Raavan at Cannes (updated)
thanks to Tyler for the link..
COMPLETE PRESS CONFERENCE
thanks too Tyler..
thanks to Carol for the latest image..
- Comment
- Reblog
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
SATYAMSHOT 
May 17, 2010 at 7:27 AM
As opposed to the earlier Cannes moments Ash looks great here..
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 7:39 AM
when will ash stop looking ethereal 🙂 more she ages….more beautiful she looks…..
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 8:08 AM
she looks beautiful.
i didnt like her pics with Gaby the other day.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 8:22 AM
one more gr8 look frm ash!! stunner…this is her year at cannes..!!
two real sweet ones..have a look
http://www.twitpic.com/1okyhn
http://www.twitpic.com/1okyf4
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 9:53 AM
Don’t know if anyone posted this but this is terrific news and a richly deserved honor:
http://beta.thehindu.com/arts/cinema/article432315.ece
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 9:58 AM
Hadn’t seen that GF, thanks for posting — well deserved indeed…
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 12:53 PM
ARR is at Cannes to promote Raavan/Ravanan is a great news but MR is missing due to BG music score needed to be finish!! A role reversal..
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 12:55 PM
Some great pics from Just Jared
http://justjared.buzznet.com/2010/05/17/aishwarya-rai-cannes-abhishrek-bachchan/
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 1:19 PM
I’ve never really been as captivated by Ash’s beauty as most people, but she looks ravishing in that second pic up top. In general she’s aged splendidly over the past decade. She wears maturity well.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 2:22 PM
yes I too think she looks better with age..
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 12:58 PM
A trailer of Mani Ratnam’s bilingual Raavan/Raavanan was screened to the media here today. Timed to coincide with the 63rd Cannes Film Festival, when journalists from the world over assemble here, the event was attended by the lead stars of the movie, Vikram, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai.
Amit Khanna of Reliance Big Pictures, which has produced the films, described Mani Ratnam as arguably the best Indian director living today, and said that he and the rest believed in taking such rare movies as Raavan/Raavanan across the globe. Both the Hindi and Tamil versions will open in 58 countries in mid-June. He hoped that this world would help transcend barriers.
Suhasini, Mani Ratnam’s wife and the film’s co-producer and dialogue writer for the Tamil edition, said that it would help “us understand the grey parts that all of us have in us…None of us is completely white or black”. She was all praise for A.R. Rahman’s music, and said that it merged beautifully with the story. In fact, the music accentuated picture. Songs have a great role to play. They do take the plot forward.
Most Indian movies and stories can trace their origins to the two great epics, the Ramayana and Mahabharata, and Raavan/Raavanan was not different. It has been inspired by the Ramayana, though it really is not a take-off on that.
Incidentally, Ratnam shot both versions simultaneously, something he has never done before, and Vikram and Aishwarya play in both. Bachchan only in the Hindi version. He told the media that his part was his career’s most challenging, most difficult and most stimulating. It was physically exhausting, and Vikram agreed.
Rai felt that apart from the intricacies of essaying the Hindi and Tamil heroine all at the same time, the inhospitable jungle terrain where they shot Ratnam’s work posed its own hazards.
But at the end of it all, she and the rest found a sense of immense satisfaction and joy. Vikram agreed, and said in a private conversation with me that he dubbed for the Hindi version as well. “If Aishwarya could have dubbed for the Tamil edition, why not I for Hindi”, he quipped.
Raavan/Ravanan is the story of Dev and his wife, Ragini, a classical dancer, whose trials begin when he takes up a new posting in a small north Indian town. There the police do not execute the law, but Beera, who has changed the power equation.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Raavan-unveiled-at-Cannes/H1-Article1-544892.aspx
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 1:16 PM
“Incidentally, Ratnam shot both versions simultaneously, something he has never done before”
Were Yuva and AE not shot simultaneously?
