Tom Alter: Actor, Cricketer, Urdu lover and Caucasian Unlikely combination of professions and hobbies for a man named Thomas Beach Alter, who hailed from a family of American missionaries. His acting abilities were never in doubt, and the barest accent betrayed his ethnicity. But his skin and hair distinguished him from other Indian co-actors quite noticeably, and he had to be content with parts showing him as a British colonial or modern day baddie. There were occasions when he was made to s...

Aamir, Nasir, Tahir, Tariq, Mansoor, Amjad: Movies, Masti, Modernity, Flashback 10: Aamir To remind you, Aamir is indeed Aamir Khan, Amjad is definitely Gabbar Singh, and the triple M above is to acknowledge that it was Akshay Manwani’s biographical book on the cinema of Nasir Hussain that got me delving into the period of about 15 years, when I interacted with the Hussain Khans (first five) and the bare Khan (last, but the most imposing personality). Actually, Mansoor did not use his m...

Siraj Syed reviews The Queen of Katwe: Chess champion comes from Ugandan slums Madina Nalwanga, the Ugandan teenager who plays the titular role in The Queen of Katwe, was asked after the red carpet at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) what she would like to do next. She replied, “I want to go back to school. And I want to continue with acting and also dancing.” Madina’s native tongue is Luganda, and she had to work very hard to speak the English required for the...

With the whole of LA being awash with red carpets, I’m surprised Moses hasn’t shown up. And yes, the LA Comedy Shorts Film Festival has a carpet, well … it’s actually a runner, and yes it’s red, and yes celebrities stand on it and get their pictures taken albeit a much more intimate setting than some of those other snobby assed carpeted events. AND YES, I LIKE IT, MUCH, MUCH BETTER! There’s no security asshole the size of a building telling you you can’t talk to the ‘talent,’ ...

Finally!!!  A Film Festival All About Sports!     (Hollywood, CA) – March 4, 2012 – The 4th Annual All Sports Los Angeles Film Festival will be held on November 9-11, 2012 at the El Portal Theater in North Hollywood, California.   Whether it is a dramatic or comedic piece, ASLAFF welcomes screenwriters and filmmakers to share their great stories in regards to the world of sports. This festival will give the many sports fanatics an ...

Sunday, April 29-----Tribeca Enterprises, the parent company of the Tribeca Film Festival, and ESPN Inc., the worldwide leader in sports entertainment, have collaborated this year for the inaugural Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival, which will take place during the 12 days of the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival.  In its debut, the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival will offer screenings of 14 feature lfilms including 12 World Premieres, a special Tribeca Talks panel discussion and “Sports Saturday...