Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: Viacom18‘s motion pictures division Studio18 has restructured its senior management team.

Hemant Bhardwaj, who was head of international operations, will now take over as senior vice president distribution, marketing and syndication for India. The position was occupied by Priti Shahani earlier.

Bhardwaj, who joined Studio18 in October 2007, will be based in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, Tanuj Garg, who earlier headed the UK and Europe business while taking care of international marketing and syndication revenues, will take charge of the company‘s international operations from London.

Confirming the development to Indiantelevision.com, Indian Film Company CEO Sandeep Bhargava said, “Bhardwaj has been part of our team for the last three years and he will be able to oversee the marketing, distribution and syndication verticals.”

Garg had joined Studio18 in November 2006.
 

MUMBAI: Shah Rukh Khan‘s My Name Is Khan (MNIK) continues to rule the box-office, grossing Rs 1.5 billion during its ten-day run.

The movie took home Rs 900 million from India, becoming the biggest hit after Aamir Khan‘s 3 Idiots over the last one year. MNIK is also drawing in huge audiences overseas, grossing Rs 600 million to sit atop as the biggest Bollywood success in certain defined markets.

“From the report that we have, My Name Is Khan has grossed Rs 1.5 billion globally with the India intake being 900 million in the first ten days. The film stands at No. 2 in India while abroad it is in the No.1 position with the film taking the biggest opening ever for a Bollywood film in the US and the UK,” Fox Star Studios India CEO Vijay Singh tells Indiantelevision.com.

MNIK has also managed to pierce deeper into newer markets. Agrees trade analyst Taran Adarsh, “MNIK has penetrated far deeper than the parameters of the diaspora markets and has found patronage in countries like Poland, German and Russia. This reiterates the fact that Shah Rukh is King in the overseas market too.”

Meanwhile, last week‘s two releases, Toh Baat Pakki and Click, failed to click with the audience. While the opening of Toh Baat Pakki ranged between 10 to 15 per cent occupancy, that of Click was between 7 to 10 per cent. 

The first film that debutante director Kedar Shinde wanted to portray as a simple sweet yet entertaining story adorned by a strew of yesteryear charms, failed in terms of entertainment.

The film tries to follow up in the footsteps of the traditions and benchmark created by Hrishikesh Mukerjee and Basu Chatterjee, but is not able to get the desired effect. The presence of Tabu and the talented Sharman Joshi couldn‘t resurrect the film.

On the other hand, PNC‘s Click works in parts. Going by the fact that the film is a direct adaptation of an English film Shutter, it has some scene-to-scene lifts from the original. Moreover with the film having been stalled for almost three years, relation with today‘s times is missing.

Avers Fun Cinemas COO Vishal Kapur, “The opening of both the films has been very ordinary and we don”t expect business of more than 20 to 25 per cent in the week. Comparatively, the performance of My Name is Khan is good.”
 

MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures has sold the Poland rights of Peepli Live to Polish distribution company Vivarto SP ZOO.

The film has been co-produced by UTV Motion Pictures and Aamir Khan Productions.

The film will be released in Poland with ten prints. Vivarto has also acquired the home video and television for the territory. The move follows the sale of the movie‘s German rights that were acquired earlier this week.

Commented Vivarto acquisition manager Justyna Troszczynska, “Peepli Live is a truly emotional film and it starts our trip with Indian movies that will open new horizons and develop our company to proceed with many more.”

Said UTV Motion Pictures VP – international distribution and syndication Amrita Pandey, “We are thrilled to announce the sale of Polish rights to Vivarto. Vivarto is an ideal distribution partner for a film like Peepli Live and we are looking forward to the theatrical release of the film in Poland.”

Said UTV Motion Pictures VP, International Distribution and Syndication Amrita Pandey said, “We are thrilled to announce the sale of Polish rights to Vivarto. Vivarto is an ideal distribution partner for a film like Peepli Live and we are looking forward to the theatrical release of the film in Poland.”

Peepli Live, is the first Indian film ever to be selected at the Sundance Film Festival and is also screening at the Berlin Film Festival.
 

MUMBAI: The war over ownership of multiplex chain Fame India is getting fiercer with Anil Ambani-led Reliance MediaWorks finally launching a hostile takeover bid.

Reliance MediaWorks board, the cinema exhibition and production business of Reliance ADAG, has approved an open offer to Fame shareholders to acquire 21.6 million shares, or 62.08 per cent stake, at Rs 83.4 a share, much higher than what Inox Leisure is paying to take overwhelming control of the multiplex chain. 

