All posts tagged: Battled

Debut in Mohanlal film, fame at 14, but Saleema’s career never took off; she recently battled cancer | Malayalam News

Debut in Mohanlal film, fame at 14, but Saleema’s career never took off; she recently battled cancer | Malayalam News

Published by Parlour News

Malayalam cinema history comprises not just those who scaled great heights and achieved it all, but also those who tried greatly but couldn’t soar. This, nonetheless, doesn’t make them tragic figures; it simply means they never received their due. Take Saleema, for instance. Although she never managed to capitalise on the love she received from the audience and her subsequent popularity in the 1980s, Malayalees continue to cherish her for her performances. The daughter of renowned comedy actor Girija, who appeared in about 300 films across the Telugu and Tamil industries, Saleema entered Tinseltown by playing a small role in director Dasari Narayana Rao’s Meghasandesam (1982), starring Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Jaya Prada, and Jayasudha in the lead roles. Although she subsequently appeared in a couple of Tamil films, it was her foray into Malayalam cinema that gave her career momentum. Don’t Miss | From onscreen messiah to Tamil Nadu CM: The cinematic blueprint behind Vijay’s political ascent At the age of 13, she made her Malayalam debut in the Mohanlal-led Njan Piranna Nattil (1985). She …

How five youngsters battled the odds to arrive at the theatre of dreams, the IPL

How five youngsters battled the odds to arrive at the theatre of dreams, the IPL

Published by Webster

5 min readMumbaiMar 23, 2026 05:23 PM IST The IPL, since its inception in 2008, has always been a tournament of two halves. The established names who soak in the glamour while the quiet dreamers slip through the cracks of obscurity to find their fortune. For some in the class of IPL 2026, the auction in Abu Dhabi proved to be a life-altering pivot. Rising from humble beginnings, these five individuals represent the grit behind the glamour – reminders that a single breakout domestic season and a bit of guidance can bridge the gap between a grandfather’s pension and a multi-crore contract. Prashant Veer: The son of a school teacher in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, Prashant Veer’s journey to being acquired for Rs 14.2 crore by CSK is one of perseverance. Growing up in a small town with scarce facilities, Veer often relied on his grandfather’s pension to fund his travel for trials. The shift to Saharanpur later on helped him refine his skills. His breakout performances in the 2025-26 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy where his …

Dhurandhar 2’s Rizwan earned Rs 10,000 as a gym trainer, discontinued education, battled dyslexia; now is a celebrity trainer and actor: The story of Mustafa Ahmed | Bollywood News

Dhurandhar 2’s Rizwan earned Rs 10,000 as a gym trainer, discontinued education, battled dyslexia; now is a celebrity trainer and actor: The story of Mustafa Ahmed | Bollywood News

Published by Parlour News

“Tu karm kar, phal ki chinta mat kar”—it’s a line most of us have heard, but very few truly live by. Celebrity trainer Mustafa Ahmed is one of those rare few who embody it. Today, he’s garnering praise for playing Rizwan—Hamza’s trusted right-hand man—in Dhurandhar The Revenge. But long before the spotlight found him, Mustafa was earning just Rs 10,000 a month as a gym trainer in Delhi’s Janakpuri. Nearly 15 years later, he would go on to become the personal trainer of Hrithik Roshan. Mustafa’s journey was anything but conventional. He wasn’t a prodigy people expected to “make it big.” In fact, like the child in Taare Zameen Par, he struggled with dyslexia and eventually dropped out of formal education. Speaking on the Jag Of All Trades podcast, Mustafa Ahmed recalled, “I was not a bright kid. I was dyslexic and come from an Afghani background. But I was always physical—I was good at sports, picked up dancing naturally. Anything that involved using my body, I was good at it.” At 21, he was …

Bollywood’s ‘girl next door’ was slapped by cops when she ran away from home; battled depression, lost the love of her life to cancer | Bollywood News

Bollywood’s ‘girl next door’ was slapped by cops when she ran away from home; battled depression, lost the love of her life to cancer | Bollywood News

