New Delhi, March 30 (Ians) Gary Mehigan, who was behind the humongous success of ‘MasterChef Australia’, has become a registered Indophile by the look of it.
Somewhat like the Australian (and also Delhi Capitals) cricket star David Warner, who almost became the face of Tollywood during his stint with Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mehigan knows more about India than any homegrown desi would on a good day.
Not surprising, considering that he has been here 12 times in 18 months, travelling across the country from the highlands of Munnar in Kerala to Ladakh, soaking in the Hemis Festival, to Nagaland, chilling at Hornbill. Sampling ‘langarwali dal’ and roti at Anandpur Sahib one day or, on another, riding a truck in Kolkata carrying an idol of Goddess Durga being taken for immersion to the Hooghly, shooting for Nat Geo’s ‘India Mega Festivals’ series.
And of course, if you’re a chef who spends more time...
Somewhat like the Australian (and also Delhi Capitals) cricket star David Warner, who almost became the face of Tollywood during his stint with Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mehigan knows more about India than any homegrown desi would on a good day.
Not surprising, considering that he has been here 12 times in 18 months, travelling across the country from the highlands of Munnar in Kerala to Ladakh, soaking in the Hemis Festival, to Nagaland, chilling at Hornbill. Sampling ‘langarwali dal’ and roti at Anandpur Sahib one day or, on another, riding a truck in Kolkata carrying an idol of Goddess Durga being taken for immersion to the Hooghly, shooting for Nat Geo’s ‘India Mega Festivals’ series.
And of course, if you’re a chef who spends more time...
- 3/30/2024
- by Agency News Desk
- GlamSham
HBO is developing a long-awaited adaptation of Rohinton Mistry’s critically acclaimed, award-winning novel “A Fine Balance,” Variety can reveal.
The seven-part series is being produced by “A Very British Scandal” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” producer Blueprint Pictures and “Anne With an E” outfit Northwood Entertainment. Ritesh Batra, who directed the late Irrfan Khan and Nimrat Kaur in “The Lunchbox,” is attached to both write and direct.
The show would look to shoot in India from early June through November.
First published by Canada’s McLelland and Stewart in 1995, “A Fine Balance” went on to win the 1995 Giller Prize and was shortlisted for the 1996 Booker Prize.
The story — which centers on a rich widow, two tailors and a young student from vastly different parts of Indian society whose lives intersect in a tiny apartment — traverses the political landscape in India from the country’s independence in 1947 through to...
The seven-part series is being produced by “A Very British Scandal” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” producer Blueprint Pictures and “Anne With an E” outfit Northwood Entertainment. Ritesh Batra, who directed the late Irrfan Khan and Nimrat Kaur in “The Lunchbox,” is attached to both write and direct.
The show would look to shoot in India from early June through November.
First published by Canada’s McLelland and Stewart in 1995, “A Fine Balance” went on to win the 1995 Giller Prize and was shortlisted for the 1996 Booker Prize.
The story — which centers on a rich widow, two tailors and a young student from vastly different parts of Indian society whose lives intersect in a tiny apartment — traverses the political landscape in India from the country’s independence in 1947 through to...
- 3/21/2022
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
We have a statement from author Salman Rushdie about the confusion and controversy about his visit to Kolkata. The author is India for promotions of Deepa Mehta’s film Midnight’s Children based on Rushdie’s novel.
“I arrived in Delhi on January 22nd at the invitation of the distributors of the film of my novel Midnight’s Children. The plan was to visit four cities, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Mumbai, culminating in the Mumbai premiere of the movie on January 31st.
The day before I was due to travel to Kolkata we were informed that the Kolkata police would refuse to allow me to enter the city. If I flew there, I was told, I would be put on the next plane back. I was also told that this was at the request of the Chief Minister. I remember that after the Jaipur festival last year Mamata Banerjee had...
“I arrived in Delhi on January 22nd at the invitation of the distributors of the film of my novel Midnight’s Children. The plan was to visit four cities, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata and Mumbai, culminating in the Mumbai premiere of the movie on January 31st.
