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Category: Movies

  • Uncut version of ‘Nymphomaniac: Volume I’ to premiere at the Berlin Film Fest

    Uncut version of ‘Nymphomaniac: Volume I’ to premiere at the Berlin Film Fest

    MUMBAI: Lars von Trier’s hard-core director’s cut for his erotic epic Nymphomaniac won’t be going to Cannes but will instead premiere at the Berlinale in February. The 64th Berlin International Film Festival will present the world premiere of Volume I of the long uncut version of Nymphomaniac, out of competition.

     

    Alongside starring actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, numerous other international stars are part of the Nymphomaniac ensemble: Stellan Skarsg?rd, Shia LaBeouf, Christian Slater, Jamie Bell, Uma Thurman, Willem Dafoe, Jean-Marc Barr, Udo Kier and many others. British actress Stcy Martin celebrates her big screen debut with Nymphomaniac.

     

    “Berlinale audiences will be the first to see the long uncut version of Nymphomaniac Volume I. Lars von Trier, a guest of the Berlinale for the first time in 1984, returns to the festival with this film. The aesthetic he has created in Nymphomaniac is impressive and radical,” said Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick in a release.

     

    Nymphomaniac is the wild and poetic story of one woman’s journey from birth to age 50, as told by the main character, self-diagnosed nymphomaniac Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg). One cold winter evening, the old and charming bachelor Seligman (Stellan Skarsg?rd) finds Joe beaten up in an alley. He takes her to his flat, where he tends to her wounds while asking about her life. He listens intently as Joe tells the lush, branched-out and multifaceted story of her life, in eight chapters.

     

    Von Trier, 57, won the Cannes Palme d’Or in 2000 for the death-row melodrama Dancer in the Dark starring Bjork and Catherine Deneuve and picked up its Jury Grand Prize for Breaking the Waves in 1996. The shorter version approved by Lars von Trier will open worldwide in cinemas starting 25 December, 2013.

     

    The Berlinale will open on 6 February with an all-star romp by US director Wes Anderson at the Grand Budapest Hotel and wrap up on 16 February.

  • Deepika hasn’t replaced Kareena in Shuddhi: Karan Johar

    Deepika hasn’t replaced Kareena in Shuddhi: Karan Johar

    NEW DELHI: Rumour mills have it that Deepika Padukone has replaced Kareena Kapoor in Karan Johar’s Shuddhi that is being directed by Karan Malhotra. However, these reports have amused Kareena and everyone else associated with the film as there is no truth to this.

     

    The filmmaker from Dharma Production clarifying the same said in a release: “Kareena Kapoor is very much a part of Shuddhi that stars Hrithik Roshan, directed by Karan Malhotra. The film will commence next year..” 

    On his part, Karan Malhotra (of Agneepath fame), who is helming the project, also rubbished the rumours and said: “Kareena is very much part of the film. It (rumours of Deepika Padukone doing the film) is not true. We have not approached anyone. It is one hero-heroine project… So it’s only Kareena in the film.”

     

    If sources are to be believed, Kareena is confirmedly a part of the film and has already allotted bulk dates for the same .She is very excited to be reuniting onscreen with Hrithik Roshan since their chemistry has always spelled magic at the box office.

  • Aamir vs Aamir

    Aamir vs Aamir

    MUMBAI: Dhoom 3 proves to be a good sequel, for once. Unlike many films that simply use the name and brand, it actually carries on the characters from previous movies. Once again, Abhishek Bachchan and Uday Chopra, two Mumbai cops are chasing after a villain, this time as a team sent to Chicago Police to solve a case of bank robberies. The reason being that the thief leaves a message in Hindi and it is assumed that he has to be an Indian.

    Dhoom 3 starts off by setting a tempo for the fast-paced thriller that it promises to be with Uday and Abhishek demonstrating their fighting instincts and coordination as they take on a local basti don in Mumbai. As the action moves to Chicago, it is Aamir’s turn to show his mastery with his bike. In fact, Aamir’s arsenal of gears and gadgets would give James Bond a complex!

    Aamir’s story dates back 25 years to when his father, Jackie Shroff, ran The Great Indian Circus in Chicago. The circus had not been doing too well and the local bank owner threatened to attach the circus if Shroff didn’t not manage to pay off his dues within five days; Shroff devised a new circus act which he was sure would revive his circus and pleads for a little more time. When refused, Shroff kills himself. Aamir is now grown up and ready to take revenge for his father’s death, which he calls murder. His plan is to ruin the bank, force its closure. He robs the bank’s branches one after the other. His style is that when he robs a bank, he throws a part of his loot on streets outside the bank and watches people pounce on this rain of dollars. The bank is losing reputation as well as standing in the stock market.

