Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures has sold the German rights of Aamir Khan Productions‘ Dhobi Ghat to German distributor Rapid Eye Movies at the ongoing Berlin Film Festival.

The deal includes theatrical distribution rights, home video and free TV rights.

The film will be released theatrically in Germany later this year.

Said UTV Senior Vice President, International Distribution & Syndication Amrita Pandey, “Dhobi Ghat is a special film and we are pleased to announce that the film will now be seen by German audiences. We are happy to join hands with Rapid Eye Movies who is the ideal partner for this film.”

Dhobi Ghat is the story of four people from very different backgrounds, whose worlds intersect and leave them forever altered. As they find themselves drawn into compelling relationships, the city finds its way into the crevices of their lives, separating them even as it brings them closer.

Said Stephan Holl of Rapid Eye Movies, “We are excited to work with Kiran Rao who has made a beautiful and touching film about life in Mumbai and we believe it will touch the hearts of German audiences. It is truly a pleasure to work with Aamir Khan Productions and UTV Motion Pictures. We are thrilled to introduce Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries) to German audiences.”

Khan is attending the Berlin Film Festival as a jury member.
 

MUMBAI: The first Guwahati International Short Film Festival (GISFF), organised by Creovaent Productions, will be held on 4 and 5 April at Cinemax, Guwahati.

According to the festival authorities, the short film competition is restricted only to filmmakers from North-East Region of India for the first year. However, short filmmakers from other parts of the country can submit their entries for the Indian Kaleidoscope section. There is no entry fee in the maiden edition of the short film festival.

Says festival founder Prithish Chakraborty, the mastermind behind the up-and-coming international short film festival: “The idea of creating an International Short Film Festival as a brand in Guwahati was unique. I shared the idea for the first time with Utpal da (Utpal Dutta) and he appreciated the initiative. It was a huge boosting factor for me and after doing my homework, I decided to take the idea finally to the people.”

In the competition section, short films will be awarded under the following categories: Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Editing and Best Cinematography. The best film will win a Golden Rhino, certificate and cash award.

MUMBAI: Reliance Big Pictures will release director Buddhadeb Dasgupta‘s latest Bengali film Janala on 25 February.

Produced by Reliance Big Pictures, the film stars Indraneil Sengupta and Swastika Mukherjee in lead roles.

The film touches on the nostalgia of childhood and the quest to get back to roots while struggling to keep one‘s neck above the waters of the present day muck.

Says Dasgupta, “Janala is an attempt to be a reminiscent of the times when we sometimes try to make a simple dream come true, but the cogs of destiny leave us feeling unfulfilled. The film has been showcased at 15 film festivals across the world and been well received. I am glad Janala is now releasing in India and the audience here will see it.”

Janala was premiered in the Masters of World Cinema section at Toronto International Film Festival and since then has been to various film festivals like Telluride Film Festival (USA), London Film Festival, Mumbai Film Festival, Hong Kong Asian Film Festival, International Film Festival of India, Mahindra Indo- American Arts Council Film Festival (New York) and the Dubai International Film Festival.

MUMBAI: The Pusan International Film Festival signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mumbai Film Festival to collaborate more closely and build a solid network among Asian film communities at the ongoing Berlin Film Festival.

Pusan‘s festival director Lee Yong-kwan and Srinivasan Narayanan, the festival director of Mumbai, also signed an agreement to strengthen artistic, financial and educational exchanges between the two festivals.

Mumbai Film Festival, which includes an international competition, is sponsored by Reliance Big Entertainment.

Last year, the Pusan festival signed a similar MoU with the Vietnam International Film Festival.
 

MUMBAI: Time magazine has listed Guru Dutt‘s classic Pyaasa among its Top 5 romantic films of all time.

The film, about a struggling poet and his friendship with a prostitute, is included in the magazine‘s website‘s list of top ten romantic films for ‘lovers‘ and ‘for people with broken, bitter hearts who hate all those lovers‘.

The magazine, which had rated the film as one of the 100 best films of all time in the year 2005, said that classic Hollywood died but popular Indian cinema “still attends to antique conventions of family fealty, personal integrity and, of course, all-conquering love.” 

A tale of a poet whose one true friend is a prostitute, the film stars Guru Dutt and Waheeda Rehman and is considered as one of the great films in India cinema. A commentary on the post-Independent India, the film also depicts the tender love story between two characters marginalised by society.

Other films that feature in the top five romantic films are Son of the Sheik, Dodsworth, Camille and An Affair to Remember. French film Jules and Jim stands at number six followed by Chungking Express, Moulin Rouge, Talk to Her and Brokeback Mountain.

MUMBAI: Sixteenth February this year marks the 67th death anniversary of the doyen of Indian cinema Dadasaheb Phalke. The day is being observed with a lot of devotion towards him.

While film and television personalities have converged on the Film City at Goregaon to pay their respect to the father of Indian cinema, UTV World Movies has decided to telecast Harishchandrachi Factory on 20 February.

The 2009 made film, directed by Paresh Mokashi, depicts the struggle of Dadasaheb Phalke in making India‘s first feature film. Raja Harishchandra was last year‘s India‘s official entry to the Oscars. The film starred Nandu Madhav as Dadasaheb Phalke and Vibhawari Deshpande as his wife Saraswati Phalke.

