'Birdman' Inarritu Ready to Shake Up Audiences with 'The Revenant'

Mexican maestro Alejander Inarritu's upcoming release, 'The Revenant', has been garnering rapturous reviews from critics across the board. The verdict: Innaritu follows up his Oscar-winning 'Birdman' with another masterpiece. The film has been touted as a front-runner for major Oscar awards.

Critics have also heaped praise on Leonardo DiCaprio's "searing performance" worthy of an Oscar. One many well ask what else does DeCaprio need to do now to lay his hands on that award that has  been eluding the actor over the past decade despite his best efforts to snag it.

The Revenant tells the tale of 1820s explorer and fur trapper Hugh Glass (DiCaprio), who is mauled by a ferocious grizzly bear in the American wilderness and then left for dead by his comrade John Fitzgerald (a captivatingly cold-eyed Tom Hardy). Fitzgerald also kills Hugh’s half-Native American son Hawk (Forrest Goodluck) in front of the crippled Glass. Though brutally mauled to pieces, Glass literally rises from his own grave and sets out across the harsh land in search of Fitzgerald. 

Commenting on the film, the Daily Beast says:

Working with famed cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (an Oscar winner each of the past two years, for Gravity and Birdman), Iñárritu delivers one breathtaking snapshot of suffering and tenacity after another, in the process making The Revenant the most awe-inspiringly beautiful film of the year. The duo’s camera begins by gliding in and out of a chaotic battle with fluid ferocity, moving in to close-up and out to grand, expansive panoramas (and back again) with a masterful grasp of spatial dynamics. 

Such aesthetic virtuosity is ever-present, with Iñárritu and Lubezki crafting a bevy of prolonged single-take centerpieces that vacillate between intense intimacy and large-scale wonder and terror, all of them shot with a naturalistic splendor—the majesty of forests coated in fresh snow, the formidable iciness of roaring rivers, the gnarliness of torn-to-shreds human and animal carcasses—that has a rugged, tactile quality to it. (The Most Breathtakingly Beautiful Film of the Year)

Film magazine Variety, which is less generous in its review, says:

 Few prestige directors have so fully committed to the notion of cinema as an endurance test as Alejandro G. Inarritu, and he pushes himself, the audience and an aggrieved 19th-century frontiersman well beyond their usual limits in “The Revenant.” Bleak as hell but considerably more beautiful, this nightmarish plunge into a frigid, forbidding American outback is a movie of pitiless violence, grueling intensity and continually breathtaking imagery, a feat of high-wire filmmaking to surpass even Inarritu and d.p. Emmanuel Lubezki’s work on last year’s Oscar-winning “Birdman.” 

Yet in attempting to merge a Western revenge thriller, a meditative epic in the Terrence Malick mold, and a lost-in-the-wilderness production of near-Herzogian insanity, “The Revenant” increasingly succumbs to the air of grim overdetermination that has marred much of Inarritu’s past work: It’s an imposing vision, to be sure, but also an inflated and emotionally stunted one, despite an anchoring performance of ferocious 200% commitment from Leonardo DiCaprio. (Innaritu's Brutal, Beautiful, Yet Emotionally Stunted Epic) 

Steve Buscemi: Thee Creepy, Neurotic, Oddball Misfit

It is heartening to see an article on an actor who is not only one of the most under-rated in Hollywood, but also someone who has never been in the showbiz race for the simple reason he does not care a damn about it. Yet, he is one of the most recognisable faces on television and cinema. Make no mistake, Steve Buscemi is right up there among the best, and has probably more ace performances under his belt that better known actors would vie for.

This piece in 'The Telegraph (London)' on Buscemi's birthday paints a fine canvas of the actor, the characters he has played and the kind of experiences (he has driven an ice-cream truck, has been a furniture remover, a dishwasher and a bus boy) that he brings to the complex roles that he plays with ease on the screen. As the article says:

"He brings such complexity to the bad guys he plays – often neurotic oddballs – that his name must be on speed dial if casting agents want the perfect creepy, convincing misfit."

