US rocker Tom Petty reported dead at age 66

LOS ANGELES: US rocker Tom Petty was reported on Monday to be clinging to life in a southern California hospital after conflicting reports that he had died.

CBS News had earlier reported that Petty, 66, had died after life support was switched off following cardiac arrest on Sunday.

TMZ later reported, citing unidentified sources, that Petty was not expected to live much longer but was "still clinging to life."

Representatives for the singer did not return calls for comment or confirmation on Petty's condition.

Shah Rukh to star in Rajkumar Hirani’s next film?

Bollywood's King Khan Shah Rukh Khan will star in ace-director Rajkumar Hirani's next movie, according to India media.

The actor-director duo has finalised the concept for a movie and are expected to make an official announcement soon.

Hirani has directed blockbusters such as Munna Bhai MBBS, Lage Raho Munna Bhai, 3 Idiots and PK.

Interestingly, Shah Rukh was the first offered the role of charming gangster cum fake doctor Murli Prasad Sharma aka Munna Bhai, but he couldn't take it up because of health issues.

The role was later taken up by Sanjay Dutt.

In an interview, King Khan was asked if he regretted opting out of Munna Bhai MBBS the actor revealed, "I think every film is written in an actor's destiny. I don't think I would have done it as well as Sanjay Dutt has. I think he was fantastic in the film."

Ranbir Kapoor nails the older Sanjay Dutt look in upcoming biopic

Rajkumar Hirani is the director of the Sanjay Dutt biopic which stars Ranbir Kapoor

Shah Rukh was also offered 3 Idiots but he declined it.

On the work front, Hirani is shooting for Sanjay Dutt biopic starring Ranbir Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Manisha Koirala, Sonam Kapoor, Dia Mirza, Anushka Sharma, Vicky Kaushal and Karishma Tanna.

The movie is scheduled to release on March 30, 2018.

Music mogul Clive Davis tells of heartbreak over Whitney Houston death

Singer Whitney Houston waves at the crowd next to Clive Davis at the conclusion of her performance at the 2009 Grammy Salute to Industry Icons event. Picture taken February 7, 2009. Photo: Reuters 

LONDON: For music mogul Clive Davis, one memory stands out from a six-decade career - the sudden death of long-time collaborator Whitney Houston.

The Grammy-winning record producer and executive - and subject of a new documentary "Clive Davis: The Soundtrack of Our Lives" - met the future star singer when she was an untested teenager.

"Whitney and I formed this creative collaboration, right from the beginning when she was 19-years old, and chose together every song that she ever recorded," Davis said.

Houston won six of her own Grammys in a 25-year career that was marred by drug and alcohol problems and a turbulent marriage to singer Bobby Brown. She died in 2012 aged 48, after drowning in a hotel bathtub.

"Her death was so startling and unexpected – there is that analogy when someone dear to you, and it brought back the loss of my parents - how you can be affected by this tragedy," he told Reuters.

"The film does make clear that I might have been a little bit more vigilant earlier. But once I became aware of the seriousness of Whitney's addiction, I acted," he added.

The documentary ranges further over his career, with interviews with other artists he worked with from Aretha Franklin and Alicia Keys to Sean "Puffy" Combs, Patti Smith and Paul Simon.

He was there in the early days of rap, financing the LaFace and Bad Boy labels which launched the careers of some of the first artists to attain mainstream success, such as Notorious B.I.G. and Combs.

Davis said Combs convinced him that they could convince mainstream audiences to embrace hip-hop. "He was very articulate in expressing that vision and I bought into it," Davis said.

"Clive Davis: The Soundtrack To Our Lives," is released on Oct. 3 via the Apple Music streaming service.

Remembering Syed Kamal

October 1 marked the 8th death anniversary of showman Syed Kamal. Known as Pakistan's Raj Kapoor, Kamal acted in over 80 films, produced over a dozen and directed nine of them. He was destined for stardom, but had to find it the hard way.

It was the mid 50s when Pakistan Industry was getting on its feet. Santosh Kumar, Darpan and Sudhir had established themselves as heroes, but they needed a sidekick to tickle the audience during the film. There was a need for a young 'actor' who could dance with friends, crack jokes at times, throw a few punches when required and woo the girl, when at peace.

Santosh Kumar had the charm and charisma, but dance was never his forte. Sudhir knew how to fight and act but lacked in dance. Darpan was attractive, but fell behind in all the other departments. It was the year 1956, when two youngsters migrated from India to make a name in Pakistan. One was Ratan Kumar and the other was Syed Kamal. One was bound to make it big.

Ratan Kumar, born as Syed Nazir Ali in 1941, made a name in 50s in India with Boot Polish and Do Bigha Zamin. It was his lifelong dream to become Raj Kapoor. Boot Polish was Raj Kapoor's production in which Raj was not the hero, but did play a cameo. Ratan was ideal whenever the need for a child artiste came up, be it the young Dilip Kumar in Deedar or the child version of Bharat Bhushan in Baiju Bawra.

On the other hand, Kamal managed to play a small part in another RK Production Jaagte Raho (1956). Kamal was a good seven years senior to Ratan; this age difference came in handy for him.

