Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: Director Avtar Bhogal, who had earlier directed films like Zakhmi Aurat and Aaj Ki Aurat is all set for a comeback to the big screen with Honour Killing.

Said Bhogal in a statement, “Honour killings cannot be tolerated in any civilised society and stiff punishment should be awarded to the perpetrators of such crime. We are making this film to highlight this horrendous crime and create awareness among the people.”

Inspired by real life incidents, Honour Killing features Prem Chopra, Gulshan Grover along with Pakistani model-turned actress Zara Sheikh and Javed Sheikh. It will hit the screens soon.

MUMBAI: Not able to hit at fresh ideas, producers are going all out to make sequels of their earlier hits. The latest example is that of Bheja Fry, the sequel of which is soon going to be produced by Mukul Deora under his banner Watch Tower Entertainment.

Importantly, Deora also plans to distribute big and small Hollywood movies in the country. This almost would be the first of its kind as except for a few studios, other films don‘t have a good distribution network in the country.

Big Hollywood films do release in India but are badly marketed. Deora is going to personally get involved in selecting a variety of films to bring to the Indian shores followed by a well chalked-out marketing plan.

“Therefore just like the hype that surrounds an average Bollywood film, we will now hear a lot of noise about the new Hollywood films, which will also include some small films which are high on content besides the big blockbusters, “ avers Deora.

The announcement for this year‘s releases will happen shortly as Mukul is meeting the studio firms in the US.

MUMBAI: France-based production and distribution company Studio Canal will distribute Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 3 Idiots in France in June next year.

Directed by Rajkumar Hirani, 3 Idiots is one of Bollywood‘s biggest hits.

Said Rodolphe Buet, Studio Canal executive vice president international distribution and new business, “We distributed the home videos of 3 Idiots in the UK. We will now distribute the Aamir Khan starrer in France probably around June next year.”

Buet is currently attending the MAMI film festival.

MUMBAI : Subhash Ghai has decided to invest Rs 1 billion to launch a film school in Haryana.

Various aspects of filmmaking will be taught at this school.

The announcement came after Ghai met Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda at Whistling Woods International (WWI) in Mumbai.

Talkng about the deision WWI CEO Ravi Gupta said, “We have taken over some land in Haryana and talks are on with the state government to put up entertainment-related properties. We are also in talks with investors and the investments could be made by alliances or strategic investors.”

The institute will be set up over 20 acres of land within two years at Haryana‘s Jhajjar district.

MUMBAI: Veteran actress and singer Noorjehan, who was last seen in Mere Huzoor with Rajkumar and Jeetendra, has turned producer.

The veteran actress is producing mythological film Mahima Mahalakshmi Ki that is being written and directed by Anand Vaish. The film will be made in Hindi and Marathi.

Noorjehan‘s actor-director father Mazhar Khan had produced films like Dil Ki Duniya, Yaad‘ and Pehli Nazar that had Mukesh taking a break as a singer.

The cast and credits of Mahima Mahalakshmi Ki‘ are being finalised.

MUMBAI: MAMI’s 12th Annual Film Festival will close the week-long festival with PVR Pictures’ forthcoming release Red (Retired, Extremely Dangerous).

Red, a film that stars A-list academy award-winning stars like Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Helen Mirren and John Malkovich, is scheduled to hit theatres in India on 12 November.

Commenting on the selection, PVR Pictures President Kamal Gianchandani said, “It is our constant endeavour to bring international blockbusters and entertaining films like Rwd to Indian theatre-going audiences. I feel honored that this film has been chosen as the closing film of MAMI’s 12th annual Mumbai Film Festival that showcases the best in Indian as well as international cinema. Red is the highly explosive action cult film that will have you glued to your seat. It has a dream cast and a fantastic story that we are confident will be loved by Indian audiences.”

Red is based on the D.C. Comics graphic novel by Warren Ellis and Cully Hammer.

MUMBAI: Brick Lane and Road, Movie fame starlet Tannishtha Chatterjee has been appointed to the International Jury of the fourth annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA).

Said APSA chairman Des Power, “We are deeply honored to have Tannishtha join our Jury. She follows in the footsteps of her fellow Indian filmmakers Shabana Azmi, Aparna Sen and Pryas Gupta who have all served on previous APSA juries. Tannishtha’s impressive career, both in India and in the international scenario will bring a wealth of experience to the task of determining this year’s APSA winners. I warmly welcome Tannishtha to our jury which will be led this year by our Jury President Lord David Puttnam and I look forward to welcoming her and her fellow jurors to the Gold Coast next month.”

