'Slumdog', Rahman nominated for Golden Globe awards

New Delhi (PTI): British director Danny Boyle's film 'Slumdog Millionaire,' about a Mumbai teenager's rags-to-riches story has received four nominations for the 66th Golden Globe Awards, with music director A R Rahman being nominated for Best Original Score.

"It is good to hear about all these nominations," Rahman told reporters on the sidelines of a press conference.

"I always feel that I am just one of the elements and then combining it with other elements it becomes something else. So with the same instinct I had done the music in two to three weeks," he said.

The film has bagged nominations for Best Picture-Drama, Best Director for Boyle and Best Screenplay for writer Simon Beaufoy at the awards that would be announced on January 11 in Los Angeles.

Boyle's film is based on the book 'Q and A' by Indian author Vikas Swarup. It details the story of a slum-dweller Jamal, who wins twenty million rupees at a reality game show 'Kaun Banega Crorepati', the Indian version of US TV show 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'.

The film was extensively shot at various locations in Mumbai, including the Victoria Terminus, which was hit by terrorists last month.

"It is wonderful, wonderful news obviously for everybody in Mumbai who helped make this film. There are lots of people, who worked in the film for a tough couple of weeks," director Danny Boyle told a TV channel.

Earlier this week, the film also won two awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association - Best Director for Boyle and Best Music for Rahman. It also won the runner-up prize for Best Cinematography for Anthony Dod Mantle.

'Slumdog Millionaire' is expected to be a strong contender for the Oscar race as Golden Globe are often assumed as a key indicator to the Oscars.

The Golden Globe Awards are held annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) in the US and the ceremony is scheduled to be held on January 11,

'Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi' opens to average response, mixed reviews

Mumbai (PTI): Theatre and multiplex owners had a reason to smile on Friday with the release of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan's much-awaited film 'Rab Ne Bana di Jodi'.

Cinema halls in the city, that have been bearing a deserted look since the terror attack last month, came alive with some audiences, especially college students, coming in to catch the King Khan's first release of 2008.

'Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi' starring Shah Rukh and newcomer Anoushka Sharma, is a love story offering SRK fans a glimpse of the actor in two distinct shades.

Fans get to see the superstar as the average-looking middle-class man Surinder Sahni and as the typically 'filmi' Raj.

However, the opening was not good as it normally is for a Yash Raj/SRK flick.

The superstar's two films last year 'Om Shanti Om' and 'Chak De India' got a huge box success and also won critical acclaim.

However, trade sources said the nearly three-hour film has opened to average response and mixed reviews.

"The all-India opening is expected to be 60-70 per cent. Considering that this is a Yash Raj film, a hundred percent opening is expected but that has not happened," said Kumar Mohan, Editor of trade magazine 'Complete Cinema'.

"Audiences who saw the film today have liked it and reports are good. We are confident that the movie will pick up during the week," a Cinemax spokesperson said adding the film got an opening of 55-60 per cent.

New 'Chandramukhi' is a socialite: Chitrangada Singh

New Delhi (PTI): Bollywood actor Chitrangada, who is playing the iconic character of 'Chandramukhi' in Sudhir Mishra's 'Devdas', says her character is a modern day socialite in the film.

Mishra is known for making critically acclaimed films like 'Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi' and 'Khoya Khoya Chand'. His latest film is a modern day interpretation based on Sharatchandra's classic novel 'Devdas'. Lara Dutta is playing the character of 'Paro' in the film while Shiny Ahuja will be seen as the modern day 'Devdas'.

Chitrangada, who had taken a break from the film industry after her debut in 'Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi', recently made a comeback with Onir's film 'Sorry Bhai'. Her latest film is a political thriller set in the backdrop of modern Rajasthan, where Devdas is an aspiring politician in the film while Paro is the member of the opposition party.

"I am 'Chandramukhi' in the film. My character 'Chandra' is a socialite, who is ambitious, selfish, shrewd and beautiful. She dosen't hesitate in using her sensuality to get whatever she wants," Chitragada told PTI.

"What I love about Chandra is the two extremes that her character has. On one hand, she is very materialistic and ambitious but she falls helplessly in love with Dev, who is a complete opposite to what she is," she said.

Asked about the differences with Mishra, who was angry with Chitrangada for not making her comeback with his film, the actress said, "Yes, Sudhir was slightly upset over it but it has been sorted out. Even I wanted to make my comeback with Sudhir's film but Onir was ready with his film and I did not want him to wait just for me," she said.

