Father Geek here posting Darius25's 1st Aisa-AICN column of 2001. Even with several of his reporters off on vacation this column is filled with Asian film industry news, including some very interesting new BLADE 2 info fresh out of Hong Kong. Check it all out below...

Asia-AICN

Hey all, hope you're having a fine first week of the new "official" millennium. This week's column isn't jam packed as "Pigmon" and "AccSpy" are on vacation. But don't worry, there is still some news from India and Philippines and I'm sure Scott has some great Anime news for you guys. Now here's the latest from Asia.

INDIA

- Producer Keshu Ramsay has announced that the title of the next (8th) "Khiladi" (Player) film will be Khiladi vs. Khiladi (Player vs. Player). The film will of course star Akshay Kumar and it is rumoured that Amisha Patel will be the heroine next time around. Akshay's latest Khiladi film, Khiladi 420 (Player 420) was released in theatres last Friday. See below for my description of the film.

- The title of producer Yash Chopra's next film is Mujhse Dosti Karoge (Want to be Friends?). Rani Mukherjee and Kareena Kapoor have joined the cast, which already includes Hrithik Roshan and Uday Chopra. Kunal Kohli will direct the film.

- Govinda has been signed as the main lead in director Manoj Agarwal's next film, opposite Sonali Bendre and Raveena Tandon. The film, which has not yet been titled, will start principal photography sometime in April.

- Urmila has signed on to be the second female lead in actor Anupam Kher's directorial debut, Om Jai Jagdish (the names of the main heroes), alongside Tabu. The titular characters will be played by Anil Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan and Fardeen Khan, respectively. The film is being produced by Vashu Bhagnani and will start principal photography on January 29.

- Actor Nana Patekar has been signed to star in producer Dilip Dhanwani's Vadh (Kill) alongside Anupama Verma, Pururaj Kumar and Nakul Vaid. Principal photography will commence soon and is expected to wrap by the end of November.

- Nana Patekar has also been signed as the main lead in producer Boney Kapoor's upcoming remake of "Not Without My Daughter", opposite Karisma Kapoor. Shahrukh Khan was expected to be the lead but will now only make a cameo in the film.

- Two highly anticipated blockbusters were released last Friday. The first of which (as you already know) was Akshay Kumar's latest Khiladi flick, Khiladi 420 (Player 420), directed by actor/writer Neeraj Vohra. However the plot of this film is more complicated than his Khiladi flicks, and there is less action here than in his other films aswell. The plot focuses on a wealthy woman, Ritu (Mahima Choudhary), who meets a suave businessman, Dev (Akshay Kumar), and quickly marries him. Things are not as they appear as Dev is actually a conman who may have murdered Ritu's father. But the money is not much to use to Dev as he's accidentally killed by Ritu on their wedding night. Things get more complicated as a man claiming to Dev's twin brother (Akshay in a dual role) enters Ritu's life. There are more twists around that may not be appreciated by the audience, but I found them to quite surprising. If anything, the film could be watched for its few but incredible action sequences, especially the heart-stopping finale when Akshay Kumar skydives from an airplane 8 000 feet above the ground. The acting is decent for a thriller, but I found Akshay Kumar to be a much better villain than a hero. Mahima Choudhary is pretty good in her role while Gulshan Glover excels yet again as one of the main baddies. Neeraj Vohra's script focuses more on the plot than the action and this is a good thing. His direction is adequate enough for a debut film, and the pacing of the film flowed along quite smoothly. Overall, Khiladi 420 is yet another good Khiladi film from Akshay Kumar, and fans of action films will not mind seeing him kick some more ass!! Now, bring on Khiladi vs. Khiladi!

- The other film released last Friday was Raju Chacha (Uncle Raju), directed by Anil Devgan and produced by its star, Ajay Devgan (Anil's cousin). The children's film is billed as the most expensive Indian film and was the first Bollywood film to have its premiere in Los Angeles (at the Academy Theatre on December 28). 80's teen idol Rishi Kapoor plays Siddhant Rai, a rich industrialist who lives with his three young children at a grand, palatial mansion. Siddhant hires a governess, Anna (Kajol Devgan - Ajay's wife and top Bollywood actress), who is able to win over the bratty kids with her mischievous and childish antics. Shekhar, a conman who is in love with Anna, enters their lives and Siddhant decides to get them married. Things suddenly turn upside down when the police arrest Shekhar on the wedding day. As a result, Anna leaves the children to get away from the painful memories. Things get worse when Siddhant's villainous relatives succeed in murdering him and take over the house. In order to save the children from the relatives, Shekhar re-emerges as Raju Chacha, Siddhant Rai's long-lost brother and the real heir to his property. Shekhar, Anna, and the children team up to foil the villains and have more fun along the way. The film is loaded with tonnes of special FX, which provides for more entertainment, but is really unnecessary to the plot. The film manages to provide decent entertainment for adults, but is ultimately targeted towards children and will most likely be appreciated by them. Ajay Devgan is great as the heroic saviour while Kajol is really under utilized as the governess, who's only in the film to be the love interest for Ajay. It's good seeing Rishi Kapoor after an extremely long time, but he is killed off way too early in the film. The kids are fine and not too annoying and the same goes for the villains. The direction and songs are fine for a comedy film I suppose, but are not really worth talking about. All in all, it's a good children's film, but adults would be better off with Khiladi 420.

