February 2nd, 2010

Rarely do beauty and talent combine in a form so complimentary to each other than in the case of actress The Terminal. Whether gracefully gliding across the stage in dance, pounding the boards in a play, or lighting up the screen in such popular films as Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, the multi-faceted Saldana seems capable of achieving anything she puts her mind to. The New Jersey native was raised in Queens until the age of ten, when her family relocated to the Dominican Republic. The move proved a fateful blessing when young Saldana discovered her love of dance and enrolled in the Ritmos Espacio de Danza Academy shortly thereafter, where she would study ballet, jazz, and modern Latin dance. Following her sophomore year in high school, Saldana and her family returned to the U.S. It was while completing her primary studies stateside that Saldana became involved with the Faces theater troupe, whose aim was to make a positive impact on teenage audiences by performing improvisational skits on such issues as substance abuse and sexuality. Involvement with another troupe, the New York Youth Theater, provided more traditional stage experience through such productions as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, and it was while performing with that troupe that a talent agent recognized great potential in the burgeoning actress.

Academy president Tom Sherak and actress Anne Hathaway announced the nominees for the 82nd Academy Awards this morning.

James Cameron’s Avatar and the Iraq war thriller The Hurt Locker led the nominations with nine nominations each. Also, nominated for Best Picture are The Blind Side, District 9, Inglourious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up in the Air, An Education and UP.

The 2010 Academy Awards will air on March 7th from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Actors Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin will serve as the co-hosts for the event.

This year, honorary Oscars will go to Gordon Willis, Lauren Bacall and Roger Corman.

Here is the list of nominees:

Best Picture
Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
UP
UP in the Air

Best Director
James Cameron, ‘Avatar’
Kathryn Bigelow, ‘The Hurt Locker’
Quentin Tarantino, ‘Inglourious Basterds’
Lee Daniels, ‘Precious’
Jason Reitman, ‘Up in the Air’

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, ‘Crazy Heart’
George Clooney, ‘Up in the Air’
Colin Firth, ‘A Single Man’
Morgan Freeman, ‘Invictus’
Jeremy Renner, ‘The Hurt Locker’

Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, ‘Blind Side’
Helen Mirren, ‘The Last Station’
Carey Mulligan, ‘An Education’
Gabourey Sidibe, ‘Precious’
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon, ‘Invictus’
Woody Harrelson, ‘The Messenger’
Christopher Plummer, ‘The Last Station’
Stanley Tucci, ‘The Lovely Bones’
Christoph Waltz, ‘Inglourious Basterds’

Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz, ‘Nine’
Vera Farmiga, ‘Up in the Air’
Maggie Gyllenhaal, ‘Crazy Heart’
Anna Kendrick, ‘Up in the Air’
Mo’nique, ‘Precious’

Best Animated Feature Film
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up

Cinematography
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglorious Basterds
The White Ribbon

Writing – Original Screenplay
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Up

Writing – Adapted Screenplay
District 9
An Education
In the Loop
Precious
Up in the Air

Music (Original Song)
“Almost There” – The Princess and the Frog
“Down in New Orleans” – The Princess and the Frog
“Loin de Paname” – Paris 36
“Take It All” – Nine
“The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart”) – Crazy Heart

Music (Original Score)
Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Up

Visual Effects
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Art Direction
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

Sound Mixing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Sound Editing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up

Short Film (Live Action)
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants

Short Film (Animated)
French Roast
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf and Death

Makeup
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

Foreign Language Film
Ajami
El Secreto de Sus Ojos
The Milk of Sorrow
Un Prophete
The White Ribbon

Film Editing
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

Documentary Short
China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Music by Prudence
Rabbit a la Berlin

Documentary Feature
Burma VJ
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home

Costume Design
Bright Star
Coco before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

Sources say that Prakash Raj and choreographer Pony Verma have been dating for a couple of year, after Prakash Raj got divorce in a few months ago, the actor is all set to tie the knot.

A reliable sources said, “Pony and Prakash have been dating each for a long time, but they have always denied the news. As Prakash Raj was still in the process of getting his divorce then, they didn’t want to publicize their relationship. But with things sorted out, the two are serious about tying the knot. They hope to get married by mid-2010.”

Moreover it the source also added the news like, “Pony wanted to first settle down career wise. Now that she has finished working on Priyadarshan’s film and is choreographing a few songs for Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzarish, she is confident about her future.”

The Shiv Sena party has threatened to distrub the release of Shahrukh Khan’s “My Name Is Khan” following the actor’s support for the Pakistani cricket players at the IPL but the film is set to go places. The good news is that,”My Name Is Khan will be premiered at the 60th annual Berlin International Film Festival.

The movie will have a star studded screening at one of the oldest film in the world starting 11-21 February. The organisers have presented the official list of 26 films would be competing for the Golden Bear award. However, My Name Is Khan is not going to compete for the award. The festival will also witness the premiere of Martin Scoresese’s Shutter Island starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Roman Polanski’s The Ghost Writer. Karan Johar’s film starring Shahrukh Khan and Kajol is set for release in India and 40 other countries on 12 February. The hit pair is coming together after 8 years. The film is all about a man going to the US to win back his love.

Oscar Nominations List 2010

Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Animated Feature Film
Best Foreign Film
Best Original Screenplay
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Documentary Feature
Best Original Score
Best Original SongBest Film Editing
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
Best Art Direction

Set in a Mumbai ghetto in the mid 1980s and based on true life accounts, Striker is a story of triumph of human spirit over indomitable odds.

