Email Twitter Cher Readies ABBA Cover Album cher-readies-abba-cover-album-following-mamma-mia-sequel Cher Readies ABBA Cover Album Following ‘Mamma Mia’ Sequel News The GRAMMY-winning sensation is already planning to reprise her role in the musical sequel Renée FabianGRAMMYs Jul 17, 2018 – 2:43 pm What could possibly be more exciting than Cher playing a role in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again? An album full of the GRAMMY winner covering ABBA songs, that’s what.During an episode of the “Today Show,” Cher not only spoke about her role in the film sequel, but she also dropped a big hint that she had recorded an entire cover album of the Swedish band’s biggest hits. Apparently recording her song in the Mamma Mia musical extravaganza was so much fun, the “Dancing Queen” needed a little more disco in her life. “After I did ‘Fernando,’ I thought it would really be fun to do an album of ABBA songs, so I did!” she said in the segment. “It’s not what you think of when you think ABBA, ’cause I did it in a different way.”In Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Cher plays Ruby Sheridan, grandmother to Sophie (Amanda Syfried) and mother to Donna (Meryl Streep). As Sophie spends the film looking into her mother’s storied past during her own pregnancy, Cher’s character waltzes into the party where she and Andy Garcia drop an unforgettable rendition of “Fernando.”While it’s unclear when Cher might release her ABBA masterpiece, you can catch her on the big screen while Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is in theaters, starting July 20.Catching Up On Music News Powered By The Recording Academy Just Got Easier. Have A Google Home Device? “Talk To GRAMMYs”Read more Facebook
Filmmakers are increasingly taking up sensitive issues like rape, molestation and other crimes against women as a backdrop for their stories and say it’s an effort to create awareness. The year 2017 has witnessed this in a big way with Kaabil, Maatr, Mom and Lipstick Under My Burkha to the soon-to-release Bhoomi. The rushes of Omung Kumar’s Bhoomi hint that a father is out to seek revenge for his daughter’s sexual molestation. Kumar says “socially relevant films” are creating awareness and his effort is only to show what is happening in society. Also Read – Add new books to your shelf”Socially relevant movies work and awareness is generated. We are trying to contribute in whatever small way for the community. It is something that is happening (in society), but people have turned a blind eye (to it).”We are just trying to bring it up front and tell the world that it is happening and something should be done to stop it,” Kumar said, and hoped such “eye-openers” impact people in some way. In the recent past too, these subjects have come up in several films. Also Read – Over 2 hours screen time daily will make your kids impulsiveKaabil was the story of a young blind couple and how their life changes after the girl is raped by two men in her own house. Maatr and Mom, both revenge dramas, were stories about how the mothers, played by Raveena Tandon and Sridevi, respectively, take law into their own hands and go after the culprits who raped their daughters.In Lipstick under my Burkha, a bold film about the unbridled dreams of four women trapped in their lives owing to societal norms and stereotypes, depicts one character facing marital rape. Many say that films are a mirror of society, while there are others who blame movies for boosting eve-teasing and other social evils. So are such depictions an attempt to nurture a “more consciously responsible” population or can it have reverse reaction? Leena Yadav, the director of Parched, says films can’t take credit for bringing change in society and neither can society blame films for bringing bad things into structure.”We are feeding off each other. Films come from what is going around you. Secondly, it’s the way you depict anything that can make it vulgar, titillating, beautiful or spiritual. The same thing can be shot in 30 different ways. So when one depicts anything so sensitive (as rape and molestation), you have to be really very careful,” Yadav said.”Something that is from your end may be messaging, but it can also end up titillating and that is really sad. But what to do, we have twisted minds out there. So it is the responsibility of the filmmaker that when they tackle anything like that, it has to be done with utmost care as it is a very tricky thing,” added the director, who is now making a film titled Rajma Chawal.Often, women’s rights bodies target Bollywood for objectifying women. Are they happy with this change of focusing on socially relevant issues?Ranjana Kumari, Director, Centre for Social Research in Delhi, and a women’s rights activist, said, “Filmmakers have been showing all kinds of sexuality and sexual violence because it sells, but that does not mean they should continue doing it to make money. They should also know their social responsibility. In the wake of more gruesome violence, they should feel more responsible.” Social activist Pallabi Ghosh, however, feels that cinema has somehow helped in creating awareness as, after watching films, people are thinking that this is not just theirs but everyone’s issue.