Father Geek here along with Darius25, AccSpy, pigmon, and the rest of our Far East crew to present you with the latest news on Asian film for our Thursday morning Asia-AICN Column, but first a little note Darius attached to the top of his report this week...
Here's the column for the week - it's pretty packed and I hope our readers would enjoy distractions such as this instead of going around seeking retribution and blaming the actions of the few psychopaths on the millions of innocents living in our various areas.
Take care,
Darius25
Father Geek back, now here's the regular Asia-AICN column for this week...
Asia-AICN
.Hey all. Wow, as I write this, I am deeply shocked by the events that occurred just two days ago. Being in Toronto, I cannot say that I felt the panic that residents of NYC and Washington, DC experienced but I can say that my deepest sympathies and respect are with you folks. I hope that we can somehow get over this incident through peaceful means (NOT WAR!!) while making sure that the perpetrators are rightly punished for their actions. Remember to keep your cool folks. As of now, we don’t know who did this and we must not resort to blame the usual suspects. Here at AICN, we celebrate the films that come from all sorts of places and attempt to learn as many different cultures as possible. I must advice you to live as citizens of the same world and treat each person with the respect and dignity that they deserve.
That said, let’s lighten up our lives by celebrating films – after all that’s what we are here to do. We have some more interesting stuff for you this week which includes news on director Raajiv Rai’s next film, Kamal Haasan’s next film, Johnnie To’s Hollywood debut, and Michelle Reis’ next film. We also have some pics from “Nayak – The Real Hero”, “Karaoke King”, “La Brassiere”, “Perfect Lovers”, and two different posters from Miyazaki’s latest film.
We must not forget the grim events that occurred this week, but we must not be overwhelmed by it either. I can understand that it will be hard for some of you to adjust, but just hope for the best. Try to get back to your daily lives and learn to enjoy the way of life that we were used to all these years. In the meanwhile, try to relax, and enjoy the latest info from Asia.
INDIA
- Bobby Deol and Akshay Kumar are rumoured to appear in director Raajiv Rai’s next film. Rai previously announced that this was a three-hero project and that only Arjun Nagpal was confirmed as one of the leads. Actor Sunil Shetty is also being heavily touted to appear in the film.
- Director Tanuja Chandra has signed actress Amisha Patel to appear in her next film, opposite Karan Nath. The actress and director are currently working on “Zindagi Ka Safar (Life’s Travels)” with actor Jimmy Shergill. The latter film is due out sometime this year.
- Actor-director Kamal Haasan is being rumoured to remake his Tamil film “Thennali” in Bollywood. The film, a “What About Bob?” type comedy, is being slated to star Shahrukh Khan in the lead. This is only a rumour but it could possibly be true, especially considering the next scoop (look below).
- Kamal Haasan is also being touted to appear in choreographer Farah Khan’s directorial debut, which will be produced by Shahrukh’s Dreamz Unlimited. This will be the production company’s third film and will also star SRK and Abhishek Bachchan in the lead. The film will get underway as soon as SRK finishes up the final touches on “Asoka”.
- Director-producer Yash Chopra will produce a yet another film, this time with newcomer Vivek Oberoi and Rani Mukherjee in the lead. It will be directed by newcomer Shaad Ali (who was an assistant to acclaimed director Mani Ratnam) while the music will be composed by A.R. Rahman. The film will go on the floors sometime early next year.
- Actress Preeti Jhangian (who made an excellent debut in “Mohabbatein – Love Affairs”) will make a special appearance for director Arjun Sablok’s “Na Tum Jaano Na Hum (Neither of us Know)”. The film stars Hrithik Roshan, Esha Deol, and Saif Ali Khan.
- Contrary to rumours abound, Govinda has not been approached by Subhash Ghai to star in an upcoming film. The actor confirmed that Ghai hasn’t even approached him for the film and he might not star if contacted, even if David Dhawan (Govinda’s long-time friend and frequent collaborator) is directing. The two (Ghai and Govinda) haven’t been on speaking terms since the actor rejected a role in “Taal (Beat)”, which eventually went to Anil Kapoor.