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 2:23 PM
Sachita might be right. I too had your impression but then Yuva was shot in Calcutta while AE was of course set in Chennai.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 2:21 PM
“..Mani Ratnam as arguably the best Indian director living today”
Much as I worship Rathnam I do not find this contention ‘arguable’. Adoor Gopalakrishnan even on the strength of just two films I’ve seen is easily India’s greatest living director. India’s greatest since Ray. I have even heard the claim that at his best he matches Ray or is even better in certain ways. I cannot agree or disagree with such a judgment for the reason I’ve just cited but the claim was made by someone about as well versed in Indian arts and letters and just about anything to do with India as anyone on the planet. So I do take it seriously. And of course where I have not seen the films I have been informed by truly enlightening reviews including for example GF’s own on Vidheyan here. With Adoor we are certainly upon the heights.
But Rathnam might well be India’s greatest commercial director which is to say a director who brings the commercial Indian tradition as close to an auteur’s signature as possible. I should add a caveat — I am very unfamiliar with the riches of Bengali cinema on the whole. Leaving this aside within the Hindi tradition only Raj Kapoor seems to me comparable to Rathnam as a director who perhaps attempts to bridge the divide. Guru Dutt is definitely more ‘auteurist’. Other than these two there are very important works by various directors but not really a corpus that can be compared to the output of these two. So for example the Sippy of Sholay is extraordinary but nothing else in his oeuvre even begins to approach this in terms of exhibiting a true signature. Raj Kapoor remains perhaps the truest competition (only upto Joker, beyond this he completely sacrifices his artistic instincts) for Rathnam. It is not easy to choose between the two on grounds of eminence or influence. It seems to me that Rathnam ultimately goes more in an auteurist direction while Kapoor could almost always tame these instincts enough to deliver the wholly satisfying commercial experience. I would pick Rathnam between the two but it’s not an easy call.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 3:15 PM
I am in agreement here, obviously. I prefer Ratnam as well but I’d never fight too hard against an argument that supports Kapoor.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 3:30 PM
Your characterization of Gopalakrishnan is pretty much correct. I mean I just don’t think there’s even a close competitor today. Karun is basically not consistent, and even when he is on a good day, he doesn’t quite communicate as fluently as Gopalakrishnan…
As far as the Ray/Gopalakrishnan comparison goes I have simply seen too many of the former’s films for this to be a fair call but I will say this…Vidheyan alone is probably better than any Ray film with a few notable exceptions (and even here it’s more of a situation of being even than inferior) along the lines of the first two films of the Apu Trilogy, Jalsaghar (with which Vidheyan shares more than a few similarities, as of course was the case with Ellipathayam) and the like.
Of course, Ray’s consistency with how brilliant in technique and how much of a range of experience and ambition his films cover cannot be matched by any Indian filmmaker in my experience.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 3:42 PM
Getting back to today’s filmmakers, there is of course Buddhadev Dasgupta who I’ve only seen two films from and I can’t say I was blown away or anything. Some would make a case for someone like Ghosh. I wouldn’t.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 3:43 PM
Oh not Ghosh!
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 4:34 PM
I have only seen two Adoor films (versus perhaps a dozen of Ray’s) so I certainly can’t compare, but with respect to Adoor’s “Elippathayam”, I will say that this is one of the most accomplished Indian films I have ever seen. Its texture and “feel”, its pace and rhythm, that is to say its TIME, which draws the viewer in and does not let him go, make this a unique cinematic experience. if I could compare this to any other director’s films, I would go with Antonioni’s rather than Ray’s….
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 1:41 PM
no yuva was completed first i think & that is when he suffered his heart attack so tamil version was hot much later.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 2:43 PM
these links suggest it was done simultaneously:
http://www.rediff.com/movies/2004/may/20sid.htm
http://www.bollywoodmantra.com/movie-review/yuva-movie-preview/
and there are many other links that suggest the same.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 3:17 PM
Yeah, I’d heard repeatedly at the time that there were scenes that certain actors from both films shot together. It might make sense that some of it was shot apart for obvious reasons but what doesn’t make sense is not making use of the same resources for two films that are virtually shot-by-shot counterparts. It’s just bad business sense if it were done this way without compulsion.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 2:11 PM
The Hollywood Reporter
CANNES: Mani Ratnam’s ‘Raavan’ – the first Pan Indian film?
May 17, 2010 – 10:59 am
By Mira Advani Honeycutt
Director Mani Ratnam’s on to a new genre: Pan Indian.
