The shooting of Rajinikanth-starrer "Sivaji", directed by Shankar.is reaching its climax. The closing scenes are to be shot from Dec. 23 till Jan. 2 in Bangalore. The release of the much- talked about film is scheduled for Tamil Near Year's Day.
Produced by AVM , "Sivaji" features Rajini along with Shreya. The film has been in the making for some months now and most of the sequences have been shot in different locales. Bangalore has been chosen for shooting the climax scenes.
Later the crew will travel to the US to film some other scenes for about ten days and return to Chennai a day before Pongal.. Sivaji appears with the shaven head in some of the closing scenes.
The film will be ready after the shooting in the US is over.
AVM has started making arrangements for the release of the film on Tamil Near Year's day.
Meanwhile, Shankar, as the director of "Sivaji" is all praise for Rajini's dedication and commitment to his profession. In an interview to an English daily, he says, "Rajinikanth comes to you like a new face everyday and just follows what you say. With no other thought but the scenes to be shot, the actor is so pliable as if 'Sivaji' were his first film.
Thoroughly professional and always punctual, Rajini has absolutely no airs. You can never find him retiring to his caravan after a shot. He is with you throughout - ready any moment you want him. And the commitment naturally shows in his performance. It's surprising that the superstar image sits so lightly on his shoulders."
Source: Now Running
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Genelia's hopeful to reach the top
The young actress is optimistic of her chances to make it big in Kollywood. A busy heroine in Telugu, thanks to a big hit in Bommarilu, she is now acting in three Telugu movies simultaneously.
"My role in Chennai Kadhal was good. I had enough scope to act," Genelia says and adds, "I don't want to be branded as a heroine who appears in a couple of scenes and songs and fades away from a movie. I should have a meaty role. Thankfully my forthcoming movies in Telugu are interesting and have more prominence for me."
How does she balance between Tamil and Telugu?
Says the actress, "I don't know both the languages. But I write down the dialogues in English and understand them well before entering the sets. People are more professional in South and I find no big difference between Tamil and Telugu cinema."
Genelia is happy that she is paired opposite all young heroes in the industry.
"I have big dreams but would wait patiently to achieve them one after another", she adds.
Source: India Glitz
"My role in Chennai Kadhal was good. I had enough scope to act," Genelia says and adds, "I don't want to be branded as a heroine who appears in a couple of scenes and songs and fades away from a movie. I should have a meaty role. Thankfully my forthcoming movies in Telugu are interesting and have more prominence for me."
How does she balance between Tamil and Telugu?
Says the actress, "I don't know both the languages. But I write down the dialogues in English and understand them well before entering the sets. People are more professional in South and I find no big difference between Tamil and Telugu cinema."
Genelia is happy that she is paired opposite all young heroes in the industry.
"I have big dreams but would wait patiently to achieve them one after another", she adds.
Source: India Glitz
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Illusions of an Oscar
THE number of foreign films that have won Academy Awards over the last 67 years from the time it was constituted is myriad. India does not feature in that long list as a finalist. Is that purely coincidental or is it that Indian cinema has never worked with a Western audience?
The Oscar remained a distant dream for the country's top award-winning filmmaker, till he was conferred with the"Lifetime Achievement Award" on his deathbed. Satyajit Ray died without regretting that he had not received an Oscar though the Lifetime Achievement awards are customarily thought to be some sort of consolation. The paradox is that the same category of award becomes more meaningful if the filmmaker has won film-specific awards earlier. "Pather Panchali" won 11 international awards, but not an Oscar.
Dynamics of the award
The first film to win an Academy Award in the foreign film category was Jean Renoir's "Grand Illusion" in 1938. Ten years later De Sica went on to win an Oscar for "Shoeshine". De Sica, who had an impact on Ray's filmmaking, won another Oscar in 1949 with his classic "The Bicycle Thief".
Understanding the dynamics behind this category of award bestowed by a body that represents American Cinema is both complicated and simple. To simplify things, Indian cinema never fitted their bill, not even Ray's movies. The sense and sensibilities portrayed in our cinema never worked for them though the criterion of "universal" cinematic language that appeals to an international jury and audience was found in abundance in Ray's films.
