ITV

Category: Hindi

  • First Konkani film to premiere at Toronto fest

    MUMBAI: For the first time a Konkani film is going to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.

    Paltadacho Munis (The Man Beyond The Bridge) is set to have its world premiere at the upcoming festival.


    The latest offering of Laxmikant Shetgaonkar, the film will be shown in the ‘Discovery’ section, which showcases new and emerging filmmakers who “are certain to become household names”.


    A study of the environment in the backdrop of village dynamics, the film is a tale of a widowed ranger who falls in love with a mad woman. The film has Goa’s Western Ghats as the backdrop.


    It is interesting to note that Shetgaonkar had initially approached the Goa government with the script of this film, but his idea was rejected. Later, Shetgaonkar got funding from the NFDC.

  • Network18 plans to delist AIM-listed Indian Film Company

    MUMBAI: The plan is to delist the Indian Film Company (IFC) as Network18 Holdings, the subsidiary of Raghav Bahl-promoted Network18 Media & Investments, ramps up its stake in the movie company.

    Network18 said it is open to cancel IFC’s quotation on AIM, once it acquires 90 per cent or more of the existing issued ordinary share capital of the company.


    At present, Network18 has received acceptance for increasing its stake in the AIM-listed movie company to 69.2 per cent. After increasing its stake in IFC to 35.99 per cent, Network18 had to make a mandatory offer for all the remaining shares not owned by it, as per UK takeover code.



    Network18 was responding to the independent directors’ query, for its (Network18’s) intentions regarding the future of the IFC.



    Network18 said, “The only circumstance in which Network18 envisages cancelling the Indian Film Company‘s quotation on AIM as a result of the outcome of the offer would be if Network18 receives valid acceptances under the offer in respect of, and/or otherwise acquires, 90 per cent or more of the existing issued ordinary share capital of the IFC to which the offer relates such that Network18 may exercise its rights to acquire compulsorily the remaining IFC shares.”


    However, Network18 will not delist IFC from AIM even if it completes 75 per cent acquisition. “It is Network18‘s current intention to retain the company‘s AIM quotation even if the level of acceptances in respect of the offer increases the Network18 parties shareholding to 75 per cent or more of the existing issued ordinary share capital of the company.”



    Network18 reserves the right to review its position depending on the level of acceptances when the offer closes, which is on 7 September 2009.



    There are obvious benefits to IFC if it gets consolidated as a Network18 group company. It can provide IFC with the “ability to leverage from the Network18 brand name, its management, advisers and contacts in all aspects of the business operations.” This includes “better access to capital on the strength of Network18 Group‘s track record with the financial community.”



    In the response note, the company also mentioned that if shareholders do not accept the offer in respect of their own shareholding, they will be minority shareholders in a controlled company with a reduced number of shares that are held in public hands as a result of Network18‘s current level of shareholding. This may have a significant adverse impact on the liquidity and marketability of their shares in the future, the company added.



    “It is also important for shareholders to consider that, if the IFC’s quotation is cancelled at some future date, it may not be possible for shareholders to realise as much as 40 pence per IFC share, should they so wish, before the quotation is cancelled and shareholders might find themselves as minority shareholders in an unquoted company,” the note said.

  • IFC’s ‘Road, Movie’ to premiere at Toronto fest

    MUMBAI: Dev Benegal‘s Road Movie will be premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) this year. The event will begin on 10 September and will run for over ten days.
    The film, presented by the Indian Film Company (IFC) will be screened as a special presentation at the Winter Garden Theatre on 18 September. The special presentation screenings showcase high-profile films featuring major stars and directors from around the world.

    Said Indian Film Company CEO Sandeep Bhargava, “We are extremely delighted that TIFF has chosen our film to premiere at the festival. The selection of our film is an endorsement of our vision to back high-quality international cinema.”

    Produced by Susan B Landau and Ross Katz, Road Movie‘s screenplay has been penned by Benegal and talks about Vishnu, a restless young man, who rejects his father‘s faltering hair oil business and hits the road with a moving cinema (bioscope).

    The film stars Abhay Deol, Tannishtha Chatterjee and Satish Kaushik in lead roles and is slated to hit the theatres next year.

