Lakecity International Film Festival moves with the times: Launches its android app

Madhya Pradesh and especially Bhopal's own film festival - The Lakecity International Film Festival has officially released its android app for bringing the filmmakers and the discerning audiences on an engaging digital content platform and to keep them abreast of the latest news and happenings of and about the festival. The free-to-download app is available on http://www.appsgeyser.com/LCIFF as well can also be downloaded by scanning the QR Code given here and on the website.

Speaking on the launch, Festival Coordinator Mahua Mazumdar says, ““It was time for a change and be in tune with the moving times. We needed something dynamic and attractive to connect to our audiences and film makers and create an interactive communication platform. Nothing can get better than this app to keep them abreast of the latest information even while on the move.”

The app will be a trendsetter as it will bring all the topical information and news items on whats happening in and around the festival, the entries, the selection, the schedule, the inauguration and the events centering on to finally the awards and the ceremony right into your mobiles and tablets. Created by Bangalore based Pranshu Kulshreshtha, this app meets all requirements and is very easy to manoeuvre and use. And it also takes less time to navigate as compared to browsing on a site. But the biggest advantage of this application is that it comes free.

Ankit Tandon of OM Films and one of the Festival Organisers concludes:"Apart from having an interactive site with 24x7 Live Chat functionality, we are all very excited by this new app as it offers a great social functionality. It does more justice to our coverage skills and talents, and we are now ready for the new communication challenges ahead! Should you have any difficulties downloading the app or have any query or feedback, you can directly contact via the contact form provided on the site and we will be more than happy to serve you.”

The Lakecity International Film Festival will be happening in December 2015 and will be inviting filmmakers across the globe to attend the same. Till now, the festival has managed to bring in lots of films for the discerning audiences which includes:

• Rebellious Flower by Krishan Hooda (Winner of Special Jury in Italy)
• Pagdi by Rajeev Bhatia (Winner of National Awards)
• A Daughters Dream by Manto Pashupatinath (Winner of Several Awards)
• Final Project (Chinese) by Eric Lam
• Capturing Happiness by Ludwig Klupka
• Virgin Munda by Rituraj Verma
• The Eve (Italian) by Luca Machnich 
• UnFreedom / Dagh Ujala (Indian) by Raj Amit Kumar (Denied a Censor Certificate)
• Ghar Aaja Jeetu by Dr. Jaswinder Singh Gandhi
• and many more...

Tahir loves shades of grey

The young and handsome Tahir Raj Bhasin, who made his debut with a negative role in the Rani Mukerji-starrer Mardaani, will soon be seen essaying another grey character in director Abhinay Deo's upcoming action-thriller Force 2.

Tahir changed the perception of Bollywood villains when he played the role of the suave Karan Rastogi. At present, Tahir is busy shooting for action sequences as part of a 40-day schedule for Force 2 in Budapest, Hungary. In Force 2, viewers will soon see Tahir unfold his other shades of grey.

When asked about being typecast as a villain he said, “Not at all. It is a great time for grey characters [in the Hindi film industry]. They have evolved, and have more dimensions now. The actors I admire, like Irrfan Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, achieved fame by doing negative roles. Irrfan did Haasil (2003), while Shah Rukh did Darr (1993). I think black and white villains, like Gabbar and Mogambo, are slowly fading out."

Tahir was quick to add that off screen he is nothing like the on screen characters he plays. "I am a Shah Rukh Khan romantic at heart. Someday, I will do a traditional romantic role. But everything takes its own course.”

Look who's playing Virat Kohli

Saqib Saleem, who bats for Sohail Khan's Mumbai Heroes in the Celebrity Cricket League, admits that if not an actor, he would have become a cricketer. So, when Rohit Dhawan offered him the role of an aggressive, contemporary batsman in his upcoming action-adventure, Dishoom, Saqib immediately agreed.

Buzz is this cricketer is modelled on Virat Kohli? "He could be Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina or Rohit Sharma," says Saqib, who has already shot for four days. "The major cricketing portions will be shot during the Abu Dhabi schedule with the UAE cricket team, with whom I will train as well. I'll be playing a lot of cricket, hitting a few sixes too. My biggest fear is that the audience will say that I acted well, but played bad cricket," he laughs. Saqib, who played for the Under-19 team in Delhi and captained his college team, reveals that Rohit has been monitoring his look for the film. "He narrated the entire script to me, focussing on the dramatic scenes. He is the kind of director who loves to pamper his actors. And I'm sure there's lots of 'me' in the film," Saqib beams.