But why are we so gung ho about the Oscars at all? Is it because it's sponsored by the most glamorous film industry in the world, which incidentally also one of the biggest revenue generators? Is it money that makes Hollywood so important, so coveted? Is the Hollywood seal so crucial for global recognition?
Over the years, many filmmakers and an endless number of films have missed a chance at the Oscars but have gone on to join the repertoire of the finest cinema of the world. An Oscar award evaded both Jean Luc Godard and Francoise Truffaut, masters of the French New Wave, for their timeless maiden films — "Breathless" and "400 Blows" — but they went on to win two prestigious awards — the Silver Bear at the Berlin film festival and Best Director at the Cannes. "400 Blows" was nominated for the Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards but never made it to the final. Though Truffaut's "Day for Night" later bagged the best Foreign Film award, "400 Blows", "Jules et Jim" are considered as high watermarks of world cinema. Both "Breathless" and "400 Blows" had the universal human appeal that would make international audiences and critics sit up.
Close misses
The list of close misses is long and that too from directors whose films continue to enthral audiences across the world — Ozu, Antonioni, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Claude Chabrol, Alain Rene, Kristov Zanussi, Bresson and many more.
It is the perception of " popular", which makes Hollywood so irresistible. But the worldwide history of cinema records contemporary beginning in several countries like France, India, theU.S., the Netherlands and England. Just like a bunch of colourful balloons let loose in a clear sky, the American balloon flew faster and scored better in the test of popularity. Popularity and its notion take into account the immediate environment. Things one grows up with are usually closer to one's senses and perceptions.
"Citizen Kane", "A Streetcar named Desire", "Singin' in The Rain", "Ben Hur", "Ten Commandments", "Sound Of Music", "Cancan", "My Fair Lady", "On the Waterfront", "Gone with The Wind", "Roman Holiday", Godfather", "Psycho"... the list is unending. You name it and Hollywood has it — Hollywood has a screen replica of all the human emotions one encounters. Thus not being a part of the world that rules the motion picture empire (at least it pretends too!) is a prestige issue for Indian filmmakers. Likewise the national media is also sad and aggrieved at the repeated miss at the Oscar.
With a tally of 1,000 films a year, India is the world's second largest movie making country. Yet the Indian film industry is not a film superpower. One award at the Oscars will help India get a lead in consolidating its power and challenge the Hollywood's self-proclaimed supremacy. It's all about power! Popular is equivalent to mainstream, mainstream equivalent to volume, volume equal to revenue, revenue equal to power. It's a calculated and meticulous strategy; a desperate drive to rule the movie world of which Hollywood has been numero uno. Aesthetics, human emotions, cinematic finesse comes later. India has been eyeing the crown jewel and every time it misses, obviously more hearts are broken.
Aishwarya Rai, Gulshan Grover, Om Puri, Sushmita Sen... many may have made a dent in the arena of international cinema but they haven't earned accolades like Tshiro Mifune, Marcello Mastroini, Catherine Denevue or the more contemporary Penelope Cruz or Zhang Ziyi. The same is true of directors. Mira Nair, Deepa Mehta, Gurindar Chaddha have tremendous recall value only among the diaspora. The notion of a global market is questionable as long as it begins and ends with the U.S. and the Indian diaspora.
"Lagaan", "Swades", "Rang De Basanti", "Black", "Munnabhai... " were made for this global market with the preconception that Hollywood's priority is market and revenue. However, the Academy Awards are projected as a forum that prioritises cinematic aesthetics. Our films lost not only because of the technical quality but may be because of the lack of universal human appeal that the award committee would consider politically correct. Thus every time there's a film that deals with a conflict-ridden country or traumas of individual human existence, it is an easy choice as opposed to the magnum opus that India tends to churn out.
India at the Oscars
"Lagaan" lost to "No Man's Land", a film based on the Balkan issue; "Black" lost to "Tsotsi", which was about a member of the underworld and his desperate attempts to come back to mainstream life; and "Swades" lost to "The Sea Inside", a poignant story of a terminally ill patient's fight for a dignified death. The closest miss was, of course, "Salaam Bombay" (1988), a film that probably had the right measure of human spirit, less of kitsch and more of soul.
