Rahul Bhat has been on the receiving end of praise for his performance as DSP Tomar in the recently released Netflix series 'Black Warrant'. Directed by Vikramaditya Motwane, the series that also stars Zahan Kapoor is based on real life incidents as narrated in the book 'Black Warrant: The confessions of a Tihar jailer'. Rahul Bhat on reaction to Black Warrant Rahul Bhat is amused at the kind of response the show and especially his character is receiving. He essays the role of DSP Tomar who is assigned three newbies to train as jailers. "I think what people like about this character is his own style and the little masala in this character. The character is also unpredictable in the way he behaves. We cannot second guess him whether he's going to be angry at this line or not. So I think people like that unpredictability." Rahul Bhat recalls breaking his back during a scene The show has ample interesting scenes and lines that draw you into the narrative episode-after-episode. In the last episode, we see DSP Tomar lose his calm when he finds out that the prisoners were hiding their weapons in his garden. In the scene, we see him hitting him ruthlessly with his bare hands in anger at the prisoner who reveals the location of their hidden weapons. However, the scene turned out to be slightly and the courtesy of it was Bhat's broken back and director Vikramaditya Motwane refusing to say cut. " I broke my back when I was hitting the guy," reveals Bhat. The ground on which we were filming was uneven. On the third take of the scene, I heard my back cracking. I knew something was wrong and I told them to stop the take. Everyone around me stopped but I noticed that the director Vikramaditya did not say cut. So then I got up, and it became very funny. " The scene sees Bhat take a step back after hitting the prisoner and then continue to hit him. "It was not intended. I was actually in pain, and I was really telling them to stop it. A;though I could not move I thought let me get something out of it. It's hilarious that everyone stopped and then I went back and hit him," he laughed recalling the day. After the shoot, Bhat underwent treatment with a physiotherapist. "It took me 3-4 days to recover. I thought I had broken something but it was fortunately just a muscle pull."
26 January,2025 06:59 PM IST | Mumbai | Athulya NambiarIt’s a homecoming for Sundeep Kishan on the third season of The Family Man. The actor played Major Vikram in the first edition of the Manoj Bajpayee-led spy thriller in 2019. Six years have passed since, but the actor didn’t feel any gap as he returned to the set of the show. “I’ve been fortunate enough to be working with Raj [Nidimoru] and [Krishna] DK since 2010. So, the first day felt like coming back home,” shares the actor, pleased with how seamlessly the makers wove his character back in the story. Filming the Prime Video series became even more special, courtesy his co-star Bajpayee. “The world thinks of him as an incredibly serious actor, but he is one of the most fun and down-to-earth people you can meet. Working with someone as intelligent as him is a constant learning experience, [as one] tries to understand how he deciphers each scene. We have a great personal bond. When we were shooting, he had this amazing mutton curry made and fed all of us because he knew I liked mutton curry,” grins Kishan. After the success of the first two seasons, the third instalment comes amid high expectations. But the actor is confident that it will surpass the previous editions. “It will be much higher in terms of humour and action. For all The Family Man fans, this one will be a big notch up,” says Kishan, who also has the Telugu film, Mzaka, and a Netflix show in the pipeline.
