Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, known for his films like Rang De Basanti and Dilli 6, is all set to plunge into the mythology genre with his next home production Raja and the Legend of the Flute in 3D technology.

Earlier titled Paanch Kaurav, the saga is about “the philosophy and consciousness of Krishna woven into a father-son story.”

The film will be made on a budget of over Rs 1 billion and will go on the floors soon, said Mehra.

An avid admirer of Krishna, Mehra said, “As a small kid, he killed big demons like Kaalia Nag and he used to steal butter and milk. As a youngster, he was a Casanova, dancing with the ‘gopis‘. While Radha was elder to him, she was his consort but was engaged to someone else. And then as a man, he grew up to be the greatest ‘yogi‘ of all times. He led the ‘Pandavas‘ in the ultimate war of ‘Mahabharata‘, of good versus evil. What a complete character!”

The mythological thriller will prove to be a ‘genre breaker for India’. It will be filled with visual effects and will be shot on larger than life sets.

MUMBAI: Sunny Deol, known to play heroic roles in films like Damini and Gaddar, is soon to play a pundit in Mohalla Assi, a film by Chandraprakash Dwivedi.

Said Deol in a statement, “The script of Mohalla Assi is very different and interesting, especially the character I play is very unique – it‘s not quite like anything I have played yet. You will see me in an entirely new avatar. It‘s true that I will be playing a pundit. Therefore, I will be dressed in clothes that are typical for a pundit, right down to a ‘choti‘ to complete the look.” 

Deol’s attire in the film, unlike what he has worn before, is replete with a dhoti, kurta, gamcha (cotton towel) and kolhapuri chappals. He would also be sporting a ‘choti’.

The film is based on a popular Hindi novel ‘Kashi Ka Assi‘ written by Dr. Kashinath Singh. It is set in a famous and historical ‘mohalla‘ (locality) on the southern end of Benaras on the river bank of Ganga.

The film is being produced by Vinay Tiwari of Crossword Entertainment.

MUMBAI: The Mithun Chakraborty-starrer Shukno Lonka (2010) is to be screened at the 2nd India International Film Festival (IIFF) of Tampa Bay, Florida, on 20 February.

The Gaurab Pandey directed Shukno Lanka is a journey about forgotten dreams. It is a story of fears, reconciliation and finally of living the magic called life.

Joy Sundar Sen is a popular award-winning film director. He meets Isabella, a young European actress in Berlin. Cutting across divides of age and culture, Isabella and Sen share a bond of respect and understanding.

At a book-store in Berlin, Sen and Isabella chance upon an anthology of short stories by the Indian film maker Ritwik Ghatak. As he browses through the book, one of the stories – Paraspathar (The Philosopher‘s Stone) – begins to resonate in his mind. It is a story of a man who seems to have hit upon a magic formula to bring people to life back from death. Faced with his own morality, brought more sharply into relief by the effervescent youth of Isabella, Sen decides that Paraspathar is going to be his next film.

The 80-minute film that has a tagline of ‘An Ordinary Man – A Not So Ordinary Story‘ is one of the highly acclaimed Tollywood films from Kolkata. It stars Mithun Chakraborty, Sabyasachi Chakravarthy, Debashree Roy, Emma Garnett Brown, Angana Bose Nandini Chatterjee, Saheb Chatterjee, Arindam Sil, Chattrapati Dutta, Suman De and late Kunal Mitra among others.
 

MUMBAI: The week saw as many as five releases including Dev Anand‘s Hum Dono Rangeen; the week would also have set a new record of shows cancelled at various cinema halls due to lack of audience.

The films this week were Yeh Saali Zindagi, Utt Pattang, United Six, Tum Hi Tou Ho besides Hum Dono. Except Yeh Saali Zindagi, which too received a lukewarm opening, others went generally unnoticed leading to cancellation of shows.

Yeh Saali Zindagi opened to less than 10 per cent houses on Friday, ending the day with collections with approximately Rs 10 million; it peaked on Sunday with almost double the collections ending the weekend with Rs 39 million. It has started dropping as the new week began today.

Hum Dono Rangeen had no takers and except for group bookings at places, shows had to be cancelled. Less said the better about the other three releases.

Dil Tou Baccha Hai Ji has been rejected in the final tally by the moviegoers. Having opened weak, it peaked on the first Sunday of its release collecting over Rs 60 million against its collection of about Rs 40 million on opening Friday. However, it dropped by 70 per cent on Monday and continued to slide. Despite five weak oppositions it faced in its second weekend, the film could not cash in at the box office, collecting a meagre Rs 30 million.

