Kathmandu | 3 days ago
Sobhraj fiancee accepts contempt of court summons
Kathmandu, Aug 3 - Slapped with a contempt of court charge after their battle to get Charles Sobhraj acquitted of murder in Nepal failed, his Nepali fiancee Nihita Biswas and her mother Shakuntala Thapa, who is also Sobhraj's lawyer, met Supreme Court officials Tuesday to accept the summons.Now, they have to submit written statements to the court by Friday, defending their angry outburst on the co ... read more

2 months ago
'Nannavanu' an ordinary, cliched film
Film: 'Nannavanu'; Director: Sreenivasa Raju; Cast: Prajwal, Aindrita Ray and Avinash; Music: Ilayaraja; Rating: *1/2'Nannavanu' by director Sreenivasa Raju is neither an intense love story nor a reincarnation story. It is just an ordinarily narrated story with too many cliched elements. The first half of the film really tests your patience. What is supposed to be comedy is nothing but a senseless ... read more

1 year ago
'Aap Ki Kachehri' may be extended owing to popularity
New Delhi, Jan 8 - Reality show 'Aap Ki Kachehri' featuring former top cop Kiran Bedi might be extended by 52 episodes owing to its popularity among the audience. Siddharth Basu, who heads Synergy Adlabs, the production house behind the show, revealed that STAR Plus has invited them to extend the series, originally commissioned for 52 episodes. 'We are looking closely at the feasibility,' he tol ... read more

1 year ago
B.R. Chopra - master of socially relevant filmmaking
Mumbai, Nov 5 - He's the man who gave us 'Naya Daur' in the 1950s that dealt with the conflict between man and machine as well as the kitschy 'Mahabharat' in the 1980s that brought the epic alive on the small screen. Baldev Raj Chopra, the iconoclast filmmaker, managed to successfully strike a balance between socially relevant and commercial cinema. Chopra, who crossed over from Lahore to New De ... read more

1 year ago
Servants and masters -- the Chatterley trial
It was one of the defining legal battles of the twentieth century. A courtroom drama which tackled issues of class, gender relations, sexuality, morality and censorship head on. But though thousands of words have been penned debating the literary merits of the book since it appeared on our shelves, the famous obscenity trial which led to the publication of DH Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover h ... read more

2 years ago
Test Sobhraj for HIV, agony aunt advises fiancee
Kathmandu, July 26 - After facing brickbats and reported torture threats over her controversial engagement to yesteryear's criminal mastermind Charles Sobhraj, it is now the turn of his 20-year-old Nepali fiancee to receive unsolicited advice. Ask your betrothed to undergo an HIV test, an agony aunt has advised Nihita Biswas, the high school student who shot to the headlines worldwide this month ... read more

2 years ago
'Shaurya', brilliant film on army, valour and conscience
Film: 'Shaurya'; Cast: Rahul Bose, Javed Jaffrey, Kay Kay Menon, Minissha Lamba, Deepak Dobriyal; Director: Samar Khan; Rating: *** 1/2 It takes vision and courage to make a film about the de-escalating valour and plummeting morale of the Indian Army. 'Shaurya' is about the army, but it isn't a war film. The battles are all fought at the level of individual conscience. But never does it get prea ... read more

2 years ago
Bollywood romance with men in uniform continues
New Delhi, Mar 30 - Powerful fables of valour and courage of the Indian armed forces have always made for a good script for the Hindi film industry in war times. But the men in uniform seem to be hot favourites even in peacetime and the latest to hit the marquee is 'Shaurya'. Releasing Friday 'Shaurya', which is journalist-turned-director Samar Khan's second directorial venture, is the latest mo ... read more

2 years ago
Don't rip off Hollywood films: Ravi Chopra
Mumbai, March 7 - Even as Bollywood producers continue to remake, rip off, adapt and modify films from foreign sources, producer-director Ravi Chopra is at peace for having lawfully purchased the rights of Jonathan Lynn's 1992 courtroom drama 'My Cousin Vinny'. Chopra's film is titled 'Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai' and stars Govinda, Lara Dutta, Tabu and Boman Irani. 'The film hardly looks like 'My Cou ... read more

2 years ago
'Michael Clayton' a cleverly crafted moral fable
Film: 'Michael Clayton'; Cast: George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack; Director: Tony Gilroy; Rating:*** There is an arresting interlude in the first 40 minutes of this engaging, though not gripping, drama on legalese - where that interesting and charismatic actor George Clooney drives his fantasy-ridden son to school. You can tell from Clooney's responses to his ... read more