Archive for the ‘first look’ Category

When there is a new Pepsi/Coke campaign on air, you know that summer is near. Coke launched its new campaign with a new brand ambassador – Imran Khan. This is the first brand endorsement deal of Imran Khan. And he follows the footsteps of Mamujaan Aamir Khan who has been endorsing Coke since last few year.

Imran stars with Kalki Koechlin in the new Tv commercial. The new campaign “Open Happiness” has been conceptualised by the creative team of McCann Erickson that includes Prasoon Joshi, Ashish Chakravarty, Tirtha Ghosh and Nakul Sharma. And the film has been directed by Dibakar Banerjee. If you havent seen it yet, click the play button.

First look of two new films are out. Priyadarshan’s Bumm Bumm Bole and Mahesh Manjrekar’s City Of Gold. Have a look.

Bumm Bumm Bole is an official adaptation of Majid Majidi’s acclaimed film Children Of Heaven. Its produced by Percept Picture Company and stars Darsheel safary. The Remake Master continues remaking.

Mahesh Manjrekar’s City Of Gold is set in Mumbai’s mills era. Here is the official synopsis of the film…

Today, there is hardly anyone who hasn’t visited the swanky shopping malls, nightclubs, lounge bars, clubs and other such lifestyle destinations that sprung up across the centre of Mumbai. However, very few know that buried deep below these glittering edifices to consumerism lies the dark, dirty and painful reality of many thousands of mill workers who once worked the cotton mills in this very same area. Rising and toiling to the wail of the mill sirens each and every day, seven days a week, these workers embodied the true unbridled zeal and unflagging spirit of the city and played a pivotal role in the evolution of Mumbai as the modern day business capital of India.

And then it suddenly was as if they never existed. Following the mill workers strike in the mid-80s, these mills began closing down rapidly and the mill-workers mysteriously disappeared. What happened to them, and where they went is one of the most shameful secrets that the city of Mumbai will have to bear for generations, one that until now has always been spoken about in hushed whispers.

City of Gold – the story of these long-forgotten masses – not only explores the apathy of these mill workers narrated through the story of one such family, but is also a take-no-prisoners account of the birth of the true underbelly of organized crime in Mumbai.

The film traces the birth of the politics of greed in Mumbai and exposes the unholy collusion between the triumvirate of big business, the political establishment and the trade union leaders who ostensibly were charged with protecting the rights of the mill workers. In the two decades that followed, the entire landscape of Central Mumbai was changed forever. Land became the currency of growth, and this began the systematic extinction of mills in Mumbai. In a matter of just a few years, hundreds of thousands of workers lost their means of livelihood. Having worked in these mills from generation to generation, this was the only vocation that they knew.

Many left Mumbai and went back to their ancestral homes, some others chose to stay back and fight what they soon realised was a losing battle, some took the extreme step of ending their miserable lives, and still some others took to a world of crime.

Truth… as is said, is stranger than fiction. But the truth that the film uncovers is not just stranger but darker and dirtier than any mind has ever imagined. Produced by DAR Motion Pictures and from the Director of dark and realistic films like Vaastav – Mr Mahesh Manjrekar, ‘City of Gold’ takes another trip down memory lane…. just that this time around the result is a much more heart wrenching, soul stirring and shocking film about human avarice and apathy.

The film doesn’t provide any direct solutions. Yet it shatters many a myth and raises many a question which only the passage of time will provide answers to.

To know more about the film, click here for the official website.

As if one Shah Rukh Khan wasnt enough, now we have a doggie version too! Awwwww…wwwwful! Or is this the Aamir’s doggie who was named after King Khan ? Koochi Koochie Hota Hai is the animated (read doggie) version of Karan Johar’s Kuch Kuch Hota hai.

Its directed by Tarun Mansukhani and has voiceovers by Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Rani Mukherjee, Sanjay Dutt, Riteish Deshmukh, Simi Agarwal, Anupam Kher, Uday Chopra and Sajid Khan. Guess who is not here ? Salman Khan. Missing In Action. And you dont need to be genius to guess the reason.

And whoever thought about the “Koochie Koochie” title, needs to get into doggie avatar soon. Woof teri ada, woof tera badan, woof woof tera ya title! The trailer looks, sounds and feels terrible! And more so, because in a year when UP makes it to the Oscar nomination in the Best Film category, we are still rewinding back to Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Spare us. We are not buying the tickets! Feels like its made for Under-5 category! Take a look.

  

This is the first look of Badmaash Company.  Its produced by Yashraj Films, written and directed by Parmeet Sethi.  The film stars Shahid Kapoor and  Anushka Sharma. The other actors on the poster are Meiyang Chang and Vir Das. 

According to official release, Badmaas Company is an extraordinary story set in the 90’s in middle class Mumbai of four young friends who get together to start a company. Their business is an instant hit because they find a way to beat the system. Rocket Singh Redux ? Will keep you posted as soon as you get to know.

After writing more than a dozen shitty films, Milap Zaveri has turned director with Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai. The film is produced by Nikhil Advani & Mukesh Talreja, presented by Warner Brothers and stars Ritesh Desmukh and Jacqueline Fernandez. Aladin again ? Ritesh looks, acts and talks the same! Straight from Aladin and his co-star is again the same. Baki kahani trailer me.

After the teasers and the song promos, the theatrical trailer of Farhan Akhtar-Deepika Padukone starrer Karthik Calling Karthik is out. Its directed by debutant Vijay Lalwani.

