Oscar nominations, 2008

The nominations for the 80th Annual Academy Awards have been announced. Take a look at the main categories:

Best Motion Picture

Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Best Director - Motion Picture

Julian Schnabel – The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
Jason Reitman – Juno
Tony Gilroy – Michael Clayton
Joel and Ethan Coen – No Country For Old Men
Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture

Cate Blanchett – Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie – Away From Her
Marion Cotillard – La Vie En Rose
Laura Linney – The Savages
Ellen Page - Juno

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture

George Clooney – Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis – There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp – Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones – In The Valley Of Elah
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises

Best Performance by an Actress In A Supporting Role

Cate Blanchett – I'm Not There
Ruby Dee - American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan – Atonement
Amy Ryan – Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton – Michael Clayton

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role

Casey Affleck - The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem - No Country For Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson's War
Hal Holbrook - Into The Wild
Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton

Best Foreign Language Film

Beaufort (Israel)
The Counterfeiters (Austria)
Katyn (Poland)
Mongol (Kazakhstan)
12 (Russia)

Best Animated Feature Film Of The Year

Persepolis
Ratatouille
Surf's Up

Achievement In Art Direction

American Gangster
Atonement
The Golden Compass
Sweeney Todd
There Will Be Blood

Achievement In Cinematography

The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Atonement
The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Achievement In Costume Design

Across The Universe
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
La Vie En Rose
Sweeney Todd

Best Documentary Feature

No End In Sight
Operation Homecoming: Writing The Wartime Experience
Sicko
Taxi To The Dark Side
War/Dance

Best Documentary Short Subject

Freeheld
La Corona
Salim Baba
Sari's Mother

Achievement In Film Editing

The Bourne Ultimatum
The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
Into The Wild
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Achievement In Makeup

La Vie En Rose
Norbit
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End

Achievement In Music Written For Motion Pictures (Original Score)

Atonement
The Kite Runner
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
3:10 To Yuma

Achievement In Music Written For Motion Pictures (Original Song)

Falling Slowly from Once
Happy Working Song from Enchanted
Raise It Up from August Rush
So Close from Enchanted
That's How You Know from Enchanted

Best Animated Short Film

I Met The Walrus
Madame Tutli-Putli
Even Pigeons Go To Heaven
My Love
Peter & The Wolf

Best Live Action Short Film

At Night
The Substitute
The Mozart Of Pickpockets
Tanghi Argentini
The Tonto Woman

Achievement In Sound Editing

The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country For Old Men
Ratatouille
There Will Be Blood
Transformers

Achievement In Sound Mixing

The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country For Old Men
Ratatouille
3:10 To Yuma
Transformers

Achievement In Visual Effects

The Golden Compass
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End
Transformers

Adapted Screenplay

Atonement
Away From Her
The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

Original Screenplay

Juno
Lars And The Real Girl
Michael Clayton
Ratatouille
The Savages

Sanjay Dutt may have married Manyata

A prominent half-page colour advertisement by Sanjay Dutt and Manyata in a Marathi newspaper Wednesday, greeting Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on his 82nd birthday, indicates that the troubled film star may have tied the knot with his live-in companion, an indication confirmed by Bollywood sources.

The advertisement has been released in the 88-page special edition Saamna newspaper. Below a large photograph of a reclining Thackeray is the revealing caption: "From Sanjay Dutt and Manyata Dutt".

According to Bollywood sources, the duo had a low-profile registered marriage in the presence of a few family members and close friends.

Though his sisters Priya, Namrata and other family friends remained unreachable on their mobile phones, sources told IANS that the marriage has been kept under wraps since Dutt has been sentenced to a jail term. He is presently out on bail.

"It would appear inappropriate to celebrate a marriage with him behind bars," one of his Bollywood friends said.

Dutt was always expected to tie the knot with Manyata alias Shehnaaz Shaikh, once an innocuous Bollywood item girl, who has been seen with him during the highs and lows in his personal and professional lives.

Ever since the star, convicted in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blast case, was released from his latest jail stint in November last year, Manyata has been constantly seen with him at all public events, including his film shoots.

Manyata has reportedly become so possessive of late that not only Dutt's friends, even his sisters cannot walk into his apartment and talk to him without her remaining within earshot.

Sources said the couple is now planning to shift out of their Mumbai apartment building Imperial Heights to guard their privacy.

Review : Bombay to Bangkok

"Do you know Shah Rukh Khan? Amitabh Bachchan?" asks an excited elderly Thai gentleman of our Indian protagonist, who nervously shakes his head replying in the negative. The man then asks, almost desperately, "Ayesha Takia?" You can't help but smile at this sweet, likable slice-of-life dialogue. (Of course, that Takia is currently the director's favourite and will be seen in his future projects is not lost on us. But never mind.)

Usually the first few scenes set the tone of the humour in a film. But Bombay to Bangkok blends in a range: from the intelligent and witty to the corny and downright clichéd. So there's a rapper don, a Sardarji who loves to eat and has a large gregarious family (sigh), and situations that lend themselves to many unexpected turns.

Shankar (Shreyas Talpade) is a small-time cook, who on seeing a bagful of cash left in his restaurant, decides to steal it. And regrets it when he realises it belongs to Jamal Khan, son of dreaded underworld kingpin Khan Seth (Naseeruddin Shah). Jamal is the mush-hearted wannabe rapper, covered in bling, with gigantic finger rings announcing his alias 'Jam K'. He's been warned by his father to bring Shankar back, or else.