Pitt fell in love with Jolie while he was still married

London (PTI): Hollywood actor Brad Pitt has finally confessed that he did fall in love with Angelina Jolie while he was still married to Jennifer Aniston.

The actor had always maintained that their romance happened only after he divorced Aniston, despite speculations otherwise.

Rumours swirled around Pitt and Jolie while they were filming Mr & Mrs Smith 2004, just seven months before he split from the former Friends star, the Daily Mail reported.

Pitt has reiterated Jolie's recent confession that they fell in love while making the movie in the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine.

When asked why Mr & Mrs Smith was his favourite film, Pitt said, "Because you know... six kids. Because I fell in love."

Pitt's revelation comes two months after Jolie told the New York Times that she fell for him while making the movie.

"Not a lot of people get to see a movie where their parents fell in love," Jolie had said in the interview. Their recent claim appears to contradict the couple's repeated denials that they only started dating after he split from Aniston.

Pitt and Jolie's relationship was out in the media in April 2005, just three months after his split from Aniston. They eventually confirmed they were a couple in December that year when Pitt announced he was adopting Jolie's adoptive children, Cambodian Maddox and Ethiopian Zahara.

Three years on, the couple are parents to six children, three adopted and three biological. Aniston has already expressed her unhappiness over Jolie' conduct.

Dilip Kumar turns 86

Mumbai, (PTI): Legendary actor Dilip Kumar turned 86 today and plans to spend the day in a quiet manner with family and close friends.

The thespian, who recovered from an illness recently, received his friends and old colleagues with warmth at his Bandra residence in the morning. Referring to the recent Mumbai terror attacks, his wife Saira Banu said, "it will be a quiet birthday after what we have been through recently."

Kumar said he thanked God for his benevolence and affection bestowed on him. Considered as one of the greatest actors of Indian cinema, Kumar started his career in 1944 and went on to do some powerful roles till 1990s. He has delivered many hits in 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1980s. His performances have been regarded as the epitome of emoting in Indian cinema. He was the first actor to receive Filmfare Best Actor Award and holds the record for maximum number of Filmfare Awards won for that category.

He performed a variety of roles in films like Andaz (1949), Aan (1952), Devdas (1955), Azaad (1955) and the evergreen Mughal-e-Azam. After 1976 he took a five-year-break from movies. In 1981 he returned with a blockbuster `Kranti' and continued playing the character roles in hits like Shakti (1982), Karma (1986) and Saudagar (1991). His last film Qila came in 1998 and since then he has retired from the film industry.

Magic of small films fading away

Mumbai (IANS): Box office failure of small budget films like "Sorry Bhai!", "Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye", "Maharathi" and "Dil Kabaddi" has broken the myth that small is successful.

One after the other the small budget movies are crashing at the box-office, marking doom for their producers. Failures of films have left scars on others associated with these movies, including the actors and writers.

The worst happened during the last two weeks when all the above-mentioned "small-budget" movies -- also including "Meerabai Not Out" -- were released to take advantage of the gap that appeared before the release of the biggies - Shah Rukh Khan starrer "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi" and "Ghajini" that has Aamir Khan in the main lead - in the coming weeks and fell flat at the box-office without exception.

After the failure of the movies, the producers, who have made these movies on the periphery of Bollywood, find themselves in a piquant situation. They are startled by the outright rejection of their productions by the audience. Failures have set them thinking as to where they have gone wrong.

"Well, they have gone wrong on many fronts," said Komal Nahata, a trade analyst. "First, they erred on the presumption that the box-office success of the last year's release, 'Bheja Fry', was a harbinger of good times for non-star-cast productions.

"When this small budget movie hit the big time at the box-office, it got many producers thinking that the time had come for them to replicate its success. So, they hurriedly put together their productions without bothering to analyse what, actually, had made 'Bheja Fry' click in the first place," Nahata added.

Nahata further said that the success of "Bheja Fry" did more harm to Bollywood than good, as anybody who could raise some finance dreamt of hitting the jackpot by putting together a "Bheja Fry" like production.

"The movie itself became a genre of sort and a host of small time producers misjudged it when they tried to cash in on it," Nahata said.

Yes, the fact that stares them today in the face is that they have become poorer by a few millions, if not more, because the movies they made could not draw even a modicum of good initial revenue. The fate of these movies have already been sealed.

"Sorry Bhai", that released on Nov 28, cut a very sorry figure as it could collect only a few hundred rupees on its opening day in many centres.

