Cinema
Frances McDormand a double Oscar winner for 'Nomadland'
Frances McDormand has two more Oscars. She may hang on to them a little more tightly.
She won best actress Sunday night for her performance in “Nomadland,” which also nabbed best picture. As a producer on the movie, she collected a trophy as well.
McDormand kissed her director-husband, Joel Coen, and rose from their table inside Union Station in downtown Los Angeles to make her way to the stage for one of the shortest speeches of the night.
Also Read: ‘Nomadland’ wins best picture at a social distanced Oscars
“I have no words,” she said. “My voice is in my sword. We know the sword is our work and I like work. Thank you for knowing that and thanks for this.”
In “Nomadland,” McDormand plays Fern, who hits the road after the death of her husband and loss of her job at a plant that is shut down. She buys a van and seeks seasonal work, meeting fellow nomads and learning survival skills along the way.
“My happiest moment tonight is when Fran won,” said Chloé Zhao, who became the second woman and first of color to win directing honors. “She really is ‘Nomadland.’”
McDormand skipped the virtual media room, although she ducked in when Zhao and the other producers were talking, apparently to switch out trophies before leaving just as quickly.
McDormand now has three best-actress Oscars. She won in 2018 for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” and had her trophy briefly stolen during the post-show Governors Ball. It was quickly recovered. Her first Oscar came in 1996 for “Fargo.”
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The 63-year-old actor won over front-runner Carey Mulligan of “Promising Young Woman” and Viola Davis of “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Andra Day of “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” and Vanessa Kirby of “Pieces of a Woman” were first-time nominees.
Is this an ‘Asterisk Oscars’ or a sign of things to come?
In 93 years of existence, the Oscars have been postponed by shootings — the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and the attempted killing of Ronald Reagan — and by a flood, when 1938 rainstorms overwhelmed the Los Angeles River. Sunday’s ceremony will be the first Academy Awards delayed by a pandemic.
After a year that erased movie titles from marquees and sent seismic shockwaves through Hollywood, the show is going on — two months later than usual, in a crowdless ceremony at Los Angeles’ Union Station and with a batch of nominees that have barely played in movie theaters. The biggest box office of the best-picture nominees belongs to “Promising Young Woman” — a pandemic blockbuster with $6.3 million in U.S. ticket sales.
That this is all very strange goes without saying. Given such an unusual year, this year’s awards have been called the “Asterisk Oscars.” But there is reason to believe, and even to hope, that some of this year’s changes are here to stay.
Also read: Academy delays 2021 Oscars ceremony for global pandemic
The broadcast, beginning 8 p.m. EDT Sunday on ABC after a red-carpet pre-show, will be the most transformed in decades. The show’s producers, led by filmmaker Steven Soderbergh, are pledging an entire makeover, one perhaps long overdue for an institution resistant to innovation. They plan to treat the awards more like a movie, including shooting it in 24 frames-per-second, rather than the typical 30. Zooms are strictly forbidden. Instead, tested and quarantined maskless nominees will gather at the downtown train station, while satellite feeds connect others from around the world.
On the heels of a humbling year, the Oscars — usually a frothy night of self-congratulation — this year may feel more like a therapeutic rally for an industry in the midst of convulsive change.
Just the weeks leading up to the Academy Awards saw one of Los Angeles’ most iconic movie theaters, the Cinerama Dome, along with ArcLight Cinemas, go out of business. When the Walt Disney Co. announced that it would delay “Black Widow” from May to July and open it both theatrically and on Disney+, cinemas shuddered. Adding to the sense of wholesale change was the news that Searchlight Pictures’ Nancy Utley and Steve Gilula — who have steered so many Oscar winners, including this year’s best-picture favorite, Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland” — were stepping down.
“Even as the pandemic is winding down, I don’t know that we’re going to return to business as usual,” said Darnell Hunt, dean of UCLA’s College of Social Sciences, who studies Hollywood.
