Author: #TIPEntertainment

Sonakshi Sinha has signed a contract with Fox Star Studios, stating that she will not shoot for any other film until she finishes their film, to be directed by A R Murgadoss. The film will go on floors in November and will be completed within three months.

The action-oriented film will also require Sonakshi to attend a 30-day workshop prior to the shoot. This implies that the actress has allotted four months exclusively to the film where she apparently plays a college girl. Aalif Surti, Chief Creative Officer, Fox Star Studios, India, said: “Murugadoss is a superb storyteller who makes entertaining films which have a pan-Indian appeal.

He is the only director whose films have been consistenly successful in three language-Tamil, Telugu and Hindi.” When contacted, Murgadoss said: “I have a great working relationship with the production house and I’m excited to collaborate on a Bollywood project with them. My film with Sonakshi is based on a story which is close to my heart and has a very personal and powerful message for all Indian women.”

Actress Nargis Fakhri looked no less than a style icon in a bright pink crochet short skirt with a top and well-fitted floral jacket when she came to launch a fashion store in the capital. She was here to launch a twostoreyed fashion store of Vero Moda at Khan Market that houses creations for fashion-conscious women. “I’m happy to be associated with an international fashion brand like Vero Moda.

The collection at the store is chic, trendy and stylish and I can spot many pieces that go well with my style. With a variety of designs and silhouettes to choose from, I really couldn’t ask for more,” said Nargis. The store was inaugurated by Nargis along with models including Surily Joseph, Noyonika Chatterjee, Sapna Kumar, Indrani Dasgupta and Tamara Moss.

British actress-model Elizabeth Hurley is giving up the country life by selling off her farm. The 48-year-old bought the rural property in England’s picturesque Cotswolds region more than a decade ago, and she kept cows, sheep and pigs there, producing her own line of meat and organic foods.

However, Hurley has now put the six-bedroom mansion and 73 acres of land up for sale for around $9.6 million (6 million pounds), reports contactmusic.com. Hurley also expressed her views of leaving the farm. “I’ll miss sitting round the fire cackling with my friends, walking through the fields with my son, and the rose garden I created. But I’m taking my memories with me, so I’ll be Ok,” she said.

Actress Demi Moore will replace ‘Sex And The City’ star Sarah Jessica Parker in the upcoming comedy ‘Wild Oats’. Shirley MacLaine leads the cast of ‘Wild Oats’ as Eva, who takes her best friend (Jessica Lange) on a crazy adventure after mistakenly getting a USD 900,000 social security check, reported Variety.

Moore, 51, is replacing Parker just over a month after the former ‘Sex and the City’ actress was announced to be joining ‘Wild Oats’. There has been no public explanation as to why Parker is leaving the project. ‘Wild Oats’ will be directed by Andy Tennant, whose previous credits include ‘Fool’s Gold’ and ‘Hitch’. The film is expected to be released next year.

Story: The Mimics are set to take over the world in this post-apocalyptic outing. Humanity’s hope rests on a soldier who is caught in a time loop. Can he use his powers to defeat the alien hordes? Review: US Army Major William Cage (Cruise) is not exactly warrior material. Serving as a lily-livered mediarelations officer, he has neither the guts nor the gumption for actual combat, even if it is a battle on which the fate of the world hinges. When he is summoned to London by General Brigham (Gleeson) for a briefing, he is given a mission that’s a one-way ticket to the front-lines in Normandy, France.

Cage tries to wrangle out of it by blackmailing Brigham. For this, he is arrested, stripped of rank and forcibly sent to the staging point at Heathrow Airport, just like an ordinary private. There, he is deployed with J-Squad. The Mimics, controlled by an entity named the Omega, have taken over most of Europe. With their timecontrol powers, they can actually learn and use the very same tactics humans themselves use, before they’ve even used them.

