Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: The department of film festivals affiliated to the Information & Broadcasting ministry has organised public screenings of award-winning films of the 55th National Film Awards 2009 from 10 to 16 October at Siri Fort Auditorium II & III.

Some of the notable films that will be shown in the screenings are: Taare Zameen Par, Chak De India, Jab We Met, The Journalist and the Jihadi, The Last Lear, Gandhi My Father, Antardhwani, Gulabi Talkies,Lal Juto, Making The Face, Sivaji, Echoes of Silence among others.

Entry to all PIB-accredited journalists will be free for all shows on production of valid PIB accreditation card.

MUMBAI: Ashok Amritraj‘s Hollywood-based Hyde Park Entertainment and Imagenation Abu Dhabi will invest $75 million to produce three to four films per year over the next five years.

For the same, the two companies will establish an alliance with Singapore‘s Media Development Authority (MDA).

“Hyde Park and Imagenation‘s activities in Hollywood and throughout Asia are further strengthened by this new relationship with Singapore. We look forward to working closely with the MDA and being a leading force in the global media growth in Asia,” Hyde Park Entertainment

chief Amritraj said in a statement.

The multi-party venture will commence with an English language cross-cultural production, to be named in the coming weeks.

Last year in May, Ashok Amritraj‘s Hyde Park Entertainment had announced that it was planning to set up a multi-million dollar fund in Asia for the production of feature films.
The fund aimed to raise $55-$73 million.

Imagenation Abu Dhabi and Hyde Park Entertainment first partnered in November 2008 on a $250 million financing deal to develop, produce and distribute up to 20 feature films over seven years with additional financing for the production of local language and cross-cultural films.

MUMBAI: Vistaar Religare Film Fund (VRFF) in association with Cinergy Pictures unveiled the theatrical trailer of Rann yesterday at the hands of Amitabh Bachchan at PVR Juhu.

Also present at the unveiling were director Ram Gopal Varma and producers Madhu Mantena and Sheetal Vinod Talwar.

The screening of the trailer was followed by a cake-cutting by Bachchan to celebrate two special occasions – one, his four-decade journey of mesmerizing fans across the globe and second, his 67th birthday.

Said Vistaar Religare Film Fund Chairman and managing director Sheetal Vinod Talwar, “We are thrilled to be unveiling the theatrical trailer of our film at such a momentous juncture in Mr.Bachchan‘s career. We are positive that Rann will be extremely well-received by the audiences. We at VRFF are committed to funding quality films and Rann is fine example of our endeavour.”

Co-producer Madhu Mantena averred, “It‘s a historic day in the annals of Indian cinema – today we celebrate India‘s most celebrated Icon – Mr. Bachchan. He has given us several of the most memorable characters in Indian cinematic history. Today, along with Varma, he brings us yet another character to define the times we live in.”

Directed by Ram Gopal Varma, Rann stars Ritiesh Deshmukh, Kannada mega-star Sudeep, Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav, Rajat Kapoor, Mohnish Behl, Neetu Chandra, Gul Panag, Simone Singh and Suchitra Krishnamoorti among others.

MUMBAI: Rayudu Vision Media‘s RVML Animation, along with The Kanipakam Creations, has made a 2D animation film Lava Kusa – The Warrior Twins. Now in its post-production stage, the film is expected to release shortly.

Made at a cost of Rs 250 million, the film took three years to complete. While RVML Animation is in charge of the animation, the film is produced by R V Sashank for Kanipakam Creations.

The film is being currently made in Hindi, English and Telugu. It will be dubbed into Tamil, Oriya, Bengali and other Indian languages later.

Directed by Dhavala Sathyam, Lava Kusa The Warrior Twins is based on Ramayana, where the warrior twins team up to bring a powerful dynasty to their knees. The story is all about the banishment of Sita to the acceptance of Lava and Kusa by Lord Rama.

Lava and Kusa, who opposed Rama for their mother‘s Sita‘s plight, are well- known for their courage and bravery.

Giving a shape to the thought, RVML and The Kanipakam creations announced the making of the film in 2006. After a year to prepare the script, 300 animators worked on this project in the RVML studios in Hyderabad and Philippines.

MUMBAI: Shah Rukh Khan has dubbed the prologue for the Hindi version of the Mammooty-starrer Pazhassi Raja that is being made simultaneously in five languages including Hindi and English.

Khan joins the bandwagon of the film that already has names like Mammootty, Sarath Kumar, Gyanpeeth award winner M T Vasudevan Nair, T Hariharan, music maestro Ilayaraja and Resool Pookutty associated with it. When the film‘s director T Hariharan approached Khan for the film, he readily agreed to do the prologue without even charging a penny.

Elaborating on this, Praveen VC, executive producer of the movie says, “Shah Rukh comes from the family of freedom fighters and feels happy to be associated with such project”.

While the Tamil version of the film was also given its due worth when superstar Kamal Hassan dubbed the prologue, the Malayalam original has Mohanlal introducing Pazhassi Raja to the audiences through a 45-second prologue.

The film tells the tale about Pazhassi Raja played by Mammootty, a native king of Waynad in Malabar area of Kerala and said to be one of the first freedom fighters who started a guerilla war against the British.

Apart from Mammootty, the film also stars Sarath Kumar, Manoj K. Jayan, Thilakan, Padmapriya, Kanika and Jagathi Sreekumar in other pivotal roles. The roles of the East India officials have been essayed by Peter Handley Evans and Harry Key among others.