That’s good news, too. 2020 saw, Hunt says, “profound diversity” unlike any year before. In a study released Thursday and authored by Hunt and Ana-Christina Ramón, researchers found that 42% of roles overall and 39.7% of lead roles in 2020 films were played by actors of color — roughly in line with U.S. population demographics.
There are many caveats. Representation still lags behind the camera and among executives. With many of the biggest studio films put on hold, smaller, lower-budget films — many of them streamed — were much of 2020’s atypical output. But the diversity of those films has also transferred to the Oscars. In recent years, the film academy — which this year extended eligibility by two months and to films that bypassed movie theaters — has made strides in expanding its membership. In the coming years, the academy will institute inclusion standards in the best-picture category.
A record nine of the 20 acting nominees are non-white. If Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”), Chadwick Boseman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”), Yuh-Jung Youn (“Minari”) and Daniel Kaluuya (“Judas and the Black Messiah”) all win — as they did at the Screen Actors Guild Awards — it would be the first time people of color swept the acting awards, and a dramatic reversal from the recent years of “OscarsSoWhite.”
More women are nominated than ever before. Two — Emerald Fennell (“Promising Young Woman”) and Zhao — are nominated for best director for the first time. (Only five women have ever been nominated until now.) Zhao, the clear front-runner, is poised to be only the second woman to ever win the award, and the first woman of color.
Yes, it’s an odd year. But with a class of widely admired films and roundly applauded nominees from groups that have historically been marginalized by the academy, a sea change in Hollywood is set to stirringly take the stage.
“This is clearly a watershed moment for the Oscars,” says Hunt. “It shows us what’s possible. If you go for generations without ever acknowledging the actors, director and writers of color, it’s hard to break out of that pattern. Now we’re creating a whole new culture of what’s Oscar worthy.”
Streaming — “a different animal,” says Hunt — has played a major role in making the film industry more inclusive. But it’s also disrupted and morphed movie culture. The Oscar nominees, like most films in the past year, were watched largely at home in more solitary settings than the packed theaters that usually feed the buzz of Oscar season. “Nomadland” found its largest audience, after a theatrical run, on Hulu. Netflix leads all studios with 36 nominations. Movies are more widely and more easily accessible on streaming services, but their grip on popular culture is potentially less firm amid oceans of digital content.
Also read: With red carpets rolled up, the Oscar race goes virtual
According to a survey last month of 1,500 active entertainment consumers by the research firm Guts + Data, not many people are familiar with this year’s Oscar nominees. Some 35% hadn’t heard of any of the eight films up for best picture. Warner Bros.’ “Judas and the Black Messiah” ranked highest with 42% awareness but only 12% had watched it. Sunday’s lead-nominee, Netflix’s “Mank,” was unfamiliar to 82% of respondents.
You could chalk some of that up to people having their attention elsewhere during a global pandemic. But some believe cinemas are the missing link. On Sunday, Patrick Corcoran, vice president of the National Association of Theater Owners, hopes to see a connection between movies “and the movie theaters that make the experience of seeing movies so special.”
“I think people already feel that,” says Corcoran. “It’s why the ratings for movie awards shows have fallen so precipitously this year – movie theaters are the missing element that drives the interest in movies and lifts their presence in the culture.”
Award show ratings, along with everything else on linear television, had been declining before the pandemic. Last year’s Oscar broadcast, in which Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” triumphed, had the smallest U.S. audience ever, with 23.6 million total viewers, according to Nielsen.
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But ratings have nosedived this year. The Golden Globes dropped 63% to 6.9 million viewers. The Grammys fell 51% to 9.2 million. The Oscars are sure to sink to their lowest audience ever. Less clear is if that’s part of a downward trend — or another asterisk.
“I don’t worry about it,” says Soderbergh, who says he’s focused on putting on the best show possible. “The larger issue of whether this is a secular shift or a cyclical shift, we don’t know. It’s still too early to tell. But it doesn’t really meet my metric for tragedy or outrage.”
GLAAD Media Awards presenters support transgender athletes
“Schitt’s Creek” and “The Boys in the Band” were winners at the GLAAD Media Awards, which included soccer’s Ashlyn Harris and Ali Krieger calling for transgender students to be accepted as “part of the team” in sports.
