Exploring Juhu with Randeep Hooda

Vi segnalo il delizioso video Exploring Juhu with Randeep Hooda, episodio della serie Tere Gully Mein diffusa da Curly Tales (salivazione in atto, in ogni senso).

Amitav Ghosh in Italia

Nelle ultime settimane Amitav Ghosh ha partecipato a diversi eventi in Italia. Di seguito le date:

- 27 maggio: nel corso della 14esima edizione dei Dialoghi di Pistoia, lo scrittore ha ritirato il Premio Internazionale a lui assegnato. Video ufficiale;

- 5 giugno: a Milano Ghosh ha inaugurato l'evento Pianeta 2030. Video Corriere della Sera;

- 15 giugno: l'università di Pisa ha organizzato un incontro con lo scrittore;

- dal 18 al 23 giugno: Ghosh sarà ospite dell'evento Ostana Res 2023 a Ostana (Cuneo). Il ricco programma prevede letture pubbliche, tavole rotonde e passeggiate. Video TGR Piemonte (aggiornamento del 22 giugno 2023).

Milano, giugno 2023

Filming Italy Sardegna 2022

La quinta edizione del festival Filming Italy Sardegna avrà luogo dal 9 al 12 giugno 2022 a Cagliari. Fra i numerosi partecipanti che terranno dei seminari agli studenti, segnalo Kabir Bedi. L'attore indiano sarà inoltre a Roma il 15 giugno al Museo dell'Ara Pacis, e a Positano il 22 giugno ospite dell'evento Mare, Sole e Cultura 2022.

Aggiornamento del 21 giugno 2022: intervista video Kabir Bedi: "Sandokan, Gandhi, i Beatles e la morte di mio figlio: il romanzo della mia vita", Alvaro Moretti, Il Messaggero, giugno 2022. Nel testo di presentazione si legge: 'Al Messaggero e al suo paparazzo principe, Rino Barillari, Kabir Bedi, il Sandokan mitico dello sceneggiato tv del 1976, deve qualche fuga vantaggiosa dagli alberghi di via Veneto: frotte di donne e fan, la calca e lì ci vuole il talento del paparazzo per sfuggire alla morsa del successo. Sorride Kabir Bedi, ospite dell'Interrogazione del vicedirettore del Messaggero, Alvaro Moretti: perché entrando per la videointervista ecco che proprio Barillari spunta da un'auto in corsa a via del Tritone. "Sandokan!", lo chiamano tutti così. E quando in motorino un fattorino passa e lo riconosce ecco scattare un romanissimo: "Bada, Sandokan!".'

Sardegna 2022

Sardegna 2022

Kabir Bedi e Danny Glover

Kabir Bedi e Sarah Ferguson

Roma 2022

Amitav Ghosh: Jungle Nama

È in distribuzione in libreria Jungle Nama. Il racconto della giungla, il nuovo lavoro di Amitav Ghosh pubblicato da Neri Pozza Editore. Nei prossimi giorni lo scrittore sarà in Italia. Di seguito le date:

- 15 novembre, Roma, inaugurazione dell'anno accademico dell'Istituto Europeo di Design, lectio magistralis What do we miss when we speak of sustainability?; 

- 15 novembre, Roma, teatro Piccolo Eliseo;

- 16 novembre, Roma, evento Green&Blue Open Summit (aggiornamento del 17 novembre 2021: video de La Repubblica);

- 16 novembre programma Fahrenheit, Rai Radio 3;

- 18 novembre, Mestre, museo M9;

- 19 novembre, Torino, Circolo dei lettori;

- 20 novembre, Milano, Castello Sforzesco, evento BookCity.

 

Aggiornamento del 21 novembre 2021 - BookCity, Amitav Ghosh presenta la sua favola ambientalista: "I cambiamenti climatici sono una violenza", Annarita Briganti, La Repubblica: '"La cosa sconvolgente dell'avidità è che un tempo era considerata negativamente, ma da un certo punto in poi è diventata un 'valore'. Il sistema la glorifica, le élite al potere in tutto il mondo la pensano così. (...) Non si può più nascondere la realtà: i cambiamenti climatici sono una guerra, una violenza. Chi è tra i meno fortunati subisce perdite e deve affrontare situazioni difficili, come in una guerra. Una emergenza che non risale, come dicono gli esperti, alla rivoluzione industriale, ma bisogna andare ancora più indietro, fino al XVII secolo, al colonialismo, alla violenza coloniale. (...) Non c'è solo Greta. Lei rappresenta l'idea del bambino redentore che viene a redimere gli adulti dai loro peccati".' 

