Six Degrees of Separation with Alain Delon

Six Degrees of Separation: from Alain Delon to …
(Alain Delon celebrated his 78th Birthday earlier this month, on 8th November 2013)

…Charlize Theron
Delon played a criminal mastermind devoid of any conscience, in Plein Soleil (1959/60), which was based on the novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith (1), and another crime novel of hers was the basis for the Alfred Hitchcock (2) classic, of the same name, Strangers on a Train (1951), and Hitchcock made the movie Torn Curtain (1966); an espionage thriller set beyond the Iron Curtain of East Germany; starring Julie Andrews (3), who starred in the musical, based on a true life story that took place in Austria, The Sound of Music (1965), which also starred Nicholas Hammond (4), who later played the famous fictional webbed suited superhero, ‘Spider-Man’, in the television series, The Amazing Spider-Man (1977–1979), and later Tobey Maguire (5) took over the reigns, and played the webbed superhero, in a more skin-tight stretchy suit, in the trio of Spider-Man franchise of films (from 2002 to 2007), and Maguire appeared in The Cider House Rules (1999), which co-starred Charlize Theron (6).

…Lee Remick
Delon at one time was engaged to actress Romy Schneider (1); with whom he worked on a few projects, including Christine (1958), L’Amour à la Mer (1964) and La Piscine (1969) to name a few; and Schneider was famously associated with the trilogy of Sissi films (1955,1956 & 1957), where she portrayed the well known 19th century fashionista, Empress Elisabeth of Austria (2), a.k.a. Queen of Hungary (nicknamed ‘Sissi’), as did Ava Gardner (3) in Mayerling (1968), and Gardner starred alongside Deborah Kerr (4) in  The Night of the Iguana (1964), and Kerr starred in the beautifully, spooky, children’s horror flick, The Innocents (1961), which was based on a novel, The Turn of the Screw, by Henry James (5), and another novel, of his, was the basis for the film, The Europeans (1979) starring Lee Remick (6).

…Jacqueline Kennedy
Delon starred alongside Claudia Cardinale (1) in the Italian venture, Il Gattopardo (1963), and Cardinale appeared in the Hollywood crime comedy, The Pink Panther (1963), which was directed by Blake Edwards (2), as was 10 (1979), which also starred Dee Wallace (3), who played mother to a very tiny little Drew Barrymore (4) in the children’s, science fiction, drama, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), and Barrymore played Edith Bouvier Beale (5), a.k.a. Little Eddie, in Grey Gardens (2009), who was the cousin of, the United States of America’s, former First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy (6).

…Juhi Chawla
Delon starred in Luchino Visconti’s (1) Rocco and His Brothers (1960), and Visconti directed Italian actress Alida Valli (2) in Senso (1954), who earlier came in the noir classic, The Paradine Case (1947), along with French born, Hollywood star, Louis Jourdan (3), and Jourdan played lead villain in the Bond flick Octopussy (1983), along with Indian actor Kabir Bedi (4), whose daughter, Pooja Bedi (5), came in the Bollywood flick, Lootere (1993), which co-starred, Punjabi born, former beauty queen (Miss India 1984), and Bollywood superstar of the 1990’s, Juhi Chawla (6).

…Helen Mirren
Delon appeared in Is Paris Burning? (1966), which co-starred Kirk Douglas (1), father of actor Michael Douglas (2), who came in Coma (1978); a mystery set in a hospital, where suddenly young healthy people start falling into a coma, after being operated on, and a young female doctor tries to uncover this conspiracy, which in turn ends up being a threat to her own life; the said young doctor was played by Canadian born actress, Geneviève Bujold (3), who portrayed the famous 15th century Queen consort, Anne Boleyn (4), in Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), mother of, the famous virgin queen of the 15th and early 16th centuries, Queen Elizabeth-I (5), who was portrayed by Helen Mirren (6), in the television mini-series Elizabeth I (2005).

…Madhuri Dixit
Delon played Julius Caesar (1) in the comedy Astérix aux jeux Olympiques (2008), as did Rex Harrison (2) in Cleopatra (1963), and Harrison played the lead negative role in the Bollywood gem heist of a movie, Shalimar (1978), which co-starred Zeenat Aman (3), whose most notable role happens to be that of the Hippie girl she played in Bollywood’s most loved Hippie movie, Haré Raama Haré Krishna (1971), which co-starred actress Mumtaz (4), who starred alongside Vyjayanthimala (5) in Suraj (1966), and Vyjayanthimala played a courtesan in Devdas (1955), and actress Madhuri Dixit (6), took over the role of the courtesan, in the re-make, Devdas (2002).

Nuwan Sen’s Film Sense (6°)
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Six Degrees of Separation with Emile Hirsch

Six Degrees of Separation: from Emile Hirsch to…

…Barbara Stanwyck
Hirsch played the lead in the tragic true-life adventure flick, Into the Wild (2007), which was directed by actor, Sean Penn (1), who was married to pop diva, Madonna (2), whose second husband was British film director, Guy Ritchie (3), who directed Sherlock Holmes (2009), which was based on notable author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s (4), famed fictional sleuth, as was The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970), directed by Billy Wilder (5), and Wilder also directed the noir classic, Double Indemnity (1944), starring Barbara Stanwyck (6).

