Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures‘ Maut Ke Farishtey, the Hindi dubbed version of the post-apocalyptic film Legion, will release on 5 March along with the original English version.

The film will also be dubbed in Tamil and Telugu, the release dates of which will be announced later. Judging by the response to the dubbed versions of the apocalyptic blockbuster 2012, this action-packed special effects heavy film is expected to strike a chord with Indian audiences as well. 

When God loses faith in mankind, he sends his legion of angels to bring on the apocalypse. Humanity‘s only hope lies in a group of strangers trapped in a desert diner and the archangel Michael (Paul Bettany).

Directed by Scott Stewart, the movie stars Paul Bettany, Lucas Black, Tyrese Gibson, Adriana Palicki, Charles S Dutton, Jon Tenney, Kevin Durand, Willa Holland with Kate Walsh and Dennis Quaid.

Legion opened in the US on 22 January at the second spot behind Avatar.
 

MUMBAI: Eros International‘s latest release Veer has garnered a worldwide box-office collection of Rs 410 million in its opening weekend.

While the India collection accounts to Rs 320 million, the movie has earned Rs 90 million overseas.

An Anil Sharma film, Veer, starring Salman Khan, Mithun Chakraborty, Jackie Shroff and debutant Zarine Khan was released with 1,300 in India and a further 236 prints overseas.

Said Eros International Media Ltd SVP, India Distribution Nandu Ahuja, “With Salman‘s huge fan base in India and overseas, we were confident that Veer would be a huge draw. With the opening weekend followed by the Republic Day holiday teamed with Salman‘s star power, we are looking forward to the film‘s positive run at the box-office.”

Veer is a saga of bravery and drama, treachery and love. Set in the nineteenth century, the film is the story of a warrior clan, the Pindharis, who become sworn enemies with the King of Madhavgarh, Rajasthan after the latter betrays them joining hands with the British for a full-blooded Pindhari slaughter.

The bravest, the toughest, the strongest of the Pindharis is Veer who takes on the might of the British Empire, the conniving King of Madhavgarh as well as his own jealous tribesmen.

The movie is distributed by Eros International globally.
 

MUMBAI: The Films Division and Ministry of Information & Broadcasting will organize the 11th edition of MIFF (Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films) from 3 to 9 February at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Nariman Point, Mumbai.

The festival that began in 1990, held with the active support of the Government of Maharashtra, is a competitive biennial event which has gained recognition on par with renowned International Film Festivals like Leipzig, Berlin, Oberhausen, Cracow, Tampere etc.

The competition section in the MIFF has screenings of retrospectives and special packages, Spectrum India, jury‘s retrospectives seminars and open forum during this year‘s festival.

This year the award money has also been enhanced from this MIFF in each category and the total award money now is Rs 2.27 billion along with Golden /Silver conches in different categories of competition.

The Dr V Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award will be awarded to an Indian filmmaker for his/her contribution to documentary film movement, with cash award and trophy.
 

MUMBAI: TimePass Media Private Limited has announced the launch of their cinema exhibition project to install over 5000 digital 3D cinema halls across small towns and rural India in the next two years.

The company also aims to cover each of the 600,000 villages of India under its entertainment exhibition network in the next next years.

In this regard, the company has lined up commitments of over Rs 6.5 billion for a unique ‘Local Partnership‘ model that will finance and nurture local entrepreneurs and make them owners of The TimePass Digiplex.” 

Quoting India‘s UN representative Nirupama Sen, Krishnan said, “India is on the cusp of a demographic dividend. By 2020, compared to China‘s 35 years, the average age of the Indian citizen will be under 30 and the majority of these young people will be in tier III, IV cities, small towns and villages which forms the real India.”

TimePass Media‘s launch of the Digiplexes in small towns and rural India will fulfil the need by providing mainstream big screen entertainment combined with rich multimedia based vocational training in a youth-friendly environment.

MUMBAI: In a bid to end speculation over the proposed acquisition deal, Delhi-based cinema exhibition major PVR Ltd said Wednesday that the completion of DLF’s DT Cinemas has been deferred till 15 February due to pending compliance issues.

In a filing to the BSE, PVR said that the two parties have mutually agreed to extend the deadline for completing the deal until 15 February 2010.

As part of an acquisition deal signed in November 2009, PVR was supposed to acquire DLF Group‘s cinema business in a stock-and-cash deal. 

The multiplex operator was to make a payment of Rs 202 million and to issue 2.56 million shares to DT Cinemas representing 10 per cent of the fully diluted paid up share capital of PVR Ltd on a preferential basis for the acquisition.

