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.

Gregory David Roberts: L'ombra della montagna

Finalmente un'ottima notizia: a partire dal 3 dicembre 2015, Neri Pozza Editore distribuirà nelle librerie italiane L'ombra della montagna, di Gregory David Roberts. Il volume è il seguito del celebre romanzo del 2003 Shantaram. Tutte le edizioni nel mondo utilizzeranno la stessa copertina, un simbolo della tradizione hindu legato al culto della dea Kali.

Garam: le riprese in Italia

Un paio di giorni fa la troupe del film in lingua telugu Garam era in Italia per girare alcune sequenze. Garam è diretto da Madan e interpretato da Aadi Saikumar e Adah Sharma. 

Aggiornamento del 6 settembre 2023: video del brano Chilaka Paapa.

Le prime del 16 ottobre 2015: Bruce Lee - The fighter

Tutti pazzi per Bruce Lee. Ram Charan interpreta il ruolo da protagonista in Bruce Lee - The fighter, film in lingua telugu diretto da Sreenu Vaitla. Nel cast anche Rakul Preet Singh. Il video del brano Le Chalo, incluso nella colonna sonora della pellicola, è girato nel nostro Paese. Fra l'altro Ram Charan era stato in Italia - a Firenze e a Roma - nel 2012, in occasione del suo viaggio di nozze. Trailer.

Bruce Lee: locandina

Nel 2014 e nel 2015 non è stata distribuita nessuna pellicola in lingua hindi diretta da Ram Gopal Varma. Non che il vulcanico regista sia rimasto con le mani in mano (figuriamoci): la sua filmografia telugu si è arricchita di un'altra manciata di titoli, giusto per non perdere il ritmo. La scorsa settimana RGV ha annunciato a sorpresa il suo nuovo lavoro in hindi, Bruce Lee, presentandone la locandina. 

Aggiornamento del 15 maggio 2023: con questo titolo, non è mai stata distribuita nessuna pellicola di Varma. Però, nel 2022, in India e in Cina è stato distribuito Ladki - Enter the girl dragon, film telugu di RGV imperniato sulle arti marziali. La protagonista, Pooja Bhalekar, sembra la stessa.  

Un giovanissimo RGV si cimenta con le arti marziali...

Jawani Phir Nahi Ani: locandina, trailer, video

Sfatiamo qualche mito. I pachistani sono sempre incazzati. I pachistani non sanno divertirsi. I pachistani sparano alle donne in bikini. I pachistani sono brutti. I film pachistani (quelle quattro striminzite pellicole prodotte in un anno) sono una tristezza. Bollywood in Pakistan spacca. Ora guardate il trailer di Jawani Phir Nahi Ani e i video dei brani Khul Jaye Botal, Jalwa e Dance The Party. Ebbene? Intanto Humayun Saeed è un figo. E Ahmad Ali Butt molto simpatico. Poi: JPNA, diretto da Nadeem Baig e distribuito il 24 settembre 2015, ha letteralmente travolto il botteghino, sbaragliando la sempre agguerrita concorrenza indiana e candidandosi al titolo di maggior blockbuster pachistano di tutti i tempi. Where's the party tonight? A Karachi! Che domande...

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!

Amitabh Bachchan e Kangana Ranaut: spot BoroPlus

In India, un paio di settimane fa, l'inedita coppia costituita da Amitabh Bachchan e da Kangana Ranaut ha catturato l'attenzione degli appassionati di cinema (quindi di tutti gli indiani...). I due hanno condiviso il set per uno spot pubblicitario commissionato da BoroPlus e prodotto da Rajkumar Hirani. Video.

Le prime del 2 ottobre 2015: Talvar

Presentato in prima mondiale al Toronto International Film Festival 2015, Talvar è diretto da Meghna Gulzar, figlia del celebre regista, poeta e paroliere Gulzar. Nel cast Irrfan Khan e Konkona Sen Sharma. Vishal Bhardwaj firma la sceneggiatura e la colonna sonora, oltre a collaborare alla produzione. La trama si ispira ad un fatto di cronaca realmente accaduto nel 2008, il duplice assassinio di una ragazzina di nome Aarushi e di un domestico. I genitori della ragazzina, due dentisti, furono arrestati con l'accusa di omicidio. In Talvar la storia viene narrata da tre differenti punti di vista, compreso quello dei genitori di Aarushi. Trailer. Curiosità: lo scorso gennaio era stata distribuita un'altra pellicola sull'argomento, Rahasya, diretta da Manish Gupta e interpretata da Kay Kay Menon.

