Movies

Descrease article font size Increase article font size A Vancouver record store owner is still trying to process an astonishing and accidental discovery he made recently. “It’s been sitting here for years,” Rob Frith, owner of Neptoon Records on Main Street, told Global News.Frith doesn’t recall when exactly he purchased a tape he assumed was a Beatles bootleg, as it was part of a record collection he bought.However, last week, Frith went to a friend’s house to get some of the tapes transferred and archived when they made a once-in-a-lifetime connection to music history.The last tape simply said “Beatles demo.”“Take it out and oh my God, jaws dropped,” Larry Hennessey, Frith’s friend and a mixing and mastering engineer, said. “It can’t be, the...

Strangely, it took a Bollywood filmmaker to bring two of Bengal’s superstars, Prosenjit Chatterjee and Jeet, together on screen. The duo headlines creator Neeraj Pandey’s Khakee: The Bengal Chapter, which explores the underbelly of the state’s political landscape of the 2000s. “For years, Bengal has had stories that deserved to be told on a national platform. Khakee: The Bengal Chapter finally does that,” says Prosenjit, as we sit down for a chat in a five-star suite overlooking Kolkata’s iconic Victoria Memorial. Helmed by Tushar Kanti Ray and Debatma Mandal, the Netflix series boasts an ensemble cast that includes Saswata Chatterjee, Chitrangda Singh, Parambrata Chatterjee and Ritwik Bhowmik. For Prosenjit, the series is a means to introduce the entire country to the Bengali film indust...

Typicality has never attracted Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub. So, when the role of an atypical cop came his way, thanks to the upcoming series, Kanneda, he jumped at it. “Generally, cops are shown as strong. The novelty of playing a vulnerable cop excited me,” says the actor.  His 14-year filmography is laced with such unusual characters—from Article 15 (2018) to Scoop (2023). But Ayyub admits that he is often offered parts that aren’t fleshed out. “The character isn’t strong, but I see that we can build it while performing. In Scoop, I enjoyed exploring my character as it was well-written. The problem is when your role has nothing, but you are told, ‘You’re a good actor, do something with it.’” In such cases, what makes him pick the project? “I don’t come from a background, where I don’t have to w...

Authorities have discovered new information in the deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa, shifting the timeline of events. According to NBC News, cellphone records indicate that Arakawa was alive at least one day after her estimated time of death.Arakawa’s phone records show that she made three calls to Cloudberry, a private medical clinic, on the morning of Feb. 12 and it appears that she missed a return call the same afternoon.The medical investigator’s office had previously estimated that Arakawa died on Feb. 11, seven days before Hackman, who was believed to have died on Feb. 18.Chris Ramirez, a spokesperson for the medical investigator’s office, told NBC News that Arakawa’s cellphone records were not yet in investigators’ hands when chief medical examiner Heather Jarrell p...

Bobby Deol and Chandan Roy Sanyal have gone from being tight friends to arch rivals, not in real life but as their characters—Nirala Baba and Bhopa Swami, respectively—in Prakash Jha’s series Aashram. While Deol’s character has ended with the recently released second part of the third season, Sanyal says that the story may take his character forward if there is another instalment. When he read the script, Sanyal found it interesting but never expected it to grow so much. He shares, “The last season has become the best [edition] for the people. [Initially], I was not sure that the show would become what it has become today; it has a cult following. I knew that it was a great story and script, and it was being directed by Prakash Jha and had Bobby Deol.” With season three catching the atten...

If he can visualise the story, he does it. That’s how actor Arunoday Singh decides to say yes to a project, and that is what happened when he was offered director Chandan Arora’s upcoming show, Kanneda. “I could picture the story and see the characters. I then decided that I needed to be a part of the narrative. The story needed to be told,” he asserts. Also starring Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub, the JioHotstar series revolves around a Punjabi immigrant  in Canada who is rebuilding life after escaping the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. Kanneda holds a unique place in Singh’s 15-year career. Reason: His co-stars. “I have worked with a lot of lovely people, but this cast was special. Everyone is someone you want to bring your best to,” he says. Reflecting on his journey, Singh says that even though he has see...

Norma Desmond hit on something in the 1950 movie Sunset Boulevard. A silent film stars whose career had been decimated by talking pictures, she refused to change with the times. “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small,” she said. Fast-forward to today and that quote could be applied to the concept of mainstream music. We still have stars, but the mainstream got small.Let’s start by defining “mainstream.” These are the ideas, trends, attitudes and activities considered normal, known far and wide, and something in which virtually everyone partakes on some level. Put another way, if the average person knows about something in society, culture or politics, it is part of the mainstream and binds everyone together with common knowledge and attitudes.Before 2000, mainstream attitude dominated...

How do you raise the stakes after success? By biting into an even more sumptuous world. With Khakee: The Bengal Chapter, the standalone sequel to Neeraj Pandey’s Khakee: The Bihar Chapter, that is the attempt. The series explores the crime-infested landscape of early 2000s Bengal, with an IPS officer tearing through a web of political power and law enforcement roadblocks. This crime drama boasts an ensemble cast led by Jeet, Prosenjit Chatterjee, Saswata Chatterjee, and Parambrata Chatterjee.  Jeet as IPS Arjun Maitra and director Debatma Mandal While Pandey continues as the showrunner, directorial responsibilities are shared by Debatma Mandal and Tushar Kanti Ray. The series is set to stream in both Hindi and Bengali, making it Netflix’s first dual-language Indian crime show. Mandal tel...

Filmmaker Ram Madhvani’s tendency to favour music that is spiritual, philosophical, and traditional isn’t new. Celebrated for deftly crafting the Sushmita Sen-led Aarya (2020), and Sonam Kapoor’s Neerja (2016), Madhvani points out that both projects employed spiritual works that the Indian audience was familiar with, a development that, he believes, was crucial in grabbing their attention. Evidently then, the National Award-winning filmmaker’s decision to continue the tradition with The Waking of a Nation was only fitting. Taaruk Raina plays a young lawyer who aims to uncover a conspiracy  Touted as a tale based on true events, the Sony Liv show that airs on March 7 features actor Taaruk Raina as Kantilal Sahni, a young lawyer who attempts to uncover the truth behind the British conspira...

Justin Bieber posted a vulnerable message about his self-worth and imposter syndrome in a statement on social media. The 31-year-old pop singer penned the message Thursday on his Instagram Stories to his 250 million followers, sharing that he has doubted himself.“People told me my whole life ‘wow Justin u deserve that’ and I personally have always felt unworthy,” he wrote. “Like I was a fraud.“Like when people told me I deserve something, it made me feel sneaky, like damn if they only knew my thoughts. How judgmental I am, how selfish I really am, they wouldn’t be saying this.“I say all this to say. If you feel sneaky welcome to the club. I definitely feel unequipped and unqualified most days.” A screenshot of Justin Bieber’s Instagram Stories. ...