ITV

Category: Hindi

  • ‘Alone’ tots Rs 11.4 crore at BO

    ‘Alone’ tots Rs 11.4 crore at BO

    MUMBAI: Bipasha Basu’s sex appeal and skin show does not quite work at the box office as the content and treatment of Alone don’t back her up. A routine horror film with forced scary moments, which fail to scare, the film opens with tepid response.

     

    Not a film for single screens, its magic has limited appeal even at the multiplexes, where it was aimed. Alone has managed to put together collections of Rs 11.4 crore in its opening weekend with Saturday and Sunday showing a symbolic growth over its opening day.

     

    Sharafat Gayee Tel Lene took home a few lakhs with poor performance at the box office. Crazy Cukkad Family followed suit at the box office, its investment being total waste of resources.

     

    I (dubbed but promoted as the Hindi version) gets better response than all other films of the week though the collections remain at below average levels as South actors and films don’t find ready takers in the Hindi market. The film has collected about Rs 6.5 crore over the weekend including paid previews on Thursday.

     

    Tevar, with its adverse reports and weak opening, ends the first week with uninspiring figures. The film collects Rs 33.15 crore. Not much is expected in its second week.

     

    Coming at the end of its run at the box office, Ugly adds Rs 60 lakh to its second week to take its three week tally to Rs 8.4 crore.

     

    On the other hand, the Aamir Khan starrer PK, which is directed by Rajkumar Hirani, remains rock steady in its fourth week. The film collects Rs 12.5 crore and takes its four week tally to Rs 324.2 crore.

  • Riteish Deshmukh to star in ‘Masti 3’

    Riteish Deshmukh to star in ‘Masti 3’

    MUMBAI: The actor, who had earlier claimed that he won’t be doing any sex comedies, suddenly seems to have had a change of heart. We’re talking about Riteish Deshmukh, who has been a part of all the series of the film Masti.

     

    Word is that Deshmukh will be seen playing one of the leads in Masti 3.

     

    While the first instalment of this series was a sleeper hit, Grand Masti became the first sex comedy to enter the Rs 100 crore club in Bollywood.

     

    After the successful series, its makers have been toying with the idea of a third instalment, and the actor has found the script interesting and impactful.

     

    Excited about the latest turn of events, director Indra Kumar stated in a report that Deshmukh was really convinced about the film when he heard the script and also expressed his happiness over collaborating with him once again.

  • CBFC mass exodus: 13 members follow Samson; say action not related to ‘MSG’

    CBFC mass exodus: 13 members follow Samson; say action not related to ‘MSG’

    NEW DELHI: Even as the government accepted Leela Samson’s resignation as chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) following the controversy over the film ‘Messenger of God’ (MSG), made by and starring Dera Saccha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, 13 other members have put in their papers.

     

    The film has already been cleared by the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT).

     

    In a letter, the members – M K Raina, Arundhati Nag, Ira Bhaskar, Lora Prabhu, Pankaj Sharma, Rajeev Masand, Anjum Rajabali, Nikhil Alva, Mamang Dai, Sekharbabu Kancherla, Shaji N Karun, Shubhra Gupta and TG Thyagarajan – have said that since the time that they first joined the Board, they had been seeking critical changes, which were imperative if the functioning of the CBFC has to be reformed.  

     

    The term of most of these members and Samson had ended in May, but they had been given extensions to continue. While some members said they had tendered their resignations around six months earlier, they were unanimous while talking to Indiantelevision.com that the resignations had no connection with the film ‘Messenger of God’.

     

    The members’ letter said, “In spite of sending numerous recommendations and appeals, and having several meetings with the secretaries and senior officials of the ministry, and even one with an earlier Minister, not a single positive step has been taken by the Ministry.”

     

    The CBFC members claimed that the “Advisory Panel continues to be filled up with people of questionable credentials appointed directly by the Ministry, without taking the Board’s recommendations into account.” No funds have been released for conducting orientation workshops for the panel members, they said, adding that officers from other departments, who have no understanding or experience in cinema are appointed as officials.

     

    They also claimed that there are several positions in the regional offices that do not have regular appointments.

     

    “There has been no board meeting for the last one year for us to discuss developments and make recommendations, as we were told that there are no funds to organize it. It seems that the CBFC Board is not required at all,” the letter said.

     

    “It is our firm position that given the cavalier and dismissive manner in which the CBFC is treated by government, it is impossible to perform this duty with even a modicum of efficacy or autonomy. We also object to the way in which the Chairperson has been treated by the Ministry, which we feel has been humiliating for us all,” the letter said.

