Indus Chronicles

Anil Kapoor has once again proved that timeless romance does exist - this time through a heartfelt note for his wife, Sunita Kapoor, as the couple marked 41 years of marriage and 52 years of togetherness. The veteran actor, known for his evergreen charm and energy, took to social media to express deep gratitude and love for his wife in a post that left fans and celebrities teary-eyed.

“41 years of marriage, 52 years of togetherness — and not a day goes by when I don’t feel grateful for you, Sunita,” Anil wrote, beginning his note with a tender reflection. “From the very beginning, you weren’t just my partner — you were my support system, my constant, and the one who stood by me through every phase of life.” Along with the note, Anil also shared several candid moments from his early days with Sunita to recent pictures showcasing their five-decade long journey.

In a particularly emotional segment of his message, the actor paid tribute to his late mother and acknowledged Sunita’s unwavering presence during his hectic years in the film industry. “You were there for Mum in ways I never could be — caring for her, standing by her, and loving her like your own, especially when I was away working, which has been almost every day of my life. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”

Anil also reflected on how much his mother would have loved to be part of their special day. “I only wish she were here today to wish us on our 41st anniversary… I know she is so proud of us, of the life we built together.” He signed off with a moving declaration of love: “Thank you for being my friend, my wife, my soulmate — my everything. Here’s to our journey so far and all the beautiful years still to come. I love you endlessly, Sonu <3 Happy anniversary, my love. @kapoor.sunita”.

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The post quickly drew a wave of warm wishes from friends, family, and fans. Farah Khan Kunder commented, “Happy anniversary papaji !! u hit jackpot with @kapoor.sunita.” Maheep Kapoor added, “Happy anniversary guys”, while Sanjay Kapoor wrote, “Happy anniversary @kapoor.sunita @anilskapoor.” Chunky Panday chimed in with, “Happy Happy Anniversary,” and Raj Kundra extended his wishes too, saying, “Happy anniversary to you both.”

The couple’s enduring bond continues to be a beacon of love and companionship in the industry, reminding everyone that real relationships grow stronger with time.

Also Read: Vivek Agnihotri praises Anil Kapoor’s unparalleled dedication on the sets of Chocolate; says, “Woh set pe aate hi wahi pe patak se kapde change kar lete hain”

Best Film Stree 2

Best Actor (Female) Shraddha Kapoor - Stree 2

Best Actor (Male) Kartik Aaryan - Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3

Best Music Sachin-Jigar - Stree 2

Best Lyrics Irshad Kamil - (Mainu Vida Karo) from Amar Singh Chamkila

Best Cinematography Laapataa Ladies

Best Editing Aarti Bajaj - Amar Singh Chamkila

Best VFX Munjyaa

Expert Costume Design Darshan Jhalan – Laapataa Ladies

Best Production Design Amar Singh Chamkila

Expert Background Score Sandeep Shirodkar – Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3

Expert Sound Design Kingshuk Moran - Stree 2

Actress-entrepreneur Parul Gulati made her red-carpet debut at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, attending the world premiere of Eddington, the latest film by director Ari Aster. The film, one of the most anticipated titles at this year’s festival, features a high-profile cast including Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, and Pedro Pascal.

For her red-carpet appearance at this second event in Cannes, Parul chose an unconventional route with a custom-made ensemble crafted entirely out of human hair. The look, conceptualised by Parul and executed by stylist Mohit Rai and designer Riddhi Bansal, served as a tribute to her entrepreneurial venture—a hair extension brand she founded and continues to lead. The outfit reportedly took over a month to create, involving a team of 12 artisans and extensive hours of craftsmanship. The outfit, while visually striking, also carried a symbolic message about self-expression, individuality, and the merging of creative and entrepreneurial identities.

