Ekta Kapoor is a self-made millionaire and, as the head of Balaji Telefilms, she’s produced over 74 hugely popular television serials which are said to make up about 80 percent of television programming in India. Recently the Queen of TV Soaps was in town for the premiere of the gritty, fast moving ‘Shorr’ which is as real and as different as you can get from the sugar coated melodrama of the television serials steeped in tradition and changing social mores.
(Ekta seen here with actor Sendhil Ramamurthy)
Browsing: MIAAC Film Festival
Mumbai is about grit, drama, passion – and the luck of the draw. The new movie ‘Noise/Shorr’ follows three very different lives during the frenzy of the Ganesh Chaturti Festival in the city – and finally these disparate stories come together in the gripping climax. ‘Shorr’ embodies the high energy the city is famous for and keeps you thoroughly engaged. And indeed Mumbai is a central character in the film, around which the various tales are interwoven.
Aasif Mandvi’s ‘Today’s Special’, which premiered at MIACC Film Festival last year, is now showing at the Tribeca Film Festival and getting a theatrical release on November 19. It is a fun and funny movie which gets you involved in the travails of Samir, a sous cook in New York, who has to find himself and his culinary soul. He is helped in the journey of self discovery by a mystical taxi driver who treats cooking like a beautiful, complex raga. (Naseeruddin Shah digs into this meaty role with relish – he’s utterly believable as the charismatic cabbie, a part of the magic of New York).
This festival brings an eclectic, surprising mix of South Asian based cinema from different parts of the world – and you never know which film will turn out to be the next big hit or major award-winner. After all, ‘Namesake’, ‘Water’ and even ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ first opened here, almost six months before their general release.
Zenobia Shroff received rave reviews in Sooni Taraporevala’s ‘Little Zizou’ in which she starred with Boman Irani. Now the actress is trying her hand at stand up comedy with her one-woman show in New York.
What’s cooking with Aasif Mandvi? A whole Indian feast! Well for one, the zany commentator from ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’ has turned chef, worked at Tandoori Palace, found a new love, and even bagged a best actor award.
Sure beats Deep Space Naan!
His brand new movie ‘Today’s Special’ – all about the travails of a sous chef – premiered at the MIAAC, New York’s Indian Film Festival in Manhattan and has been a real crowd pleaser.