Delhi-6 might be the only film in the race for the Best Foreign Language Film Award category of the Academy Awards

With the swashbuckling ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ triumph at this year’s Oscars that bought to fore, remarkable Indian talent still fresh in our memories, the race to score a place in the coming Academy awards has already begun in Bollywood.

And taking the lead here is Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, who is the sole filmmaker to have recommended his flick ‘Delhi 6’ for a nomination in the prestigious awards Pitching his film as a contender for India`s entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category, Mehra is met with no competition whatsoever. The director is as of now, the only filmmaker who has recommended his film to Indian Motion Pictures` Producers Association or IMPPA to be sent to the Film Federation of India for sending it as India`s entry in the Oscars.

And if other producers don’t follow league soon, there are chances that Mehra might be the unanimous choice. The shortages of films to be sent for Oscar nomination can also be attributed to the many months long strike, due to which less number of films hit theaters.

As per the rules through which a film can be sent for the Oscars entry, it should be released between October 1, 2008-September 30, 2009 and should also have run for seven consecutive days at least.

Also no television or Internet transmission of the film should have occurred at any time prior to the theatrical release.

Mallika Sherawat baring her butt

And then there is Mallika Sherawat baring her butt. In not just one scene, but a few of them. We’re talking about Mallika’s film Hissss.

When we spoke to Ratan Jain, who is a part of the film, he tried to wiggle his way out by saying, “I am only involved with Hissss in the capacity of a financer. You can talk to Mallika’s bother, Vikram Lamba, who is the producer of the film.”

Vikram totally denies that Mallika has exposed her butt in Hissss. “We have used a body double,” he tells us. Did the otherwise bold actress develop cold feet when asked to do the scene, we wonder. “There’s nothing like that,” Vikram shoots back. “Jennifer Lynch (the director) took a call on the matter and decided that we should use a body double.”

Hissss is the story of a naagin with a vengeance agenda, played by Mallika. The naagin shape-shifts into a beautiful woman to locate her mate who has been captured and creates chaos in the city, and it is this naagin which Irrfan Khan, as a cop, must also capture.

Hollywood is very healthy in their finance: Amitabh Bachchan

The Western world is now showing interest in Hindi films -- all because of its dance and music content, something that they ridiculed a few years ago, says megastar Amitabh Bachchan.

"We were ridiculed, and the West was very cynical about the way we made our films and the content -- the songs and the dance, and the music was something that was kind of looked down upon many years ago.

"But that very aspect has now become its USP, and people love to see that. I would expect that this is how and what our cinema is all about,” Amitabh said on CNN's show “Talk Asia”.

Speaking about Hollywood-Bollywood collaborations, Amitabh said: “I think this has got to do a lot more with economics rather than sharing creativity... Hollywood is very healthy in their finance, they are using their money to invest in productions that are coming out of India. And in that respect, yes, holding hands with Hollywood companies or any other company is now becoming a routine."

Many Hindi films recently have seen international collaborations, including “Singh Is Kingg”, which was produced by Warner Brothers, and animated film “Roadside Romeo” that was financed by Disney. “Kambakkht Ishq” featured Hollywood stars Sylvester Stallone, Brandon Routh and Denise Richards.

Amitabh himself will be sharing screen space with British actor Ben Kingsley in his forthcoming film “Teen Patti”.

Night at the Museum: Movie Review by Masand

Night at the Museum

Cast: Ben Stiller, Amy Adams, Owen Wilson

Direction: Shawn Levy

Even more hare-brained than the first installment, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian stars Ben Stiller once again as Larry Daley, who has quit his job as a museum night guard to become a rich and successful businessman whose company specialises in such novelty items as glow-in-the-dark flashlights.

When Larry pops into New York's Museum of Natural History where he previously worked, he discovers that many of his friends – those wax statues, stuffed figures, miniatures and artifacts that come to life after the place is shut down in the night – are being packed up and sent off to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington for storage. On receiving a distressed call the following night from miniature cowboy Jedediah (played by Owen Wilson), Larry heads to DC to check what's bothering his buddies. As it turns out, Egyptian ruler Kahmunrah (played by Hank Azaria) is bullying the new arrivals and threatening to take over the world.

Underutilising an interesting premise for the second time, the makers of this film opt for a tired old tale about a grand battle between the good guys and the bad guys, completely ignoring the possibility of exploiting some of the great figures of history who pop up in the film as characters. So although you've still got Teddy Roosevelt (played by Robin Williams again), and although Amelia Earhart turns up in this film (played by the charming Amy Adams), the script doesn't use them very smartly at all.