  • Fame Cinemas adds two screens in Ghatkopar plex

    MUMBAI: Fame Cinemas has added two screens in Fame Ghatkopar in the Neelyog Mall.

    With this, Fame Ghatkopar has a total of four screens with a total capacity of 1268 seats.

    The new screen 3 has a total of 345 seats while screen 4 has a total of 289 seats.

    Says Fame Cinemas COO Rishi Negi, “The main objective of adding 2 more screens is that we wanted to give our patrons more options of movies to choose from and to showcase more shows.”

  • Festival of films on Indian art by Benoy Behl this week

    NEW DELHI: A total of 13 films on Indian art and culture by renowned art historian and filmmaker Benoy K Behl, a majority of them made for Doordarshan, are being screened in a two-day festival in the capital.

    The festival will be inaugurated by Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni later this week.

    A Journey Within is being presented by the India International Centre on 29 and 30 August. The films include some rarely seen pieces of art in India and some rarely documented monuments.

    The films include ‘5,000 years of sculpture’ in two parts, ‘Pan-Asian Art (The tradition of classic paintings in China, Japan, Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand and Indonesia), ‘The Confluence of Cultures’ (The art of the Mughal court (Akbar period), ‘Development of the Modern Idiom’ in two parts, ‘2,000 years of paintings’ ‘The art of India’, and ‘The Dance of Shiva’ (Chola Temples). The films will be followed by discussions.


    Behl is a film-maker, art-historian and photographer who is known for his tireless and prolific output of work over the past 25 years. He has made a 100 documentaries on art history, taken over 34,000 photographs of Asian monuments and art heritage, his exhibitions have been warmly received in 24 countries around the world and he holds the Limca Book Record for having traveled to all corners of India.

    His films, including 26 documentaries on ‘The Paintings of India’ and 26 documentaries on ‘The Sculpture of India,’ have been nationally telecast on prime time in India, as well as repeat telecasts. The vastness of Behl’s documentation presents a wide and new perspective in understanding the art of India and Asia.

    The festival presents a selection from Behl’s renowned series of films on Indian art history.



  • Remo D‘souza to direct Vashu Bhagnani film

    MUMBAI: After completing his film Do Knot Disturb that is set to release on 2 October, Vashu Bhagnani is already planning his next film.

    To be directed by choreographer Remo D‘Souza, the film will star Jackky Bhagnani along with Sanjay Dutt.


    D‘Souza had earlier directed a few music videos and also a Bengali film Lal Paharer Kotha.


    The film is likely to go on floors by the end of October.

  • Madhya Pradesh to float a film city, invites investors

    MUMBAI: The Madhya Pradesh government is setting up a film city 20 km away from Bhopal.

    Built on 430 acres of land, the idea is to provide infrastructure and attract the entertainment industry from across the country to invest in the state.


    Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan pitched to investors and industrialists in Mumbai, promoting the location over rival projects like Film City in Mumbai and Ramoji Rao studios in Hyderabad.


    Attending the meet were film personalities like Manmohan Shetty, Prakash Jha, Sudhir Misra, Boney Kapoor and Raza Murad.


    The chief minister pointed out that there were suggestions that the government should enter into a joint venture with film studios or give plots to studios to develop on their own.


    So will the idea catch on in the world of Bollywood? Says Manmohan Shetty who is planning to set up an entertainment park in the outskirts of Mumbai, “Right now the plan looks unviable, but only time will tell whether film people would vie for the Madhya Pradesh project or not when there are already film cities in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Jaipur.”


    The Madhya Pradesh government is toying with the idea of reducing entertainment tax if 50 per cent of a film is shot in the state. These are just a part of an initial plan and will be incorporated in the final policy.



    Not many, however, feel at this stage that these measures will be enough. Says filmmaker Harry Baweja, “I don’t think this plan would be accepted by film folks in general. Who will set up a studio in Bhopal, carry the entire equipment from Mumbai and set shop there? That’s another thing if latest film equipments are available there and the state government gives us enough facilities.”

  • Mumbai Film Festival to kick off on 29 October

    MUMBAI: The 11th Mumbai Film Festival (MFF), organised by Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI), is scheduled to take place from 29 October to 5 November in Mumbai.

