Top Hollywood Films of 2010

If Avatar rocked the Hollywood scene in 2009, the New Year brings its share of potentially awe-inspiring action.Here's a look at the 10 Most Anticipated Hollywood Films to hit Indian screens in 2010:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Part 1
In the first of the two-part movie adaptation of J K Rowling's seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series, the young wizard returns with best friends Ron and Hermione in tow seeking the elusive Horcruxes, linked with the destruction of his ultimate nemesis, Lord Voldemort.Director David Yates, who helmed the previous Order of the Phoenix and The Half-Blood Prince is in charge of the final installment, which is split in two films owing to its lengthy chapters as well an eye for multiple profit, lending the fantasy its characteristically escalating dark theme.Grim elements aside, the much anticipated franchise also features its leading man Daniel Radcliffe drop his shirt (and pants) for a scene. Some USP, eh?

Iron Man 2
Fresh off playing Sherlock Holmes, Robert Downey Jr shows us his true mettle (or metal, if you please) as a billionaire cum superhero in the latest sequel to Iron Man.While The Wrestler's Mickey Rourke signs up to play a comic-book villain, namely Whiplash in a cast featuring the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johannson and Don Cheadle, Iron Man 2 is already drawing enough attention to promise a bumper opening.The plot is said to go something like this: Now that Tony Stark's Iron Man status is out in the open, his super-powered technology is eyed by many a power-hungry miscreants. How he doesn't let the baddies have their way is what this film is all about.

Shutter Island
Based on Dennis Lehane's novel, whose earlier work Mystic River was adapted into an Oscar-winning film by Clint Eastwood, Shutter Island is a crazy jigsaw of deceit and mystery set in the 1950s.A US Marshal is send to a Boston asylum to investigate the disappearance of a patient with a criminal past only to discover there's more to the claustrophobic hospital and its horrific workings than meets the eye.A Martin Scorsese film is enough to get our curious side up. Plus, it stars his recurring favourite Leonardo DiCaprio. The two have previously collaborated on three projects Gangs of New York, The Aviator and The Departed. Worth the price of admission, you think?

Inception
Christopher Nolan takes a break from Batman's suit to construct a Matrix-like scenario where mind is the 'architecture' and 'scene of crime' and an idea is the 'most resilient parasite'. Though not much is revealed in Inception's ambiguous trailer, there's enough to grab your attention.Again, starring DiCaprio, the man has quite a few aces up his sleeve this year, the upcoming sci-fi drama features him as a businessman engaging in mind games of the uncanny kind.Going by Nolan's past record, it's usually a case of as good as it gets.


Alice in Wonderland
Tim Burton doesn't do conventional. Then again Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass is not your regular fairy tale. Even if Disney's cutesy animated version has psyched us into believing just that.The masterful filmmaker twists and bends the stereotypes, employing animation and live-action, to present his trademark take of its spirited heroine and her run-ins with some truly whimsical characters.And when Johnny Depp as Mad Hatter, Anne Hathway as The White Queen, Helena Bonham Carter as The Red Queen, Michael Sheen as White Rabbit, Stephen Fry as Cheshire Cat and Alan Rickman as Caterpillar join the party, it's going to be one hell of an adventure.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Bella and Edward return to romance in the latest Twlight vehicle, Eclipse.While Twlight was mostly harmless fun, New Moon ushered in utter disappointment, box office notwithstanding. Even as the insanely popular Stephanie Meyer novels about two star-crossed lovers a vampire and a mortal continues to rake in the moolah, its big screen version has made international heartthrobs out of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.The question now is will Bella give up her human ways and marry Edward to adopt a bloodsucker's lifestyle? And what about her unresolved feelings for Jacob, a werewolf with a softie's heart and rollicking six-packs? Superficial and soppy but oh-so-sexy, that's the world of Twilight for you.

