There is no denying the fact that Rakul Preet has come a long way in her career. She has proved her versatility time and again by delivering a wide range of performances across industries. The actress has worked with some of the biggest superstars of Indian cinema, including Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgan, Allu Arjun, Suriya, Ravi Teja, and Akshay Kumar amongst others.
As much as exciting these projects appear because of the star cast, they can certainly make a young actor feel pressured. But somehow, Rakul Preet has a different take on the same. In a recent conclave that she attended, while talking about her experience working with big stars, she said “There is no pressure in working with these prolific performers from the industry. I feel that we often take this for granted, that if there is any work, there should be pressure. When there is a lot of passion, when you worked so hard to do this specifically, you stood in lines for auditions, met several people”.
She further continued “Today, when I am in that moment and if I come under pressure, then either I don’t deserve to be there or there is something wrong. Because when you have that moment, you make the most of it.
Meanwhile, on the work front, the actress has several exciting projects in the line-up, including Indian 2 with Kamal Haasan and Sidharth.
SAG-AFTRA slams debut of AI-generated “performer” at Zurich film conference
Union says replacing human actors with synthetic characters threatens livelihoods
Tilly Norwood, a fictional actress, introduced by London-based studio Particle6
Talent agents reportedly showing interest, but industry experts remain sceptical
Backlash over synthetic debut
The debut of a computer-generated “actress” called Tilly Norwood has sparked strong criticism from Hollywood’s performers’ union, SAG-AFTRA, which has condemned the replacement of real actors with digital stand-ins.
Norwood was unveiled at a film industry conference in Zurich over the weekend, appearing in a short parody video about an AI-generated television show. Created by London-based studio Particle6, the character was presented as a fresh-faced, twenty-something newcomer with a British accent, brown hair, and her own social media profile.
Dutch actor-producer Eline Van der Velden, who founded Particle6, told attendees the project was beginning to attract interest from talent agencies and that an industry deal was likely within months.
Union pushes back
SAG-AFTRA, which represents more than 160,000 actors, recording artists, and performers, swiftly issued a statement rejecting the move.
“Creativity is, and should remain, human-centred,” the union said. “The union is opposed to the replacement of human performers by synthetics.”
Officials also noted that Norwood’s creation relied on training data built from the work of countless actors who were neither asked for permission nor compensated.
“To be clear, ‘Tilly Norwood’ is not an actor,” the statement added.
A digital star in waiting?
Particle6 has produced a series of synthetic characters, with Norwood pushed as the breakout figure. In one social media post, the character declared: “I may be AI generated, but I’m feeling very real emotions right now. I am so excited for what’s coming next!”
Van der Velden defended the project, calling Norwood a “creative work” rather than a replacement for humans. “Like many forms of art before her, she sparks conversation, and that in itself shows the power of creativity,” she wrote on Instagram.
In a more provocative remark earlier this year, Van der Velden suggested her ambition was for Norwood to become “the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman.”
Industry scepticism
Not all industry observers are convinced. Yves Bergquist, director of AI in media at the University of Southern California’s Entertainment Technology Center, dismissed the excitement as exaggerated.
“There is a lot of understandable nervousness and fear out there about talent being replaced,” he said. “But judging from my daily interactions with Hollywood executives, there is zero interest from serious people in developing entirely synthetic characters. Scarlett Johansson has a fan base. Scarlett Johansson is a person.”
A wider debate
The controversy comes just months after performers and writers raised concerns about the impact of automation on jobs during contract negotiations with studios and streaming services. While computer-generated imagery has long played a role in film-making, the idea of synthetic performers crossing into mainstream storytelling has fuelled fears over the erosion of creative labour.
For SAG-AFTRA, the launch of Tilly Norwood is not simply a publicity stunt but a warning of how easily digital experiments can shift into questions about rights, recognition, and the value of human artistry.
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Formulaic Hindi films lose ground as Telugu cinema delivers spectacle and authenticity that resonate with UK desi audiences
Telugu blockbusters like RRR and Pushpa are drawing UK crowds.
Bollywood flops have pushed audiences to look elsewhere.
British Asians connect with stronger, rooted Telugu heroes.
Pawan Kalyan’s They Call Him OG smashed overseas records.
More UK cinemas now screen Telugu films to meet demand.