    What makes these heists exciting is their aftermath as Aamir charts his escape in a long chase by the police with his multipurpose bike. In fact, he is techno savvy and all his robberies and escapes are executed with the help of many gadgets. It is time to get Abhishek and Uday in on the scene. It is also the time for Aamir to revive The Great Indian Circus and to get the glamour quotient on the scene. Katrina Kaif is trying to get a break into the circus but dressed like a geek, she does not impress Aamir’s assistant who keeps rejecting her. Aamir agrees to give her five minutes to prove her talent and sees a geek turn out to be a glamour doll.

    Producer: Aditya Chopra.
    Director: Vijay Krishna Acharya.
    Cast: : Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif, Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra, Jackie Shroff.

    Having opened up the other side of the story, that of the circus and its background, it is time to spring a surprise on the viewer; there are two Aamirs. The other one is always in the background because he suffers from autism, due to which faces communication problems and has strange mannerisms. That is the circus’s secret behind their most famous trick where Aamir enters a wooden box on stage but emerges from some other corner of the hall. (This seems lifted straight from The Prestige, which tells a similar story about a magician.)

    As Abhishek and Uday try to solve the jigsaw puzzle, they spy on Aamir and follow the closet Aamir on his once a week Sunday outing. Abhishek makes sure he drives a rift between the brothers. Sadly, these plots make Abhishek look more like a villain than a supporting actor! These manoeuvres also make the proceedings very slow and insipid especially after the racy first half had set the pace. As the Aamir brothers embark on the last leg of their ‘destroy the bank’ operation, there is one more chase before the film ends by springing another surprise.

    Being third in the Dhoom trilogy, some may make comparisons and feel that story/script wise D2 was better; however, this film is much more ambitious, lavishly shot and full of special effects. It has good music that is very well choreographed and the film is a visual delight. With other characters being insignificant, the film is Aamir vs Aamir talent showcase as he gets to juxtapose two totally different characters in the same frame most of the time. He is simply amazing. Katrina Kaif is the other character who gets some importance in this film and she does very well while also excelling in dance numbers. Abhishek gets no scope while Uday is the joker in the pack. Direction is competent and handling of double roles is apt. Technically the film is very good.

    Dhoom 3 is set to shatter collection records and create some of its own new records. Expectations were high from the trade and especially the exhibitors and it will live up to them.

  • The Lunchbox wins more international awards

    The Lunchbox wins more international awards

    NEW DELHI: The Lunchbox has won the highest number of awards with three awards – Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) and Outstanding Achievement for star Irrfan Khan – at the 56 Asia-Pacific Film Festival held in Macau.

     

     Kore-Eda’s Like Father, Like Son won the two top awards of Best Picture and Best Director.

     

     Hong Kong producer Nansun ShiI served as the head of the jury. She was joined by China’s Zhang Zhao, Malaysia’s Afdlin ShaukiI, Taiwan’s Sylvia Chang and South Korea’s Hur Jin-ho.

     

     Meanwhile, The Lunchbox has also won two awards at the 10th Dubai International Film Festival held in the Madinat Arena of the Madinat Jumeirah resort: Irrfan Khan received Best Actor for his role portraying the role of a lonely man nearing retirement. Director Ritesh Batra shared the Special Mention for his screenplay with Souleymane Démé for his role in Grigris, a France-Chad co-production.

     

     The best director went to India’s Sandeep Ray for Thin Arms in the Muhr AsiaAfrica Shorts competition.

     

     The president of the AsiaAfrica Feature jury was Indian film-maker Shekhar Kapur. Its members include Lebanese actress Carole Abboud and cinematographer Tareq El-Telmissany. Kapur thanked his five-member jury, saying “We started with complete disagreement but within two or three hours ended in complete agreement. So we did our job well.”

  • Kareena Kapoor heads for an unconventional path, career-wise

    Kareena Kapoor heads for an unconventional path, career-wise

    MUMBAI: Kareena Kapoor Khan is keen to balance her work in commercial cinema with more challenging films. The 32-year-old Pataudi bahu has announced that she has been signed by director Dev Benegal for Bombay Samurai which features Farhan Akhtar as well as by Rohit Shetty for the sequel of Singham.

     

    While projects with Sudhir Mishra and Aanand Rai are also under discussion, Dibakar Banerjee is keen to cast the actress in his next film venture. Kapoor recently admitted that she missed out on working with Ram Leela director Sanjay Leela Bhansali after she walked out of the film, but claims she has “no regrets.”

  • Disneys upcoming movie to star Australian newcomer Mitchell Hope

    Disneys upcoming movie to star Australian newcomer Mitchell Hope

    Disney Channel has finally found its lead in the Australian newcomer, Mitchell Hope for its upcoming live-action adventure movie, Descendants. Hope has been cast to play Ben, the son of Beauty (Queen) and the Beast (King). Hope joins Dove Cameron (Liv & Maddie), who will star as Mal, daughter of Maleficent, the malevolent villain from Sleeping Beauty.