The director, known for making brilliant films in the Tamil (Southern Indian) language, has also directed four Hindi-language Bollywood films. But in his latest action-drama, “Raavan,” Ratnam has bridged the two genres, making it a Pan-Indian film.
“Raavan” features Ratnam’s muse, Aishwarya Rai, and her husband Abhishek Bacchan, and it was shot simultaneously in two languages – Hindi and Tamil. Produced by Ratnam’s Madras Talkies, Reliance and IM Global, the film is set for a worldwide release in 58 countries on June 18.
Ratnam and his longtime music collaborator A.R. Rahman were absent from the press conference at the Majestic hotel Monday. They are in India doing the final cutting of the film. But Ratnam was represented by his wife Suhasini Ratnam, who not only is a writer and co-producer on this film (and some earlier Ratnam films), but is also an accomplished actress and a film critic on television. She was joined by Rai, Bacchan, actor Vikram and Reliance’s Amit Khanna and Prasoon Joshi.
Dubbing the new genre Pan Indian, Suhasini clarified the difference between Hindi (Bollywood) cinema and regional. “It’s like the difference between Hollywood and French cinema,” she said. Commenting on “Raavan,” she said it’s the first time that a filmmaker has attempted to blend the two.
Since Indian culture is so steeped in mythology, it’s only natural that films from this country use this rich source as inspiration. In the scripture Ramayana, Raavan, the 10-headed demon-god, abducts Lord Rama’s wife Sita, and to get his consort back Rama has to hack off all ten heads of the ferocious demon.
In Ratnam’s spiritual/mythical film, the story is set in a time that is both ancient and contemporary. The filmmaker explores not just the good and the evil, the hunter and the hunted, but also the grey area. The film questions that Raavan may not be all that bad, he may have some redeeming qualities.
“Raavan has ten heads and ten conflicting thoughts, so there’s a bit of conflict and Raavan in all of us,” says Suhasini.
Rai, who started her acting career with Ratnam’s “Iruvar,” recalls that she jumped into films with no experience. “But you know you’re protected and guided by Mani,” she said.
The three actors shared their experiences on the physically grueling shoot, from swishing in streams to dangling from trees and cliffs. “You’re drenched from 6 am to 6 pm, trekking, hiking–moment to moment was physically challenging,” says Rai. The majority of the stunts were done by the actors themselves.
The five-minute promo clip we saw revealed some pretty impressive locations in remote rural and rustic parts of India. “We had to lay roads in the jungles and sometimes the sets would be washed away by a raging river,” recalls Bacchan.
Aish and AB (as the star couple is fondly dubbed) have worked in four films together. But still the question is always asked: How is it working as a married couple, especially on this physically taxing film? To which Aish answers, “When I’m on the set delivering a scene, I’m not looking at him as my husband – and he is nasty to me in this film. But after a long day you come back home and you have each other.”
http://riskybusiness.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/05/17/cannes-festival-mani-ratnam-raavan-a-pan-indian-film/
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 2:51 PM
ash looks great, vikram looks good too, but i think abhishekh needs to hire a stylist. he got better at dressing for a while but he’s back to his old ways. not that it should matter, but for a lot of the movie going crowd it’s important for a mainstream actor to maintain a good styling.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 3:25 PM
Abhi is good looking too in these pics. I’am kind of seeing a trend in the other Ravaan thread here also, to compare him with Vikram on all the promos and pull him down.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 3:48 PM
ha ha there’s no motive on my part to pull anyone down. Abhishekh is actually my favorite actor from his age group, but that doesn’t mean i have to like everything about him. A bright red leather jacket is not my thing, but maybe i’m the one who needs to work on my styling. as far as vikram goes, his suit isn’t all that great either but given the choice between the two outfits, i’d go w/ what vikram’s wearing.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 3:49 PM
Abhishek tends to veer between formal suits and leather jackets! Not sure what the deal is.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 3:55 PM
“A bright red leather jacket is not my thing’
maybe he’s trying out stuff for Dostana 2!
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 4:06 PM
that’s could be it, since i believe they’ll take dostana to london this time around.
he’s much better w/ his formal stuff…i actually think he usually has the best suits.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 4:06 PM
Sarvanash I;am the same page with you :). Maybe I’m in the different side of the styling. I like Abhi here precisely for his jacket.
