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Category: Hindi

  • Kya Super Kool collects Rs 231 mn in first three days

    Kya Super Kool collects Rs 231 mn in first three days

    MUMBAI: Kya Super Kool Hai Hum has withstood the box-office limitations of the Ramzan month, collecting Rs 231 million in the opening weekend.

    Balaji Telefilms‘ Girish Johar claims this to be the biggest opening weekend collection for a Ramzan month release.

    Mere Dost Picture Abhi Baki Hai fared miserably to collect a little over Rs one million in its first week.

    Challo Driver netted just Rs 600,000 in its first week, while Gattu, a Children‘s Film Society enterprise, collected Rs 1.5 million.

    Cocktail‘s box office total stood at Rs 713 million with Rs 175 million coming from the second week.

    Bol Bachchan did reasonably well in its third week to collect Rs 109 million. This took its three-week total to Rs 930 million.

    Gangs Of Wasseypur collected Rs 2.5 million in its fifth week to take its total to Rs 267 million.

    Ferrari KI Sawaari added Rs 1.3 million in its sixth week. The movie has so far collected Rs 282.8 million.

    Having netted Rs 2.5 million in the eighth week of its run, Rowdy Rathore has mopped up Rs 1.38 billion so far.

  • India and Asia should create their own Oscar-level awards, says Shekhar Kapur

    India and Asia should create their own Oscar-level awards, says Shekhar Kapur

    New Delhi: Veteran filmmaker Shekhar Kapur said today that Indians should not be so crazy about the Oscars when Asia was vibrant enough to have its own Oscar-like awards.

    The ace filmmaker had the media and others present for the 12th Osian‘s Cinefan Festival for Asian and Arab Cinema glued to every word he said during an interaction with Osian‘s Chairman Neville Tuli on “Indian Cinema, World Cinema film festivals and cinematic heritage”.

    Shekhar, whose ‘Elizabeth‘ had won Oscars, said few knew that the Oscars were launched because March is a lean month in the United States and so it was thought that there should be some activity relating to films which will keep people enthused.

    He also said it was not correct to say that filmmakers in India did not plan for marketing when they plan their films, but said the budgets were far lower than those for Hollywood.

    He said it was wrong to claim India has the largest film industry in the world. China is ahead of India because it is creating new infrastructures for cinema. It had a very strong domestic market for cinema, worth almost $ 100,000.

    Therefore, the only way to improve the Indian market is to improve the local market for cinema by building greater infrastructure such as financial institutions to help the film industry.

    He also felt that Indians should look more towards Asia than towards the west in terms of developing its cinema.

    He said that Indians would any day prefer to see an Indian film rather than a Hollywood film, and this potential should be recognized by the film industry.

    He said the west had picked up many things from India and films there had more emotions now because they had also realized what people wanted to see.

    Shekhar also had his complaints against the Central Board for Film Certification and said many countries did not have any censorship and those that did had better and more rational regulations in place.

    Mr Tuli said that the OCFF this year was stressing on freedom of thought and expression and showing films that proved to be milestones in their fight for their right of freedom of expression.

    He also said Osian‘s was helping to build the proper infrastructure for creative freedom and also bring about a vibrant film culture that could co-exist with other forms of art.

    Shekhar was at the Festival to participate in the panel on ‘The Water Landscape‘ held yesterday as part of the section on environmental films.

  • A Critic is not a Judge, but a person who loves cinema: Samir Farid

    A Critic is not a Judge, but a person who loves cinema: Samir Farid

    New Delhi: Renowned Egyptian film critic Samir Farid says “I don‘t like people who consider a critic as a judge. I hate to consider myself a judge. I consider myself a man of cinema.”

    Farid, who has been awarded the Aruna Vasudev Lifetime Achievement award at the 12th Osian‘s Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema, said “everyone has a right to like or dislike any work of art or film. A critic is a professional. It is his home profession to see a film or to read or to listen to music or any kind of art. Professional critic means he has a method.”

    In a lecture at the OCFF, he said he studied literature and theatre and not cinema. “Each art has its own language.”

    One of the challenges is for a critic to know how to define a success or a failure. The film critic has no choice. He must be a reader by profession, Farid said, stressing that a film critic should be a reader of other works of arts so that he can differentiate cinema from the other arts.

    He said “There are two big branches of art. The first one belongs to the popular heritage in music and literature or anything. The second being films or works of art that suppresses the individual or the work of an individual.” He added: “When I write an article, I‘m looking for my reader. There has to be a harmony between the content, style and substance of a piece of art.

    When asked how he was first exposed to foreign cinema as it is not widely available in Egypt, Farid said: “My first trip outside of Egypt was to the Cannes Film Festival in 1967. This was the 20th edition of the film festival. I was very fortunate to see films like Blow-Up by Antonioni at the Festival.”