Aggiornamento dell'11 luglio 2022: intervista video concessa da Ghosh a Rai Cultura nel novembre 2021.

BookCity 2021

Anurag Kashyap talks about his fight with KJo, meeting with SRK

Vi segnalo l'intervista concessa da Anurag Kashyap a Mayank Shekhar, pubblicata lo scorso 12 giugno da Mid-Day. Il testo include il video dell'intervista integrale. Anurag Kashyap talks about his fight with KJo, meeting with SRK:

'The first time ever that filmmaker Imtiaz Ali saw what a portfolio looked like (...) was that of an actor called Anurag Kashyap. Back then, Ali was in college in Delhi, helping out a local TV serial crew, when Kashyap approached him with his portfolio. "It was 1992. (...) I had just discovered theatre, and was told that you need to get pictures clicked, if you want work. I did, after collecting Rs 3000, which was a big sum then. And I started doing a lot of acting on stage, and I did some films. (...) Also, (...) Imtiaz (...) was my co-star. (...) We don't talk about it. Imtiaz will kill me. (...) The good thing about being a bad actor is you know how to extract great performances," Kashyap tells me later. Which in his case, I'm told, notoriously involves hardly ever saying "action" or "cut" on set. Often, no lines for actors to mug up, let alone extensive rehearsals, before shoot. It's a process only the best can survive. Ali, of course, played the '93 Bombay bomb blast accused Yakub Memon in Kashyap's first release, Black Friday 2007. He played a bigger role in his life, if you consider that Kashyap used to shack up at Ali's place while the latter was doing a post-grad course at Mumbai's Xavier Institute of Communications XIC.

This is also how Kashyap first met his key associate, Vikramaditya Motwane. (...) "I couldn't get into XIC, and was living in Imtiaz's room. Aarti Bajaj, my first wife and permanent editor for both mine and Imtiaz's films, was a year junior. Vikramaditya Motwane was Aarti's classmate. That's how we knew each other. But we really became friends during the shoot of [Deepa Mehta's] Water. Vikram was an assistant, and I was writing dialogues. The shoot got stalled [due to protests], and we spent a lot of time in Benares. Thereafter, I kept meeting him because he was first assistant director AD to Vishal Bhardwaj in his first film called Barf, before Maqbool - that never got made. (...) That was sometime around 2000. Vikram was one of the sound designers on Paanch. And because I was scared of shooting songs, and he had been Sanjay Leela Bhansali's assistant, I asked him to direct the songs. He had two credits in the film - sound designer, and director of songs. It was a first for many people - Bosco-Caesar as choreographer, (...) Aarti Bajaj as editor. Abbas Tyrewala was the lyricist in the film and Vishal Bhardwaj did the music. Both of them, Vikram, I and others, used to hang out together."

"Then, there was Sriram Raghavan (...) and a whole lot of others - part of another gang. Even Tigmanshu Dhulia, Irrfan and others were all close to my brother [Abhinav]. That was the third gang. I was the centre-point, everywhere. And then I had another friends' circle, with (...) Zoya Akhtar and the lot. When I wrote a script, I had way too many boards to bounce off. And that's what we did! I was a huge fan of Sriram Raghavan's Raman Raghav [a docu-drama on a serial killer that Kashyap remade in 2016]. (...) Then a strange thing happened, with a script I wrote officially, for the first time (...) - with Kamal Swaroop Om Dar-B-Dar as director. For that film, I found an actor I was a fan of from Delhi stage, called Manoj Bajpayee. I put the film together. But it never happened. Nobody was showing faith in Manoj. He was going through a hard time and doing Ram Gopal Varma's Daud, which is when Ramuji said he wanted to make a film [Satya] with Manoj. And asked if he knew of a writer for it. Without having seen any of my written works, Manoj took me to Ram Gopal Varma." (...)

