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Category: Hindi

  • Ben Affleck’s Argo turns Warner Bros green

    Ben Affleck’s Argo turns Warner Bros green

    MUMBAI: Ben Affleck‘s latest film Argo has become one of the best films this year in India, coming out of the stables of Warner Bros.

    The thriller is based loosely on Tony Mendez‘s account of the historical rescue of six US diplomats from Tehran, Iran during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis.

    The film stars Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, and John Goodman, and was released in North America on 12 October.

    The film is co-produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov, who previously collaborated on the critically acclaimed Good Night, and Good Luck.

    The box-office collection of Argo jumped 84 per cent from Friday to Saturday and 105 per cent on Sunday.

  • Ravi Chopra in hospital; suffering from a lung ailment

    Ravi Chopra in hospital; suffering from a lung ailment

    MUMBAI: A day after his uncle Yash Chopra expired, filmmaker Ravi Chopra has been admitted to the ICU of the Breach Candy hospital due to a lung ailment. The 66-year old Ravi, son of late producer-director B R Chopra, has been reportedly diagnosed with a severe lung ailment.

    Ravi has directed many films including Zameer (1975), The Burning Train (1980), Baghban (2003) and Baabul (2006) among others.

    He also produced the Amitabh Bachchan starrer Bhoothnath in 2008.

    Incidentally, Yash Chopra, B R Chopra‘s younger brother, passed away on Sunday due to dengue and multiple organ failure.

  • VP, PM condole passing away of Yash Chopra

    VP, PM condole passing away of Yash Chopra

    NEW DELHI: Vice President M Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and several union ministers have expressed shock at the passing away of famed filmmaker Yash Chopra.

    Chopra died at the Leelawati Hospital in Mumbai yesterday, aged 80. He had been suffering from dengue and had been admitted around ten days earlier. The last rites were performed today in the presence of a large number of Bollywood personalities and his fans.

    Ansari said Chopra‘s “valuable contribution to Hindi cinema and the wholesome entertainment his films gave us will be long remembered.”

    Dr Manmohan Singh said: “An icon of Indian Cinema, Chopra entertained many generations with his rare creativity. He had an aesthetic talent to make his films look larger than life. His flourish in essaying romance and social drama was unmatched. Chopra established the popularity of Indian cinema internationally and was honoured by many governments. He will be remembered by millions of his fans around the world and his work as a director and producer will be treasured by the nation for many more generations.”

    New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah said “Chopra was one of our greatest film makers. In his death, the Mumbai Film Industry has suffered an irreparable loss”.

    Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni also expressed her condolences, saying, “Today, Indian cinema has lost one of its iconic personalities and a creative genius.”

    “Through films, Yashji connected generations together. His idea of portraying love as the essence of life and relationships will fondly be remembered by all movie lovers. His death is a void which will be difficult to fill,” Soni said.

  • Iconic film maker Yash Chopra passes away

    Iconic film maker Yash Chopra passes away

    MUMBAI: On 21 October, one of the most respected and iconic film makers from Bollywood, Yash Chopra, breathed his last, leaving behind a legacy of some of the best made films in Indian cinema. Chopra was being treated for dengue at Lilavati Hospital where he was admitted on 13 October after complaining of weakness and difficulty in breathing.

    According to media reports, Chopra was not responding to treatment well and given his age, battling a disease like dengue was always an uphill task. He celebrated his 80th birthday on 27 September when he announced that the upcoming Shah Rukh Khan romantic drama Jab Tak Hai Jaan will be his last movie as a director. Chopra is survived by wife Pamela Chopra and sons Aditya and Uday Chopra.

    The illustrious film maker was born in pre-independence Lahore in 1932 and is the younger brother to noted film maker B R Chopra. He came to Mumbai with Rs 200 on him and began his career by assisting I S Johar. He debuted as a director with Dhool ke Phool, a social drama starring Mala Sinha and Rajendra Kumar and dealt with the trials of a single unwed mother. He went on to make 22 films as a director across genres like social dramas, romance, action and suspense thrillers.

