Cinema
Deepika, Ranveer wedding festivities kick off in Italy
Dhaka, Nov 14 (UNB) - Bollywood actors Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh will tie the knot in a lavish ceremony Wednesday in accordance with both Sindhi and Konkani traditions at Lake Como in Italy.
Last night, the first event of the much-awaited wedding of the year kicked off with a mehndi and sangeet event attended by the duo’s closest friends, reports The Hindustan Times.
Despite the event being kept under wrap and the wedding venue reportedly been converted into a fortress and no outsiders permitted, details of the event were leaked.
According to Pinkvilla, Deepika and Ranveer received a sweet surprise from their families in the form of a guitar tribute with all their songs being played.
Ranveer’s event took place at the ultra-luxurious CastaDiva Resort overlooking Lake Como while Deepika’s ceremony took place at the even more glamorous Villa d’ Este about 5 kilometers away.
At the CastaDiva resort, any and all guests or visitors were presented with a special wristband while security guards covered up the camera lenses on mobile phones with stickers. The e-invite also bore a QR code which was scanned at the entry. On the lake itself, numerous security boats patrolled just outside the perimeter of the property to deter snooping photographers or gossip hunters.
A day earlier, 12 florists from Florence reached the wedding venue to decorate it as well as the resort on the opposite side due to the bride-to-be Deepika's love for water lilies.
The Bollywood couple will reportedly host not one but three wedding receptions. One of which will take place on November 21 in Bengaluru and the other two at Grand Hyatt on November 28 and December 1.
The Villa del Balbianello where the wedding will take place is tucked away in a peninsula on the scenic coast of Lake Como.
The resort is said to be ultra-luxurious and all the 75 rooms at the resort have been booked by the couple for their grand wedding.
Further, the couple has asked for donations to charity instead of wedding gifts.
The card which has been circulating social media read, “Directing all gifts in the form of a donation to the charity we support will be greatly appreciated.”
According to the Times of India, the couple has asked for donations to be directed to Deepika’s The Live Love Laugh Foundation.
‘Hasina, A Daughter’s Tale’ being released on Nov 16
Dhaka, Nov 13 (UNB) - ‘Hasina, A Daughter’s Tale’, a 70-minute docudrama on the eldest child of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, will be released in movie houses across the country on November 16.
The premier of the movie will be held at Star Cineplex on November 15.
Initially, the movie will be screened at Star Cineplex, Blockbusters Cinemas, Modhumita Cinema Hall in Dhaka and Silver Screen in Chattogram.
Radwan Mujib Siddiq and Nasrul Hamid Bipu of Center for Research and Information (CRI) produced the docudrama directed by Piplu Khan of Apple Box Films, while music by Debojyoti Mishra.
Edited by Navnita Sen, the cinematography of the movie was done by Sadik Ahmed.
Speaking at a press conference at Krishibid Institution Bangladesh, Director of the film Piplu Khan said he was an incidental choice for the project.
“I wanted to bring something new and interesting with this project where there was no structure here except some ideas and concept paper,” he said.
Piplu mentioned that the rise of a very normal person attracted him while doing this docu-drama.
“This project was not done to focus on the philosophy of Sheikh Hasina, there is no burden or fat in this film, there’s nothing fictional here. This film is very light… it was done to focus on the incidents that took place in her life,” he said.
Piplu said the movie focused on the life of Sheikh Hasina, not the Prime Minister, before and after of the August 15, 1975.
“This is not my responsibility to glorify Sheikh Hasina, this is just a poetic humanistic story of Sheikh Hasina,” the director said.
Piplu said he was very much attracted by the simplicity of Sheikh Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana, the two survivors of the August 15 carnage.
“Anyone, including the diehard critic of Sheikh Hasina, can watch this film and I’m sure will find something new,” he said.
Responding to a question, CRI Executive Director Sabbir Bin Shams said the film will gradually be released in other movie houses of the country and digitally, too.
“We’ll take it outside the country,” he said.
Priyanka, Nick’s wedding picture rights sold for $2.5m
Dhaka, Nov 13 (UNB) – The rights of heartthrob Nick Jonas and Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra’s wedding pictures have been sold to an international magazine for a whopping 2.5 million dollars.
The name of the magazine has not been disclosed yet but the reports are that it will be covering the marriage and will offer a visual treat with exclusive inside pictures, reports the Times of India.
Earlier, several leading publications have shown interest in obtaining pictures of the wedding.
Priyanka and Nick got engaged in August and are busy in pre-wedding festivities.
Priyanka started the festivities with her girl squad with a bridal shower in New York towards the end of October, followed by a bachelorette party in Amsterdam.
