Home Blog Page 17325

Crazy Kangana Ranaut & Rajkummar Rao show how sanity is overrated

0

The first look of Ekta Kapoor's upcoming film MENTAL HAI KYA starring Kangana Ranaut & Rajkummar Rao's is here and the makers promise that this is just the beginning.

Known to churn out some of the most interesting and unconventional films, Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Motion Pictures & Shaailesh R Singh’ s Karma Media have announced their next, MENTAL HAI KYA- touted to be a one of its kind entertaining thriller with a blend of quirk.

Both actors Kangana and Rajkummar have previously worked together in 2014 blockbuster QUEEN and have proved their acting prowess by delivering some praiseworthy performances in recent times.

The duo is all set to be reunited for yet another ground-breaking film where they're set to play unusual and uncanny characters. The film written by Kanika Dhillon, will be directed by Prakash Kovelamudi, national award winning director for Telugu film, BOMELATTA.

The makers of MENTAL HAI KYA promise it to be a young and edgy entertainer. Ekta Kapoor adds "MENTAL HAI KYA celebrates the beauty in imperfections and in being different and shouts out, Sanity is overrated! I'm thrilled to work with Kangana and Raj on this one."

Interestingly, the makers have announced the film in a unique manner with two distinct looks of both actors being unveiled.

Bursting with quirk and madness, the look is sure to make you question- ‘Mental Hai Kya?'’

The film goes on floors this month with their first schedule beginning in Mumbai before the cast and crew gear up for its London schedule.

Shashi Kapoor, Sridevi remembered at Oscars 2018

0

Indian cinema icon Shashi Kapoor and India's first female superstar Sridevi were honoured at the 90th Academy Awards ceremony here during the "In Memoriam" montage.

The Indian stars got a musical tribute by Eddie Vedder who took the stage to sing Tom Petty's "Room at the top".

Actress Jennifer Garner introduced the segment by paying tribute to late star Audrey Hepburn.

"There is no joy without sorrow," Garner said, and then acknowledged the loss of film world with the departed souls.

Son of Prithviraj Kapoor and younger brother of Raj Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor made his debut in Bollywood with the 1961 film DHARMPUTRA after working as a child artist. He passed away in December 2017.

Bollywood's ultimate "charm house" Shashi Kapoor then went on to make a name for himself globally by associating with international cinema. He was honoured with the Padma Bhushan — the third highest civilian honour — by the Indian government in 2011.

In 2015, he was bestowed with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award.

Sridevi, known for her ability to slip into myriad roles, expressive eyes, sheer comic timing and her fluid dancing skills, died on February 24. Her death left everyone shocked, and saddened.

They were included in the annual montage along with stars such as John Heard, Tony Anne Walker, Jane Foray, Robert Osborne, Martin Landau, Glenne Headly, Roger Moore, George A. Romero and Jerry Lewis.

With Jimmy Kimmel as a host, the ceremony was held at the Dolby Theatre here on Sunday night.

Shashi Kapoor, Sridevi remembered at Oscars 2018

0

Indian cinema icon Shashi Kapoor and India's first female superstar Sridevi were honoured at the 90th Academy Awards ceremony here during the "In Memoriam" montage.

The Indian stars got a musical tribute by Eddie Vedder who took the stage to sing Tom Petty's "Room at the top".

Actress Jennifer Garner introduced the segment by paying tribute to late star Audrey Hepburn.

"There is no joy without sorrow," Garner said, and then acknowledged the loss of film world with the departed souls.

Son of Prithviraj Kapoor and younger brother of Raj Kapoor and Shammi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor made his debut in Bollywood with the 1961 film DHARMPUTRA after working as a child artist. He passed away in December 2017.

Bollywood's ultimate "charm house" Shashi Kapoor then went on to make a name for himself globally by associating with international cinema. He was honoured with the Padma Bhushan — the third highest civilian honour — by the Indian government in 2011.

In 2015, he was bestowed with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award.

Sridevi, known for her ability to slip into myriad roles, expressive eyes, sheer comic timing and her fluid dancing skills, died on February 24. Her death left everyone shocked, and saddened.

They were included in the annual montage along with stars such as John Heard, Tony Anne Walker, Jane Foray, Robert Osborne, Martin Landau, Glenne Headly, Roger Moore, George A. Romero and Jerry Lewis.

