Slumdog wins three awards at BIFAS

London (PTI): Slumdog Millionaire, an English movie based on the award-winning novel of Indian Diplomat Vikas Swarup, won three awards at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFAS) ceremony here.

The story of the Danny Boyle's film featuring Anil Kapoor revolves around a Mumbai teenage boy who astounds all by doing well on 'Kaun Banega Karorpati', Indian version of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire quiz show.

The film won the award in the category of best film, best director and best newcomer (for its British lead actor).

The former artistic director of the Royal Court theatre, Boyle, was talk of the night and is already on many pundits' Oscar prediction lists.

Earlier, he has directed films like Trainspotting showing Edinburgh heroin addicts and The Beach in which Leonardo DiCaprio played the main role.

The young lead actor of Slumdog Millionaire, Harrow-born Dev Patel, best known to British audiences as Anwar in E4's Skins, won the best newcomer award.

The film tells the story of a Mumbai street child. As he does well on the quiz show, flashbacks chronicle his life, the realities of which Danny Boyle does not flinch from showing.

Boyle's film, a third of which is spoken in Hindi opens in the UK on January 9 but has already down well on the festival circuit and opened to fantastic reviews in the US.
Source: http://www.hindu.com/

Big B's first international film

Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan has said that he is likely to sign an international film project which will be made by makers of the Oscar winning documentary March of the Penguin.

Big B wrote on his blog that he might give consent to this project to be made in English. The project will be produced and directed by the French makers and the film will be set in India and France.

"That is all that one can talk of right now," he wrote on his blog.

March of the Penguin directed by Luc Jacquet is about Antartica's emperor Penguins which earned $77 million at the US box office.

Big B has also hinted that he had got a Hollywood offer. "There is another project from the writer of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull from Hollywood and I shall need to see the script before I consider any further," he said.

Amitabh Bachchan has recently wound up his Unforgettable tour with wife, son and daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai. Bachchan Sr is currently in Paris.
Source: http://movies.ndtv.com

Taare Zameen Par is India's Oscar entry

Spicezee Bureau Mumbai, Sept 22: Aamir Khan’s directional debut ‘Taare Zameen Par’, which has been officially nominated at the Oscars seems to have a strong chance of winning the award as it has a mass appeal and has already touched the emotional chords of the audience. The film has secured an entry into the Oscars beating exceptional films like ‘Jodhaa Akbar’, ‘A Wednesday’, ‘Mumbai Meri Jaan’, ‘Rock On’, ‘Black And White’ and two Marathi films and a Telugu movie. Expressing happiness on the nomination, Aamir said, “I’m very happy that my film has been selected as we have got a chance to represent India internationally at a level where best films from all over the world are nominated for the honour.” The actor, however, expressed the desire to have ‘TZP’ reach the top 5 of the nominations, like his previous film ‘Lagaan’. Rejecting the charge of lobbying for his films, Aamir said, “I feel there is nothing wrong if I say that I have a PR in Los Angeles, because I believe it is important to have one so that people get to know about the films we make in India through the media over there. My responsibility is and has been just to create awareness about the films that we make.” Speaking about the importance of an Oscar to him, the actor said, “I don’t target Oscars when I make a film. My films are mainly for the audience. I think it is my responsibility to make good films which are entertaining and worth watching for the audience and their money and time is what matters to me the most.” “For the Oscar nomination I would say that the competition is tough, so I’m not sure if TZP would win the award, but I’m sure the film is going to leave a strong impact,” he added. Source: http://www.zeenews.com