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Apocalypse Aditya! ADITYA BHATTACHARYA is back! And, as always, he’s got an ace up his sleeve Avatar. A film in English from this young (and highly creative) award winning filmmaker sounds intriguing... and what makes it the more interesting is that singing sensation Lucky Ali leads the marquee in a tailored-to-order role of a rock star!
Aditya Basu Bhattacharya has been based in Rome for several years now... but his feel for India and the Asian community is startlingly acute. And accurate. From a photo-journalist to an international film director, has been an eventful journey for him — a journey of new experiences. A journey of maturity and growth as a technician and professional of eminence. In spite of having worked for TV commercials, music videos and corporates, AB has always rated feature films as his first passion. Which is precisely
what Avatar is going to prove. |
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She’s in a big, fat mess... and she knows it! Kareena Kapoor came on so strongly with her boasts of "making chhutti" of all the Bollywood heroines (her too good, too successful sis Karisma included!) that today, Beboji has no idea what she should do — what she can do — to resurrect a reputation that she tried to acquire in the first place! Oh, Kareena is busy working in pictures alright, but there really seems to be no direction to the way she’s going, y’know. And it’s all adding up to confusion galore, with (most of) her producers ‘n’ directors screaming murder at "the totally unprofessional, unethical" wayward ways of cat-eyed Ms Kapoor.... Seems to me that hers is going to be yet another case of "she came, she crashed, she quit", before too long! Villain Abhishek! Listen, what would your (immediate) reaction be if I said that he ought to be doing negative, villain roles? "He" as in Abhishek Bachchan! I’m serious, hey! Coz I do have this gut feeling that he’d make a ‘deadly’, good bad guy on the big screen........ Allow me to assure you that this isn’t a armchair fantasy of a film journalist’s (over) active thinker. No way. Coz the very idea may not have popped inside my head if I hadn’t seen him doing a shoot for this movie called Shararat at the Worli seaface outdoors. You see, he arrived in his red, gleaming convertible — wearing a heavy black leather jacket with togs to match and a pair of designer shades that hid his smiling brown eyes completely. And, when he scowled angrily (at not finding a suitable parking space amongst the surging crowds), he honestly gave me the jitters, believe me! Coz Abhi looked absolutely mean, menacing and every bit a ‘killer’. Truly terrifying! The Big B had played Don with elan, remember? What if AB Jr were to repeat it.... but with his own brand of snarling, violent fury? A hit, I bet! Catch ‘em young? Nah! He’s got a naughty twinkle in his eyes... and a mischievous smile to match. Mysterious about his age, he could be 50, or 60 or even 70 ! And he’s now making his melodious debut on the music scene with a colorful (and aptly titled) solo album — Indra Dhanush (Rainbow)! Ladies ‘n’ gentlemen, let’s hear it from Deepak Puri. A senior journalist and film critic of long and distinguished standing, Deepee, as he’s fondly known, was born and brought up in the loving home of renowned Late Shri Dwarka Dass Puri with a song or a poem on his lips always. And this is the sentimental stuff that Indra Dhanush is made of ! Eulogising the achievements of Mother Teresa, Arundhati Roy, Ms Subbalakshmi, Kalpana Chawla, the Kargil soldiers.... and even Atal Behari Vajpayee. In fact, Deepee was especially invited to the PM’s residence in New Delhi to present his poem and song. WOW! Music and singing is now his forte,
with top filmstars getting tongue-in-cheek lyrics from him! C’mon,
Puri, strut your saucy stuff, man! |
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Wait, there’s more.
Avatar has the talented ‘n’ terrific American actress,
Sybil Temchen, in the lead with Sophiya Haque adding her
extraordinary, exciting screen presence in a pivotal role. Hit tracks
from Ali’s Aks are included in generous measure, making for a
production that’s bound to break all boundaries of language and
land.