'The terrorists did not merely intend to kill and maim the innocent,' says Chicago-based interfaith leader Ebo Patel. 'They intended to provoke a 'clash of civilisations', pitting Hindu against Muslim, India against Pakistan. The best way to honour those killed and injured in these attacks, and the best way to show solidarity with the people of Mumbai, is to work to defuse the crisis that these terrorists seek to advance.'
A renowned anti-terrorist expert says the police forces in every country facing high risk of terrorism should have sophisticated training in dealing with the assault, evacuation of the victims, securing the area for clues, and look out for a second attack, not to forget targeting the escape avenues the perpetrators could use.
'Be it Al Qaeda or any other group which is also opposed to the civil authorities in Pakistan. It will be sad that if both governments cannot overlook their differences and fight this common enemy. Terrorism is a huge threat to both countries.'
Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, an art house hit in America and Canada and which will roll out of across the United Kingdom next month, grabbed a trio of top awards at the British Independent Film Awards. The film, which is slowly adding extra theatres each week, was No 11 on the North American box-office chart for the weekend, earning $1.36 million, taking its total to $3.6 million. It is in 49 theatres, having added 17 over the weekend.
'America should ask its ally, the Saudis, where the petro-dollars are going,' Dr Deepak Chopra said, adding that some of the dollars are going to the militants in Pakistan. 'Because of oil, America has been turning a blind eye to Saudi Arabia.'
Blaming Pakistan for the recent terror attacks in Mumbai will be extremely counterproductive for India's efforts to fight terrorism, believes Professor Hasan-Askari Rizvi, an independent political and defense analyst based in Lahore."Pakistan will reject any such accusation," he said. "And the dialogue between the two countries, which has been faltering quite a bit, will falter further. It will be a big loss to the people of the two countries."
Less than two years after his first film Khosla Ka Ghosla!, the small budget, runaway hit, film-maker Dibakar Banerjee has made Oye Lucky Lucky Oye. The 37-year old film-maker spoke this week about his new film, how he had taught himself the film-making art and his next project.
Abhay Deol is serious about taking a sabbatical from Mumbai and continue taking art courses in New York, looking to work with great scriptwriters, and find out how he should handle his movie career. Right now he is excited about two of his films that are to open soon -- Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! and Dev D, a modern version of the tragic Devdas legend; he gets the script concept credit for the latter film directed by Anurag Kashyap.
Subhash Ghai's bad luck continued in the lucrative North American territory where his Yuvvraaj grossed a meager $264,000 on 77 screens in three days.
Hasan-Askari Rizvi, an independent political and defense analyst and columnist based in Lahore, speaks of Pakistan's internal strife, the ISI and the situation in Afghanistan.
Anil Kapoor talks about his balancing act with Slumdog Millionaire and Yuvvraaj.
Slumdog Millionaire not only getting the some of the best reviews in recent years but also doing brisk business in arthouses. The Danny Boyle directed film, focusing on three slum children in Mumbai and their tryst with fate as grown-ups, grossed a highly promising $420,000 in just five days in 10 theatres in North American cities.
The film's director, Mira Nair said it offers the directors' views on the eight Millennium Development Goals adopted in 2000 by the United Nations that include eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, reducing child mortality, combating AIDS and promoting gender equality.
India-born author Salman Rushdie and Indian Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta will collaborate to produce a movie based on his prize winning novel Midnight's Children.
Though it is not as witty as the first two Shrek films, nor emotionally stirring as Finding Nemo, the kid pic Madagascar, Escape 2 Africa could fire up the box office in a big way before the new James Bond flick Quantum of Solace, already a solid hit abroad, arrived in North America November 12.
With two directors -- Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta -- whose films have been nominated for Oscars, and with the veteran actress Shabana Azmi and the relatively younger Preity Zinta joining the celebrities, the eighth edition of the Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival opens on Wednesday in New York.
Shriya Saran, making her Hollywood debut, received a handful of flattering reviews over her Hollywood hunk co-star Jesse Metcalfe. Bu the film The Other End of the Line received mostly negative reviews. Worse, it was also a box-office disaster.
Jesse Metcalfe, whose appearances in the Desperate Housewives television series has made him famous, can spin off a dozen stories of shooting his newest film The Other End of the Line, in Mumbai.
Preity Zinta, whose performance in Deepa Mehta's Heaven on Earth, received warm reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, has won the Silver Hugo Award for best actress at the 44th edition of Chicago International Film Festival. The jury praised her 'for her strong yet subtle performance as a woman struggling to keep her dreams despite brutal realities.'
The last week of October and the next two weeks will see many more movie hits in DVD and, in most cases, Blu-ray versions.
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