FLASH OF GENIUS

cast: Greg Kinnear, Lauren Graham

directed by Marc Abraham

studio: Universal Pictures

release date: Oct 3, 2008

Based on the true story of college professor and part-time inventor Robert Kearns' (Greg Kinnear) long battle with the U.S. automobile industry, "Flash of Genius" tells the tale of one man whose fight to receive recognition for his ingenuity would come at a heavy price. But this determined engineer refused to be silenced, and he took on the corporate titans in a battle that nobody thought he could win.

The Kearns were a typical 1960s Detroit family, trying to live their version of the American Dream. Local university professor Bob married teacher Phyllis (Lauren Graham) and, by their mid-thirties, had six kids who brought them a hectic but satisfying Midwestern existence. When Bob invents a device that would eventually be used by every car in the world, the Kearns think they have struck gold. But their aspirations are dashed after the auto giants who embraced Bob's creation unceremoniously shunned the man who invented it.

Ignored, threatened and then buried in years of litigation, Bob is haunted by what was done to his family and their future. He becomes a man obsessed with justice and the conviction that his life's work--or for that matter, anyone's work--be acknowledged by those who stood to benefit. And while paying the toll for refusing to compromise his dignity, this everyday David will try the unthinkable: to bring Goliath to his knees.

First time director Marc Abraham takes on this true David vs Goliath drama to the big screen and this is once again a great oppurtunity to Greg Kinnear, who is undoubtedly one of the most under rated of actors out there.

Check out the trailer HERE which shows that the movie has enough warmth and spirit to fill your hearts!

PANEL ROOM

Like the case of most biopics, FLASH OF GENIUS seems to have the pace as one of its flaws. The pace really does not seem to help the cause. The reviews garingly point out that the makers fail to justify Kinnear's action though we are supposed to be rooting out for him.

It might have served as an adequate cable television movie, but on the big screen this little guy is totally out of his league. ONE GUYS OPINION C

There's a fine line between standing up for yourself and selfishness, and "Flash of Genius" drives right over it. CHICAGO TRIBUNE

We have seen this kind of tale before, and director Marc Abraham is unable to convince us that we want to see it again. REELVIEWS 2.5/4

It’s a good story, it’s just not told very well. Much of the time, Flash of Genius simply fails to connect the dots. CINEMABLEND 3.5/5

a sober biopic with a surprisingly destructive core FILMCRITIC 3.5/5

BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA

cast: George Lopez, Drew Barrymore, Andy Garcia, Tom Arnold, Jamie Lee Curtis

Directed by Raja Gosnell

studio: Walt Disney Pictures

Release date: Oct 3, 2008

So talking animals is back in fashion? Is it....?

It must be considering the kind of money that ALVIN & THE CHIPMUNKS minted at the box office. Probably the only reason why director Raja Gosnell is given a go at making dogs again with the latest Disney comedy BEVERLY HILLS CHUHUAHUA.

And this is what Disney also does well- pay a good money. Or else we would not see a star studded voice cast like this one. We have Drew Barrymore, George Lopez, Andy Garcia, Cheech Marin and Paul Rodriguez all voicing the dogs while Jamie Lee Curtis plays one of the central characters of the movie.

So really...was not a couple of dogs enough havoc last time around with SCOOBY DOO series. And did not Disney take it a little too far with the 102 Dalmations fiasco. They why are these two combining for more doggie tales like this one?

But if you still want to tell the story to the kiddies out there, here goes...

In the Disney comedy, BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA, a pampered Beverly Hills Chihuahua named Chloe (voice of DREW BARRYMORE) finds herself accidentally lost in the mean streets of Mexico without a day spa or Rodeo Drive boutique anywhere in sight. Now alone for the first time in her spoiled life, she must rely on some unexpected new friends -- including a street-hardened German Shepherd named Delgado (voice of ANDY GARCIA) and an amorous pup named Papi (voice of GEORGE LOPEZ) -- to lend her a paw and help her to find her inner strength on their incredible journey back home.

