Section: Movies

Prithviraj Sukumaran, Raashi Khanna Start Work on Malayalam Remake of ‘Andhadhun’

BY Namrata Ganguly On

Andhadhun, the 2018 Hindi black comedy crime thriller film, which is being remade in Malayalam starring Prithviraj Sukumaran and Raashi Khanna in lead roles was officially launched with a religious ceremony on Wednesday.

Khanna, the actor and singer who predominantly works in Telugu and Tamil films and is currently shooting a web series with actor Shahid Kapoor, posted pictures of the muhurat puja.

Andhadhun was co-written and directed by Sriram Raghavan, produced by Matchbox Pictures and distributed by Viacom18 Motion Pictures. The film starred Ayushmann Khurrana, Radhika Apte, Tabu in the lead roles, along with Anil Dhawan in a pivotal role. Andhadhun was adapted from a 2010 French short film L’Accordeur (The Piano Tuner).

Khurrana played the role of Aakash, a pianist, who faked being blind to improve his piano skills, while Apte played the role of Sophie, his love interest. In a strange twist of events, Aakash witnesses a crime and soon gets further entangled in a bizarre series of problems.

In the Malayalam remake, Prithviraj will be stepping into the shoes of Khurrana, while Khanna will be playing the role of Apte. Mamta Mohandas will be playing Tabu’s role.

The remake is being directed by cinematographer Ravi K Chandran, and will also feature Unni Mukundan. Sreekar Prasad will handle editing, while the music will be composed by Jakes Bejoy.

Andhadhun went on to win several awards, including three National Awards for Best Hindi Feature Film, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Actor (Ayushmann Khurrana). The film is also currently being remade in Tamil and Telugu.

The Telugu remake of Andhadhun is being directed by Merlapaka Gandhi, and stars Nithiin Reddy and Tamannaah Bhatia in the roles of Khurrana and Apte. Nabha Natesh will be playing Tabu’s role. The film started shooting on December 6, 2020 in Dubai.

The Tamil remake of the film has been titled Andhagan and will be directed by JJ Fredrick. It stars Prashanth in the role originally played by Khurrana. Other cast members include Simran (playing Tabu’s role) and Karthik (playing Dhawan’s role).

Speaking to Silverscreen India, the film’s producer and Prashanth’s father Thiagarajan had said that Andhagan would go on floors in January and the film will release by May or June.

Shooting of the Malayalam remake is expected to begin soon. Prithviraj is currently taking piano lessons to prepare for the role, he wrote in a social media post.

Director Desingh Periyasamy to Marry Actor Niranjani Ahathian

BY Shrija Ganguly On

Desingh Periyasamy, director of Dulquer Salmaan-starrer Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal, is set to get married to actor Niranjani Ahathian, who also made her debut in the same 2020 Tamil film.

“The wedding will be held on February 25 in Pondicherry. We have invited just family and friends. But we are planning another celebration in Chennai, for friends from the industry and media. But the date and venue are yet to be fixed,” Desingh told The Times of India.

“I got Niranjani’s photo one day through my cameraman for the film. He had taken her picture from Twitter and sent it to me, saying she would suit Shreya’s part. That’s how I got to know her. And now, we are getting married,” he added calling it a “proper arranged marriage”.

Niranjani is the daughter of filmmaker Ahathian, who won the National Award for the Best Direction and Screenplay for the 1996 film Kadhal Kottai. The film was remade in Kannada as Yaare Neenu Cheluve, and in Hindi as Sirf Tum.

Filmmaker Thiru announced news of the wedding on social media and congratulated the couple. According to The Times of India, Thiru is married to Karthika Ahathian, Ahathian’s eldest daughter and Niranjani’s older sister.

Niranjani shared photos from the day of her engagement on social media.

Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal was Periyasamy’s directorial debut and he met Niranjani on the sets of the film. The film starred Ritu Varma and Rakshan in prominent roles. The movie was a romantic comedy that revolves around two pairs of con-artists, who attempt to con each other but end up coming together to pull a heist.

Prior to her acting career, Niranjani worked as a stylist and a costume designer in films like Sigaram Thodu (2014), Kaaviya Thalaivan, and Kabali (2016).

‘Master’ to Stream on Amazon Prime Video from January 29

BY Shrija Ganguly On

Master, the recently-released Tamil film that starred Vijay and Vijay Sethupathi, will have its digital premiere on Amazon Prime Video on Friday.

Written and directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, the film released in theatres on January 13 on the occasion of Pongal.

In a press release, Kanagaraj said, “Master film has brought two very strong actors face to face in the film, that serves as great entertainment hook for people to come and watch the film in theatres. However, with the film’s global digital release on Amazon Prime Video, we are hoping to reach a wider audience that’s been at home, and reach regions that otherwise wouldn’t have been possible.”

The film which also features Malavika Mohanan, Andrea Jeremiah, Shanthnu Bhagyaraj, and Arjun Das in prominent roles, will be available on the OTT platform just two weeks after its release.

Speaking about the film, Vijay said in the press release, “In the film, I am essaying the character of an alcoholic college professor, John Durairaj, who is transferred to a juvenile school. That’s where he meets his arch nemesis- Bhavani- played by Vijay Sethupathi, who has been using the children of the school in question for his own personal profit. I am certain that the interesting duel between John and Bhavani will take the audiences on a roller-coaster ride of action, and drama.”

While Sathyan Sooryan was in-charge of cinematography, music was composed by Anirudh Ravichander. On January 15, Endemol Shine India, Cine1 Studios, and 7 Screens announced that the film’s Hindi remake rights have been acquired by them.

