Random Thoughts

It seems Mohanlal is going to do a film titled Nair San, in which he is going to be featured with Jackie Chan!

Hard to digest? The film will be shot in Mongolia, and will have a Japanese, Chinese and English version. It will be directed by Albert, who won the Aravindan award for his debut film Kanne Madanguka.

”Nair San is based on a real character, Ayyapan Pillai Madhavan Nair. He studied in Model School in Thiruvananthapuram and, during his school days, he got involved in the freedom struggle. He had to escape from the British—so he escaped to Japan via Sri Lanka and joined the war against British imperialism,” says Albert.

Albert had sent the concept script to Jackie Chan’s office and got a positive report from him. Later, he went to Hong Kong and is reported to have met Chan.

“The film’s shoot will start on September 1 in Mongolia and we are talking to Jackie Chan’s office to coordinate the shoot,” he says. “It is a historical period drama and will be shot by cameraman Vaidi. It is a big budget commercial extravaganza with a budget of around Rs 50 crore. The Morphous group from the Middle East is funding the project.”

When contacted, Mohanlal said: “I think it is a great opportunity for an actor like me to do the role of Nair San. My father had told me many years back about Sen’s daring exploits and he had met hi, too. I’m told that he used to stay in Poojapura, the area where I stay in Thiruvananthapuram.”

Mohanlal has given a 125-day call sheet for the film, which will be shot in Mongolia, Japan and Hong Kong.

Jackie Chan is planning to make a film about the recent devastating Chinese earthquake, which left almost 60,000 dead and more than five million homeless.

The 7.9-magnitude quake stunned the world and now Chan wants to do everything he can to help the shellshocked survivors - and that involves making a film about their plight.

The 'Rush Hour' star, who is an icon in China, is planning a meeting with the country's leading studio bosses and film financiers to discuss his movie plans.

He says: "There are so many touching stories (and) through this movie, we will be able to show the whole world what happened. This will also be another way to raise money."

Chan also plans to raise money through benefits for the victims and their families.

He tells America's People magazine: "I can spend six years doing a movie, but I can plan an event in 72 hours. An event we're doing on June 1 in Hong Kong will include more than 100 artists from Asia."

Chan has already visited hospitals, schools and the ruins of streets of houses in the areas worst hit by the earthquake, and he has already donated more than $1m (€627,475).

Complete Shanghai film fest coverage

SHANGHAI -- The pall of the recent earthquake in China hung over Day 1 of the 11th Shanghai International Film Festival on Saturday, sapping the event of the glitz it had begun to display in recent years.

The opening ceremony, clocking in at 30 minutes, was the shortest in memory and lacked typically long-winded speeches by Chinese government officials.

"The SIFF ceremony is very low profile this year because of the national mourning," said Yue-Sai Kan, founder of Yue-Sai cosmetics and a popular television hostess.

There were no limousines and no red carpet. Guests arrived at the Shanghai Grand Theater by bus, sedan and SUV and walked a carpet decorated with giant pink hearts to honor the 70,000 people who lost their lives in the May 12 quake in Sichuan Province.

Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai spoke briefly in support of the 5 million Chinese left homeless by the quake. A lifetime achievement award was given posthumously to Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella, whose widow, Carolyn Choa, appeared on his behalf. Wong replaced Minghella as the festival's Jin Jue award jury chair.

Next, actress Zhang Ziyi was given the award for Outstanding Achievement in Film and Qin Yi, famous for her 1930s roles, was named the honorary recipient of the SIFF Lifetime Achievement Award for Chinese Filmmakers.

Chuck Boller, executive director of the Hawaii International Film Festival, was in Shanghai for a ninth year, seeking films for his lineup in October. "The choice of films gets better all the time," he said.

Boller praised Shanghai for approaching in quality South Korea's Pusan International Film Festival, also held each October. He noted, however, that China's most international city still failed to draw a large group of overseas guests.

Betty Brow, executive vice president of international banking at the Bank of Hawaii -- and one of Boller's festival sponsors -- was at the opening looking for investment opportunities. "We specialize in the film industry," Brow said. "We have the largest Chinese team of all the banks in Hawaii."

After the opening remarks, many guests left before the unveiling of the opening film, the Chinese documentary "Olympic Dreamers."

