The couple – Dinesh SP and Janaganandhini Ramaswamy – held their wedding in Sivalingapuram, a small tribal village of Tamil Nadu. However, friends and family from across the world attended the wedding reception in the virtual world

A couple from Tamil Nadu on Sunday threw their first-of-its-kind in India wedding reception on the Metaverse, an online universe of interconnected 3D virtual worlds.

The couple – Dinesh SP and Janaganandhini Ramaswamy – held their wedding in Sivalingapuram, a small tribal village of Tamil Nadu. However, friends and family from across the world attended the wedding reception in the virtual world.

“I am into Blockchain, NFTs, and technology for the past few years. I used to be always unique and I wanted to keep my life event as a memorable one. As a techie, we always look into the problems and see the possible solutions through programming languages,” Dinesh was earlier quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

The couple had planned a Harry Potter’s Hogwarts-themed since both are Harry Potter fans.

A start-up called TardiVerse worked for a month to create the metaverse where the reception was hosted. Dinesh decided to make an ‘avatar’ dedicated to Janaganandhini’s late father too, the one who presided over the function, as a homage.

“To give importance to my better half, a realistic 3D virtual avatar of her father has been created in NFT, thus she can feel her father’s presence virtually in the metaverse and bless our marriage,” said Dinesh.

Photos and videos from the function have now gained traction on social media.

Turns out, Farhan Akhtar and Shibani Dandekar’s wedding rumours were true after all. In a recent interview with Bombay Times, Farhan’s father and veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar confirmed that the wedding is taking place on February 21. He told Bombay Times, “Yes, the wedding is taking place. Rest, shaadi ki jo taiyyariyan hain that is being taken care of by the wedding planners.” Keeping in mind the safety norms, the wedding will be a low-key affair said Javed Akhtar. He told Bombay Times, “Taking the situation into consideration it is obvious that we cannot host anything on a large scale. So, we are only calling a few people. It will be a very simple affair. Khair abhi tak toh invitations bhi nahi bheje gaye hain.”

Speaking of his to-be daughter-in-law Shibani Dandekar, Javed Akhtar said, “She is a very nice girl. All of us like her very much. The most important thing is that Farhan and she get along very well, which is great.”

Last month, a Pinkvilla report stated that Farhan Akhtar and Shibani Dandekar will get married. “On February 21, their relationship will take a new turn, as they will take the formal vows to be partners for life,” a source close to the couple told Pinkvilla.

Shibani Dandekar and Farhan Akhtar started dating in 2018. The actor was previously married to celebrity hairstylist Adhuna Bhabani, with whom he has two daughters – Shakya and Akira. Farhan Akhtar’s last project was Toofan, which was directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra. The actor will also direct a film called Jee Le Zaraa, starring Priyanka Chopra, Alia Bhatt and Katrina Kaif.

Looop Lapeta Review: Tahir Raj Bhasin plays second fiddle but never fails to hit the right notes. Looop Lapeta is also enlivened by the supporting acts, especially by Manik Papneja and Raghav Raj Kakker.

Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Shreya Dhanwanthary, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Hani Yadav, Gaurav Pareek, Manik Papneja and Rajendra Chawla
Director: Aakash Bhatia

Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)

No matter from where one chooses to begin, a loop is a loop, a globular entity that entraps and enervates. In Looop Lapeta – the loop in the title has three o’s to denote the triptych that constitutes the comic thriller – it also suggests the cycle of life that two down-on-luck lovers want to control, if not wriggle out of.

Given what it is dealing with, Looop Lapeta has a legitimate reason to go round in circles although when the heroine runs – she does so not for her own life but for her trouble-prone boyfriend’s – she is on a course that is more zigzag than circular within each of the three time-loops she has to contend with.

Part wild, wacky and wickedly witty, part flabby, flip and flimsy, this flighty ‘remake’ of a German thriller from a quarter-century ago is a film engaged in a futile search for contemporary relevance. But, then, how many searches in life yield results that can be predicted and moderated?

That is the question that Tom Tykwer’s Run Lola Run (1998) had posed in 80 taut, whip-smart minutes where every split-second and every swerve counted. Aakash Bhatia’s Looop Lapeta, out on Netflix, also keeps a count of the minutes as they tick away, but it grants itself several detours that take the film across the two-hour mark without adding much abiding value to the original concept.

Yes, every choice that one makes matters. The one aimed at throwing extra sauce into the concoction isn’t particularly salutary. To account for the added runtime, the screenplay (credited to four writers – Vinay Chhawal, Ketan Pedgaonkar, Akash Bhatia and Arnav Vepa Nanduri) also factors in the quandaries of a heartbroken cabbie and his about-to-be-married girlfriend.

Nor is that all. Looop Lapeta also pulls into its fold a Punjabi jeweller who runs a business establishment in the heart of Goa and must deal with two sons who want to rob his store at the point of a fake gun. The boys mask up and devise ways to barge into the shop and make off with the jewels without letting their old man know who they are. Tall order that!