     

    Asked about the clearance by FCAT, Samson said, “Yes, it is a mockery of CBFC. My resignation is final. I have informed the Information and Broadcasting Ministry secretary Bimal Julka.”

     

    While she did not specifically refer to the reported clearance to the film, Samson alleged “interference, coercion and corruption of panel members and officers of the organisation who are appointed by the ministry.”            

     

    Refuting these allegations, the government had yesterday said that it has always maintained a distance from the entire process of film certification.

     

  • Essel Vision’s ‘Jazbaa’ starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to go on floors on 20 Jan

    Essel Vision’s ‘Jazbaa’ starring Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to go on floors on 20 Jan

    MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited’s (ZEEL) creative and production studio Essel Vision Productions is gearing up for its much anticipated film – Jazbaa. The movie, which is touted as Aishwarya Rai Bachchan’s comeback film, is slated to go on floors on 20 January.

     

    Essel Vision Productions will be producing the movie in association with Sanjay Gupta’s White Feather Films and Sachiin Joshi’s Viiking Entertainment. The movie also stars Shabana Azmi, Irrfan Khan, Anupam Kher, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Atul Kulkarni, Siddharth Kapoor, Baby Sara Arjun and Priya Banerjee. It will be directed by Gupta.

     

    Speaking on its foray, Essel Vision CEO Nittin Keni said, “Jazbaa is an amazing story intertwined with superlative action, drama and mystery. It is the kind of entertaining and meaningful cinema that we want our audience to associate us with. Supported with keen creative & business acumen we are confident that we deliver compelling, profitable entertaining content to global audiences.”

     

    Jazbaa is a crime thriller and filled with unpredictable twists in the plot hence it was imperative for the actors to be completely in sync with their characters. With the film all set to go on the floors on 20 January, the makers organised a script reading session, which gave an opportunity for the cast and crew to come together to understand and prepare their roles thoroughly.

     

    The script reading session was helmed by Gupta along with scriptwriters Kamlesh Pandey and Robin Bhatt. It opened interesting conversations among the actors about the concept in India for a Bollywood film. This was later followed by a detailed dialogue with the creative team including sound designer Resul Pookutty and cinematographer Sameer Arya.

     

    Commenting on the narration, Gupta said, “The script reading session of Jazbaa with the entire cast and crew went off very well. Internationally, it’s the norm and I think it helps the cast bond with each other before the shooting starts. It’s a better arrangement than having the actors meet each other only when they reach the sets when the shoot begins. Writers sometimes tend to miss out certain elements when they are so close to the script. The inputs I received from the actors were fresh as they have interesting perspectives when they hear the story at one go like this and will only help us make a better film. It was also an ice breaker for the talent on the film since most of my cast are working with each other for the first time.”

     

    Keeping the lead actress’ parenting duties in mind, Gupta, who is also father to a young child, plans to shoot the film only on weekdays.

     

    Shabana and Aishwarya hit if off instantly as they waited for Irrfan to join them. It was not surprising to see Aishwarya go up to and welcome the young child actor, Sara, on board the film by hugging her. Even as Sara smiled and told her that was her huge fan, the actress responded by saying, “Don’t be my fan, you’re my daughter!”

     

  • ‘Alone’: Better left alone

    ‘Alone’: Better left alone

    MUMBAI: Alone has two selling points: First, it is directed by Bhushan Patel (Ragini MMS 2). Second, it stars Bipasha Basu, who exudes enough sex appeal for the audience of the voyeur kind, a mandatory ingredient in a contemporary horror films.

    Inspired by the 2007 Thai film of the same name, the movie is shot in Kerala to make it visually appealing. Bipasha plays a double role. She and her twin sister have promised to always stick by each other. Bipasha has to rush home to Kerala with her husband, Karan Singh Grover, when her mother meets with an accident. Her return takes her into past memories about her dead twin.

    Soon Bipasha starts experiencing a strange phenomenon. She feels the presence of her dead sister. Only she can feel this. She explains her situation to Karan but he thinks this is because she is missing her sister. However, Karan takes Bipasha to a psychiatrist friend who thinks it is beyond science. The couple then indulge in romance and songs.

    Producer: Panorama Films

    Director: Bhushan Patel

    Cast: Bipasha Basu, Karan Singh Grover, Zakeer Hussain

    The mandatory Babas claiming to get rid of ghosts and spirits and other such mumbo jumbo included, what the film never does is scare you. This is because it has nothing new to show. All this and much better stuff has preceded Alone. What actually happens is that the supposedly scary scenes only make you laugh.

