Globalwoodnews

AAZ Films and Offside Entertainment present, a Maurya Entertainment Production, directed by Ravi Chhabriya with a powerhouse ensemble cast, Diljit Dosanjh playing a quirky detective. An entertainer for the whole family. Twists that keep you guessing all the way! Looks like audiences are about to get the best of three worlds in Detective Sherdil, releasing on ZEE5 on 20th June 2025. Detective Sherdil tells the tale of a unique detective tasked with solving a case that is far from ordinary. Shot in exotic Budapest, what sets the film apart is an entertaining blend of suspense and mystery with wit and humor. Detective Sherdili marks Ravi Chhabriya’s first directorial venture after assisting Ali Abbas Zafar on projects like Sultan, Bharat and Tiger Zinda Hai. Featuring Diana Penty, Boman Irani, Chunky Panday, Ratna Pathak Shah, Banita Sandhu and Sumeet Vyas, the Diljit Dosanjh starrer is packed with an array of talented actors. Written by Ali Abbas Zafar, Sagar Bajaj and Ravi Chhabr...

Following serious allegations of emotional abuse and manipulation made against cinematographer Pratik Shah by filmmaker Abhinav Singh, Dharma Productions has issued an official statement asserting its zero-tolerance policy toward inappropriate conduct on its sets. The controversy began when Abhinav Singh, known for his work in short films and advertisements, took to Instagram to detail experiences involving a "predator" within the industry. While initially withholding the individual’s identity, Singh later named Pratik Shah, best known for his work on Homebound and Jubilee. He also revealed that nearly 20 women have come forward to him with accounts of Shah’s alleged behavior. In response to the growing discourse online, Dharma Productions, under whose banner Homebound was produced, clarified Shah’s association with the project and underlined its stance on workplace safety. The official statement reads: “At Dharma Productions, we have a zero tolerance policy against inappro...

Varun Dhawan has officially wrapped up the Scotland schedule of his upcoming romantic comedy Hai Jawaani Toh Ishq Hona Hai. On May 30, the actor took to Instagram to share a carousel post filled with behind-the-scenes glimpses from the shoot. “It’s a schedule wrap for us here in Scotland on #haijawaanitohishqhonahai. So many days everyone pulling together to make this happen. Bringing u all the laughs soon. Now back home,” Varun wrote in the caption, expressing gratitude towards the team. Candid Moments and Co-Star Reactions The post featured several photos with his co-stars, crew members, and producer Ramesh Taurani. Actor Arjun Kapoor couldn’t resist chiming in with a cheeky comment, calling Taurani “The hypebeast.” Meanwhile, Janhvi Kapoor, who stars opposite Varun in another upcoming film Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari, commented, “Sunny Sanskari is needed back in the bay asap pls.”   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by VarunDhawan (@varundvn) Varun has b...

As Indian cinema approaches the 100th birth anniversary of Guru Dutt, plans are underway to commemorate his life and legacy on a grand scale. Ultra Media & Entertainment Group, which owns the rights to his filmography, has revealed a multi-layered tribute. It will also include the possibility of a biopic and web series adaptations of his most celebrated works. Biopic in the Pipeline; Vicky Kaushal a Potential Lead Rajat Agrawal, COO and Director at Ultra Media, confirmed that early discussions have begun for a full-length biopic on the legendary filmmaker. A report by Mid-Day quoted Rajat saying, "Biopics are always challenging because they need to emulate an individual’s greatness and achievements. We would be happy to collaborate with producers and a modern-day director who is a fanatic of Guru Dutt," while noting that the company is in talks with two prominent directors. When asked about who could portray the complexity and sensitivity of Guru Dutt on screen, Agrawal...

Raynor Winn’s bestselling memoir about her and her husband’s 630-mile trek around England’s south coast has become a film. Its stars, makers and Winn talk floods, fog and forgiveness ‘I have played a lot of powerful, well-dressed women in my career,” says Gillian Anderson. They flash before your eyes: Margaret Thatcher (The Crown), Eleanor Roosevelt (The First Lady), Emily Maitlis (the Prince Andrew/Newsnight drama Scoop ) – as well as the formidable sex therapist in the Netflix hit Sex Education, a role that led to her being inundated with dildos from over-enthusiastic fans. “These are all women in control of themselves and their environment. Any time I have an opportunity to steer against that, particularly lately, it’s of interest to me.” There is steering in another direction, and then there is the screeching handbrake turn represented by her role in The Salt Path , adapted from Raynor Winn’s 2018 memoir of homelessness and hope along the coastline of England’s south-west. Playin...

