Friday, February 29, 2008

Amitabh Bachchan's office attacked


Mumbai, Mar 1: Some unidentified persons attacked the Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited (ABCL) office in Juhu late on Friday night. They allegedly threw beer bottles at the actor"s office, which is situated behind his Juhu residence “Jalsa".The incident came in the wake of reports about a similar incident at the Bachchans" residence “Pratikhshsa" during the Maharastra Navinirman Sena-led campaign against north Indians migrant workers, early last month. The actor confirmed that four people who came in a grey Santro attacked his office and threw bottles, and that he had reported the incident to the police. "We have received a call that a bottle was thrown at the Janak bungalow, which houses ABCL, and police officers have been sent to thespot to verify the facts," said DCP Vinay Choubey. No arrest has beenmade yet.

Women's film Festival in Chennai

Chennai is all set to host the first ever Women's Film Festival that focuses on the films made on and by women. This unique function will be conducted by Indo-Korean Cultural and Information Centre, National Film Development Corporation, NFAI, Indian Film Festival Movement and Sathyam Cinemas.The event will be held at Sathyam Cinemas on 1 March and Bollywood actress Nandita Das will inaugurate the event. Films of women directors from Hungary, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Iran, Canada, USA, Austria, Norway and Burkina Faso will be screened. There are 83 films that will be screened at Sathyam complex and FilmChamber theatres and the tickets will be available at Sathyam Cinemasfrom February 27.This event will take place from March 1 to 8 and on the last day, a seminar, titled, "Looking through the lens: A woman's point of view" will be organised. The idea behind this is to examine the theme what constitutes a woman's film in terms of practise, critique, teachingand development.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

World's Best of the Best: Top 10 films (Gallery)

(Courtesy: Rottentomatos, USA)The Godfather (1972)
All About Eve (1950)
On the Waterfront (1954)
Rebecca (1940)
Marty (1955)
Casablanca (1942)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
The Godfather- Part-2 (1974)
Wings (1927)
Annie Hall (1977)

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Pyramid releasing Hollywood movie “D-War” in India (Synopsis & Gallery)

(Synopsis)
As a young boy, Ethan Kendrick (Cody Arens) encounters antiques dealer Jack (Robert Forster), who has a glowing dragon scale in a Korean chest in his shop. Jack says Ethan is the reincarnated spirit of Haram, a warrior-apprentice from 500 years ago. Once it lives to be ideal age, a Imugi was chosen by heaven to receive the Yeo-ui-ju orb, which is required for it to become a dragon. However, a evil Imugi by the name of Buraki wanted the Yeo-ui-ju for himself even if it meant to defy Heaven's law. To keep the Yeo-ui-ju from Buraki, it was sent to Earth and placed within the body of a newly born girl, Narin. When she turned twenty, with the Yeo-ui-ju fully formed, Buraki found her before the good Imugi could, sending his followers under his general to get her for him. But though she must be sacrficed to the good Imugi to release the Yeo-ui-ju, Haram couldn't do it and so the two committed suicide to escape Buraki's grasp with promise to meet again in the next life. 15 years after the enounter with Jack, the reincarnation of Haram's mentor Bochun, the adult Ethan (Jason Behr) is a television news reporter who coincidentally meets Sarah Daniels (Amanda Brooks), the reincarnation of Narin. Meanwhile, after waiting 500 years, Buraki rises in modern Los Angeles and repeatedly chases the two reincarnated lovers; personally and with his army led by the evil general. In the end, he finally captures both her and Ethan after they gave him and his minions the slip a dozen times. However, the good Imugi arrives at the last moment and battles Buraki before being mortally wounded in the process. It is then that Sarah decides that she doesn't want to run away anymore, releasing the Yeo-ui-ju from her body to allow the good imugi to transform into a powerful dragon, at the cost of her life, to finally destroy Buraki. As the skies begin to clear, Ethan holds the dead Sarah in his arms, as she fades into a spirit and promises Ethan they'll meet again before she gives herself up completely into the Yeo-ui-ju as the dragon, moved to the point of tears, takes the orb back to heaven. Jack appears behind Ethan, thanking him for completing his duty and then fades away like dust.Theatrical Release: March, 2008

Angelina Jolie - Photo Gallery



























Pyramid Saimira launches Simran Thirai

Chennai, Feb 27, 2008: Pyramid Saimira Production International Limited, a part of the Pyramid Saimira Group, the world’s fastest growing entertainment conglomerate, has embarked on a mission to recreate television content, with the launch of SIMRAN THIRAI, a mini-mega series. The launch of this project also marks the entry of well-known Tamil actor, Simran, into the small screen arena.

Speaking about the launch of the project, Mr. P S Saminathan, Managing Director, Pyramid Saimira Group, said “Television Content Industry has to undergo a serious mindset change if it has to retain its viewership. Already boredom has set in with repetitive long-winding generational stories, portraying women as the worst villain possible. Pyramid Saimira believes in creating a paradigm shift in whatever it does and this serial will be a start of such a review, showcasing creative talents in a tight script and a fast phased execution. This kind of project will create new viewership and also will be testimony to the fact that given “quality content is platform independent”.

