Welcome geeks to the 29th Asia-AICN Thursday morning column. This week Darius25 and his staff have several great pics for you in addition to links to a couple of nice interviews. First here's a little review of the MISSION KASHMIR screening in San Francisco that found its way to Father Geek's desk earlier today...

First time reviewer, just call me "tpodkeys" (10 bucks to anyone who can figure out what that means ! !). Saw the Indian flick "Mission Kashmir" and thought I would give you my view.

I arrived at the box office, only to discover: NO SUBTITLES ! ! ! and I don't know a word of Hindi, so my review might not be as complete as I would like. But the director did a good enough job that I was able to follow along pretty well.

The basic plot is this: INAYAT is a leader in the Kashmir police and on a raid against a militant group he kills the family of ALTAFF. Feeling guilty, INAYAT takes the boy in and treats him like his own son (who recently died). When ALTAFF realizes that INAYAT killed his family, he runs away. Now it's ten years later, and the hatred ALTAFF feels toward INAYAT has grown, so he joins a group of Kashmir militants in hopes of destroying ALTAFF.

Ok, that's done with, now for the review. Like many Indian films, this one had a bit of singing and dancing, which in my opinion, was too long and out of place for this picture. It seemed to shift the mood a bit too much from a dark war picture to a nice happy fluffy bunny picture at times. The acting was solid, especially by the leads Sanjay Dutt (INAYAT) and Hrithik Roshan (ALTAFF). Hilal Kohistani does great as the leader of the Kashmir militants, and Preity Zinta is a definate mega-babe (she looks a bit like Salma Hayek).

Photographically this film was very grand in scope, reminding me of the days of Apocalypse Now. And the music was intense with the incredible scoring by Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa. There were a few Matrix-type fighting scenes, so that should please your average drooling fan-boy (if he can get by the musical parts).

Overall, I'd say this was a cool movie, nothing amazing, but cool, none the less. I pretty much understood what was going on, except the last 20 mins. or so. The ending was a bit of a disappointment and the musical sections felt out of place, but other than that, I would recommend it to anyone brave enough to try and muster through the foreign language with no subtitles to guide them. Looking forward for the DVD so I can fully appreciate (or hate) the dialogue.

Father Geek back again... Keep in mind that that review was watching a film that he didn't understand a single word of... mindful of that, this flick is probably pretty damn good. Ol' Father Geek watches non-English language film without subtitles all the time... I really enjoy it. Halloween night I did that with my DVD of CHINESE GHOST STORY. That was the tenth time I've seen it that way. I've NEVER seen it with subtitles, or dubbed, and its one of my all time favorite motion pictures. I guess I'll turn you all over to our Asia-AICN crew now...

Asia-AICN #29

Hey all. Hope you guys had a lot of fun celebrating Halloween this year and to our Indian readers, hope you guys pigged out on a lot of sweets - I sure did.

Now, I hate to do this but today, I am sorry to start the column off with some sad news. I regret to inform you that from now on, "Matrix1966" will be unable to cover the Korean film industry due to personal reasons. Sorry, Korean readers but you'll have to wait now until we get some new reporters from Korea. As always, if any of you have any info on ANY Asian film industry, please contact us. Also, for some unknown reason, "AznFob55" was unable to report in this week - sorry Philipino readers. Nevertheless, we still have lots of new info today, including two extensive (sort-of) reviews from me of India's most anticipated films - Mohabbatein (Love Affairs) and Mission Kashmir.

Here's the latest from Asia.

INDIA

- Aishwarya Rai and Sunil Shetty will both have dual roles in the film Radheshyam Seetaram (the names of two characters in the film). The comedy will be written and directed by Anees Bazmee.

- Rinke Khanna has signed to star in producer Vashu Bhagnani's Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai. She will play the sister of Tushar Kapoor's character.

- Actor Nasseerudin Shah will turn director for the film Once a Mahatma, based on the novel by Chandulal B. Dalal. Shah will himself play the titular role of Mahatma Gandhi in the film. It should be noted that Shah just recently played Gandhi in Kamal Haasan's Hey! Ram.

- Actress Raveena Tandon is currently shooting one of her upcoming films titled Ankhiyon Se Goli Mare (Shoot Me With Your Eyes), which also stars Govinda.

- Karisma Kapoor and Bobby Deol are signed to appear in the film titled Aashiq (Lover).

- After Dhai Akshar Prem Ke (Two and a Half Words of Love), Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan will star together in a film titled Kuch Na Kaho (Say Nothing).

