Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: Looks like Indian films are gaining credibility abroad besides alluring audience domestically.

Soon after the news that PNC‘s Fatso will feature in this year‘s Shanghai Film Festival, National Award winning Bengali film Antaheen has also been selected to feature in the festival that starts from 12 June.

The Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury-directed film, starring Rahul Bose and Radhika Apte in the lead, won the best film award in the National Films Award 2009. It also annexed awards for best cinematography, best lyrics and best female playback singer.

Antaheen has Rahul Bose playing the role of an IPS officer who fights the system while Radhika Apte plays a budding journalist who tries to expose a land scam. The film also stars Mita Vashisth, Aparna Sen, Kalyan Roy and Sharmila Tagore.

Interestingly, the directorate of film festivals in India had sent seven nominations for the festival of which only Antaheen was selected.

MUMBAI: Fox Star Studios India will release the Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu-starrer Dum Maro Dum on 4 February next year. The studio is co-producing the film along with Ramesh Sippy.

Dum Maaro Dum will be Fox Star‘s third Bollywood release after Slumdog Millionaire that released in January 2009 and the Shah Rukh Khan-starrer My Name is Khan that opened in February this year.

Says Fox Star Studios India CEO Vijay Singh, “We are hugely excited about Dum Maaro Dum. It has a great script. It is vibrant and contemporary and we expect the film to appeal to a wide audience. The February timing is perfect and it is strategically timed just before the cricket World Cup tournament.”

Directed by Rohan Sippy, Dum Maaro Dum is an action-thriller with Abhishek playing a fearless cop. The film also stars Aditya Panscholi and Pratiek Babbar with Telugu star Rana Daggubati making his Bollywood debut with the film.

MUMBAI: Pritish Nandy Communication (PNC)‘s forthcoming film Fatso has been officially selected to get featured at the 13th Shanghai International Film Festival. The festival will begin on 12 June. 

PNC Chairman Pritish Nandy says, “It‘s always been a challenge for us to get a romantic comedy into an international film festival as most of them prefer serious, issue-based cinema, particularly from a country like India. We are honoured to be at Shanghai for the first time.”

Fatso, starring Gul Panag, Ranvir Shorey, Purav Kohli, Neil Bhoopalam and Gunjan Bakshi, is directed by Rajat Kapoor. It is a story of five friends and their relationships.

The Shanghai International Film Festival originated in 1993 and is hosted by the State Administration of Radio, Film & Television and Shanghai Municipal

MUMBAI: The seaside resort of Cannes in the French Riviera was buzzing with activity between 12 and 23 May 2010 after a relatively slower 2009. Critics carped that not enough was happening but in the end Cannes lived up to its promise.

Surprise winners were announced, deals were struck in the market section, the stars descended on and down the famed red carpet and a good selection of films – both in the competition and non-competition section were screened.

Festival managing director Thierry Fremaux and president Giles Jacob are probably pleased as punch.

Kirsten Dunst, Salma Hayek, Diane Kruger, Emmanuel Beart, Juliette Binoche, jury member Kate Beckinsale, president Tim Burton, Woody Allen, Michael Douglas, our own Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Paris Hilton, you name the celeb and they made it to Cannes.

The surprise of the festival was the Thai director-actor Apichatpong Weerasethakul‘s film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives which went on to win the coveted Palme D‘Or. It bypassed frontrunners like Mike Leigh‘s Another Year and Korean films Poetry and Of Gods and Men. Apichatpong‘s work is only the sixth Asian film to win the top prize in the seven decades of the film fest.

The award for best actor was shared by Mexican Javier Bardem (Biutiful) and Italy‘s Elio Germano (Our Life) while Juliette Binoche bagged the best actress award for Iranian film Certified Copy.

French director Mathieu Amalric won the best director award for his film On Tour.
Chadian director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun lapped up the jury prize, a mark of special recognition, besides the main awards, for the first film from sub-Saharan Africa, A Screaming Man.

South Korean director Lee Chang-Dong‘s Poetry bagged the best screenplay award while France‘s Of Gods and Men won the Grand Prix award.

The top award in the Un Certain Regard section was bagged by Hong Sangsoo‘s HaHaHa.

India presence

Like every year, India‘s film makers came out in large numbers to Cannes. An official entry of UTV‘s Udaan, the second appearance of Mrinal Sen‘s classic Khandahar and the participation of over 50 Indian companies with more than 150 films to sell, meant that India‘s presence was felt at the film fest.

Prominent participants from the country included UTV Motion Pictures, IDream Independent Pictures (IDIP), Accel Animation Studio, Supreme Communications, Sarthak Movies and many others.

