Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: 3D film Dam 999, produced by Biz TV Network and directed by Sohan Roy, is to make its presence in American Film Market.

The story of Dam 999 revolves around a hundred year old dam and populace living around it. It raises the environmental issues that are caused by the construction of a new dam that would probably replace the old one and how it affects the inhabitants in that area. It speaks about the exploitation of resources and atrocities by politicians in the name of development which personifies the vulgar face of power politics of any country.
 
The film that has been inspired by a tragic dam disaster that took the lives of over 2.5 million people speaks about a colonial dam, its disaster, the nine characters and their emotions.

In a sense, the film is a mirror that reflects the unspoken miseries of thousands of people who have seen the disgusting face of development. It is a tribute to those who live under the terror of dam collapse.

The American Film market is considered as one of the biggest events in Los Angeles, showcasing films from all around the world.
 

NEW DELHI: Superstar Akshay Kumar, the brand ambassador for the Special Olympics Bharat, has initiated a massive nationwide signature campaign to have the r-word (retard) or its equivalent in any Indian language removed while addressing intellectually disabled persons. The campaign has already crossed 9 million signatures.

The highest number of signatures from one school is 98,000 with Bihar leading the signature campaign. Not only this, but Akshay will also be in Bangalore for a grand event that will be the culmination of the Signature Campaign. The event titled ‘Be a Fan of Dignity‘ will also see him walking the ramp for Bangalore designer Ramesh Dembla at the glamorous star studded grand finale.

Akshay will award everyone who achieved new records for the campaign and also lead the pledge ceremony at the event where everyone present will be taking an oath to remove the r-word from their vocabulary and be more sensitive to people with any intellectual disability. After the show the campaign results will be taken to not just the Social Justice Department in Delhi but Parliament to change the National Policy and ban the usage of Retard in all languages across India. This has already been accomplished by the Special Olympics Bharat, Area Director. in Uttar Pradesh.

Talking about his support for the campaign, Padmashree awardee Akshay Kumar said, “Unfortunately, intellectual disabilities are a reality for a large number of people in the world. Stop the derogatory usage of the word RETARD. It is not about being politically correct. It is about being sensitive.”

Sugandha Sukrutaraj (Ashoka Fellow), who is the Director of BE A FAN OF DIGNITY and Trustee Special Olympics Bharat said “We have participation and response from over 200 thousand schools from every state and union territory in India in the Signature Campaign culminating at BE A FAN OF DIGNITY 2010. The Youth in these schools have sensitized over ten million people by making them sign their support to the intellectually challenged community. Akshay, however, has taken this effort to another level all together by reaching out to his Fans and the Film Fraternity. This community is not asking for our pity or charity, they need our respect and involvement.”

NEW DELHI: Bollywood hits, “Paa”, “3 Idiots” and “Tere Bin Laden” are among the five Hindi films that form part of the 26 feature films selected for the Indian Panorama section of this year‘s International Film Festival of India next month in Goa.

The feature films were chosen by a 10-member jury headed by filmmaker N Chandra after previewing 140 movies. The festival will be held from November 22 to December 2. The inauguration of Indian Panorama will be on November 23.

The Panorama also forms the basis for sending Indian films to international film festivals all over the world.

The other Hindi films in the features section are “I Am Kalam” and “Wake Up Sid”. The list has four films each in Malayalam – “Mummy & Me”, “Makaramanju”, “Kaal Chilambu” and “Elektra”; Bengali – “Achin Paakhi”, “Abohomaan”, “Moner Manush”, “Ami Aadu”; and Marathi – “Pail Te Sumbaran”, “Jhing Chik Jhing”, “Vihir”, “Mee Sindhutai Sapkal”.

There are three films each in Kannada – “Kanasemba Kudureyaneri”, “Aidu Ondola Aidu” and “Shabari”; and Tamil – “Athma Kadha”, “Angadi Theru” and “Raavanan”. One film each in Telugu – “Prasthanam”, Oriya – “Swayamsiddha”, and English – “Just Another Love Story” are the other films.

A total of 19 non-feature films were also selected, by a separate five-member jury headed by the wellknown Siddharth Kak.

