Bollywood mourns director Sanjay Gupta, Michael Douglas gives a Jack Nicholson update, and Zombeid reaches television

Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta, who directed Kaante, Shootout at Wadala, Jazbaa and Kaabil, died at his home in Versova, Mumbai, late on 30 October. He was 57. Police told the Indian Express they suspect he slipped and fell on the kitchen floor and died of a head injury; his wife, two sons and a house help were asleep at the time. Versova police have registered an accidental death report, said the family had raised no objections, and added that nothing suspicious has been found so far. Filmmaker Ashoke Pandit confirmed the news on social media on 31 October, and the last rites were held the same day at the Versova cremation ground.

Tributes came quickly. Sanjay Dutt, who starred in Kaante, shared throwback photos on Instagram and wrote, “We were just discussing Kaante 2 recently”, promising to make the sequel in Gupta’s memory. Hansal Mehta said Gupta “was perhaps the only boss I had in this industry”, Anupam Kher called him “an encyclopaedia of films”, and Dia Mirza, Celina Jaitly and Tusshar Kapoor also paid tribute, as reported by the Indian Express. Hrithik Roshan, who worked with him on Kaabil, said one film together had not been enough, according to India Today.

Ramayana: Part One, which opens worldwide on 5 November, is selling strongly ahead of release. Sacnilk’s tracker, updated on the morning of 1 November, puts its advance bookings in India at ₹31.47 crore gross across the first two days (₹24.93 crore without seats blocked by cinemas), with ₹22.54 crore of that for opening day. Premium formats such as IMAX and 4DX make up about a fifth of the takings from around 2% of the shows. Overseas, Sacnilk reports more than $1 million in North American premiere pre-sales. Ranbir Kapoor plays Rama, Sai Pallavi plays Sita and Yash plays Ravana in Nitesh Tiwari’s two-part epic. These are pre-sales, not box office, and the numbers will change before Thursday.

Shah Rukh Khan’s King is expected to release its first song on 2 November, the actor’s 61st birthday, the Times of India reported, citing Variety India; the trailer will come later. Shah Rukh had already said on X in September that Arijit Singh sings the lead track. Separately, NDTV, citing Bollywood Hungama, reported that composer Anirudh Ravichander has left the film by mutual agreement because of his busy schedule, leaving behind a theme track, with Sachin-Jigar taking over the songs and background score. The makers have not confirmed the change. Directed by Siddharth Anand and also starring Deepika Padukone, Suhana Khan and Abhishek Bachchan, King is dated for 24 December.

In Hollywood, Michael Douglas offered a rare update on Jack Nicholson while promoting his memoir One Helluva Ride. “He’s not working anymore. He’s well. He has disappeared,” Douglas said, adding that he still sees his friend, who is “up there by his house and walking around in his slippers”, as reported by Variety. Douglas produced One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which won Nicholson his first best actor Oscar. Nicholson, 89, has never formally announced his retirement, but his last film was How Do You Know in 2010.

Deep Purple called off concerts in Leipzig on 31 October and Hamburg on 1 November after singer Ian Gillan, 81, had what the band called a “medical emergency” that led to his hospitalisation in Germany. The band did not give details of his condition but said it was working to reschedule both shows, Rolling Stone reported. The European tour is currently due to resume on 3 November in Dortmund and end on 25 November at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

On the Pakistani side, a Lahore family court granted khula to Mehnaz, the wife of veteran film and television actor Moammar Rana, ending a marriage of nearly 28 years, ARY News and Daily Times reported on 31 October. Judge Zahid Bashir issued the decree after hearing her lawyer, Khadija Siddiqui. In her petition Mehnaz alleged verbal and physical mistreatment, including in front of the couple’s two daughters, and said he had not contributed to household expenses; ARY News noted that these allegations have not been independently verified. Earlier this month Rana had said on a podcast that he wanted to save the marriage. He had not commented publicly on the ruling at the time of writing.

Zombeid, the zombie horror-comedy starring Fahad Mustafa and Mehwish Hayat, gets its world television premiere on Geo Entertainment tonight, 1 November, at 8:00 pm Pakistan time, The News reported. Directed by Nabeel Qureshi and produced by Fizza Ali Meerza, who co-wrote it, the Geo Films and Filmwala release did strong business in cinemas earlier this year. And on ARY Digital, Durefishan Saleem’s Zaryab in Dar-e-Nijaat is drawing attention for turning to prayer after her childhood friend Zamil (Nameer Nawaz Khan) secretly marries someone else, while co-star Sania Saeed shared a fan reel on her Instagram Story praising the quiet dignity of her character Khushbakht, 24 News reported. Umera Ahmed writes the Friday–Saturday serial.