Page 600 - Entertainment Culture

UK film director Nicolas Roeg dies aged 90

Nicolas Roeg, the prominent British film director known for making provocative films and working with rock stars Mick Jagger and David Bowie over a six-decade career, has died. He was 90. The director of "Don't Look Now" and many other films died Friday night, his son, Nicolas Roeg Jr., told Britain's Press Association. "He was a genuine dad," Roeg Jr. said. "He just had his 90th birthday in August." He didn't provide details about his father's death during a brief telephone call. Roeg worked with Jagger in "Performance" and David Bowie in "The Man Who Fell to Earth." Roeg's last major film was "The Witches," in 1990, which starred Anjelica Huston. He worked his way into directing after winning acclaim as a cinematographer. He began his career as an editing apprentice in 1947. He said he couldn't understand how someone could become a director without first working in cinematography. Roeg didn't believe in meticulous planning when it came to scripts and shooting schedules, preferring ..

Veteran Kannada cine actor Ambareesh dead

Veteran Kannada cine actor M.H. Ambareesh passed away at a private hospital here on Saturday night following a heart attack, said a duty doctor. He was 66.

Rajinikanth condoles the passing away of Ambareesh

Tamil superstar Rajinikanth condoled the death of veteran Kannada actor M H Ambareesh on Saturday, calling him his "best friend". "A wonderful human being ... my best friend ... I have lost you today and will miss you ... Rest In Peace #Ambrish," he said in the tweet. Ambareesh passed away in Bengaluru, according to official sources and Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce. He was 66. The former Union minister was rushed to a private hospital after he complained of breathing-related issue, sources said. Ambareesh has acted in over 200 films and served as the Karnataka minister of housing in the Siddaramaiah-led cabinet.

Actor-turned-politician Ambareesh passes away

Film star-turned-politician M H Ambareesh passed away at a private hospital here on Saturday, according to official sources and Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce. He was 66. Ambareesh was rushed to a private hospital after he complained of breathing-related issue, sources said. The former Union minister has acted in over 200 films and served as the Karnataka minister of housing in the Siddaramaiah-led cabinet.

Caste a curse on society: Venkaiah Naidu

Describing caste as a curse on society, Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday called for putting an end to social and gender discrimination in the country.

Initially approached Arnold Schwarzenegger as anti-hero for '2.0': Shankar

Filmmaker S Shankar said Saturday he had approached "The Terminator" star Arnold Schwarzenegger to play the antagonist in "2.0", but things did not work out and the role finally went to Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar. Rajinikanth will be back in the role of a 'Chitti' in the second installment the mega-hit "Robot", which is slated to be released on November 29. "We had thought of casting Arnold. We had talked and allotted dates also. But somehow things did not work out as the contracts of Hollywood and India are contradictory. So we thought of looking at a good cast from the Indian film industry," Shankar said at a press conference here. "Lyca (producers of 2.0) and Akshay were in talks for a remake of a film called 'Kathi' in Hindi. Everyone told me to consider Akshay and I also thought it would be nice. I narrated the story to him and he said yes," the director said. Shankar is confident that the film would connect with everyone as it has an international theme. The technology, he ...

Sotheby's sends India head on leave pending probe into #MeToo claims

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Auction house Sotheby's has sent its top India executive on a leave of absence pending a probe into anonymous allegations of sexual misconduct.

Ranveer Singh flaunts Manish Arora design for celebratory dinner

He opted for outfits made by designers like Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Rohit Bal for his wedding with actress Deepika Padukone and Bengaluru reception respectively. And for a grand dinner hosted by his sister to celebrate the nuptials, actor Ranveer Singh chose an outfit designed by ace designer Manish Arora.

