From left, Amitabh Bachan, Aishwarya Rai, Oprah Winfrey and Abhishek Bachan out and about in Mumbai. AP Photo
From left, Amitabh Bachan, Aishwarya Rai, Oprah Winfrey and Abhishek Bachan out and about in Mumbai. AP Photo

Today's entertainment news: Oprah meets the Bachchans



Oprah Winfrey arrived in Mumbai on Monday, starting off a five-city, six-day tour around India to shoot her new programme Oprah Winfrey's Next Chapter, as well as to attend the Jaipur Literature Festival.

India Today reported that the US talk show queen stepped out of her hotel sporting an orange sari, silver bangles and other Indian accessories. She went off to meet Bollywood's "royal family", the Bachchans, at their Juhu bungalow. Winfrey is good friends with Abhishek Bachchan's wife Aishwarya Rai, who had appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

This time round Winfrey met the couple, as well as their two-month-old daughter, nicknamed Beti B, and Beti B's grandfather and Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who later turned chauffeur as he himself drove Winfrey to a party thrown by social figure Parmeshwar Godrej at his residence.

"The gracious Oprah Winfrey visits our home, to meet us and bless the baby ... warm hearted, endearing ... drive her to party in her honour. And Oprah in sari ... looking lovely," Amitabh Bachchan posted on Twitter.

At the party, Winfrey was welcomed by more Bollywood celebrities, such as Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Anil Kapoor and Imran Khan.

After Mumbai, she is off on a whirlwind tour to Jaipur, Delhi, Agra and Hrishikesh. She is due to meet the writer and thinker Deepak Chopra and shoot at the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort tomorrow.

After walking away from her talk show last May and establishing her network OWN, Winfrey returned with a new series on January 1, featuring the 57-year-old stepping out of the studio and interviewing celebrities around the world.

Engelbert Humperdinck coming to Dubai

It's official: the UAE is a performer hot spot, whoever you are, however much you may be forgotten in the rest of the world. Joining the likes of Tom Jones and Boney M, the 75-year-old British crooner Engelbert Humperdinck will be making his Dubai debut on March 7 at the Johara Ballroom in the Madinat Jumeirah.

Amazingly enough, he wasn't born with that mouthful of a moniker, a homage to the 19th-century Austrian composer. Born Arnold Dorsey in Madras (now Chennai), the singer was raised in the UK and recorded his first hit, Release Me, in 1967. It may be hard to believe, but he was a pretty big deal in the 1960s and 1970s: selling more than 150 million albums and receiving four Grammy nominations, a Golden Globe for Entertainer of the Year, 63 gold and 24 platinum records and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

From a plethora of romantic ballads to a platinum-selling theme song for the latest Beavis and Butthead movie, the Humper has done it all. Most recently, his revival has included an appearance on several MTV programmes.

Tickets start at Dh500.

Madonna says film was not fun to make

Fresh from winning the Best Original Song gong at the recent Golden Globes for her film WE, Madonna told contactmusic.com that working on her directorial debut was "not fun at all".

The 52-year-old music superstar described the filmmaking experience as "all-encompassing and gut-wrenchingly hard and very educational".

"I researched and co-wrote the screenplay and I cast the film and then I produced it because I couldn't find a suitable producer in time before shooting, and then I had to direct it within 52 days," she told the website.

Lindsay Lohan and Megan Fox rivals for Taylor role

Two actresses are in talks to play the late Elizabeth Taylor in a biopic: Lindsay Lohan and Megan Fox.

Last week, industry insiders speculated about Lohan being the front-runner for the role and she confirmed the news at the Weinstein Company Golden Globes after the party on Sunday night.

But it looks like she faces competition from Fox, named as a candidate by the biopic's producer Larry Thompson. "I've been talking to Lindsay directly and have been in conversations with other actresses, including Megan Fox," he told E! News on Monday. "It's a very serious selection. It's like casting for Hollywood royalty."

Fly with golden bottom named after Beyoncé

A horse fly discovered in Queensland, Australia was so "bootylicious" with its golden-haired backside that there was only one name worthy of its beauty: Beyoncé.

Previously published results from Bryan Lessard, an Australian scientist, were announced last week on the species, named Scaptia (Plinthina) beyonceae, a specimen of which had been languishing in a collection since 1981 - the year the pop diva Beyoncé was born.

Lessard said Beyoncé would be "in the nature history books forever".

Bootylicious was a song by Beyonce's former group Destiny's Child.

Honeymoonish
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Scoreline

Switzerland 5

CREW
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Specs
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Women%E2%80%99s%20T20%20World%20Cup%20Qualifier
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Test

Director: S Sashikanth

Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan

Star rating: 2/5

DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE

Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin

Director: Shawn Levy

Rating: 3/5

The specs

Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Power: 620hp from 5,750-7,500rpm
Torque: 760Nm from 3,000-5,750rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh1.05 million ($286,000)

TWISTERS

Director: Lee Isaac Chung

Starring: Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos

Rating: 2.5/5

Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas

Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa

Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong

Rating: 3/5

2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups

Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.

Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.

Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.

Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).

Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.

Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.

Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.

Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.

Libya's Gold

UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves. 

The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.

Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.

Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale

Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni

Director: Amith Krishnan

Rating: 3.5/5

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The bio

Studied up to grade 12 in Vatanappally, a village in India’s southern Thrissur district

Was a middle distance state athletics champion in school

Enjoys driving to Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah with family

His dream is to continue working as a social worker and help people

Has seven diaries in which he has jotted down notes about his work and money he earned

Keeps the diaries in his car to remember his journey in the Emirates

A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
  • 2018: Formal work begins
  • November 2021: First 17 volumes launched 
  • November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
  • October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
  • November 2024: All 127 volumes completed

 

 

Specs

Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric

Range: Up to 610km

Power: 905hp

Torque: 985Nm

Price: From Dh439,000

Available: Now

Specs

Engine: 51.5kW electric motor

Range: 400km

Power: 134bhp

Torque: 175Nm

Price: From Dh98,800

Available: Now

Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
The specs

Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel

Power: 579hp

Torque: 859Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh825,900

On sale: Now