HAIDER Rocks Rome Film Festival

Image: |PTI

Vishal Bhardwaj's Haider has been the talk of the town since October 2nd in India, but it is in Rome that the film has bagged its first award, the People's Choice Award in the World Cinema category, becoming the very first Indian film to be granted that honor. Actors Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor attended the festival along with director Vishal Bhardwaj to represent the film based on Shakespeare play Hamlet, adapted to the Kashmiri conflict.
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After making a mark in the country, Vishal Bharadwaj’s Haider has wowed international audiences. The film had an Italian premiere on October 24, at the Rome Film Festival, and won the People’s Choice Award in the Mondo Genre (World genre). Haider was the only Asian film selected from among the seven contenders. Produced by UTV Motion Pictures and VB Pictures, Haider is a modern-day adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, set in the backdrop of Kashmir, starring Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Tabu, Kay Kay Menon and Irrfan. - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/screen/haider-wins-peoples-choice-award-at-rome-film-festival/#sthash.RuS7Epw4.dpuf

After making a mark in the country, Vishal Bharadwaj’s Haider has wowed international audiences. The film had an Italian premiere on October 24, at the Rome Film Festival, and won the People’s Choice Award in the Mondo Genre (World genre). Haider was the only Asian film selected from among the seven contenders. Produced by UTV Motion Pictures and VB Pictures, Haider is a modern-day adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, set in the backdrop of Kashmir, starring Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Tabu, Kay Kay Menon and Irrfan. - See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/screen/haider-wins-peoples-choice-award-at-rome-film-festival/#sthash.RuS7Epw4.dpuf

A.R. Rahman Turns Hindi Film Producer

Diwali has had its host of topics to write about, from news on a French film based on the Mumbai 2008 terrorist attacks to commenting on the Shah Rukh Khan - Deepika Padukone starrer Happy New Year or reviewing Katrina Kaif and Hrithik Roshan's Bang Bang... However, the following piece of news seems personally more noteworthy and therefore I will give all above-mentioned topics the skip.

After recently working for television with Ashutosh Gowariker, AR Rahman is looking forward to starting the production of his maiden film, following in the footsteps of celebrated Vishal Bhardwaj who successfully transitioned from the music industry into film making.

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VISHAL BHARDWAJ charms Paris in the Springtime

“I love Paris in the springtime” says a well-known song. It is indeed through song and music that Paris has taken on new colours this month of May, thanks to John Adams’ opera A Flowering Tree, still showing at Chatelêt Theatre until May 13 (read our informative article on A Flowering Tree here). 

Vishal Bhardwaj has beautifully directed a southern Indian folk tale by Indian writer AK Ramanujan in one of the world’s most renowned theatres. As a member of the audience, the experience of watching A Flowering Tree has definitely been emotional and enlightening.

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VISHAL BHARDWAJ's Flowering Tree in PARIS

 

Words lack to describe the talent of musician, director, writer and producer Vishal Bhardwaj. I have been a long time admirer of his work (and that of his wife, Rekha Bhardwaj), particularly in the music branch, and have thus greeted the news that he will be visiting Paris in April with great excitement.

Bhardwaj has been honored with multiple awards in India both as a film and as a music director. He has refinedly scored the music of films such as Ishqiya, 7 Khoon Maaf, Kaminey and Omkara. He has also been largely applauded for directing and writing The Blue Umbrella and Kaminey, among others, and has worked with the likes of Francis Ford Coppola and Mira Nair.  

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IIFA ROCKS! 2011: A Date with India's Creative Minds

One of the questions most often asked of music composers is "How do you compose a song?" Thanks to the IIFA 2011 Music Workshop, we have the answer.

In a live demonstration, for the first time in history, famed composers Shankar Ehsaan Loy, Salim Merchant, Vishal Bhardwaj and lyricist Javed Akhtar come together to create a musical delight before our eyes. Kalyan "Johnny Bongo" Pathak from Chicago joined them on percussion.

