MUMBAI, June 11: Actor-producer Uday Chopra, who is looking forward to the release of his maiden international co-production ‘Grace of Monaco’ in India, hopes it does well though he feels such films do not create a buzz here.

The Nicole Kidman-starrer film is set to release in India on June 13.

Directed by French director Olivier Dahan, the film is a biopic of Hollywood star Grace Kelly, her crisis of marriage and identity during a dispute between Monaco’s Prince Rainier III and France’s Charles de Gaulle in 1962.

“I feel films like ‘Grace of Monaco’ do not really create a buzz in India. Our audience prefer superhero films or Oscar nominated films. Since we have the resources, we are trying to release the film in more than 70 screens (in India),” Uday told.

He feels that the film will do well in India provided it garners good reviews.

“I am not looking at making money with the film in India. We are releasing the film here as a prestige issue. We hope it recovers the money spent on marketing it in India. I am still testing the waters with this film and hopefully with my forthcoming films we will do better,” he said.

Uday is the CEO of YRF Entertainment, the international film production wing of Yash Raj Films.

‘Grace of Monaco’ was the opening film at the 67th Cannes Film Festival, for which Uday was present.

“I am happy that we could present the film at such a prestigious film festival. When the film was premiered, it got a standing ovation which was an added bonus as that shows people also liked the film,” he said.

But at the same time, a lot of critics panned the film and Uday thinks it was because they were expecting something else from the movie.

“‘Grace of Monaco’ is a commercial fairy tale, a feel good film and the critics (at Cannes) were looking for art house cinema. Also, the director of the film is known for character driven films and a lot of people expected this movie in that space,” Uday said.

“At the same time some reviews were good. So there is definitely a disparity in the way the critics have seen the film,” said the 41-year-old actor-producer.

However, he admitted that negative reviews affected the film’s business in some way.

“Business in France has been affected. But at the same time, the film is doing pretty well in Italy and some other parts of the world. We have already seen decent business and we haven’t yet released the film in all markets. The film is yet to release in USA, which is the biggest market,” Uday said.

It was a surreal moment for Uday to have walked the red carpet with Hollywood actress Kidman.

“I felt like a kid in a candy shop. I couldn’t believe that I was standing next to Nicole Kidman whose movies I grew up watching. I felt really proud,” he said.

Uday reveals that he had planned to bring Kidman for promoting the film in India, but as she is currently attending the Shanghai Film Festival, it was not possible. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 11: Reflecting growing congruence in bilateral ties, China today pitched for promoting a new security concept featuring mutual trust and cooperation to take the Sino-India relationship further.

Chinese Ambassador Wei Wei also said that China and India should work closely to push for a mutually beneficial global economic regime and oppose protectionism of any form.

“We should promote new security concept featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation,” he said while delivering a lecture at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Affairs.

The comments by Wei Wei came three days after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Special Envoy and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held extensive talks with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during which both sides agreed to further boost ties in diverse fields.

With improving relations, the two countries are exploring the possibility of having joint exercises between the air forces and the navy, besides the armies which have held three exercises so far and agreed to hold the fourth one in India this year.

Seeking better economic and trade ties, Wei said both the countries should actively seek “common development” while following the principle of mutual benefit, cooperation and win-win situation.

He said both countries should make efforts to achieve “peaceful co-existence, equal participation and competition on an equal footing”.

“We should respect each other’s rights to make independent economic decisions, advocate a mutually beneficial global trade and economic regime and oppose protectionism in any forms,” he said.

China is India’s biggest trading partner with two-way trade reaching close to USD 65 billion in 2013, according to official figures. However, the trade deficit in favour of China continued to mount to around USD 40 billion which is a matter of concern for India.

India has consistently been raising the issue of increasing trade deficit and seeking greater market access in China to bridge the gap.

Noting that there was a need to make international governance “more just” and reasonable, Wei said the UN and groupings such as G20, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) should get “full scope” to play their role.

“We should push the world towards the direction of multi-polarisation. Developing countries should have more representation in international affairs and international rules should be made through equal and collective consultations,” he said.

