Mumbai: On the occasion of 102nd birth anniversary of Harivansh Rai Bachchan,the poet’s most famous creations Madhushala was launched in English. It was a great evening of nostalgia and poetry for the Bachchan family.
Whether it was Big B, who recited certain poems or Namrata to illustrate the poems in the book was totally a [...]
Posts Tagged ‘cinema’
Bachchan’s come together!
November 30th, 2009 |
No Comments
I can proudly tell everyone that Amitabh Bachcan was my son: Vidya Balan
November 27th, 2009 |
No Comments
Mumbai: Actress Vidya Balan returns to the screen after a long time and with a bang by playing mother to Amitabh Bachchan in Paa. Now that is one hell of a role any actress would want to grab and Vidya got lucky.
She was loved by the audiences in Parineeta but somehow the magic began to [...]
Take on ‘De Dana Dan’
November 27th, 2009 |
No Comments
Mumbai: Priyadarshan’s ‘De Dana Dan’ starring Akshay, Suniel and Paresh will hit the theatres today. The promos seem to be conveying a message that the movie is funny and hilarious. However the efforts made by the actors to make the audiences laugh are going in vain.
The actresses in the movie, Katrina Kaif, Sameera Reddy, Neha [...]
Shilpa Shetty’s grand reception!
November 26th, 2009 |
No Comments
Mumbai: After their “fairy-tale wedding” at Khandala the newly wedded Kundra couple had a grand reception on suburban five-star hotel on Tuesday evening.
Shilpa, dressed in a stunning golden gown, looked standing in the dias greeting every body with the smiles with her husband Raj who was in a black suit with golden embroidery.
It was a [...]
Iraqi cinema re-emerges, but where are the cinemas?
October 15th, 2009 |
No Comments
Shawkat Amin Korki spent more than two decades in exile from his Iraqi homeland, dreaming of the day he could make a film for his long-suffering compatriots. But now that film is finally finished, the Kurdish director says there are no movie theatres left to screen it. “It had always
Pakistan cinema returns to post-Taliban Swat
September 24th, 2009 |
No Comments
More than a year after locking doors and ripping down racy posters because of Taliban threats, cinema is once again attracting excited men in Pakistan’s Swat valley. Mingora, the capital of the northwest district formerly overrun by Islamist gunmen determined to enforce sharia law and ban
“The Notebook†Musical
July 22nd, 2009 |
No Comments
The Notebook is headed for the bright lights of Broadway.
New Line Cinema
One Tree Hill star Bethany Joy Galeotti and music producer Ron Aniello are currently casting a musical workshop to attract producers interested in financially backing The Notebook: The Musical on the Great White Way. The workshop, which will take place in Wilmington, North Carolina, [...]
Curtain closer
July 20th, 2009 |
No Comments
By Roger Hardy
BBC Middle East analyst
Directors, writers and cinema buffs had arrived in Jeddah for what had been billed as a week-long festival of films from Saudi Arabia and neighbouring states.
The festival was due to begin on Saturday. But an hour before midnight on Friday the organisers were told by the Jeddah municipality to cancel it.
The only official explanation was that the event had not been sufficiently prepared.
But it is widely believed the ban is the latest victory for religious conservatives, who regard cinema as a form of Western moral pollution.
Jeddah – the Red Sea city which is also the Saudi business hub – has long been more liberal and open than the desert capital, Riyadh.
Its film festival started in 2006, as a conscious attempt by Saudi liberals to push the boundaries of cultural freedom.
Family feud
Behind closed doors, Saudis are avid consumers of movies – and there is no shortage of budding directors, actors and actresses.
Yet cinemas and theatres are banned, and conservatives are wary of efforts to get round the ban – for example, through officially sanctioned cultural festivals.
Conservatives are particularly hostile to the wealthy Prince Waleed bin Talal, whose Rotana entertainment group was the main sponsor of the Jeddah film festival.
The 54-year-old prince has been outspoken in his support for easing cultural restrictions and for greater women’s rights.
This has made him the target of conservative criticism.
Last month, in an unusually public display of discord within the ruling family, one of Prince Waleed’s brothers, Prince Khalid bin Talal, denounced his efforts to introduce cinema into Saudi society.
He even went as far as calling for his brother’s assets to be frozen.
Prince Khalid wants all film festivals to be banned.
Those who favour reform initially pinned their hopes on King Abdullah, who ascended the throne in 2005.
The king has been a cautious advocate of change. In February he removed the head of the religious police, in a re-shuffle that brought in the country’s first female junior minister.
But Abdullah has faced opposition from within the religious establishment and from his half-brother Prince Nayef, the powerful minister of the interior.
An anonymous official is quoted by Reuters news agency as saying the Jeddah film festival "was cancelled upon indirect instructions from the interior ministry".</p
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.