But that he's also a liberal raconteur: "Oh, one of my favourite stories is about Mahesh Bhatt. He happened to me, right before Ram Gopal Varma. He got me to write films. And Mukesh Bhatt [his brother, and producer] was very miserly with money. I was struggling for rent. Pooja Bhatt was the nicest and kindest; I would tell her to talk to her dad. Then I just walked up to [Mahesh] Bhatt saab once and said that I'd rather be a carpenter than work in his office. With his brother [Mukesh] around, he didn't say a word. When I was leaving, he came down, said, - Don't ever change. - And he put Rs 10,000 in my hand. That was big money in 1994-1995." Years later, at a post-screening event in a film festival abroad, Kashyap was narrating the first part of the story above. He heard a voice from the audience. (...) "Bhatt saab was sitting in the crowd. I got so emotional. I have had funny incidents like these." (...) "There was a time when Mukul Anand was making Trimurti 1995. I wanted to work with him as an assistant. I would call his house land-line. Every call was a rupee gone. And he was always busy. Third time I said, - (...) [This is producer Subhash Ghai, tell him not to show up on the sets from tomorrow], - and hung up. Now when somebody trolls me on social media, I just remember my time!" 

There is then the moment he randomly landed up at Shah Rukh Khan's bungalow Mannat he mistakenly calls it Jannat on Bandstand: "I was hungry and I walked into his house, using our college connection [both went to Hansraj in Delhi]. I remember him feeding me. He only knew how to make omelette." And then, there are the more famous spats: (...) "Karan Johar gave an interview calling me a psychopath. Till then we had not met. I called him a fat kid, who still thinks he is in school. (...) I also said something about Anil Kapoor in the interview that became a headline. But people always knew I was childlike." (...) He's gone to the extent of rescuing actor Rajpal Yadav from Andheri railway station, since he was returning to his hometown, having given up. That's when, Kashyap says, he first met the nondescript Nawazuddin Siddiqui, standing next to Yadav. (...) Scorsese, (...) after having watched GoW, invited him to be on the jury of the Marrakech film festival. Before Scorsese walked in, Kashyap was smoking outside with the Oscar winning Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, without knowing it was Sorrentino! Both were nervously puffing away. (...) Or this other time, Kashyap was in the same room as Francis Ford Coppola, "Sophia Coppola, his daughter, was with him. He is old. I kept staring at him for so long that he made me sit on his lap and said, now talk to me!".'

Vicky Kaushal: 'When KJo's video was shared, I had no clue that I became the charsi'

Vi segnalo questa magnifica intervista (non integrale) concessa da Vicky Kaushal a Mayank Shekhar e pubblicata oggi da Mid-Day. Il pezzo include il link al video dell'intervista completa.  When KJo's video was shared, I had no clue that I became the charsi':

'How did you land Uri [given the unlikely CV]? (...)

I got a call from Ronnie Screwvala's office that they had dropped off an action script [to be directed by Aditya, who I already knew]. I saw the title, Uri: The Surgical Strike. And now I wasn't the actor. I was actually curious to know what happened [in Uri]. It took me four-and-a-half hours to read the script, in one go, which is what I prefer - as if I'm watching a film. That's when I get a true sense of what I feel.

As an audience?

Yes. So I started watching the film, and I just couldn't get it. There was just too much information, military-technical-logistical language. Also, I didn't feel anything. Because I hadn't taken four-and-a-half hours to read a script before. (...) My dad, who was equally curious about the Uri incident, and had read the script lying around, asked me what I thought of it. I said I'm not sure. He told me that if I miss this film, it'll be the biggest mistake of my life! He said that maybe I'm in a different space right now, in another kind of military film, and that's why unable to connect.

You were playing a Pak military officer, shooting for Raazi. Of course you're not going to like Uri!

[Laughs] And then I don't know what happened. I got back to the script four days later, finished it in an hour-and-a-half, as if I was reading it for the first time. I called up Sonia [Screwvala's associate] at 3 am, and said, I will do the film.

You essentially have your dad to thank for Uri. What I find most fascinating is actually your dad [Sham Kaushal]! Tell us his [lesser known] story.

My dad and mom are from a small village in Punjab. He was good in studies, and started learning English in sixth grade. He went on to top BA, in English Literature; did his MA. And wanted to be an English professor in Punjab. But the family's financial situation was such that he could not pursue an M.Phil from Chandigarh. At 23, he was frustrated, with no job, even after an MA degree. My dadaji [grandfather] had a very small kiraane ki dukaan [convenience store] in the village. My dad's friend Satpal was going to Bombay to become an actor. Since my dad was doing nothing at home, and frustrated, my grandfather asked him to tag along with the friend, for a few days, feel better, and come back. In Bombay, my dad wanted to start a new life. He had a distant uncle in New Bombay, who got him a salesman's job in a plumbing-wall shop, behind RK Studios, in Chembur. He did that for Rs 350 a month, and really struggled. He's been on streets. Without letting anybody know, he used to live in the office, having done a 'setting' with the peon. He would sleep, leave early; and come back, when work started.

