Govinda announces comeback with self-produced film Roopa; says, “People kept saying, ‘Now he won’t appear in films anymore’”

Veteran Bollywood star Govinda is all set to return to the big screen with a brand-new project. The actor recently hosted a press conference to officially announce his comeback film, Roopa, marking his return to cinema after a prolonged gap. At the event, Govinda unveiled the first poster of the film, introduced newcomer Rani Swarankar as the leading lady, and revealed that he is also producing the project. Once among the biggest superstars of the 1990s, Govinda has largely stayed away from films in recent years after a string of releases failed to leave an impact at the box office. However, the actor appeared confident and optimistic as he spoke about embarking on a fresh journey with Roopa. Opening up about the challenges he has faced over the years and his determination to keep moving forward, Govinda said, “Maybe it was destiny that I was written off so many times. People kept saying, ‘Now he won’t appear in films anymore.’ But I always started again. I pray to God that this film ...

‘It’s like Game of Thrones!’ The return of India’s ancient superhero fantasy epic

In the 1980s, Peter Brook’s adaptation of The Mahabharata enchanted audiences on stage and screen. As Brook’s son presents a restored print at the Venice film festival, he and his team discuss the work’s extraordinary journey

When Antonin Stahly was nine years old, his mother took him to the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris to see a production of the ancient Indian epic The Mahabharata, which translates loosely as “the great story of mankind”. More than 20 actors from 16 countries performed on a stage steeped in red earth and scarred by a water-filled trench; fire also played a leading role. Directed by Peter Brook, whom the RSC founder Peter Hall called “the greatest innovator of his generation”, and adapted by Luis Buñuel’s former co-writer Jean-Claude Carrière, this spectacular Mahabharata weighed in at nine hours, plus intervals. Even at that length, it represented a massive compression of its source text, which runs to 1.8m words. Brook and Carrière’s version has been likened to summarising the Bible in 40 minutes.

Audiences could devour The Mahabharata in three parts over successive evenings or as an all-day weekend marathon; in some outdoor venues, such as the limestone quarry in Avignon where the production premiered in 1985, it began at dusk and climaxed just as the dawn sun lit up the sky. Stahly saw it in a single noon-to-midnight sitting. “It was like a superhero fantasy,” he says, still sounding awestruck. “It had Bhima, the strongest man on Earth, and Bhishma, who has the power to live for ever. Arjuna was the best warrior. And then there were all the gods. It was amazing for me, because I’m half Indian, but I wasn’t brought up in an Indian context.”

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