Produced by Xavier Britto under the banner of XB Film Creators, Master opened with 50% seating capacity in most states, in keeping with the Covid protocols.

The film released in a Hindi-dubbed version in most parts of the country but went on to perform better than regional films and the only two Hollywood releases Tenet and Wonder Woman 1984.

The film reportedly earned Rs 25 crore within the first 24 hours of its release in Tamil Nadu.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas Says Experience of Endorsing Skin Lightening Creams in India was ‘Awful’

BY Namrata Ganguly On

Priyanka Chopra Jonas, the international actor whose film The White Tiger recently released on Netflix, spoke about the racism that she faced in the USA and mentioned that endorsing skin lightening creams as an actor in India was an “awful” experience.

In an interview with Marie Claire, Chopra Jonas said she was bullied in the USA as a teenager for her skin tone and spoke about the continued experience of discrimination in Hollywood.

Talking about her experiences as an actor in India, she said that she regretted her decision of promoting “skin-brightening” creams while she was an established actor in the Hindi film industry.

“(Skin lightening) was so normalised in South Asia; it’s such a large industry that everyone was doing it. In fact, doing it is still a check (mark) when you are a female actor, but it’s awful. And it was awful for me, for a little girl who used to put talcum powder cream on my face because I believed that dark skin was not pretty,” she said.

While speaking about racism in the USA, she mentioned that she had to “blindly introduce herself” at a Roc Nation pre-Grammys brunch in 2012. The USA media did not write about her when she released her debut single In My City, she said. When she was promoting a football game, she said some people reacted with cruel comments and someone wrote on Twitter, “What’s a brown terrorist doing promoting an all-American game?”.

“It’s so difficult to hear you talk about it right now,” she said, recalling her teenage days when she was bullied during her high school days in Newton, Massachusetts, where she lived with her extended family. Although she is still unsure of why she was bullied, she said: “It affected me adversely. It affected my confidence; it affected who I wanted to be. I felt exposed, when your skin is raw.”

“In high school, I feel like the kids who were after me didn’t even understand why. I think it’s that they decided that they were more powerful than someone else—me—and when you pick on someone, it’s because you’re insecure. Bullying happens to kids and adults. It happens with positions of power, and we’ve all seen that abused in multiple ways,” she said.

She said while Hollywood was a harsh place, it accepted the fact that difference is not a bad thing, which helped her  to stand out. Recalling an incident from the first time she attended the Emmy Awards with comedian Aziz Ansari half a decade ago, she said they had counted the number of South Asians in the room.

“There were six. Aziz was like, ‘This is a lot. Years ago, there were two of us.’ I was cracking up. But that’s what it’s going to take: talent and people who want to work in the industry to see people from different parts of the world. I’m not going to be pigeonholed for the sake of representation,” she said.

Chopra Jonas, who is also a singer and producer, is awaiting the release of her memoir Unfinished. She said that she has explored her “unvisited vulnerabilities” in the memoir, which is releasing on February 9.

Besides her upcoming Hollywood projects Citadel, Text For You, The Matrix, the actor is also launching her own haircare brand named Anomaly, that she mentioned to be a metaphor for the “self-acceptance” that she has finally found. She said she hoped people won’t have to adhere to the restrictive beauty standards that she once had to.

“I’m an anomaly, and everyone else is in their own way,” she said.

Song Yoo-jung, South Korean Actor, Found Dead

BY Ramya Ashok Kumar On

Song Yoo-jung, the South Korean actor who has acted in several Korean television shows, was found dead on Saturday in Seoul. The actor was 26.

Yoo-jung’s death was confirmed by her agency, Sublime Artiste agency. According to DNA, Sublime announced in a statement, “Actress Song Yu Jung departed this life on January 23, 2021. In accordance with the wishes of her family, the funeral was held quietly and the funeral procession takes place on January 25.”

The agency, however, did not disclose the reason of her death.

The agency also paid respect to the late actor on Instagram.

“Actor Song Yoo-jong has left us. Yoo Jung has always been our friend who gives happiness with a bright smile, and she was a wonderful actor who played with passion more than anyone else. Thank you for joining us as an actor at the Sublime Artist Agency. I will remember it forever,” the post read.

Yoo-jung began her acting career at the age of 20 as a cosmetics model. She has appeared in commercials for several brands including Estée Lauder, The Body Shop, and Baskin & Robbins. She started her acting career with television series Golden Rainbow in 2013. She has also acted in MBC’s television shows Make a Wish in 2014 and School 2017 in 2017. In 2019, the actor played the role of an architect student in search of her soulmate in the web series Dear My Name.

Yoo-jung has also acted in music videos, including South Korean indie acoustic pop band, Standing Egg’s recent song Friend to lover.

The late South Korean actor was also an advocate for people with disabilities and had served as the ambassador of Warm Accompaniment, a South Korean Welfare Corporation. She had voiced a narration along with actor Lim Na-young in 2019 as part of a campaign for the spatial welfare of facilities for the disabled.

Spy Kids to be Relaunched by Director Robert Rodriguez

BY Shrija Ganguly On

Robert Rodriguez, the director who last helmed the Priyanka Chopra Jonas-starrer We Can Be Heroes, will be directing the reimagined version of the Spy Kids series, reported Deadline Hollywood.

Skydance Media has bought the rights to relaunch the film alongside Spyglass Media Group. Rodriguez will also be writing the story.

The franchise has had four films so far over a decade, namely, Spy Kids (2001), Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams (2002), Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003), and Spy Kids: All The Time in the World (2011).

