Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: Cinemax India president – sales, marketing and operations Devang Sampat is leaving the multiplex chain after serving it for 10 years.
His last day of duty would be 15 November.

Says Sampat, “This decision is to give myself an opportunity to explore other growth prospects. It wouldn‘t have been right for me to stay on and look out for new opportunities. So I spoke to my bosses and decided to move on.”

Last June, Sampat was promoted as president. It was in that period that Cinemax India also appointed Sunil Punjabi as CEO.

In his 10-year stint at Cinemax India, Sampat worked in various capacities.

MUMBAI: The Jennifer Chamber Lynch-directed Hisss, set for release on 22 October, is being dubbed in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.

The film has Mallika Sherawat playing a serpent. Irrfan Khan and Divya Dutta are also in the cast. Tribal leader of Thalikakal settlement in Kerala, Mooppan Raghavan, and over a dozen members of his tribe are recruited as extras for the film.

Special effects designer Robert Kurtzman has developed the look of the snake woman in the film. Editing is done by Tony Ciccone who has also done the sound design.

The film was shot in the jungles of Kerala, Mumbai, Chennai, Madh Island and at Filmistan studio.

Sri Tirumalai Tirupati Venkateswara Films will release the movie in South India.
 

MUMBAI: Fans of the film Sholay have all reasons to rejoice. The movie is being remade as Aakhri Gabbar with dwarfs between three-to-four feet playing important roles.

This means that people will again see Gabbar Singh, his sidekicks Kaalia and Sambha battle Jay and Veeru in the new film touted to be a comedy thriller. But this time around, all the characters concerned would ride donkeys instead of horses.

Even Dhanno, the beloved immortal mare owned by Basanti, will be a short, female donkey which runs only after firecrackers are lit behind her. And Basanti’s Mausi stands tall at just 3.2 feet. 

Says producer and co-director Riyaz Shaikh, a marquee decorator based in Navi Mumbai, “Undoubtedly, Sholay rules the Indian cinema audiences‘ psyche even 35 years of its release. There have been several attempts to remake it in different forms but none could really capture the charm and essence of the original. I hope my venture will break the jinx.”‘

The idea of making a film hit the 5.5 feet tall Shaikh quite accidentally. A couple of years ago, he ran into an old classmate of his, a dwarf.

“He lamented how they were short-changed in Bollywood, both in terms of roles and money and that his career was not really going places. He asked me to help out. It got me thinking and with the help of Pyarelal (of the famous music-director duo, Laxmikant-Pyarelal), I started working on the project,” Shaikh averred.

He said that the new Sholay would be drastically different. “I started by changing the complete image of the entire star cast – instead of tall, hefty persons of the original, I decided to use only dwarfs for all the characters. Since Sholay had a pan-India appeal, I wanted to make Aakhri Gabbar with talented, but virtually unknown artists drawn from all over the country. I hope the people appreciate my experiment,” believes Shaikh.

The principal roles in Aakhri Gabbar will be played by Zaheer Shaikh of Akola, Maharashtra (Gabbar Singh), Ajay Navik of Gujarat (paying Jay), Irfan Sheikh of Uttar Pradesh (playing Veeru), Salim Shaikh of Bangalore (playing Thakur) and sidekicks Shivaji Ingle of Thane (Kaalia) and Khalil Sheikh of Mumbai (Sambha).

While Sandhya Gaekwad of Ratnagiri will play the character that was played by Jaya Bhaduri, Basanti‘s character will be essayed by Aashiya Rangrez from Mumbai.

MUMBAI: Anjaana Anjaani, a love story, has failed to excite young cine lovers despite Ranbir Kapoor. With a patchy screenplay of an adoption of a French film, A Girl On The Bridge, it lacks on all necessary ingredients of a love story.

The first weekend collections for the film stands at Rs 250 million, but it has taken a drastic plunge as the new week starts. The next four days will be tough going for the film.

The film had not generated great pre-release heat and that is the way things have stayed post release.

Bombay Circuit distributor-exhibitor Guru Shenoy noticed a huge drop on Monday morning show and expected the collections to slide further in the shows to follow.

Brajesh Tandon, prominent Delhi-UP distributor and theatre controller, says, “Delhi multiplexes were reasonably okay over the weekend, but UP collections were poor.”

The other two releases, Khichdi and Benny And Babloo, have been poor and poorer, respectively.
 

MUMBAI: Months after Maharashtra revenue minister Narayan Rane‘s eldest son Nilesh turned producer and launched a 3D film titled Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, his younger brother Nilesh has also followed suit.

Nitesh is making a 3D animation film called Bal Shivba that will apparently be an attempt to portray the young Shivaji as a modern-day superhero, who solves problems faced by youngsters in contemporary Mumbai.

Says Nitesh, “The character we have created is inspired by Shivaji Maharaj and will be a youth hero.”