Harris and Krieger, spouses who play for the Orlando Pride and were on the 2019 World Cup-winning U.S. women’s national team, presented an award in Thursday’s virtual ceremony to the film “Happiest Season,” about a lesbian romance.
The couple drew attention to transgender athletes amid widespread efforts to restrict their participation, including a recently signed Mississippi bill that bans them from competing on girls or women’s sports teams. It becomes law July 1.
Read: Meet Tashnuva Anan Shishir: the first transgender woman in Bangladesh to Present the news.
“Trans students want the opportunity to play sports for the same reason other kids do: to be a part of a team where they feel like they belong,” Krieger said.
Added Harris: “We shouldn’t discriminate against kids and ban them from playing because they’re transgender.”
“Star Trek: Discovery,” “I May Destroy You” and “A Little Late with Lilly Singh” were among the other projects honored in the pre-taped ceremony hosted by Niecy Nash. It’s available on Hulu through June.
The GLAAD awards, in their 32nd year, recognize what the media advocacy organization calls “fair, accurate, and inclusive” depictions of LGBTQ people and issues. Presenters and winners in this year’s event highlighted priorities including the importance of solidarity and self-respect.
Read Ashrayan: In Hatikumrul, a transgender community's hopes thrive with permanent addresses.
“Friends, I’m so proud to stand with the LGBTQ community tonight, just as the LGBTQ community stands with Black and diverse communities,” said Sterling K. Brown, who presented the outstanding documentary award to “Disclosure.”
The “This Is Us” star, citing the Black Lives Matter and Black Trans Lives Matter movements, said that “we’re going to keep spreading that message of unity and justice until every one of us is safe to live the lives we love.”
JoJo Siwa, the teenage YouTube personality and performer, presented the award for outstanding children’s programming to “The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo.” She said in January that she’s part of the LGBTQ community.
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“I have the best, most amazing, wonderful girlfriend in the entire world who makes me so, so, so happy and that’s all that matters,” Siwa said. ”It’s really cool that kids all around the world who look up to me can now see that loving who you want to love is totally awesome” and should be celebrated.
Other awards went to Sam Smith, who was honored as outstanding music artist for the album “Love Goes”; Chika, named breakthrough music artist for “Industry Games,” and “We’re Here” won outstanding reality program.
Cast members from “Glee,” including Chris Colfer, Amber Riley and Jane Lynch, paid tribute to Naya Rivera and her character in the series, gay cheerleader Santana Lopez. Rivera, 33, died in an accidental drowning in July 2020.
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Indian actor Soumitra Chatterjee's wife dies
Legendary Indian thespian Soumitra Chatterjee's wife Deepa Chatterjee died at a private hospital in the eastern city of Kolkata on Sunday (April 04, 2021), within five months of each other. She was 82.
Deepa, also a Bengali actress and director and a former state champion in badminton, passed away at Colombia Asia Hospital in the early hours of Sunday. She had been suffering from age-related ailments.
Like her husband, Deepa began working in the Bengali film industry at a very young age. The couple had, in fact, met at a movie set and fell in love before tying the knot.
Also read: India mourns death of celebrated actor Soumitra Chatterjee
Her most prominent work is Bilambita Lay in 1970, in which Deepa played a lead role opposite late Bengali film superstar Uttam Kumar. She also acted in several other famous movies and TV shows.
Soumitra, who acted in over 300 regional Bengali films in a career spanning six decades, passed away at the age of 85 in November last year following a multi-organ failure, a month after contracting Covid-19.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had described Soumitra's death as "a colossal loss to the world of cinema, cultural life of West Bengal and India".
Also read: Legendary Indian actor Soumitra Chatterjee dies
Soumitra was the favourite of India's Oscar-winning filmmaker Satyajit Ray. He made his debut with Satyajit's Apur Sansar (Apu's Family) in 1959. He went on to act in 14 more of the iconic director's films, including masterpieces like Devi, Charulata, Ghare Baire and Feluda, a detective.
