Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: This has never happened before, a Hollywood film releasing in India first and then in America and the world.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is releasing in the US on 10 December but is releasing in India a week earlier on 3 December.

Hollywood films are usually released in India either on the same day or a few days, even months after its release in The United States. This is the first time that a Hollywood film will be released in India a week prior to its release in North America; and just a day after a Royal Premiere in the UK.

The film is also slated to have a big release in India with around 800 plus prints across multiple languages.

The move by Fox Star Studios India comes after the tremendous success of the previous Narnia films in India and the massive fan following of the series in India. Besides, cinegoers will be delivered a whole new experience this time as the film will also be releasing in 3D across theatres. Filmgoers will also have an option of watching the film in 3D in four languages including Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

Commented Fox Star Studios India CEO Vijay Singh, “We are delighted to offer our Narnia fans this unique opportunity and that too in 3D and multiple Indian languages. It‘s great entertainment which will appeal to a wide cross-section of demographics across the country. The buzz that is building up for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’ is very encouraging.”

MUMBAI: Eros International Media has an investment plan of Rs 10 billion over two years as it has firmed up a pipeline of 50 movies.

The slate, wide enough to make it India’s top movie studio, will include a mix of own productions, co-productions and acquisitions.

“We have a capex plan of Rs 9-10 billion spread over 18-24 months. The investment will be made through internal accruals. We have a pipeline of 50 movies, out of which 30 are already listed out and announced,” says Eros Group India chief financial officer Kamal Jain.

Eros’ top priority will be Bollywood, making up 80 per cent of the roster. The studio will also make regional language movies, including Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Bengali.

The list includes Shah Rukh Khan‘s Ra.One, Hrithik Roshan‘s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Ranbir Kapoor‘s Rockstar, Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, Deepika Padukone starrer Desi Boyz, Shahid Kapoor‘s Mausam, Roshan Abbas‘ directorial debut Always Kabhie Kabhie, Prasanth Shah‘s Chalo Dilli, Saif Ali Khan – Kareena Kapoor starrer Agent Vinod and Irffan Khan‘s Bangkok Blues.

As part of the de-risked strategy, Eros will co-produce 60 per cent of the movie slate. “We will entirely produce just 10 per cent of the slate. The remaining 30 per cent will be through acquisitions. This strategy also allows us to scale up,” says Jain.

Eros was involved in 290 film projects over the last three years. “We have a portfolio approach. The wide range of movies allows us to be de-risked. About 40 per cent of the revenues come from the India box office collections and 25 per cent through satellite TV telecast rights sales. While 30 per cent is from overseas (via deal with Eros International Plc), five per cent is through ancillary streams,” says Jain.

Eros has locked in Rs 2.4 billion from television and music syndication deals. This includes Rs 1 billion sold as TV telecast rights to Star India and Rs 640 million to Zee.

“We have a strong slate for two years, 80 per cent of which we have pre-sold as TV and music syndication rights. This is part of the Rs 2.4 billion value,” says Jain.

Eros has a catalogue of 1000 movies, 50 per cent of which is Hindi content. “We are in a relatively secure position because of our catalogue strength. We get 15-20 per cent of our revenues from catalogue exploitation. This delivers us attractive margins,” says Jain.

The pure play movie company believes in entirely pre-selling the telecast and music rights. “We resist all temptations and as a strategy do not hold on to these rights. We de-risk ourselves as much as we can,” says Jain.

Eros posted a consolidated revenue of Rs 6.5 billion in FY’10, the highest reported by an Indian movie company. Is there scope for a top line scale-up? “We are not driven by top line. We are profit-focussed. The catalogue revenue, for instance, contributes straight to the bottom line,” says Jain.
 

MUMBAI: MUMBAI: Reliance Big Pictures has appointed Sameer Chopra as marketing head.

“Chopra will be looking after the marketing functions of the company and will be reporting to me,“ confirmed Reliance Big Pictures chief strategy and marketing officer Priti Shahani.

Before his current assignment, Chopra led the marketing team at Studio 18 for the last two and a half years. He was responsible for spearheading marketing campaigns of films like Hanuman, Malamal Weekly, Singh Is Kinng, Ghajini, Life Partner and Road Movie.

MUMBAI: Eros International said Saturday its latest release, Golmaal 3, has grossed Rs 1.17 billion worldwide in its opening week.

The India box office collection stood at Rs 1.02 billion while the remaining Rs 150 million came from overseas territories.

Earlier, Eros had said that the movie, produced by Shri Ashtavinayak Cine Vision, had grossed Rs 700 million worldwide in the opening weekend. The movie netted Rs 400 million (gross Rs 600 million) from India.
 
Said Eros International Media senior vice president distribution Nandu Ahuja, “The film has truly lived up to its brand and expectations and we anticipate the excellent performance to continue in the coming weeks too.”

Released by Eros, Golmaal 3 opened across 2000 plus screens worldwide.

Golmaal 3 stars Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor, Arshad Warsi and Tusshar Kaoor among others.

MUMBAI: Bhandarkar Entertainment and Kumar Mangat Pathak’s Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji (DTBHJ) will release on 28 January.

DTBHJ, directed by Madhur Bhandarkar, is a romantic comedy starring Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi, Omi Vaidya in the male leads and Shruti Hassan, Shazahn Padamsee and Shraddha Das in the female leads. With the film, Bhandarkar explores the genre of romantic comedy within realistic parameters. It is a film about three men and their encounters with love.

