Dinesh Kamath’s column ‘New movies released in Navi Mumbai’ (Run All Night, Dragon Blade, Yahaan Sabki Lagi Hai, Barkhaa, The Gunman and The Best of Me) that was published in Newsband

New movies released in Navi Mumbai

By Dinesh Kamath

Run All Night

Run All Night is a 2015 American action thriller film written by Brad Ingelsby and directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. The film stars Liam Neeson, Joel Kinnaman, Common, and Ed Harris.

Brooklyn mobster and prolific hit man Jimmy Conlon (Liam Neeson), once known as “The Gravedigger,” has seen better days. Longtime best friend of mob boss Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris), Jimmy, now 55, is haunted by the sins of his past — as well as a dogged police detective (Vincent D'Onofrio) who’s been one step behind Jimmy for 30 years. Lately, it seems Jimmy’s only solace can be found at the bottom of a whiskey glass. But when Jimmy’s estranged son, Mike (Joel Kinnaman), becomes a target, Jimmy must make a choice between the crime family he chose and the real family he abandoned long ago. With Mike on the run, Jimmy’s only penance for his past mistakes may be to keep his son from the same fate Jimmy is certain he’ll face himself. Now, with nowhere safe to turn, Jimmy just has one night to figure out exactly where his loyalties lie and to see if he can finally make things right.

Dragon Blade

Dragon Blade is a 2015 historical action film written and directed by Daniel Lee and starring Jackie Chan. In the film, Chan plays Huo An, the commander of the Protection Squad of the Western Regions during the Han Dynasty. Dragon Blade was released in IMAX 3D on 19 February 2015, the first day Chinese New Year holiday period.

In a corny prologue set in 2015, two archaeologists (Vanness Wu, Karena Lam) discover the lost city of Regum, built by Romans during a fabled expedition to China. We are then transported back to 48 B.C., when China was under the reign of Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty, with 36 tribal nations vying for dominance at the country’s northwestern border. Huo An, a Hun orphaned during a skirmish, was adopted and raised by Han Chinese general Huo Qubing (William Feng Shaofeng), who taught him ideals of racial harmony; now (played by Chan), he tries with difficulty to maintain order as captain of the Silk Road Protection Squad.

While arbitrating a dispute, he inadvertently lifts the veil of warrior Cold Moon (Lin Peng), who now considers herself his betrothed by folk law. That Huo is already married to Xiuqing (Mika Wang), a gentle Uyghur teacher of Chinese, is less of an issue than his being framed for smuggling, which leads to him being exiled to Wild Goose Gate to help repair a fort city. Upon his arrival, he’s besieged by a renegade Roman legion under Gen. Lucius (Cusack), who has fled the capital with a blind boy, Publius (Joey Jozef). An unexpected sandstorm brings the road-weary soldiers under Huo’s wing. In return for his hospitality, they help reconstruct the city in 15 days. However, Publius’ brother, the Consul Tiberius (Brody), is marching toward them with an 100,000-strong army.

Yahaan Sabki Lagi Hai

Yahaan Sabki Lagi Hai is a multi-lingual film. It is an allegory on the journey of life, especially at times when one feels victimized or shortchanged, set in the milieu of Indian-English-speaking urban youth.

It is considered to be a multi-lingual film and an allegory on journey of life. This is especially during times, when a person tends to feel shortchanged or victimized. The movie is set in the background of the Indian-English speaking youth in the urban areas. The movie looks at a way that people are known to live casually in the class system that is built upon blatant economy and social disparities, the very way that people are eager to get fooled by the belief systems. The same way that one validates their tastes and is very protective of it. By exploring counter point for each point, this movie is said to subtly question not just the material value system, but the emotional value system also. The movie is rather comedy at heart, however, also has melancholic after taste that borders on philosophical, thereby providing thought in regards to the present conditions and times.

The film has Bharat as Varun Thakur, Kesang - Eden Shyodhi and Chandu - Heerok Das.

Barkhaa

Barkhaa is a Bollywood Romantic film, directed by Shadaab Mirza and produced by Shabana Hashmi. It stars Sara Loren in lead titular role. The film also stars Taaha Shah, Shweta Pandit, Priyanshu Chatterjee and Puneet Issar in prominent roles. The film was extensively shot in Himachal Pradesh, India. Marketing of the film was done by Hash Entertainment and is distributed under the banner of Zahara Productions.

The film has songs like Naughty No.1        sung by Neha Kakkar and Amjad Khan and

Tu Itni Khoobsurat Hai by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.

The movie Barkhaa is a romantic drama that is based on a small town character Barkha that is played by Sara Loren. Barkha is supposed to be very beautiful and hot. Barkhaa is representing the two characters in this movie. One is small town’s simple women and other is hot and sizzling beauty of the Mumbai. This is the story about how a girl falls in love with someone and how suddenly some problems arise. The second part of the movie is the story of a bold girl that is looking very different from the simple image.

