Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: he Anurag Kashyap co-produced film, Udaan, has been officially selected to feature in this year’s Cannes Film Festival in the ‘A Certain Regard‘ section.

The section will also have several other movies by renowned directors such as Manoel de Oliveira (Portugal), Sang-So Hong (South Korea), Hideo Nakata (Japan) and Lodge Kerrigan (USA).

The film is a coming of age story revolving around father-son relationship.The Sanjay Singh and Kashyap film, involving the directorial debut of Vikramaditya Motwane, stars Ronit Roy, Ram Kapoor, Rajat Barmecha and Ayan Boradia.

The last time an Indian film was part of the official selection was in 2003, when Murali Nair’s Malayalam film Arimpara was included in the Un Certain Regard section. The year before that, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas was screened in the out of competition section.

Noted director Shekhar Kapur will serve on the Competition jury headed by American director Tim Burton.

BANGALORE: Funmax Family Entertainment (Funmax) opened its fifth 4D SFX Theatre in Bangalore today.

Funmax already has two 4D SFX theatres in Hyderabad and one each in New Delhi and Visakhapatnam, besides which it has set up two theatres in Saudi Arabia and one in Jordan.

The company plans to add another ten 4D SFX screens in India as well as abroad by the end of this fiscal. According to Funmax technical director B Abraham, there are currently only about 100 4D SFX screens in the world, with the USA leading with the most number of screens.

Though similar theatres are present in India, including one at the Innovative film city in Bangalore, Funmax’s USP is that it has developed the entire equipment and infrastructure in India by the Funmax team which has resulted in cost savings of about 60 per cent over the existing theatres that have been set up with imported equipment.
Another major differentiator is that Funmax plans to change the movie every quarter in each theatre as opposed to the long running content that other players exhibit.

Funmax already has a library of a handful of films and expects to have another nine movies created by global leaders in 3D and 4D content Mwave. The Bangalore theatre that opened today has a seating capacity of 32 and the first three shows were fully booked at a steep weekend price of Rs 150 per person for a 15-20 minute show. The weekday price is Rs 120 per ticket.

Funmax claims that it is a pioneer in themed environment at malls and amusement parks with a variety family entertainment options such as mirror maze, spintrix, horror house, 4D Theatre, Playpen, Food court, Amazing Children play area, etc.

Quite like the themed theatres in the west, Funmax’s Hyderabad 4d SFX theatre is themed as a Funzone Water Park, while the one in Visakhapatnam is themed as Funzone Jungle Adventure. Space restrictions have not allowed Funmax too much of leeway for a theme at Bangalore, but the promoters are planning to make it a family entertainment spot with a children’s play and themed birthday celebration area.
 

NEW DELHI: Inaugurating the first-ever Bangladesh Films Festival, Minister of state for Information and Broadcasting CM Jatua said this would contribute further to the people-to-people contacts between the two countries. He recommended that the films should be taken to other cities as well.

Jatua felt the films would lead to a better understanding of the composite ethos of Bangladesh. The Minister said though the people of both countries lived separately, they shared a common bond with regard to history, culture and social values. In the current scenario, it was imperative that media played a pro-active role in familiarising the people in India with the cinematic brilliance of film directors from Bangladesh.

Speaking on the occasion, Bangladesh High Commissioner Tariq A Karim said culture transcends all languages. He said recently Bangladesh cinema had seen a fresh upsurge with a fresh and intellectual capital in terms of new blood.

Renowned actor and director Sarah Kabori, who is also a Member of Parliament, said India had helped Bangladesh in every sphere from the time of the freedom movement in 1971 to the present day.

The three-day festival of films from Bangladesh has been organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals in collaboration with the Bangladesh High Commission from 16 to 18 April.at Sirifort Auditorioum II.

In all, seven films will be screened: Ontorjatra, Joyjatra, Bachelor, Rupkathar Golpo, Matir Moina, Aha and ‘Ayna by Kabori which was the inaugural film.