    “Egypt produces around 40 films a year. It was about 120 in the 1990s. The industry is still alive and popular. Egyptian films have more than 70% of the market share and 30% is from American films. Hindi films are limited to 5 films a year as they are scared of the Indian film market. There is only Egyptian or American films, no third kind of culture existed for the last 20 years,” he said.

  • Delhi In A Day and Shala take Directors Vision award at Stuttgart fest

    Delhi In A Day and Shala take Directors Vision award at Stuttgart fest

    NEW DELHI: Filmmakers Prashant Nair and Sujay S Dahake have jointly claimed the ‘Directors Vision Award‘ at the 9th edition of Indian Film festival of Stuttgart, Germany for their films Delhi In A Day and Shala respectively.

    The Director‘s Vision Award is given to a film that looks at life with an incisive perspective.

    While Shala is a story of school children coming of age in a repressive small-town society, Delhi In A Day is about capital‘s urban rich and their servants seen through the eyes of an NRI.

    “The entire team is delighted to have received this award as an endorsement of the message and theme of the movie. It was really wonderful to see the film resonate with German audiences in such a positive way.

    The Indian Film Festival of Stuttgart had a wonderful selection of films, watched by extremely enthusiastic audiences and we‘re proud to have been a part of it,” said Nair in a statement.

  • Inox Q2 net jumps 56% to Rs 54.9 million

    Inox Q2 net jumps 56% to Rs 54.9 million

    MUMBAI: Multiplex chain Inox Leisure‘s net profit jumped 56 per cent to Rs 54.9 million for the second quarter ending 30 June compared to Rs 31 million in the same quarter of the preceding fiscal.

    The company‘s total revenue grew 18 per cent to 1.18 billion from Rs 1 billion a year earlier. Its net sales were Rs 1.17 billion, up 17 per cent from 994.9 million a year earlier.

    Inox‘s expenses for the quarter rose to Rs 1.035 billion from Rs 921.6 million, an increase of 12 per cent. The exhibition cost increased to Rs 315.6 million in the second quarter from Rs 272.2 million a year earlier.

    The company had during the quarter given an in-principle approval to the proposed merger of its subsidiary Fame India and its subsidiaries Fame Motion Pictures, Big Pictures Hospitality Services and Headstrong Films with Inox Leisure.

  • Egyptian critic Samir Farid conferred with Osian Lifetime Achievement Award

    Egyptian critic Samir Farid conferred with Osian Lifetime Achievement Award

    NEW DELHI: As a mark of tribute to creative thought, the 12th Osian Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema has conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award, named after the Festival’s founder Aruna Vasudev, to renowned Egyptian critic Samir Farid who is also to give a lecture at the Festival.

    Accepting the award as ‘a great honour from a great country’, Farid said he loved cinema and film criticism was an expression of this. He noted that Egypt had been facing bad times, and the arts were in danger in the hands of Islamic fanatics. But he said he would continue to fight for creative freedom as religion and art were two different things.

    Born in Cairo, Egypt, Farid started his career as the film Critic of “Al-Gomhoreya” daily in Cairo in 1965. He has since emerged as one of the most prolific and significant film critics in the Arab world.

    Since 1967, Farid has been invited to more than 170 film festivals and seminars in Africa, Asia, USA and Europe. He has been a member of the FIPRESCI since 1971 and International Jury Boards since 1972. Farid has authored over 60 books, contributing significantly to Arab and Egyptian Cinema.

  • Joker may be screened for Sunita Williams in space

    Joker may be screened for Sunita Williams in space

    MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures, the distributors of Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha starrer Joker, are going a notch up to promote the fantasy adventure film.

    The distributors are in talks with The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to work out logistics to screen the film at the space station for astronaut Sunita Williams.

    “We are trying to (show the movie to Williams), but I don‘t think we are going to get permission. There are lot of red tapes involved in that. UTV has been trying to get it up because the movie is about UFOs and space,” said Farah Khan wife of producer director Shirish Kunder.

    “They wanted it to be up there, but I think one has to take permission a year in advance. So the process is on,” she added.

  • Jism 2 to release in Tamil and Telugu

    Jism 2 to release in Tamil and Telugu

    MUMBAI: Jism 2 director Pooja is considering dubbing the film in Tamil and Telugu language to tap into the large non-Hindi audience in South.

    The film, which was recently passed with an A-certificate by the Central Board of Film Certification, will release in Telugu in Andhra Pradesh in 200 theatres.

    Jism 2 is slated for release on August 3.

    The film, starring porn star Sunny Leone, also has Ranadeep Hooda and Arunoday Singh playing pivotal roles.

    “It‘s an adult film for adult sensibilities. The adult audience is a sizeable number and it is big enough for my film,” stated Pooja Bhatt in a statement.

  • Aalaap is an aimless effort

    Aalaap is an aimless effort

    MUMBAI: Aalaap, the title would suggest this to be a musical film; it is not a musical in that sense of the word for there is not a single tune you would hum on your way back. It is about a group of likeminded young boys who share their love for music and try to spread happiness and message of patriotism and such to the masses of Naxal violence infested Jharkhand. The inspiration is claimed to be from Rang De Basanti and 1942: A Love Story but the plot of the film resembles more to Jis Desh Mei Ganga Bheti Hai.