He would take a shower in office?

Yeah, everything. After a year, he knew he couldn't start a family with R350 a month, even if he did the same thing for 15 to 30 years. So, without Plan B, he quits his job, and comes to a PG [paying-guest accommodation] in Santacruz. Here, he stays with 10 Punjabi guys, who're stuntmen. They leave for work in the morning, and come back with a tidy sum in the evening. That's when he discovers this [profession]. Purely for survival, he decides to become a stuntman, at 25. People start training at 13-15, when their body is flexible. He had never done any physical activity before. He used to sit in his father's shop, and do accounts. So he is a stuntman for 10 years. He lands up his first film as action director with Mohanlal, because the Malayalam filmmakers were shooting in Bombay. They needed someone to handle the stunt sequences. They would've been okay with an experienced stuntman as well. So long as the person understood English, so they could communicate with him. My father was the only guy around who knew English. He got that job because of his degree in English Literature! (...)

Did you get to observe showbiz closely as a result?

No. Well, my brother Sunny and I knew that the good things we were getting in life was because of a lot of dad's hardships, and my mom's support to him. But it was never a house, where we wanted to meet our favourite stars, go on sets, parties, etc. We had friends line up outside our house, for an autograph of an actor who was visiting. For us, that actor was my dad's friend. For example, Anurag [Kashyap] sir and I always have a laugh about this. He knows me since Black Friday [in which my dad was action director]. I was probably in my eighth grade. So when he used to come over for meetings, I used to call him uncle, serve him parathas, and go out to play cricket. So it was that. (...)

Did it bother you, as in a system where a star takes all, or that you would have to become one [in order to succeed]?

Not at all. To be honest, I don't know why, but I never had a sense [of entitlement] that I should be launched as a star. I knew I could make a mark by knowing my job - just going through the drill, and getting opportunities on the basis of what I know. Also, my father had made it clear that he would back my decision to be an actor, as a father alone. And not as an action director. So I had that reality-check - that nobody is going to spend crores, because I'm Sham Kaushal's son. And he's not going to do it either. Besides, for whatever reasons, whether some sort of complex, or plain under-confidence, my dream wasn't so big - that I want to be a hero. I was just on auto-pilot - that I'll give auditions, learn the craft through theatre, be an AD [assistant director]...

You did a lot of theatre?

I did. But I started off as an intern to Anurag Kashyap on Gangs Of Wasseypur. I also started reading scripts that my dad would get, to match with the final film, and see changes that an actor brought in. I could visit sets with him. But realised I'd then just be a visitor. My knowledge of engineering is so bookish that I can't even repair a TV. I wanted to be an engineer, who has been at the garage for four years. So I decided to dive into acting, with on-field learning. (...) Through actors on set, I got to know the importance of theatre. I'd been active on stage since school, but feared it professionally. I started doing theatre with Manav Kaul, Kumud Mishra, Naseer saab [Naseeruddin Shah], Thespo Festival, and Rage Productions - my first pay-cheque. I joined Kishore Namit Kapoor's acting academy. I also had to clean my slate, after being an assistant-director, because I wasn't looking at that profession. I completely cut off from Anurag sir.

But he made you act in Gangs, though!

It's the scene where Nagma Khatoon [Richa Chadha] goes to a brothel. Last minute, everyone [junior artistes] that we'd rounded up in Benares refused to participate in that scene, once they realised it's a brothel. The entire direction team stood-in for them. I'm that silhouette you see behind the window-grille, (...) when Nagma Khatoon is cursing Sardar Khan [Manoj Bajpayee]! That was the first time I faced a camera.

Oh, I'm told your first time before camera was for [director] Michael Winterbottom?

Yes, that was the first time I faced the camera, and you could see my face! Michael Winterbottom was making a film called Trishna, with Freida Pinto. We'd just finished shooting Gangs in March, 2011, and I had these braces, and was an AD. I had gone to my native place in Punjab with family, when I got a call from Anurag Kashyap, and he said, "Item number karega (Will you do an item number)?" I was like, what? He said, it's a Michael Winterbottom film, and Huma [Qureshi] and I will dance, and that he's acting in it as well, it'll be fun. So, Trishna, that's Freida's character in the film, comes to Bombay from Rajasthan, and a friend of hers takes her to a film-set. There's a song being shot with choreographer Ganesh Acharya, which is being picturised between and Huma and I [in the film, within the film]. (...) I was wearing this shimmery black, typically item-number costume, which I was very conscious of. I had no idea how it feels to be before a camera, with 50 back-up dancers, and 200 people around. So, my body is dancing, but my face is like this [frozen]. Ganesh Acharya sir, who was very sweet, came up to me and said, "You're dancing well. Now just dance from your face!" Of course, with several retakes, we got it right. (...)