The producer intends to release the film sometime in early 2012.

Tata Elxsi, which worked on Yash Raj Film‘s Roadside Romeo, is handling the animation for Nitesh‘s film, Bal Shivba.
 

MUMBAI: The ninth Third Eye Asian Film Festival, to be held in Mumbai from 29 October to 4 November, will felicitate renowned filmmaker Shyam Benegal with the Asian Film Culture award.

The award honours the achievements of Asian directors and is given each year to the master of Asian cinema.

Iraqi film Son of Babylon, which won the Best Movie Award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in July this year, will open the festival.

Said Festival director Sudhir Nandgaonkar, “In the last twenty years, Asian cinema has gained immense popularity by winning top awards at world‘s important film festivals. And to recognise the talent and films made by Asian directors, the festival has organised a ‘director‘s first or second film‘ section.”
The competition would be adjudged by an international jury. 

Six films by Mrinal Sen would also be screened this year under the Asian Masters section.

The festival that will showcase 80 films and 50 short films from Asian countries will be held in Plaza in Dadar (central Mumbai), Y.B. Chavan Centre (Nariman Point in south Mumbai) and Fame Adlabs (Andheri).

The festival will close with the screening of Marathi film Mee Sindhutai Sapkal, based on a true story of a village woman‘s journey to overcome the adversities of life through her good deeds.

MUMBAI: Veteran actress Aruna Irani is retuning to Marathi films after 16 years in Bol Baby Bol. The movie is produced by her brother Balraj Irani and directed by Vinay Laad.

A family comedy that revolves around a toddler, Ladd shot the film 22 days.

Asked whether she faced any language problem, the actress said: “I always used to enquire about the scene to be shot next day and came prepared by listening to the recorded dialogues. There was no problem.”

The film‘s cast includes Makrand Anaspure, Anikesh Vishwarao and Neha Pendse.

The last time Aruna Irani acted in Marathi movies was in Changu Mangu that also starred Ashok Saraf

MUMBAI: In line with Raghav Bahl‘s strategy to consolidate Network18‘s entertainment businesses under Viacom18, the joint venture company between media conglomerate Viacom Inc and IBN18 Broadcast has come out with an offer to acquire the Indian Film Company (TIFC).

The board of Roptonal, Cyprus, a subsidiary of Viacom18 Media, is making the open offer to acquire AIM-listed TIFC shares at a price of 115.56 pence apiece. The offer is recommended by the independent directors of the TIFC board.

Earlier, in July, Viacom18 had announced that it will come up with an open offer to acquire TIFC, which produces and distributes movies.

At present, Network18 holds 80.4 per cent stake in TIFC. Viacom18 intends to purchase shares from the other shareholders as well and delist the company from AIM.

Network18 Media & Investments is considering this offer from Viacom18 beneficial to its shareholders and has already given an irrevocable undertaking to accept the offer.

Interestingly, Network18 had made an open offer at 40 pence per share to up its stake to 80.4 per cent in TIFC.

“This sale will mark the culmination of a very successful investment in the film business for Network18 shareholders with a gain of over Rs 1.4 billion. In turn, IBN18 shareholders will get asset to their entertainment business in Viacom18,” Network18 said.

Viacom18 plans to be one of the leading entertainment companies in India across TV (GEC/Youth/Kids) and films. The film business will be further strengthened with the involvement of Viacom, a global leader in the motion picture business.

Earlier, IBN18 and Viacom, the two shareholders, had shown willingness to provide the necessary funding to Viacom18 for making the purchase.

MUMBAI: Kareena Kapoor is likely to play Indira Gandhi in the much-awaited international biopic Mother: The Indira Gandhi Story.
The international producers had earlier thought of approaching Priyanka Chopra for the role but the film’s Oscar-winning make-up artistes Jenny Shircore and Greg Connam were divided in their opinion.

They are certain that Kapoor can look closer to Indira than Chopra. While Shircore, who won an Academy award for her work in Elizabeth felt that Chopra is the only actress, Connam, who worked on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, thinks that Kapoor is more suited. As of now, the two are seriously looking over Kareena‘s features for a near match before they approach her. 

The film’s director Krishna Shah, who has made films like Shalimar, says, “Can you imagine Gandhi without Ben Kingsley or Nixon without Anthony Hopkins or Patton without George C. Scott? Indira‘s film provides incredible scope for the make-up artistes. Kareena has a strong jaw and deep eyes and the time for make-up will not be taxing.”

Talking about the probable makeup time on Kareena will take, Shah explains, “Indira at 20 will take about an hour, she at 50 about two hours while she at 67 will take three hours because of the advancement in the art of make-up.”
The movie will be released in two parts. The first part will come up at the end of 2011 and part two about seven or eight months later. Shah mentioned that the film would be multilingual.