HONG KONG

The following information on Donnie Yen's upcoming projects was reported by "Jotarou":

On donnieyen.com there is news that he is in negotiations with the producers of "Blade 2" to be martial arts choreographer and possibly a role in the film. It does not say what role in the film he will be playing.

Other films he is connected to are the new Freddie Prinze Jr. martial arts film in production at Miramax (ugh!!) where he will be behind and in front of the camera. Turns out that Bob and Harvey Weinstein were so impressed with his work on "Highlander 2:Endgame" and "Iron Monkey" that they wanted to use him again.

He is also in talks to be in his own television program from the creator(not Luc Besson) of the "La Femme Nikita" tv series on USA.

Now, the "Blade 2" rumor has credence because in an interview with a reporter from hkmdb.com he praised "Blade" for having superior fight scenes and editing than some of action movies in Hong Kong today.

For those who are not familiar with the name Donnie Yen, they will probably recognize him when they see him. He is from Boston and practiced martial arts since he was a kid where he was noticed by Yuen Woo Ping in Hong Kong. He was a regular in the films of Yuen Woo Ping and became the chief fight choreographer for most of Yuen's directorial films. He made his leading role debut in "Drunken Tai Chi" and then played mainly supporting roles in "Tiger Cage" and "In the Line of Duty IV". Most people will recognize him as the villain in Tsui Hark's "Once Upon a Time in China II" and as Wong Kei-ying in Yuen Woo-Ping's aforementioned "Iron Monkey". He made his directorial debut in 1997 with the great retro martial arts flick "Legend of the Wolf" and followed up with "Ballistic Kiss" which played on the hitman genre. He was action choreographer for the Daniel Lee ("Black Mask") directed "Moonlight Express" which starred Leslie Cheung and the female lead from Andy Lau's lastest "A Fighter's Blue". In 1999 he decided to move in to western film making with the German tv action movie "Puma" and its sequel and of course the disapointing "Highlander: Endgame" as the henchman Jin Ke. Donnie Yen was really the only good thing about the movie.

PHILIPPINES

The following was reported by "AznFob55":

The Metro Manila Film Fest is just over and the Philippines Daily Inquirer published a pretty good article. You can read it at Their Site.

I'll try to put up a list of winners for next week.

ANIME

From Scott Green

Berserk News

The 25 episode anime series Berserk will be released as a DVD box set in Japan for 31,500 yen on March 20th. Also included will be a booklet and a calendar included. This may effect the possibilities of a domestic release of the series. Urban Visions had been in talks to acquire the rights to the series, but eventually reported that the negotiations had stalled. Rumor state that the Japanese rights holders to the series did not want to give DVD to rights to Urban Visions, and Urban Visions did not want to buy the series without DVD rights. Fanboy Inc. has stated the American rights to the manga series that the anime was based on have been acquired by an undisclosed company.

In the series first episode a huge, scarred man people call "The Black Swordsman", entered a settlement ruled by a snake like demon who is being appeased with money, and feasts of human flesh. After a brutal the swordmans kill the demon, and takes a head shaped amulet from its neck. The rest of the series is the story of how a mercenary named Gatts (or Gatsu, or Guts depending on the translation) becomes the black swordsman and his dealings with an ambitious mercenary captain with other-worldly qualities named Griffith. The series is a story of medieval ware-fare, drama and politics, with some supernatural elements that come to dominate it at its conclusion. It is highly regarded for its fascinating characters, tight plot, and haunting music.

Cowboy Bebop Movie Named

http://www.CowboyBebop.com The name of the Cowboy Bebop movie has been announced to be "Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door." The movie will take place between the events of episodes 22 and 23 of the television series, and feature Victor and Electra in addition to the television series' cast of bounty hunters, Spike, Faye, Jet, Ed, and Ein. The movie is expected to be released in 2001, and have a 90 minute runtime.

