A.R. Rahman, Nayla Al Khaja Team on ‘Baab’

Naman Ramachandran Nayla Al Khaja, the first female filmmaker in the United Arab Emirates, and Oscar-, BAFTA- and Grammy- winning Indian composer A.R. Rahman (“Slumdog Millionaire”) are looking forward to their upcoming collaboration on “Baab.”Written by Al Khaja and Masoud Amralla Al Ali, the film follows Wahida, who is unable to make sense of her twin sister’s mysterious death and is plagued by a haunting rhythm in her ears.Rahman and Khaja were present at the Cannes Film Market to promote “Baab.” The composer’s directorial debut, the VR “Le Musk” also had its world premiere at the market’s Cannes XR strand. “It’s about the four stages of grief, but we don’t say it so black and white,” Al Khaja told Variety about the film.

Naman Ramachandran Principal photography has wrapped on “The Storyteller,” directed by Ananth Narayan Mahadevan (Busan title “Bittersweet”).The film is based on Indian Oscar winner Satyajit Ray’s short story “Golpo Boliye Tarini Khuro.” In the story about originality versus plagiarism, Ray was raising the question: “What is more important – the story or the storyteller?”A restored version of Ray’s “The Adversary” is playing at the Cannes Classics strand of the Cannes Film Festival.The cast includes Paresh Rawal (Amazon Prime Video film “Sharmaji Namkeen”), Adil Hussain (“Star Trek: Discovery”), Revathi (Netflix anthology “Navarasa”) and Tannishtha Chatterjee (Busan title “Roam Rome Mein”).The film is produced by billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Studios (Netflix film “Dasvi”) in association with Purpose Entertainment (“Hotel Mumbai”) and Quest Films (Busan Kim Ji-seok Award winner “The Rapist”). Mahadevan said: “As part of the celebrations around the life and work of the legend Satyajit Ray, we are very happy and honored to share our own humble homage to the master storyteller.

CANNES – It may seem obvious, but sometimes combining two compelling stories doesn’t lead to an overall more captivating film. That’s the primary takeaway from Gina Gammell and Riley Keough‘s somewhat messy “War Pony,” which debuted at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival this weekend.

It is more than a bit ironic in a Cannes Film Festival where Baz Luhrman’s biopic Elvis is one of the most anticipated entries, that the subject of it, Elvis Presley turns out to have another direct connection this year’s fest. His granddaughter Riley Keough is making her directorial debut with the Un Certain Regard selection, War Pony having its World Premiere today. The film focuses on two young Native Americans coming of age and trying to get by in a story set on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. It is a location that has intrigued other filmmakers like Chloe Zhao (The Rider) in recent years, and now has caught the attention of Keough and her co-director Gina Gammell in order to tell an authentic and unique contemporary tale of Native American youth brought to life by an impressive group of first-time actors, mostly locals the directors cast in order to give this as fresh and real a feel as possible. They have succeeded.

Naman Ramachandran Oscar, BAFTA and Grammy winning Indian composer A.R. Rahman (“Slumdog Millionaire”) has revealed his next directorial venture after “Le Musk,” his debut which premiered at the Cannes Film Market’s Cannes XR program.The project will be another film in the VR space, titled “Confessions.” “Now this [“Le Musk”] is finished and we’re happy about it, we just want to do something which is much more simpler, but more deeper in emotion,” Rahman told Variety.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorAfter nearly six years at Snap, head of originals Vanessa Guthrie is leaving the company.Guthrie will depart Snap at the end of June 2022. At that point, Anjuli Millan, head of production for Snap Originals for the past three years, will step into the role as head of original content.“During her time with us, Vanessa has been a trailblazer for women in tech and has played an integral role in launching content for the mobile-first generation,” Snap said in a statement.

Paramount Global has handed Marco Nobili and Olivier Jollet key new roles as its seeks to turbo-charge expansion of its international streaming services.