    Those who made it to the cinema halls after watching the promos will not find in the film what they saw in promos. There are some intimate scenes and a lot of skin on display from both, Bipasha as well Karan but, again, nothing that a seasoned moviegoer has not seen before.

    In an effort to Indianise a borrowed foreign film, the length stretches to 133 minutes, which is a tad too long for a ‘scary’ movie. The film has some good numbers in Katra katra…. and Chaand aasman se lapataa.. but  they do lessen the impact of a scary film.

     Direction is average with no spark. The script can aptly be described as loose. One thing the film needed was some sharp editing. The belief that low light can make a horror film more effective, even if true, does not work here.

     With little scope, the performance by Bipasha is fair while Karan is there just for his body mass.

     Alone is mediocre fare with no drawing power as far as its stars go.

    ‘Crazy Cukkad Family’: That’s not entertainment!

    Crazy Cukkad Family is like a stage play, implausible but zany. It is more like a farce. It is about a family, which does odd things and may remind you of the 2007 film, Buddha Mar Gaya, starring Anupam Kher. The film is about a dysfunctional family of four siblings, all failures. To give a contemporary touch, one of them is gay.

    Producer: Prakash Jha

    Director: Ritesh Menon

    Cast: Swanand Kirkire, Shilpa Shukla, Kushal Punjabi, Siddharth Sharma, Kiran Karmarkar, Ninad Kamat

    Swanand Kirkire, Shilpa Shukla, Kushal Punjabi and Siddharth Sharma gather at their grand family home when their father slips into his third coma. Hoping this once he does not regain conscious, all four are keen to know what is for them in their filthy rich father’s last will. The four have their own traits; they need the money for various reasons. There is no family feeling or love for each other. Before the will can be read, a condition applies: for inheritance, all four have to be married. The siblings devise their individual ways out of this condition.

    While all four are failures in their respective lives, they try to conceal this fact from others. However, they can’t hide their real standing from each other for long as each kin’s secret is out.

    The father has no long term plan to remain in coma or to kick the bucket. He soon regains consciousness only to reveal that in the old filmy style, he has bequeathed all his wealth to the ‘wafaadar’ servant of the house. However, the servant is not selfish and asks his boss to leave his all for the children on the condition that they spend time with him every year!

    Even in this 90 minute farce, the makers needed a narrator who interrupts at regular intervals to explain to the viewer what is happening: either they think the viewer is dumb or they know their inability to let the script and the visuals do their job.  It is a passé theme further marred by bad scripting. Resultantly, the debutant director, Ritesh Menon, is totally at sea. The film boasts of an item number, Sexywala pakoda, in an otherwise mundane music score. Swanand Kirkire emerges the best while Shilpa Shukla is fair. The rest pass muster. Crazy Cukkad Family is a lost cause.

  • Vikram’s ‘I’ opens to a tremendous response

    Vikram’s ‘I’ opens to a tremendous response

    MUMBAI: Director Shankar’s much hyped project starring Vikram, has opened to tremendous response from the audience. I, which released on 14 January, 2015, opened to Rs 34.74 crores worldwide and also stars Amy Jackson, Upen Patel, Suresh Gopi and Santhanam.

     

    I was also released in various parts of North India. In Andhra Pradesh and Nizam, the Telugu dubbed version of the film has also set the cash registers ringing with Rs 10.45 crore at the box office.

     

    While the film has been garnering mixed reviews, it has managed to rake in Rs 9.62 crore at the box office.

     

    However if we compare first day collections, I is still far behind Rajinikanth’s Lingaa (Rs 12.8 crore) and Vijay’s Kaththi (Rs 12.5 crore) in the Tamil Nadu box office.

  • MPA APSA Academy Film Fund to help aspiring film makers

    MPA APSA Academy Film Fund to help aspiring film makers

    MUMBAI:  The Motion Picture Association (MPA) and the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) gives an opportunity to aspiring filmmakers with the MPA APSA Academy Film Fund. MPA APSA Academy Film Funds is a unique initiative which has aided aspiring film makers in a lot of development in new film projects. A panel discussion was hosted at the 13th  Pune Internation film festival on January 10th, 2014, to create awarness about the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and MPA APSA Academy Film Funds . The panelelist for the discussion comprised of celebrated actor, Atul Kulkarni & Lohita Sujith, Director, Corporate Communications, Motion Picture Dist. Association (India) Pvt. Ltd. Panelists also discussed how upcoming filmmakers/ professionals can benefit from the MPA APSA Academy Film Fund worth USD 100,000.

