Movie fans in India are handing out their own version of the Razzies, the annual Oscars spoof that spotlights Hollywood's worst performances.
The second Ghanta (bell) Awards and the fourth Golden Kela (golden banana) awards are doing the rounds of social media networks, with fans voting for the worst Bollywood films of 2011.
Big-ticket stars Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan are nominated in the worst actor categories at The Ghantas while the SRK caper Don 2 has been nominated in the "Worst Rip-Off" category for imitating "every Hollywood action film".
Organisers say no Bollywood star or filmmaker shows up to claim their prizes.
The Ghantas will be announced in February in Mumbai, while the Golden Kela ceremony will be held in New Delhi in March.
* Reuters
11 Oscar nods from ADFF line-up
Seven films screened at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival were nominated for a total of 11 Academy Awards on Tuesday, with Asghar Farhadi's A Separation receiving nominations for original screenplay and foreign language film. Albert Nobbs received three nominations, including one for lead actress Glenn Close.
ADFF's 2011 Opening Night film, Canada's Monsieur Lazhar, was also nominated for the foreign language category. Two ADFF films were nominated for best documentary feature: If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, directed by Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman, and Pina, Wim Wenders' innovative 3D profile of choreographer Pina Bausch.
Rounding out the alumni nominees from the 2011 ADFF is The Ides of March, nominated for best adapted screenplay. The remaining ADFF nominee, Chico & Rita - receiving a nod for best animated feature - screened at the festival in 2010.
Agneepath breaks box office records
The Hritik Roshan-starrer Agneepath has snatched the box-office record held by Salman Khan's Bodyguard for the Bollywood film with the biggest opening-day collections in history.
Released on Thursday, Agneepath collected Rs230 million (Dh17m), breaking Bodyguard's record of Rs216m, set on August 2011.
The film, which also features Priyanka Chopra and Sanjay Dutt, is expected to continue earning an average of Rs200m per day this week.
The trade analyst Komal Nahta predicted that Agneepath could break Bodyguard's other record of grossing Rs1 billion in a span of eight days by reaching the benchmark faster.
Demi Moore was convulsing, says 911 call
Demi Moore smoked something before she was rushed to the hospital last Monday and was "shaking, convulsing, burning up" and "semi-conscious, barely", according to a frantic 911 recording released Friday by Los Angeles fire officials.
The recording captures the 10 minutes it took paramedics to arrive, as friends rushed to the collapsed star's side.
When the operator asks what Moore ingested, the friend replies, but the answer was redacted.
"Some form of ... and then she smoked something. I didn't really see. She's been having some issues lately. So I don't know what she's been taking or not," the friend says. "She smoked something. It's not marijuana. It's similar to incense."
While Moore's friends don't say exactly what she smoked, a popular drug known as Spice is sometimes labelled as "herbal incense". Asked if Moore took the substance intentionally, the woman says Moore ingested it on purpose.
Moore's publicist, Carrie Gordon, said she would not comment further on the emergency call or on the actress's treatment.
* Associated Press
Deadline extended for Abu Dhabi film fund
SANAD, the Abu Dhabi Film Festival's fund for Arab filmmakers, is issuing a final call for submissions for its current cycle. The deadline, formerly January 26, has been extended to February 5.
Now on its third year, SANAD supports films at two key stages of the production: development, with grants of up to US$20,000 (Dh73,000) per project and post-production, with grants of up to $60,000 per project.
The deadline for the next SANAD ("support" in Arabic) cycle will be June 26. For more information, contact sanad@adff.ae.
Unreleased ABBA track on new album
A new track by the disbanded 1970s pop group ABBA will be released on their special-edition album The Visitors.
The record, including the new track From a Twinkling Star to a Passing Angel, is the first official release by the Swedish group in 18 years. The special edition of The Visitors, originally released in 1981, will be available on April 23.
ABBA - Agnetha Faeltskog, Benny Andersson, Bjoern Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstad - split in 1982 and has never reunited.
* Associated Press
Forthcoming web series set to feature UAE
A new online series, titled Sixpenny Globe, follows two 22-year-old American women travelling around the world on a budget of just US$30 (Dh110) a day. They hitchhike, couch-surf and street perform through 12 countries on four continents to prove that broader horizons don't have a price tag. Among the countries they visit are the UAE, Jordan, India and Egypt.