Maybe that does go well with the occasion, but I felt it looked good on him. Even I don’t like Abhi in some of his dress code.
For example, I liked him the least at the PAA perimeier with those glasses. But with this Jacket I felt he was good too.
Maybe I’am minority here with this.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 4:19 PM
Personally, my issue isn’t so much with what Abhishek is wearing per se but that it doesn’t seem to go with what the other two are wearing. Ash’s and Vikram’s outfits are sober and formal, and Abhishek’s seems incongruous, as if he wandered in from some other function…
LikeLike
May 18, 2010 at 4:16 PM
Add me in that minority as I don’t have any issue with his different style and jacket. As an observer and not an expert(everyone is an expert on everything now days!) I would want him to wear different cut and brand jeans. Perhaps he is too loyal to the brand he endorses, which doesn’t seem to suit his different physique.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 3:54 PM
Rajesh, I can vouch for Sarvanash here.. he’s not part of that trend.. but as for some of the others there is (again not in every instance, depends on who you’re referring to) there are let’s some folks who don’t exactly love Abhishek who’ve discovered Vikram and Tamil cinema and probably even a language called Tamil the day the first batch of promos aired! What can I say? I called them out a bit on this but then at the same time I want to encourage this greater enlightenment where one turns fan of South Indian films, even if for a day! Let’s say these folks won’t exactly be catching Vikram’s Selvaraghavan project! Most wouldn’t be able to tell Rajni from Kamal if woken up in the middle of the night.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 3:57 PM
LOL!
This has been one of the funniest trends to watch in development..suddenly every person that knows Abhishek and knows of Raavan/Raavanan has become a great fan of Vikram.
Sarvanash is of course not doing this…
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 4:09 PM
ha i’ve noticed this too.
i do like vikram, even though i’ve only seen aparachit…he was pretty good in that.
w/ regards to rajni, i’m going to have to side w/ rajen. this is based solely on bhool bhulaiya original and sivaji.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 4:24 PM
I agree Satyam. I’am not sure if one can compare a Hindi performance to a Tamil equivalent due to degrees of sensibilities. South seems to be more emotional than Hindi. I’m curios to know when Yuva was released, was there a debate b/n Maddy and Abhi too ? But maybe Maddy was known to Hindi audience anyway and with Vikram as you mentioned the Hindi audience are discovering Vikram.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 5:10 PM
not really because that was the first time Abhishek got a great deal of attention. It was too early for people to go negative on him. This time around it’s different and you have partisans of other stars engaging in this sort of thing. Want to know another sign? People who mysteriously think Rathnam is a sellout everytime he works with Abhishek or those who think every Rahman soundtrack on an Abhishek film is either poor or overrated!
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 5:11 PM
and it’s not about sensibilities as much as the fact that some folks need an excuse to go after Abhishek. Any will do!
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 4:58 PM
I don’t think being fan means always supporting. Now with twitter, we can directly submit our views to the actor which helps them in getting better.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 3:20 PM
Harrowing ‘Raavan’ shoot tests mettle of Bollywood’s most glamorous couple
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 4:43 PM
Team Raavan on the red carpet – http://i40.tinypic.com/2yw7fxg.jpg
They all look good.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 4:44 PM
awright! That’s a good-looking crew. Ash looks gorgeous in the sari, and let’s just say I prefer Abhi in a tux to him in the red jacket!
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 4:52 PM
aww..how sweet is dat..abhi is holding his mom-in-law’s hand!! they all look good!!
nd just like most of d ppl above..even me didn’t like abhi in dat red outrageous jacket..too loud nd very govinda like..!!
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 4:58 PM
“In general she’s aged splendidly over the past decade. She wears maturity well.”agree, gf girlfirend.
she looks desirable now in a different sort of a way…
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 5:05 PM
LOL, check out Abhishek’s final response in the interview!
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 5:06 PM
abhishek seems to think he has an “immunity” against the bad effects of poor styling and casual approach to physique and look. “but i think abhishekh needs to hire a stylist. he got better at dressing for a while but he’s back to his old ways. not that it should matter, but for a lot of the movie going crowd it’s important for a mainstream actor to maintain a good styling.” saravansh—yor comment makes a lot of sense (unlike your name..lol)..
abhishek seems to have this casual approach towards styling and look.
he seems to think he is “immune” somewhat.