    Waqt, Silsila, Kabhi Kabhi, Daag, Deewar, Trishul, Chandni, Lamhe, Darr and Veer Zaara are among his most remembered and successful directorial ventures. Chopra has also been credited for moulding the screen images of Amitabh Bachchan as the ‘angry young man‘ (with Deewar) and Shah Rukh Khan as the quintessential romantic leading man (Dil Toh Paagal Hai and Veer Zaara).

    Chopra is the force behind one of the biggest production houses in the country – Yash Raj Films (YRF) which he started in 1971. Till then his movies were produced by elder brother B R Chopra and movie mogul of that time Gulshan Rai. Rajesh Khanna starrer Daag was the first movie produced under the banner. YRF is perhaps the most successful privately held studio in the country and has also been instrumental in changing the overseas distribution business in India.

    The production house has produced some of the highest grossing movies of their times like Chak De India! (Rs 1.04 billion worldwide in 2007), Ek Tha Tiger (Rs 3.07 billion in 2012), Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (Rs 1.58 billion worldwide in 2008) and Dhoom and its sequel Dhoom 2 (in 2004 and 2006 respectively; combined worldwide collection of Rs 2.23 billion).

  • Indian cinema centenary celebrated in Bangkok

    Indian cinema centenary celebrated in Bangkok

    NEW DELHI: Ten feature films including Dadasaheb Phalke’s ‘Raja Harishchandra’ are being screened at a three-day Indian film festival which opened at Bangkok yesterday.

    The first-ever Indian Centenary Film festival, which is being held at the SF Cinema, Central World, is to mark the Centenary of Indian Cinema. Similar Indian film festivals are being held in other parts of the world to celebrate the centenary of the world’s largest film industry.

    The opening day saw the screening of Vishal Bharadwaj’s ‘Maqbool’ based on William Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’, a psychological and action-packed thriller. This film has been to many festivals, including Bangkok. It stars Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri among others.

    The restored version of the first indigenous feature film to be made in India, ‘Raja Harishchandra’ which is still incomplete as many reels are missing, was also screened.

    Other films include cine craftsman Satyajit Ray’s ode to music ‘Jalsaghar’, the rarely seen 1946 movie ‘Dr Kotnis ki Amar Kahani’ by V Shantaram based on the life of Dwarkanath Kotnis, an Indian doctor who worked in China during the Japanese invasion in World War II, Rajesh Khanna-starrer ‘Anand’, Dev Anand-starrer ‘Guide’, ‘Hum Dil De Chuke sanam’ by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and the new-age Bollywood film ‘Corporate’ by Madhur Bhandarkar.

    In addition, there are two regional films – Girish Kassarvalli’s Kannada film ‘Gulabi Talkies’ and ‘Kannathil Muthamittal’ in Tamil by Mani Ratnam.

    At a press meet prior to the Festival, the Indian Embassy confessed it had been a tough task selecting just ten films “to reflect the diversity of the country.” Indian Ambassador Anil Wadhwa was the chief guest.

    The press meet was attended by top Thai directors like Nonzee Nimibutr and Prachya Pinkaew, as well as young indie director Choyanop Boonprakob, and actress Ae Maneerat Khamoun, all diehard lovers of Indian cinema.

    Suvanee Chinchiewchan of the SF Cinema group which organised the festival was excited about holding the first-even Indian film festival in the city, and hoped the trend would continue.

  • Student Of The Year pulls young audiences

    Student Of The Year pulls young audiences

    MUMBAI: Student Of The Year found its main following in youth at multiplexes to make Rs 257 million in its first weekend. SOTY‘s collections on Saturday were Rs 10 million higher and on Sunday about Rs 20 million more, than on Friday.

    The film has maintained steady collections as the new week began and weeklong Dussehra vacations till 29 October in Delhi and NCR and the Dussehra holiday in general on Wednesday will give the collections some boost.

    Aiyyaa proved to be a debacle with just Rs 65 million to show for its first week. Bhoot Returns flopped at the Box Office and Makkhi did poor.

    English Vinglish was steady in its second week. The film collected Rs 94 million taking its two-week tally to Rs 304 million.

    OMG Oh My God! continued to enjoy a tremendous run at the box office as it added Rs 127 million for the third week thus taking its total to Rs 686 million (excluding figures from the Eastern Circuits).