Masaan was your first release. But Zubaan, which picked up top festival awards, was actually your first film. Honestly, couldn't understand that movie. Should one go back and watch it again?

I don't feel an audience should change the way they should watch a film. If you can't connect, you can't. It really resonated with me - a Punjabi from Gurdaspur, going to a big city, living that life, eventually realising it's not him; and now he has to connect back to his roots, and music becomes his medium. There was a lot for me to do as an actor - the journey, plus that stammering, plus music... If I feel connected to a material, for any reason, I just plunge into it. I don't think if it's going to do any good. I went through several rounds of auditions, from a short-list of around 200-300 actors, for that role.

Even Masaan, for that matter, I'm told, you'd seen the pilot promo of that film with other actors already. Who were the other people doing that film then?

I remember [director] Neeraj [Ghaywan] and I, with the entire AD team of Gangs of Wasseypur, were going to Pune. Because a friend had lost someone in her family. We were in the same car, catching up after long. He was telling me about a film he was trying to make. (...) He showed me the pilot-promo. It looked very interesting, and he gave me the gist. The cast was Rajkummar Rao for the part I [eventually] played. (...) There was Manoj Bajpayee for the part played by Sanjay Mishraji, and Richa [Chadha], and Shweta [Tripathi]. That was the promo. The film had to be shot in October during Durga Puja. (...) If they missed the deadline, they'd have to shoot the following year, which they couldn't afford. Raj couldn't make it during the time, so that slot became open. They were looking for new actors. So they auditioned me, and I passed!

That was a breakout role. You owe your career to Rajkummar Rao!

[Laughs] Yes. In fact, my first few films, even Zubaan or Raman Raghav [2015], had gone to somebody else, and then they started auditioning again. (...)

Speaking of directors, you've worked with Anurag Kashyap as an intern [Gangs], then actor [Raman Raghav, Manmarziyaan], he also produced Masaan. He's notorious for throwing actors into the deep-end, no script, etc. How did that work for you, starting off?

He's a very impromptu kind of a creative force, relying on impulse. If you give him everything ready on paper, then he might not know what to do on a set. He does give you the lines. He just doesn't want actors to be rigid, when it comes to them. So he wants you to enter knowing what your character is. And then allow him, the geography, and the costumes to mould you.

Give an example?

Sometimes, we may not have the lines beforehand. For example, my last scene in Manmarziyaan. It's the separation scene between Taapsee and I, in her room. We were ready in costume. He had told the DOP [cinematographer] to keep the tracking-shot ready. And he is with his pen and paper, writing the scene, while we're in costume. He gives us the lines, and we have five to ten minutes to prepare. I had to hug Taapsee. It is an emotional moment. My character has accepted the fact that he's not the guy in her life. He hugs her. And once a scene is over, as per the script, for the next ten to fifteen seconds, Anurag sir has a tendency to not say cut.

He will just keep the camera rolling?

Yeah, while the actors are thinking, what do I do next? I still remember, it was my OS [over-the-shoulder] shot. I have hugged Taapsee. The moment is done. And done. And done... But I still can't hear, cut! Then I see Anurag Kashyap sitting right next to that camera, looking at me, going, "Alag ho jaa, alag ho jaa [separate]." So in that emotional, teared-up state, I don't know what to do. She [Taapsee] doesn't know what to do either. And then, I just start beat boxing. That makes Taapsee smile. And that makes me smile. And then, he says cut. That is the moment, and the scene in the film. Not the one he had written.

Is Rajkumar Hirani the methodically prepared, polar-opposite?

He is as organic. The difference between them lies in the writing, and structuring of the film. And their ways of presenting a story. As directors, they are both fine editors. They can see the film while shooting it, and so they are super-fast - no safety-shots, no safety-cuts. I've seen on Sanju, Raju sir has called for a steady-cam operator on set for a specific shot and moment. It's a full night's shoot anyway. While shooting the scene, he captured that moment on a static camera. He was so sure that he had got the shot, that he just told the steady-cam operator to pack-up'.

