2013 - Year Around | Eyes Read It

 

2013 is definitely year of sequels, remakes and adaptations– both qualitatively and quantitatively. In 2 months we have seen Race 2, Murder 3 and Kai Po Che. Well, only third one was able to earn some brownie points. Race 2 and Murder 3 hardly raised any emotion.

 

Major Sequels in 2013: Race 2, Murder 3, Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns, Shootout at Wadala, Aashiqui 2, Yamla Pagla Deewana 2, Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai 2, Ragini MMS 2, Krrish 3, Dhoom 3

 

Major Remakes in 2013: Himmatwala, Chashme Buddoor Remake, Zanjeer, Ramaiya Vasta Vaiya

 

Major Adaptations in 2013: Kai Po Che!, Lootera, Ram Leela

 

Among the ones which are yet to be released, Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns, Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai 2, Dhoom 3, Chashme Buddoor Remake and Lootera will be the ones to look out for. 2013, I hope some good surprises are in store.

 

 

 

2013 - Year Around | Eyes Read It

2013 is definitely year of sequels, remakes and adaptations– both qualitatively and quantitatively. In 2 months we have seen Race 2, Murder 3 and Kai Po Che. Well, only third one was able to earn some brownie points. Race 2 and Murder 3 hardly raised any emotion.

 

Major Sequels in 2013: Race 2, Murder 3, Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns, Shootout at Wadala, Aashiqui 2, Yamla Pagla Deewana 2, Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai 2, Ragini MMS 2, Krrish 3, Dhoom 3

 

Major Remakes in 2013: Himmatwala, Chashme Buddoor Remake, Zanjeer, Ramaiya Vasta Vaiya

 

Major Adaptations in 2013: Kai Po Che!, Lootera, Ram Leela

 

Among the ones which are yet to be released, Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster Returns, Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai 2, Dhoom 3, Chashme Buddoor Remake and Lootera will be the ones to look out for. 2013, I hope some good surprises are in store.

 

 

 

Suchitra Short Fiction Film Festival - An Experience | The Eyes Read It

‘Suchitra Short Fiction Film Festival’ or ‘S2F3’ as they call it, has been one of the best things to have happened to me in the past some time. Not very famous yet, but a very good film festival for short films. In all, competitive and non-competitive segments, 28 were selected were screened. One out of those lucky 28 being our short film Itaanu Uttaram, I got a chance to be a part of the event organized by a film society contributing for over four decades.

Spread over 2 days, the fest gave me a chance to meet many enthusiastic people from different professional backgrounds, to understand their understanding of the art, to see their piece of work, to have a discussion with them, to have a discussion on our work with industry experts like Mr. Prakash Belawadi, a well-known theatre & film personality, to feel good about seeing your work being screened on a big screen and seeing people enjoy it.

Day 1 was hectic but very eventful. Watching so many short films in a day was an experience like nothing else. We saw all, the good the bad and the ugly, but every short had something to teach. We travelled from Bangalore to Kerala, we witnessed road accidents and love accidents, the love of a man for a tree, the respect of a man for his leader, the superstitions people believe in, the law that they don’t believe in and much more, all through those films.

Day 2, discussion on the films screened, which I, with a prejudiced mind, anticipated to be a boring event eventually turned out to be an experience worthier than the screening itself. We got to learn some of the nuances of filmmaking and acting as well, the technicalities which can be or should be used and which are actually used. How to create the desired effect by the use of space and sequence and how it is all about creating an illusion for the audience.

All in all, it was a memorable event and a wonderful experience. To the readers I would suggest keep making films, send them to festivals and if you get chance please attend them to learn more because as Mr. Prakash said ‘Films is not a basic necessity for people, they won’t give a damn if we stop making films. It’s our passion and hence our responsibility to master the art and make better films every next time.’

Written By: Gaurav Karmakar

Missing Raj Kiran | Eyes Read It

Nobody who watched Karz can forget it. Especially the poor souls who suffered its disastrous remake as well. LPs brilliant score, riveting story, amazing direction and what not. Can anybody forget Rishi Kapoor singing ‘Om Shanti Om’? can anybody forget the gory scene in which Simi Garewal mercilessly kill her husband Raj Kiran?

