Much like the ramshackle truck that the film’s protagonists make their journey in, ROAD MOVIE directed by Dev Benegal, is a slow and rickety ride that tires you out by the time it reaches its destination. A visually stunning but emotionally hollow adventure, packed with tired stereotypes, the film is an unsatisfying watch even at running time of 90-odd minutes.

Abhay Deol stars as Vishnu, the reluctant heir of his family’s hair-oil business who agrees to drive his uncle’s antique Chevy truck across the desert where it has been sold to a museum. Once a traveling cinema fitted with a projector and several film cans, the truck itself is a monstrosity that is a challenge to keep running. Along the way, Vishnu picks up three fellow travelers – a runaway urchin boy (played by Mohammed Faizal), a garrulous old mechanic (played by Satish Kaushik), and a sultry gypsy girl (played by Tannishtha Chatterjee).

During the course of their journey this oddball group encounters corrupt cops and local dons, and when their lips are parched for water, or they need to keep dreaded goons away, they unpack the projector and get the cinema running to screen classic movies for the rural folk who embrace the entertainment.

Directed with a light hand, ROAD MOVIE doesn’t succeed in getting you to care for its characters or to sympathize with their situation because, quite frankly, there’s never a sense of real danger. When our protagonists are captured by a feared water-lord for trespassing on his property, the situation is resolved by resorting to that convenient script tool — a sly parody!

But to judge the film purely for what you see on screen, would be unfair in this case. The director clearly intends for his film to work as a lyrical tribute to the magic of movies — his very own “Cinema Paradiso” if you like. Unfortunately, apart from a few striking visuals and a handful of delightful moments — like the one in which Satish Kaushik’s character decides to snip a boring scene out of a film, and splice it with a popular song from another film ROAD MOVIE lacks the character depth or the sheer originality of narrative that was required to turn it into an enjoyable celebration of the movies.

Michel Amathieu’s dazzling cinematography is easily the film’s strongest asset, even when he’s capturing nothing but vast expanses of salt or sand. Satish Kaushik as the upbeat repairman steals the film from his co-actors with a warm, endearing performance, and some of the film’s smartest lines.

Unpredictable and occasionally charming, ROAD MOVIE has its moments. But in the end it feels too long, a tad boring, and pretentious even. I’m going with two out of five for director Dev Benegal’s ROAD MOVIE . If you do decide to watch it, go armed with patience. Lots of it.

It seems like ‘karthik’ calls himself for this movie to watch. There was a poll going in communites regarding this movie ,

What do u think of karthik calling karthik?

Madhav Mathur is 25 and has  just released his debut novel The Diary Of An Unreasonable Man. It’s about an ad man  – Pranav Kumar – who is the quintessential jaded Indian youngster of today having lost complete faith in the consumerism-centric modern way of life. So he sets up ‘The Anarchists of Mumbai’ and through some very carefully orchestrated stunts, brings corrupt politicians, two-timing husbands and too-rich-for-their-own-good businessmen to justice. But soon Pranav realises that he’s got into a whole lot more than he bargained for; with both the  cops and underworld goons baying for his blood. Watch out for the big-screen version coming from Anurag Kashyap!

We have to wait and see how movie looks like .

Produced by The Indian Film Company in association with Studio 18, STRIKER will be the first Bollywood feature to be premiered on YouTube, day and date with its Indian theatrical release on February 5, 2010.

This historical milestone, which marks Bollywood’s first major embrasure of the online medium as a crucial revenue generator, will also pave the way for other Indian film companies to look outside of a conventional theatrical release towards alternate modes of distribution. By releasing this film on YouTube, Studio18 will offer Bollywood fans outside of India a high quality and on demand option for watching the latest Bollywood film.

In the US, STRIKER will be available for rent on YouTube. Outside the US, STRIKER will be available for free on Studio18’s YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/studio18 . In order to ensure that the revenues from the Indian theatrical release are maximized, the movie will be not be available for the YouTube traffic originating from India.