...One of his big cinema breaks came in working for the Coen Brothers, with whom he has made six movies. The Coens first used him as Mink in Miller's Crossing. He also played Donny in The Big Lebowski and, perhaps his finest role for them, Carl Showalter in the magnificent Fargo."

However, as all Buscemi fans would agree, his greatest triumph was as Nucky Thompson in the highly rated HBO TV series, Boardwalk Empire.

Read on:

The Master Misfit

Is Imtiaz Ali's 'Tamasha' a Companion Piece to 'Rockstar'?

Weeks before the build-up for Imtiaz Ali's new release 'Tamasha' (starring Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone), I was curious to know whether Imtiaz might have pulled in a few threads from his 2011 film 'Rockstar' and sewed them into the story of Tamasha. And it turns out that there are quite a few similarities in both the films (apart from Ranbir, of course).

As in the case of 'Rockstar', most critics have been quick to tear apart 'Tamasha' too for its story, structure, pace and premise. But today, 'Rockstar', despite having been panned by critics, has acquired  a near cult status for portraying a story of an angst-ridden singer who finds his life's redemption through the woman he loves and yet loses in the end.

Same is going to be the fate of 'Tamasha', although this film has done reasonably well at the box office thanks to the pull factor of its lead stars/actors. From what I gathered from some of the reviews, 'Tamasha', despite its imperfections and shortcomings, has the makings of a classic that will stand the test of time in the years and decades to come.

As Baradwaj Rangan (The Hindu's critic) pointed out in his review ('Tamasha'...For Imtiaz Ali fans, another rich, messy, imperfect love story)

"...Ali creates an intense, immersive experience, a lot of which is surely autobiographical....

...Ali writes for men the kind of stories Barbara Cartland wrote for women, except that his stories have a steel core of angst – they’re Snarlequin Romances. If you’re logical-minded, you’ll probably look at his heroes and say, 'Oh, grow up!' But you need to be a romantic like Ali – or like Jordan (Rockstar), or like Veer Singh from Love Aaj Kal – to really enter his world...."

But the piece that pickled my mind was the one titled 'Why Imtiaz Ali's Rockstar and Tamasha Might Just be the Same Film'. In drawing several interesting similarities and comparisons of both films, its authort Pradeep Menon writes:

"...Rockstar and Tamasha are incredibly similar, and yet they are vastly different. The one line story may be the same. But again, with Imtiaz Ali, it isn’t the story that matters, but the character. Ved needs Tara as a cocoon for his suppressed alter-ego. In both films, there’s no explanation for why the woman has such unfathomable effects on the man, and this lack of explanation is explicitly stated in each film. Heer and Tara aren’t merely women; they are concepts. They are the cure for whatever illness afflicts the minds of Jordan and Ved respectively. The films differ in the way these concepts affect the protagonists. As the oft-repeated saying goes, it isn’t about the destination, but about the journey. And every journey is different...."

Mani Ratnam Unplugged: In Conversation with BFI's Peter Webber

"Sometimes you're so involved in your work; all you can see is pixels. To be able to see the whole picture, it's necessary to disassociate yourself from it and look at it objectively."
                                                                    有的

“All a filmmaker is trying to do on set is to make the scenes come alive, through all these shots, angles and movements. But sometimes you realise that if the actor can deliver, you simply have to be the eye and observe!”

Here is a rare interview of director Mani Ratnam (with British Film Institute's Peter Webber) that sees the reticent film maker open up on his craft, his influences and inspirations, his way of weaving songs into the narrative--and what goes on in his mind while shooting a scene.