Yes, Raj Kiran… The same guy who appeared in numerous family drama movies along with Govinda and Kadar Khan. The same guy who gave a brilliant performance in Mahesh Bhatt’s most acclaimed work Arth as a budding singer. The same guy who has been missing for more than a decade. His co-stars and good friends Deepti Naval and Rishi Kapoor were trying to locate him. Even his own family had no knowledge of his whereabouts. However, fortune favors the brave. Rishi Kapoor succeeded in his efforts and tracked him down to a mental asylum in Atlanta, USA (if sources are to be believed).

What went wrong with him? After stupendous success of Karz where he played an important role, he didn’t got the success he always desired. He was appreciated in roles he played but most of them were of second or third male lead. These roles were neither financially good enough nor were they strong enough to motivate the actor beneath the skin. All this followed by family problems started damaging his mental health and according to close friends, he became violent. For some time he went under treatment in India. Later he left India and went to US. Some people allegedly noticed him driving cabs. Only when Deepti Naval started asking about him, people in industry realized that he has been missing for past 10 years.

@twi_fi_awards : A Change We Want | Eyes Read It

Sham is the word we utter when we see most undeserving candidates getting nominated for different categories. The big push behind their nomination is stardom. This frustration was the motivation behind Blue Notebook and perhaps this frustration triggered #TwiFi.

Today, in the time when the word critic started becoming a silly joke and awards seemed to be a show of silly performances, each being awarded with a farce memento, some souls on micro-blogging site Twitter have joined hands together to be the messenger of cine-lovers.

Based on their acceptance as jury members, some micro-bloggers have been nominated as Jury along with widely accepted reviewers like Rajeev Masand. The funda of #TwiFi seems to be interesting. They are connecting a number of dots on twitter and trying to get a consensus on which movies deserve to be called as the best in the trade. Since the exercise involve a big audience participating in the entire process, directly or indirectly; honesty will survive. Credible work of cinema like Udaan and Red Alert will get their due. For some reason (read lack of stardom) these movie did not happen to be on tally of few functions where Golmaal-3 and Break Ke Baad were heavy weights.

#TwiFi has started off well. When I scanned through the list of bloggers being nominated as Jury Members and skimmed through their works, I had a smile on my face. These fellas are not people who read sleazy magazines to enhance their cine-vocab. They are serious cine-buffs. Some of them are encyclopedia and some of them can any day beat most read reviewers in terms of content. They are not people who award 3-4 stars as freely available software. They love and live in cinema. Any movie passing through their vigilant eyes and making to the cut would be a really good one.

#TwiFi if successful can change the face of Awards Industry and we might see few regular awards coming to twitter for coverage from next year. Till then, I guess me @lifeisjustada can wait and watch.

#TwiFi_Thought: Aamir Khan has the chance to think about Indian Film Awards. He can wait and watch. Maybe next year he will happily receive a few.

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh @lifeisjustada

2009 - the year of reckoning for short film makers

2009 was a landmark for short film makers, because it saw the release of two milestone films that were originally short films - 'District 9' and '9'.

First was Neill Blomkamp's 'District 9' that generated a excellent amount of critical acclaim as well as box-office returns. It all started with his own short film "Alive in Joburg".

He had the honour of making his film under the production of Peter Jackson.




Second movie was Timur Bekmambetov's "9" that was produced by legendary director Tim Burton. Although it was said it could have been a better film but one unanimous praise it gathered was of acheiving excellent feats in computer generated imagery.

His short film was also called "9" which he made as a student. Incidentally that short film won the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film.



So short films will make it big... very soon

written by Ali Naqvi

Kathryn and Oscars | Eyes Read It

Oscars this year were phenomenal in many ways but for one reason this Oscars will be remembered for long is for the appreciation it gave to the director of  highly acclaimed Hurt Locker- Kathryn Bigelow. In the glorious history of Academy Awards- First woman to win the award in Best Director Category.

India has two female directors making it big at International Level- Deepa Mahta and Meera Nair. They are so famed that hardly any male director in India matches them currently. May be Shyam Benegal stand a strong case but beyond him, I guess we have any worthy name.  Reason: These ladies have been able to capture the stories with a extremely humane approach and their conviction in their story is evident from the passion they pour in through the lenses.