In the final tally, Dhobi Ghat will just remain an experiment at the domestic box office. It added less than a crore to its first week collections during week two.

Yamla Pagla Deewana continues to do well in Delhi and Punjab in its 2nd week. In final analyses, the film may lose about 10 to 15 per cent of its distributor‘s investment in Mumbai, while just stay on the margins in East and South and earn for its investors in CP, CI, Rajasthan, Delhi UP NCR and East Punjab.

MUMBAI: Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision has teamed up with LFS Media & Entertainment (LFS Group) for the setting up of a studio in Mumbai.

The project size will involve an investment of Rs 150 billion. Tentatively called India Studio City, the project will be built in various phases. 

India Studio City will comprise air conditioned shooting floors, fixed sets like hospitals, roadways, airport interiors, havelis, back lot with open areas for shooting, theme park, hotels and all structures required for filmmaking.

Sources say Shree Ashtavinayak will be a minority partner in the joint venture entity.

India Studio City proposes to be a major studio tourist destination. It aims to provide Indian and foreign filmmakers with the “best scale and technology to realise world-class results along with better economies.”
 

MUMBAI: Delhi-based multiplex major PVR has reported a third-quarter consolidated net loss of Rs 132.6 million compared to a net profit of Rs 66.7 million a year ago.

Total income jumped 16.91 per cent to Rs 1.34 billion, from Rs 1.14 million in the year-ago period, as the premium multiplex operator hiked average ticket prices by 13 per cent.

“The average ticket prices across the comparable properties in the quarter under review grew by Rs 20 (13% growth) over the same quarter last year due to increase in ticket pricing in various properties across our cinema circuit,” the company said.
 
The multiplex chain entertained approximately 5.2 million patrons during the quarter under review, marginally higher by 2 per cent over Q3 FY’10. Occupancies witnessed a fall from 36.8 per cent in Q3 FY10 to 27.1 per cent in the quarter under review.

Total expenditure of the company rose 34.45 per cent to Rs 1.37 billion, as against Rs 1.02 billion a year ago.

The movie exhibition segment saw a net profit of Rs 80.6 million in the quarter as compared to a net profit of Rs 85.9 million in the earlier year. The revenue from the segment was Rs 1.03 billion (from Rs 985.1 million).

As of 31 December, PVR operates 142 screens across 33 properties cities. The company is expected to commence operations in 24 new screens over the next four months.
 

MUMBAI: The 41st edition of the Tampere Film Festival in Finland will honour At the Stairs, a documentary by Rajesh S. Jala in its ‘International Competition’ section. Incidentally, this is the only film from India that would be screened in the festival.

At the Stairs is about the lives of three aged widows in Banaras who are waiting to die there and attain Moksha. It weaves a visual narrative which juxtaposes life and death, body and soul, confinement and liberation.

The festival will be held from 9 to 13 March.

MUMBAI: USA –India co-produced short film Jan Villa (USA/India) directed by Indian filmmaker Natasha Mendonca, recently won the Tiger Award for short film at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2011.

The film shared the top award with the Belgian film Stardust directed by Nicolas Provost and a US film Pastourelle by Nathaniel Dorsky.

Jan Villa is Mendonca’s personal account of the city of Mumbai after the monsoon floods of 2005. “In Jan Villa, the filmmaker succeeds in telling a deeply moving story that is at once personal and universal. What begins as an outsider’s point-of-view imperceptibly transforms to subjective camera. Through poetic images and notably without the use of voice-over, the film maker intimately reveals to us the soul of a city after devastation,” the Jury stated in its verdict.

Twenty-eight films competed for the Tiger Award that accounted for a prize money of 3,000 Euros.

The 40th edition of the Rotterdam Film Festival, which began on 26 January, concluded on 6 February.
 

MUMBAI: The Indian version of the Razzies, the Golden Kela Awards, will be held in New Delhi on 2 March. The awards will judge how a serious film like Raavan made one laugh and the comedy film Golmaal 3 made one weep.

The eagerly awaited winners this year though are those of the special awards category. In contention are Imran Khan for not one but two dismal films – Break Ke Baad and I Hate Luv Storys – and Priyanka Chopra for Anjaana Anjaani among others.

In its third year, the Golden Kela awards, organised by humour magazine Random, will be hosted by Cyrus Broacha, whose simple explanation for taking on the mantle is that he owes money to the organisers.

Among the awards that will be given out will be the Jajantram Mamantram award for worst named film, the Black Award for emotional blackmail and the Sonu Nigam Award for career suicide.