The queue for a new Bollywood film was quiet. But around the corner, snaking down the street in a British city, a different queue was buzzing. It was not for a Hollywood blockbuster. The chatter was not in Hindi. It was in Telugu, English, and regional British Asian dialects, all waiting for a Pawan Kalyan film. This scene is becoming the new normal.
Formulaic Hindi films lose ground as Telugu cinema delivers spectacle and authenticity that resonate with UK desi audiences AI generated
When the default setting broke
For years, Bollywood was the default. It was the comforting, familiar voice of 'home' for millions in the diaspora. The formulas started to feel tired. We'd grown up watching those Bollywood stars, trusting them to deliver. But something broke, and suddenly, they couldn't get people through the door. When films like Laal Singh Chaddha and Bachchhan Paandey arrived, they just failed to connect. It felt like we were being shown a plastic-wrapped India, scrubbed clean for an international crowd we no longer recognised. That old thread that tied us to them? It snapped. And in the quiet that followed, you could hear something else roaring to life.
Formulaic Hindi films lose ground as Telugu cinema delivers spectacle and authenticity that resonate with UK desi audiences AI generated
The pan-Indian quake
The rise of Telugu cinema in the UK is not an accident. It started with movies that spoke the language of sheer scale fluently. Baahubali wasn't just a movie. It was a proper legend, the kind that felt ancient and massive. It proved, without a doubt, that a story spun in India could stand tall on any screen in the world. You could feel the rumble in your seat. Then you had RRR and Pushpa crash in. They took that energy, the spectacle, and turned it into something you could chant along to. They weren't apologising for what they were, and this was the undiluted escapism fans were starving for. This was what they called "maximum entertainment," and it was a gut punch of fun.
For British Asian audiences, many with roots in smaller towns and villages, this felt more authentic than Bollywood’s increasingly urban, Western-facing stories. It was a sensibility that translated perfectly, speaking a visual language of spectacle that needed no translation.
Telugu films, by contrast, doubled down on identifiable emotion and a kind of unapologetic heroism. Their protagonists are often loud, rooted, and purposeful; they fight, they sing, they love on camera without irony.
But the shift goes deeper than just spectacle. It is about the kind of hero you want to see on screen. For a long time, mainstream British Asian representation often came with a side of comedy. The culture was sometimes the punchline: the accented parents, the generational clashes played for laughs. It was a representation that could feel limiting.
There is also a practical reason: a bigger, better diasporic infrastructure. Telugu speakers are numerous in the UK and beyond; distributors and cinemas have responded. Once theatres start screening Telugu films regularly, community momentum builds.
If there is a risk, it is twofold: Tollywood must be careful not to trade complexity for bravado, and Bollywood must decide whether to listen. For British Asians, cinema is a resource, a way to rehearse belonging.
He is almost a phenomenon in Telugu cinema. His influence doesn't end there. He's the Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, a leader who talks about Hindu culture with a fighter's intensity. When you combine that with a fanbase whose loyalty feels less like admiration and more like a fundamental belief, you get a force that's hard to ignore. The release of They Call Him OG proved it. Tickets for the world's second-largest IMAX screen, all the way in Melbourne, vanished in two flat minutes. Across international markets, the film was running circles around Bollywood's biggest offerings.
So, you sit back and look at all that, and the question just forms itself: Why does this resonate so powerfully?
For a younger British Asian generation navigating dual identities, Kalyan represents an unapologetic cultural confidence. He is not diluted. He is not a stereotype. He is power and agency wrapped in a star’s persona. He offers an "oppositional gaze," a direct challenge to the narratives where their identity was the source of conflict, not strength, and choosing him is maybe a way of reclaiming a narrative.
Pawan Kalyan’s OG breaks overseas records with sold-out shows days before release Instagram/ogmovieofficial
The end of passive viewing?
This is not just about swapping one industry for another. It is a sign of a community maturing, of knowing what it wants to see reflected in the stories it consumes. They are no longer passive recipients of whatever cinema is handed down to them. They are active choosers. They are voting with their tickets for stories that feel epic, heroes that feel powerful, and a cultural voice that does not ask for permission to be loud, proud, and entirely itself.
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Bollywood’s queen meets Bridgerton’s star: South Asian stardom on the Paris runway
A backstage selfie of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Simone Ashley went viral.
Aishwarya Rai walked the runway in a dramatic Indian sherwani.
Her outfit featured 10-inch diamond-embellished cuffs.
Ashley represents the rising power of the diaspora.
