AKSHAY KUMAR WITH BHUMI PEDNEKAR PROMOTING THEIR FILM, TOILET-EK PREM KATHA, AT TELEVISION SHOW, YEHRISHTA KYA KEHLATA HAI, IN MUMBAI.

18-YEAR-OLD CANADIAN DENISSHAPOVALOV UPSETS RAFAEL

NADAL AT ROGERS CUP

Will 'Bhoomi' serve as SanjayDutt's comeback?

FILM TOILET... SIMILAR TO MODI JI'S SWACHHBHARAT ABHIYANA: AKSHAY KUMAR

NEW DELHI, (PTI) Akshay Kumar has said hisfilm "Toilet: Ek Prem Katha" has been clearedby the Central Board of Film Certification withonly three cuts. There were reports that thefilm certification body had asked for eight cutsbut Akshay said reports were not correct. "Iread somewhere that we have been given eightor nine cuts. But it is not true. We have been giventhree verbal cuts. I was surprised to read the newsabout eight cuts in the film," the actor told reportersduring a promotional event for the film here. PrimeMinister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat Abhiyanforms the basic premise of "Toilet: Ek Prem Katha"but Akshay said he did not do the film solely on themerit of the script. The 49-year-old actor willbe seen playing a husband trying to win hiswife back by building a toilet for her in the house."The script of the film came to me. The writernarrated me the story. I made the film as I likedthe script and not because someone asked me to make it. It is different thatwhen Modi ji came to office, he began the 'Swachh Bharat Abhiyana'."Our film is similar to his mission," he said. Akshay, who has been made the

brand ambassador of the Swachh Bharat Mis-sion in Uttar Pradesh, said the clean India move-ment requires the participation of the wholecountry. "The cleaning mission may have beenstarted by him (Modi) but it is a topic for all ofus to follow. We have to keep our country clean.It is directly related to us and our health." Themovie, directed by Shree Narayan Singh, alsofeatures Bhumi Pednekar and Anupam Kher. Itwill release this Friday. Talking about her experi-ence of working with Akshay and Kher in hersophomore film, Bhumi said she learnt a lot fromthe duo about life. "It was a privilege to work withthem in my second film. They set such good ex-amples for somebody like me, who is so new.They are so dedicated. The most important thingthat I learnt from them was to be happy." Afterplaying a small-town girl in her debut film "DumLaga Ke Haisha", Bhumi will be again seen in the

similar space in "Toilet". But the actress said she did not mind it. "Seventy per centof our country lives in small towns. The kind of films, which are being appreci-ated today, are heartland stories. I am lucky that I got these films."

MUMBAI (IANS) Welcome back, Mr Dutt. It's been a while. Even be-fore Sanjay Dutt left for prison, his quality of cinematic output hadfallen to unplumbed depths of self-degradation. With "Bhoomi", anintense infuriatingly breakneck paced saga of a father-daughter bond-ing set in Agra (but not in a touristic kind of way), Sanjay seems allset for a glorious comeback. First of all he plays his age. And playsout a father's rage with convincing magnetism.In his last film "Zila Ghaziabad", Prachi Desai who is his daughter'sage was cast as his romantic interest. In "Bhoomi", the stunninglyfetching Aditi Rao Hydari who is close to Prachi's age, plays Dutt'sdaughter. Whenever they are together in the tightly-edited trailer, theyseem to ignite a very special fire. The bonding is real, the dramadriven by a cyclonic fury and the bitter frustration and helplessness ofa father. And the message is that you can't mess around with SanjayDutt, not when his daughter's reputation is at stake.

TORONTO - Canadian Denis Shapovalov didn't bend an inch against tennissuperstar Rafael Nadal. Shapovalov upset Nadal 3-6, 6-4,7-6 (4) in the RogersCup third round on Thursday night at a sold out Uniprix Stadium, where crowdsroared with every point scored by the 18-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ontario. Headvanced to a quarter-final meeting Friday night with France's Adrian Mannarino,who defeated Hyeon Chung of South Korea 6-3, 6-3. Shapovalov has taken majorstrides this week to reach his goal of cracking the world's top 100 with wins overRogerio Dutra Silva and 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro. He alsohalted Nadal's bid to regain the No.1 ranking, which the Spaniard could haveachieved by reaching the semifinals. Shapovalov looked unfazed in facing thebiggest opponent of his young career. After Nadal cruised through the first set,Shapovalov kept battling, breaking service while taking a 3-0 lead in thesecond. When Nadal would start taking a control of a game, the younger of the twolefthanders would respond with big serves or impressive forehands down thelines. Nadal fought off two break points to hold serve at 4-2, then earned his ownbreak to win back the momentum from the 2016 Wimbledon junior boys cham-pion, only to see Shapovalov snatch it back and clinch the second set. The two heldserve through the third. Nadal went up 3-0, but Shapovalov used two aces to fightback and complete the upset victory over the 10-time French Open champion.