With Jimmy Kimmel as a host, the ceremony was held at the Dolby Theatre here on Sunday night.

Mumbai-based designer wins KASHISH 2018 International Poster Contest

0

KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival has chosen the look for the ninth edition of South Asia's biggest LGBTQ film fest scheduled to be held from May 23-27, 2018.

India's top fashion designer Wendell Rodricks – judge for the KASHISH International Poster Contest – declared Mumbai's based graphic designer Ashutosh Vyas as the winner. Vyas, will receive a trophy and a cash prize of Rs 25,000 instituted by Rodricks.

''This award winning poster is both graphic and bold without resorting to the literal in a detailed visual format. In a minimal, forceful and colourful message, the theme of ‘Together with Pride’ is achieved. In its simplicity and starkness with the layering, complexity, diversity and solidarity of the LGBTQ community, the poster conveys instantly what KASHISH 2018 is about. I congratulate the winner and wish KASHISH 2018 the success it so richly deserves,'' said Rodricks.

The poster depicts six silhouettes with pride colors and portrays people uniting and forming a society of togetherness and love

Vyas said that he was extremely happy and delighted to have won the prestigious competition ''It feels amazing to win, especially in something you believe in. I believe in equal opportunities for all and stand by the idea that all have right to live the way they want to. KASHISH, through this competition helped me express that. This film festival not only brings in an excellent experience with regards to its films, but also gives opportunities to art in different forms. It means a lot to be associated with it,'' said Vyas.

The entries this year came from around the world. "This year the festival received a very diverse range of creative submissions. The winner chosen by Wendell Rodricks is a beautifully stark design that emphatically underlines the theme of the festival – 'only if we are together with pride can we achieve equality and dignity for everyone'. Congratulations to Ashutosh, who is incidentally the third time Mumbaikar winning the contest,'' said festival director Sridhar Rangayan.

The winning design will be used on hoardings, banners, cinema slides, delegate cards, T-shirts and catalog cover.

RED SPARROW Movie Review: Jennifer Lawrence seduces but the movie fails to steal the thunder

0

The gorgeous Jennifer Lawrence is endearingly alluring in this sex-and-spy craft espionage but the movie by HUNGER GAMES fame Francis Lawrence isn,t exciting and pumped-up espionage like Charlize Theron starrer ATOMIC BLONDE or Angelina Jolie starrer SALT.

Based on the novel by retired CIA spook Jason Matthews, who is said to have squeezed all his three decades of experience in the field to write the book, RED SPARROW written by Justin Haythe for screen is a story of Dominika Egorova (Jennifer Lawrence) a dancer turned sexpot spy, trained in the art of cutthroat seduction in service of the state.

While David Leitch’s ATOMIC BLONDE was sexy, dark, violent with its share of absurdity, Francis Lawrence RED SPARROW is moody and a slow burner.

Dominika Egorova a prima ballerina with the Bolshoi Ballet, meets an accident that turns fatal for her dancing career. Determined to protect her ailing mother at all costs, with the help of Uncle Vanya (Matthias Schoenaerts) the officer in Russian intelligence, Dominika gets recruited in the Sparrow School – a secret intelligence service that trains exceptional young people like her to use their bodies and minds as weapons.

After enduring the perverse and sadistic training process, she emerges as the most dangerous Sparrow the program has ever produced. Her difference with the sadistic headmistress played by Charlotte Rampling doesn’t hinder her prospects and she proves her mettle and she is off to Budapest to gain the trust of a U.S. spy named Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton) who’s been receiving information from a mole buried deep in the ranks of Russian security.

Francis Lawrence seductive thriller which in its basic seed of idea does show some intimacy with the La Femme Nikita movies, but as the movie progresses and Dominika dominates the proceedings with the basic lesson best learnt by her in the sparrow school that “every human being is a puzzle of needs, the movie gets undesirably seductive and edgy. In the company of double-agents, probable moles, the movie restores to strong violence, torture, sexual content, language and some graphic nudity (Indian censors have omitted some scenes).

Jennifer Lawrence as Dominika is the best choice, she is a ‘star’ which dances with her character with passion and rightly gains all the attention in those two hours and twenty two minutes.

