First Day First Show | Kannada cinema roundtable, ‘Priscilla’ review

(This article forms a part of the First Day First Show newsletter that brings you the latest and best from the world of movies and entertainment. Subscribe now)

Around tinsel town

Netflix releases first-ever viewership engagement report

Rana Naidu, the Hindi-Telugu crime series starring Rana Daggubati and Venkatesh, is the most viewed Indian title globally on Netflix, according to viewership figures disclosed for the first time by the streamer. Netflix disclosed rankings based on hour views for 18,000 titles. Meanwhile, the streaming giant bowed down to censorship and stopped streaming uncut Indian films globally.

Brahmaputra Valley Film Festival returns to celebrate cinema from the Northeast

The 8th edition of the Brahmaputra Valley Film Festival kick-started on Thursday with a grand opening ceremony at the Jyoti Chitrabon Film Studio in Guwahati, Assam. The festival began with a special screening of the Hindi crime drama Kooki, directed by Pranab Deka. It will end on December 17 with the screening of Footprints on Water starring Adil Hussain and directed by Nathalia Syam.

Bollywood

Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Jawan’ is most searched Indian film on Google in 2023

Actor Shreyas Talpade suffers heart attack after ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ shoot, undergoes angioplasty

Shah Rukh Khan tops UK’s 2023 South Asian celebrity list

Wamiqa Gabbi begins shooting for her film with Varun Dhawan

Disney+ Hotstar announces Raveena Tandon’s series ‘Karmma Calling’

Vidyut Jammwal’s sports action film ‘Crakk’ to release in theatres on this date

‘Killer Soup’, starring Manoj Bajpayee and Konkona Sensharma, gets premiere date

Hollywood

‘Barbie’ leads Golden Globes nominations with 9, ‘Oppenheimer’ follows closely

Greta Gerwig to serve as jury president at 2024 Cannes Film Festival

Andre Braugher, Emmy-winning actor starred in ‘Homicide’ and ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’, dies at 61

Trevor Noah to host the 2024 Grammy Awards for the fourth year in a row

‘Saw XI’ officially announced at Lionsgate; to release on September 27, 2024

Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper reunite for spy thriller ‘Best of Enemies’

Christopher Abbott replaces Ryan Gosling in ‘Wolf Man’

‘Good Omens’ renewed for Season 3

A24 and Kojima Productions to adapt live-action ‘Death Stranding’ movie

Charlize Theron, Daniel Craig to star in ‘Two For The Money’

Regional

‘Vettaiyan’ is the title of Rajinikanth’s ‘Thalaivar 170’ with TJ Gnanavel

Soori and Anna Ben’s ‘Kottukkaali’ to be the first Tamil film to premiere at Berlin International Film Festival

Clint Eastwood promises to watch ‘Jigarthanda Double X’; Karthik Subbaraj and team react

Vignesh Shivan and Pradeep Ranganathan team up for ‘LIC’

Samantha Ruth Prabhu launches production house Tralala Moving Pictures

Dhanush wraps up ‘D 50’, his second directorial

Actor Redin Kingsley marries television actor Sangeetha V

Biju Menon, Asif Ali’s next with Jis Joy titled ‘Thalaivan’

Documentary on ‘Naatu Naatu’ lyricist Chandrabose wins award

Adivi Shesh and Shruti Haasan team up for an action drama

Siddhu Jonnalagadda-Bommarillu Bhaskar’s ‘SVCC 37’ goes on floors

Siddharth to voice the alien in Sivakarthikeyan’s ‘Ayalaan’

International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK)

Amid IFFK, open revolt in Kerala State Chalachitra Academy against chairman Ranjith

Prasanna Vithanage’s ‘Paradise’ lands as an unexpected punch in the gut

Shalini Ushadevi uses a sci-fi setting to explore the changing shades of a relationship in ‘Ennennum’

Don Palathara’s ‘Family’ clinically uncovers the hidden dark spots in an idyllic community

After-effects of Pinochet’s dictatorship still being felt, says Chilean filmmaker

It took a small village to make Jayant Digambar Somalkar’s ‘Sthal’

‘Terrestrial Verses’ shows ordinary Iranians navigate repression in daily lives

Being recognised for taking the next right step is a genuine honour, says Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu

Trailers

In ‘Civil War’ trailer, Kristen Dunst roams a fractured America

Mohanlal, Jeethu Joseph promise a riveting legal thriller in ‘Neru’ trailer

‘Curry & Cyanide – The Jolly Joseph Case’ documentary trailer throws light on the Koodathayi murders

Ryan Reynolds and Cailey Fleming save imaginary creatures in John Krasinski’s ‘IF’ trailer

In ‘Dry Dry’ trailer, Jitendra Kumar leads a comic satire on alcoholism

‘Kho Gaye Hum Kahan’ trailer promises a tale of friendship and social media

New in Streaming

New on Netflix this December: Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire, a space opera film, coming-of-age drama Kho Gaye Hum Kahan, Trevor Noah’s comedy special Trevor Noah: Where Was I, and more.

Coming to Apple TV+: Henry Cavill, Dua Lipa starrer Argylle, Ben Mendelsohn, Juliette Binoche starrer The New Look, Mark Wahlberg’s action comedy The Family Plan, and more

New on Amazon Prime Video this week: The Telugu investigative crime series Vyooham, the docuseries on Hindi TV and film industry, First Act, Second season of Reacher, and more.

New on Disney+ Hotstar in December: Season 2 of Marvel’s superhero series What if…?, live-action series based on books by Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and more.

Essential reading

1) ‘The Archies’ and India: Whose nostalgia is it?

>> If Zoya Akhtar’s film, an adaptation of the American comic book series, is supposed to be a rose-tinted view of a bygone era, it still begs the question of whose history is being celebrated

2) The Hindu’s Kannada cinema roundtable: Nithin Krishnamurthy, Rukmini Vasanth, Sindhu Sreenivasa Murthy and Shashank Soghal on their achievements this year

>> The four artistes open up on their respective films, their changing perception of the Kannada film industry, and how world cinema has shaped their filmmaking sensibilities

3) BVFF festival director Tanushree Hazarika on how BVFF is a valley of hope for cinematic voices from the Northeast

>> She talks about the new developments from this year’s festival and how a bunch of small steps end up making a huge positive impact

4) Malayalam film ‘Jananam 1947, Pranayam Thudarunnu,’ is a heartwarming story of love in the sunset years

>> Abhijit Asokan’s film is a story about the craving for companionship experienced by two senior citizens

5) Ji Chang Wook and Shin Hae Sun on their chemistry in ‘Welcome To Samdal-ri’

>> The actors talk about doing a warm and relaxing romantic comedy, their love for Rajkumar Hirani’s ‘3 Idiots’, and what K-content’s global explosion means for performers

6) Walk down memory lane with ‘The Archies’

>> If you are from a generation that read the Archie comics, then the props in ‘The Archies’ film are bound to make you nostalgic

7) Leelavathi, a star of 1960s who paved the way for many women to follow

>> The legendary Kannada actress’s screen chemistry with thespian Dr. Rajkumar is one of the high points in the history of Kannada cinema

8) Visually-challenged Ashtaman Pillai makes his debut as a playback singer in Malayalam cinema

>> He has sung the track ‘Choodarum’ from Cheena Trophy, composed by Sooraj Santhosh and Varkey

9) An account from the 54th International Film Festival of India

>> A look at the kind of films which where shown at the festival and the political, social and economic themes these movies touched upon