But nimble-footed Shankar escapes to Thailand as part of a doctors' troupe. What happens next are lots of twists and turns; some funny, some dubious. But in the midst of all this he meets Jasmine, a local prostitute, and falls for her.

After Iqbal and the hard-hitting Dor, Nagesh Kukunoor is all set to have fun here and it shows. He doesn't intend to make the film an all-out comedy or a syrupy romance. Neither is it a 'Visit Bangkok' promo; there are no sweeping shots of breathless beaches etc. Instead what you see are the streets, the people, the roadside shops and everyday interactions—more interesting and definitely refreshing.

Anything goes here: all within the basic premise of an ever-present language confusion between two people who are drawn to each other but can't converse without an interpreter. Does it work? Yes, in most parts. Owing largely to the screenplay that reins in the many parallel tracks. However, had Kukunoor not digressed into so many different sub-plots, the film would have been a simpler, shorter, more focused story. The director also goes overboard sometimes—like the scene where Shankar runs atop a hay stack to the sound of Aashayein much like his character in Iqbal. The technique of Shankar dreaming and then bumping back to reality is cute a few times, but naturally gets tiresome when overdone.

Technically the film, like all of Nagesh's work, is superb. Cinematography (Sudeep Chatterjee) is imaginative and so is the background score. Editing could have chopped off about 15 minutes of the film towards the stretched second half. It pulls the pace of the film down, a real bummer in a light-hearted film. The music (Salim-Sulaiman) is disappointing.

Bombay to Bangkok belongs to Shreyas. Since his debut with Iqbal in 2005, his confidence has grown to be effortless and his expressions flow spontaneously. His is one of the most likeable performances in recent times and Talpade carries the film on his able (and well worked-out) shoulders. Debutante Thai model-actress Lena Christenchen is perfect for the role and does well as the Thai girl in love with a man whose language she doesn't understand. Her character, too, is not a simple one and Lena tackles all the ranges ably.

The superlative supporting cast must be mentioned: Manmeet Singh as the rapper gangster, Vijay Maurya as the guide Rashwinder Singh, Jeneva Talwar as Dr Rati, Yatin Karyekar and Vikram Inamdar.

Bombay to Bangkok is recommended for a one-time watch for its breezy tone, a few funny moments and a stupendous performance by Talpade.

Verdict: Two-and-a-half stars

Neil Mukesh signs Freeze and Frame

The two new films that Neil Nitin Mukesh has signed have peculiar titles. "One of them is called Fame while the other is tentatively titled Freeze. I guess audiences expect unusual titles from me after Johnny Gaddar and my next release Tera Kya Hoga Johnny", laughs Neil who turned 26 this week.

Forget the staid family-oriented good-boy image that Neil Mukesh has cultivated even after playing the roguish double-dealing Johnny Gaddar. On his 26th birthday on Jan 15 Neil Mukesh decided to really let his hair down. "Well on the night before my birthday, I was with my family. My brother who's ten years my junior, has his board exams coming up. So I've been keeping up late nights with him, trying to coach him overtime. So, the birthday eve was a quiet family affair."

But the next day Neil whooped it up with the babes. "Don't ask me where how and when. And I'll tell no lies. But I cast aside my good-boy image on my birthday night," Neil laughed wickedly.

He has also gifted himself some brand new roles. "There's Tigmanshu Dhulia's Fame about how the young today are ready and willing to take any road as long as it gets them money. It's about the shortcuts to a bulky bank balance taken by youngsters, again a moral fable like Johnny Gaddar. Maybe producers see me as the good boy gone to seed."

Another day another role. Neil Mukesh has also bagged his own super-hero flick, thereby creating an atmosphere of more comparisons with Hrithik Roshan. Neil demurs, "The film from Eros tentatively titled Freeze is going to be directed by debutant Jehangir Surti. It's about a man who sudden comes upon a supernatural power and how it changes his life. Lots of FX and yes, one more morality tale."

But the first one out will be Sudhir Mishra's Tera Kya Hoga Johnny. "It's an episodic look at the life of a street child named Johnny. I come into one of the episodes." Tell him it's bizarre that his first two films have 'Johnny' in their titles and he laughs. "Yeah it is rather uncanny. And when I was a child I'd often call myself Johnny for no apparent reason."

Turning pensive at a family on his birthday Neil sighs, "I already feel old. At 25, I felt young. At 26, I feel I've crossed the age where I could be a kid. Johnny is no longer Papa's kid."

Mallika takes on Sonu Nigam!

Come January 18, Mallika Sherawat will come home to you. Surprised? Let us enlighten you.

The sexy star is scheduled to appear in Star Plus' first episode of Kaho Na Yaar Ha, a new celebrity game show where celebs and their best pals take part in funny, mischievous and interesting games and thereby, undertake the true test of friendship. The team with the highest score emerges a winner.

The episode will see Mallika -- who is pitted against Sonu Nigam-- being bombarded by brain teasers.

Here's a sample of what's in store: In the question-answer round, Mallika was quizzed about the time taken for three eggs to boil if one took three minutes. Her reply? Nine minutes!

Her silly response had Sonu Nigam and all others present on the sets in splits.