Now here's "Dilwale" reporting on the Mission Kashmir premiere held in the UK:

The premiere was kewl if only I could get there on time. The train running late in UK was a major problem. However, I got in without too much fanfare, Jaggu Dada (Jackie Shroff) was at the entrance of the cinema hall and I greeted him warmly - Jaggu being Jaggu was extremely pleasant. The invite said to be there for 6pm, but I arrived at 7.20pm. The film hadn't started thank god.

The film was incredible - the soundtrack and background music was tre magnifique. The film itself was brilliant with a sincere story of a relationship between father and son. Sanju (Sanjay Dutt) was too good and all the action scenes had the Matrix slow mo effects. I don't really want to go through and spoil the film. It highlights the tensions in Kashmir nicely and the story keeps us on the edge of our seats. The action is excellent and its been a while since I have watched a great Indian action thriller. The ending was justified and beautiful.

At the premiere Sanju came, Hrithik was absent (due to some manipulation by producer Yash Chopra, I hear), and Preity couldn't make the UK premiere but flew straight to the US premiere. I was introduced to Vidhu Vinod Chopra (the director) and found him to be a very down to earth guy. Sanju has a very good handshake also.After the premiere the stars and VIP guests were invited for a cocktail party. On the bus to the Hotel, I spoke a lot with (music director) Shankar Mahadevan about his music - he was extremely kewl.

This film will definately give Mohabbatein a run for its money as you could watch this film time and time again!!!!!!!

- Dilwale

As you can see by the above heading, you'll know that the following section will inform you about two of the most anticipated Indian films of this year. Both are very special to the audience for many reasons. One, Mohabbatein (Love Affairs), is a traditional romantic drama starring the top two stars of Bollywood - Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan. The other film, Mission Kashmir, is an out and out action film starring the hottest newcomer in Bombay - Hrithik Roshan. Both films have been directed by extremely reputable directors, are of competent budgets, and feature an excellent supporting cast. The question to ask then is which is the better film?

Well, it actually depends on your preferences. Before I tell you about my choice, let me just inform you of my biases. I'm pretty sure that by now, all of you MUST know that I think Shahrukh Khan (or SRK for short) is the greatest living actor in the world!! Given that, I also LOVE amazing action flicks!! I think that Sanjay Dutt is definitely a BADASS and Hrithik Roshan is also a great actor (not better than SRK of course). So which one did I choose ?

Ok, enough beating the bush - not surprisingly, I think that Mission Kashmir is definitely the better film. It had better acting, a tighter script, and was overall more entertaining. I think that director Vidhu Vinod Chopra has made a great popcorn thriller, with an actual story. Surprise, surprise - the film isn't all guns and wirefu - there are actually MANY dramatic moments where we actually feel for the characters. The first 45 minutes alone were included to set up both Hrithik Roshan and Sanjay Dutt's characters. They showed that even though Hrithik was recently orphaned, his childhood can still be a happy one. We actually feel happy for Altaaf (a child actor who'll later become Hrithik Roshan) as he becomes a part of Sanjay Dutt's family. But as we find out, all is not well for this child as he's still haunted by visions of the masked killer who slaughtered his family. When Altaaf discovers that the killer is none other than his own adopted father, we feel his sorrow and his hatred for this man. He attempts to kill him and then runs off into the darkness leaving Sanjay and his wife (an incredible performance by Sonali Kulkarni) literally shell-shocked. Ten years pass until Altaaf returns again, this time as a militant bent on only one thing - revenge. It seems that Altaaf and his gang led by international terrorist Hilal (Jackie Shroff) are on a top secret assignment called Mission Kashmir which, if executed, will cause mayhem and destruction all over the state of Kashmir. Of course IG Khan (Dutt) gets in their way most of the time. There are a series of terrorist attempts and explosions until the climax where Altaaf and Khan finally meet and all hell breaks loose:

While all this may sound good, is MK without any flaws ? Not really. There are some scenes which tend to drag a little bit, and there is one totally unnecessary song. Actually the whole character of Preity Zinta should be deleted - the romance angle with her and Altaaf is not really important to the overall narrative. Actually, Vidhu Vinod Chopra should have reduced her role and increased Jackie Shroff's role. Throughout the film, he gives us the impression that he's a totally menacing psychopath - but he isn't really given much to do. Also the way he was offed at the end isn't really deserving of his character - infact, it's rather pathetic. Finally the ending should have been changed a little bit. I understand what the director was telling us - hope exists even in the most impossible situations - but I feel that it's not very realistic. In real life, an ending like this can occur, EVER. But despite all this, Mission Kashmir is an EXCELLENT film. Sanjay Dutt and Hrithik Roshan have given two of the most excellent performances of their careers. The action scenes are absolutely incredible, I mean where else would anyone be excited by a shot of watching Hrithik Roshan climb down some stairs. Watch the film to see what I mean. Yeah, a lot of it is inspired by The Matrix but the film was able to pull it off rather well. Overall, if you want to watch one Indian film this year, watch Mission Kashmir, you'll NOT be disappointed.