Yuvraj dropped, Manish Pandey in, Ashwin, Jadeja rested: India ODI team announcedNEW DELHI, (PTI) Veteran left-hander Yuvraj Singh was on Sunday dropped from the Indian squad for the limited overs series against SriLanka in what could possibly signal an end to his illustrious international career. A two-time World Cup winner and one of India's finestlimited overs exponent, the 35 year old Yuvraj's place was always under the scanner. After a 50 against Pakistan in the ChampionsTrophy opener, Yuvraj hardly did anything notable as his last seven ODI innings fetched him only 162 runs. A senior BCCI official, who isprivy to selection policy said that Yuvraj is no longer in contention for the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales.

I DETAILS ON PAGE 22

SHIKHAR DHAWAN AND VIRAT KOHLI CANNOT STOP LAUGHING AFTER INDIA WHITEWASHED SRI LANKA IN SERIES 3-0. INDIAWON THE THIRD TEST BY AN INNINGS AND 171 RUNS FROM HOSTS.

Priyanka, Deepika lose out onTeen Choice 2017 award

I DETAILS ON PAGE 19

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MIDWEEK HIT OR FLOPTOILET: EK PREM KATHA HIT

JAB HARRY MET SEJAL BLOCKBUSTER

MUBARAKAN HIT

INDU SARKAR AVERAGE

MUNNA MICHAEL HIT

MIDWEEK BOX OFFICEJAB HARRY MET SEJAL 100 CR

MUBARAKAN 60 CR

TOILET: EK PREM KATHA 50 CR

MUNNA MICHAEL 40 CR

INDU SARKAR 10 CR

10songs

RADHA JAB HARRY MET SEJAL

GULTI SE MISTAKE JAGGA JASOOS

BEECH BEECH MEIN JAB HARRY MET SEJAL

HAWA HAWA MUBARAKAN

DING DANG MUNNA MICHAEL

HANS MAT PAGLI TOILET: EK PREM KATHA

MERE RASKE QAMAR BAADSHAHO

HAWA HAWA MUBARAKAN

SAFAR JAB HARRY MET SEJAL

top

SONG FILM

ULLU KAPATTHA1 JAGGA JASOOS

'Secret Superstar' is aboutempowerment of the girl child: Aamir

Working with my father special:Alia on 'Aashiqui 3'MUMBAI, (PTI) Alia Bhatt is excited to be a par t of "Aashiqui"franchise and said the upcoming film in the movie series willbe special as it's her father and director- producer MaheshBhatt's home production. Alia, who made her Bollywood de-but with "Student of the Year", is collaborating with her fatherfor the first time. The third installment in the musical ro-mance film series will see Alia opposite Sidhar th Malhotra.There were repor ts that Alia was not too keen on doing thefilm but the actor on Friday took to Twitter to rubbish suchstories. "Never ever said anything about not wanting to doAashiqui 3! No idea where this is coming from," she wrote.

NEVER LOOKED FOR INSTANTSUCCESS: ANIL KAPOORMUMBAI (IANS) Actor Anil Kapoor, basking in the success ofhis new film "Mubarakan" where his Sikh character Kar tarSingh is being appreciated, says he has never run after in-stant success in his life. Brushing off the claim to individualfame with "Mubarakan", which also features his nephew ArjunKapoor in a double role, he said: "I feel any film is a teameffor t. There are so many films with an ensemble cast fea-turing me where others have been liked more. After 'Slumdog Mil-lionaire', all of us stood on that stage receiving that Oscar. "That is theteam spirit in which Mubarakan was made. Sure, my character wasliked. And it contributed to the film's success. But my nephew Arjun hasalso been liked. I was surprised by how dedicated and focused he is athis age." This is the first time Anil played a full-fledged Sikh charac-ter. "I loved getting into a turban. I really enjoyed my charac-ter. Kar tar Singh is destined to be iconic just like my charac-ters in 'Mr India', 'No Entry', 'Nayak', 'Ram Lakhan' and my TVseries '24'. I played characters in these films who are re-membered to this day. Even now people call me Lakhan fromRam Lakhan or Kishen from 'No Entry'."

