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Shah Rukh Khan's son gets bail in drugs-on-cruise case
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan was on Thursday granted bail by the High Court in Mumbai, more than three weeks after the 23-year-old was arrested by the federal anti-narcotics agency in a drugs-on-cruise case.
Apart from Aryan, his two friends -- Arbaz Merchant and Mummun Dhamecha -- were also granted bail in the case. But the court added a rider to the bail -- the trio can't leave the country without its permission.
However, the three are unlikely to walk out of jail by Thursday night, as the High Court's detailed order will be issued Friday only.
Also read: No bail for Shah Rukh Khan's son as HC adjourns hearing in cruise drugs case
During arguments, the federal prosecutors told the court that this was not a case of drugs consumption only, 'but that of conspiracy too", and that Aryan attempted to sell narcotics in commercial quantity.
On Tuesday, Aryan's lawyer Mukul Rohatgi argued in the court that the 23-year-old was a "young man who should be sent to a rehabilatation centre rather than jail".
Aryan was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on October 3 after hours of grilling in connection with a rave party the federal agency busted on board a cruise ship off Mumbai coast a day before. He has been in judicial custody since October 8.
Acting on a tip-off, some 30 NCB sleuths, disguised as passengers, boarded luxury cruise liner 'Empress' on October 2 evening, which departed the Mumbai port for the neighbouring state of Goa.
The cruise ship was carrying mostly celebrities from Bollywood and the fashion industry. As soon as the rave party began, the NCB sleuths swung into action and claimed to have caught red-handed those having drugs.
Also read: Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan arrested after rave party raid
Aryan, his close friend Arbaaz, and eight others were soon detained. While two of the detainees had been freed after questioning, Aryan and seven others were subsequently arrested by the NCB.
Aryan's father Shah Rukh is considered the most talented Bollywood star. Popularly called the "King Khan", he has acted in over 80 films in a career spanning over 25 years.
Shah Rukh, in fact, rose to prominence after starring in 1995 romantic film 'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge', the longest-running blockbuster in the history of Indian cinema. The film was shot in India and Europe.
Some of his other blockbusters include 'Dil To Pagal Hai' (1997) and 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' (1998). Shah Rukh was also widely praised for his superb performance in 2002 film 'Devdas', where he played an alcoholic.
The 55-year-old has also anchored many TV shows, and owns production company Red Chillies Entertainment and Indian Premier League cricket team Kolkata Knight Riders.
Shah Rukh has a net worth of USD 700 million. The superstar is married to interior designer Gauri Chibber, a Punjabi Hindu. Apart from Suhana, they have two sons.
California high court won't hear Brad Pitt divorce appeal
The California Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to consider Brad Pitt's appeal of a court ruling that disqualified the judge in his custody battle with Angelina Jolie.
The court denied a review of a June appeals court decision that said the private judge hearing the case should be disqualified for failing to sufficiently disclose his business relationships with Pitt's attorneys.
Read: Angelina Jolie visits Burkina Faso as U.N. Special Envoy
The state Supreme Court’s decision finalizes that ruling. It means the fight over the couple’s five minor children — which was nearing an end — could just be getting started.
“Ms. Jolie is focused on her family and pleased that her children’s wellbeing will not be guided by unethical behavior," her attorney, Robert Olson, said in an email.
Pitt's attorneys didn't immediately issue a comment.
Jolie, 46, and Pitt, 57, were among Hollywood’s most prominent couples for 12 years. A former Los Angeles County Superior Court judge, John Ouderkirk, officiated at their 2014 wedding, then was hired to oversee their divorce when Jolie filed to dissolve the marriage in 2016.
Read: Jolie says judge in Pitt divorce won’t let children testify
He ruled the couple divorced in 2019, but he separated the child custody issues.
Jolie and Pitt have six children: 20-year-old Maddox, 17-year-old Pax, 16-year-old Zahara, 15-year-old Shiloh, 13-year-old Vivienne and 13-year-old Knox. Only the five minors are subject to custody decisions.
Crew member: Baldwin careful with guns before fatal shooting
A camera operator told authorities that Alec Baldwin had been careful with weapons on the set of the film “Rust” before the actor shot and killed a cinematographer with a gun he’d been told was safe to use, court records released Sunday show.