Vedi anche Toronto International Film Festival 2015

Quantico - stagione 1: locandina e trailer italiani

La prima stagione della serie americana Quantico, interpretata da Priyanka Chopra nel ruolo della protagonista, verrà trasmessa in italiano da Fox a partire dal prossimo 18 novembre. Trailer.

Aggiornamento del 3 novembre 2016: a partire dal prossimo 6 dicembre, dovrebbe essere distribuito nei negozi il cofanetto di 6 DVD dell'edizione italiana della prima stagione di Quantico.

Vedi anche:

- Priyanka Chopra in Italia per Quantico - stagione 3, 12 ottobre 2017

- Quantico - stagione 3 in Italia, 9 luglio 2019

Metropolitana di Milano (scatto di Giandomenico)

Kalki Koechlin a Milano: evento Furla

Lo scorso 24 settembre Kalki Koechlin era a Milano per la presentazione della nuova collezione di Furla, in occasione della settimana della moda. L'attrice ha dichiarato: 'Furla represents the joyful contemporary Italian lifestyle and I particularly love the design ethos of combining two worlds to make a bag. The day to night bag I am carrying is the answer to any busy woman’s woes'. Ieri Vogue India ha pubblicato una bella serie di fotografie: Following Kalki Koechlin through the streets of Milan, Pahull Bains.

Aggiornamento dell'8 ottobre 2015: il numero di Grazia in edicola la scorsa settimana offriva una breve intervista concessa da Kalki a Fiamma Sanò. Vi propongo alcuni scatti postati nel profilo Twitter della fortunata intervistatrice (che ringrazio per la gentilezza).

The indie scene in India is building up to a crescendo

Spettacolare l'articolo The indie scene in India is building up to a crescendo, di Satarupa Paul, pubblicato da Brunch nel numero in edicola ieri, articolo dedicato alla scena musicale indiana indipendente, alternativa, non correlata con l'industria cinematografica e con le colonne sonore, né con la tradizione classica. Festival, locali, concerti, nuovi gruppi, nuovi generi, testi in lingue regionali, video: il pezzo analizza e illustra il fenomeno in modo piuttosto accurato. Di seguito un estratto:

'Winds of change

In the last five years, India has become a cauldron of a steaming, brewing independent music scene - scores of bands, acts and artistes are emerging from every part of the country, and they’re experimenting with sounds and cross pollinating genres like never before! The credit, in part, goes to the many music festivals mushrooming across the country, an ever-increasing crop of venues promoting live gigs, big brands sponsoring indie-exclusive TV channels and programmes, and a growing social media presence of the bands and acts. But behind such organised marketing initiatives, what has really changed is the passion and dedication of the artistes themselves, to push the envelope just a little further. And the mindsets and attitudes of people towards an alternative culture. (...)

Rewind, Stop, Play

The newly-independent India of the 1950s was just beginning to come of age. Its small population of westernised urban citizens was trying to find ways of expressing itself and music was one of them. In his book India Psychedelic, the Story of a Rocking Generation, journalist Sidharth Bhatia writes, "The music of choice in the 1950s was either jazz or soulful songs by the likes of Frank Sinatra... Jazz, for all its working-class, ghetto origins in the US, had morphed into the music of choice of the urban upper classes." By the turn of the decade, the Beatles were setting off a storm in England that would sweep the entire world. "In socialist India, too, youngsters put on their dancing shoes to groove to this new sound, so different from anything they had heard till then," writes Bhatia. "Some were sufficiently inspired to grow their hair, put on their bell-bottoms and pick up their guitars. And the Indian pop and rock revolution was born."

