Entertainment Infotoday - Page 9 of 9

‘Code Name Abdul’ actor Ashok Chaudhary calls Bollywood a tough game

December 23, 2021

Ashok Chaudhary who plays the role of RAW agent Stalin in ‘Code Name Abdul’ hit theatres recently. This Film and Television Institute of India graduate who has featured in popular Indian soaps, ‘Kasautii Zindagii Kay’ and ‘Kkavyanjali’ discusses how he landed the role in the film. In an industry that’d riddled with allegations of nepotism, Chaudhry says he got it fair and square. “Multiple auditions later, I got the part,” he tells us.

Admitting that it was a tough one, he calls this serendipity. “I had auditioned for a small part but the director called me after a week and asked me to tape a scene from, ‘The Prisoners.’ I locked myself in the basement of my house and taped it. Once I sent it, the director asked me to tape the scenes for the roles of two different RAW agents in the film. I was told that I was in, but the role that I would be playing wasn’t revealed to me. When I met the director at his home he asked me which role I liked the best and I said that I was keen of playing the role of RAW agent Stalin for which I had not auditioned. The director immediately offered the role to me. It is not fair to say that merit has no place. But as a young actor aiming for big stuff here, I know I have to be relentless and persistent to land parts. This is just the beginning.”

The film stars Tanishaa Mukerji in the lead and talking about his experience of working with the actress, Ashok says, “Initially I was nervous about sharing screen space with Tanishaa because she is from an illustrious family. Working with her was fascinating because she has mastered her craft. She would do the same scene ten times and give ten different variations. And she knew which version was working. I haven’t developed that skill as yet. She is a wonderful collaborator on set.”

Other projects in this method actor’s kitty include Payal Kapadia’s untitled film, in which he essays the role of a weather forecaster from the 1970s, British film ‘Ascendancy’ and Hindi film ‘Rom Kom’ in which he will be essaying the role of an actor.

Entertainment

Hikaru Utada’s Hit Single “Kimini Muchuu” Music Video Out now!

December 13, 2021

It is Hikaru Utada’s 23^rd anniversary since her debut. On this memorable day, we are very excited to finally share details of her 8^th studio album, BAD MODE!

The album will be released digitally on January 19 and will also be available on CD on February 23. The album will feature many of her hit songs such as “Kimini Muchuu” (main theme for TBS Friday night drama Saiai), as well as “One Last Kiss”: the theme song for EVANGELION:3.0+1.0 THRICE UPON A TIME, “Find Love” featured in SHISEIDO’s new global campaign “POWER IS YOU”, “Face My Fears” (opening theme for action role-playing game KINGDOM HEARTS Ⅲ), “Time” (main theme for NTV Sunday drama Bishoku Tantei Akechi Goro), “PINK BLOOD” (main theme for anime series To Your Eternity) and “Darenimo Iwanai” (SUNTORY Tennensui CM song). Of course, it also has brand new songs including the title track “BAD MODE” and, on top of that, there will be some remixes as bonus tracks.

The Single-Run Limited Edition CD will be bundled with DVD and Blu-ray that contains “Hikaru Utada Live Sessions from Air Studios” concert and a behind-the-scenes documentary of the show, along with music videos of “Time,” “One Last Kiss,” “PINK BLOOD,” “Kimini Muchuu,” and “BAD MODE.” This is sure to be a must-have item for the fans! Stay tuned!

CD Pre-Order : https://erj.lnk.to/0UsH19

Online Concert “Hikaru Utada Live Sessions from Air Studios“ To Be Streamed on January 19 at 8pm (JST) Viewing Tickets Now on Sale!

The wait is almost over. Here’s the update fans have all been waiting for. The online concert titled “Hikaru Utada Live Sessions from Air Studios” will be streamed on the artist’s birthday, January 19.

For this performance, Utada gathered a group of renowned musicians led by bassist Jodi Milliner, the band master for their tour in 2018. The session is recorded and mixed by sound engineer Steve Fitzmaurice, who also worked on the new album. Video was directed by David Barnard, whose filmography includes Radiohead’s “In Rainbows – From Basement” and Eric Clapton’s “LOCKDOWN SESSIONS”. The idea is that the online show allows you to immerse yourself in the ultimate performance with the best sound and video in the most comfortable space of your choice.

It’s a rare opportunity for fans everywhere and the artist themselves to share and celebrate the release of the first new album in 3 years and 7 months, so don’t miss it!