At best this sequel cranks up the spectacle value with some big set pieces that might woo the kids – like Amelia flying off in the Wright Brothers' plane, and a giant octopus smothering Larry with its tentacles. For those looking for smart laughs though, there's barely a handful of clever moments. Like Kahmunrah's touchiness about his tunic which everyone refers to as a "dress", and Napoleon Bonaparte resenting references to his diminutive height, and even Kahmunrah's perplexity on meeting Darth Vader. These jokes though are few and far between.

The film's biggest disappointment is Ben Stiller who looks like he was forced to be in this film. There is none of his usually manic energy on display here. The best bits in this picture are provided by Jonah Hill and Ricky Gervais who have one and two scenes respectively, but demonstrate remarkable comic timing. Jonah Hill appears as a portly security guard at the Smithsonian who Larry gets into a scrap with so he can steal his access card, and Ricky Gervais as the curator of the New York museum who's thrilled about Larry's change-of-heart at the end of the movie, but is too stuck up to say it.

This film is ultimately a difficult watch because it just retreads many of the old jokes, and compensates for a lack of novelty by upgrading location and gimmicks. It's a big plodding bore for anyone seeking original, engaging entertainment. I'm going with one out of five for Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian – if you're smarter than a fifth-grader, you deserve better than this!

Bachchan Junior (Abhishek) was joined by many soldiers for an evening full of emotional turns and lilting poetry

As India is going to pay homage to the martyrs of the Kargil war on July 26th, actor Abhishek Bachchan covered an extra mile and paid a visit to the soldiers who in the most difficult situation are standing still and protecting our country from the enemies. He brought something special for the jawans, Gajar Ka Halwa and Aam Ras especially made by Aishwarya Rai and Jaya Bachchan.

NDTV and Abhishek remember the sacrifice of the Jawans who gave their life for India in the Kargil war 10 years back. Abhishek Bachchan also read out a beautiful poem ‘Agnipath’ written by his grandfather Harivansh Rai Bachchan and also conveyed the special message of father Amitabh Bachchan.

Abhishek Bachchan travels to some area of the war field of Kargil and Drass. He met with the soldiers and had a chat with them.

This special episode of junior Bachchan visiting Kargil will be shown on NDTV's special show "Jai Jawan" Saturday at 12 p.m. and Sunday 11.30 a.m. and 9.30 p.m.

Perfect Mismatch Bollywood Movie Review

Perfect Mismatch Bollywood Movie Review

Cast: Anubhav Anand, Nandana Dev Sen, Anupam Kher, Boman Irani

Director: Ajmal Zaheer Ahmad

This is an NRI ‘Meet The Parents’: a Gujju Patel vs a Punjabi Bhalla, doing the in-laws thing in America. Bhallji aka Anupam Kher calls a motel a potel. Ha ha. Patel, played by Boman Irani, stays stone-faced, and throws tantrums— look at that Bhalla, always drinking and dancing. We are classy and they are crude. Ho ho.

That’s the simplistic assumption that divides ‘Perfect Mismatch’ into perfect halves: pre-interval, Aman (Anubhav) behaves like a complete me-oriented Yank. All he can think of is getting the job he’s always wanted, and leaving his family (uncle Anupam, aunty and cousin) and hoofing off to New York.

He also ignores his girl-friend Neha (Nandana), daughter of the aforementioned Patel, who dearly wants the families to get along. In the second half, his Indian values come to the fore. Which basically translates into Aman ‘puttar’ making a stab at joining the despised family garments business, and matching ‘bhangra’ steps with his clan.

I'm going with one out of five for director Soham Shah's Luck: Masand's movie review

Luck

Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Imran Khan, Mithun Chakraborty, Ravi Kissen, Shruti Haasan, Chitrashi Rawat

Direction: Soham Shah

Now here's the thing about action films. Most of them aren't particularly smart, but you're willing to overlook that if they make for a dramatic and thrilling experience. The problem with Luck, which opens at cinemas this weekend, is that it's neither smart nor spectacular.

Sanjay Dutt stars as Musa, a gambling kingpin who's made a fortune in human betting. His faithful henchman Tamang (played by Danny Denzongpa) is entrusted the job of travelling the world and recruiting the luckiest people he can find to participate in a Fear Factor-style series of dangerous challenges, while loaded gamblers place bets on them.

