Globalwoodnews

Maddock Films is enjoying a winning streak with its recent productions. Following the success of last year's Stree 2 and the blockbuster performance of Chhaava, the production house continues to deliver box office hits. Their upcoming release is the romantic comedy Bhool Chuk Maaf, featuring Rajkummar Rao and Wamiqa Gabbi. During a press conference held before the trailer launch, the head of Maddock Films shared insights on the current landscape of Bollywood and the kind of stories that deserve to be highlighted. At the press conference, Dinesh Vijan, as reported by News18, emphasized the importance of collective success in the industry. He said, “It’s very important to wish for everyone to do well. Just us doing well is not enough. I can’t tell you what I am doing, and others are not doing. We learn from whatever we are doing. We are trying to understand that right now, we are not aspirational to the West. We are very Indian in how we think. The common man wants stories about the...

The Oscar winner plays a soldier turned world leader forced to fight back in Amazon’s simple, serviceable star vehicle Released just three months after the inauguration, geopolitical action thriller G20 was always going to have unavoidable resonance. While the shoot ended back in March last year, there must have been points during the post-production process when those involved wondered if their film – a rousing story of a Black female president taking charge – would coincide with a similar, albeit less schlocky, real world victory. But it wasn’t to be and instead the film has landed on Amazon at a far less inspiring time for America when a president has decided to destroy rather than save his country. Any links to be made from fiction to fact push Trump’s agenda closer to that of the bad guys, who aim to tank the global economy and stop a perceived US overspend of foreign aid. While there are moments that might unintentionally insist us to make the connection (lead villain expressin...

A startling novelty 30 years ago, the film’s now antique effects and strange anti-Orwell farmyard tale feel dated, but is still a quaintly comfortable place to visit Thirty years ago, a non-Disney talking-animal adventure became a big movie talking point. Babe, adapted from Dick King-Smith’s children’s book The Sheep-Pig, features an adorable piglet who is rescued from a brutally realistic-looking agribusiness breeding shed as his mum and siblings are taken off to be slaughtered; it is then rehomed in a quaintly old-fashioned farm with lots of different animals, situated in an uncanny-valley landscape of rolling green hills which looks like Olde England but where everyone speaks in an American accent. The lead human is grumpy cap-wearing Farmer Hoggett, played by James Cromwell, later to be hard-faced Captain Dudley Smith in LA Confidential and Prince Philip in Stephen Frears’ film The Queen. The little piglet does his best to fit in and finds his destiny when it looks as if he could ...

Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan and Sanjay Dutt have recently ventured into the alcohol business, and now Ajay Devgn has joined the league with an impressive debut in the global alcobev space. He has introduced a premium 21-year-old single malt named GlenJourneys, priced at Rs. 50,000. Known for his diverse roles over the years, Ajay is now also an investor in Cartel Bros—the company behind the globally acclaimed Glenwalk, launched last year in collaboration with Sanjay Dutt. In an open chat with CNBC-TV18, the Bollywood star discussed his personal journey with alcohol, the rising international acclaim for Indian single malts, and his latest move into the whisky industry. Ajay Devgn has come on board Cartel Bros as both an investor and a partner for GlenJourneys. Best known for iconic roles like Vijay Salgaonkar in Drishyam, Devgn candidly shared that he once had a reputation for being a heavy drinker. “I’ve enjoyed drinking good alcohol ever since I was legally qualified to drink,” ...

Faith-based entertainment is booming, thanks to a ready-made audience and the backing of the American right. The TV series The Chosen, with Jonathan Roumie playing Christ, claims to have reached more than a quarter of a billion viewers. And this is just the tip of the iceberg … If you’re looking for your own personal Jesus this Easter, you’ve never had it so good. Faith‑based entertainment is booming like never before, offering up myriad new screen Messiahs and resurrecting a few old ones. But if there’s a Christ for our times, it is surely Jonathan Roumie, the Irish-Arab-American star of the smash-hit biblical TV series The Chosen. Nine years ago, Roumie was just another struggling actor in Los Angeles, desperately seeking his big break. He was also a practising Catholic. One morning, as Roumie tells it, he prayed for divine intervention: “I literally said: ‘God, you take this from me. It’s in your hands now. It’s not up to me.’” Three months later, he was cast as Jesus in The Chose...