Still want more? Then you may check out the TRAILER here

PANEL ROOM

For some reasons most of the reviews have either not given this movie a look. But even surprising is that those who have seen havent exactly written off the movie like expected. Instead many believe that it is a good treat for its target audiences, meaning Disney might actually make some money at the end of the day!

Compared to the best doggie flicks, it may be the runt of the litter, but like most mutts it grows on you. ONE GUYS OPINION B-

CITY OF EMBER

cast: Bill Murray, Tim Robbins, Toby Jones

directed by Gil Kenan

Produced by Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman

studio: 20th Century Fox / Universal (non-US)

genre: fantasy thriller

release date: October 10, 2008

For generations, the people of the City of Ember have flourished in an amazing world of glittering lights - underground. Built as a refuge for humanity and powered by a massive generator - this City will only sustain for 200 years. Now Ember is falling into darkness as the generator fails, and the dazzling lights begin to flicker and fade.

Despite growing concern for the future of their beloved City, Ember's students find themselves confronting the next step in their lives. A rite of passage for all graduates, it is Assignment Day, the day on which the Mayor himself will stand before the graduating students as they choose, by lottery, how they will spend their lives working for their society. Lina, praying with all her might to be a messenger, is devastated to be assigned to the Pipeworks, the vast network of pipes underneath the City. Her classmate, Doon Harrow, who wants more than nothing else to work in the Generator, panics when he pulls the messenger assignment. The Pipeworks isn't the Generator, but it is close enough and Doon offers to swap assignments with Lina. She is thrilled and grateful and eagerly changes jobs. Thus, an unlikely friendship is born, one that, as it blossoms, will change the course of all the lives in Ember.

Lina takes easily to the job of messenger and finds herself zipping all over Ember, delivering important missives to even more important people, including the mayor himself. At home she cares for her aging and forgetful grandmother, and her baby sister Poppy. When an old metal box is discovered in their closet, Lina's grandmother is overjoyed. Completely sure that the contents of the box are of the utmost importance, she is completely bereft of any memory as to why.
Lina manages to jimmy the lock open, and discovers some cryptic papers inside. Unable to piece the papers together, but sure that they are important, Lina resolves to decipher their meaning and enlists Doon's help.

As blackouts in the City become more frequent, Lina and Doon realize that the information inside that box could lead to the salvation of their City and their fellow citizens. Now racing against the clock, the two follow the clues, cleverly maneuvering around corrupt politicians and unsavory characters hoping to keep them from their goal: restoring the light in the City of Ember.

The movie is based on Jeanne Duprau's bestseller and is brought to you by Walden Media who shot to fame thanks to the Chronicles of Naria franchise.

The film is produced by Playtones - a production company floated by Tom Hanks and Gary Gotezman. And they seem to have a right candidate for the job in the form of director Gil Kenan who directed MONSTER HOUSE.

Boasting the talents of Bill Murray and Tim Robbins, this one looks like has something boiling underneath!

ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO

cast: Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks, Craig Robinson, Traci Lords

directed by Kevin Smith

studio: The Weinstein Brothers

release date: Oct 31, 2008

Director Kevin Smith comes up with a comedy that is all set to provide you more laughs a minute than any film in recent history. Except it shall be coming your way this Halloween. Opening to great reviews in the festival circuit, this film is promising to be the funniest thing this year!

The plot is of two high school friends Zack and Miri who has been room mates for ten years. However their platonic friendship comes to the test when financial woes put them into all sorts of trouble. However these two decides to make a porn film to end their money trouble...and in the process they find something that they never found in the last ten years...love!

All right..a very good template for laughs and certainly has enough scope for the Judd Appatow comedy with a heart, (and a lot other body parts!) In fact I am shocked that Appatow has nothing to do with this movie...which however boast a cast of the Appatow regulars.

The US censors really getting funnier with every passing days. First they had to be coaxed into giving this movie a R rating from the more stricter NC-17. And now they seem to be throwing the axe even on the rather naive poster from the makers.

So what does Smith & Co do? They have come up with a lampooning poster which would settle the scores with the MPAA for the moment.

Anyways for the common folk who still needs to get a um, taste of things to come...you may check out the RED BAND trailer of the film and get a feel of the film. ''Not that feel, you pervert!''

THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG

cast: Anika Noni Rose, Keith David, John Goodman, Bruno Campos, Oprah Winfrey

directed by Ron Clements & John Musker

music: Randy Newman

studio: WALT DISNEY PICTURES

release date: Dec 25, 2009

official site

So Disney decides to keep the kiddies and the conventionals back home happy by returning to the traditional 2d animations.

Though some years back, they did announce that HOME ON THE RANGE was to be their last 2D movie, it was obvious that Disney cannot keep away from things that made them in the first place. The success of ENCHANTED maybe one of the reasons why they felt that 2D still had a certain charm that was here to stay.

So back to the drawing boards and out they have come up with yet another fairy tale. This time they revisit the classic fairy tale of the FROG PRINCESS.

However the film is making news for it features the first black american princess for Disney. And the film is set in contemporary America of the 1920s, hence enabling a musical with a strong jazz influence.

The film is directed by Ron Clements and John Musker of THE LITTLE MERMAID fame featuring the voices of Anika Nonu, John Goodman, Bruno Campos, Oprah Winfrey. Randy Newman shall be scoring music for the film.

PARAMOUNT ties up with MARVEL STUDIOS

In what can be seen as a very significant deal, Viacom Inc's Paramount Pictures have joined handed with Marvel Studios with an agreement to distribute the major movies from Marvel until 2011.

This includes IRON MAN2, CAPTAIN AMERICA, THOR, and THE AVENGERS. The deal also includes IRON MAN 3 if the studio decides to make the same.

This comes as a big boost for the folks at Paramount since Speilberg left the company for a partnership with India's Reliance Group.

However it is certainly Marvel who is smiling at the moment, with the sensational debut they made into production with their debut feature IRON MAN hitting gold!

FROM PARIS WITH LOVE

cast : John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers

directed by Pierre Morel

status: Under Production

John Travolta these days is busy in France shooting for the upcoming thriller FROM PARIS WITH LOVE.

Travolta teams up with Jonathan Rhys Meyers of MI 3 fame for this thriller, the script of which has been pennded by Luc Besson and Adi Hasak. The film is directed by Pierre Morel of TAKEN and DISTRICT B13 fame.

The plot revolves around an embassy worker who encounters a secret American agent during a mission trips in Paris.

DELHI BELLY: Chitragadha gives a NO to Aamir

status: pre-production

And with Aamir Khan productions being right up there with the back to back successes of Lagaan and now Taare Zameen Par, any production from the man Aamir is bound to be talked about and eagerly awaited.

Now that the third venture with Abbas Tyrevala is almost complete, Aamir is keen to get the next one rolling. The film is titled DELHI BELLY and is a sex comedy aimed at a more international audience.

Initially this urbane sex comedy was supposed to be directed by Swedish Robert Nylund. However something seems to have soured between the two, and now we have Aamir Khan handing over the reigns of this baby to ad film maker Abhinay Deo. Aamir Khan is not likely to feature in the film ...but recent talks are with Ranbir Kapoor to play one of the key roles in the flick.

Meanwhile the film did get interesting when it just got announced that Chitragadha Singh is likely to be cast in the film. Chitragadha have done a couple of ads, and won rave reviews for her work in Sudhir Mishra's Hazaar Khwahishein Aisi.

UPDATE APR 29: It has been reported that Chitragadha Singh has rejected the offer to sign up the movie. The reaon why she gives a no to Aamir Khan - well , as per her though there is a strong script, this dark comedy about three men have no much scope for the leading lady. Graceful exit, then!

UPDATE OCT 2 : Post the success of JAANE TU, Imran Khan has given a big boost to this project by hopping aboard. However he took time to clear out one thing to all the audiences - he makes it clear that the film is no sex comedy by any means. You can catch that interview at Hindustan Times.