When an Alpha Mimic (more powerful than ordinary Mimics) is killed by Cage (who also dies in the struggle), its powers get transferred to him. Subsequently, each loop begins where Cage snaps awake on a pile of luggage, meets Master Sergeant Farrell Bartolome (Paxton) and is deployed to the front, only to die in a different manner.

Cage can either relive the horror of an infinite loop or he must find a way to destroy the Omega and break out of the loop. GI Jane-like Rita Vrataski (Blunt), who excelled on the battlefields of Verdun, helps him understand the process. And things then begin to change. Cage’s emergence as a soldier who actually has a fighting chance against the enemy is fascinating. Writer Hiroshi Sakurazaka’s story has solid sci-fi credentials and Cruise proves that he still has the chops to pull off mega action movies. Edge of Tomorrow is one of his most compelling and nuanced performances in this genre.

Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Patraleka, Manav Kaul
Direction: Hansal Mehta
Genre: Drama
Duration: 2 hours 7 minutes

Story: Impoverished Deepak takes his wife and child to Mumbai to survive – but is the family lost in big, bad city lights? REVIEW: So, Citylights is based on Sean Ellis’ acclaimed Metro Manila, but it also unlocks the doors to other movies in your mind.

This is both a strength and drawback for this remarkable film. Deepak Singh (Rao) loses his village shop to debt and migrates to Mumbai with wife Rakhi (Patraleka) and child Mahi for a new start, ostensibly provided by friend Omkar. But reaching Mumbai, the family never finds Omkar. Instead, Deepak and Rakhi find tricksters, bar-girls, criminals, armoured guards – and a devious plot.

Can this little family survive the big city? Citylights’ performances glow. Rao is actually breathtaking in the quietest way, playing a man so simple, you feel his innocence. Far from dramatic fireworks, there are little touches – Deepak’s nod when his daughter kisses him, an unsaid, adoring sigh – that cover this character with soulful sheen and maddening naivete.

Patraleka’s Rakhi is an excellent counterbalance. There are scenes – sad, unspeaking eyes over a sequined saree – where Patraleka astonishes. Alongside, Deepak’s newfound mentor, ‘Vishnu sir’ (Kaul), supervisor at a security firm, crackles like a live-wire in a dark night, exuding city-slicker smarts, coiled tension and sudden warmth. Alongside, the cinematography is wonderful. Shots of the family sleeping against a rubbish pile, a ‘3BHK’ in a construction site, Deepak staring at an ocean of pure despair, a fallen cycle in a courtyard, stand out.

The family’s migration stays with you as a vivid new experience – but its city sojourn occasionally reminds you of familiar moments. An interview scene recalls Satyajit Ray’s Pratidwandi while Citylights seems to acknowledge other masterful takes, from Dibakar Banerjee to Madhur Bhandarkar, on life in India’s toughest town.

The second half thus gently meanders, shots becoming slightly repetitive and slow, making you agree when Vishnu tells Deepak in exasperated humour, “Aap itni dheemi gati ke film hain!” But the end gathers itself, providing a twist that both dazzles and covers darkness. Quite like city lights.

Kareena Kapoor has been asked to play the female lead oposite Akshay Kumar in Prabhu Dheva’s next, Singh is Bling, being produced jointly by Ashwini Yardi and Akshay. A few weeks ago, she was offered Bejoy Nambiar’s next (untitled), produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Farhan Akhtar.

More recently, Sujoy Ghosh flew down to Goa to ask her to play the protagonist in his next, Durga Rani, which was earlier offered to Vidya Balan and Kangana Ranaut. Now, Kareena is in a dilemma. A friend of Kareena told Mirror, “All the three films which have been offered to Kareena have a plum role for her but they will all kick off in the last quarter of this year. She will be able to accommodate only two of them.”

Angelina Jolie admitted that though she was working on a Cleopatra biopic, the project may be her last venture as an actress. In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, the 38-year-old actress said that there were numerous ideas for the film and though it was complicated to get it right, they were getting close and the preparation would certainly be huge, Us Magazine reported.

