Irrfan Khan calls Ang Lee's use of 3D poetic

Plus: Shekhar Kapur to begin filming Paani in April, Deepika Padukone admires Rajinikanth, Shabana Azmi says cinema is not fully explored in India and Gwanghae reigns at Korean film awards.

Irrfan Khan, left, says Life of Pi by Ang Lee, centre, is "the best among all 3D films you have seen". AFP

The actor Irrfan Khan says Ang Lee's use of 3D in the movie Life of Pi is nothing short of poetic. "I am glad to say that the film is the best among all 3D films you have seen," says Khan, who stars in the film alongside Gerard Depardieu, Suraj Sharma and Adil Hussain. "A lot of top Hollywood directors have also said that they have never seen 3D used in this way before." The fantasy adventure film tells the tale of an Indian boy shipwrecked in the Pacific Ocean and on a boat with a tiger for 227 days. - IANS

Paani shoot to begin in April

A project announced by the acclaimed Indian film director Shekhar Kapur at the 2010 Cannes International Film Festival has finally been scheduled to begin production. "I am right now doing the organisation-related work before I start actual filming in April," announced Kapur. The filmmaker says that the movie Paani will be produced by the British director Danny Boyle, with AR Rahman composing the score. The film's futuristic story chronicles life at a time when the Earth's water supply has run out. - IANS

Padukone admires Rajinikanth's passion

The Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone says her time spent on the film sets with the southern superstar Rajinikanth during the filming of their new Tamil movie Kochadaiyaan was a memorable experience. "Working with him was very inspiring - for the kind of energy he brings to the sets even after working for so many years," says Padukone. "He has that passion in his eyes, even after suffering from his recent illness." Kochadaiyaan is scheduled to be released in Hindi, Malayalam, Japanese, Telugu and English this month. - IANS

Azmi: cinema not fully explored in India

The veteran actress Shabana Azmi believes Indian filmmakers are not fully exploiting the medium of cinema. "The diversity and the hardwireness of aesthetics come deeply from within our roots and gives a uniqueness to our film industry," she said in an interview. "But have we been able to live up to the challenge? A hundred years later, isn't it time to understand what our identity is?" Azmi, 62, added, "In a bid to cater to the international market, there is a lot of confusion on what kind of films we make in our cinema. Our cinema is unique because it is based in our roots, but we haven't risen to the sophistication of the medium itself." - IANS

Gwanghae reigns at Korean film awards

A costume drama about a stand-in monarch has swept South Korea's domestic Oscars, winning 15 of the 23 awards up for grabs, including Best Film. Gwanghae: The Man Who Became King – distributed internationally under the title Masquerade – also won a Best Actor gong for its star Lee Byung-Hun at the annual Daejong Film Awards on Tuesday. Lee won for his dual role as King Gwanghae, the 15th ruler of Korea's Joseon Dynasty, and the humble acrobat Hasun, who stands in for the monarch when he faces the threat of being poisoned. The film, which also picked up the Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay awards, was one of two Korean films this year to break the 10-million ticket barrier at the domestic box office. - AFP