Commented Sandeep Bhargava, CEO of the advisor company to The Indian Film Company (Cyprus) Ltd. In India, ‘STRIKER’s premiere on YouTube is yet another feather in our cap as YouTube is the world’s most popular online video community. We are excited about this association as this will help us reach out to our audience in a focused manner and a very cost-effective way.’

Amit Agrawal, Head of You Tube Partnerships, Google India, said, ‘Our goal at YouTube is to create a comprehensive destination for online video with a range of content, from user-generated clips to full-length shows and movies. We’re particularly excited to have the premiere of STRIKER on YouTube and available to Bollywood fans around the world on YouTube’

Recognizing the importance of penetrating into the online space, the producers intend to offer their forthcoming titles for a YouTube premiere as well. Hemant Bhardwaj, SVP – International Business, Studio18, said ‘This is a redefining moment. The success of this project will put wings to our films, which are rich in content but unable to find optimal distribution abroad because they don’t feature the conventional stars.’

STRIKER top-lines Telugu superstar Siddharth (of RANG DE BASANTI fame) with Anupam Kher, Aditya Panscholi, Vidya Malavade and others. It has been directed by Chandan Arora, whose previous ventures, MAIN, MERI PATNI AUR WOH and MAIN MADHURI DIXIT BANNA CHAHTI HOON had been critically acclaimed.

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra got the best actor and best actress award at the 5th Apsara Film and Television Producers Guild Awards.

Ghajini was awarded the best film and director A.R. Murugadoss received the best directorand the best screenplay awards for Ghajini.

Ayan Mukherjee received the best debutantdirector. Entertainer of the year award was given to Ranbir Kapoor.

Shahid Kapoor Deepika Padukone were given the Chevrolet Heartbeat of the Nation Award.

Following is the complete list of winners of Apsara awards for this year 2010.

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Shahrukh Khan – Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Priyanka Chopra – Kaminey

Best Movie
Ghajini – Madhu Mantena

Best Director
A.R. Murugadoss – Ghajini

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Rishi Kapoor – Love Aaj Kal

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Kirron Kher – Kurbaan

Best Actor in a Comic Role
Ajay Devgan – All The Best

Best Actor in a Negative Role
Amol Gupte – Kaminey

Best Debut Director
Ayan Mukerji – Wake Up Sid

Lifetime Achievement Award (Male)
Amitabh Bachchan

Entertainer of the year
Ranbir Kapoor

Best Debut (Male)
Jackky Bhagnani – Kal Kissne Dekha

Best Debut (Female)
Anushka Sharma – Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

Chevrolet Heartbeat of the Nation (Male)
Shahid Kapoor (Kaminey)

Chevrolet Heartbeat of the Nation (Female)
Deepika Padukone (Love Aaj Kal)

Best Choreography
Shiamak Davar – Dance Pe Chance – Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

Best Lyrics
Jaideep Sahni – Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai – Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

Best Female Playback Singer
Shreya Ghosal – Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai – Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

Best Male Playback Singer
Mohit Chauhan – Ye Dooriyan – Love Aaj Kal

Best Music
Pritam Chakraborty – Love Aaj Kal

Best Screenplay
A.R. Murugadoss – Ghajini

Best Dialogue
Anurag Kashyap – Dev D

Best Story
Imtiaz Ali – Love Aaj Kal

Most public appearances
Abhishek Bachchan

The director Tarun Mansukhani has become a fan of Priyanka Chopra after working with her in Dostana. It is said that he reserved an important role for her in Dostana 2. It is no more a secret that Katrina Kaif is playing beside Abhisekh Bachchan and John Abraham.

Karthik Calling Karthik movie to be released on February 26th is a first major release for both Farhan Akhtar and Deepika Padukone in 2010. While Farhan will be trying to recreate the magic of his earlier hit “Rock On”, Deepika would like to strengthen her position in the industry with one desperately needed hit. Karthik Calling Karthik movie is basically a psychological thriller which revolves around farhan’s character called Karthik Narayan who is obsessed with Rubik cube. Karthik calling Karthik shows that no matter how tough the circumstances a strong person always emerges as a winner

Karthik calling karthik movie sees deepika Padukone in a non glamorous avatar and Farhan Akhtar is playing the role of a brooding introvert. Karthik calling Karthik storyline revolves around Farhan’s character which is that of a loveable looser and how his life changes with the coming of another man named Karthik in his life. Karthik calling karthik is being marketed as a soulful romantic thriller and the presence of Glam Gal Deepika will surely add a lot of spunk and color to the movie.