Cameraman Reid Russell told a detective that Baldwin was rehearsing a scene Thursday in which he was set to draw his gun while sitting in a church pew and point it at the camera. The camera wasn't rolling when the gun went off, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, Russell told a detective according to a search warrant affidavit.
Authorities said Friday that the assistant director, Dave Halls, had handed the weapon to Baldwin and announced “cold gun,” indicating it was safe to use. When asked about how Baldwin treated firearms on the set, Russell said the actor was very careful, citing an instance when Baldwin made sure a child actor was not near him when a gun was being discharged.
Read:Film crew voiced complaints before fatal on-set shooting
The affidavit released Sunday also includes statements by director Joel Souza, who was standing behind Hutchins and was also wounded.
It detailed the moments before the shooting and shows that there was turmoil on the set the day of the shooting. Several members of the camera crew walked off the production in a dispute over payment and lodging, Russell said, and he was left with a lot of work to do. Only one camera was available to shoot, and it had to be moved because the light had shifted and there was a shadow.
He said he was unsure whether the weapon was checked before it was handed to Baldwin.
Souza said that he was focused on how the scene would appear on camera. He said he recalled hearing the phrase “cold gun” being used before the shooting.
He said the scene they were shooting did not call for the use of live rounds.
Souza described the gunshot as sounding like a whip and a loud pop.
On Sunday, a crew member who worked with Halls on another project said she had raised safety concerns about him in 2019.
Maggie Goll, a prop maker and licensed pyrotechnician, said in a statement that she filed an internal complaint with the executive producers of Hulu’s “Into the Dark” series in 2019 over concerns about Halls’ behavior on set. Goll said in a phone interview Sunday that Halls disregarded safety protocols for weapons and pyrotechnics and tried to continue filming after the supervising pyrotechnician lost consciousness on set.
Halls has not returned phone calls and email messages seeking comment.
The fatal shooting and previous experiences point to larger safety issues that need to be addressed, Goll said, adding that crew member safety and wellbeing were top issues in recent contract negotiations between a union that represents film and TV workers and a major producers’ group.
Read:Sheriff: Baldwin fired prop gun that killed cinematographer
“This situation is not about Dave Halls. ... It’s in no way one person’s fault,” she said. “It’s a bigger conversation about safety on set and what we are trying to achieve with that culture.”
The film’s chief electrician Serge Svetnoy blamed producers for Hutchins’ death in an emotional Facebook post on Sunday. Svetnoy said he had worked with Hutchins on multiple films and faulted “negligence and unprofessionalism” among those handling weapons on the set. He said producers hired an inexperienced armorer.
Hollywood professionals say they’re baffled by the circumstances and production crews have quickly stepped up safety measures.
Jeffrey Wright, who has worked on projects including the James Bond franchise and the upcoming movie “The Batman,” was acting with a weapon on the set of “Westworld” when news broke of the shooting Thursday at a New Mexico ranch. “We were all pretty shocked. And it informed what we did from that moment on,” he said in an interview Sunday at the Newport Beach Film Festival.
“I don’t recall ever being handed a weapon that was not cleared in front of me — meaning chamber open, barrel shown to me, light flashed inside the barrel to make sure that it’s cleared,” Wright said. “Clearly, that was a mismanaged set.”
Actor Ray Liotta agreed with Wright that the checks on firearms are usually extensive.
“They always — that I know of — they check it so you can see,” Liotta said. “They give it to the person you’re pointing the gun at, they do it to the producer, they show whoever is there that it doesn’t work.”
Read:India's anti-narcotics police raid Shah Rukh Khan's house
A vigil for Hutchins was held Sunday in Southern California, where attendees exchanged tearful hugs and speakers echoed calls for heightened safety standards.
Baldwin, who is known for his roles in “30 Rock” and “The Hunt for Red October” and his impression of former President Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” has described the killing as a “tragic accident.”
Film crew voiced complaints before fatal on-set shooting
Hours before actor Alec Baldwin fired a fatal gunshot from a prop gun that he had been told was safe, a camera crew for the movie he was filming walked off the job to protest conditions and production issues that included safety concerns.
Disputes in the production of the Western film “Rust" began almost from the start in early October and culminated with seven crew members walking off several hours before 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed.
