Names and faces
Oscar host Chris Rock, producer Reginald Hudlin and film academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs took an afternoon of f from Academy Awards prepara - tions to celebrate black women in Hollywood. Rock, Hudlin and Boone Isaacs were among the guests at Essence magazine’s ninth annual awards luncheon Thursday at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Rock and Boone Isaacs didn’t speak publicly; Hudlin took the stage to present an award to renowned entertainer Debbie Allen. The annual Essence event celebrates the achievements of black women in entertainment. Actress Tracee Ellis Ross, entertainment attorney Nina Shaw and filmmaker Thais Francis were also recognized. Francis thanked the magazine “for creating a platform of visibility.” “A lot of us in this audience know the importance of visibility, especially during a time, in a society, in a world, in an industry that’s telling us that we’re invisible,” she said. Shonda Rhimes, who introduced Allen as the new producing director of Grey’s Anatomy, called the writer-director-choreographer-performer “a force of nature.” “Debbie blows through an environment and changes the landscape forever,” Rhimes said. Oprah Winfrey opened the program, which will air today on OWN.
Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt said freedom was “the most amazing thing” after he left prison Thursday upon completing his f ive-year sentence for illegal weapons possession in a case linked to the 1993 terror attack in Mumbai. Dutt’s wife, Maanyata, and noted filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani greeted the actor as he came out of the prison gate in the western city of Pune. The 56-year-old saluted the Indian national flag at the prison building and thanked fans for their support. “There is no easy walk to freedom, my friend,” he told reporters before leaving in a chartered plane. Prosecutors said Dutt’s guns came from underworld gangs involved in the 1993 terror attack, when 13 powerful bombs packed into cars and scooters exploded across the city of Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, India’s financial capital and home to the Hindi-language film industry. The bombs killed 257 people and injured 720. Dutt has said he knew nothing about the plot and wanted the guns to protect his family after receiving threats during the religious riots that preceded the bombings.