Amitabh Bachchan has deepened his connection with Ayodhya by purchasing yet another plot of land in the temple town—his fourth in recent times. According to reports, the legendary actor acquired a 25,000 square foot plot for Rs 40 crore, close to the sacred Ram Janmabhoomi temple. This latest acquisition is located near the upscale Sarayu real estate project, where Bachchan had earlier invested Rs 14.5 crore. The area has become a hub of premium developments, merging spiritual significance with modern infrastructure. Amitabh Bachchan’s properties in Ayodhya Last year, just days before the grand inauguration of the Ram Mandir, Bachchan had bought a 5,372 square foot property in the same area for ₹4.54 crore. Commenting on his plans at the time, the actor had said, “This is a start of a heartfelt journey into the soul of Ayodhya, where tradition and modernity seamlessly co-exist, creating an emotional tapestry that resonates with me deeply. I am looking forward to building my home in th...

Sara Ali Khan, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Ali Fazal, Konkona Sen Sharma, Pankaj Tripathi, Aditya Roy Kapur, Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta, music director Pritam Chakraborty, singers Papon, Shashwat Singh and Raghav Chaitanya, director Anurag Basu and producer Bhushan Kumar attended the grand launch of the song ‘Zamaana Lage’ from Metro…In Dino. The film is a sequel to Life In A Metro (2007), which was also directed by Anurag Basu. It was set only in one city while the video of ‘Zamaana Lage’ makes it clear that that’s not the case with the sequel. Anurag Basu was asked about it and he listed the cities shown in Metro…In Dino, Kolkata, Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai and a little bit of Pune”. He added, “The story travels in all these cities. We are all connected today. There’s not much of a distance as such in today’s times. Also, our city also plays an important role in our lives, be it Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata etc. That’s how we have tried to show it in this film.”...

She founded Nasa’s orchestra and has bounced heartbeats off the moon. Now Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian has made a hilarious film taking issue with the tech bros’ dreams of celestial conquest ‘She’s a great inspiration,” says Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian, picking up a photo she keeps in her wildly decorated office of the scientist Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel prize and also the first person to win one twice. “I pick people that really inspire me. Partners in crime. When a project is difficult, I think, ‘What would Marie Curie have done? What would Hannah Arendt have done?’ Hahaha.” She talks mile-a-minute, finishing sentences with a laugh as she speaks to me in her office, which could well be the best one in London: an old, graffiti-covered tube carriage plonked on top of the roof of a Shoreditch nightclub, with views over the city. Its interior is loud and colourful: posters and flyers plaster the walls, while the floor is a trippy swirl of purples and pinks. And, propped...

Yash Raj Films (YRF), known for giving India some of the cult romantic films of all time, has creatively collaborated with a master of the romance genre, Mohit Suri, for an intense love story that has been titled Saiyaara. Since the announcement of this project, Saiyaara has piqued immense curiosity amongst consumers of Hindi cinema, especially those who love watching soul-stirring romantic films. The film introduces Ahaan Panday in the Hindi film industry and also stars Aneet Padda (who stole hearts with her brilliant performance in the much-acclaimed series Big Girls Don’t Cry) as the female lead. Saiyaara is produced by the company’s CEO Akshaye Widhani. Saiyaara is set to release on July 18, 2025 in theatres worldwide and YRF is set to start the marketing campaign of this hugely anticipated project with the teaser drop this Friday, May 30. Bollywood Hungama was also the first one to break the news that Saiyaara will release in cinemas on July 18. Saiyaara is being billed as an ...

Popular television actress Dipika Kakar has revealed that she has been diagnosed with Stage 2 liver cancer, sending shockwaves across the entertainment industry and her massive fanbase. Known for her roles in shows like Sasural Simar Ka and most recently seen on Celebrity MasterChef, Dipika took to Instagram to share a heartfelt note about her health condition. In the emotional post, Dipika wrote, “As you all are aware last few weeks have been quite difficult for us... walking into the hospital for a pain in the upper area of my stomach... and then finding out its a tennis ball size tumour in the liver and then Finding out that the tumour is Second stage Malignant (Cancerous) ... it has been one of the most difficult time we have seen, experienced! I am all positive and determined to face this and walk out stronger InshAllah! With my entire family being by my side and All the LOVE and PRAYERS pouring in from all of you I will sail through this too! InshaAllah Keep me in your prayers! ...

Weapons-grade zingers come thick and fast in this chamber piece about four plutocrats on a weekend in a lodge that goes awry when the planet descends into chaos Jesse Armstrong has returned with what feels like a horribly addictive feature-length spin-off episode from the extended Succession Cinematic Universe – though without Succession cast members. It is set in a luxurious Utah megalodge which winds up resembling the Dr Strangelove war room, mixed with the apartment from Hitchcock’s Rope. Mountainhead is a super-satirical chamber piece about the deranged, cynical and facetious mindset of the uber-wealthy, the kind of people who think about ancient Rome every day, though not about Nero and his violin. It may not have the dramatic richness of Armstrong’s TV meisterwerk while the pure testosterone of this all-male main cast (minus any Shiv figure ) is oppressive – though that is kind of the point. The pure density of weapons-grade zingers in the script is a marvel. Our heroes are fo...

