Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: Three Indian documentaries namely Understanding Trafficking, Dreaming Taj Mahal, Letters to Dharavi and an Indo-Italian co-production Letters from the Desert will be part of 10th Edition of the Tiburon International Film Festival 2011.

Ananya Chatterjee Chakraborti directed Understanding Trafficking stresses the difference between women who migrate and join the sex trade and women who are trafficked into the sex trade.

Nirmal Chander Dandriyal’s Dreaming Taj Mahal relates the story of a taxi driver from Pakistan who dreams of visiting India to see the Taj Mahal.

Letters to Dharavi is a documentary by Saravanan Ganesan is the story about a postman working in Asia’s largest slum Dharavi and the problems he faces in delivering letters.

Letters from the Desert directed by Michela Occhipinti is the story of a postman in a desert whose life changes due to a small technological device.

The festival will run from 7 to 15 April in Tiburon, California.
 

MUMBAI: The 54th San Francisco International Film Festival has selected Harud (Autumn) directed by Aamir Bashir to be part of Narrative Features in New Directors competition of the festival.

Mourning the disappearance of his elder brother, a young man tries to make a life for himself in his violence-ridden home of Kashmir in this powerful depiction of the loss and psychological decay caused by 20 years of violent conflict is what the film is all about.

The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last year

In all eleven feature narratives will vie for the New Directors award that comprises of a prize money of $15,000.

The festival will be held from 21 April to 5 May.
 

MUMBAI: Fox Star Studio‘s 3D animation film Rio is set to release on 8 April.

Set in the magnificent city of Rio de Janeiro and the lush rainforest of Brazil, Rio is a comedy-adventure which centres on Blu, a rare macau who thinks he is the last of his kind.

As per a release issued by the studio, Rio is filled with splendid animation and VFX.

It has been learnt that singers Shaan and Sunidhi Chauhan will be voicing for the lead characters Blu and Jewel in the Hindi version of the film. Not only that, the duo will also be lending their melodious voice to a couple of Hindi songs in the film. 

Fox had recently roped in Ranvir Shorey and Vinay Pathak to do the Hindi voiceovers for Blu‘s friends Nico and Pedro respectively.

Jesse Eisenberg, who is known for his portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network, has voiced for Blu in the English version while Anne Hathaway has lent her voice for Jewel.

MUMBAI: Red Chillies Entertainment‘s sci-fi film Ra.One will release on 26 October this year.

Ra.One is based on the story of a super hero who has the power to freeze electricity. Khan plays the role of G One who is a positive character and fights off his negative counterpart techno monster Ra One.
 
Ra One is built on over Rs 1 billion.. The target audience of the film is kids and their families.

The under-production film has screenplay by SRK himself and is being directed by Anubhav Sinha.

MUMBAI: The Chalachithra Film Society, Kerala, has awarded the Aravindan Puraskaram to Nila Madhab Panda as best debut filmmaker of 2010 for his acclaimed film I am Kalam.

The award, instituted in memory of renowned Malayalam filmmaker G Aravindan, carried a cash prize of Rs 25,000, a citation and a plaque.

A few days ago, in an event held in Goa, Panda‘s debut film won the Young Jury Award 2010 for best film.

I am Kalam is a story about a child, his struggles to pursue his dreams and to surpass the boundaries of reality; it is a celebration of human spirit pitted against overwhelming odds.
 
This award was conceptualised during the 41st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) held in Goa last year. Young students were selected, trained and had to choose a winner from the Indian Panorama selection of the festival.

The film has won many international awards like best feature film at the Lucas International Film Festival, The Don Quixote Prize of the International Cine Club Federations at the Lucas International Film Festival and Audience favourite choice at the Barbican London Children film festival 2010.

I am Kalam, produced by an NGO Smile Foundation, addresses the issue of children‘s education in India. 

MUMBAI: Maverick Productions‘ One and Only is set for release in May.
The film, which is completing its last schedule, marks the launch of Chirag Paswan along with Kangna Ranaut, Neeru Bajwa and Sagorika Ghatge amongst others.