The films are “Incurable India”, “Leaving Home”, “Motorbike”, “My Daddy Strongest”, “Surang”, “Going The Distance”, “Mr India”, “Kal”, “Dhruva Natchathiram”, “Seshasha”, “Numit Tadri”, “Rupban”, “Journey to Nagaland”, “Germ”, “Achtung Baby”, “Courtroom Nautanki”, “The Victims”, “Aval” and “Shyam Raat Seher”.

The National Award-winning best non-feature Films of 2008 and 2009, “AFSPA 1958” and “The Postman
 

MUMBAI: Endhiran (The Robot) has not only hijacked the box-office collections in Southern India, but is also storming the global market with its high quality visual effects.

Eros International Media, which is distributing the Tamil and Telugu versions of the movie in the overseas markets through its subsidiary Ayngaran International, has claimed that Endhiran has collected Rs 610 million internationally.

Ayngaran International is a 51 per cent subsidiary of Eros International and specialises in distribution of Tamil film in theatrical and home video formats in the international market.

The movie has grossed Rs 200 million in the United States of America, Rs 80 million in the United Kingdom (Including Europe), Rs 70 million in the Middle East, Rs 210 million in South East Asia (including Malaysia and Singapore) and Rs 50 million in the rest of the world.

“The film has received a stupendous response and has seen a manifold success compared to the Rajnikanth starrer Sivaji,” Eros said.

Endhiran stars Rajnikanth and is directed by Shanker.

Ayngaran International CEO K Karunamoorthy said, “We are pleased to announce the exceptional response to the Tamil and Telegu versions of the film-Endhiran, not just in India but across the world. The magnificent trio – Rajnikanth, Shankar and AR Rehman have hit the jackpot once again. We were very confident about the film breaking all box office records. The combined distribution strength of Ayngaran International and Eros International has enabled us to integrate the Tamil film industry by producing and releasing films very successfully on the global platform.”

The company also said that Ayngaran International and Eros International will continue to establish its strong regional presence and penetrate into new market segments, audiences, acquisition and exploitation of regional film content.

Eros International Media MD Sunil Lulla said, “It gives me immense pride to announce the exceptional response received for the Tamil and Telugu versions of the film-Endhiran, which has been distributed through our own subsidiary Company, Ayngaran International. We are elated with the box office collections of the film across the globe and wish to contribute the success to the very talented team of Endhiran. We believe the extensive distribution power of Ayngaran International and Eros International has given us a competitive advantage and we will continue to strive to create greater success stories in the future.”

MUMBAI: Alliance Against Copyright Theft (AACT) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) recently came together to launch an anti-piracy coordination cell in New Delhi.

While FICCI’s anti piracy coordination cell has been approved by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), the government has undertaken to give its full support to curb piracy.

The Cell will function as a centralised agency to coordinate the efforts taken by the Government and the industry to curb piracy and will also serve as a platform that represents to the world the impact of anti-piracy operations in India. It will assist in further strengthening the fight against piracy and in fulfilling India’s commitment to ensure zero tolerance to piracy.

Said Reliance Big Pictures vice president and founding member of AACT Sanjay Tandon, “We are extremely proud that AACT is associated with FICCI’s anti-piracy cell. As a coalition we have always worked towards involving every member of the industry to fight against this monster called Piracy.

“Joining the cell is another feather in the cap for AACT, which has achieved great success in its short stint so far, where we have taken several and effective initiatives to curb both hard good piracy and online piracy. This association is yet another effective means to attack this Monster and while we assure this Cell of FICCI of our whole-hearted support.”

Prominent Indian studios supporting this move are: UTV Motion Pictures, Moser Baer Entertainment, Reliance Big Entertainment, Eros International and the Motion Picture Association.
 

MUMBAI: With Love To Obama, produced by Ashok Pandey of Revel Films and written and directed by Subhash Kapoor, will have its world premiere at the seventh annual South Asian International Film Festival (SAIFF) beginning in New York on 27 October.

Set against the backdrop of the global meltdown, With Love To Obama is a comedy film that shows how recession not only affected the top corporate houses in metro cities but also gangsters in Uttar Pradesh.

The film has Neha Dhupia as a local goon Munni Madam and her look is reportedly inspired by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister’s style, speech and body language. The film also stars Rajat Kapoor, Manu Rishi Chadha, Sanjay Mishra, Sumit Nijhavan and Amol Gupte.

