Penelope Cruz to bare all with Ben Kingsley

Spanish actress Penelope Cruz is setting pulses racing with her steamy new film, Elegy.

She appears alongside Sir Ben Kingsley, who plays a charismatic professor who loses his composure when he falls in love with a student half his age.

The star is no stranger to nudity - she has gone topless in more than eight films, including the Italian release Don't Move.

"Penelope has done screen nudity before and isn't shy about showing off her boobs and bum," The Sun quoted a film insider as saying.

"Movie fans are in for a real treat," the insider added.

Elegy is based on Pulitzer Prize-winner Philip Roths short novel The Dying Animal. The movie is about a passionate relationship between a celebrated college professor (Ben Kingsley) and a young woman (Penelope Cruz) whose beauty destabilizes him.

She admits her hairdresser mother, Encarna, and merchant father, Eduardo, aren't thrilled at her nude scenes.

She has said previously, "Going topless is not my favourite thing. It's a little tough for my parents."

The film, which also stars Debbie Harry, Dennis Hopper and Patricia Clarkson, is expected to be be released is the UK next month.

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I apologize for sexy photos

Teen idol Miley Cyrus, the fresh-faced star of Disney's "Hannah Montana" television franchise, has apologized for two sets of photos in which she flashes her bra, lies across a boy's lap, and appears semi-nude.

The 15-year-old churchgoing daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus said in a statement on Sunday that she was embarrassed about some photos released on the Internet and others to be published in Vanity Fair magazine.

The first series of photos, which circulated on the Internet last week, showed Cyrus draped over the lap of her then-boyfriend, her producer's son, while another showed her revealing part of her green bra.

She is also starring in some as-yet released shots by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz in which she appears to be topless and wrapped in a blanket. These are set to be published in Vanity Fair magazine's June edition.

"For Vanity Fair, I was so honored and thrilled to work with Annie. I took part in a photo shoot that was supposed to be 'artistic' and now, seeing the photographs and reading the story, I feel so embarrassed," Cyrus said in a statement published on People magazine's Web site.

The Disney Channel backed up the rising star saying in a statement that "a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines."

No one from Vanity Fair was immediately available to comment.

But in a statement to the TV show "Entertainment Tonight," Vanity Fair defended itself.

"Miley's parents and/or minders were on the set all day. Since the photo was taken digitally, they saw it on the shoot and everyone thought it was a beautiful and natural portrait of Miley," said the magazine's statement.

Regarding the photos on the Internet, Cyrus said these were "silly, inappropriate shots" and she was sorry if she had disappointed anyone.

"I appreciate all the support of my fans, and hope they understand that along the way I am going to make mistakes and I am not perfect," she said.

"Most of all, I have let myself down. I will learn from my mistakes and trust my support team. My family and my faith will guide me through my life's journey."

Late last year, some candid photos of Cyrus frolicking with a female friend during a sleepover raised some eyebrows. She said at the time that there was "nothing wrong" with those photos.

Cyrus rocketed to fame as "Hannah Montana" on the Disney Channel's TV show of the same name about a girl who leads a double life as a teenager and singing sensation.

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Jennifer Aniston is falling in love again

Jennifer Aniston is "falling in love" with singer-songwriter John Mayer, according to a report.

The 39-year-old actress was spotted on a romantic dinner date with Mayer, 30, last month in Miami, where she is currently filming her new movie Marley & Me. They have also been seen cuddling up together on a sun lounger at Aniston's hotel on South Beach.

A source close to Aniston told the Daily Mail: "She's really into John, and the nine year age difference doesn't bother her for a second. Jen's already telling friends she's falling in love with this guy."

Though Mayer has since returned to New York, the pal added: "Jen's really hoping he can spend more time in Miami with her. She just wants to see a lot more of him. This was definitely not a one-off thing as far as she's concerned."

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Madonna uses the f-word on TV show

Pop superstar Madonna, who performed in Britain recently, used the f-word twice on a TV show, which led to complaints.

The sun.co.uk reports that furious complaints followed the broadcast even though the viewers were warned that there might be strong language.

Madonna introduced her song 'Hung Up' on the show, saying, 'You guys are going to have to start f***ing it up out there 'cos I need to feel some love. I'm going to do an old song. But not too old. F**k the present. Let's live in the past.'

She had also caused controversy last year when she swore at the Live Earth gig.

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Hayden Panettiere has revealed that she doesnt mind being considered a lesbian and admitted that she’d love to have a gay affair with Angelina Jolie.

The Heroes star, who plays indestructible Claire Bennet in the BBC2 sci-fi hit, has been dogged by rumours she is a lesbian.

