Shehzad Poonawalla, who recently won the title of the 2nd season of the reality show ‘Rise and Fall’, met the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis and presented his winning trophy to him.

Maharashtra Chief Minister, symbolising his gratitude and respect for Fadnavis’s leadership.

The meeting comes days after Shehzad, who is the former spokesperson of Bharatiya Janata Party, announced his decision to donate his entire winning amount of INR 35 lakh towards drought relief in Maharashtra and flood relief efforts in Assam and Bihar.

Shehzad Poonawalla’s contribution to the CM Relief Fund came amid the state facing one of its most widespread drought crises in recent years. The state government has declared 305 of its 358 talukas drought-affected, covering more than 85% of the state’s geographical area. The declaration follows a deficient 2026 southwest monsoon, with Maharashtra receiving 804.4 mm of rainfall against the normal 994.5 mm, a shortfall of approximately 19%.

Marathwada is the worst-hit region, as it recorded a 38% rainfall deficit, Vidarbha follows with a 27% deficit. Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar division has the highest number of drought-affected talukas, at 76, followed by Amravati (56), Nashik (52), Nagpur (52) and Pune (51). More than eight lakh farmers have been affected, with soybean and cotton crops suffering.

Meanwhile, Shehzad Poonawalla was officially declared the winner of the 2nd season of ‘Rise and Fall’. The show, backed by a powerhouse creative team led by Banijay India, MX Original was hosted by Virender Sehwag.

The show is available to stream on MX Player by Prime Video.

Actor Saif Ali Khan has resumed his fitness routine, giving a glimpse of his workout session through a new video.

The actor shared the clip on Instagram in which he is seen shirtless while exercising. In the video, the ‘Omkara’ actor is seen flaunting his well-toned physique and muscles as he performs a series of exercises and a few yoga asanas. Going shirtless for the workout session, Saif appears focused on bringing both his mind and body back on track.

Alongside the video, Saif spoke about getting back on track, highlighting the importance of mental and physical well-being as he looks forward to the New Year. “Time to get back to work!.. First the mind.. then the body .. back on track for a happy new year,” he wrote.

A few days ago, Saif, who is an avid social media user, shared another interesting video on his Instagram account. The ‘Hum Tum’ actor posted a clip in which he was seen opening a champagne bottle using a meat cleaver after failing to find a bottle opener. In the video, Saif first placed his glasses on top of his head before swiftly opening the bottle in one smooth motion. He then handed the champagne bottle to one of his helpers.

Sharing the clip, he captioned it, “Nawabi hacks #23, when you can’t find an opener, you try the meat cleaver!! Please do not try this at home…(sic).”

Meanwhile, Saif recently made headlines following his appearance with wife Kareena Kapoor Khan on Karan Johar’s popular chat show ‘Koffee With Karan’. During the episode, Karan asked the couple to call someone famous. However, Saif expressed his desire to call his wine dealer instead. When the ‘Jab We Met’ actress pointed out that the wine dealer was not a celebrity, the actor quipped, “Well, he is a celebrity to me.”

During the conversation, Saif also opened up about how the attack at his residence last year had affected his younger son, Jeh. Recalling an emotional moment, the actor revealed that Jeh had handed him his plastic sword and asked him to use it if a similar incident happened again.

“Jeh gave me his plastic sword and said, ‘Next time that thief comes, use this.’ For a couple of months after that, he kind of kept the plastic sword with me… So, the whole thing happened in front of him, the fight and all and he thinks I am a great protector. He thinks I am Iron Man,” Saif recalled.

Actor Chetan Hansraj offered a glimpse into the extensive creative work behind the making of the upcoming epic “Ramayana: Part 1” and revealed that it took four hours of daily work to sculpt the look of his character Raja Mali.

Chetan took to Instagram, where he also praised action director and movement expert Terry Notary, stunt coordinator Ian Van Temperley and animation supervisor Andrew Doucette for their contributions to the film, which he described as a historic cinematic undertaking.

Taking to the caption, Chetan spoke about the “architects of the epic.”

“The visual madness you are all seeing on the big screen doesn’t happen in isolation. It takes a village of absolute masterminds to build a cinematic universe of this scale. Massive respect to our visionary director @niteshtiwari22 for steering this colossal Rs. 1,500 crore ship and trusting me to anchor the opening sequence,” Chetan wrote in the caption.

He went on add: “Before I even stepped onto the Volume, the brilliant Virginia Holmes @virgholmes and her team spent 4 grueling hours every day meticulously sculpting the ancient, brutal visage of Raja Mali onto my face.”

Then came the physical execution, he mentioned.

“An incredible honor working alongside the legend Terry Notary @terrynotary(Action Director , Motion Capture & Movement Director). We spent hours breaking down the exact physics and psychology of a demon king so that every single movement felt lethal.”

“Huge props to Ian Van Temperley @stuntalliancegroup and his stunt team for curating those absolutely insane action sequences, ensuring every swing of the axe was merciless.”

Chetan concluded: “And a massive shoutout to Andrew Doucette (Animation Supervisor) for taking all that raw performance capture data and translating it into the most groundbreaking VFX Indian cinema has ever seen. The blood, sweat, and scale of this film is historic. Thank you for the massive love on the recent posts!”

Ramayana: Part 1 directed by Nitesh Tiwari. The film is based on the Hindu epic Ramayana by Valmiki. It is the first of a two-part film, with Part 1 being based on the first three kāṇḍa (chapters) of Ramayana which chronicles the life of Prince Rama from childhood up to his adventurous 14-year exile.