Tomas Prasek, co-founder of a Czech company whose technology helps stage film festivals, observed: "There's a movie going on which almost nobody is watching."

Jackie Chan

Here is a Ripley's Believe It or Not from the heart of southern tinsel town. Chennai-based Aaskar Ravichandran, the producer of Kamal Haasan's latest movie Dasavathaaram, is planning to make a movie with Jackie Chan as the lead actor at a cost of Rs 600-700 crore ($150 million), which would by far be the most expensive movie made in India.

If his dream comes true, it will beat the cost of making Rajinikanth starrer Sivaji-The Boss ten times over, which had cost $15 million.

The head of a leading film production company in Chennai said that this would be too big and risky a bet particularly for a Jackie Chan movie. "When was the last time you heard of a big hit from Jackie Chan movie in India? It is definitely a daring attempt and I wonder how Ravichandran is going to fund this movie," he asked.

"The movie will be funded from bank debts and the collections from Dasavathaaram," said Ravichandarn.

He confirmed his biggest bet ever taken in the Indian film industry to Business Standard , while discussing his expectation from Dasavathaaram. He estimates box office collection for this movie would be Rs 200-300 crore, when the movie finally gets out of the theatres. He also said that the first week collection alone would be Rs 50 crore ( just Rs 10 crore short of the movie production cost of Rs 60 crore).

Ravichandran who was distributing the Jackie Chan movies in India for a number of years is now going to produce the actor's movie on his own. Apparently, the script of the movie that will be made in the Indian style has been approved by Jackie Chan. The genre of the movie, like most other Jackie Chan movies will be action-comedy.

Ravichandran, however, did not disclose any other information about the salary the big stars on the movie will be drawing and details of the people who are going to work in the movie.

Producer's three-year old son Sanjith will also make his debut in this movie.

According to movie industry sources, Ravichandran had made lavish arrangements for the star's two day visit in Chennai. He booked the entire top floor of Park Sheraton Hotel for three days for Jackie Chan and for his personal security guards. The total cost of Jackie Chan's visit to Chennai was around Rs 5.5 crore, said sources.

The choices are as follows:

• Achievement 1 - Longest Grip Fall: Perform the longest grip fall in the game.
• Achievement 2 - Marathon: Run the whole map, then keep running.
• Achievement 3 - Combo Specialist: Master every fight combo in the game.

Voting ends on July 1st, when they will also announce which achievement got the most votes.

A note at the end of the poll's page mentions that the company has something planned for the PS3 version as well. Maybe they're waiting for Sony to finally give out more details on the PS3 trophy system we all know is coming.

Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan continues to be dogged by political remarks he made four years ago in Taiwan.He was greeted with protesters yelling "Jackie Chan, get out" on Wednesday when he arrived in Taipei for a charity event, according to Agence France Presse.
The protesters were angry over remarks he made four years ago about the island's presidential elections.
At that time, Chan insinuated that President Chen Shui-Bian staged an election-eve shooting that give him a margin over his opponent during the presidential runoff.
"It's the biggest joke in the world," he said of the March 2004 presidential electiion.
Chen and his running mate Annette Wu were lightly wounded in the shooting, which helped boost him ahead of his opponent by a razor-thin margin. Opposition parties alleged that the shooting was staged to win a sympathy vote.
Chen's Democratic Progressive Party favours national independence for Taiwan, a stance frowned on by the Chinese mainland which still considers the island part of China.
Chan, star of Rush Hour and The Forbidden Kingdom, had to be escorted from his private jet by police and bodyguards on Wednesday.
Jackie Chan insulted Taiwanese people and denied the value of our democracy," a woman told CTI TV at the airport.It was Chan's first trip to Taiwan in four years and follows the election of Chen's opponent Ma Ying-jeou of the Nationalists as president. The new president promises closer ties to China, ending talk of independence.Chan dismissed the criticism over his remarks at a news conference to promote a charity that supports youth soccer teams."My affection for Taiwan … is witnessed by everyone. My wife is Taiwanese and I am a son-in-law of Taiwan. I am half Taiwanese," he said.Chan has a big following in Taiwan and in most of Greater China as the star of dozens of Chinese-language martial arts films.