Madboy/Mink

When everybody danced

Rock and its many derivatives - soft, hard, metal - continued to rule the non-Bollywood music scene in India over the next decade into the ’70s. In the early 1980s though, rock began to be overshadowed by disco - a movement started almost single-handedly by a musician from Bangalore named Biddu. (...) Simultaneously, there was another influence entering the Indian indie scene. According to an essay by electronic music producer Samrat B in the 2010 HUB yearbook, India’s first and only anthology of electronic music, “The late ’80s in Goa saw the rise of tourism... Electronic music and sound was arriving to Indian shores via DJs, writers, filmmakers and tourists... It is in this socio-cultural melting pot that the popular, psychedelic electronic music form now known as ‘Goa trance’ was born.” With the arrival of music channels on television in the mid-90s, music enthusiasts in India started getting influenced by Western rock sounds again - but this time the sounds were harder and rapidly changing. Bands that formed during this time evolved their styles from rock to alternative rock, progressive rock, metal and others. It was only natural for the independent scene of the ’90s and 2000s to take these musical influences forward and lead up to this current decade - a time of widespread popularity of electronica and its many sub-genres, and of a resurgence of older genres like disco, cabaret, jazz, blues, rock and more - all permuted, combined, mixed, remixed and fused with each other, with a garnishing of traditional Indian influences. (...)

Prateek Kuhad

Brunch recommends - Seven promising new indie music artistes you should listen to:

- Tritha Electric, Formed in: 2011, Based in: New Delhi, Genre/Sound: Indian classical-folk-Western psychedelic-punk

- Madboy/Mink, Formed in: 2013, Based in: Mumbai, Genre/Sound: Funk-nu disco

- Prateek Kuhad, Started performing live in: 2011, Based in: New Delhi, Genre/Sound: Indie folk-pop

- DJ Kerano, Started performing live in: 2015, Based in: New Delhi, Genre: Progressive house

- Alobo Naga & The Band, Formed in: 2010, Based in: Nagaland, Genre: Contemporary progressive rock with pop sounds

- The Ganesh Talkies, Formed in: 2011, Based in: Kolkata, Genre: Alternate-rock-pop-Bollywood kitsch

- Peter Cat Recording Co. (PCRC), Formed in: 2010, Based in: New Delhi, Genre/Sound: Gypsy jazz-cabaret'.

DJ Kerano

Alobo Naga & The Band

The Ganesh Talkies

Peter Cat Recording Co.

Salento International Film Festival 2015

L'edizione 2015 del Salento International Film Festival si è svolta dal 4 al 13 settembre a Tricase. Rebellious Flower, biografia di Osho Rajneesh diretta da Krishan Hooda, ha conquistato la Menzione Speciale della Giuria. 

 

What Satyajit Ray left us is an inheritance of endless possibilities

Pather Panchali, il primo film di Satyajit Ray, fu distribuito nell'agosto del 1955. In occasione del 60esimo anniversario, l'attrice Sharmila Tagore dedica un lungo tributo al celebre regista bengali. What Satyajit Ray left us is an inheritance of endless possibilities, The Wire, 11 settembre 2015:

'His films are conversations with the shifting sands of time through which he lived, and which in turn shaped his films. The first phase of his career coincided with the hope and idealism of a newly emergent nation, and saw him make what in effect were his finest films - movies that truly reflects the spirit of the times. They also reflected his own upbringing, his education in music and the arts and his belief in the confluence of east and west. This vision was both Tagorean and Nehruvian. Of course, the political and economic ideals of the Nehruvian period began to disintegrate around the mid-60s and this had its impact on Ray. The uncertainties of the era - the economic, political and social upheavals of the 1970s - found their way in to his films. (...) A secular impulse ran through his films and he often made courageous forays into the domain of blind faith, superstition and religious bigotry. (...) His films were not about political stance. They were about how politics influenced people and altered their moral and ethical values.

Unlike the popular cinema of his time, he did not paint his characters in extremes of black and white. Ray’s characters lived in an instantly recognisable middle ground. There are no heroes in his films; instead you have the brave heroism of ordinary individuals, battling with the demons of their day-to-day lives. Ray’s world was also deeply embedded in the ordinary. Take for instance the iconic image of him we have all seen in print. Sitting in his spartan room in Kolkata surrounded by books, paper, music, pens and paintbrushes. Here was man far removed from the material world, inhabiting a world of imagination and ideas. He had use of money for just two things - books and music, and of course for making films. (...) I don’t think there has been another director quite so versatile and as hardworking. The commitment to his art despite the conditions in which he worked, the steadfastness, the refusal to compromise for any consideration whatsoever are ultimately the qualities that make him stand apart. The trouble with looking at Ray’s cinema is that his own formidable and impressive persona begins to mediate our understanding of his films. 

