Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: PVR Pictures will release Step Up 3D, a 3D dance film directed by Jon Chu, in India on 3 September.

The triquel to this American dance series sees the story of an urban street dance going global with a new story of hearts, dreams and bodies in motion made even more thrilling with 3D technology.

The film also marks the return of Adam Sevani and Alyson Stoner, who portrayed Moose from the second series and Camille Gage from the first series respectively.

Said PVR Pictures head – worldwide distribution Deepak Sharma, “We are very excited about bringing this phenomenal craze to India. Step Up is a very popular American dance series and such hip-hop-fueled movie largely targeted at the youth has now shown a whole new market being cultivated around Dansicals.”

“It is also a huge opportunity to attract audiences in the TV space since a major chunk of today‘s successful reality shows are based around such dance shows. Step Up 3D has already created immense curiosity amongst audiences, and we plan to take this movie to 70 to 80 screens across the country,” he added.
 

MUMBAI: Eight – The International Short Films Festival on UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG)s will screen short films made by eight renowned filmmakers from around the world. This will include the works of directors such as Mira Nair, Gus Van Sant and Wim Wenders will be showcased between 17 and 18 September.

These films will support the MDGs‘ eight international development goals that 192 UN member countries have pledged to achieve by 2015, including eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.

Rahul Bose will inaugurate the festival while a jury of eminent personalities like filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and wildlife photographer and filmmaker Mike Pandey will evaluate a number of short films submitted by enthusiasts from across the country

MUMBAI: Days after declaring his intention to produce an expose on Bollywood, Sanjay Gupta has come out with a list of another two films that his production house White Feather Films will delve into next year.

The second film that Gupta will get into is Milte Hain, based on a play by Barry Creiton. The film, to be directed by Meghna Gulzar, will have Gulzar writing the script and Vidya Balan playing the female lead. The male lead is yet to be finalized.

Soon after the shoot of Milte Hain is wrapped up will the producer start filming the remake of Spanish film Ladron Que Roba Ladron. The script of the film is being written by Darab Farooqi and Sanam in association of veteran Robin Bhatt.

Though the female lead of the film is yet not confirmed, brothers Sunny and Bobby Deol have been confirmed

MUMBAI: Director Onir‘s I Am will be the opening attraction of the third edition of I-View Film Festival to be held from 18 to 26 September in Manhattan.
The festival that will screen over 25 features, documentaries and shorts will close with Vinay Shukla‘s Mirch. The film festival organised by Engendered will get underway at the Asia Society, Tribeca Cinemas and Big Cinemas.

Other films to be screened at the festival will be Rituparno Ghosh‘s Antarmahal, Kaushik Ganguly‘s Just Another Love Story, Sanjay Sharma‘s Dunno Why!!!… Naa Jane Kyun by, Dibakar Banerjee‘s Love Sex aur Dhoka and Saeed Mirza‘s Ek Tho Chance among others.

I AM, a series of four short stories about issues and dilemmas facing modern Indian society, ranging from policing of homosexual men to adult survivors of childhood sex-abuse and unmarried motherhood, stars Sanjay Suri, Shernaz Patel, Anurag Kashyap, Radhika Apte and Rahul Bose among others.

Mirch directed by Vinay Shukla and starring Konkona Sen Sharma, Raima Sen, Shahana Goswami, Shreyas Talpade, Prem Chopra and Boman Irani amongst others is a series of four short stories about infidelity woven together by a common story.

Engendered is a trans-national arts and human rights organisation based in New York that focuses on exploring issues concerning gender and sexuality in the South Asian Diaspora.

MUMBAI: After establishing itself in Mumbai and Delhi, the Enlighten Film Society has now launched in Bengaluru with the 4th Indo German Film Festival in the presence of director Girish Kasaravalli.

This film festival marks the grand beginning of the film society in the capital of Karnataka. The society has also joined hands with various film societies in the city including the coveted Suchitra Film Society so that film enthusiasts in the city can have access to cinema in a broader way.

Said Taj Enlighten Film Society president Pranav Aashar, “Bengaluru has always been a city in love with cinema. We are extremely honoured to partner with the 4th Indo German film festival that has always had a huge turnout of film lovers. We are also joining hands with various film societies and looking forward to sharing a bond, enriched by cinema. We have major plans for the future in the pipeline.”

