ndian actress Freida Pinto, who rose to fame with Oscar-winner ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, says the feminism advocates gender equality but is largely misconstrued as an anti-male concept. The 30-year-old actress says feminism is the need of the hour as gender bias is a sad reality today. “Feminism to me is equality. There is no man over woman and vice versa. Feminism is a very misconstrued and misunderstood topic.

“As soon as we say feminism, it does not mean all men should become subordinate and women should be the ones who rule the world. The only way we can have a progressive and successful country or world is when men and women treat each other as equals,” Freida told PTI. The young star says though men and women have different roles to play, they should complement each other rather than outdoing one another.

“There are certain roles that men play and others that women play. Our reproductive organs are different and clearly there is a reason why women carry the baby but that does not mean the man cannot help out with the caring of the child. “Father is as much a nurturer as the mother. I grew up with that equality so I can say people who understand feminism understand that men and women are equal but have different roles to play,” she said.

If paradoxes are par for the course in Bollywood, here’s a freshly baked one: Emran Hashmi’s Ungli is like the Aamir Khan-starrer Rang De Basanti, except that it so totally isn’t.

On a superficial level, the similarities between the two films are in your face: Like the 2006 starrer, Ungli too has a force of young vigilantes who set out to clean the system, and with it the country, of evil, corrupt and morally bankrupt people in positions of power. Like RDB, the foursome is woken out of their careless slumber after they lose a friend to the ways of the world. So, okay you know what happens next: the friends are sucked into a vortex of corruption, and they have to eventually tread on the wrong side of law to get their friend some semblance of justice.

Trouble is, Ungli has only this, and only this much, common with RDB. Everything else about this apology of a ‘coming-of-age celebration’ of India’s youngsters falls flat on its face, and it is definitely not going anywhere.

Let’s put it thus: Even if we were to ignore the acting skills (or the complete lack of it) of everybody who claims to be an actor in this film, there is just no way you could live peacefully with the cliched, irritating dialogues in the film. Ungli is a torture, to say the least, and you certainly deserve a better deal on how to spend your 90 minutes. Sample this Emraan Hashmi gem when he tries  to cheer up a despondent and depressed Sanjay Dutt. “Ansuon se sirf whisky dilute hoti hai.” Got that! Want more?

The only thing funny in this film is, perhaps, Kangana Ranaut’s accent. It sure will make you giggle from time to time.

So here’s what Ungli is all about. For the first 20 minutes, you don’t get to hear anything other than that weird word: Ungli. It’s irritating, to put it mildly. Randeep Hooda, Neil Bhoopalam, Kangana Ranaut and Angad Bedi are a group of young vigilantes who have taken it upon themselves to rid the society of malevolent characters like a corrupt government officer, an overcharging autorickshaw driver, bribe-taking traffic constables and even a selfish politician. They kidnap these men to teach them a lesson in ways that would remind you a lot of Saw, with all the videotaping and ‘do that or we will kill you’ vibes (nothing that graphic and sinister though).

Their modus operandi? When they are done dealing with their victims, they send the videos of the entire punishment session to all the news channels with a personalised message.

Of course, the police goes berserk and the commissioner (nice to see Raza Murad after so long) assign the task to Sanjay Dutt who in turn takes help from Emraan Hashmi, another police office who is sort of a misfit in the ‘khakee wardi.’

Hashmi gains the trust of the vigilantes and is then faced with the inevitable choice: should he turn them in or continue with them in their noble task?

So,  does Ungli have even one redeeming factor? Actually, it has one. The only way you can enjoy this mindless film is by looking at the fun side of the ‘witty punishments’ the vigilante foursome unleashes on its victims. Ah yes, even the dialogues: They are so miserable that you just cannot the miss their fun side.

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• Noted Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai wishes to work with Bollywood superstars Shah Rukh and Aamir Khan if he takes up an Indian project in future.

  The 56-year-old filmmaker thinks the Hindi film industry is a pool of talent.

  “I think there is loads of talent in Bollywood and I am a big fan of Bollywood films. Bollywood films are full of fun. If times allow me or projects are there I would like to work with people like Shah Rukh Khan or Aamir Khan. I feel working with them would be very nice,” Kar-wai told PTI in an exclusive interview at IFFI.

  Kar-wai, who is considered as the pioneer of new wave cinema in China, is being honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award on the concluding day of International Film Festival of India here today. His latest film ‘The Grandmaster’ will close the festival.

  The director call himself a great admirer of Satayjit Ray’s film and is in tune with the latest work being done in Indian cinema.

  “I am a great admirer of Satyajit Ray and I have watched many of his films. I follow Bollywood films and recently I have seen an Indian film called ‘The Lunchbox’. The movie is very nice. I heard he (Ritesh Batra) is a first time director, but I think he is a very promising talent,” he said.

  Sporting his trademark black shades, Kar-wai said his connection with India is not new as he has been here earlier.
  I want to work with Shah Rukh, Aamir: Wong Kar-wai

  “I have been to India many times. I even shot a commercial film in India. But this is my first visit to Goa. We were almost for an hour in the city to have dinner last night. Goa is a very young and vibrant place, seems like people are having lot of fun here,” said the director, who looked perturbed by the humid weather of the beach state.

  Kar-wai feels the Lifetime Achievement award has come too early in his career.

  “First of all it’s a great honour. But it is also a big surprise as it came to me a little bit early. That means I would need lot more knowledge to deserve this,” he said.

  With China being the focus country for the ongoing festival, Kar-wai said both the nations (India and China) have many things in common.

  “Both the countries have one of the oldest civilisations in this continent. Each country is very active in the film industry. We have many things in common,” he said, adding, “The bilateral pact signed between both the nations will encourage more active collaboration between filmmakers from both the sides.