She added since the project was so big, she feels it to be one of those with which she can end her acting career it in a great way. Jolie had recently confessed to an American Newspaper as well, saying that acting was her mother’s choice for her, and she only realized in her mid-30’s that she wanted to focus on other things.

Vanessa Hudgens posted an edgy rock selfie with vampish dark lips and killer long nails on Instagram and urged her fans to “change the world.” The ‘High School Musical’ actress completed her rock chick look with heavy smoky eyes and dark top with chunky jewellery, the Mirror reported. The 25-year-old singer posted her selfie on her Instagram page with the Yoko Ono quote, “You change the world by being yourself”. In another photo, Hudgens looked like a mermaid with loose locks turned turquoise at the ends.

Cast: Angelina Jolie, Sharlto Copley, Elle Fanning, Sam
Riley, Imelda Staunton, Miranda Richardson, Kenneth
Cranham
Direction: Robert Stromberg
Genre: Fantasy
Duration: 1 hour 37 minutes

STORY: The old fairy tale of an evil queen who puts a curse on a baby gets aslick, modern makeover with a decidedly darker edge. REVIEW: As a young girl living in her fairy land, Maleficent isn’t an evil person to begin with. In fact, according to the back-story, her life was full of fantasy and wonder in the moors and the forest that she lived in.

But as time goes by, things change when King Henry (Cranham) decides to take over her beloved homeland. And that represents the clash between the two worlds – that of the humans and Maleficent’s kind. While she had befriended a boy called Stefan (played as a grown-up by Copley) when she was young, he later develops ambitions that would have far-reaching consequences in the story.

And so, Stefan transforms from a friend into an enemy, a transformation that is most chillingly depicted in one scene. The shock and betrayal that Maleficent consequently feels is therefore somewhat justified and understandable. Her grudge against Stefan begins here and she takes revenge on him in the best way she knows.

And as the fairytale goes, Stefan’s daughter Aurora, for no fault of hers, is cursed. But just when the story seems to take a predictable turn, we see an unexpected link begin to develop between Maleficent and the young Princess Aurora (Fanning) which is surprising as the two couldn’t be more different from each other – Maleficent is a brooding person whose confidant is a shape-shifting raven called Diaval (Riley), while Aurora is a charming and happy girl.

Aurora has a goodness about her that possibly reminds Maleficient of how she once was. Maleficent is pretty much Angelina Jolie’s vehicle all the way, because looking at how she fits this role down to the letter, it’s hard to imagine anyone else inhabiting the character of a good person-turned-evil as well as she does in this film. Fanning imbues her character with a freshness that balances off nicely against Maleficient’s demeanour. All in all, an imaginative take on the old classic.

Actress Cameron Diaz wants to take things slow with her new boyfriend and musician Benji Madden. The 41-year-old has been dating Madden, 35, for a few weeks. Nicole Richie, a close friend of the actress and wife of Madden’s twin brother introduced the duo, reports showbizspy.com. “Benji is madly in love with Cameron, but she wants to take it slow – he isn’t her usual type.

He has dated a lot of Nicole’s friends in the past but Nicole really wants this one to work,” said a source. Diaz said that she is completely comfortable with her single status, even though it makes married people nervous. “I think that some married people have made the choice to get married, but when they see a person who is living a different way, it makes them stop and think, ‘Wait a second – you mean you don’t need to get married after all?, said Diaz. “I’m totally down for love. And I now know that what is most attractive in a man to me is authenticity? I am attracted to someone who knows who he is,” she added.

Araunchy film poster featuring actress Eva Green has been banned by America’s movie classification board. She appears on the advertisement for “Sin City” sequel “A Dame to Kill For”, brandishing a gun and wearing a sheer bathrobe which clearly shows her breast, reports contactmusic.com. Officials at the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) have disapproved of the image due to “nudity…visible through sheer gown”. A spokesperson for the thriller’s distributor Dimension Films declined to comment but it is thought executives will work with MPAA members to find a compromise.