Exclusive: Dubai-based property developer has challenged trademark registrations over lack of use The owners of the multibillion-pound James Bond franchise have requested more time to mount their defence to keep control of the super spy’s name in Europe, after a legal challenge to their trademark rights across a range of goods and services. In February, the Guardian revealed that a Dubai-based property developer had filed claims in the UK and EU arguing that lack of use meant various protections had lapsed around James Bond’s intellectual property, including his name, his 007 assignation and the catchphrase “Bond, James Bond”. Continue reading... from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/I2QcPsy via IFTTT

A day after celebrating his 53rd birthday, Karan Johar unveiled the release date of his next production, Dhadak 2. Starring Siddhant Chaturvedi and Triptii Dimri in lead roles, the film is slated to hit cinemas on August 1, 2025. The announcement came alongside two emotionally charged posters, offering a glimpse into the film’s intense narrative. In both posters, Siddhant and Triptii are seen in a tearful embrace, set against a moody blue backdrop. The tagline, “Marne aur ladne mein se ek ko chunna ho… to ladna,” signals a story steeped in resistance and resilience. The rawness of the visuals suggests that Dhadak 2 will diverge significantly from the tone of its predecessor.   View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Karan Johar (@karanjohar) CBFC Roadblock Cleared With Cuts Earlier this year, Bollywood Hungama was the first to report that Dhadak 2 had run into trouble at the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). The film, based on caste oppression, was initi...

The ongoing controversy surrounding Hera Pheri 3 has taken a fresh turn with veteran actor Paresh Rawal's legal team addressing claims against him. In a conversation with Times of India, Rawal’s lawyer clarified that the actor was never presented with a script or any substantial content from the team working under Akshay Kumar’s production banner. Rawal’s legal team has also questioned the grounds on which the production house is claiming losses when, according to them, no material—script or agreement—was in place in the first place. According to recent reports, a legal notice has been sent to Akshay Kumar, Priyadarshan, Suniel Shetty, and Paresh Rawal by none other than the original producer – Firoz Nadiadwala. The notice reportedly prohibits all four from participating in any promos, endorsements, or activities related to the Hera Pheri franchise. It further claimed that proceeding with such activities will be considered a wilful breach, asserting that the intellectual property ...

Best known as Hawkeye in the TV series M*A*S*H, the 89-year-old actor, director and writer has another hit on his hands with a revamp of his 1981 movie The Four Seasons. He talks about his Parkinson’s disease, Woody Allen – and what he really thinks of Donald Trump Alan Alda never expected this. The 89-year-old is back topping the charts with an update of his film The Four Seasons. In 1981, Alda wrote, directed and starred in the movie about three inseparable couples who holiday together every quarter until divorce, envy and angst intervene. Now the film has been turned into a TV series by Tina Fey, with Alda as a producer and, at the time of writing, it is the fourth most watched show on Netflix. “It’s really interesting to have my work appeal to a new generation of very smart writers,” he tells me on a video call from New York. What gave him even more pleasure was watching a screening of the original movie a couple of weeks ago. “The people were laughing at the same things they we...

Actor and IPL franchise co-owner Preity Zinta has contributed Rs 1.10 crore to the Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA) of the Indian Army’s South Western Command. Her heartfelt gesture comes in the wake of Operation Sindoor, launched by India following the terror attack in Pahalgam on April 22. Zinta confirmed her association with the South Western Command as she attended an event organized by them, where she also addressed the families of Indian Army personnel. Sharing her emotional experience on Instagram, she wrote, “As I drove towards the auditorium in the South Western Command of the Indian Army, I saw posters of army officers and jawans at regular intervals, that won various bravery awards. Some laid down their lives for our country while others came back with scars from the battlefield. These men were husbands, sons, brothers & fathers. They are part of our armed forces and they gave up their today for our tomorrow!” “We will never know them. Most of us will never hear o...

‘I was so incredibly uncomfortable,’ one man said of watching the new cringe comedy starring Robinson and Paul Rudd Friendship is a nightmare – especially if you’re a guy. The new film, starring Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd, follows middle-aged Craig (Robinson), who spends every night sitting alone, in the same chair, until he makes friends with his neighbor Austin (Rudd). But their joint adventures end in a friendship breakup, essentially because Craig is too weird. (Warning: mild spoilers ahead.) Continue reading... from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/F2TVJQq via IFTTT

Veteran actor Paresh Rawal has opened up about the ongoing legal tussle with Cape of Good Films following his sudden exit from Hera Pheri 3 on social media. The response comes in the wake of escalating legal tensions between Rawal and the production team, which includes actor-producer Akshay Kumar. The fallout has caused significant buzz, especially considering Rawal's iconic role as Babu Bhaiya in the much-loved Hera Pheri franchise. Taking to X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday, the actor wrote, “My lawyer, Ameet Naik, has sent an appropriate response regarding my rightful termination and exit. Once they read my response all issues will be laid to rest.” My lawyer, Ameet Naik, has sent an appropriate response regarding my rightful termination and exit. Once they read my response all issues will be laid to rest. — Paresh Rawal (@SirPareshRawal) May 25, 2025 Earlier, addressing the ongoing controversy, a source informed Bollywood Hungama that Rawal has not only exited the project but...