His personal charisma, his baritone voice, his erudition and encyclopaedic knowledge, his familiarity and comfort with both Bengali and English made him a towering personality. It has, therefore, been impossible to extricate him from his films. This has been both good and bad. For those who admired him uncritically, he became the avenue by which to understand his films. For those who did not, he became an art-house figure who was distant, unreachable and obscure. This, combined with differences in regional sensibilities, lack of suitable marketing and distribution, and of course the Bengali language, has continued to impede a more widespread engagement with Ray’s films within the country. (...) Contrary to popular perception, his films weren’t confined to the intelligentsia, but have been enjoyed by a large cross-section of audiences belonging to both the Bengals. Far from being distant, he was deeply and vibrantly engaged with life and with the critical issues of his times. He always answered phone calls himself, and replied to letters in his own handwriting. Visitors to his home would often be surprised to find him opening the door.

Yet sadly, there are those who thought that his international fame was undeserved and that he got his international acclaim by peddling Indian poverty abroad. One would’ve thought that such an absurd viewpoint would by now have been dismissed with the contempt it deserves. However, it keeps cropping up every now and then and this is certainly a lie that needs to be nailed. The implication seems to be that to be a true nationalist one must sweep truths about India under the carpet. This is precisely what Ray’s cinema stood against. (...) As Ray most eloquently put it, “Cinema has its own way of telling the truth and it must be left free to function in its own right”. (...) In any case except for the [Apu] Trilogy and Ashani Sanket, no other films of Ray dealt with poverty.

While being rooted in the culture of Bengal, he was simultaneously international. His films are culture specific and yet managed to transcend language and other cultural barriers. Perhaps that’s why even today, they run to packed houses all over the world. It is not just the Indian diaspora that make up the appreciative crowd, but a diverse international audience, three or four generations removed from Ray at that. (...) In that regard, Ray’s films constitute a truly successful crossover cinema that everybody is aspiring to make. (...) It may seem at first that Ray’s films have nothing to do with the popular cinema of Bombay, but culture travels in mysterious ways. Legacies like Ray’s seep through to become part of the social and cultural landscape. (...) If today, the cinema of Ray is part of our consciousness, then it is because it has the ability across a different time and space to illuminate the “dark rooms of our souls” and offers us an outlook - to live and let live'. 

Indiancine.ma

Vi segnalo il sito Indiancine.ma, archivio on line di film indiani. Buona visione!

Salman Rushdie: Due anni, otto mesi e ventotto notti

A partire da oggi, è in distribuzione nelle librerie italiane Due anni, otto mesi e ventotto giorni, il nuovo romanzo di Salman Rushdie, pubblicato da Arnoldo Mondadori Editore.

Aishwarya Rai, Sonam Kapoor e Katrina Kaif: nuovo spot L'Oréal

Vi propongo il nuovissimo spot L'Oréal interpretato, fra le altre, da Aishwarya Rai, Sonam Kapoor, Katrina Kaif e Freida Pinto. Nel video anche John Legend, Jane Fonda, Julianne Moore e Eva Longoria.

Ortana-Chennaiyin FC 0-2

Ortana-Chennaiyin

La squadra di calcio indiana Chennaiyin Football Club, di proprietà dell'attore Abhishek Bachchan, dal 22 agosto 2015 è a Perugia per un mese di ritiro precampionato. La squadra è allenata da Marco Materazzi per il secondo anno consecutivo, e annovera nelle sue file i giocatori italiani Manuele Blasi e Alessandro Potenza. Il Chennaiyin sta disputando alcune amichevoli con squadre locali. Giovedì 3 settembre, allo stadio Ellera di Corciano, ha battuto l'Ortana per 2-0. Il prossimo giovedì 10 settembre incontrerà il Gualdo Casacastalda.

Aggiornamento del 21 dicembre 2015: ieri il Chennaiyin ha vinto il campionato Indian Super League.

Manuele Blasi: ritiro a Perugia

Alessandro Potenza

Chennaiyin FC: ritiro a Perugia

Materazzi vincitore dell'ISL 2015

Churni Ganguly: Nirbashito not only about Taslima Nasreen

Nirbashito è l'acclamato film scritto, diretto e interpretato dall'attrice Churni Ganguly (moglie del regista Kaushik Ganguly) al suo debutto dietro la macchina da presa. Nirbashito si ispira liberamente alla vicenda personale della scrittrice bengalese Taslima Nasreen che vive in esilio dal 1994. Non è chiaro se la pellicola sia già stata distribuita nelle sale indiane (almeno nel Bengala occidentale) oppure no, ma quest'anno si è comunque aggiudicata il National Award per il miglior film in lingua bengali. Trailer. 

