Father Geek here with Asia-AICN for this Thursday morning. Well, in the last few days we've shown you The Golden Globe winners, the French Cesar Nominees, the British BAFTA Nominations, and now Darius25 brings us India's Filmfare Award Nominations for 2001. Tis the season to...

Asia-AICN

Hey all. Hope you're all ok (especially my fellow Indians in the wake of that terrible earthquake). Not much happened this past week, but I did manage to get news to two famous Indian awards, and "AccSpy" has some cool info on a few upcoming HK films. Hopefully Scott will have some good stuff for you as well in his Anime section. Now here's the latest from Asia.

INDIA

- Actor Anupam Kher's directorial debut, Om Jai Jagdish, was launched on January 29. The function was attended by several celebrities, including legendary actor Dilip Kumar who gave the first clap, and director Yash Chopra, who directed the first shot. All of the cast members were present except for Fardeen Khan, who was away shooting for another film in the state of Rajisthan. Here's a couple of pictures from the event.

Anil Kapoor and Aishwarya Rai (who's not in the film but looks great as always): Just Go Here

The main team (from left, director Anupam Kher, cast members Tabu, Anil Kapoor, Urmila, Abhishek Bachchan, Diya Mirza, and producer Vashu Bhagnani): Click Here

- Director Suneel Darshan's latest, Ek Rishta (One Relationship), is now filming away in Bombay. The film focuses on a family, headed by Amitabh Bachchan, who gets torn apart by the new son-in-law (played by Mohnish Behl). Akshay Kumar and Juhi Chawla play Bachchan's offspring. Here's a picture from the sets with Akshay Kumar (the younger of the two) and Amitabh Bachchan: Click Right Here

- Actress Sree Devi is thinking about starring in an Indian TV sitcom loosely based on Lucille Ball's "Here's Lucy", which originally ran on American TV from 1968 to 1974. The Indian version will be directed by Satish Kaushik, a very good friend of Sree's husband, producer Boney Kapoor.

- Director K. Shashilal Nair's latest film, One Two Ka Four (One Two then Four), will be released on February 23. The action-comedy stars Shahrukh Khan, Juhi Chawla and Jackie Shroff.

- The release date for directors Abbas-Mustan's new thriller has also been announced. Ajnabi (Stranger) will be released on April 13. The film stars Akshay Kumar, Bobby Deol, Kareena Kapoor and Bipasha Basu.

- This year's Screen VideoCon awards took place recently, giving us an indication on this year's major winners at other upcoming functions. Here's a highlight on the major awards, for a complete list, Click Here

Best Film: Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai (Say You Love Me)

Best Director: Rakesh Roshan for Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai

Best Actor: Hrithik Roshan for Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai

Best Actress: Tabu for Astitva (Existence)

Best Supporting Actor: Sanjay Dutt for Mission Kashmir (Dutt should have been Best Actor not Supporting!!)

Best Supporting Actress: Sonali Bendre for Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai (You Have My Heart)

Best Story: Mahesh Manjrekar for Astitva

Best Screenplay: Honey Irani and Ravi Kapoor for Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai

Best Cinematography: Binod Pradhan for Mission Kashmir

Best Action Director: Allan Amin for Mission Kashmir

- The nominations for the 46th Annual Filmfare Awards were also announced this week. Here are the major nominations, you can click here for the complete list:Just Click Here

BEST FILM:

Dhadkan (Heartbeat)

Josh (Adrenaline Rush)

Kaho Naa...Pyaar Hai (Say You Love Me)

Mission Kashmir

Mohabbatein (Love Affairs)

** Look for Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai to dominate the awards and this category. Mohabbatein could also score if it manages to win the best director award. Josh has absolutely no chance to win in this category.

