Posts Tagged ‘Riz Ahmed’

First Look : Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Stills+Synopsis)

Posted: July 24, 2012 by moifightclub in cinema, Film Festival, first look, pics, Stills, Story / Plot / Synopsis
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
0

Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist is making all the right noises. First came the announcement that it will have it open the 69th Venice International Film Festival with its world premiere. And today it was announced that the film will have its gala at the Toronto International Film Festival as well.

It’s an adaptation of Mohsin Hamid’s acclaimed book by the same name. It stars Riz Ahmed, Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland, Liev Schreiber, Martin Donovan, Om Puri and Shabana Azmi. It has been adapted by William Wheeler, with the screen story by Mohsin Hamid, and Ami Boghani, has cinematography of Declan Quinn, production design by Michael Carlin, costumes by Arjun Bhasin and edited by Shimit Amin. The music includes both the old and new Pakistani sounds with the iconoclastic Michael Andrews scoring and a new original song by Peter Gabriel.

Few new stills of the film are online now and here’s the slideshow of the same…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

If you haven’t read the book, here’s the official synopsis from the Venice Festival’s website…

Student demonstrations are raging in Lahore, as young Pakistani professor Changez Khan and a journalist, Bobby Lincoln, share a cup of tea and conversation. Princeton-educated Changez tells Lincoln of his past as a brilliant business analyst on Wall Street. He talks of the glittering future that lay before him and the beautiful and sophisticated Erica whom he was set to share that future with.

But then 9/11 changes everything. Attitudes shift dramatically – his very name and face rendering him suspect. Returning to his homeland and the family to whom he is very close, he takes up a post as lecturer at the local university, a hotbed of radicalism and the new militant academia.

The collegial pretense of the meeting in a Lahore teahouse, between Lincoln and Changez, slowly gives way to why the unlikely pair has gathered on a summer day – another professor has been kidnapped by extremists, and the clock is ticking toward a deadline for his execution. Changez’s family is being harassed and is in real danger. Bobby is there to listen, with an agenda of his own. Taking us through the culturally rich and beguiling worlds of New York, Lahore and Istanbul, The Reluctant Fundamentalist is an exploration of prejudice and the phenomenon of globalization that is both exhilirating and deeply unsettling.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Midnight’s Children and English Vinglish at TIFF, 2012

Posted: July 24, 2012 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, cinema, film, Film Festival, News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
3

So what’s common between all three? Desi connect and all female directors. Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) unveiled it’s official selection list for this year. And here are more details about these three films.

One of the most anticipated films of the year is Deepa Mehta’s adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s novel Midnight’s Children. It stars Satya Bhabha, Shahana Goswami, Rajat Kapoor, Seema Biswas, Shriya Saran, Siddharth, Ronit Roy, Rahul Bose, Anita Majumdar and Zaib Shaikh. The 148-minute long film has a screenplay by Rushdie himself. And here are some new stills. Click on one of the pics to view the slide show and make the images bigger.

To quote from the TIFF page…

Spanning decades and generations, celebrated Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta’s highly anticipated adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s Booker Prize®–winning novel is an engrossing allegorical fantasy in which children born on the cusp of India’s independence from Britain are endowed with strange, magical abilities.

If Deepa Mehta is here, can Mira Nair be far behind? She is also ready with her new film – an adaptation of Mohsin Hamid’s acclaimed book, The Reluctant Fundamentalist. The principal cast includes Riz Ahmed, Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland, Liev Schreiber and Nelsan Ellis. The film is also opening the Venice Film Festival.

To quote from the TIFF page…

Kiefer Sutherland, Liev Schreiber and Kate Hudson co-star in this adaptation of Mohsin Hamid’s international best-selling novel, about a young Pakistani man (Riz Ahmed) whose pursuit of corporate success on Wall Street leads him on a strange path back to the world he had left behind.

And the third film which is completely desi is debutant Gauri Shinde’s English Vinglish starring Sridevi, Adil Hussain, Mehdi Nebbou and Priya Anand. To quote from the official release…

Legendary Indian actress Sridevi returns to the screen after a fifteen-year absence in this funny and touching story about an Indian woman who struggles to learn the English language in order to help provide for her family.

But fest insider tells us that isn’t all. There’s more to come in TIFF 2012! We will keep you posted about all the Desi connect.

First Look : Michael Winterbottom’s Trishna (Trailer) and Ribhu Dasgupta’s Michael (Stills)

Posted: August 20, 2011 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, cinema, Film Festival, first look, News, pics, songs & videos, Story / Plot / Synopsis, Trailer
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
8

Trishna and Michael, both the films will have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Michael Winterbottom’s latest film Trishna is not only set in India but it was more than one desi connect. The film’s trailer is out and according to official release,  it’s an adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles set against a contemporary Indian backdrop. Freida Pinto stars as the titular Trishna, a young woman who is seduced by the wealthy son(Riz Ahmed) of a property developer. As the romance develops, their relationship also becomes increasingly sordid and volatile.

