Archive for the ‘Hollywood’ Category

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.

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.

But the big question is where the hell is Mallika Sherawat ? The motor mouth siren who hit the headlines with bold statements has vanished from Bollywood these days. Hissss is the new ssshhh in her life. It seems she is in Los Angeles, trying her luck in Hollywood and is busy with her new film Hissss in which she plays an icchadahri naagin! Wooh!

And the dare bare actress is smart enough to keep herself in the news and make the right buzz. She was spotted with musician Yanni and well known music composer Ric Wake recently at Ivy Restaurant, Los Angeles. And if rumours are to be believed she is in serious discussions with Yanni and Ric as she wants to perform a snake dance during his next concert in India.

We wonder if Yanni will play the naagin dhun for Mallika Hissss Sherawat to dance ? If nothing else, she is hitting the right notes atleast.

BTW, Hissss is directed by Jennifer Lynch, daughter of David Lynch. And the cluless bald man with Mallika is Govind Menon ( of Khwahish, Kis Kiski Kismat and Bachke Rehna Re Baba shame)

There are four pics and a video of Mallika Sherawat with Yanni and Ric Wake. Check them out.

For Hissss trailer, click here. And for first look/plot/story/synopsis click here.

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!

Vodpod videos no longer available.

david….we think so! Because not many can claim to die at the pleasure point! We know one person who will surely endorse our view. Ram Gopal Verma. Now why we are talking death and sex on a cinema blog ?

If  you are still not aware, its because actor David Carradine is dead. David, the dude from Kill Bill. The cause of death – sex act gone horribly wrong. His dead body was found in the closet of a luxury hotel room in Bangkok, with a rope tied to his neck and genitals. Gossipmongers suggests  its called auto-erotic asphyxiation, a practice designed to boost sexual pleasure. You can read more about his death here

The actor was in Thailand to shoot a film called Stretch. Blame it  on our sick sense of humour, but why would you stretch yourself so much for sex ? On second thoughts, its fine to do so but not in auto-mode sex!And complete no-no if you happen to be Bangkok where its dirt cheap.

We are the last guys to talk moral issues but we could not stop ourself from wondering why would David do it if he was…

1. In Bangkok. Just shout out and you will get sex.

2. He was 72! Not the right age to expriment.

3. He was married five times! And still nobody with him.

Who would have thought BILL would KILL himself and in such a shocking way! RIP!

maximum cityThe news was doing the rounds since last few weeks. And it seems to be true. After the success of Slumdog Millionaire, Danny Boyle is all set to head back to Bombay, ok, Mumbai again. Danny has bought the rights of Suketu Mehta’s first book “Maximum City : Bombay Lost and Found”. Though nobody has confirmed the news yet. Its all hush-hush.

Mehta’s book is a non-fiction account of the city, a collage of essays, travelogue and journalistic account. And has real stories of human courage, spirit, dreams and disasters. And there lies the challenge of adapting it for the big screen.

Our guess – Danny’s film will use lot of info and background from the book and it will form the subplots. But the main plot will be something else. And to be on the safe side, he has bought the rights of the book. Much like what Vidhu Vinod Chopra did for Rajkumar Hirani’s Three Idiots. He bought the rights of Chetan Bhagat’s book Five Point Someone, as the film has similar backdrop. But the main plot doesnt have any similarity.  

Boyle was in Mumbai recently and the buzz is that he is talking to Aamir Khan for his next.

And if the news is true, we are sure that one man will not be happy at all. Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Why ? Read the book or just google. We are feeling too lazy to get our hands dirty again.

How is that  ? Cool or Daddy Cool ? Actually the news made us happy, damn happy. Well, check out this trailer of the film Daddy Cool. Its produced by Indra Kumar and his partner Ashok Thakeria.

Those have seen the film ‘Death at a funeral’, can easily guess that its a straight lift. And those of you havent seen the film, here is the synopsis of Daddy Cool.

daddy koolSo, what can happen at a funeral? Even, if it’s the funeral of Daddy Cool Douglas Lazarus? It’s in Goa, tears, sad speeches, melancholia… right? Wrong! When… The coffin makers deliver the wrong body.

