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Bride-to-be Rakul Jets Off To Goa For Wedding With Jackky

By LokMarg 17th February 2024

Bride-to-be Rakul Preet Singh, who is all set to tie the knot with her beau and producer Jackky Bhagnani on February 21, jetted off to Goa with her parents for her wedding on Saturday evening.

The grand wedding will take place in Goa in the presence of family and close friends on February 21.

In the videos captured by Mumbai-based paparazzi, Rakul Preet can be seen making her way towards the airport with her family.

She was dressed in a vibrant orange pantsuit that she paired with a pink top.

She kept her hair tied in a ponytail and opted for minimal makeup and jewellery.

Jackky arrived at the airport minutes later. He wore a casual outfit and posed for the paps.

On Thursday, Rakul Preet arrived all dolled up with her family at Jackky Bhagnani’s house for the pre-wedding festivities.

Rakul Preet and Jackky Bhagnani are going all out to ensure they have a eco-friendly wedding, according to sources.

Reportedly, the couple’s ‘green’ wedding preparations include digital invites to save paper waste, a prohibition on fireworks, and a pledge to plant trees to offset their event’s carbon footprint.

The wedding will last three days, beginning on February 19, with the major ceremony on February 21.

The pair, according to sources, has hired carbon footprint specialists to guarantee that their big day is environmentally friendly.

These specialists will evaluate the impact of the wedding celebrations and advise Singh and Bhagnani on how many trees should be planted to offset their carbon footprint.

The couple intends to participate in the tree-planting effort shortly after their wedding vows are exchanged.

Rakul Preet and Jackky confirmed their relationship in October 2021.

They have been together for a while and often share sweet moments on social media and during public appearances.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Rakul will be seen in ‘Indian 2’ alongside Kamal Haasan. The film also stars Bobby Simhaa and Priya Bhavani Shankar in key roles.

The first part was released in 1996 and starred Kamal Haasan in the role of an aged freedom fighter who decides to wage a war against corruption.

Jackky, on the other hand, is awaiting the release of his next production, ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’.

Helmed by Ali Abbas Zafar, the film stars Akshay, Tiger, Sonakshi Sinha, and Prithviraj Sukumaran in the lead roles and is all set to hit theatres on the occasion of Eid 2024. (ANI)

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International Film Festival of India (IFFI) Karan Johar

Glad There Has Been An Evolution In Cinema: KJo

By LokMarg 20th November 2023

Filmmaker Karan Johar, who arrived at the opening ceremony of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, shared how the cinema, storyline, characters and politics have evolved with time.

He said that from ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ to ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’, it’s been like a journey, “I have been here for the past 25 years and I am glad there is an evolution. I think from ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’ to ‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’, it has been like a journey. From one love story in 1998 to another in 2023. The characters have evolved, the journey has evolved, politics have evolved, the communication about family, love and gender equality has evolved I hope so and I am glad that the film received so much love.”

‘Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani’ was released on July 28, 2023. The film emerged as a hit at the box office. It crossed Rs 150 crore mark in India.

The film revolves around Rocky Randhawa (Ranveer), a Punjabi businessman, and Rani Chatterjee (Alia Bhatt), a Bengali journalist, who fall in love despite their differences and family objections. They decide to live with each other’s families for three months before getting married.

Veteran stars Dharmendra, Shabana Azmi and Jaya Bachchan also starred in Karan Johar’s directorial.

On the film’s success, Karan penned an emotional note on Instagram. He wrote, “Prior to the release of this film, I felt that at any point of time I would need an IV drip and was near collapse!! The question I asked myself was – is it the long 7 year gap? Or the anxiety built over the last 3 years. Or the fact that we live in an ambiguous box office time. Whatever the real reason is – I was a bonafide mess! But the Friday, 28th of July, I felt nothing but gratitude, validation and sheer joy. This film is truly a product of team energy & love.”

