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In another edition of the terrific feature series, This Day That Year, Subhash K Jha revisits a masterpiece – Deepa Mehta’s Heaven On Earth.

Deepa Mehta’s Heaven On Earth (Videsh in Hindi), which completes 17 years, still has the power to hit us hard where it hurts the most. When the first slap comes, it hits the audience hard across the face. Spousal abuse as a theme is not new to cinema.

What sets Deepa Mehta’s Heaven On Earth apart from other films, including Jagmohan Mundhra’s Provoked, is the fusion of unspoken, unexpressed terror with mythological elements all packed with sardine-like compactness into a small apartment in Ontario, Canada, where Chand (Preity Zinta) arrives fearful and hopeful after her wedding. What she brings with her is her mother’s tales and homilies, songs, and mythology that follow the bride into her chamber of horrors.

What follows in Chand...

To celebrate Preity Zinta’s birthday, Subhash K Jha revisits Preity Zinta’s finest performance.

When the first slap comes, it hits the audience hard across the face. Spousal abuse as a theme is not new to cinema. What sets Deepa Mehta’s Heaven On Earth, released in 2008, apart from other films, including Jagmohan Mundhra’s Provoked, is the fusion of unspoken, unexpressed terror with mythological elements all packed with sardine-like compactness into a small apartment in Ontario, Canada, where Chand arrives fearful and hopeful after her wedding.

Chand brings with her her mother’s tales, homilies, songs, and mythology, which follow the bride into her chamber of horrors. What follows in Chand’s new life is a nightmare that could claim the life of any Indian bride transported into a foreign country after marriage. Absolute authenticity is the hallmark of Deepa Mehta’s vision.

Her permanent cinematographer, Giles Nuttgens,...

Comedian Katt Williams did it again. With his reputation for bold predictions and satirical take on politics, Williams recently addressed one of the most controversial topics in America. Known for calling out P. Diddy’s downfall before it happened, this time, the comedian turned the spotlight on President Donald Trump.

Katt Williams in his TV special Katt Williams: World War III | image: Netflix

During his recent comedy tour, Heaven on Earth, Katt Williams delivered his satirical take on President Donald Trump’s new gender rules in the US. Considering how the nation went into a frenzy after Trump issued his strict order on his two-gender policy, Williams joked about the law comparing the President to God himself.

Katt Williams’ satirical take on Donald Trump’s gender rules

Donald Trump seemingly turned his rise to Presidential power into one of the most controversial times in history. Shortly after his swearing-in ceremony,...

Last weekend, The Art of Elysium, a non-profit organization with a focus on healing and inspiring through art, hosted its 2024 Heaven Gala at The Wiltern in Los Angeles.

Honoree Neil Gaiman, recipient of the Visionary Award, attends The Art of Elysium's 25th Anniversary Heaven Gala

Credit/Copyright: Araya Doheny/Getty Images for The Art of Elysium

The gala served as a celebration of the organization’s 25th anniversary and honored the following:

Writer, director, and producer Neil Gaiman with The Visionary Award where he transformed the venue from a music venue to a mystical library for his version of “Heaven on Earth” where knowledge is free and refuge is given. Gaiman teamed up with his longtime collaborator, Good Omens production designer Michael Ralph, to bring his vision to life and enlisted playwright Jeremy O. Harris to serve as the evening’s “librarian” emcee. Actress Amy Smart and TV Host Carter Oosterhouse...

Danny Brown and Jpegmafia have released their new album, Scaring The Hoes, which finds the duo exuding humor true to their witty fashion. Stream it on Spotify or Apple Music below.

The collaboration between the two rappers is rife with cheeky takes and caricatures about time spent “hanging out with one of my bitches” and spicy lemon pepper wings “extra crispy extra wet,” as Brown jokes on the album’s title track. In addition to hoeish wordplay, the two banter about making music not traditional to the standard form of rap — or at least, sounds that aren’t usually a part of any typical rap formula.

“Scaring The Hoes” isn’t the only song on the record that’s meant to poke fun at the current state of affairs. The opening track “Lean Beef Patty” touches on the rap game by taking shots at Kanye West, with further mentions of Hulk Hogan,...