The crew members had expressed their discontent with matters that ranged from safety procedures to their housing accommodations, according to one of those who left. He requested anonymity for fear that speaking up would hurt his prospects for future jobs. Rust Movie Productions did not answer emails Friday and Saturday seeking comment.
At a rehearsal on the film set Thursday at Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe, the gun Baldwin used was one of three that a firearms specialist, or “armorer,” had set on a cart outside the building where a scene was being rehearsed, according to the court records.
Court records indicate that an assistant director, Dave Halls, grabbed a prop gun off a cart and handed it to Baldwin, indicating incorrectly that the weapon didn't carry live rounds by yelling “cold gun.”
When Baldwin pulled the trigger, he unwittingly killed Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her inside a wooden, chapel-like building.
Read:Sheriff: Baldwin fired prop gun that killed cinematographer
Baldwin, 63, who is known for his roles in “30 Rock” and “The Hunt for Red October” and his impression of former President Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live,” has described the killing as a “tragic accident.” He was a producer of “Rust.”
Halls did not immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment.
A 911 call that alerted authorities to the shooting at the Bonanza Creek Ranch outside Santa Fe hints at the panic on the movie set, as detailed in a recording released by the Santa Fe County Regional Emergency Communications Center.
“We had two people accidentally shot on a movie set by a prop gun, we need help immediately,” script supervisor Mamie Mitchell told an emergency dispatcher. “We were rehearsing and it went off, and I ran out, we all ran out.”
The dispatcher asked if the gun was loaded with a real bullet.
“I cannot tell you. We have two injuries,” Mitchell replied. “And this (expletive) AD (assistant director) that yelled at me at lunch, asking about revisions....He’s supposed to check the guns. He's responsible for what happens on the set.”
The Associated Press was unable to contact Hannah Gutierrez, the film's armorer, and several messages sent to production companies affiliated with “Rust” did not receive responses Friday.
Court records say that Halls grabbed the firearm from the cart and brought it inside to the actor, also unaware that it was loaded with live rounds, a detective wrote in a search warrant application.
It was unclear how many rounds were fired. Gutierrez removed a shell casing from the gun after the shooting, and she turned the weapon over to police when they arrived, the court records say.
Guns used in making movies are sometimes real weapons that can fire either bullets or blanks, which are gunpowder charges intended to produce little more than a flash and a bang.
New Mexico workplace safety investigators are examining if film industry standards for gun safety were followed during production of “Rust.” The Los Angeles Times, citing two crew members it did not name, reported that five days before the shooting, Baldwin’s stunt double accidentally fired two live rounds after being told the gun didn’t have any ammunition.
Read:India's anti-narcotics police raid Shah Rukh Khan's house
A crew member who was alarmed by the misfires told a unit production manager in a text message, “We’ve now had 3 accidental discharges. This is super unsafe,” according to a copy of the message reviewed by the newspaper. The New York Times also reported that there were at least two earlier accidental gun discharges; it cited three former crew members.
Mitchell, the script supervisor, told The Associated Press she was standing next to Hutchins when the cinematographer was hit.
“I ran out and called 911 and said ‘Bring everybody, send everybody,’” Mitchell said. “This woman is gone at the beginning of her career. She was an extraordinary, rare, very rare woman.”
Filmmaker Souza, who was shot in the shoulder, said in a statement to NBC News that he was grateful for the support he was receiving and gutted by the loss of Hutchins. “She was kind, vibrant, incredibly talented, fought for every inch and always pushed me to be better,” he said.
Santa Fe-area District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said prosecutors will be reviewing evidence in the shooting and do not know if charges will be filed.
Hutchins’ husband Matthew Hutchins posted on social media to mourn his wife’s loss, ask for privacy for his family, and thank her friends and mentors at the American Film Institute, who he said “nurtured the success we had only just begun to see flourish.”
The institute's conservatory canceled cinematography classes Friday in response to Hutchins' death and plans to hold a memorial.
Production on “Rust” was halted after the shooting. The movie is about a 13-year-old boy who is left to fend for himself and his younger brother following the death of their parents in 1880s Kansas, according to the Internet Movie Database website.
The crew member that spoke to the AP said he never witnessed any formal orientation about weapons used on set, which normally would take place before filming begins.
He also said only minimal COVID-19 precautions were taken even though crew and cast members often worked in small enclosed spaces on the ranch.
