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| Joaquin Phoenix: Busy bee |
Being better known as the younger sibling of a famous actor and then dragged into the spotlight for making the emergency call while his brother lay dying is guaranteed to haunt him for as long as he lives. But only the most talented can rise like a Phoenix from the ashes and build a career that?s made him an international star.
Joaquin Raphael Phoenix stood out from the brood of five not just in name (the others were called River, Rain Joan of Arc, Liberty Butterfly and Summer Joy), but also in fame. The third among two sons and three daughters of hippie missionary parents, Joaquin took the name Leaf for a while and followed in brother River?s acting footsteps.
The disappearing act is something the Puerto Rico-born actor has been doing since childhood. When his parents split up, he spent time in Mexico with his father, only to be back in LA a while later. On October 31, 1993, when River died of a drug overdose outside the club The Viper Room, he was there watching his brother die. The 911 call Joaquin made got undue airtime on radio and TV, and he disappeared again.
But he was back To Die For Nicole Kidman in 1995, and has since played more than one unusual role on the silver screen. Some were big hits, others didn?t really taste box-office success, but the star who turns 30 on October 28 has made quite a name for himself. With Manoj Night Shyamalan in Signs and The Village, with Russell Crowe in The Gladiator, with Nicholas Cage in 8mm, with Michael Caine and Geoffrey Rush in Quills and now with John Travolta in Ladder 49, showing in theatres.
And there?s plenty of substance behind those dark eyes. Joaquin went through training in a Baltimore fire academy and then rode with the firemen of Truck 10 of the Baltimore fire department to get into the part of a firefighter for Ladder 49. He is now working on Walking the Line, an account of country singer Johnny Cash?s life, to be released next year.
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| Perizaad and Shabana: Having the cake and eating it too... |
Morning ragas do not necessarily sound all that bad at night, but the Friday promotional do at Someplace Else for Mahesh Dattani?s new film wasn?t all that musical. Perhaps, promoting a fusion Carnatic music at a pub on Navami night wasn?t that great an idea in the first place. While the director couldn?t make it, leading ladies Shabana Azmi, Perizaad Zorabian and first-time actor Prakash Rao were there to talk about and even sing the Morning Raga numbers.
The stars took the stage quite late on Friday and by then the spirits had risen too high for croon comfort. After an extended audio-visual teaser from the film, Shabana, Perizaad and Prakash loosened their vocal chords as they sang along with a couple of tracks from the film. Essentially fusion, the songs blended two worlds of music just like the film, which ?brings together two worlds?.
Both Shabana and Perizaad had learnt the nuances of Carnatic singing from friend Ranjini who is also doing a small cameo in the film.
The real surprise of the night, though, was the special cake that came in for Perizaad whose birthday was the following day.
?It was good to celebrate the occasion amidst Morning Raga?s hectic promotion schedule, for which I have had to spend just half a day in every city,? said the pretty Jogger?s Park woman.
With the best of Bollywood coming to Bengal to do ?good cinema?, mouthing Bengali dialogues has become a serious problem. Going for the dubbed act is one option that directors have exercised. So Sreela Mazumdar became the voice of Aishwarya Binodini Rai and Rupa Ganguly lent her vocal chords to Dimple Kapadia in Ora Kara.
But now the big question is whether Sameera Reddy will mouth sweet nothings to screen husband Rahul Bose in Bengali for Buddhadeb Dasgupta?s forthcoming venture Kalpurush.
After extended talks between Dasgupta and Bipasha, things (dates, this and that?) didn?t work out between the two and the Musafir babe has all but been confirmed for the role.
While the actress is known to be picking up some Bengali for the film, in all probability her voice will be dubbed. ?I had never heard Bengali before. Now that I have heard the language, I think it sounds lovely and is very easy on the ear,? says she.
Whether Sameera?s Bengali will be easy on ours or it will go the ?bondhu? way in Devdas, time will tell?
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| Jackie Chan: Desi dare |
Apart from breaking so many bones while doing his gravity-defying stunts in so many of his films, Jackie Chan has also broken many myths. So it was no surprise when he took up the cause of the Clean Hampi drive during his recent shooting schedule for The Myth at the heritage site.
But the martial arts maverick wasn?t dished out any such favours by crazed cine fans in Karnataka who all rushed down determined to prove that madness about Mallika was no myth.
During the weekend, as many as 5,000 people turned up at Hampi and, no, they were not shouting ?Jackie? or ?Chan?. All they were saying was ?Mallikaaaaaa, Mallikaaaaaa?!
While Mallika?s brother Vikram was hurt in the mob madness, Chan seemed (un)pleasantly surprised during rush hour.