Please watch the video of this interview:

An Actor of All Seasons

For someone who grew up watching films starring this versatile actor, it is indeed sad to know that Saeed Jaffrey is no more.  Jaffrey (January 8, 1929-November 15, 2015), as is well known, straddled disparate worlds (theatre, radio, theatre, television and films) and was a director's actor who excelled in films across the art-commercial spectrum. As actor Om Puri put it: "Look at his range of work...It was staggering. He worked with Satyajit Ray, Raj Kapoor, John Huston, Sai Paranjpye, David Lean and Yash Chopra. He enjoyed his work thoroughly, and it showed." Adds actor Deepti Naval, who worked with him in the films Ek Baar Phir and Chashme Buddoor: "When Saaed arrived, he looked around the crowded area, spotted a man walking by in a lungi with the Taj Mahal printed on it. He decided his character Lalan Miyan would wear that lungi. He made that man take off the lungi and wore it. That's how I'd like to remember Saeed. Vivacious and exuberant as an actor. When he wanted something, he would get it anyhow."

When Saeed Jaffrey wanted something he would get it anyhow

He began his career in theatre and ended up working on more than 100 Bollywood productions and earned a BAFTA nomination for his role in My Beautiful Laundrette. 

Of the films (starring Saeed) that I watched, I particularly remember his performances in Shatranj ke Khiladi, Chashme Budoor, Masoom, My Beautiful Laundrette, Gandhi, and Sardar to name a few.  What makes them memorable for me is the ease with which he performed those roles, showcasing his range of talent in an understated yet brilliant manner.

To me, Jaffrey was not only a consummate actor  but also the first Indian who successfully did the crossover to Western cinema much before the word became fashionable in India. 

Here is a scene from Shatranj ki Khiladi that I would like to leave you with:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b5vPGaMpGws

16 Legendary Filmmakers Praised by Other Great Directors

For lovers of auteur cinema, this article is a treat. Read this excerpt before going to the full article:

"While the medium is galloping towards infinite possibilities, an introspective study of its past is becoming more and more necessary. One significant way in which cinema triumphs as a truly global experience is in upholding its universal character over the ages, and sustaining an all-encompassing intimate fraternity, despite attaining the proportions of a more and more industrial technological exercise. 

Twentieth century auteur cinema found its lifeline in the film festivals… a celebration of independent content, fresh aesthetics and substantial experimentation. Because of these film festivals, and a critical movie-watching culture and appetite developing in cities around the world, those were undoubtedly the warmest times in the history of the craft."

The full article: 16 Legendary Filmmakers Praised by Other Great Directors 

ALIGARH: Hansal Mehta's Gripping Drama on Homosexuality

Here is one director who needs to be written and talked about more for his brutally honest, hard-hitting films over the past few years. Hansal Mehta's last two ventures, Shahid (2013) and Citylights (2014) surely deserved more coverage and discussion in the media than the usual pre-release reportage in the news channels. Of course, it helped that Shahid (based on the life of lawyer and human rights activist Shahid Azmi, who was assassinated in 2010 in Mumbai) received the national awards for the best actor (Raj Kummar Rao) and director.

Hansal Mehta has moved a long way from the days when he was directing a TV cookery show titled Khana Khazana in the 1990s and made quite a few forgettable duds in mainstream Bollywood.

His latest film, Aligarh, is garnering accolades from critics and standing ovations from audiences in film festivals. The film relates the true life story of Dr Shrinivas Ramachandra Shiras, a professor of Marathi at the Aligarh Muslim University, who was suspended from his job for his sexual orientation. After successfully appealing his suspension, he died in suspicious circumstances.

In his review in firstpost.com, journalist and LGBT rights activist Ashok Row Kavi writes:

"....the film is a masterpiece of cinematic skills bundled deftly by Mehta and writer Apurva Asrani with several LGBT staffers in the unit.
....Amidst the sometimes surreal sets, Manoj Bajpayee stands out as Professor Siras (at Aligarh Muslim University). Looking crushed and broken as the closet homosexual, a word he does not even understand, he plays the role to perfection...
...What's chilling about the film is that what happened to the protagonist could happen anywhere in India – in posh Malabar Hill, in the dreary landscape of Bareilly or even in the picturesque hills of the North-East. What Mehta and writer Apurva Asrani have done is pluck out a commonplace professor in a commonplace university and weave a true life story into a tapestry of terrifying, compelling drama..."

