ITV

Category: Hindi

  • Smita Patil retrospective at IFF Tofifest from 22 October

    Smita Patil retrospective at IFF Tofifest from 22 October

    MUMBAI: The first ever Smita Patil film retrospective will be presented at the 10th Edition of the IFF Tofifest.

    The official opening of the retrospective will begin on 22 October at the Tofifest Festival Centre in Baj Pomorski Theatre, at ul Piernikarska 3, in Toru?, one of the oldest cities in Poland. Her sister, Manya Patil, will be a special guest of the festival.

    Patil was an icon of the ambitious Indian cinema and a true star of the ‘Indian New Wave Cinema‘. Together with Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah and Om Puri, she was part of the most influential cinema quartet of the New Wave, the period in which Indian cinematography was developing artistically.

    The films she starred in were all focused on problems of women. She was also awarded the Padma Shri award by the government of India. In 2011, she was described as the second-most renowned Indian actress of all time in one of Indian websites.

    Indian traditionalists responded very negatively to her film characters, as they were unable to recognise any emancipation of women. In the famous Marathi film Umbartha by Jabbar Patel, she portrayed a guardian in a women‘s prison, who found the courage to abandon an unfaithful husband, who indulged himself with prostitutes.

    Her performance in Mirch Masala by Ketan Mehta was one of the most memorable feminist characters – she played a woman living in a very small village, who was harassed by aggressive soldiers and had to fight for her dignity.

  • Mumbai Film Festival to present lifetime achievement award to Zhang Yimou

    Mumbai Film Festival to present lifetime achievement award to Zhang Yimou

    MUMBAI: The Mumbai Film Festival will honour acclaimed director, producer, writer and Chinese actor Zhang Yimou with the Lifetime achievement award at the forthcoming 14th Mumbai Film Festival that would be held from 18 to 25 October.

    Considered to be one of China‘s most prominent directors, the prolific director is in the league of select oriental filmmakers who have successfully made a transition to mainstream Western cinema. He has been at the helm of record breaking films such as House of Flying Daggers, Hero, Curse of The Goldern Flower, and Raise the Red Lantern among numerous others.

    Zhang Yiimou has been conferred several notable international accolades including the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes for his film To Live, the Technical Grand Prize for Shanghai Triad, the Asia Pacific Screen Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Film, BAFTA‘s for To Live and Raise the Red Lantern and four different awards at the Berlin Film Festival as well as many others.

    In addition to his cinematic achievements, Zhang Yimou also directed the opening and closing ceremonies for the Beijing Summer Olympic Games in 2008, which received widespread global acclaim.

    The Mumbai Film Festival, an initiative by MAMI has been known to honour cinematic legends who have contributed to enriching the art and craft of cinema in varied capacities. Earlier recipients of this award have been Oliver Stone and Morgan Freeman respectively.

  • Barfi in Rs 1 billion club

    Barfi in Rs 1 billion club

    MUMBAI: Looks like director Anurag Basu‘s luck is paying him rich dividends. After being selected as India‘s official entry to the Oscars in the foreign language film category this year, Basu‘s Barfi! has added another feather in its cap. It has joined the Rs 1 billion club of Bollywood.

    The total cost of the movie has reportedly been Rs 300 million and since its release on 14 September, the love triangle featuring Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra and Ileana D‘Cruz has appealed so much to the moviegoers that it has raked in Rs 1 billion at the box office.

    The other Bollywood movies that grossed Rs 1 billion this year are Housefull 2, Rowdy Rathore, Bol Bachchan and Ek Tha Tiger.

    Barfi! has been produced by UTV Motion Pictures and after Rowdy Rathore, this is the production house‘s second film to achieve the feat.

  • Whistling Woods in co-production pact with University of Calgary

    Whistling Woods in co-production pact with University of Calgary

    MUMBAI: In another move to widen its wings internationally, Whistling Woods International (WWI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of Calgary and SAIT for a co-production partnership.

    This will be an exchange program between select students from the joint University of Calgary (UC) and South Albertan Institute of Technology (SAIT) Bachelor of Film Studies Program and Whistling Woods International (WWI) film school, Mumbai.

    This agreement is poised to mark an important milestone in education and training in Digital technology and knowledge exchange related to different facets of film production. This initiative is spread over six months, including pre-production, production and post-production process shared equally between WWI and UC. 10 students (5 from Mumbai, 5 from Calgary) and 4 instructors (2 from Mumbai, 2 from Calgary) will participate in this venture.