Read:Russian filmmakers land after shoot aboard space station
The crew was initially housed at the Courtyard by Marriot in Santa Fe, according to the crew member. Four days in, however, they were told that going forward they would be housed at the budget Coyote South hotel. Some crew members balked at staying there.
“We packed our gear and left that morning,” the crew member said of the Thursday walkout.
The Los Angeles Times and Variety also reported on the walkout.
Gutierrez, the film’s armorer, is the daughter of a longtime Hollywood firearms expert. She gave an interview in September to the Voices of the West podcast in which she said she had learned how to handle guns from her father since she was a teenager.
During the podcast interview, Gutierrez shared that she just finished her first movie in the role of head armorer, a project in Montana starring Nicolas Cage titled “The Old Way.”
“I was really nervous about it at first and I almost didn’t take the job because I wasn’t sure if I was ready but doing it, like, it went really smoothly," she said.
In another on-set gun death from 1993, Brandon Lee, the son of martial arts legend Bruce Lee, was killed by a bullet left in a prop gun after a previous scene. Similar shootings have occurred involving stage weapons that were loaded with live rounds during historical re-enactments.
Gun-safety protocol on sets in the United States has improved since then, said Steven Hall, a veteran director of photography in Britain. But he said one of the riskiest positions to be in is behind the camera because that person is in the line of fire in scenes where an actor appears to point a gun at the audience.
'Nonajoler Kabbo' to hit theatres in Bangladesh on November 26
'Nonajoler Kabbo' (The Salt in Our Waters), a much acclaimed film by young writer-director Rezwan Shahriar Sumit which received awards at numerous international film festivals last year, will have its theatrical release in Bangladesh on November 26.The date for the theatrical release of the film was revealed at a press conference on Saturday noon at the Dhaka Club in the capital, joined by the cast and crew members of the film.Actors including Titas Zia, Fazlur Rahman Babu, and Tasnova Tamanna joined the press conference alongside director-producer Sumit, noted film director Amitabh Reza, Star Cineplex chairman Mahboob Rahman Ruhel and the music director for the film Arnob.
Sheriff: Baldwin fired prop gun that killed cinematographer
Actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun on the set of a Western and killed the cinematographer, officials said. The director of the movie was wounded, and authorities are investigating what happened.
Halyna Hutchins, cinematographer on “Rust,” and director Joel Souza were shot Thursday in the desert on the southern outskirts of Santa Fe.
A spokesperson for Baldwin said there was an accident involving the misfire of a prop gun with blanks. Santa Fe County Sheriff's spokesman Juan Rios said detectives were investigating what type of projectile was discharged and how. No immediate charges were filed.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reported Baldwin of was seen Thursday outside the sheriff’s office in tears, but attempts to get comment from him were unsuccessful. The 63-year-old actor is known for his roles in “30 Rock” and “The Hunt for Red October” as well as his impression of former President Donald Trump on “Saturday Night Live.”
Prop guns fire blanks, gunpowder charges that produce a flash and a bang but not a hard projectile. But when the trigger is pulled, the paper or plastic wadding is ejected from the barrel with enough force that it can be lethal at close range, as proved to be the case in the death of an actor in 1984. In another on-set accident in 1993, the actor Brandon Lee was killed after a bullet was left in a prop gun.
Read:India's anti-narcotics police raid Shah Rukh Khan's house
Hutchins, 42, was airlifted to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Souza, 48, was taken by ambulance to a medical center.
“The details are unclear at this moment, but we are working to learn more, and we support a full investigation into this tragic event,” International Cinematographers Guild president John Lindley and executive director Rebecca Rhine said in a statement.
Sheriff’s deputies responded about 2 p.m. to the movie set at the Bonanza Creek Ranch after 911 calls described a person being shot there, said Rios, the sheriff’s spokesman. The ranch has been used in dozens of films, including the recent Tom Hanks Western “News of the World.”
“This investigation remains open and active,” Rios said in a statement. “No charges have been filed in regard to this incident. Witnesses continue to be interviewed by detectives.”
Hutchins, a 2015 graduate of the American Film Institute, worked as director of photography on the 2020 action film “Archenemy,” starring Joe Manganiello. She was named a “rising star” by American Cinematographer in 2019.