As a sober Australian man, I’ve battled the bottle and I’ve battled the boys. As Ted Kotcheff’s 1971 film knows, there’s no victory in either Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email Wake in Fright, the 1971 film-cum-anthropological study by Ted Kotcheff understands Australian men, it understands Australia’s drinking culture, and it understands the way those two things intersect – which is to say it understands games. Dick-measuring contests, arm-wrestling bouts, two-up, binge-drinking: Australian masculinity is a series of ongoing games with the promise that if you complete all of these contests you will be the winner – the mannest man. Of course, it’s an illusion: Australian men never really escape the playground rules of the handball court, which turn a swathe of casual interactions into high-stakes opportunities to prove ourselves. Continue reading... from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/jlNBdR4 via IFTTT

Prospect of seeing 1977 version of film on big screen had become holy grail for fans The force is finally with Star Wars fans long frustrated by director George’s Lucas’s alterations to the iconic space opera, with a rare screening of the original cut of the film in London this summer. The 1977 theatrical version of the film , in which Han Solo shot first and Jabba the Hutt was only mentioned by name, will be shown twice on the opening night of the British Film Institute (BFI)’s Film on Film festival on 12 June. Continue reading... from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/uJqZEL0 via IFTTT

Actress Raashii Khanna acknowledges the prevalent trend of Bollywood drawing inspiration from successful South Indian films to boost box office performance. However, she believes it’s time for the industry to shift gears. With audiences now craving original storytelling and dubbed South films easily available online, Raashii stresses the need for fresh content. In today’s pan-India cinema landscape, she agrees that Bollywood’s attempt to replicate South hits is a reality, but one that needs rethinking. Raashii told Hindustan Times, “⁠I can’t disagree that we do see remakes from the south quite often but I think the industry is also realising more and more that the audience needs newer content and that dubbed films are anyway available to watch online.” She added, “With the rise of OTT platforms, language is no longer a barrier. I can sense a shift in the industry's mindset, and I genuinely hope we start creating more original content and exploring different genres—because honestl...

Goggins and Affleck play Donnie and Joe Emerson, whose album wins acclaim decades after it was made, but it’s rather a mono drama Newcomer-fans of Walton Goggins, sharing gifs of his stunned expression in The White Lotus, might want a look at this interesting but flawed movie: a heartfelt but frustratingly ponderous true-life story from the music world in which Goggins stars with Casey Affleck. Donnie and Joe Emerson were two brothers from Washington State who self-recorded an album in their teen years in 1978 called Dreamin’ Wild; it bombed, leaving crippling debts for their poor dad (played by Beau Bridges), who’d taken out bank loans to build them a log-cabin recording studio – but the record is then rediscovered 30 years later by vinyl hipster connoisseurs who can hardly believe the Emerson boys’ untutored rock genius. The film insightfully shows how this deferred fame is not all good news; it has come too late for them really to enjoy it and Donnie (Affleck) has grown into a pri...

Kajol and Ajay Devgn are considered among the top actors in the Hindi film industry. Naturally, people assume their children would inherit both their talent and passion for acting, and eventually step into films. However, Kajol recently made a surprising statement regarding her daughter Nysa's potential Bollywood debut. At a recent News18 event, Kajol was asked about her daughter Nysa’s possible Bollywood debut. The actor firmly denied any such plans, saying, “Definitely not. I think she is 22 now, or about to be, and she has decided that she’s not entering Bollywood at the moment.” Kajol, known for Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, was also asked what advice she’d offer to aspiring actors. She said she prefers seeing new talent embrace their individuality instead of following everyone’s suggestions. She added that people often advise changes to one’s physical appearance, which can be quite disheartening. Kajol said, “Pehle baat main yeh kehna chahungi ki please don’t take advise from everybo...