Kathryn shattered the age old thought of male-world and proved that when a woman sees the world, her thoughts are more intriguing than male counterparts. Hurt Locker is a fine example of class cinema. Hurt Locker is a war movie exhibiting sensibilities of war-affected people; be the victims or the army personnel involved. It raises the basic question- “Are we too much busy with war that we have forgotten that the purpose of war is to save humanity?” Hurt Locker is considered to be one of the best war movies in recent times.

James Cameroon and Kathryn Bigelow were in friendly competition at the final honor and when latter went away with top honors, James had a smile. Ex-husband of Bigelow, he was happy that his extremely talented ex-wife finally got the acclaim she deserved for long. Avatar might have lost but finally- Cinema won.

Aamir Khan vs Javed Akhtar | Eyes Read it

Hi there…

Cinematic world just witnesses a clash of two iconic figures on the issue of royalty for lyricists. While one of the figures was Javed Akhtar, on the opposite end we had Aamir Khan. Both extremely vocal in their opinions and in a moment, Khan resigned from the Committee appointed to oversee Copyright rights by the Government.

Khan has a opinion that lyricists do not have that great influence on the success of a movie that they should be paid more royalty after the success of movie. It should follow the traditional pattern where settlements are done prior to the release. However, Javed Sa’ab disagreed. He said that the music, that obviously includes lyrics; can be a major determinant to the success of movie. Well, he has a valid point as many movie get the initial collections because their music attract the people. That is why Javed Sa’ab made it a point that scriptwriters and lyricists both should be provided with royalties. Interestingly, even after 3 Idiots-Vidhu-Chetan fiasco, Khan stressed that writers (but not the lyricists) should be compensated appropriately.

Though, the motive is to ascertain the financial security of little known writers and lyricists; the resignation (though was taken back after intervention of concerned ministry) left sour taste on mouth.

Keeping the spat aside; recently promos of Prince (the Vivek Oberoi starrer) are being floated on small screen and from rushes looks promising technically, not story wise. The actions and graphics are at par with Hollywood movies and we can expect a success though the diminished fan base of Vivek raises doubts. After Company, Sathiya and Shootout…, he has hardly done any remarkable work though he has shown great promises on his debut.

Keep looking for this space for more stuff…

Shahrukh Shahrukh Everywhere… | Eyes Read It

People love him… why? Because he is a people’s man. Simple! But I was really disappointed the way some people talked about him on different platforms including social networks when he said that deep down, Pakistanis are good. Obviously, he was not referring to the fundamentalists out there. He was talking about the common man out there…

“Agar Hum Hai To Kya Hum Hai, Agar Tum Ho To Kya Tum Ho…” this dialog from movie Border depicts the interdependence of individuals and brings out a feeling that for success, nothing more than mutual understanding is needed. Common man in Pakistan wants good relations with India and we should hate the fundamentalists (on either side) who are creating the differences, not the people across the border. That’s what SRK referred to but some things are destined to be blown out of proportion. Unfortunate but true. When we hear about the words Pakistan and Love together, we tend to label traitor and that is more wrong than the other way around.

Beyond IPL even Hockey had a piece of SRK. He came out of his comfort zone to do Chak De… and now supported Hockey players. He has a past with hockey stick, so his indulgence seems to be fine (and apt) but may be on the grey side; with Khan coming up… publicity is expected. Anyways, the tweets grabbed some prime time on TV channels and raised the voice of players with a greater echo.

“Sajda… Tera Sajda…” this song run down the heart. Its beautiful. Promos are promising as well. But the most exciting thing is that despite of having a 9/11-Terrorism backdrop and a focus on Asperger Syndrome, the entire cast and crew is stressing on the fact that MNIK is a love story of Rizwan (SRK) and Mandira(Kajol). Story is about Rizwan who needs to prove his innocence and win back his wife. Karan Johar even brought in Barack Obama to do a cameo… I know silly joke! Its Christopher B. Duncan who is portraying Obama.

IPL row, Hockey India and My Name Is Khan… Man! He is always in great demand.That was the story as of now… we will return with review of Khan!!

Reality Bites; Waiting For Rajneeti | Eyes Read It

Eleven girls and a coach with a stubble. Chak De! India was a fine example of a brilliant movie based on a semi-fictional account of a real life hero Mir Ranjan Negi. That was a new beginning of the Indian celluloid.