…Diego Luna – Ang Lee vice versa (vv)
Hirsch appeared in the bio-pic, Milk (2008), in which Diego Luna (1,6), co-starred as an insecure, unconfident, paranoid, vulnerable gay lover, of the lead political figure of this tragic movie, who commits suicide, and Luna has been best friends with Gael García Bernal (2,5) since childhood, and García Bernal starred in surreal fantasy flick, The Science of Sleep (2006), which co-starred Alain Chabat (3,4), who directed the French comedy, Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre (2002), a fictional account of, cartoon characters, Astérix & Obélix’s meeting the famed Queen of the Nile, Cleopatra (4,3), who was portrayed by Italian actress Monica Bellucci (5,2), who starred in the Italian movie Malèna (2000), which was nominated for two Oscars, in 2001, in the ‘Best Cinematography’ and ‘Best Original Musical Score’ categories, but lost out to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), in both categories, along with two more Oscar wins, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was directed by Ang Lee (6,1), with whom Emile Hirsch had worked with, in, Taking Woodstock (2009).

…Norma Crane
Hirsch appeared in, the waste of time, film, The Darkest Hour (2011), which co-starred Olivia Thirlby (1), who appeared in the excellent comedy Juno (2007), for which Diablo Cody (2) took home the Oscar statuette for ‘Best Original Screenplay’, and Cody also wrote the screenplay for the teenage horror flick, Jennifer’s Body (2009), which also starred Johnny Simmons (3), who is currently working on the project Frank and Cindy, to be released next year, which also stars Rene Russo (4), who came in the re-make art heist flick, The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), and original 1968 version, was directed by Norman Jewison (5), who also directed the musical, Fiddler on the Roof (1971), starring Norma Crane (6).

…Yoko Ono
Hirsch appeared alongside Penélope Cruz (1) in Venuto al Mondo (2012), and Cruz starred along with Rebecca Hall (2) in Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008), and Hall acted in Frost/Nixon (2008), a feature film focusing on the, post-Watergate scandal, television interview by the illustrious British talk-show host, David Frost (3), of former president, Richard Nixon (4); the only president of the United States till date to resign from office; and the well-known Beatle, John Lennon’s (5), song ‘Give Peace a Chance’; written during the famous ‘Bed-In’ of May/June 1969, and which soon became an anti Vietnam-war anthem, and was sung by half a million demonstrators in Washington, D.C. at the ‘Vietnam Moratorium Day’, on the 15th of October, 1969; shook the Nixon government, and Lennon staged the famous ‘Bed-In’s’, for peace; which gave birth to this song; along with his newly married bride, Japanese artist and peace activist, Yoko Ono (6); whom he married, in March the same year, 1969, and they staged their first ‘Bed-In’ on their honeymoon, in March 1969 itself.

…Gloria Swanson
Hirsch in his teens, played a sensitive, effeminate, lonely, farm-boy; who seeks companionship with a chicken, he associates with his dead mother; in The Mudge Boy (2003), directed by Michael Burke (1), which was a feature length re-make of Burke’s own earlier short film, Fishbelly White (1998), which starred Jason Hayes (2), who appeared in Andrew Jackson (2007), a television movie about the seventh President of the United States, Andrew Jackson (3), who was portrayed by Charlton Heston (4) in the re-make of The Buccaneer (1958), and the original 1938 version was directed by the luminary Cecil B. DeMille (5), who had a cameo, playing himself, in Sunset Boulevard (1950), where screen goddess of silent era, Gloria Swanson (6), played a faded, ageing, silent movie star recluse; whose disintegration into nothingness, unable to accept the loss her stardom since the invention of sound in cinema, talking pictures, is inevitable.

…Madeleine Carroll
Hirsch played the younger version of the eminent, Hungarian-American, illusionist, Harry Houdini (1), in the television movie, Houdini (1998), and in the past, Tony Curtis (2), was the first actor to portray Houdini, on the screen, in Houdini (1953), and Curtis starred with Marilyn Monroe (3) in the sizzling comedy, Some Like it Hot (1959), and Monroe, appeared alongside Cary Grant (4) in another hilarious comedy Monkey Business (1952), and Grant starred in the classic Film-Noir, Notorious (1946), which was directed by Alfred Hitchcock (5), who had earlier directed Madeleine Carroll (6), in The 39 Steps (1935).

Nuwan Sen’s Film Sense (6°)
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Six Degrees of Separation with James Franco

Six Degrees of Separation: from James Franco to

…Hilarie Burton
Franco portrayed legendary method actor James Dean (1), in the television movie, James Dean (2001), and Dean starred alongside Elizabeth Taylor (2) in Giant (1956), and Taylor was married to Conrad Hilton jr (3); son of the founder of the Hilton Hotel chain, who was Taylor’s first husband, who was  a gambler, alcoholic and was very abusive towards Taylor, and his abusive behaviour towards her resulted in a miscarriage, Taylor’s parents were horrified, and soon Taylor’s first marriage ended after suffering, and surviving through, nine months of a miserable marriage to Hilton jr; and Conrad Hilton jr happens to be the great uncle of Paris Hilton (4), who appeared in the remake of a B-movie, horror classic, House of Wax (2005), which co-starred Chad Michael Murray (5), who starred alongside Hilarie Burton (6) in the television soap, One Tree Hill (2003-2012).