Both did work with big stars of their times. Ratan shared screen with stalwarts like Balraj Sahini, Meena Kumari while Kamal was lucky to work with Ashok Kumar, Geeta Bali and Naseem Banu in Betaab way back in 1952.

Both of them migrated at about the same time. Kamal was well built, in his mid-20s and resembled Raj Kapoor, unlike Rattan, who simply imitated the thespian. Ratan first worked in Baidari, which was lifted from Jaagriti, a film in which he had earlier worked in India. He was launched by his brother Wazir Ali's production company Films Hayat in Nagin with Neelo in the lead. He did appear in Clerk, Aladin ka Beta (opposite Neelo), Do Ustaad (opposite Shamim Ara), Choti Ammi (opposite Rani) and Samira (opposite Zeba) but the boyish looks stayed with him. The 20-year-old Ratan could not become the 'hero' the cine-goers needed. When his face matured, he directed Dastaan in 1969, but the need for the hero was gone.

Kamal, on the other hand, just had a face that resembled Raj Kapoor. He had no launching pad, no excellent directors like Khalil Kaiser (Nagin, Clerk), Rafiq Rizvi (Do Ustaad, Neelofer) to guide from behind the camera and no time on his hand. He simply had luck on his side, as journalist-turned-filmmaker Shabab Kairanvi asked to have a special song, 'O meri nargis Aa ja, main baja raha hoon baja', written, after casting an eye on Kamal.

Kamal was cast as the hero in Thandi Sarak, a family comedy and for him, and there was no looking back. All the leading ladies with whom Ratan Kumar tried to make a successful pair with, were being cast with Kamal; Zeba (Tauba, Aashiyana), Shamim Ara (Zamana Kiya kahega, Savera), Neelo (Banjaran, Insaf) and Rani (Sanam, Joker).

Kamal became the 'hero'that was needed. He was synonymous to action films like Nehlay pe dehla, Zamana kia kahayga and Daal me kaala, his style was being copied by the youth, his comic timing was appreciated and his songs became a rage. Kamal was well established by 1965, and had no qualms in moving to production, despite the arrival of Waheed Murad and Nadeem on the scene.

There is a huge list of songs that have been picturised on Kamal. Ahmed Rushdi remained his voice for over 25 years.

The wife of Ratan Kumar decided to remake her husbands' only hit film as a lead, 'Nagin' in 70s. Produced way back in 1959, Nagin was the directorial debut of Khalil Qaiser, who went on to produce Shaheed, Farangi and other challenging films. In 1976, Nagin was remade as Naag aur Nagin, with Rani and Waheed Murad becoming the 'Sheesh Naags' this time. Hasan Tariq, the then husband of Rani was taken aboard as director and Nisar Bazmi was signed as the music director.

Despite the heavy cast, excellent music and superb direction, the film bombed at the box-office. Kamal replaced Ratan Kumar so aptly that a sure shot to success formula failed by the one-time leading star. Syed Kamal, on the other hand, ventured into the Punjabi films during the same period, and despite being alien to the language, was quite successful as a producer. He remained active in movies till 1986 and signed off with Siyaasat, his take on General elections loss in 1985.

Syed Kamal died on October 1, 2009 at the age of 75, but he will live on in memory through his diverse cinematic legacy. 

Cartoon Network at 25: sketching out a cutting-edge future

Sunday marks a quarter century since the Cartoon Network burst upon the pastel-colored landscape of American television animation, redefining the way kids' entertainment was beamed into homes.

Launched when ratings for morning cartoons were dropping and "The Simpsons" was starting to dominate primetime, many thought Turner Broadcasting Systems's $320 million purchase of the Hanna-Barbera library was lunacy.

But Ted Turner, whose company already owned extensive back catalogues from MGM and Warner Bros., believed there was a gap in the market for a round-the-clock, seven-day channel showing cartoons that young and old could enjoy.

His vision has been spectacularly vindicated, with CN growing from a modest start-up to one of cable TV's most popular programmers, seen in around 100 million American homes and in more than 170 other countries.

"The thing that separates us is that we have artists driving the process here for everything," chief content officer Rob Sorcher told AFP and other media outlets on a recent tour of its headquarters in Burbank, California.

"That is a fundamental difference from most other studios, because the artists are telling the stories through drawings. There aren't scripts getting done in most cases, and then animators animating them."

In its infancy, the network showed re-runs of "The Flintstones," "The Jetsons," "Scooby Doo Where Are You!," "Tom and Jerry," "Popeye" and many other classics.

It went into original programming with "The Moxy Show" in December 1993, following up with "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" and, from 1997, "Johnny Bravo," which raised eyebrows with its adult humor but became iconic.

More recently the network has churned out numerous hits including "Steven Universe," "Star Wars: Clone Wars," "Powerpuff Girls," "Regular Show" and "Adventure Time."

Devouring information

"Ben 10," its longest-running franchise about a boy that can turn into aliens, has enjoyed widespread critical acclaim, winning three Emmys, with the associated merchandising estimated to have been worth almost $5 billion.

