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Around Tinsel Town
>> Kristen Stewart to lead Berlin film fest jury
US actor Kristen Stewart will head up the jury in February at Berlin’s international film festival, Europe’s first major cinema showcase of the year, organisers said on Friday. The 73rd annual Berlinale, as the event is known, said the 32-year-old star of “Spencer” and the “Twilight” movies would lead the panel in selecting the winners of the Golden and Silver Bear top prizes.
>> Dhanush, Alia Bhatt top IMDB’s list of most popular Indian stars in 2022
Entertainment website IMDb announced the most popular Indian stars of 2022. According to the official report, the website determines its definitive top 10 lists based on the actual page views of the more than 200 million monthly visitors to IMDb. Dhanush is this year’s top-ranked celebrity, thanks to his multilingual successful releases such as ‘The Gray Man’ and ‘Thiruchitrambalam’. ‘Brahmastra’ star Alia Bhatt came second, while Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who had a stellar comeback in ‘Ponniyin Selvan - 1’, took the third spot.
>> Allu Arjun’s ‘Pushpa’, Vijay’s ‘Beast’ songs top YouTube India trends 2022
YouTube India announced the most popular videos and creators that viewers across the country enjoyed. There are two clear winners, as the music and video songs of the Telugu film Pushpa: The Rise and the Tamil film Beast occupy several spots in the trending videos lists.
Bollywood
Deepika Padukone to join Rohit Shetty’s cop universe with ‘Singham Again’
Dharmendra, Agastya Nanda to headline Sriram Raghavan’s ‘Ikkis’
Will come back to acting after a year, says Aamir Khan
Hrithik Roshan, Ranbir Kapoor and Akshay Kumar to attend closing ceremony of Red Sea Film Fest
Manoj Bajpayee wraps filming for Zee Studios’ courtroom drama
Prithviraj Sukumaran to play antagonist in Ali Abbas Zafar’s ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’
Rani Mukerji’s ‘Mrs Chatterjee Vs Norway’ gets a new release date
Pankaj Tripathi, Sanjana Sanghi, Parvathy Thiruvothu start shooting for untitled film
Akshay Kumar starts filming for ‘Vedat Marathe Veer Daudle Saat’
Nandita Das’ ‘Zwigato’ to have India premiere at International Film Festival of Kerala
Aditya Roy Kapur, Sara Ali and others to star in Anurag Basu’s next ‘Metro…In Dino’
Hindi version of ‘Kantara’ to stream on Netflix from December 9
Sanjay Leela Bhansali announces first music album ‘Sukoon’, to release on December 7
Hollywood
New York Film Critics Circle names ‘Tár’ best picture of the year
‘Wonder Woman 3’, ‘Man of Steel 2’ cancelled; DCEU to be revamped and recast, say reports
Michelle Yeoh named Time’s Icon of the Year
Comedian Jerrod Carmichael to host Golden Globes 2023
Emmy-winning ‘Cheers’ star Kirstie Alley dies at 71
Charlize Theron honoured at Women in Entertainment gala
‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ finally premieres 13 years after original ‘Avatar’
Celine Dion reveals she has rare neurological disorder, postpones shows
Jackie Chan says ‘Rush Hour 4’ is in works
Warner Bros sets Bong Joon Ho’s ‘Mickey7’ for March 2024 release
‘Wednesday’ becomes Netflix’s third most popular English TV-language series of all time
Reese Witherspoon, Alexander Payne reunite for ‘Election’ sequel ‘Tracy Flick Can’t Win’
Jake Gyllenhaal in talks to star in Apple TV+ series ‘Presumed Innocent’
‘The Holiday’ sequel not happening: Kate Winslet, Nancy Meyers debunk rumours
Hugh Grant joins cast of Kate Winslet-starrer limited series ‘The Palace’
‘Harry & Meghan’ documentary trailer delves into royal couple’s marriage aftermath
‘The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings of Power’ season 2 adds eight new actors to its cast
Matt Damon, Casey Affleck to star in ‘The Instigators’
Michelle Yeoh to play Madame Morrible in ‘Wicked’ movies
Gil Kenan to direct ‘Ghostbusters: Afterlife’ sequel
Daisy Ridley to lead series adaptation of murder mystery novel ‘The Christie Affair’
Regional Cinema
SS Rajamouli bags best director award at New York Film Critics Circle for ‘RRR’
Suriya drops out of director Bala’s ‘Vanangaan’
Shiva Rajkumar joins Dhanush, Arun Matheswaran’s ‘Captain Miller’
Mahesh Narayanan’s ‘Ariyippu’ to premiere December 16 on Netflix
Vetrimaaran to direct Imayam’s Sahitya Akademi-winning novel ‘Sellatha Panam’
Basil Joseph wins Best Director award at Asian Academy Creative Awards 2022 for ‘Minnal Murali’
Keerthy Suresh’s next is ‘Raghu Thatha’ with Hombale Films
27th edition of International Film Festival of Kerala kicks off in Thiruvananthapuram
