Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures is not looking at raising further capital and is on course to reach its revenue target of Rs 4.50 billion this fiscal as it readies a few big releases including Guzaarish and Tees Maar Khan, a senior executive said.

The year has seen a string of hits including Rajneeti and I Hate Luv Storys and the company plans to have an annual release pipeline of 12 movies.

“We are pretty much well funded and have scaled up our operations. The business has reached a self-generation mode,” said UTV Motion Pictures chief executive officer Siddharth Roy Kapur.

UTV has deployed a capital of Rs 5.46 billion for movies, according to data available till 30 June 2010.

UTV has almost locked up its slate for the next fiscal. “We are sitting in a pretty position and expect to see strong growth in the next fiscal. We have only 3-4 titles to lock up. The pre-planning is well in place,” said Kapur.

Kapur expects consolidation to take place in the distribution space. “In the creative side, cost rationalization has taken place. We are seeing a strong growth in theatrical revenues due to expansion in the exhibition business,” he said.

The business model for satellite TV rights has changed this year as broadcasters are increasingly looking at acquiring exclusive movie content for telecast. “The syndication model is being thrown out of the window. Broadcasters are looking for an exclusive window for anything they acquire. It is working out good for broadcasters as well as producers,” said Kapur.

Will the success of Enthiran (The Robot) lure UTV to look more aggressively at regional movie production? “We will keep an eye on the regional movie space. We do not expect the dynamics to change much in these markets. Rajinikanth does not make movies too often and regional movies require a different sensibility. Our focus will remain on Bollywood,” said Kapur.
 

MUMBAI: Yash Raj Films has roped in Nupur Asthana to direct its next feature film.

The film that has newcomers in the lead will be made under the recently formed banner, Y Production. Under this banner, Yash Raj Films will make medium-budget movies with lesser- known names.

Asthana is now in the limelight, with her serial Mahi Way produced by Yash Raj Films and telecast on Sony TV.

Ashthana was supposed to direct a film for UTV Films but the project never took off. She has also written the screenplay of Chain Kulli Ki Main Kulii and Chance Pe Dance.

MUMBAI: The team of Robot has decided to approach the government of Maharashtra to specify quality-control methods to check sound systems in the multiplexes of Mumbai. They also plan to sue the chain of theatres for faulty sound systems.

Last Monday, Rajnikant’s screening of his latest film for his friends from Bollywood culminated in a terrible mess with the sound completely disrupted in the seventh reel. This led to an unscheduled break just before the crucial climax of the film.
Speaking about the fiasco, sound designer Resul Pookutty avers, “From the time the film started screening, I sensed that there was something seriously wrong. Later when I came to know that a few speakers were not working, I wanted to stop the screening immediately but Aamir Khan pacified me explaining that it would not be proper to stop the show abruptly.”

The worst followed. “After seven reels with 40 minutes of playing-time still to come, the sound collapsed completely. When finally the screening was restored, the quality of sound had deteriorated further. It was one of the most humiliating evenings of my life,” he adds.

It may be noted that, in the South, Pookutty has fought a similar battle to change the sound quality in theatres. “Now patrons there are so conscious of their rights to get optimum-quality sound and visual value that in Kerala, audiences broke seats and disrupted screenings at theatres with sub-standard technical value,” he says.

MUMBAI: Bollywood has not had a strong listed entity in India. That is set to change as Eros International Media Ltd (EIML) made rapid strides on the debut day of trading on the bourses to reinforce its position as the most valuable Indian movie company.

Listing at the issue price of Rs 175, the shares of the pure play movie company peaked to an intra day high of 217.7 and touched a low of Rs 178.60 before finally closing at Rs 190.05, up 8.6 per cent.

A total of 21.94 million shares were traded during the day.

Meanwhile, on NSE, the stock closed at Rs 189, up 8 per cent. The stock saw an intra day high of Rs 213.95 and a low of Rs 177.65.

A total of 36.09 million shares of EIML were traded on the opening day at NSE.

As reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, EIML has raised Rs 3.5 billion through its initial public offering (IPO) of up to 18.55 million shares.

YAMUNA NAGAR: Wellknown actor Om Puri who is also the Chairman of the National Film Development Corporation, today said that around five films will be sent every year for the Haryana International Film Festival by the Corporation.

Addressing the media at the ongoing 3rd Haryana International Film Festival today, Om, to whom a special tribute is being paid at the Festival, said that the NFDC had its own limits but it would also consider any proposals from filmmakers from the state who approach the Corporation.

He lauded the concept of holding a festival in a comparatively small town like Yamuna Nagar and said this was the best way to spread the message of good and healthy cinema.

Answering a question, he said cinema was still not getting its due recognition after the rise in the eighties and nineties. He felt that the National Film Awards should concentrate on meaningful ‘cinema of excellence’ since popular commercial films could vie for other private awards.

Cinema is not mere entertainment and can be used to inform and educate, but it was unfortunate that it had been taken over by commercial interests who only looked for profits without realizing that cinema could be used social empowerment. It was unfortunate that less than ten out of every 100 films could be considered good cinema.

He said the NFDC had urged the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to re-introduce the screening of NFDC films on Doordarshan.

Seema Kapoor, whose film ‘Haat – the Weekly Bazaar’ is being screened as part of a tribute to Rajasthani cinema, said her film had won accolades at several places being part of the Indian Panorama and also gone to several international film festivals including Cairo and won an award at MAMI in Mumbai, but had not yet been commercially released. The film was produced for the NFDC.

Referring to the theme, she said that there had been no adverse reactions and Puri added that the film must have been seen by over 15,000 people in Festivals or Panorama screenings.

Puri added that a lot of money needed to be put into publicity for making any film successful. Most films managed to make their money only in the first two or three days before piracy took over, and this was the reason for simultaneous nationwide releases.
 