However, the company said that the issue of preferential shares was subject to completion of certain pending compliances by DT Cinemas and the deal could be terminated if the acquisition conditions were not satisfied within 60 days of signing the agreement unless the period was mutually extended.

MUMBAI: Reliance Big Home Video has released the home video of The Final Destination.

The film is available on DVD (English) at Rs 599. The VCD in English costs Rs 299 while the VCD in Hindi is priced at Rs 99.

Directed by David R Ellis, the film stars Bobby Campo, Shantel Vansanten and Mykelti Williamson among others.

The film is an innovative tale of the friends‘ fierce fight to keep themselves and others alive. The final installment in the franchise begins with a strange premonition which causes friends to abandon their day at the speedway, just before a crushing pileup hurtles cars into the bleachers with fiery consequences.

The film‘s DVD comes with an additional bonus disc that contains the 3D version of the movie for which Big Home Video has released a 2-disc DVD edition with four pairs of 3D glasses each that would be available for a limited time period. Bonus features on the DVD include additional/deleted scenes.

As part of the marketing campaign, the DVD release will be supported by a week-long radio campaign across nine cities that include Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune and Chandigarh.

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has released Michael Jackson‘s This Is It on home video for the viewing pleasure of the entertainer‘s fans.

The film documents Michael‘s creative genius. This most awaited film is special because it is rich with he performing his most renowned and recognised songs while offering such a unique, never-before-seen perspective on his artistry.

Kenny Ortega and the filmmaking team did a brilliant job of capturing Michael creating a masterwork and it‘s a genuine thrill to see audiences respond to the film as they have.

This Is It offers Jackson fans and music lovers worldwide a rare, behind-the-scenes look at the performer as he developed, created and rehearsed for his sold-out concerts. Covering the months from March through June, 2009, the film has been produced with the full support of the Estate of Michael Jackson and drawn from more than 100 hours of behind-the-scenes footage, featuring Jackson rehearsing numerous songs for the show.

In raw and candid detail, Michael Jackson‘s This Is It is the last documentation of Michael Jackson in action, capturing the singer, dancer, filmmaker, architect, creative genius, and great artist at work as he and his collaborators move toward their goals of London, the O2, and history.

The Blu ray edition costs Rs 999. The collectors edition of the DVD that has interviews, backstage footage, exclusive footage, live concert footage, exclusive picture of MJ, merchandised T-shirts etc costs Rs 999, the regular DVD costs Rs 499 while the VCD costs Rs 299.
 

MUMBAI: Salman Khan’s Veer had a mixed response, opening strongly in some pockets of the country.

According to industry estimates, the first weekend collection of Veer totaled Rs 196 million. The film collected Rs 70 million on Friday, Rs 52.5 million on Saturday and Rs 73.5 million on Sunday.

Said trade analyst Taran Adarsh, “On day one, the film did a 90 per cent business in single-screen theatres while the multiplexes witnessed around 50 to 60 per cent average through the day.”

The film seems to have opened very well in north and central India, while in the west it received moderate response.

Says Fun Republic COO Vishal Kapoor, “Though the film is doing average business, it is booked up to Tuesday in the afternoon and evening shows. We are keeping our fingers crossed and hope that the film does well in spite of the bad reviews.”

MUMBAI: Bengali film Antaheen, directed by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, got the best feature film while AFSPA 1958 by Haabam Paban Kumar was named the best non-feature film for 2008.

Bala, who directed the Tamil film Naam Kadauul, was named best director while Upendra Limaye and Priyanka Chopra got the best actor and actress awards for Jogva (Marathi) and Fashion (Hindi) respectively in the 56th National Film Awards announced in Delhi. Shams Patel won the best child artiste award for the film Thanks Maa in Hindi.

Dibakar Banerjee‘s Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! won the most popular movie award while K M Madhusudhanam‘s Malayalam film Bioscope won a special jury award.

The awards will be given away in March by President Pratibha Devisingh Patil.

Hindi films continued to dominate the feature films with as many as 13 awards while Marathi films got six (five for one film Jogva by Rajeev Patil) and Bengali films got five (four for Antaheen which had also featured in the Indian Panorama at the last International Film Festival of India at Goa). Tamil films got three awards, followed by Assamese, Malayalam, and Kannada films with two each. English, Kokoborok, Tulu, and Oriya got one award each. The best film on family values award went to a bilingual English-Gujarati film Little Jijou, by Sooni Tarporevala.

Bollywood Melodies by Ganesh Anantharaman got the award for the best book on cinema while the book “The Director’s Mind” by Ujjal Chakraborty got a special mention. Assamese critic Altaf Mazid and Manipuri critic R K Bidur Singh shared the best film critic award.