Besides the first time pairing of Deepika-Farhan which also sparked the rumor of a full blown affair on the sets of the movie, the other main characters of the film are played by popular television star Ram Kapoor ( fame Rakhi Ka Swayamvar) and Shefali Chayya.

Karthik Calling Karthik movie is produced by Farhan Akhtar and Riteish Sidhwani and is being directed by vijay lalwani. The music of the movie is given by music director trio Shankar ehsaan loy and the lyrics have been written by Javed Akhtar.

All Chetan Bhagat fans felt hurt when the renowned writer wasn’t duly credited by Raj Kumar Hirani and Vidhu Vinod Chopra for the blockbuster movie 3 Idiots. Chetan has finally broken his silence in the issue in his personal blog and hit out at the 3 Idiots team which claimed that the movie was ‘loosely’ based on the book Five Point Someone. Although people who have read the book found 3 Idiots as its screen adaptation, the director, producer and the stars have shied away from crediting Bhagat for the movie.

An upset Bhagat added “ I, frankly, was shocked to see this. This is because I was also fed ‘this is an original movie’ line a lot. I wanted to see the final script – it was never shown to me. I wanted to see the film before release – it was not shown to me (even though trials had been done for people). What’s more, the makers had called me to their office and pressured me several times to withdraw my ‘Based on a novel by’ credit, which was by contract. They told me they’d replace it with something like ‘initiated by’ – a credit that doesn’t exist anywhere in the world. I still told them that if the film is indeed original, I’ll happily withdraw the credit, but somehow the promos don’t tell me so. I asked them to show me the film and they fell silent”

“The plot line was same – people meet at ragging, the first class with definition of machine, the friends separate, Alok (Raju) moves with Venkat (Chatur), Ryan (Rancho) helps Alok’s father, Alok rejoins group etc etc. From Alok (Raju) jumping to stealing the papers and calling out from Cherian (Virus’) office – the book came alive on screen. I was surprised and happy that FPS has made it in such a grand way. However, my family had not spotted my credit in the beginning (there was none) and they were feeling let down. A screenplay associate credit to VVC had a prominent upfront placement. The story credit was not shared with me. And yes, all the office talk of a ‘king treated like king’ was a white lie”

Raj Kumar Hirani, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Aamir Khan will have to do a lot of answering on the issue.

Ishqiya, the much-awaited debut by director Abhishek Chaubey, nurtured by Vishal Bhardwaj of Kaminey fame, is being re-shot, after a focus group gave it a thumbs down for too much abusive lingo. The medium-budget flick, starring Arshad Warsi, Naserrudin Shah and Vidya Balan in lead roles, made female audiences at a focus group screening uncomfortable. As a result, parts of the film are being re-shot, keeping the reactions in mind.

A well-placed source has confirmed, “Yes, the film is being reshot. It was shown to a focus group recently. As usual, there was an equal number of women watching the film. These women were distinctly uncomfortable with the abusive language in the film. As a result, the film is currently being re-shot, keeping in mind how the focus group has reacted to the film.”

Due to the re-work required, the producers are deciding on a date around mid-2010,” the source adds. However, the film’s publicist insisted that the film is complete and its release date remains unchanged from Jan 22, 2010.

Focus groups are a new phenomenon in Bollywood, but have been the norm in Hollywood for many years. For instance, Fatal Attraction (1987), with its heavily sexualized plot, had two endings. Audiences baulked when Michael Douglas playing the repentant adulterous husband eventually gets arrested for what is actually Glenn Close committing suicide. Audiences rejected this ending since it betrayed the American dream of the ideal home. As a result, Fatal Attraction was reshot a year after it had been shot and edited with a new ending. It moved on to becoming a smash hit.

Ishqiya is about two bandits on the run, who fall for a sensual widow, played by Vidya Balan, and the deadly repercussions of this obsession.