Published by Webster

In the landscape of Indian cinema, Deepti Naval has always been something of an anomaly. To the viewer of the 1980s, she was the quintessential “girl next door”aka Miss Chamko, whose smile could light up a detergent commercial. An actor, painter, poet, photographer, and director, her personal narrative, revealed through her interviews and her 2022 memoir A Country Called Childhood, paints a picture of a fiercely independent, and deeply sensitive soul. Deepti’s story begins in the narrow lanes of Amritsar, a city still breathing the heavy air of post-Partition history. Her father was an English professor and her mother a painter and teacher. By the age of ten, she knew she belonged to the screen. Driven by a childhood obsession with the Kashmir she saw in films, a thirteen-year-old Deepti once staged a daring escape. “My head was so full of those songs that I felt I just had to go to Kashmir. I actually left home. I didn’t reach my destination; instead, after a slap or two from the police at night, I was …

Not just bladder cancer, Vinod Khanna also battled lung cancer, reveals wife: ‘He’d smoke 40 to 80 cigarettes a day’

Not just bladder cancer, Vinod Khanna also battled lung cancer, reveals wife: ‘He’d smoke 40 to 80 cigarettes a day’

Published by Webster

Legendary actor and politician Vinod Khanna passed away in 2017 after battling bladder cancer. Now, his second wife Kavita Khanna has shared some lesser-known details about his cancer journey, revealing that he was first diagnosed with lung cancer in 2001 due to his heavy smoking habit. She also disclosed that after being diagnosed with bladder cancer, he was strictly advised to give up alcohol. Vinod Khanna died in 2017 at the age of 70. Vinod Khanna’s battle with cancer Vinod Khanna’s second wife, Kavita Khanna, looked back at her late husband’s battle with cancer in a video posted on her YouTube channel. “It was 2001 when Vinod had a diagnosis of lung cancer. He’d gone for his annual checkup, and they saw patches in the lungs. He’d smoke 40 to 80 cigarettes a day. We went to the leading MRI specialists of Mumbai, and they all said it was lung cancer,” said Kavita, mentioning that the doctors told them they would have to remove half of his lung. Kavita and Vinod Khanna chose to keep …

Born to Bollywood royalty, actor lost mother weeks before hit debut, battled failure, trolls and autoimmune disease: ‘I will stand up and fight’  | Bollywood News

Born to Bollywood royalty, actor lost mother weeks before hit debut, battled failure, trolls and autoimmune disease: ‘I will stand up and fight’  | Bollywood News

Published by Webster

Success and failure are two sides of the same coin. Sometimes you chase success relentlessly, only to be tested at every step. Other times, success arrives when you least expect it — but you’re not emotionally ready to embrace it. And then there are moments when fame surrounds you, applause is loud, yet your heart is too heavy to celebrate. If there’s one Bollywood actor who has lived through all three phases, it is Arjun Kapoor. Born to into one of Hindi cinema’s most well-known families, Arjun made his acting debut in 2012 at the age of 27 with Ishaqzaade. The film was a massive success — a dream debut for any newcomer. But destiny had a cruel twist waiting. Just weeks before the film’s release, Arjun lost his mother, Mona Shourie — his strongest emotional anchor since her separation from Boney Kapoor in 1995. Parineeti Chopra & Arjun Kapoor in film ISHQZAADE. (Photo: Express Archive) That moment marked the beginning of a long, lonely battle — one the actor would fight mostly in silence. …

Dibyendu Barua: The Indian chess pioneer who battled Viswanathan Anand in the race to be India’s first Grandmaster and once toppled Soviet legend Viktor Korchnoi | Chess News

Dibyendu Barua: The Indian chess pioneer who battled Viswanathan Anand in the race to be India’s first Grandmaster and once toppled Soviet legend Viktor Korchnoi | Chess News

Published by Parlour News

London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama was thick with tension that morning in 1982. Everyone was waiting for a 15-year-old schoolboy who was running late. To save a few pounds, he and his father had lodged far from the city. When he finally burst in, little did the gathered crowd know that the unassuming teenager would soon stun the chess world. But Dibyendu Barua would topple Soviet titan Viktor Korchnoi at the 6th Lloyds Bank Masters. The feat was reported by The New York Times as ‘Indian Turn Korchnoi Into Hastings Pudding.’ Korchnoi was World No. 2 at the time. To this day, many consider him the strongest player never to have been World Champion. He was 51 then but still a formidable force, and was stunned. Rani Hamid, the legendary Bangladeshi women’s chess player whom Barua regarded as an aunt, wanted a photograph with Korchnoi, who was offering the Indian some unsolicited advice after the contest. “His face was red, still disturbed by the loss. When Rani Hamid came up for a picture, …

