Posts

Malamaal Weekly 2 EXCLUSIVE: Riteish Deshmukh, Elvish Yadav, Paresh Rawal and Rajpal Yadav locked in leads, shoot begins in November

-
In February, Bollywood Hungama exclusively revealed that Priyadarshan’s 2006 comedy Malamaal Weekly is getting a sequel. Since then, we have been regularly updating about the film and we recently also unveiled the leading female cast, which includes Parineeti Chopra, Raveena Tandon and Shilpa Shirodkar. Now, we can reveal the male leads of the project. Bollywood Hungama has exclusively learned that Riteish Deshmukh, Elvish Yadav, Paresh Rawal and Rajpal Yadav have been locked for Malamaal Weekly 2. Though Riteish is leading the film, sources close to the production have said that he is still reading the script and is yet to sign on the dotted line. The sequel is moving ahead with the original trio of Riteish, Paresh and Rajpal returning for the leads, along with Elvish Yadav joining as a new casting addition to the principal cast. Yadav is a popular YouTube content creator and the winner of Big Boss OTT Season 2 (2023), and this film will mark his second Bollywood outing following his...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Wrong Girls review – Kristen Stewart fumbles through forgettable stoner comedy

-
First time director Dylan Meyer’s female twist on the genre is let down by silly stereotypes and jokes that land with a thud Want to feel old? Superbad turns 20 next year. It’s been decades since the stoner comedy ruled the box office. In fact, the genre’s best theatrically released film of recent years – the hilarious buddy movie One of Them Days – didn’t feature any weed smoking at all despite hitting all the usual outlandish beats of a stoner flick. If the streaming success of Hulu’s recent R-rated bong-ripper Pizza Movie is anything to go by, audiences would rather watch this particular strain of movie on the couch where they can spark up in peace. The Wrong Girls aims to reverse that trend with a nationwide US theatrical rollout by Neon, the arty distributor which propelled Parasite and Anora to Oscar glory. Best friends Molly ( Alia Shawkat ) and Frankie ( Kristen Stewart ) live in a PeeWee’s Playhouse-coded stoner cave with macrame decor, a life-size cutout of Céline Dion, mu...
Post a Comment
Read more

Songs of Forgotten Trees review – sensitive, ambiguous drama of female intimacy in Mumbai

-
A sex worker and a call centre employee forge an ambiguous relationship in a film of strong feelings In a tiny crumbling Mumbai apartment two women move around each other, squeezing into the kitchen to cook, or past one another in the hallway. The cramped space hems them in – just as society limits their choices. That is surely the point first-time director Anuparna Roy is making in a gentle drama set mostly in the apartment about the closeness that develops between the two women. One of the roommates is Thooya (Naaz Shaikh), an actor and part-time sex worker. The apartment belongs to a client, Nitin (Bushan Shimpi), an arrangement that outrages the neighbours. Thooya doesn’t care what they think, and has rented the second bedroom to a stranger, Shweta (Sumi Baghel), who works from home for an IT call centre. There is an awkwardness between them at first that develops into … what exactly? Romance? It looks that way, although the film’s final scene is ambiguous. Continue reading... f...
Post a Comment
Read more

Batwara 1947's distributor softens stand, agrees to 50-50 shows with Awarapan 2; Spider-Man’s ‘MINIMUM 2 shows in single-screens’ demand leaves exhibitors worried

-
On August 10, Bollywood Hungama reported that PVR Inox Pictures, the distributors of Batwara 1947, have demanded all the shows in single-screen cinemas. This added to the exhibitors' woes, as Awarapan 2 also releases this Friday, August 14. On top of it, the Batwara 1947 distributors asked for seven shows a day in two-screen theatres, 10 shows in three-screen multiplexes, 12 shows a day in four-screen cinemas and 15 shows a day in five-screen multiplexes. However, as per the latest reports from exhibitors, the demand has now undergone a change. An exhibition source told Bollywood Hungama, “Earlier, their requirement was that 60% to 70% of the shows should be allotted to Batwara 1947. However, they have now taken note of the exhibitors’ concerns. As a result, they have agreed to a 50-50 showcasing arrangement for both films.” As per some exhibitors, the 50-50 arrangement will also apply to single-screen cinemas. However, most single-screen theatres across the country are yet to ope...
Post a Comment
Read more

Post your questions for John Hannah

-
Your mum’s favourite star of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Sliding Doors, Spartacus and a new GoPro-filmed thriller is ready to answer your quetions He’s your mum’s favourite, after playing the jolly nice man who is jolly nice to Gwyneth Paltrow in Sliding Doors, and the jolly nice man who delivers the heartbreaking WH Auden eulogy for his partner in Four Weddings and a Funeral . But there is far more to John Hannah than a Scottish accent, magnificent eyebrows and an unrivalled ability to look soulfully concerned. In The Mummy films, he played treasure-hunting comic relief Jonathan Carnahan. In 2002’s Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, he took on both halves of Robert Louis Stevenson’s character. He played a psychopathic killer in Truth or Dare, and appeared opposite Denzel Washington in The Hurricane. On TV, he has been a transhumanist scientist in Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD ; a gruff but compassionate emergency medicine chief in Transplant; and a gladiator school owner in the blood-soaked, boobs-...
Post a Comment
Read more