…Hattie McDaniel  
Franco starred in the bio-pic Milk (2008), which co-starred Emile Hirsh (1), who starred in an adventure flick, based on a real life story, called Into The Wild (2007), which saw, a yet unknown, young, Kristen Stewart (2) who gained fame through the series of five Twilight movies (from 2008 to 2012), which co-starred Robert Pattinson (3); as a kind-hearted vampire who falls in love with a human and is in constant loggerheads with a werewolf, who too has the hots for the same person; and Pattinson appeared in the tragic drama, Remember Me (2010), where Pierce Brosnan (4) played his father, and Brosnan starred alongside Halle Berry (5) in Die Another Day (2002), who was the first African American actress (black actress) to bag the Best Actress trophy at the Oscars, in 2002, for Monster’s Ball (2001), and the very first black celebrity, to ever win an Oscar, was Hattie McDaniel (6), for Best Supporting Actress, in 1940, for Gone with the Wind (1939).

…Laurence Olivier
Franco directed and acted in, the one hour long, short film, Interior. Leather Bar. (2013), a re-imagining of the lost 40 minutes, of the film-within-the-film, of Cruising (1980), which starred Al Pacino (1), who played the lead mafia boss, in The Godfather: Part – III (1990), which also starred Austrian actor Helmut Berger (2), and Berger came in the movie, The Damned (1969), which co-starred Charlotte Rampling (3), who had a cameo in Deception (2008) starring Ewan McGregor (4), who shares a close friendship with fellow actor Jude Law (5); who was at one time his roommate; and Law starred in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004), in which CGI manipulated archive footage of the late actor, Sir Laurence Olivier (6), is used as the villain of the movie, in a hologram form; the villain of the movie too is discovered to have been dead for quite sometime towards the end of the film.

…Sergio Fascetti
Franco carried an entire movie on his shoulders, when he played the lead, in the biographical adventure film, 127 Hours (2010), which was directed by Danny Boyle (1), who also directed the zombie flick, 28 Days Later … (2002), starring Cillian Murphy (2), who worked with director Ken Loach (3) in The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006); about the Irish anti-British rebellion for independence in the 1920’s; and Loach also directed Poor Cow (1967), which starred Terence Stamp (4), who played a visitor that seduces a whole family in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s (5) Teorema (1968), an Italian classic, and  Pasolini also directed the very controversial Salò o le 120 Giornate di Sodoma (1975); set in a Nazi-controlled northern Italian state during the second world war, where four dignitaries round up sixteen perfect specimens of youth, and subject them to 120 days of physical, mental and sexual torture; in which Sergio Fascetti (6) played one of the victims.

…Tena Desae
Franco played the famed ‘Wizard’ in, Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), which happens to be a sequel/prequel to the children’s classic musical The Wizard of Oz (1939), which starred a teenaged Judy Garland (1), mother of Liza Minnelli (2), and Minnelli starred in the 70’s, somewhat campy, musical, Cabaret (1972), which was based on Christopher Isherwood’s (3) semiautobiographical novel, Goodbye to Berlin, and Isherwood’s novella, A Single Man, was the basis for the movie with same name, released in 2009, starring Nicholas Hoult (4), who appeared in the British television show, Skins (2007 till date), which co-starred Dev Patel (5) who starred in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011), which also starred Tena Desae (6).

…Audrey Hepburn
Franco starred alongside Tobey Maguire (1) in Spider-Man (2002), and Maguire appeared in Ang Lee’s (2) The Ice Storm (1997), and Lee won his second Best Director Oscar, earlier this year, for Life of Pi (2012), in which Bollywood actress Tabu (3) played the lead character’s mother, and Tabu’s aunt, 70’s feminist actress, and social activist, Shabana Azmi (4) starred in the British movie Madame Sousatzka (1988), in which the titular character was played by Shirley MacLaine (5), who starred along with Audrey Hepburn (6) in the, very bold for that period, movie, The Children’s Hour (1961), where two school teachers are accused by a student of being lesbians.

Nuwan Sen’s Film Sense (6°)
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Beatle News # 25: MBE returned to Buckingham Palace

 Beatle News # 25: 

•  1969- John Lennon returns his MBE (Member of Order of the British Empire); which he, along with the rest of The Beatles, received four years earlier (see Beatle News # 23); to HRH Queen Elizabeth – II.

Lennon returned his MBE insignia, citing his reasons in a letter that read, “I am  returning this MBE in protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra civil war, against our support of American involvement in Vietnam war, and against Cold Turkey (a song written by John Lennon) slipping down the charts.”