The 18-year-old insists that she doesn’t care if the press think she’s gay, because she would happily date a string of Hollywood’s leading ladies.

“That’s fine with me. If I’m going to be linked with someone, I could do an affair with Angelina Jolie, Jessica Alba or Charlize Theron, The Sun quoted her, as saying.

“And Kate Beckinsale is gorgeous. There are so many beautiful girls,” he added.

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Tashan Hindhi Movie

Tashan

Tashan By Subhash K Jha

Starring Anil Kapoor, Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan
Directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya
Rating: ** ½

The threesome on the way to god-knows-where need to escape from the cops. They get into blonde wigs and tight 'American' costumes and turn into item dancers for a Hollywood project called Holy Widows.

Holy shit! Tashan is so full of the milk of human zaniness that you feel it may at any moment topple over under the weight of its own cleverness.

If the bizarre brew of the cunning and the cool holds togther it's mainly because of Akshay Kumar and Kareena Kapoor who a create a kaleidoscopic chemistry of crime and no punishment.

There's an ingrained energy in the proceedings, a ravishing rush of adrenaline and a whoosh of wunder-winks as though the man at the helm has a secret chuckle and a closet giggle underscoring every exaggerated swagger and every italicized moment in this story of four seemingly unscrupulous gold-diggers.

Three of them redeem themselves by the end of the film. As for the fourth, the villain played with feverish flatulent flamboyance by Anil Kapoor, you can't win 'em all.

Tashan is a winner in unexpected ways. First-time director Vijay Krishna Acharya spears the content to a dashboard that dashes all over the place.

Most of Tashan is a zany kookie ribald and riveting road movie about a naïve wannabe criminal Bachchan Pandey (Akshay Kumar), an English tutor named…er, Jimmy Cliff (Saif) trapped into a heist by a crimelord who wants to learn angrezi in haste, and an amoral pouty super-sculpted seductress Pooja (Kareena) who plays up the two men against one another and often breaks into steamy songs and provocative dances that suggest no link between the tale of the UP bhayya, angrezi masterji and the kanpuri coquette and the world that cultivates such freaked-out misfits.

Crime capers and road movies about characters who often get into outlandish costumes and foreign wigs at laconic locales have become a favourite at Yashraj.

Stories of small towners dreaming big have come and grown. Bunty Aur Babli worked. Jhoom Barabaar Jhoom did not. Tashan surreptitiously slips into the workable stratosphere, thanks to its super-motorized manoeuvres that take the plot into an area of utter originality.

Love or loath it, you've never seen a Hindi film like Tashan before.

Outrageous, over-the-top, opulent and audacious the debutant director turns formulistic conventions inside-out upside-down.

He pummels and tramples on the age-old material and emerges with images imprints and insignia that remind us that the global cinematic journey from Manmohan Desai and David Dhawan to Quentin Tarantino and Oliver Stone has come a full circle.

Tashan constructs a fool's paradise of caper- wanderers in search of that pot of gold at the end of the studio-generated rainbow.

The splash of colours (art director Sukant Panigrahy and DOP Anaynanka Bose have as much fun with the art décor and locations as two kids doing water colour in kindergarten) and the swirl of delightfully and daring caper-adventures as the greasy characters travel across Greece and Hindustan in search of anything but peace, is quite a gravity-challenging achievement.

The actors seem to be having loads of fun. Whether we share it or not, is entirely our look-out. If the truth be told the only one who seems to catch hold of the director's sur in totality is Akshay Kumar.

I'm not very sure why Kareena needed to re-sculpt her body to play the small-time schemer (was she playing Babli in search of a Bunty?) or the relevance of Saif Ali Khan's dropping moustache (is he a secret member of Ming dynasty?).

In fact Saif's relevance to the film escapes me. He rushes in as though to work over-time after Race.

He seems to have no idea of the rhythm and sur required for this extravagant take-off on Big Bad Bollywood's meanest conventions, and his set-expressions are more annoying than illuminating.

Anil Kapoor's Bhaiyyaji with his craving to master English is a monstrous aberration from the past. A mogambo from the stylized den in Mr India let loose in the city of the prowl to create a free-funded havoc.

Akshay steals the show in almost every frame.

Watch him in that tricky boat sequence with Kareena in Allahabad (yes we're taken from Uttar Pradesh to Greece to Rajasthan to Leh in this jerky joyride from hear to eternity-gritty) where he gets to know she's is his teenaged sweetheart from the town that was as frozen as the lakes of Leh and Greece.

