Latest news with #Hemanth
New Indian Express
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Hemanth M Rao: I want to celebrate great talents like Shivanna and Dhananjaya
After winning hearts with Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu, Kavaludaari, and the Sapta Sagaradaache Ello films, director Hemanth M Rao is back with his next venture: 666 Operation Dream Theatre. The film, produced by Dr Vaishak J Gowda under the Vaishak J Films banner, brings a stylised 70s-inspired espionage world to life and marks a nostalgic but fresh turn in Hemanth's filmography. The film is set to reunite the hit Tagaru duo, Shivarajkumar and Dhananjaya, and it taps into the charm of vintage thrillers with a modern touch. 'I grew up watching James Bond, Jedara Bale, and Operation Diamond Rocket. This film isn't inspired by them, but they shaped my love for cinema,' says Hemanth. 'I wanted to make something that carries that energy and entertainment, the kind I saw as a child." As for the title, he adds, '999 is Annavaru Dr. Rajkumar's iconic number (Goa Dalli CID 999). We wouldn't touch that. As for the number we are trying to look at it from our own perspective, and add our own spin to it." While Hemanth's previous films leaned into emotional depth and strong characters, this marks his first project with a mass theme. Is this a shift in style? 'People think 'mass' means formula, but for me, commercial cinema is anything that connects, succeeds, and makes money. That way Godhi Banna... Kavaludaari and Sapta Sagaradaache Ello were commercial hits," he says. Sharing his excitement of working with Shivanna and Dhananjaya, Hemanth says they're fantastic actors. "Beyond 'mass appeal' it is more about celebrating great talent.'
The Hindu
22-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Taking the cue from Chiranjeevi
A diehard Chiranjeevi fan, Hemanth Kumar Sharma started donating blood after he turned 18 inspired by the actor. 'Audio cassettes featuring Chiranjeevi movies would have lines by the actor requesting people to donate blood and that is how I got started on donating blood as a small gesture to my idol,' says 33-year-old Hemanth, who was among those honoured at a World Blood Donor Day celebration in Chennai. Hemanth works as a pujari in Sullurpeta, a small town bordering Tamil Nadu, and has built an army of volunteers by conducting blood donation camps under the banner of Chiranjeevi Charitable Trust. But what is more commendable about him is that he does not hesitate to travel to Chennai every time he is presented with a request from any of the groups to donate blood. 'It was Srivatsav Vema of Platelet Club who motivated me to start donating SDP or Single Donor Platelets and until today I have volunteered more than 40 times,' says Hemanth who has given blood more than 30 times. Unlike regular blood donation, platelet donation is time-consuming.'This takes at least two hours. First they collect the sample, screen it and start the process for donation. One can donate SDP once in 15 to 30 days,' he says. At his home town, Hemanth conducts SDP camps four times a year and he donates the collected SDPs to the Indian Red Cross Society. Blood donors honoured at an event organised by the Department of Health and Family Welfare More than 100 volunteers from across Tamil Nadu were honoured by the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Tamil Nadu at Government Multi Super Speciality Hospital, Omandurar Government Estate, to commemorate World Blood Donors Day observed on June 14. One of the eligibility criteria set by the Department was that the individual should have donated blood for a minimum of 50 times. From Chennai, 15 volunteers of the Platelet Club were honoured at the event. 'We have close to 40 people who have donated more than 50 times but we could gather only 15 of them in the short notice that we got,' says Srivatsav Vema, who runs the Platelet Club. Donating blood is an unshakeable habit for many of them in the Club. Rohith Fernandes, for example, has donated blood 221 times; Karthik Natarajan 252 times; and Poorna Chandran 200 times. There are many others in the 100s club including Kishore Gupta (182), Muthukumarasamy R. (100), Suresh Kumar (112), R. Vallinayagam (110), Naresh E. (183) and Baskaran from Villupuram (160). The blood donation camps organised by Srivatsav Vema and his team of donors are exclusively for government hospitals. A key feature of this club is they donate platelets that is used for those undergoing treatment for cancer, dengue and for transplantation surgery.
