Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Boy, FatherGeek, I have a new respect for the work you do. I’m sorry if I haven’t been the best editor for Euro-AICN and Asia-AICN while you’ve been gone, but I’ve certainly tried to make sure they got their stories up and online...
Hi Harry,
Would you please post this week's column, located below. It seems that Fathergeek is unable to receive my messages at this moment.
Thanks,
Atul
Asia-AICN
Hey all, Darius25 here with the latest news from Asia. This week we've got info on director Ram Gopal Verma's upcoming plans as well as a review of his latest production, "Road". We also have some news on upcoming HK films including “The Legend of Golden Chan”, Golden Harvest next film teaming Andy Lau and Miriam Yeung for the first time, and some news about the Shaw Brothers’ re-entry into film production! Finally, we also have pics from "Road" and Deewangee (Madness)”.
INDIA
Director Ram Gopal Verma is currently in talks with actor Akshay Kumar to collaborate on a new project. The “Company” director is currently involved with many different productions (his latest, “Road”, came out last week) and is rapidly finishing his next directorial film, “Bhoot (Spirit)”. Not much is known about this Akshay Kumar film, but Verma says that it will definitely be an action movie made in his own style (probably like “Road” or “Company”). The project would probably not start until atleast early 2003.
Directors Abbas-Mustan have also announced their upcoming plans. The duo will first direct a low-budget teenage comedy featuring all newcomers. The film will be very much like “Style” and “American Pie”. After this the directors will start a new project with producer Ekta Kapoor, which will have her brother, Tusshar Kapoor, in the lead. The leading lady for this film has not yet been set, but rumours suggest that Tusshar will co-star with Kareena Kapoor once again. The pair had a fabulous hit last year in “Mujjhe Kuch Kehna Hai (I Have Something to Say)” and are starring again in next month’s “Jeena Sirf Merre Liye (Living for Myself)”.
Some new stills were released from director Aneez Basmee’s “Deewanagee (Madness)”. The movie stars Ajay Devgan, Akshaye Khanna, and Urmila Matondkar in leading roles and is about a hotshot attorney (Khanna) setting out to prove to the innocence of a music director (Devgan) framed for murder. Things take an interesting twist when the lawyer discovers that his client may not be so innocent after all. Hmm, sounds like a “Primal Fear” clone – but Devgan is such a superb actor that he’ll definitely do justice to his role. The film is set to release at the end of this month, but you can get a few glimpses at it right now.
Ajay Devgan (on trial) and Akshaye Khanna (in the lawyer’s jacket): http://www.indiafm.com/stills/02/deewangee/still1.jpg
The stunning Urmila with Akshaye Khanna: http://www.indiafm.com/stills/02/deewangee/still2.jpg
Another look at Urmila: http://www.indiafm.com/stills/02/deewangee/still12.jpg
And a final shot of Ajay – he doesn’t really look innocent here:
http://www.indiafm.com/stills/02/deewangee/still8.jpg
ROAD
Last week’s new release was latest production from Ram Gopal Verma, directed by one of his assistants, Rajat Mukherjee. Much like Mukherjee’s last film (“Pyar, Tune Kya Kiya – Love, What Have You Done”), this new release also marks all the bearings of a Verma film complete with crazy camera angles, stylish colour schemes, offbeat music, and a SEXY leading lady wearing really skimpy outfits. It may be a normal action movie on the surface – but it is told in a very strange and offbeat manner that makes it look completely refreshing. Of course it helps that you have actor Manoj Bajpai in a major role doing what he does best (playing psychos), along with fellow Varma favourites Vivek Oberoi and Antara Malli.
The plot shouldn’t be given away but I’ll give a basic summary. Basically you have two lovebirds, Arvind (Vivek Oberoi) and Lakshmi (Antara Malli), who decide to elope all of a sudden. They’re on their way to a really far destination (while traveling along a desert) when they pick up a hitch-hiker, Babu (Manoj Bajpai). Of course as this is a thriller, the stranger turns out to be nut-case and ends up kidnapping the girl. Arvind does manage to get back his girlfriend within 20 minutes, but things don’t let up for a second until the final scene of the movie.Let’s just say that you’ll have some really great thrills along the way – especially when a bizarre twist comes into play during the last act.