The Spy Kids franchise is an American spy adventure film that revolves around the journey of two children, Carmen and Juni Cortez. While the first film in the series sees the children rescue their parents, who are also spies, after  they are captured during a mission, the second and third instalments see the brother-sister duo becoming professional spies and their journey . The final instalment, however, deviates and comes back with two kids, Rebecca and Cecil, trying to rescue their step-mother.

According to The Guardian, Rodriguez said the film is “Willy Wonka-meets-James-Bond”. The film aims to combine the absurd wonder of Willy Wonka, a character from the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and the allure of fictional spy James Bond. The James Bond franchise revolves around the fictional English detective MI6, based on Ian Fleming’s novel by the same name.

According to Deadline, “Spyglass owns the Spy Kids franchise and in recent months Skydance became intrigued in the IP as it looks to diversify its slate. For this next installment, Skydance will serve as the lead studio and oversee development and production while Spyglass’ Gary Barber and Peter Oillataguerre will executive produce.”

The franchise has featured actors like Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara, Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Selena Gomez and Carla Gugino.

Apart from the Spy Kids franchise, Rodriguez has also directed The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl and Alita: Battle Angel. The former’s sequel, We Can Be Heroes, released on January 1 on Netflix.

It focuses on a the journey of a bunch of superhero chidden who to try and save their parents and the world while exploring their powers.

Master Trailer Starring Vijay, Vijay Sethupathi

Written & Directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj
Starring Thalapathy Vijay, Vijay Sethupathi, Malavika Mohanan, Andrea Jeremiah, Shanthanu Bhagyaraj, Arjun Das

Release Date – January 29, 2021 only on Amazon Prime Video

Movie Credits
Written & Directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj
Produced by Xavier Britto
Co-Produced by Lalit Kumar & Jagadish Palanisamy
Music – Anirudh Ravichander
DOP – Sathyan Sooryan
Art Director – Sathees Kumar
Editor – Philomin Raj
Lyrics – Arunraja Kamaraj, Vigneshshivn, Vishnu Edavan, Arivu
Stunts – Stunt Silva
Choreography – Dinesh, Sathish
Executive Producer – R Udayakumar
Managers – KTS.Swaminathan, Balamurugan, Viswanathan, Jeyaprakash, Suresh Kanagaraj
Sound Design – Sync Cinema
Sound Mix – Kannan Ganpat
Costume Designer – Pallavi Singh
Chief Make-Up Artist – P.Nagaraj & Preethi Sheel
Costumer – V.Sai
DI – Igene
VFX – Unifi Media
DI Colorist – Ranga
Publicity Design – Gopi Prasannaa
Stills – Maneksha
PRO – Riaz K Ahmed
Music on – Sony Music Entertainment
Asso. Directors – Magesh Balasubramaniam, Santhosh Krishnan, Sathya, Venki, Logi, Vishnu Edavan

Powder Teaser Starring Nikil Murukan, Vidya Pradeep

Movie crew: Starring – Vidya pradeep, Nikilmurukan, Motta rajendran, Manobal, Vaiyaburi, Manojkumar, Aadhavan, Agalya, Shantini deva, Aradya, Vijay sri g

Director – Vijay Sri G

(Teaser) Music – Sam C S

Dop – RP (rajapandi)

PRO – Nikil murukan

Editor – Srii Dev Nijanthan

Art director – Mayilsamy

Lyrics – Vijay Sri G

Stunt – Vijay

Costumer – Velavan

Make up – Bhuvana

Stills – Raja

Sound studio – Sound Holic Studio

Sound design – Premkumar

Sound Mixing – Naveen Shankar

DI – Pixel Arts

Subtitle – Mahesh Boopathy

Designs – G Designs

Production manager – Saravanan

Production company – G MEDIA

Producer – Jaya Sree Vijay

Audio label – LAHARI MUSIC

Aelay Trailer Starring Samuthirakani

Starring Samuthirakani, Manikandan.K, Madhumathi & Others

Written & Directed By : Halitha Shameem
Producer : S. Sashikanth
Co-Producer : Chakravarthy Ramachandra
Creative Producers : Pushkar & Gayatri
DOP : Theni Eswar
Art Directors : Vinoth Rajkumar
Music Director : Kaber Vasuki , Aruldev
Editor : Raymond Derrick Crasta, Halitha Shameem
Stunt Choreographer : Dinesh Subbarayan
VFX supervisor: Linkin Livi
Audiographer: Alagiakoothan.S
Sound Design : Suren.G
Publicity Designer : Kabilan
PRO : Suresh Chandra (D’One), Rekha

Annaatthe: Rajinikanth-Starrer Action Drama to Release on November 4

BY Anusha Sundar On

Annaatthe, the upcoming Tamil film starring actor Rajinikanth, will release on November 4 on the occasion of Diwali, the film’s producer Sun Pictures announced on social media on Monday.

The action-drama film which also stars Nayanthara, Keerthy Suresh, Prakash Raj, Soori, Meena, and Kushboo, will be helmed by Siva. D Imman will be composing the film’s music.

The shooting of Annaatthe was halted in 2020 due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the resultant lockdown. It resumed on December 15, 2020 in Hyderabad.

On December 23, 2020, the film’s shooting was suspended after four crew members tested positive for Covid-19 during “routine testing” on the sets. Rajinikanth and other crew members had tested negative. This was the second time that the shooting was halted.

