Welcome to First Day First Show , a free weekly newsletter from The Hindu that keeps you updated on all the major developments in cinema from across the world. Check out our curated list of breaking stories from the world of movies, interviews, reviews, opinions, watching lists, and recommendations from our film writers and critics — that will help you tide over the lockdown — and prepare you for what to binge next week!
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Around Tinsel Town
Documentaries about the creators of Sesame Street and the coronavirus pandemic in China are among the 72 feature films debuting at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival next January.
Filmmaker Ajitpal Singh’s “Fire in the Mountains” and director duo Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s “Writing with Fire” are the two Indian films to have been selected for the prestigious festival.
The year-ender trends are-a-coming! Rapper Badshah’s “Genda Phool” starring Jacqueline Fernandez, was the most watched music video of the year , and YouTuber Ajay Nagar, popularly known as CarryMinati , the top creator of 2020, YouTube India announced.
Twitter India has revealed that 2020 marks a hattrick year for actor Vijay, as Master occupied first place on the most-tweeted about movies list, after Bigil and Sarkar in previous years.
Himanshi Khurana, Thaman S and Armaan Malik topped conversation charts this year on Twitter as the most-mentioned Indian music artists this year.
South Korean director Kim Ki-duk , who won the top award at the Venice Film Festival in 2012 but later faced allegations at home of trying to force an actress into shooting off-script sexual scenes while making another movie, died earlier last week.
Meanwhile, Abhirami Bose, hailing from Puducherry, has won the Best Actor Feature (Female) at the Global Indian Film Festival 2020, Jaipur, for her role in Marathi feature film Ratricha Paus (Nocturnal Rain).
In Bollywood , Vikrant Massey is set to headline the Hindi remake of the Malayalam film, Forensic . The thriller will feature the actor play the role portrayed by Tovino Thomas in the original.
Saif Ali Khan’s Amazon Prime show “Tandav” will release on January 15, 2021. Created and directed by Ali Abbas Zafar, the nine-part political drama also features Dimple Kapadia.
Director Abhishek Chaubey will be tackling the biopic on legendary hockey player Major Dhyan Chand for Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP Movies.
Meanwhile, Kuberan’s House , a reality television show featuring Sonu Sood , hopes to bridge the gap between aspiring entrepreneurs and investors.
In Hollywood , Tom Cruise took certain crew members of “Mission: Impossible 7” to task after he saw them breaking COVID-19 guidelines on the film’s set in London.
English actor Jeremy Bulloch, who played bounty hunter Boba Fett in George Lucas’ original “Star Wars” trilogy, has died.
Chris Pine is in talks to play the lead role in Paramount Pictures’ feature adaption of popular fantasy role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons.
British musician FKA Twigs filed a lawsuit against actor Shia LaBeouf , accusing him of physical and emotional abuse during their relationship. This was followed by singer Sia claiming that LaBeouf is a pathological liar who tricked her into an adulterous relationship.
Frances McDormand will star in and produce the upcoming adaptation of author Miriam Toews’ bestselling novel Women Talking.
Julia Roberts has set Apple series “The Last Thing He Told Me” as her next acting project. The actor, who previously fronted Amazon’s “Homecoming” season one, will also produce the show.
When it comes to regional cinema , Dhanush is set to join the cast of Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans-starrer The Gray Man, directed by the Russo brothers.
Debutant Malayalam director Sarath G Mohan says ‘Karnan Napoleon Bhagat Singh’ , which is eyeing for a theatrical release, moves forward through the perspective of a young man gearing up to become a cop.
Filmmaker Mohan Raja will helm the Tollywood remake of ‘Lucifer’ with Chiranjeevi in the lead role.
Essential reading
1) How can the holiday season be complete without a binge-watch of some feel-good Christmas classics , new and old? Here are all the recommendations you need, from Love Actually to Happiest Season !
>> Check out our list of best Christmas movies to watch to bring in the end of 2020 here
2) Chilean actor Pedro Pascal discusses portraying the magnetic Maxwell Lord in ‘WW84’, and why the superhero film embraces the good and bad sides of ‘80s America.
>> The Mandalorian star talks about working with Gal Gadot, and playing a megalomaniac super-villain here
3) As they gear up for the festive season, from recreating butter chicken with tofu for Ranbir Kapoor to making Rajinikanth’s favourite payasam, celebrity chefs talk about curated menus and signature dishes.
>> Personal chefs to the stars narrate what it is like to cook for the A-listers here
4) Actor, performer and singer-songwriter Jamie Foxx takes stock of 2020, and talks about his latestPixar film Soul in which he voice-stars as a jazz musician along with Tina Fey.
>> Check out the interview with the Hollywood showman on how he handles being a multi-hyphenate here
5) The lead cast of Black Widows — Swastika Mukherjee, Shamita Shetty and Mona Singh — discuss the importance of playing less vulnerable women on screen.
>> Read about the actors discussing the Hindi adaptation of the hit Finnish original series here
6) Sarah Megan Thomas and Radhika Apte chat about what ‘A Call to Spy’ has taught them, and how the world of women spies is still untapped.
>> The two actors speak about their recent espionage film, and why stories of women in war are important here
7) Actor Pankaj Tripathi on reprising the role of lawyer Madhav Mishra in ‘Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors’.
>> The Bollywood actor talks about why portrayal of common man roles are close to his heart here
New in Streaming
New on Netflix is Anurag Kashyap and Anil Kapoor battling it out in AK vs AK , George Clooney’s sci-fi quest comes to the fore in The Midnight Sky and new British period drama Bridgerton.
Amazon Prime brings Hindi anthology Unpaused featuring stories about new beginnings, Jeremy Clarkson’s new adventure in season 4 of The Grand Tour and thriller film Most Wanted.
We have linked detailed lists of the new arrivals on the streaming platforms later in this mail.
What to watch this week
1) Pixar's Soul is madcap in bursts and whimsical occasionally, but at the heart of it, is an incredibly emotional story told with the deftest of touches, passing on a striking message to adults more than kids.
Read the full review here
2) Julia Hart’s movie I'm Your Woman , starring Rachel Brosnahan is a slow-burn thriller with the tension building smoothly to fever pitch.
Read the full review here
3) The new adaptation of Stephen King's 1978 classic The Stand is confusing in bits, but powerful performances by its star-studded cast keep the show afloat.
Read the full review here
4) Unlike Ryan Murphy’s shiny but meaningless ‘Hollywood’, The Prom on Netflix has glitter, gloss, song and a wildly-beating sequinned heart.
Read the full review here
5) Bryan Cranston's new show Your Honor might be similar to Breaking Bad in its premise, but this new crime drama from Peter Moffat gets a little lost in an over-elaborate plot and too many characters.
Read the full review here
6) Durgamati - The Myth is an overdose of cliched horror movie tropes thrown into a cauldron of bubbling self-righteous angst of its central characters.
Read the full review here
Trailer of the week
Nomadland, directed by Chloe Zhao, already touted as a major Oscar contender next year, has released its first trailer. The film stars stars Frances McDormand as Fern, a woman dealing with the death of her husband and the economic crisis, who takes to travelling across the United States in a van, searching for jobs to keep her afloat. The film also stars David Strathairn and Peter Spears.
Watch the full trailer here
Thank you for reading!
You can read these stories and more at https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/movies/ .
Stay informed, stay safe, and see you next week!
