“Peepli Live” co-director Mahmood Farooqui has been arrested by Delhi Police on charges of rape.

Farooqui has been accused of raping a 35-year-old American national.

"A 35-year-old American national woman was raped by the co-director of the film 'Peepli Live'. The incident took place on March 28, 2015, and a report in this connection was registered with the New Friends Colony police on June 19, 2015," a Delhi Police official told IANS.

"The accused Mahmood Farooqui has been arrested and was presented before Saket court. The court has sent him into judicial custody till July 6," added the official.

The victim is pursuing Ph.D. from Columbia University and was in India for some research work.

When IANS tried to contact Farooqui's wife and director-screenwriter Anusha Rizvi, she remained unavailable for a comment.

Rizvi and Farooqui co-directed the 2010 satirical comedy film “Peepli Live”, produced by Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan.

Debutant director R. Ravi Kumar says forthcoming Tamil sci-fi comedy "Indru Netru Naalai", which is said to be the first time travel film in the language, will pave way to filmmakers to explore more stories in the genre.

"Tamil filmmakers have been content with romantic comedies and family dramas. I'm confident that my film will open more doors to sci-fi genre in the industry," Kumar told IANS.

Featuring Vishnu Vishal in the lead, the film is slated for release on Friday.

"Agreed, reading about science could be boring, but it's possible to make a science fiction film that's interesting and entertaining at the same time. Instead of explaining the science behind time travel, I've focussed on the journey of my lead characters in time," he said.

According to Kumar, there's lot of room for "creativity and imagination" in this genre.

"The predictability factor has become so evident in most Tamil films that audiences have started guessing scenes. In science fiction, there's always some degree of curiosity and excitement. Since most of us don't know what the future holds for us, the same is applicable for a sci-fi film as well," he said.

His fascination for computer graphics (CG) persuaded him to start his career with a film in this genre.

"This film is based on my short film. I've always been fascinated by CG, and the only genre where you can use it extensively is in science fiction. It's precisely why I wanted to do a full-length sci-fi film with good involvement of CG," he said.

He believes it's possible to deliver good output with CG, provided there's lot of planning.

"We spent about five months on the pre-production, mostly discussing how we could make the best use of computer graphics. I had prepared my cinematographer and CG team well in advance to work in tandem," he said.

"Quite a lot of time was spent on sketching the time machine. We wanted the kind of time machine audiences have not seen before, yet something that's not too complex. As soon the as the sketch was finalised, our CG team designed it in 3D, and finally our art director physically created it," he added.

The reason Kumar chose Vishnu as his hero is because his character is easily relatable.

"I could have made this film with a star, but his image would overshadow the time travel concept. Since my story revolves around a common man who stumbles upon such a device, I felt Vishnu would be perfect as audiences can easily accept him as one among them," he said.

Citing an example, Kumar said: "In 'Back to the Future', Michael J. Fox was a young boy. Audiences didn't even know him then, but they connected with his character strongly and even today he's remembered for it."

Produced by C.V. Kumar, the film also features Karunakaran and Mia George important roles.

Director Hari Gopalakrishnan is ready with the third part in the highly successful Tamil action franchise "Singam". He says "Singam 3" won't be a standalone film and will have a connection with the first two parts.

"Technically, a sequel should have a connection with the prequel. Some of the recent sequels in Tamil cinema failed to make audiences connect with the prequels because they were standalone films. 'Singam 3' won't fall in that category," Hari told IANS.

Suriya returns as police officer Duraisingam in "Singam 3", which will also feature Anushka Shetty and Shruti Haasan in the lead roles.

"'Singam 3' will have a connection with the first two parts in the franchise. This way it becomes easier for the audience to relate with the movie and its characters," he said.

If all goes well, the team plans to simultaneously shoot the film in Telugu as well.

The regular shooting will start from August.

Popular Kannada producer Rockline Venkatesh, who has co-produced forthcoming Hindi action-drama "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" with Salman Khan, says he plans to venture into more films in the language.

Venkatesh has joined hands with Salman Khan Films and Eros International for "Bajrangi Bhaijaan".

