Don't resort to sorcerers - Oman Daily Observer

Dr Ibrahim bin Ahmed al Kindi,
Chief Executive Officer
Fahmi bin Khalid al Harthy,
Editor-in-Chief
28
ENTERTAINMENT SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2013
Film reads ‘blind faith’ lesson in Google Books
Actresses Dakota Fanning (left) and Elizabeth Olsen pose for a portrait during the 2013
Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. — AFP
Vedhika bags
Kannada remake
of Brindavanam
ACTRESS Vedhika
Kumar has been roped
in to play the female lead
in the upcoming Kannada
family-drama Brindavana,
a remake of Telugu film
Brindavanam.
“Nowadays family films
have become a rarity in our
film industry, and therefore
I’m excited to be part of this
wonderful family project”,
Vedhika said. “I will probably
start shooting by the end
of February or early March,”
she added.
N T Rama Rao Jr, Kajal
Agarwal and Samantha Ruth
Prabhu played the lead role
in Brindavanam, which revolved
around a guy who
resolves the tussle between
two brothers and unites
them.
Vedhika is cast opposite
Kannada superstar Darshan
Thoogudeep in the film. She
will essay the role played by
Samantha in the original.
The rest of the cast of
Brindavana will be announced
soon. It will be
directed by K Madesh and
produced by Suresh Gowda
and Srinivas Murthy under
SSB production banner.
Brindavanam has already
been remade in Bengali as
Khoka 420.
GOOGLE Books, the
doomed project to
build the world’s biggest
library online, provides a
powerful lesson in the danger
of “blind faith” in technology,
according to British director
Ben Lewis.
Presenting his new film
Google and the World Brain
in competition at the Sundance
Film Festival, Lewis said the
failure of the online giant’s plan
marks a victory over those who
believe the Internet can encompass
everything.
“Around four years ago, I
began to think that there was a
kind of blind faith in the Internet
and the technology,” he said
at America’s biggest independent
film festival, held in the
snowy mountains of Utah.
“There was a kind of naive
belief that technology would
cure the world of many serious
problems, and that it would
make us more intelligent. And I
just thought that was a kind of
false God.”
“And I decided that I wanted
to make a film that stimulated
or began to develop a
sort of critical way of thinking
the Internet, but still balanced.
I wanted to present the dilemmas,
the dreams and dangers.”
He decided to base his film
on Google Books, a project
which was already well under
way at the time to digitise every
book in the world’s top university
and public libraries, to create
a universal and free global
library.
The film shows the enthusiasm
generated by the project
in its early stages, when prestigious
institutions including
Harvard University welcomed
Google and its money-saving
digital offer with open arms.
But fairly quickly it ran into
problems, notably in Europe
where the head of the French
Bibliotheque Nationale, Jean-
Noel Jeannenay, rebuffed
the Californian upstarts, and
backed a rival online cultural
library, Europeana.
Google also rapidly ran into
opposition when it began digitising
works not in the public
domaine, as copyright holders
cried foul. The film presents the
crusade by a Chinese author,
Mian Mian, against the search
giant. Threatened with legal action,
Google agreed negotiate a
deal with American publishers
and authors, but that was ruled
unlawful and litigation is continuing.
Lewis said the setbacks for
Google — which has nevertheless
used the books it has
already digitised to improve
its search engine, according to
experts — have reshaped the
future of the Internet.
“Google Books in its old
form is dead. They actually got
stopped by quite a conventional
international alliance of institutions,
individuals and governments,”
he said.
“That shows that it’s not
inevitable that the net goes in
a certain way. It’s not like we
don’t have any control over
these giant Internet corporations
and we just have to sort of
go along with it. We can change
it, if we want to.”
One of the biggest question
marks hanging over Google
Books, fuelling mistrust in the
project, is the commercialisation
of digitised books, as opposed
to the original free-for-all
library model.
“We all associate libraries
with the community, with
sharing things, something that
shouldn’t cost money, that everyone
should have access to,”
said Lewis. “And in our hypercapitalist
globalised world, it’s
a big issue.
“How much of our public
space has been taken over
by private corporations? A library
constantly reminds you
that there are these sort of secret
spaces that we don’t think
should be privatised.” — AFP
Singer Shweta Pandit Desi Magic my toughest role: Ameesha
turns chawl girl for David
CTRESS Ameesha Patel
Awill be seen in a double
SINGER Shweta Pandit has revealed that she plays a
chawl girl in Bejoy Nambiar’s David, which marks her
foray into acting.
“My character in David is called Alice and I play a
Mumbai chawl girl in the film. She is a brat and tomboyish.
She is loved by everyone in the family,” Shweta said in
Mumbai in an interview.
Shweta, who has rendered songs in films like Mohabbatein
and Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl, says shooting for the film
was as good a learning experience as going to an institute.
“It was like going to a big institution of film, and learning
everything possible under the roof while working at it. I
don’t think I would have got anything better than this as an
actor. So, it was a great experience,” she said.
Calling it a “huge honour” to work with Nambiar,
Shweta added: “He is completely phenomenal... I enjoyed
a lot while working in this film and I really had the best
time of my life while shooting for it.”
David, slated to release on February 1, also features
Neil Nitin Mukesh and Tabu. — IANS
role for the first time in Desi
Magic, and admits it is one of
her toughest roles.
“My film Desi Magic will
go on floors in April. I am
very excited about the film as
I am playing a double role for
the first time. This film is going
to be the toughest role of
my career,” Ameesha said.
Desi Magic, her home
production, will be directed
by a new director, while
its screenplay is written by
Sanjay Gadhvi.
