Film producers, writers solidify Oscar race

LOS ANGELES: Film producers and writers on Tuesday jumped into Hollywood”s Oscar race with their choices of 2010”s best movies, including “The Social Network,” “The Fighter” and “Black Swan,” among others.

The Producers Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America, which represent their respective groups in the film and television industries, annually issue lists of best movies, and their picks are closely watched in the race for Oscars.

Joining the three movies above on the Producers Guild list were seven other films that have received praise from critics and industry groups. Those titles include “The King”s Speech,” “127 Hours,” “Inception,” “The Kids Are All Right,” “The Town,” “Toy Story 3,” and “True Grit.”

The writers divide their top 10 into two groups, best original screenplay and best adapted screenplay.

Boxing film “The Fighter” made the list of five movies that will vie for original screenplay, along with ballerina story “Black Swan,” family comedy “The Kids Are All Right,” and dramas “Inception” and “Please Give.”

Facebook film “Social Network,” adventure “127 Hours,” crime drama “The Town,” western “True Grit” and independent movie “I Love You Phillip Morris” made the group of five competing for best adapted screenplay.

Absent from the writer”s list was “King”s Speech,” a drama about the stammering British King George VI that has made several best movie lists among critics.

Hollywood is counting the days until the February 27 Oscars, the industry”s biggest movie awards held in Los Angeles and given out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Producers Guild and other industry honors can offer a guidepost for Oscar chances because many members of the PGA and WGA also belong to the Academy, whose members cast votes for the Oscars. Moreover, industry group and critics” lists also give a lift to movie theater ticket sales.

The PGA also nominates films for best documentary, and those choices include “Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer,” about the former New York governor”s hiring of prostitutes, Rwandan genocide tale “Earth Made of Glass,” as well as “Inside Job” that aims to explain the banking crisis.

“Smash His Camera” about celebrity-chasing photographer Ron Galella, “The Tillman Story,” that examines the death of U.S. football star-turned soldier Pat Tillman in Afghanistan and “Waiting for Superman,” that details the failures of the U.S. educational system, rounded out the documentary nominees.

The honor for best-produced animated movie puts “Despicable Me,” up against “How To Train Your Dragon,” and “Toy Story 3.”

The Writers Guild picked six films for best documentary but only one, “Inside Job,” is shared with the producers. The writers other documentary nominees were: “Who is Harry Nilsson (And Why is Everybody Talkin” About Him)?” “Freedom Riders,” “Enemies of the People,” “Gasland,” “The Two Escobars.”

The producers also unveiled TV nominees, and in the category for best TV drama, “Breaking Bad,” will compete against “Dexter,” “Lost,” “Mad Men,” and “True Blood.” Nominees for TV comedy went to the producers of “30 Rock,” Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Glee,” “Modern Family,” and “The Office.”

Back in December, the writers unveiled their TV picks.

The PGA hands out its honor at a gala ceremony in Los Angeles on January 22, and the WGA has its awards dinner on February 5. Oscar nominees will be named on January 25, and the top awards will be given out on February 27.

Berluscone survives no-trust vote

ROME: Hundreds of students clashed with police near the residence of Silvio Berlusconi in Italy’s capital on Tuesday as parliament decided on the prime minister’s future.

Berlusconi secured a comfortable victory in the no-confidence vote at the senate, but survived a similar motion in the lower house by just three votes.

As lawmakers cast their ballots, demonstrators marched through Rome’s historic centre, throwing firecrackers that boomed as lawmakers cast their votes.

Some threw paint toward the senate chamber amid a heavy police presence.

Similar protests took place in other parts of the country.

In Palermo, students blocked the train station and occupied the airport and in Turin, thousands marched through the city centre, news reports said.

The parliament votes were called following a spate of sex scandals and a break-up with a

Thar Express narrowly escapes the explosion

A plot to explode Thar Express went unsuccessful as the blast only resulted in derailment of three compartments at Dhabeji place near Karachi; however there was no loss of any life, trendpk.Com reported.