The cabbie’s story is primarily about his girlfriend who dangles between the man she loves and the call centre executive she is about to marry. She must make up her mind quickly because time is fast running out. Her predicament, like that of the two lead characters, conveys the film’s pivotal philosophy: haste isn’t a waste and no experience is useless.

A feckless young man, Satya (Tahir Raj Bhasin), lands in big trouble when he loses a large sum of money that he has to deliver to his mobster-boss Victor (Dibyendu Bhattacharya). He turns to his girlfriend Savi (Taapsee Pannu) for help. Her life, too, is a mess – she has just discovered that she is pregnant without wanting to be – but she is a woman endowed with the ability to think on her feet.

It helps that she is fleet-footed to boot. An athlete whose dreams of being a champion has been stymied by an injury, Savi runs and runs and runs when Satya makes a hash of a simple delivery. Three scenarios play out one after another with different outcomes but the vicissitudes of fate and the choices and decisions that Savi and Satya only aggravate matters.

Sunil Grover has been diagnosed with a heart condition. The actor is said to have been diagnosed with blockages in his heart and was to undergo surgery. Our sources have revealed that the actor was filming for his upcoming series before he left for his surgery.

“He shot for a web series in Pune recently despite his health condition. He finished the shoot like an absolute professional and left for his treatment. He had blockages in his heart but he still shot a few scenes and completed his commitment,” our sources inform News18.

When we tried to reach out to the actor for a comment, he remained unavailable.

Sunil Grover was last seen in Snow Flower, a Zee5 web series, Ashish Vidyarthi, Ranvir Shorey, Girish Kulkarni and Mukul Chadda. The actor was also seen in Tandav with Saif Ali Khan last year. The actor played a pivotal role in the series. The Amazon Prime Video political drama was in the middle of controversy after the show was accused of hurting religious sentiments, and the producers were even served legal notices.

On the big screen, Sunil was last seen in Bharat with Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif. The actor played Salman’s friend in the movie. The actor-comedian is also rumoured to be a part of Shah Rukh Khan’s upcoming untitled film which is being directed by Atlee.

While he has appeared in a bunch of movies and shows, the actor is also best known to play the role of Gutti on The Kapil Sharma Show. However, owing to a spat between the comedians, Sunil opted to leave the show. While there were reports suggesting Salman was acting as a peacemaker between the two, Sunil has no plans on returning to the show. Sunil has starred in a few comedy shows thereafter.

New Delhi: The makers of RRR have confirmed the film’s release date. The film’s release date was pushed many times due to COVID-19 restrictions. S S Rajamouli’s film will now release on March 25, 2022. The makers have shared a poster of the film with the new release date and has captioned it as “#RRRonMarch25th, 2022…..FINALISED! #RRRMovie.” RRR has been directed by S S Rajamouli and produced by D. V. V. Danayya of DVV Entertainments. The film has Ram Charan, Jr. NTR, and Alia Bhatt in key roles and Ajay Devgn will be seen in a cameo role. The film will release in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada.

Due to COVID-19 third-wave, many states had shut cinema halls, gyms and malls and weekend curfew was also imposed. Due to the restrictions, the several filmmakers had decided to postpone the release date of their upcoming movies. Apart from RRR, the release date of Jersey, Brahmastra, Prithviraj, Radhe Shyam, and others were postponed.

Earlier, the film was slated to release on January 7, 2022, but the release date was pushed due to COVID-19 restrictions. It was later announced that RRR makers have finalised two release dates for the film and it will be released theatrically depending upon the situation.

Google Lens is an immensely powerful image recognition tool that lets you visually search the world around you. You can reverse search images, identify plants and animals, scan codes, extract and translate text, and a lot more. Originally limited to smartphones, Google expanded this powerful tool to the desktop via the Chrome browser integration last year. And soon it will be integrated into the Google Search bar on the desktop.

Currently, Google Lens on the desktop can be accessed from Chrome’s context menu. But as spotted by 9to5Google, Google is adding the Google Lens shortcut in the Google Search bar on the desktop. Users who have received the feature as part of A/B testing are seeing a colorful Google Lens icon appearing in the search box right next to the microphone button. When you tap on the Lens icon, it brings up an image picker window. From there, you can drag and drop or manually upload an image to search with Google Lens. Your uploaded images will be shown on the left side while relevant search results appear on the right side. Just like the mobile version, the tool will also let you crop or focus on a specific portion of the image.

The Lens shortcut in Google Search hasn’t rolled out widely on the desktop. Google Chrome for Android already has Google Lens integrated into the search bar so bringing it to the desktop version comes as a natural expansion.

Google is also planning to bring an improved Google Lens experience to the desktop that will let users see search results in the same tab. Right now, when you look up an image with Google Lens, results open up in a new browser tab.

As the third COVID-19 wave continues, theatres and cinema halls remain shut in various states. In the present situation, many filmmakers and producers are opting for an OTT release for their big budgeted projects.

From Looop Lapeta to Dhanush’s Maaran and Shakun Batra’s Gehraiyaan, February is bringing along a wide range of movies to satiate your weekend blues. Take a look.