This Day, This Month – That Year
Nuwan Sen & The Beatles (Beatle News)

..……………………………………………………….–^^–…………………………………………………………

Six Degrees of Separation with Rock Hudson

Six Degrees of Separation: from Rock Hudson to

…Lillete Dubey
Hudson starred alongside Elizabeth Taylor (1) in Giant (1956), and television actress Sherilyn Fenn (2) portrayed Taylor in the TV movie, Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story (1995), and Fenn starred in the creepy flick Boxing Helena (1993), alongside British actor Julian Sands (3), who acted in, one of the best of British Heritage Cinema of the 80’s, Room with a View (1985), which was based on novel by E.M. Foster (4), as was A Passage to India (1984), starring Victor Banerjee (5), who appeared in Delhi in a Day (2011), where Lillete Dubey (6) played his daughter.

…Joe Manganiello
Hudson starred alongside Doris Day (1) in one the most famous sex-comedies ever, Pillow Talk (1959), and Day starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s (2), 50’s re-make of his own 30’s classic, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), and Hitchcock was portrayed by Anthony Hopkins (3) in the bio-pic Hitchcock (2012), and Hopkins’ most famous role is that of a psychotic, cannibalistic, intellectual, killer in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), which co-starred Jodie Foster (4), who came in Flightplan (2005), in which Matt Bomer (5) had a small role, and Bomer currently plays the lead, in the television series, White Collar (2009 -till date), and in an episode, from the third season, of which, Joe Manganiello (6) has a guest role in.

…Tanay Chheda  
Hudson played a man who is an expert on sports fishing, but not so much when it comes fishing for a life partner, in the comedy Man’s Favourite Sport (1964), in which John McGiver (1), had an interesting small role, as did he in yet another hilarious comedy, Ariane – Love in the Afternoon (1957), where Audrey Hepburn (2) played the titular character; of the ‘afternoon girl’ of a playboy, driving the playboy to the brink of insanity; and Hepburn starred in Two for the Road (1967), a story chronicling 10 years of a couple’s relationship; from the day they met, to marriage, parenthood, infidelity and the disintegration of their love for one another; where the male lead was played by Albert Finney (3), who later came in the epic fantasy, Big Fish (2003), where Ewan McGregor (4) played the younger him, and McGregor came in Trainspotting (1996); a movie set in Edinburgh’s drug scene; which was directed by Danny Boyle (5), who directed Slumdog Millionaire (2008), where Tanay Chheda (6) played the younger (not the youngest) version of the lead character.

…François Goeske   
Hudson came in The Mirror Crack’d (1980), which was based on mystery novel by Agatha Christie (1), as is the, 25 year long running, British television series Agatha Christie: Poirot (1989– till date), and in a 2004 episode, of which, starred Emily Blunt (2), who, in The Young Victoria (2009), played England’s Queen Victoria (3), as did Austrian actress, Romy Schneider (4), in Mädchenjahre einer Königin (1954); who starred in another historical bio-pic; Ludwig (1972), where the titular charcter was played by Helmut Berger (5), who more recently appeared in the German television crime thriller, Damals warst Du still (2005), which co-starred French actor, François Goeske (6).

…Leehom Wang
Hudson appeared as a guest for quite a few episodes, in one season, of the famed 80’s soap, Dynasty (1981-1989), of which, the negative lead, was played by Joan Collins (1), who starred alongside George Hamilton (2), in the television movie, Monte Carlo (1986), and Logan Lerman (3) portrayed Hamilton in, My One and Only (2009), and Lerman, as a child artiste, appeared in The Patriot (2000), which also starred Heath Ledger (4) who appeared in Brokeback Mountain (2005), which was directed by Ang Lee (5), who also directed Lust, Caution (2007) which starred Leehom Wang (6).

…Robert Sean Leonard
Hudson played a young man in love with a much older woman, in the May/December tear-jerker, All That Heaven Allows (1955), where the older woman was played by Jane Wyman (1), who later starred in the 80’s soap, Falcon Crest (1981-1990), which also starred, Susan Sullivan (2), who currently plays mother to Nathan Fillion (3) in the crime drama, Castle (2009 -till date), and Fillion stars in Much Ado About Nothing (2012), a modern updated version of William Shakespeare’s (4) famed comical play, and Kenneth Branagh (5) too directed, and acted in, another modern film adaptation of the same play in 1993, which also starred Robert Sean Leonard (6).

Nuwan Sen’s Film Sense (6°)
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Six Degrees of Separation with Logan Lerman

Six Degrees of Separation: from Logan Lerman to …

…Elijah Wood
Lerman starred alongside Aaron Eckhart (1) in the hilarious comedy Meet Bill (2007), and Eckhart appeared in the magnificent satire that was Thank you for Smoking (2005); a humorous insight into the manipulative business tactics of a tobacco industry; which was directed by Jason Reitman (2), who later directed yet another comical brilliance that was Juno (2007), starring Ellen Page (3); who earlier played a very dark role, of an underaged teenager who has her heart set on castrating a paedophile who she suspects is responsible for the death of yet another underaged teenage girl; in Hard Candy (2004), which co-starred Patrick Wilson (4), who appeared in Little Children (2006) with Kate Winslet (5), and Winslet starred in, the surreal masterpiece that was, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), which also starred, former child star, Elijah Wood (6).