As a filmmaker Francis Lawrence’s RED SPARROW is undoubtedly gorgeous and seductive as the protagonist Dominika but Dominika’s eye popping domination only captures your heart and fails to massage your soul. Dominika is seducing people against her will and she becomes a sparrow to ‘survive’ and her actions lacks passion and agenda. She is basically a victim. Concerning audience may not be sold by her soulless seductions while the general ones may be gamed.

It’s a puzzle in the end that we don’t know whether Dominika was happy doing all and we fail to understand her, maybe the filmmaker intended to make her haunting and mysterious – a puzzle which is finding her needs.
 

VEEREY KI WEDDING Movie Review – KI.. DI..ING WITH THE WEDDING THING

0

Ding Dong Ding.. VEEREY ‘KI’ WEDDING ya VEERE DI WEDDING.. Ki Farak Painda (rough translation – doesn,t matter) Bollywood wedding theme on the platter, the routine ‘tikka’ of rom com with the chutney of saddi Delhi feel and a kachoomer ( rough translation – salad) of north Indian lingo.. bingo.. zingo.. let it go I say.

Starring – see I am the next Salman Khan, I am telling you for quite some time now wala Pulkit Samrat in lead who plays Veer and here also he is carrying the ‘hangover’ of Salman Khan. He plays Veer – the ‘dilli ka stud’ who wants to marry Geet (Kriti Kharbanda). Veer has no kaam dhanda (not a working professional) so this ‘cool’ bandha is busy helping others, bashing goons for good. Veer is a do-gooder vigilante, he prevents robberies and help needy with money but cannot save those scams that has rocked our nation. What a waste of a ‘handsome’ talent.

Anyways Geet’s father Gopi Bhalla (Satish Kaushik) is against the marriage. Gopiji is a peace loving man and he cannot give his daughter permission to marry a boy who bashes up goons, so what if the bashing was done by Veer to save a girl’s pride. Otherwise, Gopi Bhalla is a lovable and perhaps the most believable character in this bunch of assembles brought together in the name of shaadi on screen by director Ashu Trikha (DEEWAANAPAN, ENEMMY, KOYELAANCHAL.. remember..no.. jaane do.. ). Pls note – the spellings of the movies written in the bracket are not mine.

Rest things are fine with the writers of this on screen ‘lagan patrika’ (wedding invitation) – Dilip Shukla and Deepa Bakshi whose hearts seemed to be ruled by the loud, colourful and cheerful Bollywood masala but sadly, this adventure is not the same. Obviously set in Delhi, when Geet’s father the roly – poly Gopiji sticks to ‘no’ means ‘no’ for a violent Veer, Balli (Jimmy Shergill), Veer’s cousin who is unlucky in love and is searching for a perfect match spoils everything by threatening the poor Gopiji with a desire to have that delicious imarti (cousin of jalebi – those who are unaware and sugar conscious) at Gopiji’s house by constructing a ‘bhatti’ (furnace) in Gopiji’s house. Now seriously, any rational thinker and/or an out rightly weird to the helm foodie will reject such an offer, even if ‘imarti’ remains his most loved sweet.

But nothing, absolutely nothing lies beneath this desperate and tasteless rom com which is wrapped in a good looking packet. It goes well with the dialogue said by Gopiji “Na dahi na bhalle, balle balle’ ( I refuse to translate this in English).

But wait, there is a twist in this mist, Veer’s sidekick – a loud-mouthed but incompetent cop named Rani Chaudhary (Yuvika Chaudhary) is also there to give the war between the parents a break.

No doubt Pulkit is handsome and is a natural dancer but he needs to get out of the Salman Khan thing now. Kriti Kharbanda just repeats herself.

Technically too an ordinary fare. However music by Meet Bros, Jaidev Kumar, Ashok Punjabi, Farzaan Faaiz is better.

If Satish Kaushik and Jimmy Shergill were not part of this bore com, VEEREY KI WEDDING would have been impossible to bear. Their presentation adds new dimension to their erstwhile cliché characters. It’s like a particular dessert or a side dish better than the whole spread out meal at a loud, colorful wedding.

Condolence meet for Sridevi to be held in Hyderabad

0

A condolence meeting for late actress Sridevi is being organised here on Sunday by film producer and politician T. Subbarami Reddy.

