Dirty Dancing is Set for a Remake
August 10, 2011 by Trend PK
Filed under Entertainment
Lionsgate has announced that they plan to remake the hit film ‘Dirty Dancing’. Some fans will be overjoyed but others will shudder at the news. Kenny Ortega, who choreographed the original film, will direct the remake. Ortega also directed the Michael Jackson movie ‘This Is It’ and also ‘High School Musical’.
Ortega spoke to film magazine Variety about the news of the remake;
“The opportunity to direct Dirty Dancing is like returning home for me,” Ortega also said “Patrick Swayze set the bar for men dancing in movies as Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire did before him.”
The original film from 1987 starred Jennifer Grey opposite Patrick Swayze. It has maintained a strong fan base and has also been a huge economic success. The original film was made for $6 million and went on to gross $214 million worldwide, spawning a stage adaptation and a TV series.
In fact this is not the first attempt at a remake. In 2004, ‘Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights’ was released, it told a similar story but set the action in Havana on the eve of the Cuban Revolution, it was not successful. Let’s hope they do the original justice this time round.
It has been reported that Lionsgate was inspired to consider a remake due to the popularity of the Facebook page for ‘Dirty Dancing’, which has more than nine million fans.
Bruni says Sarkozy often thinks about second term
December 17, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
PARIS: French President Nicolas Sarkozy often thinks about whether to run for a second term in 2012, his wife, former supermodel Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, said.
Sarkozy, who was elected in 2007, has yet to say whether he will seek a second five-year term and has given himself until the second half of 2011 to make up his mind.
Asked if Sarkozy had sought her opinion on running again for the presidency, Bruni-Sarkozy told reporters: “He asks for my opinion about many things, as many husbands and wives do.
“But as far as that decision is concerned, it’s a choice that is up to him alone,” she said.
“I think he reflects a lot about it, but I”m not going to get involved. It”s too important, too difficult, too personal for me to get involved. But I will follow him whatever he does,” she added.
Sarkozy, his popularity ratings hovering close to record lows, is fighting to regain public confidence after pushing through an unpopular pension reform in October.
His entourage is drumming up support for a second bid and the opposition has accused him of governing as though he were already on the campaign trail.
Asked if she wanted to remain France’s first lady after 2012, Bruni-Sarkozy said: “He was the one elected by the French, all that depends on him. I would be glad (to stay).”
The catwalk star-turned-chanteuse and Sarkozy married in February 2008, four months after Sarkozy divorced his second wife.
The first promo of ‘Break Ke Baad’ is attention-grabbing
Gone are the days when every second film-maker would cast a successful pair in a love story, to capitalize on their popularity. The actors never complained either, for they felt that the success of their previous film together would rub off on the new one as well. But times have changed, actors are keen to work with co-stars they haven’t worked with earlier.
Imran Khan and Deepika Padukone have been teamed for the first time in BREAK KE BAAD, produced by Kunal Kohli and directed by debutant Danish Aslam. The first thing you notice in a love story yes, BREAK KE BAAD is a prem kahani is, how good does the pair look together and I must say, Imran and Deepika look incredible together and the chemistry comes across very well.
The second thing you notice in a love story is the romance quotient, which, of course, one can’t judge by watching merely the promo of the film, but if the promo is a gist of the content, yes, the film seems like a pucca love story that’s aimed at the youth. Imran looks great and Deepika, gorgeous. Here’s a film and jodi to look forward to.
The first promo of BREAK KE BAAD will be launched in cineplexes on 1st October. Lyricist Prasoon Joshi and music composers Vishal-Shekhar come together for this album, which will be released by T-Series in mid-October.
US, UK officials discuss Megrahi’s release
July 17, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
REUTERS: Britain may wish to explain the circumstances leading to last year”s release of a Libyan convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing and what role, if any, BP Plc may have played, to U.S. lawmakers investigating the matter, the U.S. State Department said on Friday.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the suggestion during a 12-minute telephone call with British Foreign Minister William Hague that covered several other topics, spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters.
The Scottish government has denied it had any contact with oil firm BP Plc before its decision last year to release Libyan intelligence officer Abdel Basset al-Megrahi to Tripoli on compassionate grounds.
The U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday said it would ask BP officials to testify after the UK-based oil giant said it had lobbied the British government in 2007 over a prisoner transfer agreement with Libya.
BP has said it was not involved in any discussions regarding Megrahi”s release.
“The secretary indicated that, you know, it might be appropriate for the British government to communicate with Congress as well to make sure that they fully understand, you know, what transpired a year ago,” Crowley said.
Megrahi was the only person convicted of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people, most of them Americans.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment by a special Scottish court sitting in The Netherlands in 2001 and released in August by Scotland because he was suffering terminal prostate cancer and was said to have as little as three months to live.
Australian PM poised to announce election date
July 17, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
SYDNEY: Australia”s new Prime Minister Julia Gillard Saturday met the governor-general to request a general election that will be fought on the flashpoint issues of boatpeople, the economy and global warming.
Gillard, 48, who came to power three weeks ago after Labor Party factions turned on her predecessor Kevin Rudd, ousting him after less than three years when his popularity dipped, will also seek to legitimise her leadership.
Political pundits and sources within the ruling centre-left Labor party have predicted that Gillard will call a poll for August 21 or 28, triggering a five or six-week election campaign.
Australia”s first woman prime minister, a former industrial lawyer, met Governor-General Quentin Bryce — official representative of Queen Elizabeth II — to ask her to dissolve parliament, clearing the way for a late August poll.
Reliance BIG & Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment to produce The Imperfectionists
Brad Pitt’s production company Plan B Entertainment, under its Creative Partnership with Reliance BIG Entertainment, have acquired the screen rights to Tom Rachman’s novel, The Imperfectionists, which was published this spring by Dial Press.