DADDY COOL : Indra Kumar's next comedy

cast: Suniel Shetty, Chunkey Pandey, Aftab Shivdasani, Ashish Chowdhury, Javed Jaffery, Tulip Joshi, Sophie Chaudhary

directed by Murli Mohan Rao

Indra Kumar is keen to repeat the success of Dhamaal with yet another multi starrrer comedy. However he just do not seem to know the right man for the job. That is probably why after roping in E Nivas, and then changing his mind to Pankaj Parashar, producer Indra Kumar now has zeroed in on Murli Mohan Rao to the directorial honours.

Indra Kumar has managed to get some interesting names together for the project. This includes Suniel Shetty, Aftab Shivdasani, Chunky Pandey, Ashish Chowdhury, Javed Jaffrey, Tulip Joshi and Sophie Chaudhary. Story is from Tusshar Hiranandani, atleast that is what they say. But knowing Indra Kumar, I guess the real source lies somewhere within Indra Kumar's DVD collection!

Chunkey Pandey is reported to be playing a role of a former rock star who has tajen to drugs with his frustrations. And for this he has gone ahead and borrowed the ROCK ON looks of good friend Farhan Akhtar. (source:Mid-day)

Ek SRK

cast: Vinay Pathak, Ritapurna Sengupta, Manoj Joshi

Directed by Ajay Verma

Music by Illayaraja

produced by Warner Bros

Strange as it may seem Vinay Pathak shall be SRK in the new comedy produced by Warner Bros.

The film directed by Ajay Verma shall see Vinay Pathak playing the role of Shivaji Rao Khote in the film EK SRK. The film will see the talents of Gulzar and Illayaraja coming together also.

Ritapurna Sengupta, Manoj Joshi and Dilip Prabhavalkar are the other actors on board.

The film is a remake of the immensely popular and successful Malayalam classic Chintavishtayaya Shyamala which tells the story of a woman who has to gather herself and carry on life when her husband forsakes his duties in the name of spiritual well being. The script was by Srreenivasan, who has yet another of his master works being remade into Hindi as BILOO BARBAR and that too by SRK himself!

Ram Gopal Varma's NEXT

With PHOONK doing decent business, Ram Gopal Varma is back and with the power to dream big.

So washing away the blues of AAG of 2007, the modest success of SARKAR RAAJ and PHOONK has put Ram Gopal back into a cozy position, even if not exactly heaven.

Ram Gopal Varma now decides to take on the media and is all set to make a rather costly film that touches the workings of a media in todays times.

“Today by virtue of its position and cut-throat competition, the media has become as powerful as the agencies that it was supposed to monitor. I feel the media has become integrated into the system that it was once supposed to monitor. It’s this dilemma that I want to dramatise in my film.”Ramu explains what drew him to the media.

Ramu goes on to clarify that this is no media bashing that he is attempting here and in no way is using this to get back at his film critics.

Newcomer Rohit Banwalikar is writing the movie for Ram Gopal Varma. You may read more of it in his meeting with the press over HERE

AJAB PREM KI GHAZAB KAHANI

cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Upen Patel

music: Pritam

directed by Raj Kumar Santoshi

Raj Kumar Santoshi who has usually settled for single word titles like Damini, Ghayal, Khakee, Lajja, Pukar etc is now going for something more unique and elaborate for his next- the title shall be AJAB PREM KI GHAZAB KAHANI.

Music shall be Pritam and Raj Kumar Santoshi confirms that he intends to start shooting once Ranbir gets back from a long Yash Raj shooting schedule.

Santoshi talks a bit about how he would like to give a throwback to the Raj Kapoor with the character he has planned for Ranbir in his talk with Subash Jha.

Santoshi must have definitely surprised Ranbir when he added on Upen Patel also to the cast. Upen was Deepika's ex for some time and that does not put him in good equations with Ranbir.

But I guess that should not be a problem as Ranbir and Katrina seems to be getting along pretty fine turning the tables on Santoshi with their pranks on the set. SOURCE

CYCLE KICK

cast: K. P. Nishan Nanaiah, Sunny Hinduja, Girija Oak, Ishita Sharma, Dwij Yadav, Tom Alter

directed by Shashi Sudigala

Produced by Mukta Arts Searchlight

Subhash Ghai is ready with yet another sports based film.