Shrek Forever After
First: He rescued the princess.Second: He turned Prince Charming.Third: He became dad to triplets.The lovable green ogre is at it again. Aching to get back to his ogre ways, he signs a pact with Rumpelstiltskin only to realise he's been tricked. Now the world is something else where Fiona and he haven't even met and Donkey doesn't have a clue. Knowing Shrek, he'll set things back in order and the scheming goblin will meet a befitting fate.Realising it's no good to stretch a good thing for too long, Shrek Forever After is the fourth and final film in the series.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Unhappy by the underperformance of Prince Caspian, Walt Disney Pictures passed on the distribution rights of the third film in the Narnia series, 20th Century Fox.Director Andrew Adamson doesn't return to direct either instead The World is Not Enough's Michael Apted pitches in to do the needful.The Voyage of the Dawn Treader explores new adventures by The Pevenie kids Edmund and Lucy, along with their cousin Eustace after they are magically transported onto an enchanted Narnian ship. So far the Narnia films have retained the clarity and spirit of C S Lewis' vividly told stories. Hopefully, the new one will too.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Video games-turned-films can be a tricky proposition. Either they are an instant hit like Lara Croft or duds like Max Payne. And now, Ubisoft's widely-played Prince of Persia comes to life on celluloid with Brokeback Mountain's Jake Gyllenhaal portraying its swashbuckling hero, Dastan. In an Aladdinesque brand of twist, a courageous Dastan joins forces with a Princess to protect Sands of Time, a mystical gift of the Gods that empowers its possessor with the ability to turn back time from the cunning Nizam, played by Ben Kingsley.Considering filmmaker Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire) is the creative force behind its aesthetics and assertions, Prince of Persia should make for an engaging experience.

Robin Hood
All rise, the gladiators are back! Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott team up for another adrenalin-packed action adventure to film the legendary character from English folklore, Robin Hood.What's he going to do? The usual. Rescue his village from the tyrants, rob the rich and serve the poor while serenading a radiant Cate BlanchettIt should be interesting to see the Oscar-winning actor in a role previously essayed by Errol Flynn and Kevin Costner to name a few, as the witty, valiant and sharp warrior kicking butt like only he can.

Flanders Bollywood Destination

Shooting abroad really came into its own a little over a decade ago, but the film
that got filmmakers thinking of heading westwards was Raj Kapoor’s Sangam in the early sixties.

Among the other old films which brought plenty of foreign locales alive on the silver screen were Pachhi’s International Crook, Shakti Samanta’s ‘An Evening In Paris’ and Great Gambler, Manoj Kumar’s ‘Purab Aur Pachhim’, Brij Sadanah’s ‘Night In London’, the Sameer-Simi starrer ‘Pasand Apni Apni’ and the Rajesh Khanna starrer, ‘Aashiq Hoon Baharon Ka’.

But as film budgets grew bigger and bigger, producers and directors became more and more lavish and began to cross frontiers to give their viewers (and their stars, of course!) free foreign trips, so to say.

Today, it’s not just films but television serials too which are heading overseas. In a bid to promote tourism, tourism boards across the world are luring film and television producers by offering attractive incentives. Among these are securing permissions for shooting in locations, discounts in accommodations and also offer cash incentives.

To promote Flanders as a new Bollywood Destination, Tourism Flanders hosted a reccee for leading Bollywood directors and producers such as Suresh Naidu, Ravi Chopra, Mukesh Bhatt, Mohit Suri, Ramesh Sippy from the Indian film industry to the destination for 5 nights.

The trip included visits to the historic cities of Brussels, Ghent, Bruges and Antwerp - including parts of the scenic countryside Meetings with the filming commissions and tourism offices at the respective places were also held.

Best Bollywood Movies of 2009

Bollywood releases more than one hundred movies every year but only few of them become super hits.

Bollywood is the biggest revenue generating film industry in the world after Hollywood. Bollywood is the biggest film industry in Asian and Indian cinema industry. Bollywood movies are produced in Hindi and English language but mostly in Hindi, some movies also launches in South Indian Tamil and Punjabi language too. Bollywood actors and actresses are also performing their talent in South Indian film industry and as well as in International film industry Hollywood.

Hollywood directors are and producers are also taking a keen interest in Indian cinema because great Indian population inside and outside the India. Slum dog millionaire was the biggest hit movie in year 2009. This movie won 4 golden globe and 7 Oscar awards, which is a world record for Indian film history. Here the list of top ten best Hindi movies released in 2009.

1) Blue: The cast of this movie consist on top Indian celebrities; Blue songs also become top on chart blustered.

2) Luck by Chance: This movie was produced by local producers. The film is about the journey of an actor who arrives in Bombay to make it big as a film star in Bollywood film industry.

3) Kites: This movie was the mixer of Hollywood movie “A Running Kite” the leading role of film actress was done by a Mexican actress Barbara Morie.

4) Wanted: This is an Action and thriller movie which is also based on a Tamil action movie.

5)Jail: This is a movie about how a gangster breaks the prison and save his life from government agencies.

6) Wake Up Sid: Wake Up Sid! Is a funny and romantic movie, filmier on teen age boys and girls of Indian society.

7) All the Best: This movie is based on a famous Punjabi crime novel, where money is every thing for everyone.

8) Acid Factory: Acid Factory is a action and thriller movie about the war between two underworld gangs.

9) Dev D: This is a fantasy movie about a character who becomes a famous thief around the India.