The film has got effusive praise from Rediff.com's critic Aseem Chhabra who writes :

"Aligarh is a milestone in the history of Indian cinema that should start the much needed conversation about how India treats gays and lesbians...
...What Mehta and his scriptwriter Apurva Asrani (the first script by the award-winning film editor) want us to know is that Siras' sexuality is his personal affair. What happens to him in the the film (and what was done to the good professor by the homophobic AMU administration) is completely wrong, a violation of his privacy, an invasion of his personal space and the denial of his fundamental rights."

Shabana Azmi on Smita Patil: "We were similar in many ways, but (alas) could never be friends"

In her tribute to the late actress Smita Patil (October 17, 1955-December 13, 1986),  actress Shabana Azmi recounts:

"We had so much in common; we came from similar backgrounds, were launched by the same director, had similar aesthetics and worked in the same kind of cinema. Today, in public memory Smita and I are so closely bonded together that I feel I could well be Shabana Patil and she Smita Azmi! She had a short career span and yet 29 years after she passed away, parallel cinema in India will never be mentioned without Smita Patil’s name emblazoned in golden letters.

Alas! We could never be friends. The rivalry between us, some of it manufactured by the media and some of it real, caused friction. I’ve said this before and I acknowledge it again that I have been guilty of making uncharitable remarks about her and I regret it. There were efforts at reconciliation and we were able to maintain civility but it never turned into friendship."

Here is the full article:   Shabana Azmi: The Smita Patil I knew 

Another piece on Smita that I felt is a must-read (for its frank overview of her career and persona) is by documentary film maker and writer Gautam Chintamani. He made a pertinent point, I thought, when he said, 

"Perhaps Smita Patil was cut from the same fabric as Waheeda Rehman, the other great from a couple of generations before her, who, like Patil, was relegated to be second to Nargis or Meena Kumari even though her body of work far outdid most. Many a times cinema witnesses artists come in pairs like Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen, Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri, Shabana Azmi and Smita Patil that inspire and push each other but often one of them is preordained to remain in the other’s shadow. Patil’s untimely death may have added an extra veneer of greatness to the actress when compared to Azmi, who often ended up walking off with more critical acclaim in the films the two worked together. 

Patil’s premature death might have made her untouchable but at the same time also subtly changed the trajectory of Azmi’s career by pushing her to a venerable position as an actor before time thereby depriving her of challenges. Patil got enough accolades for her role inArth (1982) and she believed that hers was a far more nuanced character to play than Azmi’s but wasn’t too satisfied with the way the roles were tinkered around midway."

The full article:  Bollywood will never find another Smita Patil

'The latest gem from evolving Indian cinema'

The 'Titli' review in Hindustan Times:

"No, Titli doesn’t frighten you. It pushes you out of slumber and makes you see the after-effects of a waywardly classic liberal economy....It is about a world that co-exists right in our midst, a world so lowly that we ignore but never forget while driving back home in the still of the night.

Its tryst with reality will keep you hooked till the end, to say the least. Titli is the latest gem from evolving Indian cinema. Don’t even think of missing it."

http://www.hindustantimes.com/movie-reviews/titli-review-this-is-the-best-hindi-film-of-the-year-so-far/story-upwdbFVhPQ95hrOFRwQM2L.html

For some interesting insights and views on the film from producer Dibakar Banerjee, director Kanu Behl and actors Ranvir Shorey and Shashank Arora, go to my earlier post:

http://chattingfilms.blogspot.in/2015/10/titli-explores-family-dysfunctional.html 

'Spielberg moves to a new realm of artistry in Bridge of Spies'

In a wonderful review on Spielberg's latest film, Bridge of Spies, The Hindu's critic Baradwaj Rangan says "with films like Munich and Bridge of Spies, Spielberg has moved to a realm of artistry where he’s able to put out ideas and also give us cinema, which is something of a Holy Grail for mainstream filmmakers who aren’t just out to make a buck.