MUMBAI: As part of the Dutch Media and Entertainment Program India, 15 Indian media and entertainment companies will visit the Netherlands from 10 to 15 October.

The purpose of the visit is to get in touch with their Dutch creative counterparts.

This is the first time ever that a delegation from this sector of India is making a collective visit to the Netherlands. Among the visitors would be Rahul Dholakia, Prabhakar Shukla, Nielesh Malhotra, Dr. Sharon Thomas and Prakash Sharma.

Besides, filmmakers, TV commercial and production companies like Oasis Television and Purple Aquarium Studios will also participate.

The delegation would be welcomed by Marije Hulshof, director of the agency for supporting international business, a part of the Dutch Ministry of Economic affairs on 11 October.

As part of the programme, the delegation will visit Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and the South Limburg area.

The delegation will visit shooting locations and unique aspects of the Dutch creative sector like the Creative Factory in Rotterdam, the Endemol Studios in Amsterdam, Little India Area in The Hague and The Gardens and botanic beauty of Mondo Verde in South Limburg.

The trade mission will end with the launch of the Hindi Radio Station FunX Desi that is part of the most popular youth radio station in the Netherlands.

MUMBAI: Tanuj Garg, currently head of international operations at Studio 18, has been appointed as CEO of Balaji Motion Pictures.

Says Garg, “Right now I am serving the last days at Studio 18 and will be joining Balaji sometime this month.”

As the youngest CEO in the corporate film business, he will spearhead and further the production, marketing and distribution of Balaji Telefilms Ltd.‘s motion picture arm that has given two hits – Love, Sex Aur Dhokha and Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai – this year.

Garg will report to Balaji Telefilms Group CEO Punit Kinra. At Balaji, Garg will spearhead and further the production, marketing, and distribution businesses.

An MBA in marketing and strategy from the UK, Garg‘s career spanned eight years at Applause, UTV Motion Pictures and Studio18.

MUMBAI: Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance MediaWorks went on an insane upsurge, jumping 37 per cent on the BSE, as rumours spread that Disney would be picking up a strategic stake in the company.

The total traded quantity of Reliance Mediaworks stood at 8.12 million shares on the BSE.

The shares of the company closed at Rs 292.95, up Rs 79.05 or 36.96 per cent over the previous close.

The scrip touched an intra day high of Rs 299.40 after opening at the day‘s low of Rs 212.75.

“The scrip gathered steam as market rumours spread that Disney would be picking up a minority stake in the company,” an analyst at a broking firm said.

Indiantelevision.com, however, could not establish the veracity of those rumours.

When contacted, Reliance MediaWorks CEO Anil Arjun said he had no comments to offer on market speculations.

Disney already holds a majority stake in UTV Software Communications.

Reliance MediaWorks operates in three segments: theatrical exhibition; film production and distribution; and film processing facilities.

MUMBAI: Rajnikant is back with a bang as an endearing robot, portraying the age-old formula ‘good vs evil‘ in a new avatar.

Robot, built on Rs 1.6 billion, begins with scientist Dr. Vasi (Rajnikanth) creating a humanoid, (Chitti), looking exactly like him to serve the purpose of defence of the country. On the other hand, Vasi‘s guru, robotics scientist Dr Bohra (played by Danny Denzongpa) who heads the committee that would approve Chitti‘s induction in the army, cites Chitti‘s inability to differentiate between good and bad as a reason to deny Chitti‘s inclusion in the army.

Dr Vasi now trains different chores of life, teaching Chitti the value of human relationships and ability to understand emotions. He succeeds, but his plan goes haywire when Chitti falls in love with Sana (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan), Vasi‘s girlfriend.

What follows is a love triangle between Sana, Dr Vasi and Chitti. As the creator and his creation are locked in a jealous battle against each other. Meanwhile, Dr Bohra plans to misuse Chitti for his wrong objectives.

Dr Bohra, who has been trying to create his own set of robots that would cause more destruction than do good, fails in his act. In Chitti, he sees the opportunity to fulfill his dream. What follows is mayhem.

From here, the mind blowing special effects and awe-inspiring and jaw-dropping action takes over. And the result is one that can give any Hollywood film a run for their money.

The director and Stan Winston Studios have served a relishing dish with a little bit of iRobot, mixed with bits of Iron Man, Matrix, and Terminator type climax that results in a mindboggling entertainment fare.

The choreography, the camerawork and editing complement the film and so does the art direction. AR Rahman too has done a decent job with the background score.

The film has many engrossing moments. But the best scene of the film is when Dr Vasi, told to do away with his creation Chitti, asks the latter to dismantle himself. And in doing so, Chitti gets tears rolling down the cheeks.

Rajnikant gives his innumerable admirers something to cherish about in Robot. Aishwarya gives an equally good performance and the chemistry of both the lead actors have to be seen to be believed. Danny is efficient as usual in his role, in what is said to be his last feature film.

Robot, a mix of substance and visual effects, does amazingly well.
 

MUMBAI: Hrishikesh Mukherjee fans are in for a delight with his three films – Golmaal, Khubsoorat and Chupke Chupke – picked up for remakes.

While Boney Kapoor and Tutu Sharma have purchased the remaking rights of Khubsoorat and Golmaal respectively, Sohail Maklai has bought the rights of the Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan comic caper Chupke Chupke.

While Kapoor bought the rights some time back, he has not zeroed in on a heroine who would do the role Rekha played in the original. Tutu Sharma, on the other hand, hasn‘t made up his mind yet. He is also hobnobbing with the idea of re-selling the rights.

However, Malkai intends to cast Ajay Devgn in the role played by Amitabh Bachchan while Sanjay Dutt is to take up Dharmendra‘s act.