Agence France-Presse

NEW DELHI–”Slumdog Millionaire,” the runaway hit film that has charmed audiences around the world, seems to have hit a sour note with one Indian activist a day before its release in India.

Tapeshwar Vishwakarma, representing a slum-dwellers’ welfare group, is suing the film’s music composer A.R. Rahman and one of its stars, actor Anil Kapoor, for depicting slum-dwellers in a bad light and violating their human rights.

Vishwakarma objected to the use of words such as “slumdogs” to describe the millions of inhabitants of India’s cramped shantytowns, and filed a defamation case against the duo in the east Indian city of Patna, according to media reports Thursday.

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By Rob Woollard
Agence France-Presse

BEVERLY HILLS–The race for the Oscars enters the final lap here Thursday with drama “Slumdog Millionaire” vying for top honors as nominations for the 81st Academy Awards are revealed.

After sweeping a series of awards in the build-up to Thursday’s pre-dawn announcement at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Mumbai-set “Slumdog Millionaire” is regarded as a certainty to earn nominations in the best picture and best director categories.

A rags-to-riches love story about a contestant on India’s version of television quiz show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire,” the film has already been installed as favorite for the best picture statuette at the February 22 awards show at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre.

However, Oscars pundits believe British director Danny Boyle’s film could be vulnerable if the Batman blockbuster “The Dark Knight” elbows its way into contention across multiple categories.

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By Agence France-Presse

LOS ANGELES — Robert Downey Jr. has signed a deal with Marvel Studios to return to the screen as superhero “Iron Man” in two sequels to the hit film released last April, Hollywood media reported Wednesday.

Downey, 43, will make “Iron Man 2″ for planned released in 2010, and Marvel envisions a third Iron Man film by 2012, according to Variety.

In between the two, Downey also agreed to play Iron Man, alias Tony Stark, in an Avengers movie, together with Marvel comics characters Captain America, Thor and the Incredible Hulk.

That film is scheduled for the movie houses in 2011.

“Iron Man” was a surprise hit in 2008, pulling in $318 million in North American theaters, beating out the fourth “Indiana Jones” movie.

Downey is currently filming in the lead role of “Sherlock Holmes,” directed by Guy Ritchie, singer Madonna’s estranged husband.

Downey also found success in the Hollywood war-movie satire “Tropic Thunder” earlier this year.

The successes marked the return to Hollywood heights by an comic actor whose career slumped due to a series of drug-related problems after his initial Oscar-nominated triumph playing the title role in 1992’s “Chaplin.”

By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

VIOLENCE depicted on television is the main target of some congressmen who are complaining that children are most affected by what they see on TV.

Representatives Narciso Santiago III (party-list representative, Alliance for Rural Concern), Roman Romulo (Lone District, Pasig City) and Mark Llandro L. Mendoza (Fourth District, Batangas) co-authored House Bill 2689 that seeks to penalize broadcast media outlets that show violent behavior on TV.

Under the proposal, called “Children’s Protection from Video Programming,” violators will be fined P200, 000 and have their licenses revoked.

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By Agence France-Presse

CANNES, France–Love it or loathe it, television channels designed for babies, some still too young to talk, are catching on around the globe.

America’s BabyFirst TV and Israeli-based BabyTV, round-the-clock channels dedicated to infants and toddlers under three, are proving increasingly popular with advertisement-free content produced with the help of child psychologists.

“It’s the educational television tool that parents have been waiting for,” Sharon Rechter, who co-founded BabyFirst, told Agence France-Presse at the MIPCOM global audiovisual trade show taking place in this southern French town.

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