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The Hindu : y>The Jungle Book will once again come to life

JUNGLE TALES Mowgli roams the jungle again

DQ Entertainment Group and AIM, the animation and gaming company, have announced a 52-episode animated series “The Jungle Book”.

“The Jungle Book” will once again come to life, for the first time in this high definition television series and television feature format. This project, of approximately $ 12 million, will be funded through pre-sales and co-production deals across the globe.

Based on the vast history and tradition of Rudyard Kipling’s classic novel “The Jungle Book”, the TV series will explore the various escapades of Mowgli and his jungle friends in this dramatic, funny and fast-paced series where we will see Mowgli develop and learn to survive in the dangerous jungle.

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The Hindu : y>As Anurag Basu chats about his upcoming Hrithik Roshan-starrer Kites, HARSHIKAA UDASI catches the wind

RUNAWAY HITSAnurag Basu’s Life In A … Metro

He is Bollywood’s hottest property now. Rakesh Roshan has put son Hrithik’s precious career into his hands with the Rs. 50 crore“Kites” co-starring Kangna Ranaut and Latin dancer-actor Barbara Mori.

When Papa Roshan comes calling on someone to direct a film withhis son, it is a rare honour. Anurag Basu is awarethat “Kites” could be the turning point of his career that has been dotted with hits such as “Murder”, “Gangster” and “Life In A…Metro”.

“I was apprehensive in the beginning. First of all, it was quite unusual for Rakesh to bring an outsider to direct his banner’s film, and that too for Hrithik. Moreover, I had been directing films with budgets of not more than Rs. five crore. But, the journey has been great,” says the director.Excitement and nerves aside, when Anurag went about directing the film, it was not smooth sailing at first — Rakesh and he had different execution styles. “He is very meticulous. He knows exactly what he will shoot the next day. I, on the other hand, am quite unsystematic. I love spontaneity. Many times he would ask me, ‘What are we shooting tomorrow Anurag?’ and I would say, ‘Don’t know yet, we’ll decide tomorrow’. He must have been shocked, yet he let me do as I willed. But I assured him that ‘Kites’ would not be delayed due to my style of directing, nor would it go over-budget. He hardly ever interfered.”

What about Roshan Jr.? “Hrithik, I realised, believes in preparedness while I tend to improvise. But, he is also very sporting and responded to my spontaneity.”

With Hrithik and Barbara’s steamy pictures available on the Internet, people are bound to speculate.

“I think people are getting all sorts of ideas regarding the film. It is a…More

The Hindu :

Orange Sky Productions’ staging of Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights was competent

While there have been celebrated celluloid avatars of Emily Bronte’s gothic classic “Wuthering Heights”, it is quite difficult to imagine a play based on the novel. There was the Laurence Olivier-Merle Oberon starrer in 1939 and a more recent version in 1992 where Ralph Fiennes and Juliet Binoche played the doomed lovers.

Orange Sky Productions staged a Charles Vance adaptation of the play. The stage was divided into two with the left side representing Wuthering Heights and the right standing in for Thrushcross Grange. There was no attempt to take the play outside to the desolate moors where Kathy and Heathcliff played out their love story.

Cutting out the atmosphere, leaves you with a play where the story is faithfully followed but where the soul is decidedly weak. The production was competent and moved at a spanking pace. Of the cast, Karthik Iyer was impressive as the crotchety domestic help Joseph, while Parthasarathy Devarajan made for a fairly-tortured Heathcliff. Aparna Warrier held her own as the loquacious housekeeper Nelly Dean. While the book is rather confusing for its flashbacks within flashbacks, the play kept the narrative fairly linear. All in all it was a pleasant evening’s entertainment from the company that seems to have a weakness for atmosphere-heavy works — Orange Sky did an earlier production of Agatha Christie’s famous thriller “And then There were None.”

M.A.C

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The Hindu :

How good are men when it comes to meeting deadlines on the home front?

Photo: V. Sreenivasa MurthyWRONG PRIORITIES? Not all men give home and office equal importance

When it comes to meeting deadlines at home, men don’t quite have a great reputation.

The reason: office takes precedence over domestic chores. To say nothing of their selective memory, inability to multi-task, or be organised.

Now, with women effortlessly juggling home and work, the contrast in the genders has never been more glaring.