Avers Maverick Productions‘ Anuj Saxena, “The film is looking very good, and we have decided on a summer release to benefit from school vacations as it is a family film. We have two days remaining to shoot a song. An aggressive promotions plan is being put in place to build the film to release.”

Directed by Tanveer Khan, the film has an engaging story of a son‘s efforts in bringing his estranged parents together.
 

MUMBAI: Noted Bengali star Prosenjit has ventured into an issue-based film Chalo Paltai (Let‘s Change) on parents‘ obsession with their children‘s education.

Chalo Paltai, directed by Haranath Chakraborty, is a poignant story of a father hitting his cricket loving son hard for scoring poor marks in examinations and the boy relapsing into coma as a result. The father, a lower grade corporation employee, realises his folly and takes up the battle to challenge the education system.
 
Talking of parent‘s woes Prosenjit says, “Parents are not at fault, but they should be made aware that they should not become too much a part of the system just mechanically, though education is necessary for everyone‘s growth. With just one movie, you can‘t change the educational system. But one can spread the message to stop pushing children too much into the rat race for excellence in studies.”

Prosenjit‘s film Moner Manush had recently won the Golden Peacock award while his other film Autograph was a box office hit.

The star, who recently said that he would henceforward be very selective about movie roles, said he picked up the movie Chalo Paltai for its very relevant focus on parents‘ obsession for excellence of their children in education, which only helped pin down young impressionable minds.

MUMBAI: In their determination to take the film adaptation of Chetan Bhagat’s novel2 States to international standards, producer Sajid Nadiadwala and director Vishal Bhardwaj have got on board the writer of Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding (2001), Sabrina Dhawan, to co-write 2 States along with the director.

Having taken the decision to script the film in Hindi and English, the filmmakers were in search of an Indian writer, with an international cinematic sensibility. Confirming the same, Nadiadwala has been quoted to have said, “Yes, we’re looking at 2 States as a project with a much wider reach than our other films, as it has the potential to break through boundaries. We’ve got Sabrina Dhawan on board to write the screen adaptation. We’ll finalize the casting after the script is done. It should take about a month as we’re going on floors in July.”

2 States is a story about Krish and Ananya from two different states of India, deeply in love and wanting to get married. But their parents don’t agree. To convert their love story into a love marriage, the couple have a tough battle in front of them. For it is easy to fight and rebel, but it is much harder to convince. Whether they are able to convince them forms the crux of the film.

The move to go global marks the first international bi-lingual film in Shah Rukh Khan’s career.
 

MUMBAI: Viacom18 Tanu Weds Manu has made inroads in a place where Bollywood cinema is not a priority.

A delegation from Germany recently came to Mumbai with a clear intention of watching the new festive hit.

The Germans were curious about the most minute gradation in the film. And after watching the film, so bowled over were they that now a German version of the film is being made. 

“It was a group of students of Comparative Cinema from the University of Regensburg in Bavaria, Germany. My colleague fellow-filmmaker Hansal Mehta sent these students to me. I was surprised that they wanted to see Tanu Weds Manu and even more surprised at the way they responded to the film,” director Aanand Rai has been quoted to have said.

The film stars R Madhavan and Kangana Ranaut as two people who are poles apart but still they fall in love.

The German delegation has since returned home and has immediately initiated plans to release the German version of the film.
 

MUMBAI: Hungama TV’s most-loved character Shinchan is all set to tickle the funny bone of kids and families across India, when Bungle In The Jungle releases on the silver screen on 1 April.

Geared towards a family audience, Bungle In The Jungle follows the adventures of Shinchan, his family and friends as they hop on board a cruise for a South China Sea Trip with his idol Action Kamen. But they hit upon rough seas when a group of monkeys kidnap all the adults including Kamen as slaves for the self proclaimed ruler of the jungle – Paradise King!

Shinchan and his friends embark upon an exciting adventure to investigate the disappearance of all their parents and Kamen. Paradise King is determined to defeat everyone’s beloved and now it is upon little Shinchan to save the day along with sister Himawari and dog Shiro!

Last year Hungama TV premiered Shinchan TV movie – Shinchan in Action Kamen vs. Higure Rakshas that had an audience of over 5 million individuals that included 2.6 million kids.