"Satyajit Ray made me what I am today. Had the director not been a great artist like Satyajit Ray, I wouldn't have been able to perform so well," Soumitra once said in an interview.
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The actor's last big film was Sanjhbati in 2019. Apart from acting, he also directed and acted in plays and penned poetry.
Soumitra got India's top film honour, Dadasaheb Phalke Award, in 2012. He also won three National Awards and the Legion of Honour by France, the European country's top civilian award.
The couple is survived by their daughter Poulomi Basu, also a film director, and son Sougata Chatterjee.
Sohanur Rahman Sohan and Chattku Ahmed elected president and vice president of Bangladesh Film Directors Association
Renowned filmmakers Sohanur Rahman Sohan and Chhatku Ahmed have been elected as the new president and vice-president of the Bangladesh Film Directors Association, for the term 2021-2022.
Sohan received a total of 129 votes, defeating his nearest opponent Kazi Hayat who got 80 votes. The other candidate Shah Alam Kiran got 55 votes.
Chhatku Ahmed has been elected as the vice-president with 166 votes, while the newly elected deputy secretary general Kabirul Islam Rana got 162 votes.
Shaheen Sumon got elected as the secretary general from the panel of Sohan by getting 185 votes, defeating his opponents SA Haque Alik and Safi Uddin Safi who got 64 and 35 votes respectively.
The 2021-2022 election took place at Bangladesh Film Development Corporation (BFDC) on Friday. This time the election was participated by 361 voters, however, 272 of them finally voted. A total of 43 directors competed for 19 posts in the election.
The other elected members include Rokibul Islam Rokib as the organizational secretary, Mohammad Salahuddin as the secretary of finance, Noman Robin as the international and technological secretary, Shahin Kabir Tutul as the cultural and sports secretary and Anowar Siraji as the publicity, publications and offices secretary.
The newly elected 2021-2022 panel also anoounced ten other members including Zakir Hossain Raju, Palli Malek, Abdur Rahim Babu, Nur Mohamamd Moni, Masuma Tani, Mostafizur Rahman Babu, Salim Azam, Habibul Islam Habib, Saidur Rahman Said, and Shahadat Hossain Liton as the executive secretaries.
With King Kong, a little swagger returns to the box office
Once again, mayhem and mass destruction is back at the box office. It’s almost like old times.
“Godzilla vs. Kong,” one of the few tentpoles to dare release during COVID times, is poised this weekend to set a new high in ticket sales during the pandemic. It won’t be the kind of blockbuster business such a big-budget release would typically manage, but experts forecast a launch of at least $25 million.
Opening-day ticket sales on Wednesday for “Godzilla vs. Kong” totaled $9.6 million, Warner Bros. said Thursday — a single-day pandemic record and more than most 2020-2021 opening weekend hauls. Last weekend, the monster mash pulled in an impressive $123.1 million internationally. In China, where moviegoing is close to pre-pandemic levels, the movie made about $70 million, double the debut of 2014′s “Godzilla.”
Also read:The pandemic is changing Hollywood, maybe forever
For the first time in a long time, there’s the faint hint of a hit at the box office.
“It’s a good omen that the tastes of the consumer have not shifted so much that there’s no possibility of restarting the movie business,” says Joshua Grode, chief executive of Legendary Entertainment, which produced “Godzilla vs. Kong.” “This tells everybody: the moviegoing business is here, and, yes, it may be different post-pandemic. But there is a viable industry there.”
Huge challenges remain to the revival of moviegoing. With so many cinemas shuttered for nearly an entire year, many moviegoers are out of the habit. Some are unlikely to return to sitting indoors with strangers until they’re vaccinated or the pandemic has ebbed. And even those who have been convinced of the safety of moviegoing by theaters’ health protocols, they now have only more in-home options. “Godzilla vs. Kong” is streaming simultaneously on HBO Max in North America.
But few scream big screen as much as King Kong and Godzilla. To help kickstart moviegoing and bring back a little chest-thumping swagger to theaters, the industry is counting on two of the movies’ most iconic, long-running leviathans. Laying another metropolis to waste might help movie theaters build themselves back up.