Two days after shoot was halted in Hyderabad, Rajinikanth was hospitalised at Apollo Hospitals in Hyderabad due to “severe fluctuations” of his blood pressure. Though his health was stable, according to hospital authorities, he was admitted to the hospital for further evaluation. Hospital authorities had also confirmed that Rajinikanth tested negative for the virus and added that his blood pressure and heart rate were stable.

Following this, Rajinikanth returned to Chennai from Hyderabad and announced that he was backing out of his earlier decision to launch a political career, citing his health issues. Earlier, while announcing his decision of launching a political party, Rajinikanth had stated that 40% of Annaatthe remained to be shot and that he would complete the shooting before foraying into politics.

After being halted for more than a month, shooting for Annaatthe will resume in Hyderabad in February.

Earlier speaking to Silverscreen India, Siva’s brother and actor Balakumar, who is also starring in Annaatthe, said that he will be joining the film’s shooting in February.

Varun Dhawan and Natasha Dalal Wedding: A Photo Story

BY Shrija Ganguly On

Actor Varun Dhawan and fashion designer Natasha Dalal got married in a private wedding ceremony on January 24 at a seaside resort in Alibaug, near Mumbai.

The photo story captures the intimate affair as both sides refrained from sharing news about their big day on social media before announcing their wedding on January 24.

The wedding festivities, which started from January 22, saw the couple tying the knot at noon on January 24.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Varinder Chawla (@varindertchawla)

The Times of India reported that a bio-bubble protocol was followed with Covid-19 tests being being conducted at the entrance of the venue, The Mansion House resort. Guests who tested positive were sent back home, the report added. Since the couple announced a no-phone policy at the wedding, stickers were stuck on the camera lens of mobile phones of the staff members to keep the affair private.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by VarunDhawan (@varundvn)

Some of the guests include actors Arjun Kapoor, and Alia Bhatt, filmmakers Karan Johar, Kunal Kohli, and Shashank Khaitan, Dhawan’s close friend Zoa Morani, fashion designer Manish Malhotra, and others. A sangeet function, a pre-nuptial ceremony, was held on January 22, hosted by Johar. Along with a performance by the couple, Bhatt, Janhvi Kapoor, and Arjun Kapoor also performed on January 22.

While the bride wore an ivory-coloured Manish Malhotra lehenga for the big day, the groom went for a Kunal Rawal attire.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by VarunDhawan (@varundvn)

Dhawan and Dalal have been together for a while now and have known each other since school, as disclosed by the actor on a television chat show. The two were supposed to get married in 2020 but had to put their plans on hold due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

While the guest list was restricted to 50 people, as per the Covid protocols, wishes poured in from the industry.

Video Credit: Ramya Ashok Kumar

Vaashi: Upcoming Malayalam Film to Star Tovino Thomas and Keerthy Suresh

BY Anusha Sundar On

Vaashi, the upcoming Malayalam film, will star Tovino Thomas and Keerthy Suresh in lead roles, actor Mohanlal announced on social media on Monday.

Vaashi marks the first collaboration of Tovino and Keerthy.

Keerthy, while announcing the film, said that the film took “almost seven years to fall in place”. Ring Master, the 2014 comedy film co-starring Dileep, was her last Malayalam film.

Vaashi will be written and directed by Vishnu G Raghav. Produced by Keerthy’s father and producer G Suresh Kumar, the film will be presented under his banner Revathy Kalaamandhir. Vaashi will be co-produced by Menaka Suresh and Revathy Suresh (Keerthy’s mother and elder sister respectively).

The rest of the film’s cast members are yet to be announced.

Janiz Chacko Simon has written the story while Roby Varghese Raj is the cinematographer. Mahesh Narayanan will be editing the film and Kailas Menon will compose music, with Vinayak Sasikumar as the lyricist. Mahesh Sridhar and Divya George are the art director and costume designer, respectively.

Keerthy began to shoot with Mahesh Babu for her Telugu film Sarkaru Vaari Paata Shuru in Dubai on Monday. She will also feature in the upcoming Rajinikanth-starrer film Annaatthe alongside Nayanthara. She was last seen in the Netflix film Miss India in 2020.

Tovino, who launched his production house last week, has a number of films lined up. He recently completed shooting for his upcoming thriller film Kala, the teaser of which was released recently. He also has Vazhakku, a murder mystery directed by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, and last week announced a new film, Anveshippin Kandethum with debutant filmmaker Darwin Kuriakose.

IFFI 2021: Danish Film ‘Into The Darkness’ Bags Golden Peacock Award

BY Namrata Ganguly On

The 51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI), that marked its “first-ever hybrid” version, closed on Sunday.

Danish film Into the Darkness (De forbandede år), directed by Anders Refn, won the Golden Peacock Award and a cash prize of Rs 40 lakh shared equally between Refn and the film’s producer Lene Børglum. The film, based on World War II, portrays the story of a Danish electronics factory owner who is forced to manufacture goods for the occupying Nazi forces.

While Bangladesh was the country in focus this year, the festival included nine South Indian films, 23 feature films, and 20 non-feature films. Six iconic Marathi films were screened under the Indian Panorama section and 15 films competed for the Golden Peacock Award at IFFI’s International Competition section.

International jury members, including Pablo Cesar (Argentina), Prasanna Vithanage (Sri Lanka), Abu Bakr Shawky (Austria), Priyadarshan (India) and Rubaiyat Hossain (Bangladesh), honoured the winners this year in the closing ceremony.

Chhichhore, Asuran, Avijatrik, Gatham, Trance, Saand Ki Aankh, Brahma Janen Gopon Kommoti are among some of the films that were screened this year.