Panahi has endured years of harassment from the Iranian authorities but has created a tremendous body of work; his Palme d’Or is richly deserved Iranian director Jafar Panahi wins Palme d’Or at Cannes for It Was Just an Accident In the end, the Cannes Palme d’Or went to the most courageous film director in the world . It was a very satisfying grownup decision, favouring a remarkable and utterly individual film-maker: the director and democracy campaigner Jafar Panahi, an artist who unlike any other director in the Cannes competition really has suffered, taken real risks for cinema and spoken truth to power – and endured arrest and imprisonment for his pains. He has created a rich canon of work which has told the world about Iranian society and the Iranian mind with a subtlety and depth that we are never going to get from the TV news. Continue reading... from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/faZuEUS via IFTTT

Panahi, long censored and previously imprisoned in his home country, took top prize as Sentimental Value and The Secret Agent also honoured The dissident Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi has won the top prize at the Cannes film festival for his drama It Was Just an Accident , inspired by his stints of imprisonment at the hands of the Iranian government. The film was the first made by the director after being released from prison in 2023 – although he has continued to direct over the years despite being expressly forbidden to do so. In 2011, a year after his first arrest, a copy of his drama This Is Not a Film was snuck into Cannes on a USB stick hidden in a cake. Continue reading... from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/5fAxo9Y via IFTTT

Bollywood’s Mr. Perfectionist, Aamir Khan, has once again chosen substance over spectacle. In a heartfelt move that reflects his deep-rooted commitment to meaningful cinema, Aamir has developed and shot a three-hour documentary focusing on the special needs artists featured in his upcoming film Sitaare Zameen Par. This documentary is far more than just a behind-the-scenes look. It is a standalone narrative, spotlighting the personal journeys, daily struggles, and extraordinary resilience of the specially abled cast members who play integral roles in the film. Through intimate interviews, observational footage, and real-life moments, the documentary aims to celebrate their talents while fostering a deeper understanding of their lived experiences. What makes this documentary even more unique is that it has been directed by multiple young filmmakers, each bringing their own perspective and storytelling style. These individual segments form an anthology of stories, weaving together to cr...

In February this year, Bollywood Hungama was the first one to break the news that Dhadak 2 has been stuck at the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). It has now come to light that the CBFC has finally cleared the film, albeit with several changes. As per The Hindu, Dhadak 2 has been awarded with a U/A 16+ rating and it also lists the cuts given to the social drama. The dialogue “3,000 years of backlog will not be cleared in just 70 years” has been replaced with “The backlog of age-old discrimination will not be cleared in just 70 years”. Incidentally, the recently released flick Phule also had a dialogue ‘3,000 saal puraani gulaami’ and it was changed to ‘kayi saal purani hai’. Both the films are based on caste atrocities. Then, the dialogue “Nilesh (Siddhant Chaturvedi), yeh kalam dekh rahe ho....Raaj kar rahe hain” was changed to “Yeh chota sa dhakkan puri kalam ka thoda sa hissa hai aur baki ke hai hum; phir bhi hamare s...

Cannes film festival Reichardt’s quietist, observational style is unexpectedly successful at creating a super-naturalistic depiction of an art gallery robbery It needs hardly be said that the title is ironic. The abject non-hero of Kelly Reichardt’s engrossingly downbeat heist movie, set in 1970s Massachusetts, is weak, vain and utterly clueless. By the end, he’s a weirdly Updikean figure, though without the self-awareness: going on the run with no money and without a change of clothes, to escape from the grotesque mess he has made for himself and his family. This is James, played with hangdog near-charm by Josh O’Connor; he is an art school dropout and would-be architectural designer with two young sons, married to Terri (a minor complaint is that the excellent Alana Haim is not given enough to do). James depends on the social standing of his father Bill, a judge, formidably played by Bill Camp, and is borrowing large sums of money from his patrician mother Sarah (Hope Davis), oste...

Acclaimed actor Vikrant Massey is all set to step into the transformative shoes of global spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in the upcoming international thriller White, and the prep has already begun in earnest. The film, which promises a gripping narrative with a spiritual core, is jointly produced by Siddharth Anand and Mahaveer Jain and directed by Montoo Bassi. The shoot is scheduled to begin in Colombia this July. In a new picture from the Art Of Living Ashram in Bengaluru, Vikrant Massey is seen soaking in the peaceful vibe as he takes part in the famous ‘Happiness Program’, the breathwork and meditation course created by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Joining him are producer Mahaveer Jain and their families, turning this into both a personal and professional journey to prepare for his role in White. The group photo captures the calmness of the ashram, with everyone dressed in simple white outfits that reflect peace. Vikrant, seen at the centre with a gentle smile, looks co...