Thanks to his backing Nagesh Kukunoor was able to deliver a uplifting film like IQBAL. Now Ghai who is into smaller meaningful movies is giving Nagesh's chief assistant director Shashi Sudigala a break with this upcoming project titled CYCLE KICK.

CYCLE KICK is a film that tells the story of a young graduate from a small town. His desire to travel and meet his friends make him wish for a cycle. And he sees a wonderful oppurtunity to own that cycle...which is to win a local football match which promises a cycle to the winner.

The film stars FTII Students Nishaan Naniya and Sunny Hinduja.

1-800-LOVE

cast: John Abraham, Pakhi

directed by Abbas Tyrewala

status: preproduction

With JAANE TU YA JAANE NA hitting the bullseye, all eyes are on Abbas Tyrewala. And why not...the talented man had it coming for a long time.

Definitely Abbas ain't the kind of guy who would sit back and bask in the moment of glory. Instead he is already deep into his next movie for which he has signed on none other than John Abraham.

In fact John seemed to have fallen for the script that he insisted on co-producing the film with Abbas. The film titled 1-800-LOVE is a romantic comedy which is a far more mature tone than the teen ones of the Jaane Tu.

With John in the bag, talks were around that a big heroine was on the cards. However Abbas seemed to have pulled out a surprise by casting his own wife Pakhi as the female lead. And with Pakhi being named, our media folks were quick enough to do the dig on her past. Click HERE. Pakhi incidentally was also the casting director for JAANE TU...and we all know how splendidly she did that job. And with 1-800-LOVE, Abbas is using one of Pakhi's written scripts as well.

So as this project gets going, we shall keep you updated with more!

RAVANA

hindi/tamil/ telegu

cast: Abhishek, Aishwarya, Govinda, Vikram

cast: Vikram, Aishwarya, Priyamani and Prithviraj

music: A R Rahman

directed by Mani Ratnam

status : preproduction

Here is a project that is getting interesting by the minute. Mani Rathnam's next shall be a contemporary take on the Ramayana and the buzz is already strong with Abhishek and Aishwarya being roped in to play the Sita-Ram pair in the movie.

However the film titled RAVANA will have tamil superstar Vikram playing the title role. That must be something to have 'chiyan' Vikram playing the title role that features the Bachchans.

But interestingly in the tamil version, Vikram will be donning the role of Ram. So it is kinda a double whammy for Vikram.

In the tamil version though Prithviraaj is taking a leap into the big league playing the villain. Priyamani also plays an important role in the movie.

The film is also slated to have entertainer no.1 Govinda too. That too comes as a surprise since Govinda has always kept himself away from the serious cinema inspite of his versatile skills. Probably playing the modern role of Hanuman must have stirred up his spirituality.

The casting hype does not end there. IT just gets bigger with the news that Ranbir Kapoor is also being roped in...which definitely looks like Laxman's role.

The latest news regarding the movie is that Aishwarya Rai will be playing the role of a classical singer, for which she is scheduled to take regular classes as a preparation. And probably Jaya Bachchan also might come with her own tips, for she is still known for her role as a singer in the movie ABHIMAAN.

The film is being made under the Madras Talkies banner, and expectations are just soaring with the fact that AR Rahman shall score the music while the brilliant PC Sriram will take care of the cinematography. The film shall be a multilingual and to be released in three versions- Hindi, Tamil and Telegu.

The film is scheduled to start shooting by October this year.

JUMBO

featuring the voice of Akshay Kumar

studio: Percept Pictures

release date: December 2008

Perecept Pictures, that brought the Hanuman franchise, is now set with their next animation offering. This time it is titled JUMBO , and is a animated in 3D at a budget of around 8 million dollars.

The film is a story about a baby elephant and is based on a concept from Dinsey pictures, with Percept acquiring the exploitative rights for the same.

The film is now suddenly garnering interest with the news going around that superstar Akshay Kuamr shall be voicing the characters and is dedicating this effort for his son.

Commenting on the film’s subject, Akshay said, "The film is about the connection that the baby elephant is unable to have with his father, and how his father sacrifices everything for his country. It’s also about the love and support a mother gives her child. I think every child should experience and witness this.