‘I turned down Gandhi because I’m terrified of snakes’: the amazing movie memories of Bruce Dern

-
Famed for playing loners, cranks and wayward angels, the Hollywood star is now a wolfish 90 – but he still jogs daily. As he takes his latest film to Edinburgh, we meet the man Hitchcock called ‘the golden calf’ ‘Can you take another story?” asks the veteran actor Bruce Dern towards the end of our talk, as though every tale is a drink and the landlord has called last orders. He doesn’t want to keep me and knows we’re running out of time. It’s just that one memory sparks another and these tales won’t tell themselves. He says that the next one is a doozy. “It’s about Marilyn Monroe.” Throw out all the questions and turn the clocks to the wall. One does not interview Dern so much as say hello, hit record and sit back. The man began his career acting alongside Montgomery Clift and Mary Astor and has collaborated with everyone from John Wayne to Tom Hanks, Hitchcock to Tarantino. He’s the lawless survivor of American movies, blown in from the past, and talking 19 to the dozen. “I’m 90 fucki...
Post a Comment
Read more

EXCLUSIVE: The Odyssey’s historic IMAX run faces first major change; The End Of Oak Street gets 2 prime slots; Nolan film gets discounted IMAX pricing for FIRST time; Spider-Man joins Rs. 149 Tuesday offer

-
Yesterday, Bollywood Hungama reported that The Odyssey continues to remain rock-solid at the box office despite the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The Christopher Nolan-directed film has collected Rs. 166.89 crores in 24 days, of which a huge Rs. 74.21 crores has come from IMAX screens. The film, which released on July 17, has enjoyed exclusive access to IMAX shows ever since, thanks to its historic response. However, from Friday, August 14, The Odyssey will begin sharing IMAX shows with the Anne Hathaway-starrer, The End Of Oak Street. A trade source told Bollywood Hungama, “The End Of Oak Street is a big-scale film and also features dinosaurs. Hence, it’ll make for a great watch in IMAX. It is being released by Warner Bros, which also distributed Universal Pictures’ The Odyssey in India. Since the same team is handling both films, it has become easier to divide the shows between the two.” The source continued, “Warner Bros has asked IMAX theatres to play The End Of Oak Street...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Pout-Pout Fish review – Nick Offerman is best thing in kids cartoon adventure on the high seas

-
Offerman leads a talented cast, but this preschool picture book spinoff fails to inspire Grumpy Mr Fish (Nick Offerman) has a reputation for being a sourpuss, but when he teams up with baby sea dragon Pip (Nina Oyama) to locate a wish-granting fish, it’s pretty much guaranteed that we will discover some sort of heart of gold lurking beneath his gloomy exterior. Not that a picture book for the two to four-year-old crowd can’t be expanded into a satisfying narrative feature film universe, but this high seas adventure as personal growth is fairly by-the-numbers stuff. Based on the books by Deborah Diesen and Dan Hanna, The Pout-Pout Fish’s animation lacks the charm of the books’ illustrations, and the writing is uninspired. Sample exposition-dump: “Did you not hear what they just said? Someone else is looking for Shimmer! And they’ve got a head start! If they get to her first, she won’t have any wish power left!” When the script tries to be more distinctive, you kind of wish they hadn’t...
Post a Comment
Read more

BREAKING: EXCLUSIVE footage of Ramayana to be screened at Big Cine Expo 2026, Chennai; Rakesh Roshan to receive Special Achievement Award

-
An exhibition called Big Cine Expo is held every year where theatre owners, design consultants, equipment manufacturers, system integrators, project management professionals, and industry stakeholders come together to celebrate cinema and the exhibition sector. One major highlight of the expo is the presentation of exclusive footage from an upcoming film. And at this year’s edition of Big Cine Expo, attendees will get a chance to watch exclusive glimpses of arguably the most awaited film of the year – Ramayana! The period epic stars Ranbir Kapoor, Yash, Sunny Deol, Sai Pallavi, Ravie Dubey, Rakul Preet Singh, Lara Dutta and others. The Big Cine Expo 2026 will be held on August 18 and 19 in Chennai, and the Ramayana glimpse preview will take place on the first day. Attendees will be strictly prohibited from using their mobile phones or recording any part of the presentation. This is because the team will showcase visuals from the film that have not yet been revealed to the public. Memb...
Post a Comment
Read more

Love me, love my bruised ego: what the narcissist-artist film tells us about the fear of ageing

-
Bitter Christmas, Late Fame and The Christophers all depict geniuses aware of their waning acclaim and terrified it will end Entertainment culture is so preoccupied with nowness that last month we were inundated with speculation about how directors under 30 topping the box office would change the industry . The flipside of a youth obsession is the conviction that age will increase irrelevance, and this is something that a new crop of films about ageing artists is zeroing in on. Specifically, Bitter Christmas , Late Fame and The Christophers are films in which artists – all male – indulge in selfishness, vanity and spite, and egotistical behaviour and a loss of creative (and masculine) virility are part of the same phenomenon. None of them is dislikable – they might be catty, pathetic or abrasive, but they’re always entertaining – but they all bend to the ego whispering in their ear, believing it will shield them from the pain of their fading art. It’s no surprise to discover that an ...
Post a Comment
Read more