    A Reliance Big Entertainment initiative, MMF has the distinction of being the only international film festival in India to be organised by an independent body of practicing film professionals.


    A five-member international jury will include celebrated Hollywood scriptwriter, director and Martin Scorsese‘s long term collaborator Paul Schrader, scriptwriter of Taxi Driver and co-writer of Raging Bull amongst others, and eminent Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, a Golden Lion awardee at the Venice Film Festival and the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival.


    This year MFF will honour two talented filmmakers from India and abroad. Shashi Kapoor will receive the Indian lifetime achievement award at the inaugural function of the Festival on 29 October while Greek filmmaker Angelopoulos will be presented the international lifetime achievement award in the closing ceremony of the Festival on 5 November.


    A retrospective of Angelopoulos‘ films will be organised to salute the maestro. Considered one of the greatest living directors, Angelopoulos has won awards at all major International film festivals.


    Divided into five sections (International Competition for the First Feature Films of Directors, World Cinema, Indian Showcase, Dimensions Mumbai and Retrospectives), the Festival offers something to every film buff.


    “The festival will showcase the best in contemporary Indian cinema even while it takes a look back at cinema down the ages,” notes renowned film-maker Shyam Benegal, the chair-person of MAMI.


    “We also want to encourage young film talent and have a forum for that. Further, our audience will be treated to the works of Shashi Kapoor and Angeloupolous, two film-makers to be honoured with life-time achievement awards. Both have traversed a long path and made a distinctive niche for themselves in world cinema,” he adds.

    The 11th MFF will also organise a exhibition to commemorate and celebrate 60 years of Dev Anand‘s Navketan Films. A retrospective from Navketan will be screened to mark the occasion.

    Fun Republic, the four-screen multiplex, will be the central venue of the 11th MFF while films taking part in the festival will also be screened at Metro BIG Cinema and other theatres.



  • Zee Talkies readies to release its 7th movie on 28 August

    MUMBAI: Zee Talkies is set to release on 28 August its seventh Marathi film under its brand Hai Kai Nai Kai.

    The channel is releasing more than 120 prints of the movie across Maharashtra. The film is produced by popular Marathi actors Prasad Oak and Pushkar Shrotri.


    Produced by Pops Entertainment, Hai Kai Nai Kai is a full-time comedy film. The script is written by Suresh Jayaram with screenplay and dialogues penned by Asish Pathare.


    The star cast includes director-duo performing opposite each other besides Jitendra Joshi, Atul Parchure, Sonali Kulkarni, Sai Tamhankar and Ashwini Apte.


    The music is composed by Avadhoot Gupte and Saleel Kulkarni while lyrics is by Sandeep Khare and Shrirang Godbole. Sunidhi Chauhan and Avadhoot Gupte have rendered their voices for the songs in this film.


    The background score is by Avinash Chandrachud, while cinematography is by Sanjay Jadhav. Art direction is by Shailesh Mahadik.

  • Reliance Big Pictures to release Three Idiots, Kites

    MUMBAI: Reliance Big Pictures has acquired the distrbution rights of two of the year‘s two upcoming big films, Three Idiots and Rakesh Roshan‘s Kites.

    Says Big Pictures distribution head Kamal Gianchandani, “With the acquisition of these two films, we have come out with a three-pronged strategy to distribute them nationally. We will distribute the films directly in all major territories across the country. We have the infrastructure to do so.”


    Big Picture will reach out to as many cities and towns in the first release phase of the film, adds Gianchandani.


    The second endeavour, as far as multiplexes are concerned, would be to maximise the showcasing of films “so that we are able meet up to the demand and expectations of viewers and stakeholders, in the first weekend.”


    Finally, the company would collaborate with exhibitors in promoting both the films and helping a 20 to 25 per cent escalation in the prices of ticket rates for the first weekend. “This will help us expand the box-office collection,” Gianchandani adds.


    Produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Three Idiots is directed by Rajkumar Hirani and stars Aamir Khan, R Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Kareena Kapoor and Boman Irani in pivotal roles. The movie is slated for release on 25 December.


    Kites revolves around a love story between an Indian boy born who is brought up in Las Vegas and a Spanish girl from Mexico. Starring Hrithik Roshan and Barbara Mori, will release in early 2010.