Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: The Himachal Pradesh government, in association with the Films Division of India, is set to stage the Shimla International Film Festival (SIFF) from 18 to 20 March.

Several award-winning documentaries, short and animation films from India and abroad will be screened at the festival.

The festival would be held at the Gaiety Theatre, which has been the centre of cultural activities in Shimla right from the day it opened in 1887.

It may be noted that the information and broadcasting ministry‘s Directorate of Film Festivals held a three-day Indian Panorama Film Festival at the 123-year-old Gaiety Theatre in May last year.
 

MUMBAI: The Khan brothers, Salman, Arbaaz and Sohail, reinforced their relationship with T-Series head honcho Bhushan Kumar when they entrusted his company with the music of Atul Agnihotri’s Bodyguard.

The friendship shared by the Khans and Bhushan Kumar is well-known with music of the films picking up at the box-office. This was evident from the success of Dabaang that was followed by their joint venture Ready.

Said Sohail Khan, “Bhushan Kumar and we have always shared familial ties. That apart, we are very happy with the super-success of Dabaang in which the music and film promotion made a big difference. Impressed by the strategic handling of the music, we have assigned Atul Agnihotri‘s Bodyguard music to T-Series. It goes without saying that the music of our next film Dabaang 2 with Arbaaz as director will also be given to T Series.”

MUMBAI: Vipul Shah will make a sequel of his 2007 film Namastey London.

Having been persuaded by Akshay Kumar who featured in the first film with Katrina Kaif, Shah has decided to do the sequel and has already finished scripting the yet untitled film.

Said Shah, “More than me, Akshay was keen to do a sequel to Namastey London. He felt the story had the potential to be carried forward. I couldn‘t disagree with him beyond a point.”
 
The 2007 hit was a drama about a Punjabi boy, wooing and winning over a stuck-up British-Asian girl. It made such a great impact on the careers of Akshay and Katrina Kaif that led them to be paired in several films thereafter.
The sequel will carry forward the story of Arjun played by Kumar and Jazz played by Kaif into a marriage of inconvenience and the trials they face.

The sequel will be shot in London.
 

MUMBAI: The story of Budhia Singh, the four-year old marathon boy from Orissa, now a documentary titled Marathon Boy made by Gemma Atwal, will have its North American premiere in the documentary competition section of the 10th Tribeca Film Festival (TFF).

Marathon Boy is a moving tale of little Budhia born in the slums of Bhubaneswar in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, whose mother sells him to a peddler for Rs 800. A judo teacher, Biranchi Das, who runs an orphanage, buys him back only to discover Budhia‘s talent for running.

But when Biranchi has the four-year old Budhia run 42 miles, a controversy breaks out and he is accused of exploiting a boy too young to know what he really wants. The government gets involved and the issue gets politicised.

The rumours of vast sums of money attract gangsters eager to drive a wedge between Biranchi and Budhia. The film slowly turns into a tale of dreams, greed, and envy with a little child as the main protagonist.

This is the second film with an Indian theme after Patang (Kites), directed by Prashant Bhargava, was included in the competition section of TFF 2011. Both the films will be competing for a cash prize of $1,50,000.

The 98-minute film, made in Oriya as well as in English, is an Indo-US co-production backed by HBO. The film had received support from the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund.
 

MUMBAI: After delivering the successful film Tanu weds Manu, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures has teamed up with Movie Temple Productions for Project 18, to be written and directed by Abhinav Kashyap.

Viacom18 Motion Pictures‘ latest release Tanu Weds Manu is already a hit. By releasing the movie during Cricket World Cup, Viacom18 Motion Pictures challenged the conventional wisdom and is reaping the rewards of it. With this venture, Viacom 18 intends to leverage its vast distribution network worldwide to bring another exciting experience to cinema lovers.

Says Viacom 18 Motion Pictures COO Vikram Malhotra, “We are proud to have Abhinav join the Viacom18 Motion Pictures family. Abhinav is not just a rare writing and directing talent but also possesses an uncanny and stylish approach to film-making that puts him in the top league of young directors today. We are very excited to partner with Abhinav for his next film and also plan to further build on our relationship with Sanjeev Gupta and Himanshu Mehra‘s company Movie Temple Productions.”
 
Movie Temple Productions is a company co-promoted by Sanjeev Gupta, a Saharanpur based textiles businessman with interests in cinema and Himanshu Mehra, chief assistant director to Abhinav Singh Kashyap for the Blockbuster film Dabangg.

Mehra is trained in film production and direction. He was the line producer of successful films like Shyam Benegal‘s Welcome to Sajjanpur and has been a production executive on a British Tele-Series on HBO called Mumbai Calling. Movie Temple Productions will be responsible for developing and executing this new project.

