Father Geek here with our regular Asia-AICN crew of Darius25 and his Bollywood report, AccSpy reporting in from Hong Kong, and pigmon filling us in from Japan, but as usual I have something interesting that came seperately to The Geek World Headquarters Compound here in Central Texas, this time by way of France and the Cannes Film Festival...
The much-anticipated Indian film, "Devdas", was premiered at Cannes earlier today. Here's two links to the film's press conference (attended by Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and actors Shahrukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai) and a exclusive clip from the movie:
press conference: Just Click Here
film clip: To See Click Right Now
Father Geek back for a second to say "Here's Darius...."
Asia AICN
Hey all, I hope you’ve had a great week. It was finally busy in the Asian film industry, and it seems that we FINALLY have a loaded column in quite some time!! We have some really cool news for you in this edition, including info on “Shaheed (Martyr)”, “The Legend of Bhagat Singh”, “Anarth (Catastrophe)”, “Women From Mars”, “Storm Riders 2”, “Mr. Naughty”, “Bokunchi”, and "Akaruimirai (Bright Future)”. We also have some pics from “Shaheed (Martyr)”, “Hum Kisise Se Kum Nahin (We Are No Lesser Than Anyone Else)”, “Women From Mars”, “Mr. Naughty”, and “Frugal Game”.
INDIA
- The release dates for the two big Bhagat Singh bio-pics are pretty much confirmed – June 7. Producer Ramesh Taurani of “The Legend of Bhagat Singh” has confirmed that director Rajkumar Santoshi is rapidly editing the film to meet the deadline while Sunny Deol has recently stated that his film, “Shaheed (Martyr)”, will release on June 7th – no matter what!! The two films will also have competition from Yashraj films’ “Mere Yaar Ki Shaadi Hai (My Friend’s Wedding)” and director Vikram Bhatt’s “Awaara Paagal Deewana (The Punk, the Fool, and the Lover)”. Looks like a very busy day indeed!!
- Speaking of “Shaheed”, here’s some new stills that were recently released online.
Bobby Deol (left) as Bhagat Singh and Sunny Deol as Chandrashekhar Azaad: Just Click
The 3 main revolutionaries – Rajguru (Vivek Ahuja), Bhagat, and Sukhdev (Rahul Dev): Check Them Out Here
The first pic of Amrita Singh (with Bobby) in the film, who’s making a comeback after nearly a decade: Click To See Them
And here’s the familiar fedora shot of Bobby as Bhagat Singh that many Indians associate him (Bhagat) with: He's Right Here
For a quick comparison, here’s a pic of Ajay Devgan in almost the same pose and costume, from “The Legend of Bhagat Singh”: Just Check It Out Here
- Sanjay Dutt’s role in director Ravi Dewan’s “Anarth (Catastrophe)” has been extended from a cameo appearance to a full-fledged supporting character. The actor liked his role so much that he asked Dewan to extend his character (and screen time) and was granted the extension. Dutt plays a reformed gangster who turns into an acclaimed poet and then opens a nightclub, which serves as a major setting in the overall story. The film stars Sunil Shetty (probably as a patron of the nightclub), along with Preeti Jhangiani, Ashutosh Rana, and Shweta Menon. It is currently in production with an expected release sometime next spring.
- Sanjay Dutt has also been confirmed as the main lead for director Milan Luthria’s next film. Luthria was rumoured to direct a two-hero project with Dutt and Abhishek Bachchan, but the film will now only have a solo male lead. Luthria will start work in October, once the last-minute work on his latest film, “Chori Chori (Secretly)”, is complete. As usual, this new film is still very early in its stages so expect about a year for the eventual release.
- Producer Rikku Rakesh Nath has signed Aneez Bazmee to direct his next film, titled “Dil Dhadke Baar Baar (The Heart Beats Frequently)”. The film will star Karan Nath, Amisha Patel, and Gracy Singh. It will be shot in Bombay and Scotland from next month.
- Some new stills have also been released from David Dhawan’s highly-anticipated remake of “Analyze This”, titled “Hum Kisise Se Kum Nahin (We Are No Lesser Than Anyone Else). The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Aishwarya Rai, and Ajay Devgan. It will be released on May 31st. Here’s the pics.
