Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: Setting aside their differences, Lions Gate Entertainment and Carl Icahn, its largest shareholder, agreed to work together on certain acquisition opportunities from 9 to 19 July.

In a regulatory filing, Lions Gate has said that it will refrain from issuing shares in excess of 5 per cent of its share capital if not required in the normal course of business or related to joint acquisitions with Icahn though it did not elaborate on the acquisition opportunities in its filing.

Icahn, who acquired a 37.9 per cent stake in Lions Gate, has launched a hostile takeover bid of the company and threatened to fight to unseat its management.

Sources familiar with the situation said last month that Lions Gate had talked to Metro-Goldwyn Mayer about a merger but Icahn opposed such a deal because it would come with a movie library that is declining in value.

Icahn has repeatedly criticised Lions Gate for poor cost control and mismanagement.

MUMBAI: Undaunted by the failure of Kites, Rakesh Roshan has decided to make a sequel of Krishh and direct it himself.

Though the sequel of Krishh was in his mind after the original went on to become a tremendous hit, Roshan was involved in Kites and had put the idea of the sequel on the backburner.

After Kites, Hrithik Roshan’s career went off track. But now with Roshan firming up his mind to make the sequel; his career could see a revival. 

Wanting to take Hrithik’s career to the international level, Roshan has planned the next instalment of Krishh as a super-hero film that would compete with the Hollywood films like Batman, Superman and Spiderman.

This move puts to rest all that talk that Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra would be directing the sequel.

Rakesh Roshan hasn’t directed a film since Krrish.

MUMBAI: One actor who benefitted the most from the success of 3 Idiots is Omi Vaidya who played the role of Chatur Ramalingam. The role not only got people to notice him but he also bagged several awards.

Film offers have also started coming Vaidya‘s way. Madhur Bhandarkar recently signed him to play one of the lead roles in Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji, along with Ajay Devgn and Emraan Hashmi.

Now, there is news that director duo Abbas-Mustan has roped in Vaidya to play an important role in their remake of the Hollywood hit, The Italian Job.

Initially, it was Govinda who was to play the role but the director duo opted for Vaidya.

Vaidya is the latest addition to this project that has artistes like Abhishek Bachchan, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Katrina Kaif in the cast.

MUMBAI: Udaan, officially selected to compete in the ‘Un Certain Regard‘(A Certain Look) category at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival held in May this year, is scheduled to release on 16 July.

The film, directed by Vikramaditya Motwane, is the story of Rohan, who after being abandoned for eight years in a boarding school, returns to the small industrial town of Jamshedpur and finds himself closeted with an authoritarian father and a younger half brother who he didn‘t even know existed.

Forced to work in his father‘s steel factory and study engineering against his wishes, he tries to forge his own life out of his given circumstances and pursue his dream of being a writer. 

Breaking free from the shackles of his father, Rohan achieves his dream after a lot of struggle.

The film has been produced by Sanjay Singh, Anurag Kashyap and Ronnie Screwvala. It stars Rajat Barmecha, Ronit Roy, Aayan Boradia and Ram Kapoor among others.

Vikramaditya was assistant director to Sanjay Leela Bhansali in films like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and associate director in Devdas. He also had a stint with Deepa Mehta in Water in 2005.

MUMBAI: Shemaroo Entertainment‘s Ishqiya will be screened at the inaugural edition of the International Film Festival of London (IFFL).

Directed by Abhishek Chaubey, Ishqiya, produced by Raman Maroo and Vishal Bhardwaj has Naseeruddin Shah, Arshad Warsi and Vidya Balan among others in the cast.

Comments Shemaroo Entertainment director Hiren Gada, “It makes us proud to know that Ishqiya is going to be screened at IFFL. It seems that Ishqiya has made place in every heart worldwide and hope people‘s love for the film continues even in the days to come.”

Along with the popular and offbeat cinema of Bollywood and regional India, the IFFL seeks to introduce audiences to the lesser-known cinematic traditions of the region and will showcase an array of films from Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The IFFL 2010 will be held from 25 to 29 August.

MUMBAI: Genelia D‘souza will play the princess of Portugal in cinematographer-director Santosh Sivan‘s next directorial venture Unmi.

The film would be a period film based in the 15th century and centres around a boy who wanted to kill Vasco Da Gama.

The film, to be simultaneously made in Malayalam and Tamil, has Prithiviraj in the male lead. It is expected to go on the floors in August.

Giving details of his film‘s title, Sivan explains, “Urumi is the eight-feet-long flexible sword that is used in Kalari fights.”
 

MUMBAI: Twentieth Century Fox will release a special edition of James Cameron‘s Avatar titled Avatar: Special Edition.

The special edition will be released in theatres worldwide including India on 27 August in a limited engagement and exclusively in Digital 3D and IMAX 3D format. 

This version of Cameron‘s epic will include more than eight minutes of new footage. Since Avatar‘s release last December, the number of available digital 3D screens has more than doubled and moviegoers who missed experiencing the film in 3D will now have that opportunity.