Talking about the movie’s
flavour, Ameesha said: “It
HER seductive, bold
and outspoken avatar
as Veronica in
Cocktail left the audience
spell-bound, but now actress
Deepika Padukone is looking
forward to shed that glamorous
image with her forthcoming
projects.
“The year 2013 is an exciting
year and it would be
interesting to see how it pans
out. Yes, I have played many
glamorous roles till now, but
if you see the line-up for the
rest of the year, I am sure this
will change. The audiences
will see me in an all new avatar
this year,” Deepika said.
From films to endorsements,
model-turned-actress
Deepika, who is daughter of
badminton player Prakash
Padukone, has today managed
to make a place for herself
among the top actresses of the
industry.
Talking about her film
journey so far, she said: “It
has been a good learning experience,
especially the last
one year — with the kind of
people I have met and the
films I have been doing.”
She hopes this year will be
a turning point.
“The year 2013 will be an
Presenting his
new film Google
and the World Brain
in competition at
the Sundance Film
Festival, Lewis said
the failure of the
online giant’s plan
marks a victory
over those who
believe the Internet
can encompass
everything
important year for me. With
the kind of films that are lined
up, I hope it turns out to good
for me. I have been working
hard for the last six months,”
she said.
For now, her glam look
will continue in the racy Race
2.
will be a blend of Jab We
Met, Dilwale Dulhania Le
Jayenge and other (such)
Bollywood films.”
The actress says she is enjoying
being a producer.
“I am completely enjoying
the role of a producer. It
is fun being part of the narration,
giving suggestions,
and contributing a lot more
than as an actress. It is
like taking care of your newborn
baby,” the 37-year-old
said.
On the acting front, Ameesha’s
multi-starrer film Race
2 hit the screens yesterday.
— IANS
Deepika eyes image makeover
Post that, the actress’s list
of films for 2013 includes
Chennai Express, in which
she plays a Tamilian girl, Ram
Leela, in which she dons a
Gujarati avatar and Yeh Jawaani
Hai Deewani, in which
she will sport a very simple,
girl-next-door look.
Oman Establishment for Press, Publication and Advertising; P.O. Box 974, Postal Code 100, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman; Tel: 24649444, 24649450,
24649451, 24604563, 24699437 Fax: 24699643 Website: omanobserver.om e-mail: editor@omanobserver.om Salalah Office: Tel: 23292633,
Fax: 23293909 Nizwa Office: Tel: 25411099, P.O. Box 955, P.C. 611 ADVERTISING: AL OMANEYA ADVERTISING & PUBLIC RELATIONS, P.O. Box 3303,
Postal Code 112, Ruwi, Sultanate of Oman, Tel: SWITCHBOARD: 24649444, DIRECT: 24649430/24649437/24649401, Fax: 24649434 DISTRIBUTION
AGENT: AL OMANEYA FOR DISTRIBUTION & MARKETING, P.O. Box 974, P.C. 100, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, Tel: 24649351/24649360, Fax: 24649379,
subscribe@omandaily.om
Singer Shakira’s baby on Twitter
THE first public glimpse
of Colombian singer
Shakira’s new baby came in
a Twitter post by his father,
Spanish soccer standout
Gerard Pique, who put up a
photo of little Milan Pique
Mebarak’s feet.
Labelled “Milan’s feet”,
the image shows the newborn
shod in expensive sneakers
with his name embroidered
in the red and blue colours of
Pique’s club, FC Barcelona.
Amador Bernabeu, Pique’s
grandfather, registered Milan
as Barcelona member No
171,761 on Wednesday, just
hours after Shakira gave birth
at a hospital in this Spanish
metropolis.
Peaches Geldof off to honeymoon
SOCIALITE Peaches
Geldof headed for her
honeymoon, four months
after marrying Thomas
Cohen.
The 23-year-old, who is
pregnant with her second
child, exchanged vows with
rocker Cohen in September
last year, but they only managed
to get away and enjoy
the traditional romantic vacation
on Tuesday.
She shared a number of
photos from their sunny destination
on Wednesday, but
did not reveal where they had
chosen to holiday, reports femalefirst.co.uk.
Contostavlos reveals body shaper
SINGER Tulisa Contostavlos
ended up with a fashion
faux pas when she accidentally
revealed a thigh-shaper which
she had worn underneath her
revealing dress.
The faux pas happened
at the National Television
Awards red carpet, reports
thesun.co.uk.
The X Factor judge turned
heads by flaunting a bulging
bust in a slinky white dress at
the star-studded awards ceremony.
But the slit at the front of
the knee-length gown went
a little too high, putting her
flesh-coloured figure-enhancing
underwear on show.
Scherzinger fails to cover up well
SINGER Nicole
Scherzinger tried her
best to cover up by using
strategically placed covers,
but flashbulbs ended up
turning her dress transparent
at the National Television
Awards. The X Factor judge
also dared to wear a plunging
neckline and grabbed a lot
of attention. If that wasn’t
enough, the blinding light of
the camera flashes exposed
the singer’s fashion blunder,
reports thesun.co.uk.
Once inside London’s O2
Arena for the event, she was
seen in the company of fellow
X Factor stars Tulisa Contostavlos
and Gary Barlow.
Jenny becomes mother again
BRITISH singer Jenny
Frost has become a
mother again, giving birth to
twin daughters.
The 34-year-old delivered
daughters Nico and Blake,
her first children with Spanish
husband Vicente Juan
Spiteri on Sunday, reports
femalefirst.co.uk.
Frost, who also has a fiveyear-old
son Caspar from a
previous relationship, announced
the news on Thursday
on Twitter.
“Good morning, our girls
are here... Blake and Nico arrived
on Sunday night. They
are perfect... tiny but perfect,”
she said. — IANS
Printers and Publishers
Oman Establishment
for Press, Publication
and Advertising