The Star
14-06-2025
- General
- The Star
‘Bird strike a possible cause'
The tail of the airplane is seen stuck in a building at the site of an airplane that crashed in India's northwestern city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat state, Thursday, June 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki) Investigators will need to understand the nature of a mayday transmission from an Air India flight that crashed in Ahmedabad on Thursday, but a possible cause could be a bird strike, preventing the plane from achieving the optimum speed for take-off, aviation experts said. Aviation professional Hemanth DP said that the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner had a spotless record. 'If a plane of this calibre and size has to crash at such a low height of about 600 feet (183m) minutes after take-off, it must have been a catastrophic failure,' said Hemanth, chief executive officer of Asia Pacific Flight Training Academy in Hyderabad. Air India Flight AI171, carrying 242 passengers and crew members, was heading to London Gatwick Airport when it crashed shortly after take-off. Hemanth said it was too early to tell with certainty what had happened, based on amateur videos of the crash taken from the ground. He said it would take a very large flock of birds, and both engines ingesting the birds simultaneously, to bring the plane down so quickly after take-off. A bird strike is considered one of the most common wildlife hazards in aviation. It tends to happen during take-off, landing, or low-altitude flight, when planes are most likely to encounter birds. Bird strikes can be dangerous, especially if birds are ingested into aircraft's engines or hit critical components such as the windscreen or wings. Over 90% of bird strikes occur at low altitudes during take-off and landing. When a bird strike occurs, pilots may declare a mayday emergency. The Air India pilot made a mayday call before the aircraft lost contact with air traffic control, the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation said. A bird strike was believed to be a factor in the crash of a Jeju Air plane in South Korea in late December 2024, which killed 179 people. Feathers and blood were found in both engines. The Boeing 737-800 plane, which departed from Bangkok for Muan county in south-western South Korea, belly-landed and overshot the regional airport's runway, bursting into flames after hitting an embankment. One of the pilots reported a bird strike and declared an emergency shortly before trying to land. In January 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 made an emergency landing in the Hudson River shortly after taking off from LaGuardia Airport in New York City. The plane, an Airbus A320, had flown into a flock of geese, severely damaging both engines. Michael Daniel, managing director of consultancy Aviation Insight, said the nature of the mayday emergency transmission will be crucial information for investigators. Video footage shows the plane's landing gear was down and the flaps retracted. 'This would be counter to normal take-off procedures unless the 'declared' mayday affected the take-off,' said Daniel, who is also a member of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators. 'Normally, (raising) the gear up is one of the first items to do soon after rotation, in order to gain airspeed.' Rotation refers to the point when the pilot takes off from the surface of the runway, raising the nose of the airplane to fly. While it would be presumptuous at this point to draw any conclusions, he added that the video footage will give some indication of the data to be used in investigations. 'Setting aside the search and rescue efforts, the investigators will need to locate and interpret (what is on) the data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder,' he said. — The Straits Times/ANN
The Star
13-06-2025
- General
- The Star
Air India crash: Bird strike a possible cause as mayday call being probed
Air India Flight AI171, carrying 242 passengers and crew members, was heading to London Gatwick Airport when it crashed shortly after take-off. - Reuters BENGALURU/SINGAPORE: Investigators will need to understand the nature of a mayday transmission from an Air India flight that crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12, but a possible cause could be a bird strike, preventing the plane from achieving the optimum speed for take-off, aviation experts said. Aviation professional Hemanth DP told The Straits Times that the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner had a spotless record. 'If a plane of this calibre and size has to crash at such a low height of about 600 feet (183m) minutes after take-off, it must have been a catastrophic failure,' said Hemanth, chief executive officer of Asia Pacific Flight Training Academy in Hyderabad. Air India Flight AI171, carrying 242 passengers and crew members, was heading to London Gatwick Airport when it crashed shortly after take-off. More than 290 people are known to have died, including those on the ground. There is at least one survivor from the plane. Hemanth said it was too early to tell with certainty what had happened, based on amateur videos of the crash taken from the ground. He said it would take a very large flock of birds, and both engines ingesting the birds simultaneously, to bring the plane down so quickly after take-off. A bird strike is considered one of the most common wildlife hazards in aviation. It tends to happen during take-off, landing, or low-altitude flight, when planes are most likely to encounter birds. Bird strikes can be dangerous, especially if birds are ingested into aircraft's engines or hit critical components such as the windscreen or wings. Over 90 per cent of bird strikes occur at low altitudes during take-off and landing. When a bird strike occurs, pilots may declare a mayday emergency. The Air India pilot made a mayday call before the aircraft lost contact with air traffic control, the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation said. A bird strike was