Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: Multiplex operator Cinemax India has posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 40.9 million for the three months ended 31 December, down 61.74 per cent from Rs 106.9 million in the year-ago period.

Income from operations dropped marginally by 4.43 per cent to Rs 574 million during the quarter under review, compared to Rs 600.6 million a year ago. 

Total expenditure surged 10.96 per cent to Rs 512.2 million, as against Rs 461.6 million. Profit before tax (PBT) stood at Rs 44.6 million, as against Rs 121.6 million in the year-ago period.

The company at present has 32 properties with 101 screens while it plans to open eight more properties in fiscal 2010-2011 with 35 screens.

Cinemax earned revenue of Rs 633.1 million from theatrical exhibition and entertainment, as compared to Rs 674.6 million a year ago. It posted an operating profit of Rs 52.6 million (from Rs 129.5 million) in the quarter. Capital deployed in the segment was Rs 2.12 billion.
 

MUMBAI: Through his earlier films like Ho Sakta Hai, Mallika and Kaalo, Wilson Louis has been mastering the ‘horror genre’. Besides, he is always been on the look out for good and catchy subjects.

Currently, on the finishing stages of his fourth film Shout, a psychological paranormal thriller about evil black magic and negative forces, Louis is scripting his fifth venture on sleep paralysis or the Old Hag Syndrome.

What is the Old Hag Syndrome? “It‘s a situation where your body gets locked and you can only get hallucinations which leads you to hallucinate about devils. But in some cases there have been deaths too,” Louis reveals adding, “this film will be titled 3.33.” 

Why 3.33? “It refers to 3.33 am which is considered as the devil‘s hour or the witch‘s hour and the effect of witches at this particular time is the strongest. It is the hour opposite to the death time of Jesus Christ which is 3.33 pm and also symbolises love,” Louis reveals. “It will take me another month to complete the scripting with dialogues. Right now, I am approaching a good studio for it,” he adds.

This being a serious subject, which star would he approach? “To me, script is the king. Once you have a good script, the rest follows and you get some fine results even from amateur artistes. The only thing that is vital is that you need a good backing from a studio.”

But where did he get the inspiration? “I have been a victim of this syndrome from childhood and am still facing it. Being a science student, I consider it a subconscious mind from a sleeping zone going to Rapid Eye Movement (REM) process. But the visuals are so strong that defies all logic. So I decided to make a film out of it and reach out to the ones who are disturbing me,” Louis adds.

In spite of Kaalo getting several international awards and great reviews, why didn’t the film do well in India? “The film was not well publicised. Kaalo was well-appreciated and recovered its cost with Star TV buying its satellite rights for Rs 12.5 milion. The DVD of Kaalo is now out and is seen with great interest. A lesson that I learnt from Kaalo is that you shouldn’t make a film with people who can’t promote it,” Louis avers.

MUMBAI: G Dhananjayan, who has just moved from Moser Baer to head UTV‘s motion pictures business in the south, has taken up his first assignment in a movie titled Irandam Ulagam. 

The film will be in Tamil and Telgu. Dhanush and Andrea play the lead pair and the film is being directed by Selvaraghavan.

Avers Dhananjayan, “ Right now I can’t say more about the film except that Selvaraghavan is going to direct the film being made in Tamil and Telugu. UTV is producing the medium-sized film.”

Producer: Cine Raas Entertainment P Ltd. Writer-director: Sudhir Mishra Cast: Irrfan, Chitrangda Singh, Arunoday Singh, Aditi Rao Hudar, Saurabh Shukla, Sushant Singh, Yashpal Sharma, Prashant Narayan, Vipul Gupta, Vipin Sharma.

MUMBAI: Yeh Saali Zindagi is an interesting combine of love story and thriller woven around Delhi and its surrounding locales – a story mostly about people on the other side of law. The feel of the film is natural and its witty dialogue, generously peppered with North brand of foul words, adds to that feel.

A criminal usually wants to have one last hurrah, grab some loot and call it quits. Irrfan is a side kick of Saurabh Shukla, a financial wheeler dealer. Arunoday Singh, on the other hand is a henchman of underworld operator, Yashpal Sharma. Both, Irrfan and Arunoday, want to quit in favour of their love. Arunoday Singh’s son is getting a violent streak and wife, Aditi Rao Hydari, is planning to go abroad if he does not change his ways.

