Kapoor family to sell iconic RK Studio, Kareena nostalgic
Mumbai, Aug 26 : Bollywood's iconic Kapoor family has collectively decided to sell the sprawling landmark RK Studio. Actress Kareena Kapoor Khan says she has fond memories of the studio, built by her late legendary grandfather Raj Kapoor.
Kareena, who has been under the weather for a few days, told IANS here: "I don't know how far what is actually happening. In fact, I have been quite under the weather and I haven't even met my father in the last four or five days... But of course, we have all grown up walking around in those corridors."
"I think it's probably something that the family has decided, so it's upto my fathers, his brothers and up to them... If that's what they have decided, so be it," added the actress on the sidelines of the Lakme Fashion Week, where she was the showstopper for the finale show.
The Kapoor family has taken the tough decision of selling the two acre RK Studio 70 years after it was established as it was not economically viable to rebuild it after it was gutted down in a fire last year.
Rishi Kapoor, in an interview to Mumbai Mirror on behalf of the family, said they were initially juggling with the idea of renovating the place with state-of-the-art technology, but the investment in rebuilding the studio would just not have yielded sufficient revenue to keep it going. He called it a "level headed decision".
In September last year, a major fire broke out on the sets of a dance reality show, leaving a section of the studio gutted.
R.K. Studio, the headquarters of the film production company R.K. Films, was founded and named after the Great Showman, Raj Kapoor, in 1948.
Its inaugural banner film "Aag" that year crashed at the box office, but the next year proved to be a good omen when its production "Barsaat" (1949), starring Raj Kapoor-Nargis was a superhit.
In fact, the company's logo was designed to reflect the poster of a scene from "Barsaat" and after that, the studio never looked back.
It had a string of successful black-and-white releases like "Awaara" (1951), "Boot Polish" (1954), "Shri 420" (1955), "Jaagte Raho" (1956).
Later, the studio was the venue for several other big ticket films like "Jis Desh Me Ganga Behti Hain" (1960), "Mera Naam Joker" (1970), "Bobby" (1973), the debut film for Rishi Kapoor and Dimple Kapadia, "Satyam Shivam Sundaram" (1978), "Prem Rog" (1982), "Ram Teri Ganga Maili" (1985), which was the founder-actor's last film before his death in June 1988.
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No govt protection, claims actress who accused CPI(M)'s Mukesh of sexual abuse
Kochi (PTI): A 51-year-old Malayalam actress who had levelled sexual abuse allegations against several male actors, including CPI(M) MLA M Mukesh, on Friday said she was not keen on pursuing her complaints due to "lack of support and protection from the Kerala government".
The complainant also alleged "carelessness" on the part of the state government and said she was "mentally exhausted" and therefore, not keen on taking the complaints forward.
"I would like to tell everyone that due to the government's carelessness and lack of protection for a woman who has come forward like this, I have suffered more than I can handle. I am mentally exhausted. They are not helping or protecting a woman.
"Therefore, I do not want to pursue the cases. It is not because I have compromised with anyone," she told reporters.
She claimed that she was made an accused in a POCSO case following her complaints against the actors, also including Maniyanpilla Raju and Idavela Babu, and the government did nothing to protect her.
"I am innocent. I want justice. I want the POCSO case against me to be probed thoroughly and quickly. If I commit suicide, the government will be responsible for it," she said.
The Muvattupuzha police had registered the case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, against the woman actor based on a complaint lodged by her relative.
According to the police, the incident occurred in 2014. The relative has alleged that she was a minor at the time of the incident and that the actor was running a sex racket.
The actor had vehemently denied the allegations and claimed that the woman relative owed her some money, and these allegations were to shift attention from her complaint against the high-profile actors.
The actress' allegations against the actors came in the wake of the disclosure of the Justice Hema Committee report which revealed instances of harassment and exploitation of women in the Malayalam cinema industry, prompting calls for action against the guilty.
The Justice Hema Committee was constituted by the Kerala government after the 2017 actress assault case.
The complete report was placed before the Kerala High Court which directed that it be handed over to the special investigation team (SIT) that was constituted to probe complaints of sexual abuse in the film industry.
Subsequently, 26 FIRs were registered by the SIT in connection with the revelations in the report.