A real life scenario with which common man may relate plus a tinge of melodrama constitutes a fine recipe for a brilliant movie. Madhur Bhandharkar was the one of the first ones to realise this. Chandni Bar, Page 3, Corporate and Jail; all based on real life smitten blockbusters. Incidently, Shimit Amin's directorial debut was Ab Tak Chappan and he followed it up with Chak De!

This year apart from Jail, there were two more interesting movies with a reality taste. New York and Kurbaan: both had a back drop of 9/11. Also, Khuda Ke Liye, an acclaimed movie had a similar flavor- 9/11 and trauma. Furthermore, A Wednesday was another brilliant movie that released the anguish of a common man against merchants of death.

Now, cut to future. Two movies are eagerly awaited. First; romantic saga of Nehru and Lady Mountbatten- Indian Summer which is on hold for some reason and second is Rajneeti. We have talked a lot about the former. So, lets gossip about Rajneeti. Rajneeti has Katrina Kaif and Ranbeer Kapoor in lead roles and is a directorial effort by Prakash Jha.

Jha, after success of Gangajal and Apharan, needs no introduction and soon the movie will also grab a chunk of news feed for reasons. Katrina is playing a role of female politician with a rumor of role being inspired by career of Sonia Gandhi. Some what like Suchitra Sen's role in Aandhi that was inspired by life of Indira Gandhi. Then there are rumors about something going between KK and RK on the romantic side. There is a bad news too...

According to news, Nana Patekar who was going to play an important role had left the movie because of some clash of egos between Jha and Nana. Sources from sets are attributing it to Nana's fietry temperament and tantrums leading Jha losing his cool. Since Nana is always a pleasure to watch...

A lot more in the pandorqa box. Check out this space for further...

Preeti blames Madhur Bhandarkar for Rape | Eyes Read it

Madhur Bhandarkar has always shown us ugly sides of many faces of society... alas, he might be one of those ugly faces. Starlet Preeti Jain, has accused him for using her physically in the promise giving her work. We have all heard stories of casting couch in cinema world but from Madhur Bhandarkar, maker of Page 3!! Ironical indeed.

Madhur, if he is guilty of the same, must be punished. More so by the audience, whom he always emotionally manipulates in each of his films, of Women protagonist being cheated in a man's world. He is as bad as any and all of his negative characters.

But is Ms. Preety, not to blame? Well, according to her statement she was 'used' not once or twice but sixteen times between 1999 and 2004. She very well knew what she was into... what if she had got work she compromised for? Would she have kept quiet? Sure, 5 years of silence says so.

Either ways, if it did happen, it is an ugly blow  to Bollywood. Both parties are to blame, Madhur Bhandarkar more so. It is a point thinking over....

We will be on guard till next time...

An Affair To Remember- Indian Summer | Eyes Read It

Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru was a statesman and unlike most of his compatriot contemporaries had a very different image that resembled a Casanova. Why? He was stylish. He was sophisticated. He had a charismatic persona and he was a Lady’s Man. Well, in the light of Struggle of Freedom, a book “Indian Summer” probed more.

Alex von Tunzelmann’s book “Indian Summer: The Secret History Of The End Of An Empire” presented a romantic story of love blossoming between Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten, Lord Mountbatten’s better half. The book is woven around the relationships of Lord and Lady Mountbatten, Nehru, Gandhi and Jinnah; and how their relationships shaped the destiny of a nation divided into two countries. According to the writer, the love story can termed as the real life Casablanca.

Did the romance faded after the Independence? No. Even after the end of the empire, the bond didn’t faded. The relationship lasted till their last breaths. In 1960, when she died in UK, India’s parliament passed a condolence resolution. Moreover, government dispatched a wreath of Marigolds to be scattered into the waves of English Channel.

Production house- Universal Pictures has decided to bring the novel to the screen. According to the rumors, the Government of India has suggested that the production house will have to follow some ground rules in order to shoot in country. The rules states that nothing that can hamper the public image of Nehru can be shown on screen. Any scene showing them (Nehru-Edwina) kissing or in compromising state, holding hands in love or expressing love shall be strictly avoided. The sanctity of a friendly relation shall be maintained. The speculations are that Joe Wright, Director of Atonement and Pride & Prejudice will direct the saga with Hugh Grant as Lord Mountbatten, Cate Blanchett as Lady Mountbatten and Irrfan Khan as Nehru.

