Actualités

The Royal Opera, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Curve present the world premiere of Ravi Shankar’s only opera Sukanya which tours venues across the UK in May 2017. With a libretto by Amit Chaudhuri, the semi-staged opera is directed by Suba Das and conducted by David Murphy, with soprano Susanna Hurrell in the title role, bass-baritone Keel Watson, Brazilian baritone Michel de Souza, the BBC Singers and the full force of a 60-strong London Philharmonic Orchestra. The Orchestra is supplemented with Indian classical instruments including the sitar, shennai, tabla, mridangam and ghatam. The innovative Aakash Odedra Company provide the choreography and dancers and Tony Award-winning 59 Productions are providing production design.

Shankar was composing his pioneering opera Sukanya at the time of his passing, an opera exploring the common ground between the music, dance and theatrical traditions of India and the West. Conductor and collaborator David Murphy – who worked with Shankar for many years,...

Chennai, Oct 9: Telugu filmmaker V.V. Vinayak, who turned 38 Wednesday, says that if given an opportunity, he would love to direct Chiranjeevi for the second time. The duo has previously worked in Telugu blockbuster "Tagore".

"I understand he (Chiranjeevi) is extremely busy with his political career. We don't even know if he would ever return to acting. But, if he plans to act again, and I get an opportunity to direct him, I would be extremely happy to do it," Vinayak told Ians.

"Tagore", Telugu remake of Tamil blockbuster "Ramanaa", was one of the biggest hits in Vinayak's career.

He will celebrate his birthday with family.

"I'll be visiting a temple in Basara. It's been a ritual I have been following for.

Looking back at 2012 song-ically, it certainly was a year of cool sounds, new voices, groovy and groovin’ beats and over all some killer tracks. Many of the songs brought a new vibe to the music of the movies, songs flavored with new influences, and songs that we never would have thought we would hear in a Bollywood flick. There were classic beats that got us up and dancing not to mention the grooves of today that got us to move to the music. We met some new singers we can’t wait to hear more of and some of our favorites blew us away with outstanding vocals. 2012 was full of surprises and we enjoyed so many of them, 50 in fact and every single note! As always we loved these songs when they first came out but once we saw them in the movie we loved them even more! Check out...

Films that gained a ‘cult following’ over the years,despite being unnoticed on release

Silsila

Yash Chopra is looked upon as the grandfather of candyfloss romance, an antithesis to the more ‘artistic’ genre of films. One wonders why. Here’s what his early films were about:

Unwed mothers and illegitimate children – Dhool ka Phool (1959)

Partition and the rise of Hindu fundamentalism – Dharmputra (1961)

Taut, song less thriller about a fugitive, a lone woman and a corpse – Ittefaq (1969)

A man who lives with his wife and the ‘other woman’, Hindi Cinema’s first Ménage à trois- Daag (1973)

In 1981, we had another of his equally risqué works, Silsila. Expectedly, sparks flew when the Screen God of the time shared screen space with the reigning diva. Rekha and Amitabh were quite an item on screen and allegedly, off screen too. The grapevine has it that Chopra was inspired to make Silsila on this relationship...

Here’s one pairing that is bound to create a lot of buzz. Two filmmakers who are as different as chalk and cheese; Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Madhur Bhandarkar, are coming together for an upcoming film.

We can tell you that if all goes well, Bhandarkar will direct a film for Bhansali, which is the Hindi remake of the 2002 Tamil blockbuster, Ramana, written and directed by A. R. Murgadoss, who also made the superhit Ghajini.

Ramana was first made in Tamil at a budget of Rs 11.5 crore and starred Vijaykanth and Simran. Released during Diwali, it ran for 150-odd days in theatres, a lot judging by today’s standards. It was later remade in Telugu as Tagore, with Chiranjeevi in the lead and then in Kannada with Vishnuvardhan head­lining it.

A source told us, “Bhansali has been wanting to make Ramana since quite some time. He was thinking about...

The prestigious Kennedy Center in Washington DC is hosting a three-week long "Maximum India" festival ending March 20, showcasing Indian-focused events involving dance, music, theater, literature, film, exhibitions, and cuisine, and can cost up to $100 each for a single event. Prominent festival participants include Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Dilip Basu, Shyam Benegal, Nandita Das, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Hariharan, Zakir Hussain, Girish Karnad, Shankar Mahadevan, Deepa Mehta, Ketan Mehta, Rajan and Sajan Misra, Ashis Nandy, DJ Rekha, Salman Rushdie, Nayantara Sahgal, Sharmila Tagore, etc. Special menus are being prepared by 12 master chefs brought from the four corners of India for the entire period of the festival. One session with Chef Hemant Oberoi, Executive Grand Chef of Mumbai's Taj Mahal Palace and Tower, costs $100. It is also offering a Bhangra Class with DJ Rekha, celebratory dance of the snake charmers, brass band music and sari exhibition. About India, Center announcement says: It colors life...

Madhu of Leo Entertainments is well known for producing some of the biggest hits in the Telugu film industry. Madhu’s recent list of blockbuster include names like Tagore, Stalin etc. Rumor has it that Madhu recently registered the title Adhinayakudu with the Film Chamber.

It has been suggested that Madhu has decided to register this film keeping in view Chiru’s return to the film industry for his 150th film. Madhu has close alliances with the renowned producer Allu Arvind and it goes without saying that the legendary producer will be financing this movie.

It seems that the groundwork for this new movie is already set and the shooting for the movie is going to begin shortly. The film is likely to be released within next year so the Chiru fans can rejoice. As for Chiranjeevi, it seems that the actor/ political leader has left for the U.S.

The American state of Ohio has honoured Bollywood playback singer Shreya Ghoshal for her contribution to the music industry by declaring June 26 as “Shreya Ghoshal Day”. An ecstatic Shreya wrote on microblogging site Twitter: “26th june is declared Shreya Ghoshal Day in Ohio. The First Lady of the State presented me this honour while I was performing yesterday (Saturday).” She also tweeted that (Rabindranath) Tagore and Swami Vivekananda had received the honour in the past. ...

American state Ohio has honoured Bollywood playback singer Shreya Ghoshal for her contribution to the music industry by declaring June 26 as ‘Shreya Ghoshal Day’.

An ecstatic Shreya wrote on microblogging site Twitter: ‘26th june is declared Shreya Ghoshal Day in Ohio. The First Lady of the State presented me this honour while I was performing yesterday (Saturday).

‘It’s an honour which has been given to personalities, artists n (and) literates since many years. I was informed that (Rabindranath) Tagore, Swami Vivekananda were the recipients that time. I was too overwhelmed at this thought. My name went.