Exciting news for Tom Cruise fans as the action star is set to reprise his role as Navy pilot Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell in the greenlit Top Gun 3. According to media reports, Paramount is in the early stages of developing the third instalment, with Ehren Kruger, co-writer of Top Gun: Maverick, working on the script.

Top Gun 3 is expected to bring back familiar faces, including Miles Teller and Glen Powell, along with producers Jerry Bruckheimer and David Ellison. Joe Kosinski, the director of Top Gun: Maverick, is reported to either direct or produce the upcoming instalment. Currently, Tom Cruise is occupied with Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 2, and production for Top Gun 3 is slated to commence after Mission: Impossible 8.

The last Top Gun instalment, Maverick (2022), stands as Tom Cruise’s highest-grossing movie, earning $1.49 billion. It also received critical acclaim, winning an Oscar for Best Sound and garnering six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.

In a recent development, Warner Bros announced a non-exclusive deal with Cruise to jointly develop and produce original and franchise theatrical films. However, Top Gun remains under the ownership of Paramount, the studio overseeing Top Gun 3, which is anticipated to be Cruise’s next film.

Paramount also holds the rights to the Mission: Impossible series, including the delayed eighth instalment, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two, directed by Christopher McQuarrie and set for a May 2025 theatrical release.

The body of former model Divya Pahuja was found in a canal in Haryana in a decomposed state. The woman was shot dead on January 1 in a Gurugram hotel and her body was dumped in the Bhakra canal in Punjab, which drifted to neighbouring Haryana.

The police launched a massive operation to find the body after one of the accused said he had dumped the body in a canal in Punjab. Balraj Gill, an accomplice in the murder, was arrested from the Kolkata airport and told the police he had disposed of the body in Patiala, around 270 km from Gurugram, where the murder reportedly took place.

The body was found in a decomposed state by a team of Gurugram Police in Haryana’s Tohna. The cops identified the body through a tattoo on the back. The Gurgaon police officer Mukesh Kumar said, “We could identify the body with tattoos. There were two tattoos on the body found in the canal.” In one of the old pictures of Divya Pahuja, a tattoo of the same design is present at the same spot. The family of victim has been informed and the body will be sent for an autopsy and DNA testing, the police officer said.

Divya Pahuja was killed at a Gurgaon hotel on January 1, with CCTV footage showing killers dragging her body out of the hotel to a car.

The 27-year-old was taken to a hotel room by five men. She was shot in the head as she had allegedly been blackmailing the hotel owner with his obscene pictures, police said.

Sources said Pahuja allegedly had some obscene videos of the hotel owner Abhijeet Singh on her phone which he asked her to delete, but she refused. The former model was allegedly blackmailing with the photos and this led to Singh and at least two of his aides shooting her. Pahuja’s family has vehemently denied this charge.

The Gurugram police have arrested another accused who supplied the gun which was allegedly aused to kill the former model. Pravesh, a gangster, arranged the gun for Abhijeet, the main accused. The police recovered illegal weapons from his possession.

Divya Pahuja was in jail for her alleged involvement in the fake encounter of her then-boyfriend and Gurugram gangster Sandeep Gadoli in 2016. She had been granted bail in June last year.

Director Hansal Mehta has responded to National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah’s criticism of filming of a show in the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly complex, saying that such an “unwelcoming attitude” is the reason why India is considered an “unfriendly shooting location”.

Mr Abdullah, the former chief minister of the erstwhile state of J&K, had on Friday criticised the Jammu and Kashmir administration for allowing the shooting of Huma Qureshi-starrer “Maharani” inside the assembly complex and called it an “absolute shame”.

Mr Mehta, the maker of critically-acclaimed series like “Scam 1992” and “Scoop”, replied to Abdullah’s post on X, calling it “disrespectful” and “regressive”.

“Why is it a shame? How is filming of a drama demeaning democracy or the ‘mother of democracy’? Every body on a film set including actors, background actors (called ‘extras’ by you) are all citizens of this country and have every right to work with dignity and deserve respect and understanding- at least from somebody as educated as yourself,” the filmmaker said.

In countries around the world, filmmakers and actors are allowed to use public places, government buildings and council halls for shooting, Mr Mehta added.

“It is because of this unwelcoming attitude that India is considered an unfriendly shooting location and we often prefer shooting abroad. I have great respect for you but this feels very disrespectful, regressive and myopic,” the filmmaker said.

Why is it a shame? How is filming of a drama demeaning democracy or the ‘mother of democracy’? Every body on a film set including actors, background actors(called ‘extras’ by you) are all citizens of this country and have every right to work with dignity and deserve respect and… https://t.co/JlvalzhhU1

— Hansal Mehta (@mehtahansal) January 12, 2024

“Maharani”, created by Subhash Kapoor, was shot inside the assembly complex in Jammu in June last year. The series is inspired by political turns in Bihar in the 1990s when the then chief minister Lalu Prasad, mired in the infamous fodder scam, installed his wife Rabri Devi as his successor.

In his post on X, Mr Abdullah had said, “The true face of ‘the mother of democracy’, where once elected representatives of the people from all parties, religions, backgrounds & parts of J&K legislated on matters of great importance now actors & extras use it as a set for TV dramas.”

He said it was a “shame that the BJP driven government in J&K has reduced the symbol of democracy, where they once sat and governed, to this sorry state of affairs”.

Mr Abdullah further wrote, “They even have a fake CM coming out of an office I was privileged to occupy for 6 years. What an absolute shame!!!!” The J-K legislative assembly was dissolved by the Governor on December 20, 2018.

The true face of “the mother of democracy”, where once elected representatives of the people from all parties, religions, backgrounds & parts of J&K legislated on matters of great importance now actors & extras use it as a set for TV dramas. What a shame that the BJP driven… pic.twitter.com/kukyD0cQgt

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) January 12, 2024

There have been no assembly elections in J-K which was bifurcated into two Union territories – J-K and Ladakh – on August 5, 2019. The Centre also annulled Article 370 of the Constitution which accorded a special status to the erstwhile state. Ladakh is a Union Territory without assembly.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)