Initially approached Arnold Schwarzenegger as anti-hero for '2.0': Director Shankar
Mumbai, Nov 24: Filmmaker S Shankar said Saturday he had approached "The Terminator" star Arnold Schwarzenegger to play the antagonist in "2.0" but things didn't work out and the role finally went to Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar.
Rajinikanth will be back in the role of 'Chitti' in the second installment of the mega-hit "Robot", which is slated to be released on November 29.
"We had thought of casting Arnold. We had talked and allotted dates also. But somehow things did not work out as the contracts of Hollywood and India are contradictory. So we thought of looking at a good cast from the Indian film industry," Shankar said at a press conference here.
The director said Lyca (producers of 2.0) and Akshay were in talks for a remake of a film called 'Kathi' in Hindi.
"Everyone told me to consider Akshay and I also thought it would be nice. I narrated the story to him and he said yes," the director said.
Shankar is confident that the film would connect with everyone as it has an international theme. The technology, he said, was better than the previous film and it was the reason they decided to title the film "2.0".
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Binny Bansal steps down from board of PhonePe
New Delhi, Nov 22: Flipkart's co-founder Binny Bansal has stepped down from the board of PhonePe, the fintech company said on Friday.
PhonePe also announced the appointment of Manish Sabharwal as an Independent Director and Chair of its Audit Committee.
In this role, Sabharwal will be instrumental in upholding the integrity and effectiveness of PhonePe's financial reporting, internal controls, and risk management practices, he company said in a release.
"PhonePe also announced that Flipkart's co-founder, Binny Bansal has stepped down from its Board of Directors. Binny acquired PhonePe in 2016 and has been on its Board since then," the release said.
Commenting on the board rejig, Sameer Nigam, CEO and Founder of PhonePe said, "I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Binny Bansal for being one of PhonePe's earliest and staunchest supporters. His active engagement, strategic guidance, and personal mentorship have profoundly enriched our discussions. Binny will be missed!"
Nigam further said that Sabharwal's depth of understanding of India's macro economy, coupled with his leadership in shaping India's policies for education, employment, and employability will be invaluable as PhonePe continues to work ahead towards shared vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047.
Sabharwal is Vice-Chairman of Teamlease Services, India's largest staffing and human capital firm.
Bansal played an instrumental role in Flipkart's acquisition of PhonePe way back in 2016 and had been on its board since then (the payments firm separated from Flipkart in 2022).