“Hikaru Utada Live Sessions from Air Studios” Official Website

https://www.utadahikaru.jp/livesessions2022/

Title: Hikaru Utada Live Sessions from Air Studios

Date: January 19, 2022

Open 7pm (JST) / Start 8pm (JST)　Ends 9:00pm (JST) tbc

Archive Streaming: Available through January 23, 2022 11:59pm (JST)

Price: Viewing Ticket (includes Digital Invitation Card): 2,800JPY (incl. tax)

Ticket Sales: From December 9, 2021 12pm/Noon (JST) to January 23, 2022 10pm (JST) *All Platforms

Streaming Platform (Outside Japan):

Stagecrowd: https://intl.stagecrowd.live/hikaruutada_0119/

Ticket Info: https://intl.stagecrowd.live/inquiry_hikaruutada_0119/

*Available in: Mainland China (in cooperation with bilibili), United States, United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Mexico, Brazil

bilibili: https://space.bilibili.com/628533885

Ticket Info: https://link.bilibili.com/p/help/index#/contact

Presented by U3MUSIC / Sony Music Labels EPIC Records Japan

Sponsored by Shiseido Company, Limited (SHISEIDO GINZA TOKYO) / KINGDOM HEARTS / Suntory / Sony Group Corporation　Filming Equipment Provided by Sony Group Corporation

“Kimini Muchuu” Music Video Now Available on YouTube!

The lead single “Kimini Muchuu” has ranked in the number of charts in numerous countries and regions since its release, and the music video of the song is out too! It is created by the same director as the online concert, David Barnard, with footages from the performance, which also makes it an excellent teaser trailer of the show!

“Kimini Muchuu” Music Video

https://youtu.be/5YKBgBMynbI

[New Album]

BAD MODE

Release Date:

Wednesday January 19, 2022 (Digital)

Wednesday February 23, 2022 (CD)

The Single-Run Limited Edition: CD+DVD+BD 6,800JPY (incl. tax)

Standard CD: 3,300JPY (incl. tax)

Purchase Benefits: Original Postcard

CD Pre-Order

https://erj.lnk.to/0UsH19

[Digital Single]

“Kimini Muchuu”

Release Date: Friday November 26, 2021

https://HikaruUtada.lnk.to/kiminimuchuuJP

“Kimini Muchuu” Music Video

https://youtu.be/5YKBgBMynbI

* YouTube Premiere will start on December 9, 0:00 AM (JST)

ISTEN TO HIKARU UTADA

SPOTIFY | APPLE MUSIC | AMAZON MUSIC | YOUTUBE

CONNECT WITH HIKARU UTADA

WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER

Entertainment

Baby Blobs – An NFT That Grows With You

December 4, 2021

Non-Fungible Tokens have been the rage for the past few months. Digital artwork, GIFs, music, and even pictures that can be made available digitally are something that one can purchase with their cryptocurrency. However, based on the rarity of the NFT, people can make a profit as they trade.

Unfortunately, the market has been flooded with too many fakes, and a lot of people trying to make some money and disappear the first chance they get.

Enter, an ambitious team that understood how to make sure that people get the best of what they invest in.

Blobnimation – There’s a lot of NFTs out there like GIFs, making it harder for people to counterfeit them and copy them, but the developers of Baby Blobs believe in offering the best, so they went one step further. They made their NFT interactive through HTML. Play with them with your cursor, squish them and make them bounce. A digital stress ball that doesn’t cramp your hand.

Blob Rarity – Baby Blobs are divided into 4 tiers, each representing the rarity of the Baby Blob artwork.

Tier 1: A simple background with a non-patterned or gradient blob.

Tier 2: Patterned background with a patterned or textured blob.

Tier 3: A unique hand-drawn blob and its variations with a hand-drawn background that compliments the blob.

Tier 4: Unique one-of-a-kind blob and a unique one-of-a-kind background that is specific to that blob alone.

Baby Blobs debuted on Solana, one of the fastest-growing blockchains in the cryptocurrency market, being able to process over 50,000 transactions per second. To top it off, Baby Blobs is the first interactive NFT in Solana history. Imagine having the first coin ever made, the first car, the first painting or even the first computer. Solana is one of the fastest-growing cryptocurrencies and Baby Blobs has created history by being the first to introduce themselves in its market as something that engages you. Remember the time when we thought crypto wasn’t going to work out? With Baby Blobs, people really don’t need to doubt themselves.

Blobartwork –150 unique backgrounds, 1000 different bases, and 60 distinctive faces ensure that what you have is special enough for people not to mistake it for a dupe. None of the blobs ever repeat, so every blob you mint is your very own to love and play with. There’s plenty of doodles out there of various distorted primates, flora, and fauna, and sure, there was an effort taken in their creation, but we can agree that Baby Blobs has scored staggering numbers.

Blob Validity – Are these something worth investing time, money, and energy in? An amazing company called FTX exclusively launched Baby Blobs on their mint day, bagging them before any other company could make an offer. Various NFT influencers and the CEO of FTX have tweeted about them, and their own exclusive Blobs. A successful charity campaign was executed, with an exclusive Baby Blob being auctioned.

There were multiple measures taken to ensure that Baby Blobs would be something that people didn’t just purchase to flip, but, something that could be kept, interacted and played with or even held as an investment over time. However, they did face multiple issues with their launch and their mint. This created a bad buzz amongst a community of NFT flippers. People minting Baby Blobs wanted more that made sure that holding onto these amazing pieces of digital art history would give returns quickly.

The Developers have decided to pause the minting, bring in more interactive features, and introduce background stories. Community relations may not be the top priority to a lot of NFT artists or developers, but the Baby Blobs team is here to flourish with those who mint a piece of crypto history, and most importantly, they’re here to listen.