“The issue is less convincing consumers to go to the movies than it is convincing studios to open their movies,” says Rich Gelfond, IMAX’S chief executive. “There’s been a hesitancy on the part of Hollywood studios to release movies because they haven’t been convinced the demand is there. What I really hope this weekend shows is that there is a lot of demand there and it convinces them to open a lot of movies that have been sitting on the shelf.”
Since the launch of “Tenet” fizzled last August, and virus cases soared, most studios have been postponing or rerouting their biggest releases to streaming services. But as vaccinations have ramped up and restrictions have eased, more theaters have opened. About 60% of theaters will be open this weekend, according to data firm Comscore. On Monday, Los Angeles County will expand cinema capacity from 25% to 50%. For the first time since last winter, wide release will mean playing in more than 3,000 theaters. That’s still about 1,200 shy of typical for a title like “Godzilla vs. Kong.”
Recently, ticket sales, while still far below their usual levels, are ticking upward. The best debut of 2021 was “Tom & Jerry,” with $13.7 million in late February. The pandemic-high belongs to “Wonder Woman 1984,” which launched with $16.7 million in December. Each were Warner Bros. releases that landed simultaneously on HBO Max — a once controversial release plan that has helped theaters stay afloat and proved an interesting test case for how viewers prefer to see, and pay for, a movie.
Nevertheless, the Walt Disney Co. recently delayed the planned summer-kickoff of “Black Widow” to July, while pushing a number of titles to its streaming platform, Disney+. Part of what’s holding blockbusters back is the need for a global release to make back their sizable production budgets and marketing spend. (“Godzilla vs. Kong” cost about $160 million to make.) While moviegoing in much of Asia is rejuvenated, rising cases in Europe and in countries like Brazil have, for now, made a full worldwide rollout impossible.
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Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore, believes “Godzilla vs. Kong” will be “another building block in our education in where the industry is heading.”
“The theatrical experience will prove to be viable and resilient as it always has,” says Dergarabedian. “But it’s going to be a different world, no question. I think it’s going to be a leaner, meaner business going forward.”
Some of the old standard practices that have governed blockbusters aren’t coming back. Studios like Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures have made deals to shorten exclusive theatrical windows. Warner Bros. next year will hold movies in theaters for a minimum of 45 days, or half of the traditional window, before moving releases to at-home platforms. Such new models mean a recalibrating of what movies get greenlit and how much they’re worth.
“The value of those streaming/pay-TV rights are more valuable now because you’re getting access to them much, much earlier than you did before,” says Grode. “So you kind of have to rerun your model of how the movie is going to perform over its lifetime.”
It’s also meant some tense negotiations over profit participation. When Warner Bros. surprised with its hybrid release plans for 2021, Legendary — whose highly anticipated “Dune” is to be released in the fall by Warner Bros. — considered legal action before arriving at an agreement.
“We obviously didn’t like the way they announced what they were doing in 2021, and I think they would admit they didn’t handle it perfectly,” says Grode. “But when you look at the state of the world, the facts as we all knew them at the time, their decision made a lot of sense.”
“You get over that pretty quickly and you get back to business,” he added.
Helping theaters get back to business, Gelfond believes, are large-format screens “that differentiate the couch as much as they can.” IMAX accounted for 14% of the Chinese box office for “Godzilla vs. Kong.” This weekend, the film will be playing on 1,170 IMAX screens worldwide. Showings in New York and Los Angeles, Gelfond said, are already sold out, albeit at lower capacity.
The box office might not quite roar again this weekend, but “Godzilla vs. Kong” may show it has a little bite left. Says Grode: “In years from now, when people write about coming back to the movies, I’m very proud that ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ will be in that history.”
Jodi Kintu Tobuo: Sense the love vibe this summer!
Here's some good news for movie buffs! Jodi Kintu Tobuo, a romantic comedy starring Ziaul Faruq Apurba and Nusrat Faria in lead roles, is all set for an OTT release on April 1.