For Irrfan, it was love at first sight when he sees Chitrangda Singh but loses her to another man, Vipul Gupta. However, he is obsessed and wants to win her at any cost. He is even willing to save her lover, Vipul Gupta, from the captivity of underworld who has sought ransom for him. This is where the paths of Irrfan and Arunoday Singh cross; the latter has kidnapped Vipul, future son in law of a minister to pressurize the minister into releasing his boss, Yashpal Sharma. As all the characters come together towards conclusion, there is quite a flurry of connections and cross-connections, leading to a happy ending and to ‘they lived happily ever after’. Crime does pay; here it does since it is a crime against bigger criminals!

Writer director Sudhir Mishra uses Irrfan, the lead man as his protagonist, the narrator. The story of the underworld — politics nexus is typical North brand and nobody, none of the characters in the film except one, seem to be clean; the criminal thread binds them together. Music is used very well and composer Nishat Khan has come up with a great score. Dialogue is good.

Performances are natural and convincing by the entire cast. Irrfan is funny just by being himself. Arunoday Singh livens up with his pleasant demeanour. Chitrangda looks sultry and manipulative as the script demands. Aditi Rao Hydari is good. Saurabh Shukla, Sushant Singh, Yashpal Sharma are aptly cast and fit in to the characters they play with ease. Prashant Narayan, Vipul Gupta and Vipin Sharma give good support.

Yeh Saali Zindagi is an interesting watch but, as on day one, has found few takers; its face value falling short as a crowd puller and stemming in the bud the film’s business prospects.

 

                            No special reason to watch Hum Dono in colour

 

Producer: Dev Anand Director: Amarjeet Cast: Dev Anand, Sadhna, Nanda, Gajanan Jagirdar

Dev  Anand’s Hum Dono has been re-released as Hum Dono Rangeen in a colour version.

The story of identical personalities and faces was a novelty when the film first released and virtue despite huge challenges meant a lot in a story.

The film has a war background (World War 2) where one Dev Anand goes missing and the other, the surviving one, goes to look after his family of Nanda and Lalita Pawar; while his own girlfriend, Sadhana, is waiting for him. The film has evergreen musical score and balanced performances.

Whatever made Dev Anand choose Hum Dono to colour, one would have preferred Tere Ghar Ke Samane.

A few minutes into the film, it does not matter that the film is now in colour; you are watching it for a classic that it is, for its music and for all that Dev Anand was about and for what his films were about.
 

MUMBAI: Nearly two decades after she starred in a Telugu film Chittemma Mogudu with Mohan Babu, Pooja Bedi will now be seen as an Egyptian princess in Junior NTR-starrer Shakti.

Being made with a budget of Rs.450 million, the film is being touted as the costliest Telugu movie ever made.

The film, that has Ileana D‘Cruz in the lead and also features Jackie Shroff, Sonu Sood and Manjari Phadnis, is set to be high on sci-fi and special effects.

Best remembered for her Marilyn Monroe skirt act in Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, Bedi has been missing from the big screen for a long time.
 

MUMBAI: Here’s good news for fans of animation films. Starting 6 February, the Enlighten Film Society has organised a film festival especially for animation film aficionados. Films like Pinocchio, Up and Toystory-3 among others will be screened.

The festival, that will go on till 27 February, will screen films every Friday and Sunday.

At NCPA, UP will be screened on 13 February, 18 February will have the screening of Wall- E . Toy Story -3 will be shown on 20 February and 25 February will see the screening of Pinocchio.

At Cinemax Pinocchio will be screened on 6 February and UP on 13 February. While on 20 February Toy Story -3 will be screened, Wall-E will show on 27 February.

Says founder of the Enlighten Film Society Pranav Ashar, “From Miyazaki to Disney, animation, as a genre, has redefined the idea of storytelling. It also happens to be genre that is experiencing a revolution of ideas, narratives, technology, visuals and above all entertainment. The genre has been favourite of a two-year-old, 20-year-old and also 82-year-old. Since we have not showcased animated films so far, here is an attempt on the part of Enlighten to transport them to a brave new world.”

But it is surprising to note that no Hindi animation feature films find a place in the schedule. Comments Ashar, “Though Indian cinema has come up with a lot of animated films lately, none has been so credible in particular. Yes, there have been a few short films by Indian filmmakers that have been acclaimed in festivals worldwide. We are going to showcase two of them along with our scheduled movies. To keep an element of surprise, we haven‘t mentioned them in our schedule.”