“not that it should matter”–exactly—he feels he has survivived much worse , so now should be ok. But this attitude is precisely one of the reasons why even wiht his acting capability, screen presence and the bachchan effect, he still has never really hit the top spots….
for his (and bachchans) sake, i hope someone drills this into him….and this is a well-meaning comment.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 5:16 PM
I of course prefer Ash in a saree but I also like her best when she really gives off that South Indian vibe as she does here..
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 5:22 PM
Aish’s makeup in Saree is atrocious?
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 6:26 PM
Munna, it is bad light on some of the pictures. The Getty Images photos are fine like the group picture. The HHC pictures are an example of bad photo taking. Some people are better photographers than others. lol
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 6:31 PM
She looks fabulous in that black dress.
LikeLike
May 19, 2010 at 3:16 PM
it’s a quintessentially Tamilian look (or perhaps South Indian) with the hair done that way and so forth.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 5:25 PM
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 5:26 PM
Rathnam incidentally did not go to Cannes because he was busy finishing the BGM with Rahman.
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 5:32 PM
wow..wow..wow..!! i m lost for words..does this woman look gorgeous or what?!! stunning saree ..stunning face..!! just wow!! close up pics r too good!!
nd abhishek bachchan-my man is back..looks absolutely yummy..!!
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 5:34 PM
Ohh no not again…..Initially it was amusing, maybe even charming but this tendency of foreign media repeating the same inanities about BW stars is grating now…tell us something new; we all know SRK is the biggest/most popular star in the world with 3.65 billion fans, Ash is the most beautiful woman, Abhi-Ash pair is bigger than Brad-Angie, no need to belabor those points, 5 yrs are enough!!!
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 6:51 PM
“Aish’s makeup in Saree is atrocious?” munne-plz leave ash and her saree alone-lol.
for ash–everything suits…she is just too classy for comparison.
“abhishek bachchan-my man is back..looks absolutely yummy..!!”mansi-yummy is not the word I associate with abhishek but guess some girls find him so. by the way, he seems to be taking this metrosexual thing a bit too seriously…
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 7:12 PM
Lol you made me Dushasana 🙂
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 10:01 PM
how do u think dat a man in a black tuxedo nd a wonderfully kempt stubble is taking his “metrosexual -ness” seriously?!! leave him alone… he looks yummy,,delicious,,edible..all of these..!!
LikeLike
May 18, 2010 at 4:39 PM
“he looks yummy,,delicious,,edible..all of these..!!”mansi, u surely seem an abhi fan-good taste.
but “edible”!cmon why are u spoiling our innocent minds–lol!
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 7:42 PM
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/raavan-gets-new-song-courtesy-gulzar/115563-8-66.html
Raavan’ gets new song, courtesy Gulzar
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 8:04 PM
wonderful..
LikeLike
May 17, 2010 at 10:23 PM
check this
Ranjha Ranjha promo till 2day mrning has got 200430 views.Its 1 of d biggst response 2 any movie promo on Bollywood Hungama.
LikeLike
May 18, 2010 at 9:51 AM
thanks Tyler, wonderful to hear Suhasini speak.. the camaraderie is always evident with this team..
I would love to see someone make a film with Abhishek and Vikram in parallel parts (Rathnam preferably).
LikeLike
May 18, 2010 at 9:52 AM
interesting how Suhasini frames it in rather primeval terms with the hunter/hunted dichotomy.
LikeLike
May 18, 2010 at 10:08 AM
Suhasini also seems to be implying that there is more to Ragini than we expect from the trailers and that Dev is not as clearcut as the good guy – lots of gray.
LikeLike
May 18, 2010 at 10:16 AM
all of this probably makes for a more interesting but also more risky film… Indian audiences don’t handle gray very well! But it was always clear to me that on a project of this scale and ambition Rathnam wouldn’t really tame his instincts. Which is why despite all the buzz this film has generated and rightly so, one would be more sober about the commercial prospects if one were more familiar with Rathnam’s work over the last decade or more. Which is only to say I was certain about Guru’s box office. Here it would be foolhardy to display the same. On the other hand if everything works here we might be looking at a bigger commercial and critical winner than Guru here.