Writer Steven T. Seagle, whose Man of Action Entertainment studio produces the show, said one of the challenges has been to crank up the pace for viewers who are getting increasingly quicker at devouring information in the smartphone age.

"When I was a kid, if I found out about something I liked, I'd have to go to a library which might take a day to get to. I'd have to find some book somewhere and read it," he said.

"Now if anything peaks their fancy, they usually have a device, they find out about it immediately and they exhaust it. They're through it completely by the end of the day and on to something else."

Marking CN out from other animation studios, the network has a "shorts unit" in which artists aren't expected to pitch their ideas, instead just making their seven-minute films and then showing the executives the result.

It is a process that has spawned nine full series -- including big hits like "We Bare Bears" -- and accounts for 80 percent of the company's development of new projects.

"We Bare Bears" -- about the adventures of three ursine brothers -- is made by Annie Award-winning creator Daniel Chong, 38, whose credits include Pixar's "Inside Out" and "Cars 2," and Disney's "Bolt."

- Creative control -

"It's great to be part of the Pixar machine -- but it is a machine. You're taking a script and boarding it at the behest of the director," he said.

"I'm now in control of the product, every decision goes through me. We don't have the budget of Pixar or the time, but I get to tell the stories that interest me."

With many entertainment networks losing primetime viewership, CN has been making gains, finishing number one among ad-supported cable networks in its core kids 6-11 demo for the first time in 2015.

As well as competition from traditional rivals like Nickelodeon, CN is under increasing pressure from Netflix's burgeoning slate of children's programming, not to mention Google's YouTube Kids and many other video apps.

Keen to stay ahead, CN delivered triple-digit growth in 2015 for its app and, earlier this year, launched TV/mobile app hybrid "OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes" -- about a young wannabe who lives in a world populated by superheroes.

While it may be a brave new world in terms of technology, some things never change, says "OK K.O.!" creator Ian Jones-Quartey, whose team spends about nine months making each 11-minute episode.

"Our method of working on the cartoons is we sit in a room, we look at pictures and drawings and we pitch them to each other, and we work on the jokes individually," the 33-year-old said.

"That's the same exact way Warner Bros. cartoons were made back in the day. That's how all the Disney movies were made, like 'Pinocchio,' 'Snow White' -- all those cartoons."

Collapsing stage prop injures US rocker Marilyn Manson

Shock rocker Marilyn Manson was rushed to a hospital and halted his tour Sunday after being crushed under a falling stage prop during a concert in New York.

Manson's guitarist, Tyler Bates, indicated that the injuries were serious enough to stop concerts but were not life-threatening.

The tour "is on pause for a minute. Heading home. Manson will be back in action soon," Bates, who is based in Los Angeles, wrote on Instagram Sunday as he posted a picture from an airport.

The theatrical Manson is known for his violent imagery, but the crowd soon realized that the incident was no stunt and his show Saturday evening at the 2,200-capacity Hammerstein Ballroom in Midtown Manhattan.

Video footage posted by several fans showed Manson singing his band's cover of the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)" in front of a stage prop of two giant pistols pointing in opposite directions.

After screaming out the line, "Some of them want to be abused!" Manson appears to try to climb onto the gun sculpture, whose backing ladder then falls over him.

The band played on for about 20 seconds as crew raced on the scene. The venue then went completely dark as Manson was taken away.

A representative for the singer said only that he was taken to a hospital.

The incident is the second in as many days for the 48-year-old singer, whose real name is Brian Warner.

On Friday night in Pittsburgh, Manson was nearing the end of his set when he slipped from the stage as he reached out to touch fans. Manson is seen in a video limping back and telling the crowd that he broke his ankle, although he appeared fully mobile a day later in New York.

The injuries come as Manson prepares to release his 10th studio album, "Heaven Upside Down," on Friday. He has tour dates scheduled through December across North America and Europe.

Manson, who generally paints his face hauntingly pale with heavy eyeliner, has frequently triggered controversy for dabbling in the occult. Past performances of the self-styled "Antichrist Superstar" have included ripping pages out of a Bible.

Amitabh and Aishwarya submit documents for Panama Papers case

Amitabh Bachchan and his now daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan are among celebrities whose names appeared on Panama Papers. The latest reports suggest that the two recently submitted documents of their financial dealings with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the issue.

According to a source, "The replies have been received. They could be soon summoned as part of the probe."

The documents have been submitted through their representative while the ED had asked that it is better if the actors appear and face the investigation themselves rather than sending their representatives.

According to an official report, "In a phase-wise manner, concerned individuals and entities are being summoned and statements have been recorded. In the next phase, another set of names would be summoned. It could include film stars as well, whose names and addresses were found to be part of the leaked data of 2,10,000 offshore companies incorporated by Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca."

The income tax department has launched 33 prosecutions so far that are linked to the names revealed in the Panama Papers. Bachchan and family have earlier responded to notices issued to them in connection to the issue in the past while Aishwarya Rai and Ajay Devgn too have been on the receiving end of such notices.

— Originally published in The News