There were 155 passengers including 105 Pakistanis and 50 Indian nationals present in the train when this incident took place. According to the details, some explosives were planted at the track en-route to India from Karachi near Dhabeji but fortunately after the explosion, only three compartments of Thar Express derailed. Ther was no loss of life or injury reported in the mishap. According to Pakistan Railways officials, the repairing work at rail track was completed and cleared the track and resumed the train service.

Aborted plans for band performance restricts TMK celebrations

It was expected that Akshay Kumar would be the one acting Tees Maar Khan for the music launch of the namesake film. However, what happened was something totally on the contrary as it was a massive crowd comprising of ‘aam junta’ which came with it’s own preparation. So much so that it went uncontrollable as the train (on which the music launch of this Farah Khan directed film took place) reached its final destination, Lonavala, on Sunday afternoon.

“As such it was a great event. However, I do feel saddened by the fact that a specially arranged music band, which was supposed to do a medley of Tees Maar Khan songs at the Lonavala station, couldn’t proceed with it’s plans. There were a 4000-5000 strong crowd already waiting at the station in anticipation of arrival of Akshay and Katrina. Police had to be called and we all had to make a hurried exit from the station to another destination where we continued with the launch”, informs Farah who was accompanied by Shirish Kunder, music baron Bhushan Kumar, composer duo of Vishal & Shekhar as well as lyricist Anvita Dutt Gupta.

Akshaye Khanna couldn’t join the event as he was out of town.

The music launch of Tees Maar Khan was designed as a unique affair with as 125 strong media contingent travelling from CST Mumbai to Lonavala in a specially booked train. The cast and crew travelled along as well which interacted with the media at length in this 150 minute long journey, followed by a formal music launch.

“Yes, we booked an entire train with five bogies for the event”, informs Farah who is now most excited about guaging reactions to ‘Sheila Ki Jawani’ which would be on air soon.

The band which had to abort the plans of a performance on the station didn’t go back disappointed either. Though it was a no-show at Lonavala station, there was a performance later for the media at the venue.

“In fact there was also another trained bunch of artists who sung like those people who frequent the trains and ask for alms while singing songs. They imitated ‘Wallah Wallah’ in their characteristic manner right through the journey. Also, snacks and cold drinks were served by boys who frequented from one bogie to another, just as it happens in real train journeys”, continues Farah.

Well, seems like there was something indeed real in the offing here!

75 lacs worthy train made for Tees Maar Khan

Download

T.M.K wallpapers

Bungalows, marriage ‘mandaps’, coffee houses, police stations – all of this and more has been a part of set design for many a Bollywood films in the past.

But ever heard of an entire functional train being made just for a film?

Well, this is what makers Farah Khan and Shirish Kunder did for their first ever production Tees Maar Khan. As is a known fact by

now, Tees Maar Khan has a heist plot to it with the entire climax set on a fast running train. To ensure that there were no breaks and an entire train

was available to the team for days at stretch, the makers came up with a novel idea. Instead of hiring a train, they built one all by themselves.

Confirms Farah Khan, “Yes, we have made a train especially for Tees Maar Khan. All credit to our art director Sabu Cyril who has made it look totally

authentic. In fact we tease him saying that he won’t get any award for his effort here since the train looks so real. Not just that, we also made an

aeroplane just for the film’s shoot.”

Making of this train came with a huge price tag as well. As much as 75 lacs were spent on building the train as well as a 500 meters long track.

“The climax requires Akshay to pull off the biggest heist ever in his life. For that, there was a large canvas which was required to be put together. Since

the shooting took place in Malshej ghat, an entire train along with tracks was transported there. There was also added cost on the yard where the train was

stationed when not being used during shooting”, details Farah.

In fact the train wasn’t driven by a professional engine driver and instead had a truck driver getting behind the wheels.

Laughs Farah, “Yes, it was actually quite amusing for the truck driver as well as this was the first time ever that he was running an entire vehicle on a

fixed track. Also, he had to do quite a lot of to-and-fro on that 500 meters long track.”

One wonders though that with a train in sight, was Farah able to resist her temptation to get into a ‘Chaiyya Chaiyya’ mode all over again? “Come on,

there is a train robbery happening here, not romance. But then you never know, there could well be some surprise in store here as well. After all with Akshay

around, you can expect the unexpected”, teases Farah before signing off.

