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Brendan Fraser has won the best actor Oscar for The Whale at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles, The Guardian reported.

Fraser stars as a morbidly obese teacher in the film, which was directed by Darren Aronofsky and adapted by Samuel D Hunter from his own play. Fraser defeated a field of contenders including Elvis’s Austin Butler and The Banshees of Inisherin’s Colin Farrell.

The role has already won Fraser best actor at the Screen Actors Guild and Critics’ Choice awards, and best actor nominations for the Baftas and Golden Globes (for film drama). Fraser chose not to attend the latter, after alleging in 2018 that the Golden Globes former president Philip Berk sexually assaulted him in 2003. Berk called the allegation “a total fabrication”. An internal investigation concluded that Berk had “inappropriately touched” Fraser, but said Berk’s action “was intended to be taken as a joke and not as a sexual advance”.

An emotional Fraser took to the stage exclaiming: “So this is what the multiverse looks like!”

He paid tribute to the film’s director, Darren Aronofsky, and writer Samuel Hunter, saying: “You laid your whale-sized hearts bare so we could see into your souls.”

He closed his speech touching on his early years in the industry. “I started in this business 30 years ago,” he said. “Things didn’t come easily to me but there was a facility I didn’t appreciate at the time until it stopped.”

He finished by thanking his three sons and his “first mate”, wife Afton Smith.

 

Actor-writer-director Satish Kaushik passed away at the age of 66 in Gurugram on March 9. His body will be brought to Mumbai after a postmortem is conducted, The Times of India reported.

His close associate and best friend Anupam Kher took to Twitter to announce the sad news. Kher's Tweet stated, "I know 'death is the ultimate truth of this world' But I never thought in my dreams that I would write this thing about my best friend #SatishKaushik while alive. Such a sudden full stop on friendship of 45 years!! Life will NEVER be the same without you SATISH! Om Shanti!" Kher also shared a black and white photo where he and Kaushik are seen together.

Kangana Ranaut also reacted to the news and shared, "Woke up to this horrible news, he was my biggest cheerleader, a very successful actor and director #SatishKaushik ji personally was also a very kind and genuine man, I loved directing him in Emergency. He will be missed, Om Shanti."

Satish Kaushik was born on April 13, 1956. His breakout role was that of the character Calendar in Shekhar Kapur's Mr India. He had also made an impact with early releases like Jaane Bhi Do Yaro, Mandi and Woh 7 Din.

Kaushik made a transition to direction with Roop Ki Rani Choron Ka Raja. Tere Naam and Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain are some of his popular films as director, according to The Times of India. Reacting to the actor's demise, Subhash Ghai told ETimes, "There are very few actors who are close to me in real life. People who I can call and share happy and sad moments with. Satish was one of them since the time we worked together in 'Ram Lakhan'. I met him last month. We spoke about Karan Razdan's film about the premier of that movie. Satish was very excited as usual. He was speaking about his next film, the next movie he's going to direct. He was a great artiste, whether he was on stage, on the big screen, small screen or whether he was writing. He was great at everything he did."

Actor Paul Shah, who got a clean chit from Pokhara District Court in a case related to raping a minor girl, has been released on Monday. Shah’s lawyer Kamala Mohan Wagle said that Shah was released after he was acquitted of all the charges. Shah was in the District Police Office, Tanahun. His supporters and well-wishers had gathered outside the district police office since this morning to welcome him. A joint bench of acting Chief Judge Dilliraj Acharya and Judge Shreedhara Kumari Pudasaini overturned the verdict of the Nawalpur District Court and held that the evidence presented in the court was insufficient to prove the charge against Shah. Earlier, the Nawalpur District Court had sentenced Shah to two-and-half-years in jail and slapped a fine of Rs 25, 000 for sexually abusing a minor girl. Shah has already got a clean chit from the Tanahun District Court. Actor Shah had surrendered himself at the District Police Office, Tanahun on February 27 after a minor singer filed a rape case against him. Shah was sent to custody for seven days for the first time on February 27 and the remand was extended by 12 days on March 5 for the second time for investigation. Based on the complaint filed by a 17-year-old singer, the District Attorney’s Office had filed a case against Shah at Tanahun District Court seeking 14 years of imprisonment. Later, the issue took a twist after the minor singer, who had filed a complaint accusing Shah of raping her, changed her statement at the Tanahun District Court. The girl said that she had not been raped as claimed by her earlier. She said that the information she stated while filing the complaint was false.  

Police have arrested Bindhyabasini Music Company operator Subash Regmi on Sunday. A team of the Central Cyber Bureau detained Regmi from the Tribhuvan International Airport. He was returning from Thailand. Cyber Bureau spokesperson Pashupati Kumar Raya confirmed the arrest of Regmi. Raya said that he was nabbed for the investigation after a complaint was filed against him. Singer Pramod Kharel among four others had filed a complaint against Regmi. It is mentioned in the complaint that he used abusive language against singers through social media and assassinated their character.