He further writes that "It’s important to judge Spielberg as a mainstream filmmaker, and not compare him to someone who might make more uncompromised films that would play in a handful of art-house theatres.) How to entertain versus how to educate. How to make us enjoy the film (a function of our senses) and yet make us think (a function of the intellect). Spielberg balances it all beautifully (in Bridge of Spies)."

I was particularly happy to see Rangan mention about director Guillermo del Toro's admiration for Spielberg's style of making films (especially, Catch Me If You Can). In a recent interview with deadline.com, Toro said, "It’s preternaturally nimble with such grace in the way it’s staged. It’s so brisk. It’s so breathless. It’s so apparently effortless and so damn fluid. The hardest thing to accomplish on film is to make time stand still, or make a story completely fluid. Those are two truly, truly difficult things to do… The way [Spielberg’s] narrative flows is just almost miraculous and so beautifully staged.”

Rangan adds: "In other words, del Toro admires Spielberg for the reasons many of us do: his amazing ability to direct a sequence. Few other directors use the space on screen so well, move the camera so instinctually that we think this is the only way this sequence could have been staged, the only way it would have made sense."

Read the full review here: 

TITLI: When Normal is Dysfunctional in Delhi's badlands

I am sure fans of director Dibakar Banerjee (Khosla Ka Ghosla, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Shanghai) would hate to miss this flick.

This time, however, Dibakar has donned the producer's mantle (along Yash Raj Films), helping his team member Kanu Behl transform a script into a film that has won rave reviews at Cannes 2014 and other international festivals.

Story synopsis: In the badlands of Delhi's hellish underbelly. Titli, the youngest member of a violent car-jacking brotherhood, plots a desperate bid to escape the 'family' business.

Here is the trailer: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OOqiQiMkXDA&feature=youtu.be

Dibakar and his team members had some interesting insights on the film.

In one interview, Dibakar says: "To be honest I didn’t quite pick Titli. It was Kanu who picked me as the producer. Titli, as a script from the NFDC Film Script Lab, was one of the most sought after Indie scripts of 2013. At various points, many producers, including YRF (before my association with them), wanted to produce it. I was at first involved only creatively because I was fascinated by the script and the characters. What grabbed me was the fact that it said many profound things in layers, without the characters and the milieu sounding pretentious or arty. It’s one of the simplest films I have seen in terms of its vocabulary: Simple and strong yet truly deep."

In the same interview, Director Behl points out that Dibakar played a big role in creating an enabling environment for the film to be made. "Dibakar is a director’s producer, because he himself is a director. I think that while being the co-producer of Titli, Dibakar was trying to give me the working conditions he himself would want as a director. Whether it was a crucial session on the script or while finishing the edit, his experience as a filmmaker helped cut out the fat. Other than that, the most important I would say, have been the conversations, unrelated to Titli, that we’ve had over the years. They have helped nurture my voice."

In another piece, Ranvir Shorey (who plays one of Titli's brothers in the film) says: “It is never easy to essay characters that are far removed from your everyday life but most of filmmaking is about this. I do not belong to that social class, and it is quite different to read about such things and watch them on TV. We had workshops to help us understand the psyche, and how to talk like them."

The film releases on October 30, 2015.

Subrata Mitra: The Cinematic Eye of Satyajit Ray

A wonderful piece on Subrata Mitra, one of Indian cinema's pioneering cinematographers who brought a unique styule and sensibility to the art of capturing moving images. Mitra is acclaimed by cinematic greats around the world for his magical use of natural and 'bounce' light  to create black-and-white masterpieces for film makers  such as  Satyajit Ray (Pather Panchali, Apur Sansar, Aparajito, Devi), Merchant-Ivory (Householder, Shakespearewalah) and Basu Bhattacharya (Teesri Kasam).  

As the writer says:

"...Subrata Mitra can best be described as the perfect cinematic eye of Satyajit Ray. So well did he understand Ray’s thoughts, imagination and visualisation that his camera's interpretation of them was sans any flaws....

...Ray’s films after 'Nayak' (1966) lacked the genius of Mitra’s cinematography. Mitra sans Ray was also not at his altruistic best. One of Indian cinema’s greatest tragedies.

