Well, its time for Father Geek to once again post our regular Thursday Asia-AICN Column. As usual its filled with cool news from the East by "Darius25" on Bollywood, "AccSpy" on China & Hong Kong cinema, and "pigmon" with the latest from Japan. But before we move on to their report I'm going to include a short "FAN" letter we got from SouthEast Asia this morning (about 3 minutes ago to be exact. No news in it but ol' Father Geek likes to post one of these every-now-and-then...
My name is Alison. And I come from Malaysia. I came across your site when I was reading the piece u wrote for Total Film on LOTR.
I think u must get this kinda mail everyday. And with a busy schedule like yours, u might not get a chance to reply to dumb mail like this. But I hv to ask, How??
I am a great lover of movies in general. Action, Martial Arts and fantasy flicks r my favs. LOTR was simply brilliant. And I cannot believe that u got a chance to be there when they were shooting it. I would have given anything (well almost anything) for the privilege to be in the midst of such a place. I can only say WOW!.
I have no exact point that I was s'pose to make when I wrote this email. but, wow! to be among the cast of such huge names. It is such a privilege that I wudn't dare imagine myself ever getting a chance to. I think, I've rambled on a little too much. But I really had to tell you.
cheers,
Alison
Like I said just a fan letter, but I like to share them once-in-awhile, especially when they arrive here in Texas from far off exoitic locations. Now, here's Darius with more substancial info for you...
Asia-AICN
Hey all, hope you had a great week.
We have a quite-packed column for you filled with lots of neat info on many new films such as Mira Nair’s next, Mahesh Manjrekars’s “Astitva (Existence)” remake, Zhang Yimou’s “Hero”, “Initial D”, and the Japanese film “Out”. We also have some pics from “Koi Mere Dil Se Pooche (Someone Ask My Heart)” and “Hero)” and the results of the 2002 Zee Cine Awards.
Now here’s the latest from Asia.
INDIA
- Mira Nair has finally decided to make a commercial Bollywood film, and rumours are suggesting that she has already signed Madhuri Dixit as the main female lead. While Dixit is almost confirmed, the director is still considering the actors for the male lead. Sources indicate that Nair is in talks with Shahrukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Akshaye Khanna, and even Aamir Khan (!) for roles in the film. We’ll see if any of this is true when the director formally announces her next project in the coming months.
- It was expected, but now we finally have word that Mahesh Manjrekar will team up with Sanjay Dutt, AGAIN!! Early rumours indicate that the actor has joined the director’s English-language remake of “Astitva (Existence)” as the main antagonist. Manjrekar, who also wrote and directed the original, has signed Madhuri Dixit onboard for the main role (Tabu played the lead in the original and won some rave reviews aswell). Filming is due to begin sometime this year.
- Director Satish Kaushik has announced a yet another film, this one titled “Hum Bhi Khush, Tum Bhi Khush (I am Happy, You are Happy). Anil Kapoor, Gracy Singh, and Priyanka Chopra have been signed so far for the leading roles, leaving room for another major star in the lead. The comedy will start filming in the fall.
- Here are the results from the first major awards of the season, the 2002 Zee Cine Awards, which took place last week in Bombay. As usual, you can see that “Lagaan” will be the frontrunner for all of the major awards (and possibly an Oscar nom), but just don’t count K3G out yet.
The Winners Were...
- Another member of the Deol clan made her debut in last week’s latest film, titled “Koi Mere Dil Ke Pooche (Someone Ask My Heart)”. Produced by Boney Kapoor and directed by Vinay Shukla, the film introduces Esha Deol, along with Aaftab Shivdasani, Jaya Bachchan, Anupam Kher and an obligatory member of the Kapoor clan, Sanjay Kapoor.
The film is a yet another take on the “Sleeping With the Enemy” story. In a nutshell, Aaftab plays a wealthy college student, Aman, who falls for the new student in town – Esha. After multiple rejections, Esha finally gives in and the couple is happy uintil a shady character from Esha’s life, Dushyant (Sanjay Kapoor) comes back to haunt her.
Why was Esha rejecting Aman for half the movie or why is Dushyant so bent on taking revenge on the girl? You’ll have to watch the movie to find out, but this is pretty much “Sleeping With the Enemy” all over again (the film was remade by Bollywood three times in the ‘90s). Ok, how about the acting you ask? Well, Esha Deol is a decent (if not very promising) newcomer who doesn’t come off as annoying as some of the other star-kids in recent years. Looks wise, she’s ok (actually resembling her brother Bobby Deol more than either of her parents!!) and she can perform adequate dialogue delivery. This role was indeed a very high caliber one not really suited to a newcomer, but she doesn’t disappoint.