Saber Marionette DVD Info

The first 9 episode Saber Marionette J double disc set due out late next month. In addition to being a trilingual disc (English DD2.0, Japanese DD2.0, Spanish DD1.0 audio), it includes as extras for disc 1 Character Specs/Galleries and a Full-length Lime Musical Circuit DD5.1 music video. The music video will have English, romaji and Japanese subtitles. The DVD set is schedule for a January 9th release.

Saber Marionette J is a 25 episode sci-fi comedy about a colony whose human inhabitants are male clones. Emotionless female shaped androids "marionettes" are available to those wealthy enough to afford them. An odd job worker named Otaru find three marionette's with a "maiden circuit" that gives them emotion, the overly innocent lime (voiced by fan favorite Megumi Hayashibara, Lina of Slayers, in fact a number of Slayers voice alumni have parts in Saber Marionette), the intelligent, and traditional Cherry, and the busty and hot headed Bloodberry.

2001 Anime Movies for Japanese Release

"Initial D - Third Stage" will be released in movie theatres January 13th. The latest entry in the car racing series will reportedly use innovative new computer animation techniques. "2001 Toei Anime Fair - Digimon Adventure 02 and One Piece- The Adventure on Nejimaki Island" will be released March 3rd. Miyazaki's "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi", about a a 10-year-old girl, Chisato, who becomes separated from her parents and enters the "Kami-Gami World" will be released this summer. "Metropolis" by creator of Astro Boy, Osamu Tezuka, directed by the famous Rintaro, (the director of Clamps' "X"), and with storlyine Katsuhiro Otomo (the creator of Akira) will be release in June. The movie is about a futuristic society where humans and robots co-exist.

Anime Premiering this January

Anihabara post the following list of anime series airing on Japanese television this January:

Chikyu Bouei Kazoku[Earth Defense Family] (Jan.9 18:30, WOWOW[free]) The story of an ordinary family whose parents are at odds, and whose son is problematic. One day, they received an anonymous message, which commanding them protect the earth.

Zoids in the New Century - Zero (Jan.6 18:00, TBS) Days have past and past from the age of wars. Zoids Battle becomes sports, and players are called "warriors".

Bakuten Shoot - Beiblade (Jan.8 18:00, TV TOKYO) From AniHabara: "Beigoma is a small Japanese top. However, Beiblade is a special top which can change parts to spin better, and virtual characters are living in there. Boys play Beiblade and make friends." It some like a product tie-shown

Hakaima Sadamitsu [Sadamitsu the Destroyer] (Jan.17, WOWOW[free]) Fights between Sadamitsu and space criminals.

Grappler Touga (Jan.8, TV TOKYO) Touga fights and fights to beat his father, who is called the strongest man.

Gundam Release News

Anime on DVD has learn that a letter from Bandai states ""[Mobile Suit Gundam: 08th MS Team] starts it's release [mid to late 2001] and the others are towards the end of the year." Mobile Suit Gundam: 08th MS Team takes place during the same One Year War as the original Gundam series, but rather than telling the story from the point of view of the Newtype aces (humans with exceptions abilities) it tells the story from the view of the common soldier. Bandai will not be releasing the 3 compilation movies onto DVD in the US. The movies are condensed versions of the original TV series but with some added footage and slight reworkings.

Outlaw Star on Toonami

New commercial on Cartoon Network indicate that Outlaw Star will be shown on Cartoon Network as part of the Toonami block starting January 15 at 6:30pm. The 26 episode series is part of same sci-fi freelancer genre as the stylish Cowboy Bebop, and the post apocalyptic western Trigun. The partnership of the highly physical Gene Starwind, and his mechanic/hacker/accountant sidekick Jim Hawking are thrust from their small bodyguard operation into much larger conflict when one of their clients takes them to retrieve a fabled ship created in a collaboration of the greatest minds of the of the lawless pirate clans, and space's policing force. Gene and Jim are eventually joined by a synthetic human girl with stunted emotions, a physically powerful, but absent minded catgirl, and a beautiful and mysterious assassin. The series as a good deal of both space and ground level action, as well as fairly detailed back stories for Gene, and the events occurring in the series. Some reports suggest that Cartoon Network will only be showing 15 of the show's episodes, and that they will be heavily edited.

Darius 25 back to say goodbye. Remember, if you have information regarding any film industry in Asia, please contact our Asia-AICN offices . See you all next week.

- Darius25