 |
| Kareena Kapoor: Two is company |
Kareena Kapoor is having an absolute ball these days. Thanks to director and producer friends in the industry, Bebo has been able to carry on romancing on the movie sets, as well. Although their first celluloid tryst, the Ken Ghosh film Fida, flopped badly, Kareena has recently signed two new movies opposite her man, Shahid Kapur, apart from the ready-for-release Milenge Milenge, directed by Satish Kaushik.
The first one, a Subhash Ghai production, has the Abbas-Mastan director duo helming a thriller with Akshaye Khanna as the third angle. Titled 36 China Town (the title has nothing to do with Aparna Sen?s directorial debut and was changed from China Town, which wasn?t available), the music of the edge-of-the-seat rollercoaster is being scored by Himesh Reshammiya.
The other Shahid-Kareena project is a UTV production with Priyadarshan as the director. The film is a comedy with Kareena playing a deaf and mute girl a la Rani Mukherjee in Black. At the launch of the film during the IIFA Awards in Amsterdam, Kareena had said: ?It?s lovely to work with Priyan. Having done Hulchul, I just completed a film (Kyunki) with him, which has Salman Khan opposite me.?
But it is, of course, Shahid that Bebo is most excited working with. She has been quoted as saying: ?Our comfort level translates very well on screen. It didn?t work in Fida because everyone wanted to see us as a pair, not as enemies.? Pyaar, pyaar mein...
 |
It didn?t quite set the global box-office on fire when it released at the theatres, but the double-disc DVD edition of Constantine is ready to set the record straight. Saregama Home Entertainment has brought out a special DVD edition of the Francis Lawrence film, which has a bonus disc featuring a whole lot of freebies.
Based on the character from the Vertigo Hellblazer comic books, the supernatural thriller has Keanu Reeves playing John Constantine, an exorcist, who wants to win a ticket to heaven by sending ?half-breeds? to hell. He teams up with a female police detective, Angela (Rachel Weisz), to stop the son of Satan from taking over the earth.
Disc One contains the feature film, with an audio commentary by director Lawrence, producer Akiva Goldsman, and screenwriters Kevin Brodbin and Frank Cappello, and a music video, Passive, by the group A Perfect Circle. Disc Two contains special features like Conjuring Constantine: From Comic Book to Movie, The Production from Hell (with three segments: Director?s Confession, Collision with Evil, and Holy Relics). There are other sections like Imagining the Underworld and Demon Face, and a segment called Constantine Cosmology, when Phil Cousineau, author of The Hero?s Journey, talks about how John Constantine fits the mould of mythologist Joseph Campbell?s traditional hero.
There is also a CGI storyboard-to-screen comparison titled Foresight: The Power of Pre-Visualisation. And finally, don?t missed the deleted scenes section, where you also get to watch the alternative ending, shot in a graveyard.
Superheroes are the flavour of the season. If Pogo is going strong with Ultraman and Shaktimaan, and Cartoon Network is flexing muscles with Batman and He-Man, Hungama has joined the power club with Hero, coming on air from Monday to Thursday at 9.30 am and 7.30 pm.
It is a live action fantasy about the heroic deeds and adventures of an ordinary boy Joy (played by Sumeet Pathak), who is bestowed with supernatural magical powers by Goddess Durga to help him fight the villainous Viraat. His two beloved toys Dholu and Bubbli also transform into hilarious characters.
?Hero?s appeal reflects our extensive research into kid?s viewing preferences. The research revealed that kids enjoy the theme of good winning over evil and the struggle to achieve that. The show?s strong emotional appeal and Indian values along with the fantasy and comedy elements make Hero a great viewing experience,? says Zarina Mehta, programming head, Hungama TV.
Farida Jalal is now making a special appearance as the character Bebe in the serial. ?I enjoy working with youngsters; they give me energy. Sumeet is an extremely talented actor,? says Jalal.
