Father Geek here with the latest Asia-AICN column from Darius25 and his gang of spy/reporters. This week's edition includes some CANNES news on Asian film as well as alot of cool pics of eastern stars doing their thing... check out those links...

Asia-AICN

Hey all, I hope you've all been well this past week. We have a yet another info-packed column for you including news on director J.P. Dutta's next film, R.K. Films' next film, the American remakes of "Running Out of Time" (!) and "The Mission", and director Kwak Kyung-Taek's "Friend".

We also have some newest images from "Dil Chahta Hai (Desires of the Heart)" and "Slim Couple".

Now here's the latest from Asia.

INDIA

- After several multi-starrers including "Border" and "Refugee", J. P. Dutta will now tackle another large-scale epic. His latest film, titled "Tiger Hill", will feature not one or two, but 11 big-name heroes!! Abhishek Bachchan, Sunil Shetty and Jackie Shroff are already signed to star while negotiations are underway for Sanjay Dutt, Sunny Deol, Hrithik Roshan and Akshay Kumar. Dutta has already finished the script and expects to start shooting sometime this winter. The film is slated for a Summer 2002 release.

- Director Suneel Darshan's next film will be "Mere Jeevan Saathi (My Life Partner)". His regulars Akshay Kumar and Karisma Kapoor will be joined by Rani Mukherjee for this new film. Shooting is set to begin sometime in the fall.

- R. K Films have announced that their next production is finally shaping up with a completed script by writers Rajiv Kaul and Praful Parekh (of "Dil (Heart)" and "Beta (Son)" fame). The once prominent film studio was a major banner in Bollywood until the demise of its founder, the legendary Raj Kapoor. They managed to make some films in the '90s, the latest one being "Aa Ab Laut Chale (Now Let's Return)", but all of them were major duds at the box-office. The studio is hoping to bounce back with this new film, which will be directed by Rajeev Kapoor. Look for more info in the coming weeks.

- Rumours state that actor-filmmakers Raakesh Roshan and Jeetendra will team up for a film that will feature both of their sons. Jeetendra is planning to produce a film featuring Tushaar Kapoor (who makes his debut tomorrow) and Hrithik Roshan. He plans to rope in Rakesh Roshan to direct. This is unconfirmed until now but I would say that the film has a really good chance of being made since Rakesh and Jeetendra are friends and have collaborated on several films in the past.

- The first promo stills were released from Farhan Akhtar's "Dil Chahta Hai (Desires of the Heart)". The twisted comedy features an all-star cast including Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia, Preity Zinta, Sonali Kulkarni and Akshaye Khanna.

Here's a very odd pic with a bizarre-looking Aamir Khan: Try Right Here

Here's a pic of Preity Zinta: Go Here

Here's a pic of Akshaye Khanna: Click Here

And here's another picture of Preity: Just Click

- Last week's new release was director Suneel Darshan's much-awaited "Ek Rishtaa - The Bond of Love (One Relationship - The Bond of Love)". Amitabh Bachchan stars as the head of a wealthy family whose troubles begin as soon as he befriends an ambitious employee, Rajesh Purohit (Mohnish Behl). Rajesh impresses Vijay Kapoor (Bachchan) and starts entering his way into the lives of the Kapoor family. He manages to marry into the family and then manages to increase the tensions between Vijay and his son, Ajay (Akshay Kumar). Ajay gets kicked out of the house while Rajesh robs the family of their fortune and forces Vijay into bankruptcy. Of course this being an Indian movie, all this happens before the Intermission and the second half focuses on how the father-son duo reunite and gain back the family's fortune. The film, while being way too melodramatic at times, is just what Bollywood needed right about now. While it doesn't really break any grounds, it IS entertaining and filled with great performances. Amitabh Bachchan is good as usual and is able to command the audience's concentration in every single scene. His last major speech in the film is a DEFINITE crowd pleaser and inspired many cheers and claps from the audience during my screening. Akshay Kumar has improved yet again from his previous action films and is slowly gaining more experience in the drama department. While he isn't exactly able to match Bachchan's acting ability like SRK did in Mohabbatein (Love Affairs), one can see the amount of effort he put in this role. Mohnish Behl is better in the second half when he is revealed as the villain and provided some good comic relief in the action scenes with Akshay. The actresses (Juhi Chawla, Karisma Kapoor, Rakhee Gulzar) attempted to do the best with what they had and they did perform decently, but this film is really a showcase for Amitabh and Akshay. The direction and editing was fine and the film flowed along at a pretty quick pace. My one negative reaction to the film would have to be the placement of the songs which came at extremely inappropriate times. Other than that though, I highly recommend that you check out "Ek Rishtaa". It's a good old-fashioned family drama that works and is sure to impress fans of the two stars.

Here's a picture with Akshay Kumar (left) and Amitabh Bachchan: Just Go Here

Here's another pic with Akshay Kumar and Karisma Kapoor: Click Here Now

CHINA / HK

Here is the latest report from AccSpy:

- After the success of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", Columbia Studios have started financing a bunch of Chinese-language films including the now-shooting "Double Vision" starring Tony Leung Ka-fei and director Zhang Yimou's period action epic, "Hero", starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Maggie Cheung and Zhang Ziyi. Now the studio is interested in remaking director duo Johnnie To and Wai Kar-fai's two 1999 action smash hits, "Running out of Time" and "The Mission". The studio is currently in talks to buying the copyrights of the films from Chinastar, so far there's no words on Johnnie To and Wai Kar-fai directing the American versions of the films.