She is best known for her lead role in Bridgerton.
That photo wasn’t planned. It was a quick snap backstage in Paris. Two women, Aishwarya Rai and Simone Ashley, leaned together for a second. One is a titan of Bollywood, a global icon for decades. The other is a British star who smashed her way into one of Netflix’s biggest shows.
The image went viral instantly. But why did this particular picture hit so hard? It’s because it shows a fracture in the old rules. For years, these two paths to fame, one from the heart of Indian cinema, the other from the Western diaspora, ran on separate tracks. That selfie is the moment the tracks collided.
Bollywood icon Aishwarya Rai and Bridgerton’s Simone Ashley shared a rare backstage moment at Paris Fashion WeekInstagram/simoneashleyworld
The sovereign and the storm
You have to understand, Aishwarya Rai didn't just show up in Paris. She owned the room, wearing a custom Manish Malhotra sherwani. This was no accident. It was a message. The outfit, with those massive 10-inch cuffs embroidered with diamonds, screamed what everyone already knew: she doesn't just represent herself, she was bringing an entire culture with her. Her journey was one of sovereign expansion: from Miss World, to Bollywood royalty, to a Cannes fixture and being a global ambassador for over twenty years.
Aishwarya stuns in a Manish Malhotra sherwaniGetty Images
Then there’s Simone Ashley. She didn't emerge from a system that anointed her. In fact, she crashed into one. Her role as Kate Sharma in Bridgerton can be called as a 'cultural detonation’. In a genre built on white European fantasy, she became the lead, the object of desire, the "storm" that upended the entire ton. Simone took the role that, for generations, nobody thought a woman like her could have and made diaspora the main character.
Simone Ashley walks the runway during the "You're Worth It" L'Or\u00e9al Paris Womenswear Spring/Summer 2026 show as part of Paris Fashion Week Getty Images
Why the selfie mattered
Selfies don’t always shift industries. This one mattered because it compressed several stories at once: a veteran who built a bridge between Bollywood and the world, and a diaspora actor who rose inside Western storytelling. The image almost flattened geography, like it made Mumbai and London feel like neighbours for a moment.
So, what collapsed the chasm? Don't just credit the fashion houses, credit the algorithm. The true designer of this moment is the streaming revolution. Netflix, Amazon, Disney+ demolished cultural borders.
They created a new, shared reality. A teenager in London binge-watches Bridgerton the same weekend her cousin in Mumbai does. A family in Ohio discovers Aishwarya’s classic Devdas with a single click. This constant, fluid exchange has rewired our expectations. We no longer see "Indian cinema" and "British TV" as separate categories. They are just… shows. On the same screen. This is in fact the new, borderless territory where Aishwarya and Simone can finally meet as equals.
Beauty and fashion are commercial machines. Aishwarya’s long-term role as a global L’Oréal ambassador is a branded pipeline that benefits from moments like this. For brands, a shared image of two recognisable South Asian stars expands audience reach across markets in India, the UK, and diaspora communities, and creates headline value that’s cheaper than a campaign shoot.
There’s a less flashy truth under the glitter. The selfie is not a solution for structural gaps. Casting still leans on old networks; creative lead roles, production power, and money don’t shift overnight because an image goes viral. But the photograph is a lever, because it changes perception, and perception nudges hiring, and hiring changes stories. Two women sharing a frame doesn’t fix policy, but it nudges culture. That nudge matters faster now because audiences, not just executives, are watching.
It’s the moment we can finally see that the two separate, parallel struggles: the struggle for global recognition from within Bollywood, and the struggle for mainstream acceptance from within the diaspora, have, against all odds, merged into a single, powerful front.
The photo is a lie because it makes it look easy, like it was always destined to happen. But let's be real. That moment rests on the back of decades of quiet fights, of doors being forced open, and a tech revolution that finally gave us a screen, and a world big enough for all of our stories.
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Gary Oldman becomes Sir Gary in a Windsor Castle ceremony
Gary Oldman becomes Sir Gary in a Windsor Castle ceremony.
He once joked about the royals never giving him a nod.
The actor's career is a wild ride from Sid Vicious to Winston Churchill.
Fans know him best today as the grubby spymaster in Slow Horses.
This honour lands six years after his Oscar win for The Darkest Hour.
