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Revisiting Kuch Tum Kaho Kuch Hum Kahein, an action drama which released in 2002 starring Vikram Gokhale, Farida Jalal, Fardeen Khan, and Govind Namdeo.

Producer D. Rama Naidu, always known for his sincere and ardent depiction of bucolic drama, comes up with a rustic confection that scores a few brownie points for sincerity and conviction.

Recalling Tamil-Hindi filmmaker L.V. Prasad’s illustrious back-to-the-village tales, Kuch Tum Kaho… has a lot to say about the virtues of village verdancy. The film builds a fairly sharp-focussed and appealing rural arcadia with imposing ancestral homes housing egos to match.

It tells the story of a fierce family feud between two neighbouring households run by a moustache-twirling patriarch (Vikram Gokhale) and his bearded counterpart (Govind Namdeo) on the other end. Both believe in whisker’s wisdom rather than plain common sense.

Enter Fardeen Khan, in an author-backed heartwarming role as Gokhale’s estranged grandson who’s as determined as hell,...

Subhash K Jha looks back at K Balachander’s Ek Duuje Ke Liye, and in a special bonus star Rati Agnihotri talks about the experience of making this film.

It is significant that Kamal Haasan’s latest film Thug Life opens on the same date as his first Hindi film Ek Duuje Ke Liye 44 years ago. After K.Balachander’s inauspicious debut in Hindi cinema with the well-intended Aaina (which he remade from his Tamil hit Arangetram) the doyen of the South Indian cinema bounced back with one of the biggest musical romances of the Hindi cinema.

The story of a Tamil boy and the Punjabi girl who communicate through Laxmikant-Pyarelal’s universal language of love, was so endearingly marinated in moments of romance , it couldn’t have failed. And it didn’t. Ek Duuje Ke Liye was one of the biggest successes of the 1980s, setting a pattern for...

Subhash K Jha looks back at the moving Yeh Khula Aasma, released in 2012.

It was that great poet-thinker Harindranath Chattopadhyay who said, ‘It’s very simple to be difficult but very difficult to be simple.’ By that logic, debutant director Gitanjali Sinha pulled off a reasonably admirable feat in Yeh Khula Aasma, a simple straight-from-the-heart film about the relationship between a neglected boy Avinash (Raj Tandon) and his lonely grandfather.

The film vaguely echoes L V Prasad’s 1970s tearjerker Bidaai, though not in any overt way. That the grandfather who embraces the boy’s loneliness and insecurities is, played by Raghuvir Yadav, is a happy coincidence and one that fills up the rather austere spaces in a nimble narrative.

The small-town ambience in Bihar, the old sprawling houses with acres of greenery stretching out from here to eternity, furnish the film with a burnished exterior. As for the interiors,...

Shining the spotlight on the talented actress Nanda, Subhash K Jha focuses on her life in reel and real.

Nanda, who was part of the illustrious Mangeshkar family, never got her due. And she was herself partly to blame for it. Fixated on becoming another Meena Kumari, she was typecast in weepy family-oriented roles of the all-sacrificing Choti Bahen, Beti and Badi Didi. These are actually the titles of three of her popular films where she was shown sacrificing her own happiness for the family.

Nanda did make a belated attempt to break out of her doleful image with her shocking murderous avatar in Yash Chopra’s Ittefaq and as a drug addict in Naya Nasha. But she is largely remembered for her sweet, benign domesticated roles (I can’t recall one film where Nanda was cast as a working woman) humming and chugging her way into audiences’ hearts in...

Suppose I stay close to a cinema and plan to take the family out for a movie over the weekend, what do I do? The obvious thing for me to do is to walk to the theatre to book the tickets or I can do so on my way home from work. Sounds easy and simple. Also logical. That is how it worked all along. Not anymore. It is not so simple now. Booking cinema tickets for the family outing in advance brings back nostalgia.

The entire family had to watch a movie. And, no, tickets for the family were not booked based on what critics said. Not many families used to subscribe to a newspaper in those days, let alone follow film reviews!

A family shortlisted a film by what the neighbours, colleagues at office and friends said about a film. Word of mouth, you see, was what mattered!

Suppose I stay close to a cinema and plan to take the family out for a movie over the weekend, what do I do? The obvious thing for me to do is to walk to the theatre to book the tickets or I can do so on my way home from work. Sounds easy and simple. Also logical. That is how it worked all along. Not anymore. It is not so simple now. Booking cinema tickets for the family outing in advance brings back nostalgia.

