Iyer hits century in Mumbai win
Indian-American Hollywood producer Rashaana Shah’s Mulberry Films will put the stories of real-life heroes on the silver screen
Jaipur, Feb. Mumbai rode on skipper Shreyas Iyer’s unbeaten 103 to beat Maharashtra by six wickets in their Elite Group D game of the Vijay Hazare Trophy here on Tuesday.
This was Mumbai’s second successive win after they had beaten Delhi in the lung-opener.
Opting to bat first, Maharashtra posted 279/9, with centuries from Yash Nahar (119) and Azim Kazi
(104) despite experienced Mumbai pacer Dhawal Kulkarni (5/44) running through their top-order.
But it was Iyer, who anchored the Mumbai chase and saw them home in 47.2 overs.
Chasing 280, Mumbai openers Yashasvi Jaiswal
(40) and Prithvi Shaw (34) conjured 67 for the first wicket.
Iyer, who walked in at three, was in his elements and hammered nine boundaries and one six, in his uneaten knock and after Jaiswal perished, he found able partners in Suryakumar Yadav (29), Shivam Dube (47) as they played their roles to perfection. Dube took the game away from Maharashtra, with his hitting, smashing five fours and a six, and
23:
took Mumbai on the cusp of a win.
CHANDIGARH CLIMB TO TOP OF TABLE
Chandigarh continued their giant-killing run in their Elite debut, stunning hosts Bengal by five wickets in a Group E clash at the Eden Gardens.
Fresh from their win over neighbours Haryana, Chandigarh who were playing their second domestic season chased down Bengal’s 253/9 with seven balls to spare to climb up to the top of the group table, ahead of Saurashra on net-run rate.
BIHAR PLAYER TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19
The event has seen its first case of Covid-19 with a Bihar player returning positive for the virus, following which all the other cricketers are being tested.
“It is confirmed and the concerned player has been isolated from other players. He is currently in Bangalore as he cannot travel,” a senior official of the state’s cricket body said.
A Bihar Cricket Association official believed that the game would go on as scheduled.
Natural and man-made disasters have always been an attractive subject for filmmakers. For almost half a century, films based on earthquakes, volcanos, cyclones, tornadoes and pandemics, apart from a host of other disasters, have kept audiences on the edge of their seats. Bollywood reflected this global fascination for disaster movies, and made Kedarnath, Bhopal: A prayer for rain and other such films. The recent Uttarakhand tragedy, which claimed over 200 lives, is the latest to inspire a film.
Indian-American producer Rashaana Shah, a regular visitor to Uttarakhand, is all set to make a movie based on the massive disaster in the Tapovan area in the hill state. Rashaana is the Managing Director of Mulberry Films, a New York film production company with offices in Los Angeles.
Speaking exclusively to DC, the 35-year-old says she wants to delve into the true stories of real-life heroes, as they resonate with global audiences.
Rashaana says, “In 1965, the United States and India collaborated in an attempt to install a listening device at 25,000 feet on the mountain Nanda Devi, to monitor a nearby Chinese nuclear test site. The listening device was powered by highly radioactive plutonium, and was lost during the expedition. It is speculated that it may have caused a glacier burst in Uttarakhand, leading to the tragedy.”
Giving details of the film which will be titled Nanda Devi, she said “We will be producing the movie with Scott Rosenfelt (Home Alone, Critical Thinking).”
Talking about her association with Hollywood, she says, “Three friends — Gopi Sait, Sunaman Sood and I — came together in my backyard and started Mulberry Films out of complete boredom. We wanted to make global films based on bestselling novels. We registered the company in NY and optioned three books — The Piano Tuner, The Collaborator and Purple America.”
It was Asad Sultan, CEO of Deutsche Malayan Ventures, who introduced her to Scott Rosenfelt (producer of Home Alone) in 2014. “We researched and learned about the 1965 tragedy from climbers Captain Kohli and Rob Schaller. The unfortunate glacier burst was a disaster waiting to happen. That was an inspiration for us,” she says, adding, “At Mulberry Films we wanted to explore human stories based on real events and heroes. The lost plutonium on Nanda Devi triggered a 20-year search and a tragic man vs the mountain saga.” As a woman from India, Rashaana hopes that her success inspires not only other women but also all those who are judged on anything other than the merit of their work. “I am very inspired by Priyanka Chopra and Guneet Monga who have redefined Indian cinema for the international audience,” she says.
While the
COVID-19 pandemic has stopped production, Shah and Mulberry Films have used this time to develop projects. One of the movies Mulberry is looking forward to producing this year is The Collaborator, an adaptation of the prize-winning, international bestselling book by Mirza Waheed, a war story about a
17-year-old boy caught between India and Pakistan in the long-standing border war.
As a woman from India, Rashaana hopes that her success inspires not only other women but also all those who are judged on anything other than the merit of their work. “I am very inspired by Priyanka Chopra and Guneet Monga who have redefined Indian cinema for the international audience,” she says.
After all the ‘crying hoarse’ in support of Rhea Chakraborty and promising to stand by her when her name got embroiled in controversy over her boyfriend Sushant Singh Rajput’s mysterious death, the film industry seems to have chosen to play it safe when it comes to releasing their movies with her in it. At least in her upcoming film Chehre, the filmmakers have decided to avoid using her face in the poster of the film, as well as her name in the film’s press release.
In addition to mentioning actors such as Amitabh Bachchan and Emraan Hashmi, the press note of the RumyJafry directorial for producer Anand Pandit mentions the presence of actors Annu Kapoor, Krystle D’Souza, Drithiman Chakroborthy, Raghubir Yadav and Siddhanth Kapoor in the film. However, one face and name that seems conspicuous in its absence from the poster and the press release is that of Rhea Chakraborty.
We tried reaching out to Rumy to understand why she is missing from the film’s first look and press release, but haven’t got any response yet. One might recall that Kriti Kharbanda, who was a part of the film, was replaced by Krystle. Incidentally, Rhea had put out her look from the film way back in 2019. So it is only natural for many to wonder if the producers have deliberately avoided using her name and
pictures while promot
ing the film.
In addition to Chehre, Rhea will be seen in the Telugu Kalyaan-Dhev-starrer Super Machi, which is slated for release later this year.