Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: The Kerala High Court has lifted its stay order on the publication of results of the selection of the Indian Panorama for the 40th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which is scheduled to begin on 24 November in Goa.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice SR Bannurmath and justice AK Basheer issued the direction today, PTI reported.

Earlier, last month, in the petition before Justice PN Ravindran of the Kerala High Court, Malayalam film director Ranjith said that a film critic who was a member of the jury had posted a comment on a private website announcing the results. He sought a direction to the Ministry to conduct an inquiry into the selection process immediately with particular reference to leaking of the results by a jury member and to conducting the selection process afresh.

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Film Festival Directorate had challenged the stay order of Justice Ravindran.

The bench also stayed the earlier direction relating to the production of minutes of the jury and the record sheet which shows the time taken for viewing movies by the jury members for selection of films in the Indian Panorama.

The I&B Ministry also announced the list of films to be shown under the Indian Panorama section, following the court order. IFFI 2009 will have 26 feature films and 18 non features.

Konkani movie Paltadacho Munis will open the section, while other feature films include recent Bollywood releases like Dev. D, Firaaq, Kaminey, Oye Lucky-Lucky Oye and The White Elephant apart from India‘s official Oscar entry Harishchandrachi Factory.

MUMBAI: Fox Star Studios India, 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight will release My Name Is Khan around the world on 12 February.

Directed by Karan Johar for Dharma Productions that stars Shah Rukh Khan, My Name Is Khan will releases in 40 countries simultaneously including the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East and all destinations having a large South Asian population.

My Name Is Khan will be the first release from Fox Star Studios, a joint venture between Fox and India‘s Star. 

Said Fox Star Studios CEO Vijay Singh, “There has been a hugely positive response from exhibitors across the world to My Name Is Khan. The coming together of Shah Rukh, Karan Johar and Kajol is a big event for Bollywood audiences across the world and their fan base is eagerly awaiting the release.”

With My Name Is Khan, Fox Star and Searchlight are looking to repeat the success of Slumdog Millionaire, which they distributed in India and the US respectively.

While Fox Star will distribute My Name Is Khan in India, Fox Searchlight will distribute the film in the US and all across the globe.

NEW DELHI: Filmmaker Yash Chopra has been honoured with the Asia Pacific Screen Award (APSA) 2008 award for outstanding achievement in films by the FIAPF (International Federation of Film Producer’s Associations).

The award, announced at last year’s APSA Ceremony that Chopra was unable to attend following the demise of his brother B R Chopra, was presented to him late last week in person by FIAPF Director General Benoit Ginisty on the opening night celebrations of the Mumbai Film Festival.

Receiving the award, Chopra said, “I am very happy that Benoit Ginisty has specially come to present this prestigious award to me which unfortunately I could not collect last year owing to a personal bereavement. Thanking the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and FIAPF, I humbly accept this award as a recognition for the Indian Film industry as a whole and for myself personally.”

Said APSA Chairman Des Power,“We were delighted when the opportunity came for APSA to formally present Yash Chopra with this award in Mumbai. I congratulate him for serving the film industry with dignity and drive. He deserves our appreciation and well wishes for the future.”

The 2009 FIAPF Award recipients will be announced in the coming weeks, ahead of the third annual APSA Ceremony at Australia’s Gold Coast on 26 November.

37 films from 16 countries will vie for the 2009 APSAs. Films are judged by the International Jury on cinematic excellence and the way in which they attest to their cultural origins.

MUMBAI: Taj Mahal Enlighten Film Society, in association with Paramount Pictures, will present Mumbaikar‘s with a Steven Spielberg Film Festival that will be held at Cinemax and Metro Big Cinemas from 1 to 29 November.

While Jurassic Park will open the festival, E.T. – Extra-Terrestrial will be the closing film. Other Steven Spielberg‘s films to be shown at the festival are Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal and Schindlers List. 

While Cinemax will showcase films like Jurassic Park, The Termainal, Catch me if you Can and E.T. (Extra Terrestrial), Metro Big Cinemas will screen films like Schindlers List.

NEW DELHI: 7000 DVDs, including those of the latest releases London Dreams and Aladin, were seized and three persons arrested when police station officials raided the road under a flyover in Hadapsar in Maharashtra this morning.

The police also found pornographic films in a set-up just 250 meters away from the police station.

All the three accused are professional vendors who work under an unknown dealer. Police officials have started investigations and are in search for the main dealer. Officials are now tracking the DVD route to the supplier and customers involved in the piracy chain.

If proven guilty, the accused sellers will be booked under the stringent Maharashtra Prevention of Dangerous Activities (MPDA) Act which denies bail to alleged offenders for the first three months.

Movie pirates are now booked under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and the Copyright Act.

BANGALORE: Movie rental company Seventymm.com has roped in Mudit Khosla as its chief executive officer.

Prior to this, Khosla was business head at Yatra.com.

In his new role, Khosla will report to the board of directors of Seventymm.com and will be responsible for developing and executing the company’s long term growth strategies, launching new initiatives and developing new earning opportunities.

Khosla will be helping the company in capitalising on the Rs 1 billion fund, raised from Matrix Partners India, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and NEA Indo-US Ventures.

Said Seventymm founder and director Raghav Kher, “Mudit’s track record in building online businesses will be an asset to Seventymm.com. With him leading Seventymm, I am confident of getting closer to our vision of delivering any movie anytime anywhere in India.”

On his appointment, Khosla said, “I am confident about the potential that exists in online movie rental business. I look forward to the challenges and opportunities that lie in the business.”
 

MUMBAI: In its drive to open up UK films to Indian markets and audiences, the UK Film Council (UKFC) will showcase a series of independent British films this February through its UK-India film distribution initiative, ‘From Blighty with Love‘.

