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CINEMA
Madness in his method
From losing 14 kilos to shaving his head or locking himself up in a room for 10 days, actor Vikram will do anything to get into a character
MOVIE REVIEW
This trick is no treat
Magic is something that never ceases to excite Hollywood filmmakers and audiences alike. And high-profile heists carried out under the cover of magic should be all the more exciting, right?Not really, you would say, once you watch Louis Leterrier’s latest offering, Now You See Me.The film starts off on a promising note when four struggling magicians, Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Merritt...
BOOK REVIEW
Tasty culture
Food has hardly had a singular purpose. From being the winning way to a man’s heart to being a task that requires professional prowess, cooking has come a long way. You may not be a food fanatic but it is almost impossible not to have come across a cookbook. Ever wondered what happens when food becomes a way to live a culture?In The Slim Punjabi, Harmeet Kaur explores the Punjabi culture,...
EVENT
Lessons from a sailor
Halfway through a special screening of Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, the screen went blank and lights came on. Catching the audience of 550 schoolchildren by surprise, a voice announced, “Kids, now meet the real Pi.”Many children took off their 3D goggles and whistled as Lt-Cdr Abhilash Tomy, the first Indian to complete a non-stop, solo circumnavigation of the globe, made his way to...
RECORD
Dubai opens tallest 'twisted' tower
Dubai has inaugurated the world's tallest twisted tower built at a cost of $272 million, setting yet another record for skyscrapers and other engineering marvels.The 310-metre (1,017-foot), 75-storey residential Cayan Tower is twisted at 90 degrees from top to bottom and was inaugurated earlier this week in Dubai Marina—a man-made canal overlooking the Gulf.Developer Cayan Real Estate...
ENTERTAINMENT
Dalai Lama's musical monks headed for Glastonbury
The Gyuto Monks of Tibet, who are living in exile with the Dalai Lama in India, will perform their chants at the world-famous Glastonbury music festival in England later this month.The monks' Glastonbury debut follows a recent global record deal with Universal Music, as part of which all proceeds from their forthcoming album, 'Chants: The Spirit of Tibet', will go to their monastery...
ART
Colours rain; colours reign
In 12 days, 300 artists turned Kottayam into India’s largest mural city. The story of how the land of lakes, latex and letters became one huge canvas
BOOK REVIEW
Up, up and away
Whether it’s the Isle of Capri in Greece or the Louvre in Paris, Mitrajit Bhattacharya’s new book has a way of putting you there
ENTERTAINMENT
Rare Superman comic gets $175k
A rare 75-year-old comic book featuring the debut of Superman found in a Minnesota home's wall fetched $175,000 at auction, comic book seller  Comicconnect.com said on Wednesday.The identity of the buyer in the online auction, which ended Tuesday, was not disclosed. The comic book, Action Comics No. 1 from June 1938, was the first appearance of the all-American superhero by writer Jerry...
DRUNK DRIVING
Erin Brockovich held, apologises
Environmental activist Erin Brockovich-Ellis, whose life was portrayed by actress Julia Roberts in a 2000 film, was arrested lat week after she allegedly drunkenly drove her boat on a Nevada lake.Brockovich-Ellis, 52, issued a public apology after her arrest, said the Hollywood Reporter. "I take drunk driving very seriously, this was clearly a big mistake, I know better and I am very sorry....
CINEMA
Break ke baad
Ranbir and Deepika look so happy with each other that it is difficult to imagine that they are not together any more
LEISURE
O. Henry to play muse in Bengali film
Celebrated American writer O. Henry is set to be the central character of a Bengali film with whom a budding woman author falls in love.Director Animesh Roy said in “O' Henry” the author, who died in  1910, plays the muse of a young writer Megha who gets inspired by his work before taking up the pen.Without giving away much, the director said that Megha's obsession would...
MOVIE REVIEW
YJHD: Mixed, stirred, served
Take the biggest romance of Bollywood Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge. Add a spattering of Hum Tum, Bachna Ae Haseeno and Love Aaj Kal.  And, stir in a dollop of Dil Chahta Hai, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, 3 Idiots or just any romantic comedy that has graced the Indian screens for that matter and here’s what you get—a half-baked, too long film called Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. Director...