Akshay takes this potentially trite and dangerously co-incidental sequence from level to level with a fluency that speaks volumes for his growth as an actor and his reverence for cinematic conventions.

You wish the director Vijay Krishna Acharya had shown some restrain in the action scenes.

The trouble is Tashan doesn't know where to stop. The situations get out of hand and dialogues like chadhi-sukhana and aurat ki ganji make you wince with their wonky witticism.

You can't blame Acharya for losing control. After a few reels of non-stop amorality the narration acquires its own volition.

It's the madness of the moment capturing the awkward avarice of a generation that believes money makes the world go round….or is it wrong?.... that echoes the perverse passion-play of Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers.

Expertly assembled and skilfully knitted together the episodes hold together mainly because the warm sunshine of the outdoors complements the bronzed and over-baked ambitions of the characters.

Sometimes the stench of immorality gets overbearing. That's when Kareena's overpowering beauty comes in. She's partly Meryl Streep, partly Juliette Binoche.

What the film is, becomes harder to pinpoint. Just go with the four.

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Jimmy Hindi movie review

Jimmy

Cast: Mimoh Chakraborty, Vivana, Zulfi Saiyad, Rahul Dev, Vikash Kalantri and Prithvi
Producer: Nawman Malik and Salman Malik
Music: Anand Raj Anand and Bappi Lahiri
Director: Raj N Sippy
Ratings - *

The film opens with a beautiful dance sequence of Jimmy (Mimoh Chakraborty). Jimmy, the heartbeat of millions of girls around, taps his toes every night on a discotheque where he works as a DJ and sweats all through the day in a garage as a mechanical engineer to lend back an amount of thirty five lacs to set his father free form debt.

Jimmi’s father, portrayed by Prithvi, wants to settle a business for Jimmy but unfortunately he fails invariably. He cannot survive such a shock and dies leaving for Jimmy the debt of a huge amount.

In the mean time Jimmy meets Megha (Vivana) and their love story starts taking shape. Megha’s father is the owner of a shipping company. He has a partner in the company who dreams of marrying his son, Sumer (Vikash Kalantri) with Megha.

On the other hand Jimmy, enjoying his days with Megha, realizes that he has brain tumour and has few days to spend with his ladylove.

And he takes the responsibility of a murder in exchange with money to reimburse the amount his was indebted with. The story then meanders through several serious situations and in that Jimmy comes to know that he was framed and the report about him having brain tumour was faked.

The culmination of the story reveals the brain behind the entire ploy is that of Jimmy’s friend (Zulfi Saiyad) in an attempt to grab Megha Mimoh tried his best to act better in his debut film but his flawless endeavour fails in a fruitless story of great trend but in seventies.

Mimoh, as far as dancing is concerned, has proved the legacy of his father, Mithun Chakraborty, but his voice lacks him in creating enough attractions.

At the same time, his obese look wrongs his appearance in the period of six packs in Bollywood. The renowned director Raj N Shippy tried his best to improve the screen of ‘Jimmy’ but probably he mistook choosing the story. Despite having everything to present a perfect masala, the tasteless story and brainless screenplay made ‘Jimmy’ hapless at its very outset.

The dialogue of serious scenes, even, provoked laughter among audience. At the same time the music and lyrics of the film are also not enjoyable enough. Few scenes have beautiful cinematography but it never can be enough to make a film hit.

Though unintended, but it’s better to watch the poster of the film than to endure the whole film. There, at least, audience won’t have to spend their hard-earned money and priceless time. - Rajnee Gupta

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Bhootnath Movie Review

Bhootnath

Casts: Amitabh Bachchan, Juhi Chawla, Aman Siddiqui, Priyanshu Chatterjee, Satish Shah, Rajpal Yadav
Guest appearance: Shahrukh Khan, Nouhid Sairesi, Ashish Chowdhury, Neena Kulkarni
Music: Vishal Shekhar, Salim Sulaiman
Lyrics: Javed Akhtar
Producer: Ravi Chopra
Director-Writer: Vivek Sharma
Ratings: **1/2

Nath Villa. Night. A couple enters the villa with an intention of spending the night. But unfortunate for them, it’s the house where Kailash Nath (Amitabh Bachchan), oops, the spirit of Kailash Nath enjoys his days and nights in his airy appearance. Predictably enough, the couple, intimidated with Kailash, zooms away from the house.

Next incident. Mr. Sharma (Shah Rukh Khan), a marine driver by profession, comes to Kailash’s den, with his family. He leaves his family behind at the Nath Villa and plods back to join his job.