 

Source: Screengrab from trailer of “Into The Darkness”

The Silver Peacock for the Best Director, that carries a cash award of Rs 15 lakh, was awarded to Taiwanese director Chen-Nien Ko for her Mandarin drama The Silent Forest.

The Silver Peacock for Best Actor (Male) was awarded to 17-year-old Tzu-Chuan Liu, while Polish actor Zofia Stafiej won the Best Actor (Female) for her role in Piotr Domalewski’s I Never Cry / Jak najdalej stad. 

The IFFI 51 Special Mention Award was presented to Kripal Kalita for his Assamese film Bridge.

The Award for Best Debut Director was awarded to Brazilian Director Cássio Pereira dos Santos, for his Portuguese film Valentina, an eponymous film which tells the story of a 17-year-old transgender Brazilian girl, whose sole aim is to lead a normal life with her mother.

The International Council for Film, Television and Audiovisual Communication UNESCO Gandhi Award, that is given to a film that best reflects Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals of peace, tolerance and non-violence, was awarded to Ameen Nayfeh’s Arabic film 200 Meters. 

Legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s popular classics were screened in the retrospective section, while four films by Dadasaheb Phalke were also screened on the occasion of the 150th birth anniversary of the father of Indian Cinema.

IFFI also paid homage to 18 film personalities who died in 2020, including Irrfan Khan, Rishi Kapoor, SP Balasubrahmanyam, Soumitra Chatterjee, Sushant Singh Rajput and Basu Chatterjee.

The mid-fest film was Sandeep Kumar’s Mehrunisa, a film that questions the entrenched patriarchy in the film industry.

Veteran actor, director and producer Biswajit Chatterjee bagged the Indian Personality of the Year Award. Chatterjee, who is known for his works in both Bengali and Hindi cinema, spoke about how he was “deeply connected” to Bangladesh.

“When Bangladesh was being attacked, genius director Ritwik Gatak was with me in Mumbai and we used to get inspired by the speeches of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Then as per Ritwik Da’s suggestion, we made the documentary There Flows Padma, The Mother River. I can never forget the love I got from Bangladesh. Bangladesh and India are one, we are brethren; we are not separate,” he said in a press release.

Biswajit Chatterjee on the last day of the 38th International Kolkata Book Fair, Kolkata. (cropped, resized) Photographed by Biswarup Ganguly, Licensed under CCA3.0

The guests of honours included veteran actor Zeenat Aman, actor and politician Ravi Kishan, Governor of Goa Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, Chief Minister of Goa Pramod Sawant, Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting Amit Khare, and Union Minister Babul Supriyo.

In a video message, veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan thanked the Central government for keeping cinema alive and said that the festival was a great example of transforming challenges into opportunities.

The festival, that opened with the premiere of Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round,  closed with the historical drama Wife of a Spy by Kiyoshi Kurosawa.

Founded in 1952, IFFI is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. Initially held in different parts of the country, the film festival has finally found its permanent home in Goa since its 35th edition in 2004. The festival conducted jointly by the Directorate of Film Festivals under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Goa government.

Mehrunisa Review: Farrukh Jaffer is Superb as an Aspiring Actress in This Austrian Film

BY Aswathy Gopalakrishnan On

Director: Sandeep Kumar

Cast: Farrukh Jaffar, Ankita Dubey, Tulika Banerjee

Indian origin director Sandeep Kumar’s Austrian film Mehrunisa, which had its world premiere at 51st International Film Festival of India, is about an octogenarian Lucknowi begum who puts up a tough battle against society’s ageism. Hell breaks loose in her haveli when she chops up her husband’s cot on the day of his funeral a symbolic act to announce to the people around her that she will no longer be living according to someone else’s rules. She starts to sneak out of the house at odd hours to smoke and drink to her heart’s fill. She decides to return to Hindi cinema where she, before her marriage, was an actress who shone in small but significant roles. To the dismay of her daughter, a single mother, and the amusement of her granddaughter, Mehrunisa embraces freedom instead of confining herself to the traditional notions of old age.

Farrukh Jaffer, the actress so rooted in Lucknow’s milieu, who played a similar role in Juhi Chaturvedi’s Gulabo Sitabo (2020), plays the titular lead role of the former actress who seeks a second chance in Bollywood, this time not as a supporting actor but as the protagonist in big-budget films. When the producers of an upcoming movie about Lucknow’s 1857 revolt visits the begum with an offer to cast her in a supporting role, she snaps at them. She points out the grave mistakes in their script, “Women who led the revolt are invisible in your text!”

The premise carries out through a familiar narrative dichotomy ambition vs tradition. In a film industry that abandons female stars once they have crossed their 30s, and pairs their contemporary male actors with much younger actresses, Mehrunisa is a thematically significant work like Alankrita Srivastava’s Lipstick Under My Burqa (2016), where Ratna Pathak Shah played a 55-year-old woman who is ridiculed for her sexual desires.

Jaffer possesses a unique sense of humour and a pluckiness that elevates the narrative. She is mirthful and saintly profound at once, subtly underlining the long time Mehrunisa has lived and grasped. Mehrunisa’s fight isn’t only against the film industry but the larger society that it mirrors. In a heartwarming moment, she asks Alia, her grand-daughter, about her boyfriend problems and advises the young woman against marrying anyone who would chain her up.

But Kumar’s film, notwithstanding its compelling protagonist, is an uninspiring work that, rather than looking at the complexity in characters, relies on tacky broad strokes and television aesthetics. It is plainly shot, with only one thing to see or perceive in every scene. Some of the interactions between the women in the household ﹣Mehrunisa, her daughter, Alia, and Amina, the maid﹣are well done; you get a sense of the commonalities they share despite their varied backgrounds.

