Shalini is On The Lot

(egothemag.com)

I’ve kinda gotten sucked into FOX’s new reality show On The Lot where a group of talented aspiring movie directors are given weekly challenges to make short films and are voted off by viewers American Idol-style.

Last night’s episode featured the filmmakers 1-minute comedy shorts… there were definite standouts (Adam Stein’s Dance Man) and films that left me scratching my head (Kenny Luby’s Wack Alley Cab).

Of the eighteen contestants is documentary filmmaker Shalini Kantayya of Brooklyn, NY. While her comedy short wasn’t conceptually one of the best last night, it was still beautifully shot and sent me off to Google to search for her work.

I found her film A Drop of Life, starring Nandita Das and liked what I saw in the trailer.
From the movie’s web site:

This woman has definitely got a voice. Tune in tonight to the results show to see if she stays in the competition. (And read more about her from Ego Magazine‘s interview with her last year.)

On The Lot airs on Monday and Tuesday nights at 8/7 c on FOX.

My Blueberry Nights Opens Cannes (Updated)

RopeofSilicon.com

Wong Kar-Wai’s first English feature film, My Blueberry Nights, will open the 60th Annual Cannes Film Festival tomorrow. From Rope of Silicon:

The movie also stars Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Rachel Weisz.

Also premiering at Cannes is A Mighty Heart, a movie about the Daniel Pearl tragedy starring Angelina Jolie and Irfan Khan.

Read more:
Behind the Scenes with Wong Kar-Wai and Norah Jones, New York Times.

UPDATE: Watch the short teaser trailer for My Blueberry Nights here.

Reese’s New Project

PopSugar.com

According to Variety, Reese Witherspoon’s Type A Films is developing a feature film based on the real-life crime novel Under The Bridge by Rebecca Godfrey.

The novel is about the brutal killing of British Columbia teen Reena Virk by a group of her classmates. It is not clear if Witherspoon will star but Thirteen‘s Catherine Hardwicke is said to be directing.

From Variety:

Casting this project should be interesting though it’s not set to release until 2009. Looking forward to hearing more about this.

In Short

**NBC may be turning its hit sitcom The Office into an hour-long show, according to Fortune magazine (source). Mindy Kaling writes for the show (she also plays the character Kelly Kapoor). Read about her and other desi American scriptwriters here.

**SCOTLAND has just welcomed its first-ever parliament member of South Asian descent. Bashir Ahmad made history earlier today, becoming a Member of Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Scottish National Party (SNP).

Mohammad Asghar also entered the history books this week, when he was elected to the Welsh Assembly—the first time a desi representative has won the vote. Ashgar, a Peshawar-born accountant, was described as being “overcome with emotion” over the announcement. “I will be serving with my heart and soul for the ethnic minorities which are an integral part of the United Kingdom and Wales,” said Ashgar who is called “Oscar” by fellow Party-members (Oscar? Really?).

**IRFAN KHAN impressed movie-goers with his performance in The Namesake. Now he’s back in A Mighty Heart, a new film based on the true story of the late WSJ journo Daniel Pearl and his wife Mariane. Khan plays a police officer in the movie, which also stars Angelina Jolie and the UK’s Archie Panjabi.

The film was shot in Pune, India. The trailer premiered on The Today Show yesterday. Watch it here and tell us what you think:

In Short

Weeee! Still, featuring Khan and Mukerji, from Ta Ra Rum Pum (Yash Raj Films)

**SHILPA SHETTY is opening a chain of “curry houses” across the UK.

“The flagship restaurant will be in central London,” Shetty’s agent Farhath Hussain told reporters last week.

The chain is to be called “Shilpa Shetty Dining Hall”—thereby winning the award for dullest restaurant name in the history of the universe.

**SHETTY’S love-fest with Richard Gere continues to make headlines. The city of Jaipur has now issued a “non bailable arrest warrant” against him for “indulging in an obscene act.” If convicted, the actor could face up to three months behind bars and/or a hefty fine.

Gere told Jon Stewart that he’s not very concerned about the charge, saying that only a “very small right-wing, very conservative” group objected to his make-out session (watch The Daily Show clip here).

**YASH RAJ’S new film Ta Ra Rum Pum opened nation-wide yesterday. Starring Rani Mukerji and Saif Ali Khan, the fill-im takes place entirely in New York and is about the “best, best, best racer in the world.” In an uncharacteristic (but welcome) move, The New York Times leaves behind the art cinema house long enough to review Bollywood’s latest. Read what they have to say here.