Nick recently shared pictures on-board a yacht for his bachelor party.
Nick and Priyanka's wedding is reportedly going to be a three-day affair, and the festivities will begin on November 30.
Around 1,500 to 2,000 guests are expected to attend the wedding. Salman Khan and his family, Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Katrina Kaif, Farhan Akhtar and Siddharth Roy Kapur are among those who have reportedly been invited from the Bollywood fraternity.
'Dr. Seuss' The Grinch' makes off with $66M at box office
Los Angeles, Nov 12 (AP/UNB) — You’re a mean one — and you're number one — Mr. Grinch.
"Dr. Seuss' The Grinch" sledded past mixed reviews and made off with $66 million for Universal Pictures to top the weekend North American box office, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Last week's top film, the Queen biopic "Bohemian Rhapsody," drops to second for 20th Century Fox with a $30.8 million weekend that brings its overall take to $100 million.
Illumination, the Universal-owned animators behind "The Minions" and "Despicable Me," produced the latest interpretation of Seuss' 1957 book that led to a 1966 TV special and first came to the big screen as a live-action feature starring Jim Carrey in 2000.
Paramount Pictures' war-horror hybrid "Overlord" was third in its first weekend with $10.1 million. Disney's "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" brought in $9.5 million and finished fourth in its second week. The weekend's other major debut, "The Girl in the Spider's Web," made just $8 million and finished fifth.
Illumination's "Grinch," narrated by Pharrell Williams, gives the title character, voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, a backstory in an orphanage and fills out the story of his foil Cindy Lou Who.
It's the second Seuss adaptation for Illumination. Its version of "The Lorax" opened with a comparable $70 million weekend and went on to gross $348.8 million worldwide.
"The Grinch" was widely expected to be No. 1 with few other major openings this weekend, but it surpassed projections that had it bringing in closer to $60 million, continuing what's become a trend in 2018.
"'The Grinch' is just the latest in a string of over-performers," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. "'Bohemian Rhapsody' was bigger than expected, 'A Star Is Born' was bigger than expected. It's fueling a box-office surge."
The industry has reached a cumulative box office total of $10 billion faster than in any other year, Dergarabedian said.
The Christmas theme of "The Grinch" could sustain it through the holidays and Universal hopes it has a longer life than that.
"With Thanksgiving coming, we're poised to have a great run through that," said Jim Orr, president of domestic distribution for Universal. "Illumination's created such a classic take on this beloved character that audiences will be enjoying it for a really long time."
But big rivals loom soon, including "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" next week and "Ralph Breaks The Internet" on Nov. 21.
"We've got a lot of competition coming up for family audiences," Dergarabedian said.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday also are included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "Dr Seuss' The Grinch," $66 million ($12.7 million international).
2. "Bohemian Rhapsody," $30.8 million ($63 million international).
3. "Overlord," $10.1 million, ($9.2 million international).
4. "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms," $9.5 million, ($13.5 million international).
5. "The Girl in the Spider's Web," $8 million, ($6.2 million international).
6. "A Star Is Born," $8 million ($9 million international).
7. "Nobody's Fool," $6.5 million.
8. "Venom," $4.8 million ($118.2 million international).
9. "Halloween," $3.8 million ($5.9 million).
10. "The Hate U Give," $2 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to comScore:
1. "Venom," $118.2 million.
2. "Bohemian Rhapsody," $63 million.
3. "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms," $13.5 million.
4. "Dr Seuss' The Grinch," $12.7 million.
5. "Detective Conan: Zero the Enforcer," $12.4 million.
6. "Intimate Strangers," $9.2 million.
7. "Overlord," $9.2 million.
8. "A Star Is Born," $9 million.
9. "The Girl in the Spider's Web," $6.2 million.
10. "Halloween," $5.9 million.
Thugs Of Hindostan Movie Review: Bloated And Tacky Despite Amitabh Bachchan Plus Aamir Khan
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Katrina Kaif and Fatima Sana Shaikh
Director: Vijay Krishna Acharya
Rating: 2.5 Stars (out of 5)
Big, bloated, bombastic, Thugs Of Hindostan is a period saga that banks solely upon action and spectacle for impact. The characters that populate it are, like the thousand ships that the film launches in the service of a bitter early 19th century battle between the fast-expanding British East India Company and a band of intrepid rebels who refuse to be enslaved by a foreign power, are as flimsy as cardboard.Thugs Of Hindostan barely ever hits terra firma. And when it does on the rare occasion, it fails to stay rooted long enough for those moments to make a difference.