26 January,2025 06:55 AM IST | Mumbai | Priyanka SharmaAfter tickling our funny bones with his YouTube channel, digital star Ashish Chanchlani is gearing up for his primary project as a director. Blessed by multifaceted talent, Ashish Chanchlani will not only be directing the series but will also be acting in it. Additionally, he has written the script for the drama, along with producing it. Sharing a major update on the project, he revealed that he has finally wrapped up the shooting schedule for the series. Spilling beans on his project, Ashish Chanchlani revealed, “That’s a wrap on our biggest project, and trust me, it’s scarier than your electricity bill and funnier than my life decisions! We’ve put our heart, soul, and a lot of screams (and laughs) into this one. Can’t wait to spook you and crack you up at the same time coming soon on YouTube!" In the meantime, Ashish Chanchlani previously unveiled the captivating first-look poster for his upcoming horror-comedy series. The poster featured shadowy figures holding lanterns with a huge house in the backdrop. This hints towards a supernatural storyline with a massive cast. Dropping the first look poster on his Instagram account, Ashish Chanchlani wrote as caption, "Comedy of errors or comedy of horrors...You decide #Acv159 can you guess the star cast? Coincidently, Today on my birthday I complete 10 years in the youtube industry. And as my new phase begins as a creator as well as ashu myself, I am proud to tell you all we are launching our own production house @AcvStudios_With this new beginning we are elated to tell you exciting fresh stories from our heartland filled not just with comedy, but horror, thrills and yes emotions as well...This project is my love letter to every ACVIAN...Thank you for being there." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ashish Chanchlani (@ashishchanchlani) The series will be released exclusively on the ACV Studios YouTube Channel. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
24 January,2025 02:43 PM IST | Mumbai | IANSActress Gul Panag, who essays the role of the wife of the lead character of Hathi Ram Chaudhary in the streaming show ‘Paatal Lok’, has said that her part in the show is the emotional fulcrum for Hathiram. The second season of ‘Paatal Lok’ is getting a lot of positive response. Nearly five years after the debut season, the show has not only stood the test of time, but it has also pushed creative boundaries, exploring new depths in storytelling, cinematography, and character development in season 2. Reflecting on her character’s evolution, Gul Panag shared, “Renu is the emotional anchor for Hathiram. Both seasons capture the safety and peace of Hathiram’s family space, and I tried keeping that intact in the second installment. However, with 5 years passing, it was important to embrace change in terms of a husband-wife relationship. Their son has now shifted to college, so that’s a major change in the family dynamics. The effort was to show the natural progression of any relationship with time. As actors, Jaideep and I were exercising the director's vision. It was important to be on the same page as the director”. She also spoke about her experience of working with the show’s director, Avinash Arun Dhaware. She said, “Avinash and I had in-depth discussions about Renu’s character while shooting for the first season. We discussed her aspirations, her traits, and her attempts to speak English fluently despite not being confident. The homework we did during season one became the foundation for season 2, where Renu is more evolved and independent while retaining her innate personality”. Directed by Avinash Arun Dhaware, and written, created, and executively produced by Sudip Sharma, the series is produced under the banner of Clean Slate Filmz Production and Eunoia Films. The show is available to stream on Prime Video. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
24 January,2025 09:14 AM IST | Mumbai | IANSThe second season of Paatal Lok has been receiving rave reviews from the audience. Created by Sudip Sharma, the web series starring Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, and Tillotama Shome was released on January 17. This time around, Jaideep’s character Hathi Ram Chaudhary travels to Nagaland to solve a murder mystery. While most of the cast this season hails from the North Eastern territory, the one that stands out is Prashant Tamang, who plays the role of the victim’s bodyguard and a deadly sniper. Who is Prashant Tamang? Prashant Tamang plays the role of Daniel Lecho, a sniper who kills mercilessly while listening to music on the go. He has a pivotal part in one of the crucial moments of the show that changes the course of action. But doesn’t he look familiar? For those unversed, Prashant, who worked as a constable in the Kolkata police participated in the singing reality show Indian Idol and won its third season. He was born in Darjeeling and left school after his father’s demise and joined his place in the police force. Prashant was a part of the squad’s orchestra when he participated in Indian Idol. He did a world tour and even launched his first album Dhanyavad after winning the show. He has appeared in several Nepali films. Prashant is married to Martha, and the couple is parents to a daughter named Ariah. About Paatal Lok Season 2 Set against the backdrop of Nagaland, the trailer follows Hathi Ram as he teams up with his trusted ally, Imran Ansari, to continue his dogged perseverance to fight systemic forces and societal evil, in a relentless pursuit of the truth. Tasked with investigating the disappearance of a migrant worker tied to a dangerous drug syndicate, Hathi Ram is forced to navigate a maze of secrets while fighting his demons. Avinash Arun Dhaware has directed the show. The first season of the series, which came out in May 2020, was praised for its intense storytelling and raw portrayal of Indian society. Speaking of an update about season 3, Sudip told Mid-day, “There’s still a lot of Hathi Ram left in me. Many variables have to fall in place, though.”
22 January,2025 10:28 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondentLast October, the makers announced Mirzapur: The Film, making the popular crime drama the first Indian OTT series to be extended to a movie. Now, we’ve heard that the Gurmmeet Singh-directed movie as well as the fourth season of the Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal and Shweta Tripathi Sharma-starrer will be shot simultaneously from September 2025. Shooting a film and a series together can be tricky. But sources tell us that the makers adopted the plan believing that it will not only ensure narrative continuity between the two formats, but also enable optimum utilisation of the combination dates. “Bulk dates have already been taken from the actors, including Divyenndu, Abhishek Banerjee, Rasika Dugal and Vijay Varma. The team has managed to align their dates. Since it doesn’t make sense to take dates from them again and again, the makers have decided to shoot both projects at one go. This will also help in ensuring that the show and the film complement each other in terms of the narrative, although the latter takes off from where the first season ended.” If things go as planned, the shoot will kick off in Uttar Pradesh. “A chunk of it will also be filmed in Mumbai. It will be an exciting challenge for the cast and crew to work on two different formats at the same time. Gurmmeet will helm the film that has been written by Puneet Krishna, who serves as the show’s creator. The film will have the same raw energy as the series, but will be mounted on a bigger scale.”
