Inspired by Big B, Prakash Jha also joins Twitter

By now, its common knowledge that Amitabh Bachchan is an avid blogger and also very active on popular social networking site ‘Twitter’. In fact during the shooting of his forthcoming film Aarakshan, so inspired was director Prakash Jha by Big B’s dedicated tweeting and blogging that he too decided to join the social networking community.

Prakash Jha, curious to see what the fuss is all about, has recently started tweeting from his handle @prakashjha1.

In one of his early tweets, Jha shares an exclusive still from his upcoming film Aarakshan. It is the picture of Amitabh Bachchan walking in the rain.

Along with the picture, he also re-tweeted Amitabh Bachchan’s tweet dated 8 March “T 300 -Somebody from the crowd, after seeing me getting wet in rain shot after shot, yelled to director -’Look after our son-in-law, please !’”

Whether he looked after Bhopal’s son-in-law is a matter of speculation, but for now, lets all welcome Prakash Jha onto the Twittersphere.

Oscars Only 1 Week Away

This Sunday it will be the 83rd Academy Awards in Los Angeles. The Academy has just announced that Scarlett Johansson and Russell Brand have been added to the lineup of celebrity presenters.

This year’s main hosts will be James Franco (127 Hours) and Anne Hathaway (Love and Other Drugs).

Last year the coveted Best Picture category was expanded to 10 nominees, this year’s big change will see the Special Effects category go from three to five nominations.

The King’s Speech leads the run with a whopping 12 nominations, followed by True Grit with 10, and then 8 nominations for both The Social Network and Inception.

Tune in this Sunday night for the live broadcast and to find out who this year’s Oscars will go to.

“Inception” amplifies its Oscar campaign with behind-scenes video

When can you call a $292.5-million-grossing blockbuster like “Inception” overlooked?

How about when it comes to awards season?

While many tracking the Oscar race assume Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending summer thriller will get into the Best Picture field now that we have 10 nominations, we are not hearing a lot of chatter regarding the film’s chances of winning. “The Social Network,” “The King’s Speech” and even “The Fighter” have generated buzz, but the most you hear about “Inception” is that it has several technical categories locked up.

But Warner is hoping to change that. The studio is passing around a behind-the-scenes clip reel for Nolan’s film that you can find online.

Vulture says the clip will begin playing in movie theaters next week. Will it be enough to remind viewers (and maybe Academy voters) how much the appreciated Nolan’s work? Is the nomination enough? Or can “Inception” make some noise in the second half of the race?

We’ll know for sure. But the bottom line is that you can’t win the Oscar without trying, and it looks like Warner is beginning to try.

Rahaman nominated for Golden Globe Awards

MUMBAI: A. R. Rahaman – the musical genious from India – has been nominated in the Best Original Score for Motion Picture category for the 2011 Golden Globe Awards. The nomination of Rahaman is for his work in Danny Boyle”s 127 hours.

The composer himself reacted to the nomination by saying “This is a blessing beyond words.”

The Chennai based composer is a double Oscar winner. The two Oscars had been awarded to him in 2009 for the music in Slumdog Millionaire. Slumdog Millionaire too had been Danny Boyle”s film. AR Rahaman had also won a Golden Globe in the same year for the same film.

The Golden Globe Awards is being hosted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for the 68th time in January 2011.

Today, the Golden Globes recognize achievements in 25 categories; 14 in motion pictures and 11 in television.

Danny Boyle”s 127 Hours is nominated in two other categories – Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture (Drama) and Best Screenplay (Motion Picture).

Olivia Wilde, Maria Bello bring Hollywood to Haiti

LOS ANGELES: After the devastating earthquake rocked Haiti earlier this year, food and medical aid poured into the island country, but in the months that followed a pair of Hollywood actresses and their friends had another idea. They wanted to build a movie theater.

It may seem like a far-fetched notion, but since it opened in September, the Sun City Picture House has become a place that generates smiles on the faces of children and adults. It also has been used as a community center and school, and it helped spawned two similar buildings in different camps.