Bashith Ahmed, a supervisor, is a classic example. He says office is his priority, and home jobs are secondary. “I can’t take office work lightly because a slip can cost me huge sums of money. Luckily, I am in a joint family, and can afford to go home, get some sleep and return to work.”Need-driven

Finance professional Raghunath says he uses a ‘weighted matrix’ to see if he can postpone professional commitments when the need arises. If he can’t, “home deadlines go for a toss”. (Of course, his wife chuckles that these deadlines don’t exist!) “It depends on whether we have an emergency. Being an independent professional, I can manoeuvre my work around a bit. But if one works for a company, it dictates one’s time, and personal work is often given a go by.”

T.S. Murali, in the construction business, says he has too many activities, but one policy — “happy wife, happy life”. “Invariably, I get the tasks done. My wife is pretty independent, so I don’t have to do much. Of course, she’d like me to make more time for things that we can do together.”

And, there are others such as A. Dwaraknath, a retired executive. A do-tomorrow’s-job-yesterday kind of a person, he says: “It’s our house and the jobs have to get done. I take care of things even before my wife tells me.” T. Praveen, who runs a…More

The Hindu :

Tasveer 8×10 is Nagesh Kukunoor’s biggest film till date and he is upbeat on showing a new side of Akshay Kumar

Partners in mystery Ayesha Takia and Akshay Kumar

Those who’ve seen Nagesh Kukunoor at work making his first few films in Hyderabad know two things — that he prefers a start-to-finish schedule to shoot his films and that he loves to write scripts whenever intrigued by new ideas, even ifhe were to revisit them much later to translate them into films.

“I wrote ‘Tasveer…’ six years ago. It was born out of a simple idea. We all look back at old photographs and a few pictures take us back to that time and mental space. We recall that moment and even the conversation, food, etc. I wondered how it would be if one had the psychic ability, like a clairvoyant, to draw inferences from photographs,” says Nagesh.

“Tasveer 8×10” is the biggest production directed by Nagesh till date — Rs. 30 crore as against “Hyderabad Blues”, made with just Rs. 17 lakh. A big-budget film warranted a saleable star and he chose Akshay Kumar, who has become synonymous with action comedies. “I like the idea of making actors explore something they haven’t done before and it was precisely for that reason that Akshay signed the film,” explains Nagesh. Akshay plays an environmental protection officer who tries to unravel the mystery behind his father’s death through photographs.

Completing and releasing the film was tougher than Nagesh had imagined. “We just completed the film and its postproduction a few days ago. It’s not just my method of work,” he says, referring to the many stumbling blocks he faced. “The schedule in Canada went haywire because the line producers didn’t deliver as promised. We were left with no stunt director.” Nagesh himself stepped in to choreograph stunts with Akshay’s help.Tangled project

The second schedule in South Africa…More

The Hindu : y>Filmmaking, contemporary dance, yoga, ship modelling… a hundred ways to spend summer

FilmCamp.TV will organise a junior film camp for children aged nine to 16, where they will learn to write a script, storyboard, act, direct, shoot and edit films. They will be given a DVD copy of their film. It begins on April 13. Call 96118-12121 ore-mail: direct@film camp.tv

*** Bal Bhavan Society, Cubbon Park, will conduct a summer camp for children aged five to 16 in craft, painting, clay modelling, yoga, karate and ship modelling. Applications will be issued at Jawahar Bal Bhavan from April 5 between 10.30 a.m. and 5 p.m.

*** Giants Group of Garden City in association with Adarsha Samskritha Maha Vidyalaya will organise a 15-day summer camp from April 15, at Adarsha Bhavan. Children aged six to 12 can participate. Call 98441-11180.

*** Mindsmart Learning Strategies will conduct a “memory” summer camp to teach memory techniques, speed reading, mind map, public speaking, puzzles and mind games.

It is open for students aged 10 and above and will be held at Basavanagudi, Vijayanagar and Hosur. Call 92434-38911.

*** Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts, will conduct summer workshops from April 25, to teach kalarippayattu, contemporary dance and theatre, for children aged five to 12, and for teenagers. Call 22123684 / 41467690.

*** Lourd Vijay’s Dance Studio will conduct a three-week summer camp from April 13, for children aged between six and 14. Call 98452-39123/ 23315566.