We had earlier reported that in a major setback to the much-awaited Hera Pheri 3, Akshay Kumar and his production house Cape of Good Films has reportedly taken legal action against veteran actor Paresh Rawal for abruptly backing out of the project. Advocate Pooja Tidke, representing the production house, confirmed that a legal notice has been issued, citing breach of contract and damages amounting to Rs 25 crores. According to the legal team, Rawal had officially committed to the film earlier this year and even began shooting. “Stakeholders had met, confirmed the production of the film. In fact, Paresh ji had tweeted about the film sometime in the end of January, indicating very clearly that he would be associated with it. Thereafter, there were contracts entered into, the shooting for the trailer began. In fact, there was some portion about three or three and a half minutes of the film itself that had been shot,” said Tidke in a statement to PTI. Advocate Pooja Tidke, on behalf of #...

In Bi Gan’s ambitious alternate reality, where humans can live indefinitely, a reincarnating dissident dreamer travels through history in different guises Bi Gan’s new movie in Cannes is bold and ambitious, visually amazing, trippy and woozy in its embrace of hallucination and the heightened meaning of the unreal and the dreamlike. His last film Long Day’s Journey Into Night from 2018 was an extraordinary and almost extraterrestrial experience in the cinema which challenged the audience to examine what they thought about time and memory; this doesn’t have quite that power, being effectively a portmanteau movie, some of whose sections are better than others – though it climaxes with some gasp-inducing images and tracking shots and all the constituent parts contribute to the film’s aggregate effect. Resurrection is, perhaps, a long night’s journey to the enlightenment of daybreak; it finishes at a club called the Sunrise. It is also an episodic journey through Chinese history, finishi...

To raise money for lymphoedema research, the actor sat before an audience for artist Frances Segelman, who admired her youthful, ‘pixie-like’ face while rendering it in clay It began as a blob: a 12kg lump of clay the size of a watermelon. Three hours later, it had become Judi Dench’s head, 50% larger than usual, twinkle-eyed even in terracotta. At Claridge’s hotel in London on Monday evening, Frances Segelman hosted her latest ticking-clock sculpt: paying guests watch as she kneads a celebrity bust on stage, the subject sitting quietly beside her. In the past, Segelman has done Simon Rattle, Joan Collins, Joanna Lumley, Boris Johnson, Mr Motivator and major-league royals, almost always for charity. Continue reading... from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/xlS0kJN via IFTTT

Cannes film festival Focusing on the rogue’s gallery of hypocrites and crooks surrounding him, Assange himself is in the background of a pretty definitive examination Julian Assange sits at the centre of this gripping account of the WikiLeaks founder’s rise, fall and protracted seven-year limbo inside the Ecuadorian embassy. Eugene Jarecki’s documentary takes its title from the price the incoming Ecuadorian government supposedly charged the Trump administration for helping furnish his extradition to the US, thereby reneging on a promise of political asylum. If The Six Billion Dollar Man doesn’t rebuild Assange, exactly, that’s because it’s more interested in comprehensively demolishing his enemies. Compared to the hypocrites, scoundrels and crooks who surround him, the man himself looks almost virtuous. Actually Assange is mostly a background presence here. He’s more talked about than talking up; a karmic victim of his own success. While even his supporters admit to his personal fai...

The Oscar-winning actor will bring The World of Tomorrow to the Shed in New York later this year Tom Hanks is set to co-write and appear in an off-Broadway play. The Oscar winner will bring The World of Tomorrow to the Shed’s Griffin Theatre in New York in October through December. Continue reading... from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/nzv0gTx via IFTTT

Kamal Haasan, Mani Ratnam, A R Rahman, Silambarasan T R, Trisha Krishnan, Abhirami and Ashok Selvan attended the press conference of their much-awaited Pan India film, Thug Life, at a multiplex in Mumbai. A few weeks ago, there were reports that this much-awaited film would arrive on a digital platform after completing 8 weeks in cinemas. This was a significant move as most Tamil biggies opt to arrive on OTT in just 4 weeks. The national chains, that is, PVR, Inox, and Cinepolis, have a strict rule of not releasing films that don’t adhere to the eight-week rule. As a result, the trade was excited over this development. With a release in the biggest multiplex chains, the chances of Thug Life scoring, especially in the Hindi version, will be significantly higher. At the Thug Life Mumbai press conference, Kamal Haasan was asked about it and he confirmed that the reports were indeed true. He said, “It's not even an experiment. It's a pragmatic thing to do. I am glad the OTT platfo...