Le Giornate del Cinema Lucano 2019

L'undicesima edizione de Le Giornate del Cinema Lucano si svolge a Maratea dal 21 al 26 luglio 2019. Kabir Bedi, ospite della manifestazione, terrà domani un seminario. All'attore verrà conferito il Premio Internazionale Basilicata 2019.

Aggiornamento del 26 luglio 2019: intervista video concessa da Kabir a Eva Elisabetta Zuccari per Today.

Kabir Bedi a Domenica In

Lo scorso 7 aprile Kabir Bedi è stato ospite di Domenica In. Video ufficiale.

Da Brindisi a Bollywood: Giorgia Andriani si racconta

[Archivio] Vi segnalo l'intervista video concessa da Giorgia Andriani, attuale compagna di Arbaaz Khan, a Salvatore Barbarossa: Da Brindisi a Bollywood: Giorgia Andriani si racconta, BrindisiReport, 25 novembre 2018. Nel finale, una breve apparizione di Arbaaz che pronuncia qualche parola in italiano. Nel testo che commenta il filmato si legge: 'Arbaaz  è una delle star indiane più popolari e con Giorgia ha potuto apprezzare Brindisi nel periodo estivo, tanto da volerci ritornare'. 

River to River Florence Indian Film Festival 2017

Dal 7 al 12 dicembre 2017 si è svolta la 17ma edizione del River to River Florence Indian Film Festival. Fra i titoli in cartellone segnalo Newton, Omertà e Shab. Hansal Mehta e Onir hanno partecipato alla manifestazione. Replica parziale a Milano, allo Spazio Oberdan, dal 2 al 4 febbraio 2018. Vi propongo  l'intervista video concessa da Mehta ad Andrea Lattanzi, condivisa da La Repubblica lo scorso 11 dicembre.

Hansal Mehta

Onir

Shah Rukh Khan: laurea honoris causa

Quest'oggi l'università di Edimburgo ha conferito a Shah Rukh Khan una laurea honoris causa con la seguente motivazione: 'His Edinburgh degree of Doctor Honoris Causa was given in recognition of his success as an actor with a global reach and his outstanding record of philanthropy, altruism and humanitarianism'. L'attore ha tenuto una lezione pubblica, e si è anche esibito in una coreografia. Ieri era stato proiettato Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, film che include alcune sequenze girate in Scozia. Al termine, era seguito un dibattito sull'impatto provocato da SRK sulle platee di tutto il mondo, dibattito a cui hanno partecipato studenti, giornalisti e accademici. Video ufficiale con dichiarazioni rilasciate dalla superstar.

Aggiornamento del 16 ottobre 2015: 

- video ufficiale della lezione pubblica dal titolo Life Lessons

- video ufficiale dell'esibizione coreografica.

Le prime del 9 ottobre 2015: Jazbaa

Per milioni di fan in tutto il mondo l'attesa è durata cinque lunghi anni. La Diva torna finalmente sul grande schermo, e col botto, con Jazbaa, il nuovo film di Sanjay Gupta. Aishwarya Rai è la protagonista di questo thriller al femminile dai risvolti drammatici e ricco di scene d'azione, remake hindi della pellicola sudcoreana del 2007 Se-Beun De-I-Jeu (titolo internazionale Seven Days). Ad affiancarla il mitico Irrfan Khan (occhio alla salivazione). Vi propongo il video di Bollywood Hungama della presentazione del trailer, evento a cui hanno partecipato il regista, Aishwarya e Irrfan. Non contenta, vi offro anche i video dei brani Bandeyaa, Kahaaniya, Aaj Raat Ka Scene e Jaane Tere Shehar, inclusi nella colonna sonora. Nulla da eccepire: Ash è in ottima forma!

Ranbir Kapoor gira un film con mamma e papà

[Archivio] 

Il 30 settembre 2013 Euronews aveva caricato in rete un video in italiano dedicato a Besharam che includeva un'intervista concessa da Ranbir Kapoor. La star di Bollywood Ranbir Kapoor gira un film con mamma e papà:

'La più pregiata "fabbrica di sogni" orientale sforna una nuova commmedia d'azione con la superstar trentenne Ranbir Kapoor. L'anno scorso Forbes lo aveva catalogato come una delle massime celebrità indiane che peraltro vanta un notevole patrimonio di diversi milioni di dollari. Sentiamo dalla voce del protagonista come si presenta questo nuovo prodotto cinematografico destinato prima di tutto al vasto pubblico indiano: (...) "E' una commedia e il mio personaggio è un po' sopra le righe, estroso, volgare, un po' disgustoso. Ma è stato divertente interpretarlo. Non credo di voler far diventare questa commedia un marchio, è solo la quintessenza del film d'intrattenimento hindi. C'è la commedia, il romanzo, il dramma, l'azione. Concentra tutto ed è divertente, un nuovo genere per me". Fra l'altro l'attore si esibisce insieme ai suoi stessi veri genitori, il mitico Rishi Kapoor e Neetu Kapoor che interpretano una coppia di poliziotti. Cosa significa girare con i propri genitori? (...) "I preconcetti  direbbero che la cosa spaventa. Ho pensato che mi sarei alterato davanti a loro senza riuscire a creare il giusto dialogo. Soltanto perchè erano i miei genitori ma loro stessi sono dei grandi attori, bravi lavoratori, appassionati nel momento in cui andavamo sul set, ben calati nella parte quindi è stata una bella esperienza con una bella dinamica tra i vari protagonisti. Io interpreto un ladro, loro gli sbirri. Divertente".'

Randeep Hooda: I did not talk to Alia for the longest time

Ammettiamolo: è sempre un grande piacere ascoltare il suo timbro di voce e soprattutto ammirarlo in azione. Randeep Hooda forse non riuscirà a costruirsi una carriera sfolgorante come quella dei vari Khan, Kapoor o Kumar, ma la nicchia che si è ritagliato diventa ogni giorno più ampia, e lo stuolo delle sue fan ogni giorno più consistente. Come si può ignorare un uomo così? Perciò ecco qui, for your eyes only, il video del quarto episodio di Freaky Fridays dedicato a Randeep. E se non vi basta, segnalo anche l'intervista concessa dall'attore a Patcy N., pubblicata da Rediff il 21 febbraio 2014. I did not talk to Alia for the longest time: 

'You are quite a traveller and have travelled a lot for Highway.

I haven’t travelled extensively. For Highway, I travelled 2,500 kilometres by road. The experience was good. Every morning we would get up and travel to a new destination. The scenery was new, the clothing was different, the food was different, the feeling was different, and people were different in each place. When you travel by road, the etiquette of travel changes from state to state. Like people in Haryana and Punjab are very aggressive, people in Rajasthan are welcoming; people in Himachal Pradesh are so adjusting that they will wait for you to cross. I fell sick when I was in Himachal after I ate lots of pine nuts. A leader from Himachal came to meet us and she garlanded us with a pine-nut garland. I had not had lunch so I started eating it. I overate and was badly sick. I got altitude sickness too. Apart from that, the whole trip was well managed. (...) The stay and food arrangements were really good at all the places. Imtiaz himself is a foodie. He loves his food and still manages to stay so thin. Sometimes I would think that he selected a location to shoot because they served the food he likes (laughs).

Have you seen the telefilm on which the film is based?

I didn’t even know about it till much later, after the movie was shot. But I did get to see the picture of the two actors in the truck. The picture did not look the way the movie is. I didn’t think the male character in the picture looked anything like me, or what I played.

How different is your character from Alia’s?

When I read the script, I thought it was a requirement of the script that the two characters look poles apart. Alia and I both have a metropolitan upbringing. There is also a huge age gap. I think she is intellectually and emotionally more mature than me. It was very challenging to get the right look of the character that I play. I slept in the sun a lot to get the weather-beaten, leathery skin. I grew my moustache and beard, I stopped washing and combing my hair and applying any cream. I learnt the dialect of the Gujjar community, so when I speak it doesn’t sound like Hindi. I changed my voice a bit. When you see both the characters you should feel that they have nothing in common. That difference is very necessary for the script. India has two societies - of haves and have-nots. They are very different in every aspect - the way they deal with emotions is not the same. We have tried to get both these societies into Highway. Part of the film is about these two different classes of people, how they learn something from each other and get influenced by each other.

Alia Bhatt said you were a bit hard on her on the sets...

I did not talk to Alia for the longest time because in the film I don’t talk to her character and I am not very kind to her. I did not speak to her for 20-25 days. It’s only when we start interacting in the movie that I went and spoke to her. I did that because of two things: I was really trying to work on my character, and I wanted her to see me as Mahavir Bhatti (the character he plays in Highway) and not as Randeep Hooda.

What were your creative inputs in the film?