He expressed gratitude to the writers, dress designers and musicians of the film and wrote, “I want to first express my deepest gratitude to the writing forces of this film – Shashank Khaitan & Sumit Roy, who guided me through the narrative journey of our film. Special mention to Ishita Moitra, who brought so much humour, introspection and cinema drama to the screenplay and crackling dialogues. This entire writing process would not have been possible without the creative governance & brilliance of Somen Mishra.”

“To my best friend and the couture maverick, Manish Malhotra and to the supremely talented Eka Lakhani for matching the sari to Gucci with equal elan! Manush Nandan – for painting every frame so so beautifully. The maestro editor, Nitin Baid for keeping me in check! The aesthetic force and the best hug in town – Amrita. To Sohel & Debu Da, for taking us to the finish line with sheer expertise. To my absolute favourite Pritam da and his entire team – for creating and weaving musical magic that enhanced every scene of the film. To Amitabh Bhattacharya for his genius mind!!” he added.

Coming back to IFFI, the guest list for the event also includes Vijay Sethupathi, Sara Ali Khan, Pankaj Tripathi, Sunny Deol, Karan Johar, Shantanu Moitra, Shreya Ghoshal and Sukhwinder Singh, among others. (ANI)

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Baku-Bound IndiGo Takes Off Without ATC Clearances, Pilot Grounded

AAI Gets Nod To Install Full-Body Scanners At 4 Airports

By LokMarg 13th September 2023

To make security checks quicker and error-free at India’s hypersensitive airports, the Airport Authority of India (AAI) received clearance from the Public Investment Board (PIB) to install full-body scanners that will cut down the passenger frisking time by half.

These full-body scanners will be installed at four airports in the country including Kolkata, Chennai, Pune and Goa.

In July, the government had floated a tender to procure 131 full-body scanners– that cut down the average passenger frisking time to 15 seconds from the current 30 and 600 new hand baggage scanners at over Rs 1,000 crore at airports run by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) but it was later withdrawn as it needed clearance from PIB.

Given that all the investment plans with an estimated cost of Rs 500 crores and more fall under the purview of PIB, the initial proposal was to install 131 full-body scanners and 600 new hand-baggage scanner machines at 43 airports that include Amritsar, Goa, Srinagar, Jammu, Leh, Varanasi, Chennai, Pune, Kolkata, Raipur, Tirupati, Bhopal, among others at over Rs 1,000 crore at airports run by the AAI.

However, in a recent meeting between stakeholders involved in the safety and security of airports, it was decided that instead of going for the installation in one go as per the original plan, the PIB gave its nod for the installation of full-body scanners in the four airports that witness maximum footfall among all airports owned and managed by the Airport Authority of India (AAI). The meeting was attended by senior officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Bureau of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Home Affairs and others.

“After evaluating the success report of full-body scanners at these four airports, other airports in the queue will get the facility at the earliest. In the meeting, various aspects like procurement, installation, training of security personnel and operations were discussed,” said a senior official.

According to officials, these millimetre-wave technology-based full-body scanners work on the principle of body contours, i.e. these are designed to detect objects that could be concealed in the body.

“As the proposal needs approval of PIB, it was reviewed and now full-body scanners will be installed at four airports including thirteen scanners at Kolkata, twelve at Chennai, eight at Goa and five at Pune airport. These airports fall under the hypersensitive category as per BCAS”, added the official.

The AAI manages 137 airports in India, which include 24 international airports, 10 customs airports, and 103 domestic airports. (ANI)

Jaishankar Files Nominations For Upcoming RS Polls

By LokMarg 10th July 2023

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday filed his nomination papers in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls.

After filing his nomination for Rajya Sabha elections, EAM Dr S Jaishankar said, “…First of all I would like to express gratitude to PM Modi, BJP leadership and people and MLAs of Gujarat..Four years back, I received the honour to represent Gujarat in the Rajya Sabha. I received the opportunity to become a part of the changes in the country under the leadership of PM Modi in the last 4 years. I hope to be able to contribute to the progress that will take place in the coming 4 years…”
The Election Commission of India (ECI) earlier announced the schedule for the election across 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Goa, Gujarat and West Bengal to be held on July 24.

Ten members from these states are set to retire in July and August.

