SC allows Sanjay Dutt to go abroad for six months

Agencies / May 08, 2009

Bollywood actor and Samajwadi Party General Secretary Sanjay Dutt, who is on bail in connection with the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case, was allowed by the Supreme Court to go abroad for six months for the shooting of five films. 

Dutt, who has actively campaigned for the party in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, had moved the apex court with the details of his itinerary about his visit to South Africa, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Zambia and Namibia from June to December this year. The titles of the five new films are -- 'All the Best Fun Begins', 'No Problem', 'Double Dhamal', 'Sankee' and 'Indians.' 

Dutt, who was convicted and sentenced to six years imprisonment in the 1993 serial blasts case by a Mumbai TADA court under the Arms Act for possessing illegal weapons, has to take the permission of the apex court before leaving the country. The court has admitted his appeal against the conviction. The actor, whose conviction and sentence was not stayed by the court for contesting the Lok Sabha polls from Lucknow, is on bail since November 27, 2007 and has been allowed in the past to go abroad for his business commitments but with certain conditions. 

He has to surrender his passport to the CBI's Special Task Force, Mumbai, on his return from abroad by January 5, 2010.

Source: http://www.screenindia.com

‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!’ girl in a black comedy

BollywoodHungama / May 08, 2009

After a wait of nearly six months, Richa Chadda of ‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!’ has bagged her first major project. She would be enacting the role of one of the principal protagonists in the film to be directed by writer-turned-director Yunus Sejawal. Though the title is yet to be decided, the film would be a black comedy and would also feature actors of the calibre of Kay Kay Menon and Rajpal Yadav amongst others.

Confirms Richa, "That's true; I have signed on the dotted line for this film and would be beginning to shoot this June. This is going to be a multi track film and in terms of it's structuring, it would be on the lines of ‘Life In A..Metro’. In fact we have already started acting workshops." 

Richa would be playing a dancer in the film. For the actor who made quite some heads turn with her brief but impressive performance in ‘Oye Lucky! Lycky Oye!’ , this would make for a double bill. Reason? In the Abhay Deol starrer also, she had played the role of a dancer who performed in Paresh Rawal's troupe. Now in Yunus Sejawal film too she would be seen with her dancing shoes on. So, is she reprising a similar role? 

"Certainly not", prompt comes the reply, "However, I am not at liberty to talk more about my role. All I can say is that I chose from the best offers that were coming my way. I had to be very careful though around what I sign since quite a few of them that came my way were getting stereotypical and I wanted to avoid that." 

After gaining much appreciation for the character of Dolly that she played in ‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!’ , she was also wary of playing any more second lead roles. 

"Not that I was hunting for the solo leads films but then I had to have a parallel lead role at least. I didn't want to be slotted in a particular category of roles. This is why I opted for this film since it's an ensemble cast project. Everyone has equal prominence in the film which sets the platform for you to show your worth", says Richa who has been an ex-journalist herself. 

This wasn't the first project that came her way though.

"There was another project which I was seriously looking at after ‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!’ I was on for the film but for some reasons it got shelved. These things can't be in anyone's control. All you can do is look forward and pick roles that give you enough scope to perform. I guess I am an intelligent actor enough to read through scripts, ask valid questions and then decide on my films. This is what I am currently doing due to which you won't find me signing films left, right and centre. I would rather wait and pick the best then hurry things up", signs off Richa.

Source: http://www.screenindia.com

Tagore Drama Festival

‘Performing Tagore is our priority’

By Rahad Abir / May 08, 2009

Nuna Afroz, the founding member of the theatre group Pranganemor, playwright and director talks to Rahad Abir about the ongoing weeklong Tagore drama festival, which will conclude today.

New Age: Pranganemor is organising the Tagore drama festival inviting theatre groups both at home and abroad. Would you tell us about the objectives of the festival?

Nuna Afroz: Six years ago Prangonemor started its journey with a vow to stage Rabindranath’s plays regularly giving it the highest priority. We believe Rabindranath is our main base to practice pure theatre. For two years we were thinking of arranging this festival. This is the first time Tagore plays performed by theatre groups from both Bangladesh and West Bengal have been arranged at the festival.As the festival prioritises on hosting Tagore’s plays, we think this kind of event encourages the practice.