believed to be a factor in the crash of a Jeju Air plane in South Korea in late December 2024, which killed 179 people. Feathers and blood were found in both engines. The Boeing 737-800 plane, which departed from Bangkok for Muan county in south-western South Korea, belly-landed and overshot the regional airport's runway, bursting into flames after hitting an embankment. One of the pilots reported a bird strike and declared an emergency shortly before trying to land. In January 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 made an emergency landing in the Hudson River shortly after taking off from LaGuardia Airport in New York City. The plane, an Airbus A320, had flown into a flock of geese, severely damaging both engines. Michael Daniel, managing director of consultancy Aviation Insight, said the nature of the mayday emergency transmission will be crucial information for investigators. Video footage shows the plane's landing gear was down and the flaps retracted, he told ST. 'This would be counter to normal take-off procedures unless the 'declared' mayday affected the take-off,' said Daniel, who is also a member of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators. 'Normally, (raising) the gear up is one of the first items to do soon after rotation, in order to gain airspeed.' Rotation refers to the point when the pilot takes off from the surface of the runway, raising the nose of the airplane to fly. While it would be presumptuous at this point to draw any conclusions, he added that the video footage will give some indication of the data to be used in investigations. 'Setting aside the search and rescue efforts, the investigators will need to locate and interpret (what is on) the data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder,' he said. - The Straits Times/ANN
Straits Times
12-06-2025
- General
- Straits Times
Bird strike could be possible cause of Air India crash as investigators probe Mayday call
Air India Flight AI171 was heading to London Gatwick Airport when it crashed shortly after take-off. PHOTO: REUTERS Bird strike could be possible cause of Air India crash as investigators probe Mayday call Follow our live coverage here. – Investigators will need to understand the nature of a 'Mayday' transmission from an Air India flight that crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12, but a possible cause could be a bird strike, preventing the plane from achieving the optimum speed for take-off, aviation experts said. Aviation professional Hemanth DP told The Straits Times the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner had a spotless record. 'If a plane of this calibre and size has to crash at such a low height of about 600 feet minutes after take-off, it must have been a catastrophic failure,' said Mr Hemanth, chief executive officer of Asia Pacific Flight Training Academy in Hyderabad. Air India Flight AI171, carrying 242 passengers and crew members, was heading to London Gatwick Airport when it crashed shortly after take-off. More than 200 people are known to have died, including those on the ground. There is at least one survivor from the plane. Mr Hemanth said it was too early to tell with certainty what happened, based on amateur videos of the crash taken from the ground. He said it would take a very large flock of birds, and both engines ingesting the birds simultaneously, to bring the plane down so quickly after take-off. A bird strike is considered one of the most common wildlife hazards in aviation. It tends to happen during take-off, landing, or low-altitude flight, when planes are most likely to encounter birds. Bird strikes can be dangerous, especially if birds are ingested into aircraft's engines or hit critical components such as the windscreen or wings. Over 90 per cent of bird strikes occur at low altitudes during takeoff and landing. When a bird strike occurs, pilots may declare a Mayday emergency. The Air India pilot made a Mayday call before the aircraft lost contact with air traffic control, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said. A bird strike was believed to be a factor in the crash of a Jeju Air plane in South Korea in late December 2024, which killed 179 people. Feathers and blood were found in both engines. The Boeing 737-800 plane, which departed from Bangkok for Muan county in south-western South Korea, belly-landed and overshot the regional airport's runway, bursting into flames after hitting an embankment. One of the pilots reported a bird strike and declared an emergency shortly before trying to land. In January 2009, US Airways flight 1549 made an emergency landing in the Hudson River shortly after taking off from LaGuardia Airport in New York City. The plane, an Airbus A320, flew into a flock of geese, severely damaging both engines. Mr Michael Daniel, managing director of consultancy Aviation Insight, said the nature of the M ayday emergency transmission will be crucial information for investigators. Video footage shows the plane's landing gear was down and flaps retracted, he told ST. 'This would be counter to normal takeoff procedures unless the 'declared' Mayday affected the takeoff , ' said Mr Daniel, who is also a member of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators. 'Normally the gear up is one of the first items to do soon after rotation, in order to gain airspeed.' Rotation refers to the point when the pilot takes off from the surface of the runway, raising the nose of the airplane to fly. While it would be presumptuous at this point to draw any conclusions, he added that the video footage will give some indication of the data to be used in investigations. 'Setting aside the search and rescue efforts, the investigators will need to locate and interpret the data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder,' he said. Rohini Mohan is The Straits Times' India Correspondent based in Bengaluru. She covers politics, business and human rights in the South Asian region. Kok Yufeng is a transport correspondent at The Straits Times. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