July 13 is the last date for filing nominations for the vacant RS seats, EC had said.

The counting of the votes will be done on July 24.

Three Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat will go to polls as Dineshchandra Jemalbhai Anavadiya, Lokhandwala Jugalsinh Mathurji, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar Krishnaswamy will retire on August 18, an official statement earlier said.

Jaishankar was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat in 2019, when he was inducted to the Union Cabinet. (ANI)

Reliance Jio Launches 5G Services In 50 More Cities

By LokMarg 24th January 2023

Reliance Jio on Tuesday announced the largest launch of its True 5G services across 50 cities in the country. With this, Jio users across 184 cities can now access the fifth-generation mobile services.

According to the company’s statement, these 50 cities are in states including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Puducherry, Punjab, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.

Jio users in these cities will be invited to the Jio Welcome Offer to experience unlimited data at up to 1 Gbps speeds at no additional cost, starting on Tuesday, the statement said.

Jio spokesperson said, “We are thrilled to launch Jio True 5G services in 50 additional cities across 17 states and Union Territories, taking the total count to 184 cities. This is by far one of the largest rollouts of 5G services, not just in India, but anywhere in the world.”

“We have stepped up the speed and intensity of True 5G roll-out across the nation because we want every Jio user to enjoy the transformational benefits of Jio True 5G technology in the new year 2023. The entire nation will be able to enjoy and benefit from Jio True 5G services by December 2023,” the spokesperson said.

The cities of Chittoor, Kadapa, Narasaraopet, Ongole, Rajamahendravaram, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh; Nagaon in Assam; Bilaspur, Korba and Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh; Panaji in Goa; Ambala, Bahadurgarh, Hisar, Karnal, Panipat, Rohtak, Sirsa and Sonipat in Haryana, have access to Jio 5G services now, according to the statement. It also added that Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij inaugurated Jio True 5G in Haryana circle on Tuesday.

Jio 5G services are now also live in Dhanbad in Jharkhand; Bagalkote, Chikkamagaluru, Hassan, Mandya and Tumakuru in Karnataka; Alappuzha in Kerala; Kolhapur, Nanded-Waghala, Sangli in Maharashtra; Balasore, Baripada, Bhadrak, Jharsuguda, Puri and Sambalpur in Odisha, the statement said.

The cities in Puducherry; Amritsar, Bikaner, Kota in Rajasthan; Dharmapuri, Erode and Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu; Nalgonda in Telangana, and Jhansi, Aligarh, Moradabad, Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, and Asansol and Durgapur in West Bengal now have access to Jio 5G services. According to the statement, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will inaugurate Jio True 5G in Kota.

The spokesperson also said, “We are grateful to the State Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Puducherry, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal for their continuous support in our quest to digitise every region.” (ANI)

Is Tamannah Dating Vijay Verma? Rumours Rife

By LokMarg 2nd January 2023

Netizens are convinced that Tamannah and Vijay Varma are dating. Reportedly, the two were together in Goa for new year’s eve celebrations and what has added more fuel to the fire is a recent video that has gone viral.

In the video, the two could be seen cozying up and hugging each other at a popular restaurant in Goa. Although their faces aren’t visible, netizens are sure it’s them after comparing their outfit to pictures posted at the same restaurant earlier.

The video that has now gone viral on the social media platform Reddit has taken people by surprise. The post caption read, “This is it. Tamannaah and Vijay Varma hugging and kissing each other. I am crying.”

A Reddit user commented on the post, “Honestly such a positive note to start the year. Hope it continues,” while another one wrote, “Now this is a love story I am rooting for. Rooting for you girl- Tamannaah!”

Although the two haven’t spoken about their link-up, on the work front, the two are reportedly working together on ‘Lust Stories 2’.

Tamannah was last seen in the Netflix film ‘Plan A Plan B’ opposite Riteish Deshmukh. She was also recently seen in Madhur Bhandarkar’s ‘Babli Bouncer’.