But more than often, the film relies on verbal exchanges and not mise en scene to narrate the story. It stuffs ideas into the foreground, leaving the background of the narrative meaningless. The performances of the film’s supporting cast are mainly toneless. The film gropes in the dark when it has to express the hardships Mehrunisa undergoes to be what she wants to be. It passively follows her as she goes from town to town to meet important people, and uses a clichéd montage of Alia poring over books and laptop, preparing a feminist screenplay.

Mehrunisa’s fight is against Bollywood’s century-old system, but the film resolves it within the snap of a finger. It oversimplifies the concept of “public sentiment” and assumes that an episode of television talk show can trigger revolutions in an incredibly complex society like India.

Among many things, the film takes for granted the art of screenwriting. It’s unintentionally funny when Alia tells her grandmother that she is ready to re-write the feature film script since she “spent a whole night researching on the subject”.

Ironically, the film’s utterly clumsy screenplay points to the fact that screenwriting, like filmmaking, is a demanding job, which takes a lot more than a stunning idea.

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Mehrunisa premiered at the 51st International Film Festival of India at Goa.

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The Mehrunisa review is a Silverscreen original article. It was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the film. Silverscreenindia.com and its writers do not have any commercial relationship with movies that are reviewed on the site.

RRR: SS Rajamouli’s Period Drama Starring Ram Charan and Junior NTR to Release in Theatres on October 13

BY Shrija Ganguly On

Director SS Rajamouli‘s upcoming period drama Roudhram Ranam Rudhiram or RRR will release in theatres on October 13, the makers announced on Monday.

Shooting for RRR had begun in 2019 but it came to a halt due to the Covid-19 pandemic and resultant lockdown. The film, which is a fictional account of freedom fighters Alluri Sitaramaraju, and Komaram Bheem played by Ram Charan and Junior NTR respectively, had resumed shooting in October, 2020. Alia Bhatt, who plays the role of Sita in the film, started shooting in December 2020. The team began shooting for the film’s climax sequences on January 19.

Made on a budget of Rs 450 crore, the film will release in five languages- Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi.

On January 19, Irish actor Alison Doody, who will also acting in the film, accidentally revealed the film’s release date on social media. While sharing an update on the shooting on Instagram, Doody wrote that the film will release on October 8. While she soon deleted the Instagram post, screenshots started doing the rounds.

RRR will also feature Ajay Devgn, Shriya Saran, Ray Stevenson, and Olivia Morris in prominent roles. It will mark the Telugu debut of Bhatt and Devgn.

In November 2020, the Telangana BJP state president and Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar had threatened to burn down theatres if RRR depicted Bheem (played by Junior NTR) wearing a skullcap. Kumar claimed that not depicting Bheem as a Hindu would “[undermine] the sentiments of adivasis“. However, the claim that Komaram Bheem was a Hindu has been rejected by the adivasi community.

Rajamouli, who has not worked on a film since the Baahubali films, had launched RRR in 2018 and had said that RRR would not be a biopic, “My film will not dwell on the stories of their rebellion that we already know. But, it will focus on what would have happened if they had met during their self-imposed exile and became friends.”

Music composer MM Keeravaani, who worked with Rajamouli on Eega (2012) and the Baahubali films, is composing music for RRR. While Sreekar Prasad and KK Senthil Kumar are in charge of editing and cinematography, respectively.

According to reports, Bhatt had agreed to RRR despite having a number of Hindi films in the pipeline as she was keen to star in a Telugu film.

Actor Richa Chadha Addresses Controversies Surrounding Her New Film ‘Madam Chief Minister’ 

BY Namrata Ganguly On

Richa Chadha, the actor whose latest Hindi film Madam Chief Minister released on January 22, addressed the controversies surrounding the film on social media.

In the post, she wrote that after the film’s release she was “still reading some very angry tweets, threads about myself, (not the film yet, no one has seen it). Some people are just venting. And that’s ok.”

“I am listening, learning… as I have been attempting to, for the past 2-3 years,” she wrote. 

In Madam Chief Minister, Chadha plays the role of a “feisty oddball of a woman” who “fights patriarchy, caste oppression, brutal violence along with the usual betrayals of politics, to rise to the top and affect change”. Chadha and the film has been facing backlash and criticism ever since the first-look poster released on January 4. The poster featured Chadha in tattered clothes holding a broom in her hand with the tag line “Untouchable, Unstoppable” for which the actor and the film’s director Subhash Kapoor were called out for being “casteist” and “stereotypical”.

Chadha wrote that she understood the anger among people but it is “misdirected” and that she was not the “sole creator” of the film. She wrote her thoughts on the “representation debate, from my limited, self-admittedly privileged understanding”.

The actor and the makers of the film were also called out because of Chadha’s appearance in the poster, casting upper caste actors to represent Dalits and the tagline used in the first poster that was released. However, the makers soon released another poster, without the tagline.

Initially, Chadha had defended the film and asked people to watch the film or the trailer first. However, on January 15, she issued an apology and said that her depiction in the poster was a “regrettable and a completely unintentional oversight”.

In the recent statement, she noted down in points that she can’t “undo historical caste injustices, or brutalisation” and it shouldn’t be expected from her to be complete expertise or a “scholar” on the subject by acting in a film that deals with “as vast and complicated as caste and varna“.

Addressing criticisms of casting upper caste actors to represent Dalits, she wrote that her acting can “never replicate” the “lived experiences” of a Dalit, Bahujan or Adivasi actors.