Hope my love life is not shown:Sanjay Dutt on his biopicMUMBAI, (PTI) Actor Sanjay Dutt said he has been openabout his life to filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani, who is helminga biopic on him, but hopes nothing about his love life will beshown in the movie. Hirani, who has worked with Dutt infilms like "Munna Bhai" franchise and "PK", will be directingthe film, starring Ranbir Kapoor. When asked if his love lifewill be shown in the film, Dutt told repor ters, "I hope nothingis shown but rest depends on Raju." The actor was speakingat the trailer launch of his film "Bhoomi" here. There wererepor ts that Dutt was a little apprehensive to open up abouthis life and hasn't even giving time to Ranbir to help himprepare for his role. When asked about the same, Dutt said,"It will take Ranbir 50 years to do research on me. He hasbeen a very special par t of my life, not because of the biopic,but his family's relation with mine. "I was not sceptical at all.

MUMBAI (PTI) Superstar Aamir Khan says through his upcoming film"Secret Superstar" he intends to highlight the message of equalitybetween boys and girls in the society, something which he did in hislast blockbuster film "Dangal" as well. "Secret Superstar" revolvesaround a young girl (Zaira Wasim) and her dream to become a singer.Talking about the similarity between the two films, producer Aamirsaid in a statement here, "This film and 'Dangal' both are based on thesame topic - which is changing the attitude towards girls. Treatinggirls equally as we treat our boys. This is again based on empower-ment of the girl child." Produced by Aamir, Kiran Rao under theirbanner Aamir Khan Productions, Zee Studios and Akash Chawla, "Se-cret Superstar" is written and directed by Advait Chandan. The film isslated to release this Diwali.

THIS IS THE BEST TIME IN MY CAREER: EMRAAN HASHMIMUMBAI, (PTI) Actor Emraan Hashmi said he has only believed in working hard and never much bothered about the fate of hisfilms at the box office. Some of Hashmi's recent films like "Raja Natwarlal", "Hamari Adhuri Kahaani", "Azhar" and "Raaz Reboot"did not do well commercially. The actor, however, said it did not affect him or his career at all as he's still getting to work with a lotof people.Asked if he was pinning high hopes from his upcoming film "Baadshaho", the actor said, "We all have high hopes from this film, likeI have had with all my films. The only way you can avoid a flop film is that you don't make a film at all. It is as simple as that. I havelearnt that in this industry you have to keep striving and working hard. The day you stop (working) you star t thinking and getinsecure. I don't think there is a place for that," he said. The actor said he was hopeful for "Baadshaho" and believed it would do wellat the box office."I am very excited about 'Baadshaho'. This is the best time in my career, I am getting to do films which I always wanted to do. Also,for the industry it's a grim time as films are not doing well. But this is the best time to introspect and understand that we have tomake things work." Baadshaho marks the reunion of Milan Luthria, the director of "Once Upon A Time in Mumbai", and actors AjayDevgn and Hashmi. "We (Luthria and Devgn) are coming after seven years so there are expectations and I am happy that Milan hasgiven an unusual twist to a heist film. "He is aware about the expectations of the audience especially after Devgn and his last outing'Once Upon A Time in Mumbai'." Baadshaho, also starring Ileana D'Cruz, Esha Gupta and Sanjay Mishra, is set to release onSeptember 1.

FANS' OPINION SHOULD BE CONSIDERED: AJAY DEVGNMUMBAI, (IANS) Actor-filmmaker Ajay Devgan, who has a huge fan following across the nation, says his popularity isbecause of their love and appreciation and therefore he keeps their demands and wishes in mind while making any film.After the failure of two highly-anticipated films "Tubelight" and " Jab Harry Met Sejal", the National Awards winning actor,asked if he keeps his fans in mind as they are quite excited about his upcoming film "Baadshaho", said: "I think they(fans)are the one who makes you a star so their opinion should be considered. They really love you and they know what they wantfrom you, so I think their opinion should matter."Ajay was speaking at a media interaction where the rest of the film's cast and crew including Emraan Hashmi, Ileana D'Cruz, EshaGupta, Vidyut Jammwal and Milan Luthria were also present. Since within two months another film "Golmaal 4" is also releasing,Ajay said he did not think that the release of two films in a shor t span of time would affect their business. "No, both the films arein different genres so the audience will get a chance to watch two different films. I am not worried about that," he said.

HITTING HARD

AUGUST 18, 2017

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JACQUELINE FERNANDEZ AND SIDHARTH MALHOTRA DURING THE SHOOT OF SONG CHANDRALEKHA FROM MOVIE A GENTLEMAN.

