Category: Announcements

Announcements and updates pertaining to Kali and/or her various web projects.

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Ayesha/Aisha website and Facebook page up now!

Producer Rhea Kapoor, sister of star Sonam, announced yesterday that the Aisha official site is live.  There doesn’t appear to be much there at the moment, though you can register for email announcements while you’re there.

Rhea Kapoor is updating the Aisha Facebook page with production stills and other information as it’s available.  On the wall, she recently wrote, “Register with your email address at www.AishaTheFilm.com and something interesting might come your way tonight ;-)”

According to the Facebook, the original August 6 premiere date is still a go.  I haven’t heard whether or not the film sneak-previewed last weekend as initially hoped – my guess is that it wasn’t ready.

Twitter twits can find the official film account at @AishaTheFilm …

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Ayesha may debut at film fest in early June…

BollySpice.com reports that Ayesha may be ready in time to premier at the International Indian Film Awards in Sri Lanka during the first weekend in June.

“I am trying my best to complete the film,” says Ayesha producer Anil Kapoor, father of star Sonam.  “We are running against time. If we are done with it we might screen it at this year’s International Indian Film Awards.”

The piece continues with quotations from director Rajshree Ohja, who has said, “Emma, like Shakespeare’s works, is a human story. As for the satire on society, I’ve touched upon that. That’s the reason I based the story in Delhi, where the caste divide has given way to class divide. In Delhi you can find a young girl dressed in a Calvin Klein or Versace who discusses matchmaking with her neighbour. Like in Emma, marriage is about elevating your social status. I’ve hinted on these things but remember, it’s a commercial rom-com.”

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“Austen Addict” novels spin off into web series!

Laurie Viera Rigler’s wonderful Austen Addict timeswap novels have inspired a hilarious new Babelgum web series!  “Sex and the Austen Girl” premiered today with the first of twenty episodes.  Entitled “Meeting Men,” this series introduction features Austen Addict characters Courtney Stone (Arabella Field) and Jane Mansfield (Fay Masterson) discussing the dating differences and similarities between 1813 England and 2010 California.

How can you encourage men to call?

Jane, on 1813:  “You wait! You wait and hope!”

Which is pretty much how it goes in the 21st century, too.

How do you meet men?

Courtney:  “…you go to parties, you go to bars, you go to restaurants…”
Jane:  “…you marry your cousin…”

I guess it worked for Fanny Price.

Anyway, here’s episode 1:

The teaser:

Poking fun at everything from Helen Gurley Brown’s Sex and the Single Girl to crazed 21st century Austenites, “Sex and the Austen Girl” is the funniest, most relatable chick-centric web production I’ve seen in a long time.

More…

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Emma 2009-2010 costumes on display at Chawton!

Through May 16, the Jane Austen House Museum is displaying a selection of costumes designed by Rosalind Ebbutt for the recent BBC Emma adaptation starring Romola Garai and Jonny Lee Miller.  The museum itself is housed in Chawton Cottage, Austen’s home from 1808 until her death.

While many of the fashions worn in the miniseries were actually created for other productions, Ebbutt was responsible for a majority of the pieces worn by the production’s principal actors. The current exhibit includes pieces designed for Romola Garai as Emma, Jonny Lee Miller as Mr. Knightley, Sir Michael Gambon as Mr. Woodhouse, and Laura Pyper as Jane Fairfax.

The Jane Austen House Museum’s website lists a May 7 event featuring Rosalind Ebbutt herself – wish I could go!

More information about the exhibit:

More information about Emma adaptation costumes:

Other links of possible interest:

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Ayesha to be released on August 6!

OneIndia reports that Ayesha, starring Sonam Kapoor, is scheduled for an August release:

Anil Kapoor Films Company and PVR Pictures’ much awaited Sonam Kapoor-Abhay Deol starrer Aisha will be released on August 6, 2010. Aisha, an adaptation of Jane Austen’s famous novel Emma, is being produced by Ajay Bijli, Sanjeev K Bijli and Rhea Kapoor. The film is directed by Rajshree Ojha.

Besides Abhay and Sonam, the film also stars Cyrus Sahukar and Ira Dubey. Music of the film has been composed by Amit Trivedi while Diego Rodrigues is the director of photography (DOP).

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Sonam Kapoor’s Ayesha still in post-production

No new news is forthcoming on the “Bollywood” Emma-based film adaptation.  There’s a listing for the film at the IMDB (as “Aisha”), though, noting its “post-production” status.  As I hear more, I’ll post it!

ETA:  Cinthia found this 4/9 India Express interview with director Rajshree Ojha, confirming the film’s post-production status.  In the interview, Ojha explains that her “first director’s cut” of the film is done and that “it lies in the producers’ hands.”

Cinthia comments:

It is surprising to know that the project began in 2004, but she and
the scriptwright could not find a back-up production company because
it had female-centered plot.

At the end of the interview there some interesting details. For example:

“There are places where I’ve curtailed the role of certain characters,
like that of Emma’s friend Harriet Smith, or combined two characters
into one, like the Woodhouse sisters.”

I find it intriguing, what does she mean by ‘curtailed’? Does it mean
that the Harriet character has been completely deleted or her role’s
importance has been diminished? And what about the Woodhouse sisters
being combined in only one character? I hope it is a confusion and she
meant Mrs. Weston and Isabella.

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Anne Sharp’s presentation copy of Emma resold…

UPDATE: As of November, 2012, the Sharp presentation copy of Austen’s Emma is for sale…again?

The presentation copy of Emma originally gifted to Jane Austen’s good friend Anne Sharp (and likely real-life model for Mrs. Weston)  garnered £325,000 – or $489,747 – in a transaction announced this week (April, 2010).  Christiaan Jonkers of British-based Jonkers Rare Books purchased the copy at auction in 2008 for considerably less (£180,000/$271,294).  For more discussion…

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It’s crunch time for the SS United States

The SS United States Conservancy is raising funds to save the Big U from the scrappers.  Their SSUSPlankOwner.org fundraiser site reads:

Friends of American Maritime History: our national flagship, the legendary ocean liner SS United States is in grave danger of being sold for scrap — an unacceptable fate for this great symbol of American achievement. From 1952 to 1969 the ship was the fastest, greatest ship in the world, transporting American presidents, movie stars, business and military leaders, and foreign heads of state. Sadly, she has fallen out of the limelight and has passed through the hands of a variety of owners, all unable to restore her to a rightful place of dignity.

The SS United States Conservancy, a national non-profit organization, has been working hard to “Save Our Ship” for the past five years. We are rapidly running out of time, however. We have been in touch with the ship’s current owners, The Genting Group/Norwegian Cruise Line, and know they are unable to maintain the ship in her current berth in Philadelphia. Please help us establish a public-private partnership to re-purpose the ship as a stationary attraction while we continue working with government officials to homeport the ship in a large U.S. city.

Here’s the Conservancy’s latest fundraiser commercial – please pass along the good word, even if you don’t have money to contribute.  If you loved “Bon Voyage” with Fred MacMurray…if you think Hotel Queen Mary was a great idea…if you give a crap about human history and technological milestones and all that is good and right about civilization…help the Big U!