Also speaking at the launch, Mr. K. S. Srinivasan, Director & CEO, Pyramid Saimira Production International Limited, said, “It gives us great pleasure to work with Simran, who was chosen to play the protagonist’s role, via SMS votes. When Simran took a break from working in films, her absence in Tamil cinema was greatly felt by the industry as well as the avid movie-watchers. We are extremely happy that she has agreed to work with us for this series and we are confident that this series will be very well received by the audiences.”

Speaking about the series, Ms. Subhaa Venkat, Creative Head, Pyramid Saimira Production, said “Simran Thirai is a unique project that will churn out new stories every month, outlining varied and innovative roles for the protagonist. The serial will be aired on Jaya TV from March 3, 2008, during the prime time 8.30PM - 9PM slot daily. The roles portrayed by Simran will delineate diverse dimensions of a modern day woman. Another feature that makes Simran Thirai so unique is the fact that every story will see a different director, different technicians, thereby adding that distinct cinematic flavor to the series. We, at Pyramid Saimira Production, will soon be producing close to two hours of television content in every language”

Pyramid Saimira Production plans to rope in reputed writers, directors and other technicians from the cine and television industry for this up-market television product. Vannathupoochi, the first serial in the series, is based on a story by popular writer Sujatha and is being directed by artiste Sripriya. A. Ramesh Kumar handles camera while S. Kumareshan pens the screenplay and Subhaa Venkat, Creative Head, Pyramid Saimira Production, pens the dialogues. The second story in the series will be written by Sripriya and directed by National Award winning Director, Agaththiyan.

The special attraction of this series is the stylish title song that is the culmination of Ramesh Vinayagam’s music, Kaviyarasu Vairamuthu’s lyrics, Dinesh Master’s choreography, along with Chinmayi’s melodious voice for the playback. This song pledges to be extraordinary and promises to abide by contemporary trends and cater to every individual’s taste. The exclusive promos aired on Jaya TV since early January have already generated a lot of excitement amongst the TV-viewing audiences.

About Pyramid Saimira Group:

Pyramid Saimira Group operates in 5 countries. It is a holistic Indian Multinational Entertainment Company. It is present in film exhibition, film distribution, film production, TV content production, advertisement, Gaming & Animation, media, Food & Beverages and Realty etc. It has around nine group companies namely, Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd., Pyramid Saimira Production International Limited, Pyramid Saimira Theatre Chain Malaysia., Sdn Bhd, Pyramid Saimira Entertainment Limited, Singapore, Pyramid Saimira Entertainment America, Inc., Saimira Realty Private Limited, Pyramid Saimira Production Services Limited, Dimples Cine Advertising Private Limited & Aurona Technologies Limited.

Its group holding Company, Pyramid Saimira Theatre Limited, is publicly listed in National Stock Exchange (NSE: PSTL) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE: 532791). In the exhibition sector, it has over 53 multiplexes with approximately 800 screens across India, Malaysia, Singapore and North America. By 2010, the Group plans to operate 175 multiplexes with 2,000 screens in India alone. By its own estimates, Pyramid Saimira ranks as the world’s third largest cinema operator, based on its number of seats and admissions with nearly 4,36,000 seats as of January 2008.
More information is available at www.pstl.in

For further details:
Ms.Subhaa Venkat – 98409 10350
Email : subhaavenkat@pstl.in

80th Annual Academy Awards


Best Motion Picture
WINNER: "No Country for Old Men"
Performance By An Actor In A Leading Role
WINNER: Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will Be Blood"
Performance By An Actress In A Leading Role
WINNER: Marion Cotillard in "La Vie en Rose"
Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role
WINNER: Javier Bardem in "No Country for Old
Performance By An Actress In A Supporting Role
WINNER: Tilda Swinton in "Michael Clayton"

Achievement In Directing
WINNER: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for "No Country for Old Men"

Adapted Screenplay
WINNER: "No Country for Old Men" by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Original Screenplay
WINNER: "Juno" by Diablo Cody

Achievement In Music Written For Motion Pictures (Original Song)
WINNER: Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova for "Falling Slowly" from "Once"

Achievement In Music Written For Motion Pictures (Original Score)
WINNER: Dario Marianelli for "Atonement"

Achievement In Cinematography
WINNER: Robert Elswit for "There Will Be Blood"

Achievement In Film Editing
WINNER: Christopher Rouse for "The Bourne Ultimatum"

Achievement In Costume Design
WINNER: Alexandra Byrne for "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"

Achievement In Art Direction
WINNER: Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo for "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"
Best Animated Feature Film
WINNER: "Ratatouille"
Best Animated Short Film
WINNER: "Peter & the Wolf"
Best Live Action Short Film
WINNER: "Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)"

Best Documentary Feature
WINNER: "Taxi to the Dark Side"
Best Documentary Short Subject
WINNER: "Freeheld"
Best Foreign Language Film
WINNER: "The Counterfeiters" (Austria)
Achievement In Visual Effects
WINNER: Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood for "The Golden Compass"
Achievement In Makeup
WINNER: Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald for "La Vie en Rose"
Achievement In Sound Editing
WINNER: Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg for "The Bourne Ultimatum"
Achievement In Sound Mixing
WINNER: Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis for "The Bourne Ultimatum"