Big OTT releases in February
Gehraiyaan
The upcoming Shakun Batra directorial, Gehraiyaan, will star Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday and Dgairya Karwa in pivotal roles. Padukone will take on the role of Alisha, who engages in the act of infidelity with Zain (Chaturvedi), her sister’s fiance. The film is scheduled to premiere on 11 February 2022.

Maaran
Dhanush and Malavika Mohan starrer Maaran is an upcoming action thriller written and directed by Karthick Naren. It is slated to come out in February via Disney+ Hotstar. It also stars Samuthirakani, Smruthi Venkat, Krishnakumar Balasubramanian as well as Mahendran in supporting roles.

Looop Lapeta
Taapsee Pannu and Tahir Raj Bhasin starrer will chronicle Savi and Satya’s passionate love tale as they race against time. The Aakash Bhatia directorial is the Hindi-language remake of German filmmaker Tom Tykwer’s 1998 classic movie Run Lola Run. The film will come out on the OTT platform Netflix on 4 February 2022.

My Best Friend Anne Frank
The Dutch drama, My Best Friend Anne Frank, directed by Ben Sombogaart, tells the story of the friendship between Hanneli Goslar and Anne Frank. The film will be premiering internationally on 1 February 2022, via Netflix. It is the first Dutch cinema film about the life of Anne Frank, one of the most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust under Nazi Germany. It is based on American author Alison Leslie Gold’s Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend.

One Cut Two Cut
Produced by late actor Puneeth Rajkumar’s PRK Productions, One Cut Two Cut stars Danish Sait in the lead role. The satirical comedy will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on February 3. In the film, Danish plays the role of Gopi, an arts and crafts teacher who tries to save school children.

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On its seventh weekend, Pushpa [Hindi] has entered the 100 Crore Club. With that, it has turned out to be the first-ever film in history (since the inception of the 100 Crore Club) to start at 3.33 crores and then go on to hit a century. Prior to this, the record for a 100 Crore Club earner with the lowest ever opening day was also held by a dubbed south film. Then too, history was created, as Baahubali: The Beginning started at 5.15 crores and then went on to score a century, and go furthermore with 117 crores as its lifetime run.

In the case of Pushpa [Hindi], the journey is all the more remarkable since it has managed to achieve this feat during the pandemic when there is a closure of cinemas, restrictions, curbs, and general fear factor. Still, the film has done the unthinkable and the best part is that it is still in the running and would continue so till at least 11th February when Badhaai Do arrives. Before that, it could well cover some lost ground in Delhi and Haryana where theatres have just reopened. The best showcasing is for Pushpa [Hindi] and that is further boosting collections.

That was seen over the weekend gone by as well when 2 crores* more came in, hence bringing the film to 100 crores*. With 10 open days ahead of it, there is more to come in and that would allow the film to at least cross 103 crores and perhaps go even a bit ahead than that.

I was thrilled yesterday I for the first time hit the 16 km or the 10 miles brisk walk barrier. My grandmother was admitted to the Max Hospital which is on the outskirts of Rajpur road near the Mansi deer park. It is was a 16 km walk both ways. I stopped for an hour to see my grandmother and had some poha with sambhar. I then trudged back to my home at Inder Road the walk to the hospital was tough as it was on an incline the entire Rajpur Road was on an incline and it was 8km up the hill a steep walk. That really tested my stamina, I did stop over to sit on the many benches on either side of the road. But tugged on listening to the music and watching the traffic, either way, the entire walk was done in one go and I am proud of it. I did get a couple of blisters on two of my toes but it is not as bad now as it used to be when I first started walking. My toes have gotten sued to it as I have also completed my 100 days of starting my fat to fit health routine.

I did manage to get some shopping done on the way nuts, seeds mango papad, and also mixed grain flour. The two chapatis I have made from this new mixed grain flour are very nourishing and the roti comes out thick and very nutritious. I am going to use mixed grain flour from now on and binge on nuts along with grapes and cherries. My focus is on lentils and greens along with fish of all kinds. To add extra roughage I much on a corn cob in the afternoon, I make sure my walking is brisk so that I sweat and that shows on my t shit when I come back home. The idea is to increase the walking average by 1 kilometer at least month on month. My November average was 8.8 km, my December average was 9.8 km and my Jan average is 11 km. That takes care of my calories burning.

I have added mat exercises stomach crunches and dumbbells exercises which I do every day and sometimes even twice a day. I have been doing it for the last ten days and now I can do 30 stomach crunches without getting tired or exhausted, it’s all in the breathing. I manage three sets of 30 each dumbbell exercises along with light stretches on the mat. Dals yellow, black and rajma are my favorite, along with a bowl of curd or goat cheese with sardines or tuna.

I have dropped chicken, lamb, and mutton totally and do indulge in eggs once or twice a week but that too only boiled eggs. I have started having green tea twice or thrice a day as it is cold in the winter and the tea helps in soothing my throat and palate. No rice no potatoes and no sugar for me instead  I have honey.

I do also have two teaspoons of apple cider with water they say it helps in cutting fat and losing weight.