…Tom Sturridge
Lerman did one of the laziest roles ever in the pathetic flick called Gamer (2009), the only saving grace, of which, was the villainess character, excellently portrayed by Michael C. Hall (1), whose most notable role, happens to be, the titular character, of a serial killer, he plays in the television series, Dexter (2006-2013), and in the last season of which Sam Underwood (2) played his young protégé, and Underwood starred in a stage version of the play Equus, a play written by Peter Shaffer (3), and the 2007 West End and Broadway productions, of this same play, starred Daniel Radcliffe (4), who plays famed poet, of the Beat generation, Allen Ginsberg (5) in the movie Kill your Darlings (2013), and Ginsberg was also portrayed by Tom Sturridge (6) in On the Road (2012).

…Rudolph Nureyev
Lerman, as child artiste, appeared, alongside fellow child actor, Cameron Bright (1), in The Butterfly Effect (2004), and Bright played a kid who harassed a widow into believing that he was a reincarnation of her dead husband in Birth (2004), which co-starred Lauren Bacall (2), who was married to Humphrey Bogart (3); and together they were famously known as Bogie and Bacall; and Bogie starred alongside Ingrid Bergman (4), in the much loved tear-jerker classic, Casablanca (1942), and Bergman’s daughter, Isabella Rossellini (5), starred in White Nights (1985); which tells the story of a famed Russian male ballet dancer who had defected from the Soviet Union (USSR), who finds himself back in the USSR when a plane carrying him to Tokyo has to have an emergency crash landing there; the character of the defected dancer was loosely inspired by the renowned ballet dancer, Rudolph Nureyev (6).

…Rock Hudson
Lerman appeared in the excellent re-make; 3:10 to Yuma (2007); of the classic western, 3:10 to Yuma (1957), and the original was directed by Delmer Daves (1), who made his directorial debut with Destination Tokyo (1943), starring Cary Grant (2), and Grant starred in the amusingly crazily splendid farce, Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), which was directed by Frank Capra (3), as was the romantic comedy, It Happened One Night (1934), which starred Claudette Colbert (4); who was famous for playing the legendary ‘Queen of the Nile’; in Cleopatra (1934), as was Elizabeth Taylor (5) in Cleopatra (1963), who starred alongside Rock Hudson (6) in Giant (1956).

…Roger Vadim
Lerman played son to Renée Zellweger (1), in My One and Only (2009), and Zellweger starred alongside Tom Cruise (2) in Jerry Maguire (1996), and Cruise appeared in The Color of Money (1986) with Paul Newman (3), who starred alongside Robert Redford (4), in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), and Redford appeared alongside Jane Fonda (5) in Barefoot in the Park (1967), and Fonda was at one time married to director Roger Vadim (6).

…Tom Ford
Lerman starred alongside Emma Watson (1) in The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), and Watson appeared in My Week with Marilyn (2012), which also starred Dominic Cooper (2), who came in The History Boys (2006), alongside Stephen Campbell Moore (3), who appeared in Bright Young Things (2003), which was based on Evelyn Waugh’s (4) novel Vile Bodies, and Waugh’s novel Brideshead Revisited, was the basis for the 2008 movie starring Matthew Goode (5), and Goode appeared in A Single Man (2009), which was the directorial debut of fashion designer, Tom Ford (6).

Nuwan Sen’s Film Sense (6°)
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Six Degrees of Separation with novelist Truman Capote

Six Degrees of Separation: from Truman Capote to…

…Katrin Saß
Capote’s novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s was the basis for the romantic comedy of the same name, released in 1961, starring Audrey Hepburn (1), and Hepburn starred in War and Peace (1956) which co-starred Jeremy Brett (2) as her brother, who later found fame as a television actor, playing ‘Sherlock Holms’, in various series and television films throughout the 1980’s &90’s, based on the ‘Holms’ novels of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (3), and Benedict Cumberbatch (4) currently stars in a modern, 21st century, homoerotic, adaptation on the famed sleuth, titled Sherlock (2010 till date), and Cumberbatch starred alongside Daniel Brühl (5) in the bio-pic The Fifth Estate (2013), and Brühl appeared in Good Bye Lenin! (2003), which co-starred Katrin Saß (6).

… John Ritter
Capote was portrayed by Philip Seymour Hoffman (1) in the bio-pic Capote (2005), and Seymour Hoffman starred in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), directed by Anthony Minghella (2), whose son Max Minghella (3) appeared in The Social Network (2010), where the lead was played by Jesse Eisenberg (4) who also starred in The Education of Charlie Banks (2007), which co-starred Jason Ritter (5), the son of late actor John Ritter (6).