The Indira Gandhi award for the first film of a director went to Neeraj Pandey for his gripping Hindi thriller A Wednesday while the Nargis Dutt Award for the best feature on national integration was taken by Assamese film Aai Kot Nai by Manju Borah.

Interestingly, Roadside Romeo by Jugal Hansraj,a film produced by the Indian subsidiary of a foreign production house – Walt Disney- got an award for best animation film while Land Gold Women, a film on honour killings in the United Kingdom made by a British-based Indian, Avantika Hari, got the award for best English film.

The Marathi film Jogva by Rajeevi Patil got five awards: best film on social values (age old social customs), actor Upendra Limaye, male playback singer Hariharan, and music direction by Ajay and Atul. Playback singer Shreya Ghoshal won the award for both ‘Jogva’ as well as Antaheen.

Antaheen also received awards for cinematography by Avik Mukhopadhyay, and lyrics by Anindya Bannerjee and Chandranil Bhattacharya.

Fashion also received the award for supporting actress Kangana Ranaut.

Nandita Das‘ Firaq won two awards: editing by A Sreekar Prasad who had until now won the largest number of national awards for any single film editor, and art direction by Gautam Sen. The monumental Jodha Akbar by Ashutosh Gowarikar won awards for costume design by Neena Lulla and choreography by Chinni Prakash and Rekha Prakash. Abhishek Kapoor‘s Rock On won the Best Hindi film award as well as the supporting actor award for Arjun Rampal.

The Feature Film Jury was headed by famed filmmaker Shaji N Karun. Other members were Roshan Taneja, HM Ramachandra, Nagma, Satyabrata Kalita, Neelakanta, Dilip Ghosh, Swapan Mullick, Sudesh Syal, SK Srivastava, Archana, B Shashi Kumar, Subhash Sehgal, Santosh Desai and Sreelekha Mukherjee. They adjudged 126 entries.

The non-feature jury headed by Arunaraje Patil with Krishnendu Bose, Anirban Dutta, Sandeep Marwah, RV Ramani, Sarfaraz Siddiqui and Reena Mohan as members saw 99 films.

The Jury on Best Writing on Cinema headed by Sunil Gangopadhyay, with Sudhish Pachauri and Ziya-us Salam as members considered 20 book entries and 17 critics.

Other awards were: Jianta Bhoota in Oriya by Prashanta Nanda for environment conservation, Gubbachigalu by Abhaya Sinha as the best children’s film, Moorthy V as make-up artist for the Tamil Naam Kadauul, Govardhan for special effects in the Hindi Mumbai Meri Jaan, and the Marathi film Gandha which won awards for screenplay for Sachin Kundalkar and audiography for Pramod J Thomas.

The other regional language awards went to: Assamese – Mon Jai by M Maniram; Bengali – Shob Charitro Kalponik by Rituparno Ghosh; Kannada – Vimukthi by P Seshadri; Malayalam – Thirakkada by Ranjith; Marathi – Harishchadrachi Factory by Paresh Mokashi; Tamil – Veranam Airam by Gautam Vasudeva Menon; Telugu – 1940 Lookagramam by Narasimha Nandi, Kokborok – Yarwng by Joseph Pulinthanath, and Tulu – Gaggara by Shivadhwaj Shetty.

In non-features, the Best Direction Award went to Umesh Kulkarni for his work Three of Us which also received the award for Cinematography by Sharqva Badar Khan.

Additionally, the special jury award has gone to Rajesh S Jala’s Children of the Pyre which also gets the audiography award for Mateen Ahmed.

MUMBAI: Eros‘s Marathi release Shikshanacha Aaicha Gho has collected approximately Rs 12 million at the box-office in its opening weekend.

The film released widely across 175 screens in the Mumbai, CP and Nizam territories on 15 January to positive reviews by both critics as well as audiences.

Post last year‘s hit, Mi Shivaji Raje Bhosle Boltoy, Mahesh Manjrekar and Everest Entertainment has teamed up once again to add to the success story of Marathi cinema with this thought-provoking take on today‘s education system amidst the current crisis faced by students and the spate of suicides seen across the country due to academic pressure. 

Written and directed by Mahesh Manjrekar, Shikshanacha Aaicha Gho stars Bharat Jadhav, Saksham Kulkarni, Siddharth Jadhav and Kranti Redkar.

Other key Marathi releases in Eros‘ pipeline include Haapus and Punha Dhakka, another Mahesh Manjrekar co-production.

Phakt Ladh Mhana starring Sachin Khedekar, Bharat Jadhav, Makarand Anaspure, Siddharth Jadhav, Ankush Chaudhari, Manva Naik, Bhushan Kadu, Kranti Redkar and Mahesh Manjrekar is also slated to release this year.