Other films to be screened at the festival include Anurag Kashyap‘s That Girl in Yellow Boots, Saurabh Shukla‘s Paapu Can‘t Dance Saala, I Am 24, I Am Kalam, Paan Singh Tomar and Harud.
 

MUMBAI: Nominations for the fourth annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) to be held in Australia on 2 December have been announced. India has received five nominations, including three for Marathi cinema.

Tejaswini Pandit has nominated as the best actress for her ‘strong‘ performance in Marathi film I am Sindhutai Sakpal (Mi Sindhtai Sakpal), while Atul Kulkarni has been nominated for his sterling performance in the Marathi film Natarang. 

Technicians who worked in Marathi film Vihir (The Well), produced by Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited (ABCL) and Mani Ratnam‘s Raavan have been nominated for best cinematography.

While Sudhir Palsane has been nominated for Vihir, Santosh Sivan and V. Manikandan has been nominated for Raavan. Anurag Kashyap‘s acclaimed film Udaan, directed by Vikramaditya Motwane, is also among the nominations for the best children‘s feature film category.

APSA is an initiative of the Queensland government, Australia, in collaboration with UNESCO and FIAPF – International Federation of Film Producers‘ Associations.
 

MUMBAI: The 12th Mumbai Film Festival (MFF) will open with David Fincher‘s The Social Network, a recent Hollywood blockbuster.

In India, the film releases on 12 November.

The film is about the founding of the social networking website Facebook and comes with the tagline ‘you don‘t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies‘. It features Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Brenda Song, Max Minghella, Rooney Mara, Rashida Jones and Armie Hammer.

The story revolves around Harvard undergraduate and computer programming genius Mark Zuckerberg, who on a fall night in 2003, sits down on his computer and heatedly begins working on a new idea. In a fury of blogging and programming, what begins in his dorm room soon becomes a global social network and a revolution in communication.

Six years and 500 million friends later, Zuckerberg becomes the youngest billionaire in history but for this entrepreneur, success leads to both personal and legal complications.
 

MUMBAI: Horror film Piranha 3D is set to release in India on 29 October in English and Hindi in over 300 screens across India.

Produced by Dimension Films, the film is to be distributed in the country by Multivision Multimedia India Pvt Ltd in association with Eagle Video and MGH Enterprises.

The film is set in Lake Victoria, Arizona, where a tremor causes the lake‘s floor to open, setting free scores of prehistoric piranhas who break all hell loose in the vicinity.

Directed by Alexandre Aja, Piranha 3D is a second remake of the 1978 film after James Cameron‘s directorial debut Piranha II: The Spawning in 1981.

“The film has done well abroad. We are hoping that people will like it in India as well. It will also release in Hindi,” said MGH Enterprises director Ashok Ahuja.

The film’s cast includes Steven R. McQueen, Jessica Szohr, Adam Scott, Elisabeth Shue, Kelly Brook, Riley Steele, Richard Dreyfuss, Jerry O‘Connell, Christopher Lloyd, Ving Rhames, Dina Meyer, Cody Longo, Ricardo Antonio Chavira, Paul Scheer, Ashlynn Brooke, Gianna Michaels and Eli Roth.

MUMBAI: Gulshan Grover will star opposite Mexican beauty Salma Hayek in The Driver, director Bill Duke‘sforthcoming film.

Earlier, Duke helmed films like Not Easily Broken, Hoodlum, A Rage in Harlem, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit and The Cemetry Club among others.

‘Because the lead actor in The Driver will be acting with a range of Hollywood stars, I wanted to cast an Indian actor with talent, range, experience and ability to improvise, I chose Grover over many because he has what I wanted,‘ Duke said in a statement.

A story about hope, the film shows Gulshan‘s character as a rank-and-file accountant, who does what‘s expected of him until he finally decides to risk all and drags his wife (Salma Hayek) with him on a journey to go after his dreams.

Along the way, he encounters numerous people and situations who inspire and often horrify him, sometimes even pushing and shoving him into giving it all before he could reach his destiny.

Several stars like Will Smith, Janet Jackson, Whoopie Goldberg and Queen Latifa, NBA player Kobe Bryant and a couple of famous comedians will play themselves in guest roles in the film.

Gulshan is also set to feature in films like Prisoners of the Sun and Nephilim, a British film Honour Killing and an Indo-French collaboration titled I Am Kalam.