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Best flicks Anil Mehta, who directed Aaja Nachle (top) will showcase his favourite movies

UTV World movies will be screening four of Anil Mehta’s favourite films movies every Thursday at 8.30 p.m. A prominent cinematographer, writer and director, Anil Mehta studied cinematography at the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune.

He was the director of photography for films such as “Lagaan”, “Saathiya”, “Veer-Zaara” and “Wake up Sid”. His directorial debut “Aaja Nachle” was released on November 2007. Anil Mehta won the National Film Award for Best Cinematography for his work in the internationally famous film “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam”.

His selections range from Luc Besson to Aki Kaurismaki. Acclaimed as one of Kaurismaki’s most accomplished early films, “Ariel” follows the exploits of the laconic Taisto, a newly-unemployed Lapland miner who sets off in a Cadillac convertible for a fresh start in Helsinki. Taitso’s plans take a series of unexpected turns in this comic and satirical mélange of road movies. “Subway” was the film that brought fame and to French film director Luc Besson. It is a stunning cinematographic experience which offers a visual feast

So tune into Anil Mehta’s choice in “50 Movies to See Before You Die, every Thursday at 8.30 p.m.

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The Hindu :

Genelia is now ready for another remake from Telugu to Tamil

PEPPED UP Genelia D’SouzaPhoto: Sushil Kumar Verma

Genelia D’Souza is as pleased as a punch. Her blockbuster Telugu film “Ready” is now set to be remade in Tamil. And she’s part of it. The last time she acted in a Tamil remake “Santosh Subramaniam” of her own Telugu film “Bommarillu”, it turned out to be a phenomenal hit. .

“It’s a good film. When I did ‘Ready’, I did not anticipate it to be remade in any other language. But, I am very glad it is being remade. I am also very excited to work with Dhanush,” says Genelia.

Genelia is also gearing up to work opposite Ram Charan Teja in “Orange”.

As for Bollywood, Genelia is keeping her fingers crossed for her forthcoming film “Dance Pe Chance” with Shahid Kapur. “It’s a film about a struggler and a good love story to go with it. ‘Hook Ya Crook’ with John Abraham will be out next, where John plays a con guy and I play a lawyer and his love interest.”

But what’s really got her hooked is her first TV reality show called “Big Switch” where children from super rich families team up with slum kids to help them achieve their dreams. “I was given the opportunity to be a friend who reasons and questions rather than be a typical host,” says Genelia, adding that she is open to doing more of television as it helps her connect with her audience better.

HARSHIKAA UDASI

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The Hindu :

Rahul Dravid has been Indian cricket’s insurance policy against batting collapses since 1996. Last week he reiterated his undiminished value and role to his team

PHOTO: K.R.DeepakLegend in action Rahul Dravid in full flow at Ahmedabad

He remains Indian cricket’s go-to man. Throw him into a batting crisis and he often does the repair work that reflects a strong work ethic and a stronger mind. Ever since he made the members at cricket’s hallowed turf – Lords – in distant London, appreciate a poignant 95 on his Test debut in 1996, Rahul Dravid has been steadfast in his walk towards greatness.

Today greatness is his by right. He may not be Sachin Tendulkar but Dravid remains the recipient of the maximum number of SOS calls from the middle whenever India searches for brick and mortar to strengthen its crumbling batting edifices.

Last week, he notched his 11,000th Test run, became the fifth highest run-getter in cricket’s longer version, scored his 27th Test ton, shared a world record 78th 100-run partnership but above all that indulged in his favourite hobby — reviving India. He did that with aplomb as his 177 rescued his team from a precarious 32 for four at Ahmedabad on the opening day of the first Test between India and Sri Lanka. “One of my most fluent efforts,” Dravid said.

In a nation besotted with Tendulkar, Dravid’s efforts have often been consigned to the shadows. Even the lead-up to the drawn match at Ahmedabad was a blinding reflection of Tendulkar’s aura. The maestro’s 20th year in Test cricket triggered nostalgia and adulation but when the business of Test cricket commenced, Dravid stepped in with his silent and efficient ways.