The day before I was due to travel to Kolkata we were informed that the Kolkata police would refuse to allow me to enter the city. If I flew there, I was told, I would be put on the next plane back. I was also told that this was at the request of the Chief Minister. I remember that after the Jaipur festival last year Mamata Banerjee had...
- 2/1/2013
- by Stacey Yount
- Bollyspice
Barbara Chai
Maybe there’s still a little life left in printed books.
At BookExpo America, the largest trade book fair in North America, I stopped by the galley tables. That’s the spot where you could pick up advanced reader copies of six books singled out in the “Editors Buzz Forum” (this was for adult fiction; there are other “buzz panels” for young adult and children’s books).
I found myself crushed against the ledge of the table, inches...
Maybe there’s still a little life left in printed books.
At BookExpo America, the largest trade book fair in North America, I stopped by the galley tables. That’s the spot where you could pick up advanced reader copies of six books singled out in the “Editors Buzz Forum” (this was for adult fiction; there are other “buzz panels” for young adult and children’s books).
I found myself crushed against the ledge of the table, inches...
- 5/24/2011
- by Barbara Chai
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
A controversial project to bulldoze Dharavi, the giant shanty town that formed the backdrop to Slumdog Millionaire, is reviving the fortunes of extremist parties
Ninety Feet Road runs through the middle of Dharavi, the area in the centre of Mumbai notorious for being southern Asia's largest slum. The street's name comes from its width – it is the broadest thoroughfare among the congested mass of homes, tenements, workshops and alleyways made famous by the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire.
It has seen many battles, but few as acrimonious as this most recent fight: to claim the credit, money, power and votes that will come from levelling much of the neighbourhood in a multibillion-pound slum clearance programme.
The battle is heating up with the approach of civic elections in India's commercial capital in under a year. At stake is not just the future of Dharavi, but also lucrative building contracts and the survival...
Ninety Feet Road runs through the middle of Dharavi, the area in the centre of Mumbai notorious for being southern Asia's largest slum. The street's name comes from its width – it is the broadest thoroughfare among the congested mass of homes, tenements, workshops and alleyways made famous by the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire.
It has seen many battles, but few as acrimonious as this most recent fight: to claim the credit, money, power and votes that will come from levelling much of the neighbourhood in a multibillion-pound slum clearance programme.
The battle is heating up with the approach of civic elections in India's commercial capital in under a year. At stake is not just the future of Dharavi, but also lucrative building contracts and the survival...
- 3/6/2011
- by Jason Burke
- The Guardian - Film News
Clothes and accessories aren’t the only things that actress Sonam Kapoor loves shopping for. She even likes to buy books!
‘I love buying books at the fair… real books still somehow beat the Kindle and iPad for me,’ Sonam posted on her Twitter page.
The 25-year-old’s favourite authors are Rohinton Mistry, Chitra Banerjee, Jhumpa Lahiri, Vikram Seth, Salman Rushdie and Amitav Ghosh.
‘I have a signed copy of Amitav Ghosh’s ‘Sea of Poppies’ and I met Salman Rushdie once and was completely tongue tied,’ she added.
‘I love buying books at the fair… real books still somehow beat the Kindle and iPad for me,’ Sonam posted on her Twitter page.
The 25-year-old’s favourite authors are Rohinton Mistry, Chitra Banerjee, Jhumpa Lahiri, Vikram Seth, Salman Rushdie and Amitav Ghosh.
‘I have a signed copy of Amitav Ghosh’s ‘Sea of Poppies’ and I met Salman Rushdie once and was completely tongue tied,’ she added.
- 10/29/2010
- by realbollywood
- RealBollywood.com
In the wake of the discontinuation of Rohinton Mistry’s novel, Such a Long Journey, from the Mumbai University’s syllabus, Bollywood’s voracious readers are reacting. Filmmaker Farah Khan says, “In this day and age, we are still banning books so unfairly. I’ve read Such a Long Journery and it is an outstanding book. I wish I had kept my copy.” ...