Siddharth, who stepped into Bollywood with Rang De Basanti, returns to Hindi cinema after a long gap. The utterly choosy star plays a carrom champ in the movie. The other actors include Aditya Pancholi, as a dreaded gangster, Ankur Vikal as the protagonist’s childhood friend and most trusted ally, Anupam Kher as an honest, tough and smart cop, Nicolette Bird as a girl from a conservative Muslim family, and Padmapriya as a fisherwoman who runs a bar and restaurant all by herself.

Synopsis:

Born into a poor family, Surya (Siddharth) grows up with few luxuries. Poor health keeps him away from school often and that is when his elder brother, Chandrakant, introduces him to carrom.

Quite similar to pool in its concept, carrom is common among people from middle and lower income groups all over India. Precision and skill are vital to playing the game well; attitude and confidence are crucial to win. The underground carrom scene has been breeding hustlers and gamblers for many years.

Winning the Junior Carrom Championship at 12 is not enough to keep Surya’s fire for the sport burning through adolescence. Hopes for a job in Dubai, replaces the passion for carrom as Surya grows into a young man.

Duped by a bogus overseas employment agency, Surya loses all his hard earned money he had saved for going to Dubai. Surya is forced to cross paths with Jaleel (Aditya Pancholi).

Since the 70s when the settlements in the ghetto began, Jaleel had acquired a strong hold in the area. He had his hands in every illicit activity since then. Feeding on the weaknesses of people, Jaleel was the self-proclaimed king of Malwani.

Reintroduced to Carrom by his childhood friend Zaid (Ankur Vikal), this time to the hustling scene, Surya starts playing again. Being gypped of his hard earned money by the same man who had caused misery for many families; Surya decides to take on Jaleel on his turf.

His patience and cool attitude are Surya’s biggest strengths. But life has ways of testing even the strong.

‘Striker’ is not a film about good versus evil. It is the story of a friendship, life in the city of dreams in the 80’s, a story of a game that is most common but non-existent. A story of a Carrom player who grows up on the fringes of a criminal existence but does not succumb to it.

The movie is directed by Chandan Arora and has songs by a host of music composers, including Shailendra Barve, Amit Trivedi, Vishal Bharadwaj, Yuvan Shankar Raza, Swanand Kirkire and Blaaze.

‘Striker’ is set to release on February 5.

Watch Movie Trailer Online:

V-day is near and the effervescent Hollywood actress Julia Roberts is promoting her film Valentine’s Day by playing the agony aunt to women.

So what tips Julia has to offer to make your V-day a memorable one? The actress was talking at a promotional event when a lady asked her how to “make him make me happy on Valentine’s Day,” to which the pretty woman answered, “Make a nice dinner reservation now, have a nice glass of wine, and take your top off.”

She then turned towards her co-star Bradley Cooper and asked him if it wasn’t really a “recipe for success.”

Whoa! What do you have to say about this?

With the good opening of Ishqiya at box office it’s proved that a good movie is well accepted by the public. Though the movie Rann got mixed reviews from critics, its lackluster performance is due to the fact that it has little to offer public in the form of entertainment.

Coming to the BO verdict, ‘Ishqiya’ managed an average 50-60% business on its first day, later picked up and collected Rs 9.50 crore approx in its first weekend, which is good news for a low budget film like ‘Ishqiya’. It’s expected that the movie would finish the week by collecting Rs 14 crore approx. A good run.

Ram Gopal Varma’s ‘Rann’ has few takers and did Rs 3.75 crore approx business over its first weekend. It’s reported that the movie is best received in Mumbai and has good collection reports from South. ‘Rann’ is likely to collect around Rs 5.50 crore approx by the end of this week. A poor run.

After a good first week, Salman Khan starrer Veer witnessed a drop in collections over its second weekend, managing around Rs 5.25 crore approx. However, reportedly it has done good first week business of around Rs 32.50 crore. Well, the movie is looking forward for a lifetime business of around Rs 42 crore.

This Friday, it’s the movie Striker for you that stars Siddharth of Rang De Basanti fame in the main lead.

Watch Bidaai 2 February 2010 Star Plus

sapnaa babul ka…. bidaai, started off on the 10th of October, 2007 with many hopes at 9pm on plus. During these 1 1/2 years it has emerged as the top show of television. Earlier it was tuned to 1 hour which made the story very interesting due to the uprising of many twists in the show. However from the past 3 to 4 weeks, the story is getting a bit too boring due to over-acting of alekh, and mental disabled man as sometimes he is the smartest man in the world(eg. in judging who is a perfect groom dost for sadhna) and sometimes behaves like a 7 yr old child(in neglecting feelings that sadhna has for him and how bad she will feel if she comes to know this). Continue

Watch Laadli 2 February 2010 Star Plus
Sabki laadli Bebo is all about a cute, cheerful, innocent girl Bebo— who is loved by her family immeasurably. This affluent, respectable, traditional Punjabi family of 3 brothers and their parents always yearned for a girl child and their happiness knew no bounds when after year’s god answered their prayers and a daughter was born… As the only girl child born in the traditionally rich Punjabi family after ages she was nothing less than a precious jewel in the house and there was an amazing bond between each of them. Unheard and unexposed to the sorrows and miseries of life she knows only to smile, laugh and be happy, her motto of life is to be happy and make others happy, and she was proud to be born in such a loving family. Continue