Tom Hanks and Steven Spielbergs American war show “Band of Brothers” will air in India next month.

The Primetime Emmy award and Golden Globe winning mini-series will air on Star World Premiere HD on December 3 and 4, read a statement from the channel.

The 10-episode mini-series, a real life story of war heroes, stars Michael Fassbender, Tom Hardy, James McAvoy, David Schwimmer, Jimmy Fallon, Tom Hanks’ son Colin Hanks, Simon Pegg, Michael Cudlitz, Neal McDonough, Jamie Bamber and Stephen Graham.

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“Band of Brothers” is adapted from the best-selling book of the same name by Stephen E. Ambrose.

It follows the story of the exceptional heroes belonging to Easy Company, the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division during World War II. The epic mini-series highlights their journey from training to airborne landings in Normandy, the Siege of Bastogne and finally all the way to Hitler’s mountain retreat.

IANS

Rating:*1/2  

By Troy Ribeiro

Not all novel adaptations are alluring as films, certainly not Dan Brown’s novels. “Inferno”, Brown’s fourth novel and the third to be adapted by Ron Howard after “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons”, is far from towering. In fact, it is an absurdly mounted mystery thriller that fails to impress.

This Robert Langdon series, featuring Tom Hanks as the Harvard University professor of symbology, begins with a shoddily gummed-up montage that forms the prologue. In one of the early scenes in the pre-credits, we see Ben Foster as the crazed billionaire geneticist Bertrand Zobrist falling to his death from the top of a bell tower in Florence and in one of his public address on the evils of over-population, we are informed that, “Humanity is the disease and Inferno is the cure”.

After the initial credits, we are shown Professor Langdon waking up in a hospital in Florence, Italy with a scar on his head and no memory of what transpired over the last few days.

Irrfan beats me as the coolest guy in the room: Tom Hanks

He, once again, finds himself the target of a major manhunt. Doctor Sienna Brooks, played by Felicity Jones, helps him escape from the hospital and together they travel across Europe, trying to solve the mystery and thereby avert the deadly virus Inferno, which Zobrist had invented, from destroying humanity.

How Langdon uses clues from Dante’s epic poem Inferno and various works of art to track down the deadly virus, forms the crux of the tale.

While the poem tells of Dante’s journey through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil, the poem is used in the film as an allegory of Langdon’s expedition and hence fails to deliver the finer nuances of the poem.

Irrfan adds mystery to India special trailer of ‘Inferno’

Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon is brilliant, but his character is stumped due to the poorly written script. He is aptly supported by Irrfan Khan in a prominent role as the enigmatic Harry Sims; Sidse Babett Knudsen as doctor Elizabeth Sinskey; Omar Sy as her French consort Christoph; and Ida Darvish as Martha.

The script, written by David Koepp with its many tangles of double crosses is convoluted, predictable and lacklustre.

Devoid of tension and any semblance of character development, the film is stuck in cinematic limbo. The dialogues too, without any punchlines, are dull and boring. All the characters have a serious air about themselves and there is never a moment of spryness in the narrative.

Visually too, the first half, packed with snappy edits, is disconcerting to the eye.

Overall, when at the very end, you hear “If you loved humanity or this planet, you’d do anything to solve it”, you feel let down with all the hype of the “Inferno”.

IANS

Irrfan Khan is seen doing some hardcore action scenes, shows streaks of being the bad guy and then flaunts a discerning smile in the special India trailer of forthcoming Hollywood film “Inferno”, which maintains the mystery element around his character. The special trailer was launched on Tuesday here in the presence of Irrfan, and the actor quipped that the film can now be called “Irrfano” instead of “Inferno”.

The trailer is packed with action, suspense, mystery and thrill as the visuals are used to sketch a brief about Irrfan’s character, and leaves the audience with more unanswered questions. In the Sony Pictures Entertainment’s film, Tom Hanks will be seen reprising the role of Robert Langdon, a professor of symbology at Harvard University. Irrfan is playing Harry “The Provost” Sims, head of The Consortium, in the movie. The film will present a trail of clues tied to the great Dante himself. When Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Sienna Brooks (played by Felicity Jones), a doctor he hopes will help him recover his memories. They race across Europe and against the clock to foil a deadly global plot, and Irrfan joins their mission to save the world.