The movie is an intense unconditional sensitive love story between two radically opposite people. It is an intense love story between two completely different people. The plot of the film is based on a real life incident. The film introduces Sara and Taaha and how a series of events bring them closer. But destiny had some different plans for them and a sudden twist in their life drift them apart. Barkhaa is a tale of a simple girl who is lost in the glamour world in search of true love.  The movie is majorly shot in beautiful locations of Himachal Pradesh and Mumbai.

The Gunman

The Gunman is a 2015 American action thriller film directed by Pierre Morel and written by Don Macpherson, Pete Travis and Sean Penn, based on the novel The Prone Gunman, by Jean-Patrick Manchette. It stars Penn, with Idris Elba, Ray Winstone, Mark Rylance, and Javier Bardem appearing in supporting roles.

The film has an interesting plot. An ex-soldier who carried out an assassination in the Democratic Republic of Congo finds his past catching up with him eight years later.

The film has Sean Penn working in Congo for a mining company. He has a few overt, benign functions, but we get the feeling that more is going on, and this is soon confirmed when he is assigned to assassinate a politician. It makes the poor gunman feels really guilty about his crime. Killing that politician pretty much wrecked his life. It separated him from his fiancee and from his own sense of himself. He already wishes he could take it all back — even before people come out of the woodwork, eight years later, looking to murder him. Once Jim (Penn) arrives at the disconcerting realization that people want him dead, his mission is to find out who is behind it while fending off attacks from scores of hired assassins.

The Best of Me

The Best of Me is an American romantic drama film directed by Michael Hoffman and written by Will Fetters and J. Mills Goodloe, based on Nicholas Sparks' 2011 novel of the same name. The film stars James Marsden and Michelle Monaghan with Luke Bracey and Liana Liberato.

The film has an interesting story. Former high school sweethearts Dawson and Amanda find themselves reunited after 20 years apart, when they return to their small town for the funeral of a beloved friend. Their bittersweet reunion reignites the love they've never forgotten, but soon they discover the forces that drove them apart twenty years ago live on, posing even more serious threats today. Spanning decades, this epic love story captures the enduring power of our first true love, and the wrenching choices we face when confronted with elusive second chances. 

Dinesh Kamath's news 'Candidates use various methods to appease the voters, with NMMC elections round the corner' that was published in Newsband

Candidates use various methods to appease the voters

With NMMC elections round the corner

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: Eight nodes - Digha, Airoli, Ghansoli, Koparkhairane, Vashi, Turbhe, Nerul and CBD - this time have 111 wards for the forthcoming municipal elections. This means there will be 22 seats more than the last Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation election. The number of voters also has increased this time. There will be around 8 lakhs voters this time which means an increase of around 2 lakhs voters as compared to last NMMC elections.  

Ghansoli is having the most number of additional voters owing to the fact that this time it has 14 constituencies as compared to six last time and also because of the rapid growth in the population here during the last few months. This growth in population is what compelled NMMC to convert six wards into 14.  Ghansoli beats even Vashi now when it comes to number of wards since Vashi has only 11 wards.

Those contesting the forthcoming NMMC elections are coming up with new methods of wooing the voters. They are making use of the latest technological developments. They have made themselves very conversant with social networking platforms like Facebook and Whatsapp. In addition they are using new methods like using toll-free numbers, live videos and interactive mobile-based applications. They are still researching to find out if there are any more technology available to exploit for the polls. They are not ignoring the old methods like distributing of pamphlets or sharing of posts on social networking sites. The voters’ responses on these sites are spontaneous and hence the candidates can get instantly the idea about how popular he is with the voters. Setting up a toll-free numbers enables the voters to convey their response free of cost without using a phone.  The candidates use the mobile application to make voters aware about details of their development works.

These aspiring candidates are prepared to go to any extent to keep increasing their chances of winning the elections. Some even distributed utensils to the voters of his ward. Another got a road immediately constructed to appease the voters who had been demanding a road since a very long time. Still another candidate distributed diaries. There is still another candidate who is distributing free Wi-Fi to thousands of people in his ward. Many big promises are being made to the voters. They are promised anything they want – like free internet connection, installation of a tower etc. Some candidates have come up with new party offices and voters are allowed to meet them any time during day or night.

Thus the residents of the city are witnessing the positive changes in behaviours of the candidates as the date of NMMC elections draws closer and closer. These residents are only hoping that these candidates will maintain this kind of attitude even after winning the elections.  