    Barfi! managed to collect a reasonable Rs 17 million in its fifth week taking its total collection to Rs 1.08 billion.

  • South Asian Film Festival to be held from 25 to 28 Oct

    South Asian Film Festival to be held from 25 to 28 Oct

    MUMBAI: This year‘s South Asian Film Festival will be held in Goa from 25 to 28 October, with the films in the seventh edition of the festival having a blend of different genres.

    Films that would be featured in the festival will include classic films, short films, documentary, mainstream popular films. A Marathi film premiere would also be held, according to South Asia Foundation secretary general Rahul Barua.

    More than 40 films from SAARC countries will be screened that will include films like Singham, Rajneeti and Ye Saali Zindagi.

    Films from South East Asia include Torkham from Afghnaistan, Amaar Bondhu Rashed from Bangladesh, Seday from Bhutan, Insaaf from Maldives, Diyalee from Nepal, A Garden in Shigar and All That Jazz from Pakistan, Nildiya Yahana from Sri Lanka.

    Regional Indian films like 1:30 am and Ekaa will also be screened at the four-day festival.

    The festival is also celebrating “100 glorious years of Indian Cinema”.

    Randhir Kapoor and director Prakash Jha are expected to be among the prominent film personalities who will attend the festival.

  • Manoj Kumar inaugurates exhibition on Indian film centenary in Mumbai

    Manoj Kumar inaugurates exhibition on Indian film centenary in Mumbai

    MUMBAI: Veteran Bollywood star Manoj Kumar today inaugurated Cinema 100, an exhibition that has recreated a flashback of Indian cinema‘s journey from 1913.

    The exhibition has been organised in Juhu, Mumbai by the Institute of Film and Video Technology founded by veteran short filmmaker Kuldeep Sinha, former chief producer of the Films Division.

    The exhibition has been organised in collaboration with the Juhu Scheme Sarbojonin Durgotsab headed by former Hindi and Bengali actor Biswajeet, the National film Archive and DAVP .

    Sinha said the IFVT was dedicated to the task of spreading cinema education.

    The exhibition is slated to continue till 24 October.

  • Hitesh Kewalya‘s ‘Rhythmatics‘to screen at Chicago Intl film fest

    Hitesh Kewalya‘s ‘Rhythmatics‘to screen at Chicago Intl film fest

    MUMBAI: Hitesh Kewalya –directed ‘Rhythmatics‘ will screen at the Chicago International Children‘s Film Festival (CICFF) that will run from the 26 October to 4 November.

    Rhythmatics has been produced by Edumedia, a company that explores the impact of education on media through events, print, films, internet, television, mobile, gaming and other emerging media.

    The film is about a Math teacher named Mugdha being exasperated with her student Vikram who is always fidgety in class. But she notices that Vikram is very methodical with his tapping and twiddling, even his distractions have a consistent beat.

    Being a teacher who does not giving up easily on her students, Mugdha decides to help Vikram to focus and learn his concepts by adopting a beat and rhythm to her teaching. In the end, a conventionally strict teacher, finds and unconventional way of helping her student.

    The CICFF is one of the largest annual children‘s film festivals that screens over 250 films from across 40 countries.

  • 100 years of Indian cinema celebrated in South Africa

    100 years of Indian cinema celebrated in South Africa

    MUMBAI: Indian cinema celebrated its centenary with a gala show in South Africa in which 100 awards were given to individuals and organisations which have played a role in promoting the music and dance of the films in South Africa.

    “We are likely to never again in our lifetimes see a gathering like this of every senior artist from the Gauteng province joining social welfare organisations, promoters of Indian live shows and print and electronic media,” Kishore Badal, who coordinated the artists for the show, has been quoted to have said.

    The concept of the Indian Cinema Centenary Awards was initiated by South Africa‘s foremost Bollywood critic and writer, Fakir Hassen, who has written two books on his encounters with people from the Indian film industry for almost four decades.

    His latest book 250 Bollywood Encounters recounts tales of the ups and downs of that number of people from the Indian film industry whom he has met and interviewed.

    “With strong support from the Indian High Commission and South African Indian business sector, the first objective has ensured books being placed in schools and libraries across the country,” quipped Hassen.