Archive for the ‘cinema’ Category

The HangoverIts The Hangover. By plagiarising or by buying the official remake rights. Its the Death at a Funeral of 2009. It was the same scene with Death At A Funeral last year and Indra Kumar made it into Daddy Kool. Ofcourse by plagiarising and had to pay later on. Click here for full report.

Back to The Hangover. It got the star ratings and box office business too. Whoever has seen it, loved it. Its the current remake favourite of bollywood. Almost every producer wants to remake it because in bollywood, comedy is considered to be safe bet always. Wish we could just learn one lesson for them. How they delivered such a big hit without any big names attached to it. Few things we will never learn.

Also in the queue, is a fourty plus actor who made headlines for his marriage, re-marriage & politics recently. He is already talking to the producers of the film. But it seems Warner Brothers is not willing to give the remake rights to anyone. They want to produce the remake themselves.

Looking at Warner Brothers’ slate of film here, Saans Bahu Aur Sensex & Chandi Chowk To China, we suggest that its better to make some money by selling the remake rights, instead of delivering one more dud. 

BTW, we loved it! Its the rudest, crudest & funniest film of the year! Don’t miss it. The fat bearded Jesus is the show stealer.

We never thought that we will suffer from K-mania but blame it on Vishal Bhardwaj. And with every small discovery we feel the same – Kaminey is Killer! The movie of the year. A regular reader of our blog mailed us a new poster of Kaminey. Have a look. It stars Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra.

Kaminey

For more posters of Kaminey, click here and here. For plot/story/synopsis click here.

The theatrical trailer of Mira Nair’s new film Amelia is out. It stars Hilary Swank, Richard Gere & Ewon McGregor.

Amelia is based on the life of legendary American pilot Amelia Earhart. She disappeared while flying over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 in an attempt to make a flight around the world. For wiki link on her, click here.

Why is Shah Rukh Khan digging his own grave ? Is it difficult to get the star quotient out of your head or is it impossible to hear anything beyond the voice of your cronies! That’s what it looks like. Reminds us of the film Luck By Chance and Hrithik Roshan talking to his image.

Raj Kumar HiraniRaj Kumar Hirani – Greed killed it. Hirani approached Shah Rukh Khan for Three Idiots. Khan offered to produce the film, pay him Rs 25 cr for writing-directing fees and asked Hirani to leave Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Lil did he expect that some people have the guts to say NO to Rs 25 crore. And a NO to Shah rukh Khan. Vidhu Vinod Chopra even asked Hirani to take the offer if Hirani wants it. But Hirani knew what he wanted. When Hirani said NO, Chopra wrote a letter to Shah Rukh Khan and made his views clear. Then the twist happened,  Hirani got Aamir Khan for the same film. Who is having the last laugh ? Need we say more.

Vishal BhardwajVishal Bhardwaj – Ego killed it. Some time back, Bhardwaj approached Shah Rukh Khan for a film. He narrated the script. Khan wanted changes. Disagreement. Vishal was trying to find a way. But Khan’s cronies made it ugly. As if the world moves according to Khan & his cronies, the script should be exactly what the King wants. Vishal left him. According to today’s Mumbai Mirror, now Hrithik Roshan is doing a film with Vishal Bhardwaj. We are waiting to hear more.

ashutosh gowarikerAshutosh Gowariker – Dumbness killed it. We are not great fans of Shah Rukh Khan – the actor. We love him for his intelligence & the great rise from being an outsider to the top. Swades & Kabhi Haan Kabhi Na – are the only two films of Khan which can tolerate. Rest is beyond us. But it seems Shah Rukh doesnt think so.  He wants commercial success.

According to this report, Shah Rukh doesn’t want to work with Ashutosh Gowariker anymore. Has he really lost it ? We think so. And hope that Gowariker gets someone better soon.

That leaves Shah Rukh Khan with only three directors – Karan Johar, Farah Khan & Aditya Chopra. And they will recycle him in same kind of dead boring roles.

Now compare it to Aamir Khan & the the directors that he has worked in recent past..

1. Raj Kumar Hiri – Three Idiots

2. A R Murugadoss – Ghajini

3. Amole Gupte ( writer/creative director ) – Taare Zameen Par 

4. Kunal Kohli – Fanaa 

5. Rakeysh Omprakash mehra – Rang De Basanti

6. Ketan Mehta – The Rising : Mangal Pandey

7. Farhan Akhtar – Dil Chahta Hai

Its not very difficult to guess that Aamir is willing to work with anyone who can convince him. Unlike Shah Rukh, he is not looking for “freinds” who can direct him. He is looking for “directors” who can direct him. And this is surely working in his favour. Shah Rukh, are you listening ? 

The teaser trailer of M Night Shyamalan’s new film The Last Airbender is out. The film has Dev Patel in the lead. For pics and plot, click here and here. The trailer follows.

A friend from Kolkata mailed us some pics to beat the Monday blues. And we are ROFL since we opened our mailbox. Take a look at the pics.

We hope you guys know who Claudia Ciesla is.  CC  ? Yeh the 38 DD babe! She made headlines because she knows Salman & his family, because Abhishek was ogling at her at the Cannes Film Festival and because she had some D-grade film release recently.

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Apu is back and how! We love and respect Soumitra Chatterjee for everything he does. But this one came as a big shocker! These are stills from a new bengali film Dus-ta dus ( as in 10:10).

And Claudie Ciesla in Tollywood! We had no clue. BTW, take a closer look at Soumitra Chatterjee’s Godfather T-shirt covering his pot belly. Whoever thought this, is surely drinking & smoking something ET !  