*** Anitha Santhanam will conduct a summer dance workshop at Studio for Movement Arts and Therapies from April 6.

Call 98452- 36242/ 97317-16979 or e-mail: brinda.move mentarts @gmail.com

*** Karnataka Institute of Cricket will conduct a summer camp for boys and girls at RBANM’s Choultry ground from April 5. Call 98459-58981/ 98444-74743 or e-mail: cricketioc@hotmail. com

*** Valuepoint Academy will organise a summer camp for children aged nine to 14. Classes begin from April 20.

Call 99455-15586/ 42873777 or visit www.valuepoint academy.com

*** Parsam Institute for…More

The Hindu : y>

Glittering destination GRT opens its doors

GRT unveils its new jewellery store in Jayanagar. This three-storey showroom brings designs in gold, diamonds, and platinum. There are also designs in rubies and emeralds and various other precious gems. One of the highlights of this store is its vintage collection, which “features authentic antiques and crafted antique jewellery in gold,” say the makers.

There are also designs with intricate hand-crafted contemporary jewellery in modern motifs with traditional enamelling techniques. The vintage collection also features yellow and white gold and rhodium sets.

GRT also offers an exclusive section for silverware. For shoppers with children it also offers a play area.

GRT is on 11th Main Road, 33rd Crossroad, 4th Block, Jayanagar. It can be contacted on 22450777.

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The Hindu : y>

Celebrate the spirit of Easter Sunday with friends and family amidst the magic of a Mediterranean beach in Bangalore. Head to Olive Beach for a celebratory Easter Sunday brunch featuring a range of Mediterranean delicacies. The brunch is priced at Rs. 1,900 plus taxes and offers a variety of options for vegetarians and non vegetarians, unlimited cocktails, imported wines, a Mojito Bar and exciting desserts. . For reservations call Olive Beach at 41128400. The brunch will be open from 12 noon to 4.30 p.m.

Enjoy a gala feast on Easter as Leela’s finest chefs present a sumptuous Easter buffet, with a range of outstanding appetisers, delectable main dishes and tantalising desserts. The Easter Brunch is priced at Rs.2,000 plus taxes and will be open from 11.45 a.m. onwards. For reservations call 9341211208.

Mynt at The Taj West End offers an exquisite Easter champagne brunch with cuisines from Italy, Lebanon and India. The brunch will be served from 12.30 p.m to 3.30 p.m.

It has been priced at Rs. 2, 550 inclusive of taxes for adults and Rs. 1200 for children from five to 12 years.

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The Hindu :

The Nandi Hills Climb Race was a boon for local racers

Photo: Sampath Kumar g.p.Fast and furious Tazeem, Jeeva Rathinam, Jaidas Menon and R.H Vikram

Nandi Hills was rocked by the sound of`roaring engines last week, as hundreds of racing buffs converged on the idyllic spot for the Nandi Hill Climb Race. The hills reverberated with revving up of over 100 cars and 175 bikes. The race course, a 1.6 km strip, was dotted with seven hair pin bends.

The men who put the show at reasonably a short notice were Jaidas Menon of Motorsport. Inc and his dedicated band. Before evolving as Motorsport inc., Jaidas and his team ran races under the Bangalore Riders Sports Club. They have conducted over 30 such races besides four INRC Rallies.

On the choice of Nandi Hills Race, Jaidas says: “All racing buffs needed some local action and hence we revived the race.The local racing and drag buffs were starved of competitions as little was happening in the city despite the fact that Banglaore has the best of talent in the country.”

Reviving a dead event is not an easy task and Jaidas and his men, had run from pillar to post for clearance, government approval and ensuring safety. There was hardly any publicity, but for the dedicated racing community that was enough as entries poured in. Best of car teams such as FRK, RAC, Ideal, Race Dynamics sent their entries and in bike section, teams such as TVS racing, Dan and Anya made their presence felt.

“We would have had a team from Red Rooster as well, but they were busy their 2009 programme launch.”

The conditions were perfect and drivers had a whale of time. The intrepid biker, R. H. Vikram, who won in foreign open class for bikes, was the champion nine years ago.

He was back, breaking his record on his Yamaha R6, clocking 1:24.59s….More