The actor received a lifetime achievement award from the Better World Fund at an event with little fanfare and few recognisable guests Kevin Spacey’s Cannes comeback is a discreet, low-key affair. The promenade is home to a gaggle of evening sunbathers while the steps to the beach club contain neither fans nor protesters. It is what is known in the trade as a soft relaunch. Spacey is guest of honour at the Better World Fund’s gala dinner, where he is receiving a lifetime achievement award for “excellence in film and television”. It marks a return to the limelight for the two-time Oscar-winner, whose career stalled after allegations of sexual assault and misconduct by more than 30 men. This is the actor’s first visit to Cannes since 2016, one year before the #MeToo movement began. Continue reading... from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/WFOrqQd via IFTTT

American film director best known for Glengarry Glen Ross and At Close Range The film director James Foley, who has died from brain cancer aged 71, was a self-effacing and shrewd stylist whose camerawork always served the actors and the psychology of the characters. This thespian focus was best showcased in his 1992 adaptation of David Mamet’s stage play Glengarry Glen Ross ; its heavyweight cast, which included Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon , Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris and Kevin Spacey, might have overwhelmed a less purposeful supervisor. But in his hands this dissection of American capitalism, set in a beleaguered real-estate office, became an actors’ masterclass; the cast would turn up on their days off to watch each other work. Foley had been convinced to direct it by a new version of Mamet’s script that broke down what on stage had been cerebral monologues into pithy, visceral repartee. Accordingly, the director insisted on casting “great actors, people with movie charisma, to give it wat...

Amidst wrapping up the shoot for Bhooth Bangla, actor Akshay Kumar spent the weekend in Kerala engaging in creative discussions with OMG 2 director Amit Rai. The duo reportedly used the final leg of the horror-comedy shoot as an opportunity to flesh out early ideas for the third installment in the Oh My God franchise. According to a report by Pinkvilla, Amit Rai accompanied Akshay Kumar to Kerala during the three-day song shoot of Bhooth Bangla, where they extensively discussed potential narratives for OMG 3. The report quoted a source saying, “Amit Rai had multiple ideas for OMG 3, and he discussed all the plot points with Akshay Kumar throughout the stay. The duo brainstormed over various directions the story could take. The intent is to continue the most loved franchise, and take the third part on floors in 2026.” Both Akshay and Amit reportedly shared a strong creative rapport over the weekend. As of now, Amit Rai is working on developing a draft that could shape the third chapte...

Singer and reality TV personality Rahul Vaidya has made headlines after revealing that he turned down a lucrative professional offer from Turkey, citing the country’s stance post Operation Sindoor. His decision comes days after actress Rupali Ganguly publicly called for a boycott of Turkey, criticizing the country’s support to Pakistan following the Indian military operation. In an interview with Bombay Times, Vaidya opened up about his choice and said that no amount of money could sway him when it came to prioritizing national interest. “The offer was lucrative—they were paying me Rs 50 lakh. But I told them that no work, no money, and no fame is bigger than the interest of the country. They even offered me more, but I made it clear that it wasn’t about the money. This issue is far more important than that. It’s not about me as an individual; it’s about the nation. And we have to stand by our nation," he said. Rahul, who gained immense popularity after his stint in Indian Idol ...

Cannes film festival The winner of the Palme d’Or for Titane delivers Cannes’ first true turkey: the tonally inept tale of a girl with a dodgy tattoo and a disease that turns people to marble Strident, oppressive, incoherent and weirdly pointless from first to last … Julia Ducournau’s new film Alpha has to be the most bewildering disappointment of this year’s Cannes competition; even an honest lead performance from Mélissa Boros can’t retrieve it. I admit I was agnostic about her much-acclaimed Palme d’Or winner Titane from 2021 but that had an energised purpose lacking in Alpha and Ducournau’s excellent 2016 debut Raw is still easily her best work. Continue reading... from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/VaClJcw via IFTTT

Cannes film festival Akira Kurosawa’s downbeat noir High and Low is retooled with Washington on magnificent form as a record producer whose godson is kidnapped by mistake Spike Lee has made a brash, bold, big-city movie with this pulsing New York adventure that doubles as a love letter to NYC’s sports and its music. It is a remake (or maybe cover version) of Akira Kurosawa’s classic downbeat noir High and Low from 1963, transplanting the action from Yokohama to New York – or rather returning it there, because the original source material, Ed McBain’s novel King’s Ransom, is set in a fictional city based on the Big Apple. It’s got a terrific throb of energy and life, moving across the screen with the rangy grace of its superstar Denzel Washington – though a little of the minor-key sombreness and complex pessimism and cynicism of the first film has been lost and the modern technology of GPS (unknown in Kurosawa’s day) has indirectly left it with a very small plausibility issue. Cont...

As psycho-thriller The Surfer is released, the actor answers your questions about eating rats, loving pickled eggs and scaring Terry Wogan What do you remember of that appearance on Wogan? What was Terry like in real life? Have you still got that leather jacket, and the snakeskin jacket from Wild at Heart? johnnysmooth, EddieChorepost and BigAl65 I remember Terry Wogan was a very nice man and I enjoyed the interview with him, although I thought I was both obnoxious and somewhat wild. I guess it’s no secret that I was promoting a movie called Wild at Heart , so I was sort of play acting to that. I remember, as a child, I was in a car, a guy was walking down the street, and he had a leather jacket on and no shirt on underneath. I thought: “Well, that’s an interesting look.” I don’t know why that came back to me when I went on Terry’s show, but I thought: “I’m going to create that look again.” It was incredibly absurd and irreverent. I don’t have that leather jacket any more. I found...