- Last week’s new release was director Shankar’s much anticipated Bollywood remake of his Tamil hit “Mudhalvan”, titled “Nayak – The Real Hero”, starring Anil Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee, Amrish Puri and Paresh Rawal. The film, like its original source, is a satirical look at the world of politics featuring some over-the-top musical sequences and action scenes. Even the main plot is a work of pure fantasy, which would never occur in real life. The film follows the actions of a journalist, Shivaji Rao (Anil Kapoor), who is challenged by a corrupt Chief Minister (Amrish Puri) to take over his position for a day. Shivaji accepts the challenge and in an impossible feat, manages to undo many of the politician’s mistakes in just one day!! Of course, he gets the CM arrested as well, of which the latter doesn’t take too kindly. The CM then plans his revenge and much action follows finally leading to a resolution at the end. Many of the reviews for the film have called it a disaster, mainly due to the fantasy elements of the plot, but I tend to disagree. Yes, there are some HUGE plot holes, but you must understand that this is a fantasy. It is not meant to be real. There are many laws and legislations that would prevent somebody from being handed a high position just like that. Then, even if that were to occur, no person could make such powerful (and effective) decisions in just one day! Adding to these fantasy elements are the elaborate song sequences that take the level of imagination to a higher level. There are some very elaborate set designs complete with wonderful special effects and excellent costumes. The action sequences (of which there are only few) also up the ante in Bollywood in terms of technical aspects, with one particular sequence (a mud-fight using Matrix-y effects) being REALLY cool!! The acting also doesn’t disappoint with Anil Kapoor being his usual dependable self. The guy knows drama and he is in fine form here. The same goes for Amrish Puri, who returns to a villainous role after a long time and proves that he still knows how to chew scenery like the best of villains. All other actors are fine in their smaller roles. The direction is fine and I found no major complaint here – the drama was taut and gripping (nothing extraordinary but not disappointing), the action was AWESOME and the songs were a clever distraction from the plot. All in all, “Nayak – The Real Hero” is an entertaining film that manages to deliver the goods.
Is the film over-the-top? Here’s a shot of Anil, bathing in milk: Click Here Now
Anil in the mud-fight sequence: Click Here
Another action sequence, this time on two double-decker buses: Just Go Here
An odd shaving sequence with Rani Mukherjee and Anil Kapoor: Click
And to top it off, there’s a song sequence set during the medieval ages: Click Now
CHINA/HK
James Marshall (aka “The Dirty Tiger”) has sent us a heads up to visit his website (www.orientalfilms.co.uk) which features an extensive set-report from “The Highbinders” and 109 exclusive pics from an HK-USA co-production called “Trinity Goes East”. It makes for some pretty interesting read, go and check it out.
Now here’s the weekly report from “AccSpy”:
- Director Johnnie To goes to Hollywood! To confirmed that he is now reading two Hollywood scripts, both are action thriller with one starring Jean Reno and another with Samuel L. Jackson's name attached to it. (Accspy says: At least not another Jean Claude Van Damme flick, and Jean and Samuel are both cool actors, which is good news.) To promises that no matter the film is successful or not, he will come back to doing HK films. To is currently only co-producing two films, "Running out of Time 2" and a comedy, "Karaoke King", starring comedian Dayo Wong Chi-wah and Anita Mui. Here's some on-set photos.
Sitcom star Dayo Wong and Anita Mui star in this new comedy: Click to View
Anita Mui: Click Here
Dayo Wong in his god-awful stage look: Just Click
- Here's a new set of photos from Lau Ching-wan and Louis Koo's comedy "La Brassiere", from a scene in which Lau and Koo's bra designer characters bet with Gigi Leung that they can survive wearing breasts implants and bras like women!
Lau and Koo testing their new outfit (that’ s some sick stuff! – D25): Click Here
Lau and Koo in the gym: Click
- Nick Cheung and Michelle Reis are now shooting "Perfect Lovers", a romantic comedy about a dog hit by thunder and transformed into a human being (Nick Cheung)!! Here are some on-set pictures.
Michelle Reis talking about how she begged the director to cancel the scene in which Nick has to lick her face: Go Here
And Nick Cheung talking about how much he would like to lick Michelle Reis' face (so would I – D25): Click Now
- Daniel Wu faces his biggest acting challenge in a new horror film called "Switching Faces (lit. title)". With the help of the make-up, Wu will be transformed into an "elephant man". The film is also co-starring Gigi Lai from "Young & Dangerous" series.
- "Bridget Jones's Diary" debuted in the no.1 position at the HK box office last week with $2.6 million while "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence" and "The Animal" were at no.2 and 3. The Japanese horror flick "Kairo" entered at no.4.
JAPAN
Here’s a link to 2 posters from Miyazaki’s latest film, “Spirited Away”. Special thanks to “Spydaweb”.
Poster 1: Click Here to See
Poster 2 (which looks FANTASTIC!): Click to View
Now here’s the latest report from “Pigmon”:
- Director Shinji Somai has passed away this week due to lung cancer. He was only 53 years old. I reviewed his latest movie, "Kaza-Hana", a couple of months ago and the director was well known for his other works such as "Moving", "Wait And See","Tokyo Heaven" and "Typhoon Club". He was preparing to shoot a new movie for Shochiku. I will miss him...
- Anjelina Jolie has arrived in Japan to promote of "Tomb Raider". During her stay, she mentioned that a portion of "Tomb Raider 2" will be shooting in Japan..... in front of 5000 guests during the premiere.
- “13 Ghosts" has been chosen as the closing film at this year's Tokyo International Fantastic Film Festival.
- "Sen To Chihiro No Kamikakushi (Spirited Away)" will soon be the number 1 film at the all time domestic box office in Japan. It will break the record set by Miyazaki's own "Princes Mononoke", which grossed $160 million. Miyazaki’s latest film has already earned $151 million at the box office.