A gravelly-voiced Amitabh Bachchan and a puckish Aamir Khan bring everything that they have - the combined weight of the two superstars is undeniably significant - to the table, but director Vijay Krishna Acharya's screenplay and the film's big-budget surface veneer lack the solidity to guide this overwrought vessel out of the deep waters. What this aspiring blockbuster proves conclusively is that no matter how glossy a film is and how unique it might seem in the Indian context, there can be no substitute for an intelligent script and enterprising direction.
Thugs Of Hindostan is all sound of fury: there is no dearth here of cannons and guns, bows and arrow, and swords and daggers. However, the narrative weapons it presses into service are hopelessly blunt and ineffective. It tries hard to impress but hardly ever does.
Amitabh Bachchan plays Khudabaksh Jahaazi, a dyed-in-the-wool patriot who marshalls his people against a tyrannical British officer named Clive (Lloyd Owen). Is he the Robert Clive that we know from our school history books? It really doesn't matter. For one, Robert Clive died well before 1795, the year in which Thugs Of Hindostan opens. The character is, of course, ruthless in dealing with the Indians that he has been sent out by the Empire to tame and exploit.
The heroic and invincible Khudabaksh, on his part, is completely beyond the control of the Company. He spouts philosophy about bravery, trust and the courage to dream. He declares in one scene that freedom isn't a dream. It's a yakeen, a firm belief. The veteran actor delivers that line - and all the others peppered though the film - with customary panache, but given the confused tone of the film - it flits between the earnest and the frivolous - that piece of dialogue is lost in a maze of dramatic detours.
Aamir Khan, complete with kohl-lined eyes, ear rings and a nose pin, slips into the skin of a shifty Firangi Mallah, a duplicitous mercenary who thinks nothing of repeatedly switching sides for a few guineas more. His character is placed here as the counterpoint to the imperious Khudabaksh. Betrayal is the man's defence mechanism. When he is called upon to shed his deviousness, he has to grapple with conflicting impulses. Had he played the role with a little more subtlety, it might have passed muster as a variation on the classic anti-hero.
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(Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan in Thugs Of Hindostan. Image courtesy: Instagram)
The two lead actors are required to tilt heavily towards the excessive - the former is overly stuffy; the latter is a comic conman who has to resort to runaway methods to raise a few laughs. You do laugh but not at the gags but the silliness of the endeavor.
Wherever Khudabaksh goes, he is followed by a computer-generated falcon, which, too, gets its moment in the sun, albeit briefly, late in the film when the winged creature prevents Firangi from turning his back on a crucial mission assigned to him.
Going by the lingo that Firangi employs and his repeated references to Awadh, it is fair to surmise that north India is the setting. In one scene he claims he belongs to gaon Gopalpur, zila Kanpur; in another, he traces his origin back to gaon Rasoolpur, zila Fatehabad. But the jungle hideout of Khudabaksh's 'azaad' army is on either side of a creek by the sea, which allows the comings and goings of sea-faring vessels.
Clearly, geography isn't the film's forte - Thugs Of Hindostan goes wherever its whims takes it. If one is able to take this cavalier approach to locations - the argument could be that the film borders on a fantasy and so we should cut it some slack - some parts of it might actually work.
Thugs Of Hindostan is also a tad mixed-up in its idea of religions and cultures. While the principal characters are mostly Muslim, the rituals that they perform reflect Hindu practices. Is this a blow for positive integration or just plain negligence? The climax of the film unfolds in a fort on a Dussehra day and the burning of Ravana, symbolizing the triumph of good over evil. The cliché is couched in what could be seen as a departure from norm - it is one of the two heroines who gets to slay the demon.
There can be no denying that the film has been well shot. But the rather garish backdrops and the frequently shoddy, unnecessarily flighty VFX undermines the work of cinematographer Manush Nandan. Although the makers of this film have chosen to set the action two centuries ago, both the musical score (Atul-Ajay) and the dance moves smack more of kitschy Bollywood rather than evoking any sense of genuine time and place.
The girls in this male-dominated universe inevitably play second fiddle although Fatima Sana Sheikh, in the guise of Zarifa, whose father, Mirza Sikander Beg (Ronit Roy), is killed by Clive at the outset of the film before she finds protection under the wings of Khudabaksh, does have a few scenes in which she comes into her own. In contrast, Katrina Kaif, cast as dancing girl Suraiyya, is used primarily to liven up the song and dance routines.
Glitzily mounted but caught between solemnity and fluffiness, Thugs of Hindostan might entertain large swathes of the audience, but it is ultimately too tacky and unconvincing to lay legitimate claims to being India's answer to Pirates of the Caribbean. It isn't even a poor copy.