logo

Cutting edge, sharp, looks good. Rajkumar’s first directorial venture. This probably is the first film in Bollywood where the rights were bought from the original. The promo had me wanting more… how does the film turn out… lets wait for the release and watch it May end…

The carpet was green instead of red. Cause it’s the Green Earth Day. I look around the Arclight courtyard, the Mecca of movie fanatics in LA, and the buzz has started. The tents are put up. Volunteers trickling in. The short and swift meeting wraps up all that needs to be done. The press has setup their cameras, the opening night tickets shows a Sold Out ticker, I check my laces to make sure I do not trip over someone and get caught in a picture perfect moment, brush my jacket using my palms and the flight takes off…

It’s 3 am. And when I rewind the last 10 hours, I found myself to be quiet except the occasional bursts of energy. Unlike the young and hot and raring to go PFC authors, I like to drink in the scene and enjoy it. Age is catching up.

It was a subtle moment …

“I need 29 bags I need 29 bags”

There are six of us stuffing gift bags with various goodies for guests in the courtyard. Inside another twenty odd volunteers are busy getting gift bags ready for a different set of guests. The phone rings…

“Hi oz, this is Bipin…. Bipin Nadkarni”

My back hurts, my sinus headaches acting up in the chill flowing around AFI campus, I need my 29 bags for the event I’m managing, and in all that, the brain fails to register who is Bipin Nadkarni.

Mercifully the blank state of mind flows back into gear… darn that’s the brilliant director of Marathi Movies who’s movie has been selected for the festival.

Problem.

He’s at the airport.

Problem.

He’s trying to find his pickup… the volunteer sent to get him from the airport. Damn…

Pass the phone to Felicia.

Nitin, who handles the entire complex transport system for the festival, is off dialing the number of the …

Seems like Krazzy 4 was supposed to be an original comedy, coming in a long long time. The team was on television and discussing the “Making of Krazzy 4″ when it all came together. The story of 4 crazy people out on a visit to a game under the guidance of their psychiatric doctor, who then disappears, leaving the four all alone in the big bad city… so that’s the story of Krazzy 4… no wait, that’s the story of The Dream Team

where

Arshad Warsi = Michael Keaton
Irrfan = Christopher Lloyd
Rajpal Yadav : Indianized and made = Peter Boyle
Suresh Menon = Stephen Furst

Story of Krazzy 4 = Story of The Dream Team

Meanwhile not a word about originality/copy/inspiration from the producers and team of Krazzy 4 who are pitching it as a “fantastic” comedy… well… makes sense, even fantastic things can be copies of original fantastic things. So will Krazzy …

Perhaps it is the destiny of writer director Samaar Khan, to make a movie that by sheer coincidence turned out to be just like something called ‘A few good men’. Perhaps it was a mere coincidence that Samaar Khan, (who I am informed), is a former movie critic. Perhaps it is a mere coincidence that so far ALL movie reviewers trying their hand at film-making have immensely helped in redefining the term ’shit’. Perhaps it is a mere coincidence that whenever Rahul Bose opens his mouth (in the movie) you run to throw up in the bathroom (in the movie theater).

Perhaps it is mere coincidence that Javed Jaffrey looks more gay in crop cut hair and tight army uniforms than those fancy dress competitors at San Francisco’s gay parade. Perhaps it is a mere coincidence that Kay Kay Menon is by some terrible terrible terrible mistake, in the …

Anand sent in this link that gives the first look of what Harry Baweja’s Love Story 2050 will be. First we are no fans of Mr. Baweja. Second, we thought this was gonna be one trash of a movie, cause (a) It’s a love story by Mr. Baweja who gave us the dreaded “Teesri Aankh” (b) Not much was expected from the special effects that would be needed to build a city in the year 2050.

So, reluctantly I clicked on the link (video was on mute, cause I was attending, a supposedly very important meeting)… and voila… me thinks it’s not bad, not bad at all… but then that’s just a 30 odd second preview and the ghosts of Teesri Aankh are still somewhere around.

Fingers crossed… Check the video out, below and you decide…

Buzz - PFC …

Pavan Kaul is extremely tied up in the release process of Bhram and sent in these videos.

The first is a 30 second sneak peek into Bhram, followed by the songs!

Sonu Song.. Jaane kyon

Teri aankhon ki narmi

Meri akhiyaan - Richa ( full song)

I am a bad boy

Jaane kaisa hai tu - Shaan

PFC Ronin

Firstly, a big thank you to the jury for helping PFC out and sticking through all the six rounds of Ronin. Most of the contestants stuck through all the rounds, a big thank you. The contest has given us more ideas that we plan to use for the contest next year.

Finally the winners.