The special trailer opens with Hanks laying out the plot of the film which also touches upon overpopulation issue. And Irrfan makes his first appearance with dialogue — “Where is professor Langdon now?” There are also cues that Irrfan, who has made a name for himself in India as well as West, might just be the bad guy in the film. As Irrfan’s dialogue of asking someone to remove Langdon might come as a blow to the people rooting for the actor’s character in the film.

However, the trailer leaves one guessing as to what’s the actual intention of Irrfan’s character.

After hitting jackpot with Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons”, Ron Howard returned to infuse life to his popular 2013 book “Inferno”.

The film is releasing in India on October 14 — two weeks before it opens in the US.

Irrfan is excited over the hype being generated around the film. He said: “It (India special trailer) is a very interesting move and they know how to do business. So it something amazing. You also feel very nice the way it is placed.” While Irrfan is all praise about the film and the marketing strategy, Vivek Krishnani, Managing Director, Sony Pictures Entertainment, India, hopes that the buzz reflects on the box office collections.

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“We thought of coming out with a special trailer because a. India is to be perceived as a very important market for Hollywood and second because Irrfan plays a pivotal role in it…That also gives us the ability to release two weeks in advance. We are hoping combination of all these things gives us a huge box office,” Krishnani said.

“Inferno” will release in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu along with English in more than 1000 screen in India. And Krishnani says they have planned a number of “specific activities in regional markets” so that the film establishes a connect with audience from around the country.

Tom Hanks rejoiced in being the “coolest guy” on the sets of Hollywood film “Inferno”. But he says it lasted only until Indian actor Irrfan Khan walked in. At a select global media event organised by Sony Pictures Entertainment, Hanks said: “Here’s what I hate about Irrfan Khan… I always think I’m the coolest guy in the room, and everybody’s hanging on to every word I say and everybody’s a little intimidated to be in my presence. And then Irrfan Khan walks into the room. And he’s the coolest guy in the room. “And everybody’s intimidated to be in his presence and everybody’s hanging on to his every word.”

Director Ron Howard, actor Tom Hanks and Irrfan Khan attends the “Inferno” red carpet and photo call at the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands.

Irrfan, who has worked in a slew of Indian movies, has also proved his mettle internationally in critically-acclaimed works like “The Namesake”, “A Mighty Heart” and “Life of Pi”, the Oscar-winning “Slumdog Millionaire” and the commercially successful “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “Jurassic World”. Come October 14, he will be seen in “Inferno” with “Forrest Gump” star Hanks, who is known worldwide for his effortless acting.

After visually translating Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons”, director Ron Howard has infused life to the author’s popular book “Inferno”.

In the film, based on the eponymous 2013 novel, Hanks will be seen reprising the role of Robert Langdon, a professor of symbology at Harvard University. Irrfan plays Harry “The Provost” Sims, head of The Consortium. The film will present a trail of clues tied to the great Dante himself. When Langdon wakes up in an Italian hospital with amnesia, he teams up with Sienna Brooks (Felicity Jones), a doctor he hopes will help him recover his memory. They race across Europe and against the clock to foil a deadly global plot, and Irrfan joins their mission to save the world.

Hanks, known for films like “Saving Private Ryan”, “You’ve Got Mail”, “Sleepless in Seattle”, “The Terminal”, “Catch Me If You Can” and more recent “Sully”, asserted that the worst thing about “Inferno” is “that I am only in a couple of scenes with Irrfan. It was heartbreaking”. The two-time Oscar-winning star is impressed with Irrfan’s acting skills, and has in fact chalked down a way to ape his style.

Hanks said: “And as soon as I walked up to him I said, ‘Irrfan Khan, I’m going to steal from you everything I possibly can. I’m going to start speaking very quietly in films. I’m going to wear very nice suits. And I will draw out the last sound of every sentence that I say.’ And by doing that, I will be doing a very pale imitation of the coolest guy in the room.” Hanks is returning as Langdon in the film franchise, and says it is a pleasant experience to get Brown’s vision on the silver screen.

“I’m not contractually obligated to make any Dan Brown/Robert Langdon things. But every time we’ve done it, it’s been the same exact team of people… So there really is no repetition. I must admit, they’re very pleasant movies to make,” said the 60-year-old. Hanks said that they “get together and discover whether or not it’s worth going after or not”.

“I’m not an idiot. I’m not going to say no to something that’s going to go, that is really good”.