LikeLike
May 18, 2010 at 10:20 AM
To be honest, I think they’re just being a bit highfalutin with all this gray stuff. When it comes down to the film it’s a simple inversion and I’m sure the audience won’t have much trouble digesting this. The actual texture of the film is what might be more of a hurdle. These spaces and faces and sounds are not mainstream in really any sense. Certainly not so in recent Hindi works.
LikeLike
May 18, 2010 at 10:22 AM
that’s probably right.. certainly Rathnam hasn’t been as abstract/ambiguous (obscurantist isn’t unfair either) as Dil Se anywhere else.
But I really agree on your final point here. What is most striking about the visuals is also that which is least reducible to commercial parameters, even for an audience that is perhaps more aware of some of these registers today.. and this by the way also separates Rathnam from RGV. The latter’s visual grammar is certainly not for everyone but because he repeats himself quite a bit a base audience can at least identify it as the RGV style (certainly that of recent years). With Rathnam if you liked Guru you’ll get nothing like that film (in any sense) here. Yuva was yet different as was Dil Se. So just looking at the Hindi works there isn’t that common visual framework (though of course there are common cues at points). So each Rathnam film has to be taken on its own terms. We saw this in Tamil as well. The best example is AP and KM. Same star, completely different films. One could pick other examples of course.
LikeLike
May 18, 2010 at 10:14 AM
Suhasini is in someways Ratnam’s least heralded collaborator. No film journalist has really attempted to interrogate more deeply the role she plays in his filmmaking which is a shame. Really great seeing her represent the film where he can’t.
LikeLike
May 18, 2010 at 10:18 AM
agreed completely.. she is really intrinsic to Rathnam’s ‘mature’ phase..
LikeLike
May 18, 2010 at 12:51 PM
She also strikes one as far more articulate than Mani: not a criticism of the latter, but she just strikes me as more “verbal” than Mani…
LikeLike
May 18, 2010 at 12:55 PM
What did abhishek call Suhashini? “Hasteemaa”? Glad Vikram made the point he did about the film traversing previously un-tapped spaces as far as shooting locales go…
LikeLike
May 18, 2010 at 1:07 PM
Hasinimam ( the last ‘m’ silent i think)
LikeLike
May 18, 2010 at 1:46 PM
Mani has always struck me as someone completely unwilling to ‘interpret’ his films in at least normal media formats..
LikeLike
May 18, 2010 at 2:05 PM
Think Suhasini gets too much credit.
She does a talk show in Jaya Tv called “Hasini Pesum padam” where she gets to review Tamil films and weighs its pros and cons.
She comes off as a moron with not much of a vision about cinema. Very restrictive understanding.
I think her influence on Mani, if positive, might be very minimal and at worst, detrimental.
LikeLike
May 18, 2010 at 2:21 PM
sometimes one is constrained by the format and the commercial demands of a TV show.. one is not always free to say whatever one wishes..
Your last line puzzles me though.. why ‘detrimental’?
LikeLike
May 18, 2010 at 2:27 PM
For instance, Her work in “Iruvar”, the dialogues was absolutely nauseating and single big reason why it got spoiled for me. I only wish Mani gave it to a better writer. Goodness gracious me..
And dude it’s not just that tv show. In general, she comes off as pompous and pseudo-intelligent. Been like that for years/decade..
LikeLike
May 19, 2010 at 3:06 PM
“sometimes one is constrained by the format ” having watched the show, i can say for sure it isnt the TV or format that is constraining it is her own intellectual ability which she is never going to realize due to what OSN says below – “pompous and pseudo-intelligent.”. her whole family(maternal) suffers from this – offwhich only kamal is the only one who can afford to be pompous – he has more than enough talent to back it.
LikeLike
May 19, 2010 at 3:10 PM
Kamal though has a serious mind (leaving aside the talent issue). I see some strong opinions expressed on Suhasini here!
LikeLike
May 19, 2010 at 3:20 PM
Yeah, I’m a bit surprised!
LikeLike
May 20, 2010 at 6:51 AM
I agree with you Sachita. the problem with Suhasini’s family is the amount of “vetti bandha” (to use a Tamil expression) they gloss over, without being fully substantiated themselves. Except Kamal and Mani, who by the way has no time for it.