...The genius took a sabbatical from cinematography in mid 70s. He returned in 1986 to shoot Ramesh Sharma’s 'New Delhi Times'. The shot of Shashi Kapoor running in a dream sequence as his newspaper office burns remains a lesson in cinematography...."


Read the full article: http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/with-a-perfect-eye/article7792914.ece

'Spectre' ultimately feels like a lesser film than 'Skyfall' : Hollywood Reporter

The reviews of 'Spectre' are out, and most of them have given five-star ratings to the film. Of the many I read, I thought the review by Hollywood Reporter gave a pretty rounded view of the movie, picking out the high-points and pitfalls in good measure.  

According to the magazine, "while its commercial prospects seem bulletproof, Spectre ultimately feels like a lesser film than Skyfall, falling back on cliche and convention."

It further adds: "Spectre is the most expensive 007 movie to date, with a budget rumored to be well north of $250 million. At 148 minutes, it is also the longest, which becomes evident in the bloated second half. But Mendes kicks off in the same impressive mode as Skyfall, deepening Bond's back story while self-consciously borrowing from the franchise's classic Sixties heritage. The first act is great, full of dark portent and bravura film-making flourishes. However, the final hour disappoints, with too many off-the-peg plot twists and too many characters conforming to type."

Read the full review: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/spectre-film-review-833833

However, Hollywood Reporter might seem as an exception to the general consensus among critics that Spectre's cast and crew shakes and stirs the Bond brew well enough to deliver a top-notch, glued-to-the-seat entertainer.   

Here is a roundup of the reviews by leading papers and magazines across the globe. Click on the links inside for the full reviews.

What makes Mani Ratnam's 'Nayagan' so special?

Celebrating a Tamil cinematic masterpiece (and probably among the top 5 Indian films) which was released on this date 28 years ago (October 21, 1987).

A biopic on Mumbai's underworld don Varadaraja Mudaliar, 'NAYAGAN' underlined MANI RATNAM's genius in using visuals, lighting (dark and subtle), background score, dialogue, natural sound and silence to stunning effect. 

This film will also be remembered for Kamal Haasan's epic performance (as Velu Nayagan), P. C. Sriram's magnificent cinematography, Thota Tharani's Art Direction, and a haunting soundtrack by ILAIYARAJA....

I am sure Nayagan will continue to stay in the list of TIME magazine's 'All-Time 100 Best Films' for a long time....

----------------------------------------------------------------

(If you still haven't seen the film, do get the DVD and watch it on your home screen. And if you want to know how to screw up up a masterpiece, watch Nayagan's Hindi remake (DAYAVAN)..)

Here is a classic scene from the film: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kOUcRIbw-gw

Reminiscing about the film, Kamal wrote in an article (in the Hindu in 2013) that "Nayakan was one of the films — along with the films I’ve done with Balu Mahendra, K. Vishwanath and, of course, my guru K. Balachander — that made me decide that I should not be doing short-lived masala movies anymore. Except nostalgia, they added nothing to my career. I was fed up. I was nearing middle-age. I thought, 'If I don’t do this now, then when will I do it?' After wrapping the film, I was so happy that I took Sarika and went for a walk around the empty set. I remember just sitting there with a satisfied sigh."

Renowned film critic Maithili Rao on her new book: 'Smita Patil - A Brief Incandescence'

"....She seems to have been amazingly self-effacing, not taken in by the trappings of stardom. It has to be innate and also the ethos of strong middle-class values with which she grew up. Actually, I call Smita the pioneer of social work at the zenith of her career — unlike stars like Nargis who became socially active after retiring from films.

If she were not so passionately committed to the cause of women, the performances would not have been so authentic. This was not merely at the level of propaganda. It was a lived faith...."

http://www.thehindu.com/books/literary-review/maithili-rao-speaks-with-kunal-ray-about-smita-patil-a-brief-incandescence/article7769651.ece  

"I'd rather slash my wrists than play James Bond again"

For fans of Daniel Craig (as James Bond), it is indeed disappointing to know that the actor is considering to move out of the Bond franchise. I, for one, would have been happy to see him reprise the role for some more years.

