Category: Hindi

NEW DELHI: Well-known filmmaker and distributor TP Aggarwal has been elected President of the Film Federation of India for 2011.

The unanimous election took place during the Executive Committee Meeting of the apex film body in Chennai.

Aggrawal is currently the president of IMPPA.

Eight region-wise Vice-Presidents were elected. They include the former FFI Presidents L Suresh (Tamil Nadu) and Jitendra Jain (Madhya Pradesh). The other Vice-Presidents are: R. Vidhani (Maharashtra); Dr. Sunil Kumar (Bihar); Ravi Kottarakara (Kerala); C. Kalyan (Andhra Pradesh); A R Raju (Karnataka); and Sakshi Mehra (Delhi).

Hirachand Dand (Maharashtra) and V. Lamba (Delhi) were elected Honorary General Secretaries while Samgram Shirke (Maharashtra) was elected Honorary Treasurer.

Supran Sen continues to be the Secretary General of this apex body which has formal recognition in world bodies such as the Paris-based International Federation of Film Producers Association (FIAPF), where Sen is a board member.
 

MUMBAI: llusion Interactive is all set to release India‘s first animated superhero film Ashoka The Hero on 7 January.

The film tells the story of young Ashoka, a boy who wants to grow up and be like his father who was a policeman who died in the line of duty. One day he comes across an ancient medallion, which gives him tremendous powers and turns him into a superhero.

Speaking on this first of a kind superhero film in India, producer Gaurav Jain says: “Most of the animation from India has been retelling of our favourite mythological tales. The film is different as it creates its own unique myth marrying elements of Indian history with fantasy. Ashoka, armed with the amazing super powers he offers, is an alternative to the myriad foreign superheroes that children in our country are exposed to.”
 

MUMBAI: A public interest litigation (PIL) seeking the deletion of popular songs ‘Munni Badnaam Hui‘ from Dabangg and ‘Shiela ki Jawani‘ from Tees Maar Khan has been filed before the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court alleging obscenity in the respective films. 

The petition, filed by Nutan Thakur, wife of an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, seeks action against producer Arbaz Khan, co-producers Malaika Arora Khan and Dhillin Mehta and director Abhinav Kashyap who are associated with Dabangg. The plea is also for action to be taken against producers Twinkle Khanna, Ronnie Screwvala and director Farah Khan of Tees Maar Khan for violating various provisions of the Indian Cinematography Act of 1952.

The petition said both the films have “several indecent, immoral and vulgar songs, dialogues and visual representations in total violation of sections 3(1), 4, 5(A), 5(C) and 5(E) of the Cinematography Act 1952”.

Thakur urged the Court to ask the Censor Board and the Ministry of information and broadcasting to issue directives to the respective filmmakers and TV channels, audio and video cassette companies etc. not to broadcast promos and songs of the films.

The matter would come up for hearing on 3 January.
 

NEW DELHI: The Film Federation of India (FFI) is meeting in Mumbai on 29 December to take a final decision on the threatened strike in January by various sections of the film industry against the amendments to the Copyright Act.

This decision was taken during a meeting of the FFI in Chennai, which saw the participation of several organisations from the southern states.

Sources from an affiliate body of the FFI in south India told indiantelevision.com that the Federation had been given the mandate to take a final decision on the strike on 6 and 7 January.

The film industry is opposed to the proposed Copyright Amendment Bill 2010 that mandates producers to share 50 per cent music royalty with lyricists and composers.

A day-long strike along with a dharna in Delhi is proposed against what is termed as the `draconian` law which will affect the industry. There would be no show at theatres on 6 January and industry professionals including actors, directors, producers and others will participate in the strike and demonstration at Delhi.

According to senior filmmaker L Suresh, the proposal would affect the selling of films to distributors and exhibitors.

Repeated representations had been made to the government but proved futile, he said.

The producers said that the government was working at the `behest of some vested interests` in this matter.

A Parliamentary Standing committee in its recommendations on the bill, tabled in Parliament last month, has said that producers should give authors, lyricists and composers 50 per cent royalty for a film.

MUMBAI: Two studios have firmed up their movie slate for 2011. While Warner Bros has a release pipeline of 19 films, Fox Star Studios India has lined up eight films.

In January, Warner Bros will roll out Life As We Know It and Hereafter. While Hall Pass will hit the screens in February, Red Riding Hood and Sucker Punch will appear in March. There are three releases in April in the form of The Rite, Yogi Bear (3D) and Unknown.

Two films, Crazy Stupid Love and The Hangover 2, have been earmarked for the month of May. There is one release in June – Green Lantern. July has two releases in the form of Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Part 2) and Arthur. Horrible Bosses and Final Destination 5 (3D) will release in August, while September has a sole release in Journey To The Centre Of The Earth (3D).

October will have one release in Contagion. November will have three releases in The Apparition, Happy Feet 2 (3D) and Hoover aka G-Man while December will have two releases in New Year‘s Eve and Sherlock Homes 2.

Fox Star India will open the year with the release of Danny Boyle‘s 127 Hours in January. It will be followed up with Rio that will release in April. X Men: First Class will release in June, Ceasar: Rise of the Apes in August and Darkest Hour in September.

The dates of three other releases – Alvin & The Chipmunks 3, Love & Other Drugs and Big Momma‘s House 3 – has not yet been fixed yet.

MUMBAI: Robot, the latest Rajnikanth-starrer, is set to become a part of IIM-Ahmedabad‘s syllabus.

The film will be a part of an elective course called ‘Contemporary film industry: A business perspective‘ that would be offered in the post-graduate programme of IIM-Ahmedabad. The film will be read as a case study to analyse the success of cinema. 