It will be interesting to see the movie on celluloid. However, in this country movies on demigods had suffered setbacks in past for going against social norms. With Congress being the main constituent of UPA, it will be interesting to see how much of the story is accepted and how much protests crops up.

Devil Wears Raavan | The Eyes Read It

Picture this- an elephant goes berserk and attacks the star cast of the movie… this and a lot more is happening on the sets of Raavan (Ravana, Ravan… whatever suits astrologically). Horror tales are haunting the sleep of the crew.

Winds told us that everyone is whispering that some bad omen is influencing the next blockbuster. Yes, I am talking about Mani Ratnam’s Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Vikram starring flick Ravana which boasts of music of A. R. Rahman.

According to legend, the fall of the Demon King was attributed to Lord Shani and Nakshatra Rahu. Some people believe that the same are now influencing the namesake (the movie). Actually, Abhishek is playing Ravana and Aishwarya is playing Sita. Since, Ravana wanted to marry Sita by force, casting of a real life pair as Ravana and Sita is extremely inauspicious. Interestingly snakes and elephant are said to be agents of Rahu. Moreover, according to rumors in the movie, characters of Abhi and Ash fall in love. This might have invited wrath of Gods.

Numerous incidents have taken place. Ash has complained of insects and snakes. While shooting in Kerala, an elephant killed his mahaut (handler) and attacked the crew that included the star couple. At Malshez Ghat, forest department lodged a complaint against the crew for illegally erecting sheds and dumping wastes. Mani Ratnam suffered stroke and final nail, the producers Reliance Big Pictures asked Mani to reduce the budget that was initially estimated to be 120 Crores. And one thing more; Amitabh Bachchan and Amar Singh also faced health problems meanwhile. Do we need more evidences? I expect a few more- like some ‘Sena’ may attack the cinema for alleged blasphemy?

It may have something to do with stars of Abhi and Ash. In Dhai Akshar Prem Ke, Ash's character drank poison. In Kuchh Naa Kaho, her ex-hubby came in when both fell in love. In Guru, their personal life suffered a setback, brother-in-law and Abhi parted ways and he suffered stroke. In Dhoom-2, Hrithik got the girl and the kiss. And in Umrao Jaan, both relationship and box office collections didn’t delivered. Finally, in Sarkar Raj… Abhi got killed. I guess, this time their stars ascended from reel to real avatar. Anyways, looking forward to see the movie as with Mani Sir, I can guarantee a great theatrical experience.

P.S.: When Sujoy was told about the story, he complained of nightmares.

Lisa Ray’s got Cancer (Myeloma) | Eyes Read It

It is true, the lady who made us cry in Water, and who made us sweat in Kasoor is suffering from Multiple Myeloma Division, a rare form of cancer. Well she has been very brave and come out in the open with her condition though advised otherwise by some as it may “affect her Career.” She was diagnosed on June 23rd, and is undergoing treatment since July 2nd. One more thing if u go through her blog posts about the same at http://lisaraniray.wordpress.com/category/the-yellow-diaries/ (there 6 posts there as of 14 September) you will sure notice that she is very calm about it all. We are surprised to see her having an intact sense of humor at this dire time of crises. Way to go Lisa… She is currently raising awareness about the condition which is incurable till now and needs research. She writes that she had a feeling of something wrong when“The signals: I was always exhausted, pale, drained, and completely depleted of red blood cells. The lack of oxygen made me a serial yawner and spacier than a displaced Czarina. Little did I know, but my hemoglobin had fallen to levels where even a dedicated Blood sucker would turn their thoughts to revival. In between work and travel in India this year, I got a routine blood test and the results sent me to the hospital for a blood transfusion.” She describes the condition as “For me, it was a relief to hear what was wrong. The plasma cells in my bone marrow were rampaging, multiplying, squeezing out the red blood cells and it was time to begin doing something about it.” Lets hope our effort here spreads some more about her condition and thus helps her recover. Truly wishing Lisa a speedy recovery from TheReelMag team. God bless her. PS- She has an excellent humorous writing style, read her blog at http://lisaraniray.wordpress.com/ Written by- Ali Naqvi.