Maria Bello, who starred Adam Sandler comedy “Grown Ups,” and “Tron” actress Olivia Wilde, have documented the efforts of the group of people that brought the theater to life in a new, short documentary they expect to screen at festivals throughout the upcoming year.

“The thing that”s needed most in Haiti right now, besides the immediate relief efforts, is joy. And that”s what this movie is about,” Bello said.

The movie, “Sun City Picture House,” focuses on Haitian aid worker Raphael Louigene — whose dream was to build a movie theater — and the two American aid workers who helped him realize that dream by constructing it in just four days: Bryn Mooser from Artists for Peace and Justice, and Dave Darg, who works for Operation Blessing.

Darg directed the documentary. Mooser produced, and they hired a student from Haiti”s only film school, Cine Institute, to shoot it.

Bello, 43, and Wilde, 26, both advisory board members of Artists for Peace and Justice, had volunteered in Haiti before January”s earthquake, and even then, theaters were in short supply. Wilde remembers one night standing with “40 or so Haitians as we projected ”Home Alone” onto a sheet slung over a wall, creating an impromptu late-night outdoor theater smack in the middle of the slums known as Cite Soleil, or Sun City.”

Watching their faces in the light from a projector was an important moment for Wilde. “That”s when I understood the need for an Artist for Peace and Justice Film Project,” she said.

The Sun City theater project came to fruition when, during their earthquake relief work, Louigene shared his dream of building a theater, and Darg and Mooser said they would help.

After the quake, the pair were working full-time in Haiti on standard relief efforts, building homes and schools and bringing in medical, water, clothing and other supplies to what became known as “tent cities.”

Bello and Wilde were making regular trips to pitch in, and they all realized it was time to take their efforts beyond the basics to a different level.

“The next logical step was rebuilding some of the society and some of the culture,” said Mooser. “It became apparent right away that it was important to give Haitian kids something to do — especially as we saw increasing violence, rape and all the alcohol and drug use going on. These tent cities are pitch black at night and can become dangerous places.”

Artists for Peace and Justice paid for the construction and villagers helped with the building.

On the fourth day, the theater”s grand opening, Bello provided the inaugural movie, “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,” the 2008 film in which she starred.

“We had 200 kids that night with little bags of popcorn and juice,” Bello recalled. “Their parents stood in the back, watching them have some joy for the first time.”

In the months since it opened, the Sun City Picture House has impacted the 5000-plus community beyond just showing films, Darg said. “It”s also become a community center for the whole camp. They use it for school and meetings. They”ve taken ownership of it and keep it looking beautiful and clean.”

Wilde puts it this way: “The Sun City Picture House has created a space for stories, rather than fear and hunger.”

Darg and Mooser have built two similar structures in other communities, and they are now planning to build more.

Twilight Breaking Dawn teaser photo release

LOS ANGELES: BREAKING DAWN is the next film in the Twilight Saga, and we have the first picture released. Now, for those of you living under a rock, this picture is from a bedroom scene where Bella and Edward finally consummate their relationship. This is going to be one wild ride.

The next chapter of THE TWILIGHT SAGA will be released as two separate films with the first of the two slated to be released in theatres on November 18, 2011 and the second coming to theaters on November 16, 2012.

Academy Award’s winner Bill Condon will direct both films starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner. The project, based on the fourth novel in author Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, is currently being written by Melissa Rosenberg with Wyck Godfrey, Karen Rosenfelt and Stephenie Meyer producing. AGENCIES

BB’s picture exhibition – Trend Pk VIDEO

Fayaz Raja from Islamabad reports on the picture exhibition of former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto Shaheed. (November 13, 2010)

BB’s picture exhibition – Trend Pk VIDEO

Fayaz Raja from Islamabad reports on the picture exhibition of former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto Shaheed. (November 13, 2010)

BB’s picture exhibition – Trend Pk VIDEO

Fayaz Raja from Islamabad reports on the picture exhibition of former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto Shaheed. (November 13, 2010)

BB’s picture exhibition – Trend Pk VIDEO

Fayaz Raja from Islamabad reports on the picture exhibition of former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto Shaheed. (November 13, 2010)

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