Now, while Mission Kashmir is the overall better film, Mohabbatein (Love Affairs) is not bad either. A romance dramedy featuring not one, not two, but FIVE parallel love stories is not a typical Indian film. Sure there may have been many films, with multiple characters, but a love story on this scale has never been attempted before, and this may be the film's biggest flaw - there are simply TOO MANY characters.

At the start of the film we are introduced to our three heroes - Vicky (Uday Chopra - the guy in the vest), Sameer (Jugal Hansraj - the guy in the yellow jacket) and Karan (Jimmy Shergill - the guy in the white shirt) as they head off to Gurukul, the top educational institution in India - for boys only. They learn that life will be pretty tough there as the school is run with an iron fist by its headmaster, Narayan Shankar (Amitabh Bachchan - the bearded guy). The headmaster strictly forbids any kind of social activity by the boys and orders them to live by the three main principles of the school - honour, tradition, and discipline. The guys find this hard to adjust to, until the arrival of a carefree music teacher, Raj Aryan (Shahrukh Khan). He teaches them to love and enjoy life, and embrace all the challenges that life throws at them. In doing so, he breaks all the rules of Gurukul and comes directly in conflict with Narayan Shankar.

The acting by all of the cast is generally pretty good, especially by the two staples of Bollywood - Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan. This is the first time that the two superstars have worked together, and they performed brilliantly. It's hardly a surprise that most of their scenes are with one another. Amitabh was totally convincing as the stern principal. We see from the look in his eyes and the power of his voice that he is not someone to be messed with. But then again SRK is not just anybody either. He managed to hold his own against the tall actor and even outperformed him in some of the scenes - especially during the climax. Aishwarya Rai, in her small role, was good as always. She did not have much to do, but she made my heart leap every time she was on the screen. The six newcomers were a mixed batch though. It was fairly obvious that Uday Chopra was cast only because his father produced the film, and his brother directed it. The guy has no talent whatsoever. He tried to the comic relief, but failed horribly. I'll just be kind and not say anything about his dramatic skills. The actress he was paired against, Shamita Shetty (Shilpa Shetty's sister), was also not very good. She tended to overact during the emotional scenes, and basically acted like a bitch the rest of the times. It's very fortunate that this couple was given the least amount of time. The Jugal Hansraj-Kim Sharma pair was ok. They had some dramatic scenes and didn't overact too much. Kim Sharma actually nailed her modern girl character, but her voice modulation was slightly off target. However, I think that Jimmy Shergill and Preeti Jhangiani were EXCELLENT. They didn't overact, look awkward nor tried to be overly comedic. Best of all, they actually had chemistry. We believed in their romance. Besides, Preeti's so DAMN CUTE. Her character of a shy young widow was totally believable and her performance actually makes everyone fall for her. Don't believe me, take a look yourself and tell me that she isn't cute.

But despite the good (or decent) acting, Mohabbatein has some very big flaws. Even with the long running time, it still didn't feel complete. Some of the characters were abandoned, especially when SRK comes in. By the film's end, the three students were totally abandoned in favour of resolving the dispute between Shahrukh and Amitabh. This would have made more sense if the film concentrated on these two characters to begin with, but instead the script tries to be fair to all of the characters and ends up getting muddled in the process. Also, the film was way too sappy and melodramatic. Some of the scenes were extremely sad and tear-inducing but I felt that it was forced. The film just put too much effort into reducing the audience to tears when it should have made the audience cheerful and happy. The film was made with good intentions, and I do admire that, but given the long running time and the all-star cast, I expected a little bit more. However, it is still a good film and much better than the rest in this dismal year. If you want to see a good date movie, then by all means go see Mohabbatein, but if you want to see an INCREDIBLE film, see Mission Kashmir.