AB introduces freemium celebrity video blogging app – Wakau

Iconic superstar Mr. Amitabh Bachchan introduced to the world and his fans the first of its kind, freemium celebrity video blogging app - Wakau. Starting 29th October 2015, the Wakau app will become the ultimate celebrity hotspot to catch original, candid ‘direct dil se’ videos of Mr. Bachchan and other celebrities across genres, be it films, sports, entertainment or music.  Available across iOS, Windows and Android formats, Wakau is the gateway to a gold mine of never seen before original celebrity content, anytime anywhere!

With an ever increasing repertoire of celebrities including the likes of Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar, Arjun Kapoor, Ayushmaan Khurrana, Nirahua, Shaan,  Manju Warrier, Tamannaah Bhatia, Sophie Choudry, Arman Malik and Elli Avaram contributing to the platform. Wakau will upload new content including landmark moments from the celebs lives, hobbies and interests and career stories, for subscribers on a daily basis. On Wakau fans can watch, share and comment on a wide variety of interesting videos categorised topically and by celebrity. The app, has a celebrity interface feature that enables celebs to upload premium video content, while allowing them to track fan comments on their videos and respond directly.

Mr. Bachchan, who has a following of 44 mm on social media, will now further connect and communicate with his fans, through Wakau.  On the app, one can get an insight from Mr. Bachchan on how his now famous surname came into being; catch the master blaster, sharing first hand, his emotions on retiring from test cricket or see Arjun Kapoor talk about his favourite movies and giving a glimpse of his personal DVD collection.

Talking about his association with Wakau, Mr. Bachchan commented, “Social media is an integral part of my life today. I have always tried to stay connected with my fans and respond to them whenever possible through my blog and other social media platforms.  I am glad to be associated with an interactive platform like Wakau, through which I can share some of my candid moments from my day to day life with my fans and inch closer to them.”

A joint venture between CA Media Digital and Jetsynthesys, Wakau is the first of its kind, freemium celebrity video blogging app that allows users to access unseen candid celeb moments to help them connect further with their favourite stars and celebs. Freely downloadable to users across India this ‘freemium’ app allows consumers to view celebrity videos for free, with the videos being interspersed with advertisements. The app also supports an ad-free experience via its subscription service.

Speaking on the association, Rishi Negi, EVP Operations, CA Media India commented, “Wakau is a great opportunity for celebrities to connect with their fans and share personal stories, interests, sepia moments and cherished thoughts through their video blogs. The app is a celebrity hotspot that enables consumers to gain easy access to insightful videos of their favourite superstars and personal heroes on their phones.”

Rajan Navani, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Jetsynthesys, added “Through constant and continuous innovation we at Jetsynthesys strive to offer the best in digital technology and Wakau is no exception. With a deep focus on creating a personal connect with the consumer through leveraging analytics, the Wakau experience will eventually pave the way towards many firsts for the world. We are excited to launch this unique world class Indian product that would become the social digital media screen of the 21st century.”

A technically superior app, Wakau has an adaptive and predictive streaming technology that enables optimization of content to each specific device and dynamically adapts the video stream to the constantly varying bandwidth of carrier and Wi-Fi networks creating a quality experience for the users. Consumers can subscribe to the premium service on the app using their existing mobile connection, credit cards, net banking and e-wallets with multiple validity periods and price points available.

Salman Khan & Sonam kapoor will celebrate Diwali with Taarak Mehta team

Actor Salman Khan with Sonam Kapoor came to Gokuldham Society in Taarak Mehta Ka Oltah Chashmah to celebrate Diwali with members. He even brought sweets for Society member and wished them all in advance.

Once again Dayaben entertained Salman with her special arti and garba. "Nobody can get bored while watching my dance. It’s an all time favorite entertainer," laughs Disha Wakani.  Both actors had lot of fun moments while shooting with the team.

Gul Panag Attends Exclusive Triumph Bike launch In London

Gul Panag is well known as the "Biker Girl" in India. The actress had created waves, choosing to ride in the side cart of a bike with hubby as her vehicle of choice right after her wedding, from the mandap to home! With her genuine passion and interest in all things auto, it's not surprising that auto and bike brands love the actress, and that she is on may car and bike award juries too.

But now this seems to have crossed borders, with Gul being invited to a very exclusive event by super-bike maker - Triumph who have finally unveiled their all-new 1199cc Triumph Thruxton and Thruxton R, the range-topping duo that herald the arrival of a completely new collection of five Bonnevilles. starting from the entry-level all-new Street Twin, two ‘classic’ Bonnevilles, and the new Thruxton models. A few other international celebrities present at the event were Edris Alba, Carl Fogarty, Tom Hardy, Gillian Anderson, Reggie Yates, Charlie Boman

"All girls in my family ride bikes. I've grown up with this being the done thing. I first rode a bike when I was 16.  I had a cousin in the Army who’d left a Bullet behind. That was the summer I learned to ride,” she says.