- 10/26/2010
- Hindustan Times - Celebrity
This is a golden age for film criticism. Never before have more critics written more or better words for more readers about more films. But already you are ahead of me, and know this is because of the internet.
Twenty years ago a good-sized city might have contained a dozen people making a living from writing about films, and for half of them the salary might have been adequate to raise a family. Today that city might contain hundreds, although (the Catch-22) not more than one or two are making a living.
Film criticism is still a profession, but it's no longer an occupation. You can't make any money at it. This provides an opportunity for those who care about movies and enjoy expressing themselves. Anyone with access to a computer need only to use free blogware and set up in business.
Countless others write long and often expert posts on such sites as IMDb,...
Twenty years ago a good-sized city might have contained a dozen people making a living from writing about films, and for half of them the salary might have been adequate to raise a family. Today that city might contain hundreds, although (the Catch-22) not more than one or two are making a living.
Film criticism is still a profession, but it's no longer an occupation. You can't make any money at it. This provides an opportunity for those who care about movies and enjoy expressing themselves. Anyone with access to a computer need only to use free blogware and set up in business.
Countless others write long and often expert posts on such sites as IMDb,...
- 5/8/2010
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
You know that already, but to be reminded again, surf to this week’s must-read post on film criticism in the age of the internet. Yes, it’s sad that film critics are losing their jobs, but Ebert finds good reason to celebrate the diversity of voices the ‘net brings us. A key graph: What the internet is creating is a class of literate, gifted amateur writers, in an old tradition. Like Trollope, who was a British Post official all his working life, they write for love and because they must. Like Rohinton Mistry, a banking executive, or Wallace Stevens, an insurance executive, or Edmund Wilson, who spent his most productive years sitting in his big stone house in upstate New York and writing about what he damned well...
- 5/1/2010
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
"Such a Long Journey" presents a slice of life in 1971 Bombay on the eve of yet another Indian war with Pakistan, this time over East Pakistan, later to become the independent state of Bangladesh.
Though vividly directed by Canadian helmer Sturla Gunnarsson and featuring a cast of excellent veteran actors from the Indian cinema, the film never gains its narrative footing. Devolved from Rohinton Mistry's 1991 best-selling Dickensian novel, Sooni Taraporevala's screenplay suffers from too many loose plot threads, none of which feels satisfying or fully developed.
The third movie in the Shooting Gallery's traveling film series, "Journey" will play only to an art house audience, and to be fully understood, that audience needs some grounding in Indian history and Parsi culture.
The central figure is Gustad Noble (Roshan Seth from "Gandhi" and "My Beautiful Laundrette"), a Parsi bank clerk whose easygoing routine gets disrupted during the course of the movie. Troubles come all at once: His son (Vrajesh Hirjee) refuses to go to a top Indian college; a mysterious friend asks a "favor" that has Noble depositing large sums of dubious money at his own bank; his young daughter becomes ill, possibly with malaria; and his wife (Soni Razdan) falls under the influence of an aging witch (Pearl Padamsee) living in the upstairs apartment.
The film is populated with a number of comical eccentrics, which include Noble's daffy pal at the bank (Sam Dastor) and a mental misfit (Kurush Deboo) whose death causes Noble's emotional breakdown. Then there's major Indian star Om Puri in the small but pivotal role of a shady political operative and Ranjit Chowdhry as a street artist who transforms the wall outside Noble's flat from a public urinal to a shrine dedicated to various gods.
But the script never succeeds in bringing all of these characters and colorful plot lines into a unified whole. Instead, it jumps here and there with only the stoic though increasingly agitated Noble holding it together.
The comic byplay among the actors is often quite funny and opens a window into life on the subcontinent and especially in Bombay during that era. The film is well produced with cinematographer Jan Kiesser and production designer Nitin Desai performing miracles in tough location shooting in one of the world's noisiest and most polluted cities.