Simply put, this movie is just fun! I mean if you like movies like “Duel”, “Breakdown”, or even “Joy Ride”, then you’ll have a fantastic time. That’s about it. It’s another film in that genre and don’t worry it doesn’t borrow any particular scenes from any of the films. Manoj Bajpai has the largest amount of screen time and has plenty of fun with his character. And he’s just so damn likeable that you’ll end up rooting for him before the second half begins. Vivek Oberoi made a very strong impression on us with Verma’s “Company” and is now taking on a none-too-challenging role of the common action hero. Sure we’ve seen the role many times before but Vivek doesn’t do anything wrong with it. He plays it straight and simple so Bajpai could just take over the show. Antara Malli is frickin’ HOT and this is the first film where we actually see it. The actress played Vivek’s wife in “Company”, but here plays a more sensuous and daring role (within the constraints of her character) and looks just STUNNING! And she really has a big role in this well, which given the genre, is major surprise. She doesn’t disappoint in her acting scenes either. The direction is pretty awesome. It has been rumoured that Ram Gopal Verma actually directed most of the scenes, and you know what, they’re probably right. All his normal trademarks are present and the film just has the feeling of RGV film like “Daud (Run)”, “Jungle” and “Company”. The camera angles are cool, the music is strange, the look is really bizarre (think Soderbergh’s Mexican scenes in “Traffic”), and the cinematography is just jaw-dropping gorgeous. The editing is also really well-done with the pace never missing a beat till the final minute (and it’s only 130 minutes long – which is really short for Bollywood).
So basically “Road” is a very clever thriller that’s a must see for genre fans. There’s nothing here that you haven’t seen before, but it will definitely entertain you during its lean runtime.
The gorgeous Antara Malli with Vivek Oberoi: http://www.indiafm.com/stills/02/road/still15.jpg
A very COOL Manoj Bajpai: http://www.indiafm.com/stills/02/road/still1.jpg
Another great pic of Antara: http://www.indiafm.com/stills/02/road/still6.jpg
And another great pic of Antara:
http://www.radiosargam.com/downloads/moviestills/r/road/017.jpg
CHINA / HK
Here’s the latest report from AccSpy:
Here’s the initial line-up of 2003’s Chinese New Year films:
Applause Pictures will shoot a hooker comedy called “The Legend of Golden Chicken”, starring Sandra Ng and produced by none other than Sandra’s boyfriend Peter Chan.
Golden Harvest will team up Andy Lau and Mariam Yeung for the first time in a romantic comedy.
An in the other corner is Ekin Cheng and Cecilia Cheung, shooting a comedy for Chinastar.
Lau Ching Wan and Louis Koo will also team up again for another buddy comedy.
22 years old Nicholas Tze was found guilty for perverting the course of justice in a car accident during Feb. Further sentences will be announced on Oct 16th, as many guess the star will be sent behind bars at least 12 months. For further information click here: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/021003/1/33eh2.html
In the dawn of releasing all of their 700 hundreds movie on VCD and DVD in the next five years, Shaw Brothers are also starting film production for the first time since the mid-80’s. Director Lau Ka-leung is shooting “Drunken Monkey” in Mainland now, also shooting is another old-school kungfu flick “San Da Wong”(Parttime Fighting King), directed by Tsui Hark.
Louis Koo and Cecilia Cheung played a BIG part in bringing HK movies out of recession, as their period comedy “The Lion Roars” debuted first at the box office with $5.2 mil in four days(including previous sneak peeks’ grossing). “My Wife is Eighteen”, Ekin Chang’s best received film (at least box office-wise) since “Tokyo Raiders”, fell from the top spot to no.2 with a total grossing of $5.8 mil so far. “Road to Perdition” also fell one step to no.3, the Korean film “The Way Home” held strong in no.4 while “The Bourne Identity” fell to no.5 with total grossing of $5 mil in 18 days.
We have now reached the end of this week's column. Remember, if you have information regarding any film industry in Asia, please contact our Asia-AICN offices at atshrivas@rogers.com. See you all next week.
Darius25
Thanks, Darius. I’m sure FatherGeek will be back by then, and all will be back to normal. In the meantime, you’re a champ for puttin’ up with me.
"Moriarty" out.