Neither was the box-office performance of One More Thought Entertainment's "Dasvidaniya" any better, even though the movie's cast was headed by the "Bheja Fry" actor, Vinay Pathak, who also co-produced it.

UTV's "Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye" starring Abhay Deol, Paresh Rawal, Neetu Chandra and Archana Puran Singh, just about scraped through, but it could not repeat even the marginal success of the company's earlier releases like "Aamir", "A Wednesday" and "Welcome To Sajjanpur".

Ditto is the fate of four small-budget comedies - "Maharathi", "Dil Kabaddi", "Oh, My God!" and "Meerabai Not Out". Each one of them turned out to be a losing proposition.

"Paresh Rawal may be a good actor, among the best Bollywood has at present. But he can't carry a movie on his shoulders. 'Maharathi' proved that amply," trade analyst Vinod Mirani said.

"Extra marital affair is no funny matter in the Indian society, so the audiences cold shouldered 'Dil Kabaddi'. Mandira Bedi is as much a bore in the cricket-based comedy, 'Meerabai Not Out', as she is as a television anchor, over-enthusiastic to the point of giving jitters to the audience," Mirani said.

Added V. Varma: "Inanities cannot be passed off as funny, but that is exactly what director Saurabh Srivastava tries to do in 'Oh, My God!' and pays a price for taking the audience for granted.

"The makers of all these four movies thought they were making 'time pass' entertainers, concocting funny stories without giving any serious thought to the scripts. The truth has now dawned on them that the audience does not laugh without reasons, that to elicit a laugh from them is a serious matter. Amalgamation of funny sequences does not make a comedy."

Bollywood trade circles are unanimous in observing that it is the overconfidence on the part of the directors and producers of these movies and actors working in them that actually forestalled their chances at the box-office.

Nayantara as Suryamukhi

In director Fazil’s Malayalam film Vismayathumbathu (2004), Mohanlal plays Sreekumar, a person who has the sixth sense; Nayantara appears in the role of a wandering soul. This film is being dubbed into Telugu by Koteswara Rao and T. Kranti Kumar under the banner of Sai Naveen Creations. The possible name in Telugu will be Suryamukhi.

The producers foresee that the dubbed version of Vismayathumbathu could become a huge hit among Telugu audiences since the film is a psychological thriller like the megahit Chandramukhi by superstar Rajinikanth.

Nayantara is called Reetha Mathews in the Malayalam version; in Telugu, she will be Suryamukhi. Music is to be set by Ponnappachan and dialogues are by Jayaprasad.

In Vismayathumbathu, through the concept of ghosts, Fazil tried to show the possibility of a human soul’s reunion with the body after its separation. It showed Nayantara being alive, but her soul wandering outside her body, then returning to her body (naturally due to the super efforts of the hero). But how is it possible for a conscious person to have a free-floating soul outside? No clear explanation was given. Despite good performances by Mohanlal and Nayantara in Vismayathumbathu, the film could not impress audiences in Kerala due to its feeble storyline.

It was stated that the movie was inspired by the Hollywood movie Just Like Heaven directed by Mark Waters. It also has striking similarities with the all-time classic Manichitrathazhu (Chandramukhi in Tamil). But the difference is that Manichitrathazhu had more logic (dual personality influenced by earlier birth) to convince audiences whereas Vismayathumbathu was based on the supernatural effects for which no reasonable explanation was given.

Vismayathumbathu has Mukesh, Nedumudi Venu, Harisree Ashokan, Kalpana, Salim Kumar, Cochin Haneefa and Risa Bava in important roles. Songs are by Ousepachan.

Puratchi Thalaivan MGR again on silver screen!!

Its festival time for all MGR fans again, as they’ll get to see their purathchi talaivar entertaining them once again on silver screen. This time its going to be a animation film. Chennai-based Mayabimbham Media which has the record for producing the first Tamil 3D animated feature Inimey Naangathaan V4 has recently announced their next 3D animated Tamil film Puratchi Thalaivan, based on former actor and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MG Ramachandran. The film is currently under production and is slated for a late 2009 release.

Puratchi Thalaivan (a title that was given to MGR), which is also in 3D, is being directed by Venky Baboo and produced by Sridevi Rao for Mayabimbam Media Private Limited. It will portray the best of the legends style and mannerisms. Heroine of the film is not yet finalised, but the buzz is that the competation is between Trisha, Shriya and Nayantara.

A trailer would be released next year on January 17 to coincide with the icon’s 92nd birth anniversary.