German nuclear waste train arrives at destination

DANNENBERG: A train carrying a cargo of nuclear waste from France to Germany arrived at its destination on Monday following severe delays due to mass protests, police said.

“The train arrived at the unloading station at Dannenberg at 9:25 am (0825 GMT),” a police spokeswoman told AFP.

The 123 tonnes of radioactive waste must now be loaded onto lorries for the final 20-kilometre (12-mile) stretch by road to the storage facility in Gorleben in northern Germany.

After a weekend of heavy protests, which at times turned violent as police with truncheons charging demonstrators, protestors aimed to block access to the underground site.

Activists had done everything in their power to delay the arrival of the train, including sitting on the rails, removing stones from the tracks to make them impassable and, in one case, abseiling from a bridge onto the

German nuclear waste train arrives at destination

DANNENBERG: A train carrying a cargo of nuclear waste from France to Germany arrived at its destination on Monday following severe delays due to mass protests, police said.

“The train arrived at the unloading station at Dannenberg at 9:25 am (0825 GMT),” a police spokeswoman told AFP.

The 123 tonnes of radioactive waste must now be loaded onto lorries for the final 20-kilometre (12-mile) stretch by road to the storage facility in Gorleben in northern Germany.

After a weekend of heavy protests, which at times turned violent as police with truncheons charging demonstrators, protestors aimed to block access to the underground site.

Activists had done everything in their power to delay the arrival of the train, including sitting on the rails, removing stones from the tracks to make them impassable and, in one case, abseiling from a bridge onto the

Hyderabad: Railways restores damaged track

The rail traffic at Tando Jam Railways track near Detha in Hyderabad has been restored after swift repair work in the wake of a powerful blast that damaged the track on Tuesday.
The blast had caused damage to the down railway track, suspended the train service to Karachi. The train service had been suspended owing to damages and repair work at railway track. Bahauddin Zakria train had been stopped, which has now been granted permission to continue journey to Karachi.According to police sources, no casualties were reported in the blast. It should be mentioned here that two blasts yesterday damaged the portion of rail track that lies between Kotri and Hyderabad. Four people have been reported injured. The explosives were planted onto the tracks leading to and from the city.

India rolls out first double-decker AC train

The Rail Coach Factory (RCF) in Kapurthala city of India’s northern Punjab state rolled out Indian Railways’ first air-conditioned double-decker train comprising 10 coaches that included eight double-deckers and two power cars.
The stainless steel coaches have been introduced to cater to heavy rush of travelers on high-density routes, offering air-conditioned travel at a lower cost.
The passenger-carrying capacity has also been increased to 128 passengers in comparison to 78 in chair car bogies that can be seen in trains such as the Shatabdi Express.
The new coaches are capable of running at speeds of up to 160 kilometers per hour. They also have several safety features such as fire retardant upholstery on the seats, as well as a crashworthy design. The end-on-generation configuration has been used for train lighting and air-conditioning, in which power is supplied by two power cars, attached at both ends of the train. This train will be run by Eastern Railways, between Howrah in West Bengal and Dhanbad in neighbouring Jharkhand. The overall height of double decker-coaches has been increased marginally by four-and-a-half inches, keeping in view constraints like overhead structures, bridges, electric traction equipment and platforms. The RCF manufactured 30 non-air-conditioned double-decker coaches in 2001 that are presently being run between Pune and Mumbai section.

Punjab govt. suspends implementation of LMTT

Staff Report

LAHORE: The government of Punjab has suspended the implementation of Lahore Mass Transit Train (LMTT) plan, SAMAA learnt Tuesday.

According to sources, Punjab government had allocated the amount of Rs. 5.75 billion for this project, while total cost was estimated 2.4 billion dollar.

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) prepared the feasibility for this project and Punjab government also signed a debt agreement with Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the Lahore Mass Train (LMTT) plan.

This project had to be started in the beginning of this year but due to lack of development funds it has been suspended. SAMAA

Next Page »