So, as of now, India is at the semi-final stage in the high drama of the Oscar race. Many factors will finally shape India's fate — of which one may be as spontaneous or "arbitrary", as Mumbai rates as the best holiday destination for some jury members. How can one forget that even the name `Oscar' was coined out of somebody's fondness for her uncle?
Source: The Hindu
The Oscar remained a distant dream for the country's top award-winning filmmaker, till he was conferred with the"Lifetime Achievement Award" on his deathbed. Satyajit Ray died without regretting that he had not received an Oscar though the Lifetime Achievement awards are customarily thought to be some sort of consolation. The paradox is that the same category of award becomes more meaningful if the filmmaker has won film-specific awards earlier. "Pather Panchali" won 11 international awards, but not an Oscar.
Dynamics of the award
The first film to win an Academy Award in the foreign film category was Jean Renoir's "Grand Illusion" in 1938. Ten years later De Sica went on to win an Oscar for "Shoeshine". De Sica, who had an impact on Ray's filmmaking, won another Oscar in 1949 with his classic "The Bicycle Thief".
Understanding the dynamics behind this category of award bestowed by a body that represents American Cinema is both complicated and simple. To simplify things, Indian cinema never fitted their bill, not even Ray's movies. The sense and sensibilities portrayed in our cinema never worked for them though the criterion of "universal" cinematic language that appeals to an international jury and audience was found in abundance in Ray's films.
But why are we so gung ho about the Oscars at all? Is it because it's sponsored by the most glamorous film industry in the world, which incidentally also one of the biggest revenue generators? Is it money that makes Hollywood so important, so coveted? Is the Hollywood seal so crucial for global recognition?
Over the years, many filmmakers and an endless number of films have missed a chance at the Oscars but have gone on to join the repertoire of the finest cinema of the world. An Oscar award evaded both Jean Luc Godard and Francoise Truffaut, masters of the French New Wave, for their timeless maiden films — "Breathless" and "400 Blows" — but they went on to win two prestigious awards — the Silver Bear at the Berlin film festival and Best Director at the Cannes. "400 Blows" was nominated for the Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards but never made it to the final. Though Truffaut's "Day for Night" later bagged the best Foreign Film award, "400 Blows", "Jules et Jim" are considered as high watermarks of world cinema. Both "Breathless" and "400 Blows" had the universal human appeal that would make international audiences and critics sit up.
Close misses
The list of close misses is long and that too from directors whose films continue to enthral audiences across the world — Ozu, Antonioni, Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Claude Chabrol, Alain Rene, Kristov Zanussi, Bresson and many more.
It is the perception of " popular", which makes Hollywood so irresistible. But the worldwide history of cinema records contemporary beginning in several countries like France, India, theU.S., the Netherlands and England. Just like a bunch of colourful balloons let loose in a clear sky, the American balloon flew faster and scored better in the test of popularity. Popularity and its notion take into account the immediate environment. Things one grows up with are usually closer to one's senses and perceptions.
"Citizen Kane", "A Streetcar named Desire", "Singin' in The Rain", "Ben Hur", "Ten Commandments", "Sound Of Music", "Cancan", "My Fair Lady", "On the Waterfront", "Gone with The Wind", "Roman Holiday", Godfather", "Psycho"... the list is unending. You name it and Hollywood has it — Hollywood has a screen replica of all the human emotions one encounters. Thus not being a part of the world that rules the motion picture empire (at least it pretends too!) is a prestige issue for Indian filmmakers. Likewise the national media is also sad and aggrieved at the repeated miss at the Oscar.
With a tally of 1,000 films a year, India is the world's second largest movie making country. Yet the Indian film industry is not a film superpower. One award at the Oscars will help India get a lead in consolidating its power and challenge the Hollywood's self-proclaimed supremacy. It's all about power! Popular is equivalent to mainstream, mainstream equivalent to volume, volume equal to revenue, revenue equal to power. It's a calculated and meticulous strategy; a desperate drive to rule the movie world of which Hollywood has been numero uno. Aesthetics, human emotions, cinematic finesse comes later. India has been eyeing the crown jewel and every time it misses, obviously more hearts are broken.