Dressed in custom-made Gauri Nainika gown, Gul certainly upped the style quotient at the event, which was attended by a host of international celebrities.

Gul said, “It was like being a kid in a candy shop. The new Bonnies look awesome – while not losing the classic appeal. I feel very honoured to be in the UK as a special guest of Triumph and share the excitement of the new launches.’

Top 5 movies to enjoy this Halloween

We’ve all spent many summers in our childhood listening to scary stories, or playing dark house and some of us have even tried our hand at Ouija boards. Its Halloween time and time to watch some fun scary movies. Fear is fun, especially when Halloween arrives. With the release of ‘Goosebumps’ starring the one and only Jack Black, get ready for this hilariously spine-tingling movie as some unusual creatures from Goosebumps book series jump from the page to Indian screens on October 30th, 2015 in 3D and 2D. The film will enjoy a wide release in English, Hindi and Tamil. Apart from this, here are the ‘Top 5 movies’ to enjoy this Halloween’

Goosebumps: Upset about moving from a big city to a small town, teenager Zach Cooper (Dylan Minnette) finds a silver lining when he meets the beautiful girl, Hannah (Odeya Rush), living right next door. But every silver lining has a cloud, and Zach’s comes when he learns that Hannah has a mysterious dad who is revealed to be R. L. Stine (Jack Black), the author of the bestselling Goosebumps series. It turns out that there is a reason why Stine is so strange…

He is a prisoner of his own imagination – the monsters that his books made famous are real, and Stine protects his readers by keeping them locked up in their books. When Zach unintentionally unleashes the monsters from their manuscripts and they begin to terrorize the town, it’s suddenly up to Stine, Zach and Hannah to get all of them back in the books where they belong.

Harry Potter: This movie series can be watched any time of the year, but during Halloween it’s all the more special, with all the magic, the beasts, the mystery and the constant threat to life. Although, the final instalment, The Deathly Hallows is probably the creepiest, we would recommend The Prisoner Of Azkaban because of the appearance of the soul sucking Dementors.

Casper: Watching this adorable, friendly ghost and his cute antics is a rite of passage for all kids. It’s the one ghost you’ll cheer on and fall in love with. There’s a bit of everything in this film, from making friends, to horror and adventure, to beating up the bad ghosts, and a first kiss too!

Halloween Town: Witches and Halloween go hand in hand, and that’s what makes this movie special. It also has three sequels, so there’s plenty more fun to be had. It’s about little Marnie Piper who is obsessed with Halloween, and eventually discovers that she is a witch. She seems to be made of the same cloth as our favourite Hermoine Granger, because she helps save a town of other supernatural creatures.

Nightmare before Christmas: Here’s another film dreamed up by the amazing Tim Burton. It tells the story of Jack Skellington who is the King of Halloween and is tired of staging Halloween festivities year after year, so when he finds a door to Christmas Town, he decides to try his hand at enjoying a holiday instead. Best of all, it’s a musical, so you can sing-a-long and get your creep on! And if you love this film, you’ll have an excuse to watch it for Christmas as well.

So get going and enjoy these top 5 fun and creepy movies to enjoy this Halloween with your families.

‘Rao’ On Set! Ranveer Renames Himself for “Bajirao Mastani’

Playing a character in a period drama requires an actor to live and breathe in a different era altogether. It’s because of this that Ranveer Singh is trying unusual ways to ensure that he delivers better than his best as Peshwa Bajirao. One such method is to call him ‘Rao’ instead of Ranveer Singh on set.

In playing Peshwa Bajirao, Ranveer Singh has taken on a once in a lifetime role; that of a fearsome Maratha warrior and a just king who is still remembered in folktales. Lots have been said about his physical & mental preparation for this part.

In order to ensure that he stays focused while shooting, Ranveer has surprised his assistant directors with an odd request. He has asked everyone to call him ‘Rao’ and address him with the name of his character. While his request has let to some good-natured leg pulling on set, Ranveer insists that this be the practice. Says a source, “This helps him stay in character & helps him not be reminded that he is Ranveer Singh. So when he is on set he is fully in character.”

Even while speaking on walkie-talkies, as assistants tend to do while a shoot is on, they call him Rao. So far, this mental shift into this historical character has worked for him, even though it’s not commonly done.

Clearly, Ranveer is pushing himself beyond the call of duty to bring alive the magic & might of ‘Bajirao Mastani’.