films

  "NAVILAADAVARU" A Kannada film realized by a small group of enthusiasts, produced with just Rs 35,000. After the screening there will be an interaction / discussion on the film.  www.samvaada.com hopes to develop meaningful discussion on this. Seminar Topic: "Navilaadavaru in the context of Endhiran" Date: Sunday 28th Nov 2010, 11am - 2pm @Surana College Auditorium, South End Main Road, Basavangudi, Bangalore. Speakers Include: U R AnanthaMurthy (Noted writer)G B Harish (Writer, Professor, Tumkur University)John Devaraj (Activist)Kesari Harvu (Film Maker, Bhumigita Fame, Theatre Person)David Bond (Film Enthusiast)Shekharpoorna (Film Critic, Editor, kannadasaahithya.com web journal) Special Guests: Lahari Velu (Proprietor, Lahari Audio)Narendra Babu (Film Maker, ‘kabbaddi' fame)  Media Partners TAURIANwww.kannadasaahitya.comLahari Music Contact…

It's curtains up for the first sequel of David Yates' two-part epic film Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. As in the book, this film has Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson) setting out to find the deathly hallows, even as a final battle with Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) looms large in the horizon. This film will always have a huge attraction for Harry Potter fans, as it's their last link with an obsession that kept them occupied for a good part of the last decade. Yet while Philosopher's Stone remains my favourite Harry Potter film,…

It's been a busy week at the movies in Bangalore. Even as the much awaited The Social Network opened in theatres, the Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy's International film festival opened at three different venues in the city, screening 85 films between November 8 and14, 2010. Besides its presence in the city, the festival also expected to move to Bidar, Dharwad, Mangalore and Shimoga.  Citizen Matters caught up with some of the festival's weekend fare. The Social Network (USA) This film on the making of Facebook runs with the tagline "You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies".…

A good script is a rarity in Hindi cinema, and director Vipul Shah's Action Replayy - even when it hearkens back to Hollywood super hits like Back to the Future - is all of that and more. The film tells the story of a young boy (Aditya Roy Kapoor) who travels back in time to make his parents (Akshay Kumar & Aishwariya Rai) fall in love. The film will especially appeal to those who have an appetite for seventies nostalgia. The ‘retro' touch that permeates the film is well done, and one smiles as one re-lives a touch of the…

Dance in Indian cinema is unfortunately been labelled Bollywood dance. Films in the early nineties evolved with performances from artistes from indigenous art forms. Many actors, dancers and musicians who were bred in regional theatre moved their performances from stage to screen to find a larger audience and explore a new media of expression.  On the sets of Pancharangi. Pic: Nritarutya. In recent times  senseless ‘item' numbers rule the big screen where it is all about the jhatkas , matkas and the jing chak music that sell the film as a commodity. Seldom does one come across meaningful choreography where intelligent conceptualisation, beautiful…

Many in India watched with curiosity as Julia Roberts filmed for Eat, Pray, Love in India. Now, many months later, the film directed by Ryan Murphy and filmed by Brad Pitt is finally here. Eat, Pray, Love, based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Elizabeth Gilbert, tells the story of Elizabeth's (Julia Roberts) journey around the world to find herself after a painful divorce. As the story unfolds on celluloid, the traveler in you can't help responding to moments in the film with a sense of deja vu. For her part, Julia Roberts brings alive the role…

The much-awaited Endhiran, the most expensive film ever made in Asia, hit cinema halls in Bangalore last weekend. The film that has superstar Rajinikanth in a dual role tells the story of Professor Dr Vasigaran's (Rajinikanth) creation of  a super-intelligent android robot Chitti (also played by Rajinikanth). Complications ensue when Chitti discovers his human side. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan takes on the role of Sana, the professor's lady love and Danny Denzongpa is the evil mind all set to steal his idea. Like all Rajini films, this one relies on dialogues and punch lines delivered in the way that he tells…

With most cinema houses postponing their big releases to later this week and the next, new films in Bangalore came from Hollywood and Malayalam cinema. Almost two decades after he made a film in a similar setting, director Oliver Stone returns with Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. In this sequel, Jake Moore tries to save his crumbling professional and personal life amidst the intrigue, corruption and huge egos of Wall Street. Only the agility of his mind can pull him through. In the aftermath of the recent global recession, the theme is topical and hard-hitting. As in films like JFK…

The short film has been a part of the young Bangalorean's vocabulary for some time now. But last weekend the entire movement received a fillip when Suchitra's Centre for Film & Drama (CFD) brought together 50 short films made by 29 filmmakers from six states across India under the Short Film Festival. Even if the cinema was not always cutting edge, there was an abundance of ideas, creative experiments and youthful vibrancy. You could not but help notice the buzzing energy in the air as these filmmakers, many of them just out of college, shared their work in a ‘housefull'…

An insensitive and ignorant society labels them eunuchs, hermaphrodites, kojja, ali, ombathu, and so on. But they prefer theterms hijra, kothi, jogappa, panthi, mangalamukhi, gay, lesbian, intersex, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, etc. Often ostracized by their loved ones for daring to be open and different, they are among society's most marginalized and traditionally excluded. Further, the state and its representatives harass and discriminate against them denying them fundamental rights and benefits like housing, education, employment, healthcare, identity cards. However, for over a decade, the sexual minority community has been demanding humane and dignified treatment and basic entitlements. Additionally, alternate sexual persons…