Here are the people who work behind the scenes for the smooth conduct of IFFK
World Cinema
‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’, ‘Pachinko’ secure nods at Critics Choice Awards
Sundance Film Festival unveils lineup for 2023 edition: ‘Cat Person,’ ‘Bad Behaviour’ and more
New in streaming
Coming to Netflix: Anvitaa Dutt’s Qala, Randeep Hooda starrer CAT, stop-motion film Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, and more
New on Disney+ Hotstar in December: Kartik Aaryan starrer Freddy, Vicky Kaushal’s Govinda Naam Mera, reality show Moving In With Malaika, and more
New on Amazon Prime Video: Samantha starrer Yashoda, romance-comedy Forbidden Marriage, Season 4 of Doom Patrol, and more
Coming to Apple TV Plus: Season 2 of Gary Oldman-starring series Slow Horses, Julianne Moore starrer Sharper, season 4 of Servant, and more
Essential reading
1) Park Chan-wook on ‘Decision to Leave’ and the art of making sensual cinema
>> The filmmaker talks on the thematic elements of his latest, which fetched him Best Director at Cannes Film Festival
2) ‘Pushpak’ at 35: A sit down with legendary filmmaker Singeetam Srinivasa Rao
>> Legendary filmmaker Singeetam Srinivasa Rao on the making of his landmark film ‘Pushpak’
3) IFFI 2022 jury head Nadav Lapid says he would hate to be patted on the back by politicians “who praise my work”
>> The Israeli writer-director speaks his mind following the ‘The Kashmir Files’ controversy at the IFFI 2022
4) Ishaan Khatter on ‘Pippa’, his music video for FIFA World Cup 2022, and more
>> The actor also talks about how volatile the situation is in Bollywood, and how it affects him as an artist
5) Randeep Hooda: ‘CAT’ is an opportunity to portray real Sikh people
>> The actor opens up on his latest Netflix series, his working relationship with Akshay Kumar, and more
6) Actor Jiiva on Tamil movie ‘Varalaru Mukkiyam’ and completing 20 years in films
>> The actor speaks about what keeps him going in the industry and the secret behind making films for the youth
7) For ‘Faadu’ actor Saiyami Kher, it is the script and instinct above anything
>> The actor also talks about ‘Ghoomer’ with R Balki in which she plays a cricketer with disabilities
8) ‘Colour Photo’ director Sandeep Raj speaks about his next, ‘Mukhachitram’
>> Sandeep says that his second film, starring Vishwak Sen, has quite a few surprises for the audience
9) Female leads in K-Dramas: navigating between personal and professional life
>> Women’s career and ambition are not sidelined in favour of the romance and the ensuing drama in K-dramas
10) The boar of Kantara has much significance in our mythology
>> Panjurli chooses to be the wild boar, drawing attention to the tension between forest & field, nature & culture
11) Suchendra Prasad’s ‘Maavu Bevu’ celebrates music and Kannada poetry
>> The writer-director’s film is a tribute to the late composer C Ashwath, SP Balasubrahmanyam and L Vaidyanathan
12) Director Saeed Mirza: We have lost the ability to laugh at ourselves
>> The director speaks about his memoir of his friend Kundan Shah, and why a Nukkad may not work today
13) Shivendra Singh Dungarpur: ‘They said I was wasting my time’
>> The success of ‘Bachchan: Back to the Beginning’ smoothed the way for ‘Dilip Kumar: Hero Of Heroes’, says Shivendra
14) Sidhartha Siva’s ‘Aanu’ narrates the predicament of two women
>> Sajitha Madathil and Namitha Pramod speak about their film, which will be screened at the 27th IFFK
15) Yamini Ghantasala ventures into Telugu independent music with ‘Needhe Aakasam’
>> The playback singer talks about her first Telugu independent song and her brother S. Thaman’s reaction
What to watch
1) Will Smith stars in half-baked slavery-era chronicle, ‘Emancipation’
2) Taapsee Pannu shines in ‘Blurr’, a taut, gripping psychological thriller
3) ‘Naai Sekar Returns’ could have just been a playback of old Vadivelu comedy scenes
4) Shraddha Srinath, Rohini star in a powerful anti-caste film, ‘Witness’ that doesn’t pull any punches
5) ‘Gurthunda Seethakalam’ is a dull ode to life and romance
6) ‘Mukhachitram’ is far from perfect, but makes a point
7) Anthology film ‘Panchathantram’ is a potpourri and the women make it watchable
8) ‘Farha’ is a simple but affecting film on the civilian casualties of war
9) Netflix documentary ‘Sr.’ is deeply personal eulogy from Robert Downey Jr.
10) ‘Devotion’ is an all-star Jonathan Majors show all the way
11) Anvitaa Dutt’s mother-daughter tale ‘Qala’ is poignant and admirable
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