10) Three Idiots: This is a funny and romantic movie in which three lovers are doing very foolish activities to impress their girls

Horror movies of Bollywood India

Bollywood celebrated the diamond jubilee of its existence only a couple of years ago. When we look back, we can justifiably feel proud of its achievements over the decades. The number of feature films which have rolled out of Bollywood studios over the last 77 years runs into nearly forty thousands.The sheer volume of this corpus is overwhelming. Even quality-wise, some of our films have won laurels in international film festivals. Our films have now a thriving overseas market.

Our filmmakers have tried their hand at almost every genre of feature filmmaking. We have, for instance, made love stories, romances, quasi historical films, mystery thrillers, action films, biopics, family dramas, et al. Perhaps the only genre where Bollywood has yet to make its mark is the horror film. We have not yet produced anything that even remotely approaches. ‘The Exorcist’ or ‘The Mummy’ in portraying the dark and indecipherable forces of evil which are supposed to exercise baneful influence on human affairs.

Among our present filmmakers, RGV is considered to be most skilled exponent of the eerie. Now, before we proceed further, we must have a glance at Mr RGV’s track record in producing films with a sitting virtually paralyzed with horror in their seats. It is a mixed bag, to be truthful. Mr RGV hails from Andhra Pradesh, so he started his career by making films in Telugu, some of which were also dubbed in Hindi. His film ‘Raat’ (1992), originally made in Telugu with the title ‘Raathri’, was a horror film. There was, however, nothing original about it. In fact, it was a rehash of several old films, and it failed to impress the audience.

His ‘Deyyam’, made in Telugu, was also a flop. But his film ‘Kaun’ (1999) in Hindi was a box-office hit. It was a horror movie with Urmila Matondkar and Manoj Bajpai in the lead. But his ‘Jungle’ (1999) was again a flop. He recovered lost ground with ‘Boot’ (2003), another horror film which was a moderate success at the box office. But the films that followed ‘Boot’-- ‘Vaastushastra’, ‘Darna Mana Hai’, ‘Naina’ et al- were disappointing. They failed to create the creepy-spooky effect which is so germane to a horror film.

Bollywood has produced not many horror films. And the few it has made have hardly left any impact on the audience. In 1955, Amiya Chakarvarty made ‘Badshah’ with Pradeep Kumar, Usha Kiron and Ulhas in the lead. This film, based on Victor Hugo’s novel ‘The Hunchback Of Notre Dame,’ was not exactly a horror film. But the hunchback in it was supposed to be the scariest sight. The film was, hoever, considered an amateurish attempt and the audience did much like it.

In the 70s, the Ramsay Brothers were the wholesale purveyors of the so-called horror films. But, unfortunately, their methods were so crude and childish that the viewers, instead of flinching in their seats with fright, kept greeting the cackling witches and horned demons in their films with derisive titters.

They started with ‘Do Gaz Zameen Ke Neeche’ (1972). Thereafter horror films came from the Ramsay camp like assembly line products from a factory. But none of these films- ‘Purana Mandir’, ‘Band Darwaza’, ‘Veerana’, ‘Dak Bangla’, ‘Purani Haveli’ and many others- made any impact on the viewers. When one after the other their films began to bomb at the box office, they wisely thought it was time they closed shop and called it quits.

Perhaps one of the reasons why our horror films often fail to impress the audience is that most of them are crudely desified versions of foreign films. While adapting a foreign film to Indian ethos, our scriptwriters and directors often end up messing up things. With the result, most of our horror films appear to be so outlandish that the audience hardly ever feels related to it. In short, such films have scarcely any relevance to Indian realities. The viewer feels no affinity with characters he sees on the screen. They seem to him inhabiting a world with which he has no connection.

Both English and French literatures are rich with writers who have written horror stories and novels of epic proportions. We have hardly any horror story writer whose creations merit serious attention.In the 40s and 50s, the horror-cum-adventure films we made were mostly based on Arabian Nights Tales. Thus, we had films made on ‘Alladin And His Magic Lamp’, ‘Ali Baba Chalis Chor’, ‘Sindbad The Sailor’, et al. Or, films based on mythology, in which every now and then demons, ghosts, and giants in outlandish outfits made their appearance, laughed uproariously before speaking in a booming voice to the hero or the villain.Frankly, we have not yet produced horror story writers of the caliber of Bram Stokar, Stephen King, Peter Straub, Shirley Jackson, M.R James et al.

science fiction film Crude

Robot invaders that look like they were made from old, scrap boilers
or battered, galvanised bins. Hub caps sprayed in dull silver dangling from a fishing line in front of a painted sky-scape. Clearly visible seams where the backdrop was joined together to imitate a starry sky. Old egg cartons and fizzy pop lids glued onto sheets of badly painted corrugated cardboard then shoved into a corner with drapes hiding the room walls.  And finally a bunch of amateurs roped in at the last minute to make up the cast of your low to no budget film, written in thirty seconds as one draft, on the back of a fag packet after a few pints and a curry!  Welcome to the world of – Dang! Dang! Daaaaaah! – crud movie mania!!!!!

