Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: Leading Internet company Yahoo! India has announced its association with the Farhan Akhtar, Deepika Padukone starrer Karthik Calling Karthik (KCK).
As the exclusive online partner, Yahoo! India will host the film microsite http://kckcontest.yahoo.in/ and launch the ‘Love @ First Click‘ contest where users can submit their internet love stories.

The site features a Yahoo! Fan Group for Deepika and Farhan, besides a KCK Photo Gallery that has all the photographs and videos of the film. 

Farhan and Deepika will choose the best love story and meet the winners in person. 50 lucky winners will also get KCK audio CD‘s signed by Farhan and Deepika.

Says Yahoo! India, director-marketing Nitin Mathur, “Today, relationships have found a whole new expression through the Internet. We are excited to partner with a film that showcases a contemporary love story with Internet as an integral part of building and managing relationships.”

MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures will release Prakash Jha directed Raajneeti on 4 June.

Raajneeti is co-produced by UTV Motion Pictures and Walkwater Media Ltd.

Raajneeti stars Katrina Kaif, Ranbir Kapoor, Nana Patekar, Ajay Devgan, Arjun Rampal, Manoj Bajpai and Naseerrudin Shah along with newcomer Sarah. The music of the film has been composed by Wayne Sharpe and screenplay is by Prakash Jha and Anjum Rajabali.

“Rajneeti is a high drama film with politics as the background and who is more adept and accomplished than Jha to pull off a film based on politics. We believe we have a powerful script and the most exciting cast ensemble of today,” UTV Motion Pictures CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur said.

The film has generated interest prior to launch as the storyline matches to that of the Gandhi family with Kaif’s role similar to that of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
 

MUMBAI: Two small-budget movies, Toh Baat Pakki and Click, will have to wrestle against Shah Rukh Khan‘s blockbuster My Name Is Khan as they hit the theatres tomorrow.

Produced by Tips, Toh Baat Pakki marks the Hindi directorial debut of Marathi filmmaker Kedar Shinde. The film is about a middle-class woman Rajeshwari (Tabu), who is obsessed with getting her younger sister Nisha married to a well-settled boy. How the choice of groom oscillates from Sharman to Vatsal and vice versa forms the crux of the film.

On the other hand, Sangeet Sivan‘s Click is a horror film produced by Pritish Nandi Communications and stars Shreyas Talpade, Sneha Ullal, Sada and Chunkey Pandey.

The film is the story of a young photographer and his girlfriend. He takes beautiful pictures but when they are printed, they hide a secret. A secret that is so dark, terrifying and menancing that he hides it from his better half in the fear that his past if revealed may ruin not only his life but that of his family as well.

Among the English films releasing tomorrow are Up In The Air that bagged 6 Academy Award nominations, Lightning Thief directed by Chris Columbus who earlier directed the first two instalments of Harry Potter, and an SPE Films India release Year One.

Meanwhile, My Name Is Khan is doing strong business. Says trade analyst Taran Adarsh, ” Monday onwards, the Shah Rukh Khan starrer has held well at plexes of big centres, especially Delhi-U.P, Punjab, Bengal and South circuits but has witnessed a marginal decline in C.P., C.I. and Rajasthan circuits. Results from the Mumbai circuit have been extremely mixed. At places, it‘s holding well, while it isn‘t at some.”

MUMBAI: Eros Music Publishing, part of Eros International, and the world’s leading publisher of popular music, EMI Music Publishing, have entered into a strategic alliance to create new opportunities for songwriters of both the companies.

By way of a new and exclusive set of sub-publishing deals, EMI Music Publishing will represent Eros’ catalogue of Bollywood and South Asian composers on a worldwide basis while Eros will represent EMI Music Publishing’s extensive catalogue of 1.3 million songs in India.

The synergy between both the companies will allow both parties to maximise distribution opportunities for their songs and songwriters and extend their reach into new markets by tapping into each other’s distribution networks.

The companies first worked together last year in South America to secure a synch license for Beedi (written by Vishal Bhardwaj and Gulzar) as the title theme for Caminho Das Indias, a telenovela that attracted up to 60 per cent audience shares when it was aired in Brazil.

Avers Eros Music Publishing Executive Director Andrew Heffernan, “Apart from the terrific administration resources at EMI, an extremely important part of this relationship is the emphasis on working closely to develop new markets for our songwriters, new licensing opportunities for our songs and the creative exploitation of our copyrights. Local music currently dominates the Indian market but changes in consumption and new technologies mean that the opportunity for EMI’s catalogue in India is growing. With our local presence we hope to develop new monetisation models as well as expand the creative exploitation.”