… Matt Smith
Capote shared great friendship with fellow writer Harper Lee (1), who was portrayed by actress Sandra Bullock (2) in the movie Infamous (2006), and Bullock starred in the romantic comedy Two Weeks Notice (2002) alongside Hugh Grant (3), who starred in About a Boy (2002), along with Nicholas Hoult (4) and Hoult starred in A Single Man (2009) which was based on a book by Christopher Isherwood (5), who was portrayed by Matt Smith (6) in the biographical television film; based on Isherwood’s own autobiography; Christopher and his Kind (2011).

… Liev Schreiber
Capote’s closest friend and neighbour, Harper Lee (1), published only one novel, which was the basis for the movie, with the same name as the book, To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), starring Gregory Peck (2), and Peck appeared in The Paradine Case (1947), which co-starred Louis Jourdan (3), who starred alongside Joan Fontaine (4) in Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948), and Fontaine starred in Jane Eyre (1943) alongside Orson Welles (5) and Welles was portrayed by Liev Schreiber in the television movie, RKO 281 (1999).

… Jugal Hansraj  
Capote wrote the screenplay for the horror flick, The Innocents (1961), starring Deborah Kerr (1), and Kerr played a nun, living the Indian Himalayas, in Black Narcissus (1947); released the same year India gained it’s independence from the British; in which Jean Simmons (2) played an Indian girl, and Simmons portrayed Queen Elizabeth – I (3), in Young Bess (1953); a film chronicling the younger days of Elizabeth – I, before she became the famed virgin queen; as did Cate Blanchett (4), in Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), both directed by Bollywood director, Shekhar Kapur (5), who also directed the Bollywood classic Masoom (1983), which starred former child artiste, Jugal Hansraj (6).

… Jane Birkin  
Capote played his own look-alike, in the art-house romantic comedy, Annie Hall (1977), which was directed by Woody Allen (1), as was To Rome with Love (2012), which starred Penélope Cruz (2), who appeared in the Spanish film Los Abrazos Rotos (2009), which was directed by Pedro Almodóvar (3), as was La mala Educación (2004), which starred Gael García Bernal (4), who appeared in the surreal drama, The Science of Sleep (2006), alongside Charlotte Gainsbourg (5), daughter of Jane Birkin (6).

Bookish Nuwan

Nuwan Sen’s Film Sense (6°)
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My 100th Post: My musings, my memories; my favourites in art, literature, cinema and music; & my own artworks from more recent years

Is it my 100th post already? Wow! I guess it should have come much earlier, considering the fact I started this blog on the 20th of March 2012. But I did procrastinate a bit more last year, so far as my blog was concerned that is. I took a blog sabbatical from May to September 2012. Instead I made quite a few lists and wrote critiques on IMDB last year. Read a lot of books too last year, and blogged about a few; and this year I read very few books, comparatively, and blogged about none.

Paris Sydney through the balcony (Nuwan Sen)

So my musings. I do have a very vivid imagination. I have soooooo much in my mind I’d love to put to words, but don’t seem to be able to. When did I start writing? Definitely at a very young age. I loved writing short stories, poems, even wrote a film review once in school, when I was about 10 or 11. But I loathed writing essays for some reason. I still do actually. I even remember writing this looooooog interesting short story, inserting many a fairy tale characters and aliens, again when I was about 10 or 11. Became a journalist too, for a short while, just over a decade ago. But being a journalist and a creative writer are not necessarily the same thing. I tried my hand at writing novels. First aged 12½/13, I started a book called Exciting Eight, Ha!! An adventure story about seven cousins aged between 8 and 13, and their lovable dog/common mongrel, who track down a villain in the guise of a milk man who stole Princess Diana’s crown jewels. Sounds silly and somewhat familiar to Enid Blyton books. Well!!! When I was 19 I found the book so childish I threw it away, something I kind of regret today. My next was in my mid-20’s. That was an epic titled English Spring Indian Winter. Which too I couldn’t complete. And now, thanks to my blog, I actually do get to write on a regular basis. Still, I might get back to English Spring Indian Winter someday, who knows. I just need the peace of mind, pure silence, my own personal space, and nothing to distract my thought process.

My oldest nicest memories. The oldest, is that of my 5th B’day. I remember, my cake of a wall with Humpty Dumpty nicely perched on a it. And running out to the flat balcony with my friends to see a beautiful rainbow.
My memory of the most beautiful place I visited as a kid, was just after my 11 birthday, visiting Kashmir, staying in a boat house and the first time I saw snow. Still aged 11, when we went to Singapore, the realisation hit me that I have actually been residing in a another country for the last 11 years of my life. A fact I always knew, that I was born in another country, but when we went, for a holiday, to yet another country, that’s when I actually felt that I was born, and have been living, in a foreign country. Then 1994, as a teenager, revisiting New Delhi, after a six year break, and visiting my old school, The British School in New Delhi, and walking past the corridor of lockers, bending down to see my name still scratched on my old locker, that year was a uniquely memorable, though somewhat unsettled, year. Ah!! The age of innocence.
And Then I grew up and happy memories seem to start to cease.

My favourites in art : Salvador Dalí, no one can beat this surreal master, as far I’m concerned. Most of my own artworks are inspired by his work.