Dubbed as the “Bangladeshi Wedding of the Year”, the film’s plot revolves around Abeer (Apurba) and Preety (Nusrat Faria), who experience a roller coaster of emotions and complex situations in an urban setup.
ZEE5 Global, the largest OTT platform for South Asian content, is set to release the web film as its fourth local production in Bangladesh.
Read ‘Mainkar Chipay’: First Bangladeshi original launched on ZEE5 Global.
Directed by National Award winner Shihab Shaheen, the film is Apurba and Nusrat's maiden collaboration together as an on-screen couple for any OTT production.
Sharing the experiences, director Shihab Shaheen said at a virtual press conference prior to the release, "We have made this film over the past one and a half years. Our pre-production, production and post-production stages were jointly done within Bangladesh and India."
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Once more unto the breach in 'Godzilla vs. Kong'
“Godzilla vs. Kong” begins, fittingly, with the big guy asleep.
There is King Kong, colossus of the big screen, slowing waking on a mountainside. He rouses slowly in the morning sun from slumber before showering in a nearby waterfall. It's, maybe, a little bit the same for the kind of movies King Kong symbolizes and still holds some dominion over: big spectacles of mass destruction made to be seen on equally towering screens. That kind of moviegoing has been been in hibernation for much of the past pandemic year. “Godzilla vs. Kong,” the only creature feature to dare wide release in some time, is a rock ‘em-sock 'em monster-movie revival with all the requisite explosions, inane plot twists and skyscraper smashing to satisfy most lovers of gigantic amphibians. Vive le cinéma!
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“Godzilla vs. Kong,” directed by Adam Wingard, follows in the very big but quickly forgotten footsteps of the 2014 reboot “Godzilla," 2017's Vietnam-set, “Apocalypse Now”-tinged sequel “Kong: Skull Island" and 2019's “Godzilla: King of Monsters.” But, of course, the lineage is much longer than that. Godzilla and Kong first squared off in 1962's “King Kong vs Godzilla” (Kong got first billing back then), the Toho Studios film that mashed together monsters both East and West. (Before the Japanese studio got involved, the original template had Kong meeting Frankenstein.)
This time, the ultra-heavyweight prize fight between the Coke and Pepsi of the MonsterVerse doesn't break any new ground. That might be its salvation. Wingard ("You're Next," “The Guest”) gives us some solid supporting characters (Brian Tyree Henry as a podcasting conspiracy theorist on the right track is the best of the humans) and some slick sound design. But mostly “Godzilla vs. Kong” supplies appropriately silly sci-fi escapades and a few good rounds of monster mayhem, including, in their first meeting, a ballet of battleships on the open ocean.
One difference this go around: You can see the film immediately on either a Godzilla-sized screen or a salamander-sized one. “Godzilla vs. Kong,” debuting Wednesday, is playing in theaters and streaming simultaneously on HBO Max. I saw it at home, with a five-year-old in the next room asking why the big monkey was so angry. For the mighty Empire State Building-climbing beast, it's a new, more humble home.
And it's home he seeks in “Godzilla vs. Kong." That sunny morning waterfall, it turns out, is an enclosed habitat for the locked-up ape, who's watched over tenderly by Dr. Ilene Andrews (Rebecca Hall) and her deaf adopted daughter Jia (Kaylee Hottle). When Godzilla makes a seemingly unprompted attack on Apex, a high-tech cybernetics company ruled by Walter Simmons (Demián Bichir), a plan is hatched to use Kong to lure Godzilla to the surface and then track Godzilla to his power source — an undiscovered center-of-the-world realm theorized to exist by “hollow Earth” proponent Nathan Lind (Alexander Skarsgård). It's a scheme so obviously destined to run afoul and turn a metropolis into ruins that you can almost hear Hong Kong pleading, “Please, no.”