We are lucky see certain celestial events in our lifetime! Superstar Mohanlal is to act with Hong Kong action hero Jackie Chan in his upcoming movie titled Nair San to be produced by a Middle Eastern production company, Morphous group.The movie, to be directed by Albert, is a based on the life history of Ayyappan Pillai Madhavan Nair, who was known as Nair San in Japan. Leading Japanese actress Shunsuken Matosuoka will probably star opposite Mohanlal in this film depicting the era between 1920 and 1970.Nair San was a leading industrialist and a prominent figure among Japanese citizens. A native of Thiruvananthapuram, he arrived in Japan via Srilanka as an engineering student during the Indian Independence struggle. On completing his studies, he settled down in Japan and married a Japanese girl. He played a vital role in the independence movement of India. Nair San collaborated with several freedom fighters from India who arrived in Japan at that time, including Subhash Chandra Bose, to fight against the British rulers. Nair left his studies and became Subhash Chandra Bose's Japanese translator. He was one of the leaders of Indian National Army formed by Netaji. He travelled extensively in Manchuria, China, and other Asian countries as an anti-British propagandist. However, he was never involved in the political affairs of India after its independence.Nair San lived in Japan for over half a century and spent several years in Manchuria. There, he was an unofficial advisor to the Manchukuo Government and the Kwangtung Army. He also conducted an anti-colonial Movement against British imperialism in India and other parts of Asia, said director Albert. He also was awarded the order of Merit of the Sacred Treasure by Emperor Hirohito in 1984.Interestingly, when India won the 1964 Olympics hockey gold medal, the national anthem played was that of Pakistan, by mistake. And it was Nair San, the global Malayalee, who was the one to point out the mistake and rectify it. Nair San is the owner of world famous Ginza Nair Restaurant in Tokyo.

Electronic Arts has released the so-called Spore Creature Creator, which allows players to generate infinitely varied 3D critters and interact with them. It’s a tantalizing, obscenely fun preview of the company’s upcoming God-game. Download it here (immediately!) and prepare for your productivity to evaporate almost instantly.

The Creature Creator isn’t so much of a demo or a beta of Spore as it is a major component of the game, ripped from the rest, and released for free. Players can pick from various body parts — stretching, molding, and modifying each — to tweak virtual creatures. Nearly every detail is up for grabs, from how many mouths the critter has to its coloring. (I dubbed this one Mr. Stick; see the video below.) Depending on the character’s shape, the game automatically computes how it moves, sounds, and behaves. My initial impression: nearly endless customization. And fun.

EA’s strategy here is a smart one. This is the best demo for Spore possible. Instead of a same-old, same-old one or two-level taste, the Creature Creator is a fully baked product. The gamelette even allows you to upload videos of your creatures to YouTube as well as create FaceBook-like profiles for them. And, this isn’t the first time EA has previewed a highly anticipated game with a free preview of one component. It did something similar with The Sims 2, its best-selling people simulator, by releasing the game’s character customizing module early.

BW: Spore Creature Creator from Matt Vella on Vimeo.

Last year's Happy Chinese New Year Contest was a lot of fun and Jackie wants to do it again this year. Jackie loved the Year of the Pig entries so much last year that he decided to choose three winners and he made a donation to the Build a School project in their names. This year for the Year of the Rat, we will award three grand prizes for Jackie's three favorites (yes, Jackie will choose his favorites again). Here are the three prizes:

SHIRT ONE Jackie wore this shirt on September 19, 2007 in Zaozhuang.	SHIRT TWO Jackie wore this shirt on September 16, 2007 in Changchun.	SHIRT THREE Jackie wore this shirt on September 22, 2007 in Inner Mongolia

Three people will each win one of Jackie's shirts. These are the actual shirts that Jackie wore during the September 2007 Dragon's Heart trip and Jackie has already autographed each of them.

Last year we gave calendars to the first 50 people who entered the contest. This year we looked around our office for some prizes and found a whole box of great promotional items from Rob-B-Hood. We have colorful t-shirts and unique baby bottles - all great items for your collection. The first 55 fans to enter the contest will win a t-shirt or bottle (our choice of prize and/or size). It's as easy as that!