     

    Descendants is set in a present day idyllic kingdom, where the benevolent teenaged son of the king and queen (Beast and Belle from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast) is poised to take the throne. His first proclamation: offer a chance at redemption to the trouble-making offspring of Cruella De Vil, Maleficent, the Evil Queen and Jafar who have been imprisoned on a forbidden island with all the other villains, sidekicks, evil step-mothers and step-sisters. These villainous descendants (Carlos, Mal, Evvie and Jay, respectively) are allowed into the kingdom to attend prep school alongside the offspring of iconic Disney heroes including Fairy Godmother, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and Mulan. However, the evil teens face a dilemma. Should they follow in their nefarious parents’ footsteps and help all the villains regain power or embrace their innate goodness and save the kingdom?”

     

    The film will be written by Josann McGibbon whose earlier work includes: Runaway Bride and Desperate Housewives and Sara Parriott (The Starter Wife) and directed by Kenny Ortega (High School Musical). The film’s scheduled to start production in 2014 spring and is slated for a 2015 premiere.

     

    Hope’s previous work includes TV mini-series Never Tear Us Apart: the Untold Story of INXS.

  • Sony Pictures India releases an exciting slate of Hollywood movies for 2014-2015

    Sony Pictures India releases an exciting slate of Hollywood movies for 2014-2015

    As we ready ourselves to enter into the New Year, even production houses have chalked out their plans to entertain viewers with the big releases. One of those is Sony Pictures India that has released its slate of Hollywood movies for 2014-2015.

     

     Kicking off the New Year will be Carrie on 17 January, the supernatural horror reimagining of the 1976 cult classic, based on the bestselling Stephen King novel about a shy, alienated girl who unleashes telekinetic terror on her small town after being pushed too far at her senior prom.

     

    Following this, will be the release of Robocop on Valentine’s Day (14 February), another re-envisioning of the hit 1987 film about a bionic man facing humankind’s ever daunting question on who wins in the end: man or machine?

     

    Another remake soon follows suit on 11 April in the form of About Last Night, a reboot of the 1986 film of the same name, which was based on the 1974 David Mamet play, Sexual Perversity In Chicago.

     

    On 2 May, Peter Parker returns to fight against Electro, a formidable villain who has terrorised New York City in Spider Man 2.

     

    20 June would witness the release of two of the most highly anticipated movies of 2014, the first being Heaven Is For Real, about a small-town father who must find the courage and conviction to share his son’s extraordinary, life-changing experience with the world, and the next being 22 Jump Street, the sequel to 2012 box office hit 21 Jump Street, about two police officers going undercover as adolescent students at a local school.

     

    25 July would see the release of the Eric Bana-starrer Deliver Us From Evil. On 8 Aug, watch a married couple wake up to discover that the sex tape they made the evening before has gone missing, leading to a frantic search for its whereabouts in Sex Tape.

     

    Think Like A Man Too, another sequel, of the 2012 film will release on 29 August. Next up will be No Good Deeds, a movie about a former district attorney turned stay-at-home mom and her two small children who are terrorised and kidnapped after she invites a handsome but mysterious stranger into their home to wait for help after his car runs off the road releasing on 26 September.

     

    The Equalizer would release on 3 October, the storyline follows a retired intelligence officer Robert McCall who turns into a vigilante for the helpless. Ending the year on high note on 14 November would be The Interview, a movie about a late night talk show host and his producer best friend, approached by the CIA and asked to assassinate Kim, a mysterious and ruthless dictator of a nuclear-armed North Korea making them two of the least qualified men ever to assassinate – or interview – the most dangerous man on earth.

     

    Films slated for release in 2015 includes Annie, Kitchen Sink, Chappie, the new James Bond movie, and the latest installments in The Smurfs and Hotel Transylvania franchise.

  • Kamal Haasan roots for Bengaluru to hold FICCI MEBC in future

    Kamal Haasan roots for Bengaluru to hold FICCI MEBC in future

    BENGALURU: The fifth edition of the FICCI MEBC (Media and Entertainment Business Conclave) came to a new location this year to IT City Bengaluru. MEBC president and actor Kamal Haasan rooted for Bengaluru to be a recurring location for the conclave to be held.

    Among the people present at the inaugural function were Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, Information and Broadcasting secretary Bimal Julka, Film Federation of India president Ravi Kottarakara, Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce president H D Gangaraju, Karnataka government IT BT and S&T secretary Srivatsa Krishna and Association of Bangalore Animation Industry president and technicolor India head Biren Ghose.

    “Bengaluru is the second largest IT hub in the world after Silicon Valley and in the years to come we want to surpass even Silicon Valley to become the hub of innovation and convergence of media and entertainment,” said Krishna.

    Kamal Haasan said that Bengaluru has all the things needed to make it an IT hub as well as keep FICCI MEBC going in the city. “We will give a push to the digital medium,” he added.