LikeLike
May 18, 2010 at 2:08 PM
Hope people here are following this ‘event’
LikeLike
May 18, 2010 at 2:13 PM
yes someone mentioned it earlier..
LikeLike
May 18, 2010 at 2:09 PM
Someone needs to put up a post.
LikeLike
May 18, 2010 at 9:01 PM
Preview of Abhishek interview with NDTV
http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_player.php?id=1228843
LikeLike
May 19, 2010 at 6:50 AM
I wish from my bottom of my heart that raavan become one of the major hit both in commercial n critical successes..
Abhi is a good actor and if we look at his career filmography he has touched a lot of genre which tell about his versatility ..
LikeLike
May 19, 2010 at 9:51 AM
amen to that!!!
LikeLike
May 19, 2010 at 5:18 PM
I finally got around to the complete press conference (link above) and it’s a must watch.. LOL, at Abhishek’s final response at the end!
LikeLike
May 19, 2010 at 6:55 PM
Abhi as great sense of humor. He gives you laugh without taking names or anybody else down. But the man in Bollywood who all claim as great sense of humor does the opposite, at the expense of others.
LikeLike
May 19, 2010 at 5:22 PM
My one quibble here is that there should have been a Raavanan poster as well.
LikeLike
May 19, 2010 at 5:41 PM
Ash looks amazing in the pics here.. as for Abhi, he’s okay.. I thought he looked much better during his Sarkar days..
But I must say I loved Raavan’s music.. glad to see the ranjha ranjha promo there.. thats for me the best song in the album, not that i like the others much less!
LikeLike
May 19, 2010 at 10:15 PM
LikeLike
May 21, 2010 at 9:04 AM
http://blog.livemint.com/livelounge/2010/05/20/a-proud-moment-for-indian-cinema/
It’s been a remarkably eventful 48-hours here. The markets are preparing to close and the biggest news to have come out is about ‘Kites’. While the film’s stars, Hrithik Roshan and Barbara Mori, are in New York for its world premiere, Studio Canal, one of the leading European distribution companies, have picked up the film’s European rights. A few other buyers have covered almost every market in the world. It’s safe to say that ‘Kites’ will have the widest release worldwide compared to any recent Indian film. ‘Raavan’, on the other hand, created more buzz with the presence of Ash-Abhi and later director Mani Ratnam, but it hasn’t received enough buyer attention.
LikeLike
May 21, 2010 at 9:43 AM
Wow, Studio Canal – is that a first?
LikeLike
May 22, 2010 at 2:09 AM
Closeups of Aish and Abhi r not impressive.
LikeLike
May 22, 2010 at 10:53 AM
someone needs to set up an award for catching ash in a bad pose/look. she is TOO photogenic.
however, in the lowest (still) pic of ash, she looks a bit drugged -or is he plain tired-or just the usual attempt ot look “alluring”.
Anyhow, i like ash in almost ANY pose/look/getup. So there is a “bit” of bias there..
LikeLike
May 24, 2010 at 9:32 AM
alex..she had an eye infection actually..read it in d mid-day!! thats why her eyes r lookin maybe a bit dopey!!
LikeLike
May 30, 2010 at 2:44 PM
“alex..she had an eye infection actually..read it in d mid-day!! thats why her eyes r lookin maybe a bit dopey!!”–believe u mansi.
dont believe or suggest she is on drugs or doing dodgy things late night–(although that does seem an interesting scandalous thought-lol).
just a quick poll-how many more years can ash go on as a mainstream lead heroine and model—i hope personally she goes on and on…
LikeLike
May 30, 2010 at 3:26 PM
alex..personally i feel she can carry on for a long time..but i really have this feeling that she is now not going to sign any more films in d near future for obvious reasons..!!
also..she seems to be spending a lot of time with abhishek now frm new york to greece to now turkey..i really think she is now in a mood to relax for a while!!
LikeLike
May 24, 2010 at 8:22 AM
Three of India’s hottest women became a cynosure of all eyes at the recently concluded Cannes Film Festival
While Deepika Padukone made India proud with her sari-clad red carpet appearance, Mallika Sherawat worked the crowd with her daring ‘props’.