Cannes film festival Icelandic director Hlynur Pálmason examines a broken marriage through stunning imagery and quirky fantasy visions, but his new comic tone undermines the pain Icelandic film-maker Hlynur Pálmason gave us the haunting historical drama Godland and the challenging and bizarre thriller A White, White Day ; now he has changed things up with this startling, amusing, vaguely frustrating movie. The Love That Remains is a portrait of a fractured family and a sundered marriage which, with its dreamy piano score, fantasy visions and quirky sequences to go with the dead-serious scenes of purported emotional pain, introduces a slightly disconcerting but certainly intriguing new comic tone. Pálmason’s visual and compositional sense is as commanding as ever, with some stunning imagery of the Icelandic landscape. But it is flavoured with a new tone of persistent, playful unseriousness, which finally morphs into a tragicomic spectacle of male loneliness. In some places this film ...

Benicio Del Toro and Michael Cera are essentially wingmen to Kate Winslet’s daughter, making a breakthrough big screen turn in Anderson’s enjoyable yet airless ensemble romp Wes Anderson has contrived another of his elegant, eccentric, rectilinear comedies - as ever, he is vulnerable to the charge of making films that stylistically resemble all his others, and yet no more, surely, than all those other directors making conventional films that resemble all the rest of their own conventional work. The Phoenician Scheme is enjoyable and executed with Anderson’s usual tremendous despatch, but it is somehow less visually detailed and inspired than some of his earlier work; there is less screwball sympathy for the characters, and it is disconcerting to see actors of the calibre of Tom Hanks, Willem Dafoe and Scarlett Johansson phoning in tiny, deadpan, almost immobile cameos. But there is a likeable lead turn from Mia Threapleton, an eerie visual and aural echo of her mother, Kate Winslet....

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has sent a show cause notice to actor and BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty for allegedly building an illegal structure in Malad’s Madh area. The notice says that a ground-floor structure was built on a plot in Erangle village without the required permission from the authorities. The BMC has asked Mithun Chakraborty to explain the changes made to the property. If he fails to give a proper explanation, the structure could be demolished. The BMC has also warned of possible legal action. This action is part of a larger crackdown on unauthorised constructions in the Madh area. So far, the BMC has identified 101 illegal structures in the locality. These include bungalows built using fake documents. The civic body plans to demolish all illegal constructions by the end of May. According to civic officials, during a recent inspection near the Hira Devi Mandir in Erangle village, they found two one-plus-mezzanine-storey buildings, one ground-floor str...

Lawrence excels as a woman whose bipolar disorder is exacerbated by husband Robert Pattinson’s infidelity, with super-strength direction from Lynne Ramsay Lynne Ramsay brings the Gothic-realist steam heat, some violent shocks and deafening music slams to this movie, adapted by her with co-writers Alice Birch and Enda Walsh from the 2012 novel by Ariana Harwicz . It’s a ferociously intense study of a lonely, passionate woman and her descent into bipolar disorder as she is left alone all day with a new baby in a rambling Montana house originally belonging to her husband’s uncle, who took his own life in a gruesome way that we are not permitted to discover until some way into the movie. Die My Love is another film to remind you that Ramsay believes you should make movies the way VS Naipaul believed you should write books: from a position of strength. There is, simply, overwhelming muscular strength in this picture: in her direction, in Paul Davies’s sound design, in the saturated colour...

Linklater recreates the making of the landmark French New Wave classic with an awestruck tastefulness that smooths over any disruptiveness Breathless, deathless … and pointless? Here is Richard Linklater’s impeccably submissive, tastefully cinephile period drama about the making of Godard’s debut 1960 classic À Bout de Souffle, that starred Jean Seberg and Jean-Paul Belmondo as the star-crossed lovers in Paris. Linklater’s homage has credits in French and is beautifully shot in monochrome, as opposed to the boring old colour of real life in which the events were actually happening; he even cutely fabricates cue marks in the corner of the screen, those things that once told projectionists when to changeover the reels. But Linklater smoothly avoids any disruptive jump-cuts. It’s a good natured, intelligent effort for which Godard himself, were he still alive, would undoubtedly have ripped Linklater a new one. (When Michel Hazanavicius made Redoubtable in 2017 about Godard’s making of ...