Vi segnalo l'intervista concessa dalla regista a Anindita Acharya, pubblicata il 14 agosto 2015 da Hindustan Times. Nirbashito not only about Taslima Nasreen: Churni Ganguly:

'Nirbashito, which is about freedom of expression, was adjudged the best feature film in Bengali at the National Awards on March 24. The same day, the Supreme Court also struck down Section 66A of IT Act (which allowed arrest for offensive content on the internet).

Yes, it was a special day and I will never forget the date. After it was confirmed that Nirbashito has been conferred the National Award, I immediately called up Taslima. (...) She told me that the Supreme Court has scrapped 66A of IT Act. Freedom of expression won that day.

The film bears a strong resemblance to the life of Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen. Yet, you haven't named the protagonist in the film.

This is not a biopic on Taslima Nasreen. I have already mentioned that earlier. Since it's not a biopic, I haven't given the protagonist a name. A lot of fiction has been weaved into the story. The film talks about the power of woman. Her struggles start the very day she is born. If a woman has an opinion, she will be ostracised, which is also a kind of exile. A country comprises men and women. If we take away the freedom of expression from a woman, it's also a kind of exile... it's the death of democracy. If I can't express my opinion freely, I gradually cease to form opinions. Even in today's society, women hesitate to form a free opinion. So, the film speaks for those women who have gone ahead and expressed their opinion. It speaks of gender equality and patriarchy. Many women who can't protest have found a voice in Taslima. So, the film is dedicated to every woman.

Why did you choose the subject for your debut film?

The banishment of Taslima inspired me. She leads a claustrophobic life yet never stops voicing her opinion. Kaushik (Ganguly) had earlier thought of making a film on the subject. We have been toying with the idea for a long time. Somehow it didn't happen. I told him that I want to work on the idea. The concept of the film might make people think but there's nothing controversial in the film.

Everything about exiled author, Taslima Nasreen, is controversial.

All I can say is that has a human story. It speaks of motherly love that the author has for her pet cat. I have given an insight into the exiled author's life through her poetry. Whenever we speak of Taslima, we tend to bring in controversial elements into it. But at the end of the day she is a human being and I have tried to explore those facets of her personality. The controversial elements of her life have garnered a lot of attention, so I didn't feel the need to explore them again. There are scenes where we present Taslima's opinion too. It's a balanced film. One must know what goes against her and also what she stands for. However, I don't endorse banishment. I believe you can have an opinion not similar to her opinion, but there are other ways to answer that. There's a dialogue in the film which says burning vehicles on the road is not a way to protest. There's another dialogue which says invariably that sword wins. But I believe the pen should win. There can be debates, write ups but not banishment.

Banishment reminds us of author Salman Rushdie and artiste Maqbool Fida Husain.

One has the freedom of expression and at times, it might hurt another person. But he or she shouldn't be ostracised. It's not possible to pacify everyone. Banishment is not the way. There has to a softer way to deal with it. When you ban a film, the curiosity to watch the film increases manifold. So, whenever the film is available on the internet, everyone jumps in to watch it. My film is a tribute to Maqbool Fida Husain. Salman Rushdie also gets mentioned in a pivotal scene.

What was Taslima Nasreen's reaction after watching the film?

It was an emotional moment for her. She didn't react to the fact that we haven't used her name because she knew the film has a lot of fiction. We have taken cinematic licence to make the film.

What made you cast yourself in the lead role?

Initially, I didn't want to cast myself in my debut film. I wanted to take somebody who bears resemblance to Taslima. During the narration, a few of my friends from the film fraternity told me that I am apt to play the character. Since I was also the director, I had to write a lot of directorial inputs in the script so that my team had no difficulty in understanding my suggestions while shooting the film.

The concept of the film belongs to Kaushik Ganguly. How did he help you while making the film?

After I narrated the first draft of the film, he was so pleased that he wanted to make a film on it. But I refused to part with it (smiles). When we went into pre-production, he was busy with Apur Panchali. Both of us shared the same directorial team and it was chaos. He went away with the directorial team to shoot for Khaad. I was really upset at one point. But later, he was proud of the fact that I had managed everything on my own'.