 Yes, girls and boys, JD Doc admits to being a lover of all things Crud, with a capital ‘C’; at least, that is, when it comes to vintage science fiction films.  There is much mirth and wonder to be had in this genre, especially in anything that pre-dates the likes of the Star Wars franchise, which, even back in the 70s, offered a more ground-breaking and sophisticated alternative to your ‘Earth Versus the Flying saucers’ or ‘Fiend without a Face’, both of which are hot favourites of ‘The Doc’.  For, as filming techniques and technologies become more sophisticated, so too have the resulting films.

The Doc is no Philistine; in fact, this ‘scientist’embraces the use of whatever one can find in order to make real whatever cinematic idea is in one’s mind, whether it’s a three year epic of a project or a three hour shoot!  Grab that video camera, mobile phone
camera, 8mm cine camera (or whatever your tool of choice) and rope your mates into that ‘fag packet’ crud.  It’s your dream, so follow it!  The Doc did – and still does – whenever the opportunity arises.  This may seem completely pointless when the resulting piece of crud will never be seen by more than maybe ten to twenty people.  However, The Doc can attest to the fact that, to imagine and then complete something that you’ve conceived, is highly exhilarating. Especially when it looks like the kind of exciting crud you meant it to look like.  Cheap as chips, as they say!  But fun at every stage.

One can only imagine how Edward D Wood Jr. felt on completion of the notorious ‘Plan 9 From Outer Space’, the oft-called ‘worst film ever made’.  It wasn’t meant to be a classic or a blockbuster, just a fun-filled ‘popcorn’ movie, a bit of harmless entertainment.  After all, didn’t we all at some point in our childhoods, wile away the hours pretending to be something or other whilst at play in an imaginary world?  And don’t we often recall and miss those ‘innocent’ days, when we didn’t worry about paying bills?  There comes a certain point in life when the laughs begin to dwindle and the lines appearing on the face are wearing into a frown.  So next time there’s a crummy looking old black and white science fiction movie on your TV, don’t switch it off – sit down and prepare to have a good old chuckle WITH the film maker.  Doctor’s orders!

Om Puri plays terror mastermind in Kurbaan

Veteran actor Om Puri plays a terrorist who masterminds a massive attack in the US in Rensil d'Silva's 'Kurbaan' and says he has no reservations about playing a 'jehaadi' as audiences are mature enough to differentiate between an actor and a film character.

I play terror mastermind in 'Kurbaan': Om Puri

Irrfan Khan had apparently said no to playing a terrorist in 'Kurbaan'. But Om Puri has no fears of playing villain.

"I'm also aware other actors turn down parts of terrorists. But I've no such reservations. A role is a role. We cannot be moral and judgemental about the characters we play. In 'Kurbaan' I play the terror mastermind, a fully committed 'jehaadi' who is ready to sacrifice everything, including his wife (Kirron Kher) for the cause," the actor said.

"I played a radical mullah mouthing rabid dialogues in Jagmohan Mundhra's 'Shoot On Sight'. It was just a role. I think our audiences are mature enough to understand this," he added.

Om Puri has apparently received warnings from fundamentalist organisations about playing an extremist. But he says he won't be deterred.

"I played a Pakistani in Charlie Wilson's 'War' and 'East Is East'. And now in October I go into the sequel 'West Is West' with the same cast. This time Vijay Raaz and Ila Arun have been added. Is it dangerous to experiment with morality in your actors? Let it be.

"In my new release 'Baburr', I played a corrupt colourful cop who doesn't think tweaking the law is a big deal. It's good to enter the hearts and minds of people who live by their own weird morality," he said.

Rensil d'Silva's 'Kurbaan' also features Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Vivek Oberoi.

Lata Mangeshkar is the universal Sister Didi

Not many know that the legendary actor Sivaji Ganesan was a rakhi brother to both Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle, and their families have long shared a close relationship.As we celebrate Lataji's 80th birthday on September 28, Ram Kumar, Ganesan's elder son, remembers the decades of long friendship with the Mangeshkar family:

In the 1950s, Sivaji Productions produced only Hindi movies. Both Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle had sung for the films, but had never met my father, Sivaji Ganesan.When Ashaji was in Chennai, she happened to watch the Tamil film, Paava Mannippu. When she returned to Mumbai, she told her family that they had to see a Tamil actor called Sivaji Ganesan. So they watched Paava Mannippu at the Aurora theatre (in King's Circle, north-central Mumbai). It was the first Tamil film that they had seen.

