Rediff.com« Back to articlePrint this article

Tom Hanks praises Aamir Khan!

Last updated on: October 9, 2012 15:01 IST
Tom Hanks and Aamir Khan

Get your lowdown on what's going on in the world of Hollywood, right here!

H
ollywood superstar Tom Hanks has praised Aamir Khan for his work towards the Indian society.
 
Aamir has been actively involved with fighting social taboos through his recently concluded show Satyamev Jayate.
  
'I really admire the work that Aamir Khan is doing in India. Very few celebrities take the initiative of coming forward to change the society and he has done a remarkable job. It's the 'giving-back' that's tough.
 
'Aamir seems to understand the influencing power of being a celebrity and is using it to act as a catalyst for change in society, something that definitely deserves both appreciation and support from all quarters,' Hanks said in a statement.
 
The Cast Away star got to know about Aamir's work from TIME magazine article that had highlighted Aamir's active role in bringing about social change in India.
 
Hanks will soon be seen in new film Cloud Atlas opposite Halle Berry and Huge Grant. It will release in India on October 26.

Indian, French films in Oscar's long-list

Last updated on: October 9, 2012 15:01 IST
The Intouchables and Barfi!

India's Barfi!, directed by Anurag Basu, is amongst the 71 films named for the 2012 Foreign Language Oscar category, the Academy announced.
 
The movie, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Ileana D'Cruz, was highly appreciated in India and overseas
and made a business of Rs 100 crores.
 
Other foreign language entries include the French hit The Intouchables, from directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, The Patience Stone from Afghan filmmaker Atiq Rahimi and Austria's Amour from director Michael Haneke.
 
Amour had previously won the top prize at last May's Cannes Film Festival. The film stars Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant as an elderly couple coping with the wife's worsening health.
 
Nakache's The Intouchables, starring Francois Cluzet and Omar Sy, is the second-highest-grossing film of all time and
has earned USD 355 million internationally.
 
It follows the story of an unlikely friendship between Philippe, a wealthy quadriplegic, and Driss, a young and poor
man from the ghettos, who is hired as his live-in carer following a horrific road crash.

However, missing this time from the Oscar race is Iran, last year's Oscar-winner for Best Foreign Film. The nation opted out of Academy Awards as a statement of protest against the video, Innocence of Muslims.
 
The submissions also feature Sweden's The Hypnotist, from Lasse Hallstrom, Norway's Kon-Tiki from directors Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg, Armenian director Natalia Belyauskene's If Only Everyone and War Witch from Canada's
Kim Nguyen.
 
The list also includes first-time entrant Kenya with movies -- Ould-Khelifa's Zabana representing Algeria, and David Tosh Gitonga's Nairobi Half Life.
 
The Academy will announce the final list of five nominated films on January 10, 2013 and the official ceremony will take place on February 24, 2013.

Danny DeVito splits with wife of 30 years

Last updated on: October 9, 2012 15:01 IST
Danny DeVito and Rhea Pearlman

Danny DeVito and wife Rhea Pearlman have separated after living together for more than three decades, a representative for the actor has confirmed.

The couple got together in 1970, moving in two weeks after Pearlman, who starred as quick-mouthed barmaid Carla in Cheers, saw DeVito onstage in Broadway play, The Shrinking Bride, the Mirror reported

She later played the 67-year-old actor's girlfriend Zena in Taxi, the hit 1970s sitcom, which shot DeVito to limelight.

The couple married in 1982, just as Pearlman herself became a famous name through Cheers, which ran until 1993.

AGENCIES