In a statement about her appearance, Parul Gulati shared, “Attending the Cannes Film Festival has been a long-standing dream of mine—not just as an actor, but as someone who is deeply in love with the art of cinema. Being able to walk the red carpet at the premiere of Eddington was surreal. Ari Aster’s work has always fascinated me, and to witness a film of this scale, starring artists like Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, and Pedro Pascal—actors I’ve admired for years—was a true full-circle moment. This experience is more than a milestone; it’s a reminder of why we tell stories, why we watch them, and why cinema matters.”

Speaking about her fashion choice, she added, “I wanted my red carpet look to reflect that same spirit of individuality and risk-taking. Wearing an outfit made entirely out of human hair wasn’t just about pushing fashion boundaries—it was a homage to my journey, to every woman who’s ever embraced her uniqueness, and to the idea that our roots—quite literally—can be our biggest strength. To represent both my creative and entrepreneurial side at a platform as iconic as Cannes is a moment I’ll never forget.”

Parul’s appearance has sparked conversations about creative expression on international red carpets, positioning her as one of the more unconventional voices to emerge from this year’s festival.

Also Read: Parul Gulati opts for dramatic sheer black look as she makes Cannes red carpet debut

Bhatt Saab, it’s been seventeen years since Jannat released? Seventeen years. It feels like yesterday—and yet, a lifetime has passed. On May 16, 2008, Jannat walked into our lives—not with fanfare, but with that quiet confidence some stories carry when they know they’ve touched something true. Now, as I look back, what comes to me is not the success, not the applause—but a moment. A face.

Whose face? I was in Gurgaon, at a friend’s home, when his wife—a middle-class woman draped in ordinariness but lit from within—was serving me hot chapatis. With a quiet intensity in her eyes, she said, “Jannat is about the war inside every man. Between the hunger to grab everything in the shop window—and the strength to walk away.” She didn’t speak of Arjun and Zoya as characters, but as mirrors. She had seen the film not just with her eyes, but with her life.

That just about sums up Jannat? Zoya, she said, was the true hero. Because when the man she loved broke under the weight of his own desire, she chose to endure. She chose dignity. And that one moment—her son returning a toy because his mother couldn’t afford it—cut deeper than any scene I’ve ever staged. In that simple act, a generation turned. The father who once smashed windows to steal what he craved was gone. The child had chosen another way. That, to me, was Jannat’s true victory.

Kunal Deshmukh was pretty impressive in his directorial debut? Kunal Deshmukh—young, unscarred, unafraid—took a gamble with this film. His first. He wove a tale of cricket betting and love, yes. But beneath it all was the seduction of sin and the price of surrender. He didn’t just direct a film. He lit a fire.

And your favourite, Emraan Hashmi? Emraan Hashmi… What can I say that hasn’t already been felt in a million hearts? His character Arjun was flawed, but Emraan gave him a soul. We rooted for him even as we knew he would fall. Because inside all of us, there’s an Arjun—burning, wanting, losing. And Sonal Chauhan, as Zoya, brought a rare grace—a quiet rebellion, a refusal to let life harden her.

The music of Jannat is remembered to this day? And then there was the music. Pritam gave us not just a soundtrack, but an ache. Zara Sa, Haan Tu Hain, Jannat Jahan—songs that felt like diary entries from a time when love hurt in the best possible way. KK, who is no longer with us, lives on in those notes. His voice was the shadow under our dreams.

Your closing thoughts? Jannat was never just a movie. It was a parable. A whisper in a noisy world. A reminder that every choice leaves a mark—and that sometimes, the strength to hold back makes the loudest noise of all. To Kunal, to Emraan, to Pritam, to Sonal, to that woman in Gurgaon who saw more clearly than most critics ever could—and to you, the audience, who’ve kept this story alive in your hearts—thank you. Jannat lives not on screens, but in memories. And memories… don’t age.

Also Read: Emraan Hashmi starrer Ground Zero offers Rs 99 tickets for one day ONLY! Check deets here

Ananya Panday is no stranger to scrutiny, but the actress is now speaking out with honesty and introspection about the toll of unrealistic beauty standards and how they impact young women — including herself.