The Imperfectionists centres on the quirky, maddening, endearing people who write and read an international newspaper based in Rome: from the obituary reporter who will do anything to avoid work, to the young freelancer who is manipulated by an egocentric war correspondent, to the dog-obsessed publisher who seems less interested in his struggling newspaper than in his magnificent basset hound.
Rachman drew from his experience as a former wire service reporter at the Associated Press (AP) office in Rome to set the stage for The Imperfectionists.
Reliance BIG Entertainment, the flagship media and entertainment arm of Indian conglomerate, Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG), first introduced its innovative development/ production financing deal, termed a Creative Partnership, with Plan B Entertainment at the Cannes Film Festival 2008. Commenting on the acquisition, Reliance BIG Entertainment’s Chairman Amit Khanna said, “The Imperfectionists is a compliment to our slate with Plan B Entertainment. It will make a commercial and extremely relevant film which will play well to an international audience.”
This is one of several projects acquired by Plan B under their creative partnership with Reliance. Last year the company announced Dark Void, which is based on Capcom’s acclaimed video game and being developed as a sci-fi action franchise and potential starring vehicle for Pitt.
Ask your questions to Mandira Bedi!
She is one of the most well-known faces in the world of television and films whose smile can cause many hearts go aflutter. After acting in many T.V. serials and films, she took everyone by surprise when she turned host of a cricket based show. With each passing year, her popularity among the players and cricket viewers around the globe has only increased. She is none other than the ravishing Mandira Bedi.
While Mandira is known for her smart interviewing skills, having interviewed the best in the business, this time we decide to turn the tables on her. Bollywood Hungama gives you a unique opportunity of asking Mandira everything you ever wanted to know about her films to her hobbies to her favourite cricketer to her fashion statement. So hurry…Don’t wait! All you need to do is post your questions for Mandira in the comments section below and we’ll get her to answer your questions.
art linkletter
May 26, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Art Linkletter, TV Host, Dies at 97 Art Linkletter, the genial host who parlayed his talent for the ad-libbed interview into two of television’s longest-running shows, “People Are Funny” and “House Party,” in the 1950s and 1960s, died on Wednesday at his home in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles. He was 97. The death was confirmed by Art Hershey, a son-in-law.
From his early days as an announcer on local radio and a roving broadcaster at state fairs, Mr. Linkletter showed a talent for ingratiating himself with his subjects and getting them to open up, often with hilarious results.
He was particularly adept at putting small children at ease, which he did every day on a special segment of “House Party,” a reliably amusing question-and-answer session that provided the material for his best-selling book, “Kids Say the Darndest Things.”
Television critics and intellectuals found the Linkletter persona bland and his popularity unfathomable. “There is nothing greatly impressive, one way or the other, about his appearance, mannerisms, or his small talk,” one newspaper critic wrote. Another referred to his “imperishable banality.”
Millions of Americans disagreed. They responded to his wholesome, friendly manner and upbeat appeal. Women, who made up three quarters of the audience for “House Party,” which was broadcast in the afternoon, loved his easy, enthusiastic way with children.
“I know enough about a lot of things to be interesting, but I’m not interested enough in any one thing to be boring,” Mr. Linkletter told The New York Post in 1965. “I’m like everybody’s next-door neighbor, only a little bit smarter.”
He was also genuinely curious to know what was going on in the heads of the people he interviewed. “You have to listen,” he said. “A lot of guys can talk.”
Facebook’s privacy concerns helping rivals pick up heads
The controversy over Facebook’s privacy policy is helping those developing alternatives to the social network. Funding and users are flowing to services that claim to put members in charge of their personal data. The rivals range from start-ups to more established firms working on the specifications for an ecosystem of open social networks. Experts say Facebook may have little to worry about, despite 11,000 people pledging to quit Facebook on 31 May. Nobody has reached anything like critical mass in the same social platform area, said Lee Bryant, from social technology consultancy Headshift. Facebook is like an entire web operating system, he said.
There are already many well-established alternatives to Facebook. Fans of the microblogging service Twitter might argue that it is poised to steal the site’s crown. It entered the world’s top 100 websites only last year, and is now sitting around tenth position globally, according to Alexa, a web information company. But Twitter is more a micro-blogging site than a social network, where friends follow each other’s daily activities by default.
Alongside are a whole host of other early high profile innovators in social networking. But many, including Bebo, Friendster and Myspace have seen their popularity decline in the last 24 months. None of these are still in Alexa’s global top 20.
The latest round of privacy issues with Facebook has provoked considerable interest in some more embryonic social network projects.
Facebook’s privacy concerns helping rivals to pick up heads
The controversy over Facebook’s privacy policy is helping those developing alternatives to the social network. Funding and users are flowing to services that claim to put members in charge of their personal data. The rivals range from start-ups to more established firms working on the specifications for an ecosystem of open social networks. Experts say Facebook may have little to worry about, despite 11,000 people pledging to quit Facebook on 31 May. Nobody has reached anything like critical mass in the same social platform area, said Lee Bryant, from social technology consultancy Headshift. Facebook is like an entire web operating system, he said.
There are already many well-established alternatives to Facebook. Fans of the microblogging service Twitter might argue that it is poised to steal the site’s crown. It entered the world’s top 100 websites only last year, and is now sitting around tenth position globally, according to Alexa, a web information company. But Twitter is more a micro-blogging site than a social network, where friends follow each other’s daily activities by default.
Alongside are a whole host of other early high profile innovators in social networking. But many, including Bebo, Friendster and Myspace have seen their popularity decline in the last 24 months. None of these are still in Alexa’s global top 20.
The latest round of privacy issues with Facebook has provoked considerable interest in some more embryonic social network projects.