     

    Siddaramaiah emphasised the need for building qualitative online content that will give advertisers innovative ways to reach out to people. “The industry should look at remaking old movies with good value and rich in vernacular content,” he said. He also urged the need for creating programming and growth friendly policies for industry.

    Issues that were concerning the film industry were also raised by Kottarakara such as service tax and lack of support from banks for movie funding. “Film making is put in the ‘sinful’ industry along with gambling, drinking and smoking. It is not so,” he said.

    The sessions for the two day event included ‘formulating and implementing a viable media and entertainment policy for a state’, ‘reshaping mobile entertainment in the era of digital revolution’, ‘the challenge of news: defining number one in the dizzying newscape’, ‘the broadcasting ecosystem in the digital era’, ‘customising global VFX for Indian cinema’, ‘emerging trends of Indian IP in animation and their exploitation’, ‘the emerging gaming industry in southern India’, ‘emerging technologies and the impact on media and entertainment industry’ and ‘changing trends in regional TV: ratings, content and formats’.

  • Bombay HC asks board to reconsider certification of Bhansalis film

    Bombay HC asks board to reconsider certification of Bhansalis film

    MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed the appellate tribunal of the Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) to reconsider the U/A certification given to Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s recently released film, Goliyon Ki Rasleela – Ramleela.

     

    An observation was made by the Division Bench of Justices V M Kanade and M S Sonak that the CBFC did not apply its mind while granting certification to the film. The court was acting on a petition filed by Sandeep Shukla, a member of the Congress and vice-president of Shree Maharashtra Ramleela Mandal. The mandal organises Ramleela every year during Navratri at Azad Maidan. Shukla claimed that the film’s title is misleading and the contents have hurt the religious sentiments of followers of Hindu deity Ram and Hanuman.

     

    The court asked the CBFC to consider whether the guidelines of the Cinematograph Act were followed before granting certification to the movie. “Utmost care has to be taken by the board in such cases and ensure that the guidelines are followed and that there are no violations,” said the court.

     

    Although the board tried to convey to the court that the guidelines were followed in their view, the judges were not satisfied and said that there has been non-application of mind. The judges said that the

     

    board did not apply its mind while granting certification to Bhansali’s movie. They also noted that the CBFC has to be careful in the future while issuing certification to movies.

     

    The petition was filed against director and producer of the movie Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the Production Company, Eros International Media Limited and the CBFC, which granted the film a U/A certificate on 1 November. The court also directed the CBFC to see if any content of the movie or its title has violated any fundamental rights of citizens as alleged by the petitioner and disposed of the petition.

     

    According to the petition, the term ‘Ramleela’ has been historically associated with the plays depicting the life of Ram. Since the movie is based on a love story and not on the conventional meaning attributed to ‘Ramleela’, the petitioners claimed that the producers are “deliberately and intentionally” using the term for commercial success.
    “The commercial exploitation of the word ‘Ramleela’ amounts to infringement. The defendants cannot be allowed to misuse the same for their commercial venture,” the petition stated.

  • Akshay Kumar & Ashvini Yardi to release Fugly on 16 May 2014

    Akshay Kumar & Ashvini Yardi to release Fugly on 16 May 2014

    NEW DELHI: After the success of their first venture OMG: Oh My God!, actor Akshay Kumar and Ashvini Yardi are all set to release Fugly, a coming-of-age drama set in the by lanes of Delhi.

     

    The film’s release date has just been announced as 16 May 2014.

     

    Produced by the Grazing Goat Pictures and directed by Kabir Sadanand, Fugly is shot extensively in Delhi and the breathtaking locations of Leh. It is the story of four friends – Dev, Devi, Gaurav and Aditya and how this carefree bunch, at the threshold of their lives, get caught in a Fugly incident, which sucks them slowly into the big bad world of corruption, politics and the real society in the capital.

     

    The central characters are played by an ensemble of some of the freshest faces to emerge from India: Anil Kapoor’s nephew Mohit Marwah, Olympic medalist Boxer Vijender Singh, grand niece of Sayed Jaffery Kiara Advani and Slumdog Millionaire actor Arti Lamba will make their Bollywood debuts in the film. The film also sees the fondly remembered Anjali, from the 1998 blockbuster, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Sana Saeed, in a special song and Jimmy Shergill who returns to the big screen after Bullet Raja.

     

    With Fugly, Akshay and Ashvini have followed up the huge success of their first film venture, OMG: Oh My God, and their regional successes, the critically acclaimed Marathi film 72 Miles Ek Pravas, and the Punjabi comic-caper ‘Bhaji in Problem’.

     

    Spearheading investment into quality, subject-driven film-making, Grazing Goat Pictures is taking Hindi and regional cinema to new heights with a range of innovative and fresh projects.