The entire family had to watch a movie. And, no, tickets for the family were not booked based on what critics said. Not many families used to subscribe to a newspaper in those days, let alone follow film reviews!

A family shortlisted a film by what the neighbours, colleagues at office and friends said about a film. Word of mouth, you see, was what mattered!

Hyderabad, Jan 27 (Ians) Veteran actress Jamuna passed away here on Friday after a brief illness. She was 86.

She breathed her last at her residence, family sources said.

Jamuna, who acted in about 200 movies in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi, is survived by a son and a daughter.

She was born at Hampi in Karnataka on August 30, 1936, but her parents Nippani Srinivasa Rao and Kowsalya Devi moved to Andhra Pradesh. She received her primary education at Duggirala in Guntur district and was a stage artist in her school days.

Jamuna, whose real name was Jana Bai, made her acting debut at the age of 16 with Puttillu (1953) directed by Garikapari Rajarao.

It was L. V. Prasad’s Missamma (1955) which gave her recognition. She had played a supporting character in the film with the lead roles played by N. T. Rama Rao, Savitri and Akkineni Nageswara Rao. In a career spanning four decades,...

Ribbon

Starring Kalki Koechlin, Sumeet Vyas

Directed by Raakhee Sandilya

And then, something happens. Something awful and irreversibly life-changing happens in this true-life portrait of an urban marriage threatening to fall apart under the strain of coping with daily vicissitudes.

Debutant director Raakhee Sandilya uses her two principal actors to mirror metropolitan mores and meltdowns with masterful vigour and a scrupulous authenticity. The camera is used not to accentuate or glamorize Mumbai’s suburbia but to simply serve as a functional topography for the lives of the couple Sahana and Karan played with such an absence of bravura and flourish that we forget Kalki and Sumeet Vyas are playing characters who don’t exist beyond the film.

At least not in the way we see them here.

The authenticity instilled into the couple’s lives is comparable with what Basu Bhattacharya achieved with Rajesh Khanna and Sharmila Tagore in the...

It can now be told. Sooraj Barjatya's eagerly anticipated Diwali bonanza Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is actually a variation on Mark Twain's The Prince & The Pauper where two lookalike heroes, a commoner and a royalty, exchange places to see what the other one's life feels like. The two roles are played by Salman Khan. Revealing this and further information, a source close to the project says, "More than Mark Twain's novel The Prince & The Pauper, Sooraj Barjatyaji is a fan of the 1968 film Raja Aur Runk which was based on the same classic novel. The film is also inspired by the Dharmendra starrer Yakeen and the Shashi Kapoor starrer Haseena Maan Jayegi where the leading lady's beloved is replaced by his double. That explains Salman's look of discomfort and guilt as Sonam Kapoor dances all around him in the song 'Jalte diye'." Raja Aur Runk was produced...

Admissions are open for Chennai-based L.V. Prasad Film & TV Institute’s newly setup Trivandrum campus.

Two-year PG Diploma courses are available in Film direction and cinematography.

The entrance examination is scheduled for 15th August 2014 and classes begin in September.

Bina Paul, editor and former artistic director of the International Film Festival of Kerala, will serve as the director of the institute in Trivandrum.

For admission form and more details, click here...

Bina Paul

Bina Paul, who headed the International Film Festival of Kerala (Iffk) as the artistic director for over a decade, has stepped down after the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (Idsffk) came to an end this month.

“The International Film Festival of Kerala has become too much about individual personalities and less about team work. Something that I did with a lot of passion has become more like an event management job, and I am not an event manager,” Paul said. “A festival needs to be reinvented with time. We needed to re-think the festival through but that was not happening which I found very upsetting.”

A national-award winning film editor and alumnus of the Film and TV Institute of India (Ftii), Bina Paul had been the artistic director of International Film Festival of Kerala (Iffk) and International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (Idsffk) for the last 12 years.

The wait is nearly over. This weekend, starting Thursday at Midnight (technically Friday at 12:01 am), the long-awaited fantasy adventure The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will open across the globe. IMAX has released their full theater listings for this Peter Jackson directed prequel, which recounts Bilbo Baggins adventure with a band of dwarves out to save their homeland from a deadly dragon. Read on to find out where you can see this magical movie experience in glorious IMAX and in 3D!