LOS ANGELES, (IANS) Indian stars Priyanka Chopra and DeepikaPadukone didn't emerge as winners at the Teen Choice 2017 awardceremony, where TV show "Riverdale" and film "Wonder Woman"dominated the winners' list. Deepika was nominated for her Holly-wood debut "xXx: Return of Xander Cage" in the Choice ActionMovie Actress category and lost the title to Gal Gadot, who wonfor her act in hit film "Wonder Woman".Priyanka was also nominated for her Hollywood debut f i lm"Baywatch" in the Choice Movie Villain category. She was com-peting with stars like Charlize Theron, Elizabeth Banks, JamesMcAvoy, Javier Bardem and Luke Evans. Evans emerged thewinner. The fan-decided awards were announced here on Sun-day. The annual ceremony, which recognises teen icons in film,te lev is ion, music, spor ts , fash ion, comedy and the web,honoured f i lm and TV t i t l es inc lud ing "Wonder Woman" ,"Riverdale" and "Beauty and the Beast", repor ts ew.com.Stars from "Riverdale", "Teen Wolf" and "Pretty Litt le Liars"dominated the TV categories, while "Wonder Woman" and "Guard-ians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" won big in the movie categories. Popband Maroon 5 also walked away with the second ever DecadeAward, singer Bruno Mars was honoured with the Visionary Award,and actress Vanessa Hudgens was presented with the first-ever#SeeHer Award.

Priyanka, Deepika lose out onTeen Choice 2017 award

A decade: SRK and team relive the 'Chak De!' journeyBY BEDIKA

NEW DELHI, (PTI) With its message ofpatriotism, secularism and women'sempowerment, "Chak De! India" con-tinues to be a film for the times 10 yearson, says the team of Shimit Amin,Jaideep Sahni and Shah Rukh Khan.For director Shimit, story writer Jaideepand star Shah Rukh, this is one that willlive on, and not just in their filmographies.Born from Jaideep's anger at the apathytowards women athletes, the film tellsthe story of an unsung women's hockeyteam and their disgraced coach KabirKhan seeking redemption in their worldcup victory. "The film is patriotic with-out being jingoist, it is cool without be-ing frivolous, it is intense but not bor-ing," Shah Rukh told PTI. "Chak De!",regarded as one of Indian cinema's mostsuccessful and loved sports films, wasreleased on August 10, 2007.Shah Rukh says he did the film, whichhe describes as one of the most spe-cial in his career, for his father. "Shimitmade it beautifully and I am glad thatAdi (producer Aditya Chopra) thought ofme as Kabir Khan. They waited for mefor more than a year. The heart and the

soul of the film are the young girls." Dueto his romantic hero persona, manythought he would not be able to pull offKabir Khan's character, says ShahRukh."It is one of the few films of mine whichopened very poorly. I was really dis-turbed. My father used to play hockey.The only reason I did this film was be-cause I could use something that myfather had taught me. I was emotionallyattached with the film. But it did reallywell after opening poorly." He was sonervous about the film's future that heleft for London. "It was a lovely film and

I did not want to hear all that (negativ-ity)." Shimit says the team approachedthe story with idealism."We felt it was a special film and some-thing that would be made on its own.We believed in the idealism of what wewere doing. We had this amazing sensethat we were going to make the bestfilm that we could. There was no calcu-lation involved." The director, who wenton to make "Rocket Singh", says"Chak De!" did not impress view-ers in a test screening. Theyrealised they had a successful filmonly after its release.

Hotel Beautifool, starring Johnny Leverset to release in Canada on Aug 18

PUNJAB - The long awaited Hindi comic feature film 'Hotel Beautifool' is all set for its overseas re-lease in Canada on August 18. This directorial debut by SammirIqbal Patel stars Johnny Lever andBrijendra Kala in lead roles together for the first time and is jointly produced by Umbrella Film Cor-poration and Madhire Film Corporation.The film is an all out laugh riot through a series of hilarious moments and situational comic reliefslead by comedy veteran Johnny Lever. This legendary actor is the lead cast in this film and plays thecharacter of Harry Singh, the owner of Grand Hotel Beautiful in Goa, along with his par tner Pe-droKumar a.k.a PK, played by theatre ace Brijendra Kala. This is their first film together and the team upholds immense scope of tickling your funny side, in the wackiest ways possible. "It was a delightfulexperience working with Brijendra and I look forward to more such projects together in future", saysJohnny.As an actor of the comedy genre, Johnny Lever needs least introduction and is considered a le-gendin this craft. Speaking of his character in the film, Johnny mentions, "It is a relatively different rolethat I am por traying here, the character of a Sardar and an hotelier who aspires to reinstate theproper ty's lost days of glory." He fur ther adds on, "Amidst all the other rounds of humour that thisfilm offers, my character's phobia with red colour on women sets ablaze a new league of gagwagon, when in many scenes Harry is found to be running over to any red dressed diva like a rag-ing bull gone out of control."Regarding the film and its making, Johnny is in full praise for his debutante director Sameer I Patel.He says, "Sammirbhai has made all his effor ts to bring out a clean situational comedy and in noway, it seems that he is a debutante director. We met when he was still writing the script and I real-ly liked the treatment and storyline.I believe it will give out a fresh breath of humour quotient to theaudience."On regard to the decision of releasing the film first in Canada, director Sammir says, "This is main-ly because of the high demand and suppor t we received from there. The release in India and in otherinternational locations will follow soon." Producer MrMadhireRavinder Reddy of Madhire FilmCorporation seconds Sammir by saying, "We are in talks with other global distribution partners andare optimistic about a wide spread overseas release across many venues."Javid Banday, the Canadian filmmaker at Mediamark International Corp. says, comedy movies arewell received in Canada; people love watching legendyJohny Lever. 'Hotel Beautifool' stars Re-jithMenon, Johnny Lever, Brijendra Kala, Imam Siddique, Aisha Farrer, RohitKhurana, Sagari-kaChhetri, Subha Rajput, Shaanti, Sandip Gosh and AnuWalhe in various roles.