Vijay Varma delivered a spectacular performance in ‘Darlings’ and will also be seen alongside Kareena Kapoor in Sujoy Ghosh’s next. (ANI)

Sara Turns Anarkali At 53rd IFFI In Goa

By LokMarg 21st November 2022

If there’s one character in Hindi cinema that became immortal was the one that was played by the ‘Marilyn Monroe of Bollywood’, Madhubala as Anarkali in the iconic film ‘Mughal-e-Azam.

And on Sunday, actress Sara Ali Khan made everyone nostalgic by dancing to Madhubala’s song ‘Pyar Kiya toh darna kya’ from ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ at the opening ceremony of the 53rd International Film Festival of India in Goa.
Dressed in ethnic costume, Sara looked graceful in her Anarkali avatar at the event.

Basically, she danced to periodic drama songs. She also grooved to ‘In aankhon ki masti mein’ from ‘Umrao Jaan’, ‘Salaame-E-ishq meri jaan’ from ‘Muqaddad ka sikandar’, ‘Maar dala’ from ‘Devdas’ and ‘Deewani Mastaani’ from ‘Bajirao Mastani’.

Ahead of her stellar performance, Sara spoke to ANI and said, “I am really excited to perform at IFFI. I am dancing to songs that I have grown up listening to. I am literally inspired by those songs and I feel no one can ever do justice to those songs.”

The grand opening ceremony of IFFI 2022 also saw Varun Dhawan, Mrunal Thakur, and Kartik Aaryan performing on the stage. (ANI)

MHA Suspends IAS Narain On Charges Of Sexual Harassment

By LokMarg 17th October 2022

The Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday placed Jitendra Narain, a 1990-batch senior IAS officer of Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) Cadre and then Chief Secretary of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, under suspension with immediate effect over an allegation of an alleged sexual assault of a lady, according to an official statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Joint Secretary (Union Territory Division) in MHA Ashutosh Agnihotri said that the action was taken the day after the MHA received a report on October 16 from Andaman and Nicobar Police regarding the alleged sexual assault.
“As the Report indicated the possibility of grave misconduct and misuse of the official position on the part of Jitendra Narain, the Union Home Minister directed to take immediate strict action against the officer concerned as per law,” he said.

The Home Ministry in a statement said, “The Ministry received a report on October 16, 2022, from Andaman and Nicobar Police regarding the alleged sexual assault of a lady by Jitendra Narain, IAS (AGMUT:1990), the then Chief Secretary, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and others. As the Report indicated the possibility of grave misconduct and misuse of the official position on the part of Sh. Jitendra Narain, IAS (AGMUT:1990), the Union Home Minister directed to take immediate strict action against the officer concerned as per law.”

“Accordingly, Jitendra Narain, IAS (AGMUT:1990) has been placed under suspension with immediate effect and disciplinary proceedings have been ordered against him,” it added.

The Home Ministry said that it is committed to ensuring zero tolerance towards the acts of indiscipline by its officials irrespective of their rank and status “especially with regard to incidents involving the dignity of women”.

“An FIR has been registered and active in the criminal case is being taken separately by the SIT of Andaman & Nicobar Police,” it said. (ANI)

MiG-29K Jet Crashes, Pilot Ekects In Time, Stable

By LokMarg 12th October 2022

A MiG 29K fighter aircraft of the Indian Navy crashed over the sea on Wednesday while it was on a routine sortie off the Goa coast.

The pilot has been recovered and is stable.
“The twin-engine MiG-29K crashed over the sea after it developed a technical malfunction while returning to base. The pilot ejected safely and has been recovered in a swift search & rescue operation. He is reported to be in stable condition,” Indian Navy said.

The Navy said it has ordered a Board of Inquiry (BoI) to investigate the cause of the incident.

The Indian Navy is the world’s only operator of the MiG-29K fighter aircraft acquired from Russia along with Admiral Gorshkov renamed INS Vikramaditya in India.

The safety record of the MiG-29Ks has not been very good. The force is now looking at the procurement of 25-26 foreign fighter aircraft for operations from the aircraft carrier INS Vikrant commissioned recently by the Prime Minister in Kochi.

The MiG-29s are deployed in Goa at the naval base INS Hansa. (ANI)