United States

Alabama

Hoover - Rave Patton Creek 15 + IMAX

Huntsville - Rave Valley Bend 18 + IMAX

Tuscaloosa - Cobb Hollywood 16 Cinemas + IMAX

Alaska

Anchorage - Regal Tikahtnu Stadium 16 + IMAX

Fairbanks - Regal Goldstream Stadium 16 + IMAX

Arizona

Glendale - AMC Westgate 20 with IMAX

Mesa - Dickinson Gateway 12 IMAX Theatre

Phoenix - AMC Deer Valley 30 with IMAX

Phoenix - AMC Desert Ridge 18 with IMAX

Tempe - Harkins Arizona Mills 25 with IMAX

Tucson...

IMAX Corporation and Columbia Pictures today announced that the highly anticipated 3D action-adventure, The Amazing Spider-Man, will be released in the immersive IMAX 3D format in 447 IMAX theatres worldwide. Domestically, the film will launch in IMAX on Tuesday, July 3 - simultaneous with the film's North American wide release - in 307 theatres. The film began its rollout to a total of 140 IMAX theatres internationally on June 27. Additional playdates will be added as pending bookings are confirmed. To date, the Spider-Man motion pictures have generated more than $2.5 billion in worldwide box office receipts. Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3 were also released in IMAX.

The film will benefit from an IMAX exclusive one week early release in the 20 IMAX theatres currently open in Russia beginning Friday, June 29.

Director Marc Webb and the filmmakers have crafted the climactic finale of The Amazing Spider-Man to feature a larger aspect ratio of 1.9:1 versus the traditional...

Leading media personalities, film stars, industrialists, retired civil servants and educationists including the late cartoonist Mario Miranda, Bollywood veterans Dharmendra and Shabana Azmi, and former Chief Vigilance Commissioner (Cvc) Nagarajan Vittal were conferred the prestigious Padma awards here Wednesday.The colourful ceremony was held at the Durbar Hall of Rastrapati Bhavan here, when Miranda.s son Rahul received the Padma Vibhushan from President Pratibha Patil amidst thunderous applause from guests, including Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Upa chairperson Sonia Gandhi and a host of other dignitaries.But the loudest applause was reserved for Dharamendra and Shabana Azmi, both of whom received the Padma Bhushan, and for international archer Limba Ram Ahari and Olympic hockey gold medallist Zafar Iqbal.Among the Padma Bhushan awardees were Vittal, literary theorist Homi K. Bhabha, violinist M.S. Gopalakrishnan, Tata Steel Vice Chairman B. Muthuraman, former bureaucrat Mata Prasad, mathematician M.S.

IMAX Corporation and The Walt Disney Studios announced today that the action fantasy adventure Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will be released in the immersive IMAX 3D format to a record number of theatres worldwide this Friday, May 20th. This is the first film of the series to be released in IMAX and is making a considerable splash, marking the largest IMAX release ever with 257 IMAX screens domestically, simultaneous with its North American wide release. At least six supplementary theatres will launch after May 20, to be confirmed in coming days. Additionally, the movie will open day-and-date on 139 IMAX screens internationally. Advance ticket sales for the film have also been robust.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides: An IMAX 3D Experience has been digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience with proprietary IMAX Dmr (Digital Re-mastering) technology for presentation in IMAX 3D.

By Sean O’Connell

Hollywoodnews.com: We knew Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” would be big. But we didn’t know it would be record setting.

According to a release from the IMAX Corporation, however, it appears that the fourth “Pirates” will open on 402 IMAX theaters globally, setting a new record. Here is the full press release, as well as a listing of the IMAX theaters (courtesy of ComingSoon):

IMAX Corporation and The Walt Disney Studios announced today that the action fantasy adventure Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will be released in the immersive IMAX(R) 3D format to a record number of theatres worldwide this Friday, May 20th. This is the first film of the series to be released in IMAX and is making a considerable splash, marking the largest IMAX release ever with 257 IMAX screens domestically, simultaneous with its North American wide release.