BEST DIRECTOR:

Aditya Chopra (Mohabbatein)

Dharmesh Darshan (Dhadkan)

Mansoor Khan (Josh)

Rakesh Roshan (Kaho Naa...Pyaar Hai)

Vidhu Vinod Chopra (Mission Kashmir)

** Rakesh Roshan will probably win although Vidhu Vinod Chopra definitely deserves it.

BEST ACTOR:

Anil Kapoor (Pukar)

Hrithik Roshan (Fiza)

Hrithik Roshan (Kaho Naa...Pyaar Hai)

Sanjay Dutt (Mission Kashmir)

Shahrukh Khan (Mohabbatein)

** Sanjay Dutt deserves it but being a dedicated SRK fanatic, I hope he wins it. Most likely Hrithik Roshan will win (given his popularity), but I hope he wins it for Fiza and not Kaho. 'cause he gave an incredible performance in an hour's worth of screen time (Fiza was 3 hours long).

BEST ACTRESS:

Aishwarya Rai (Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai)

Karisma Kapoor (Fiza)

Madhuri Dixit (Pukar)

Preity Zinta (Kya Kehna)

Tabu (Astitva)

** Karisma and Tabu both gave very good performances so either of them will do just fine with me.

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:

Amitabh Bachchan (Mohabbatein)

Atul Kulkarni (Hey! Ram)

Chandrachur Singh (Kya Kehna)

Sayaji Shinde (Kurukshetra)

Sunil Shetty (Refugee)

** Definitely Amitabh Bachchan in this category.

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:

Aishwarya Rai (Mohabbatein)

Jaya Bachchan (Fiza)

Mahima Chaudhary (Dhadkan)

Rani Mukherjee (Har Dil Jo Pyr Karega)

Sonali Kulkarni (Mission Kashmir)

** Sonali deserves it, but they will give it to Jaya Bachchan for sentiments' sake.

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A COMIC ROLE:

Anupam Kher (Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge)

Govinda (Kunwara)

Johny Lever (Kunwara)

Johny Lever (Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani)

Paresh Rawal (Hera Pheri)

** Paresh Rawal all the way!!

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A NEGATIVE ROLE:

Govinda (Shikari)

Jackie Shroff (Mission Kashmir)

Rahul Dev (Champion)

Sharad Kapoor (Josh)

Sunil Shetty (Dhadkan)

** Jackie Shroff all the way!!

BEST MUSIC:

Anu Malik (Fiza)

Anu Malik (Josh)

Jatin-Lalit (Mohabbatein)

Nadeem-Shravan (Dhadkan)

Rajesh Roshan (Kaho Naa...Pyaar Hai)

** Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai had the best songs last year, and the soundtrack broke many records. Take a big guess on who the winner will be!!

- Last week's new release was Aashiq (Romantic), directed by Indra Kumar. The director has made many good movies including Mann (Feelings), Dil (Heart), and Beta (Son); but this film is total letdown. Bobby Deol and Karisma Kapoor star as yet another lovesick couple who come from different backgrounds. They meet, fall in love, and have a fight. Suddenly the film takes a right turn into hell when Karisma gets abducted by villains and sold to a pimp. Of course Bobby gets framed for her abduction and goes on the run to prove his innocence and find his girlfriend. A bunch of headaches and shit action scenes later, the couple reunite and the villains die. Seriously, there's no way I can actually describe how horrible this film is. The acting is bad, really bad. Bobby Deol just sleepwalks through the entire film, not even showing enthusiasm in the action scenes!! Karisma isn't given much to do here, her job is to just look hot for the first half and then show up at the end. The bad guys, headed by Rahul Dev (the main villain in Champion - which incidentally starred Bobby's brother, Sunny Deol), look downright pathetic. The only actor that provided even decent entertainment and/or laughs was Mukesh Rishi as the bad assed cop on Bobby's tail. The songs are actually decent, but are placed in the most inappropriate of times and end up becoming distractions. Basically combine a horrible story, with boring action, stupid jokes and bad acting, and you'll end up with Aashiq. Stay away from this film at all cost.