JOHNNY LEVER LOOKS ALL SET FOR SAMEER IQBAL PATEL'S DIRECTORIAL DEBUT, HOTELBEAUTIFOOL THAT IS BEING RELEASED ON AUGUST 18.

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hollywood

'TOILET: EK PREM KATHA'A DIRECTORIAL TRIUMPH

CAST: AKSHAY KUMAR, BHUMI PEDNEKAR,

DIVYENDU SHARMA, SUDHIR PANDE

DIRECTOR: SHREE NARAYAN SINGH

RATING: ****

There is a point of no return in the plot when we, the audience, be-come so immersed in the protagonist's crusade for a better tomorrowthat we are cheering and stomping our feet in encouragement for thatbright sunshine-drenched tomorrow of which Sahir Ludhianvi dreamtin "Pyaasa" and "Phir Subah Hogi". Our protagonist Madhav's battle isnot really reformatory in the way the great heroes of our times meant it tobe. In Hrishikesh Mukherjee's "Satyakam", when the protagonist Dharmendramarries the rape victim, he does it with the least amount of self-congratula-tions. In "Toilet: Ek Prem Katha", Akshay Kumar's mission to build a toilet forhis wife is compared with Shah Jahan building the Taj Mahal for his wife. Iwonder who should feel more affronted by such flamboyant self-glorification:Moghul history or Modi politics. Either way, there is much too much self-congratulations and heroic hurrahs playing at the foreground of this eventfuldrama, accompanied by an over-punctuated background score. Akshay Kumarmeans business. This film is not so much a vehicle to promote the PrimeMinister's Swachh Bharat campaign as to promote Akshay Kumar, period.He milks the film for all his trademark chuckles and giggles, making Madhavseem like a Basu Chatterjee hero with a certain sly and smooth sinewinessto his heroism.It is debutant director Shree Narayan Singh who proves you don't need extrasinewiness to shine in every frame. He is the Basu Chatterjee and HrishikeshMukherjee of our times. He makes hygiene and sanitation seem humorouswithout trivialising or tempering the issue. The sorority evidenced among thevillage women as they troop off in the morning for nature's call is captured

with a respectful laugh. Here is proof that a film can make a social pointwithout wearing a constantly sullen demeanour. Throughout the lengthy film,the director maintains a kinetic momentum. He has his character's feelingson his fingertips. He digs into the high-points in the drama with the disarmeddelight of a kid scooping into a bowl of icecream.He negotiates the dips and curves in this bombastic tale of a man who mustfight 'sanskaar' (no no, not the kind favoured by the censor board) to build atoilet for his newly married wife. A warm earthiness and a nimble wisdompervade the storytelling. The plot is a pyramid of high-pitched drama cap-tured in the basic colours of nature's components by cinematographerAnshuman Mahaley (he had shot the first "Jolly LLB" film using an equallygritty palate). That the director is also the editor, helps him to remain on topof the commodious material. But the film could have been shor tenedpost-interval where some of the toilet-building drama gets repetitiveand shrill. Though the high-pitched propagandist tenor and tone of thenarration become overpowering after a point - as does AkshayKumar's exaggerated humanism - the film keeps us absolutely close to itsheart as Madhav and Jaya's love story acquires a universality by dint of theirintimate affinity to the grassroot level of existence. Akshay Kumar and BhumiPednekar play against one another in sparring spasms, their age difference not-withstanding. They look like a couple. The real performing sparks fly when thesupporting cast - Sudhir Pande, Divyendu Sharma, Anupam Kher - are aroundto lend heft to the socio-political argument on how women in ruralIndia need dignity before empowerment.