- This week's recommendation is Vidhu Vinod Chopra's masterpiece, Parinda (Dove). Yeah, I know you've seen enough of them in John Woo's films, but they are put to better use here as they're not just shown for stylish imagery. The film stars Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit and Nana Patekar. This is not just a typical gangster film where somebody rises up the ranks of the criminal underworld and eventually falls to redeem himself. The film is more of a drama dealing with the consequences of violence and the price one has to pay when they enter the world of crime. Kishan and Karan (Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor, respectively) are two brothers raised on the streets. In order to provide a better life for Karan, Kishan turns to life of crime from a very young age, eventually becoming the right hand man of Anna (Nana Patekar), one of the biggest Dons of Bombay. Years pass by as both of the brothers grow up. Kishan returns to India from the US, and is off to his new executive position when his best friend (an honest police inspector) is killed by one of Anna's men. Karan then infiltrates Anna's gang (much to the dismay of Kishan who did NOT want this) in order to kill the culprit, setting up a trail of bodies. No one remains unscathed by the end as practically everyone dies. The final shot of Jackie Shroff standing on a beach at the dawn of a new day is one of the most haunting images in Indian cinema. The acting by both of the leads is superb. As the innocent man turned into a vicious criminal, Anil Kapoor's performance is extremely convincing. Nana Patekar is also very good as the extremely disturbed Anna, a vicious psychopath who will kill anyone who gets in his way. But the real talent in the film is definitely Jackie Shroff. We actually believe that he had no choice whatsoever when he joined Anna's gang and he is the one who truly suffers as a consequence of his actions. He truly deserved the Best Actor Filmfare award for his performance. The direction is superb. Chopra showed that he doesn't need to resort to the usual tactics (songs, comedy, violence) of making a good film. This film is dark, gritty and utterly filled with dread. Even the few outdoor scenes are shot in a way that will make you feel like shit. The only ray of hope comes at the very final scene, and even in that you will only feel the sadness and despair of Jackie Shroff.

CHINA/HK

The following was reported by "The Accidental Spy":

- Here's an article from TIMEASIA about Tsui Hark and his latest film, "Time & Tide", which is "praised" by HK cinema fanboy Richard Corliss: Read Here. Also, here's an interview with Wu Bai, a Taiwanese rocker who played the cool assassin in "Time & Tide": Click Here.

Finally, here's an interview with Tsui Hark: Just Click Right Here

- Sandra Ng is currently shooting the sequel to "Portland Street Blues", which was a spinoff of the Young & Dangerous series which helped Ng sweep three Best Actress awards in 1999. Ng will reprise her famous trial leader character, "Sister Thirteen". This time Sister Thirteen will go to Macau and handle the casino and night club business there for Hung Hang Trial.

- Mabel Cheung, the director of the 80's romantic classic "An Autumn's Tale", starring Chow Yun-Fat and Cherie Chung, and the historical epics "The Soong Sisters" and "City of Glass", will direct a romantic film for Media Asia Studio. The film is likely to star Shu Qi ("City of Glass", "The Stormriders") and Daniel Wu ("Gen-X Cops", "Purple Storm") as the leading couple. The screenplay is again being written by Mabel Cheung and her husband.

- As mentioned last week, Chilam Cheung has just signed three more movies (besides "Chaos of Comics") with TVB. One of them will be "Ultimate Love Thief (literal title)". The film will be directed by Clarence Fok ("Naked Killer", "Century of Dragon") and Cheung will play the titular role in the movie. It also co-stars seven beautiful actresses, including Kelly Lin ("Conman in Vegas"), Shu Qi, Sandra Ng and Rachel An (the upcoming "Gen-Y Cops"). Each of the seven actresses will develop a romantic relationship with Cheung in the film.

- Stanley Tong's comeback actioner "CHINA STRIKE FORCE" is about to wrap up in a month. Here are three stills from the sets of the film (thanks to Eastweek Magazine):

Aaron Kwok in ....MI2?:

Norika Fujiwara in action:

Norika Fujiwara in action, again:

- Last week at the HKBO, "The Cell" debuted at no.1, "Road Trip" debuted at no.2 and "Time & Tide" dropped to no.3. A local film titled "Roaling Wheels", based on the life of a racer nicknamed "The God of Racer", landed at no.4. The film stars Dave Wong ("A War named Desire"), Karen Morris ("Fallen Angels") and Maggie Siu ("The Longest Nite"). Meanwhile, "In the Mood for Love" is still benefiting from strong word-of-mouth influence and only slipped one spot to no.5.

