DUBAI // The Indian actress Deepika Padukone hopes what she calls her most challenging movie will set a trend much as her previous films have - and get her fans zipping along on roller skates.
The Hindi-language movie Lafangey Parindey (Born Wild, Born to Fly) will be released today in the Emirates. It tells the love story of a boxer and a blind skater who wants to break out of Mumbai's grimy backstreets.
"I really hope skating catches on," Ms Padukone said. "It's happened with most of my films - I've managed to set a trend. It will be fun if skating picks up after people watch the movie."
Tall, willowy and beautiful, Ms Padukone has seen fans adopt her fashion styles from other films. Her fringe and a slim-fitted tunic became popular last year after the release of two of her movies. Her ultra-thick eyeliner was all the rage after her debut movie Om Shanti Om three years ago.
However, Ms Padukone may be somewhat optimistic about the likelihood of setting the pace this time, said Komal Nahta, the Bollywood editor of trade guide Film Information. He said while the movie beauty did set trends, skating was unlikely to become one of them.
"It's true what she wears catches on, but I'm doubtful that skating will become popular because of her," he said. "There is a reasonable buzz about the film and Deepika is rather hot, so the movie should work."
The director, Pradeep Sarkar, held a rehearsal workshop that stretched over six months - unusually long for Hindi cinema - during which he took the actors through their scenes to make them flesh out their characters.
Mr Sarkar is known in the South Asian film community for his debut movie Parineeta (Married Woman), a bittersweet love story that was a hit five years ago. However, his next movie Laaga Chuneri Mein Daag (Journey of a Woman), about a female forced to turn to prostitution, flopped at the box office.
"Still, Pradeep Sarkar is recognised as a good filmmaker," Mr Nahta said. "He is particular about nuances, sound. He made the actors work hard."
Ms Padukone said she had the bruises to prove it. Coaches were flown in from Italy to make sure she looked like a professional.
"I'm athletic and play sports, but I've never skated so I had to learn from scratch," she said. "I'm still hobbling from my falls. I had to appear convincing, learn to skate and dance like a pro." She threw herself into the training with gusto, so much so, she sprained a knee from the tumbles she took. The next challenge was to play a blind girl.
"We met and spent time with blind kids and I observed them," Ms Padukone said. "But you can spend as much time as you want observing. The real test is what the camera captures."
Ms Padukone said it was tough focusing on skating while pretending she could not see.
"I had to concentrate a lot and that was really tiring, but it's worth it," she said. Her character works a nine-to-five job in a mall by day. By night she strives to sharpen her skating skills so that she can make it on the big stage and start a new life.
The rigours of the film extended to her co-star, Neil Nitin Mukesh, who sported cuts and a swollen face during his training as a boxer and a motorcyclist.
"I'm that biker you see shooting down the road doing wheelies," he said. "The toughest for me was boxing blindfolded."
Nicknamed One-Shot Nandu in the movie, he plays a street thug who specialises in knocking out his opponents while his eyes are covered with a black blindfold.
"I spent a lot of time ducking and missing, [though] many [blows] did land straight on my face," said Mr Mukesh, the grandson of the legendary Indian singer Mukesh and son of the popular singer Nitin Mukesh.
Mr Sarkar said he hoped the film would touch a chord across borders, adding that the challenge was to prepare both actors to cope with blindness and portray characters who wanted more out of their life.
"It's a love story, a gritty one," he said. "It does not have a glamour quotient. Whether you are in India or anywhere else in the world, the only thing that prevails in life is hope and whatever happens you shouldn't lose hope."
@Email:rtalwar@thenational.ae
A little about CVRL
Founded in 1985 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) is a government diagnostic centre that provides testing and research facilities to the UAE and neighbouring countries.
One of its main goals is to provide permanent treatment solutions for veterinary related diseases.
The taxidermy centre was established 12 years ago and is headed by Dr Ulrich Wernery.
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Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Company%20profile
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Origin
Dan Brown
Doubleday
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
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The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
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Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
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Scoreline
Al Wasl 1 (Caio Canedo 90 1')
Al Ain 2 (Ismail Ahmed 3', Marcus Berg 50')
Red cards: Ismail Ahmed (Al Ain) 77'
Company%20Profile
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How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
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McLaren GT specs
Engine: 4-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 620bhp
Torque: 630Nm
Price: Dh875,000
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Married Malala
Malala Yousafzai is enjoying married life, her father said.
The 24-year-old married Pakistan cricket executive Asser Malik last year in a small ceremony in the UK.
Ziauddin Yousafzai told The National his daughter was ‘very happy’ with her husband.
SPECS
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The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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The Bloomberg Billionaire Index in full
1 Jeff Bezos $140 billion
2 Bill Gates $98.3 billion
3 Bernard Arnault $83.1 billion
4 Warren Buffett $83 billion
5 Amancio Ortega $67.9 billion
6 Mark Zuckerberg $67.3 billion
7 Larry Page $56.8 billion
8 Larry Ellison $56.1 billion
9 Sergey Brin $55.2 billion
10 Carlos Slim $55.2 billion
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