Every good director, when he casts an actor, writes the script or changes the script according to the actor. I am sure Imtiaz also did that. My character was well written. I didn’t improvise much. For all my movies I work on my character thoroughly, though sometimes I don’t get the script and sometimes I get the dialogues only on the sets. (...)

How come you are not typecast?

I don’t do conventional things like dancing and all. I pick things that are different and say no to scripts that are similar even if it’s for a big production house. It is important to keep filmmakers interested in you so they can offer you everything and anything. We actors are not given work on the basis of an audience poll; the filmmaker will cast you after seeing and liking your work. It is essential to do different kinds of films. There was a time in the past when I had no work. That time also I did not lose myself as an actor. (...)

Is your Polo team still functional? 

No, not yet. It is turning out to be far more expensive than I thought it would be. I have to do many more movies and still live in a rented house (to afford a functional polo team), which is not glamorous. But I have many horses. I cannot resist the temptation to buy a horse, that's where all my money goes'.

Vedi anche Berlin International Film Festival 2014

Steven Spielberg a Mumbai

Reliance Entertainment ha organizzato un evento imperdibile, svoltosi ieri sera a Mumbai, che ha riunito sotto lo stesso tetto in un colpo solo un nutrito numero di registi indiani, accorsi ad ascoltare la conversazione fra Amitabh Bachchan e Steven Spielberg. Ne cito alcuni: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Shyam Benegal, Rajkumar Hirani, Madhur Bhandarkar, Anurag Kashyap, Ashutosh Gowariker, Kunal Kohli, Nagesh Kukunoor, Sudhir Mishra, Zoya Akhtar, R. Balki e Vikramaditya Motwane. 

Vi segnalo l'articolo Steven Spielberg’s close encounter with Bollywood, di Nyay Bhushan, pubblicato ieri da The Hollywood Reporter:

'Bachchan then asked Spielberg if he had any questions for the Indian film fraternity present. Spielberg took the chance to do a spot poll and asked how many directors present did action movies (not too many hands went up), comedies (some hands) and musicals (the hall erupted in laughter given Bollywood is driven by song and dance). “I’d like to know what kind of movies are made, not just Bollywood. Is there freedom here for different genres?” asked Spielberg. “It is getting better,” replied Sudhir Mishra. “Audiences are also changing and there is a new breed of directors, and many of them are in this room. And even mainstream cinema is changing.” As Mishra pointed to director Raju Hirani, known for the superhit comedy 3 Idiots, Spielberg said, “Yes, I saw it - I loved it”.' 

Video Reliance Entertainment  

Per stasera è in programma un party esclusivo in onore di Spielberg, a cui parteciperanno, fra gli altri, Aishwarya Rai, Farhan e Zoya Akhtar, Preity Zinta, Sridevi, Hrithik Roshan, Anushka Sharma, Ashutosh Gowariker, Karan Johar, Kajol, Anil Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Kamal Haasan e Rajkumar Hirani. Vi ricordo che Reliance e Spielberg hanno prodotto insieme Le avventure di Tintin e Lincoln.

Rajkumar Hirani e Steven Spielberg

Madhur Bhandarkar e Steven Spielberg

Roberto Cavalli a Delhi

[Archivio] Vi propongo una breve intervista video concessa da Sonam Kapoor e da Roberto Cavalli a InKhabar, in occasione dell'inaugurazione a Delhi di una boutique dello stilista italiano il 7 dicembre 2012.

 

 

Neha Dhupia

Lombardia Film Commission punta su Bollywood

Ieri C6 TV ha diffuso un'intervista video concessa da Alberto Contri, direttore di Lombardia Film Commission, le cui dichiarazioni delizieranno tutti i fan lombardi di cinema indiano. Nel commento si legge: 'Per far fronte alla crisi che sicuramente colpirà anche il cinema italiano nel 2012 la Film Commission lombarda sfodera l'asso nella manica e punta su Bollywood. Attirare le produzioni indiane vorrebbe dire generare non solo guadagni immediati durante le riprese ma anche un flusso di turismo conseguente per i milioni di indiani appassionati di cinema che verrebbero a visitare le location dei loro film più amati'.

(Posso proporre il mio appartamento milanese come location per Don 3?)

Aamir Khan in Network East Late

[Archivio] Vi segnalo i video - prima e seconda parte - della partecipazione di Aamir Khan, nel 2001, al programma britannico Network East Late condotto da Russell Peters, comico canadese di origine indiana. Il filmato include anche un'esibizione (purtroppo non integrale) dal vivo della talentuosissima Susheela Raman, cantante britannica di origine indiana.