Meanwhile, a couple of days ago veteran actress Sulochana was felicitated with the prestigious ‘Dadasaheb Phalke Janmabhoomi‘ award at a ceremony in Nashik. “This is one of the great awards given to me. I am honoured especially because I received it in the birth place of late Phalke, father of the Indian cinema,” she said on the occasion
The octogenarian, known for her roles in Marathi films like ‘Vahinichya Bangdya‘, ‘Meeth Bhakar and ‘Dhakti Jau, has played mother to many actors and actresses in several films.

MUMBAI: After attracting hordes of Indian tourists, the tourist department of Kenya, is now trying to woo Bollywood producers to shoot their films in the country.

KTB (Kenya Tourist Board) marketing director Jennifer Opondo said in a statement that the board is now marketing Kenya as an ideal location for film shooting.

“After due diligence with Indian film production houses, the Kenya Film Commission is expected to come out with a policy that would facilitate film shooting,” Opondo said. “We are working in coordination with the Kenya Film Commission and are studying the dynamics of Indian film production houses so as to be able to support them in their endeavours.”

The Kenya Film Commission has been acting as one stop shop for filmmakers cutting across the tedious licensing regime prevalent earlier. The commission has also started suggesting suitable sites for film shooting to the production houses visiting Kenya.
 

MUMBAI: Filmistan Studio, once owned by Sashadhar Mukherjee and Ashok Kumar, will soon be shut and make way to a residential or commercial project.

Kamanwala Housing Construction, which co-owns the Filmistan studio along with Aspin Property, is not finding it feasible to run the studio.

“The studio doesn‘t generate enough revenue anymore. The property, however, is huge and could fetch anywhere between Rs 6 billion and Rs 10 billion,” said Kamanwala Housing Construction managing director ML Gupta.

The owners have been reluctant to allow shoots in the studio for some time now.

Jhalak Dikhhlaja is the only show that is being shot there and the studio is made available to them only on Wednesdays and Thursdays.The studio is usually shut the rest of the week.

Reacting to the decision as unfortunate, yesteryear actress Asha Parekh said: “It is hard to believe that the studio where films like Paying Guest, Dooj Ka Chand,Tumsa Nahin Dekha among others were shot is being closed down. Lots of memories are attached to it.”

Some other prominent films shot at Filmstan studio were Durgesh Nandini, Hum Sab Chor Hain, Munimji, Jagruti, Nagin, Nastik, Shart and Anarkali among others.

MUMBAI: Akshay Kumar continues to fail miserably at the box office with his latest release, Patiala House, getting a lukewarm response. Not having generated any excitement at the time of pre-release, the movie got a poor response with opening collections ranging from 20-30 per cent.

The film started on the opening day with less than Rs 40 million at the box office. It failed to exceed the Rs 40 million mark next day despite it being a Saturday; it peaked on Sunday with a collection of over Rs 60 million.

Patiala House fetched Rs 135.8 million in its opening weekend.

The film‘s theatrical recovery will be meagre and whatever little it salvages of its investment will have to be from satellite rights which, again, is not much since these rights were sold off right at the outset.

In a miserable week of five releases, there is nothing much to cheer Utt Pattang, United Six, Tum Hi To Ho and Hum Dono Rangeen fared miserably with cancelled shows due to lack of patronage; none of them crossed even the Rs 10 million figure.

The one which managed to just about survive, Yeh Saali Zindagi, collected Rs 9.2 million on Friday, peaking on Sunday with Rs 17 million. However, what is noteworthy is that from Monday to Thursday it maintained steady figures bordering around Rs 8 million. The seven-day collection stands at around Rs 64 million.

Madhur Bhandarkar‘s attempt at a rom-com meets a sad ending with the film facing all round rejection. Dil To Baccha Hai Ji adds another Rs 60 million to its first week tally of Rs 210 million, taking its total to Rs 270 million.

Yamla Pagla Deewana has added about Rs 15 million to its total; its net collection in five weeks now crosses Rs 520 million.

MUMBAI: The Arbaaz Khan produced Dabaang was adjudged the best film of 2010 at the first Global India Film and Television Honours, organised by Balaji Motion Pictures.

The film also annexed eight other awards in the Best Lyrics, Best Soundtrack Composer, Best Playback Singer – Female, Best Track Of The Year, Colors Face Of The Year – Female, Most Promising New Director, Best Choreographer and Best Action Direction categories.

Shah Rukh Khan and Ajay Devgn shared the honours in the best actor in a lead role in the male category for their portrayal in My Name Is Khan and Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai.

Vidya Sinha annexed the best actor award in a lead role in the female category for her performance in Ishqiya.

The best director award went to Rohit Shetty for Golmaal 3, while the honours in the best story category was shared by Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap for Udaan.

While the award in the best actor in a supporting role (male category) was picked up by Arjun Rampal for his role in Raajneeti, the best actor in a supporting role (female award) went to Zarina Wahab for her portrayal in My Name Is Khan.

Sanjay Mishra bagged the award in the best performance in a comic role category for his role in Phass Gaya Re Obama while the award in the best performance in a negative role category was given to Ronit Roy for his role in Udaan.

Hrithik Roshan bagged the best actor (male) in a lead role jury award for Guzaarish, Neetu Singh did the same in the best actress in a lead role jury award (female) for Do Dooni Chaar.

Sonakshi Sinha was adjudged the Colors Face of the Year award for her role in Dabaang while Abhinav Singh Kashyap bagged the ‘Most Promising New Director‘ award for the same film.