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Bollywood
Shah Rukh Khan-Atlee’s action thriller ‘Jawan’ postponed, to release on this date
Vidya Balan’s ‘Neeyat’ get a release date
Deepika Padukone appears on cover of TIME magazine
Gucci names Alia Bhatt as first global brand ambassador from India
Pankaj Tripathi starts filming for ‘Main Atal Hoon’
Janhvi Kapoor to play imperilled IFS officer in thriller ‘Ulajh’
Hansal Mehta’s web series ‘Scoop’ to release on June 2
Adah Sharma to play cop in Shreyas Talpade’s ‘The Game of Girgit’
Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions enters partnership with Guneet Monga Kapoor’s Sikhya Entertainment
Cricketer Shubman Gill to lend voice for ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’
Hollywood
US President Joe Biden calls for ‘fair deal’ for striking Hollywood writers
‘Stranger Things’ final season shoot delayed due to Writers Guild of America strike
WGA strike freezes ‘Game of Thrones’ spinoff as George R.R. Martin lends ‘unequivocal’ support to the writers
Sundance Film Festival 2024 to be held from January 18-28
Mammoth action movie led by Henry Cavill, Jake Gyllenhaal to open at Cannes
Johnny Depp to direct ‘Modi’ biopic; Al Pacino in cast
Elisabeth Moss, Kate Hudson to headline Max Minghella’s ‘Shell’
Andrew Garfield, Daisy Edgar-Jones to star in Sebastian Lelio’s ‘Voyagers’
Tom Hiddleston, Mark Hamill to star in film adaptation of Stephen King’s ‘The Life of Chuck’
Pedro Pascal to star in ‘Weapons’, helmed by ‘Barbarian’ filmmaker
Nicolas Cage, Bill Skarsgard to star in ‘Lord of War’ sequel
Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis to reunite for ‘Freaky Friday’ sequel
John Krasinski’s ‘Jack Ryan’ to return with fourth and final season in June
Emma Roberts to headline comedy ‘Hot Mess’
Kerry Condon joins Brad Pitt in upcoming Formula One racing film
Regional cinema
Rajinikanth’s first look as Moideen Bhai in ‘Laal Salaam’ out
Vadivelu lends voice for a song in AR Rahman-Mari Selvaraj’s ‘Maamannan’
Mammootty begins filming for new movie ‘Bazooka’
Arjun Rampal to make Telugu debut with Nandamuri Balakrishna’s next film
Meera Jasmine joins Madhavan, Nayanthara for S Sashikanth’s sports drama ‘Test’
Jayasurya, Nivetha Thomas, Kunchako Boban-starrer ‘Enthada Saji’ drops on Amazon Prime Video
Hiphop Adhi’s superhero film ‘Veeran’ to release on June 2
World cinema
Cannes Film Festival to pay tribute to iconic director Jean-Luc-Godard
‘War Zone: Bear Grylls Meets President Zelenskyy’ to premiere on Discovery and Discovery+ on 15 May
Makoto Shinkai Film Festival announced in India; ‘Suzume’, ‘Weathering With You’ and more to be screened
Crunchyroll acquires BTS animated show ‘Bastions’
Trailers
Prabhas battles for righteousness in ‘Ramayana’ retelling in ‘Adipurush’ trailer
Trailer of Tom Holland’s murder mystery series ‘The Crowded Room’ out
Prime Video unveils trailer of Thiagarajan Kumararaja’s ‘Modern Love Chennai’, a Tamil anthology of love stories
Willem Dafoe resurrects Emma Stone in trailer of Yorgos Lanthimos’ next feature ‘Poor Things’
Rahul Bhatt goes on a rampage in teaser of Anurag Kashyap’s film ‘Kennedy’
‘Never Have I Ever’ season 4 trailer promises an exciting goodbye to the travails of high school
Manoj Bajpayee fights a powerful godman in this courtroom drama in trailer of ‘Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai’
New in streaming
Coming to Netflix in May: Historical drama Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, action drama The Mother, seventh season of reality show Queer Eye, and more
New on Disney+ Hotstar in May: American documentary miniseries Rennervations, action comedy series American Born Chinese, and more
Coming to Apple TV+: Seth Rogan’s comedy series Platonic, Amanda Seyfried and Tom Holland’s gripping limited series The Crowded Room, and more
New on Amazon Prime Video this week: Ben Affleck’s biographical sports drama AIR, Sonakshi Sinha’s thriller web series Dahaad and more