The course will also include another Rajnikanth starrer Muthu that was later translated into Japanese as Muthu Odoru Maharaja or Muthu: The Dancing Maharaja.

MUMBAI: Though the film hasn‘t released yet, Farah Khan is contemplating making a sequel of Tees Maar Khan (TMK) and has reportedly approached Akshay Kumar to star in it.

Farah thinks that if TMK does well at the box office, it would be much to the credit of Kumar who worked tirelessly. So punctual was he that Khan was able to wrap up the shooting of the film in time.

Tees Mar Khan, pitched against Ajay Devgan‘s Toonpoor Ka Superhero, will release this Friday amidst high expectations during the peak Christmas season. The movie promises to be a complete entertainer with a right mix of comedy, action and drama.

Tees Mar Khan is the story of a con man played by Akshay Kumar who swindles and cheats people in criminal mastermind fashion. He has his gang of friends, including Dollar, Soda and Burger, who devise a new plan to rob antiques worth Rs 5 billion from a fully secured running train going non-stop from Mumbai to Delhi.

MUMBAI: Reliance MediaWorks has entered into an MoU with Russian World Studios (RWS) and Obyedinennaya Gosudarstvennaya Kinokollektsia (OGK) for outsourcing work that would flow in volumes as it expands its twin facilities in Mumbai and Burbank (California).

Reliance MediaWorks will get work from Russia related to film restoration, image processing and enhancement and HD conversion.

“It is a significant deal for us. RWS is part of JSFC Sistema, a large Group with diversified business interests. The best part is the deal with OGK, a state unit, which will give us huge volumes,” said Reliance MediaWorks CEO Anil Arjun.

The MOU was signed during the visit of Russian president Dmitri Medvedev.

“Russian film and television industry is moving towards digitisation and the United State Film Collection houses thousands of legacy film titles which need to be restored, digitised and uprezed to HD. We are pleased to have found a partner in Reliance MediaWorks who shares our commitment for excellence and has time-proven hardware, software and custom R&D and can help us restore the Russian film legacy,” said Russian World Studios CEO Yuri Saprono.

Depending on Russia‘s requirement and developing business potential, Reliance MediaWorks and Russian World Studios will explore the possibility of jointly setting up a dedicated restoration and digitisation facility within RWS Studio complex at St Petersburg for image processing and touch-ups.

The restoration and digitisation services would be provided by Reliance MediaWorks to RWS and OGK through its Media BPO, which is one of the world‘s largest dedicated film and video restoration facility.

Arjun said, “By combining RWS‘s leadership, know-how and expertise in Russian market with our experience and versatile technology we are geared to provide next generation services to RWS and OGK‘s vast film archives. Russian Cinema has been a true embodiment of their rich history and by offering restoration services in Russia, we are honoured to have the opportunity to revive some of these classic movies.”

RelianceMediaWorks has already done work for studios in Hollywood, BBC and ITV in the UK.

Located in Navi Mumbai and spread across 90,000 sq ft area, the state-of-the-art facility is built to international standards. The facility has been security audited and passed by International Studios. The facility is linked through fiber optic connections to the Reliance MediaWorks operations in Burbank and London and can seamlessly transfer data across locations.

RWS, a part of JSFC Sistema, is one of the largest private film companies in the Russian market. Existing since 1998, RWS has produced hundreds of projects, both for TV and the big screen. The company also owns two studios, one in Moscow and one in St Petersburg which are spread across 22,000 square meters.

OGK (United State Film Collection) is Russia‘s federal state unitary enterprise that preserves and manages the Russian film archives.

Reliance MediaWorks has a comprehensive presence in film services: motion picture processing and DI; visual effects; film restoration and image enhancement; 2D to 3D conversion; digital mastering; studios and equipment rentals with facilities located in US, UK and India.

MUMBAI: As part of his respect to the cultural period known as “Khruschev‘s Thaw” that began in Russia following Stalin‘s death in 1953 that signaled the entry of Hindi films into the country, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited Yash Raj Studios.

Though Medvedev made a whistle stop visit to the studio, he made sure that he got a feel of one of India’s biggest exports to his country, Bollywood. After taking a round of the facility, the Russian president visited the set of Shah Rukh Khan’s upcoming film Ra One where he met Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor who greeted him with a brief dance performance.
 
This was followed by a discussion between the Russian dignitaries and filmmakers that included Yash Chopra, Ramesh Sippy, Nitin Desai, Rakesh Roshan, Mukesh Bhatt and Randhir Kapoor among others. The topic of discussion was setting up joint ventures in making films.
Reminiscing, Medvedev recalled that he had enjoyed watching films of Raj Kapoor, who was hugely popular in Russia. He also revealed that a local television channel in his country was wholly dedicated to Hindi films.
 

MUMBAI: With the T20 format of cricketing gaining momentum, the country‘s film celebrities are all set to launch their own version of T20, Celebrity Cricket League T20 (CCLT20).

The event, to begin in the last week of January, will have teams from Bollywood, Kollywood, Sandalwood, Mollywood and Tollywood pitching in.

The Bollywood team, owned by actor-producer Sohail Khan, will have Suniel Shetty as its captain and Salman Khan as its icon player. Other members of the team will soon be announced.

The Kollywood cricket team will have actor Abbas as the captain and the team will have the likes of Madhavan, Arya, Bharath, Jayam Ravi, Jiiva, Shanthnoo, Jai, Atharva, Vikranth and Nanda. Either Suriya or Vijay will be the icon player of the team.

As far as the Sandalwood side goes, Sudeep will captain the team while Puneet Rajkumar will be its brand icon.

Tollywood and Mollywood are yet to announce their teams.