While UTV‘s slate at the event also included films like Peepli Live, Harischandrachi Factory, Paan Singh Tomar and two animation films Arjun and Alibaba and Forty One Thieves, IDIP showcased horror film Fired, Love Sex Aur Dhokha (LSD) and I Am Kalam.

Beyond Illusion, an animation studio under Supreme Communications which came to the market for the first time, showcased its 3D animation musical Return of Shree Krishna.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) worked closely with The Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd., Film Federation of India, South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce for the B2B market.

Business deals and acquisitions

Beverly Hills-based production company Marquee Films announced its first production, an adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s musical Bombay Dreams, to be directed by Deepa Mehta. Lloyd Webber‘s Really Useful Group will co-produce the film with an undisclosed Indian production partner.

Lorber Films has acquired the North American rights of The Red Chapel, directed by Mads Bruegger. The film, that won the 2010 Sundance Grand Jury Prize in the World Documentary category, was an official selection in the New Directors/New Films series, presented by MoMA and the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

The distribution house intends to release the film in the US and Canada later this year. This will be followed by television broadcasts for the movie and a DVD release.

IFC Films has teamed up with Sundance Channel for a multi-platform release of Olivier Assayas‘s Carlos that stars Edgar Ramirez in the title role.

Magnet Releasing, a genre arm of Magnolia Pictures, has acquired the world rights of Mandrill, the new action film directed by Ernesto Espinoza.

Meanwhile, Arrow Entertainment has acquired the world rights of Brigitte Berman‘s documentary, Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel that won this year‘s Oscar.
French thespian Gérard Depardieu and newcomer Tahar Rahim joined Emilie Dequenne for Belgian director Joachim Lafosse‘s untitled film.

Luxembourg‘s Iris Productions bought four new films that included Luxembourgian Academy submission Réfractaire, Drake Doremus‘ romantic comedy and Spooner.
 

MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures has entered into a content sharing deal with Gravitas Ventures to make available its latest offerings on Video-On-Demand for Bollywood aficionados in the US.

While two UTV titles Dev D and Kaminey are already available on the platform, Raajneeti will debut on-demand in early August and will be distributed through Gravitas Ventures‘ agreement with Warner Brothers Digital Distribution.

On 4 June, political thriller Raajneeti will debut in theatres on over 125 North American screens.

Directed by Prakash Jha, the movie is a political thriller that mirrors the flipside of democracy in present day India. The lust for power overtakes family ties and shakes the foundation of an elite political family.

In the fourth quarter of 2010, Gravitas will release the UTV-produced English language film, ExTerminators, starring Heather Graham (The Hangover) and Amber Heard (Zombieland).

Said UTV Motion Pictures, North America SVP Lokesh Dhar, “The partnership with Gravitas Venture will ensure UTV‘s penetration further into the US market and we hope that more people are able to experience the exciting cinema that our studio has backed.”

Added Gravitas Ventures founder and CEO Nolan Gallagher, “In an evolving landscape for independent film, we look forward to collaborating with UTV on the distribution and marketing of these works from renowned Indian filmmakers and actors.”

MUMBAI: School children across the country will soon be learning about the dangers of online film piracy through a comic book entitled ‘Escape from Terror Byte City‘, launched by the recently formed Bollywood-Hollywood anti-piracy coalition.

A local adaption of a comic originally developed by New Zealand Federation Against Copyright Theft, the book tells the story of two boys who are trapped in a virtual city after downloading an unauthorised copy of a film from a peer-to-peer file sharing site.

The comic book, endorsed by the Department of Information Technology, Mumbai Police, Data Security Council of India (DSCI) and the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), will be published in three languages Hindi, Marathi and English.

In the coming months, 10,000 comic books will be distributed in Mumbai to children aged five to ten in schools, multiplexes and malls.

Revealing the intention behind bringing out the comic book, UTV Motion Pictures vice president Prakash Nathan said, “Internet piracy is becoming increasingly rampant among online audiences. We must begin to reach out to people across age brackets and social strata.

“School children are at an impressionable age and do not always know the distinction between legal and illegal. The comic book is a valuable step in educating them about online piracy.”

Internet piracy jeopardises the ability of a film to make money and impacts the level of investment available for new films.

Averred Motion Picture Dist Association (India) MD Rajiv Dalal, “As the first building block of our brand-new educational initiative, we are targeting kids who are influenced by what they read and see.

“We hope that putting this in comic form makes the message more accessible, interesting and exciting to the children. We look forward to working with the Ministry of Human Resource Development to extend this initiative and have this comic distributed to all school children across the country.”

MUMBAI: Reliance Big Pictures announced today that the Rakesh Roshan-backed Kites has grossed over 650 million worldwide in its opening weekend.

Confirms Fun Cinemas COO Vishal Kapur: “Kites has had a good weekend. We got an additional day to do good business because we had a paid preview on Thursday.”