Dinesh Kamath's news 'NMMC should seriously consider the suggestions of city traffic unit' that was published in Newsband

NMMC should seriously consider the suggestions of city traffic unit

By Dinesh Kamath

NAVI MUMBAI: The city traffic police provided the civic body with a list of suggestions relating to how to improve the city roads.

The traffic unit explained to the civic body the kind of hurdles they had to face particularly on busy roads and junctions. The problems here become worse especially when there are signboards and signals missing. Hence introduction of signboards and construction of signals at such places would do a lot of good to both the public and traffic policemen.

There are certain roads in Navi Mumbai where vehicle drivers tend to drive their vehicles at full speed thus creating a risk for both drivers and pedestrians. It is owing to such tendencies of the vehicle drivers that so many accidents take place on these roads. One road is Thane-Belapur Road, the others are Sector 9 area of Vashi and Kopri signal junction. The traffic unit has suggested that speed breakers be constructed on these roads to control the speed of the vehicles and thus prevent accidents. The demand for speed breakers on these roads was made several times by the traffic unit but Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation authorities just didn’t seem to be in a mood to meet this demand. It is high time for NMMC to come up with speed breakers on those roads in the city where they are urgently required.

The other things needed to be done for traffic unit to be able to control the traffic perfectly would be to install signboards at parking and no-parking areas and also on roads which are one-way or which allows no entry. The traffic unit also asked the civic body to repaint the zebra crossings on many roads in the city where the paints have faded.

All these suggestions put up by traffic unit before the civic body need urgent attention and also implementation to prevent loss of lives and properties and for traffic policemen to be able to control the traffic efficiently. 

Dinesh Kamath's news "Sunny Leone in a totally different avatar in ‘Ek Paheli Leela’"

Sunny Leone in a totally different avatar in ‘Ek Paheli Leela’

Above Picture: Sunny Leone bathes in milk in the film ‘Ek Paheli Leela’

Actress Sunny Leone will be seen in a totally different avatar in Bobby Khan's forthcoming film 'Ek Paheli Leela'. She considers it as 'role of a lifetime'. Bobby Khan right from the beginning had no doubt that Sunny Leone and only Sunny Leone was fit for that role.

Sunny plays the role of a mysterious princess in the film. She felt great working with Bobby (Khan) and the entire team. Her husband, she and Bobby have been friends for a very long time. Sunny was waiting to work with Bobby and then finally 'Ek Paheli Leela' happened.

'Ek Paheli Leela' also stars Jay Bhanushali, Rajneesh Duggal and Rahul Dev in prominent roles. Largely shot in Jodhpur, the film is slated to hit theatres on April 10.

Sunny Leone’s husband Daniel Weber has a cameo role to play in 'Ek Paheli Leela'. Sunny feels that although Daniel has a small role in the film but for her it's the cutest one.

The former adult film actress, who has been a part of films like 'Ragini MMS 2' and 'Jism 2', also said that if given a chance, she "would love to work with Daniel in a full-fledged Hindi film".

Thus actress Sunny Leone, who will be seen in a totally different avatar in Bobby Khan's forthcoming film 'Ek Paheli Leela', said it was very challenging for her to transform herself into the character of Leela.

She said: "It was a very challenging role. When I read the script I loved it. But the process of actually becoming Leela would take 2-3 hours. On the first day, I took 6 hours to finalise the look."

People will see all the hard work that Sunny put into becoming 'Leela'. She received a lot of support in the form of good people in her team. The dialogues for Leela were difficult as well. So learning all that was difficult.

The first trailer of Sunny Leone's much talked about movie 'Ek Paheli Leela' is out. The actress is seen in different garbs in the movie and looks absolutely breathtaking. There is a scene in 'Ek Paheli Leela' where Sunny Leone bathes in milk, time travels and she rides a horse over the sand dunes.

Thus this is bound to be a good news for Sunny Leone’s fans. Her new film 'Ek Paheli Leela' shows the adult film actress turned Bollywood star in different avatars.

There is also a scene in 'Ek Paheli Leela' where Sunny Leone is sitting on the throne, posing with murals. Sunny Leone looks gorgeous in her simple desi avatar in this film. All the best, Sunny!

Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'India should gain control over Indian Ocean Region' that was published in Newsband

India should gain control over Indian Ocean Region

What do the Indian Ocean and the region around it mean for Delhi? That is what Prime Minister Narendra Modi made clear during his visits to Seychelles and Mauritius — besides Sri Lanka. Modi said that he sought a future for Indian Ocean that lived up to the name of SAGAR — Security and Growth for All in the Region.

Modi made it clear that Indian Ocean region’s security interests are critical. After all, the perpetrators of one of the worst terror attacks in the country’s history, Mumbai 2008, came by sea. Modi has batted for the creation of a strong regional grouping around the Indian Ocean.