In a recent interview, he is quoted to have said, "I'd rather slash my wrists than play James Bond again." He went on to say, "I’m over it at the moment. We’re done. All I want to do is move on.”

Now, a statement like this has serious implications. It just goes to show that playing Bond ain't as sexy as it sounds to be. The glitter, glory and hype conceal the fact that the churning a film from the 007 factory is quite a laborious ordeal for both the crew and cast, considering that it takes nothing less three years for the product to hit the screens. And in some cases, as it seems with Craig, the long shoot and post-production schedule probably leads to a burn-out--or extreme aversion for the role.

In any case, Craig would have a couple of years (when the next Bond film is announced) before he takes a decision. One hopes that retirement from the superhero brand would lead him on to do some meaningful roles in the future--and perhaps shine as an actor than a star.

Spielberg Joins with Tom Hanks to recreate a gripping Cold War drama

Spielberg reunites with his old friend Tom Hanks in this Cold War drama (set during the late 1950s) about a New York lawyer tasked with negotiating the prisoner exchange of Francis Gary Powers (an American pilot whose spy plane was shot down in USSR) for Rudolf Abel (a Soviet spy).

Two interesting things about this movie:

## In Spielberg's entire career, this is only his second film (after Color Purple) which will not have his favourite composer John Williams scoring the soundtrack. Thomas Newman (Shawshank Redemption, Skyfall, Spectre) takes the place of Williams, who opted out for health reasons.

## This is the first time Spielberg has collaborated with Coen brothers (Fargo, No Country for Old Men), who have written the screenplay.

Here is the trailer:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mBBuzHrZBro

Film-maker Prakash Jha on his new film (the sequel to Gangaajal)

"...Do you know what the biggest issue is in the country today? It is the ownership of land. Right from the poorest to the richest person in this country. All politics, economics, and society hinges on land. You leave your village because you don’t have land, but if you have land, the government and industry wants it for development. Why do politicians own thousands of acres ? Why do companies want it too? Why is it that the land ordinance became such a big issue in Parliament? Everything revolves around it and hence it became the issue of my film..."

Three years after Satyagraha, and 12 years after Gangaajal, which exposed the criminal-politician nexus in Bihar, film-maker Prakash Jha is back with Jai Gangaajal. Priyanka Chopra replaces Ajay Devgn as the honest cop and the film focusses on the political hot potato of land acquisition.

Read the full story: 

http://www.thehindu.com/features/magazine/prakash-jha-talks-to-alok-deshpande-about-jai-gangaajal/article7742826.ece

The first superstar and anti-hero of Hindi cinema

Kumudlal Ganguly (better known as Ashok Kumar)...The first superstar of Hindi cinema, the first lead actor to play an anti-hero, the first actor whose film entered the 1-crore club (Kismet) in the 1940s...

And probably the only actor who as producer (of Bombay Talkies) gave those crucial breaks to Bollywood greats such as Dev Anand, Pran, Madhubala, Kishore Kumar and Lata Mangeshkar.

And interestingly, a career in acting happened purely by accident for this law graduate from Presidency College (Kolkata) who aspired to become a film technician.

Read on: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/education/story/ashok-kumar/1/497246.html

When De Niro and Anne Hathaway Warm the Hearts

A nice treat for the weekend if you like the Nancy Meyers brand of movies (Something's Gotta Give, The Holiday, It's Complicated, What Women Want, The Father of the Bride).

Robert De Niro (as a 70-year old intern) and Anne Hathaway (his CEO/mentor) shine in this heartwarming film on how Gen-Y leaders can learn valuable lessons on work and life from their senior citizen counterparts.

Story synopsis:

70-year-old widower Ben Whittaker has discovered that retirement isn't all it's cracked up to be. Seizing an opportunity to get back in the game, he becomes a senior intern at an online fashion site, founded and run by Jules Ostin.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f6dKhzYgksc