NA: Staging ‘Char Adhaya’ a novel on Swadeshi movement is not an easy job. You did a brilliant work. But some critics say that the audience often get bored.

Nuna: Except Shamvu Mitra’s ‘Bahurupi’ based on ‘Char Adhaya’ there is no successful staging of this novel. We have tried our level best. Interestingly I have found a few viewers who were overwhelmed seeing the play. As the story of ‘Swadeshi’ is based on a serious issue we wanted to attract the audience with our performances.

NA: How long have you been in Theatre?

Nuna: I have been involved in theatre since school and it has been almost 22 years. My first theatre group was ‘Barisal Natak’ in Barisal.

NA: What is the future plan for Pranganemor?

Nuna: To work more and to keep the troupe well organised. We are planning to bring out a new production next year.

Source: http://www.newagebd.com

Madonna set to perform in Russia

Agencies / May 08, 2009

'Queen of Pop' Madonna is all set to perform in Russia, despite the opposition of the local authorities who are critical of the risque performances, that are the signature of the singer. 

The 'Material Girl' singer wants to stage a show in the main square of St Petersburg, home of the State Hermitage Museum in August but her plans have left the authorities furious, reported ‘Femalefirst’. They have branded the proposed event a "natural disaster" and the museum's director, Mikhail Piotrovski has demanded that the superstar signs an agreement to set out decency and volume levels. 

"We want guarantees that there will be no blasphemy," said Piotrovski.

Source: http://www.news.google.com

Poetry in the pain of ecstasy

148th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore

Syed Badrul Ahsan / May 8, 2009

Rabindranath Tagore is at the core of your being. The Bengali in him approximates the Bengali in you. As you recite his poetry or sing his songs, you remain aware of certain inalienable truths. And they are pretty simple ones as well. The bard speaks to you through the turnings in the seasons. In your turn, you speak to him, absorb his sentiments as it were. The result is a harmonious whole. 

And harmony is what Rabindranath has consistently focused on. Think of shimar majhe ashim tumi / bajao apon shur. It is a song that takes you closer to Creation, indeed imbues you with thoughts of the ties that bind you to your Creator. In his puja songs, there emerges all the brilliance of the universe as it goes through a dawning somewhere deep within time and space. And so you hear the gentle tones of tumi daak diyechho kon shokale / keu ta jaane na. In Rabindranath, it is the gentle and the tranquil which flows through the leaves of the trees. The poetry is the breeze.

And the poetry caresses, all the way through the verses given over to a celebration of love. Imagine the beauty and the poise of the one you adore, you worship. Imagine the silk softness of her being as you hum aha tomar shonge praaner khela. The soul is all in Rabindranath, be it in the links between man and woman or between you and the gods. Praan, the soul, takes on a sadder dimension when the loved one moves away, which is when you lose yourself in the pale light of the moon and sing dekhate parine keno praan. No pain can be more intense than that which the beloved does not see. Close your eyes and hear the pain of the one who sings amar praaner pore chole gelo ke / boshonter bataash tukur moto . . .

And yet there is sometimes pleasure in Rabindranath's evocation of pain. You call it the agony of reaching for the heights and at the same time know that you cannot quite scale the peaks of desire. The soul wriggles through a delicate dilemma in the song, shunil-o shagorer shyamal-o kinare. The pain begins at the beginning and then rises clear of you, of the earth your feet are firmly planted on, until it reaches its crescendo in imone kedaraye behaage bahare. There is ecstasy in that song, as there is in the sadder, quieter jokhon eshe chhile ondhokare chand utheni / shindhu pare chand utheni.