So, it is finally official. Gary Oldman has officially become Sir Gary after receiving his knighthood at Windsor Castle. This feels like a long time coming, does it not? The actor, famous for completely vanishing into his roles, received the recognition for his services to drama. It is a proper cap on a career where he has played everyone from a punk rocker to a prime minister and even mentioned a few years back that the royal honour had somehow passed him by.
Gary Oldman becomes Sir Gary in a Windsor Castle ceremony Getty Images
That time he wondered about a royal nod
Back in 2023, he was talking to the BBC and the subject came up. He said, pretty bluntly, "I do not know why. You should ask them. No nod from the royals, but there we are. Maybe it is in my future." It is what makes the whole thing feel so pointed.
Well, guess what? The future turned up on Tuesday. You have to think that moment, that little public wondering, made walking into that castle today feel a bit sweeter.
Gary Oldman receiving his knighthood at Windsor CastleGetty Images
What even is a defining Gary Oldman role?
Seriously, try to pick one. Is it the raw terror of Sid Vicious? The dark grandeur of Dracula? Or is it Harry Potter's godfather, Sirius Black, for a whole generation? For awards voters, it was his transformation into Winston Churchill that finally got him the Oscar. He is one of those rare actors who is not just playing a part, he seems to become someone else entirely. That is the sheer breadth this knighthood is acknowledging.
If you want a taste of his current genius, just switch on Apple TV. He is the star of Slow Horses, playing Jackson Lamb, the most brilliantly offensive MI5 agent ever put on screen. He is almost unrecognisable, and the show is a smash. Just as he receives this lifetime achievement award, he is also giving one of the most talked-about performances on television, proving he is nowhere near done.
This is not just another award to stick on the mantle. This is the one that etches his name into the official story of British drama. From his brutal, personal film Nil By Mouth to blockbuster Batman films and now a hit spy series, his path has been wildly unpredictable. The knighthood sort of pulls all those threads together. It is the final word on a career that has been anything but ordinary.
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Mayhem Ball sees Lady Gaga clash with her dark self in visually explosive UK performance
Gaga's current tour makes other major pop productions look strangely safe.
The star incorporates injury and personal struggle directly into the performance.
Guest appearances feel organic to the show's world, not just celebrity drop-ins.
The production values are less about slickness and more about a raw, gothic atmosphere.
It presents a new blueprint for how pop stars can merge theatre with a stadium show.
Forget what you know about big pop tours. Lady Gaga’s Mayhem Ball, now storming UK arenas, feels less like a concert and more like a hostile takeover of the format itself. Mayhem Ball takes her new album, mixes it with two decades of hits, throws in some zombies, gondolas, and even crutches, and somehow lands as a coherent experience. It’s messy and full of drama, and that’s exactly what a great pop show should be. It’s not just about singing the songs correctly.
Mayhem Ball sees Lady Gaga clash with her dark self in visually explosive UK performance Instagram/craigizzle
Is the stagecraft actually messy?
Okay, not messy in a disorganised way. It’s messy in its ideas; it’s cluttered with symbolism. One moment she's a Tudor queen in a gown the size of a bus, and the next she's crawling out of a grave. She sings Paparazzi while using crutches. The show doesn’t always move smoothly from one part to the next. In fact, it feels rough on purpose. It isn’t a perfect, shiny video. It’s alive and a little bit dangerous. You get the sense anything could happen.
Remember when special guests just walked on, waved, and sang? Gaga integrates them. When Emma Myers and Evie Templeton from the Wednesday show appeared during The Dead Dance, they weren't just there for applause. They were woven into the gothic narrative, in wispy bridal gowns as part of the show's internal logic.
Gaga uses the stage like a playground of chaos, with gondolas, skeletons, floating eyeballs, crutches, the works. Every song has its own world. The lights, the images on the screen, the things on stage, it never stops. Poker Face became a game with dancers as chess pieces. Perfect Celebrity had her in a dirt grave. One minute you're in the midst of all that commotion, and the next it's just her playing the piano. It feels more like a film than a concert.
Gaga is effectively raising the bar on artistic risk. The standard now isn't just about how many lasers you have or how quickly you can change outfits.
What does this mean for other concerts?
She’s betting that we’re smart enough to follow a story, that we want to be challenged, not just entertained. Other stars have big shows, but Gaga is mixing chaos and emotion in a new way. It makes you feel something. The success of this Mayhem Ball tour shows a hunger for this kind of uncompromising vision, pushing other artists to ask not just "What are my hits?" but "What is my world?"