CHINA / HK

The following was reported by "AccSpy":

- Golden Harvest Studio announced some of its upcoming projects for this year. One of their main films is "108+", an updated version of the classical Chinese literature "Shui Wu Chuan", about 108 underdog-type heroes willing to group as a gang to go against the corrupt government. Benny Chan ("Gen-X Cops", "Gen-Y Cops", "Who Am I?") will direct and Aaron Kwok ("China Strike Force", "Stormriders") stars in this updated version set in the present time. Aaron Kwok will also star in another project for GH - a musical actioner(!!!) directed by Jingle Ma ("Tokyo Raiders"). Leon Lai and Japanese actress Asaka Seto will be starring in "The Eternal Love Quest (lit title)", which I mentioned here three weeks ago. Andrew Lau ("Stormriders", "The Duel") has now agreed to direct the film. There are also some other projects like a spin-off of "The Accidental Spy"(without Jackie Chan unfortunately) and a Jackie Chan film near the end of this year.

- Director Wong Jing, in the fame of his gross-out comedies, gambling dramas (including Chow Yun-Fat's "God of Gamblers") and soft-core porn flicks (like the infamous "Sex and Zen" with Shu Qi), was invited to attend one of the film festivals in Italy for a tribute. The festival is held in April and five films directed by Wong will be shown in the festival. I'll announce the details as more information is disclosed in the future.

- The total HK box office grosses were bumped up largely as the Chinese New Year holiday encouraged people to run into the theatre. Jackie Chan's "The Accidental Spy" was still on top spot and has already grossed $22 million HKD in just 11 days. Sammi Cheng's "Wu Yen" stayed at the second place with an estimated $18 million HKD in 11 days. "102 Dalmatians" opened at no.3 with about $8 million HKD during the 4-day period. "Vertical Limit" slipped to no.4 with about $10 million in 10 days. Tom Hanks' "Cast Away", with much fewer theatrical runs than "102 Dalmatians", debuted at no.5 with an estimated $4.5 million HKD.

- "Gen-Y Cops", after less than a month of its theatrical run, is now on VCD. Click here to buy it: Right Here

ANIME

by Scott Green

Rumiko Takahashi Anime Going to DVD

According to an interview on the Ranma 1/2 Perfect Edition website with Viz producer/translator Toshifumi Yoshida, both Ranma 1/2 and at least the first 36 episodes of Maison Ikkoku are DVD bound. For the details see This Site

Blue Sub's Next Toonami Airing

Bandai's Studio Gonzo CGI OAV Blue Submarine No.6 will mark the re-run to Cartoon Network during Toonami on Friday, March 17th, 2001. The mini-series will run 180 minutes from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM. The OAV, which has been edited into a movie by removing episode endings features a Water World-esque setting of risen oceans, and a war between surface dwelling humans, and a under-water race known as Zorndyke.

Mezzo Forte DVD Release

From Anime Prime "Mezzo Forte Information: I've just received information from John Sirabella (President of Media Blasters) about Mezzo Forte. Since this Green Bunny title has scenes of a sexual nature, they will be releasing both an uncut version on their Kitty label and an edited version on their AnimeWorks label. As always, I suggest you get the unedited version. Both will apparently be released on separate DVDs. "

A.P.P.P. President Kazufumi Nomura Make Statement

A.P.P.P. President Kazufumi Nomura recently relayed answers to questions by Anime News Service on the present and future state of the company in Japan and the debut of it's U.S. division Super Tekno Arts. In recent years A.P.P.P has been the driving force behind anime productions including the modern classic film Robot Carnival, the horor action series Jojo's Bizarre Adventure and recently debuted psychological thriller TV series Sci-Fi Harry.

Super Tekno Arts' future U.S. plan for the next 6 months - 1 year involve the release of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Sci-Fi Harry and Barry Party but release dates have not been yet been decided. The compnay is still considering which mastering house is appropriate for the U.S. DVD releases of those titles. As for DVD features on those titles, plans are to include interviews with the Japanese production staff and the Skywalker Sound production staff, those kinds of interviews will also be used for the company's future web sites. Regarding Robot Carnival, A.P.P.P is currently undergoing negotiation for producing Robot Carnival II with hopes to wrap by the end of February of this year. The production staff will include a world-famous animator, SF novelist and director. A young but capable animator will also join the team. U.S. DVD release specifications are also tied up within the negotiations.