- Carina Lau has joined Sean Lau Ching-wan and Louis Koo in script-writer Chan Hing-kar's directorial debut. In the romantic comedy, Carina will play a brassiere model opposite Sean Lau Ching-wan's brassiere-designer character.

- More stills have appeared from the sets of Sammi Cheng and Andy Lau's "Slim Couple (lit. title)", directed by Johnnie To and Wai Kar-fei. The film is now shooting in Japan and is expected to release on 21st June in HK.

Andy Lau's mission is to help Sammi to lose weights in 45 days: Go Here

Sammi's back to normal weight in tonight's shooting but Andy has to act in the fat suit from the beginning to the end: Click

Andy Lau with the flawless make-up: Click Now

- Andy Lau is also slated to appear in another film this summer, "Fulltime Killer", which is again directed by Johnnie To and Wai Kar-fei. The official site is now online at http://www.fulltimekiller.cc.

- Here's two pictures from the Cannes premiere of director Hou Hsiao-Hsien's "Millenium Mambo", with leading actress Shu Qi:

Director Hou Hsiao-Hsien (in the sunglasses) and Shu Qi: Click Here

Shu Qi saying "peace": Just Click

- The anime film titled "Initial D" made its debut at no.1 at the HKBO last week, followed by Takashi Kitano's "Brother" at no.2 and "Exit wounds" at no.3.

KOREA

Here is the latest report from NineLife:

Hey there, K-Film fans! Here's the latest from the Land Of The Morning Calm...

KOREA AT CANNES

A record nine Korean film companies took part in this year's Cannes Film Festival, including major players CJ Entertainment, Cineclick Asia, Cinema Service, and Kang JeGyu Films. Though there were no Korean entries invited to participate in the Feature Film Competition, two short films did compete -- Shin Dong-Il's "The Holy Family" made the Short Film Competition cut, and Kim Young-Nam's "I Can Fly But You" was included in Cinefoundation's first-time film makers/film student competition. Neither won an award, but it's nice to see the Korean film presence at Cannes increasing year-by-year.

Korea's focus at Cannes definitely centered on expanding the industry's international presence, and over a dozen films were screened for prospective distributors. Notables included director Park Chan-Wuk's action blockbuster "Joint Security Area (JSA)", Park Hyung-Sik's romantic comedy "I Wish I Had A Wife", Song Hae-Sung's "Failan", Kim Dae-Sung's controversial sleeper hit "Bungee Jumping of Their Own", and a promo reel for Kim Seung-Soo's much-anticipated "Musa". With the recent acquisition of "Shiri" by Columbia TriStar paving the way, the impact of the Cannes campaigns on the American film industry in particular should prove to be very interesting.

"FRIEND" IS KOREA'S NEW BOX OFFICE KING

Kwak Kyung-Taek's ("Doctor K", "3PM Paradise Bath House") autobiographical tragic drama, "Friend", has beaten out former box office champs "Shiri" and its successor "Joint Security Area" to become the top-grossing film in Korean history. With a current total of 6.9 million admissions nationwide, the film was released on March 31st and had amassed a record 5.9 million admissions nationwide a mere 5 weeks later. JSA still holds the record for total admissions in Seoul, but "Friend" has been enormously popular in regional areas of Korea, giving the film the edge it needed to beat JSA's overall numbers.

"Friend" is set in Pusan and chronicles the lives of director Kwak and his childhood friends. The film is Kwak's third feature and stars Yu Oh-Sung ("Attack at The Gas Station", "Beat"), Seo Tae-Hwa ("I Wish I Had A Wife", "Bichunmoo"), and Chang Dong-Gun ("Nowhere To Hide", "The Anarchists"). In addition to it's commercial success, "Friend" is receiving lavish critical acclaim for it's breathtaking cinematography (handled by up-and-coming DP Hwang Ki-Seok), Yu Oh-Sung's impressive and complex performance, and Kwak's beautifully detailed portrayal of his native Pusan.

SEOUL'S POWER PLAYERS

Premier Korean film mag Cine21 recently released it's annual Power 50 list, a ranking of the most powerful figures in the Korean film industry. The rankings are determined by the results of a poll of 48 film industry pros. Cinema Service President Kang Woo-Suk took the number 1 spot for the 6th year in a row; other notable rankings include:

• # 2 -- CJ Entertainment President Lee Kang-Bok
• # 3 -- SIDUS Entertainment/Uno Films President Cha Sung-Jae
• # 4 -- Myung Film CEO Shim Jae-Myung (highest ranking woman)
• # 5 -- Director and Company President Kang Je-Gyu ("Shiri")
• # 14 -- Actor Song Kang-Ho (highest debut ranking)
• # 16 -- Director Jang Sun-Woo ("Lies")
• # 17 -- Director Im Kwon-Taek ("Chunhyang")
• # 21 only ranked actress)
• # 27 -- Actor Ahn Sung Ki ("Musa)
• # 33 ranking debut)
• # 34 -- Director Kim Ji-Woon ("The Foul King")
• # 43 -- Director Park Chan-Wook ("Joint Security Area" -- ranking debut)
• # 45 -- Director Kwak Kyung-Taek ("Friend" -- ranking debut)

See you next time!

NineLife

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@home.com. See you all next week. Darius25