Adds EMI Music Publishing Chief Operating Officer Leo Corbett, “EMI Music Publishing is honoured to be representing the Eros catalogue, which features some of the best Bollywood music around. This is an exciting time in the development and growth of South Asian music, and we are thrilled to be part of it through a global player in the Indian entertainment and media sector like Eros. As an integrated Indian film and media company the ongoing film release schedule ensures a strong flow of new songs, and we’re looking forward to introducing their catalogue to a much wider audience. Working with them will also allow us to create new opportunities for our own catalogue in the growing market for non-local music in India, and provide our writers with valuable new revenue opportunities.”
 

MUMBAI: DAR Motion Picture (DAR), the filmed entertainment division of DAR Media, unveiled the first look of its maiden film City of Gold.

The film has been shot simultaneously in Hindi and Marathi, with the Hindi version titled City of Gold – Mumbai 1982: Ek Ankahi Kahani.
City of Gold is the first in a series of three movies that DAR is working on with Mahesh Manjrekar, and also marks the return of the director to Hindi cinema after a gap of four years.

While the second film is a Bengali-language venture with Mithun Chakraborty in the lead, the banner‘s third project is a yet to be titled A-list starrer, currently in pre-production, with principal photography scheduled to commence in March, this year. 

Said DAR Capital, chairman Arun Rangachari, “We aim to indigenously conceive and develop benchmark creative concepts, utilise the best available technical and artistic expertise, deploy comprehensive marketing best-practices and utilise a host of innovative and focused content delivery channels, to reach out to audiences not only in India but globally. This is well reflected in our choice of really good content-driven subjects such as City of Gold and our association with highly competent and well-respected directors such as Mahesh.”

“Furthermore, we have taken a long-term view of our association with the Indian film industry and have in fact commenced working on our next two projects with Mahesh even before the release of City of Gold. Both of these films will be on the floors by the month of March, with the Bengali film scheduled for a summer-2010 release,” Rangachari added.

The entire film was wrapped up from start-to-finish in a matter of less than three months, and today I am extremely satisfied with how it has shaped up. It definitely has been one of the most challenging and exciting projects I have ever worked on and I personally feel that this is one of the best projects I have executed,” Manjrekar added.

On the occasion, DAR Capital Group also launched the ‘City of Gold‘ website, cityofgoldthefilm.com.
 

MUMBAI: The SS Branch and Mumbai Police along with AA Khan & Associates raided and seized over 3000 pirated DVDs and CDs worth around Rs 4, 00,000 in Mumbai. The raid was conducted at Behram Baug, in a godown near Bandra Court.
The pirated CDs and DVDs included those of My Name is Khan. The film released on 12 February.

Among the other titles that were confiscated were those of Striker, The Wolfman and Law Abiding Citizen.

Around 1000 blank DVDs, 21 DVD writers, one colour Xerox machine and 1000 CD covers were also seized from the location. 

Said former IPS officer and ex ATS chief AA Khan, “Considering the big release this time was Shah Rukh Khan starrer My Name is Khan, any pirates attempting to copy or distribute this movie specially are on our radar for this week and the coming weeks that the movie would be running. Pirates should understand that we have a zero tolerance for their actions and that they will be raided and prosecuted for the crime they commit.‘‘

In the last two months, AA Khan & Associates was instrumental in raiding around 25 locations in Mumbai and seizing goods worth lakhs of rupees.

MUMBAI: Shemaroo Entertainment has released the Best of Academy Award Winners Collection, an exclusive DVD boxset. The collection includes films that have been bestowed with the best in different categories of accolade from the Oscars panel.

Among the films are Driving Miss Daisy, The Lion In Winter, The Graduate, Murder on the Orient Express and A River Runs Through It.

Driving Miss Daisy won the best actress award in a leading role, best makeup, best picture and best writing awards whereas it got nominations for best actor in a leading role, best actor in a supporting role, best art direction, best costume design and best film editing.

The Lion In Winter made in 1968 and directed by Anthony Harvey with stars like Anthony Hopkins, Peter O‘Toole, Katharine Hepburn and Timothy Dalton won Academy awards for best actress in a leading role, best music, best writing.