22 January,2025 08:10 AM IST | Mumbai | Mohar BasuOne of Prime Video’s most iconic series, Paatal Lok, has taken the world by storm with its critically acclaimed second season, delivering a gripping, intricately layered narrative, outstanding performances, and unexpected twists. Ever since its global premiere, fans and viewers have been buzzing with excitement, flooding social media with praise for the show. Among the many highlights of this season, a standout mention has been the introduction of SP Meghna Barua, a compelling new character brought to life by the talented actress Tillotama Shome. Reflecting on her noteworthy entry into a beloved franchise – one she admires personally – Tillotama shared, “I truly believe that it's a matter of chance that I watched the show, fell in love with it, became a loyal fan, and then found myself as part of its second installment. It all felt like a dream-come-true sequence playing in my mind. For the longest time, I thought the franchise’s team offering me a role was a joke until my first reading. It was a long table where everyone was sitting, deeply involved and passionate about the project. That’s when I realized that every single person, be it the writer, director, production designer, or music director, brought something special to the table, which is why this show is what it is today. I was ecstatic to represent a female cop in Nagaland for this show, and I remember being breathless with excitement during the initial table reads.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tillotama Shome (@tillotamashome) Paatal Lok Season 2 thrusts Hathi Ram Chaudhary into uncharted territory, testing his resilience and morality like never before. As he confronts both a ruthless criminal underworld and his inner demons, the fine lines between duty and obsession blur, leading him to face his darkest fears. Directed by Avinash Arun Dhaware and produced under the banner of Clean Slate Filmz Production and Eunoia Films, the show boasts a stellar cast, featuring Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Tillotama Shome, and Gul Panag in the lead roles. Paatal Lok Season 2 is streaming exclusively on Prime Video.
21 January,2025 04:50 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondentAfter enjoying success with Gyaarah Gyaarah last year, Kritika Kamra is set to open this year with For Your Eyes Only, an espionage thriller with Pratik Gandhi. The upcoming Netflix series aligns with the kind of roles she seeks. “From playing a tough spy in For Your Eyes Only to a sharp cop in Gyaarah Gyaarah, I’m drawn to roles that break stereotypes. I want to tell stories that reflect strong, multi-dimensional women who stand their ground and challenge societal expectations,” she states. Finding such roles, however, hasn’t been easy. The actor rues that she has been offered many scripts in which female characters do little beyond servicing the story’s hero. Her response to such offers? A hard no. Kamra shares, “I’ve let go of work that glorifies weak, dependent women. My characters have agency, resilience, and a voice that demands to be heard. As an actor, I feel a responsibility to portray women who embody strength and individuality. I’ve turned down so many scripts since Gyaarah Gyaarah because I’ve seen how many projects still reduce women to props in the story. It’s vital for female actors to be discerning and reject roles where our characters don’t have a meaningful arc. I look for scripts where women are written as whole, complex individuals, not as accessories to the male narrative.”