He broke all the rules of stardom and yet was a star, a romantic hero and an all-rounder par excellence. 47 was no age for one of Hindi cinema's brightest talents to go, but on November 6, 1985, Sanjeev Kumar passed away, leaving fans, friends and the Hindi film shell-shocked. Gulzar remembers Sanjeev Kumar "For me, he was the complete actor. I have always said that I had two anchors - one was Sanjeev Kumar, and the other was R.D.Burman. What most people do not know is that I knew Haribhai (as I called him) from the late 1950s. We were both with the Indian National Theatre where I would write for the plays and he was a stage actor. Sanjeev was a student of P.D.Shenoy, who was also teaching at the Filmalaya School of Acting and later turned film director. Sanjeev was just over 20 years old, and he was playing a father!

Russian director Alexander Gutman’s August 17 won the Golden Conch for the Best Documentary, while The Spell directed by Umesh Kulkarni was adjudged the Best Fiction film at the 11th Mumbai International Film Festival of Documentary, Animation and Short Films, which concluded at Ncpa, in Mumbai today.

The Jury didn’t find any documentary suitable for the Golden Conch in the Best Documentary film / video (Upto 30 mins) category. The Silver Conch and Rs.1,50,000 in the same category was shared between I Found A Thread by Tangella Madhavi of India and Vagabond- A Nomad In Spirit & In Reality by Mahvish Rahman, Priya Thuvassery, Swati Bhattacharya & Tulika of Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi.

There was a Jury Special Mention for two films, Nero’s Guests by Deepa Bhatia and Anwar – Dream of a Dark Night byAnwar Jamal.

Golden Conch and Rs.3,00,000 in Best Documentary film / video (Above 30 Mins) went to 17 August by Alexander Gutman of Russia.

Legendary actress Bina Rai, who won the Filmfare award for her performance in 'Ghunghat' (1960), died of cardiac arrest here Sunday.She is survived by two sons - Prem Kishan and Kailash Nath. She was married to actor Prem Nath, who was well-known filmmaker Raj Kapoor's brother-in-law.Bina, who went on hunger strike to convince her parents to allow her to act in movies, entered Bollywood with director Kishore Sahu's film 'Kali Ghata' in 1951. Later she featured in movies like 'Vallah Kya Baat Hai' (1962), 'Bandi' (1957), 'Changez Khan' (1957), 'Durgesh Nandini' (1956), 'Marine Drive' (1955) and 'Aurat' (1953). But she is still remembered for her roles in 'Anarkali' (1953) and Taj Mahal' (1963).Her last film was L.V. Prasad's 'Daadi Maa' that was released in 1966.Her son Prem Krishen, who had tried his luck in Hindi films with 'Dulhan Wohi Jo Piya Man Bhaye',...

140th birth anniversary celebrations of Dada Saheb Phalke have begun in full swing as Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Awards unfold today at Bhaidas Hall, Mumbai to commemorate the occasion. Many film dignitaries are being felicitated, prominent among them are Manoj Kumar who is being conferred upon with Phalke Ratna Award, Shammi Kapoor with Phalke Legend Actor Award, veteran producer Surinder Kapoor with L.V. Prasad Phalke Award and Shamshad Begum with Phalke Golden Singer Award....

Dada Saheb Phalke Academy will honour veteran producer Surinder Kapoor. He will be conferred upon with L.V. Prasad Phalke Award. Surinder Kapoor along with his entire family and Ramesh Prasad, MD & Chairman of Prasad Group of Company, will attend the Dada Saheb Phalke Jayanti celebrations, to be held on 4th May in Mumbai at Bhaidas Hall, said Ram Gopal Gupta, Secretary, Dada Saheb Phalke Academy in Mumbai. The other awardees are Manoj Kumar [who will be conferred upon with Phalke Ratna], Shammi Kapoor [Phalke Legend], Shamshad Begum [Phalke Golden Singer Award] and Prithvi Raj Kapoor [Phalke Kalpataru Award].

Dada Saheb Phalke Academy will honour veteran producer Surinder Kapoor. He will be conferred upon with L.V. Prasad Phalke Award. Surinder Kapoor along with his entire family and Ramesh Prasad, MD & Chairman of Prasad Group of Company, will attend the Dada Saheb Phalke Jayanti celebrations, to be held on 4th May in Mumbai at Bhaidas Hall, said Ram Gopal Gupta, Secretary, Dada Saheb Phalke Academy in Mumbai. The other awardees are Manoj Kumar [who will be conferred upon with Phalke Ratna], Shammi Kapoor [Phalke Legend], Shamshad Begum [Phalke Golden Singer Award] and Prithvi Raj Kapoor [Phalke Kalpataru Award].