"I'd like to produce more films in Hindi, provided I get good scripts. It was filmmaker Vijayendra Prasad's script that bowled over director Kabir Khan, who eventually approached Salman for this project," Venkatesh told IANS.

On collaborating with Salman, the producer said that the actor is the most grounded person he has ever come across in his life.

Venkatesh is keen to work with other Bollywood stars as well.

"You need good scripts to approach stars. I'd love to work with all the popular heroes," he said, and added that he is teaming up next with filmmaker Rohit Shetty.

Shetty has been signed on to direct the Hindi remake of Tamil hit "Soodhu Kavvum".

"The project was announced long back. Rohit is yet to cast the actors for the remake, and as soon it's done, we will start the project," he added.

Salman's "Bajrangi Bhaijaan" is slated for the Eid weekend release.

Filmmaker Puri Jagannadh's next Telugu directorial with actor Varun Tej has been titled "Loafer", and will go on floors here from July 1.

This project will be Varun's first commercial film, according to producer C. Kalyan.

"Besides being a regular Puri Jagannadh entertainer, the film will be high on motherly sentiment and action. It will be Varun's first stint at doing something commercial for the masses. We're planning to release it during Dussehra," producer Kalyan told IANS.

Starring newbie Disha Patani, the film will be predominantly shot in Jodhpur and Rajasthan.

"We plan shoot non-stop for three months from July 1. The plan is to wrap up the film by September," he said.

"Loafer" joins Jagannadh's long list of quirky titles such as "Pokkiri", "Idiot" and "Desamuduru".

Actor Jimmy Sheirgill, who has carved a niche for himself in the Hindi and Punjabi industry in his almost two decades long career, says Punjabi cinema is on a growth trajectory, and it can work better with proper governing bodies.

"Punjabi cinema is growing and it is on a very fresh stage right now. Punjabi film industry still needs to have proper governing bodies like a Producers' association, directors' association, writers' association... and more for it to become properly organised and professional," Jimmy told IANS over phone from Mumbai.

While the actor has found praise for the variety of roles he has essayed in Bollywood -- the recent being his part in "Tanu Weds Manu Returns" -- he says he makes sure he does Punjabi films off and on too.

"Yaaran Naal Baharan" was Jimmy's first Punjabi hit, after which he went on to act in many other movies in the language, including "Mel Karade Rabba".

Talking about how his stint with Punjabi cinema began, he shared that it was due to director Manmohan Singh.

"I enjoyed working with him so much so that I decided to do a Punjabi film every year. Looking at the response the film got, I realised and decided that I have to do something for this industry from my end," said Jimmy, who says he spares ample time to promote all his movies.

In Bollywood, Jimmy got noticed with Aditya Chopra's 2000 film "Mohabbatein", even though he had made his debut with the 1996 critically acclaimed movie "Maachis". He has since starred in myriad roles -- from comical entertainers like "Lage Raho Munna Bhai" and "Fugly"; intense dramas like "Yahaan", "A Wednesday" and "Special 26"; and also movies like "My Name is Khan" and "Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster".

Rarely does Jimmy, 44, like a break.

"I never wanted to sit at home, always wanted to be working, and that is exactly what I have been doing for the past 20 years now. I am happy about it.

"Each time I have tried to take a break, it has not been really a good time for me. I was bed-ridden in the year 2011 for almost a year because of my spine and at that time I thought it was over for me. It was probably the worst phase of my life," he said.

Thankful about being back in action, the actor cited a lesson he learnt from veteran writer and "Maachis" director Gulzar, who directed "Maachis", and said: "The worst thing for an actor is to be sitting at home not doing anything."

Jimmy is also a popular supporting actor, but he has no qualms about playing second fiddle as he feels he gets powerful roles to essay.

Talking specifically about Sanjay Dutt starrer "Munna Bhai M.B.B.S", in which he was seen as a depressed boy, he said: "I did not think at that point of time that I am going for a supporting role, whereas I am doing solo leads at the moment. Maybe because the role or the script excited me more."