SUCH A LONG JOURNEY
The Shooting Gallery
British Screen, BSkyB, Telefilm Canada, Harold Greenberg Fund and CBC
Producer:Paul Stephens, Simon MacCorkindale
Director:Sturla Gunnarsson
Writer:Sooni Taraporevala
Based on the novel by:Rohinton Mistry
Executive producer:Victor Solnicki
Director of photography:Jan Kiesser
Production designer:Nitin Desai
Music:Jonathan Goldsmith
Costume designer:Lovleen Bains
Editor:Jeff Warren
Color/stereo
Cast:
Gustad Noble:Roshan Seth
Dilnavaz Noble:Soni Razdan
Ghulam:Om Puri
Sohrab Noble:Vrajesh Hirjee
Pavement Artist:Ranjit Chowdhry
Dinshawji:Sam Dastor
Jimmy Bilimoria:Naseeruddin Shah
Mrs. Kutpitia:Pearl Padamsee
Running time -- 113 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Though vividly directed by Canadian helmer Sturla Gunnarsson and featuring a cast of excellent veteran actors from the Indian cinema, the film never gains its narrative footing. Devolved from Rohinton Mistry's 1991 best-selling Dickensian novel, Sooni Taraporevala's screenplay suffers from too many loose plot threads, none of which feels satisfying or fully developed.
The third movie in the Shooting Gallery's traveling film series, "Journey" will play only to an art house audience, and to be fully understood, that audience needs some grounding in Indian history and Parsi culture.
The central figure is Gustad Noble (Roshan Seth from "Gandhi" and "My Beautiful Laundrette"), a Parsi bank clerk whose easygoing routine gets disrupted during the course of the movie. Troubles come all at once: His son (Vrajesh Hirjee) refuses to go to a top Indian college; a mysterious friend asks a "favor" that has Noble depositing large sums of dubious money at his own bank; his young daughter becomes ill, possibly with malaria; and his wife (Soni Razdan) falls under the influence of an aging witch (Pearl Padamsee) living in the upstairs apartment.
The film is populated with a number of comical eccentrics, which include Noble's daffy pal at the bank (Sam Dastor) and a mental misfit (Kurush Deboo) whose death causes Noble's emotional breakdown. Then there's major Indian star Om Puri in the small but pivotal role of a shady political operative and Ranjit Chowdhry as a street artist who transforms the wall outside Noble's flat from a public urinal to a shrine dedicated to various gods.
But the script never succeeds in bringing all of these characters and colorful plot lines into a unified whole. Instead, it jumps here and there with only the stoic though increasingly agitated Noble holding it together.
The comic byplay among the actors is often quite funny and opens a window into life on the subcontinent and especially in Bombay during that era. The film is well produced with cinematographer Jan Kiesser and production designer Nitin Desai performing miracles in tough location shooting in one of the world's noisiest and most polluted cities.
SUCH A LONG JOURNEY
The Shooting Gallery
British Screen, BSkyB, Telefilm Canada, Harold Greenberg Fund and CBC
Producer:Paul Stephens, Simon MacCorkindale
Director:Sturla Gunnarsson
Writer:Sooni Taraporevala
Based on the novel by:Rohinton Mistry
Executive producer:Victor Solnicki
Director of photography:Jan Kiesser
Production designer:Nitin Desai
Music:Jonathan Goldsmith
Costume designer:Lovleen Bains
Editor:Jeff Warren
Color/stereo
Cast:
Gustad Noble:Roshan Seth
Dilnavaz Noble:Soni Razdan
Ghulam:Om Puri
Sohrab Noble:Vrajesh Hirjee
Pavement Artist:Ranjit Chowdhry
Dinshawji:Sam Dastor
Jimmy Bilimoria:Naseeruddin Shah
Mrs. Kutpitia:Pearl Padamsee
Running time -- 113 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 3/27/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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