Amitabh Bachchan looking extremely goofy, with Ajay Devgan and Aishwarya Rai: They're Here
Now it’s Ajay and Sanjay’s turn to look very goofy, with Ash being her gorgeous self: Pretty Damn Cool
Ajay still looks goofy, but check out Ash in the mini skirt!! Keep in mind that this guy was the ultra serious gangster Malik in “Company” and will BE the patriot Bhagat Singh in 3 weeks: See Her Right Here
Ash looks great in the wedding dress, Ajay looks pretty happy, while AB…, well I dunno what he’s doing: See Them All Here
CHINA / HK
Here’s the weekly report from AccSpy:
- Opening this week in HK is "Women From Mars", produced by Manfred Wong and Ng Chi-hung. The screwball comedy stars Ekin Cheng, Michael Wong and Cheung Tat-ming as three buddies who have their most valuable organs taken away (by the devil) as a punishment of being irresponsible men (OUCH!!). The comedy also features a long list of cameos including Louis Koo, Francis Ng, Shu Qi, Stephen Fung to name a few. Here's some stills from the film.
Ekin and Louis Koo: Click Right Here for Them
Michael, Ekin and Tat-ming checking what's missing: Join Them Here
Shu Qi: Click to See How HOT She Can Be
- Also from Universe is an Eason Chan-starrer "Mr. Naughty (lit.title)”, which also features Eric Kot, Rain Lee and Gillian Chung. The film is produced by "2002" and "Dry Wood Fierce Fire" director Wilson Yip. Some shooting ceremony photos here.
Rain Lee, Eason and Gillian: Click To See Them
Another pic of the three: They're Right Here
Eason: Check This Out
Gillian: Click Now
- Another Universe production on its way is Derek Chiu's "Frugal Game", starring Eric Tsang, Miriam Yeung, Eason Chan, Dodo Cheng and Ti Lung. The game-show satire will be released in early June, here's some stills
Eric eagerly sending Miriam to ER, with the network doing nothing but shooting them: Just Click
Another pic: Click Here for the Action
And yet another pic: Click
- Is "Stormriders2" finally greenlighted? Andy Lau confirmed that director Andrew Lau and Andy's Teamwork Productions has found a company to do the CGI for the movie. The sequel will focus more on Wind (Ekin Cheng) and his new master No Name (Andy Lau). Meanwhile Andy Lau will produce Ekin Cheng's next film "Taiwanese Goddess (lit. title)", a romantic comedy co-starring Cherrie Yan and directed by Wilson Yip.
- Andy Lau and director Johnnie To's new film also has a subject and a Chinese title - it's an undercover police thriller with a cool Chinese title translated to "The Man without a Short Cut".
- "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones" opened at no.1 with a four-days total of $6.34 mil HKD. "Spiderman" still had a strong third weekend as the film fell to second place with total grossing of $24 mil. Angelina Lee's "The Eye" quietly enjoyed a surprisingly small decline (less than 20%) and added its total gross to $8.7 mil over just 11 days. The erotic thriller "Sin" starring Mak Kar-kee and Daniel Wu debuted at no.4 with around $1 mil. Britney Spears started at no.6 with her debut film "Crossroads".
JAPAN
Here’s the latest report from Pigmon:
- Director Junji Sakamoto (“KT”) has already started shooting his next film, “Bokunchi”, which is based on a popular comic of the same name. The story, which stars Mizuki Arisa, focues on the lives of a small family living in a remote fishing village.
- The latest word on “The Sea Watchers”, directed by Kei Kumai and written by the late Akira Kurosawa, is that it’s quite horrible. The direction is too dull and the acting was pretty damn horrid – even the Cannes officials have snubbed this film (and they wouldn’t really snub a Kurosawa film!) for other films. Still, there is some hope for a US release from Sony Classics. This would have been amazing if it was directed by the master himself.
- The Rock was in Japan last week doing promos for "Scorpion King", and stated that he plans to concentrate more on his acting career over his wrestling career. He also said that he would like to do a film with Julia Roberts someday. Meanwhile, he attended the Japanese premiere of his new film, with was filled with over 3000 audience members and many popular Japanese wrestlers.
- Japanese wrestling superstar Masahiro Chono may be appearing in Guillermo Del Toro's next movie (it could either be "Blade 3" or "Doumu"(written by Akira’s Katsuhiro Otomo'). Guillermo is coming to Japan privately next week to make a deal regarding "Doumu”.
- Japanese "Star Wars" fans are keen to get pirate copies of "Episode 2" and are really angry at Fox for releasing the film so late compared to the rest of the world (it opens in mid July). Fox wants to avoid facing with "Spiderman" which has been ruling the Japanese box office charts for the last 2 weeks and doesn’t look like it will slow down. It is a rumor that George Lucas wants to keep the number of press screenings to a minimum – people will see it no matter what the critics say!!
- Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s next film, "Akaruimirai (Bright Future)” has just completed principal photography. The story is still being hidden but the director has stated that the film will make you understand things that you can’t understand (?!?). The films stars Tadanobu Asano and Tatsuya Fujii and will be released early next year.