Talking about security, Wei observed that it was necessary to advocate common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security in Asia and that differences and disputes among countries should be resolved through dialogue instead of use of force.

Holding that “diversity” in the world should be respected by all, he said no country should “impose” its ideology of development model on other countries and interfere in internal affairs on the “pretext” of human rights.

“The right of all nations to choose their own social system and path of development should be respected and protected. No country should interfere in other’s internal affairs on the pretext of human rights or humanitarian protection,” he said.

While emphasising on having a peaceful environment for development, he quoted from recent public address of the Chinese President.

“He said, ‘the history has already shown us that war is like demon or nightmare, inflicting endless sufferings and pains to people. We must stay highly alert about it’,” the Chinese Ambassador said.

Referring to the 60th anniversary of Panchsheel, the five principles enunciated jointly by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his Chinese counterpart Zhou Enlai in 1954, Wei said the principles laid the foundation for a more fair and reasonable international order.

On the trade front, he said China was working hard for a BCIM (Bangladesh, China, India, Myanmar) economic corridor as it will promote trade, investment, market integration and people-to-people exchanges among the four countries.

He said China would work jointly with other three countries to build the corridor soon.

In his speech, read out at the event, Joint Secretary in-charge of China in the External Affairs Ministry Gautam Bambawale said both the countries should focus on “mutual complementaries” in taking forward the ties. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 11: Defence Minister Arun Jaitley has sought an explanation from the Defence Secretary on the ministry’s affidavit in the Supreme Court which said former Army Chief Gen V K Singh’s decision to impose a promotion ban on Army Chief-designate Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag was “illegal and premeditated”.

Jaitley called for the explanation from Defence Secretary R K Mathur and Ministry officials may also meet the Minister to give their side of the story, official sources said here.

The Defence ministry has told the Supreme Court in a recent affidavit in a promotion case related to Lt Gen Ravi Dastane that the alleged lapses which were made as grounds to impose disciplinary ban on Suhag were “premeditated”, “vague” and “illegal”.

Soon after the matter came to light, Gen V K Singh alleged that the “Defence Ministry affidavit is same as it gave to Armed Forces Tribunal under protective and conniving UPA”.

He also justified his decision to impose a Discipline and Vigilance (DV) ban on Lt Gen Suhag saying that “If unit kills innocents, does dacoity and then head of organization tries to protect them, should he not be blamed? Criminals should go free!!.”

The former Army Chief’s comments came against the backdrop of reports that a unit under Lt Gen Suhag had allegedly carried out killings and daocities in the North East region.

The Ministry, meanwhile, said it has adhered to its stand taken earlier on the issue related to imposition of DV ban on Lt.Gen Suhag by Gen V K Singh.

The sources said Government’s stand in legal proceedings were based on considered facts and decisions and cannot be changed in different courts.

The ban was imposed on Lt Gen Suhag for alleged “failure of command and control” in an operation carried out by an intelligence unit working directly under him when he was working as the then Dimapur-based 3 Corps commander.

In its last days in office, the UPA-II government had named Lt Gen Suhag as the Army Chief to succeed incumbent Gen Bikram Singh when he retires on July 31.

In its affidavit filed in the apex court registry, the Defence ministry said, “The alleged lapses observed by the then COAS, as reflected in the show cause notice, were premeditated and issued in utter disregard to the legal provisions governing the court of inquiry, principles of natural justice… The lapses were vague, based on presumptions and legally and factually not maintainable”.

“Evidently, the entire exercise to issue show cause notice was premeditated and as per records, the directions issued in this regard, including imposition of the DV ban and issue of show cause notice were found to be illegal,” it said.

The affidavit has been filed in response to a plea of Lt Gen Ravi Dastane alleging favouritism in the selection of Lt Gen Suhag as the Army commander who will succeed the Army Chief.

Lt Gen Suhag’s promotion as Army commander was cleared by Gen Bikram Singh soon after V K Singh retired. The ban was also lifted.

Congress sought the resignation of V K Singh as Union Minister, saying the affidavit was an expression of “no confidence” in him.

“This minister cannot remain in the Council of Ministers. It’s a matter of detail whether he is removed or he resigns,” party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi told reporters on Tuesday. (PTI)