Comments Bhandarkar, “This is the first time that I am making a slice of life romantic comedy and I hope as people loved my earlier films, they will definitely accept this movie too. The way DTBHJ is shaping up, I am sure it will be a treat to watch.”

Started by co-producing award-winning films like Traffic Signal and Fashion, Madhur Bhandarkar’s Bhandarkar Entertainment is well-known for churning out the out-of-the-ordinary cinema and making the kind of films which not only get commercial success but also win critical acclaim. The last film that Bhandarkar Entertainment co-produced was Jail.
 

MUMBAI: Lemon N Yellow Productions’ animation film Baru- The Wonder Kid will be premiered at the 3rd Global Film Festival at Noida on 13 November.

Instead of a theatrical release, producers Vishnu Manohar and Prabhakar Shukla have decided to hold the first screening of the film at this festival.

Comments co-producer Shukla, “We have decided to push the theatrical release further after seeing the market reaction of the recently released animation film Ramayana-The Epic. Now we will be bringing the film through a different route. The focus of the third Global Film Festival at Noida is children films. We have many children’s film from all across the world going to get exposure through this festival. Amongst our films, Baru-The Wonder Kid is premiering while other two Indian entries are Mr India and Blue Umbrella. It’s definitely a very good and appropriate platform for us.”

Baru- The Wonder Kid is one of the few animation films that is getting a very positive response from various festivals across the world. After the premiere at the 3rd Global Film Festival, the film will move onto other International films festivals before its theatrical release.

Baru- The Wonder Kid is the story of a 12-year-old orphan boy Baru and his courageous journey to free his sister, Anannya, from the clutches of the Devil Prince- Zukayu.

Presented by Shri Vishnu Entertainment and produced by Vishnu Manohar and Prabhakar Shukla, the film has been directed by Sachin Gote.
 

MUMBAI: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry is in a fix that has broken out on the late Satyajit Ray’s documentary Sikkim, what with the district Court of Gangtok re-imposing the ban on the documentary on Thursday.

The documentary was banned by the Indian government in 1975 and never saw the light of the day since. The Indian government finally allowed the ban to be lifted recently and was to be screened at the Kolkata Film Festival.

“We have received orders from the district judge court of Gangtok via email and have been directed not to screen Sikkim. We received an ad interim injunction order from the court on Thursday,” confirmed Nilanjan Chatterjee, director, Kolkata Film Festival.

Within minutes of the first public screening of the Satyajit Ray documentary, its remaining shows were suspended following the Court’s direction.

The documentary was commissioned by the last Chogyal (king) of Sikkim, Palden Thondup Namgyal and his America-born queen Hope Cooke.
 

MUMBAI: Whistling Woods International (WWI) was inducted as the youngest member of CILECT (Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision) at the recently held 2010 CILECT Congress (an international association for the best film and television schools around the world) in Barcelona, Spain.

Though Whistling Woods International is only four years old, the institute was selected as the youngest member of the Association owing to the high standards of teaching.

Prior to the induction, CILECT vice president Victor Valbuena was sent by the CILECT Executive Council to assess the training standards of WWI. Coming back impressed with the curriculum, infrastructure and faculty, Valbuena recommended WWI’s induction to the Council. After the WWI presentation to the General Assembly of CILECT, WWI was unanimously elected.

CILECT membership would help Whistling Woods in fostering stronger international bonds with member film schools to facilitate exchange of faculty, student exchange, credit transfers, training material exchange, film festival participations, co-productions of students, etc.

Speaking on the occasion, Whistling Woods International Chairman Subhash Ghai reiterated WWI’s commitment to excellence in media education and said that he was proud that in such a short span of time, WWI has achieved international recognition that has taken other schools decades to achieve. “We will continue with our efforts to ensure that students of Whistling Woods International get the best education and the industry gets the best students,” he added.

WWI has also been admitted as a member of CAPA, a sub-association of CILECT for the Asia Pacific Region where it is expected to play an important role.

MUMBAI: Undaunted by his failure in Rakesh Roshan’s Kites, director Anurag Basu is in preparations to make three films in the coming year.

Initially, Basu was supposed to do two films, Silence with Ranbir Kapoor and a biopic on Kishore Kumar. The first that was to roll out in 2010 was pushed ahead because Imtiaz Ali‘s Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Rock Star got delayed. The film will start rolling in January next.

“Now between Silence and the Kishore Kumar biopic, I am doing a third film, the details of which are being worked out,” says Basu.

Additionally, Basu is producing a tele serial titled Dil Khudgarz Hai that is loosely based on Life In A Metro.
 

MUMBAI: Dev Anand will release two of his films, one old and the other new, this December.

Navketan Films will release its 1961 hit, Hum Dono, in colour on 3 December and its latest film, Chargesheet, later in the month.

Said Anand, “Hum Dono is the film that gave me huge fame. The song Main zindagi ka saath nibhanta chala gaya became a cult hit and people especially army officials still talk about the song. I decided to release the film in colour as I want this generation to see the film. My fans will get to see me as I Looked 50 years ago.”

Chargesheet, a murder mystery, on the other hand, will be a debut vehicle for Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh. The film also has Naseeruddin Shah in a stellar role.

Anand avers, “I am quite confident about the film and I am sure audiences would love to see Naseeruddin Shah and me on screen together. I leave it to my audience to watch the film and judge for themselves before I move on.”