Cannes film festival The U2 singer’s solo stage appearance sees him reflect on his anguished family past and have a decent go at being an ordinary Joe The stadium-conquering rock superstar Bono finds a smaller arena than usual for this more intimate and much acclaimed “quarter-man” show, performed solo without his U2 bandmates Adam Clayton, David “The Edge” Evans and Larry Mullen Jr and filmed live on stage at New York’s Beacon theatre in 2023 by Andrew Dominik. It’s a confident, often engaging mix of music and no-frills theatrical performance, with Bono often coming across like some forgotten character that Samuel Beckett created but then suppressed due to undue levels of rock’n’roll pizzazz. Bono delivers anecdotes from his autobiography Surrender, starting with his recent heart scare and going back to his Dublin childhood, his musical breakthrough to global fame, his post-Live Aid charity work on poverty and famine relief (though no discourse on the question of whether Live Aid w...

Visually effective yet narratively meandering, the star’s moody psycho-thriller-cum-therapy-session is a missed opportunity Regrets? The Weeknd has a few. In Hurry Up Tomorrow, a celluloid roman-à-clef pegged to his sixth studio album , the Grammy-winning multi-hyphenate puzzles through the consequences of hooking up with a deranged groupie who forces him to reckon with his rock star flings. But it’s viewers who will probably be feeling rueful over nearly two hours lost in the end. Though technically a thriller, Tomorrow takes inspiration from a real-life moment of weakness: the Weeknd – born Abel Tesfaye – losing his voice while filming The Idol TV series in between a global stadium tour. As with most of his artistic efforts, the Weeknd makes the job of distinguishing his sincere reflections from his satirical self-observations impossibly hard on audiences and smirks when they don’t get the joke. Recall his dizzying Super Bowl half-time show and face-bandage stunt he pulled to p...

Cannes film festival Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone and Austin Butler have little to work with in this disappointing dud from the Hereditary and Midsommar director Ari Aster now worryingly creates a losing streak with this bafflingly dull movie, a laborious and weirdly self-important satire which makes a heavy, flavourless meal of some uninteresting and unoriginal thoughts – on the Covid lockdown, online conspiracy theories, social polarisation, Black Lives Matter, liberal-white privilege and guns. The movie looks good, courtesy of Darius Khondji’s cinematography, but has nothing new or dramatically vital to say, and moreover manages the extraordinary achievement of making Emma Stone, Pedro Pascal and Joaquin Phoenix look like boring actors. This is by virtue of its moderate script and by the unvarying stolid pace over its hefty running time which might have suited a 12-episode streamer. Eddington is a fictional small town in New Mexico in the US, bordering Native Amer...

Yesterday, on May 15, Maddock Films, the producers of Bhool Chuk Maaf and PVR Inox, in a joint statement, announced that the Rajkummar Rao-Wamiqa Gabbi starrer Bhool Chuk Maaf will arrive in cinemas on May 23. The official statement did not answer the question that was on the minds of several people in the industry and trade – is the romcom arriving on OTT in two weeks, as reported by a section of the media? Some stakeholders in the industry believed that one should wait for an answer from either of the two parties before jumping to conclusions. However, some believe that since both the producer and multiplex chain didn’t choose to address this aspect, it confirms the speculations. There’s also a claim that the OTT-theatrical window might be more than two weeks and a clear answer would emerge in a few days. While everyone was trying to process this development, another aspect of the release of Bhool Chuk Maaf has also come to light – the clause of the VPF waiver. Some sources in the t...

Abel Tesfaye is arguably the world’s biggest pop star – so why is he thinking of wrapping up the Weeknd? As he releases soul-baring film Hurry Up Tomorrow, he charts his path through drugs, heartbreak and abandonment Walking out to perform in front of 80,000 people and finding that your voice has gone: it’s the type of stress dream you have the night before a big work presentation. But for Abel Tesfaye, AKA the Weeknd, it happened for real at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium in 2022. “I ran backstage to find my vocal coach: I can’t sing, it’s not coming out,” he says. “And what I found out later on is that I was having a panic attack. It wasn’t a physical injury. It was more up here” – he gestures to his head – “than it was here” – his throat. The concert, which had to be called off and rescheduled, was the final night of a US stadium tour happening while Tesfaye was also wrapping up his painfully gestated – and eventually widely lampooned – TV series The Idol , which he starred in, co-wrot...

Visually effective yet narratively meandering, the star’s moody psycho-thriller-cum-therapy-session is a missed opportunity Regrets? The Weeknd has a few. In Hurry Up Tomorrow, a celluloid roman-à-clef pegged to his sixth studio album , the Grammy-winning multi-hyphenate puzzles through the consequences of hooking up with a deranged groupie who forces him to reckon with his rock star flings. But it’s viewers who will probably be feeling rueful over nearly two hours lost in the end. Though technically a thriller, Tomorrow takes inspiration from a real-life moment of weakness: the Weeknd – born Abel Tesfaye – losing his voice while filming The Idol TV series in between a global stadium tour. As with most of his artistic efforts, the Weeknd makes the job of distinguishing his sincere reflections from his satirical self-observations impossibly hard on audiences and smirks when they don’t get the joke. Recall his dizzying Super Bowl half-time show and face-bandage stunt he pulled to p...