Story: Jim (Sandler) and Lauren (Barrymore) can’t stand each other after a disastrous blind date. But when they end up in the same suite on an African safari, they have to try and get along. Review: Going about their everyday lives in a suburban American town are Jim and Lauren.

Both have a brood of kids from their respective earlier marriages. Of Lauren’s two boys, one is on a permanent sugar rush while the other lasciviously leers at porn mags. Jim’s daughters are mostly angels, except for the eldest, Hillary (Thorne) who is frustrated by people constantly mistaking her for a ‘dude’ rather than a girl. Her Tudorstyle pageboy hairdo doesn’t help matters. Jim takes Lauren to a Hooters restaurant on a blind date where they are served by a giggling bevy of busty waitresses.

The sleaziness of it all has Lauren wanting to bolt for the door, never to see Jim again. But fate (and a supremely predictable plot) has other plans. They would meet again in Africa, and even share the same resort suite, thanks to tickets purchased from mutual friends who planned to go there themselves, but cancelled out. After being greeted by an overly enthusiastic concierge Mfana (NGom) in Africa who mistakes them for a quarrelling couple with a lot of kids, the gags that follow range from somewhat funny to cheesy.

The movie’s first scene that involves Barrymore flushing a toilet is indicative of the kind of humour you’ll find in here. The resort’s singing group ‘Thathoo’ are like a bunch of mad minstrels, but funny nonetheless. They pop into the frame at various points in the movie.

In their unintentional quest for love, Jim and Lauren’s lives and dealing with loss, single parenthood and divorce, offers an interesting and unintentional insight into suburban middle class America. Sandler is firmly in his comfort zone and Barrymore is the cute person she is in most of her films. The movie is no doubt funny, but the genuinely good jokes are just by the handful.

Story: Kuku and Ronnie are childhood chaddibuddies. In their late teens, life takes a turn and they grow up and grow out of each other. But will their dosti be back after a short break? Review: Here’s a dosti-yaari story packaged and dished out in pure Dilli dhaaba-style – with local tadka (no extra toppings). With a young, fresh star-cast – minus frills and fanfare. No mundas baring bronzed six-pack bods or gori mundis dancing to disco bhangra, ‘Yo-Yo’ style (Hadippa!).

It’s as simple as aloo paratha with lassi. Gettit? Meet Kuku Mathur (Siddharth) a naive, middle-class Delhi boy (a bin maa ka ladka) living with his strict father who has scholarly ambitions for him, but Kuku dreams of opening his own restaurant. Ronnie (Ashish), his dhai-baje-waala friend (desi 4 AM, eh!) is more easygoing and street-smart. Their only adolescent addiction is drinking fruit-beer in a sari ka godown. After 12th grade, Kuku lands a spot boy’s job in a shady film unit after much struggle. Meanwhile, Ronnie gets so busy in his family ‘blouse-piece’ business that he snubs his buddy.

Soon, it leads to a bitter fight and Kuku’s life falls apart. Enter, smooth-talker, Kanpur ke Prabhakar bhaiyya (Amit) – a man who has a devious solution for every problem. A flutter of madness follows and good boy Kuku gets ‘cuckooed’. Simply put, Kuku ki jhand ho jaati hai! Sachdeva’s plot is straightforward. The story doesn’t offer much, but it’s the jhund of characters that make you chortle with their spontaneous lines and lingo. The warehouse guard’s mobiliya (telephonic) romance with his gharwali, a phony godman who sells spirituality (‘Mata ka Jagran – Season 2’) and digital divinity (he’s available on WhatsApp and FB!). An OTT director’s film called ‘Facebook Pe Pyaar’ (‘Like’ it?), and of course, Prabhakar (in a fine act) totally entertains.

