Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: For Crest Animation Studios, the makeover to an animated movie production house is paying off. The Mumbai-based company‘s first CGI animated 3D stereoscopic film, Alpha & Omega, has grossed approximately $35 million in its seven-week run.

Released globally by co-production partner Lionsgate on 17 September, the movie continues its run in the USA, UK, France and some other territories.

“We expect the movie to earn an income of $100 million from all revenue streams including box office, home video and sale of satellite rights. The initial success of the movie has earned us credibility and could be a gamechanger for the Indian animation industry,” says Crest Animation CEO AK Madhavan.

The film, made on a production budget of $25 million, is yet to be released in other major territories like Germany, Spain, Italy, Australia, Japan and Latin America.

To be released in India in more than 2000 screens, the film‘s distribution rights rest with Crest. The animation studio will partner with established distributors in the country to ascertain that the film is exhibited in maximum number of screens both in 2D as well as 3D.

Alpha & Omega is an animated comedy about two mismatched wolves and has voices of artistes like Justin Long, Hayden Panetierre, Christina Ricci, Danny Glover, Dennis Hopper and Larry Miller.

Crest is co-producing its second film, Norm of the North, an animated family feature in stereoscopic 3D along with Lionsgate Family Entertainment studio as part of the three-film deal.

“We will deliver Norm of the North in 2012. It will be released either late 2012 or early 2013,” says Madhavan.
 

MUMBAI: Nearly two years after he signed 3 Idiots and ten months after its release, Aamir Khan has signed a suspense thriller that he will also co-produce. It will be directed by Reema Kagti who had earlier helmed Honeymoon Travels Private Limited.

Confirming the news, Khan said, “I’ve said yes to Reema’s film. I’m really excited and hope to start shooting in February.” The yet untitled film will have two heroines opposite Khan.

The pre-production of the film, set in India, will start early December. The makers intend to release the film in Christmas next year.

On being asked how she managed to get a nod from the actor, Kagti avers, “I thank my lucky stars that Aamir liked our script. We had approached him some months ago and are really glad that he’s agreed.”

Earlier Kagti was an assistant to Ashutosh Gowariker while he was making Lagaan.
 

MUMBAI: Reliance Big Entertainment (RBE) will be co-producing two 3D films with BBC Earth, the global natural history brand for BBC Worldwide, that will entail an investment of $90 million.

While Walking Dinosaurs 3D will be built on a budget of $65 million, the documentary feature Africa 3D will cost $25 million.

RBE will also take up the distribution of these two movies and Life, a documentary produced by BBC Earth. The distribution will be handled by Reliance‘s international film sales and financing subsidiary, IM Global.

Says BBC Worldwide‘s Managing Director of Global Brands Marcus Arthur, “By
partnering with Reliance Big Entertainment, we have the opportunity to realise a long held ambition of making BBC Earth 3D feature films.”

While IM Global will distribute the films worldwide, Life, currently in the post-production stage, will be distributed by Avex in Japan. Life is being produced by Martin Pope and Michael Gunton.

“IM Global will distribute Life globally but Avex will be distributing it in Japan,” clarifies BBC Worldwide spokesperson Emma Finlay.

IM Global will begin the international sales of Walking With Dinosaurs at the
forthcoming American Film Market (AFM) in Santa Monica.

So why did BBC Worldwide select Reliance as its partner for the three natural history feature films? Says Finlay, “Reliance is an excellent partner for BBC Earth as we benefit from their extensive experience and knowledge of the film industry to ensure the successful launch of our films.”

MUMBAI: Holland-based filmmaker Rishi Chaman of Indian origin who came to the film horizon with his debut film Bollywood Blues has made a tele film on ‘nada yoga‘ in Dutch and English, supposed to be a modern, spiritual and musical version of the wellness technique where East meets West.

The word ‘nada‘ refers to the physical, mystical, religious or cosmic sound. Titled Nada Yoga – The Secret Of Sound, the 28-minute film will be telecast on the Dutch Hindu Broadcasting Network OHM. The film will be relevant to watch because one will see how an ancient, secretive tradition in the East is translated to the West. 

“The focus is on Acharya T. Jaimini who teaches the authentic, demanding form of nada yoga to two of his students, which is confidential,” Chaman said.

Earlier, Chaman had directed Laxmi Calling Ling, Sapney and Itch and had made documentaries on Indian artistes like Asha Bhosle, Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek and Sonu Niigaam.

Chaman collaborated on the project with Delhi-based Anupama Jain.
 

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

Both the films will release next year .

A fun film shot largely across Spain, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara stars Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Abhay Deol, Katrina Kaif and Kalki Koechlin.

Game, on the other hand, is a whodunit and a slick edge-of-the-seat thriller. It stars Abhishek Bachchan, Kangana Ranaut, Sarah Jane Dias and Jimmy Shergill.

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.”

Producer Ritesh Sidhwani of Excel Entertainment adds, “Eros has had fabulous track record of global distribution for over 33 years and we are looking forward to our two very important films Game and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara reaching out to maximum audiences worldwide through their unparalleled distribution network.”
 

MUMBAI: Bipasha Basu has signed her first International project, Singularity, with English-French director Roland Joffe.

The $33 million film is a tale of an impossible love story across two time periods and continents.
 
The story that revolves around the story depicted during the first anglo-maratha war of the 18th century has four central haracters, an American marine biologist and his researcher lover, a British officer in colonial India and the Indian woman he falls in love with.

Basu will be flying to Brisbane in the first week of November where the film will start rolling.
 

