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from India Insight:
Bollywood fashion at Cannes
By Arnika Thakur and Shashank Chouhan
(Any opinions expressed here are those of the authors and not necessarily of Reuters)
The image of Aishwarya Rai in a striking yellow sari with lots of gold jewellery walking the red carpet at Cannes 2002 is one that a generation of Indian movie fans may not forget.
Few Indians were familiar with Cannes until the actress made an appearance on the French Riviera. Not only did Rai introduce fans back home to the world’s leading cinema showcase, she also made global audiences take note of Bollywood. This year, the 66th Cannes festival is showcasing India as a guest country to mark the centenary of its film industry.
Celebrities such as Sonam Kapoor, Mallika Sherawat, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Frieda Pinto and Amitabh Bachchan made an appearance - and had to step up their fashion game.
from India Masala:
Gippi: The pains of growing up
(Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily of Reuters)
Sonam Nair’s “Gippi” is the coming-of-age tale of a teenage girl who stumbles through life dealing with the typical crises of adolescence. Boys, parents, body image, acne and Shammi Kapoor come together to form the crux of this story, one that was probably written with the help of a handbook on how to script a teen movie.
from India Masala:
Go Goa Gone: Die laughing
(Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily of Reuters)
To enjoy Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK's "Go Goa Gone", you have to ignore the tacky effects and the bad make-up and concentrate on the wisecracks and repartee between the main characters. Once you’ve done that successfully, get ready to buckle in for what is an unexpectedly fun ride.
from India Insight:
Mike Pandey hits bureaucratic hurdle for film on tigers
(Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily of Reuters)
For more than 30 years, Mike Pandey has been a man with a mission. In its special issue on Heroes of the Environment in 2009, Time magazine credited the maker of wildlife documentaries with efforts to protect "everything from whale sharks to elephants, vultures to medicinal plants."
from Photographers Blog:
Bollywood dreams
Mumbai, India
By Danish Siddiqui
The Hindi film industry or Bollywood can make a star, a household name out of anyone overnight. It can bring instant money, fame and the fan-following of millions from across continents.
Bollywood is an addiction for many that attracts thousands of aspirants to the breeding grounds, the city of Mumbai, everyday. I was keen to look at this other side of the glamour world. The side that entails the struggle to enter the world of aspiring dreamers and their struggles to become a star.
from India Insight:
Which is the greatest Bollywood film ever?
It's been a hundred years since the first Indian feature film "Raja Harishchandra" in 1913. Since then, Bollywood has made tens of thousands of films – good, bad and middling.
Tell us the movie that you feel is Bollywood's best. To help you make that choice, we have compiled a list of 100 films we have seen and loved, films that are sensitive and sensible in their own way and films that brought ‘larger than life’ into our living rooms.
from The Great Debate (India):
Which is the greatest Bollywood film ever?
It's been a hundred years since the first Indian feature film "Raja Harishchandra" wowed audiences in 1913. Since then, Bollywood has made tens of thousands of films - good, bad and middling.
Tell us the movie that you feel is Bollywood's best? To help you make that choice, we have compiled a list of 100 films we have seen and loved, films that are sensitive and sensible in their own way and films that brought ‘larger than life’ into our living rooms.
from India Insight:
No consensus on sex, violence and censorship in Bollywood
(Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily of Reuters)
Getting directors, producers and activists into a room to figure out Indian cinema's connection to violence toward women, rape and crudeness in society can be like a family gathering. People shout, get angry and fail to solve fundamental problems because they can't agree on anything.
from India Insight:
Shamshad Begum: A tribute to a voice long gone
(Hindi translations by Ankush Arora, with help from Havovi Cooper and Uzra Khan. Punjabi translation by Vineet Sharma.)
How do you pay tribute to a singer who faded from public memory, only to revisit the headlines when she died? I was wondering this today after learning that playback singer Shamshad Begum died in Mumbai on Tuesday, just 10 days after her 94th birthday.
from India Masala:
Aatma: No soul in this horror flick
(Any opinions expressed here are those of the author and not of Reuters)
The real test of a good horror movie, at least in my book, is when you can’t stop thinking about it and feel a shiver down your spine at night. All the great horror movies do that to you.
Suparn Varma’s “Aatma”, about a violent man who abuses his wife in life and in death, is one film that doesn’t scare you most of the time. Instead, there is much twiddling of thumbs as you wait for the next predictable twist and yet another person to die on the way to the climax.