Lured by the promise of a fat cash prize to the one who survives all challenges, a motley bunch of misfits – including Imran Khan, Mithun Chakraborty, Ravi Kissen, Shruti Haasan, Chitrashi Rawat, and a handful of your staple foreign extras from Colaba Causeway – volunteer to jump off helicopters and enter shark-infested waters.

Borrowing his premise and key scenes quite liberally from a handful of films including Spanish thriller Intacto, French cult-favorite 13 Tzameti and Hollywood B-movie The Condemned, writer-director Soham Shah delivers a mangled mess of a picture that fails to engage because the characters are all stereotypes and you really couldn't care less if they lost their lives in those dangerous stunts.

To be honest, I can think of many reasons why Luck is a dumb film, and chief among them is the fact that there's more bak-bak than dishoom-dishoom, even though it pretends to be an action-adventure. What's worse, every single character in Luck speaks alike, rattling off metaphors, using the third-person and generally dishing out the kind of filmi punchlines that went out in the eighties.

The incredibly gifted Danny Denzongpa is saddled with the film's corniest lines including my personal favourite, a dialogue he delivers to a morose Imran Khan: "Laxmi tujhe teeka lagane aayi hai and tu eid ka chaand bana hua hai." It's priceless, and the film is packed with such gems.

The action scenes are all designed to look so cool, there's no nail-biting tension or even a hint of realism when the characters risk their lives in those dare-devil stunts. In all fairness, only one sequence grabs your attention – the film's opening set-piece in which Sanjay Dutt and a handful of others run blindfolded across railway tracks, dodging oncoming trains is a scene to behold.

Constructed from a screenplay that relies too heavily on coincidences to take the narrative forward, Luck is ultimately a tiring watch. Of the cast, only Ravi Kissen succeeds in making a real flesh-and-blood character out of his loosely written part, and Mithun Chakraborty and Chitrashi Rawat do the best they can with their half-baked roles. Imran Khan can't rise above the flawed material which doesn't allow him scope to do more than arch his brows, and camera-friendly newcomer Shruti Haasan delivers dialogue with deadpan expressions.

Yet it must be said that at least each of them tries. Unlike Sanjay Dutt, who sleepwalks through his scenes again, without making the slightest visible effort to contribute anything of consequence to the film.

Luck is often unintentionally hilarious for the clunky dialogue, and particularly for the ridiculous climax scene which is unquestionably the silliest you've seen in years.

I'm going with one out of five for director Soham Shah's Luck. Indeed only a stroke of good fortune could save this one.

Now follow Mallika on twitter! - Bollywood's sex siren Mallika Sherawat has found another way of attracting fans towards her

Bollywood's sex siren Mallika Sherawat has found another way of attracting fans towards her. The hot actress has started socializing through social networking site.

Mallika has made a debut on the current hot social networking site Twitter.

As per reports, the stay in Hollywood has actually got her hooked onto Twitter, the favorite social networking tool among Hollywood stars.

Mallika even took some classes to get used to social networking sites. Mallika tried finding Shah Rukh Khan but failed, but she hopes to find him soon. You can follow Mallika @MallikaLA on twitter.

The other international celebs on twitter are:

Barack Obama
Ashton Kutcher
Luke Milson
Demi Moore
Britney Spears

Barbara Mori ignores Aishwarya Rai - Bollywood News

Hrithik with his ‘Kites’ co-star Barbara Mori put up in the same hotel of Aishwaya and Abhishek Bachchan at Cannes. When Ash expressed her heartfelt desire to meet Hrithik and Barbara and wish the pair for their upcoming movie, Barbara did not show any interest on meeting Ash. Hence Aishwarya exchanged greetings with her ‘Jodhaa Akbar’ co-star but missed out Barbara.


A source reveals, "Ash had heard about the Mexican actress. When she met Hrithik, she wanted to give her good wishes to Barbara too. However, when the Bachchan bahu met the Kites actress, the meeting wasn't the warmest thing the hotel experienced."

The source continues, "When Ash met Barbara, the latter just said a hello and said that she had to rush for an event."

The source further divulges why Barbara has given cold-shoulder to Ash, "Barbara hasn't had the chance to really get to know the big actors in Bollywood. Even though she knew who Ash was, she didn't come across gracious enough to take time off and exchange pleasantries. Hrithik later met Ash and explained why Barbara couldn't give her much time”.

While Ash walked the red carpet of Cannes on invitation from her Cannes friend, Hrithik-Barbara attended Cannes fest for promoting their much hyped film, ‘Kites’.