This was the second time that Peter O‘Toole played King Henry II. The first time was in Becket (1964). He received Academy Award nominations for both performances.

The Graduate directed by Mike Nichols had Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Ross and Brian Avery. The film won the Oscar award for best director.

Director Sidney Lumet‘s Murder on the Orient Express starring Sean Connery, Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam and Richard Widmark won an Oscar award in the best actress in a supporting role category.

A River Runs Through It directed by Robert Redford and starring Brad Pitt, Craig Sheffer, Tom Skerritt and Brenda Blethyn won an Oscar in the best cinematography category.

The 5-DVD boxset is priced at Rs 999.

MUMBAI: Delhi-based cinema exhibition major PVR has terminated the deal to acquire DLF Group‘s cinema business, a reversal of its earlier plan to grow in size through the buyout of DT Cinemas.

Blaming DLF for not meeting the conditions required for acquisition, PVR said Monday that both the parties have mutually agreed to end the deal. “The primary reason for us to call off the deal is that DT Cinemas has failed to comply with certain conditions, even after we extended the time till today,” PVR CFO Nitin Sood tells Indiantelevision.com.

Another possible reason cited by analysts is that the shares of PVR soared as the market conditions improved, indirectly jacking up the price of the deal.

PVR had signed the pact with DT Cinemas in November last year to acquire the company in a stock-and-cash deal. PVR was to issue 2.56 million shares to DT Cinemas representing 10 per cent of the fully diluted paid up share capital of PVR Ltd and make a payment of Rs 202 million to fund the acquisition.

PVR is now trading at Rs 175 per share, up from Rs 138 at the time of the announcement of the deal.

DT cinemas has a current portfolio of 29 screens with 26 screens currently operational and another three screens expected to commence operations in the next six months.

PVR will, however, continue to aggressively look at acquisitions. “We are looking aggressively for inorganic opportunities,” says Sood.

The multiplex industry is entering into a phase of consolidation as huge funds are required to spread the footprint across the country. Inox Leisure recently bought out the promoters and took a majority stake in Fame India, a move that made it the largest multiplex operator in terms of revenue.

MUMBAI: 2010 is surfacing as Aamir Khan‘s 3 Idiots vs Shah Rukh Khan‘s My Name Is Khan, the two movies that are painting an opposite story at the box-office from most of the flops that hit the Bollywood world in 2009.

Amid Shiv Sena protests and a limited release, the SRK-starrer has gathered Rs 900 million in its worldwide opening weekend. 3 Idiots, in contrast, grossed Rs 1 billion in its first four-day run across the world.

The movie has done exceptionally well in the US even as SRK and Kajol rang the bell at Nasdaq ahead of the release, a marketing gesture aimed at tapping audiences from the Indian diaspora.

“The film garnered Rs 430 million from the domestic circuit while it grossed Rs 470 million from the overseas market. We have had fascinating Sunday numbers that is highest for any Bollywood film released in recent years while the film‘s overseas collections have been two times higher than that of any other recent release including 3 Idiots,” says Fox Star Studios CEO Vijay Singh.

The movie is marketed and distributed in India by Fox Star Studios in India, in the US by its sister company Fox Searchlight and in the rest of the world by parent group 20th Century Fox International.

The film features Shah Rukh as Rizvan Khan who embarks on a journey across America to win back the love of his life, played by Kajol. It shows how, along the way, his personality touches the lives of many and inspires a nation.
 

MUMBAI: The German rights of UTV Motion Pictures and Aamir Khan Productions‘ Peepli Live, directed by Anusha Rizvi, has been bagged by German distribution company Rapid Eye Movies.

Rapid Eye has also acquired the Home Video and Television for the territory.

Commenting on the acquisition, Rapid Eye Pictures founder Stephan Holl said, “We are thrilled to bring to the German audience a true Indian art house film that entertains whilst telling a serious story.”

Peepli Live is Anusha Rizvi‘s first feature. It is a fresh and intelligently spun satire of the real-life epidemic of farmer suicides that have plagued India for the past decade.

Said UTV Motion Pictures VP, International Distribution and Syndication Amrita Pandey, “Rapid Eye is an ideal distribution partner for us to plan a theatrical Germany release for the film.”

Peepli Live is the first Indian film ever that was selected at the Sundance Film Festival (World Cinema Dramatic competition) and was also screened in out of competition at the Berlin Film Festival.

Peepli Live will be released in Germany in the third quarter of this year.