MUMBAI: The 40th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will be held in Goa from 23 November to 3 December. The online registration for media accreditation for the same will open from 12 October.

Media persons can log on to http://pib.nic.in/accreditation and fill in the requisite details to proceed further. Media persons with at least three years professional experience of covering film festivals and who are not below 18 years of age can register themselves.

An application

should be recommended by the concerned organisation. All applications must be accompanied with scanned copies of passport size photograph, recommendation letter from Editor/Bureau Chief and at least three clippings pertaining to different years.

In addition, foreign journalists would be required to scan and upload their J-VISA. For PIOs, a letter from the Head of the Indian Mission as per the format in the form would be required.

The last date for online registration for accreditation is 15 November. Only online applications will be accepted.

MUMBAI: Shemaroo Entertainment

will take part in the week-long Global Cinema Festival (GCF) at Indore from 9 October to 15 October. The festival has been organised by the Film Federation of India in association with the Government of Madhya Pradesh.

This festival that will be inaugurated on 8 October by the Cultural Minister of Madhya Pradesh Laxmikant Sharma will have Priyanka Chopra as the guest of honour.

Of the nine films which Shemaroo will screen at GCF, eight will be from its World Cinema titles while one would be its own produced animation film.

Says Shemaroo Entertainment director Hiren Gada, “It feels great to be part of a festival. This festival brings in a good opportunity for audiences of Indore and Madhya Pradesh to watch this kind of cinema. With nine screenings from Shemaroo‘s stable, we are definitely looking forward to this grand festival.”

All Shemaroo World Cinema titles will be screened at the Central Mall while the animation film Ghatothkach – Master of Magic, will be screened at the Sapna Sangeeta Mall, Inox.

MUMBAI: Percept Picture Company (PPC) has embarked upon a new journey to combat piracy, the biggest threat facing the global entertainment industry.

Pirates will be the first-ever film made on this subject and Percept will attempt to unite the entire industry to support this cause, making it an industry initiative.

Pirates is an entertaining racy crime thriller that takes one behind the scenes on the murky world of piracy exposing the nexus of the trade. The film would also highlight the trials and tribulations of a filmmaker and his personal attempt to stop the deadly act.

The visual treatment of the film would be realistic and investigative in nature and will be mostly shot at real locations. The film will be showcased at prominent international film festivals to create global awareness and garner support.

The film will be directed by Ashu Trikha, known for his critically-acclaimed film Baabarr. Trikha also directed films such as Deewanapan (2001), a thriller titled Sheesha (2005) and a sci-fi film Alag (2006).

Said Percept Ltd. Jt. MD Shailendra Singh, “Percept has always recognised the power that cinema has, in making a social difference. We were pioneers in Cause Cinema, through our film Phir Milenge made in 2004 that addressed AIDS. I strongly believe that Pirates would provide an ideal vehicle to create consumer awareness through the medium of entertainment.”

Increasing piracy of films, television, music and video games content has led to the loss of Rs 160 billion each year and 820,000 jobs afflicting India‘s entertainment industry, according to a report by Ernst & Young.

MUMBAI: With three big budget films – All The Best, Blue and Mr Aurr Mrs Khanna – set to release on 16 October, the Diwali excitement has started.

All The Best, being made under the Ajay Devgan Films banner, is a rib-tickling comedy resulting from mistaken identities and hilarious goof-ups. It marks the return of Ajay Devgan and Rohit Shetty, after Golmaal Returns.

Besides Ajay Devgan, the film has Sanjay Dutt, Fardeen Khan, Bipasha Basu, Mugdha Godse and Asrani.

Blue coming from the Shri Asthavinayak Cine Vision banner is a visual extravaganza that has explored the rich marine and aquatic life for the first time in India.

This film features Sanjay Dutt, Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, Zayed Khan, Rahul Dev and international pop-sensation Kylie Minogue. Katrina Kaif can be seen in a special appearance.

The last release Main Aurr Mrs Khanna is jointly produced by Sohail Khan Productions and UTV SpotBoy Pictures and distributed by UTV. It stars Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Sohail Khan.

The film revolves around the story of Samir Khanna (Salman Khan) and Raina Khanna (Kareena Kapoor) who have a fairy tale marriage. Samir gets his dream job and they have a great life until one wrong decision leads them to part their ways.

MUMBAI: Pritish Nandy Communications‘ film Fatso will have its premiere at the 2009 South Asia Film Festival to be held in New York between 28 October to 3 November. It will be the first Indian film to be accorded a red carpet premiere at the Festival.

Announcing the film‘s premiere, New York Film Festival director Galen Rosenthal says, “Fatso is a fantastic film and it‘s a great pleasure for us to make it our centerpiece premiere.”

Producer Pritish Nandy and director Rajat Kapoor will attend the event as special invitees and will walk the red carpet for the film. Joining them would be Ranvir Shorey, Gul Panag, Purab Kohli, Gunjan Bakshi and Neil Bhoopalam.

A romantic comedy, Fatso is Rajat Kapoor‘s fourth film after Raghu Romeo, Mixed Doubles and Mithya all of which were critically-acclaimed.

Says PNC creative director Rangita Pritish Nandy, “Fatso will be releasing globally in January.”