He also said how in current times, character-driven roles are getting more appreciation in the film industry.

Jimmy is currently awaiting the release of his Punjabi film "Hero-Naam Yaad Rakhi" on July 10 and post that is a Hindi film "Madari", a socio-political drama, which also features actor Irrfan Khan. Thereafter, he has another Punjabi film titled "Shareek", scheduled to release on October 22.

After working with a young cast in her directorial debut "Yaariyan", Divya Khosla Kumar is busy with her next film "Sanam Re". She says directing fairly new names like Yami Gautam and Urvashi Rautela is "exciting".

At a launch of a fashion store here, Kumar said: "I just got back from the Ladakh schedule (of my film). Yami Gautam and Urvashi Rautela are relative newcomers, so as a director, I am trying to tap in their potential and that I found very exciting."

"Sanam Re" also stars Pulkit Samrat and veteran actor Rishi Kapoor.

The abuse-laden trailer of Sunny Deol starrer "Mohalla Assi", which has attracted the ire of a Varanasi-based social organisation, is a leaked and uncensored version, says Ravi Kishan, who essays a key role in the movie.

At an event here, Ravi told mediapersons: "The trailer which has found its way on the internet is an uncensored video. I'm baffled how the trailer was stolen from the editing room and how it was splashed on the web. We had tried our best to keep it under wraps, but I don't know what kind of thinking this offender has who is out to destroy cinema."

Regarding the much talked about scene where a character enacting lord Shiva is hurling expletives, Ravi said: "This scene would definitely not feature in the film as I myself am a staunch devotee of lord Shiva. You'll get better clarity if you read Kashinath Singh's Upanyas as to why such scenes were shot."

The leaked trailer showcases several characters, including Sunny using abusive language, and contains explicit scenes involving sex and drugs.

An FIR has already been filed in Varanasi, against Sunny and the director.

Award-winning filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani says he is bowled over by journalist-turned-director Vinod Kapri's "Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho".

Kapri had kept a special screening for the "PK" director, who found the story of the film to be extremely unique.

"Vinod used to work for a news channel and when I saw the kind of story Vinod did ... the way he told the stories, there was a certain amount of uniqueness and I remember telling Vinod, 'Why don’t you do a feature film? You have a knack of telling stories'," Hirani said in a statement.

"He (Kapri) completely surprised me when he told me that he has made a feature film. I remember seeing his film one night. I found the story unique and it didn’t look like a film of first-time director," he added.

The "3 Idiots" director watched the film almost six to seven months ago.

"He was still working on it and I want to see it again as a finished film. What I saw back then, was pretty fascinating... a very unique story nicely told," said Hirani.

In the film, Kapri narrates the story of a man who is falsely accused by a village strongman that he has raped a buffalo. The powerful man of the village also gets the Khap panchayat to pass a verdict that he has to marry the victim -- the buffalo called Miss Tanakpur.

"Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho", which stars Annu Kapoor, Ravi Kishan, Om Puri, Rahul Bagga and Hrishita Bhatt, is being marketed and distributed by Fox Star Studios and is set to release on June 26.

Neeraj Ghaywan's debut feature "Masaan", which won two prestigious awards at the Cannes International Film Festival this year, will be the opening film of the sixth edition of Jagran Film Festival, which will kickstart from July 1.

The movie, which features powerhouse performers like Richa Chadha and Sanjay Mishra, apart from newcomers Vicky Kaushal and Shweta Tripathi, follows the stories of four people from a small Indian town and how they fit into the moralities.

"Masaan" will be presented on July 1 evening by Ghaywan and the star cast of the film to the festival delegates personally.

"It’s a matter of pride to open the festival with such a prestigious and worthy film. 'Masaan' is just the beginning; the festival has a lot in store for film delegates this year," Manoj Srivastava, the festival's strategic consultant, said in a statement.

“Masaan" is an official entry in the festival and will compete for the Indian Showcase Awards, which will be held in Mumbai in September.

Actress Tisca Chopra says an actor should not be bound by borders or languages.