More:
On Shilpa Shetty in Big Brother’s house
Pretty Woman gets mauled
Gere says sorry

Film Festivals: Looking Back & Forward

The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles wrapped up its fifth year last weekend. Did you go? I couldn’t make it this year, but my mom did and had the chance to view a few of the 36 features showcased

A scene from Vanaja.

at the six-day festival—Kamla starring Deepti Naval (IFFLA’s 2007 Tribute Honoree), a 1984 film about a reporter looking to prove the existence of the human flesh trade in India by purchasing a tribal slave girl, Outsourced (audience choice for Best Feature Film), a comedy chronicling the encounters of an American salesman who travels to India to train his replacement, Provoked, and Vanaja, Rajnesh Domalpalli’s film school thesis which closed the festival, the story of a fisherman’s daughter who works for a local landlady to learn dance and help with her father’s debt as well as an exploration of “social class, sexuality, gender and family.”

What’s up next? Read the rest of this entry »

Smith + Sherwani = !!!!

Oh sweet SMITH! Yes, I am aware that his name is really Jason Lewis but whenever I see him (lately randomly as another Sex and the City alum Bridget Moynahan’s love interest on ABC’s Six Degrees), I just can’t stop giggling.

I stumbled upon a review of his new movie, My Bollywood Bride, on Variety and was kind of amused. How in the world did this project end up in his lap?

The story is Boy meets Girl, Girl runs away to India, Boy chases Girl to India to find out she is actually India’s biggest Bollywood star. Interesting twist. Variety even calls the movie a “genial, spirited comedy [that] has enough going for it to make it worth seeing.” It also won “Best of Fest” at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. His lovely co-star is Kashmira Shah, a former model who came into her own in Yes Boss. Watch the trailer after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Because It’s Going To Rain All Weekend

Film still from Parzania (Serene Picture Classics)

Tribeca may be grabbing all the A & E headlines in New York, but there’s another festival in town this weekend.

The exhibition “India Now,” a “series of nine features and two shorts,” is currently being featured at the Museum of Modern Art.

Joshua Siegel, assistant curator of film at the MoMA, tells The New York Times that the festival hopes “not to be encyclopedic, but to give a sense of the range and of the genres” of contemporary Indian film.

To look for: Buddhadev Dasgupta’s Kaalpurush, a tender, “intimate portrait of a father, his son and the women in their lives.” The film can be seen tomorrow night (April 25) at The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater.

Also being screened, the critically-acclaimed Parzania, a true story of a little boy navigating the chaotic Gujarati riots of 2002.

Omkara (director Vishal Bhardwaj’s desi reimagining of Shakespeare’s Othello) will satisfy the Bollywood lover in you. Starring Ajay Devgan, Saif Ali Khan, Vivek Oberoi and Bipasha Basu, it is a great way to spend this Friday evening. Or Sunday evening.

For more information on “India Now,” go here.

Bollywood-Beat Boxing

Photo courtesy of MSNBC

“Mighty Mike” (Tyson) is known both for his antics in the boxing ring (the Holyfield ear fiasco of 1997) and for what he does in his down time (oh, you know, facing convictions of rape, spending time in prison).

But now, prepare to see a new, more tender side of Tyson, as he gets ready to shoot a Bollywood dance sequence in India.

The routine is for the upcoming film Fool and Final, a comedy thriller due to be released in theaters this June.

“We thought Mike Tyson would be the perfect choice for this promotional video because the film does have an element of boxing in it. Also all the stars of the film including Sunny Deol are huge fans of the boxer,” said Nisha Chattani, a media consultant for the movie. “The video will primarily be released as a promotional item, but it could be included in the film as well,” she said.

Fool and Final is being directed by Ahmed Khan and stars Vivek Oberoi, Sunny Deol and Sameera Reddy.

Mike Tyson is expected to arrive in Mumbai this Friday.

More:
Mike Tyson fan site

Film Festival Fanfare

(IMDB.com)

Pather Panchali, famed director Satyajit Ray’s film based on Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay’s novel of the same name, makes a return engagement at the 50th annual San Francisco International Film Festival. The film, which screened at the festival’s 1957 inauguration, centers on the trials and tribulations of a Bengali family in the early 20th century. Marking the beginning of the “Apu” trilogy, the Pather also launched the previously unknown director’s career. The San Francisco International Film Festival runs from April 26–May 10, and you can buy tickets here.