Security arrangements for SRK during Hockey WC visit

Security arrangements would be made to ensure that Bollywood hero Shah Rukh Khan's proposed Odisha visit is peaceful in view of a local outfit's threat to throw ink on his face, Odisha police official said Saturday. We will take adequate security measures for the visit of Shah Rukh Khan during Hockey World Cup. However, the schedule of the actor's visit is yet to be received," Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Bhubaneswar, Anup Sahu said. Khan is scheduled to be present at the inaugural ceremony of the Mens Hockey World cup at Kalinga Stadium here on November 27. The Kalinga Sena, a local outfit had earlier issued the threat to throw ink on Khan's face and stage black flag demonstration accusing him of insulting Odisha through his film Ashoka that was released 17 years ago. The outfit's president Hemant Rath has demanded an apology from Shah Rukh Khan for hurting the sentiments of the Odisha people in the film. The film had also had dishonoured the states culture and

Real battle is how much to spoon-feed audience: Sriram Raghavan

Director Sriram Raghavan on Saturday said the question he struggles with the most while making a film is how much should he "spoon-feed" the audience. The filmmaker, whose thriller "Andhadhun" has completed 50 days in the theatres, said he does not show the obvious on the screen. "The real battle is how much do you spoon-feed the audience. And I tend to go with my grammar and understanding. That 'ok, this is obvious. We don't need to show it. We don't need to say it'," Raghavan said. He was speaking at NFDC's Film Bazaar Knowledge Series session, "The Dark, The Pulpy and The Love Story". The filmmaker, however, added that when the people from the focus group, that initially watches his film, are "asking the same question, then it's kind of (sets) an alert that 'let us think about this concern'". Raghavan said at the time of "Badlapur", they left many things for the audience to interpret. "There's this constant line (the producers use)... 'That I get it but the audience won't get it',"

Theatre Festival in city from Nov 25

Thirty-one full length plays and 88 short dramas will be staged in five city auditoria at the 10-day Theatre Festival to begin here on November 25, West Bengal minister and leading theatre personality Bratya Basu said Saturday. The five auditoria where the theatre festival will be held are the Rabindra Sadan, Girish Manch, Madhusudan Manch, Sisir Manch and Minerva theatre. To acquaint the people with the trends and changes in Bengal's theatre movement since 2000, an exhibition will also be held at the Nandan complex in the city during the theatre festival, he said. Besides discussions related to theatres and street plays will be held at different places. After the city leg the 18th Theatre festival will travel to 10 districts and 46 full length playes will be staged in a period of two months, Basu said. The districts will get to see eight short dramas which will be an addition in this theatre festival, which is being organised by the Information and Cultural affairs ...

Simplified classical music could reach more people: Sudha Raghunathan

Leading Carnatic vocalist and multiple awards-winning composer Sudha Raghunathan, who believes that although simplifying classical music leads to more listeners relating to the emotion and content of the composition, it depends on the individual artist's will, would perform in the capital on Sunday.

Julie Andrews joins Jason Momoa's 'Aquaman'

Veteran actor Julie Andrews will be voicing a key character in Jason Momoa-starrer "Aquaman". According to Entertainment Weekly, the 83-year-old actor, known for films such as "Mary Poppins", "The Sound of Music" and "The Princess Diaries", among others, will lend her voice to mythical character Karathen. "We wanted the Karathen to have the voice of a classic British actress, albeit somewhat digitally altered," producer Peter Safran told the outlet. "And when we found out Julie was interested and available and excited to do it, casting her was a no-brainer," he added. The character is described as a sea creature who can help assist Aquaman's quest to broker a peace between Atlantis and the surface world. "Aquaman", directed by James Wan, will also feature Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren and Nicole Kidman. The film has a release date of December 21 in the US.