In a heartfelt conversation with popular YouTuber Lilly Singh, Ananya recalled the early days of her career when she was just 18 or 19 and how the criticism she faced was deeply personal. “I was really skinny, you know, and everyone used to kind of make fun about that. They were like, oh, you have chicken legs, and you look like a matchstick, and you don’t have t**s, and you don’t have an a**,” she said. “So that was what it was first.”

Even as her body changed and she grew in the public eye, the commentary didn’t stop. “They were like, oh, there’s no way she’s got her b*** done, or she’s got this done. So you can never win. People will constantly have something to say and criticize that,” she added, noting how such commentary disproportionately targets women. “That’s something that I’ve seen, especially with women. I don’t feel like they do that to men at all.”

The 25-year-old actress also took a moment to reflect on the role that the film industry plays in shaping public perception, admitting, “I feel like it’s our fault also, because we have set unrealistic beauty standards in the films that we’ve… You know, I, as an actress, feel like sometimes I do put that messaging out there in the films that I’ve done or the songs that I’ve done — that, oh, you’re all beautiful, you wake up in the morning, and your hair’s done, and it’s not true.”

Trying to counter the filtered perfection seen on screen, Ananya emphasized the importance of authenticity. “You kind of have to balance that out somewhere. You have to talk about it, and you have to tell people that that’s not the reality. We also don’t look like that. And I try to balance that out, maybe, by not being like that when I’m, you know, off-camera.”

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On the work front, Ananya is gearing up for Chand Mera Dil, a romantic drama under Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions. The film pairs her with Lakshya and is already generating buzz. Along with that, the actress is also expected to return as Bella aka Bae in her popular web series- Call Me Bae for Season 2 on Prime Video.

Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: Lisa Mishra CONFIRMS Ananya Panday-starrer Call Me Bae Season 2 to start shoot this year: “Everyone is SUPER EXCITED to be back on sets”; BREAKS silence on possibility of The Royals Season 2

Raj how did your first project materialize? It took us almost four or five years to get that film going because we were new to Mumbai. It was the first time we had landed in the city, and we didn’t know anyone. All we knew was that we could write a script. So, we wrote 99, Shor in the City, and Go Goa Gone, I think. As engineers aspiring to be filmmakers, we thought that if we wrote three scripts, at least one of them might get made. More scripts meant better odds. 99 was our first one. But again, we didn’t know anyone.

How did you convince a producer to back 99? Just making contacts, approaching any actor or producer—it was all taking forever. And we had zero clue how to go about it. Plus, we looked like we were from another world. We didn’t look like we belonged in Mumbai. People didn’t know who we were. But they did say the script was fun, fresh, and something they hadn’t read before.

So, 99 had no reference point? Right. That kind of proved to be tough and good at the same time because there was no precedent. We couldn’t say, “It’s like that film.” That made it harder. The only person we knew was Anupam Mittal, the CEO of Shaadi.com. He was a friend before we made the film. One day he said, “I’ll produce a film,” and that’s how it started.

Was it tough getting that impressive cast without any experience in feature filmmaking? Absolutely. We had no connections and no way to prove we were filmmakers. So we decided to make a short film based on Shor in the City. We had a full script, but we picked one part of it and shot it over a weekend. That short film came out really well. It became our calling card. It went to a bunch of festivals, and we started showing it around in Bombay to see who would bite. Based on that, we began casting. And before we knew it, we had a really cool ensemble: Kunal Khemu, Vinod Khanna, Boman Irani, and Cyrus Broacha—who was doing a feature film for the first time, I think. It was really fun.

Was it tough putting 99 out there? The release was another big pain point. We had no money for marketing. I don’t think we even had newspaper ads. Just ten hoardings in the city—that was it. No TV spots, no radio promotions. It just opened... and sat there.

The opening must have crushed you and DK. We thought it had sunk on Day 1 because nobody knew about it. It opened just about okay. We felt low on Friday and gave up. But by Sunday, things turned around. We visited packed theatres, and it was a relief. Word of mouth was strong, and the film ended up running for several weeks. We experienced all kinds of emotions in that one release.