Aishwarya Rai, Gulshan Grover, Om Puri, Sushmita Sen... many may have made a dent in the arena of international cinema but they haven't earned accolades like Tshiro Mifune, Marcello Mastroini, Catherine Denevue or the more contemporary Penelope Cruz or Zhang Ziyi. The same is true of directors. Mira Nair, Deepa Mehta, Gurindar Chaddha have tremendous recall value only among the diaspora. The notion of a global market is questionable as long as it begins and ends with the U.S. and the Indian diaspora.
"Lagaan", "Swades", "Rang De Basanti", "Black", "Munnabhai... " were made for this global market with the preconception that Hollywood's priority is market and revenue. However, the Academy Awards are projected as a forum that prioritises cinematic aesthetics. Our films lost not only because of the technical quality but may be because of the lack of universal human appeal that the award committee would consider politically correct. Thus every time there's a film that deals with a conflict-ridden country or traumas of individual human existence, it is an easy choice as opposed to the magnum opus that India tends to churn out.
India at the Oscars
"Lagaan" lost to "No Man's Land", a film based on the Balkan issue; "Black" lost to "Tsotsi", which was about a member of the underworld and his desperate attempts to come back to mainstream life; and "Swades" lost to "The Sea Inside", a poignant story of a terminally ill patient's fight for a dignified death. The closest miss was, of course, "Salaam Bombay" (1988), a film that probably had the right measure of human spirit, less of kitsch and more of soul.
So, as of now, India is at the semi-final stage in the high drama of the Oscar race. Many factors will finally shape India's fate — of which one may be as spontaneous or "arbitrary", as Mumbai rates as the best holiday destination for some jury members. How can one forget that even the name `Oscar' was coined out of somebody's fondness for her uncle?
Source: The Hindu
Shreya in the Hindi version of Ghajini?
Shreya is all set to go places. The successful actor from Tollywood is making waves in Tamil cinema now. She is Rajinikanth's lady love in Sivaji. Also, Shreya is cast opposite Vijay in Azhagiya Thamizh Magan. Her recent release Thiruvilayadal Arambam with Dhanush has opened big at the box office.
The latest buzz doing rounds is that Shreya has been asked to act in the Hindi version of the Tamil blockbuster Ghajini. The movie would feature Aamir Khan in the lead role and would be directed by Murugadoss with Ravi K Chandran cranking the camera.
Sources say that the director has evinced interest in casting Shreya for the role played by Asin in the original.
India Glitz
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Mobile Movie Launched on Reliance Mobile
Reliance Communications, on Friday became the first telecom operator in the World to have premiered a movie on the mobile platform, with the premiere of world's first mobile movie 'Ctrl+Alt+Del' on Reliance Mobile World. The launch of Ctrl+Alt+Del, a 25 minute film specially produced for the mobile platform by Phonethics Mobile Media, can be accessed by millions of Reliance Mobile customers on the first day of its launch and is a significant path-breaking initiative in the global telecom space.
"The premiere of Ctrl+Alt+Del on Reliance Mobile marks another milestone whereby the Indian film industry has recognized the power of the mobile medium by releasing it on Reliance Mobile World", said Mahesh Prasad, President, Applications and Solutions Group, Reliance Communications. "Reliance continues to delight its mobile customers by bringing big screen content to mobile phones such as the recent introduction of TV serials like Mahabharata and Malgudi Days", he added
Reliance Communications has been the pioneer in the Value Added Service segment and has maintained its leadership by offering a suite of mass market as well as niche utility, entertainment and informative applications for its subscribers. Earlier this year, Reliance Mobile became the first telecom operator in the World to launch a TV channel on the mobile, with the premiere of Times Now. The company was India's first telecom operator in India to launch mobile streaming and Mobi-Serials.