While residing in the Nath Villa, Mr. Sharma’s wife Anjali (Juhi Chawla) and son Banku (Aman Siddiqui) experiences strange incidents. In the mean time Banku befriends the spirit of Kailash Nath and names him as “Bhootnath”.

Banku’s presence eliminates all the hazardous factors that polluted Bhootnath’s mind against human beings. One day, Anjali comes to know about Bhootnath being the angel in Banku’s life.

At the same time Anjali comes to know from Bhootnath about the painful incident that made him a spirit. So, to let Bhootnath’s spirit free from the bondage with the earth, Sharma family arranges for a shradh, a Hindu tradition that Bhootnath’s son, Priyanshu Chatterjee, avoided in past.

Ultimately, it’s through Banku that Bhootnath gets his desired freedom from the earthly bondage.

But it’s because of Banku’s love for Bhootnath that the amicable ghost leaves Banku with an option of appearing in front of Banku whenever he wishes from the core of his heart.

Even god changes his mind for the sake of true and honest love. This film is not about the triumph of a child but the success of true love and faith.

It’s the second time where Amitabh is posing as a ghost and his look in “Bhootnath”, though unintentionally, reminds of his look of Gabbar Singh in “Ram Gopal Verma Ki Aag”. If that is some bad news, the good part is that his acting always sweeps away the feeling of looking alike.

At the same time his intimidated being with the presence of his son lets audience recap his character in “Baghban”.

Aman Siddiqui has depicted Banku’s character very well. Juhi Chawla and Shah Rukh’s couple still reminds the same freshness that they show in their very first film.

Writer-director Vivek Sharma has proved his prowess in his

job. His beautifully mingled presentation of entertainment and spirit has started a new vogue in Bollywood. If “Bhootnath” is not so well a children film as “Taare Zamin Par” was, it definitely helps spending few hours in the air conditioned theaters while summer is blazing outside.

At last, if not the least, children may well accept the line of Amitabh saying, “Zindegi me jadoo nehi, mehnat se safalta pai jaati hai” (success is all about hard work, not magic). Bingo Bhootnath! - Rajnee Gupta

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Parugu - Movie Review

Film: Parugu
Cast: Allu Arjun, Sheela, Prakash Raju, Subbaraju, Poonam Bazwa, Ali, and others
Dialogues: B V S Ravi
Music: Manisharma
Cinematography: Vijay Chakravarthy
Art: Anand Sai
Editing: Marthand K Venkatesh
Produced by: Dil Raju
Story, screenplay and directed by: Bhaskar

Release Date: May 1, 2008

What's it about!

A rich landlord Neelakantam (Prakash Raj) has two daughters. His elder daughter (Poonam Bajwa) elopes with her boyfriend on the day of marriage. Neelakantham finds all the friends who helped his daughter getting eloped. One among them is Krishna (Allu Arjun). He is happy lucky go person. One day he falls in love with Meena (Sheela). It is love at first sight for him. The twist in the tale is that Meena is the younger daughter of Neelakantham. Now, it is time for Meena to run away with Arjun. But will it happen? The guy who helped his sister in getting married secretly will do the same? The rest of the movie runs on this aspect.

Analysis

Director Bhaskar comes with new movie - Parugu after winning accolades for his debut film Bommarillu. Apart from directing, he has written the story and screenplay, so if there is one person to blame for this boring movie, it ought to be Bhaskar. This is quite uninteresting fare.

In Bommarillu, he has dealt the theme of a son searching for his own identity under overprotective father. And in Parugu, he tackles the pain of a father when his daughters got married against his wishes. Does that ring any bell? Well, you guessed it right! The movie, intentionally or co-incidentally, has similarities to that of Chiranjeevi's daughter Srija's marriage.

Although it is very topical issue, the scenes and dialogues that resemble Chiru and his daughter become tedious after a point of time. The director starts off the movie interestingly but he loses the track. Although first half is laced with good humor, post interval it is completely out of line. Climax is a big disappointment.

Adding salt to injury, the movie is very slow-paced and lengthy (2 hrs 50 mts). Towards the end of the movie, one wonders who is the hero - Allu Arjun or Prakash Raj as they go for reversal of roles!

Performances

Allu Arjun does his role with ease as he has already done such roles (happy-go-lucky guy) in the past. He looks stylish but he wears only few costumes. Prakash Raj once again steals the show. As 'Annayya', he proves that he has no replacement for such roles. Heroine Sheela is miscast. She doesn't have the required innocence and charm that her character demands. Poonam Bazwa is okay. Ali brings enough entertainment. Sunil too evokes laughter. Subbaraju's character is okay.