Thankfully being an animated film slated for December release, this shall not (hopefully) be a lot like this years elephantine hit of spring - HORTON!

DE DANA DAN

cast: Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Sunil Shetty, Neha Dupia, Sameera Reddy and Paresh Rawal

Directed by Priyadarshan

Looks like this is a pairing that is here to stay. Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif, though started off on the wrong notes with the flop HUMKO DEEWANE KAR GAYE, there has been no looking back for this hit jodi that has gone on to deliver a hatrick of hits.

And now Akki and Kat has been signed for yet one more. This time it is from Priyadarshan and titled DE DANA DAN. This film produced by Ratan Jain of Venus shall be completed in a single schedule in Singapore that should last two months. This project also stars the Hera Pheri co stars , that is Suniel Shetty and Paresh Rawal. Also Neha Dupia and Sameera Reddy is slated to play key roles in this movie which is expected to be a comedy like the usual Priyan movies.

Incidentally, it seems Asin was the first choice for the lead actress but it went to Katrina due to date problems. Funny that...coz Katrina's date books seem to be overflowing with projects while Asin, the relatively new kid on the block has no dates to give already?

anyways watch out this page for more updates on this project that could easily be yet another feather in Akshay's cap!

KANCHIVARAM

Priyadarshan after emerging as a brand name for quick comedies in Bollywood, has gone ahead and surprised everyone.

For this time he has opted to stick to his convictions and go for a pre-independence movie about the silk weaving community, and with the backing of Percept Pictures managed to bring out his latest venture, KANCHIVARAM in tamil.

The film is currently in the festival circuit and from the looks of it, Priyan finally has something to be really proud of.

Priyan's film floors Toronto audiences - Hindustan times

WELCOME TO SAJJANPUR

cast: Shreyas Talpada, Amrita Rao, Ravi Kissen, Divya Dutta, Ila Arun

directed by Shyam Benegal

music: Shantanu Moitra

Director Shyam Benegal is back and this time with a comedy of errors.

Set in a village of India, the film is about a young frustrated writer Mahadev who has returned to his village after studies. But he never gets to write his dream novel. Instead he ends up writing letters for the illiterate village folk. His letters seem to be doing the trick and instantly becomes a rage among the villagers with thus the writer begins to earn a living out of it. So thus Mahadev gets to be the safe keeper of the village secrets and also get paid for it.

His new career only gets interesting when his childhood sweetheart also comes to him requesting to write a letter to her husband who is in Mumbai. The young Mahadev uses this oppurtunity to rekindle his old love, and decides to use the letters to split her and her husband.

Shyam Benegal has used the talents of young Shreyas Talpade to bring the character of Mahadev alive. Amrita Rao, Divya Dutta, Ila Arun, Ravi Kissen are some of the other cast members.

The film has music by Shantanu Moitra.

For Benegal, known for his works like ANKUR and NISHANT , comedy might not be really his cup of tea. But at 73, he believes this script had enough meat in it to pull him towards it. Though his last few ventures like ZUBEIDAA and BOSE all failed to generate the kind of interest, this one looks set to change the tide for the director.

The film is being backed by UTV's new wing UTV SPOT BOYS who have been responsible for bringing us one of the most talked about movies of the year - AAMIR.

52nd LONDON FILM FESTIVAL

THe 52nd London Film Festival is all set to take center stage and with over 180 films being featured, it looks like a filmgoers treat.

The event from 15-30 OCtober is slated to feature six major feature films from India

WELCOME TO SAJJANPUR directed by Shyam Benegal

FIRAAQ, directed by Nandita Das

TAHAAN directed by Santosh Sivan

COLORS OF PASSION by Ketan Mehta

QUICK GUN MURUGAN by Shashank Ghosh

Indian presence at London Film Festival : HT

On the international scene, the film festival shall be attracting attention for the mere fact that it shall premier the next James Bond installment, Quantum of Solace.

The festival shall kick off with the screening of Ron Howard's FROST/NIXON, an adaptation of the popular Peter Morgan play.

Other biggies for the fest includes Danny Boyle's SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, Oliver Stone's Bush biopic W, Woody Allen's VICKY CHRISTINA BARCELONA, and Steven Soderbergh's biopic CHE.