Responding to the film‘s prospects in the coming week, Kapur believes,
“The film has received a mixed response. I have a feeling that the coming weekend will be good, though it might see a drop in the box-office receipts during the week.”

Echoes trade analyst Taran Adarsh, “Kites opened to a fantastic response releasing in major multiplexes with 25 to 30 plus shows every day.”

“However, there have been some mixed reviews and viewer feedback. The tilt has been more towards the negative, however. Therefore, it will be interesting to see if the film stands firmly from Monday onwards,” he questions.

The International version Kites-The Remix, a Brett Ratner presentation will hit the big screens on 28 May.

MUMBAI: Hyderabad-based animation and gaming art company DQ Entertainment has partnered with Onyx Films and Fidélité Films, France to produce the 3D stereoscopic feature film, The Prodigies.

The film is being produced at a global budget of $28 million and is expected to hit theatres in March 2011.

While Warner Bros Pictures, Studio37 from Orange Group and Kinology will be responsible for the distribution and sales of the film.

The Prodigies is an adaptation by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patelliere from the novel written by Bernard Lenteric in 1982. Directed by Antoine Charreyon, the film uses the motion capture and 3D stereoscopic technologies. Artistic director is Victor Antonov while the character design is from Humberto Ramos and Francesco Herreira, designers of Marvel Comics.

Said ONYX Films chairman & CEO Aton Soumache, “After Renaissance, we wanted to bring a new form of visual entertainment to teenagers and young adults. The 3D stereoscopic technology offers an immersive experience combined with the ambitious and visually challenging graphic designs and a compelling storyline. The skilled team at DQE is doing great justice to this challenging theatrical production.”

Added DQE chairman and CEO Tapaas Chakravarti, “Commencing the production of The Prodigies as a full stereoscopic 3D movie, Onyx is using DQE‘s technical and creative capability and floor capacity to complete this production on record time. We aim for the production to be premiered and distributed worldwide by Warner Brothers and Orange Studio 37 by the beginning of second quarter of 2011.”
 

MUMBAI: The impasse between Reliance Big Pictures and the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) regarding the exhibition of the Hrithik Roshan-starrer Kites has ended.

Reliance Big Pictures has offered an apology to the KFCC and agreed to comply with the KFCC norms. As per KFCC rules, only 21 prints – 17 in Bangalore and four in the rest of Karnataka – of a non-Kannada film can be released.

Says KFCC member & producer Madhusudhan Reddy: “Now that Reliance Big Pictures has agreed to abide by the rules of the KFCC, the Chamber has allowed the film to be screened in 24 theatres in Karnataka with 17 screens in Bangalore, four in the rest of the state and three new multiplexes. We have allowed them the additional three prints they had earlier asked for, as they have withdrawn the film from the other excess theatres that they were planning to screen it in. The screening of Kites will commence with immediate effect starting from the afternoon show, today.”

Yesterday activists of the KFCC swung into action disrupting shows across Karantaka as the film released in 50 plus screens. They had directed exhibitors not to screen it in the state.
 

MUMBAI: It has knocked up fairly impressive financials. Cinema theatrical exhibition company Inox Leisure has reported a seven per cent higher net profit at Rs 260.6 million for the financial year ended 31 March 2010. In FY09, net profit had seen a drop of eight per cent.

Inox‘s net sales rose 12.2 per cent over FY09 at Rs 2.56 billion. Multiplex income generated during the fiscal was Rs 2.54 billion which is 12.53 per cent higher than the previous year. However, the company did lose out heavily on its film distribution income, when it fell to Rs 1.9 million as compared to Rs 15.2 million in FY09. Even the Rs 2.9 million it made via film production did not do much to offset the loss in distribution income.

Inox‘s net profits are higher than last year, but a point of worry is the fact that it has spruced up its operations. The company‘s operating profit fell 6.4 per cent to Rs 209.5 million. What helped add green to its bottom-line was the tax provisions it had made, and excess entertainment tax paid earlier which it no longer has to make and the same being credited to the company‘s P&L account, under taxation in the previous years. 

On the plus side from an investors point of view, the overall increase in net profit, has led to the company‘s EPS has gone up to Rs 4.24 (Rs 3.96 in FY09).

Inox launched six new properties in FY10, at Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Siliguri, Visakhapatnam, taking its tally of total screens in operation from 91 to 119. Also, the company‘s properties under operation are 32 as on 31 March 2010, as against 26 at the end of the last fiscal. The company also successfully made an open offer bid for Fame earlier this year, and now owns a stake of 50.48 per cent in the exhibition chain.

The company‘s loan fund rose to Rs 1.86 billion as compared to last fiscal‘s Rs 449 million.