The Weeknd, Miley Cyrus, EdSheeran to perform at MTVVideo Music AwardsLOS ANGELES, (IANS) Musicians like The Weeknd,Miley Cyrus, Fifth Harmony and Ed Sheeran are onboard to perform at the MTV Video Music Awards tak-ing place on August 27. The lineup also includes KatyPerry, Lorde, Thir ty Seconds to Mars and ShawnMendes, repor ts variety.com. While rapper KendrickLamar is the most nominated ar tist for his video,"Humble", Perry and the Weeknd are competing withfive nominations each. The awards night will take placeat the Forum in Inglewood, California.

Elvis Presley estate up for rentLos Angeles, Aug 8 (IANS) Rock n' roll legend ElvisPresleys Beverly Hills estate has been put on rent for$20,000 for a minimum of five nights. The estate isavailable for rent at $4,000 a night, but the catch is thatthe interested person has to stay at the proper ty for atleast five nights, repor ts tmz.com. The four-bedroomand six-bathroom proper ty features floor-to-ceilingwindows and glass walls in every room, plus a hugepool and spa. There's also a guest house at the back,and it's still got the "OG gates" where Presley used togreet fans in the 1960s.

Sinead O'Connor says she's suicidalNEW YORK, (IANS) Singer Sinead O'Connor says sheis suicidal and is living in a motel trying to deal with"mental illness", which she compares to drugs. Thesinger is living in a New Jersey Travelodge motel, shesaid in a 12-minute video posted on her Facebook ac-count. "I'm now living in a Travelodge hotel in the arseend of New Jersey. I'm all by myself and there's abso-lutely nobody in my life except my doctor, my psychia-trist, the sweetest man on Ear th who says I'm his hero.That's about the only thing keeping me alive at themoment. The fact that I'm his bloody hero. And that'skind of pathetic," said O'Connor. "Mental illness is a bitlike drugs. It doesn't give a shit who you are. Equallyyou know what's worse is the stigma who doesn't givea shit who you are. All the people who are supposed tobe loving you and taking care of you are treating youlike shit," she added. In the past, the singer has beenvery vocal about her mental health issues. She can-celled her 2015 Summer tour due to "exhaustion due toan existing not resolved medical situation".

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YUVRAJ DROPPED, ASHWIN, JADEJARESTED FOR SL LIMITED OVERS MATCHES

NAJAM SETHI ELECTED ASPCB CHAIRMANKARACHI, (PTI) The newly electedPakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chair-man Najam Sethi said he was opti-mistic about the resumption of bilat-eral cricketing ties with India oncethe relations between the two coun-tries improve. "I have not closed anydoors with India. The way I see, as soon as relations improvebetween Pakistan and India the BCCI should get permission fromits government to play a bilateral series against us," Sethi, whowas today officially elected as the 30th chairman of the PCB,told the media. However, Sethi made it clear that the PCB wouldbe pursuing its compensation claim against the BCCI before theICC disputes resolution committee. He said the PCB's legal ad-visors had consulted a law firm in UK and "all preparations werecomplete to file the claim soon". Sethi, who is also set to takeover as the chairman of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) at theweekend in Colombo, said Pakistan would also demand that theAsia Cup under-19 tournament, scheduled in Bangalore in No-vember, be moved to another neutral venue.

Kumble took the rightdecision: AzharuddinMUMBAI, (PTI) Former India captain Mohammad Azharuddinhas defended Anil Kumble's decision to quit as Indian cricketteam's head coach, saying the legendary leg- spinner took theright call in the interest of his self respect. Kumble had contro-versially quit two days after the Champions Trophy final lossagainst Pakistan in London in June, calling his partnership withcaptain Virat Kohli "untenable." He was given an extension forthe West Indies tour, but Kumble chose otherwise, marking aclosure to his acrimonious episode as the head coach. "I feelvery sad for him. It is sad that something like this happened toAnil. Knowing Anil, I don't think he is that type of a person. Maybehe thought it is better to be away than losing your self-respect. Ithink he took the right decision," Azharuddin said.The former skipper, who led India in three ODI World Cups -1992, 1996 and 1999 - was speaking to repor ters at the pre-launch event of 3D mobile game Azhar- the Captain, by Hyderabadbased firm BigCode Games. Azharuddin also begs to differ withcurrent head coach Ravi Shastri, who had recently said thatIndian teams of past 20 years have not achieved as much as thiscurrent lot has.