My favourites in literature : My favourite novel happens to be City of Joy by Dominique Lapierre. I bought it when I was 19, read it when I 20. And hundreds and hundreds of books later, City of Joy, till date, happens to be my favourite. My favourite childhood books: The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton, I read and re-read a number of times between the ages of 8 and 12. And Roald Dahl’s The BFG, a book we did in school, in S-I (Senior I), when I was 11 years old. My first adult/mature book, Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, aged 12½/13. And that remained my favourite book, till I read City of Joy, seven years later.
My favourite author : Christopher Isherwood, since I discovered him a couple years ago, when I read Isherwood’s Mr. Norris Changes Trains (prior to Isherwood, Agatha Christie and D.H. Lawrence were my two favourite authors). And then last year, I read a few more of Isherwood’s beautifully stylized works of inventive literature. (and I still have one more to read, which too I bought last year). Speaking of inventive literature, I have to mention my two favourite novellas. Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s (a book that found me, in 2009) and Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange (a book I had been looking for sometime, and finally located in 2011). My favourite two short stories, Anton Chekhov’s The Lady with the Dog, which I read when I was about 14/15 years old and fell madly in love with it; and Daphne du Maurier’s The Apple Tree, which I read two years ago as well.

My favourites in Cinema : My all time favourite film director, Alfred Hitchcock.
My all time favourite movie, Roman Holiday (1953); my all time favourite film star, Audrey Hepburn.
My two favourite stars of the 21st Century, Jude Law & Kate Winslet.
My favourite British movie : Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange (1971)
My favourite European movie (non-British) : The new-wave French classic, Jules et Jim (1962) directed by François Truffaut.
My favourite European movie (non-British) from the first decade of 21st century : The Spanish film, La Mala Educación (2004) directed by Pedro Almodóvar.
My favourite film from the last decade : Mike Nichols’ Closer (2004).
My all time favourite Indian movie (non-Bollywood) : The art house (Parallel Cinema) Bengali/English bilingual film from the state of West Bengal, Aparna Sen’s The Japanese Wife (2010)
My favourite Bollywood flick (Indian commercial cinema, Hindi language film, from the state of Maharashtra) : Arth (1982)
My favourite Asian film (non-Indian) : Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (2002)
My favourite film from down under : Gallipoli (1981)
My favourite film from down under (from this century) : Ten Canoes (2006)

My favourites in music : Being a child of the 80’s, I grew up loving pop stars, Madonna and Michael Jackson. They are definitely the last two pop stars to make such a strong impact in the music industry. Nobody since, has come up to their level of fame. But as a teenager I started loving the Beatles more, and more specifically John Lennon. Not just for his music, but also his peace activism. Especially, Lennon’s post Beatles activism, alongside his second wife Yoko Ono. My favourite English song happens to Lennon’s Imagine. My favourite Hindi song : Kabhi Kabhie by Mukesh. The tunes I tend to hum on a more regular basis though, since I can remember are : English songs, Gene Kelly’s Singin’ in the Rain and The Beatles Hey Jude ; Hindi songs, Nazia Hassan’s 70’s disco number Aap Jaisa Koi, Asha Bhosle’s Hippie number from the 70’s – Dum Maro Dum, and again Bhosle’s 70’s romantic seduction that is Churaliya.

Places Places :  The most beautiful country I’ve seen : Switzerland
My favourite city : Paris (As a country Switzerland is definitely the most beautiful, but when it comes to concrete jungles, Paris is the most beautiful, with it’s old architecture, Art galleries, Artists houses, and other museums. The Champs-Elysées, the cinema’s, the Cinémathèque Française, and just losing yourself walking along the River Seine, on those brick laden roads.
Most beautiful, scenic, warm climate, location : Definitely the South of France, the French Riviera, Côte d’Azur; including Monaco.

My own artworks :-
I’ve never got a chance to blog about my works of art, except for a couple of posts, where I attached some of my works in relation to that particular post, but besides that I haven’t posted anything about my art. Makes sense, cause the last time I held a paint brush was just over two years ago. And so far as my sketches/drawings go, I haven’t touched a pencil for some months now. So, this my opportunity to showcase some of my artworks in my blog. Thus, since I should limit the amount of works I can post here, here are some of my works done within the last five years, starting from the latter half of 2008.

Right on top, you can see Paris Sydney through the balcony. The last painting I’ve done so far. A painting I did between June-Oct 2010, and completed it, giving it, it’s final finishing touches, in a day, in Oct 2011. I haven’t touched a brush since.
Paris Sydney through the balcony, is a painting where I’ve incorporated the six countries I’ve lived in, till date, since childhood. And named it after two cities I loved living in for two different reasons. Sydney, I had a great group of friends and was the most happiest, and Paris, I fell in love with the city of love itself, for it beauty, artistic vibe and historical significance.

