Lyricist Bichu Thirumala has passed away from cardiac arrest at 80 years of age. He was prolific as a lyricist in Malayalam mainstream cinema from the 1970s till the 1990s, penning around 3,000 film songs as well as several devotional songs.
Earlier this week, actor-politician Kamal Haasan revealed he tested positive for COVID-19 , and reminded his followers “the COVID-19 pandemic is not over yet.”
Spotify introduced a new hub where fans can listen to all the official soundtracks , playlists and podcasts related to Netflix's shows.
NBCUniversal has announced the India launch of DreamWorks and an E! Entertainment branded zone, bringing IPs such as “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” and “Trolls” to Jio subscribers.
Bollywood
Slated to release on Disney+Hotstar on December 24, “Atrangi Re” stars Sara Ali Khan as a young woman whose love story is told between two timelines that see her with different partners played by Dhanush and Akshay Kumar.
Hindi film “Aankh Micholi” starring Abhimanyu, Mrunal Thakur and Paresh Rawal will have a theatrical release in summer 2022
Actor Kay Kay Menon is currently revelling in the praise for his nuanced portrayal of RAW agent Himmat Singh in espionage-thriller series “Special Ops 1.5: The Himmat Story".
Ahead of the release of Hindi film “Antim: The Final Truth”, actor Salman Khan talks about how the next generation of actors must do a lot of hard work to attain stardom in India’s cinema industry
Hollywood
Samantha Prabhu forays into Hollywood with her first English-language feature film “Arrangements of Love”, in which she will portray a bisexual Tamil detective.
Actor-producer Priyanka Chopra Jonas has shared an official poster for her role in upcoming Keanu Reeves-starrer “The Matrix Resurrections ” but no further details about the character have been revealed.
Having officially joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe, musician-actor Harry Styles is set to portray Eros who is supervillain Thanos’ brother and the Royal Prince of Titan.
Academy Award-winning actor Eddie Redmayne agrees that Danish painter Lili Elbe, one of the early recipients of sex reassignment surgery, should have been portrayed by a trans actress in “The Danish Girl”.
Regional Cinema
“ Michael”, directed by Ranjit Jeyakodi and starring Sundeep Kishan and Vijay Sethupathi, will star director Gautham Menon as the antagonist.
Actor Pragya Jaiswal talks about being part of director Boyapati Srinu and actor Nandamuri Balakrishna’s action entertainer “Akhanda”.
How Malayalam animated short film “Kandittund” from studio Eeksaurus gives life to some ghouls of Malayalam folklore.
Fans are finding new meaning in late Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar’s song ‘Bombe Helitaithe’ from 2017 film “Raajakumara”.
Essential Reading
1. Abhishek Bachchan discusses playing a ‘soft’ assassin in ‘Bob Biswas’, the upcoming spin-off on ‘Kahaani’, and why, as an actor, his thought process has changed.
2. Why ‘Kadaseela Biriyani’ pays a hat tip to both Lijo Jose Pellissery and Thiagarajan Kumararaja.
Mohanlal plays the titular role of Kunjali Marakkar in Priyadarsan’s ‘Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham’
3. Director Priyadarsan talks about the making of Malayalam cinema’s costliest film, ‘Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham’.
4. Ahead of ‘Mariah’s Christmas: The Magic Continues’ (December 3), Mariah Carey reinvents her festive form with a Khalid and Kirk Franklin collaboration, and a 30-kilogram Dolce & Gabbana gown.
5. French filmmaker Leos Carax talks about the wooden baby in his melancholic musical, ‘Annette’ and why he finds Guru Dutt’s ‘Pyaasa’ and ‘Kaagaz Ke Phool’ inspiring.
Simbu
6. Starring in ‘Maanaadu’, Simbu discusses his physical-mental transformation and why he has evolved both as an actor and person.
7. The title winner of ‘MasterChef India — Tamil’, Devaki Vijayaraman, talks about how the cooking reality show helped her find her feet in the culinary world.
8. As ‘House Of Gucci’ releases in international theatres, we look at what it takes for filmmakers to pull off a successful fashion biopic.
9. Cop movies are now all about ‘rogue’ cops who take on the system, whether it’s Singham or Simmba.
What to watch
Written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and scored by Germaine Franco, the music of Encanto is a glorious takeaway from this heart-warming exercise.
Director Vasanth S Sai’s powerful anthology Sivaranjiniyum Innum Sila Pengalum delves deep into the minds of women across three time periods.
Despite being soaked in blood and tears, the cases of injustice in John Abraham-starrer Satyamev Jayate 2 have been so mechanically handled that they fail to evoke any empathy for the characters.
In Spencer , Kristen Stewart creates a fragile and human Diana that goes beyond the glittering gowns and the blonde bangs.
The disturbing thoughts swim in the conscience as one could clearly hear the sound of social implosion in Ram Madhvani’s compelling thriller Dhamaka , lined with commentary on media ethics.
Malayalam film Kaaval happens to be a pale shadow, with a sombre, depressing mood all through, which is peppered with a few ‘mass’ scenes to satisfy Suresh Gopi's fans.
Telugu film Anubhavinchu Raja directed by Srinivas Gavireddy and starring Raj Tarun has a sliver of a story and a messy screenplay, making it an ordeal to sit through.
In ‘Bunty Aur Babli 2 ’ scenes are mounted like skits where the young and senior con artists are introduced in a new set of guises after every few minutes
Review of the week
Filmmaker Venkat Prabhu takes a mainstream Hollywood trope and converts it into a work of ‘masala’ cinema. The result? We get a thrilling film in Maanaadu.
Now streaming
New on Disney+ Hotstar in November : Marvel's Hawkeye returns with his own show, Peter Jackson's The Beatles Get Back docu-series kick off.
Trailer of the week
Warners Bros. Animation’s DC League of Super-Pets starring Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart and John Krasinski, follows the crime-fighting adventures of Superman’s loyal dog, Krypto, and his friends.
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