To begin, Javed Akhtar came up with two lines of lyrics which he pondered on and dictated to his partner, Shabana Azmi. When the lyrics were completed, Shankar called out the key and Ehsaan Noorani began banging out a melody on his guitar as Loy Mendonsa put his magic to the keyboard. Shankar Mahadevan used his amazing voice to fuse it all together, organically working on the tune with Vishal Bhardwaj and Salim Merchant joining in.

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I-VIEW South Asia in New York 2010

If South Asia is your pick, from visual arts to fashion, from music to cinema, from to politics to human rights... the Big Apple's I-VIEW FESTIVAL will cater to that and more!

Organized by Engendered, the film festival focuses on exploring gender, sexuality, culture and religion through South Asian cinema, offering a rich program of events for the glee of those wanting to delve deep into meaningful subjects, arts and fashion.

This year's edition will take place from September 18-26th in Manhattan and will start with a bang by opening with Duane Baughman's 'Bhutto'  (Sundance official selection) and acclaimed director Onir Anirban's ('My Brother Nikhil', 'Bas Ek Pal') most recent film, 'I Am', starring reputed actors who will attend the festival's inauguration together with other icons of modern South Asian cinema:

Juhi Chawla,

Sanjay Suri,

Purab Kohli,

Raima Sen,

Rahul Bose,

Arjun Mathur,

Rituparno Ghosh,

Vishal Bhardwaj,

Abhishek Chaubey,

Arshad Warsi,

Zeenat Aman

Rituparna Sengupta,

Sabrina Dhawan

Actress Konkona Sen Sharma will attend a QandA session for the festival's closing, presenting her film 'Mirch' with director Vinay Shukla and Raima Sen as well as her own directorial debut, 'Naam Karan'.

The film festival also dedicates a retrospective to Aparna Sen, who will be attending the event.

Other films in the programme include 'Love Sex aur Dhoka', 'Maqbool', 'Ishqiya' and 'President is Coming' among an excellent selection ranging from Bollywood to independent cinema, short films or documentaries. For more information on the program and tickets, click here.

IIFA AWARD NOMINATIONS 2010

Taking Bollywood to exotic or faraway lands, this year it is Sri Lanka's turn to host the 11th IIFA awards ceremony during the month of June and the nominations are out for the best films, actors and directors of 2009.

And... the nominees for the main categories are:

Best film category
3 Idiots
Dev D
Kaminey
Paa
Wanted

Best lead actress
Deepika Padukone - Love Aaj Kal
Kareena Kapoor - 3 idiots
Mahie Gill - Dev D
Priyanka Chopra - Kaminey
Vidya Balan - Paa

Best lead actor
Aamir Khan - 3 idiots
Amitabh Bachchan - Paa
Ranbir Kapoor - Wake up Sid!
Saif Ali Khan - Love Aaj Kal
Salman Khan - Wanted
Shahid Kapoor - Kaminey

Best film director
Anurag Kashyap per Dev D
Ayan Mukerji per Wake up Sid!
Imtiaz Ali per Love Aaj Kal
R. Balki per Paa
Rajkumar Hirani - 3 idiots
Vishal Bhardwaj per Kaminey

Best Actor - Comedy
Ajay Devgan - All The Best
Govinda - Life Partner
Johny Lever - De Dana Dan
Omi Vaidya - 3 Idiots
Sanjay Dutt - All The Best

Best Music Composer
Amit Trivedi - Dev D
A.R.Rehman - Delhi 6
Pritam - Love Aaj Kal
Shantanu Moitra - 3 Idiots
Vishal Bharadwaj - Kaminey

Best Lyricist
Amitabh Bhattacharya - Dev D
Gulzar - Kaminey
Irshad Kamil - Love Aaj Kal
Prasoon Joshi - Delhi 6
Swanand Kirkire - 3 Idiots

Discuss your favourites here in the comments section and also vote for them directly at the IIFA official website.