The Taj Enlighten Film Society will showcase national and international films in Bengaluru regularly at Lavanya Theatre, St.John‘s Road. The inaugural film screening will be the premiere of Kanasembo Kudureyaneri directed by Girish Kasaravalli.

MUMBAI: Sound recordist Resul Pookutty, who won an Academy award for sound mixing in Slumdog Millionaire, has been invited to be associated with the Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) Guild of America as its member.

Avers Pookutty, “Till 15 years ago, the Indian industry had not heard of a head of the department called Sound Designer. Today, being invited to be part of the biggest body of Sound Designers in the world, is indeed an honour.”

Established in 1953, the MPSE is a non-profit organisation that works to mentor and educate enthusiasts about the art and technology of sound and music editing. It also provides scholarships in this field.

A graduate from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pookutty has worked for films in Hollywood, Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam films. He received the Padma Shri award from the Government of India in 2010.

MUMBAI: Peepli Live created quite a stir first by getting rave reviews and later with an impressive opening weekend gross of Rs 160 million from 600 screens in India. The film, however, settled at Rs 200 million gross for the entire first week, just Rs four crore added to its weekend gross. In short, with as many as 600 screens playing this small, no face value film, Peepli Live can be said to have exploited fully its potential over its first weekend.

There are usually no takers for a rural background films any more, the generation now finding little or no identification there. However, it is a dig at the media, especially electronic media and Aamir Khan‘s personal touch in the film‘s promotion which seem to have drawn the moviegoers.

Commenting on the drop the film took after the bumper weekend, Raju Bansal of Jai Pictures, veteran Rajasthan distributor, says that this was expected because the film had appeal for elite city audience only. Cities like Jaipur and Indore in CI had as many as eight screens engaged which is what happens with regular star cast film.

As expected, most of Peepli Live business comes from Bombay Circuit which is about Rs 80 million or 40 per cent of the total kitty.

MUMBAI: In a four-film distribution deal with Rising Star Entertainment, Percept Pictures has acquired exclusive worldwide marketing and distribution rights of Allah Ke Banday and three more films across all platforms.

The first film in the deal is Allah Ke Banday that is to release on 22 October. The film is directed by Faruk Kabir and stars Sharman Joshi, Naseeruddin Shah, Faruk Kabir and Atul Kulkarni.

Said Rising Star Entertainment, Managing Director Ravi Walia, “We are excited to partner Percept Pictures on four films. Allah Ke Banday is our first offering scheduled for an October release. We look forward to creating more exciting projects with Percept in the coming months.”

Averred Percept Limited, Joint managing director Shailendra Singh, “We strongly believe in growing through partnerships and alliances and we are looking forward to the slate of films with Rising Star Entertainment.”
 

MUMBAI: The third edition of the Jaipur International Film Festival will be held in the capital of Rajasthan from 27 to 30 January.

Five new awards have been instituted this year. They are: The Golden Camel Award for the best director; The Red Rose Award for the best film released between October 2009 and October 2010; The Green Rose Award for the film that gives a global message; The Yellow Rose Award for the upcoming film; and The Award to Best Short Animation Film.

The Film felicitated with the Yellow Rose Award would be world premiered at the festival. It will also organise the world premiere of the film winning the best feature trophy on TV cable networks.

This year’s edition had received 350 entries from 41 countries. Out of these, 87 films were screened at the festival and 12 awards were given away in different categories.

MUMBAI: Ruskin Bond is making his first appearance on silver screen in Vishal Bharadwaj‘s Saat Khoon Maaf, based on his own novel titled ‘Susanna‘s Seven Husbands’.

An Indian author of British origin, Bond‘s writing has lured several filmmakers into making films of his novels. ‘The Flight of Pigeons,’ for instance, was adapted by Merchant Ivory films to make the Shashi Kapoor-starrer Junoon. This is the second time that Bhardwaj is adapting Bond‘s book, the first being Blue Umbrella.

In the film, Bond will star opposite Priyanka Chopra. In one scene, he has to give her a peck on the cheek. The director says the cene took quite a few retakes “because he is very shy.‘‘

This is not the first time a writer has appeared on screen. Bhisham Shahani, who wrote ‘Tamas’, played an important character in Govind Nihalani‘s adaptation into a tele series. Even Salman Rushdie did a cameo in both Bridget Jone‘s Diary as well as Then She Found Me. Urdu writer Ismat Chugtai featured in Merchant Ivory‘s Junoon while Arundhati Roy featured in Massey Sahib, In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones and Electric Moon.