NEW DELHI: The film Red Alert in Naxalism, directed by Ananth Mahadevan for producer T P Aggarwal, won two awards – for best director and the Red Rose for the best film released between October 2009 and October 2010 at the third Jaipur International Film Festival that concluded in the pink city over the weekend.

The veteran actress Asha Parekh was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award in absentia at the closing ceremony.

 
The Marathi film Mala Aai Vahhaychy (I want to be a Mother) on surrogacy (‘womb on hire’) also bagged two awards: best debutante director award to advocate-turned-filmmaker Samrouddhi Porey and Special Jury mention to the actress Stacy Bee for her role in the film.

The French film Dreams and Awakenings received two awards for best editor to David Baudry and best sound editor to Remy Laurencom at the festival which was held from 27 to 30 January.

Inaugurated by Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on 27 January in the presence of State Tourism Minister Beena Kaak and Festival Director Hanu Roj, the opening had been followed by a performance by famous Rajasthani folk dancer Gulabo. The films Hay Fever directed by Lara Luchhiti of Italy, Open Door directed by Alessandro Del Bianco of Italy, and Topi by Arjun Rihan from the United States were screened as the Opening films.

Gandhi-The Mahatma by Naresh Chandra Lal from the Andaman Islands (who was present) was the closing film on 30 January – Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary – before the Red Carpet awards function which saw the presence of Film Federation of India President T P Aggarwal among others.

The best short film award went to Jagjeet directed by Kavanjit Singh, while the documentary award was bagged by A Crime in Silence by Behrouz Nouranipoor of Iran. Kiruthiga Udhaynidhi received the best director Award for the film Life.

S Nallamuthu received the best cinematographer award for his film Tiger Queen on tigers in Ranthambore while the best script award went to Marcio Salem for the Brazilian film Vento and the Special Jury award went to Bassa Marea (Low Tide), directed by Roberto De Paolis of Italy.

The Best Upcoming Star award went to the film Cockroach from Australia directed by Luke Eve, while Khanabadosh directed by Tulika, Mahavish, Priya and Swati Bhattacharya received the Special Jury award in this category.

The Special Jury award in the upcoming star category in the U TURN Rajasthan award for the best film entry from Rajasthan went to the short film I am sorry directed by Gajendra Shrotriya.

The best Animation Award went to the French film Stretching directed by Francois Vogal from France whole the Special jury award in this category was bagged by Kidnap directed by Sijia Luo from US and the Critics’ award went to Topi directed by Arjun Rihan.

The Green Rose Award for the film with the best global message went to Cultures of Resistance directed by Iara Lee from the US while the Yellow Rose Award for upcoming film (world premiere) was given to the Hindi film Riwaayat on female infanticide and foeticide directed by Vijay Patkar.

The Special Jury Award in the feature film category went to the Iranian film Marham (Salve) directed by Alireza Davoodnejad.

The closing function was embellished by musical performances by the renowned Abhas Joshi and Janaki Parikh who took listeners on a journey of Hindi film music from the fifties to the present day.

A total of 133 films including 71 from overseas were screened at the Festival. The competitive festival had 57 films from India including two from Rajasthan itself. The festival was held at four venues and attracted around 300 film delegates from India and overseas.

The jury includes former Films Division Director General Kuldeep Sinha, filmmakers G L Bhardawaj, Kireet Khurana (director of Toonpur Ka Superhero), Italian filmmaker Alessandro Del Bianco, Deepak Mahaan, Biju Mohan, M D Soni, Michael Wigge (Germany), and Rakesh Gogna.

Some films from Rajasthan or with the state as backdrop were screened, including ‘13 May Gulabi Nagar’ directed by Nand K Pareek and Vinod Gupta; ‘Bhobhar’ directed by Gajendra S Shrotriya, and ‘I am Kalam’, apart from documentary ‘Tiger Queen’ by S Nallamuthu.

The various sections of the Festival include Worldwood International, Coming Stars about student cinema, ‘U Turn Rajasthan’ about Rajasthani cinema, ‘The Guest’ which was a focus on French Cinema, a Jury Retrospective, the Indian Panorama, and a Bollywood Special.