Ranvijay’s head goes for a “Toss” |Eyes Read it

Ranvijay seems to have lost it. Don’t believe me? Umm, then maybe you haven’t yet seen promos of ‘toss’. They are gross to say the least. In the promo he is seen gyrating to Punjabi number “Aish Aish”, delivering corny lines.

For one the film seems to have Production values comparable to worst kinds of Punjabi music videos that we come across. Well he could have borrowed some help from his Roadies production team. Hope he doesn’t get spanking from his Oh-so-intelligent friend Raghuram.

Mean while Farah Khan’s “Tere mere beech mein” has premiered, the show has its moments but lacks the punch. You can often feel how Farah Khan steps onto sensitive issues of Celebrity guests to make them cry. Just to grab eyeballs, That’s insensitive we say!!

Salman has shown interest in buying IPL team, we hear. After seeing his showing in ‘Dus Ka Dum’, we are eager what becomes of his team .

Guzarish, Hrithik-Aishwarya Starrer is supposed to be inspired from “Prestige” we hear. If so who plays the second magician?? Acha haan don’t you agree that Hrithik resembles Hugh Jackman, If we view their backs that is??

Bollywood has come out with the video ‘Make it Large - A tribute to Michael Jackson’ it features singers like Shankar Mahadevan, Shreya Ghoshal, KK, Shaan and Vishal-Shekhar. Prabhu Dewa also features dancing in MJ’s style. Well done guys!

See ya in the next edition people ;)

Shahrukh Khan detained | Eyes Read It

The big news is Shahrukh Khan has been detained for over 2 hours at an American Airport. According to reports his surname ‘Khan’ got him into trouble.

Ironically his next release ‘My name is Khan’ is based on profiling based on race and religion.

This incident follows frisking of former President APJ Abdul Kalam, let’s just hope ‘My name is Khan’ is a tight slap on face of such ignorant people. Amen.

Also released this week are the promos of ‘Dil Bole Hadippa’ with Rani in Bikini :O don’t worry we assure you she didn’t look that bad in it ;).

Trailers show obvious resemblance to ‘She’s the man’, complete with Rakhi Sawant trying to seduce Rani(clad as a man, wink wink)

Well lets hope Yash Raj production doesn’t go Tashan way but goes takes the path of Chak de India.

‘District 9’ the next big Hollywood release has had a few reviews out at rottentomatoes.com and it’s present rating is 100%. WOW. We sure can’t wait to see this Sci-fi Mocumentary.

Though there are reports that ‘District-9’ has major elements similar to 1980’s movie ‘Alien Nation’. But it also being already hailed as one of the best Sci-fi films ever.

Tim Burton’s ‘9’ is also releasing soon. Yipee.

Let’s see what next fortnight holds for us movie-buffs.

Eyes read it- SRK gets 100 crore deal for My Name is Khan

Shahrukh Khan, Kajol starrer 'My Name is Khan' has bagged Rs. 100 Crore distribution deal. The deal has been clinched between Karan Johar's Dharma Productions and Fox studios. It is a win-win situation for all.

It is touted as one of the most anticipated upcoming bollywood releases, as it unites Shahrukh Khan- Kajol -Karan Johar trio, after 8 years. It is expected to release in Feb 2010.

If you are wondering why the film is called "My Name is Khan", this is what Shahrukh Khan had to say about it, "I play the character of Rizwan khan who is autistic and post 9/11, after an incident that affects him deeply, Khan gets stuck and tells everyone he meets, "Hello my name is Khan and i'm not a terrorist." "

Shahrukh Khan recently described the movie as "The journey of one family and how it changes because of 9/11".

As for the plot Shahrukh plays Rizwan khan who has Asperger's Syndrome(mild autism which makes people with the syndrome repeat the same actions again and again) and has a little queer behaviour. He meets and marries a Hindu widow Mandira (played by Kajol). Post 9/11, Khan is arrested as his actions seem "suspicious". When he gets out of jail, he sets out on a road trip across America telling everybody on the way that he is not a terroist. Finally he decides to go to Washington to tell President Obama that he is not a terrorist.