Clutch Performer and BeastAssistant Captain MacLeanBack for 2017-18BRAMPTON, ONTARIO - The Brampton Beast, ECHL affiliate ofthe Montreal Canadiens, are proud to announce that 2016-17Beast assistant captain and Kelly Cup champion BrandonMacLean has signed a Standard Player Contract (SPC) to returnto Brampton for the upcoming 2017-18 ECHL season. The 29-year-old Burlington, Ontario native is coming off a great seasonwith the Beast in 2016-17. The 6'0" lefty was a consistent threatin both ends of the ice and finished the season with 22 goals and33 helpers for 55 points in just 64 games played.He hit his stride during the club's inaugural Kelly Cup playoff runand led the team in goal-scoring, lighting the lamp four times injust 12 playoff contests. Fans in Brampton will cer tainly remem-ber MacLean's otherworldly postseason per formance againstthe Reading Royals in Game Five of the Nor th Division Semi-f inals at the Powerade Centre on Apri l 22. Not only didMacLean open the scor ing , he wou ld l a t e r sco re thefranchise's first ever double-over time game-winning goal tohelp propel the Beast to victory.Still, last season's over time winner is not the biggest goal ofMacLean's career. During the 2012 Kelly Cup Playoffs as amember of the Florida Everblades, MacLean scored the over-time cup-clinching goal in Game Five of the Kelly Cup Fi-nals, lifting the Everblades to their first ECHL championshipover the Las Vegas Wranglers. MacLean also has a wealth ofAmerican Hockey League experience under his belt. He firstappeared in the AHL during the 2013-14 season with the Roch-ester Americans and appeared in seven games, scoring onegoal. He spent the next season as a member of the WinnipegJets-affiliated St. John's IceCaps, playing in 40 contests andrecording two assists.

Jadeja suspension:Kohli urges ICC to beconsistent in rulesKANDY, (PTI) Missing the ser-v ices of premier spinnerRavindra Jadeja due to a suspen-sion, Indian captain Virat Kohlitoday urged the Internat ionalCricket Council (ICC) to be moreconsistent in implementing rulespertaining to the players' code ofconduct. "I think players have tobe much more aware going aheadand just hoping that the guidelinesare very similar from now on.Because it shouldn't vary accord-ing to how the situation is lookedat," Kohli said in the pre-matchpress conference ahead of thethird and final Test against SriLanka here."So if it is consistent then I thinkit is going to be a good going aheadbecause players will obviously bemore aware of how they need toconduct themselves on the field.It will only help the game get bet-ter," he added. World's No.1 Testbowler and all-rounder Jadejawas handed a one-match suspen-sion for logging six demerit pointsin the last 24 months. His of-fences ranged from running onthe pitch to throwing the ball dan-gerously at an opponent.

NEW DELHI, (PTI) Veteran left-hander Yuvraj Singh was on Sundaydropped from the Indian squad for the limited overs series against SriLanka in what could possibly signal an end to his illustrious interna-tional career. A two-time World Cup winner and one of India's finestlimited overs exponent, the 35 year old Yuvraj's place was alwaysunder the scanner.After a 50 against Pakistan in the Champions Trophy opener, Yuvrajhardly did anything notable as his last seven ODI innings fetched himonly 162 runs. A senior BCCI official, who is privy to selection policysaid that Yuvraj is no longer in contention for the 2019 World Cup inEngland and Wales."His batting has lost sting. He rarely bowls and his fielding has gonedown a few notches. If we have to prepare a team for 2019 World Cup,we had to take a call now. In case of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, we stilldon't have replacement but Yuvraj's place has multiple contenders,"

the official, who can't come on record told PTI on Sunday. Yuvraj hasscored over 8000 runs in 304 ODIs, apar t from playing 40 Tests and58 T20 Internationals.Mahendra Singh Dhoni's selection also indicates, he is in scheme ofthings for the 2019 World Cup in England. Another player droppedfrom the squad that went to West Indies is young keeper-batsmanRishabh Pant, who has been replaced by KL Rahul, who is also adecent glovesman. Kedar Jadhav can also keep wickets. DineshKar thik, who did a decent job in the West Indies was also droppedsince he was picked as Manish Pandey's replacement.The national selection committee decided to rest all senior bowlers -- pacers Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav along with spinnersRavichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Jasprit Bumrah makes acomeback after much needed rest while rookie Mumbai pacer ShardulThakur has also been included in the side.

CRICKETERS RAJESHWARI GAYAKWAD AND VEDA KRISHNAMURTHY BEING FELICITATED BY KARNATAKA STATE CRICKETASSOCIATION (KSCA) IN BENGALURU.