“I’m so sad about losing Halyna. And so infuriated that this could happen on a set,” said “Archenemy” director Adam Egypt Mortimer on Twitter. “She was a brilliant talent who was absolutely committed to art and to film.”
Manganiello called Hutchins “an incredible talent” and “a great person” on his Instagram account. He said he was lucky to have worked with her.
Hutchins had Ukrainian citizenship, according to Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko. The country's consulate in San Francisco is clarifying what happened and is working together with law enforcement offici
Baldwin teamed up as a producer previously with Souza on the 2019 film, “Crown Vic,” which starred Thomas Jane as a veteran Los Angeles police officer on a manhunt for two violent bank robbers. Souza's first credited film, 2010’s “Hanna’s Gold,” was a treasure hunt adventure featuring Luke Perry.
Read:Russian filmmakers land after shoot aboard space station
Production was halted on “Rust.” The movie is about a 13-year-old boy who is left to fend for himself and his younger brother following the death of their parents in 1880s' Kansas, according to the Internet Movie Database website. The teen goes on the run with his long-estranged grandfather (played by Baldwin) after the boy is sentenced to hang for the accidental killing of a local rancher.
In 1993, Brandon Lee, son of martial arts star Bruce Lee, died after being hit by a .44-caliber slug while filming a death scene for the movie “The Crow.” The gun was supposed to have fired a blank, but an autopsy turned up a bullet lodged near his spine.
A Twitter account run by Lee's sister Shannon said: “Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza and all involved in the incident on ‘Rust.’ No one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set. Period.”
In 1984, actor Jon-Erik Hexum died after shooting himself in the head with a prop gun blank while pretending to play Russian roulette with a .44 Magnum on the set of the television series “Cover Up.”
India's anti-narcotics police raid Shah Rukh Khan's house
India's anti-narcotics police Thursday raided Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s house in the city of Mumbai, 18 days after they arrested his son Aryan in a cruise drugs case.
Sources told UNB that a team from the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) raided Shah Rukh's multi-storey house Mannat around noon in connection with the case and also got some paperwork done.
However, quoting unnamed NCB officials, some TV channels reported that the anti-narcotics sleuths visited Mannat only for "some paperwork relevant to the case".
The raid comes hours after Shah Rukh visited his son at Mumbai's high-security Arthur Road jail in the morning. Aryan has been in judicial custody since October 8.
Read: Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan detained after rave party raid
Aryan was arrested by the NCB on October 3 after hours of grilling in connection with a rave party it busted on board a cruise ship near Mumbai a day before.
Acting on a tip-off, some 30 NCB sleuths, disguised as passengers, boarded luxury cruise liner 'Empress' on October 2 evening, which departed the Mumbai port for the neighbouring state of Goa.
The cruise ship was carrying mostly celebrities from Bollywood and the fashion industry. As soon as the rave party began, the NCB sleuths swing into action and caught red-handed those consuming drugs.
Aryan, his close friend Arbaaz, and eight others were soon detained. While two of the detainees had been freed after questioning, Aryan and seven others were arrested.
Aryan's father Shah Rukh is considered the most talented Bollywood star. Popularly called the "King Khan", he has acted in over 80 films in a career spanning over 25 years.
Read: Shah Rukh Khan's daughter Suhana to make Bollywood debut soon?
Shah Rukh, in fact, rose to prominence after starring in 1995 romantic film 'Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge', the longest-running blockbuster in the history of Indian cinema. The film was shot in India and Europe.
Some of his other blockbusters include 'Dil To Pagal Hai' (1997) and 'Kuch Kuch Hota Hai' (1998). Shah Rukh was also widely praised for his superb performance in 2002 film 'Devdas', where he played an alcoholic.
The 55-year-old has also anchored many TV shows, and owns production company Red Chillies Entertainment and Indian Premier League cricket team Kolkata Knight Riders.
Shah Rukh has a net worth of USD 700 million. The superstar is married to interior designer Gauri Chibber, a Punjabi Hindu. Apart from Suhana, they have two sons.
‘Chiroharith’ Kaiser returns with great music on YouTube
Famous lyricist, singer and composer ‘Chiroharith’ Kaiser Islam has recently made his remarkable re-entry into the realm of Bangla Music Industry on YouTube with a dozen of heartfelt hit songs putting an end to his seclusion for nearly a decade.
