Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures’ The Social Network has roped in Rs 23 million in its first weekend, according to an official statement.

The movie, based on the Facebook promoter, released with 91 prints on 12 November. 

Said Sony Pictures India MD Kercy Daruwala, “This is one of those very rare films that are appreciated by both audiences and critics. We were extremely confident of strong word-of-mouth following its debut as the opening film at the Mumbai Film Festival in October. Post the overwhelming reception at the festival, our marketing strategy was to make it a film not to be missed.”

Sony Pictures India‘s next releases are Dwayne Johnson-starrer Faster that will release on 10 December and award-winning documentary Inside Job that will also release on the same day. The Johnny Depp-Angelina Jolie starrer The Tourist will release on 31 December.

MUMBAI: The 4th edition of Film Bazaar will be bigger and better with some more offerings than the previous years.

With an aim to continue the age old tradition of improving trade relations between the SAARC nations, NFDC has invited projects from these countries this year. For the very first time, film projects from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will be part of Film Bazaar 2010.

It is also for the first time this year, that the Film Bazaar will organise industry screenings for filmmakers to showcase their films to potential producers, distributors, agents, buyers and representatives of international film festivals.

Like every year, the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) has organised its annual film networking event Film Bazaar India-10 at the Marriott Resort, Goa, from 23 to 26 November. The Bazaar will go alongside the International Film Festival of India (IFFI).

The film market is designed to address the current needs of filmmakers and the idea behind it is to provide a proficient stage for prospective buyers and sellers of film rights from India and abroad. The event will witnesses multi-cultural diversity of delegates who come to find people with the same business interests.

Film Bazaar has grown and gained wide popularity since its inception in 2007. Last year, over 350 delegates from 22 countries had attended Film Bazaar. The bazaar aims at creating opportunities for networking and business for producers, filmmakers and distributors from across the world.

MUMBAI: The 41st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) beginning in Goa on 22 November will have Oscar award-winner film sound designer Resul Pookutty conducting workshop on sound techniques.

Boman Irani will also conduct a workshop on evolution of comedy in Hindi cinema. 

Detailing about the workshops, director of union information and broadcasting ministry‘s film festival directorate S.M. Khan said that the two would be interacting with film aficionados at interactive workshops called ‘Masterclass‘.

“Pookutty will be conducting a masterclass on 27 November while Irani would be conducting his masterclass on 1 December. While Pookutty’s class will be moderated by veteran filmmaker Govind Nihalani, well-known journalist Kishwar Desai would moderate that of Irani,” averred Khan.

The 10-day event will go on till 2 December.

MUMBAI: Eros International Media Ltd (Eros International) has acquired the worldwide rights of Excel Entertainment‘s forthcoming releases – Zoya Akhtar‘s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Abhinay Deo‘s Game.

The two films will release in 2011. 

Says Eros International Media managing director Sunil Lulla, “Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar are great producers and have carved a niche for themselves for producing some edgy cinema. Eros International is delighted to associate with them and release these highly anticipated films through our extensive distribution network and thereby showcasing the movies to a global audience.”

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, a young fun film shot largely across Spain, is directed by Zoya Akhtar and has Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Abhay Deol, Katrina Kaif and Kalki Koechlin.

Game, directed by Abhinav Deo, is a whodunit with twists and turns and stars Abhishek Bachchan, Kangana Ranaut, Sarah Jane Dias, Jimmy Shergill, Shahana Goswami, Gauhar Khan, Boman Irani and Anupam Kher.

MUMBAI: Yash Chopra will throw open the 41st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) on 22 November.

Said Directorate of Film Festivals director S.M. Khan, “Chopraji will be inaugurating the festival. We will also be felicitating several actors whose names will be disclosed in due course.”

The festival has received a record number of 450 entries for the ‘Cinema of World’ section and the final list will be chalked out soon. 18 films from several countries will be up for the competition in the ‘International Competition’ section.

This year Orissa will be the focus state because it is celebrating 75 years of cinema.

The festival concludes on 2 December.

MUMBAI: The week saw three releases. A Flat, coming from the producer of A Wednesday, surprisingly roused no excitement in the trade nor with the moviegoers. The film had few takers and the collections have been poor.

Of the other two, Raama The Saviour and Dunno Y…Na Jaane Kyun, there is nothing to be said of their box office performance because there was none.

As for the opening week box office collections, Golmaal 3 spelt good news for the festive season. Released on Diwali, the film opened with a tepid Rs 59.2 million net on Friday but gathered momentum and peaked on Saturday and Sunday. It ended the week with a handsome Rs 660 million in the kitty.

The film has found mostly favourable response and due to lack of opposition in the second week, it is expected to reap the benefit. The first week performance of Golmaal 3 is best since Dabangg released in September.

