Father Geek here with Darius25, AccSpy, and pigmon to bring you our latest edition of the weekly Asia-AICN column with all the latest news from the various far eastern movie industries. Our international desks have alot for you this Thursday soooo ol' Father Geek will just step aside and turn you directly over to Darius...

Hey all, hope you’ve had a great week. We have a packed column for you in this edition, with news on “Parwana (Devotee)”, “Dhund (The Fog)”, a great new “Aankhen (Eyes) trailer, “Kung Fu Man Woman”, the latest Wisely film "Wisely's Mysterious File", the new Ghibli film, “Neco No Ongaeshi”, and “KT”.

Now here’s the latest from Asia.

INDIA

- Cannes Film Festival will honour legendary actor/director Raj Kapoor this year by holding a retrospective featuring three of his most famous films. The films shown at the screening are “Awaara (Vagabond)”, “Barsaat (Rain)”, and “Shree 420 (Mr. 420)”. I strongly urge any of you to attend these films, as they are all excellent, particularly “Shree 420”. Karisma Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor, will attend the festival to accept the honourary award on their grandfather’s behalf. This will be the first time that Cannes has honoured a deceased filmmaker.

- Principal photography on director Deepak Bahry’s “Parwana (Devotee) has commenced with a 17-day shoot in Maharashtra (an Indian state, where Bombay is located). The film stars Ajay Devgan, Amisha Patel, Pooja Batra, Ketaki Dave, and Danny Denzongpa. The film is slated to release early this winter.

- The entire talking portion for director Shyam Ramsay’s “Dhund (The Fog)” has now been completed. 4 songs have also been picturised, leaving only two more songs to be completed before the film heads into the post-production stage. The suspense thriller stars Amar Upadhyay, Aditi Gowitriker, Apurva Agnihotri, and Gulshan Grover. It is expected to release in the fall.

- While the release of the highly anticipated “Aankhen (Eyes)” is just a couple days away, the producers have decided to top off the hype by releasing an absolutely BADASS trailer. The film looks really good and those expecting some topnotch suspense action will not be disappointed. Click here to see the dangerous game – complete with Amitabh Bachchan in full-fledged bad guy mode: http://www.indiafm.com/cgi-bin/trailors.cgi?a/aankhen/aankhen8.zip

- The tentative release dates for this summer’s big blockbusters have been announced. As of now, it looks like 4 of the year’s biggest movies are opening within two weeks of each other (in early June) and if the dates hold, expect some box-office disappointments.

Anyway, here’s the schedule.

• May 03 – “Hum Kisise Kum Nahin (We’re No Lesser than Anyone else)”, directed by David Dhawan. This is the big “Analyze This” remake with Sanjay Dutt as the gangster and Amitabh Bachchan as the shrink. Aishwarya Rai and Ajay Devgan are also coming along for the fun.
• May 10 – “Na Tum Jaano Na Hum (Neither of Us Know)”, directed by newcomer Arjun Sablok and starring Hrithik Roshan, Esha Deol, and Saif Ali Khan.
• May 24 – “Badhai Ho Badhai (Let’s Celebrate)”, directed by Satish Kaushik and starring Anil Kapoor, Shilpa Shetty and Kirti Reddy.
• May 31 – “Yeh Hai Jalwa (This is Ecstasy)”, directed by David Dhawan, and starring Salman Khan, Amisha Patel, Rishi Kapoor, Rinke Khanna, and Rati Agnihotri.
• June 7 (KILLER DATE!) – “Kaante (Thorns)”, directed by Sanjay Gupta. This hyperviolent remake of “City on Fire” stars Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty, Kumar Gaurav, Mahesh Manjrekar, and Lucky Ali.
• June 7 – “Awaara Paagal Deewana (The Punk, the Fool, and the Lover)”, directed by Vikram Bhatt and starring Akshay Kumar, Sunil Shetty, Aaftab Shivdasani, Jackie Shroff, and Preeti Zhangiani.
• June 7 – “Humraaz (The Confidante)”, directed by Abbas-Mustan and starring Bobby Deol, Amisha Patel, and Akshaye Khanna.
• June 7 – “Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi (My Friend’s Wedding)”, directed by Sanjay Ghadvi and produced by Yash Chopra. The film stars Jimmy Shergill, Uday Chopra, and Bipasha Basu.

Now the most hyped date with two BIG blockbusters (too bad they’re both tragedies!):

• June 14 – “Devdas”. Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s megahyped version of the classic Indian novel with Shahrukh Khan in the titular role, along with Madhuri Dixit, Aishwarya Rai, and Jackie Shroff.
• June 14 – “Shaheed (The Martyr)”. Director Guddu Dhanoa’s first attempt at a big patriotic epic with Bobby Deol as Shaheed Bhagat Singh, along with Sunny Deol, Sanjay Dutt, and Rahul Dev.

