Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: Superstar Rajnikant‘s animation venture, Sultan – The Warrior, has been renamed as Hara.

Being produced and directed by the veteran‘s daughter Soundarya Rajnikant, the film has the Robot actor appearing in a live action role besides his 3D clone. Vidya Balan has been approached to share the screen space with Rajnikant.

The film is being executed at Soundarya‘s Chennai-based animation studio Ocher Studios. Initially planned to be made in 3D with a gigantic budget and the usage of advance technology like motion capture, the film is now going through a lot of creative changes.

KS Ravikumar will be co-directing Hara, one of the names of Lord Shiva, along with Soundarya.

MUMBAI: Sound designer Resul Pookutty is set to direct an emotional father-son story to star Amitabh Bachchan. He has been writing the script for some time.

“It‘s something that I‘ve been toying with for a long time. But it‘s too early to talk about it. It is indeed a very emotional father-son subject. While I was writing the script, I was immediately reminded of Amitabh Bachchan,” avered Pookutty.

Though the project has been thought about, the film will go on the floors next year after Pookutty finishes his second international project titled The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel directed by John Madden.

Said Pookutty, “I‘ve been in love with Madden‘s film Shakespeare In Love and now I‘m getting to work with him. The film has actors like Dame Judi Dench, Julie Christie, Tom Wilkinson and Peter O‘Toole. Fox Searchlight, that had produced Slumdog Millionaire called for me for the project and I felt honoured. I‘ll be doing live sound mixing of the film,” quipped the sound designer.

through his eyes won over Lee‘s heart and helped him pocket the role.
 

Producer: Mahendra Katariya Director: Himanshu Bhatt Cast: Jackie Shroff, Sameer Aftab, Sushant Singh, Yashpal Sharma, Akhilendra Mishra, Daya Shanker Pandey, Firoze Iran

MUMBAI: The electronic media theme seems to be in. Musaa: The Most Wanted, earlier titled Channel Ex, is one such film.

The channel, owned by Jackie Shroff, specialises in sting operations on the underworld.

The dons are upset with the channel and its owner who is now threatened by the underworld. During one such sting operation, a lady staffer of the channel is killed by the underworld don Baba Khan’s men. However, the tape she has shot contains some explosive footage on the don and chase for recovery begins. In the good old fashioned style, Shroff’s family members are kidnapped by the don. Finally, good triumphs over evil.

The problem with Musaa is it is a thriller which never thrills and characters as well as the events on the screen look make-believe. While the film has no entertainment quotient, the suspense it tries to create also falls flat. The hero, Sameer Aftab, shown to be an innocent victim of one such sting operation and his revenge drama look childish.

Jackie Shroff is okay while Aarti Puri as his wife makes her mark. Sameer Afatb’s character is ill-defined and hence fails to impress. Debutante Lijna Zariya can’t act. Sushant Singh and Yashpal Sharma are loud. Rest fill the bill.

Writer-director Himanshu Bhatt fails as the writer and hence fails as a director too. Dialogue is ordinary. The film has three music directors on its roaster but not a single hummable number. Technically the film is shoddy.

Musaa is a non-starter, a loser before it takes off.

Nakshatra: A script of convenience

Producer: Ravindra Singh Director: Mohan Savalkar Cast: Shubh, Sabina Sheema, Milind Soman, Anupam Kher, Anant Jog, Gajendra Chauhan

In a week of total duds, ‘no public-no show’ week, Nakshatra leads the pack.

If the film’s title is corny, the plot takes the cake. The title, it would seem, somehow attempts to relate the film to the moon and the 27 Nakshatras!! But, who cares! If you can’t tell a simple story simply, last thing you do is to complicate it further. This week’s theme seems to be ‘Suspense Thriller Sans Suspense’ and this film is exactly that; because its suspense you can guess rightly all along.

Subh Mukherjee is an aspiring script writer who, when an opportunity to write a film script comes his way, grabs it so he could prove himself to his girlfriend, Jiya. His script is accepted and he and Jiya are engaged to be married. Enter the ‘twists and turns’ department and Subh is arrested for a robbery. Anupam Kher is a well-wisher trying to help and Milind Soman plays the cop.

The problem with the film is that it is totally a script of convenience, no logic no reasons!

Director Mohan Savalkar can do little to salvage the film. Performances are uniformly listless.

Nakshatra is a lost case from the day it was launched.

MUMBAI: Co-producer and lead actor Vinay Pathak‘s last venture Dasvidaniya has been selected to be screened at The Film Festival Cottbus – Festival of East European Cinema, in its 20th Anniversary Celebration from 2 to 7 November.

The festival has also extended the invitation to Pathak to visit the festival as a guest as well. Both Shah and Pathak leave for Cottbus on 3 November.

Being scheduled this year‘s focus titled ‘Global East‘, dedicated to the influence of Eastern Europe on contemporary international cinema, the film has received an unique opportunity to be screened as an Indian film production for the very first time in the 20th edition of the Cottbus film festival that is otherwise devoted to Eastern European cinema.

The director of the film, Shashant Shah, has been invited to be a member of the International Festival Jury 2010. The five-member jury, all prominent film professionals from various countries and backgrounds, will have to evaluate 10 films to be screened in the competition section of feature films representing the cream of East European talent today.

