Honoured to have competed with Deepika for 'Beyond the Clouds': Malavika

Agencies
April 18, 2018

Mumbai, Apr 18: Actor Malavika Mohanan, who plays the lead role in Iranian director Majid Majidi's Hindi film "Beyond the Clouds", feels honoured to have competed for the role alongside top stars like Deepika Padukone and Kangana Ranaut.

Casting director Honey Trehan had informed Malavika, who has acted in Malayalam films, about big actors vying to be part of "Beyond the Clouds", including Deepika and Kangana.

"Everybody was contending, so he was like if you get it, good. The reason why I was cast is that I fit the character. I was happy I got the role. I love these actors.

"I think they are amazing and to be considered as a competition alongside them is an honour. I am glad I got to work in this film," Malavika said.

The actor said when she first got a call from Trehan, she did not know that she will be doing look test for Majidi's film.

Malavika, daughter of renowned cinematographer K U Mohanan, was told to share some of her pictures in Indian look. Later, Trehan told her that she will have to do a look test for the film.

"Trehan said don't get your hopes up a lot of big actresses have done a look test... and are competing for it. Every actor wants to work with him. I was given a context and told to interpret the character in my own way.

"I went home, decided what Tara would wear, like a bindi, nose ring, earring and did dusky make-up. I told my father to click some pictures on real locations like Madh Island," she said.

It seems Majidi was impressed with the pictures as she did not have to go through an audition.

"The look that was locked for the film was 90 per cent of my interpretation, like the nose ring, bindi and the hair. So I was happy that we envisioned in the same way," she added.

Malavika is not worried about the hype surrounding her co-star Ishaan Khatter, who comes from a film family. He is the half-brother of Shahid Kapoor. The two play siblings in the upcoming film.

"We both were cast as Majidi sir saw the characters of Tara and Amir in us. Ishaan is a very talented actor. He is very sharp and a quick learner. I have done a couple of more films than an average newcomer, so that (experience) did help.

"The team has been sweet to us, we have had an incredible experience while working on the film," she said.

During her college days, the 25-year-old actor had done a project 'Understanding Cinema', which is when she became aware of the work of the "Children of Heaven" director.

"I had seen four-five films of his and I had liked them. So I was in a way familiar with his work. The language was not an issue as I understood what he was trying to say. We also had a translator on the sets."

The film is slated to be released on April 20.

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News Network
January 27,2020

Los Angeles, Jan 27: Pop-rock innovator Billie Eilish on Sunday bested a packed field to win the Grammy for Song of the Year -- which honors songwriters -- for her hit "Bad Guy."

The 18-year-old beat veteran acts Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey along with newcomers Lewis Capaldi and Lizzo to take home the coveted honor.

She shares the prize with her older brother Finneas O'Connell, her primary creative collaborator.

The pair were gracious onstage, with Eilish telling her fellow nominees: "I grew up watching all of you."

"We just make music in a bedroom together," said O'Connell. "We still do that and they let us do that. (...) This is to all of the kids making music in your bedrooms today -- you're going to get one of these."

Eilish was among this year's most nominated artists with six nods, and is the youngest person ever nominated in all four of the top categories.

Best song was her second award of the night. She won earlier for best pop vocal album for "when we all fall asleep, where do we go?"

Before she released the album in March 2019, Eilish had already assembled a fervent online following for her bold, often haunting pop sound.

In August, Eilish became the first musician born in the 2000s to top the Billboard Hot 100, when she dethroned Lil Nas X, who spent a record-breaking 19 weeks at the top with viral hit "Old Town Road."

The artist named Billboard's 2019 Woman of the Year has also written and will perform the theme song for the upcoming James Bond film "No Time To Die."

"I feel like I'm not supposed to be here," she told E! television on the red carpet before the gala. "Life is weird."

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News Network
February 10,2020

Feb 10: Bong Joon-ho’s film “Parasite” starts in a dingy, half-basement apartment with a family of four barely able to scratch out a life. There must be no place to go but up, right? Yes and no. There’s nothing predictable when the South Korean director is on his game.

This dark, socially conscious film about the intertwining of two families is an intricately plotted, adult thriller. We can go up, for sure, but Bong can also take us deeper down. There’s always an extra floor somewhere in this masterpiece.

It tells the story of the impoverished four-person Kim family who, one by one, and with careful and devious planning, all get employed by the four-person affluent Park family — as a tutor, an art teacher, a driver and a housekeeper. They are imposters stunned by the way wealth can make things easier: “Money is an iron. It smooths out all the creases,” says the Park patriarch with wonder.

Bong, who directed and wrote the story for “Parasite,” has picked his title carefully, of course. Naturally, he’s alluding to the sycophantic relationship by a clan of scammers to the clueless rich who have unwittingly opened the doors of their home on a hill. But it’s not that simple. The rich family seem incapable of doing anything — from dishes to sex — without help. Who’s scamming who?

Bong’s previous films play with film genres and never hide their social commentary — think of the environmentalist pig-caper “Okja” and the dystopian sci-fi global warming scream “Snowpiercer.” But this time, Bong’s canvas is a thousand times smaller and his focus light-years more intense. There are no CGI train chases on mountains or car chases through cities. (There is also, thankfully, 100% less Tilda Swinton, a frequent, over-the-top Bong collaborator.

The two Korean families first make contact when a friend of the Kim’s son asks him to take over English lessons for the Park daughter. Soon the son (a dreamy Choi Woo-sik) convinces them to hire his sister (the excellent Park So-dam) as an art teacher, but doesn’t reveal it’s his sis. She forges her diploma and spews arty nonsense she learned on the internet, impressing the polite but firm Park matriarch (a superb Jo Yeo-jeong.)

The Park’s regular chauffer is soon let go and replaced by the Kim patriarch (a steely Lee Sun-kyun). Ditto the housemaid, who is dumped in favor of the Kims’ mother (a feisty Jang Hye-jin.) All eight people seem happy with the new arrangement until Bong reveals a twist: There are more parasites than you imagined. The clean, impeccably furnished Park home will have some blood splashing about.

Bong’s trademark slapstick is still here but the rough edges of his often too-loud lessons are shaved down nicely and his actors step forward. “Keep it focused,” the Kim’s son counsels his father at one point. Bong has followed that advice.

There are typically dazzling Bong touches throughout. Just look for all the insect references — stink bugs at the beginning to flies at the end, and a preoccupation with odor across the frames. And there’s a scene in which the rich matriarch skillfully winds noodles in a bowl while, in another room, duct tape is being wrapped around a victim and classical music plays.

Bong could have been more strident in his social critique but hasn’t. There are no villains in “Parasite” — and also no heroes. Both families are forever broken after chafing against each other, a bleak message about the classes ever really co-existing (Take that, “Downton Abbey”).

“Parasite” is a worthy winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, the first South Korean movie to win the prestigious top prize. The director has called it an “unstoppably fierce tragicomedy.” We just call it brilliant.

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News Network
June 18,2020

New Delhi, Jun 18: Actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas on Thursday paid tribute to the Indian soldiers who were killed in clashes with Chinese troops in Ladakh's Galwan valley.

The 'Fashion' actor who is currently living in America with her singer husband Nick Jonas took to Twitter to extend support to the families of the fallen soldiers.

"My heart goes out to the soldiers and their families. May God give them the strength to cope with this irreparable loss," she tweeted.

Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in a violent face-off with Chinese troops on Monday at Galwan Valley in Ladakh.

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