You can visit the official site of the festival HERE

AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY

They have been threatening the audiences with it and things have shifted between hot and cold. So will they make it or not? We ain't sure...but as long as Sohail Khan has the rights to remake the classic AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY....our nostalgic moments are in danger?

The Khan bros - Salman, Arbaaz and Sohail are still hellbent on getting AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY done with director David Dhawan roped in to recreate the masala entertainer.

However the problem lies there itself...had it been three leading actors, it would have been a different story. But as long as the three bros want to feature in it itself, we are in danger of something like a HELLO BROTHER!.

Ram Gopal Varma could not do anything with SHOLAY, so why does they think that they need to meddle with something like AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY?

Hmm, anyways...the latest news is that they are getting the ladies too aboard. And no prizes for guessing, the first one - Katrina Kaif. And I won't be surprised if they wrap this by adding the Arora sisters and speed up the process.

While I am sure many out there would be praying that this project never really takes off!

A WEDNESDAY

cast: Anupam Kher, Naseruddhin Shah

direction Neeraj Pandey

MoviemagiK rates it 4.5/ 5

A WEDNESDAY is a cracker of a thriller …and that is something that Indian cinema hardly churns out. For once it does not hurt the intelligence of the viewers nor does it beg us to leave our brains outside the halls. This one is gripping, leaving the viewers awestruck and engaged.

A WEDNESDAY is what good cinema is all about…the kind of cinema that can be enjoyed on any darn day!

Read my complete review at Planet Bollywood

GOLMAAL RETURNS : the preview

cast: Ajay Devgan, Kareena Kapoor, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar Kapoor, Amrita Arora and Shreyas

music by Pritam

directed by Roheit Shetty

banner Shree Ashtavinayak

release date: October 31, 2008

So this is what happens when the film makers get a surprise success. When a certain film does much better than the wildest expectations of the makers, the simple logic is to cash in on it.

And for that simple logic, comes director Roheit Shetty bringing back the boys from GOLMAAL - Ajay Devgan, Arshad Warsi and Tushar Kapoor, dropping just Sharmaan Joshi and whip up GOLMAAL RETURNS. Sharmaan opted out citing date issues.

Much like the Munnabhai series, this is not exactly a sequel but a different chapter with different characters. However Tushhar will be back playing the mute character, which for some strange reason has been appreciated a lot. Is it because audiences were spared from his dialogue delivery?

Ajay Devgan plays the role of Gopal who is married to an over suspicious wife Ekta (Kareena Kapoor). And the fact that she is a big fan of the saas-bahu soaps does not help the cause either. Tushar, plays Ekta's mute brother.

More things go wrong for Gopal when his sister Esha (Amrita) falls for a police officer Mahadev (Arshad Warsi), one that Gopal cannot stand.

But all that seem to be the least of Gopals' worries. One night circumstances force Gopal to be stuck in a yatch with Meera (Celina Jaitley). But fearing his wife, he makes up a tale about spending the night with a friend of his by the name of Anthony Gonsalves.

Ekta is sure that it all a lie and goes onto even send a mail to the made up address that Gopal dishes out for Anthony. And Gopal tries to cover up by bringing home his colleague (Shreyas) to pose as Anthony.

But a murder later, Gopal becomes the prime suspect, ...and as you would guess...the Anthony character also turns up at the front door!

Yeah GOLMAAL RETURNS is one such tale where nothing goes right for Gopal!

After Roheit Shetty's disappointing SUNDAY, he would be hoping that this comedy of wrongs go all right for the film maker. Even Ajay Devgan really needs a hit up his name after the no shows of all his releases lately which even included Halla Bol and his home production.

While GOLMAAL saw Ajay redoing his Phool aur Kaante entry on two bikes, this time they are going for two hummers!

The buzz is also that the songs are all potential blockbusters with the song 'Karke' touted to be an expensive offering on all counts. And with the way things go for Pritam, we expect another chartbuster on the cards.

In fact, all the cast members associated with this flick would really love to see this working in their favor.