Hugh Jackman is 'open' to play another superhero

Actor Hugh Jackman, who said goodbye to the character of Wolverine with 2017's "Logan", says he is "open" to portray another superhero on the big screen. In an interview with MTV, the 50-year-old actor said he never viewed Wolverine, which he played in nine films over 17 years, as a "superhero". "Oh yeah, I'd be open to that. Yeah, for sure. I mean, for me I never saw it as a superhero, even when I got Logan and I didn't know much about the X-Men series or comic book series, I was like 'these are great characters'," Jackman said. "All of these people are flawed characters. Sure they have extraordinary abilities, right, but they are all really flawed, and that's what the movie's about. That's why people relate to it," he added. Jackman is currently awaiting the release of "The Front Runner", which also features Vera Farmiga, JK Simmons, Alfred Molina and Sara Paxton. The biographical drama, directed by Jason Reitman, follows the rise of American Senator Gary Hart, a Democratic ...

Dystopia in 'Ghoul' helped express what we wanted to without getting lynched: director Graham

Director Patrick Graham on Saturday said the dystopian setting of horror series "Ghoul" provided a base for the story that the team wanted to narrate "without getting lynched". The Netflix India Original follows a prisoner who arrives at a remote military interrogation centre and turns the tables on his interrogators, exposing their most shameful secrets. It featured Radhika Apte, Manav Kaul and Mahesh Balraj. Graham said they wanted to steer clear of making any direct comment on the current situation in India. "I think the reason the dystopia came about was because we were worried about making too obvious a comment on contemporary India. We thought we should distance it slightly from reality to kind of allow us to explore areas that otherwise we might have tried to tread carefully on. "So we kind of set it in an alternative kind of near future which I think kind of helped us express what we wanted to express without getting lynched," the director said. He was speaking at NDFC's Film .

Will be back with something new, exciting: Jennifer

As television actress Jennifer Winget starrer show "Bepannah" is going off the air, the actress assured her fans that she will come back soon with something more exciting onscreen.

Alia raised the bar for herself: Meghna Gulzar (Lead, correcting intro)

Filmmaker Meghna Gulzar says actress Alia Bhatt has raised the bar for herself in cinema with her role of Sehmat Khan -- the Indian spy -- in the movie "Raazi".

I'm trying to be versatile singer: Jonita Gandhi

Indo-Canadian singer Jonita Gandhi says she is aware that everything in life comes with an expiry date but she believes in living in the moment than being worried about the future. The singer started her career as a YouTube artist and then made her debut in playback singing with Shah Rukh Khan-starrer "Chennai Express". Her breakthrough came when she worked with music maestro AR Rahman on two songs for "Highway". "Everything has an expiry date, but I'm focussing on the now. Times change and it's impossible to predict what the music industry will be like, 20 or 30 years from now. I'm focused on all of the things that I want to do and projects that come my way and I want to make the best of the present. That in itself I think will help safeguard my future," Jonita told PTI. The singer has tracks like "Chogada Unplugged" from ("Loveyatri"), "The Breakup Song" from ("Ae Dil Hai Mushkil"), 'Sau Tarah Ke' ("Dishoom") and "Gilehriyaan" ("Dangal"), among others, to her credit. "I am trying to

Tessa Thompson says it was 'easy' to forget 'scope' of 'Creed II'

Actor Tessa Thompson says it was difficult to think about "Creed II" in terms of scale. The actor, who reprises her role of Bianca Porter in the "Creed" sequel, told Collider that she realised the scope of the film only when they started shooting for the boxing scenes. "It's funny because for us, we're making these films called Creed 1 and Creed 2, it's easy to forget somehow that we're making, essentially, Rocky films. Films that exist inside of the Rocky universe," said the 35-year-old actor. "And then there'll be moments on set, almost always when we're shooting a boxing scene, where we'll have like a thousand extras and that's the time where the scope hits you," she added. She said the film's cast and its director approached the film "with real sensitivity and honesty" and she often felt like shooting for small project. "It feels like we're making a niche drama, literally, like when it's scenes with just Mike and myself or just a couple players, it feels like we're making ...

'Burn the Stage' to return to theatres

"Burn the Stage: The Movie" will have another run of screenings in theatres around the world.