ENTERTAINMENT

Chinese refiners are ramping up purchases of Russia’s Urals crude--the mainstay of India’s Russian oil imports--leading to competition between the two Asian neighbours, which, among other factors, could result in New Delhi’s oil imports from Moscow peaking as early as this month.

In April, India’s import of Russian crude set a new record of 1.68 million barrels per day (bpd), accounting for 36.4 per cent of India’s total oil imports of 4.61 million bpd for the month, according to data provided by energy cargo tracker Vortexa.

In fact, India’s Russian oil imports in April were higher than the combined volumes supplied by traditional heavyweights Iraq and Saudi Arabia, which used to be the top two oil suppliers to India before Russia dethroned them to become India’s top source of oil. Indian refiners imported a cumulative 1.48 million bpd of crude oil from Iraq and Saudi Arabia in April.

After registering good sales in the advances, Adah Sharma headlined The Kerala Story took an excellent start in the morning shows on its opening day at the box office. In fact, despite getting the window of just a single day for its advance sales, the film matched the likes of Shehzada, Bhediya and Cirkus, which comparatively had good days for advance bookings.

Last year, the film with a similar genre, The Kashmir Files surprised everyone with its stupendous run at the box office and now looking at the occupancy report of The Kerala Story, it looks like the Sudipto Sen directorial will recreate the history.

Vivek Agnihotri and Sudhir Mishra were in a free-wheeling conversation, during which Vivek asked no one questions Bollywood other than Kangana Ranaut and him.

Filmmakers Vivek Agnihotri and Sudhir Mishra sat down for a discussion on film, politics and more, that was uploaded on YouTube. During this conversation, Vivek suggested that no one in the film industry has questioned Bollywood except him and actor Kangana Ranaut in the past few years. 

Vivek sat down with Sudhir to discuss about a lot of issues pertaining to their films, political ideologies and the current film audience in India. It so happened that during this conversation, Vivek asked Sudhir Mishra that why doesn't he speak about Bollywood more, and gave the example of actor Kangana Ranaut.

Veteran actor-director Manobala breathed his last on May 3 in Chennai. Reportedly, he was taking treatment at his residence for liver-related problems for the past two weeks. This news has come across as a huge shock to everyone in the Tamil film industry. Details regarding his funeral and cremation will be out in the coming hours. He was known for his comedy timing and self-deprecating humour. In his career spanning over 35 years, he acted in over 900 films. He is survived by wife, Usha, and son, Harish.

Popular director and actor Manobala passed away on May 3. For the past few months, the actor was unwell and received treatment for age-related issues.

An unseen video of Alia Bhatt from Met Gala 2023 has surfaced on Reddit where the New York paparazzi mistook her for Aishwarya Rai. This was Alia's debut appearance at one of the biggest fashion events in the world. Going by the video, she handled it quite well on the red carpet.

The video features Alia in her dreamy ball gown. She wore an atelier Prabal Gurung ivory silk tulle and satin face organza exaggerated basque waist ball gown with hand-beaded pearls. She entered the event with the designer when some of the paparazzi addressed her as Aishwarya, as heard in the video.