There were several discussions during the festival. These included ‘Beyond the Oscars’ moderated by Film Federation of India General Secretary Supran Sen, ‘Young filmmakers and networking’ moderated by film critic B B Nagpal, ‘Yesterday/ past –Today/ present – tomorrow/ future of cinema’ moderated by filmmaker Subhash Kapoor, and the Film Market section with FFI President T P Aggarwal and Jaipur distributor Sanjay Chatar.

There were two filmmaker sessions with Iara Lee of the United States and Jag Mohan Mundhra from India, and workshops by Subhash Kapoor (India) and Allessandra Del Bianco. Other participants included Mukesh Asopa (Film Maker, Canada), Iara Lee (Film Director, USA), Hemant Gaba and Ram Kumar Singh (Filmmakers, India),

The Festival also saw the presence of Rajeev Arora (Chairman Red Carpet), Rakesh Verma (Patron JIFF),Ila Arun (Singer, Actress), and Mahavir P Sharma (Advisory Board Member Red Carpet).
 

MUMBAI: Subhash Ghai-promoted Mukta Arts has decided to enter the film exhibition business, a move that will complete its presence across the value chain as it strives to increase its revenues.

The film production and distribution company is planning to invest Rs 500 million towards the multiplex business over a 12-month period.

The multiplexes will operate under the brand name of Mukta Cinemas. The first four plexes will be located in Baroda, Ahmedabad, Bhopal and Vishakhapatnam.

“We are currently investing Rs 200 million in the multiplex business. We plan to pump in Rs 500 million within a year,” Mukta Arts executive director Parvez Farooqui tells Indiantelevision.com.

Mukta Arts will enter into a revenue-share arrangement with the mall owners, a model that will limit its funding requirement in a capital intensive sector.

“This will be the business model we will be following. We may take up some properties on rental basis but that is not our priority,” says Farooqui.

So when will the first multiplex be operational? “Our Baroda plex is almost ready and we are waiting for the licence. But with the cricket World Cup and the Indian Premier League (IPL) round the corner, we are deciding whether it will be better to launch in the first quarter of next fiscal. There will not be big movie releases during the cricket season. It is always better to launch a multiplex with a big movie,” says Farooqui.

Mukta Movies Distributors, the distribution unit of the company, already controls programming of 160 theatres across India which include multiplexes of Big Cinemas (All India excluding Tami Nadu), Inox, Fame, Fun, DT Cinemas, Wave, SRS Cinemas in North India and many others including a number of single screen theatres.

Will Mukta Arts hive off the film exhibition business and raise capital to fund its expansion?

“We will take a call after one year. If there is a requirement for higher capital, we may decide to raise funds. One of the routes could be by hiving off the film exhibition business and then capitalising it. But it is too early to take a call on this,” says Farooqui.

Mukta Arts has firmed up three big budget movies to be directed by Ghai, Priyadarshan and Abbas-Mastan.

“The budget has not been finalised as it will depend upon the star cast. But each will be upwards of Rs 250 million. The two movies, by Ghai and Priyadarshan, will release in FY’12. The Abbas-Mastan film could spill over to FY’13,” says Farooqui.

MUMBAI: The library of the Academy of Motion Picture and Science has requested Ashutosh Gowariker for the screenplay of his Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey (KHJJS) for its permanent core collection that is made for filmmakers, writers, actors and students worldwide for their research work.

The merits of this selection of the film is not based on its box office performance, but mainly on the artistic merits, original screenplay with a substance and the film as a whole.
 
Presented by PVR Pictures, Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey has been jointly produced by Ajay Bijli, Sanjeev Bijli and Sunita A Gowariker. 

MUMBAI: After waiting for a considerable time, Gemini Film Circuit has announced the launch of the Tamil version of 3 Idiots.

The film, titled Nanban, will have Vijay, Srikanth and Jiva as the three protagonists. While Vijay will appear as the unorthodox genius Rancchod Das that was essayed by Aamir Khan, Jiva and Srikanth will appear as Farhan Qureshi and Raju Rastogi, the roles played by Madhavan and Sharman Joshi in the original.

Ileana D‘Cruz will appear in the role played by Kareena Kapoor, while Sathyaraj will don the role of the insensitive professor Virus, played by Boman Irani.

The Telugu version of the film has been titled 3 Rascals.