There is forever the primordial in Rabindranath. It is life he celebrates and death he glorifies. The universe is a pattern of ever widening ripples and experience is the insistent falling of the rain on monsoon nights. When the melody of tomaye gaan shonabo / tai to amay jagiye rakho seeps into you and goes into an intensification of your sensibilities, you realise that this canvas of aesthetic beauty will pass into a wider cosmos one day, in the way the river finds itself anew in the bosom of the sea. Somewhere deep in the night, the wind brings to you the strains of ogo nodi apon bege pagol para. The beating in your heart is a sign of the expansiveness of melody. You know then that the earth is now poised to meet the sky, that the river prepares to consummate its romance with the heavens. The climactic comes through the whispered megh bolechhe jaabo jaabo / raat bolechhe jai / shagor bole kul milechhe / ami to ar nai. You are at peace. You lie back, until the pounding at the gateway of the heart tells you that newer songs have arrived.

Images of the one lost to time flash before you. The sense of loss reveals the vacuum that the passing of a soulmate has left behind, crater-like. Your loneliness comes encompassed in noyono shommukhe tumi nai / noyoner majh khane niyechho je thain. And then, swiftly and surely, you are pulled back to thoughts of your own mortality . . . amar din phuralo / byakul badolo shanjhe.

The universe is what God has made of it. We are but atoms, infinitesimal beings in the consistently expanding frontiers of the universe. But we are the universe too, for the Creator redefines Himself within us, humbling us with His munificence. And so we cheerfully sing amare tumi oshesh korechho / emoni leela tobo.

You are thus part of the miracle. God's beauty comes conjoined with your song. At the edge of twilight is a new beginning . . . amar bela je jaaye shanjh bela te / tomar shure shure shur mela te. 

Poetry has triumphed.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net

Brooke Shields shaken after headbutting scandal

ANI / May 08, 2009

While any woman would get flattered if she they had two men fighting over her, Brooke Shields is an exception. 

The ‘Lipstick Jungle’ star, who was recently at the centre of a fight between Kiefer Sutherland and designer Jack McCullough, is under stress because of the scandal. The actress was attending the Innoncence Project gala on May 6 at Cipriani Wall Street, but before reading a monologue from Bob Balaban’s ‘The Exonerated’, she was spotted having some serious time alone. 

Although Shields had put on a happy face in public, a witness caught her sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest, hugging herself for comfort and chatting quietly into her cell phone. “It was a very private moment,” the New York Daily News quoted a source as saying. The source added: “She looked really upset, overwhelmed and stressed, the complete opposite of her outward calm in public.” 

On May 4, Sutherland had headbutted McCullough at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute Gala in New York, to defend Shield’s honour.

Source: http://www.screenindia.com

Film students' short movie selected for Cannes

Agencies / May 08, 2009

‘A Writer's Affair,' a short film made by Vishnu Shyamaprasad during his diploma studies has been selected for screening at the prestigious Cannes film festival. 

The nine-minute film deals with the ‘illicit affair' between a writer and his characters. The film would be screened on May 19 in the `Shorts Corner' section of the festival, the young film maker's father, Shyamaprasad said.

Source: http://www.screenindia.com

'New flavour of the season, comedy films'

Agencies / May 08, 2009

Comedy films seem to be the new flavour of the season, feels actors of the movie 'Paying Guests'. 

After 'Yuvvaraj' failed at the box-office, Subhash Ghai, who is trying his hand on comedy films, feels that, his up-coming movie 'Paying Guests' will surely be appreciated and loved by all. Ghai, whose production house Mukta Arts has produced successful films like 'Aitraaz' and 'Iqbal' among others, believes that people want to see comedy movies now. 

"They want to leave behind all their worries and have fun," he said. 

"People want to watch comedy film because they want to keep aside all their problems and worries aside and want to have fun when they watch a movie," actor Shreyas Talpade said. 

It is challenging to play a role in comedy movies the actors have to make sure that even the way they walk, they talk, their body language and several other small things should be kept in mind. The audiences should have laughing tears in their eyes, said actor Javed Jafferi. 'Paying Guest' is based on a humorous play which ran for two years in the US, Britan and the UAE, Ghai said, adding that, "for a moment I can predict that 'Paying Guests' will be a blockbuster film." 

The music of the movie was launched today and if the on-going tussle between the producers and multiplex is resolved soon then the movie is likely to be released in the month of June.

Source: http://www.screenindia.com