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BCCI is not above God, saysangry SreesanthNEW DELHI, (PTI) An irate S Sreesanth today vowed to makea competitive comeback despite BCCI's decision to appealagainst the lifting of the life-ban on the tainted pacer. Yester-day, the BCCI decided to appeal to the Division Bench of KeralaHigh Cour t against lifting of life ban on the 34-year-old. "@bcciI'm not begging ,I'm asking to give my livelihood back .its myright. U guys are not above God. I wi l l p layagain..???????????," an angry Sreesanth wrote on his twit-ter page. "Cmon @bcci this is worst u can do to anyone thattoo who is proven innocent not just once but again andagain..don't know why u doing this?," he lamented fur ther.Sreesanth was banned for life by the BCCI for his alleged rolein the IPL spot-fixing in 2013. Last Monday, a single judgebench of the Kerala High Cour t had passed an order that thebowler's life-ban be lifted. However, the BCCI is firm on itsstand that they will not allow the speedster to make an imme-diate comeback. Sreesanth has played 27 Tests, 53 ODIs and10 T20 Internationals for India with his last international ap-pearance being in August 2011.

Kohli clears air: No problemsplaying Sri Lanka ODIsKANDY, (PTI) India captain Virat Kohli today made it clear thathe has no problems playing the upcoming limited overs se-ries against Sri Lanka amid speculation that he may be restedkeeping in mind a long season ahead."Who said I am not playing? I don't know where this camefrom, but I have no problems in playing," Kohli's for thrightanswer to a query regarding team selection made it clear asto where he stood on the issue. The Indian team will be se-lected on August 13. There is a possibility that senior spin-ners like Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will berested along with pacer Mohammed Shami.

World C'ship: Sindhu, Srikanthget top 10 seedingsNEW DELHI, (PTI) Olympic silver medallist PV Sindhu andWorld No. 8 Kidambi Srikanth have been given the four th andeighth seedings respectively in the BWF World BadmintonChampionship, which will get underway in Glasgow on August 21. Two-time bronze medallist at World Championships in 2013 and 2014 edi-tions, Sindhu was just below two-time winner and Olympic championCarolina Marin. World No. 16 Saina Nehwal, who clinched the silvermedal at the 2015 World Championship, has been seeded 12th for thetournament. With World No. 1 Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei withdrawingfrom the tournament, Japan's Akane Yamaguchi, Korea's Sung JiHyun were named as the top and second seeds respectively.

Don't compare Tendulkar and Kohli, says Jonty RhodesCHENNAI, (PTI) Former South Africa cricketer Jonty Rhodes today said Sachin Tendulkar and current India captain Virat Kohli wereboth great in their own way and it was wrong to compare the duo. "I am not a great believer in records and I don't like to compareplayers from different eras. They are wonderful players. Both are great in their own way. Tendulkar is Tendulkar and Virat (Kohli) isVirat," he said at a function organised by Velammal Vidyalaya here to felicitate the school's achievers in the field of spor ts.Asked if Kohli could break Tendulkar's records, he said, "Tendulkar star ted at the age of 16 and played till the age of nearly 40, foralmost 24 years and set several benchmarks. I don't know if Kohli can play for such a long time, given the demands of a modern-daycricketer." On Kohli, he said, "Virat has star ted his career very well. His prolific run-scoring is incredible. He has made a lot of runsat a young age. Kohli must be just Kohli and should not be compared with Tendulkar." Asked who was his favourite Indian fielder, theformer South African cricketer, who is on the coaching staff of IPL team Mumbai Indians, said, "Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif weresome of the better fielders around. Virat Kohli, he is ok. But Suresh Raina for me is the best fielder in India. "He goes for the ball,regardless of whether he thinks he can get it or not. He reminds me a lot of a much younger Jonty Rhodes."

Commentators: Gavaskar & Co may have to sign undertakingsNEW DELHI, (PTI) Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar along with other enlisted in the BCCI's panel of commentators will have to signan under taking that they don't have any 'Conflict of Interest' as per the recommendations by the Lodha Panel. The BCCI has alreadyzeroed in on four names as their enlisted commentators. They are Sunil Gavaskar, Sanjay Manjrekar, Murali Kar tik and HarshaBhogle, who is returning after a fell out with the BCCI post World T20 in 2016. The BCCI today did not officially name the quar tet as COAmember Diana Edulji said that all the issues per taining to 'Conflict of Interest' is being looked into. "We have discussed the names but it has notbeen finalised. We need to look into the Conflict of Interest rules properly. We still don't know who's having what interest," Edulji told media persons. Howeverit was learnt from a senior official that all names have been finalised but the four enlisted commentators will need to sign an undertaking. It will primarily askthem to declare that they do not have any relationship with any Players' Management Firm.

TOUR OF EUROPE: CAPTAIN MANPREET'S TWO GOALS HELPED INDIA BEAT NETHERLANDS 4-3.

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