The famous author tells his son and their cat the story of Jesus in this mixed-bag family animation, voiced by an impressive cast This syrupy cartoon account of the life of Jesus (voiced by Oscar Isaac) is narrated, with consummate weirdness, by Charles Dickens (Kenneth Branagh). It’s in fact based on a story Dickens wrote for his children (and wasn’t published until 1934, decades after his death). The idea is that Dickens is telling the story of the New Testament to his young son Walter (Roman Griffin Davis) and Walter’s impish cat, explaining to the King Arthur-obsessed Walter how Jesus was the real King of Kings and all that. And so we see Walter and Charles, in their mid-19th-century garb, wandering through scenes of JC’s life nearly two thousand years earlier, from the nativity to the crucifixion – much like Scrooge and his spectral buddies in A Christmas Carol as they wander through past, present and future Christmases. It rather drags out what is already a pretty long running ...

The buzz surrounding Sidharth Anand’s upcoming directorial King continues to intensify as fresh speculation arises about Deepika Padukone’s role in the much-anticipated action drama. With a stellar ensemble cast including Shah Rukh Khan and his daughter Suhana Khan, King—written by Sujoy Ghosh—has already sparked massive curiosity. Now, all eyes are on what character Deepika Padukone will portray in this cinematic spectacle. While early reports suggested that Deepika might play Suhana’s on-screen mother, others hinted at a possible cameo. However, according to a Bollywood Hungama exclusive, one thing is certain—Deepika is part of the film. What remains unclear is the nature of her role, which is still under wraps. A well-placed industry source revealed exclusively to Bollywood Hungama, “Yes, Deepika Padukone is definitely part of King. However, the details of her role are being kept extremely confidential at this point. There have been discussions about her playing Suhana’s mother, b...

The buzz surrounding Sidharth Anand’s upcoming directorial King continues to intensify as fresh speculation arises about Deepika Padukone’s role in the much-anticipated action drama. With a stellar ensemble cast including Shah Rukh Khan and his daughter Suhana Khan, King—written by Sujoy Ghosh—has already sparked massive curiosity. Now, all eyes are on what character Deepika Padukone will portray in this cinematic spectacle. While early reports suggested that Deepika might play Suhana’s on-screen mother, others hinted at a possible cameo. However, according to a Bollywood Hungama exclusive, one thing is certain—Deepika is part of the film. What remains unclear is the nature of her role, which is still under wraps. A well-placed industry source revealed exclusively to Bollywood Hungama, “Yes, Deepika Padukone is definitely part of King. However, the details of her role are being kept extremely confidential at this point. There have been discussions about her playing Suhana’s mother, b...

The playback singer’s X account was hacked in February, causing her to lose access to it Shreya Ghoshal, known for her work as playback singer in recent films like Pushpa 2 - The Rule, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, Maharaj, and Laapataa Ladies, has recovered her X account following a hacking incident in February this year. After spending two months locked out of her account, the singer revealed to her nearly 7 million followers on Sunday that she has finally regained access to her account. “I am back!! I will be talking and writing here often.. Yes, my X account has been in trouble as it got hacked in February. Now I have finally had the help from the @X team after a lot of struggles in establishing proper communication. All is well!! Now I am here," she posted on X. Shreya had stayed away from the platform since the hacking. In her return post, she advised her fans to beware of false ads misusing her name and AI-generated pictures. “These are click baits, which lead to spam / fraudulent ...

Arash Rakhsha’s documentary follows two Kurdish friends just about getting by smuggling goods across the mountains In an immersive and sweeping debut feature, Kurdish film-maker Arash Rakhsha portrays the plight of his people with sheer cinematic poetry. Shot over six years, the film closely follows Hamid and Yasser, two Kurdish friends who work side by side as kolbars , smugglers of untaxed household goods across the Iran-Iraq border. Coloured in icy shades of blue, their lives are filled with terrifying dangers, yet there’s also space for warmth and camaraderie amid the fog of precariousness. Getting paid per kilogram, the pair haul heavy loads on their backs through treacherous terrain. One moment they are wading upstream, the next they are hiking through the steep, snowbound ranges of the Zagros mountains. The kolbars also rely on mules for transport, though this means they are easier to detect by the border patrols. Landmines – active souvenirs from the Iran-Iraq war – are also...

