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Sound and
fury at WAGAH
 The
change of guard at the Wagah check post is a spectacle that crowds
throng to watch. Geetanjali Gayatri on
showtime at this border village where fun is the mood and aggression
the message as the parade begins
There’s
a biting chill in the air as evening sets in at the Wagah border. The
setting sun nestles among the clouds in the horizon lending a
rose-tinted hue to the sky. It’s time for the flag-lowering
border-closing parade between India and Pakistan, a time when hysteria
reigns and patriotism spills over across boundaries.
Much more to the
moon
A
recent study by Planetary Science Institute geologists suggests that
the moon is more geologically active than previously thought.
Flower power
Botanists
in Arunachal Pradesh have rediscovered a rare medicinal plant after
more than a century. Two scientists of the
Botanical Survey of India spotted the wild flower, Begonia
Tessaricarpa, during a routine research work near Ligu village in the
northeastern state’s Upper Subansari district bordering China.
A first-rate
entertainer
Replete with the usual Bond
accessories — fast sleek cars, Aston Martins, heady martinis and
charming locales — there’s much going for Casino Royale,
writes Ervell E. Menezes
James
Bond, that inimitable, stiff upper lip British secret agent is at it
again (the 21st film) and since the cold war is dead and there’s
only one superpower, they’ve picked upon terrorism to peg their
story on.
Full circle
But
is James Bond relevant today ? Not really. With TV and Cable and DVDs
that can bring all kinds of entertainers into your bedroom, the
"girls, gadgets and guns" formula of yore is like Sunday
school stuff.
The Blue
Umbrella set for Jan release
Vishal
Bhardwaj’s The Blue Umbrella, based on a Ruskin Bond novella
by the same name, will hit the theatres on January 5. The film, to be
released by UTV Classics, a brand of UTV Motion Pictures, is a
children’s film which combines entertainment with morality.
A feast of world
cinema
The films screened at the
recent 12th Kolkata Film Festival were dominated by fear. Shoma
A. Chatterji reports on the mood and tenor of the films that
made a splash at the Festival
The
Film Festival that ran through November 10 and November 17, screened
225 films from around 53 countries. There were select screenings at
Chaplin under the Federation of Film Societies of India and also at
the Cine Central where one of the oldest and the most active film
societies of the city, hosted its own film festival. A hundred and
fifteen films from 47 countries featured in the International Cinema
section.
 tribute
Rip-roaring
renegade
Vikramdeep Johal
Altmanesque
— the word conjures up a peculiar brand of cinema which has
delighted, frustrated and outraged audiences for almost four decades.
Robert Altman’s untimely death — he was going strong even at 81
— means that we won’t get any more of the satirical mosaics that
made him an iconic figure in the film world.
Robert Altman
INTERVIEW
‘I want to
shed my goody-goody image’
IF Rajashri Productions
had to select a heroine for their film from the current crop, it would
undoubtedly be Amrita Rao. Somehow, her innocent look, petite frame
and girlish voice makes for the perfect combination for a Barjatya
production. The Mills-and-Boon heroine, who started her career with
Shahid Kapoor in Ishq Vishq and continued to dish out hits in
the form of – Main Hoon Na and The Legend of Bhagat Singh came
back into the limelight with a Rajashri production – Vivah.
Excerpts from an interview with Srabanti
Chakrabarti
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