After Slumdog Millionaire, actor Irfan Khan has bagged one more international biggie. Though he is yet to sign the film but its more or less confirmed. Irrfan will soon be seen in Ang Lee’s next, an adaptation of Yann Martel’s popular fantasy adventure novel Life of Pi.

We hope its not going to be one more case of blink & miss role, like Anupam Kher in Ang Lee’s earlier film Lust, Caution. Even Irfan did something similar in The Darjeeling Limited. May be the money was too good to resist. BTW there is no official confirmation from Irfan yet on what role he is going to play in the film.

But we are more excited to see Irfan Khan with Natalie Portman in Mira Nair’s short Kosher Vegetarian which is part of New York, I Love You. Its a love story between a Gujrati man and a jewish girl and how they adjust with each other. Here are some pics from the location of the same.

As promised in our last post on Agyaat Contest, we are back with all the details about the contest. Ramu’s new film Agyaat is ready for release and to promote the film, he is doing this unique contest. Basically you have to shoot a short and scare, surprise or shock Ramu, and if you manage to do so, you can get a break. Read on. This is from Ramu’s facebook post.

ram-gopal-varmaWell if you see the location and concept of Agyaat. Why I wanted to make Agyaat is because I was always fascinated with making thrillers, that’s because I think thrillers give you the opportunity to use the medium more effectively than any other genre. Like using background score, to sound, to camera movements, to editing patterns… you can experiment alot.

And it’s watching thrillers all the time when I was a teenager that I really learnt whatever craft I’ve of film making. And I never believe that one needs to be an assistant director or go to an institute to understand the craft. I believe you must have a passion to tell a story , you need to have a clarity to explain to the actors and the concerned technicians about what is it exactly you want in a given shot.

Also, at the point when I became a director two years back there were no film tools available to anyone. So, it forced people to either become assistant directors or join an institute. but today that is not the case, any one with a digi-cam and laptop can make a film. Technology has given so much of freedom.

So in context to that, I just have this idea. Like I had an opportunity and I got a break and I could make a film. And I’m sure without any training and any access to the film industry plenty of you guys will arrive better than me but don’t have an access to the film industry.

WHAT  :  Agyaat Contest.

DURATION : If you can make a film in duration of may be probably between 10 seconds to 2mins or whatever. A SHORT FILM! And you send it for the Agyaat Short Film contest.

PRIZE : And whichever film is selected the best by us, me ( Ramu ) and UTV that is. Both me and UTV will make a short film, produce a short film and you will be the director of the movie.

So this is a great opportunity especially if you are interested in the genre. Again I want to stress that it is thriller genre that you can really catch because you don’t really need a story. You don’t need a beggining and an end. You can just attempt to create a moment out of nothing. Just in a shot.

It could intrigue you, it could scare you or surprise you or shock you…. What ever the emotion… It has to create one emotion and after that it is YOUR FILM!

All you have to do is enter the AGYAAT SHORT FILM contest!

WHERE : Upload it on the internet and send the link to agyaatshortfilms@utvnet.com Or Post it on a cd/dvd addressed to Aasif Ahmed, UTV Motion Pictures, 1181-82, Solitare Corporate , Guru Hargovindji Marg, Chakala, Andheir E, Mumbai – 400 093

LAST DATE : No details so far. We will try to get it and post it here. Updated : You have to submit the short film before 17th July 2009, the day Agyaat releases. We have been informed in the comments section ( by some soul called RGV, real or fake ?, who cares! the date is more important)  as well as by others about the date. Update 16/06 – We got to know today that the last date is 10th July, 2009.

So get your cameras rolling soon! All the best.

simon beaufoyIts official. Simon Beaufoy has confirmed the news to Daily Telegraph. You can read more about it  here. He is all set to write the next film for Danny Boyle. Its the Slumdog Millionaire team again.

And its an adaptation of Suketu Mehta’s book Maximum City : Bombay Lost & Found. Remember we told you first! Here is the post.

Danny boyle has bought the rights of the book. But the big problem is Maximum City is a non-fiction work. So Beaufoy’s job is to find a story in it first! Mehta’s book is  a collage of essays, travelogue and journalistic account.

maximum cityMaximum City : Bombay Lost & Found was shortisted for the Pulitzer Prize in 2005.

Simon Beaufoy is in talks with Mehta regarding the adaptation as he needs lot of creative liberties to make this non-fiction account into a fictional one.

anurag kashyapThe name is Kashyap. Anurag Kashyap. He talks the talks much more than walking the talks. But unlike others, he walks too. And this walking and talking has made him the poster boy of indie, intelligent and daring cinema of bollywood. 

The man is much smarter than the filmmaker. He has sold himself, his life, his stories, his thoughts and ofcourse his cinema too. With Dev D’s commercial success, he has proved that intelligent doesnt mean only flop. Now his name symbolises not just his films. Anurag Kashyap, is a brand of cinema now which has a cult following. His  fanboys may be much less in number compared to Shah Rukh Khan’s fans but then how many directors even manages to have fanboys! And his fans can be anything but they cant afford to be dumb. After all, you have to love No Smoking to begin with.

Kashyap will soon be seen presenting True Stories, a film series on real life stories that inspired films, on Fox’s History and Entertainment Channel. Here is the promo for the same. Its looks exciting and we will catch it for sure. But much more interesting is Kashyap in different get ups. Black, white, grey, with and without tie, with and without topi, he looks uncomfortable, and we are ROFL everytime we play the video. Enjoy!

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