Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: It‘s A Wonderful Afterlife (IAWA) directed by Gurinder Chadha will have its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival that will be underway from 21 to 31 January in Park City, Utah.

Produced by Indian Films and Bend It Films, in association with Studio 18, IAWA stars Shabana Azmi with some well-known international talent; Goldy Notay, Sally Hawkins, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Zoe Wanamaker and Jimi Mistri, among others.

Shot in London and billed as My Big Fat Greek Wedding meets Shaun Of The Dead, IAWA will be released in the UK by Icon on 2 April next and in India and Pakistan on 16 April by Studio 18.

The film has already attracted a host of top-of-the-line mainstream distributors like Icon (Australia), Prokino (Germany), Lusomundo (Portugal), Central Partnership (Russia & CIS), Sterkinekor (South Africa), TF1 (France), Front Row (Middle East) and Odeon (Greece and Cyprus).
 

MUMBAI: Rani Mukerji and Prakash Raj won the V Shantaram awards for best actress and best actor respectively for Dil Bole Haddipa and Kanchivaram.

The awards were presented last night in the presence of yesteryears actress Sandhya, who was besotted with a lifetime achievement award. The yesteryear actress was making a public appearance after several years to commemorate the 50th year of her musical hit Navrang.

Among prominent film personalities who graced the evening were Yash Chopra, Govind Nihalani, Kiran Shantaram, Sulochana, Pandit Jasraj, Jeetendra, Ram Mukerji and his wife Krishna Mukerji among others.

National award-winner Kanchivaram received the best film Gold award. It beat films like Love Aaj Kal, New York, Bhramaram, Garibcha Paus and Harishchandrachi Factory while Priyadarshan bagged the best director Gold prize for the same film.

Well-known cinematographer Thiru also won an award in the Best Cinematography category for Kanchivaram.

Marathi film Gabhricha Paus and its director Satish Manwar bagged the Silver award for best film and director.

MUMBAI: UTV, that has acquired the Paresh Mokashi-written and directed Hariaschandrachi Factory for distribution and is busy promoting and publicising the film that has been named as the country‘s official entry at the Oscars in the foreign language category.

A film on the pioneer of films in India Dhundiraj Govind Phalke better known as Dadasaheb Phalke has been co-produced by Paparika Media and Mayasabha Production.

Harischandrachi Factory recounts the trials and tribunals of Phalke, who gets interested in making films, against the approval of people staying with him in the same chawl.

Speaking exclusively to indiantelevision.com as to what made them acquire the distribution rights of Harischandrachi Factory, UTV Motion Pictures CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur said, ” We got interested in the film soon after we saw the rushes. Here was a film made on the pioneer of Indian films after which India, today, has become the highest film producing country in the world.

“We are elated at the film being sent to the Oscars, we have chalked our campaign to popularize the film there and get in people to see it.”

The film would be released with subtitles across the country sometime by end of December or January.

MUMBAI: Shemaroo Entertainment has released the home video of Ramesh Taurani‘s Ajab Prem ki Gajab Kahani on DVDs and VCDs.

Directed by Rajkumar Santoshi, the film stars Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Upen Patel, Darshan Jariwala, Smita Jaykar, Govind Namdeo and the superstar Salman Khan in a special appearance.

The DVD of Ajab Prem ki Gajab Kahani has plenty to offer. It comes with interesting special features like The Making, Deleted Scenes, Success Party, Theatrical Promos, Tu Jaane Na (remix songs), public reviews and critic‘s reviews.

Comments Shemaroo Entertainment Director Hiren Gada, “It is great to have Ajab Prem ki Gajab Kahani in our home video catalogue. After the success of this film theatrically, we are glad to launch this endearing film on DVDs and VCDs and carry the flavour of the movie to the homes of audiences. We are certain that, this film can be enjoyed by each and every member of the family.”

The VCD and DVD is priced at Rs. 149 and Rs. 399 respectively.

MUMBAI: James Cameron‘s magnum opus Avatar that has raked in  Rs. 220 million in its opening weekend not only makes it the highest ever weekend collection for any Hollywood film in India beating the opening collections of 2012, Titanic & Spiderman 3, but has also left behind recent top Bollywood grossers of 2009 like All The Best and Kaminey in their weekend collections.

The film has overtaken the openings of recent high-profile Hindi films like Rocket Singh and Paa.

Like in English, the dubbed versions have also been attracting huge crowds. Collections from single-screens were also voluminous with theatres in Bihar, Lucknow, Kanpur, Bhopal, Allahabad, Varanasi, Jallandar, Jammu registering 100 per cent footfalls and people rubbing shoulders to get hold of a spare ticket.. 

The number of 3D screens has seen an increase from 12 screens to over 50 screens registering a growth of over 300 per cent for 3D screens.

Says Fox Star Studios India CEO Vijay Singh, “Avatar has had an amazing opening and the reactions of the audience are fantastic with a large proportion of them wanting to see it again.

“Our theatrical partners are delighted to see queues lining up outside plexes and single-screens for advance bookings of Avatar. The movie is being appreciated across all age groups and languages. Even theatres in the interiors have been doing fantastic business.”

Avatar‘s India opening is amongst the top ten weekend performances in the World, beating the likes of traditionally better performing countries like Taiwan, Singapore, New Zealand, Sweden, Holland and Hong Kong.

Avatar was first conceived by Cameron 14 years ago, when the means to realise his vision did not yet exist.

NEW DELHI: The Eighth Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) has invited narratives, documentaries, shorts, music videos, experimental, children‘s and animated films of any length and format for the 2010 festival to be held in April.