Tisca, who is well versed in multiple languages, said: “It’s fulfilling for an actor to not be bound by borders or languages as emotions don’t need a language.”

The 41-year-old has worked in several multilingual films like Ram Gopal Varma’s “Secret” in Hindi and Telugu, Mahesh Manjrekar’s “Kaksparsh” in Hindi and Tamil, and Umesh Kulkarni and Girish Kulkarni’s “Highway” in Marathi, and the latest being V.K. Prakash's "Nirnayakam" in Malayalam.

With actors such as Om Puri, Sanjay Mishra, Annu Kapoor and Ravi Kishan, director Vinod Kapri, who is making his feature film debut with "Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho", says he found his "dream cast" for the movie.

The film, which also stars Rahul Bagga and Hrishita Bhatt, narrates the story of a man who is falsely accused by a village strongman of raping a buffalo named 'Miss Tanakpur'. The powerful man of the village also gets the Khap panchayat to pass a verdict that he has to marry the victim.

On a visit to the IANS office with the cast to promote the film, the director shared that he finalised the cast while writing the script itself.

“It is dream star cast to work with and this is fact. I finalised each and every actor while writing the script. For instance, I knew that I wanted to talk with Annu-ji and Ravi for the roles they are playing in the movie. I forced my friend to call them to enquire about their dates.

“Also, I contacted Sanjay-ji's brother to ask him to be a part of this film. He was in my mind from the time I started writing the script,” he added.

“Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho” is set to release on Friday.

Ahead of the 76th birth anniversary of R.D. Burman, filmmaker Brahmanand S Siingh will launch a collection of interviews on the late Bollywood music director and a coffee table book, here on Tuesday.

Burman's birth anniversary falls on June 27.

Siingh, who is known for the film “Pancham Unmixed”, will release the video and book titled “Diamonds and Rust”. These will be released to commemorate Pancham’s birth anniversary, read a statement.

After presenting a priceless collection of interviews on him and his life “Pancham Unmixed”, Siingh and Mobius Films have decided to release a sequel of the film titled “Knowing Pancham”.

Burman, who had created hit music for films like “Hum Kisise Kum Naheen”, “Sholay” and “Yaadon Ki Baaraat”, died at the age of 54 on January 4, 1994.

After living his life as a Bhojpuri star for the last 15 years, actor Ravi Kishan says it is a conscious decision to come out of his comfort zone.

"I've been living as a Bhojpuri star for the last 15 years. So, I want to come out of this. I relish coming out of my comfort zone and offering a fight. I'm battling a raw fight to come out of this zone," said Ravi at the red carpet of Pride Gallantry Awards over the weekend.

But he is no stranger to Bollywood moviebuffs. He was seen in Hindi films like "Tere Naam" and "Tanu Weds Manu".

He will be next seen in Vinod Kapri's film "Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho", which will be out on Friday.

Ace fashion designers like Rohit Bal, Rocky S and Shantanu & Nikhil are expected to be guests of honour at the JD Institute of Fashion Technology's two-day fashion carnival, which will be held here from July 1.

Bal and Ajay Mehra of Study by Janak will attend the carnival on its first day while Rocky S, Manjeet Bullar, Varija Bajaj and Shantanu and Nikhil Mehra will be at the event on July 2.

The carnival will have a display of exhibitions by the students of JD Institute of Fashion Technology.

There will be a fashion show too with models walking the ramp in creations designed by the students.

The festival will also showcase the creations designed by the students of fashion, interior and jewellery design departments on the theme 'PURE’.

There will be JD Annual Design Awards 2015 too. The students will not only get to showcase their creativity, but also get an opportunity to work with leading designers in India and abroad.

"The idea behind the theme ‘PURE’ was to bring out the first thought that comes in the mind and follow that first thought fearlessly and curiously. I am elated to see some serious potential and responsibility among my student designers.

In all, this will bring in a new set of ‘PURE designers'," R.C. Dalal, executive director, JD Institute of Fashion Technology, said in a statement.

Actor Mukul Dev paid tribute to deceased actress Aarthi Agarwal during the launch of the first look of his upcoming movie "Operation Green Hunt" here.

