places The Beatles at their pomp at around 14 times more popular than Swift is presently. Imagine that. It’d be borderline insufferable. Stranger still, you could easily argue that the band were paradoxically non-commercial. At least in their later days, they were as experimental as anyone else on the scene. Take, for instance, ‘I Am the Walrus’: there is no way that a song inspired by the sexual kinks of Eric ‘The Eggman’ Burdon, a working-class Geordie singer, transmuted in the drug-addled mind of John Lennon, a Jesus Christ-defiling oddball, run through the wringer of an avant-garde collision of rock and classical orchestration, taking on the ground-breaking compositional structure of a harmonic Moebius strip, should reasonably expect to be a hit that lives on for centuries.You could say the same for ‘A Day in the Life’, too. A self-professed free-form musical “orgasm”, working its way through a newspaper from the potholes in Lancashire to the apparent suicide of a Guinness heir, going on to be a huge hit? Unlikely. Certainly not on the BBC’s watch—they even tried to ban it. It was subversive and radical yet catchy and palatable. It was cool and aloof but had such a common touch it even kept up with the local papers. It was neo-classical and had differing time signatures and keys throughout, yet the crux of the first melody is effortlessly simple. Is it rapturous, or is it comforting?Whatever it is, it certainly wasn’t built to meet conventional standards—it challenged understandings of pop, transcending them and soared forth as a sonic experiment that reshaped what music could be. And that is why it is considered the greatest song that The Beatles ever offered, according to science. What is The Beatles’ best song?The science in question is the combined song study by critics and experts. Acclaimed Music compiled critics’ takes across the ages, musicologists’ findings, and every other accredited opinion on the song, crowning it The Beatles’ greatest achievement. It sits about ‘Strawberry Field Forever’ in second and ‘Hey Jude’ in third as the anthem, showcasing the reputation of the second half of their tenure atop the pop tree with each of those masterpieces arriving within not much longer than a year. Imagine that! It’d be borderline mind-blowing. And so, we see why one informed the other—how the wild success and supreme experimentation actually fuelled each other. They were doing things with such skill, in such a rapid advancement, that the public were forced to take note. As David Bowie said of John Lennon, and pretty much his mates by extension, “I just thought he was the very best of what could be done with rock ‘n’ roll.” However, it was the specific element that he highlighted next that had the biggest bearing on music. “He would rifle the avant-garde and look for ideas that were so on the outside on the periphery of what was the mainstream and then make them apply in a functional manner to something that was considered populist and make it work,” the ‘Starman’ happily shared.That’s the magic of what the Fab Four achieve together on ‘A Day in the Life’. You utter the lyric, “I heard the news today…” and whether it’s your 90-year-old grandad from Khazakstan or your eight-year-old niece from Huddersfield, they’re likely to reply, “Oh boy”. And I’ve also wager you’ve got a fairly interesting family history. It is this epic mix of searing musicality and sweet and soulful resonance that has ensured it has remained a timeless addition—a track that science and critics have rightfully placed at the top of the Fab Four’s tree. Still, it’s no ‘Africa’ by Toto which science discouraging championed as the greatest song of all time. Make of that what you will.[embedded content]Related TopicsSubscribe To The Far Out Newsletter

Jeff Bridges names his favourite sci-fi films: “I don’t know if you get movies much better than that”

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

(Credits: Far Out / Searchlight Pictures) Sat 18 January 2025 14:45, UK Jeff Bridges was quite literally born for greatness. The son of Lloyd Bridges, best known for his appearances in High Noon and Airplane!, and the brother Beau Bridges, who is one Oscar away from an EGOT, Jeff was always destined to achieve great things in the world of entertainment. Through movies like The Big Lebowski, Crazy Heart, and the Coen brothers’ remake of True Grit, he has more than lived up to those lofty expectations. Though he’s a great all-around player, Bridges has appeared in a number of prominent science-fiction films. He was the villain in the first Iron Man movie, helping to kick off the Marvel Cinema Universe and its reign of dominance over mainstream cinema. There’s also the ‘Tron’ series, Disney’s cult favourite adventures in cyberspace. The original movie, which came out in 1982 and starred Bridges as Kevin Flynn, was praised for its innovative use of computer animation. The actor admitted that he found making the film tough but clearly wasn’t bothered enough not to return for the 2011 sequel, Tron: Legacy. While promoting the movie to Collider, Bridges was asked if he grew up a fan of the sci-fi genre. “Yeah I loved Ray Bradbury, [Robert] Heinlein you know, I liked him,” he confirmed. “2001, I don’t know if you get movies that are much better than that, I loved that. Starman I was in [that] movie and really enjoyed that film. Yeah I loved, as a kid growing up, I loved science-fiction.”Ray Bradbury is best known for his groundbreaking novel Fahrenheit 451, but he also left his mark on Hollywood, contributing screenplays to several films, including 1953’s It Came from Outer Space. His influence was so profound that Steven Spielberg once called him his “muse”. Similarly, Robert A Heinlein was a pioneering science fiction author who emphasised scientific accuracy in his works. Among his most enduring books are Stranger in a Strange Land, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, and Starship Troopers, the latter of which was adapted into a 1997 film directed by Paul Verhoeven.Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey needs no introduction, as it stands as one of the most significant films ever made in any genre. What’s less widely known, however, is the Jeff Bridges movie that Kubrick magnanimously named as one of his favourites. Starman, released in 1984, was directed by legendary horror filmmaker John Carpenter. Unlike Carpenter’s usual fare, this is not a scary movie but a heartfelt love story. It follows Bridges as an ethereal alien who comes to Earth and forms a connection with Jenny Hayden, a recently widowed woman who meets him after he takes on the form of her late husband.The movie received strong reviews, particularly for the chemistry between Bridges and Karen Allen. Bridges was even nominated for a ‘Best Actor’ Oscar for his performance, though he ultimately lost to F Murray Abraham for Amadeus. Starman has since left a lasting impression on pop culture. In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, a flashback sequence shows Peter ‘Starlord’ Quill’s parents (Kurt Russell and Laura Haddock) falling in love while driving a 1978 Ford Mustang Cobra—the very same car driven by the main characters in Starman.Bridges looks set to make his big return to sci-fi with the third instalment in the Tron series. Tron: Ares, set for a 2025 release, will see the star return to the role of Kevin Flynn alongside newcomers Jared Leto, Evan Peters, and Greta Lee. [embedded content]Related TopicsSubscribe To The Far Out Newsletter

Charli XCX to Star in Aidan Zamiri’s A24 Film ‘The Moment’

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

Charli XCX is all set to headline an exciting A24 picture! The Cinemaholic can reveal that the celebrated singer-songwriter will lead Aidan Zamiri’s feature directorial debut, ‘The Moment.’ The project is slated to enter production in New York and Los Angeles, California, in March. Zamiri and Bertie Brandes wrote the screenplay. The plot and the rest of the cast of the film have yet to be disclosed.