    Speaking on the occasion, Whistling Woods International, founder and chairman Subhash Ghai said, “It is a great privilege for Whistling Woods to be associated with universities of this stature internationally. I am truly grateful that UC and SAIT have extended their support to us for this new exchange programme and look forward to a long-standing, strong working relationship together.”

    The WWI team will travel to Canada for part of the principal shoot and the rest will be executed in India with the Canadian counterparts in Mumbai. The project will create greater cross-cultural and mutual understanding of each other‘s work processes, values, approaches and ways of working. Additionally, the project will encourage possibilities of curricula and faculty exchange in the future.

    Students and faculty involved in the project will be the first to participate in this cross-cultural exchange and have the opportunity to gain international work experience. This cooperative initiative will evaluate the feasibility of future collaborative ventures related to the training of professionals in the film industry.

    These select students along with selected instructors from both campuses will work together to produce a short 20-minute film that shall be premiered at the 2013 Banff World Media Festival, one of the biggest International gatherings of short films in the world.

    Recently, WWI had announced that it would, in collaboration with Trend Media City Ltd (TMC), set up a film and media training institute in Nigeria that would mark Africa‘s first world-class film institute to be called Whistling Woods International Nigeria (WWIN).

  • T.P. Aggarwal chosen IMPPA president

    T.P. Aggarwal chosen IMPPA president

    MUMBAI: The Indian Motion Picture Producers‘ Association (IMPAA) has elected T.P. Aggarwal as its new president.

    Other members who were elected include Sushama Shiromanee (IMPAA senior vice president), Vinay Kumar Sinha (vice president) and Anand Girdhar (treasurer).

    A total of 16 candidates contested in the Ordinary Members category (regular producers) and five candidates in Associate Class in each of the groups Active Group headed by Shabnam Kapoor and Today‘s Group headed by T.P. Aggarwal. Komal Gulati was the independent candidate who bagged seven votes.

    Today‘s Group outwitted the Active Group with 11 of its members winning against the Active Group‘s 10 members.

    Those elected from the Ordinary members category were Kuku Kohli, Ashok Pandit, Guddu Dhanoa, Shabnam Kapoor, Naresh Mohnot, Vicky Ranawat, Manoj Chaturvedi, N.R. Pachisia and Mrs. Farrah Sultan Ahmed.

    The elections were presided over by Guddu Dhanoa, Kumar Aditya and secretary and returning officer Anil Nagrath.

    Later, at a small ceremony, ex-Mumbai commissioner of Police A N Roy awarded the Lifetime Achievement Awards to Aroona Irani, late Mehmood (collected by brother Anwar) and late Gulshan Kumar (collected by Krishan Kumar). The Young Achievers Award was given to producer Sajid Nadiadwala.

    Associate Class: S. Kumar Mohan (63 votes).

  • Salman’s Sher Khan to release in Eid next year

    Salman’s Sher Khan to release in Eid next year

    MUMBAI: Not to give up his claim of a release during the time of Eid, Salman Khan has finalised that his brother Sohail Khan‘s upcoming film Sher Khan would release in Eid 2013.

    A few days ago, there were reports that Akshay Kumar‘s Once Upon A Time In Mumbai 2 would be the only 2013 Eid release. This means that Salman Khan would lock horns with Akshay Kumar during the Muslim festive time next year.

    Said director Sohail Khan, “I start shooting Sher Khan from January 2013 next and I start casting and finalising locations from next month. It‘s God‘s decree, After Tiger, Bhai is destined to play Sher. We‘re going ahead with the release of Sher Khan during Eid 2013.”

    The project would be different from Dabangg and Ek Tha Tiger and will have more special effects than stunts. Said an insider that more than Salman‘s stunts there will be lots of special-effects in the film. And that‘s why Sher Khan would take longer than usual in the post-production.”

    But Khan is very clear on this. Sher Khan would have to be ready for Eid, come what may,” the source added.

    As per reports Angela Johnson and Priyanka Chopra are in talks for the film.

  • OMG collects Rs 159.4 million in opening weekend

    OMG collects Rs 159.4 million in opening weekend

    MUMBAI: OMG Oh My God! has been much appreciated thus creating good word of mouth for the film which in turn has helped soar its collections over the weekend to Rs 159.4 million.

    The movie collected Rs 34.8 million on Friday, Rs 58.1 million on Sunday and Rs 66.5 million on Sunday.

    While Gujarat contributed the most to its kitty, collections in East Punjab were affected as the film‘s screening was stopped by the local administration at a couple of centres after objections from activists.

