Raima Sen: One of 10

Best of both worlds

Ringing in the New Year in front of a campfire in Kalimpong sure proved lucky for Raima Sen, who has been and will be letting off plenty of sparks all through the year. First the response to her acting skills in Sandip Ray?s Nishijapon, and now the success of Parineeta, she?s got her fingers crossed for this Friday?s release, Dus, where she plays Suniel Shetty?s wife.

?It?s not a glamorous role or a hard-hitting action-packed one. It?s just a guest appearance of sorts. But, it?s very special to me and I?m really excited about it since this is the first time I?m going to be part of a big-budget commercial film,? smiles the young actress.

After Dus, Raima starts shooting for Yagna, directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, where she insists she?ll be playing a character very different to what?s been seen of her in the past. ?The fact that Mr Chopra offered me a role in this film after evaluating my performance in Parineeta means a lot to me.? Thereafter it?s Goutam Ghosh?s Hindi film Yatra, where she plays the daughter of Deepti Naval and Nana Patekar. She?ll be working once more with Rekha there. To end the year on a Bengali note, she?s back to a relationship-oriented film with Tota Roy Chowdhury and Rahul Bose.

Fantastic Four: Comics to celluloid

Sign of four

After Batman Begins, the next comics-to-silver-screen transition set to hit theatres soon is Fantastic Four. The story is about four astronauts on a mission aboard a new experimental spacecraft when they are unexpectedly exposed to a massive dose of gamma rays giving them superpowers.

The current cast features Jessica Alba, Ioan Gruffudd, Michael Chiklis, Christopher Evans and Julian McMahon, but the movie took quite a while to make and saw many changes in cast and crew along the way.

This is not the first Fantastic Four movie. In 1994, another was made but never released because unbeknown to the cast and crew, the movie was never intended to be released. It was made only because the studio would have otherwise lost the rights to make a Fantastic Four movie, had production not started by a certain date!

Also, the upcoming movie, directed by Tim Story, had Chris Columbus, Raja Gosnell and Peyton Reed each attached as director at some point.

George Clooney and Brendan Fraser were considered for the part of Reed Richards (now Ioan Gruffudd) while Elisha Cuthbert, Julia Stiles, Kate Bosworth, Rachel McAdams, Elizabeth Banks and KaDee Strickland were all shortlisted for the role of Invisible Girl (Jessica Alba) and Tim Robbins for Dr Doom (Julian McMahon).

Fantastic Four also sees veteran comics artist and creator of the series Stan Lee play a character for the first time ? Willy Lumpkin, the quartet?s kindly old mailman ? though he has made cameo appearances in many Marvel movies.

Your film, their show

National Geographic Channel is on a hunt. For a change, it is not another open-to-all talent search headed for a grand finale with goodies on offer.

?We?re looking for bold innovative film-makers who will challenge and surprise us, changing our perception of the world around us. If you have a compelling story to tell, send us your proposal by August 15,? is what the channel has to say.

The reason for the search is that NGC will be commissioning 11 hours of original programming. ?What is most gratifying is the quality of applications has improved very much, particularly from India. I think this reflects a maturing of the relationship between NGC and the documentary production community,? Bryan Smith, executive vice-president, production, National Geographic Channel, international, told Metro.

The channel?s preferred themes are building a modern world, science and technology, wildlife, shows based on access to extraordinary places and events and provocative stories that give unique access to a particular culture.

?We are primarily looking for one-hour one-off documentaries but will also consider short series of up to three episodes,? adds Smith.