Other members of the Bangladesh delegation are distinguished film producer and Managing Director of Impress Telefilm Limited Faridur Reza Sagar, noted actor and director Tauquir Ahmed, talented actors from the new generation Aupee and Shahidul Alam.

MUMBAI: Screened at four domestic film festivals, Reliance Big Pictures is now set to release the MS Sathyu-directed Kannada film Ijjodu on 30 April.

The story of Ijjodu is based in a remote area in Karnataka where photo journalist Ananda meets Chenni, a woman who was made a ‘Basavi‘ and was offered to the village goddess to save the superstitious locals from a devastating epidemic. Basavis, like Devdasis, often end up becoming sex workers.

Ananda specialises in photographing ancient monuments and writing about various rituals and customs that have gone unquestioned. He soon gets obsessed by Chenni’s unusual life. In trying to explore more information about her, he discovers that she is a victim of blind faith and the story unfolds to change their lives forever.

Says Sathyu, “Ijjodu is very close to my heart. The film takes a strong stand against the existent Devdasi pratha in the Yellama society in Karnataka. It has some excellent performances and music and I am happy that my 12-year long hiatus ends with such a beautiful film.”

Adds Reliance Big Pictures CEO Sanjeev Lamba, “Ijjodu not only marks the return of a director par excellence but also explores a social practice which has officially been banned from our society. Reliance Big Pictures is proud to be associated with such meaningful cinema.”

Scripted by the national award winner Sathyu himself, Ijjodu has noted South Indian actress Meera Jasmine, essaying the role of the female lead Chenni. The film also stars popular Kannada actor Aniruddha Jatkar as the male protagonist.

MUMBAI: In keeping with its mandate of promoting the development of cinemas of India, the National Film Development Corporation Ltd. (NFDC), in association with Binger Filmlab and Locarno International Film Festival, has decided to conduct Screenwriters‘ Lab 2010, a 2-part screenwriters‘ workshop for writing and selling original Indian screenplays.

The workshop will aim at improving a completed screenplay in its final stages and to increase the international marketability of the same.

The first session will be held during the Locarno International Film Festival, Switzerland, from 7 to 9 August this year where participants will get first-hand experience of the workings of the international film community and get to train with their screenplay mentors.

The 2nd session would be held at Film Bazaar, Goa, from 23 to 26 November where participants will apply their training and pitch their revised screenplays to participants at the film market.

The workshop will be conducted by Marten Rabarts, artistic director, Binger Filmlab, aided by experienced international guest mentors.

NEW DELHI: The first ever festival of films from India’s closest neighbour Bangladesh will be inaugurated tomorrow in the capital by Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Choudhury Mohan Jatua.

The three-day festival of films from Bangladesh has been organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals in collaboration with the Bangladesh High Commission from 16 to 18 April.at Sirifort Auditorioum II.

It is expected that the festival will facilitate more cultural exchange programmes between the countries. In all, seven films will be screened: Ontorjatra, Joyjatra, Bachelor, Rupkathar Golpo, Matir Moina, Aha and Ayna.

Renowned actor and director Sarah Kabori, distinguished film producer and managing director of Impress Telefilm Faridur Reza Sagar, noted actor and director Tauquir Ahmed, talented actors from the new generation Aupee and Shahidul Alam will participate in the festival.
 

MUMBAI: UTV has signed movie syndication deals with four Middle East channels – MBC, Infinity TV, Kuwait TV and Abu Dhabi TV.

UTV will be exploiting new revenues from its 10 movies, which are to be dubbed in Arabic, over a period of 18 months. The deals vary with the different broadcasters, ranging between 12-to 18 months, with limited airing rights.

MBC, the free to air satellite channel, will telecast four UTV movies – Chance Pe Dance, What’s Your Raashee, Wake Up Sid and Main Aurr Mrs Khanna.

