Kirsten kam chayie Hritihik ke sath: Suzanne, get out those pink handcuffs that u might keep in the closet for other purposes… :-) and Hrithik: RUN!
In this interview she talks about growing maternal instincts. I dunno if I wanted my man to work with that little foxy siren.. especially with her newly discovered nesting instincts. But hey, I can see her in Bollywood. She would look gorgeous in Indian garbs. Except they should make it a silent movie. Maybe RGV will get her for an item song. He’d be so down for that! :-)
From the wonderful filmmaker Deepa Mehta, who brought us the impressive trilogy Fire (96), Earth (98) and Water (2005) (which always top my list of recommendations), the irreverent comedy Bollywood Hollywood (2002) and the deeply disturbing Heaven on Earth (2008), here comes her maybe greatest venture Midnight’s Children, based on the prize-winning novel by Salman Rushdie.
Music by the multi-talented composer and songwriter Nitin Sawhney, whose music never ceases to inspire.
Midnight’s Children premiered in September 2012 at the Telluride Film Festival and was presented shortly afterwards at the Toronto Film Festival. Hopefully we’ll get to see it soon here in the US. What takes it so long!?
This is a movie I have been waiting for feverishly. But I have to bite my nails until Sunday. The new cinematic venture by Ang Lee, Life of Pi, promises some spectacular visuals. And to my delight it has an almost all-Indian cast, which includes the great Irrfan Khan, Tabu and newcomer Suraj Sharma in his role as Pi Patel, the zookeeper’s son, who gets stranded, shipwrecked, with a hungry, disoriented tiger as only company. [ Look who’s coming for dinner. Could it get any worse? :-) ]
Santiago-born cinematographer Claudio Miranda has worked on several movies as chief lighting technician in the past, did commercials, music videos. Light is the alpha & omega in photography and cinematography. Right off from the trailer of Life of Pi that sensitivity becomes obvious. Miranda’s website gives a glimpse of his talent: www.claudiomiranda.com. He honed his skills as cinematographer in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and TRON: Legacy. Godknows, Miranda might very well become one of our most influential cinematographers in time, but that’s just a gut feeling. He seems to be the perfect match for grandmaster Ang Lee, who is directing this new 3D extravaganza. I am not a fan of 3D but this one I believe is worth the nuisance.
Ang Lee’s work speaks for itself. Eat Drink Man Woman. 94. Genius. If you haven’t seen it yet, go check it out. Sense and Sensibility (95) based on the Jane Austen novel starring Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet and Hugh Grant. Lives spinning out of control in Ice Storm (97) with Kevin Kline. unforgettable. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000) which popularized flying up walls and jumping roofs defying gravity. nough said.Oh and the Oscar winner, the epic Brokeback Mountain with Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, which included a lot of manly sex, longing and heartache. I can still smell the campfire, the grand wide landscapes and cowboy boots. Ang Lee always delivers. Life of Pi will be another exceptional film from this masterful filmmaker.
I feel like a kid counting the days until Christmas: 2+1/2. My only regret is, I haven’t read the book. But maybe that’s a good thing. Sometimes it works better this way around. Movie first, book later. For me, at least. More suspenseful.
I loved Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana!! I watched it right after Sandy hit New York. Like any self-respecting Bollywood addict, would I miss a chance like that? Storms, floods, gasoline shortage.. screw that! :-) I loved the preview of LSTCK. Anything Kashyap will get me off the sofa and out of the house, even if it’s only a producing gig. I know I will be gloriously entertained.
And I am a big fan of Kunal Kapoor, whose eyes are burning with a warm fire. Or a dangerous fire. As needed. A criminal who redeems himself or the good guy who will turn bad, or just the reluctant romantic hero. Always a tad off-beat, which allows him to switch into different avatars, playing out all shades of a searching and uncertain soul. That’s what he is. A soulful actor. I always feel Bollywood doesn’t know where to put him. He doesn’t fit into categories and thus he is being sadly underutilized and underrated as an actor. Under the right direction and with the right script his qualities start shining. And THIS was a GREAT role for him, for instance!
Punjabi-born Omi (Kunalji) gets into the hands of some ruthless money sharks in London, can’t pay off his debts. In order to buy time he promises them that once he gets back to India he’ll be able to get them back their cash. Lands in India, goes back to his village in Punjab, absolutely hapless how to make good on his promise. Well, we learn that he had left India in a hurry with money he stole from grandpa. Pretends he made it big in London. Falls for his ex girlfriend, Harman, who has become the village doctor (played by Huma Qureshi). First she rejects him, but we know how it goes… Huma, too, doesn’t fit the glam Bollywood heroine mold and that was a pleasant surprise. She played her role with earthy and maternal grace. Loved it. The characters felt real. The supporting cast was well-chosen.
Most of all, I could reach out with my hand and touch India. Unabashed. Rural. You could almost smell the earth, the spices and taste the food.
Finally a foodie movie coming out of India. If you love food and magic ingredients, don’t miss this one. Well, in the theaters you might have missed it already, but by all means, go and buy the DVD.
Directed by Sameer Sharma
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Good interview on ndtv movies with Kunal Kapoor. But besides writing, he seems to have set his heart on racing too. So go and check out the link underneath and go to the ndtv movie page, it got more about him…
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Kunal Kapoor to focus on writing
Press Trust of India | Sunday, November 18, 2012 (New Delhi)
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Kunal is also set to star in Kashyap’s film, where he will play Raj Comics’ superhero Doga. He will also appear in Chamkila, a biography of controversial Punjabi singer Amar Singh Chamkila.
