what we are reading – EightandHalf
Films or no films, she manages it every year. And its the same scene this year. Aishwarya Rai is attending the Cannes Film Festival 2009. Justjared.com has some fourty pics of her on the red carpet of the opening film of the festival UP.
Here is the link to the photo feature. Enjoy!
Abhishek Bachchan and his sister Shweta Bachchan are on the cover of the new issue of fashion magazine L ‘Officiel. Here’s sneak peak. Daddy Amitabh Bachchan has posted the pics on his blog.
Now about the cover – its shot in london. But Abhishek and Shweta on the cover of L’Officiel ? on what basis ? Being fashion conscious or trend setter ? They are none. Well, Abhishek is atleast an actor, or trying to act. But Shweta ? All it matters is the surname. Thats it. Isnt it ? We will remain the same, inglorious bastards, cynics, skeptical about everyone’s success. Huh!
(In the pic: Taiwan actress Shu Qi, Italian actress Asia Argento, jury president and French actress Isabelle Huppert, American actress Robin Wright Penn and Sharmila Tagore )
Actress Sharmila Tagore is on the Cannes Film Festival jury this year.
This year’s festival jury is headed by French actress Isabelle Huppert. The other members of the jury are Asia Argento (Italy), Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkey), Lee Chang-Dong (South Korea), James Gray (US), Hanif Kureishi (UK), Shu Qi (Taiwan) and Robin Wright Penn (US).
pic courtesy – rediff.com
Pyaar Impossible is Yashraj Films Productions’ new movie starring Uday Chopra and Priyanka Chopra. Its a romantic comedy and is positioned as ” 1 beauty + 1 geek = PI ( Pyaar Impossible)”. Back to men from mars and women from venus concept! Guys, can we please have something new!
Anyway, Uday plays Abhay, a geeky guy and Priyanka plays Alisha. The film is directed by Jugal Hansraj and will have music by Salim-Suleiman. And here is the WTF info of the film – the film is written by UDAY CHOPRA! Yey, we are not joking!
For more details, here is the website link – www.pyaarimpossible.in . The website has an introduction by Uday Chopra, video blog by Jugal Hansraj on the first day of shoot and some pics of the film’s muhurat. The look of the leading actors of the film has not been revealed yet. Nothing impressive so far!
99 Film Review
There are films where you dont feel like entering the theatre post-interval. Not even with the caramel flavoured popcorn and coke. And this week’s release 99, directed by Krishna D K & Raj Nidimoru, is one such film. But in this case, the reverse is true. Its all about the second half.
After sitting through the boring first half, where actually nothing happens, its difficult to enter the theatre again for the 2nd half. (NOTHING means absolutely nothing ) Its all about set up in the first half. Setting up the characters, their traits, locations and the back stories. Its almost a never-ending loop. The same events again and again.
If you manage to sit through the 1st half, please make sure that you enter the theatre for the second half. Because the story moves in this half.
The year is 19-99. Two guys ( Kunal Khemu & Cyrus Broacha) with bad luck, who always get stuck at the crucial point before hitting the century, get into the messy business of cricket, betting and mobile rings. Its a con job with loads of fun, atleast for them.
And thats why the year ( 19-99) is significant. The year when mobile rings and betting scandals made the headlines. There is a great story idea there but the execution is so bad that everything seems dry and half-baked. Kunal and Cyrus, who end up working for the local don ( Mahesh Manjrekar) because of their bad luck, lands up in Delhi for some paisa vasooli. But its not what it seems, things go wrong, they meet the wrong guys and desperately look out for ways to get it all right. Enters Boman Irani and Vinod Khanna, the cricket maniac and the betting king!
Kunal-Khemu’s interaction with Soha Ali(as hotel executive) is so amateurish that you will cringe at their every interaction. Its the same story with Boman Irani and his wife, who are trying to sort out their marriage issues, it again goes in circles, scene after scene, they talk the same shit.
Mahesh Manjrekar as the local don, Cyrus Broacha as Khemu’s partner in crime, and Amit Mistry as Kuber steal the show.
Watch it, because there is nothing else in the theatres. And dont worry even if you enter post-interval. Infact, you should pay half the ticket price and enter post-interval only. And yah, the delhi destiny song is the best thing about the film.
Rating – 2/5.
Btw, Rediff’s film critic Raja Sen makes his filmy debut with this one. He is credited with the dialogues alongwith two other writers. We wonder what happened to Raja’s great cinematic insights on film writing. And here is Raja Sen trying his best to sell 99. And Here is how he came onboard. Sencity is sin city now!
Its still not all well between Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan. They just pretend, afterall they are good actors.
If gossipmongers are to be believed, Shah Rukh Khan will not be attending the forthcoming India International Film Academy (IIFA) Awards, of which Bachchan is the brand ambassador.
Since the last few years, the Wizcraft guys (organisers of IIFA Awards) have been trying their luck to get Shah Rukh Khan attend the awards. But Shah Rukh has skipped it every year, for some reason or the other. And this year, its the same story.
Afterall, we arent the only one who think IIFA stands for India International Film Awards of Amitabh & Abhishek Bachchan.
Mid-day has published on location pics of Ranbir Kapoor’s new film Rocket Singh – Salesman Of the year. The film is directed by Shimit Amin (Chak De India, Ab Tak Chappan)and written by Jaideep Sahni.
Its being currenty shot at Vrindavan Society in Thane. And if gossipmongers are to be believed the film is about a smart salesman who forms his own company within the company, where he is working. And people have no clue about the parallel company that Rocket Singh is running.
If you want a better look at Ranbir’s Rocket Singh look, here it is.
The Mozart of Madras might be busy with his numerous international projects, but on the election d-day A R Rahman came out of his home early morning to cast his vote. The Oscar winner cast his vote at 7:30 am. His polling station was at the MGR school in Kodambakkam, Chennai.
And guess who missed it, Kamal Hassan. Because his name was missing from the voters list. So, now will Kamal put this issue in the tamil remake of A Wednesday ?
The Diving Bell and the butterfly – in recent times, we havent seen a film more powerful than this one. When we heard the story, it seemed too difficult to be adapted into a film. When we saw the film, we had no words. Watch it to know the language of cinema.
Julian Schnabel, who directed The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is directing a new film called Miral. Its based on a book of the same name, written by Palestinian-Italian Rula Jebreal, who has co-written the script. Jebreal is a hugely popular broadcaster, known of her views on immigration and foreign affairs.
The book is about Hind Husseini, who attempts to open an orphanage, and eventually does, in Jerusalem after the war in 1948 and the struggles thereafter. The film’s events will start in 1948 and end with Husseini’s death in 1994. Hiam Abbas (The Visitor) plays the lead role in the film. Freida Pinto also stars in it, plays the role of a palestinian girl ( see pic).
The film is shot entirely in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
First came out the pics and now the video. Dev Patel and Freida Pinto were spotted together in Tel Aviv. Though the Slumdog Millionaire actors have denied any link ups but it seems they are a couple now. Freida is shooting for Julian Schnabe’s film Miral currently.
If you missed the pics, here is the link.
F.i.g.h.t C.l.u.b 