The meet will take place at Park Hyatt Hotel here on Sunday evening in memory of the actress, who featured in two of Reddy's co-productions CHANDNI and LAMHE, a statement said.

Well-known filmmakers and actors like Chiranjeevi, Mohan Babu, Nagarjuna, Jayaprada, K. Raghavendra Rao, Ram Gopal Varma, Suresh Babu and Allu Aravind are likely to mark their attendance.

Sridevi died last week in Dubai due to accidental drowning at a hotel bathtub. Her mortal remains were cremated in Mumbai on Wednesday after several fans and film fraternity paid their last respects. She was 54.

In a career that lasted 50 years, Sridevi acted in 300 films in various languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi. Some of her iconic films include SADMA, NAGINA, MR INDIA, KHUDA GAWAH, JAGADEKA VEERUDU ATHILOKA SUNDARI, KSHANA KSHANAM and GOVINDA GOVINDA.

The actress lived with her husband film producer Boney Kapoor and their two daughters Janhvi and Khushi.

Condolence meet for Sridevi to be held in Hyderabad

0

A condolence meeting for late actress Sridevi is being organised here on Sunday by film producer and politician T. Subbarami Reddy.

The meet will take place at Park Hyatt Hotel here on Sunday evening in memory of the actress, who featured in two of Reddy's co-productions CHANDNI and LAMHE, a statement said.

Well-known filmmakers and actors like Chiranjeevi, Mohan Babu, Nagarjuna, Jayaprada, K. Raghavendra Rao, Ram Gopal Varma, Suresh Babu and Allu Aravind are likely to mark their attendance.

Sridevi died last week in Dubai due to accidental drowning at a hotel bathtub. Her mortal remains were cremated in Mumbai on Wednesday after several fans and film fraternity paid their last respects. She was 54.

In a career that lasted 50 years, Sridevi acted in 300 films in various languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi. Some of her iconic films include SADMA, NAGINA, MR INDIA, KHUDA GAWAH, JAGADEKA VEERUDU ATHILOKA SUNDARI, KSHANA KSHANAM and GOVINDA GOVINDA.

The actress lived with her husband film producer Boney Kapoor and their two daughters Janhvi and Khushi.

Jennifer Lawrence auditioned for TWILIGHT

0

Actress Jennifer Lawrence has revealed that she auditioned for TWILIGHT, but had no idea what it was.

The Oscar-winning actress opened up about missing out on a role in the blockbuster vampire movies in a chat with US radio host Howard Stern, reports thesun.co.uk.

Of the films which made stars of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattison, Lawrence said: "I didn't really know what it was."

"When you audition, when you are a run-of-the-mill actor – we are all auditioning for all sorts if things – you just get like five pages and they are like 'act monkey!'"

But she said she does sometimes get upset about losing out on particular parts.

Asked if there was a role she was upset about missing out on, she said: "The only thing – Emma Stone and I had this conversation once because we used to always audition for the same thing which now seems
silly – she got one thing that I was dying for."

However, the star did not disclose which coveted role that might be.

She then added: "The one thing that really killed me, the only time I've ever been truly devastated by losing an audition was at Tim Burton's ALICE IN WONDERLAND."

Jennifer Lawrence auditioned for TWILIGHT

0

Actress Jennifer Lawrence has revealed that she auditioned for TWILIGHT, but had no idea what it was.

The Oscar-winning actress opened up about missing out on a role in the blockbuster vampire movies in a chat with US radio host Howard Stern, reports thesun.co.uk.

Of the films which made stars of Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattison, Lawrence said: "I didn't really know what it was."

"When you audition, when you are a run-of-the-mill actor – we are all auditioning for all sorts if things – you just get like five pages and they are like 'act monkey!'"

But she said she does sometimes get upset about losing out on particular parts.

Asked if there was a role she was upset about missing out on, she said: "The only thing – Emma Stone and I had this conversation once because we used to always audition for the same thing which now seems
silly – she got one thing that I was dying for."

However, the star did not disclose which coveted role that might be.

She then added: "The one thing that really killed me, the only time I've ever been truly devastated by losing an audition was at Tim Burton's ALICE IN WONDERLAND."