Shabnam Kapoor, who represents Ginni Arts, the Delhi-UP, Punjab distributors of the film, calls the collections “amazing”, stating that even in the second week the film is holding strong and has netted Rs 52 million from Delhi-UP and Punjab over the weekend.

Veteran Bombay Circuit distributor Ashok Ahuja of R M Ahuja & Co calls the success of Golmaal 3 as “awesome” and expects it to do a net business of Rs 225 million to Rs 240 million eventually which will be close to Rs 260 million from Dabangg.
 

MUMBAI: Rituparno Ghosh-directed Noukadubi, inspired by Rabindranath Tagore‘s story of the same name, will have its world premiere at the IFFI Goa scheduled to open on 24 November.

The importance of the screening is underlined by the fact that the screening is also a celebration of Rabindranath Tagore‘s 150th anniversary.

The script of the film is based on the novel written by Rabindranath Tagore in which the writer tries to depict the incident of wife swapping caused by circumstances.

The story of Naukadubi is about a man, Ramesh, who is in love with a girl named Hemnalini and he agrees to get into a marriage on the suggestion of his parents without even knowing and looking at the girl with whom he is getting married. During the marriage function, the village where the marriage is being held gets flooded and it is said that the bride and Ramesh‘s father gets drowned in the floods.

Later Ramesh meets a girl Kamala who is a widow and she lost her husband immediately after her marriage. Ramesh marries her and it is found that her husband is not dead.

The film has already generated a lot of interest in the International Film Festival circuit. It may be recalled that Noukadubi, a progressive Bollywood-style story from Galpa Cuccha, a collection of stories of Tagore published in 1912, had raised eyebrows during Tagore‘s lifetime also.

Noukadubi, a tale of four cross-wired lovers made in Hindi and Bengali, has been produced by Subhash Ghai and stars Prosenjit Chatterjee, Jisshu Sengupta, Raima Sen and Riya Sen.

The film is slated for theatrical release worldwide by the end of January next in Hindi and Bengali.

MUMBAI: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has approached the makers of Action Replayy for the screenplay of the film to be put up in its library for its permanent script collection.

Producer-director Vipul Shah got intimation on this regard early this week and accordingly, he is making necessary arrangements to ensure that a copy of the screenplay reaches the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy.

Confirming the news, Shah said that the Academy has shown keen interest in preserving the screenplay of Action Replayy. “I am glad that they feel the screenplay of my film is worthy enough for students of cinema to read and learn,” he added.

The screenplay of the film has been written by Shah and Aatish Kapadia.

Earlier, a copy of the screenplay of Namastey London was shared with them when they expressed their desire to acquire the same.

MUMBAI: A host of movies from different and diverse nooks and corners of India will be screened at the upcoming Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) to be held between 12 to 19 December.

Films from different genres like drama, comedy, documentaries, features and short films from Mumbai, Kerala, West Bengal and Kashmir have been included in the seventh edition of the festival.

“This year, we have films from Kashmir, a part of the subcontinent with hardly any local film industry, and we also have examples of superbly sophisticated filmmaking and cutting-edge films with all-Indian star casts,” said DIFF consultant for the subcontinent programme Dorothee Wenner in a press statement. 

Among the films to be showcased are filmmaker and actress Aparna Sen‘s Bengali project Iti Mrinalini and veteran director Shyamaprasad‘s Malayalam film Elektra. Two films highlighting Kashmir will also be showcased. While one is an Urdu feature film Harud (Autumn), the second is Ashvin Kumar‘s Inshallah, Football.

Ekta Kapoor‘s Shor will be screened. Also lined up is Khule Darwaaze, a short film by Ashish Pande.

Additional selections from India will be announced in the coming weeks, according to Wenner.
 

MUMBAI: Fox Star Studios and Ramesh Sippy are ready with their latest offering Dum Maaro Dum, but as per a previous announcement the film isn’t releasing on 4 February next year. The release has now been postponed for a Good Friday release on 22 April.

Talking about the delay, Fox Star Studios CEO Vijay Singh said in a statement, “We are in the midst of researching the film amongst various target groups and are excited with the response that we are getting. It has a great script, it‘s vibrant and contemporary, and we expect the film to appeal to the multiplex and single screen audiences. Since Easter is a big holiday weekend, it will provide a great release window in India and across International markets.”

The film marks the coming together of director Rohan Sippy and Abhishek Bachchan and is a thriller that races through the by lanes, beach shacks and raves of Goa.

Dum Maaro Dum stars Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, Rana Daggubati, Pratik Babbar and Aditya Pancholi among others.

Rohan Sippy had earlier directed Kuch Naa Kaho and Bluffmaster.