“I don’t even contest the fact that my performance will never ever be able to replicate the lived experience of a DBA actor. I am aware of that and it only made me work harder. As someone who is an artist, who considers herself an ally, I choose to do whatever little I can, in my capacity as an individual. I have attempted to play this part with dignity, honesty, and empathy. As that was frankly the only thing in my control,” she wrote. 

She clarified that “this empathy isn’t charity or patronisation” and she did not confuse any of the “trolls/death-threat givers/fake-news spreaders for genuine voices”.

Good Luck Jerry: Janhvi Kapoor-Starrer Film’s Shooting Halted in Punjab by Agitating Farmers

BY Namrata Ganguly On

Janhvi Kapoor, the Hindi actor who last appeared in the Netflix film Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, was shooting for her upcoming film Good Luck Jerry in Punjab when her shooting was halted by a group of farmers for the second time this month.

The team of Good Luck Jerry were shooting on January 23 near Civil Lines area in Patiala when some farmers intervened and asked them to stop shooting. The farmers claimed that they were protesting against the Hindi film industry and demanded actors who were shooting in Punjab to “at least” support the ongoing farmers’ protest against the recently passed Farm Laws.

According to an India Today report, when the team and the farmers’ group couldn’t reach a conclusion, the crew returned to their hotel. The group of farmers then reached the hotel, chanting slogans, after which the police had to intervene.

On January 11, the shooting for Good Luck Jerry in Bassi Pathana in Fatehgarh Sahib was halted for almost three hours by a group of farmers who insisted Kapoor to comment on the ongoing farmers’ protest. Following this, the actor wrote in her Instagram story: “Farmers are at the heart of our country. I recognise and value the role that they play in feeding our nation. I hope a resolution is reached soon that benefits the farmers.”

Farmers have been demanding that they will not allow film shoots in Punjab until members from the film fraternity support their protest.

Several farmers have been protesting peacefully at the Delhi borders against the three Farm Bills passed by the Centre during its monsoon session in 2020. Farmers and agricultural organisations across the country have raised their voice and come out in protest and lashed out against the provisions of the Bill, mainly regarding market fee and trade area.

Directed by Siddharth Sengupta Good Luck Jerry, the film is produced by Aanand L Rai. The film co-stars Deepak Dobriyal, Mita Vashisth, Neeraj Sood, and Sushant Singh in pivotal roles. The film is a Hindi adaptation of the 2018 Tamil film Kolamavu Kokila, starring Nayanthara.

Trip Trailer Starring Yogi Babu, Karunakaran, Sunainaa

Cast & Crew:

Written & Directed by Dennis Manjunath

Casts: Yogi Babu, Karunakaran, Sunainaa, Motta Rajendran, Praveen Kumar, VJ Siddhu, VJ Rakesh, Kalloori Vinoth, Rajesh Siva, Athulya Chandra, Lakshmi Priya, Nancy Jennifer, Sathya, Mak Mani, Sathish, Arun, Neethu

Cinematography: Udhayashankar.G
Editor : Deepak S. Dwaraknath
Music: Siddhu Kumar
Art Director : Bhakiyaraj
Stunt: Danger Mani
Production Executive: Theni Tamizh & Aranthai Bala
Dance Choreographer: Dastha
Costume Designer: Nivetha Joseph
Makeup: A. P. Mohammed
Costumer: Balaji
Stills: GK
Lyricist: Mohan Rajan
Singers : Gaana Bala, JC Joe, Padmaja Sreenivasan, Pooja Venkat
Casting: Swapna
Sound Designs: Vishnu Namboothiri, Dhanush Nayanar & Avinash Krishnan
Sound Mixing: Jaison Jose
VFX: Deva Sathya
DI: Accel Media
PRO : Suresh Chandra & Rekha D’One
Designs: Saba Designs
Banner: Sai Film Studios
Producer: A.Viswanathan & E.Praveen Kumar
Co-Produced by: Shenbaga Devi.P.J
Digital Marketing & Promotions: Digitally
Satellite Partner: Sun TV
Audio Label: Divo

Actor Vishnu Vishal Issues Statement After Neighbours File Complaint Against Him

BY Shrija Ganguly On

Vishnu Vishal, the actor who is known for his role in the 2018 Tamil film Ratsasan, released a statement on social media on Sunday after a complaint was filed against him on Saturday by this neighbours for allegedly playing loud music and disturbing them on Friday night.

The residents of his apartment had filed a complaint with Chennai’s police commissioner.

In his tweet, Vishnu, who felt that he was attacked for being an actor and for being the son of an ex-police officer, urged the media and public to not “judge too quickly” and “hear the other side of the story”.

In the statement, the actor mentioned that he had thrown a party on Friday on the occasion of Arul Vincent, the cinematographer who is working with him in his upcoming film FIR. There was a small “get-together” at the actor’s place in Kotturpuram area in Chennai and guests were served alcohol “just like how any party has alcohol served”.

The actor said his neighbours had been accusing him of disturbing them due to his schedule revolving around early mornings and late nights.

He stated that after the police was called, he was polite but lost his calm after the landlord hurled abuses and called him a drunkard.

“The owner had no answers and he left using an abusive word and just like any human being I am bound to respond to that and I used some words back. Police knew I was not wrong so they left,” the tweet read.

His partner and badminton player Jwala Gutta also tweeted in support of the actor.

Arul also took to social media in support of Vishal and shared photos from the night stating that the party only involved the “core team”.

The movie FIR, which produced by Vishal, is directed by Manu Anand.

‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ to Feature a New Ghost Called Muncher

BY Ananya Shankar On

Ghostbusters: Afterlife, the upcoming horror comedy film part of a long-running franchise, will be featuring a new ghost called Muncher.

The film, which is the direct sequel to Ghostbusters 1 and 2, shows Muncher for a split second in the trailer.

According to a report by ScreenRant, the reveal came in an episode of Masterchef Junior: Spain where the contestants had to complete a challenge involving blue slime and six limbs. “Extra limbs notwithstanding, it seems pretty clear that this new ghost is highly derivative of Slimer, the iconic, plus-sized ghost from the original Ghostbusters,” the report said.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife will revive the franchise independent of the 2016 Ghostbusters film, starring Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig.

Directed by Jason Reitman, the film is about a single mother who moves into a new town with her two children. They soon realise that they have a connection to the original ghostbusters and the secret legacy that their grandfather left behind.

The film stars Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, and Annie Potts. Ivan Reitman who directed the first two instalments of the franchise has produced the film. It is written by Gil Kenan and Jason Reitman. The cast members from the original films including Bill Murray, Sigourney Weaver, and Dan Aykroyd will reprise their roles in the upcoming movie.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife was supposed to release on June 11, 2021, after a series of delays. However, the film’s release date has been postponed and will now release on November 11.

Many studios have decided to delay the releases of highly anticipated films due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The musical comedy film Cinderella, starring Camilla Cabello, will now release on July 16 instead of February 5. Similarly, No Time to Die’s release has been pushed to October 8. The Emily Blunt-starrer A Quiet Place 2 will release on September 17 instead of April 23.

Bangabandhu: Shyam Benegal’s Indo-Bangladesh Biopic of Mujibur Rahman Goes on Floors

BY Shrija Ganguly On

Shyam Benegal, the National Award-winning filmmaker, has started work on his new film titled Bangabandhu.

The Indo-Bangladesh project went on floors in Mumbai on Thursday.

Benegal’s biopic on the life of the first president and later, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was announced on January 16 at the 51st edition of the ongoing International Film Festival of India held in Goa by Union Home Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar.

The film is part of the centenary celebrations of Rahman.

Born in 1920, Rahman was a Bangladeshi political leader and the pioneer behind the independence of erstwhile East Pakistan. The founding father of Bangladesh, Rahman is also referred to as Bangabandhu or ‘the friend of Bengal’ and Jatir Jonok or ‘father of the nation’.

According to reports, Bangladeshi film and television actor Arifin Shuvoo will be essaying the role of Rahman. Actor Nusrat Imrose Tisha will portray the role of Rahman’s wife, Sheikh Fazilatunnesa, while Nusraat Faria will be playing the role of Sheikh Hasina, Rahman’s daughter and the present Prime Minister of Bangladesh.

Atul Tiwari and Shama Zaidi have written the screenplay, while Shantanu Moitra has composed music for the film.

The Memorandum of Undertaking for the production of the film was signed in January 2020, between India’s National Film Development Corporation and the Bangladesh Film Development Corporation.

The film was supposed to go on floors from March 2020 in Bangladesh but had to be delayed due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. The first phase of filming will now take place for 100 days at Mumbai’s Film City and the second phase of shooting will be held in Bangladesh.

On January 14, a co-production agreement was signed in the presence of Javadekar and his Bangladeshi counterpart Mohammad H Mahmud, according to the Press Bureau of India.

Benegal’s film Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero (2004) was screened on Saturday at the film festival on the occasion of the freedom fighter’s 125th birth anniversary.

Check: Nithiin, Rakul Preet Starrer To Release in Theatres on February 19

BY Anusha Sundar On

Check, the Telugu thriller starring actors Nithiin, Rakul Preet Singh, and Priya Prakash Varrier, will release in theatres on February 19, the filmmakers announced on Friday.

Helmed by Chandra Sekhar Yeleti, Check revolves around the protagonist (played by Nithiin), who is imprisoned after being falsely accused of crimes he did not commit and eventually learns to play chess in prison. While Singh plays the role of his lawyer, Varrier plays a role in a flashback sequence. Nithiin was trained by professional chess coaches to learn the game’s basic moves, for this film.

The film’s shooting commenced in August 2020 and was completed in November. Check was shot in Hyderabad, most of it within sets. Earlier, speaking to Silverscreen India, Yeleti had said that shooting during the pandemic was challenging. “We had started to shoot after the lockdown was lifted and we had to ensure that whoever was on the set get tested [for Covid-19] in the morning. Even I got tested three to four times during the schedule. There were at least around 150 members in the set always, so we had to keep in mind the protocols since it was our duty to take care of the whole unit,” the filmmaker had said. He also said that he had to re-visualise some scenes due to the pandemic to avoid crowds.

Yeleti had said that he had come up with a “faint storyline” of Check more than five years back and added that he had a story about how a “talented” person would react to facing death. Though he did not have prison set-up or chess in mind, the filmmaker recalled how he always had the idea that the protagonist would be talented in a craft.

He said that the idea of bringing chess into the storyline came through his visits to prisons. “The character in the film has a high IQ level but he was born poor. The film brings in the question of what happens when a highly intelligent person uses his intelligence in wrong ways,” Yeleti said.

Check is produced by V Anand Prasad, under the Bhavya Creations banner,and executive produced by Anne Ravi. The music is composed by Kalyani Malik. The production designer is Vivek Annamalai. Rahul Srivastava is the cinematographer, and Anal Aniruddhan is the editor.

Check will be Nithiin’s first release for this year.