GAMING
Tetris inventor launches Marbly
Best known for coming up with the hypnotic "Tetris", Alexey Pajitnov has launched his latest game, "Marbly", on the Apple App Store.Players are given a board of colored marbles and are challenged with removing the lot by matching them into pairs of three.Though that might sound similar to "Bejeweled," "Jewel Quest," and "4 Elements,"...
MUSIC
Manhattan in Mumbai
It was in 2007 that Mumbai’s erstwhile mill area started swinging to the sounds of bass guitars and jazz drums. The independent music scene in the city got a boost with the arrival of a unique ensemble music project called blueFROG. In just six years, blueFROG, an umbrella model that consists of a club that features international and local live acts, a recording studio and a record label,...
BOOKS
Familiar ground
Doctor-turned-author Khaled Hosseini paints a comforting picture of Kabul in his third book, And The Mountains Echoed
TRIBUTE
Auteur as child
He made 19 movies, of which 12 won National Awards. But that does not say much about Rituparno Ghosh's two decades of pathbreaking cinema
ENTERTAINMENT
Will Smith, son shoot with real snakes
Hollywood star Will Smith's son Jaden Smith has shot with poisonous snakes and dangerous animals in the jungles of Costa Rica for his upcoming sci-fi adventure film "After Earth".The film helmed by Indian origin director Manoj Night Shyamalan is set in the future where mankind has fled Earth. The father-son duo play estranged father and son military men who crash-land on the...
EXHIBITION
Fruitful journey
Of all the journeys we undertake, a train ride is perhaps the most heady. You can see the day age and the landscape change as it rolls by. You can inhale the fresh air as it weaves in and out of compartments carrying forth the remnants of one fading conversation into the heart of another. And when it is finally curtains, you find yourself lulled into a deep sleep by the slow, rocking motion of...
MOVIE REVIEW
Gatsby falls short of being great
If adapting a great piece of literature means putting words on to the screen, then Baz Luhrman, the man who has made the latest film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 'The Great Gatsby' gets it right. On many occasions in his loud and extravagant adaptation deemed to be ‘the greatest American novel’, we see Fitzgerald’s words forming into sentences from freely...
OBIT
Ghosh ushered in new wave Bengali cinema
Credited for ushering in a new wave in Bengali cinema by his trailblazing films like 'Unishe April' and 'Dahan', director-turned-actor Rituparno Ghosh was known for glorifying women besides exploring the touchy subject of same sex relationships.As someone who had a different take on sexuality, life, filmmaking and equally adaptive to the trends and changes of contemporary...
CANNES
Angelina returns to red carpet
Angelina Jolie made her first public appearance since announcing her double mastectomy on Sunday, joining fiance Brad Pitt on the red carpet in London where she welcomed the debate on women's health that the surgery had sparked.The Oscar-winning actress has stayed out of the spotlight since announcing her operation in a New York Times column last month, saying the decision was made after...
LONELY PLANET
Arunachal listed among top tourist destinations
Arunachal Pradesh has earned a rare distinction by making it to the BBC's Lonely Planet Travel magazine's 'Top 21 under-the-radar destinations of the world', state Tourism Parliamentary Secretary P.D. Sona said in Itanagar on Thursday.The list, exclusively featured the less explored and unconventional tourist destinations of the world, was released on May 9.Arunachal won the...
MUSIC
Starr's e-book unveils rare Beatles pics
Former Beatle Ringo Starr is lifting the lid on a collection of previously unseen photographs of the fab four in their heyday from his personal collection, in a new photography book due out next month."Photograph," which will be released as an e-book on Apple's iBookstore on June 12, will coincide with a Grammy Museum exhibit on Starr, entitled "Ringo: Peace & Love,"...
