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Around Tinsel Town
Rajinkanth’s ‘Coolie’ makers in trouble as Ilaiyaraaja issues legal notice
Ace composer Ilaiyaraaja issued a legal notice to Sun Pictures over the allegedly illegal use of the song ‘Vaa Vaa Pakkam Vaa’ from the 1983 film ‘Thanga Magan’ in their upcoming Rajinikanth-starrer ‘Coolie’. The notice states the use of the song as an intentional breach of the composer’s rights. It demands Sun Pictures to either obtain consent from Ilaiyaraaja or to remove the track from ‘Coolie’.
Bollywood
‘Harry Potter’ star Tom Felton boards Hansal Mehta’s ‘Gandhi’ series
Sidhant Gupta, Chirag Vohra and Rajendra Chawla starring in ‘Freedom at Midnight’
New York Indian Film Festival to celebrate Shabana Azmi’s 50 years in cinema
‘Panchayat’ season three to come out on Prime Video on May 28
Ajay Devgn, Tabu’s ‘Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha’ gets new release date
‘Khel Khel Mein’, fronted by Akshay Kumar and Taapsee Pannu, sets release date
‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’, ‘Maidaan’ box office debacle impacts exhibition sector
Aftab Shivdasani joins Akshay Kumar in ‘Welcome to the Jungle’
Akshay Oberoi boards ‘Sunny Sanskari Ki Tulsi Kumari’
Hollywood
Aaron Sorkin working on new Facebook movie tied to January 6 riots
Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein hospitalised
‘All Of Us Strangers’ director Andrew Haigh to helm Leonardo da Vinci biopic
Anthony Hopkins to play composer George Frideric Handel in ‘The King of Covent Garden’
Emma Stone, Nathan Fielder set to reteam for chess drama ‘Checkmate’
Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks to star in Prime Video’s ‘The Better Sister’ series
Kristen Stewart, Oscar Isaac head vampire thriller, ‘Flesh of the Gods’
‘Now You See Me 3’ adds Rosamund Pike to cast
Wagner Moura set to lead political thriller ‘The Secret Agent’
Alexander Payne directing documentary about ‘finest film professor in the world’
Dan Schneider sues ‘Quiet On Set’ producers over defamation allegations amid child sex abuse controversy
Carla Gugino to play Hollywood icon Vivien Leigh in biopic ‘The Florist’
‘Scooby-Doo’ live-action series in development at Netflix
Gerard Butler’s ‘Greenland’ sequel begins filming
Regional Cinema
‘Kalki 2898 AD’, starring Prabhas, gets release date
Allu Arjun returns with swag in first single from ‘Pushpa 2’
‘Baahubali: Crown of Blood’ series to release on May 17
Anupama Parameswaran’s film with ‘Cinema Bandi’ director titled ‘Paradha’
Malayalam blockbuster ‘Manjummel Boys’ locks streaming date on Disney+ Hotstar
It’s a wrap for Keerthy Suresh’s ‘Revolver Rita’
Vijay Kumar’s ‘Election with ‘Seththumaan’ director gets a release date
Arun Vijay’s ‘Retta Thala’ goes on floors
Puneeth Rajkumar’s ‘Anjani Putra’ set for re-release
Fahadh Faasil and Kalyani Priyadarshan’s ‘Odum Kuthira Chadum Kuthira’ goes on floors
World Cinema
2024 Cannes competition jury revealed: Lily Gladstone, Eva Green join Greta Gerwig
Messi, the dog in ‘Anatomy of a Fall’, is getting a show
Korean horror blockbuster ‘Exhuma’ to hit Indian screens
‘The Boy & the Heron’ gets an official release date in India
Francis Ford Coppola releases first still of Cannes-bound ‘Megalopolis’
New K-dramas to watch in May: ‘The Atypical Family’, ‘Uncle Samsik’, ‘Crash’
‘Talk To Me’ directors tap Sally Hawkins for new horror ‘Bring Her Back’
‘Asterix and Obelix’ live-action adventure greenlit by Studiocanal
New ‘Evil Dead’ movie in the works from Francis Galluppi
Trailers