Good Son Steven Lazarus (Suniel Shetty), an aspiring writer tries to give his father a decent funeral by delivering a eulogy…that includes a description of the rivers of Goa. Having flown in first class younger brother Brian (Ashish Chowdhry), suave, successful and much admired writer from Mumbai, not ready to share responsibility for his mother, saying “He barely has money to support himself and his dogs.” A rather “comfortable” estate agent Pinto (Vijay Patkar) tries to close a house deal for Nancy (Aarti Chabria) Steven’s wife who is trying to get away from her mother-in-law Mrs. Lazarus (Suhasini Mulay) , who though just bereaved, lives up to her title admirably.

A prospective groom Michael (Aftab Shivdasani) to a cousin, Maria (Tulip Joshi), nervous about meeting father-in-law to be (Naseer Abdullah ) comes in completely spaced out because of a hallucinogenic drug given to him out of Maria’s junkie brother Harry’s (Chunky Pandey) bottle of “Relaxo.” A knife-wielding suspicious Jenny (Kim Sharma) finds her husband Carlos (Javed Jaffrey) pleading forgiveness from the red- hot model Ayesha (Sophie Chodhry). While the model, told to bestow her favours on a man in a black suit, in order to feature in an ad film, finds herself in a room full of potential employers.

A repulsive spit on hands and flick back hair, Roadside Romeo kind of aspiring boyfriend, Jim (Vrajesh Hirjee) thinks that even a funeral is an opportunity to impress Maria. A doddering old Uncle Murphy (Prem Chopra) in a wheelchair believes in practicing “rapchick” to get the girls…And then enters a “Blackmailer” Andrew (Rajpal Yadav) who has a scandalous secret about the deceased Douglas “Daddy Cool” Lazarus (Sharat Saxena).

So what does happen is complete melange of madness, chaos, and a laugh a minute! So is it a ‘fun’eral? Or should we say the fun is real?

death at a funeralDeath At A funeral’s story is exactly the same. Whats more, it has midget and copying the same idea they have casted Rajpal Yadav for the same. Great guts, we must say.

According to Mid-day, Indra Kumar had to pay two crore to the producers of Death At A funeral, in an out-of-court settlement. About two months back, the makers sent a legal notice to the Indra and his business partner Ashok Thakeria stating that if the need arose they’d take this matter to court or he should simply offer to buy the rights of the film. The two parties had a meeting last week and Indra and Ashok handed two crore check to them.

We love it! Now they should understand why writers need to be paid more, much more than just peanuts!

Plagiarism dope : Here is the new trick of bollywood directors/producers. They would copy the film first and then write a letter to the producer of the original film stating that they have made a film and have just discovered that the “idea” of their film sounds similar to the original one. Since there is no copyright on “idea”, the original producer gives a green signal to our chor filmmakers. UTV and Ravi Chopra did the same for Aamir and Banda Yeh Bindaas hai. The original ones are Cavite and My Cousin Vinny.  

We wonder if Karan Johar has bought the rights or just taken “idea” permission for remaking Stepmom ? As always, we will kep you posted.

anupam kherThe timing could not have been better. On sunday, actor Anupam Kher celebrated 25 years of his acting career with the premier of Saaransh and now the good news. Anupam Kher will be seen in Woody Allen’s next, the same film which will also have Freida Pinto. Infact, Anupam will play the role of Freida’s father in the film. Mumbaimirror has confirmed the news.

The untitled film also star Nicole Kidman and Anthony Hopkins.

Anupam has previously worked with Ang Lee in Lust, Caution (see pic). Well, the role was nothing to talk much about, with just countd few words as dialogues, but an actor of his calibre surely deserves much more!

Paramount Pictures has released the first pic of M Night Shyamalan’s new film The Last Airbender. airbender2

Based on the Nickelodeon animated TV series, the film is set in a world where human civilization is divided into four nations: Water, Earth, Air and Fire.

The Fire Nation is waging a ruthless, oppressive war against the other three nations. The film’s hero, the reluctant young Aang, is the “Last Airbender” — the Avatar who, according to prophecy, has the ability to manipulate all of the elements and bring all the nations together.

Dev Patel plays the main villain Prince Zuko, Prince of the Fire Nation, a firebender (see the next post for Dev Patel’s look in the film) who can manipulate flames.  The Last Airbender is set to hit theaters on July 2nd 2010.