MUSIC
Beyonce, Madonna, Tutu team up for charity
Singers Beyonce and Madonna, activist Gloria Steinem and Bishop Desmond Tutu will be among big names reaching out to a billion people from a pop concert in London on Saturday with a message of empowerment for women across the planet.The "Sound of Change Live" gig headlined by Beyonce, Florence + the Machine and Jennifer Lopez will be broadcast live from Twickenham sports stadium to 150...
CINEMA
Mandela biopic to be released in November
A film based on Nelson Mandela's bestselling autobiography "Long Walk to Freedom" will be released in November, producers said on Monday.The biopic, entitled "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom", is to star British actor Idris Elba as the iconic anti-apartheid hero and will trace his life from childhood to imprisonment and presidency in 1994."We are honoured to have had...
BOMBAY TALKIES
'Gay kiss' sparks debate
New Bollywood film "Bombay Talkies" is billed as a milestone not only for marking 100 years of Indian cinema—it is also one of the country's few mainstream movies ever to have shown a gay kiss.The centenary film, which had a special screening at Cannes, comprises four self-contained short stories by leading directors looking at the impact of Indian cinema on people's...
PHOTO-FEATURE
Learning curve
Just a few kilometres from glitzy Gurgaon lies Mewat, one of the most backward districts in India. Only 37 per cent of women here are literate, according to Census 2011, and the literacy rate among the women of Meos, the dominant Muslim community in the district, is a dismal 3 per cent.It, however, would change soon, as a slow but steady revolution is taking place in Mewat, the youngest of...
RELIGION
Modern twist on Prophet's sayings
Scholars around the Muslim world were alarmed five years ago by news reports that Turkey planned a new, possibly heretical compilation of the Prophet Mohammad's sayings that might scrap those it thought were out of date.Turkish religious leaders and theologians received anxious calls asking about Western media reports they would edit a "radical" new set of hadiths, scriptures that...
CINEMA
Shah. Shadow. Shining!
Imaad Shah, son of Naseeruddin Shah, is not just another Bollywood star kid. A musician, actor and filmmaker, he is more of a Renaissance man
CANNES
Asian cinema recognised at Cannes
A clutch of awards at the Cannes Film Festival has given global prominence to what insiders say is a bold era in Asian filmmaking, where China is emerging as a creative power.Directors from China, Japan, Singapore and Cambodia took to the stage at the Palais des Festivals where the world's most prestigious movie bash ended on Sunday.Praise was heaped on China's Jia Zhangke for his...
APETIZER
Wines for summer sipping
With the promise of summer just around the corner, liquor retailers are progressively giving more shelf space to light, crisp, fruity and bubbly wines as people seek out thirst-quenching varieties to accompany al fresco dinners and the heady, sweltering heat.Like winter coats and snow boots, it’s time to put away the rich, complex reds and oaky whites and stock the wine fridge with lighter...
CANNES FEST
'Every Cannes Festival is a new challenge'
Since the start of this 66th Cannes Film Festival on May 15, the public has been regaled with a veritable fashion show on the red carpet of the Croisette. Apart from the steady stream of stunning outfits ascending the famed staircase, sometimes it's actually the make-up that makes the difference, that adds that special something extra—even sublime—to the faces of the most gorgeous...
OFFBEAT
Pizza-smelling DVD movies
Pizza restaurant chains are turning up the heat when it comes to innovative marketing campaigns, with the latest pitch out of Domino’s selling DVD discs that emerge out of the player smelling like pizza.In a marketing strategy meant to reinforce the lazy Friday night ritual of an at-home movie night and take-out pizza, Domino’s in Brazil created DVDs which release the smell of pizza...
OFFBEAT
Most gymgoers don't wash often?
When it comes to keeping gym clothes clean, a new survey finds that most people wash their clothes only after every third workout. Women are the worst offenders, the survey said, with just 21 per cent washing their gym clothes after each and every workout.A poll of 1,456 British fitness fans revealed that the top excuses included saving for a bigger wash, not having enough gym clothing, or just...
ENTERTAINMENT
Impersonator Psy creates a buzz in Cannes
According to reports, the crowd at Cannes has been fooled by a man posing as Korean artist Psy, who has been using his falsely acquired celebrity status. Numerous party goers were apparently taken in by the impersonator with many sharing news and images of their meeting with the artist behind "Gangnam Style" on Twitter.Actress Naomi Harris was among those taken in, tweeting from her...