The series will be available on www.blip.tv, but no set premiere date has been announced. Visit sixpennyglobe.com for updates.
Follow us on Twitter and keep up to date with the latest in arts and lifestyle news at twitter.com/LifeNationalUAE
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Difference between fractional ownership and timeshare
Although similar in its appearance, the concept of a fractional title deed is unlike that of a timeshare, which usually involves multiple investors buying “time” in a property whereby the owner has the right to occupation for a specified period of time in any year, as opposed to the actual real estate, said John Peacock, Head of Indirect Tax and Conveyancing, BSA Ahmad Bin Hezeem & Associates, a law firm.
Opening weekend Premier League fixtures
Weekend of August 10-13
Arsenal v Manchester City
Bournemouth v Cardiff City
Fulham v Crystal Palace
Huddersfield Town v Chelsea
Liverpool v West Ham United
Manchester United v Leicester City
Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur
Southampton v Burnley
Watford v Brighton & Hove Albion
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Everton
Fanney Khan
Producer: T-Series, Anil Kapoor Productions, ROMP, Prerna Arora
Director: Atul Manjrekar
Cast: Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai, Rajkummar Rao, Pihu Sand
Rating: 2/5
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COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dooda%20Solutions%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Lebanon%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENada%20Ghanem%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20AgriTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETotal%20funding%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24300%2C000%20in%20equity-free%20funding%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2011%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE gold medallists:
Omar Al Suweidi (46kg), Khaled Al Shehhi (50kg), Khalifa Humaid Al Kaabi (60kg), Omar Al Fadhli (62kg), Mohammed Ali Al Suweidi (66kg), Omar Ahmed Al Hosani (73), all in the U18’s, and Khalid Eskandar Al Blooshi (56kg) in the U21s.
AndhaDhun
Director: Sriram Raghavan
Producer: Matchbox Pictures, Viacom18
Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Tabu, Radhika Apte, Anil Dhawan
Rating: 3.5/5
2020 Oscars winners: in numbers
- Parasite – 4
- 1917– 3
- Ford v Ferrari – 2
- Joker – 2
- Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood – 2
- American Factory – 1
- Bombshell – 1
- Hair Love – 1
- Jojo Rabbit – 1
- Judy – 1
- Little Women – 1
- Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You're a Girl) – 1
- Marriage Story – 1
- Rocketman – 1
- The Neighbors' Window – 1
- Toy Story 4 – 1
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
'HIJRAH%3A%20IN%20THE%20FOOTSTEPS%20OF%20THE%20PROPHET'
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Profile of RentSher
Started: October 2015 in India, November 2016 in UAE
Founders: Harsh Dhand; Vaibhav and Purvashi Doshi
Based: Bangalore, India and Dubai, UAE
Sector: Online rental marketplace
Size: 40 employees
Investment: $2 million
Ads on social media can 'normalise' drugs
A UK report on youth social media habits commissioned by advocacy group Volteface found a quarter of young people were exposed to illegal drug dealers on social media.
The poll of 2,006 people aged 16-24 assessed their exposure to drug dealers online in a nationally representative survey.
Of those admitting to seeing drugs for sale online, 56 per cent saw them advertised on Snapchat, 55 per cent on Instagram and 47 per cent on Facebook.
Cannabis was the drug most pushed by online dealers, with 63 per cent of survey respondents claiming to have seen adverts on social media for the drug, followed by cocaine (26 per cent) and MDMA/ecstasy, with 24 per cent of people.
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
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BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
Starring: Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Jenny Ortega
Director: Tim Burton
Rating: 3/5
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
If you go…
Emirates launched a new daily service to Mexico City this week, flying via Barcelona from Dh3,995.
Emirati citizens are among 67 nationalities who do not require a visa to Mexico. Entry is granted on arrival for stays of up to 180 days.
FROM%20THE%20ASHES
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UAE central contracts
Full time contracts
Rohan Mustafa, Ahmed Raza, Mohammed Usman, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Boota, Sultan Ahmed, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid
Part time contracts
Aryan Lakra, Ansh Tandon, Karthik Meiyappan, Rahul Bhatia, Alishan Sharafu, CP Rizwaan, Basil Hameed, Matiullah, Fahad Nawaz, Sanchit Sharma
