Well, Asia-AICN is now 5 weeks old and while we have coverage from India, China, and Hong Kong Father Geek wishes we could land a Japanese reporter for the column because there's alot of great cinema that comes off those islands and we want to tell the world about them. I know we have an audience there because Japanese TV and Magazines have covered Harry and the site alot. So, someone over there get hold of Darius 25, or myself and lets complete the Asian picture for all our readers, but for now here's AICN's report on the rest of the Asian film scene.
Asia-AICN #5
Hey all. Hope you've had a good week. Here's this week's movie news from Asia:
INDIA
Hey all. Hope you've had a good week. Here's this week's movie news from Asia:
INDIA
- Madame Tussaud's, a famous wax museum in London, Eng., will be immortalize the most popular Bollywood star. They are currently holding an online poll to determine which of the 5 pre-determined stars will have their figure displayed at the museum. The 5 stars are Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Madhuri Dixit, Raj Kapoor, and Shah Rukh Khan. The winner will be announced at the Indian International Film Awards, which is being held at the Millenium Dome on June 24. My guess would be that Bachchan would probably win, even though Shah Rukh deserves it. You can vote for your favourite actor/actress at this site.
- The movie Refugee's release date has been postponed a week from June 9th to June 16 and it may still be further postponed. This decision was made in order to avoid direct competition with the Shah Rukh Khan-Aishwarya Rai starrer, Josh (Adrenaline Rush), which may move its release date from June 2 to June 9. I guess director J.P. Dutta does not have "enough" confidence in newcomer Abhishek Bachchan (actor Amitabh Bachchan's son) to compete with the double team of Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai.
- Oddly enough, Abhishek Bachchan's first "completed" film is not Refugee but another film, Tera Jadoo Chal Gaya (Your Magic has Worked). This movie is almost ready to release but Abhisek and his extremely influential father, Amitabh, feel that Refugee will be a proper introduction for the young actor because of its epic-like like story. I don't know much about the story itself other than it is a love story between an Indian guy and a Pakistani girl set around the Indo-Paki border.
- Actor Hrithik Roshan will star in another movie besides Mission Kashmir, which I told you about last week. The film, Fiza (Crazy), will be directed by Khalid Mohammed and will also star Karishma Kapoor. Apparently the story will follow the life of a man, from a 15-year old teen to a mature adult.
- Finally, I am very happy to report that Miss India, Lara Dutta, has won the Miss Universe 2000 crown last week. Now let's see if she will join Bollywood like former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen. Here's a very HOT picture of Lara:
- This week's new release was Jung (War). It stars Sanjay Dutt, Jackie Shroff, Shilpa Shetty, Raveena Tandon and Aditya Pancholi. The film is causing quite a controversy in recent times because of a dispute between the producer Satish Tandon and the director Sanjay Gupta. Apparently Gupta was taking too long to complete the film and Tandon wanted to release the film as soon as possible. This led to Sanjay Gupta storming off the set. Adding to further troubles actor Sanjay Dutt sided with Gupta and stormed off the set as well leaving the film incomplete - he didn't dub for the movie. So Tandon just hired somebody else to dub for Dutt and somehow completed the movie with the help of everybody else. Sanjay Dutt was so angry at this that he called a press conference recently and urged the public to not see the film. Interestingly enough, Gupta's name is not in the credits while (obviously) Dutt's name is in the credits. The movie will probably bomb because of this negative publicity surrounding the film. The story isn't very good either - it's a remake of the movie Desperate Measures starring Andy Garcia and Micheal Keaton. Jackie Shroff plays a cop whose son needs a bone marrow transplant from convicted killer Sanjay Dutt. Dutt somehow escapes from prison while Shroff tries to bring him back alive. The reason I will see this movie (it comes out in Canada on May 19) is because of director Sanjay Gupta. Gupta has a "fascination" with John Woo and almost every single movie of his has plenty of slo-mo shots and two-gun action. I expect the action scenes (which has been increased from Desperate Measures) to kick ass but I will probably cringe when I hear the obvious dubbing of Sanjay Dutt.
- This week's pick is Aatish (Inferno), another film by Sanjay Gupta and starring Sanjay Dutt, Aditya Pancholi, Atul Agnihotri, Karishma Kapoor and Raveena Tandon. Like I said above, Gupta has a fascination with John Woo, and this movie is a remake/rip-off or A Better Tomorrow. I have seen the original, subtitled version of A Better Tomorrow and loved it, but I prefer Aatish. I am not saying that Gupta is better than Woo (Hell NO) or Aditya Pancholi is better than Chow Yun Fat, but the story was actually better. Since Indian movies are longer than other movies (3 hrs long usually), there was more time in Aatish to increase some of the dramatic scenes and of course, the action scenes. Some of the action scenes were also better (and more violent) in Aatish eg. There is a scene where Dutt and Pancholi chase down a bad guy in the middle of the street and then slash him to death with swords. Of course, the slo-mo and two-gun fireplay are here aswell. Also, I think the acting done by Sanjay Dutt was better than Ti Lung who was the lead of A Better Tomorrow (and also kicked more ass!!). If some of you don't know the story of A Better Tomorrow or Aatish, it's about a gangster who gets caught by the police and after coming back, wants out of the triad. He has to deal with his best friend (played by Chow in ABT) who is now just a lowly servant and his own younger brother who is now a cop.
Now, let's head on over to HK.
CHINA/HK
The following was reported by "The Accidental Spy":
- Jackie Chan has said that Shanghai Noon 2 will not take place in the Old West but rather other exotic places. Expect an Indiana Jones /Operation Condor-type sequel.
- Daniel Wu (Purple Storm, Gen-X Cops), the HK up-and-coming action star, is now shooting a spy adventure called "Honey I Love You". Invested by SEGA, the Japanese video game company, the movie is based on the same titled video game which would be released with the movie at the same time, later this year. Also starring Cathy Chow (Beast Cops, Sleepless Town) and Jade Leung (My Name is Cat), the movie is shot in English and would take place in HK, Italy and Philippine. The budget of both movie and video game is $10 million USD.
- Jackie Chan recently showed admiration of Daniel Wu's acting talent and Kung-Fu skill. Chan has decided to bring Wu abroad to attend the US premiere of "Shanghai Noon" and wants to offer Wu a role in "Rush Hour 2".
- Cannes' winner Wong Kar-wai's latest film, "In the Mood of Love", would be shown on May 20 at the Cannes International Film Festival. The media predicts that is always a good sign for competition if a film is shown just a few nights before the closing night (May21). The film is staring Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Maggie Cheung, and there are two versions of the poster, both are worth a look by clicking here for style A, and right here for style B.
- Leslie Cheung (A Better Tomorrow, Ashes of Time) has just finished an action thriller, "Double Tap", a story about a gun addicted psychopath who kills people by a "double tap" shot ( a "8"sharp wound made by two continuous shots) and then goes against a police officer(Alex Fong), who is also a skillful shooter. Produced by Derek Yee, the director of "Full Throttle" and "Ces't La Vie, Mon Cherie"; the film would be released this summer in HK.