For those who have been lucky enough to mint a few Baby Blobs before the mint pause, congratulations will be in order as they grow over time, and for those who decided to continue with digital artwork, flora, fauna, or primates, give Baby Blobs a try, they’ll grow with you.

Entertainment

Shava Ni Girdhari Lal’s trailer launch emotes various shades of love

December 3, 2021

Chandigarh, 02 December, 2021: The trailer of the much-awaited Punjabi film, ‘Shava Ni Girdhari Lal’ was released today and it has taken the internet by storm. The Gippy Grewal starrer & directed film promises to be a larger-than-life celebration and is undoubtedly the biggest multi starrer of Punjabi Cinema. The stellar cast includes 52 known actors including Neeru Bajwa, Himanshi Khurrana, Sara Gurpal, Payal Rajput, Tanu Grewal, Surilie Gautam, Gurpreet Ghuggi, Rana Ranbir, Karamjit Anmol, Sardar Sohi, Raghveer Boli, and many more.

This period romantic comedy is written by Gippy Grewal & Rana Ranbir which revolves around Girdhari, a man with a golden heart, and his attempts to find the love of his life but finding no luck so far. We will get to see various shades of love through different relationships in Girdhari’s life!

After the blockbusters Ardaas and Ardaas Karaan, Gippy Grewal is back in the directors chair and talking about ‘Shava Ni Girdhari Lal’ he said, “The film Shava Ni Girdhari Lal is very close to my heart and I am very excited for the audience to see this vision turning into reality on the big screen. As it unveils the shades of love, I hope the audience will like the connect it builds.”

The Producer, Munish Sahni, Omjee Star Studios said,” To have such a promising line up of artists in one film backed with an interesting story and powerful music makes Shava Ni Girdhari Lal a perfect celebration film for the audience.”

Produced by Humble Motion Pictures, Pooja Entertainment, and Omjee Star Studios, Shava Ni Girhdari Lal will hit the theatres on 17th December, 2021.

Trailer:

Entertainment

Director Ursula Manvatkar’s Psycho-Horror Short film “The Last Chance” to be Released Globally on Digiplex in September 2021

September 20, 2015

The premiere of UAE-based filmmaker Ursula Manvatkar’s film ‘The Last Chance’, produced by her own label Medulla Productions, is set to happen on Digiplex OTT platform in September 2021.

The film ‘The Last Chance’ is a Hindi psycho-horror film and was completely spontaneous and unplanned in its filming style, with grueling shooting schedules. Digiplex revealed the trailer of the film in May 2021 on their Youtube channel and was very well received by audiences.

You can check the trailer of the film here –

https://youtu.be/6Ybl0vNNdPo

The film launches Actor Zo Aly as the lead and features other UAE based actors such as Sebi Paul Mathews, Dushyant Barot, Hasnain Sajjad, Sam John, and Baby Aghna in supporting roles.

Noteworthy team members also include DoPs Sameir Ali, Sam John and Franco Apelo, with Fazeen Rahiman and Fazil as their associates. Editor Shaiz Khan (RAS Films) and Sajad Azeez on Sound Design. Art and production unit includes Arun Manipal, Vivek Hejmadi, and Mahinda Dharmarathna among many others.

‘The Last Chance’ revolves around four friends who venture out for a rather delayed camping trip, but things take a strange turn after a brief stop-over at a tea shop. The film tells a tale that is thrilling and fast-paced with the mood changing very quickly from casual to downright disturbing.

This is Ursula Manvatkar’s first film as a director and second as a scriptwriter. She has produced and co-produced several award-winning short films in the past such as ‘The Final Straw’, ‘Chappal’, ‘The Kick’, ‘The Evidence’ and ‘Let it Go’. Her forthcoming short films ‘Gustaakhi’ and ‘The Switch’ and Marathi language feature film ‘Picchkari’, that she co-produced, are also in the pipeline.

“This film has not only been thrilling and challenging, but also very fulfilling from a learning perspective. My team is very talented and they gave their best for making this happen. For an unplanned film, we have come a long way and I am stoked to have my first directorial venture premiering on Digiplex. The launch is well deserved for the efforts everyone put in.”, she said.

After having won 6 Awards and 10 Nominations out of 30 Official Selections across film festivals globally, ‘The Last Chance’ is selected to premiere along with many other series and films as Digiplex OTT platform launches its beta version in September 2021.

“We are more than excited to associate ourselves with such a good film such as ‘The Last Chance’”, said Mr. Dibyendu Roy Chowdhury, Founder of Digiplex OTT platform.

“We have the vision to provide access to maximum premium entertainment to our users. We are focusing on the better implementation of advanced technologies to enhance user experience. Our motto is to provide independent filmmakers a platform wherein they can showcase their work and we ensure proper exposure to their creativity to help come to the limelight,” he added.

Digiplex will be launching in September 2021, with a slate of 30 original shows, 100 + Original Films & Shorts (including regional films), Library films, and over 1000 Songs & Audio stories. The platform will have 1000 hours of content released in its first year.