JAPAN

"Pigmon" was able to attend the Tokyo Film Fest this past weekend and he has news on "The 6th Day" and much more:

The 13th Tokyo International Film Festival has just commenced!! At the opening ceremony, everybody was surprised by the mayor of Tokyo (3-time film director, Shintaro Ishihara)'s speech. He announced that media from all over the world would have its first film office in Tokyo, which will be called the "Tokyo Location Box". The mayor realized that Tokyo needs advertising and more profits to the city from foreign film production (Hollywood movies).He confirmed the co-operation from the chief of Tokyo's Metropolitan Police. Mr. Ishihara concluded that "We will now allow studios to shoot scenes on our streets. Back in 1988, Ridley Scott shot Black Rain in Osaka because he did not get any permission to shoot on the streets of Tokyo nor any co-operation from the Tokyo city office.

Following a boring opening ceremony, we started the film festival with a special screening of "The 6th Day". Before the film started, Arnold Schwarznegger and director Roger Spottiswoode appeared on the stage with a warm welcome from the audience. Arnold told to the audience,"I told you last year, I'll be back, so I come back!" (He was here for "End of Days" last year.) Arnold wore a dark suit and tie (just like Tokyo businessmen). He said that he really enjoyed acting but also enjoyed the producing aspects of filmmaking. Roger Spottiswoode pointed out that the reason he chose to direct this film was that it is good time to make a movie about genetic cloning and the events in the film will probably occur (in real life) in the near future. Ryoko Tamura, a gold medallist at this year's Olympics appeared on the stage to present flowers to Arnold and Roger. Arnold is big fan of hers and watched her brilliant performance at the Olympics. Tamura is the most famous and popular athlete in Japan.

Well about the film, I feel that Arnold is FINALLY back!! This film is much better than last year's "End of Days". In the near future, human cloning is prohibited and only pets are allowed to be cloned by an organization called Repet. But Adam (Arnold) gets cloned one day when goes to inquire about Repet's services. Eventually he finds out that his clone is taking over his life which causes all kinds of chaos and mayhem until the startling climax. Arnold is very convincing in the role of Adam, especially during the last half hour when he has to play 2 roles! There is also a WICKED helicopter that has to be seen!! Most of the audience enjoyed the film. "The 6th Day" will be another big hit for Arnold (at least in Japan).

The Official competition began following "The 6th Day" . The first film screened was the Turkish production "Run For Money". Prior to this film, I thought that Turkish movies were overly religious and featured poor cinematography. I was totally wrong! The director, Reha Erdem, is extremely talented. The film was about an honest guy who runs a clothing store in Istanbul. His life changes drastically when he finds a huge sum of money that has been left in a taxi by a bank robber. First he hesitates to use the money but later on starts using the money for a luxurious life.

I saw another 3 films at the festival. The first of these films was "The King is Alive" by Kristian Levning. The is the 4th film in the Dogme 95 series, and is so far my favourite at the festival. It's about 11 passengers on board a bus which breaks down in a desert, near an abandoned village. Despite any hope of rescue, the passngers start a performance of King Lear in order to pass the time. There is no food or water, and soon the passengers start lashing out at each other. The strong performance from Jennifer Jason Leigh cannot be missed.

"Janice Beard 45 WPM", directed by Clare Kilner of Great Britain, is another good film. This film hasn't been shown in USA yet, but executives are already trying to make a TV pilot spinoff. The film is another "Working Girl", English style. Eileen Walsh plays the titular role and I predict that she will be a great actress soon.

"One More Day", directed by Babak Payami, is one of the lower quality films at the festival. I usually enjoy Iranian films but this is not a good one. The film starts off at a bus stop in Tehran, where a man and a woman look at each other every morning, without ever saying a word. They face each other from different sides of the vehicle, where the seats are segregated by gender. The story was extremely slow to develop and many people fell asleep at the screening.

Now here's this week's news.

- "Kamikaze Taxi"'s director, Masato Harada, will be shooting "Bistrolero" a Korean-Japanese co-production. It is an action-oriented futuristic film, set in Tokyo. Pusan will double for Tokyo and the shooting will start sometime next spring.

- Norika Fujiwara, a popular Japanese actress, is now working in a US-HK co-production titled "China Strike Force" (See the China/HK section for some images from the film - D25). She recently participated in a dangerous stunt in which she had to hang from a thin glass plate, 172 metres off the ground! This film will be out by Christmas in Southeast Asia and will be released in China and Japan sometime next spring.

- It is now official - Ken Takakura will be appearing in "Hotaru (Light Bug)" for Toei. This will be his first film since starring in 1999's biggest hit, "Poppoya (Railroad Man)". The film will be shot in Japan and Korea and will start principal photography in December.

That's about it for this week. That was quite long, wasn't it J Anyway, make sure to send us any info you may have at atshrivas@home.com. See you all next week.

- Darius25