The concepts behind majority of art, happens to be based on Cinema.
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So, my works on Cinema

Sex & Literature [The Reader] (February 2009) : I waited for Kate Winslet to win the Oscar, before I worked on this drawing. Finally my favourite actress of today won the Oscar she deserved to win. Of course this drawing does not depict Kate Winslet, but the character of Hanna Schmitz, Winslet played in the movie The Reader (2008). I hadn’t read Bernhard Schlink German novel, translated into English by Carol Brown Janeway, that the movie is adapted from, at the time. I read it, and loved reading it, only the following year, June 2010.

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(Checkout my list of favourite movies by decade on IMDB. Link:-My Favourite movie by decade)

My Favourite movie by decade – The 1960’s (January 2011)

My Favourite movie by decade – The 1940’s (February 2011)

My Favourite movie by decade – The 1990’s (February 2011)

My Favourite Film on Film Buffs (February 2011)

Hepburn @ cats (Jan 2010)

Marilyn and the 50’s (April 2012)

Priyanka Chopra (November 2008)

The Roaring 20’s, Talking Pictures & Singin’ in the Rain (April 2009)

Equus [The Love Scene] Version A (February 2009): Surreal version

Equus [The Love Scene] Version B (February 2009): Distorted & Abstract version

BUtterfield 8 – Book & Movie (January 2013): Showcasing the difference between the lead character in the book and the movie. John O’Hara’s novel, BUtterfield 8, was written and set in the early 1930’s, and was based on a true story. While Daniel Mann’s movie BUtterfield 8 (1960), starring Elizabeth Taylor in the lead role, for which she won an Oscar, was made and set in the late 50’s.

My works on Paris

Horny Gargoyle watching over Paris (February 2010)

Four artworks of mine paying tribute to my favourite city (February 2010)
–  Horny Gargoyle watching over Paris (same as above)
– A rough sketch of Paris Sydney through the balcony (before I did the oil painting)
– The Girl who stole the Eiffel Tower
– Champs-Elysées & Cinema

Still Life/Miscellaneous

Still Life with Vase & Lipstick (February 2010)

The Hanger & the French Beret (February 2010) : Depicting two of my favourite cities. The French beret, symbolising Paris; and the hanger, Sydney’s Harbour Bridge.

Going French Cuisine (May 2009)

Mental Liberation (February 2010)

Tintin @ Mad Hatter’s Tea Party (April 2010)

Tension Unmasked (February 2010)

Mercury Cloning (February 2010)

Fruity Intimacy (May 2009)

The Third Eye [Man & Machine] (May 2009) : Tribute to Sci-fi works, nothing specific.

Beautiful Legs resting on a footstool (June 2009)

Tribute to (inspired from) past artists/artworks

Après Moreau (January – February 2010) : Two distorted and abstract works based on Gustave Moreau’s famous works. Above – from Fairy with the Griffins. Below – from Galatea and Polyphemus the Cyclops. A lot of Moreau’s works were inspired by Greek mythology and I was a student of the classics (Greek & Roman Civilization).

Van Gogh in Paris (September 2008) : Depicting the Artist, and Rue Lepic, the area of Paris he resided in.

Year 1503AD (May 2011) : Inspired by 16th Century attire; and by photographs taken by photographer Christian Tagliavini.

Fashion 1500’s (May 2011) : Inspired by 16th Century head dresses & ruffled collars; and by works of photographer Christian Tagliavini, titled 1503. Tagliavini, himself was inspired by various artists of the past.

18th Century Royal Indian Elephant (April 2011) : Inspired by a cut-out of a late 18th century Indian miniature art, from central India, depicting Raja Vikramjit riding on a Royal Elephant.

Vanity Venus (May 2009) : At that time (Spring 2009) there was a new discovery of an ancient ruin, which was know as the oldest Venus unearthed at the time. Inspired by that statue, I incorporated the oldest Venus with modern day feminine accessories.

Après Karl Bryullov (February 2010) : Seen on my Art Wall (see My Art Wall section below) Distorted and Abstract Sketch based on Karl Bryullov’s Girls gathering grapes in the environs of Naples.

My Art Wall

My Art Wall (March 2010), in my room (right side)

My Art Wall (March 2010), in my room (left side)

Me in my room (mirror image), opposite the left side of my Art Wall (April 2010).

My Art Wall, in my room, renewed (February 2011) : left side

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Check out some of my older works (2006-2007) at the COFA Annual 07 website. Link :-
http://annual.cofa.unsw.edu.au/2007/profiles/nuwansenadhira/4/?discipline=painting (Link available on my Gravatar page as well)
Also check out my various lists/critiques on IMDB. Link :-
nuwansdel_02 & See all lists by nuwansdel_02 (Links available on my Gravatar page as well)
And my Top-10 all time favourite movies. Link :-
Why I love …. (Link available on my Gravatar page as well)

Nuwan Sen

Beatle News # 24: Royal Performance

 Beatle News # 24: Performing for the Queen Mother & Princess Margaret

 

• 1963- The Beatles perform at the Royal Command Performance at London’s Prince of Wales Theatre, before the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret.

Princess Margaret was most probably the only senior member amongst the modern British Royal family who came close to understanding The Beatles and their music.

 

This Day, This Month – That Year
Nuwan Sen & The Beatles (Beatle News)

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