Nargis or Kat for Ranbir?

Ranbir Kapoor and his co-star Nargis Fakhri were watching a screening of Black Swan when we spotted them outside the theatre after the film.

First, we caught Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif dining at a suburban five star hotel. Now we have spotted him with his new-found friend and Rockstar co-star Nargis Fakhri.

Ranbir might be discreet about his public outings with 'good friend' Katrina but it seems he has no qualms in going public with Nargis.

On Monday night Ranbir went out to watch Oscar winning film Black Swan at a Juhu multiplex with Nargis. He was also accompanied by buddy Ayan Mukerji.

The two, it seems, were having a cosy evening and a good time watching the film.

But after the film, as soon as they learnt about shutterbugs waiting outside the theatre, they immediately dispersed. 

There have been reports about the growing proximity between Ranbir and Nargis ever since they started shooting for Imtiaz Ali's Rockstar.

A source said, "Ranbir is known to charm girls and it is not surprising that he has charmed his Anglo Indian co-star, Nargis too.

Although he is very close to Katrina Kaif that doesn't stop the Kapoor boy from making new friends and socialising with them."

Film: “Black Swan”; 

Cast: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder; 

Director: Darren Aronofsky; 

Rating: **** – a dark perfection.

 

Though weakness, fragility and ugliness are frowned upon, these are the elixir of life. For there could be no conception of strength or beauty without it. And it is the conception of these opposites — black and white, beauty and ugliness, good and evil, woman and her doppelganger that auteur Darren Aronofsky explores in “Black Swan”, beginning with the two words of the film’s name that stand for opposites.

Nina (Nataile Portman), a ballerina, is desperate for the part of the swan queen in the ballet Swan Lake. The director, though impressed with her discipline, does not think she has it in her to play the swan queen’s evil twin, black swan. And she indeed gets too easily intimidated by everyone. However, gradually she observes changes in herself.

After a rash incident makes her director choose her, her dark side takes over gradually and through schizophrenic hallucinations, she not only plays the black swan, but becomes it in her mind and achieves perfection.

While casting Nina, the director tells Nina: “What is the use of all that discipline. Let go. Transcend. Surprise yourself”. That is what Aronofsky, an extremely disciplined filmmaker, seems to be telling himself.

After he hangs Mickey Rourke mid-air in the last shot of his last film “The Wrestler”, here he lets his ballerina take her leap of faith and follows his camera to her fall to ecstasy. Taking a leap with Rourke in the last film and Portman in this, Aronofsky does reach his own perfection.

Aronofsky’s skills are evident in the way he tells the story; a good part of it through mere reflection. Nina sees her dark reflection on the glass of a suburban train. Later, when she sees Beth, who she has replaced, for the first time after her accident, she sees her as a reflection on a glass pane of a door. Both these reflection foreshadow her future.

Unlike “The Fountain”, where he traverses the universe, here he confines himself to the immediate space of his ballerina. As her split personality and schizophrenic hallucinations become more pronounced, the camera composes her tightly as the spaces keep getting more and more constricted, till the end where she flies away.

It is the nature of things that opposite enhances. White looks whiter near black, beauty shines more in the presence of ugliness, strength soars in front of weakness. And that is the intention of “Black Swan”, to enhance white, beauty and strength, by highlighting the opposite, but showing the protagonist reach these using the opposite.

Natalie Portman, who won an Oscar for this role, drowns herself in this dark tale of an obsessed ballerina. She’s fragile and evil in equal and delicate measure, a quality without which the film would not have worked. And with over a century-old composer in Tchaikovsky, whose compositions embody opposites, the film does manage to achieve its own cinematic perfection.

Tom Hooper wins best director for ‘The King’s Speech’

Los Angeles, Feb 28 – Director Tom Hooper has walked away with the Academy award for best direction for ‘The King’s Speech’.

Hooper beat Darren Aronofsky (‘Black Swan’), David O. Russell (‘The Fighter’), David Fincher (‘The Social Network’) and Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (‘True Grit’) to win the prestigious award.

‘The King’s Speech’ is the story of King George VI of Britain, his impromptu ascension to the throne and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch become worthy of it. 

IANS

Black Swan Swims Only For Natalie’s Perfection

‘Black Swan’ is yet another story of a dedicated ballerina, whose life is dedicated only towards the art form. Natalie Portman plays the character of a ballerina called Nina, who works in the New York City ballet company.
Nina does it mainly for her mother Erica (Barbara Hershey), who was herself a former ballerina. She wants to fulfill her dreams through her daughter Nina and plays a very obsessive character with all control over her daughter.
Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) decides to replace his former lead ballerina Beth MacIntyre (Winona Ryder) and Nina is the best replacement. But then a new girl Lily (Mila Kunis) can give her good competition. Nina is best suitable to play the White Swan with her innocence character but Lily can enact the Black Swan, who has the sensuality to suit that character. Soon, their rivalry turns into a twisted friendship and Nina starts exploring the darker side in her.
Natalie is the best part of the film with her perfection as a professional ballerina. Someone finds it melodramatic and quite absurd. It shows how Nina loses her mind while performing in the ballet ‘Swan Lake’. Portman performs her ballerina role with full perfection and she is best thing to watch in the film apart from other thrilling and mysterious side things.