Reliance‘s counter offer is at a 63.5 per cent premium to Inox‘s open offer price of Rs 51 per share for an additional 20 per cent stake. Reliance‘s payout would be
Rs 1.8 billion, approved by its board as it pitches for an aggressive buyout offer to scale up its multiplex business.

Inox already holds 50.5 per cent in Fame, having bought out the promoters‘ holding and making additional purchases executed at the BSE.

Reliance Capital has already acquired 12.14 per cent of Fame through a series of open market purchases. The company had started upping its holding in Fame after Inox bought a majority stake in the multiplex company.

Reliance MediaWorks had earlier said that it would seek action against Fame for selling it to Inox at a cheaper price when it had made an offer to the promoters for Rs 80 a share.

MUMBAI: Reliance Capital Partners, part of the Reliance ADAG company, is continuing with its pursuit to increase its stake in Fame India through open market purchases. The company had started upping its holding in Fame after Inox Leisure bought a majority stake in the multiplex company.

Reliance has taken its total holding in Fame to 11 per cent, even while it has complained to Sebi against the Inox-Fame deal as it had made a higher price buyout offer. On 9 February, Reliance had disclosed that its total holding in Fame was 8.13 per cent.

Inox, which already holds 50.5 per cent of Fame, has announced the open offer for 20 per cent at Rs 51 per share.

With both Inox and Reliance in tug-of-war to get more of Fame, the scrip is on the upward path.

MUMBAI: Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said no final decision had been taken yet on waiver of the one per cent net collection that is required to be paid by exhibitors to the Films Division under the Compulsory Exhibition Scheme.

Soni made the remark when her attention was drawn to the fact that though the Government had won the case in the Supreme Court some years earlier, theatre owners were still reluctant about screening film magazines or documentaries by the Films Division.

Under the scheme, a theatre owner has to screen at least 15 minutes of a social purpose film and pay one per cent of the net collection to the maker of the film.

Meanwhile, filmmaker Devendra Khandelwal said in a letter to the Minister that her decision would prove detrimental for private documentary filmmakers who had pinned their hopes on being able to find exhibition outlets in theatres through revival of the Compulsory Exhibition Scheme.

He said this will also force these filmmakers to approach the Films Division which existed on budgetary grants from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, and so will not be able to make the kind of films they wanted.
 

MUMBAI: After its successful debut last year, India‘s Golden Kela Awards for the best-made bad films of Bollywood, known to be The Indian Razzies, will be held at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi on 12 March.

Nominees of last year include Priyanka Chopra, Salman Khan, Akshaye Kumar and even Shah Rukh Khan and not-so-big names like Adhyayan Suman and Jackie Bhagnani.

Says organizer of the show editor Random Magazine Jatin Varma, “We‘re expecting a much larger show than that of last year because of all the crappy films we‘ve had and also because of the special chief guest we have this time. In fact we‘re expecting a large turnout.”

“I have even requested Lalit Modi to postpone the IPL launch in order to fit this in. The truth is that I was coming to Delhi anyway for my cousin‘s wedding and since there were to be free food and snacks, I decided to do the right thing and skip the wedding for the awards.”

MUMBAI: Actor Nirmal Pandey, best known for his role in Shekhar Kapur‘s Bandit Queen, passed away on Thursday after suffering from a massive heart attack. He was 46.

Besides ‘Bandit Queen, Pandey essayed noticeable roles in Iss Raat Ki Subah Nahin, Godmother, Aaja Nachle and Lahore. He had also acted in a Telugu film Kedi that had him co-star with Nagarjuna.

Besides being a good writer, Pandey was also a versatile singer and had released an album titled Jazba.

A renowned theatre personality, Pandey was a graduate from the National School of Drama.

His Hindi play Andhayug, written by noted playwright Dharamveer Bharati, that follows the 18 days following the Mahabharata war, went on to become a big hit.

He ran an acting institute Fresh Talent Academy in Ghazaiabad and also conducted theatre workshops.
 

MUMBAI: In a raid conducted on a godown near The Mall in Malad on 19 February, AA Khan & Associates along with DCP Sanjay Banerjee and Manohar Harpude of the Malad Police Station raided and seized over 8000 pirated DVDs and CDs worth around Rs 1.3 million.

The raid yielded around 2000 DVDs of My Name is Khan and Striker and 6000 DVDs of other films including Ishiqiya, Veer, Wrong Turn 3, Saw, N Series and Law Abiding Citizens were seized. 

In the last couple of months, AA Khan & Associates was instrumental in raiding around 25 locations in Mumbai and seizing goods worth lakhs of rupees and helping the movie industry in curbing the menace of piracy to an extent.