Remaining solid and yet living in the dull light has been the story of his life. People remember V.V.S. Laxman’s 281 at Kolkata when the Indians ambushed Steve Waugh’s plans of conquering the last frontier…More

The Hindu :

A whole lot of influences, confluences and a good sense of humour characterised World Guitar Nights

Photo: Murali Kumar K.Bangalore’s own Konarak Reddy meditates on his notes

F resh, groovy, pure entertainment. With an assortment of styles and genres, four of the world’s most ingenious acoustic guitarists pushed musical boundaries to new limits at a concert recently.

Featuring Don Ross from Canada, Sándor Szabó from Hungary, Masa Sumidé from Japan and India’s very own Konarak Reddy, World Guitar Nights intimately explored the guitar’s many unknown facets.Presented by Fisheye Creative Solutions, an added bonus to the event was a full-day guitar workshop conducted at Konarak Reddy’s Artists’ Retreat. The workshop was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many guitarists to learn finger-style techniques, unique harmonies and improvisations from the four maestros.

Blurring fingers

Bangalore’s very own Konarak Reddy is a pioneer, renowned for his finger style playing, as well as for integrating Hindustani and Carnatic improvisations into his technique.

Konarak Reddy began the evening with “Aalap”, a compilation of Indian music which he described as his journey through the years. Plucking strings with blurring fingers, the song peaked in intensity and climaxed with a calm flourish. He added a scoop of meditative tones with cyclic patterns of eight along with jazz and classical improvisations in “Deviene goddess” filling music in the parched soul, and mesmerised the audience with his poetic rendition of “Taara” with Don Ross.Hailing from Canada, the master of the finger style technique is the only person to win the United States National Finger Style Guitar Championship twice in 1988 and 1996. Inspired by guitar legends such as Bruce Cockburn, John Renbourn, Pierre Bensusan and Pat Metheny among others, Ross borrows from blues, jazz, folk and classical music creating a rich mix style that he best describes as “heavy wood”.

Playing his custom-made Marc Beneteau guitar, Ross, who is largely influenced by Indian Carnatic music, dominated the acoustic…More

The Hindu : y>Rakesh Roshan’s Kites is all set for a bumper release

Reliance BIG Pictures and Rakesh Roshan’s “Kites” is all set to make its mark on the world. Directed by Anurag Basu, starring Hrithik Roshan and Mexican stunner Barbara Mori, the film has a Hindi and English version.

Brett Ratner, best known for the “Rush Hour” series and “X-Men The Last Stand” is currently at work on the English version of “Kites” and tailoring it to appeal it to an international audience.

In the international markets, “Kites” will release with the English and Hindi version simultaneously whereas in India, the film will release with the Hindi version.

Shot in Las Vegas, Mumbai, New Mexico and Los Angeles, “Kites” also stars Kangana Ranaut, Nick Brown and Kabir Bedi with music composed by Rajesh Roshan.

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The Hindu : y>Web comics are an integral part of cyber life. Profane, funny, sadistic and inspirational at the same time, Pheroze L. Vincent finds out why they tick

It’s a silent revolution. Web comics have been taking modern offices, universities and almost any online work place by storm with their wit, sarcasm and alternative insights. There are innumerable such comics online today and a few of them are even commercially viable. These include “xkcd”, “Ctrl+Alt+Del”, “Questionable Content”, “PhD” and many others.

“xkcd”’s creator Randall Munroe, a former NASA contractor, describes it as a comic of “romance, sarcasm, math and language”. The comic, which has a loyal geek following, has funny observations of daily life with references to theorems and space research.

There are others like “PhD” that are based on the idiosyncrasies of university life. “PhD”, which stands for Piled Higher and Deeper, also appears in the Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University and Caltech newspapers. It has been linked to The Washington Post and USA Today’s websites.

The creator of “PhD”, Jorge Cham, gives talks on the ‘power of procrastinating’, full time, in universities in the US. “PhD” has all the varsity stereotypes: the bookworm engineering student, the closet-geek college sweetheart, the lazy varsity bird who’s been there forever, the activist social scientist, the plagiarising professor and so on.