   

The 41-year-old decided to sponsor cleft-lip and cleft-palate surgery for 100 kids through her own charity organisation, in association with the NGO, Smile Train.

“Aishwarya sponsored cleft surgery of about 100 kids. As today marks the 20th anniversary of her becoming the second Indian to have won the Miss World pageant, she will meet these kids who have got their smiles back now,” said a source, adding, “What better way to celebrate the day than by putting smiles on these faces.”

Before Aishwarya, Reita F Powell was the first Indian to win the Miss World crown (in 1966), and after her, it was actor Priyanka Chopra (in 2000).

– See more at: http://www.bollywood.com/celebrities/aishwarya-rai/news/20-years-ash-still-glam-diva#sthash.xb89rBnG.dpuf

Who’s who of the Hindi film industry got together for an evening of fashion and glamour at the Hello Hall of Fame Awards 2014. From Sonam Kapoor to Sonakshi Sinha, Fawad Khan to Abhishek Bachchan, one spotted most of the well-known names of the Tinsel Town coming together for this year’s edition of the awards.

While actresses like Kareena Kapoor Khan and Sonam Kapoor stuck to the western route, Nandana Sen was spotted in a saree – much like her Rang Rasiya avatar. Nita Ambani also paid a visit to the event. Among the others who had made it to the occasion are Arjun Kapoor, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sonakshi Sinha, Ankita Lokhande, Sophie Choudry, Manish Malhotra and so on. Tennis ace Sania Mirza, too, was spotted at the awards.

The nation is awaiting to see Sonakshi Sinha and Arjun Kapoor together. The duo will be seen in their upcoming film Tevar directed by Amit Sharma. The film has created a tremendous buzz already courtesy their ‘Tevariffic’ motion poster and promotional stints. The team has released two new posters today and boy do we need to watch out for Sona and Arjun’s attitude!In the first poster, the couple’s much talked about chemistry speaks volumes where Arjun looks his raw scruffy and macho self, being the protective munda to a dainty damsel in his arms, being played by Sona. In the second poster, the film’s campaign motto “Tevar Dekh” is personified in its true sense by the lead couple, where they are seen running, hand in hand with all the ‘tevar‘ they have to show off.

Lisa Haydon is grabbing eye balls in her upcoming film THE SHAUKEENS which also stars Anupam Kher, Annu Kapoor and Piyush Mishra in the lead.

Since the film revolves around the lives of three old men, who are keen to have fun and are leching on a woman, we ask Lisa whether this movie will act as a boost to the increasing sexual crime, and she clarifies, “That was the only concern for all of us as actors that we need to make this work and not make it come out as being vulgar, cheap or offensive to anybody in any way.”

She added further, “But again when you are working with actors like Piyush ji, Annu ji and Anupam ji, you need to rest assured because they are very knowledgeable and they too have thought about their characters. I also contemplated about my character and when you have a good team working together with an intention to make a good and clean comedy, you work towards it every single day.”

Directed by Abhishek Sharma and produced by Ashvin Varde, THE SHAUKEENS releases on November 7, 2014.

The eighth edition of National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) Film Bazaar, held every year on the sidelines of IFFI, is all set to begin here from November 22.

The four-day event aims to encourage collaboration between the international and South Asian film fraternity.

NFDC will have many new sections including ‘film offices’, ‘investor pitch’ and ‘romance screenwriters lab’ apart from ‘world cinema’ and ‘available for remake’ categories in the viewing room.

Romance Screenwriters’ Lab, will focus on developing scripts based on romance and women-centric plots.

In ‘investor pitch’, there would be two sessions — first on pitching scripts in the romance genre and second, launching films that are looking for completion funds.

‘Film offices’ will have state/country tourism boards and country film commissions with a dedicated office at the Film Bazaar.

“We are excited to launch new sections at Film bazaar this year like Film offices, Investor Pitch and Romance Screenwriters’ Lab. We hope like last year this year too will be a soaring success with an aim to bring together film makers and production companies,” said Nina Lath Gupta, Managing Director, NFDC India.

The Film Bazaar, which will be held from November 22 to 24 on the sidelines of the India International Film Festival (IFFI), focuses on discovering, supporting and showcasing South Asian content and talent, production and distribution.

A nearly six-decade ban on women being employed as make-up artists in India’s film industry is set to end after the Supreme Court said it was gender biased and should not continue for a day longer, the Indian Express said on Tuesday.

India’s US$2-billion film industry is the largest in world by ticket sales. It produces between 300 to 325 movies a year and, although there are no official figures, trade analysts say the Hindi-language industry alone employs more than 250,000 people, most of them contract workers.

While women work in most areas including as technicians and hairdressers, the industry does not allow women to work as make-up artists. Trade unions say this is to ensure men are not deprived of work.

But in a court case brought by a group of female make-up artists against the Cine Costume Make-up Artists and Hair Dressers Association (CCMAA), a two-judge bench said on Monday it would not permit this type of discrimination, the newspaper reported.

“Why should only a male artist be allowed to put make-up? How can it be said that only men can be make-up artists and women can be hairdressers? We don’t see a reason to prohibit a woman from becoming a make-up artist if she is qualified,” the Indian Express quoted Justices Dipak Misra and U.U. Lalit as saying.

“You better delete this clause on your own. Remove this immediately. We are in 2014, not in 1935. Such things cannot continue even for a day,” they told the CCMAA.

The Indian Express said the petition was brought by make-up artist Charu Khurana and other qualified female artists whose applications for make-up artist identification cards were rejected by the CCMAA because they are women.

While this case related to the Mumbai-based Hindi and English-language film industry which is known as Bollywood, the court said it will take action against regional language film industries based in cities such as Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad which also bar women make-up artists