ART
Polish mine launches salt photo contest
One of the oldest salt mines in Europe, Poland's Wieliczka, on Tuesday called for photos of salt from across the globe for a contest and show at its underground museum."We thought it would be good to learn about the rest of the world's salt and compile a portrait of it," museum spokeswoman Malgorzata Bogucka said.She said submissions should focus on how NaCl is made, clarifying...
BOOKER PRIZE
US author Lydia Davis wins Man Booker
American short story writer Lydia Davis won the fifth Man Booker International Prize for fiction on Wednesday for a body of work that includes some of the briefest tales ever published.Davis, a professor of creative writing at the University of Albany, is best known for work that Observer critic William Skidelsky once said "redefines the meaning of brevity".She is also an accomplished...
OFFBEAT
Hawking's turn to star in comics
People can now learn about the life and times of physicist Stephen Hawking, 71, in a comic book. The British scientist is featuring as a comic book character for an illustrated series about his life.The book will cover Hawking's college days, his work as a researcher at Cambridge and some of his key discoveries, 'Sky News' reported. The series 'Stephen Hawking: Riddles Of Time...
HOLLYWOOD
Star Wars hero's pants auctioned for $36,100
The pants worn by actor Mark Hamill in the first Oscar-winning "Star Wars" film went under the hammer Tuesday for $36,100, according to auction house's website.The young Jedi Knight wore the sand-colored regular Levi's pants throughout the 1977 movie, which launched the world-beating franchise by director George Lucas.The pants had a pre-sale estimate of $70,000-$100,000, said...
FICTION SELLS
Record price for rare 'Harry Potter' first edition
A unique first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone annotated by author J.K. Rowling has sold for a record 150,000 pounds ($227,421) at a London charity auction, Sotheby's said on Tuesday.The 1997 book, featuring handwritten notes, 22 original illustrations and a 43-page "second thoughts" commentary by the author, fetched the highest price to date for a printed...
HOLLYWOOD
Hangover 3 goes out with a bang
One of the oddest moments for Todd Phillips, director of the Hangover movies, was meeting a Zach Galifianakis lookalike on the Vegas Strip who refused to have his picture taken if not paid.Galifianakis' hilarious bearded misfit Alan—who takes center stage in the final installment, out this week—has become a staple image on T shirts and tourist trinkets in Vegas, where the first...
DAWN TO DUSK
Salaam, super-auditor
Under Vinod Rai, the CAG's office became feared, ferocious and fearless. As he prepares to retire, THE WEEK looks at the man who earned the nation's trust
BEHAVIOUR
We or me?
Picture this. You are on a bus when a stranger hops in, quickly scans the bus and plonks his rear on the seat beside you. This, despite half of the other seats being unoccupied. Sounds familiar? Here is another example. You are riding an elevator that is packed over and above the specified capacity. Yet, the liftman is keen on packing in additional people like a can of sardines. Creepy, right?...
CINEMA
A forgotten father
The country is celebrating 100 years of indigenous cinema. But, who remembers Dadasaheb Torne, whose movie predates Raja Harishchandra
CINEMA
Review: The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Mira Nair’s latest offering, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, is one of the finest films you will see this year. Its success can be attributed to brilliant direction and masterful script. The movie is based on a novel with the same name by Mohsin Hamid.If you have read the novel, which came out in 2007, you will probably go to the theatre expecting it to be just that—a conversation...
GAGNAM STYLE
Now Psy in comics
The story of South Korean rap sensation Psy's ascent to global stardom with his megahit "Gangnam Style" has now been immortalised in full colour and with appropriate dramatic flourishes in a comic book."Fame:Psy", which went on sale in the US and South Korea on Wednesday, focuses mainly on what went into making "Gangnam Style," which catapulted the sunglassed...