    Their demand was to trim certain sections of the film which, however, amounted to over 35 minutes and would have rendered the film senseless. The figures were also affected to some degree due to India Pakistan T20 match on Sunday.

    The film collected Rs 159.4 million (which does not include West Bengal, Bihar, Assam and other eastern territories) in its opening weekend. The film remained steady as the week began and is expected to get some added advantage due to a national holiday on 2 October.

    Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal, poor in content, was poor at box office as well. The film collected Rs 44 million during its first weekend.

    Heroine was not appreciated and the collections dropped as the week progressed. The film, which collected Rs 245 million for the weekend, managed to collect just Rs 331 million for the first week.

    Barfi! was excellent in its second week with figures of Rs 242.5 million taking its two week tally to Rs 828.5 million.

    Jeena Hai Toh Thok Daal was out of contention after the second week.

    Raaz3 pulled in Rs 22 million in its third week despite new oppositions to take its three week total to Rs 713 million.

  • SACF celebrates life and work of Dev Anand

    SACF celebrates life and work of Dev Anand

    MUMBAI: The South Asian Cinema Foundation‘s (SACF) ‘A Musical Journey through the Dev Anand Era‘, reminded people of the golden period of Indian cinema recently when it celebrated the life and work of the late actor.

    The SACF event saw live performances by the young as well as veteran singers and instrumentalists and a running narrative by the film historian and the director of SACF, Lalit Mohan Joshi in the presence of Dev Anand‘s family members among others.

    Produced by SACF in association with the Nehru Centre, the programme presented a historical perspective of Indian Cinema‘s Golden Era.

    Dev Anand, who expired in December last year, brought together and nurtured great icons of the Indian film industry like SD Burman, Sahir Ludhianvi, Guru Dutt, Raj Khosla, Kishore Kumar, Geeta Dutt, Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhonsle and Lata Mangeshkar.

    After Dev Anand got his first major break in Ziddi in 1948, he formed his own film company Navketan in 1949. For the next three decades he produced classics like Baazi (1951), Taxi Driver (1954), CID (1956), Hum Dono (1961), Guide (1965), Jewel Thief (1967), Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971) and Des Pardes (1978).

  • WB govt releases promotional film featuring SRK

    WB govt releases promotional film featuring SRK

    MUMBAI: The Government of West Bengal has released its promotional film featuring Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan.

    Through the film, the state government is promoting West Bengal as a progressive state with Rabindranath Tagore‘s song Sonar Bangla (Golden Bengal) in the background.

    It talks about new and resurgent Bengal by highlighting industrialisation, agricultural growth, skilled artisans and handicrafts.

    The promotional film features important tourist destinations of Bengal such as Darjeeling, Digha, the Dakshineswar Kali temple and Kalighat besides traditional dances of Bengal and the Sunderbans among others.

    The promotional film has been directed by national award winning film maker Anirudhha Roy Choudhury. The film has gone on-air on leading national and Bengali television channels.

  • NFDC’s classic Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro to re-release on 2 November

    NFDC’s classic Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro to re-release on 2 November

    MUMBAI: NFDC Cinemas of India in association with PVR Director‘s Rare will re-release the digitally restored version of Kundan Shah‘s film on 2 November exclusively across PVR Cinemas in 11 cities including Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Surat, and Gurgaon. The film will be released in 2K projection.

    A dark satire on the rampant corruption in Indian politics, bureaucracy, news media and business, the film comprises an ensemble cast of Naseeruddin Shah, Ravi Baswani, Om Puri, Pankaj Kapur, Satish Shah, Bhakti Barve and Neena Gupta. Released in 1983, the film resonated very well with the audineces for its superb satirical depiction of the essential, timeless, human condition, supreme self-interest and some moral/ethical anchor.

    Speaking on this occasion, NFDC Managing Director Nina Lath Gupta said, “We are glad to re-release the digitally restored version of an old time classic like Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro! We discussed our intent to re-release the film with Kundan Shah at the time of the film‘s DVD launch, fully knowing its potential for a theatrical release, and are confident that the younger audineces of today who are yet to see the film will love the plot and the charaters. The film will release under the PVR Director‘s Rare banner, fitting perfectly with the nature of the initiative taken by PVR.”

    Averred PVR Ltd. JMD Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, “We are completely thrilled to bring to the movie connoisseurs one of the most epic movie of the 80‘s and is confident to receive a positive response from the audience. Re-releasing a digitally restored version of an old classic is a novel initiative taken by PVR Director‘s Rare with NFDC. As a multiplex chain we are wholly committed to bring to our discerning audience a cinema that is amazingly entertaining, meaningful and engaging.”