Who do you think will play obama?? Actor Christopher B. Duncan has been chosen to essay the role He is known for his comic representaion of Obama in few shows (search "Christopher B Duncan" in youtube, to see his funny performances). pic below shows his uncanny resemblance to Barack Obama.

We smell a hint of "Forrest Gump" in "My Name is Khan", as Khan is autistic but does still manages to accomplish seemingly impossible tasks despite his disabilty. It remains to be seen if it has an "...Gump" similarities but we are sure about is that it sure will be an interesting watch.

Written by ‘Ali Naqvi’; For ‘The Reel Mag.’

Eyes Read It : it’s a mixed bag

It is Rakhi Sawant all the way. Well, her show seems to be doing rather well. Though we cringe the mere thought of her trying to be demure and coy. Imagine!! Well we hate to admit it, but some minutes that we endured of the show it looked straight out of Sooraj Barjatiya movie. All the gana-bajana routine but the poor grooms-to-be atleast got to shake a leg with Rakhi.

IIFA on the other hand was broadcast, without the Aish – Priyanka controversy, but Riteish and Boman Irani more than made it up with there gags. Both of them did a rather good job. In this one joke Boman (playing Anil Kapoor, riding his success wave of Slumdog) asks harried Aamir (played by Riteish), “How does it fell NOT to win an Oscar.” HAHA

Two new shows are coming on air, “Mujjhe iss jungle se bachao” based on “I am a celebrity…get me out of here” and “Sach ka saamna” based on “The Moment of truth”.

Love Aaj kal music is doing pretty well. New York has had many a favorable reviews.

Kambakht Ishq did turn out what we suspected it to be, a no-brainer, but it is doing rather well at the box office. Short kut has sank without a trace, even glam Amrita Rao couldn’t save this disaster.

Lets hope coming fortnight is more fun for us movie buffs.

Eyes Read it: demise of the MJ and beyond

The biggest news this fortnight has been sad demise of Michael Jackson aka King of Pop.

He is pioneer of music videos as we know it, he even had his “bad” video directed by Martin Scorsese,no less. He was the first ever African-American artist to feature on MTV.

Net traffic rose 500%, as the news spread with sites like Twitter crashing, whereas Google slowed down heavily. We at Reel pay homage to one of the biggest star of all time, for breaking racial divide and for his appeal to all.

Love Aaj Kal seems to be a good bet with Imtiaz Ali at director’s chair. Promos are interesting to say the least.

Terminator Salvation just checked into theaters. It is a can –see movie, but sadly it isn’t half as good as T-2 or T-1.

Mrs. Jaya Bachchan is so upset with Ash not winning trophy for “Jodhaa Akbar” at IIFA. Well only few words for you ma’am, even if Amitabh Bachchan nearly owns IIFA, learn respect the jury’s decision. Jayaji hadn’t seen Priyanka’s performance before deciding that her daughter-in-law was better. Such pomp...

A few days to go for ‘Kambakht Ishq’, we have our fingers crossed.

The Eyes Read It: Wait Is Over Now

With movies coming soon; expectation soar high. Welcome to the bad world of Box Office.

First news… Tom Hanks rocks again. A’n’D is fabulous.

Another news… SRK is the actor of decade! We are surprised!! IIFA bestowed upon the honors to geniuses of the decade. Shah Rukh Khan, Aiswarya Rai Bachchan, A.R. Rehaman and Rakesh Roshan were the prime faces who were revered for their success and compassion towards the Indian Cinema. Congratulations.

Salman is awesome in his show Dus Ka Dum. He straightforwardly told Mika to respect Rakhi Sawant and made us laugh with his antics with TZP and SDM kids. Kudos to him. Next; Kambakht Ishq rushes are disappointing. Guess, it can be as bad as C2CC or Tashan. Stallone is a prize to watch but who can digest movies like Tashan. On anyday, we would like to watch Rocky or Rambo.

Kaminey… ummm. Fa ko Fa bolta… Vishal Bhardwaj will definitely bring out another stunning movie to the celluloid. Atleast, the promo suggests so. Jail (starring Neil Nitin Mukesh, directed by Madhur Bhandarkar) seems to be good. So, likely to get some good watch by monsoons.