Right from its inception, Kunal Kapoor was actively involved in the writing process of his recently released film Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khuranaand the actor says he wants to take his new found interest forward. Kunal, 35, is currently busy putting together few scripts for films.”I have been working on something like I did in Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khuranato put together a project that I believe in. I am writing and there are three to four stories that I have been working on. I am not writing a whole script, I am somebody who is more like a bouncing board, who ideates and puts together things. So, hopefully things will fall into place soon,” Kunal told PTI.
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When asked if he plans to turn director any time soon, the actor said, “Directors have to pamper egos and actors get their egos pampered. Right now I am happy being pampered and have no plans to direct a film.”
Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana, co-produced by Anurag Kashyap and UTV Motion Pictures and directed by newcomer Sameer Sharma, was made within a budget of Rs 3 crore but managed to set the cash registers ringing. The film set around a chicken recipe, also starred Gangs of Wasseypur girl Huma Qureshi.
“It is a film I believed in very strongly. Sameer and I have known each other for a while. We used to keep talking about the sort of films we’d like to do. We started the process two years back, we took it to lot of people,” said Kunal, who was in NCR recently to launch the new men’s soap series by Fiama Di Wills.
“We were doing something different from what Punjab is perceived as and nobody wanted to take a chance with it. But Anurag did and now to see the film having the effect that we wanted, is absolutely amazing,” he added.
Since making his Bollywood debut with Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities in 2005, Kunal has acted in ten films – Rang De Basanti, Bachna Ae Haseeno, Welcome to Sajjanpur, Lamhaa to name a few. Last year he starred alongside superstar Shah Rukh Khan in Don 2.
When asked why he is seen so less on the big screen, Kunal said, “I am not choosy. If I had the chance I would do five films in a year. But the films have to be exciting. There is no point going to the sets of a film and thinking why am I here? And also for the last one and half years I was putting together Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana. That took a lot of effort and time. It is not like I want to do one film a year but it is just that I want to do quality work.”
Kunal is also set to star in Kashyap’s film, where he will play Raj Comics’ superhero Doga. He will also appear in Chamkila, a biography of controversial Punjabi singer Amar Singh Chamkila.
“Doga is very far away. It is a very big film and very expensive and you need a lot of money for it. Next year Anurag will start shooting a film called Bombay Velvet. So Doga will start after that. Chamkila is something I am very excited about but it being developed. We are working on putting the script together,” he said.
I still cannot decide what to think of whacky movie Son of Sardar. Maybe by tomorrow the dust will settle and I will know better how I feel about it. Sometimes if a day passes clarity returns. Living through the torture of the first 20 minutes I realized pretty much what I had done to myself fighting rush-hour and jetlag just to get there in time. All I could do is lean back, relax and laugh at the infantile slapstick humor. A loving caricature of a revenge drama, one of these ancient family feuds that only Sicilians, Indians and middle-eastern men can relate to. Family feuds that are so old no one can remember how and why they started. In this case all we know is that is was trivial. But somebody died in family A, in response somebody will need to die in family B.
Jassi (Ajay Devgn) comes to India to claim his ancestral property, not being aware of the fact that the family feud with the Sandhu clan isn’t settled yet. His father for better or worse had killed Billu’s (Sanjay Dutt) brother. On the train Jassu falls in love with Sukh (Sonakshi Sinha) who is part of the Sandhu clan. Hapless Jassi reveals his identity to a Sandhu clan member. Luckily tradition says you can’t kill anyone while being guest in your home. And that’s exactly where Jassi has landed when the stinkbomb goes off. He realizes that his only way to save himself is stay put as Billu’s houseguest. And for two and a half hours we have to suffer through the skinny plot. Billu can’t marry his longtime love played by the eternally young Juhi Chawla, nor can he eat ice cream or have ice cold drinks (until the score with Jassi is settled) – (whoever came up with that plot idea must have been drunk)
This rollercoaster entertainer at once makes fun and validates a mentality that thrives subliminally on bloodthirst and vendetta. I thought to myself, this movie might do better in rural areas and single screen theaters or middle aged urbanite who are missing the good old days. A nostalgia for times where feuds weren’t about money and status but honor and solved by swords not lawyers. A desi Groucho-Marx Romeo Juliet combo saga transported into Punjab and transcribed into color. Le Nozze di Figaro Bollywood style.
Okay: this is “tomorrow” — I remember laughing a lot, mostly in an effort to bridge the time til the blissful resolution that comes to the astonishing result: WHY are we FIGHTING? and LUV conquers ALL. Ajay is in good shape, although it was hard for him to pull off Sinha smitten with him with her to-be-fiance being so much hotter. Sonakshi is some hardcore eye-candy and he is a tiny bit beyond his prime. Not exactly a killer chemistry between those two, but this movie relies on the unrealistic to begin with. The WTF-list is pretty long BUT ALWAYS ENTERTAINING! :-) Yeah, I think I had a good time. some good situational comedy. Some good stunts. Lots of over-the-top flying and crashing stuff. To make guyz happy.
The movie is a remake of theTelegu movie Maryada Ramanna.
thebollywoodaddict 