• Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif has become the latest Indian star to join the Bollywood line-up at Madame Tussauds in London. The actress unveiled the wax statue and joined the new Bollywoodsetting as part of the popular wax-work museum's “15 years of Bollywood” celebration. After coming face-to-face with her wax model, Katrina said, “This is amazing it does look really like me.” • Bollywood star Salman Khan has told an Indian court that he was not driving on the night he is accused of running over five men sleeping on a pavement, killing one of them. The actor was charged with culpable homicide by the Mumbai court for the September 2002 hit-and-run incident. Khan said his driver Altaf was driving the car when the crash occurred. • A modern-day Bollywood adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet set in restive Kashmir won five prizes at India's National Film Awards, but was snubbed in the most prestigious categories. “Haider”, the third in filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj's trilogy of films based on Shakespearean tragedies, picked up honors for dialogue, costume design, music, choreography and male playback singing. • Swastika Mukherjee, one of the most popular names in Tollywood, has been part of critically acclaimed and commercially successful films such as Bhooter Bhobishyat (2012), Mishawr Rawhoshyo (2013) and Jaatishwar (2014). Soon, she will be making her Bollywood debut with Dibakar Banerjee's next, starring Sushant Singh Rajput. • A popular name in Pakistani dramas, Javed says he has shifted his focus from them now. “I am not doing any dramas in Pakistan any more. My focus now is movies in Pakistan and India. There is a film of mine, Na Maloom Afraad, that released on October 6 and is still running in Pakistan,” he says, adding, “The Pakistan film industry, which was dead for a long time, is slowly getting revived. The reason for the revival is that Bollywood and Hollywood movies were released in Pakistan. Those movies couldn't be run in normal theatres and needed upgraded technology.” • Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone has created a video with Vogue India to remind women they have choices. The video was created by filmmaker Homi Adajania as part of a #VogueEmpower campaign and it features 99 women from Mumbai – most of whom are not famous. The video has gone viral with more than two million views since it was launched over the weekend. Of the film, Padukone said: “In my family, my father is the only male in the house, but all of us have a voice. “I've always been allowed to be who I want to be. When you're not caged, when you don't succumb to expectation, that's when you're empowered.” Adajania said they chose to feature 99 women because she “liked the idea of telling people [she] originally had 100 women planned but God said the last one was too busy right now.” Padukone has been criticised for the video by some publications for being ‘hypocritical' as she continues to play roles which draw upon old-fashioned female stereotypes on screen. But the video has been received positively on social media with people calling it “amazing,” “inspirational” and “powerful”. Compiled by Mariam Nihal