ENTERTAINMENT
Ritwik Ghatak's life on celluloid
The turbulent personal life of filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak, which often finds an echo in his own films, is being brought alive on the big screen by actor Saswata Chatterjee.The 42-year-old actor says he is very excited for bagging the role in director Kamaleswar Mukherjee's film, which is the "most intense" in his career. "My role is the most intense in my career so far. It is not...
ADVENTURE
Surf, excel
Sun is shining, the weather is sweet, yeahMake you wanna move ya dancing feet now...The Bob Marley song kept flowing from several shacks at the Hawah and Lighthouse beaches in Kovalam, capturing the mood at India's first official surfing and stand-up paddle competition, Spice Coast Open.About 100 surfers from across India and abroad took part in the three-day event in May organised by the...
ENTERTAINMENT
Angry Birds to hit big screen
The popular video game Angry Birds is jumping off smart phones and onto the big screen in a new animated 3D film due to be released in 2016, Sony Pictures Entertainment announced on Wednesday.The film will be a joint venture between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Finnish game-maker Rovio, and follows the game's foray into television with an animated weekly series that began in March this...
ENTERTAINMENT
Deepa Mehta to film Secret Daughter
After Midnight's Children, Indo-Canadian director Deepa Mehta is bringing Shilpi Somaya Gowda's novel Secret Daughter to the big screen.Mehta is currently working on the script of the movie, which will be produced by Jody Colero of Silent Joe Inc and Hussain Amarshi of Mongrel Media. Secret Daughter revolves around two families, one in Mumbai, India forced to give a baby up for adoption,...
ROMANCE
'Women prefer men with guitar'
For men wanting to be more attractive to the opposite sex, new research suggests grabbing a guitar.Researchers at the University of Bretagne-Sud and the University of Paris-Sud enlisted the aid of an attractive young man who approached 300 women between the ages of 18 and 22 and ask them for their phone number, according to the Counsel & Heal website on Tuesday. A third of time he carried a...
HOLLYWOOD
Schwarzenegger in talks for The Toxic Avenger
Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to take on a lead role in a reboot of the cult '80s horror/comedy film "The Toxic Avenger," announced International Film Trust.Steve Pink, screenwriter of "High Fidelity" and director of "Hot Tub Time Machine," will direct.Schwarzenegger will play a former Special Forces agent called The Exterminator as he helps a young man who...
BOOK REVIEWS
Matters of the heart
Heartbreak has many shades. Blue, of course, is the chief colour that stands out in the spectrum. Think of any major love song. Cobalt Blue—even though the title does not really have anything to do with heartbreak—brings alive the sadness of the end of an affair beautifully. It is an unusual story, as love triangles go. A brother and sister are in love with the same man, the paying...
BOOK REVIEWS
Stinger in the spy tale
The cold war between the US and the Soviet Union had spawned two good things. One, it gave some kind of stability to the world. Two, it gave rise to a genre of spy thrillers, including the James Bond books and movies.Strangely, hardly any cold war thriller writer wrote books set in India, though they did look at most other conflict zones of the world—Europe, the Koreas, Vietnam, West Asia,...
BOOK REVIEWS
It’s a man thing
There are many reasons to read this book. That it is a book on Bharatanatyam is not one of them. Nor that it is about a famous dancer, V.P. Dhananjayan. It is worth picking because it talks about a person—a male dancer—whose story mostly remains untold.“My guru created a space where none existed earlier,” says Tulsi Badrinath, talking about Dhananjayan. “There was no...
More Inside THE WEEK
Grounded
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Defence deal
Non-quitters
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Last Word  |  Binayak & Ilina Sen
From war to peace
The horrific killings of Congress leaders by armed Maoist guerillas that took place at Jiram Ghati in Chhattisgarh on May 25 have drawn the world's attention. The latest victim was Vidya Charan Shukla, who succumbed ...  »
Power Point  |  Sachidananda Murthy
Spooking the spooks
It is only a walk across the road from Sanchar Bhawan, which houses the telecom ministry, to Sardar Patel Bhawan for just-retired telecom secretary Rentala Chandrasekhar, who has been appointed as chief of the super-secretive ...  »
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