Such a long wait! All you Hrithik Roshan fans, enjoy! The theatrical trailer of the film Kites is finally out. So far we have seen only bits and pieces of the film footage which got leaked out from the Cannes market. But now here is the complete trailer. And this one seems to be different from the earlier one.

The film is directed by Anurag Basu, produced by Rakesh Roshan and stars Hrithik Roshan, Barbara Mori and Kangana Ranaut. It has been ready  for quite sometime but nobody was willing to buy it because the price was damn high. But seems its ready to roll out soon.

The first few seconds of the trailer really scared us. It looks like Blue part 2. And then its Lost in Translation with sea, sun, sex, stunts, bikes, babes, barbara, action and more!

And if you want to know more about Kites, click here to read how it scored big zero at the Cannes Film Festival.  For Kites synopsis/story/plot click here and for pics, clips, promo & website details, you can click here and here. And if you are looking for Barbara Mori & her kissing scenes click here.

This is the first still of Ashutosh Gowariker’s new film Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey, which has tweeted by Abhishek Bachchan. It also stars Deepika Padukone and Sikander Kher. The film is produced by PVR Pictures and is almost complete.

The film is based on journalist Manini Chatterjee’s book Do and Die on Chittagong uprising. Its pitched as a period thriller in which Abhishek plays the title role of revolutionary Surjya Sen, popularly known as Masterda.

Click here and here to read two reviews of the book Do and Die. The first one was published in Outlook and the second is from The Sunday Tribune. The Outlook review is copy-pasted  here also. Just scroll down. The review follows….

Our history texts hardly have place today for the Chittagong armoury raids, then described by a British bureaucrat as having “no parallel in Bengal since the Mutiny of 1857”. This well researched book was thus necessary. Chatterjee has tracked down masses of documents relating to the raids and met surviving members of Surjya Sen’s (Masterda) army, to produce a gripping narrative. The book’s signal triumph is that it never tries to hide the fact that this entire amateurish adventure was a series of tragic blunders.

Sen’s men took control of the armoury, but found only arms, no ammunition; they didn’t know that arms and ammunition are never stored together. A young revolutionary forgot a simple truth – that you don’t light a matchstick while standing in a pool of petrol – and threw the entire field plan into disarray, something from which it never recovered. One of the leaders, Ananta Singh, was emotionally unstable. Another, Pritilata Waddadar, was driven by a death wish. And finally, Masterda was leading a bunch of schoolboys – the youngest was only 13 – into war against the British Army.These boys never lost faith. On Jalalabad’s hills they fought Gurkha machine-gunners with muskets. The British threw their bodies into a pit and mass-burnt them. Gandhi had not a word to say about them, reserving his commiserations for the mother of Vithaldas, who, as part of Gandhi’s anti-liquor campaign, tried chopping a toddy tree and fatally wounded himself. Chatterjee captures the injustice in one reverberating sentence: “Even martyrdom, it would seem, lies in the ideology of the bestower.” 

You could call these people suicidal fools, but their courage shines through every page of this valuable book. Only two complaints: towards the end, Chatterjee can’t keep her political biases out, and she omits the survivor’s later lives (some had very chequered careers). But overlook that. Read this book and give it to your children, so they know about these misguided warriors who briefly halted the British empire in its tracks. 

At 75, he is still going strong! After his last delightful small film Welcome To Sajjanpur, Shyam Benegal is ready with his new film titled Well Done Abba.

The film is produced by Reliance Big Picturs and stars Boman Irani in double role along with Minissha Lamba and Sammir Dattani.  Its written by Ashok Mishra and is based on two short stories – ‘Narsaiyyan Ki Bavdi’ by Jeelani Bano and ‘Phulwa Ka Pul’ by Sanjeev. The first trailer of the film is out. Have a look. Seems like its in the same space as Sajjanpur.

 And here is the official synopsis of the film…

Armaan Ali, played by comic hero Boman Irani, is a middle aged driver for a city executive. He takes a month’s leave and, when he arrives back at work three months later, his boss, understandably, threatens to sack him. To save his job, charming Armaan spins a fabulous story of why he was delayed in getting his daughter married.

Fable or truth, the boss isn’t quite sure, but the story revolves around a central question – how a well, once dug, can be stolen? Unearthed in Benegal’s part comedy, part political satire, is a hilarious and poignant depiction of the double dealing and corrupt middle men intrinsic to Indian rural politics. Meanwhile, at the heart of the story is a delightful romance between Armaan’s daughter and a young, honest mechanic who saves the day.

If others are here, can Walt Disney be far behind! In a country where there are more than half a dozen tv channels for kids, it cant be bad. Walt Disney is ready with its debut desi production titled Zokkomon.

The film is directed by Satyajit Bhatkal, Aamir Khan’s good friend and director of Chalo Chalo, the documentary on making of Lagaan. The film stars Darsheel Safary, Manjhari Phadnis and Anupam Kher. And if our sources are to be believed, the budget of the film is 22 crores! Yes, debut director, Darsheel in the lead and 22 crores!

Check it out, the teaser looks dull and boring.

According to official release, Zokkomon is is a thrilling and heart-warming action packed adventure about an ordinary boy who rises to meet extraordinary challenges.  Kunal, an orphaned boy, discovers how cruel life is when he is abandoned by his heartless uncle. Left to fend for himself, Kunal soon realizes the hero within and begins his epic journey of adventure and transformation to become Zokkomon. Ah, every formula of superhero is here!

Its all set to release on 7th May, 2010 to get its target audience during the summer vacation.