The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz
The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz |
| Indian cinema on Cannes mission to dispel Bollywood image Posted: 19 May 2013 03:46 AM PDT
The largest Indian contingent to date is on the French Riviera at the world's leading cinema showcase to promote their country, which has the world's biggest film industry, making over 1,000 films a year compared with about 600 in Hollywood. Movies from Mumbai-based Bollywood and other regional India films have struggled at the global box office, with Indian cinema largely dismissed as lengthy, song-and-dance numbers. But the industry sees the 66th Cannes festival, where India is "guest country" to mark its centenary, as a chance to showcase a new genre of Indian movies globally and to promote India as a place to both make films and win a massive audience. "If you use the term Bollywood it really represents the song-and-dance, credibility-stretched story kind of film," director Amit Kumar, whose gangster-cop thriller "Monsoon Shootout" held its premiere at Cannes today, told Reuters. "We need to portray Indian cinema as more international and I hope our presence at Cannes will make the world realise that Indian cinema is most than just about Bollywood." The Indian visitors to Cannes are also keen to lure investment to their film industry, which is forecast to grow to US$5 billion (RM15 billion) by 2014 from US$3.2 billion in 2010, according to a report by Ernst & Young.
Actress Vidya Balan also walked the red carpet in the pouring rain that night as one of nine members of a jury led by US filmmaker Steven Spielberg that will decide the coveted Palme D'Or award for best picture on the final day, May 26. A gala dinner to mark Indian cinema's centenary was due to be held today, attended by a list of stars including actresses Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor and Freida Pinto.
There is no Indian film in either of the two main competitions at Cannes. The last Indian film selected to vie for the coveted Palme D'Or was "Swaham" in 1994 while "Udaan" competed in Un Certain Regard for emerging filmmakers in 2010. But four Indian films will be screened — "Monsoon Shootout", another thriller "Ugly", a tribute to the industry centenary called "Bombay Talkies", and love story "Dabba" (Lunchbox). Anupama Chopra, Bollywood author, columnist and critic, said Bollywood was a tag that independent film-makers had to fight. "Maybe one day (Indian filmmakers) will break free of the shackles of Bollywood and make a completely global film in terms of aesthetics," he said. In 2011 India saw a 42 per cent jump in the number of Hollywood movies shot there, with several Hollywood studios such as Disney, News Corp's Fox, and Sony entering deals with or buying stakes in Indian companies. There has also been a surge in the number of Hollywood movies released in India, where 3.6 billion film tickets were sold last year. Hollywood studios have been releasing their films in India simultaneously with their North American releases and also dubbing films in various regional Indian languages. Uma Da Cunha, programme adviser at the 2012 Mumbai Film Festival, said studios wanted a slice of the huge Indian market. "The big and significant change in Cannes is that the Indian film industry is being given space and attention on the international film scene and it is attracting business and ties from global film interests," she told Reuters. — Reuters |
| Beatles’ guitar auctioned to the tune of RM1.2m Posted: 18 May 2013 08:16 PM PDT
The semi-hollow-body guitar, manufactured by the VOX company, was sold to an unidentified US buyer at the "Music Icons" event organised by Beverly Hills, California-based Julien's Auctions and held at the Hard Rock Cafe in Manhattan. Julien's said previously it expected the guitar, which was the centerpiece of Saturday's sale, to fetch between US$200,000 and US$300,000. Harrison played the instrument, distinguished by two symmetrical flared shoulders on the upper body, while practicing "I Am The Walrus," and Lennon used it in a video session for the song "Hello, Goodbye," according to a statement from Julien's Auctions. Both songs were on the Beatles' 1967 album "Magical Mystery Tour." The VOX guitar was a prototype instrument custom-built for Lennon in 1966, said Martin Nolan, executive director of Julien's. Lennon gave the VOX guitar as a gift in 1967 to Yanni "Magic Alex" Mardas, who was the electronics engineer for the band's Apple Records label, the auction house said. The instrument, displayed in recent weeks at a museum in Ireland before the sale, was sold a few years ago by Christie's Auction House for a little over US$100,000. Nolan said the latest buyer, who sent a representative to Saturday's auction to bid on his behalf, wished to remain anonymous. Lennon was shot to death in New York in 1980 by a deranged fan, and Harrison died of lung cancer in Los Angeles in 2001. The surviving members of the Beatles are Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. – Reuters |
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