Actress Taapsee Pannu says she prefers to address social issues and express her opinion through the medium of cinema rather than using other platforms.

Her forthcoming film “Mulk” talks about a minority community in India and how they face injustice due to their religion.

Asked if she subscribes to the idea of the film, Taapsee told IANS here: “From my school days I have learnt that India is a secular, democratic and republic country where we treat people from every religion with equality. In fact, that is how we lead our life around our close circuit.

“Conflict started when we all grew up seeing a certain hatred is also growing, that we read in newspaper, see among few groups of people… Of course, such issues should be addressed and as an actress, all I can do, is use cinema as a medium to express my opinion.

“Since I am an actress and not a social activist, cinema is the best medium for me to state my views. I cannot talk about issues randomly, so I would rather use acting as a tool to reach out to more and more people,” she added.

Taapsee is known for films like “Pink”, “Naam Shabana” and the short fillm “Nitishastra”, which have dealt with issues like moral policing on girls, rape and gender inequality.

Being a Sikh girl who has grown up in an environment of communal harmony, Taapsee said: “I was taught how to pray while visiting Gurdwara, who are the Gurus we have in Sikhism and every other basic things that a Sikh girl should know.

“However, I was also told that as a human, I am free to celebrate other festivals and mingle with people from other religions. So, I have no conflict in mind to celebrate Christmas, Holi or Eid.”

Taapsee believes the negativity is over-served in current times where social media and news channels are in the rush to grab eyeballs.

Citing an example, she said: “When the Maratha Kranti Morcha started, I was getting calls from my father who lives in Delhi. Since he watched the news channel, he panicked that maybe a violent protest broke out in the whole of Mumbai city. I tried hard to make him understand that this part of the city is fine and I am okay.

“Such things happen with all of us if we are constantly watching something negative about something. I think when the ratings competition between TV channels will go away and the mass audience will get to watch a balanced view on our society, I think many misconceptions will go away.”

In “Mulk”, Taapsee plays a lawyer. The film is releasing on August 3.

Esha Gupta might be many things, but she most definitely best makes for a sexy and feisty cover girl. We spotted the actress grace the cover of Aza Fashions and boy, does she stun!

Styled by Aastha Sharma, Esha can be spotted working an uber-luxe ruby red thread and mirror embroidered tassel blouse from Arpita Mehta, which has been paired with a matching ruffled sharara by the same label.

Giving her bold brows, shimmery eyes, a sexy nude lip, and straightened hair, makeup and hairstylist Mehak Oberoi has done a fabulous job.

We’re loving the bold baubles too! What a stunner Esha is, isn’t she?

Second season of Bigg Boss is getting spicier by the day. Issues like forming groups, targeting individuals, superiority complex and bullying have been putting the show’s host Nani in a tricky situation.

The first season didn’t have such problems that made the job of Tarak easy. NTR sorted out minor issues if any and made sure to run the show smoothly.

Second season has not been a smooth affair for its host right from the beginning.

Contestants like Tejaswi, Babu Gogineni, Tanish etc. forming a group and bullying the weaker contestants made audience to sympathize with the underdogs. Group targeting and the attempts of character assassination led to huge support from the viewers.

An army has formed across social media platforms to save Kaushal from getting evicted.

Not realizing that Kaushal has immense following outside the Bigg Boss house, strong contestants like Bhanusri and Tejaswi cornered him for wrong reasons and eventually got evicted from the show.

Babu Gogineni who claims to have more following than Kaushal made a statement that he would do anything to see Kaushal out of the house. Babu later took on Geetha Madhuri and made her cry with his nonsensical argument.

Nani, who used to respect Babu Gogineni’s age and wisdom all this while, didn’t spare him in Saturday episode. He counter attacked Babu with logic and let him know who the boss is.

It is not an easy thing to shut someone like Babu who tries to win the argument at any cost. Nani’s blasting of Babu was the major highlight of Saturday episode.

Nani is definitely doing a commendable job as the Bigg Boss host by taking public pulse into consideration.

Complicated personalities in the house are putting his hosting abilities to the test and Nani has been handling everything without losing balance and composure.

High budget action film Saakshyam starring Bellamkonda Srinivas opened on a promising note on its first day.

It registered housefuls across single screens in Telugu states on its day 1, but couldn’t hold its ground due to poor word of mouth.

Director Sriwass’s unimaginative direction and pointless screenplay failed to impress the audience.

Collections of Saakshyam on Saturday were not encouraging and there isn’t much growth on Sunday too. With so much at stake, it will be an uphill task for Saakshyam from Monday.

Niharika Konidela’s second film Happy Wedding that released on Saturday couldn’t take off because of poor release buzz. Bad reviews and negative word of mouth are further hampering its chances.

Except RX 100 none of the July releases clicked at the box office. While small budget film RX 100 turned out to be mammoth blockbuster, notable films like Pantham, Tej, Vijetha and Lover failed to click.

Trade is pinning hopes on August releases like Srinivasa Kalyanam and Geetha Govindam to keep the ticket counters busy again.