Funny situations and scenes with quirky characters provide clean humour but that can’t substitute for the lack of a good, engaging story. Debutants Siddharth and Ashish are decent; and colony ka tota (read: hottie) Simran, as Kuku’s love interest, doesn’t have much scope. Watch this one only if a ‘little birdie’ tells you to. We mean a ‘Kuku’, alright.

Vidya Balan might be playing a detective in her forthcoming film, but the actress says she has no reason to do jasoosi on real-life husband, Siddharth Roy Kapur. With rumours afloat about trouble in their paradise, she had to face some uncomfortable questions during a promotional event of the film, recently. But the people’s person that she is, Vidya handled the queries with aplomb. When asked if she ever felt the need to spy on her hubby, she said, “He is a very boring and simple man, unki jasoosi mujhe nahin karni padti hai.”

Mallika Sherawat seems to have done it again – stepped right into a controversy, that is. And this time, she is all set to raise the political temperature this scorching summer with the first look poster of her upcoming flick, Dirty Politics. The poster shows Mallika draped in a tricolour, and has Rajasthan’s filmmaker KC Bokadia in trouble of the political kind. As he says, “workers of a political party from Rajasthan are putting pressure on me to change the tricolour into some other scrap of fabric.” Mallika, in the poster, is shown sitting on the top of an Ambassador with a beacon, right outside the State legislative Assembly of Rajasthan, holding a CD in her hand, but draped only in the tricolour.

“The poster is provocative,” admits Bokadia, and since the film is said to be based on Jodhpur’s ANM Bhanwari Devi sex scandal, a political party got to know about it. And though tricolour dresses have always led to controversy for the wearer in the past, this time, Bokadia says it is not essentially an Indian flag since there is no Ashoka Chakra in the centre. But then again, resemblance to the colours of our flag is sure to raise eyebrows. But point this out and Bokadia maintains, “It has nothing to do with tricolour, nor is it any political party’s symbol. Also, there is no Ashoka Chakra, so essentially, it is just a piece of cloth in three different colours.” And regarding the “pressure” by a political party, he says, “Sincerely, I don’t want to earn the displeasure of any political party.

I have always maintained that I can be an admirer of one party, but I do not belong to any party. I am just a filmmaker and using my creativity to put forth my point of view. As far as guidelines are concerned, the poster will be censored according Indian Motion Picture Producers Association guidelines. So, I don’t know why I am being asked by this political party to change it.” The film stars Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Anupam Kher, Jackie Shroff, Govind Namdev, Ashutosh Rana and Rajpal Yadav with Mallika Sherawat (supposedly as Bhanwari Devi).

Cast: Sara Khan, Paras Chhabra
Direction: Braj Bhushan
Genre: Mystery
Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes

Story: In the middle of the night, a man walks into a police station to report his own murder. The cops not only find the complainant’s dead body but also receive phone calls from him, checking on the investigation! Review: The film begins well. The events manage to keep you intrigued and seek truth just like ACP Ajay (unintentionally funny cop, who says ‘posisun’ for position and ‘investigasun’ for investigation).

Just when you feel that M3 might turn out to be a decent ‘whodunit’, the film changes its genre and becomes an inconsequential love triangle. From cops interrogating suspects, we are suddenly transported to multiple songs (all dream sequences) and in no time, everyone forgets about the paranormal case. Worse is when the mystery unfolds. In order to make the climax unpredictable, the writer forgot to connect it with the initial build-up.

Basically, all your questions remain unanswered in the end. The very petite Sara Khan looks too small in front of the muscled hero. The hero plays the role of a struggling singer but looks like an aspiring actor from Lokhandwala. Supporting actors try too hard to be funny. Songs sung by Udit Narayan are probably the only good thing about the film.

Could there be a gay love story in Bollywood? One of its biggest stars says it is time to explore it. Sonam Kapoor spoke about the possibility in an interview where she lamented India’s laws on homosexuality: Last year, its Supreme Court upheld a ban on gay sex.