- Last week’s new release was director Mehul Kumar’s “Kitne Door, Kitne Paas (So Far, So Close)”, starring Fardeen Khan, Amrita Arora, Sonali Kulkarni, and Ayub Khan. This is Mehul Kumar’s first attempt at a typical romantic film, and I must admit that it isn’t bad. The story is not very original though: Jatin (Fardeen Khan) is on his way home (a town in Gujarat) from NYC and meets up with another Indian, Karishma (Amrita Arora), along the way. The two become unlikely traveling companions due to unfortunate circumstances, much like in movies such as “Plains, Trains and Automobiles”. They despise each other at first, but of course end up liking each other by the time they get to their town (at the Interval point). Too bad they’re both engaged to be married! The second half is less entertaining than the first, as Jatin attempts to reveal his love to Karishma, breaks up her marriage, and wins her at the end (no surprises here!). Ok the acting is decent for a romantic comedy – Fardeen is likeable in a role that doesn’t really stretch his abilities, while newcomer Amrita Arora makes an impressive debut. She has the cute factor going for her, and doesn’t overact in some of the more dramatic scenes. The supporting cast is average, with no one particularly standing out. The songs are decent, but do tend to drag the plot a bit during the second half. The direction is adequate but I prefer this lighter story to Mehul Kumar’s usual patriotic action films. However, the cinematography is just fantastic and I really felt as if I were in rural India during some scenes. All in all, there’s nothing special about “Kitne Door Kitne Paas”, but I thought it was decently entertaining. It’s definitely worth a DVD rental.

HK / CHINA

Here’s the weekly report from “AccSpy”:

- There’s not much HK film news this week, as all the newspapers were focusing on the break-up between Nicholas Tse and Faye Wong and Nic dating Cecilia Cheung. The nasty coverage of the whole week actually hurt the box office performance of Nic's latest film "Tiramisu", which just debuted at no.6 last weekend.

- A new category has been added to this year's HK film awards. The Most Outstanding New Director will be presented for the first and guess which superstar is on the list!

• Carol Lai - "Glass Tears"
• Barbara Wong Chun-chun - "Women's Private Parts"
• Thomas Chow - "Merry-Go-Round"
• Yuen Kin-to - "My Life as McDull"
• Stephen Chow - "Shaolin Soccer" (which, I suspect, will actually hurt Chow's chance to win Best Director)

  - Andy Lau and director Andrew Lau will team up once again in the new film "Kung Fu Man Woman (lit.title)". Vikki Zhao and Cecilia Cheung are in talks to be the female leads. The film will start shooting next month, probably in Shanghai.

  - Amazingly, 8 films debuted at the top 10 box office over the Easter weekend. Andy Lau is the latest actor to play the classic fictional character Wisely in "Wisely's Mysterious File", which opened at the top with an estimated $4 mil HKD. The film had started shooting in 1999 and was directed by Andrew Lau. Last week’s winner, "Ice Age" (with voices by actors lSam Lee and Edmond Leung) fell to no. 2 with around $5.0 mil in 9 days. "E .T.: 20th Anniversary Edition" debuted at no.3, while "The Time Machine" and "We were Soldiers" debuted at no.4 and 5. Leslie Cheung's pschyological thriller "Inner Scenes" debuted at no.6, Nic Tse and Karena Lin's "Tiramisu" was at no.7. The Sylvia Cheung-directed film "Princess D", starring Daniel Wu and Edison Chan, landed at a really low no.9 with under $1 mil grossing in 4 days.

  - Here’s some stills from "Wisely's Mysterious File".

  Shu Qi and Andy Lau: Just Click To See Them

  Andy and Rosemund Kwan: They're Right Here

  - Here’s some stills from "Inner Senses”.

  Leslie Cheung is struggling to figure out the problem of his patient Karena Lin in the film: See Her Here Now

  Best New Actress nominee Karena Lin: Check Her Out Here

  - And here’s the poster of "Princess D": See It Right Here

  JAPAN

  Here’s the latest report from “Pigmon”:

  - Tom Cruise's next film will be "The Last Samurai", which is being directed by John Madden and is Warner Brothers' first production in Japan. The film will employ the services of around 10 Japanese actors and 500 local extras. Production is expected to start this fall and the film will be shot in Japan, US, and New Zealand.

  - Hayao Miyazaki (“Spirited Away”) is a producing a new anime feature titled “Neco No Ongaeshi”. The story focuses on a girl who is accidentally trapped in a mystical land of cats and how she eventually grows up amongst the creatures. Newcomer Hiroyuki Morita will make his directorial debut with this film, but he has been working at Studio Ghibli for a long time. The film is set to release this summer in Japan.

  - Jackie Chan has expressed a strong desire to star in the new adaptation of “Tekken: The Movie”, based on the video game of the same name. Inside reports say that he’s already onboard.

  - There were lots of Hollywood celebrities in Tokyo during the past 2 weeks as Ridley Scott, Josh Hartnett, Morgan Freeman, Russell Crowe, Hugh Jackman, and Jodie Foster were all in town. Scott is reported to told the local media that he might direct “Alien 5”, if the script is “just right”.

  - Will Smith is also scheduled to come to Japan, to promote his latest film, “Ali”. The actor is reported to appear with former professional wrestler Antonio Inoki at a special screening at the Budokan (a famous martial arts and concert arena). Inoki actually fought with Ali during a match in 1976.

  - Here’s some brief looks at the latest releases in Tokyo.

  "KT", directed by Junji Sakamoto, is a co-produciton between Japan and Korea. The film is a well-made political thriller about an incident involving Kim Dae-jung (the current president of South Korea) on August 8, 1973.

  "Glowing Growing", directed by Kei Horie. This is a road movie about 2 guys looking for an ideal place to commit suicide.

  "Filament", directed by Hitonari Tsuji. This is about family who lives under an old photo studio. These people are isolated from society, hence they’re called filaments.

  We have now reached the end of this week's column. Remember, if you have information regarding any film industry in Asia, please contact our Asia-AICN offices at atshrivas@rogers.com. See you all next week.

  Darius25