As part of this initiative, the UKFC has partnered with Reliance Media Works, the Mumbai Film Festival, BookMyShow.com, Fame Cinemas and UK Trade and Investment to organise the festival in multiplexes across Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore from 26 February to 11 March next year.

The initiative is an offshoot of the hugely successful ‘Summer of British Films‘, by which the Council organised festivals across several locations in Britain in 2007 along with the BBC.

This will be the first time when independent specialised British films will be digitally screened for the English speaking audience in India and will feature simultaneous screening of each film on multiple screens in 2K digital across the three cities. The movies will be followed by a ‘virtual‘ in-conversations with key talent from each film via the Skype technology.

Says UK Film Council senior executive for Export Development Sarah McKenzie, “While Reliance Media Works will take care of processing of all the films into 2K, films of the festival will be shown at Big and Fame cinemas.”

‘From Blighty with Love‘, McKenzie notes, is an exciting example of the UK Film Council‘s drive to open up UK film to international markets and audiences.

“From classy literary adaptations such as Stephen Elliot‘s Easy Virtue and Julian Jarrold‘s Brideshead Revisited, to international hits such as James Marsh‘s Man On Wire and Armando Lannucci‘s satirical comedy In the Loop, we are confident that Indian audiences will be both entertained and enlightened by the diversity of British talent showcased throughout the season,” elaborates McKenzie.

The festival will also include films from renowned British filmmakers like Michael Winterbottom, Sally Potter and Danny Boyle.
 

MUMBAI: Highlighting the importance of greater market access and industry cooperation in the fight against rampant movie piracy in China, Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) President and COO Bob Pisano, while congratulating the Chinese government in its efforts to fight piracy, has called for a pro-legitimate stance by the Chinese authorities.

Said Pisano, “The MPAA congratulates the Chinese government for raising an anti-piracy awareness among the public. However, piracy is still severely hindering the entertainment industry‘s development in China, especially the home video business that is being devastated by a lack of legitimate retail outlets, inadequately slow censorship and rampant piracy.

We urge the government to adopt and promote a pro-legitimate policy that will enable the industry to effectively compete with pirated products which are widely available in the country.”

Pisano was speaking after he witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that was designed to increase cooperation between the China Film Copyright Association (CFCA) and the Motion Picture Association (MPA).
 

Foreign entertainment products are under strict government import control when entering China and outdated regulations and administrative barriers restrict foreign companies from investing in the wholesale and retail audio-video business sector.

In its effort to fight piracy and help develop legitimate online businesses, the MPA has actively engaged the Chinese government and industry in its effort to seek sustainable business models that would adopt effective copyright protection technologies and mechanisms.

The situation has been further worsened in recent years by widespread Internet piracy where copyright infringers use legal loopholes to escape punishment.

Said MPA President and Managing Director, Asia-Pacific Mike Ellis, “We have developed a strong cooperative relationship with CFCA and with the CFCA‘s newly
expanded mandate for industry development we are looking forward to increased
cooperation in areas of mutual interest. Fighting piracy and creating a more favourable, pro-legitimate market environment is in the interests of all our members and good for China‘s economy.”
 

NEW DELHI: Syrian film, The Long Night, directed by Hatem Mohammed, won two awards including the best film prize while Indian film Khargosh, directed by Paresh Kamdar, bagged three awards in the closing ceremony of the 11th Osian’s Cinefan Film Festival.

The Long Night also bagged the award presented jointly by the Network for Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) and the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI).

Khargosh bagged the Special Mention and the Audience Award and shared the NETPAC-FIPRESCI award.

The best actor and actress awards – Ali Reza Aghakhani and Negar Jhaverian – went to the same film, Before the Burial. The awards were received by director Behnam Behzadi of Iran.

The Special Jury Award went to The Wailing Wall, by Elyse Baccar of Tunisia.

Among short films, the best film award went to The First Film by Panah Panahi of Iran while a special mention was made of Vitthal, by Vinoo Choliparambil of India.

The awards were presented by the founder of the Festival, renowned film critic Aruna Vasudev, filmmaker M S Sathyu, actress Moushmi Chatterjee and actor Rahul Bose, apart from the jury members.

The closing film of the event was Waltz with Bashir, by Ari Folman which is an Israel-Germany-France co-production.

As in previous years, the Festival was organised by Osian’s Connoisseurs of Art in association with the Government of the NCT of Delhi at the Siri Fort Complex and Alliance Francaise in New Delhi.

NEW DELHI: Realism is an integral aspect of all the films shown and discussed in the NewStream sessions at the 11 Osian’s Cinefan Film Festival, and this is clearly the reason for placing them in a new section which is part of the mainstream and yet different.

The characterization of Abhay Deol in Dev D and Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye or Deepika Padukone in Love Aaj Kal reflected this realism.

Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye director Dibakar Banerjee said in the last NewStream Section of the Festival that he drew inspiration from a real life character – Bunty Chor of Delhi – while reading a newspaper article on his robberies. Also, the inspiration came from his “wannabe” attitude during his adolescence and things happening around him. He wanted to make a film on a “wannabe” and a film that did not follow a fixed set up.

Casting Abhay Deol was also a very cautious decision as he wanted an actor with an enigmatic charm and attitude in him, something that the ‘Bunty Chor‘ had in him.

There was no set specially created for the film but the film was shot at over ninety locations within the city of Delhi. Even the narration of ‘Bunty Chor‘ by the police was used in the dialogues in the film.

The NewStream was a new introduction in the Festival, where films made in the mainstream genre but still standing out for their realism were screened. Besides Dibakar Banerjee, Manu, Monika and Vandana (production designers) also spoke on the occasion.