The other three channels, Infinity TV, Abu Dhabi TV and Kuwait TV, will telecast the old lot of six UTV movies – Fashion, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Jodhaa Akbar, Race, Kaminey and Kismat Konnection on their networks.

UTV had first signed the deal with MBC two years back and aired the dubbed version of Jodhaa Akbar in the Middle East, sensing the demand for this kind of content will pick up.

UTV VP international distribution and syndication Amrita Pandey said, “We’re happy with our continued association with MBC on our content since two years. We look forward to our movies airing on channels like Abu Dhabhi TV, Infinity TV and Kuwait TV that widen our audience in Middle East and North Africa Region.”

MBC is the leading free-to-air, pan-Arab, news and entertainment channel in the Middle East. Satellite transmission for MBC first started from London in September 1991, making MBC the first independent Arabic satellite TV station.

Abu Dhabi TV is an Arabic television station owned and managed by the United Arab Emirates‘ largest media group, Abu Dhabi Media Company.

Infinity TV, launched in October 2004, offers entertaining and educational programmes that appeal to members of the whole family. Infinity broadcasts movies, musicals, sitcoms, children shows.

Earlier, UTV had syndicated these movies to Colors, NDTV Imagine, B4U (international) and Channel 4 (UK).

MUMBAI: Russel Crowe has been signed to star in a Hindi film Amrit Kumbh that also stars Paoli Dam.

Crowe plays a middle-aged German writer John Wonders who travels to witness Kumbh Mela to attain moksha and falls in love with a 21-year old Bengali girl.

Set in Hardwar, Amrit Kumbh is the journey of a Los Angeles based writer John Wonders (Crowe) to the sacred Hindu pilgrimage Kumbh Mela. From the moment John launches his journey on the Indian train en route to the mela, he is submerged in a world of different languages, castes, backgrounds and the personal hopes and dreams of over a million pilgrims.

He is shocked by what he finds, including the love of a beautiful young woman and easy friendships among his fellow travelers despite language and cultural barriers.

Produced by Ricky Sinha and directed by Sudipto Sen, the film has music from AR Rahman.

The film is also being made in English and is titled In Search of Morality. It has Prem Chopra, Farida Jallal, Divya Dutta, Raghubir Yadav and Tisca Chopra.

MUMBAI: Astute Media Vision’s Bal Hanuman-2, India’s first 3D digital animation film, will be released on 14 May.

Bal Hanuman-2 is the story of Hanuman’s childhood, exploring his adventurous antics for one hour and 15 minutes.

The major difference, while watching the film, is instead of red or blue glass its specs will have special polarized glass that enhances the 3D viewing experience. The film will be released in select theatres that are equipped with 3D projectors. Many theatres had recently equipped their theatres with 3D projectors because they wanted to screen James Cameron’s Avataar.

“In order to give depth to the film, every scene is made with two cameras from right and left angle. Then both are mixed and converted into digital print or transferred to a hard disc. The whole process makes the budget double in comparison to a normal 2D film. But when you watch the result, you will appreciate the money spent,” avers the film’s director Pankaj Sharma.

Earlier Sharma directed Panga gang, Bal Hanuman and Bal Ganesh and Bal Ganesh-2 in association with Shemaroo.

MUMBAI: Vidhu Vinod Chopra, whose film 3 Idiots created history by shattering all box-office records, has embarked on his ambitious Hollywood project Broken Horses and has signed Hollywood veteran Fred Roos as executive producer.

Vinod met Roos during one of his trips to Los Angeles. After he went through the script, an impressed Roos agreed to collaborate with Chopra for Broken Horses.

Avers Chopra, “I met Fred years ago as a student on the sets of Godfather. He was an inspiration then and he is an inspiration now. I feel privileged to be associated with him.”

Over the last four decades Roos worked with Hollywood‘s filmmakers and actors. He even co-produced cult films like The Godfather Part II, The Godfather Part III and Apocalypse Now.