While most web comics are stick art, many of them have distinct genres of art like fumetti, pixel art, and photo manipulation. Joey Comeau and Emily Horne’s “A Softer World”, for example, is made by photography overlaid with strips of typewriter-style text.

Comics like “Married to the Sea” and “Monkey Fluids” use Victorian illustrations. So popular have they become that Indian comic artist Saad Akhtar, who creates “Fly, You Fools”, wants to do comics with Mughal illustrations.

“Fly, You Fools” is a hit with its sarcastic take on daily life, newsmakers and popular culture. Saad Akhtar…More

The Hindu :

Nagesh Kukunoor comes clean on his addiction to work and his bachelor status. Stability still remains a curse for him

Photo: Mohammed YousufMad about movies Nagesh Kukunoor hates to play safe

Nagesh Kukunoor is busy as part of the international jury at the International Children’s Film Festival.And a film festival was where it all started for Nagesh. At the Mumbai Academy of Moving Images (MAMI) festival, Shyam Benegal was impressed with the youngster from Hyderabad and his “Hyderabad Blues”; one thing led to another and one of the first poster boys of new-age low-budget films was born. A decade hence, Nagesh feels film festivals in India leave a lot to be desired. “The quality of films being screened at most festivals has deteriorated. Things were better a decade ago and would have been better a decade before that,” he shrugs.

Nagesh himself has been going through a wait-and-watch phase for the release of two of his films — “Aashayein” starring John Abraham and “Yeh Hosla” starring Sameera Reddy. “Aashayein” was first caught in a war between producers Percept Pictures and distributors Big Pictures. “This is the most frustrating part of being a film-maker: waiting for the film to release and the circumstances are not under your control.”

Rough patch

Nagesh’s rough patch has more than these two films waiting to be released. His most expensive film till date, “Tasveer 8×10”, was written off soon after its release. Nagesh’s anger for critics resurfaces when he says, “The critics wrote off the film. Most reviews lambasted either me or Akshay. There were people who told me they hated ‘Bombay to Bangkok’. Fair enough. But ‘Tasveer’ didn’t evoke such negative reactions from the audience,” he says. He doesn’t buy critics’ argument that “Tasveer” is not “his kind of film”.

“If you look at my work, there is no similarity between ‘Bollywood Calling’, ‘Iqbal’, ‘Dor’ or ‘Teen Deewarein’ to be…More

The Hindu :

A 13-day Level II course has 22 coaches from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh learning the nuances of the game from experts

PHOTO: S. THANTHONIHONING THEIR SKILLS Coaches learn a thing or two from FIVB instructors

The FIVB (international body for volleyball) Regional Development Centre in the city is rendering yeoman service to the sport, and without much hype and hoopla. Producing quality coaches has been its aim and by enhancing the sport’s appeal through seminars for setters and blockers and basic (Level-I) and advanced (Level-II) courses, the centre has ensured the city continues to remain a hub of volleyball activities.

The centre, only one of its kind in Central Asia, has been doing an exceptionally good job under the dynamic leadership of its Director, A. Ramana Rao. The 13-day Level II course, organised by the Department of Physical Education and Sports, which concludes on November 28, has 22 coaches from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh learning the nuances of the sport from the German FIVB Instructor Athanasios Papagergiou and Ramana Rao.

What participants feel

“It’s been fantastic so far,” smiles Mahbub from Bangladesh, who is a volleyball coach in a local school in Dhaka. “I can use all that I’ve learnt here in my country. I am keen to develop a good women’s team in my country,” he adds.

Indian Overseas Bank chief coach, P. Sundaram, is ecstatic about the course and feels it will help him keep his team, a top outfit in the State, in good shape. “The course keeps all participants up-to-date with improvements in the game. It talks about team combinations, programmes to be implemented for players during camps and the format to be used. It also focusses on the physical and psychological aspects of players, how to handle them, and how to analyse yours as well as the opponent’s team. Everything is available here,” says the 32-year-old former International player.

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