With a debt owed to Jules Verne, “Godzilla vs. Kong” makes its way, via Antarctica, to the center of the Earth. It covers a lot of mileage only to ultimately fall back where so many action blockbusters do: at the hands of a melomaniac tech CEO. It's not just a predictable foe for the kaijus, who have cycled through countless metaphors over the decades. It's also a somewhat ironic one. “Godzilla vs. Kong” is so much a totem to the powers of advanced technical wizardry.
Shot with a lustrous glow by Ben Seresin, the movie is soaked in the glossy sheen of CGI. King Kong, born in stop-motion, and Godzilla, once a guy in a suit, have swelled so much in design and texture that they now appear like veteran movie stars who have moved on from their B-movie origins. By they end, they appear exhausted, and who can blame them? They're likely tired from emerging again and again from the depths to play out our fantasies of destruction. Next time, someone should let Kong hit the snooze.
Also read: ‘Ma Rainey,’ ‘Minari’ and Boseman lead SAG nominations
“Godzilla vs. Kong,” a Warner Bros. release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for intense sequences of destruction, mayhem and creature violence. Running time: 113 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
The three Khans who still rule Bollywood
All the three Khans of Bollywood are now in their mid-50s. But even after two and a half decades in the film industry, Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir still dominate Bollywood and figure in the list of top five richest actors in India.
Shah Rukh Khan
On top of the list is Shah Rukh Khan, who is a brand in himself. Considered the most talented star, the 'King Khan' has an astounding net worth of USD 700 million. In a career spanning over 25 years and with 80 films in genres, including romance, action, and comedy, under his belt, the 55-year-old is one of the most successful film stars in the world.
Born and brought up in Delhi, Shah Rukh began his career in acting with appearances in a number of TV series in the late 1980s. Fauji (soldier), a television series that portrayed the training of Indian Army cadets, actually marked his TV debut.
Also read: Shah Rukh Khan: The making of a genuine Bollywood star
However, after his mother's death, Shah Rukh relocated to Mumbai to pursue a career in Bollywood. And in 1992, the economics graduate from Delhi University made his Bollywood debut with Deewana, a blockbuster action-romantic flick that went on to net a whopping Rs 162 million that year only. In the film, he starred as the second male lead after Rishi Kapoor.
Between 1992 and 1994, he earned accolades for villainous roles in two commercial hits -- playing a serial killer in Baazigar and an obsessive lover in Darr. But Shah Rukh rose to prominence after starring in the 1995 romantic film Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, the longest-running blockbuster in the history of Indian cinema. The film was shot in India and Europe.
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Some of his other blockbusters include Dil To Pagal Hai (1997) and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998). Shah Rukh was also widely praised for his award-winning performances in the 2002 film Devdas, where he played an alcoholic.
The superstar also earned critical acclaim for his portrayal of a NASA scientist in Swades (2004) and a hockey coach in Chak De! India (2007) and a man with Asperger syndrome in My Name Is Khan (2010). His highest-grossing films include the comedies Chennai Express (2013), Happy New Year (2014), Dilwale (2015), and the crime film Raees (2017).
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Shah Rukh, who has anchored many TV shows, also owns production company Red Chillies Entertainment and Indian Premier League cricket team Kolkata Knight Riders.
The superstar is married to interior designer Gauri Chibber, a Punjabi Hindu. The couple has two sons and a daughter Suhana (born 2000). Their third child, a son named AbRam, was born through a surrogate mother. They live in Mumbai.
Read Bollywood's Shah Rukh Khan invests in American cricket
Salman Khan
The third-richest Bollywood actor, Salman Khan's net worth is estimated to be USD 360 million. Born as Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan in December of 1965, the superstar has appeared in over 80 films in his nearly three-decade-long career. Apart from playing a range of popular roles from a romantic hero to a flashy action star, Salman is also a film producer.
Salman began his career in Bollywood in 1988, with a supporting role in Biwi Ho To Aisi. But his real success came exactly a year later after his award-winning performance in the romantic blockbuster Maine Pyar Kiya. Action thriller Karan Arjun (1995), comedy film Biwi No 1 (1999), and the family drama Hum Saath-Saath Hain (1999) were his other commercial hits.