Some of the tracks from Chiroharith, that has made an impression on the viewers’ mind evident in their thousands of likes and shares of them; e.g. "E Kon Prithibi," "Orthohin Alape Cholche Ontohin Torko," "Aj Jeno Prithibitake Notun Kore Chena Holo," "Swapno Bhenge Geche," "Bujhini Age," and "Nivrito Sonnyasy" that are available on his own YouTube Channel [https://youtube.com/c/kaiserislamtao].
Read:Kalidas Karmakar’s 2nd death anniversary: Gallery Cosmos pays tribute with daylong event
All the songs are written, composed and sung by Kaiser Islam.
Chiroharith’s songs captivated the audience for the first time during the 2010-12s. Listeners who are looking for the reflection of their deepest essence in music, tend to become easy fan of Kaiser Islam.
In answering to the question regarding the absence and his self-imposed isolation, the poet, music teacher and artist said, "It’s been an hour of preparation. I was actually preparing myself to create something that is simple, yet strong and powerful. For me, it looks like, the time has arrived!"
After being stuck at home for a long time, due to the recent Covid-19 restrictions, Kaiser Islam has become busy again with stage shows being held in Dhaka and in Chattogram.
In addition to these shows, ‘Chiroharith Manusher Dal’ has also been invited from abroad to perform at Jamsedpur and in Kolkata. Leading percussionist and drummer of the country Shubho and the famous bassist Sushovan Rakshit Deep have joined in the team to showcase their performances.
Read:Rockstar James showered with love of fans, co-artists on 57th birthday
Kaiser Islam, the founder and trainer of Chiroharith Music School, articulates, "Music is the heartbeat of our life. Our faith. Some may sing, while others may listen, but we always cherish those songs deep in our heart till the end."
In addition to his musical career, Kaiser Islam is also a writer and lyricist. He has written over 18 books over a period of the last two and a half decade, and a collection of 200 of his selected songs is going to be published by December in this year.
Kalidas Karmakar’s 2nd death anniversary: Gallery Cosmos pays tribute with daylong event
Gallery Cosmos on Monday paid its heartfelt tribute to Ekushey Padak-winning internationally acclaimed painter and printmaker artist Kalidas Karmakar with daylong programmes.
The programmes were organized at Gallery Cosmos and Cosmos Atelier71 at the Cosmos Centre, Malibagh in the capital.
Kalidas Karmakar, acclaimed for his significant contributions to the Bangladeshi art sphere through his majestic and fascinating artworks, shocked the art world with his sudden demise on October 18, 2019 at the age of 73.
Distinguished artists and admirers of Kalidas Karmakar, a lifelong friend of Gallery Cosmos and Cosmos Atelier71, joined the daylong event.
Paul McCartney: John Lennon responsible for Beatle breakup
Paul McCartney has revisited the breakup of The Beatles, flatly disputing the suggestion that he was responsible for the group’s demise.
Speaking on an episode of BBC Radio 4’s “This Cultural Life’’ that is scheduled to air on Oct. 23, McCartney said it was John Lennon who wanted to disband The Beatles.
Read:From the Beatles to Elton John: Oldest DJ’s storied career
“I didn’t instigate the split,” McCartney said. “That was our Johnny.’’
The band's fans have long debated who was responsible for the breakup, with many blaming McCartney. But McCartney said Lennon's desire to “break lose'' was the main driver behind the split.
Confusion about the breakup was allowed to fester because their manager asked the band members to keep quiet until he concluded a number of business deals, McCartney said.
The interview comes ahead Peter Jackson’s six-hour documentary chronicling the final months of the band. “The Beatles: Get Back,” set for release in November on Disney+, is certain to revisit the breakup of the legendary band. McCartney's comments were first reported by The Observer.
Read:Billie Eilish becomes youngest star to headline Glastonbury
When asked by interviewer John Wilson about the decision to strike out on his own, McCartney retorted: “Stop right there. I am not the person who instigated the split. Oh no, no, no. John walked into a room one day and said, ‘I am leaving The Beatles.’ Is that instigating the split, or not?”
McCartney expressed sadness over the breakup, saying the group was still making “pretty good stuff.”
“This was my band, this was my job, this was my life. So I wanted it to continue,” McCartney said.