Epic first look at Mufasa prequel story in ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’ trailer
Kate Winslet plays World War II photographer Lee Miller in ‘Lee’ trailer
Jake Gyllenhaal leads Apple TV’s crime-thriller in ‘Presumed Innocent’ teaser
Benedict Cumberbatch is a puppeteer father in ‘Eric’ trailer
Kavin is a star in the making in director Elan’s sophomore effort, ‘Star’
Tovino Thomas plays an “insensitive, self-occupied” Malayalam superstar in ‘Nadikar’ trailer
A heartwarming slice-of-life drama in ‘Kurangu Pedal’ trailer
Netflix promises gripping biopic on Formula One legend in ‘Senna’ teaser
Pawan Kalyan is a saviour of the oppressed in ‘Hari Hara Veera Mallu’ Part 1 teaser
Essential reading
1) Radu Jude, actor Ilinca Manolache discuss ‘Do Not Expect Too Much From The End of the World’
>> The Romanian director and his star Ilinca Manolache talk us through Romania’s submission at the 96th Oscars
2) Santosh Sivan on receiving this year’s Pierre Angénieux Tribute at Cannes Film Festival
>> The cinematographer-filmmaker says his connection to India trumps any desire to shift base to Hollywood
3) Sundar C on ‘Aranmanai 4’: ‘Commercial filmmakers should be prepared for negative reviews’
>> The veteran director and reluctant actor discusses the horror-comedy genre and more
4) Explained: What led a New York court to overturn Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction?
>> A New York appeals court has ordered a new trial in the landmark case. What are the implications of the ruling?
5) Director Dijo Jose Antony on his new political satire ‘Malayalee from India’
>> How Nivin’s character Gopi’s worldview changes when he is forced to step out of his village
6) Explained: The delay behind star-driven Kannada films
>> Theatre owners and fans are frustrated about the prolonged absence of Kannada stars
7) The craft and claustrophobia of Atul Sabharwal’s ‘Berlin’
>> Director Atul Sabharwal and team discuss their moody spy thriller set in the intelligence circles of Delhi
8) Meet Hemant Chaturvedi, who quit Bollywood to document old cinema halls across India
>> The former Bollywood cinematographer’s journey of documenting single-screens across the country
9) What are the behavioural patterns of fans of Tamil movie stars on social media?
>> The digital expressions of fans have illuminated a compelling dialogue between film and politics
10) Director Kamalakannan talks about making Sivakarthikeyan-backed ‘Kurangu Pedal’
>> How the filmmaker’s childhood fascination with bicycles led to this tender feature
11) WaConne AniFest 2.0 unveils anime VTubing avatars voiced by Indian voice actors
>> The iconic Indian voices behind ‘Doraemon’, ‘Shin Chan’ and ‘Ben 10’ convened at an anime event in Delhi
What to watch
1) Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Heeramandi’ is a dazzling soap opera
2) Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt shine in sweet ‘The Fall Guy’
3) Tamannaah anchors the best film of the franchise in ‘Aranmanai 4’
4) An incisive X-ray of the news business in ‘The Broken News’ Season 2
5) Hari attempts to reinvent himself in outdated Vishal-starrer ‘Rathnam’
6) ‘Dead Boy Detectives’, a new ‘Sandman’ spin-off, is boundless fun
7) Subtlety in short supply in Nivin Pauly’s ‘Malayalee from India’
Read the full review here
8) Anne Hathaway elevates ‘The Idea of You’
9) David Dastamalchian steals the spotlight in ‘Late Night with the Devil’
10) Gripping Black horror sequel ‘Them: The Scare’ needed more thrills
11) Tovino Thomas stars in a flatly-written ‘Nadikar’