A love story set in the future, Ctrl-Alt-Del has won acclaim at various international festivals such as Atlanta International festival and The Palm Beach international Festival. The movie is accessible on Reliance Mobile World under the 'Movies N More' option and would be available at a nominal charge of Rs. 15 for a 5 minute online streaming, Rs.10 for movie video clips, while downloads of ringtones and wallpapers will be charged Rs. 5
Source: xtvworld
"The premiere of Ctrl+Alt+Del on Reliance Mobile marks another milestone whereby the Indian film industry has recognized the power of the mobile medium by releasing it on Reliance Mobile World", said Mahesh Prasad, President, Applications and Solutions Group, Reliance Communications. "Reliance continues to delight its mobile customers by bringing big screen content to mobile phones such as the recent introduction of TV serials like Mahabharata and Malgudi Days", he added
Reliance Communications has been the pioneer in the Value Added Service segment and has maintained its leadership by offering a suite of mass market as well as niche utility, entertainment and informative applications for its subscribers. Earlier this year, Reliance Mobile became the first telecom operator in the World to launch a TV channel on the mobile, with the premiere of Times Now. The company was India's first telecom operator in India to launch mobile streaming and Mobi-Serials.
A love story set in the future, Ctrl-Alt-Del has won acclaim at various international festivals such as Atlanta International festival and The Palm Beach international Festival. The movie is accessible on Reliance Mobile World under the 'Movies N More' option and would be available at a nominal charge of Rs. 15 for a 5 minute online streaming, Rs.10 for movie video clips, while downloads of ringtones and wallpapers will be charged Rs. 5
Source: xtvworld
Monday, December 25, 2006
Movie script-writing contest for IITians
Technology guru Sam Pitroda and filmmaker Shekhar Kapur have announced a movie script-writing contest for students of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs).
Speaking at the PAN IIT-2006 global meet at the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai, Pitroda said that considering the multifaceted talent of IIT alumni, both Kapur and he believe this would be an exciting contest.
Pitroda, who is also chairman of India’s National Knowledge Commission, said IIT Bombay should introduce a master’s course in film technology because of the growing convergence of various media.
“The IITs need to think outside the box,” he said. “The time is absolutely right for them to introduce a course that takes in its sweep film technology, animation, film engineering and so on.”
The Pitroda-Kapur script-writing contest will be an annual feature starting next year. Details such as the deadline for submission, format, selection criteria, jury, and date for final selection will be announced on a website.
Asked why the contest was restricted to IIT students, Pitroda said, “We could have kept it open to students generally, but the logistics would have been tough to manage. Besides, IIT students have established a name for themselves when it comes to multitasking.”
A winner and runner-up will be chosen by a jury comprising well-known names from the world of cinema and other professions. The winning scripts may eventually be made into movies.
Pitroda said he had been toying with the idea for a while. Asked about the prizes for the contest, he said that though there would be “decent amounts for the winners”, money was not the motivating force but “a desire to do something exciting and tap into a large talent pool”.
Source: DNA India
Speaking at the PAN IIT-2006 global meet at the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai, Pitroda said that considering the multifaceted talent of IIT alumni, both Kapur and he believe this would be an exciting contest.
Pitroda, who is also chairman of India’s National Knowledge Commission, said IIT Bombay should introduce a master’s course in film technology because of the growing convergence of various media.
“The IITs need to think outside the box,” he said. “The time is absolutely right for them to introduce a course that takes in its sweep film technology, animation, film engineering and so on.”
The Pitroda-Kapur script-writing contest will be an annual feature starting next year. Details such as the deadline for submission, format, selection criteria, jury, and date for final selection will be announced on a website.
Asked why the contest was restricted to IIT students, Pitroda said, “We could have kept it open to students generally, but the logistics would have been tough to manage. Besides, IIT students have established a name for themselves when it comes to multitasking.”
A winner and runner-up will be chosen by a jury comprising well-known names from the world of cinema and other professions. The winning scripts may eventually be made into movies.
Pitroda said he had been toying with the idea for a while. Asked about the prizes for the contest, he said that though there would be “decent amounts for the winners”, money was not the motivating force but “a desire to do something exciting and tap into a large talent pool”.
Source: DNA India
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)