New K-dramas to watch: Third season of Dr Romantic, romantic-comedy True to Love, dystopian web series Black Knight and more
Essential reading
1) Ben Affleck and Matt Damon on ‘AIR’ and the art of staying best friends for 40 years
>> The Hollywood hotshots discuss their new sports drama, their new company Artists Equity, and their enduring bromance
2) Sonakshi Sinha and Vijay Varma on their ‘jugalbandhi’ in ‘Dahaad’
>> They discuss playing off each other in this crime thriller series about murders and misogyny in small-town Rajasthan
3) Filmmaker Léa Mysius on the sensual nature of ‘The Five Devils’ and the signature silences of her male characters
>> The director also talks about the conception of the thriller and her cinematic influences
4) Aishwarya Rajesh on ‘Farhana’, the under-representation of Muslims in films and the changing scenario
>> She also speaks about how she prepared for her role and why women-fronted films deserve some breathing space
5) Director Prasanth Varma: I sought Rajamouli’s advice for ‘Hanu-Man’
>> He also shares why he prefers to make his kind of films than wait for stars and the ease with which he shifts between genres
6) Do you love cinema? Visit the AVM Heritage Museum in Chennai
>> From Rajinikanth’s Sivaji statue to MGR’s car, cinema history comes alive at AVM’s Heritage Museum in Chennai
7) Director Rahul Sankrityan: The rural culture in Rayalaseema has not been explored
>> Now working on a film set in Rayalseema, he reflects on his journey and why he doesn’t settle for normal narratives
8) Habitat Film Festival: A pigeon, a cat and a pond full of memories
>> Three indie filmmakers address serious issues with a light touch at the ongoing 15th Habitat Film Festival in Delhi
9) Malayalam director Aniesh Upaasana: Making ‘Janaki Jaane’ has been a satisfying experience as a filmmaker
>> The director speaks about her “fun-filled conventional family drama,” starring Navya Nair and Saiju Kurup
10) Malayalam actor Lukman Avaran: Each film is an opportunity to understand what more I can do as an actor
>> Making his mark as a bankable actor, he looks back at his journey and speaks about his next film ‘Corona Jawan’
What to watch
1) ‘Good Night’ is a lovely slice-of-life drama with a spectacular Manikandan
2) Ben Affleck shoots Matt Damon into MVP territory in ‘Air’
3) Venkat Prabhu’s mix of conflict and humour works for this Naga Chaitanya, Arvind Swami actioner ‘Custody’
4) Sonakshi Sinha leads a sensitive procedural, ‘Dahaad’
5) Priyanka Chopra-Sam Heughan syrupy romance ‘Love Again’ works in parts
6) ‘IB 71’ movie review: Vidyut Jammwal fails to charge up ‘IB 71’, a ham-fisted exercise
6) Documentary film ‘Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie’ is a sincere portrait of the ‘Back to the Future’ star
7) V.V. Vinayak, Bellamkonda Sreenivas deliver a stale remake of S.S. Rajamouli’s raging hit, ‘Chatrapathi’
8) Aishwarya Rajesh pillars ‘Farhana,’ an intriguing drama on empowerment and freedom of choice
9) Shanthnu shines in an otherwise middling affair, ‘Raavana Kottam’
10) Navya Nair’s film ‘Janaki Jaane’ fails to utilise its interesting premise
11) Léa Mysius takes a whiff at queer relationships and existentialism in ‘The Five Devils’, a thrilling fantasy drama
12) Navdeep embraces the grey shades in ‘Newsense,’ a gritty tale
13) In ‘The Mother’, Jennifer Lopez rocks a taut actioner
14) Malayalam movie ‘Neymar’ is a comedy that calls for more depth
15) ‘City on Fire’ is a middling adaptation of Garth Hallberg’s murder mystery featuring a capable ensemble
16) Amateurish filmmaking sabotages a hearty tale in ‘Siruvan Samuel’
17) ‘Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story’ is wonderfully-bingeable prequel from Shonda Rhimes
18) Anil Kapoor is the saving grace in Jeremy Renner’s middling docuseries ‘Rennervations’
19) Gopichand’s masala entertainer ‘Ramabanam’ miserably fails to build on an intriguing story
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