New Anime Series For April

Gakuen Senki Muryou (Muryo - the Record of School Wars) will begin airing on Japanese TV this April. AniHabara describes the series as "When the news of visitors from outer space excited the world, a transfer student came to Tenmo city. A new anime show entitled Figure 17 - Tsubasa and Hikaru will be airing on Japanese Sky-Perfec-TV this April. The series will buck the 30 minute tradition, and feature hour long episodes. Also appearing will be The Soul Taker described as "accidentally, Date Kyosuke becames able to transform, and that's the beginning of his fate. "

Berserk in Italy

The Berserk TV series is headed for broadcast in Italy. The scheduled 1st episode is set to make it's debut in March at 10:30 Pm on Italia 1.

Akira Re-Release

Variety is reporting that Akira will be receiving a theatrical re-release this spring. ioneer Entertainment will spend $1 million to restore the feature, first released in 1988. Pioneer will debut the first DVD version of Akira and a new VHS edition in the fall of this year. Look for high-definition mastering and remixing of audio components to create a soundtrack in Dolby Digital AC3 Surround Sound. A new English dub will also be created from a fresh translation of the original Japanese script.

Information from CPM Chat

The following information came out of an AOL chat with a presententative from Central Park Media.

· They are in the process of doing proper Japanese credits on their discs and was mentioned specifically with regards to Harlock Saga, Angel Sancutary Nightwalker.

· They will be trying to get more Utena out this year.

· In regards to subtitled hentai (adult) titles on DVD, their initial research led them to believe there wasn't a market for it. After some recent new information came to their attention, they do realize there is a market for it and from July 1st on, all DVD's will be subtitled.

· Area 88 parts 2 and 3 don't have any plans to be done

· They do not have the DVD rights for the Yu Yu Hakusho movie that they put on VHS

In related news many have been speculating that CPM's DVD release of the Patlabor TV series would be dubbed only because there was no dubbed VHS release. The latest appears that the Patlabor TV will indeed be bilingual. And according to one statement, the sales of the first volume will give indication as to whether they'll go forward with the other Patlabor series. More concrete dates where later given as:

· RG Vega DVD - 6/12

· Maze TV Box DVD (4 discs) - Summer 2001

· Patlabor TV DVD - Late Summer 2001

· Night of the Galatic Railroad DVD - Oct 2001

Patalabor is a science/fiction/police drama about a force who both employee and police a new robot technology known as Labors. Maze is a comedy action series that borrows from many anime genres (mecha, school girl transported to mystical land, character whose gender changes), but is a primarily a Slayers-esque swords and sorcery. Night on the Galactic Railroad is the tale of a poor boy working hard to take care of his ill mother who takes a ride on a mystical train to space. The movie is based on a novel by the much admired Japanese children's writer Kenji Miyazawa.

RG Vega is fantasy anime based on one of the early manga by CLAMP, the team of women manga creators responsible for such popular works as Card Captor Sakura, Magic Knights Rayearth and X.

ADV Delays

The DVD and VHS release of Arc the Lad Volume 1 has been rescheduled. The new street date for this title will now be April 17, 2001, and the Pre-Book Date will now be March 20, 2001. According to a post on Anime on DVD's forum today by David Williams of ADV, two delays are coming up. Gunsmith Cats: Bulletproof and Sorcerer Hunters Vol. #1 are being bumped back to a 3/27 release. According to Anime on DVD, one of the reasons for this after their just being announced a week or two ago is the small amount of lead-time for retailers to make proper orders and for the sales folks at ADV to do their jobs.

New Final Fantasy Anime Announced

A new Final Fantasy anime series is in the works in Japan. Currently, Final Fantasy has only been incarnated as an animation in an OAV series (release in the US by Urban Visions), and a CGI Movie (due out this year in America and Japan). Although the mention is brief, Videogames.com reports that Square intends to increase awareness of the Final Fantasy franchise through "an animated TV series".

