Aamir Khan's Dhoom 3 to release in IMAX

Plus: Anurag Basu plans English Barfi! and Brad Pitt on Bollywood.

Yash Raj Films' much-awaited new movie Dhoom 3 will be the first Bollywood film to be released in Imax theatres. The third instalment of the popular action-adventure Dhoom franchise is scheduled for release early next year. "Imax has always symbolised high-quality film experience and this vision works very well with the ethos of YRF, which has been synonymous with Indian film entertainment over the last four decades," said Yash Chopra. "Added to the anticipated thrill that the film promises, this experience will give it an all new edge-of-the-seat dimension." Directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya and produced by Aditya Chopra, Dhoom 3 stars Aamir Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Uday Chopra and Katrina Kaif. The film is currently being shot in Chicago. Khan moved to the US city in early August with his wife Kiran Rao and eight-month-old son Azad. He earlier said that the film's shooting would take three months and hence had his family join him in Chicago. * IANS

Anurag Basu plans English Barfi!

After the critical and box office success of his new comedy drama Barfi!, the filmmaker Anurag Basu says he plans to release an English version of the movie for an international audience. "I have to confess we're toying with the idea of putting out an English version of the film. The film has been to the Busan and Marrakech film festivals. The only reason it wasn't at the Toronto International Film Festival is because we were too busy releasing it worldwide to take it to Toronto. But those sections of non-Indian viewers who have seen Barfi! say it has the potential to break through the language barrier," said Basu. Barfi! stars Ranbir Kapoor as a deaf and mute boy and Priyanka Chopra as an autistic girl. * IANS

Brad Pitt on Bollywood? He's interested

In an interview with the Indo-Asian News Service, Brad Pitt says he just might decide to surprise fans by appearing in a Bollywood film soon. "Indian cinema seems to be growing very well at its own pace. I would love to work in a Bollywood film as there is so much drama and colour in the films there. You never know when I might decide to work in a Bollywood film and do one of those dance numbers with the whole crew in the backdrop," said Pitt, who shot in India for his 2007 film A Mighty Heart.

Asked which Indian star he would like to work with, Pitt named Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. "She is one of the most popular actresses of Bollywood, acclaimed for her style, beauty and acting skills. I think we missed an opportunity to be cast together for Troy." Bachchan was reportedly in talks to star in Pitt's 2007 film by the director Wolfgang Petersen, but the actress turned down the offer. * IANS

Luc Besson unveils Hollywood-style Film City studio in Paris

The French filmmaker Luc Besson cut the ribbon on Friday on his Film City, a vast studio complex created in a disused power station, to offer Hollywood-style facilities right on the edge of Paris. "I had always said I'd love to make our own films here in France," Besson said at an opening ceremony under the glass and steel vaults of the 1930s plant, a giant turbine brightly painted by local street artists towering in its centre. "Whereas Americans say 'Yes We Can', here in France our motto tends to be 'Dream On!'. Pessimism is something of a national sport. "So I thank you from the bottom of my heart for believing in this dream," the 53-year-old director and producer told the gathering of French politicians, film executives and project partners.

The €170 million (Dh810m) “Cité du Cinéma”, a project 12 years in the making, aims to plug a gap in the French production landscape by being a studio able to see a movie project through from A to Z, just next to the world’s most filmed city. As well as nine film sets, totalling 9,500 square metres, it houses a vast office complex including EuropaCorp’s new headquarters, carpentry, costume and model-making workshops, production and post-production facilities.

For the site, Besson chose an art deco-style former thermal power plant in Saint-Denis, a working-class north Paris suburb, which he had used to shoot scenes from two hitman dramas, Nikita (1990) and The Professional (1994). Besson started filming there again this summer for his new movie Malavit, a Mafia drama starring Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer.
"I have always loved film studios," he said. "A film set is like the operating theatre for a surgeon, or the kitchen for a chef." * AFP