Click on the play button to check out the trailer. what a smooth and soothing track! Wow, Amit Trivedi, scores again? Seems so, at least from the trailer.

Michael is the latest production of Anurag Kashyap films. Directed by debutant Ribhu Dasgupta, the film’s trailer or poster is not out yet. But you can check out some of the stills. It stars Naseeruddin Shah, Mahie Gill, Purav Bhandare, Sabyasachi Chakraborty and Irawati Harshe.

According to official release, it’s a character-driven psychological drama. Using intricate camerawork and intimate point of view shooting, Dasgupta tracks one man’s physical and psychological deterioration in the rainy, traffic-filled streets of Kolkata. Check out the stills.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Indian films at Toronto International Film Festival 2011

Posted: August 16, 2011 by moifightclub in bollywood, cinema, Film Festival, News
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
2

Toronto International Film Festival has announced its international line-up for this year’s fest. So far four Indian films are in the list.

1. Mausam (Seasons of Love), Pankaj Kapur, India World Premiere

Mausam is a story of timeless love in the face of political hostilities and religious conflict, between a proud Punjabi Air Force Officer and an innocent Kashmiri refugee. Set against a landscape that transcends decades and spans continents, Mausam is a classic journey that transports one into a world of indestructible bonds of love enveloped by the roulette of destiny. Starring Shahid Kapur, Sonam A Kapoor and Anupam Kher.

 

2. Michael, Ribhu Dasgupta, India World Premiere

Michael, an ex-cop, lives with his 11-year-old son and works in a theatre as a projectionist pirating DVDs for a living. When he starts receiving death threats for his son from someone in his past, he gets caught up in a complex web of his own impending blindness comprised of his insecurities. First-time director Ribhu Dasgupta teams up with India’s guru of independent cinema, producer Anurag Kashyap, and veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah for this character-driven, psychological drama.

3. Azhagarsamy’s Horse, Suseendran, India International Premiere

In a small Tamil village, a ceremonial wooden-horse statue goes missing. With a crucial holy symbol suddenly gone, the village falls into recriminations and comic chaos. At the same time, Azhagarsami, a young man who earns his livelihood by ferrying loads on his horse, puts his marriage on hold when his horse also disappears.

4. Chatrak (Mushrooms), Vimukthi Jayasundara, India/France North American Premiere

Rahul, a Bengali architect who had gone off to build a career in Dubai, returns to Kolkata to launch a huge construction site. He is reunited with his girlfriend, Paoli, who had long awaited his homecoming. Together, they try to find Rahuls brother, who is said to have gone mad, living in the forest and sleeping in the trees. Despite appearances, the two brothers might have a lot in common.

An Indo-France co-production, Chhatrak (Mushrooms) directed by Sri Lankan filmmaker Vimukthi Jayasundara was also part of the official lineup of Cannes Directors Fortnight. His debut film The Forsaken Land had won the Camera d’Or for best debut feature at Cannes in 2005.

Another film with an Indian connect at TIFF is Michael Winterbottom’s Trishna. Starring Freida Pinto and Riz Ahmed, and based on Thomas Hardy‟s novel Tess of the d‟Urbervilles, the film is set in contemporary India and tells the tragic love story between the son of a wealthy property developer and the daughter of a rickshaw driver.

Michael Winterbottom to shoot his next film in India, stars Freida Pinto

Posted: February 18, 2011 by moifightclub in cast & crew, cast news, cinema, Hollywood, News
Tags: , , , , ,
2

Not sure why and how, but Freida Pinto is surely going places. As if Danny Boyle, Julian Schnabel, Woody Allen, Tarsem Singh and the Apes movie weren’t big enough for her CV, now she also has Michael Winterbottom.

The film is titled Trishna and will also star Riz Ahmed (Four Lions). It’s based on Thomas Hardy’s novel Tess of the d’Urbervilles. We haven’t read it but according to IMDB, it’s “The story of the tragic relationship between the son of a property developer and the daughter of an auto rickshaw owner”. And a friend described it as “hopelessly depressing”.

The film will be shot all over Rajasthan and it’s a start to finish schedule. The shooting starts by end of February. Last time when Winterbottom shot A Mighty Heart in India, it was in news for all the wrong reasons. So this time its been kept as a hush-hush affair.

And this is not the first time that Thomas Hardy’s novel is getting adapted for the screen. Tess of the D’Urbervillies was also adapated as a four part mini-series for BBC and had Gemma Arterton in the lead role.

Rajasthan, Frieda Pinto, property developer, rickshaw owner – well, something tells us that it will again be desi exotica for the West. What’s missing ? Bollywood and naach-gaana ? Bet it’s there. Someone will move to Mumbai and dhen tedan! We can’t spill all the beans at one go.

Click here to read the Deadline.com report.