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After a brief decline in his career graph in the 2000s, Salman achieved greater stardom in the 2010s by playing the lead role in a number of successful action films -- Dabangg (2010), Ready (2011), Ek Tha Tiger (2012), Kick (2014), Sultan (2016) and Tiger Zinda Hai in 2017.
The 55-year-old is also a television presenter and runs a charity, Being Human Foundation. But the bachelor has a dark side too -- one of his former girlfriends accused him of abusing her, and he was sentenced to five years imprisonment in 2018 for killing two blackbucks, a protected antelope species, on a hunting trip. He is currently out on bail, pending appeal.
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Aamir Khan
Known as "Mr. Perfectionist" in Bollywood, Aamir has established himself as one of the most influential actors of Indian cinema through his 30-year career in Hindi films. The 56-year-old, who has a huge fan following in Bangladesh and China, is the fourth richest actor with a net worth of USD 180 million. He is also an accomplished filmmaker.
Aamir made his debut as a child artiste in his uncle Nasir Hussain's blockbuster film Yaadon Ki Baaraat in 1973. His adult debut was with the film Holi in 1984. But he shot to the limelight for his brilliant performance in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak four years later. In 1999, he founded Aamir Khan Productions, whose first film, Lagaan (2001), got him a National Film Award.
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After a four-year gap, Aamir made a comeback with back-to-back blockbusters like Fanaa and Rang De Basanti. He made his directorial debut with Taare Zameen Par (2007), which also won him the awards for Best Film and Best Director. His greatest global success came with Ghajini, 3 Idiots, Dhoom 3, PK, and Dangal.
Apart from receiving a number of awards, including four National Film Awards and the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan, Aamir was conferred with an honorary title by the Chinese government in 2017. The superstar's first marriage with Reena Dutta ended in divorce in 2002, and he is currently married to his second wife Kiran Rao.
Also read: Bollywood's Aamir Khan tests positive for Covid-19
Others on the top 5 list
The second-richest actor in Bollywood is the Big B, Amitabh Bachchan. One of the most influential and respected actors of all time in the history of Indian cinema, Amitabh has an estimated net worth of USD 400 million. Saif Ali Khan, son of yesteryear Bollywood actress Sharmila Tagore, is the fifth-richest actor with a net worth of USD 140 million.
Read Bollywood superstar Ranbir Kapoor tests positive for COVID-19
Bollywood's Aamir Khan tests positive for Covid-19
Indian superstar Aamir Khan is the latest Bollywood celebrity to have tested positive for Covid-19. The actor, who has a huge fan following in Bangladesh and China also, is currently in home isolation in Mumbai.
In a statement on Wednesday (March 24, 2021), the 56-year-old actor's spokesperson said: "Aamir Khan has tested positive for Covid 19. He is at home in self-quarantine, following all the protocols and he's doing fine."
The Bollywood superstar has also urged all the people who have come in contact with him in the past few days, to isolate and get themselves tested for coronavirus.
Also read: Bollywood actress Rakul Preet Singh tests positive for Covid
"All those who came in contact with him in the recent past should get themselves tested as a precautionary measure. Thank you for all your wishes and concern," the actor's representative said.
Through his 30-year career in Hindi films, Aamir has established himself as one of the most influential actors of Indian cinema. In fact, Newsweek magazine once described him as the "biggest movie star" in the world.
Aamir made his debut as a child artiste in his uncle Nasir Hussain's blockbuster film Yaadon Ki Baaraat in 1973. His adult debut was with the film Holi in 1984. He shot to limelight for his brilliant performance in Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak four years later.
Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan tests positive for COVID-19
Apart from receiving a number of awards, including four National Film Awards and the Padma Shri and the Padma Bhushan, Aamir was conferred with an honorary title by the Chinese government in 2017.
A number of Bollywood celebrities, right from singer Kanika Kapoor to actors Sunny Deol, Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek, have been tested positive for the deadly virus since the pandemic broke out in March last year.
Bollywood actor Sunny Deol tests Covid positive
Luckily, all of them have recovered from Covid.