    Amit Purohit is an ideal student who also excels in extracurricular activities one of which is music. He has a gifted voice. He wins a competition and becomes a local star, an exemplary youth so much so that he is all over local TV and soon noticed by the district administrator who grants him all the funds he may need, a car and a mentor, Vijay Raaz, to spread the message of good will! He finds three more young men, Pitobash, Aabid Shamim and Harsh Rajput and together they form a band.

    The band‘s fame spreads; it has reached the boss of the Naxal movement, Murali Sharma, too. They are invited to perform for Sharma and his people in a jungle hideout. All this while the police, lead by Abhimanyu Singh, has decided to go all out to get the Naxals. People are shot dead on both sides and the boys manage to escape barring Purohit. Others decide to hijack a police van and come back for him and are shot by Naxals taking them to be the police because of the police vehicle.

    Aalaap not only fails to entertain but will also fail in taking its message through about the Naxal problem; the effort looks aimless.

  • (S)excitingly entertaining

    (S)excitingly entertaining

    MUMBAI: Kyaa Super Kool Hai Hum is a sex comedy: all the gags and innuendoes in the film are about sex. A generation back, it would have been termed vulgar but it is considered quite acceptable by moviegoers now. The film makes no pretence of a story of any kind and depends mainly on its dialogue and suggestive actions.

    Tusshar Kapoor and Riteish Deshmukh are buddies and roommates in Mumbai. While Tusshar dreams of becoming a film star, Riteish is a DJ and aspires to cut his own disc someday. Tusshar meets his love, Neha Sharma, who has the habit of travelling ticketless in a city bus even as her car follows. On one such adventure of hers, when asked to show her ticket by the checker, Tusshar stands by her. For Tusshar love has already happened but Neha Sharma is put off by his continuous calls and stalking. For the convenience of the script, Riteish happens to fall for Neha Sharma‘s best friend, Sara Jane Dias.

    Riteish owns a pug named Suckru, which is his main source of income. The pug is lent out for mating and the monies thus earned keep the duo going. All that Riteish has to do is play some fast music which arouses his dog into a sexual frenzy. The jokes are mainly plays on words, like Tusshar is Adi and his answer to Devdas is him, Adi-Das. He is being screen-tested by Rohit Shetty (guest role) for his next film, Chinghum. Neha Sharma‘s favourite TV show is ‘Bade Achhe Lagte Hai‘ and references to other film titles in a funny way. Tusshar also models for a teleshopping firm and sells remedies for constipation and whitening creams. To Tusshar‘s boast that he has one thing that girls don‘t, the girl‘s reply to him is, ‘they do, it vibrates and is battery operated‘. That is the flavour of this film.

    Finally, when Sharma agrees to meet Tusshar, he puts a diamond ring on her finger; no matter that it is their first date. Sharma has had enough of him and, with her friend Dias, heads for Goa. It is time for some picturesque visuals and also to introduce two more funny men: Anupam Kher who is Dias‘ father, and Chunky Pandey, a municipality dog catcher turned conman Baba 3G. Anupam Kher is Baba 3G‘s disciple. The Baba relieves him of his riches on regular bases. He has palmed off a bitch, a pug again, to Anupam Kher convincing him she is his mother from last birth.

    It so happens that the ring Tusshar presented to Sharma was made from a diamond worth five lakh that Ritiesh had lovingly put on Suckru‘s collar. The ring has to be retrieved from Sharma; excuse enough for the boys also to land up in Goa. More craziness of the corny kind follows. The girls have decided to pretend to be a couple to help Sharma keep Tusshar off. Chasing Dias, Riteish ends up in a gay club whose owner, Howard Rosemeyer, gets the hots for him instantly.

    Anupam Kher‘s hobby is to collect film memorabilia of a peculiar kind. He has the tiny blouse Vidya Balan supposedly wore in The Dirty Picture, the soap Ramu Kaka used in Sholay, the sperm bottles used in Vicky Donour and so on! In fact, anything to do with sex and the film makes sure it is used as a part of its gags: there is sex talk, gay sex, lesbian sex, doggy style sex and what have you!

    Kyaa Super Kool Hai Hum may not have much of a story but the script has been smartly put together for all the sex gags to be incorporated some of which again are well worked out. Music does not have much scope in the scheme of things here but the film has a couple of passable numbers. Direction is good and in control of what is at hand. This is not really a performance film since dialogue does the entertaining. What is left to actors is mostly buffoonery and Tusshar Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh and Anupam Kher all do well with some contribution from Chunky Pandey and others. Of the girls, Sara Jane Dias is more expressive while Neha Sharma is okay.

    Kya Super Kool Hai Hum may be crude but it does the job of entertaining and having opened to good response, it should sail safe with its investment at the end of week one.