21 January,2025 07:25 AM IST | Mumbai | Mohar BasuWhen is the next season coming out? Creator Sudip Sharma often heard this question after the raging success of Paatal Lok in 2020. He admits it left him a tad frustrated. “Filmmaking is a long, tedious process. While we were editing the first season, we started working on the second. But it took a while to put everything in place,” he starts. It may have been a long wait of nearly five years, but it has been worth it. The second season of the Jaideep Ahlawat and Ishwak Singh-led crime thriller has opened to glowing reviews. For that, much credit goes to Sharma. When Prime Video had approached him to make another instalment, he was certain about one thing—he’d set it in a world far removed from that of the first, which had Delhi-NCR as its backdrop. “I didn’t want to get bored of doing the same thing. It takes so long to make a season that boredom can be a problem. So, I thought of going to a place that looks nothing like the first season,” recalls Sharma. That took him to Nagaland as he told the story of Ahlawat’s character investigating the brutal murder of a Naga leader. The creator had another reason to set the noir thriller in the North-eastern state. “I grew up in the North-east. Although it was unfamiliar territory for Hathi Ram and the show, it wasn’t that unfamiliar to me,” he smiles. Sudip Sharma Both of Sharma’s works, Paatal Lok and Kohrra (2023), stand among the finest long-format stories in Indian OTT entertainment. But such series are few and far in between. Does he feel the streaming space in India has hit stagnation? “I do. When OTT started, the buoyancy and optimism that we had about taking our storytelling to another dimension has subsided now. As an industry, we settle for mediocrity easily. I wish we could work a little harder. I’d take an honourable failure for any of my work, but mediocrity dampens the spirit.” Sharma, whose last theatrical offering was Laal Kaptaan (2019) of which he wrote the dialogues, says he doesn’t understand big-screen releases. So, when we mention that Anurag Kashyap said that the joy of filmmaking has faded away in the Hindi film industry because the emphasis is on marketing, the creator cuts in, “That’s why I’m not making theatricals. We live in the time of information overdose. Everyone is on their phones. Filmmakers, content creators, and TikTokers are the same today—we are all vying for eyeballs and the attention economy. I don’t understand theatrical space right now, be it franchises or how to sell films.”
20 January,2025 11:53 AM IST | Mumbai | Priyanka SharmaAs “Indian Police Force” completes one year since its release, actress Shilpa Shetty recalled working in the series and said that she enjoyed the action needed to pull off those stunts and that it was worth the pain. In Rohit Shetty’s thriller series 'Indian Police Force', the actress played the role of the first female police officer in the cop-verse as she played the role of ATS Chief Tara Shetty. "It's been a year since 'Indian Police Force' released, and it makes me realise that time flies by so fast. It feels like yesterday when I was training for my role. I remember the sheer pride to be playing the part of an ATS chief, Tara Shetty will always be special,” Shilpa said. “I enjoyed the action needed to pull off those stunts… Was worth the pain and sweat. It was an amazing experience to be a part of Rohit Shetty's cop verse and work alongside some amazing actors,” she added. Shilpa shared that she is filled with gratitude towards the audience for showering immense love and appreciation towards the series. “'I'm beyond glad to have had the opportunity to pay an ode to our police force," shared the actress. “Indian Police Force” also stars Sidharth Malhotra, Shilpa Shetty and Vivek Oberoi. It follows the story of Delhi Police Officer Kabir Malik, who battles an insidious adversary named Zarar, who has chosen the path of terrorism. In other news, Shilpa on January 15, dropped a sneak peek into her organic farm life. Shilpa took to her Instagram and posted a couple of photos with some fresh vegetables. The post was captioned, "Had Aloo and Gobi … but separately". Previously, the diva celebrated Makar Sankranti with family members. Shilpa took to the photo-sharing app and shared a picture of herself on Instagram stories. The picture showed the actress inside a temple posing against the idol. She could be seen holding a laddoo in her hand and a basket of offerings in the other in the image, which she captioned, "Happy Makar Sankranti. Til gud ghya god god bola." This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
19 January,2025 10:32 PM IST | Mumbai | IANSReprising the role of Neeti Singh, season on season, in Delhi Crime is a special feeling, says Rasika Dugal. “The show’s intensity always leaves a mark on me,” smiles the actor, who began shooting for the third edition of the Shefali Shah-led police procedural drama in late 2024. While the second instalment focused more on her character’s personal life, the upcoming season will delve into the upright cop’s professional challenges. Currently shooting the Netflix series in Mumbai, Dugal shares, “Neeti is very close to my heart. We filmed the first season in January 2018, and we are now in 2025 as we film the third. It has been such an interesting experience to grow along with the character. It’s not often that one gets to have an experience like this as a performer. I have been following the same police officer I [shadowed] since season 1 as prep for the show.” While fans await the next chapter of Delhi Crime, Dugal has another fan-favourite character on her plate—Beena Tripathi from Mirzapur. She will reprise the role in Mirzapur: The Film that is expected to go on floors later this year. “Beena’s journey is far from over. She always finds new ways to surprise me,” she teases. Busy with the two projects for the better part of the year, Dugal says 2025 will be a mix of the old and new for her. “There will be some subsequent seasons like Adhura 2, and some new work like Rohan Sippy’s Unreal. I’m also looking forward to the release of two films that have been doing the festival rounds, Little Thomas, and Lord Curzon Ki Haveli.”
18 January,2025 07:21 AM IST | Mumbai | Mohar BasuADVERTISEMENT
