Plus: Punit Malhotra ropes in Akshay Kumar for Gutka; Syria’s Samer Nasrallah wins Tropfest Arabia; Ranbir Kapoor to open children’s film fest; December 2015 release for new Star Wars.

The Billboard 200 top spot holders Arcade Fire. Barney Britton / Redferns
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Arcade Fire top Billboard chart

The Canadian alternative rock group Arcade Fire scored their second US No 1 record by knocking Katy Perry off the top spot of this week's Billboard 200 album chart. Reflektor, the fourth studio album from Arcade Fire, beat Perry's Prism, which debuted at No 1 last week. Kelly Clarkson landed at No 3 with her Christmas album Wrapped in Red. On the Digital Songs chart, which measures song downloads, Eminem shot to No 1 with his new track, Monster, featuring Rihanna. One Direction's latest song, Story of My Life, came in at No 2, while the New Zealand singer Lorde's Royals dropped two spots to No 3. Reuters

Punit Malhotra enlists Akshay Kumar for Gutka as he moves into ‘drama space’

The filmmaker Punit Malhotra, who has been associated with Bollywood love stories, says his next film ­Gutka, starring Akshay Kumar, will be completely different from his past projects and will be in the drama space. "I am making a drama with my next film, Gutka. Akshay plays the lead in the film. It's completely different from what I have made earlier," Malhotra said. Without divulging more about the project, he added: "It's too early to talk about it. We have to lock the script and then it will go on the floors. We haven't finalised the leading actress yet." – IANS

Ranbir Kapoor to open children’s film fest

The 18th edition of the International Children's Film Festival India, which begins on Thursday in Hyderabad, will be inaugurated by the Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor. The Indian child actors Darsheel Safary and Saloni Daini host. Salman Khan will lend his support through an audio-visual presentation. This year, 200 films from 48 countries will be screened. IANS

Samer Nasrallah wins Tropfest Arabia

The Syrian filmmaker Samer Nasrallah won the third annual edition of Tropfest Arabia on Friday. He was awarded by a judging panel comprising the Emirati filmmaker Ali F Mostafa, the Tunisian actress Dorra Zarrouk, the Syrian actor Basel Khayat, the Kuwaiti actor Khaled Amin and the Jordanian film producer Rula Nasser. Samer received a prize of US$11,000 (Dh40,403), a trip to meet industry professionals in Los Angeles and a Nikon D7100 SLR camera. His winning short film, The Runner, is about a former Olympic gold-medal hurdler suffering with an illness that has left him housebound. It was chosen from among the 16 shortlisted films. "All of the finalist films were really amazing and the competition was very strong," said Nasrallah. "I am very honoured and humbled to be recognised for my work." The entries can be viewed at www.youtube.com/tropfestarabia. Tropfest Arabia, the world's largest short film festival, is organised by twofour54. The National staff

December 2015 release for Star Wars

Star Wars fans have a date for their diaries after filmmakers announced that the long-awaited new instalment of the sci-fi franchise will be released on December 18, 2015. It laid to rest reports that the film might be delayed after one of the screenwriters was replaced last month. "Star Wars for Christmas!" wrote one fan on theforce.net website. J J Abrams is directing, while George Lucas will serve as a creative consultant for at least three new films, which are expected to come out every two to three years. Filming is due to begin next spring in Pinewood Studios near London. AFP

Lady Gaga hopes to continue pop reign with new album

The multiplatinum-selling diva Lady Gaga releases her hotly anticipated third album tomorrow, but early reception in the US and the UK has been lukewarm.

ARTPOP signals a return to the limelight for Lady Gaga, after she was forced to tone down her usually ubiquitous media presence to undergo hip surgery.

"For ARTPOP, in a symbolic way, I've put myself in front of a mirror, I've taken off my clothes, then the make-up, then the wigs, I've dressed myself with a black jumpsuit and I've told myself: 'Now, you have to prove you can be brilliant without all that,' " the singer told the magazine Grazia.

Even before its official release next week, ARTPOP has been making the headlines.

The 27-year-old New Yorker streamed the album last week after it was leaked. She also hinted at an out-of-this-world publicity splash for the album’s official launch – a concert in space.

Us Weekly reported that Lady Gaga plans to undergo a month of special vocal training to perform in early 2015 aboard the passenger spaceplane Virgin Galactic.

Lady Gaga has collaborated with a number of world-famous contemporary artists, including Jeff Koons, for the album’s artwork, showing her as a postmodern Botticellian Venus.

“The intention of the album was to put art culture into pop music, a reverse of Warhol. Instead of putting pop onto the canvas, we wanted to put the art onto the soup can,” Lady Gaga said in an interview in the Daily Mail.

While her third album hints at her increasing artistic ambitions, critics in the UK and the US are not so convinced.

"There's certainly some decent pop on Lady Gaga's new album – but the 'art' part is rather harder to discern," said The Guardian.

The verdict was echoed across the Atlantic.

"Lady Gaga's latest extravagant exploration of her own fame, fabulousness and fearlessness is undeniably relentless, but that doesn't mean it's consistently entertaining," said USA Today.

"Musically, it's as big and bold, unpredictable and diverse as Gaga herself with enough hooks and Abba-esque choruses to keep any pop fan smiling through Christmas and beyond," said The Huffington Post.

“If Gaga wants to be taken seriously as an ‘artist’ (like all the arty-farty posturing and avant-garde styling would suggest) then she really needs to spend more than five minutes jotting down the first rhyming couplets that spring to her mind.” – AFP