Urban Visions DVDs

Urban Visions has announced Bio Hunter for a DVD release. They describe the feature as "People infected with a genetic code-altering virus, known as the Demon Virus, suffer horrific physical and mental changes, rendering them something more, and less, than human. They become monsters with demonic powers. One monster in particular terrorizes the streets of Tokyo, feasting on the livers of innocent women. A famed psychic holds the secret to the identity and purpose of this monster, and now he is marked for death. The Bio Hunters must get to the psychic and his beautiful daughter before it is too late!" Special features will include Remastered 5.1 audio, and original storyboard images. Urban Vision has announced the DVD release of Golgo 13: Queen Bee for a 4/17 release. They describe the 60 minute feature "The Professional is back in action, this time on DVD! Golgo 13, the world's most notorious assassin, is a real lady-killer. in more ways than one! Golgo's current assignment is to terminate Queen Bee, the leader of a South American liberation army. The contract gets complicated when Golgo penetrates the hive and discovers that there is more to this assassination plot than meets the eye. Golgo 13 decides that he must step aside as a quest for revenge climaxes to a violently tragic end that will blow you away!"Special features will include audio remastered in 5.1 for both English and Japanese Language Tracks and audio commentary by the Japanese Director and Executive Producer.

Card Captor Sakura In France

Card Captor Sakura will begin broadcast on a French TV where it will air each Wednesday, at 1:30 on channel M6. This is the first time the station has broadcast anime. The French Card Captor Sakura OP theme ("No Nagging") will be a dance song performed by the American group, "Froggy Mix". The first episode airs on 1-31.

Parappa Game and Anime

In addition to a new title for the Playstation 2, PaRappa the Rapper will be featured in an animated showing airing starting this April on Japan's Fuji TV>

Studio Pierrot Official English Site

In a joint effort, Studio Pierrot and Digital Manga, Inc. are expanding Studio Pierrot's already existing English language site by launching an English news site (http://www.studiopierrot.com). The new site will have English translations of Studio Pierrot's news items that are on their Japanese language site and will also have information on Pierrot's news in the United States. The site is set to launch January 30, 2001. Last July at Anime Expo in Anaheim, Studio Pierrot and Digital Manga, Inc. officially announced their partnership. Digital Manga, Inc. will be translating and hosting the news site and working with Studio Pierrot to complete the English language version of Pierrot's website. This is just the beginning of various joint projects that Studio Pierrot and Digital Manga, Inc. will be working on. From the press release "Studio Pierrot has been a leading Japanese anime studio for over 20 years. Some of their works include, "Urusei Yatsura," "The Wonderful Adventures! of Nils," "Yu Yu Hakusho," "Neoranga," "Fushigi Yuugi," "GTO" and many others. Digital Manga, Inc. is a Los Angeles based entertainment company with the goal to bring Japanese animation and manga to the mainstream US market. In order to achieve this goal they have partnered up with Studio Pierrot. The English language version website is just the first of many exciting collaborations. Keep an eye out for more Studio Pierrot/Digital Manga, Inc. projects in the future."

Japanese Ghibli News

According to a letter sent to the Nausicaa.net mailing list put a statue of late Mr. Tokuma at the entrance of Ghibli. You can see the picture of Miyazaki setting up the statue here *"Mononoke Hime" was aired on TV in Japan, and it earned the rating of 26.9%.

Joe Hisaishi, the composer of a large portion of the music in the Studio Ghibli movies has just finished working on the music of "Le Petit Poucet," a French film. He is now working on the Image Album of "Sen to Chihiro." An image album features music inspired my a movie, or television show that does actually appear in the feature.

Japanese G-Savior DVD

Nippon Sunrise announced that the live action/CGI Gundam related G-Saviour motion picture - previous debuted on Japan television nationwide on Dec 29 last year - will be available as DVD on May 25, 2001. It will be shown in original English dialogue with Japanese subtitles

Darius25 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