What the Indian government needs to do is match vision with reality. Another thing is India’s diplomatic and security establishments must work in tandem if Delhi is to make a lasting impact in the Indian Ocean region and beyond. Given that the Indian Ocean channels carry two-thirds of the world’s oil shipments, a third of the bulk cargo and half of all container traffic, the region’s strategic significance is unquestionable. There are other nations like China and the United States with a strong interest and stakes in the region.

Modi's oceanic strategic vision is not bad. What is needed is strengthening of our naval capabilities. Only a nation with a strong navy will command respect as a maritime power that can match its words with actions.

Sometimes it appears that Modi is more concerned about boosting his own personal image rather than handling the foreign affairs of the country with due vision and drive. If this is the case, it will in no way help his future prospects. He has to do a lot of proper home work personally before venturing out. He needs to project himself as an able team leader instead of indulging in solo adventures.

India woke up very late to developments in its own backyard. While India, during its nascent days of Independence, opposed Diego Garcia and the efforts by the Voice of America (VOA) in Sri Lanka, it failed to read the Chinese intentions, or assess the importance of the (IOR’s) Indian Ocean Region's SLOCs (Sea Lanes of Communication) and the ways and means to protect them, protect its sphere of influence from the Horn of Africa to the Straits of Malacca. We neglected our Navy for far too long and even now are not according it the priority it deserves. We have to show imagination and a sustained approach to our IOR policy backed by a robust Navy.

Modi's recent tour of Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka came at an appropriate time. It came at a time when China is too eager to spread its tentacles in the Indian Ocean Region. It is very necessary that India take the leadership in IOR if it wishes to be a thriving economy. India must position itself to be the de-facto leader in this region by removing piracy, particularly near the Somalian coast.

To control Indian Ocean, India need to understand the Indian Ocean to win a Naval Warfare. It is not enough just to buy billions of dollars worth of naval weapons. It is necessary to design and manufacture them too. It is also better to plan and learn how to deal under all possible conditions. Only such moves will enable India to dominate in the Indian Ocean Region.

Dinesh Kamath's photo-caption 'Christian community thank the police' that was published in Newsband

Christian community thank the police

Above Picture: Dr. Jayakar Ellis, General Secretary - India National Christian Council, thanking the Additional Commissioner of Police Patil and Deputy Commissioner of Police Yenpure this evening on behalf of NCC, BCS, UCM and all the Christian community on the arrest of 4 in the Panvel Church case! "We would also like to thank the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Shri Asish Shelar for their initiative in the above matter. Praise God for His doing" said Dr Ellis (By Dinesh Kamath)

Dinesh Kamath's news 'CM assures 48 hours to catch culprits of Panvel attacks' that was published in Newsband

CM assures 48 hours to catch culprits of Panvel attacks

By Dinesh Kamath

Above Picture:- From left:- Mr. Cyril Dara, Mr. Asish Shelar, Mr. Raj Purohit watch as Dr. Ellis Jayakar submits the letter to the CM

NAVI MUMBAI: It was a day of reckoning when the Christian delegation spearheaded by the National Christian Council (NCC) along with the Bombay Catholic Sabha (BCS) and the United Christians of Mumbai (UCM) met the Chief Minister Shri Devendra Fadnavis today and shared their concerns on the attack of the Panvel Church.

Hearing their concerns, the CM assured them that the culprits would be caught within 48 hours and penalized for the crime. The delegation initiated by Mr. Ashish Shelar, MLA & Mumbai President, Bharatiya Janata Party included Dr. Jayakar Ellis, General Secretary – India, NCC, Mr. Gordon D’souza, BCS and Mr. Cyril Dara, UCM.

“We have suggested having Fact Finding Cells in every City, district & Taluka through which anyone allegedly luring the other religion person will be investigated and brought before the people concerned and the right decision would be taken. This will minimize vandalism and taking law in their hands and ensure safety of the Christians for which the CM assured to do the needful as soon as possible” said Dr Jayakar Ellis.

He added “We would like to have a corpus fund in Maharashtra for the Churches for repairs / renovations / construction. The same has been implemented in the state of Karnataka by the under the Minority Welfare Department, Govt. Of Karnataka Order no. MWD 70 MDS 2011 dtd 19.9.2011. The CM said that the matter would be looked in to and the above would be implemented soon.”

“It has come to our knowledge that old burial grounds are overflowing and need for new land is a must. New Burial grounds in different districts in Maharashtra under the municipal corporations would be given immediately assured the CM” said Mr. Cyral Dara.

“We suggested monthly support as maintenance for our burial grounds for which the CM said he would work on it and let us know soon” said Mr. Gordon D’souza.

“It is my privilege to serve the Christian community and when they brought these issues, I immediately took them to the CM and personally assured them of my help anytime” said Mr. Asish Selar.