Biplab Goswami, the screenwriter behind the acclaimed Bollywood film Laapataa Ladies, has firmly denied allegations of plagiarism that have recently cast a shadow over the movie’s reputation. Responding to claims that the film bears striking similarities to the 2019 Arabic short film Burqa City, Goswami presented documented proof of his script’s originality, asserting that the story was conceived and registered years before the controversy emerged. The Kiran Rao-directed Laapataa Ladies, which was India’s official entry for the 2025 Oscars, has been under scrutiny after social media users pointed out parallels between its plot and that of Burqa City. Both stories revolve around mistaken identities due to veiled attire—ghunghats in the Indian film and burqas in the Arabic short—leading to accusations that the former borrowed heavily from the latter. The debate intensified earlier this week, with some netizens labeling the film as unoriginal and questioning its credibility as an Oscar c...

Murderous unicorns run amok in Alex Scharfman’s gory American horror that gleefully embraces a lo-fi aesthetic but lacks sufficient bite What if unicorns were badass? What if, rather than the twee, sparkly fairy creatures that distribute magic and glittery microplastic at kids’ themed birthday parties, unicorns were fearsome beasts with deranged amber eyes, huge tombstone teeth that could sever a man’s arm, and horns covered in the entrails of their victims like flesh pennants? It’s an appetising central premise. And this Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega-starring horror comedy, produced by the achingly hip boutique studio A24, certainly delivers on the grisly, torso-skewering gore. Maybe the jokes could have been sharper, but at least the unicorns’ horns make their point. Killer unicorns are not an entirely novel concept. The ultraviolent 2022 cult feature animation Unicorn Wars – described by its director as “ Bambi meets Apocalypse Now meets the Bible” – pitted unicorns against teddy ...

Bollywood’s versatile heartthrob Vicky Kaushal steps into a magical new avatar in Shoojit Sircar’s upcoming fantasy drama, Ek Jaadugar. The first look poster dropped yesterday, and it's already casting a spell on fans and cinephiles alike. A Magical Makeover for Vicky Kaushal The poster features Vicky Kaushal in an enchanting magician’s get-up — a rich green velvet suit adorned with intricate embroidery, a flamboyant emerald bowtie, and a tall top hat with a green feather. His dramatic curled mustache and mischievous glint evoke the classic illusionist charm, blending vintage flair with cinematic elegance. He holds a glowing wand with a burst of blue light, seemingly conjuring a swirling green crystal orb that floats above his palm. Surrounding him are visual cues straight out of a magician’s playbook — a white dove mid-flight, a rabbit leaping from a hat, and playing cards soaring through the air. The entire scene is set against a vintage circus or theatre backdrop, complete wit...

Writer and director behind Taxi Driver and American Gigolo accused by former employee in lawsuit Paul Schrader , the writer of Taxi Driver and director of American Gigolo, has been accused in a lawsuit of sexually assaulting his former personal assistant, firing her when she wouldn’t acquiesce to advances and reneging on a settlement that was meant to keep the allegations confidential. The former assistant, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, sued the filmmaker and his production company on Thursday. She is seeking a judge’s order to enforce the agreement after Schrader said he couldn’t go through with it. The terms, including a monetary payment, were not disclosed. Continue reading... from Film | The Guardian https://ift.tt/0oE8qGa via IFTTT

A few days ago, Bollywood Hungama broke the news that Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt are expected to be seen in a film called Ganga Ram. As expected, the news broke the internet and spread like wild fire. Now, we bring to you another piece of information about this upcoming movie. A source told Bollywood Hungama, “After the Ganga Ram news came out, many began to wonder if Ganga Ram is the name of one person. Fans speculated that either Salman Khan or Sanjay Dutt will be playing Ganga Ram.” The source continued, “But that’s not the case. Ganga and Ram are the names of two principal characters. While Salman Khan will essay the role of a character named Ganga, Sanjay Dutt will reprise the role of a man named Ram.” The source also revealed, “Ganga Ram is mounted as a wholesome entertainer and will have lots of action. The makers are trying to ensure that the audience gets its money’s worth when they come to see this film starring two macho stars of Bollywood.” The film will be produced by...