Survived 2 failed marriages, battled alcohol addiction, diagnosed with cancer and…

Survived 2 failed marriages, battled alcohol addiction, diagnosed with cancer and…

Published by Parlour News

Sunaina Roshan’s early life Sunaina Roshan, born on January 22, 1972, is the elder sister of Hrithik Roshan and the daughter of filmmaker Rakesh Roshan and his spouse Pinkie Roshan. She completed her education at St. Teresa’s Convent in Mumbai and later attended Institut Villa Pierrefeu in Switzerland for one year, a school that has been providing international etiquette and protocol training to students globally for 70 years. Two marriages of Sunaina Roshan In 1992, Sunaina Roshan married Ashish Soni and gave birth to their daughter Suranika Soni before they got divorced. A few years later, she remarried Mohan Nagar in 2009, but their relationship also concluded within a couple of years. Following two unsuccessful marriages, Sunaina developed feelings for journalist Ruhail Amin. Sunaina Roshan and Ruhail Amin Certain reports indicated that Rakesh Roshan struck his daughter for engaging in a relationship with a Muslim, whereas other conflicting reports claimed that the family opposed Sunaina and Ruhail’s relationship due to his existing marriage and child. Ruhail rejected the recent reports and terminated his relationship with …

Bollywood villain, who acted alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda, married five times; battled depression, and died in isolation | Bollywood News

Bollywood villain, who acted alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda, married five times; battled depression, and died in isolation | Bollywood News

Published by Webster

Amitabh Bachchan’s Shahenshah holds a special place in Hindi cinema for obvious reasons. But for actor and dancer Mahesh Anand, the film was life-changing as it finally put him on the map. Before that, he had struggled to find recognition, but his turn as one of Bachchan’s on-screen antagonists in Tinnu Anand’s action drama made audiences take notice. Mahesh Anand made his acting debut in 1984 with Karishmaa, a film that starred Kamal Haasan, Reena Roy, Tina Munim, and Danny Denzongpa. However, his connection with this stellar cast went back even further. Two years before Karishmaa, he had performed a striking silhouette dance in the opening sequence of Sanam Teri Kasam (1982), also produced by Barkha Roy, Reena’s sister. It was while working on these films that Mahesh met Barkha, and their professional association soon blossomed into romance. The two got married, but their relationship did not last long. Mahesh Anand and Jeetendra in the film Tahqiqaat. (Express Archives) In 1987, he married Erika Maria D’Souza, a former Miss India. The couple had a son, …

Before Magnus Carlsen, Norway had Simen Agdestein who played Kasparov, Anand in chess and battled Maldini on football pitch | Chess News

Before Magnus Carlsen, Norway had Simen Agdestein who played Kasparov, Anand in chess and battled Maldini on football pitch | Chess News

Published by Webster

Here’s a pop quiz question for chess fans: name a chess player from Norway who became the youngest grandmaster in the world in his era? Here’s a hint to make the question a tad easier: he was also Norway’s first grandmaster. If your answer starts with the name Magnus, you would be mistaken. Meet Simen Agdestein, Norway’s first grandmaster, who went on to become Magnus Carlsen’s first real trainer, but not before he had brawled with world champions like Viswanathan Anand, Garry Kasparov and Boris Spassky on the chessboard, and evaded tackles on the football pitch from legendary Italian defenders like Paolo Maldini and Franco Baresi. Agdestein is a rarity having played two sports at the elite level. He tried to straddle both sporting worlds that made heavy, yet completely contrasting, demands: one sport demanded stillness, another required constant movement. He was the Norwegian national chess champion at the age of 15, an International Master at 16, played for the Norwegian Under-17 football team that same year, became the world’s youngest grandmaster of that era …