Commented Movie Temple Productions CEO Himanshu Mehra, “We are delighted to have got this opportunity to work with two entertainments giants like Viacom 18 Motion Pictures and Abhinav Kashyap. We have been able to identify a lot of young and enthusiastic talent to support us in our endeavor and we hope to live up to everyone‘s expectations.”

The script of Project 18 is already under development. It is slated to go on floors in the last quarter of this year and will witness Kashyap bring his insightful understanding of the Indian movie going audience to the fore.

MUMBAI: Saregama Films will release its film Soundtrack on 12 August.

Soundtrack is said to be a remake of the multi-award winning film It‘s All Gone Pete Tong.

Soundtrack is a modern-day portrayal of the life story of India‘s most prolific musician and DJ. It traces his alcohol, drug and sex fuelled meteoric rise as he battles his internal demons and a damaging handicap. 

Directed by debutant Neerav Ghosh, the film has Rajeev Khandelwal, Soha Ali Khan and Mrinalini Sharma. It also stars Mohan Kapur, Yateem Karyekar, musician Sidd Coutto, Ankur Tewari and Anurag Kashyap in a special role.

Rajeev Khandelwal, Soha Ali Khan and Mrinalini Sharma. The film also stars Mohan Kapur, Yateen Karyekar, musicians Sidd Coutto, Ankur Tewari, and Anurag Kashyap in a very special role.

The film, based on a true story, is now in its post-production stage finished shooting in December last year.
 

MUMBAI: Aarya Babbar has been confirmed to play a terrorist akin to Ajmal Qasab in Mahesh Bhatt’s Kuch Log to be directed by debutanr director Shuja Ali.

Babbar, the son of Raj Babbar and Nadira Babbar, was selected to play the dreaded terrorist because of his command over Urdu and Hindi and also for his Afghani-Middle Eastern looks. Cofirming the news, Babbar said, “Well, yes. I am indeed playing the role. But I’d rather not talk too much about the film and my character.”

The film follows the story of a dreaded terrorist whose life crosses paths with someone who teaches him the true teachings of the Holy Quran. The turning point in the movie is how his life changes after that and how he tries to walk on the righteous path which makes for a very inspiring story about redemption.

Others who play important characters in Kuch Log are Anupam Kher, Gulshan Grover, Ganesh Venkatraman, Rati Agnihotri, Neelima Azeem, Tom Alter, Aarthi Thakur and Razzak Khan among others.

MUMBAI: Filmmaker S Ramachandran is making a film on the now-famous scams under the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) scheme which will be directed by Rashid S Khan.

The scam is simple: build and allot flats to people who are dead or are fictitious. Builders then sell the flats at market rates, instead of handing them over free of cost to slum dwellers. Of the 65,000 flats for slum rehabilitation, it is estimated that builders have earned Rs 5,000 crore through the scam.

A satirical take on the scam, the yet untitled film will star Omkardas Manikpuri (Natha of Peepli Live), Vijay Raaaz, Hiten Tejwani, Rajesh Vivek and Razzak Khan among others.

MUMBAI: With producer Arbaaz Khan taking over the mantle to direct Dabangg 2, there has been a change in the scriptwriter.

In all likelihood, Dileep Shukla will solely be entrusted to write the sequel. The original had Abhinav Kashyap and Dileep Shula sharing the writing honours. Besides writing scripts, dialogue, Shukla has also directed two films – Hello Hum Lallann Bol Rahe Hain and Police Force.

It may be noted that Kashyap had refused to do the sequel.

Dabaang 2 would feature Chulbul Pandey, though it would be based in a city unlike the original.

MUMBAI: Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif have retained their top positions at the popularity index of the Bollywood stars.

As per Ormax Media’s ‘Stars India Loves ‘study for the month of February, Salman Khan is the most popular actor, while Katrina Kaif is the most popular actress.

Ormax Media, the media research and consulting firm, had started the Stars India Loves study in November 2009. The company took response from 200 respondents from Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Indore. 

Some of the interesting findings are:

Salman Khan’s share has been increasing consistently from November last year (34 per cent) to 46 per cent in February. Following him is Shah Rukh Khan with 29 per cent share. While female respondents ranked SRK the second most popular actor, the males ranked him in the fourth position behind Akshay Kumar and Aamir Khan.

Akshay Kumar‘s popularity, ranked third, was heavily male skewed. Amongst females, his rank dropped to the seventh position.

Ranbir Kapoor was ranked sixth amongst the combined respondents. The women ranked him in the fourth position while he was ranked ninth amongst the male respondents.

Sunny Deol, who witnessed an increase in his share from November to February, was at eleventh place, ahead of Abhishek Bachchan and Imran Khan.

Among the actresses Kaif maintained her lead with 51 per cent share. Aishwarya Rai, Kajol, Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra are locked in close battle for the second rank with only three per cent share separating them from each other.