But as usual it was Aishwarya Rai Bachchan who grabbed the maximum eyeballs with her red carpet appearances as the global face of L’Oreal.
http://movies.rediff.com/slide-show/2010/may/24/slide-show-1-aishwarya-rais-hottest-cannes-look-poll.htm
LikeLike
May 26, 2010 at 5:44 PM
Munna:
Kissa Cannes ka
Cyrus is confused if Cannes is actually a film festival or a fashion event, the way our Indian contingent seems to be behaving
Posted On Wednesday, May 26, 2010 at 06:45:45 PM
It’s time to travel. A time to put on your best suits and evening gowns and say cheese to the million cameras flashing away. And, of course, a time to wax eloquent on world cinema no matter how well you can spell the word Goddard.
Well, it’s that time of the year when everyone remotely connected to Hindi films wants to or at least aspires to go to Cannes – the world’s biggest film event. And unlike the Oscars, you don’t really need to be invited making it possible for just about everyone to go there.
For the ignoramuses, Cannes is actually a resort town in the South of France and the film festival is a private event held at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès or the Festival Palace every year in May. Hence, for a film to be actually screened at the festival, it must be screened at the Festival Palace during the designated time period for it to qualify as an official entry at the Cannes – a fact that is often tweaked in the Indian media. Our filmmakers have mastered the art of ‘screening’ their films at Cannes year after year by merely showing their film at some café or small theatre of the town and proclaiming in the Indian press how their film was unveiled at the Cannes!
Started in 1946, the Cannes Film Festival is not just a time to celebrate the best of world cinema but also a serious film market that facilitates film trade. Movies are big business today and fests like these have helped in connecting buyers and sellers from around the world. Sadly, India is still a long shot away from being a serious participatory nation because we just don’t make those kind of films that would interest the world community (read non NRIs) at large.
A few films that tried hard to get some deals at Cannes in the last few years without much success are Kambakht Ishq (don’t you laugh!), My Name is Khan (gosh!) and Kites (well, well, well!). Ironically, India’s only official entry this year after eons – Udaan – received step motherly treatment by the Indian contingent.
There’s nothing wrong in walking the red carpet and basking in the adulation if you deserve it. Sadly, all Indian actors and actresses treat Cannes as a season of endless photo opportunities, cinema be damned. Quite honestly, an Aishwarya Rai or a Mallika Sherawat or a Deepika Padukone are merely interested in is who’s designing their couture and how many magazines are flashing their pictures. The better their attire, the bigger their stature as movie stars; doesn’t mind if their movies don’t last beyond the first Friday!
As long as we treat Cannes as a beautiful town that we ought to visit for an annual holiday and as long as such creatures continue to emblemize Indian cinema at the Cannes, we can forget about being taken seriously.
P.S. – Just hope the media doesn’t find out about Ms. Padukone’s last few releases – Housefull, Kartik Calling Kartik and Chandni Chowk to China!
(The columnist is regarded as the pioneer of the short film space in India and is also the Founder of SHAMIANA, India’s premier short film club.)
LikeLike
May 26, 2010 at 6:00 PM
This is a silly piece — guess the writer hasn’t seen many pics of the non-Indian celebs at Cannes (or at other film festivals). And if Padukone’s last few film releases are going to be held against her, spare a thought for Eva Longoria!
LikeLike
May 26, 2010 at 6:28 PM
What a complete idiot!
Instead of calling his readers ignoramuses, he should look int the mirror
What a total tool!.
LikeLike
June 7, 2010 at 7:53 AM
Ash at the French Open:
http://www.filmicafe.com/photo_event_images.php?cat_id=1&subcat_id=1&event_id=5001&sort=view
LikeLike
June 10, 2010 at 7:43 AM
Check her out at Roland Garros. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan gave away the Longines Prize for Elegance to tennis player Gustavo Kuerten for his work in favour of disadvantaged children at a charity dinner organised by Longines.
Aishwarya seen with Gustavo and his girlfriend. Gustavo Kuerten is a retired former World No. 1 tennis player from Brazil. He won the French Open three times between 1997 and 2001, and was the Tennis Masters Cup champion in 2000. After 12 years on the international tour, he retired from top-level tennis in May 2008.
LikeLike