The PFC Ronin for 2008 is

Trasie Stittsworth (Los Angles, USA)

Here’s the final rankings

1. Trasie Stittsworth (Los Angeles, USA)

2. Satish Naidu (Pune, India)

3. Praveen Gopal Krishnan (Bangalore, India)

4. Rajesh R Kallidumbil (Pune, India)

5. Shantesh Sunil Row (Dubai, UAE)

Congratulations to all the participants. And a big thank you to you dear readers. We hope we can bring in a bigger, better and more exciting Ronin contest next year… until then Adios!

It’s lonely up there. The higher one climbs the lonelier it gets. Mr. Taran Adarsh out there up in the Idiotic Reviewers club sits all alone. Member, conveyor, head or whatever positions may exist in the club. After all it takes years and years of being an idiot, screaming hoarse over roof tops that ‘I AM A TRADE PUNDIT NOT A REVIEWER’ and yet publish a ‘Movie Review’ week after week… Adarsh saab must have been feeling all alone.

Well, worry not Adarsh saab, you have company.

Sir Rajeev Masand, aka the head of the entertainment news division at CNN IBN is walking right next to you. Masand jee, that chair next to Adarshjee is yours to keep from now on.

Atleast Adarshjee stays clear of Hollywood movie reviewing cause he inspite of what he is, fully understands, that even an idiot has limitations. Boundaries.

But Masand jee, has none. When he visits Cannes, …

The much heated battle to win the tech war is over. And Sony saw to it, leaving no stone unturned in it’s favor, ensuring that they did not lose the war like they did some 30 years ago, when VHS won over Sony’s Betamax.

It’s officially over. Toshiba, who was fighting the HD disc war with it’s HD-DVD, has bowed out of the battle.

Toshiba said Tuesday it will no longer develop, make or market HD DVD players and recorders, handing a victory to rival Blu-ray disc technology in the format battle for next-generation video.

“We concluded that a swift decision would be best,” Toshiba President Atsutoshi Nishida told reporters at his company’s Tokyo offices.

The move would make Blu-ray — backed by Sony Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic brand products, and five major Hollywood movie studios — the winner in the battle over high-definition …

Pavan emailed in the news. The king of laughter has gone silent. Forever. Links about the news are pouring in… Hindustan Times reports

Popular Hindi film comedian of yesteryears Rajendra Nath died in Mumbai on Wednesday evening after prolonged illness. He was 76.

The actor had been suffering from breathing problems for the last several days and his end came at his residence in suburban Khar.

He will be cremated on Thursday, family sources said.

Probably the first actor in Hindi cinema, to bring physical energy into straightforward comedy where the laughter came in from his bending those funny knees a few inches, making tight fists, bending in elbows as if he was gonna throw in a few wild punches, but really delivering those punches with is side-car bashing style of delivery that would rock one off the chair… Rajendra Nath’s style of comedy was tried by many but none truly could …

Round SIX

The movie to be reviewed by the contestants is Saaransh

Here are the submitted reviews for Round Six! Contestants are listed in order of their rankings after Round Five. If two or more contestants share the same ranking, they are listed alphabetically.

1. Praveen Gopal Krishnan (Bangalore, India)
Saaransh : More than just a gist.

Death and love are recurring themes in most Mahesh Bhatt movies - hardly a surprise for someone who has flicks named Murder and Aashiqui in his filmography. Saaransh is where it all began for Bhatt - before he met Mallika Sherawat on the sets of Murder, who I have a sneaking suspicion cued him in on the fact that leaving little to the imagination might have a greater impact at …

This from Phoenixnu who seems to be going ballistic over every new nominee list announcement. The knotty list, sorry, nominee list of Filmfare is out. Published at the thinking man’s (and woman’s) cine site, the list goes as follows,

BEST FILM
Chak De! India
Guru
Jab We Met
Om Shanti Om
Taare Zameen Par

BEST DIRECTOR
Aamir Khan (Taare Zameen Par)
Anurag Basu (Life… In A Metro)
Farah Khan (Om Shanti Om)
Imtiaz Ali (Jab We Met)
Mani Ratnam (Guru)
Shimit Amin (Chak De! India)

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE (MALE)
Abhishek Bachchan (Guru)
Akshay Kumar (Namastey London)
Darsheel Safary (Taare Zameen Par)
Shahrukh Khan (Chak De! India)
Shahrukh Khan (Om Shanti Om)
Shahid Kapoor (Jab We Met)

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE (FEMALE)
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (Guru)
Deepika Padukone (Om Shanti Om)
Kareena Kapoor (Jab We Met)
Madhuri Dixit (Aaja Nachle)
Rani Mukerji (Laaga Chunari Mein Daag)
Vidya Balan (Bhool Bhulaiyaa)

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE (MALE)
Aamir Khan (Taare Zameen Par)
Anil Kapoor (Welcome)
Irrfan Khan (Life in a… Metro)
Mithun Chakraborty (Guru)
Shreyas …