All films will be shown in their Original language (with English subtitles, or in exceptional cases simultaneously translated into English).

The festival will be thrown open by the Prime Minister of the State of Brandenburg and Germany‘s minister for culture on 2 November in the presence of the guest, the Honorary President of Cottbus film festival, Oscar-winner István Szabó of Hungary.

The closing and award giving ceremony will take place on 6 November.

MUMBAI: Academy award winning director Ang Lee has finally found an actor to portray the protagonist in his ambitious project Life of Pi.

The Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hulk, Brokeback Mountain director has zeroed in on 17-year old Suraj Sharma from Delhi who managed to stand out among 3000 others who auditioned for the role.

Sharma, it is said, may not have any experience in acting but the manner in which he emoted through his eyes won over Lee‘s heart and helped him pocket the role.

Life of Pi, based on the Canadian author Yann Martel‘s Booker Prize winning-novel, tells the story of a boy Piscine Molitor ‘Pi‘ Patel from Pondicherry who survives 227 days after a shipwreck while stranded on a boat with a Bengal tiger. The film will be shot in India and Taiwan.

It is interesting to note that Sonu Sood is in talks with Lee to play the role of Pi‘s father.
 

MUMBAI: While Arbaaz Khan‘s Dabangg was enjoying its grand success, rumours were rife that a sequel to the film was being planned. But there was no confirmation from the producers end.

Then on the day the home video of Dabangg was being unveiled, Khan revealed that the sequel to Dabangg was definitely coming. It was well presumed that Abhinav Kashyap would direct the sequel too.

But Kashyap having recently signed a film with Ashtavinayak Cine Vision expressed his inability to helm the sequel citing time constraints. And it is now confirmed that Sohail Khan will now direct the sequel. The fact that youngest of the Khan brothers will be directing the film also lays to rest talks that there were problems between the two brothers.

The sequel now titled Robinhood Chulbul Pandey will go on the floors early next year. The producer wants the sequel to be a much bigger and better film. The cast of the film will remain the same.
 

MUMBAI: Preity Zinta, known for her performances in films like Mission Kashmir and Dil Chahta Hai, will be conferred a doctorate by the University of East London at a function on 29 October. Later in the evening, Zinta will attend the Loomba Foundation Diwali dinner at the Guild Hall where the deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Lord Navnit Dholakia, deputy leader of the Lib Dem at the House of Lords, will also be present.

Zinta has acted in over 30 films in Bollywood as well as in Telugu, Punjabi and English language films

The 35-year-old star made her acting debut with Mani Ratnam‘s Dil Se in 1998 followed by a role in Soldier the same year. These performances earned her a Filmfare Best Female Debut Award. She was later recognised for her role as a teenage single mother in Kya Kehna (2000).

The actress received her first Filmfare Best Actress Award in 2003 for her performance in Kal Ho Naa Ho. She went on to play the lead female role films in India Koi Mil Gaya and cross border romance Veer-Zaara, that earned her critical acclaim.

Her first international film role was in the Canadian film Heaven on Earth for which she got the Silver Hugo Award for Best Actress at the 2008 Chicago International Film Festival.
 

NEW DELHI: Sanjay Sharma‘s controversial film on homosexuality, Dunno Y… Na Jaane Kyun, has been put off for a Diwali release on 5 November.

The film, which has been garnering praises and applause internationally for its controversial subject, was supposed to release this on 29 October.

The decision was taken by the producers due to the ire of the Youth unit of a right wing party who kept on sending threats to the makers of the film, given its bold subject of portraying homosexual relationship.

The youth wing says homosexuality is against the culture of the country in spite of the Delhi High Court ruling on Article 377. The gay activists are furious since they consider that it is their legal rights and feel that whoever says being gay is against Indian culture should be educated that it existed since ancient times.

The actors have also been getting threatening mails from hard-line individuals and organisations over the last week warning them with dire consequences if the film was released.

The makers of the film are concerned about the security and concerns of their stakeholders and partners. But to avoid any unforeseen circumstances, they have invited the protesters to watch the film so that they can release it next week without any further obstacles.

Though the film is about the multi-layered emotional conflict in an Anglo Indian Family, it is Bollywood‘s first mainstream film that tackles gender issues and biases against gays.

Gay activists are unanimous that unlike other films like Dostana, which is more of a parody on gays, Dunno Y..Na Jaane Kyun is the first mainstream film that addresses the emotional issues of gays in a sensitive manner.

MUMBAI: Celina Jaitley, brand ambassador of Egypt, has been named to officiate as one of the jury members of the forthcoming Cairo Film Festival.

Egypt, which also happens to be one of this Celina‘s favourite destinations, holds not just lots of significance, but also a special place in her heart. 

Talking about this development, Jaitley said that she was looking forward to being the jury of one of the most esteemed film festivals of the world.

MUMBAI: A few days ago we had reported that Kunal Deshmukh would direct a film called XXX for Vishesh Films in which Emraan Hashmi would play a stellar role.

The cat is out of the bag and it is now revealed that Hashmi would either play Bill Clinton or someone like him. The plot of the film is a takeoff on the controversial Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky affair that made the headlines all over the world.

Hashmi will be seen playing a dashing young president who gets embroiled in the controversy.

The female lead is yet to be finalised.