During the interval, they realised all of them were crying even though no one understood a word of Tamil. All of them felt he (Sivaji Ganesan) reminded them of their father Dinanath Mangeshkar.The next day, they contacted my father through HMV (the music label) and flew to Chennai to meet him. They came home, hugged him, tied rakhis and started crying.From the first meeting itself, everything clicked and the friendship that started almost 50 years ago continues till today. They used to call my parents Anna and Anni.My father may be no more, but I have continued the relationship. I must have met them when I was six or seven years old, but I remember meeting them in the late 1960s when I was about 13. They attended my sister's wedding in 1968, but I was away then in a boarding school in Bangalore.I got to know them well only in the 1970s when I returned to Chennai after my schooling.

My first memory of Ashaji was that of a fun loving person. Lataji is more reserved. Over the years, Lataji started speaking to me more than she spoke to my parents. I now share a very close relationship with them. I call Ashaji Mummy or Maaji. Lataji is the universal Didi.We shot Trishulam in Mumbai. They would visit my father on the sets. In the evenings, after the shooting, my parents would go to Peddar Road (in south Mumbai) to spend time with them.The funny thing about my father and the Mangeshkar sisters was that they spoke to him in Hindi and Marathi and he would speak in his broken Hindi. My father had a great sense of humour. I have seen them enjoying each other's company, laughing and talking. My mother didn't know English or Hindi. Yet, we would see Lataji and Ashaji talking to her for hours -- my mother in Tamil and they in Hindi.

They were very close. They would shop together and spend a lot of time together.


'We hope Lataji continues singing for a long, long time'

They used to come and stay with us often.I have heard a story that happened in 1960-1961. In those days, my father used to hunt. Somebody had sent some cuckoos to my father, as they are supposed to be a delicacy.When Lataji got up in the morning, she heard the cuckoos singing. When she asked about the birds, somebody told her that they had been brought for her to eat. She got so upset, she started crying. She opened the cage and let them fly away. My mother and grandmother watched quietly.When my father woke up, she told him, 'Anna, I am called the Nightingale of India, how can you, my brother, do this? Don't ever eat them.' My father never ate bird meat after that.I'll tell you another incident that my father told us. Once the radio was playing P Susheela's song, Athan Ennathan. My father asked if they could sing like that. Lataji kept quiet.After six months when he went to Mumbai, Lataji asked him to come home as she had something important to say.When he reached her house, both sisters started singing Anthan Ennathan. Lataji said since my father had asked them if they could sing as well as P Susheela, they sang the song in Tamil.My father laughed and said, 'I know you are the greatest. I just teased you that day.'They consider P Susheela one of the greatest singers in India. They have always had high regard for our (south Indian) singers. They used to have a high opinion of Ilayaraja. Now, they are great fans of A R Rahman.

Now that my parents are no longer here, I look up to them as my closest people. I tell them that they are my father and mother. I am close to both of them -- closer to them than I was with my parents.The way they call Ramu in their sweet soft voice, it is like God calling you.I have lunch with them quite often and the three sisters (including Usha Mangeshkar) treat me like their nephew.Ashaji loves cooking for me, as I love food. The food that they make is delicious, especially their biryanis. Ashaji is an excellent cook. Whenever I visit her, she tries new recipes on me. They are foodies like us.I discuss everything with them. Ashaji used to say that I would become an actor. But I didn't, my younger brother Prabhu did. Even now, she says, I should have been an actor!

They have not missed a single wedding in our family, except mine. But that was because there was an accident and their brother Hridayanathji and his wife Bharatiji were injured. After two weeks, Ashaji and Lataji came and gave me presents.

One festival that our families never miss is Diwali. The tradition started in 1960-1961 and continues today. We never miss exchanging clothes on Diwali day.Whenever they have a function, they invite me. When Rahman did a concert for the Dinanath Mangeshkar Trust in Pune, I was with them.Lataji once sung Maine Pyar Kiya for my twins when they asked her to. That was the first time I heard her sing at home. My father teased her, saying, 'You never sang a song for me. How come you are singing to my grandchildren?'I always call them on their birthdays and wish them. I remember attending Lataji's 75th birthday function. This year, she will be 80. I will be there and have food with her on that day.We hope she continues singing for a long, long time. I wish her a glorious 80th birthday.