Said James Cameron, “Audiences repeatedly told me that they wanted more of Pandora and wished they could have stayed there longer. So we‘re making that possible.

Avatar: Special Edition will be exclusively in 3D and will have eight minutes of never before seen footage including new creatures and action scenes. Whether you already love the movie, or you‘ve never seen it, with this special edition, you‘ll be seeing it like never before.”

Averred Fox Filmed Entertainment chairmen and CEOs, Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman, “Avatar: Special Edition is especially gratifying because not only has Avatar become one of the most beloved films in history, but after its initial theatrical release, we have been inundated with requests to re-release the film in theatres in 3D. Equally important, we‘re thrilled that Cameron is able to give audiences even more of what they loved about Avatar.”

Commented Fox Star Studios India CEO, Vijay Singh, “The re-release of Avatar along with the additional footage will enable millions of Indians to once again experience the magic of the film in 3D. And with the significant growth of 3D screens over the last 6 months, we are excited that Avatar will also reach out to new audiences in 3D across many more centers around the country”

The Oscar and Golden Globe winning epic is the highest grossing film of all time, roping in over $2.7 billion in worldwide box-office. It is also the top-selling Blu-ray disc of all time.
 

MUMBAI: The 2010 New Zealand International Film Festival opened in Auckland yesterday night with the screening of the Italian drama I am Love with Tild Swinton.

The rest of the regional centres have got their gala openings too including Wellington that will host the world premiere of Predicament starring Tim Finn, Heath Franklin and Jemaine Clement.
 

Films that will be screened at the fest include Teenage Paparazzo, Four Lions, Joan Rivers : A Piece of Works, There Once Was An Island, The Room among others.

Teenage Paparazzo, a brilliant debut documentary by TV2 Entourage star Adrian Grenier, follows Adrian as he decides to see what makes the paparazzi tick – through one of the youngest photographers on the beat Austin Visschedyk.

Four Lions This film about four Muslim terrorists in the UK was always likely to divide – but judging from early reaction, it simply shows all sides as complete idiots and is immensely funny.

Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work, is a documentary that follows the first lady of comedy (now in her seventies) for one year.

There Once Was An Island A documentary by New Zealander Briar March who spent time on this small South Western Pacific Island that is being washed away by the sea and global warming.

The Room: Claimed as the Citizen Kane of bad movies, this film in Ant Timpson‘s Incredibly Strange section of the programme‘s garnered itself a cult following and some very excited people that it‘s finally playing in NZ after years of trying to secure it.
 

NEW DELHI: The film ‘Red Alert’ dealing with the Naxalite and Maoist problem is to be released this week with 550 prints in the Hindi version.

The film has also been made simultaneously in English, Telugu and Chattisgarhi and a dubbed version in German.

Actor Suniel Shetty won the best actor award for the film directed by Ananth Mahadevan at the South Asia Film Festival in New York and was shown as part of Directors’ Vision at the international film festival in Stuttgart in Germany. It was given a red carpet at the International Film Festival of India at Goa last year.

Director Ananth Mahadevan told indiantelevision.com that he had been inspired to make the film when he saw a report in a newspaper and so it was based on a true story. It was a strange coincidence that the film should get released at a time when the Maoist menace was at its peak, he added, denying that it had been deliberately timed.

Referring to the script by Aruna Raje who is a director in her own right, he said it had definitely given the film a different and humane touch. He described the film as one of an individual caught in a dilemma.

In an interview, Shetty said he had learnt a lot from the making of the film and felt that if the governments came forward to do what the non-governmental organizations were doing, the menace would disappear. He said the so-called Naxalites or Maoists were like other people concerned about jobs and making ends meet and if these needs were fulfilled, the problems would get solved. But he said the communication gap remains because the rich are getting richer and the poor are being forgotten in the race.

Shetty, who said he himself belongs to a farmer family from Karnataka and therefore could emphatise with the central character Narasimha, said he was lucky to be at a stage where he could choose the kind of films he wanted to act in after having acted in over 125 films in 20 years.

He had tried his hand at production but did not feel satisfied though ‘Bhagam Bhag’ and ‘De Dhana Dan’ had done well. He, therefore, preferred to stick to acting. He also ruled out direction.

Producer Rahul Aggarwal said the subject had appealed to them as it was the need of the present time and the film had sought to present a solution to the Maoist and Naxalite problems.

MUMBAI: Riteish Deshmukh’s love for Marathi films is well-known as he declared some time ago that he wanted to act in them.

But with no fruitful offers coming his way, Deshmukh has now decided to produce Marathi films, thus adding another feather to his cap. The actor‘s love for Marathi cinema is one of the main reasons why he has ventured to become a filmmaker. 

The actor has now joined the league of a few select actors like Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Akshay Kuamr and others who have turned producers.

Though his main interest would be to produce Marathi films, it may be sometime later that the actor might also venture into producing a full-fledged Hindi film too.