“Well you know, unfortunately, in our country right now recently there is a law which does not, which basically had said that homosexuality is not legal which is very sad,” she said. Kapoor is in Cannes as an ambassador for the beauty brand L’Oreal. In an interview yesterday, Kapoor talked about last year’s Palme d’Or winner, “Blue Is the Warmest Color,” a lesbian love story, and whether such a film could be made for Bollywood. Kapoor believes if gays are depicted on film, it could help bring change in her country.

“I think movies can influence the way people think sometimes and if we do start making love stories or we start making movies about people who are amazing human beings, people who have done something in life, people who are inspirational who aren’t necessarily only straight, I think people will start appreciating them more,” she said.

Iranian actress Leila Hatami on angered authorities in Tehran by kissing on the cheek, an act seen as affront to the “chastity” of the Islamic republic’s women. A picture carried by Iranian media shows Hatami kissing Gilles Jacob at the opening of this year’s festival.

“Those who attend intentional events should take heed of the credibility and chastity of Iranians, so that a bad image of Iranian women will not be demonstrated to the world,” Deputy Culture Minister Hossein Noushabadi said. “Iranian woman is the symbol of chastity and innocence.” Hatami’s “inappropriate presence” at the festival was “not in line with our religious beliefs”, he added.

Born into a family with a background in cinema, Hatami gained worldwide fame for her role in Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation, which won the 2012 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. She is on the jury this year at the annual Cannes festival in southern France but lives in Iran. According to Iran’s interpretation of Islamic law, in place since 1979, a woman is not allowed to have physical contact with a man outside her family.

Actress Courteney Cox, who worked as a director for ‘Just Before I Go’, says she was drawn to the comic entertainer because she found a connect between the film and her personality. The ‘Cougar Town’ actress’ directorial was released April 24. “I was drawn to the hilarity and subversive humour.

Between the heartfelt stuff and the crazy obscure humour, it (the film) was perfect for my personality. It was grounded yet outrageous,” contactmusic.com quoted the 49-year-old as saying. The actress, who has a nine-year-old daughter Coco with ex-husband and actor David Arquette, debuted the movie at the Tribeca Film Festival.

She was so nervous that she forgot the speech that she had to deliver. “Going up there and seeing people watching the movie at a festival where they’re expecting something – I don’t know, I just got really nervous. I meant to say that Coco, my daughter, sang the opening song, but I forgot,” she said.

Lindsay Lohan has accepted 150,000 dollars in settlement for her lawsuit against clothing company D.N.A.M. Apparel Industries. The 27-year-old American actress had claimed that the clothing company owed hundreds of thousands of dollars after they licensed her 6126 trademark for international sales and has accepted 150,000 dollar in compensation, the Mirror reported. The settlement will save her from testifying about her traumatic miscarriage in court.

Molly Ringwald has joined the cast of the upcoming film based on the popular 1980’s animated show ‘Jem and the Holograms’. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film, which is directed by Jon M. Chu, will have a modern take on the character Jerrica Benton and her alter ego Jem, and will track the band’s music-driven adventure.

The film which is already shooting in Los Angeles will star Aubrey Peeples as Jem while Ryan Guzman will play her love interest Rio. Ringwald, 46, who recently starred in TV drama ‘The Secret Life of the American Teenager’, is known for her 1980’s hits which include ‘Pretty in Pink’, ‘The Breakfast Club’ and ‘Sixteen Candles’.

Despite having a tumultuous time recently, including her split from hubby Orlando Bloom, Miranda Kerr has taken it all in her stride. Kerr, who was listed by Forbes last year as the second highest-earning model in the world, behind Gisele Bundchen, said that remaining positive is part of her DNA, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

She said that she feels blessed and very fortunate, adding that since she’s a businesswoman and a mother, balancing her life every day is something she chooses to do. Kerr is also determined to remain in the US so that son Flynn can grow up with his dad.