Here's what we found for giveaways:

Rob-B-Hood t-shirts! We have 46 tees to give away, all size medium and small.

OR

Rob-B-Hood promotional bottle. We have 9 of these to send.

This year Jackie would like you to draw or paint a picture for him to help celebrate the Year of the Rat. We will post your original drawings here at the Kids Corner and Jackie will choose the winners. To enter, scan and email your drawing to the webmaster.

Please use the following guidelines:

• Scan should be at least 650 pixels wide and in .jpg format.

• Please name the file like this:

Year_Rat_yourname_yourcountry.jpg (for example: Year_Rat_Jackie_China.jpg)

and write New Year Contest as the subject line.

• You must include your full name and postal mailing address in your email so we can send you your prize. Giveaway prizes will be sent to the first 55 people who submit a New Year's drawing. To make it easier for us to mail prizes, please write your address in this format:

Your Full Name
123 Hollywood Lane
Los Angeles, CA 98765 USA

There is no age restriction; everyone is welcome to send a drawing.
Contest ends on February 7th. One prize per family or address.

Only original drawings, paintings, or computer generated artwork created specifically for this contest will be eligible to win a prize.

CLICK THE RATS TO SEE THIS YEAR'S DRAWINGS

CLICK THE PIGGY TO SEE LAST YEAR'S DRAWINGS!

Jackie Chan, the Superstar of Hollywood, became the real hero at the Dasavatharam audio launch held at Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai. Right from his entry into the dais along with superb looked Mallika Sherawat, the super actor became the center of attraction in the event. Chief Minister M Karunanidhi launched the audio of Dasavatharam along with Jackie, V Shridhar, elder brother of producer Ravichandran and Kamal Hassan the hero of the film.

Oscar Ravichandran's decision to invite the Hollywood action hero Jackie Chan as the Chief Guest served the purpose meaningfully. He made the entire function enjoyable like his fabulous films. The audience loved his simplicity, innocence, smile, meaningful speech and mannerisms.

Mallika Sherawat was clinging onto Chan throughout the evening and was his biggest moral support in translating things to his convenience. There was tremendous chemistry between Jackie and Mallika. She helped him in his pronunciation of difficult words and Indian names during his speech.

Amithab: After KS Ravikumar's lengthy welcome speech, the mike was handed over to Amitabh Bachchan. He said, "Chennai is very special to me as I got my first National Award here for Saath Hindustani from none other than Shri M Karunanidhiji, who was the then Chief Minister. And now years later, I am here again sharing the dais with him. It is my immense pleasure to see my friend Kamal as a center figure in such a grand event. Every time his name is mentioned, I notice the excitement of the audience. So I end my speech saying 'Kamal Hassan… Kamal Hassan…Kamal Hassan… (the claps sound rocked the auditorium.)."

Vijay: Normally Vijay ends his speech in very few words. But yesterday, he delivered an unusual speech. He praised Chan for his extra-ordinary onscreen performance and how he became an ardent fan of him. On Kamal, Vijay said, "Here, I'm not going to praise or congratulate Kamal sir. He is the Guru for people like me. Acting in films like Dasavatharam is his duty. Then only it is possible to actors like me to learn more on acting." Vijay also thanked Oscar Ravi for inviting him with veteran actors Kamal, Big B and Mammootty.

Kamal: Kamal Hassan spoke in Tamil to the audiences about Dasavatharam and later in English so that Jackie could follow it. He said, "I always feel jealous of you and I have 32 fractures in my career trying to emulate your stunts. I am meeting you for the first time and your simplicity is amazing. I have started a new friendship with you from today."

Jackie Chan: Jackie took the help of Mallika while he spoke about Oscar Ravichandran and his association with him. He also said that he will do a film with Kamal in future.

Jackie says that Dasavatharam is simply amazing and unbelievable effort of Kamal. He also said that Amitabh is the real Superstar of Asia and in future he would like to play in a romantic role while Amitabh plays an action block in a film.

Rama Narayanan, Jayaprada, Hema Malini, Asin, and Mallika Sherawat also delivered speeches on this most memorable occasion.

As usual, Oscar Ravichandran did not attend this function. As a policy does not attend his own functions nor does he get photographed, he simply stayed in his office and watching the events through a specially arranged live screen!