The full line-up of the jury will be announced by APSA in the coming weeks, ahead of their arrival on Australia’s Gold Coast on 22 November where they will view the nominated films and determine the winners for the Asia-Pacific’s highest accolade in film.

In all, 31 documentary, animated, children’s and feature films from 15 countries and areas have been nominated including five nominations for Indian films – Tesjaswini Pandit for best performance by an actress for her performance in Mee Sindhutai Sakpal (I am Sindhutai Sakpal); Atul Kulkarni for best performance by an actor for Natarang; achievement in cinematography for The Well (Vihir), Sudhir Palsane; achievement in cinematography for Raavan, Santosh Sivan and V. Manikandan; and Udaan, nominated in the best children’s feature film category.
 

MUMBAI: The Mallika Sherawat starrer Hisss has been getting all kinds of negative reviews. This has resulted in the film on the verge of sinking at the box-office.

Definitely, this is the time for blame-game. Jennifer Lynch who helmed the project says that the film was ‘taken away‘ from her in the editing stages itself and that she has no idea of how the film has shaped up like.

Rumours have it that the ‘end product‘ is very different than the ‘original‘. The ‘original‘ here refers to the film that Jennifer shot, while the ‘end product‘ refers to the deeds of film‘s co-producer Govind Menon who put together the final material of the film.

Lynch adds that the film that she had perceived and wanted to be made as a love story eventually took the shape of a ‘horror film‘. Even the songs were done away with.

What one fails to understand is if Lynch had to disown the film after it failed miserably at the box office, why was she appearing on different channels and promoting the film.

MUMBAI: Cinema theatre chains PVR and Cinepolis have bagged awards at the India Retail Forum.

PVR was awarded ‘The most admired retailer of the year’ award in the multiplex category. Other cinemas nominated in the category were Big Cinemas, Inox, Fun Cinemas, Cinemax and Fame Cinemas.

Cinépolis, on the other hand, took home the “Most admired retail launch of the year” award.

Said PVR CEO and group president Pramod Arora, “We strive to provide the PVR experience to the masses; therefore, we have PVR Gold class in tier I and PVR Talkies in tier II and tier III cities. We further plan to expand the PVR brand into other aspects of entertainment formats and become an integrated retail and film entertainment company.”

PVR currently has 142 screens spread across 18 key cities in India. 

For Cinepolis, the world‘s 4th largest movie theatre chain, the award acknowledged its flawless rollout, the high quality of service delivery and a world-class theatrical viewing experience that has instantly resonated with the audiences.

Said Cinépolis India managing director and country head Milan Saini, “The award acknowledges the successful entry of brand Cinépolis in India, and the new standards of excellence we are trying to establish. We appreciate this great honour and look forward to taking our innovative cinema concept to all the major cities across India.”

Cinépolis marked its entry into the Indian film exhibition industry with the launch of its first multiplex in Amritsar in December 2009. The multiplex chain plans to open 80 screens by the end of 2011 and 500 screens by 2016.
 

MUMBAI: A Tamil novelist, Amutha Tamil Nadan, working for Tamil magazine Nakeeran in a complaint lodged with Chennai city police commissioner T Rajendran has accused the producer and director of the Rajinikanth-starrer Endhiran of stealing the story idea of the film from his novel ‘Jugiba‘ , that was published in a magazine in 1996.

Nadan, who is a deputy news editor with Nakeeran, submitted his petition to the police commissioner after having arrived at his office with his advocates G Edwig and L Sivakumar.

“I had written a small novel ‘Jugiba‘ in a magazine called ‘Iniya Udhayam‘ , in 1996. My novel was repeated in ‘Dhik Dhik Dheepika‘ magazine in 2007 with my permission. Director Shankar and producer Kalanithi Maran stole the raw story from my novel and added ingredients to the film like songs, fights and graphics.

“Many of my friends and relatives informed me about the movie. Earlier, I sent a legal notice to director Shankar and producer Kalanithi Maran but since I did not get any response from them, I have now approached the city police commissioner,” the complainant said in a statement.

Nadan has been in the literary field since his school days.