Belinda Carlisle has returned with “Big Big Love,” her first new pop single since 1997. A collaboration with legendary hitmaking songwriter Diane Warren, it will appear on her upcoming EP, Kismet, out May 12th via Raf/BMG. It also comes ahead of a string of US tour dates (grab tickets here).

With soaring, upbeat production by Mati Gavriel, “Big Big Love” lives up to its name as Carlisle chases an all-encompassing romance. “What I need,” she sings. “Is someone to come and knock me off my feet/ Jump off the cliff and dive into something deep.” Listen to the track below.

Carlisle and Warren have a long history of working together after first collaborating on Carlisle’s seminal 1987 album, Heaven on Earth, featuring the classic title track. In a statement, the pop icon spoke about how their chance reunion led to the new project.

“27 years on from making my last English...

Danny Brown and Jpegmafia have detailed Scaring The Hoes, the collaborative album that the duo have been teasing since last May. It’s out on March 24th, 2023, and includes the newly unveiled opening track, “Lean Beef Patty.”

Scaring The Hoes features a sole guest appearance from rising Maryland rapper redveil. Brown and Jpegmafia first teased the album with a collaborative track they previewed on Nts Radio in March 2022. A month later, they debuted the song live during Brown’s set at Smoker’s Club Fest. In mid-January, Jpegmafia shared some behind-the-scenes photos of them working on the project, and they announced its title during an episode of The Danny Brown Show a few weeks back.

See the artwork and tracklist for Scaring The Hoes below. You can pre-save the album now.

“Lean Beef Patty” is built around a sped-up sample of Diddy’s early 2000s hit “I Need a Girl (Pt.

Bollywood singer, Udit Narayan is currently shooting his latest music album at different scenic locations in the Valley and he says this is his first visit to the ‘Heaven on Earth’. Udit Narayan is accompanied by his son, Aditya Narayan, Bollywood actress, Sonali Sachdeva and director Gaurav Chandrakant Bhat. He has so far shot his […]...

It’s been 11 years since Kid Cudi released his debut album Man on the Moon: The End of Day, a five-part dream sequence that cast his battle with mental illness in heroic terms. Cudi played the everyman night owl, awash in a cocktail of blunts, beer, and mushrooms. Ironically, his inability to parse his angst (“I’ve got some issues that nobody can see/ And all of these emotions are pouring out of me”) shaped the album’s compelling portrait of depression as an overwhelming and inscrutable force of nature.

Kid Cudi has released a new video for “Heaven on Earth,” concluding the two-part narrative short film, directed by Nabil, tied to the release of his latest album, Man on the Moon III: The Chosen.

“Heaven on Earth” picks up right where the clip for “She Knows This” left off — with a wasted Cudi fleeing the cops and driving his car off a cliff. But it turns out that the chase was a dream, and that the rapper had actually blacked out at his home and fallen into his pool.

The potential Fresh Off the Boat spinoff is taking shape. Bollywood star Preity G Zinta and Indian actor-comedian Vir Das (Whiskey Cavalier) have been tapped to guest star in an upcoming episode of Fresh Off the Boat, which could lead to a spinoff series, tentatively titled Magic Motor Inn.

Written by Fresh Off the Boat writer-producer Rachna Fruchbom, the episode centers around an Indian family whose daughter attends school with Eddie. The girl’s parents, DC and Meena, are played by Das and Zinta, respectively.

The episode from Fotb’s current sixth season, which starts filming on Nov. 18, is not a backdoor pilot like is the common practice, including the black-ish episode last season that served as a backdoor pilot for spinoff series mixed-ish. But it would serve as template for the proposed spinoff, Magic Motor Inn, which would star Zinta and Das. If the network opts to move forward,...

On a recent visit to New York from their home country Jamaica, the No-Maddz pop into a record store and seek out the reggae section — only to find a few scantly filled bins near the back. “They treat it like it’s niche,” sighs tall, lanky Sheldon “Sheppie” Shepherd. Everaldo “Evie” Creary, his equally dreadlocked, sleepier-voiced bandmate, nods. “Peter Tosh with Mick Jagger, Chris Blackwell with Bob Marley — those days, the music was exposed to people who were taking it outside of the niche,” he says. “Who is the new Bob or Tosh or Mick?...