Akriti to connect more with her fans

Akriti Kakar has carved a niche for herself in the highly competitivemusic industry by giving voice to hit songs like "Dil Vich Lagiya Ve"from the movie 'Chup Chup Ke', "Inshaallah" from 'Welcome' and thechart buster "Move Your Body/Freaky Freaky Raat" from 'KismatKonnection".She is going to add another feather to her hat by singing live for thesoon to be aired show of Zee Music titled as Rock Baby Rock.Some of the forthcoming films in which we will be hearing more of thissinger's soulful voice are 'Golmaal Returns', 'Kidnap', 'HelloDarling', 'Cinema' and 'Harry Puttar'.

War May Be Hell, but Hollywood Is Even Worse

Despite what you may have read lately, the biggest target of ridiculein "Tropic Thunder," a flashy, nasty, on-and-off funny and assaultivesendup of the film industry, is not the mentally retarded. Rather, thetrue targets of this extreme comedy's free-flowing contempt are thestars, makers, brokers, miscellaneous supplicants and even die-hardfans of the movies, who are all portrayed as challenged in somefashion: intellectually, ethically, aesthetically, sartorially,chemically, longitudinally, you name it.

Revisiting Coen Country for Odd Men

The sound of hysterical laughter is heard.That line of dialogue and the stage direction that follows could have plausibly been found in many of the 13 major movies created by the Coen brothers: black comedies like "Blood Simple," "Barton Fink" or "Fargo" where invariably something does go horribly wrong. Here, however, the speaker is Joel Coen, and the laughter is provided by Ethan, his younger brother (by three years). They were responding to the question of whether their big night at the Academy Awards last February — four Oscars for "No Country for Old Men," including best picture — changed the brothers' outlook on the film industry, or their place in it, or in any way represented an apotheosis of their 24-year career as darlings of art-house cinema.

The Pool (2007)

In "The Pool," a recurrent image that develops into a symbol of thegap between affluence and poverty shows the waiflike Indianprotagonist, Venkatesh (Venkatesh Chavan), perched in a tree, gazinglongingly at a private swimming pool on the other side of a hedge. Askinny, 18-year-old man-child who longs to dive into the water,Venkatesh ekes out a living cleaning hotel rooms and selling plasticbags on the street with his 11-year-old sidekick, Jhangir (JhangirBadshah). The shimmering pool, in which no one seems to swim, is awindow onto a world he can hardly imagine.

At Movies, Fewer Eyes, Bigger Haul

Fewer people went to the movies this summer than last, confirmingHollywood's fears that this year's slate of pictures would not matchthe crowd pleasers of 2007.But luckily for an industry that cares mostly about the money, higherticket prices and a Batman sequel delivered near-record revenue to themajor studios.

Chipmunks With Rabies? That Is So L L Not Cool J

"Disaster Movie," the latest disposable parody of disposable Hollywoodmovies, has a shelf life of about five minutes, tops, which may beslightly longer than it took to come up with most of its gags.Scribbled and slapped together by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer,this flailing free fall through recent pop culture begins with aparody of "10,000 B.C." featuring "Amy Winehouse" as a saber-toothedtiger who pulls a crystal skull from her beehive hairdo. It winds upwith "Kung Fu Panda" (dude in a furry suit) and "Beowulf" (naked dudewho keeps yelling, "I am Beowulf!") running amok through "Night at theMuseum."

A Nostalgia for New York, by Way of the Toronto Film Festival

If all goes according to plan this weekend at the TorontoInternational Film Festival, voices caught on tape at a Manhattan rapsession more than 33 years ago will introduce a film about the makingof "A Chorus Line."Those voices, and others from a handful of movies at this sprawling,10-day film festival opening on Thursday, are also likely to rousesome serious nostalgia for a New York that somehow got away.