The Bharath Parepally directorial, a Telugu film based on the Naxalite movement, is the last movie of Aarthi, who passed away earlier this month.

"We were colleagues and we were good friends. More than missing, I am feeling bad for her. She had a very untimely death and I feel bad about it. So, we are releasing this film in her memory," Mukul said on Monday.

"Aarthi was quite attached to the film. She wanted it to get released as the subject involved is controversial," added the actor.

The khap panchayat in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, is said to have warned cinema hall owners that whoever plays "Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho" will run the risk of their properties being damaged.

The threat has scared the exhibitors, who have decided against screening Vinod Kapri's directorial, which is a social satire on the state of judiciary in India.

The entertainment tax officer has also advised the theatre owners to show precaution and not plan for the film in the city of Muzaffarnagar.

"This is completely disgusting and makes me feel that we are living in a banana republic. How can anyone threaten to damage cinemas wanting to play my film that's a social satire?

"This is a misuse of power vested upon the khap. I only plead them to act responsibly and not cause damage to my film that I have made with passion and a lot of objectivity on the subject that I'm dealing with in the film," Kapri said in a statement.

In "Miss Tanakpur Hazir Ho", Kapri narrates the story of a man who is falsely accused by a village strongman of raping a buffalo. The powerful man of the village also gets the khap panchayat to pass a verdict that he has to marry the victim, the buffalo called Miss Tanakpur.

Starring Annu Kapoor, Ravi Kishan, Om Puri, Rahul Bagga and Hrishita Bhatt, it is being marketed and distributed by Fox Star Studios and is set to release on Friday.

Actress Taapsee Pannu, who has ventured into wedding planing along with her sister Shagun Pannu, has lent a helping hand to one of the NGOs in Delhi for a community wedding and says that she is "glad on the project getting successful".

"From setting up mandaps to all arrangements, we managed the entire set up. We were glad on the project getting successful but the feeling of euphoria was from the blessing we received," Taapsee said in a statement.

Community wedding is a custom majorly followed in India is an event where various couples are married at single platform.

Bollywood actor Manoj Bajpayee of "Gangs Of Wasseypur" fame has been keeping busy while shooting for five films, with all them being completely distinct from each other.

Talking about his upcoming projects, Manoj told media, "The films that I'm doing are "Saat Uchakke", "Aligarh", "Duranto" and "Traffic". Along with this, there is another film "Missing" which I have co-produced.

"I've been very meticulous in choosing and working for these films. And all these films are distinct from each other and I'm hoping viewers like all my movies," he said during the unveiling of a special documentary and coffee-table book on legendary music director R.D. Burman.

While "Traffic" is a remake of Malayalam thriller, "Missing" is also a suspense thriller along with Tabu. And, the most interesting one is "Aligarh" where Manoj plays a homosexual professor along with Rajkummar Rao.

He had tweeted about wrapping up "Duranto" last December. And also tweeted that "Saat Uchakke" will also release in the same month, though both the films are yet to see light of the day.

Actor Rajpal Yadav has always been considered a comedian despite playing serious roles in films like "Darna Mana Hai", "Darna Zaroori Hai" and "Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon". And he isn't too pleased with the tag.

At the trailer launch of his upcoming film "Thoda lutf thoda ishq", Rajpal told reporters: "This fight about a comedian has been going on since 10 years. I never wanted to become a comedian and I'm not a comedian either. And I don't want any tag of a comedian. "

Rajpal considers himself merely a "student of acting"

“During the acting journey, whatever characters we receive, I enjoy essaying the mentality of these characters.My basic focus is to entertain viewers. And I’ve never believed in categorization in acting such as comedian and others," he said.

He also feels privileged to do theatre for almost 15 years, acting in almost 500 plays.

"I seek pleasure in my roles. I accept roles which give me pleasure and refuse the ones which don't," he said.

Rajpal will be seen with Hiten tejwani in his upcoming film which releases on July 10, and also stars Neha Pawar, Sanjay Mishra, Rakesh Bedi and Bhavita Anand.