So, a happy ending? Yeah, in the end, it was a happy one in terms of how the film ran. It had a great afterlife too. People still fondly remember it. Every time the anniversary of 99 comes around, we get sweet messages. The trailer had a great line: “The difference between 99 and 100 is one. Just one—but it’s a big one.” That really sums it up. So much happened on that set, and we learned a lot. We grew as a team.

You had quite a team. Yes, DK, Sita Menon, and I came together. And we’ve remained a team since. Filming was great fun. 99 is the only film we shot on Super 35 film stock. Even though digital was already mainstream, we wanted to shoot on film—because we felt it might be our last chance. It was so cool. We didn’t know the “rules” of filmmaking. We just made what we wanted to make.

You really carved your own space with that film. We realized there wasn’t really a crime comedy in Hindi cinema back then. So we said, let’s do something that’s not out there. Hence, 99. It was kind of a historical fiction in a weird way. We created a backstory that linked it to the real-life betting and match-fixing scandal. It was an original idea. A lot of fun to make.

It couldn’t have been easy cracking such a sensitive idea. Like walking on grass? Yes, it took a long time to crack the script. We were basically writing our first real Hindi feature film, and we had to figure out structure, climax, all of it. It was very satisfying. Interestingly, while we were working on 99, we started jumping between scripts—we don’t know why, but it turned out well for us. So, 99, Shor in the City, and Go Goa Gone were all being developed at the same time, in various stages.

Also Read: Raj Nidimoru of Raj-DK fame on Citadel: Honey Bunny, “We didn’t shoot it like a Hollywood production, we shot it like how we shot The Family Man”

Actress Patralekhaa recently opened up about her personal life with husband and actor Rajkummar Rao in a heartfelt and humorous interview with Bollywood Bubble. From chaotic holiday adventures to the joys of simple living, she painted an endearing picture of a couple deeply in love - while staying grounded through it all.

Patralekhaa revealed that she’s the planner in the relationship, handling everything from holiday itineraries to dinner reservations. “I like making plans. I’m the one who handles holiday planning and dinner reservations—100%! Raj loves doing all of that too, but he can’t really plan because he doesn’t have the time. So I’m like, ‘Okay, let me plan a holiday for you.’ Then he tells me, ‘Let’s go… let’s go to Japan.’ I said, ‘Cool, we’ll go to Japan.’ But beyond that, he had no clue,” she shared, laughing. “I asked, ‘Okay, Japan sounds good, but what do we actually do there?’ He said, ‘You figure it out when we get there.’”

She also recounted one particularly spontaneous European trip that left them scrambling for accommodation. “There have been times we’ve gone on trips, like this European tour we did—just the two of us—and we didn’t book any hotels. Nothing! We were literally on a train trying to book rooms, and we weren’t getting anything because it was peak winter vacation time. Eventually, we found a guesthouse somewhere totally off the map. So yeah, it’s been fun, actually kind of crazy at times.”

Despite their fame and success, Patralekhaa emphasized how deeply rooted they are in their modest upbringing. “Honestly, I’ll tell you—at heart, we are both very, very middle-class people. And I don’t even think Raj realises who he is—that’s just the way we live our lives. Raj throws my toothpaste away randomly, and I still call up my bhaajiwala and say, ‘Bhaiya 10 rupay kam kardo (Reduce 10 rupees).’ My mom still comes to our place and does chik chik (irritates), yeh mat karo (don’t do this), be grateful, be thankful.”

Rajkummar Rao and Patralekhaa, who had been in a steady relationship for over a decade, tied the knot in an intimate ceremony on November 15, 2021, in Chandigarh. Their wedding was a celebration of love, simplicity, and everything real - just like the life they continue to build together.

Also Read: Rajkummar Rao and Patralekhaa begin work on second production starring Keerthy Suresh: Report