Naman Ramachandran “Le Musk,” the directorial debut of Oscar, BAFTA and Grammy winning Indian composer A.R. Rahman (“Slumdog Millionaire”), will have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Market’s Cannes XR program.The 36-minute film is billed as a cinematic sensory experience incorporating virtual reality, with motion, music and scent integrated into the narrative. It follows heiress and musician Juliet Merdinian, who, 20 years since she was orphaned, seeks out the men who changed her destiny with one powerful memory — that of their scent.Rahman developed the story from an original idea by his wife Saira.

Netflix’s upcoming Indian musical drama The Archies from director Zoya Akhtar has set its cast. The ensemble, who play characters from the iconic Archie Comics franchise, includes emerging talent such as Mihir Ahuja (Bard of Blood), Khushi Kapoor (The Garhwal Rifles) and Shah Rukh Khan’s daughter Suhana Khan in a but role.

Naman Ramachandran The offspring of Bollywood superstars are debuting in “The Archies,” Netflix’s coming-of-age, live action musical set in 1960s India based on the teenagers of Riverdale.Young actors Mihir Ahuja, Dot, Yuvraj Menda and Vedang Raina will feature in the film’s cast. They are joined by Khushi Kapoor, the daughter of the late actor Sridevi and producer Boney Kapoor and sister of Janhvi Kapoor; superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s daughter Suhana Khan; and Agastya Nanda, the grandson of revered actors Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan.The feature film adaptation of the Archie comics, which are hugely popular on the Indian subcontinent, will be produced by Akhtar and Reema Kagti for Tiger Baby and Sharad Devarajan for Graphic India.

Naman Ramachandran Indian origin, U.S.-born Belgian actor Rumana Molla (“Irada”) will make her directorial debut with Belgium-set Indian immigrant drama “Minimum,” which will commence principal photography in June.The film will follow newly-wed immigrant Fauzia, whose mother-in-law Ruxana keeps her captive. She finds out that everything she had been told about her husband Ali was a lie and loses hope until a French tutor, Laurie, is hired to teach her the basics.

After crossing the $200M domestic mark on Monday, Disney/Marvel’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness on Tuesday zoomed past $500M global. It is also nearing $300M at the international box office, certain to reach that milestone today.

South Asian streaming service ZEE5 Global is adapting BBC drama Press as local series The Broken News, as part of a wider deal with BBC Studios.

Naman Ramachandran Neil Gaiman’s bestselling graphic novel “The Sandman: Act I” has been adapted as a Hindi-language audio adaptation by Amazon’s Audible and DC, with a voice cast of acclaimed Bollywood actors.The books are also adapted as an ongoing English-language audio presentation by Gaiman and audiobook and audio movie pioneer Dirk Maggs, .Maggs previously had a distinguished career as a producer with BBC Radio where he elevated radio drama to the realm of what he describes as “a film in your ears.” One of his innovations was to introduce Dolby Surround sound into BBC Radio. He has adapted several superhero characters for the radio including Superman, Batman and Judge Dredd and his work also includes a seminal radio adaptation of Douglas Adams’ “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” The Hindi version features Tabu (“Andhadhun”) as the narrator, Vijay Varma (“A Suitable Boy”) in the lead role of Morpheus/Dream, Manoj Bajpayee (“The Family Man”) as Doctor Dee, Sushant Divgikar (“Evening Shadows”) as Desire, Adarsh Gaurav (“The White Tiger”) as Constantine, Neeraj Kabi (“Paatal Lok”) as Lucifer, Kubbra Sait (“Foundation”) as Death and Tillotama Shome (“Sir”) as Calliope.In the audio adaptation, The Sandman, also known as Lord Morpheus, the immortal king of dreams, stories and the imagination, is pulled from his realm and imprisoned on Earth by a nefarious cult and languishes for decades before finally escaping.

It’s Friday again, readers. Jesse Whittock here (for the first time, be gentle), taking you through the week’s top headlines.

Rainn Wilson is heading out in to the world to search for the happiest places on earth.