Music by Mani Sarma is a big letdown. Vijay K.Chakravarthy's cinematography looks cool as he uses bright lighting always. Some of the dialogues (BVS Ravi) are good and catchy.

As a screenplay writer, Bhaskar fails miserably. He proves that he can extract good performances from actors, but this time he fails on script.

Bottom-line

Parugu has some good moments in parts but on the whole it is a big bore and huge disappointment.

Rating: 2.5/5

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Can Sneha’s glam makeover work?

Sneha is looking ravishing now. It seems she is tired of playing same traditional housewife roles to the big stars in Telugu. Moving away from her domicile image and looks, she has gone for complete make-over. The new change will be first appeared in her forthcoming movie opposite Lawrence titled Pardhoo.

Not that she has not done modern characters earlier but she is said to have done very revealing act in this film. Can her fans (largely women) accept this makeover?

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Kantri - Movie Review

Film: Kantri
Cast: NTR, Hansika, Tanisha, Prakash Raj, Ashish Vidyaradhi, Kota, Dharmavarapu, Brahmanandam, Sunil, and others
Music: Manisharma
Cinematography: Sameer Reddy
Action: Stun Shiva
Editing: Marthand K Venkatesh
Choreography: Prem Rakshit, Raju Sundaram
Art: A S Prakash
Executive producer: Sai Baba
Produced by: C Ashwani Dutt
Story, screenplay and directed by: Meher Ramesh
Release Date: May 9, 2008
CBFC Rating: U/A

What's it about

Kranthi aka Kantri (NTR) joins the gang run by Seshu (Ashish Vidhyardhi). Seshu is controlled by mafia don PR alias Potu Raju (Prakash Raj) from Hong Kong. When asked to capture the men from rival gang in Hong Kong, Kranthi finishes the mission successfully that impresses PR. On other hand, Kranthi meets an acting student Varalakshmi (Hansika) who is luckiest woman around. Romance blossoms between them. When Kranthi's friend needs urgent medical treatment, he seeks monetary help from Seshu to which he declines. Enraged Kranthi forms his own gang and that prompts PR to come down to India. When both of them face each other, it is revealed that Kranthi is son of PR. The movie has an interesting twist in the end.

Analysis

Director Meher Ramesh goes for safe game. Like his guru Puri Jagannadh, he tries to elevate hero characterisation and completely focuses on giving NTR new look. He succeeds in projecting NTR completely in different new avatar. Unlike in other NTR movies, NTR looks very stylish - a blend of class and mass. Contentwise, it is very routine. Yet, it has some strong commercial points that might appeal to NTR fans like NTR's new look, dances and some self indulgent dialogues.

Basic storyline is taken from Argentinean movie - Nine Queens (2000) but director Meher Ramesh focussed more on gangs and father-son relationship than the 'con' (Kantri) man aspect. And the romantic drama between NTR and Hansika is taken from Just My Luck (2006).

Twist in the climax, first half, some dialogues and NTR are the best parts. The rest is same age-old formulae.

Performances

It is NTR all the way. He has shed weight for Yamadonga and but his appearance was not consistent in that movie. Here, he looks completely different and very stylish. The dressing style is urbane and cool. Meher Ramesh should be commended for giving NTR new look. Unlike his past movies, his acting is subtle and doesn't mouth pages of dialogue. NTR once again proves that no one can beat him in dances. An animation of NTR using Motion Picture technology is incorporated but it is not appealing; moreover it’s very irritating.

Hansika is right jodi for NTR. She looks beautiful. Tanisha's role is meaningless and serves no purpose. Prakash Raj’s acting has become repetitive. Sunil and Brahamanandam's episodes should be chopped immediately. Ali is okay. Dharmavarapu and Krishna Baghavan have provided some laughter.

Of all the songs, two songs - Vayasu Sunami and I Go Crazy stand out. NTR's dance steps in the song I Go Crazy are amazing, while the picturisation of Vayausu Sunami is the best. Manisharma’s music by and large is weak.

Technically it is cameraman Sameer Reddy's work that steals the attention. He has done superb job.

Director Meher Ramesh gets more appreciation for his dialogues. He has shown excellent flair for the dialougues and has incorporated NTR's offscreen and family image into the dailouges. Had he concentrated on second half, it would have been different story.

Bottom-line!

Kantri is mixed bag. Over all, Kantri will appeal to die-hard NTR fans. NTR's performance is the big asset. His dance movements remain highlights. But others, it is not that appealing. Without doubt, the second half is big bore. Twist before the climax then puts it back. NTR's killing looks and dances, first half and Meher Ramesh's dialogues can save the film.

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