The organisers of IFFLA have shortlisted ten finalists to vie for the first annual IFFLA Film Fund Development Grant. Finalists will receive Final Draft and Sony Creative software while IFFLA will submit a dossier of their projects for consideration to a group of selected entertainment agencies, production and distribution companies in the United States. 

The finalists are: Against Itself by Kranti Kanade; Aravan by Raghu Jeganathan;
Engineers of Rock by Sushrut Jain and John Thompson; Love in the time of Genocide by Thenmozhi Soundararajan; Scandalous! written by Claire Ince; Sebastian wants to remember by Vasant Nath; The story of Ram by Ritesh Batra; Sweet Dreams by Avani Batra; an untitled desert war film by Richie Mehta and Untouchable Glory by M Ramchandani.

The winner will be announced in January and will receive a $10,000 grant. Jury and Audience Choice prizes will also be awarded for best feature, documentary and short film.

The festival will take place from 20 to 25 April at ArcLight Hollywood, a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of Los Angeles.
 

MUMBAI: James Cameron‘s magnum opus Avatar created a record by grossing Rs. 67.5 million on opening day itself. This makes it the biggest ever Friday opening for any Hollywood film in India.

Starring Sam Worthington, Siqourney Weaver and Zoe Saldana, the film is the story of a wounded ex-marine, thrust unwillingly into an effort to settle and exploit an exotic planet rich in bio-diversity, who eventually crosses over to lead the indigenous race in a battle for survival.

The film that released in India yesterday in 2D as well as 3D has, in fact, beaten the openings of recent films like Kurbaan, Paa and Rocket Singh. 

Paid previews across India amounted to Rs 10 million, highest for any Hollywood film in India

Collections from CI single screens were also encouraging, with theatres in Delhi, Bihar, Lucknow, Kanpur, Bhopal, Allahbad, Varanasi, Jalandar, Jammu sporting a ‘Houseful‘ board on the opening day.

Avatar was first conceived by Cameron 14 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not yet exist.

Avatar released in India with dubbed versions in Hindi, Tamil Telugu.

Like in English, the dubbed versions have also been attracting huge crowds. “Theatres in the interiors where the film is being shown in Hindi in 2D format have been doing fantastic business and so also theatres in Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh,” says Fox Star Sudios India CEO Vijay Singh.
 

NEW DELHI: Filmmaker L Suresh from Chennai has been elected President of the Film Federation of India for 2009-10.

Suresh succeeds Jitendra Jain of Indore, who was elected Vice-President. Suresh has been Secretary of South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce.

The election was held in the first meeting of the Executive Committee of FFI held immediately after the 56th Annual General meeting today.

Others elected Vice President are: Adi Seshagiri Rao (Hyderabad), T P Aggarwal (Mumbai), Dr. Jayamala (Bangalore), Ravi Kotarakara (Kerala), G D Mehta (Delhi), and Ram Vidhani (Mumbai).

The two Honorary General Secretaries are Hirachand Dand (Mumbai) and Vinod Lamba (Delhi), while Sangram Shirke (Mumbai) is the Honorary Treasurer.

Supran Sen will continue as Secretary General.

MUMBAI: Shemaroo Entertainment has released home videos of two films from Studio Canal‘s catalogue titled The Wicker Man and The Third Man.

The Wicker Man directed by Robin Hardy, starring Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt, and Christopher Lee is the story of a twelve-year old Rowan Morrison who disappears and Sergeant Howie comes to investigate the disappearance. What starts as a routine enquiry becomes a terrifying nightmare for this devout churchgoer.

The Third Man, starring Joseph Cotton, Valli, Orson Welles and Trevor Howard, is the story of American writer Holly Martins who arrives in post-war Vienna only to learn that his friend has been killed in a street accident, but when he meets Calloway, chief of the British Military Police in Vienna, he is informed that Lime was in fact a black marketer wanted by the police. The Oscar winner and winner of BAFTA award for best film is directed by Carol Reed.

Both the DVDs of The Wicker Man and The Third Man cost Rs 199.

MUMBAI: India‘s first international film exhibitor, Cinépolis India has announced the opening of its four-screen multiplex at Advance India Project Ltd.‘s Celebration Mall on Batala Road in Amritsar.

The first screen of Cinépolis would be launched with James Cameron‘s science fiction Avatar. The film features amazing and first of its kind 3-D special effects which can be seen in Cinepolis theatre-the only such theatre equipped to show 3-D content in the state.

The cinemas would feature state-of-the-art technology including the first fully digital and Digital 3-D enabled auditoriums in Punjab.

Speaking on the occasion, Cinépolis The Cinepolis plex would be the first multiplex theatre of the city and would offer a world-class film-viewing experience to the people of Amritsar.

Said India managing director and country head Milan Saini, “We are excited to open our first multiplex in the country in this great city of Amritsar. With a world class product and a promise to win the hearts and minds of our patrons, we would like to become the #1 entertainment option for the city.”

“For this historic launch, we are pleased to partner with AIPL, one of the country‘s premier real estate developers. We will work collaboratively with them to make Celebrations Mall, a true venue of celebration for the people of Amritsar,” Saini added.

Cinépolis‘ popular services would include advanced technology enabled mobile and internet ticketing with ‘Cineticket‘, gourmet food and beverage offerings with ‘Coffee Tree‘ and its internet portal that has won numerous awards as being the industry‘s best.

The Cinepolis experience comes at an affordable price spectrum that ranges from Rs.80 to Rs 160.