Well, it's Thursday and time for Father Geek here to post up another Asia-AICN column from Darius25 and his chief Hong Kong operative AccSpy. They've gathered together some interesting info for you as well as some pretty cool pics... check it all out below... But first here's this bit that just crossed my desk...

They're making a sequel to SHANGHAI NOON! Strange for a film that only grossed $50 million, that was more a critical success than a box office one...but it probably had a bigger following on video, right (look what video following did for AUSTIN POWERS)?

Today's VARIETY reported that the two stars from the original SHANGHAI NOON---Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson---will reprise their roles for SHANGHAI KNIGHTS. The plot has the duo stumbling upon a worldwide conspiracy to crush the Chinese and British empires. Not unlike Rush Hour 2, the story has the guys globe-hopping from the West to the UK.

The trade reported that Tom Dey is expected to return to the director chair and Alfred Gough & Miles Millar wrote the script. Production is ramping up in Februrary 2002. One shooting location will be London.

Call me MARXMAN.

Now on to Darius25's regular weekly column...

Asia-AICN

Hey all, I hope you've all been well. I regret to inform you all that it's been a rather slow week in terms of Asian film news and we were unable to get any news from Japan or Korea. However AccSpy and I have managed to gather some cool info from Bollywood and HK including news on "Kaante (Thorns)", "Tera Mera Saath Rahen (Staying Together)", "Born Wild" and "108+".

We also have some new pictures from "Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai (I Have Something to Say)", "Born Wild", and "Love on a Diet (aka Slim Couple)". Enjoy.

INDIA

- Actress Shilpa Shetty has now official signed on for Sanjay Gupta's upcoming blockbuster, "Kaante (Thorns)". The mega-action take on "Reservoir Dogs" and "City on Fire" stars Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Sunil Shettym, Mahesh Manjrekar, Lucky Ali and Kumar Gaurav. Gupta has stated that the shooting of the film will begin in New York City on August 20 and will end on October 12. It is expected to release in March of next year.

- Principal photography for director Mahesh Manjrekar's "Tera Mera Saath Rahen (Staying Together)" is already underway. A 27-day schedule was recently completed at Bombay's Kamal Amrohi Studios in which two songs and several scenes were picturised. Typical of Manjekar's films, the story again depicts life in lower middle-class neighbourhoods in which star Ajay Devgan fights for the rights of the employees in an industrial factory, takes care of his mentally-handicapped brother, and romances an upper class girl (Sonali Bendre). Majrekar regulars Namrata Shirodkar, Shivaji Satam, and Reema Lagoo also star in the film, scheduled to release sometime in November.

- The shooting of Deepak Shivdasani's "Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke (Paths of Love)" is now complete and the film is heading into the post-production stage. Ajay Devgan, Preity Zinta and Madhuri Dixit star in the film, set to be released on July 20.

- Kuku Kohli's next film will reunite him with Ajay Devgan, who was launched in the director's blockbuster hit "Phool aur Kaante (Flowers and Thorns)". This upcoming release also stars model Priyanka Chopra and legendary actor Dilip Kumar (who makes less than 3 films per decade!). Principal photography is expected to start in June and the film will release sometime next year.

- Last week's new release was Director Satish Kaushik's "Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai (I Have Something to Say)". Famous actor Jeetendra's son, Tusshar Kapoor, makes his debut in this film co-starring opposite Kareena Kapoor, Rinke Khanna and Amrish Puri. This is yet another romance-comedy flick with only a small twist where the hero and heroine overcome petty obstacles in order to unite at the end. Tusshar plays Karan, a shy college student who befriends the new girl, Pooja (Kareena Kapoor). He falls in love but doesn't feel confident to say anything. Some obstacles come in their way (other partners, idiotic friends, bossy relatives, etc.) until the very last scene when they admit their love for one another. The acting is pretty decent with Kareena standing out of the mostly young cast. She showed her serious side in last year's "Refugee" but gets to lighten up in this film, playing your regular bubbly student. Tusshar makes an ordinary debut in the film which doesn't really require him to show any talent. He is ok in the comedy scenes and doesn't really ruin the dramatic scenes. The director has improved drastically from his last film, "Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai (You Have My Heart)". The film sticks to the main plot for most of the time and the comedy scenes don't distract from the main story. The songs are really good and are definitely the highlight of the film. The music is actually fun to listen too and adds to the story. All in all, "Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai" is an average romantic comedy which provides decent entertainment while you're watching it but you'll forget about it soon after you leave the theater.

Here's a pic of Tusshar Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor: Click Now

Here's another pic of Kareena, this time with Amrish Puri: Click

CHINA/HK

Here is the latest report from AccSpy:

- Louis Koo and Daniel Wu's boxing drama "Born Wild (aka Beastic Pupils)" will finally arrive in theatres this weekend as the first big HK movie of the summer. The film is follows the lives of two brothers who are both unofficial boxers. The older one, Tone (Koo), is knocked to death in the ring because he didn't want to take a dive. The younger brother, Chung (Wu), starts to investigate the mysterious death with the help of Tone's manager (Patrick Tam) and girlfriend (Jo Kuk). Critics suggest that the real standout in the film is Patrick Tam as the manager of the brothers. He got the role with the help of Louis, who introduced him to the director after meeting on the sets of "The Legend of ZU". The film's director, Patrick Leung, was once John Woo's assistant director in numerous films like "Bullet of the Head" and "Hard-boiled". Here's some pics from the film:

The poster of the film, which is very similar to the poster of John Woo's "A Better Tomorrow": Click Here

Patrick Tam and Daniel Wu on the bed: Click Here

Jo Kuk, Louis Koo and Patrick:Just Click Now

- Golden Harvest Studio had lost two big projects in the same month. Besides losing "Stormriders 2" to Andy Lau's Teamwork Pictures, they have also lost the rights to the period action epic "108+", starring Aaron Kwok, Kelly Chen and Daniel Wu, which is now picked up by Columbia Pictures. With the help of the additional financial support, the film will now be shot on locations in East Europe instead of China, since the makers failed to obtain the required permit from the Chinese government.

- Jackie Chan has announced two future projects which will be made by his production company. The first one is a period action epic which will be an adaptation of the classic "The Art of War" while the other one is an Armor of God-like action adventure directed by Jingle Ma ("Tokyo Raiders"). Jackie has no plans for appearing in either film.

- "Love on a Diet (aka Slim Couple)" is getting lots of buzz lately during its current shoot in Tokyo. Here are some more stills from the sets:

A shot of Andy Lau training Sammi Cheng: Just Click

The over-weight Andy and the slim Sammi: Click Here

Sammi Cheng: Click

- The eye-candy flick "Cop Shop Babes", starring Carina Lau, debuted at no.1 with around $1 million while "Along came a Spider" debuted at no.2 at last week's HKBO. The Takeshi Kitano starrer "Brother" was at no.3 while the Christian film "Life is a Miracle" stood at no.4 with a surprising $4.5 million grossing up-to-date. The indie flick "Gimme Gimme", by the director of last year's critically-acclaimed "Sparked Out", debuted at the tenth place.

We have now reached the end of this week's column. Remember, if you have information regarding any film industry in Asia, please contact our Asia-AICN offices at atshrivas@home.com. See you all next week.

Darius25