     

    MPA APSA Academy Film Fund has been a hugely successful initiative taking the number of successful projects funded to a total of twenty feature films over the last six years. The projects now count amongst them winners of an Academy Award®, APSAs and an International Emmy Award. Grants have been awarded to projects from.

     

    India, Bangaldesh, Republic of Korea,People’s Republic of China, Iraq,Kazakhastan, Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran.  In 2014, over 100 submissions were received for the film fund. Four grants were awarded to two documentary film projects from Israel and Denmark and twofilm projects from Bangladesh and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

     

    Speaking on the occasion, Atul Kulkarni, Actor, says “The MPA APSA Academy Film Fund is a great stepping stone for aspiring filmmakers, enabling them to develop their film projects from script to screen. I encourage aspiring filmmakers from Pune and the rest of India to expand their horizons and opportunities by submitting their projects to the film fund this year.

     

    Adding to this, the panelist also discussed how The MPA APSA Academy Film Fund stimulates collaboration between filmmakers across Asia Pacific. The $100,000 development fund which provides four US$25,000 grants each year is wholly supported by the Motion Picture Association (MPA).The Fund supported the development of Iranian writer/director AsgharFarhadi’s film A SeparationI, which went on to win an Academy Award, and an APSA Best Feature Film Award. 

  • UTV Disney to release Hrithik Roshan’s Mohenjo Daro in August 2016

    UTV Disney to release Hrithik Roshan’s Mohenjo Daro in August 2016

    MUMBAI: UTV Disney will release the Hrithik Roshan starrer Mohenjo Daro on 12 August, 2016.

    The movie, which is directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, will also be the debut vehicle of Pooja Hegde, who has been cast opposite Roshan. 

    Mohenjo Daro is produced by UTV Disney in association with AGPPL.

    The movie will get the advantage of the Independence Day long weekend, which is likely to give a fillip to its box office collections.

     

  • Red Chillies and Autodesk team’s gift for SRK

    Red Chillies and Autodesk team’s gift for SRK

    MUMBAI: Redchillies.VFX has been known for its innovation and excellence in special effects. But they have never shied away from taking the excellence one step ahead. As a special gift to the king khan of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan, Redchillies.VFX and Autodesk India came together to make the world’s first life size 3D printed model in his signature pose.

     

    “It’s the first 3D printed life-size model done by redchillies.VFX and Autodesk team. It is overwhelming how technology has gone forward. I am grateful to be a part of this amazing technology. This is outstanding and I am dying to show it to my kids. Its silver and shiny statue of mine in my classic pose. I want to thank Keitan, Harry, Red Chillies VFX team and Autodesk team who have worked on it. It’s the figure of work I have done for all these years,” says Khan.

     

    This life size model has been designed in India and is the first of its kind around the world.    

     

  • Viacom18 Motion Pictures’ Rahasya to release on 30 January 2015

    Viacom18 Motion Pictures’ Rahasya to release on 30 January 2015

    MUMBAI: Inspired by the double Noida murder case, Viacom18 Motion Pictures is all set to present a riveting thriller named Rahasya, scheduled to release on 30 January 2015. Produced by Monica Vimal Maluka, the movie is a join presentation by Viacom18 Motion Pictures and UVI Film Productions.

     

    The film’s story is centered on an urban doctor couple living in Mumbai whose only child, an 18 year old teenager called Ayesha Mahajan has been murdered inside their large duplex apartment.

     

    The initial investigations point at the girl’s father as the prime accused for the murder. But as the case is taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation (C.B.I.), the film questions whether a father could kill his own daughter and if not, then who killed Ayesha Mahajan?

     

    The thriller reveals ulterior motives of near and dear ones in Ayesha’s life who could have committed this heinous crime. Directed by Manish Gupta, the acclaimed writer of Sarkar, the film features Kay Kay Menon, Tisca Chopra, Ashish Vidyarthi, Mita Vashisht and Ashwini Kalsekar in key roles.

     

    Talking about the film, Viacom18 Motion Pictures COO Ajit Andhare said, “VMP is committed to bringing out scripts that make for engaging narratives. We have made unconventional thrillers into major commercial successes with films like Kahaani & Madras Café. We are looking to accomplish the same through Rahasya that brings together a terrific set of actors in an intriguing plot.”

     

    Elaborating further, he said, “I love suspense as a genre and all my prior work has also had some element of intrigue. Rahasya is a nail-biting thriller of an eccentric officer on the hunt for a killer. We believe the movie will have audiences at the edge of their seats.”