MUMBAI: Having won the National Award on more than one occasion, Madhur Bhandarkar will now be honoured with yet another award the Vishesh Sanman/ te Zenith Asia Award, also known as the PL Deshpande Award, organised by Aashay Sanskrutik and Paranjpe Schemes.

Deshpande was a renowned writer, stage and film actor and his literary works are still revered in Maharashtra and others parts of the world.

Bhandarkar‘s Chandni Bar will also be shown on this occasion. 

Other awards, that would also be presented include the Krutagyata Sanman that will go to Sindhutai Sapkal to honour her exemplary social work and Tarunai Sanman that will be given to the musical duo Ajay-Atul.

The festival promises to be a bouquet of films, theatre, music, literature and arts. There will be a book fair, Sahitya Sammelan, audio-visual programmes, cultural programmes and many such events.

The award will be presented to Bhandarkar at a function in Pune on 16 November.
 

MUMBAI: Karan Johar’s Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol starrer My Name is Khan will have a Chinese premiere at Beijing on 30 November.

Said an elated Johar, “It‘s an honour, especially since China allows only the release of 20 foreign films a year. I can‘t remember when the last time an Indian film was released there.”

Commented Fox Star Studios CEO Vijay Singh, “The Chinese authorities are really hard on foreign films. To be asked to release Khan is an amazing honour.”

Considering the limited time available to both the studio and the producer, it seems more likely that the film would be subtitled in the Chinese lingo.
 

MUMBAI: Reliance MediaWorks Ltd has widened its consolidated fiscal second-quarter net loss to Rs 447 million compared to Rs 111.47 million a year ago.

Reliance MediaWorks continues to maintain its strong investment phase and all its projects are well on track. “As a result of the continued investments and stabilisation of business verticals, the interest and depreciation charge, the company has recorded a net loss of Rs 447 million,” the company said.

The net loss has, however, narrowed as compared to the trailing quarter (Rs 536.45 million).
 
Total revenue of the company jumped 30.7 per cent to stand at Rs 2.46 billion, as compared to Rs 1.88 billion in the year-ago period.

Meanwhile, the company‘s expenses also went up by 37.28 per cent to Rs 2.52 billion in the quarter, as against Rs 1.83 billion in the earlier year. This was mainly because of higher rent, higher personal cost and payout to distributors.

Ebitda from operations stood at Rs 340 million.

“Reliance MediaWorks has delivered strong performance in the first half of the year and have started seeing strong returns on investments from the assets created in past two years. The forthcoming quarter releases include some of the biggest and most awaited films of the year, which will result into strong box office performances and also help us leverage our leading presence across the entire film and media services value chain,” said Reliance MediaWorks CEO Anil Arjun.

On a standalone basis, the net loss for the quarter was Rs 410.85 million (from Rs 69.95 million). Total income of the company for the quarter was Rs 1.48 billion, while expenses were at Rs 1.49.

In the segment-wise results, theatrical business reported a revenue of Rs 1.53 billion, a jump of 32.77 per cent from previous year’s Rs 1.5 billion. But this was mainly because of the impact of producers strike in the previous year.

The operational loss from the segment was at Rs 119.67 million (Rs 84.40 million operational loss in the previous year).

Total capital investment in the theatrical exhibition segment stands at Rs 9.54 billion.

From the film production services segment, the company has earned a revenue of Rs 746.6 millioncompared to Rs 474.27 million in the previous quarter. It also posted an operating profit of Rs 116.22 million during the quarter under review (from previous year’s Rs 146.49 million).

However, in the TV/Film production and distribution segment, the revenue dropped to Rs 239.78 million, from Rs 302.37 million a year ago. The company posted an operating profit of Rs 39.48 million from the segment, as against a profit of Rs 85.29 million a year ago.
 

MUMBAI: The eight-day MAMI Festival came to an end on Thursday with the felicitation of two film industry veterans, Manoj Kumar and Oliver Stone. This was followed by the award ceremony in which Turkish film Majority bagged the best film award while the Silver Gateway Award for best direction was bagged by the Thai film, Mundane History.

Lifetime achievement awards were bestowed on Kumar and Stone. 

In his acceptance speech, Stone said he was honoured to get the award. “Thank you Mumbai. India has a great culture, you make great movies and I am honoured to accept this award.‘

The Golden Gateway Award for the best film in the international competition category went to Majority, directed by Seren Yuce. The film is the story of 21-year-old Mertkan who falls in love with Gul, a girl from a different ethnicity, and was part of the international competition for directors who are debuting with feature films.

The SGA award for best director was presented to Thai director Anocha Suwichakornpong for her film, Mundane History. The film is an experimental narrative of sexual frustration and cosmic identity in class-based Thailand.

While Mundane History got the director a cash prize of Rs 5 million, Majority won Rs 2.5 million as prize money.

The SGA in the international competition, was presented to the Danish film R directed by Michael Noer and Tobias Lindholm. The SGA for best actor was presented to Bartu Kucukcaglayan for his performance in the film Majority while the silver gateway award for best actress was presented to Marie Helene Bellavance for her role in Canadian film, Vital Signs.

Film luminaries who attended the closing ceremony were Yash Chopra, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Ashutosh Gowarikar, Sudhir Mishra, Madhur Bhandarkar, Arunoday Singh, Satish Kaushik, Prem Chopra, Hrishita Bhatt, Rituparno Sengupta, Rajshree Ojha and Aamir Bashir among others.

The ceremony was followed by the screening of director Robert Schwentke‘s Red that stars Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Mary Louise Parker and John Malkovich.