Jaya Bachchan keeps up the crying routine from her last two films, and she is adequate at best here. Aaftab’s ok as the standard hero while Sanjay Kapoor is downright horrible as the film’s heavy. I mean, why make a skinny, scrawny non-actor into a menacing character. The guy wasn’t menacing at all (infact, I was laughing during all his scenes) and Aaftab could’ve kicked his ass anyday (and he’s not a very tough-looking actor either). Pacing wise, the film is extremely short (roughly 130 mins), so the film flew by very quickly. The direction was adequate for a romantic thriller (no artistic work here) while some of the songs were good.
All in all, “Koi Mere Dil Se Pooche” is an average launch vehicle for a new star-kid and Esha Deol doesn’t disappoint.
Esha Deol: Just Click Now
Esha with Aaftab Shivdasani: They're Right Here
Another pic of Esha: Click Now
CHINA / HK
Here’s the weekly report from “AccSpy”:
- Time Online has written up an extremely interesting article on Zhang Yimou’s “Hero” with Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Maggie Cheung, Zhang Ziyi, and Jet Li. Click here for a good read: The Whole Story Is Here Here are some pictures from the film...
Jet and Ziyi in a fight scene: Just Click To See Them
Director Zhang Yimou and Maggie Cheung: Go Here
Tony Leung Chiu-wai: Click Here
- Meanwhile, Donnie Yen (who was shooting a cameo) has injured his eyes during the shooting for "Hero" in China. Yen's right eye was hurt during a sword fight rehearsal when he was practicing with Jet Li's double. Yen is now resting in HK and would go back to US in the next few days.
- Jackie Chan will executively co-produce the live-action version of the Japanese manga "Initial D", starring Edison Chan as the car racing genius and Andy Lau (!!!) as his ex-racer father secretly teaching his son (while under disguise) racing skills for the big championship. Media Asia will finance $60 million HKD for the film, and the female lead is still being determined. The role will probably go to an actress from Japan or Korea.
- When asked for a New Year’s resolution, Andy Lau said that his Teamwork pictures will shoot a REAL action film this year, with hand-to-hand combats, gun fights and hair-raising stunts which hopes to be as entertaining and crowd-pleasing as the films from the heyday of 80's.
- Nicholas Tse, Edison Chan, Josie Ho and Joey Yung have all shot a cameo appearance for Jackie Chan's "Highbinders".
- It turned out that the Luc Besson-Shu Qi project mentioned a few weeks ago is the Corey Yuen-directed action film starring Jason Statham. Shu Qi will be playing the girlfriend character in the film.
- Nobody could beat those child magicians as "Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone" was still the no.1 film of HK. Ekin Cheng and the beloved Cecilia Cheung's time-traveling romance "Second Time Around" debuted at no.2 with $1.7 million. With another proof that he's not a bankable star anymore, Ekin should SERIOUSLY show some concern for his future. The second successful Christmas hit is "Spirited Away" which has reached the $24-million grossing point. Other local successes include "My Life as McDull" and "Dance of a Dream"as both earned $14 million and $17.5 mil so far respectively.
JAPAN
And here’s the latest report from “Pigmon”:
- 20th Century Fox has chosen to distribute it’s first ever Japanese film (in Japan only), titled “Out”. The suspense/thriller will be directed by Hideyuki Hirayama and filming is set to begin next month. While the casting isn’t fully complete, actor Mieko Harada has already been confirmed for the leading role.
- Toho has its release schedule for the first half of 2002. Here it is.
January
"Honogurai Mizu No Soko Kara" directed by Hideo Nakata("Ring")
Feburary
"Seoul" directed by Masahiko Nagasawa. The world premiere took place this week in Seoul.
March-April
"Suketatichiyasukeroku" directed by Kihachi Okamoto who makes a comeback after 6 year. It is set to be a rare genre film: the samurai comedy!
"Doraemon-Nobita to Robot Okoku" – a new anime.
"Mr.Rookie" – a baseball comedy.
"A Tree Of Palm" directed by Takashi Nakamura.
May
"Conan-Baker Gai No Borei" – another anime.
"Nurse No Oshigoto:The Movie" - based on the popular TV series.
June
"The Copy Cat" directed by Yoshimitu Morita.
"Neko No Ongaeshi" Studio Ghibli's newest anime, directed by Hiroyuki Morita. This film will also have an added short (possibly anime), titled “Giveliease Episode 2”.
July
"Pocket Monsters 2002" – do we still care?
August
"Returner" directed by Takashi Yamazaki. A big budget sci-fi film which looks like a combination of “Leon” and “The Terminator”. (Sounds cool!! – D25)
