ITV

Category: Hindi

  • Network18 snaps up majority in AIM-listed Indian Film Company

    MUMBAI: Network18 Holdings, a subsidiary of Raghav Bahl-promoted Network18 Media & Investments, has taken a majority stake in the AIM-listed Indian Film Company (IFC).

    Network18 has acquired 14.2 per cent equity, or 7.8 million shares, through an offer that it made to shareholders


    of IFC.



    Post offer, Network18 holds 50.2 per cent stake, or 27.6 million shares, in the movie company.


    Network18 had recently increased its stake in IFC to 35.99 per cent, following which it had to make a mandatory offer for all the remaining shares not owned by it.



    Network18 said Wednesday the condition to the mandatory offer has now been satisfied and the offer has become unconditional to acceptances.


    The offer will remain open for acceptance and will lapse if the acquisition of IFC is referred to the competition commission before 24 August.



    “The offer will remain open for acceptance until further notice. IFC shareholders who wish to accept the offer but have not yet done so are urged to submit their acceptance as soon as possible,” IFC said.

  • Spielberg, Reliance close $825 mn funding

    MUMBAI: DreamWorks and Reliance Big Entertainment have locked the first phase of financing, sealing an amount of $825 million that would allow the joint venture to make six films annually.

    The final piece was the $325 million tied up by JP Morgan in a syndicated financing arrangement with a clutch of banks that include Bank of America, City National Bank, Union Bank of California and Israel Discount Bank.




    Reliance Big Entertainment is putting in a matching amount as equity financing while distribution partner Walt Disney Studios has committed $175 million. The funding will allow DreamWorks’ Steven Spielberg to start shooting his first film project this year.


    DreamWorks had struck a joint venture arrangement with Reliance Big Entertainment after exiting from Paramount. The global economic downturn had delayed Spielberg’s efforts to find financial partners to back up his slate of film projects.

    Reliance ADAG chairman Anil Ambani aims to build a film empire that has interests across the globe. The partnership with DreamWorks is crucial to his Hollywood strategy.

    The first film scheduled for release is 2010.

  • UTV World Movies to screen ‘Queens’ on 19 August

    MUMBAI: UTV World Movies has organised the screening of Spanish film Queens on 19 August at Café Goa, Bandra at 7.30 pm. Prior to the screening, a live performance of Shaa‘ir and Func has also been arranged.

    Shaa‘ir and Func‘s live shows have always been high on energy, performance and costuming. After the success of their debut album, New Day – The Love Album, the duo released their new record entitled ‘Light Tribe‘ in May last on Blue Frog Records.


    Following the duo‘s performance, will be the screening of Queens. The film is Manuel Gómez Pereira‘s comedy about five mothers who must cope with their gay sons‘ (and their own) romantic problems as they all get ready for Spain‘s first mass gay wedding ceremony.

  • UTV’s Kaminey grosses Rs 330 million at box office

    MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures‘ latest release Kaminey has garnered Rs 330 million in its opening weekend at the worldwide box office, the company said.

    The Shahid Kapur-Priyanka Chopra starrer was released on 14 August. However, movie aficionados in Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Navi Mumbai were deprived of it as the state government asked the movie exhibitors to down shutters for the weekend due to swine flu scare.


    UTV claims that it has been the second biggest opening of the year in India (without Mumbai, Thane and Pune). “It is also the second biggest opening of the year in the US and the UAE, biggest opening of the year in Pakistan, and one of the highest openings of the year in Australia,” UTV said in a release.

  • Kannada children’s film Naanu Gandhi finds way to Chinese festival

    NEW DELHI: Naanu Gandhi (I am Gandhi), a children’s film in Kannada, has been selected for the 10th China International Children’s Film Festival, to be held in Qingdao, Shandong Province, from 9 to 14 September.

    The movie has already won international recognition for the manner in which it has used a unique contemporary story to keep alive the relevance for all ages of the message of Mahatma Gandhi.



    Naanu Gandhi tells the story of a young child who is often made fun of by his fellow villagers because his name is Gandhi. He was named thus because his grandfather Rangappa had fought for the freedom of the country, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi.



    Produced by Kokila N Gowda, wife of Nanjunde Gowda, the film is based on a story by Dr Besagarhalli Ramanna and screenplay by Gowda himself. The music is by Raju Upendra Kumar. It stars Master Likhit in the title role along with Ramesh Bhatt, Sundar Raj, Pramila Joshai, Sadashiva Brahmavar, Mandya Ramesh, Raaga Ranga Nagaraj, Venkatachal, N.G.E.F. Sri Kantaiah, Mosale Manjunath, Master K S Sharath Kumar, Master Nandan Kumar, Master Shashank, Baby Nisha, Baby Soumya, Baby Sneha, Bharathi and others.


    Directed by NR Nanjunde Gowda, Naanu Gandhi has won several accolades including the best film award for propagating educational values at the Columbia International film festival in Carthagena, the first for any children’s film from India, and has been shown successfully in film festivals in Italy (Giffoni), Tunisia (Sousse), and Canada (Toronto).


    The film, which had a successful run in Karnataka late last year, has been made by a man who has for long been espousing the cause of children’s cinema. His Chukki Chandrama (star and Moon) was the inaugural film at the International Children’s Film Festival held at Thiruvananthapuram in 1991 where it won the Best Screenplay award. A film that made the adults think about the values they were inculcating in their children, it featured teenage children, narrating in a mature way the thin line between love and sex that they tread on.


    He followed it up with A Aa I II (ABCD) that depicted both at the children‘s and adults’ level the inherent contradictions between globalisation and native culture and their impact on young minds. The film was a runaway success.



    A a non-governmental organisation aimed at espousing the cause of children’s cinema set up by Gowda, Children’s India hosts an annual film festival in Bangalore, perhaps one of the very few niche festivals being organised by single NGOs anywhere in the world.

  • Zee Studio’s Film Club to feature ’13th Floor’

     MUMBAI: Zee Studio’s film club, Shut Up and Watch (Saw), is all set to bring screen actor Luke Kenny’s directorial debut 13th Floor in its fourth nationwide series of free movie screenings for cinema buffs at Oxford Bookstore outlets in the five metros.

    Featuring actors Purab Kohli and Sandhya Mridul, the film was theatrically released only in a select few multiplexes in Mumbai in March 2006.


    The 80-minute film shot in six days is set in the crowded and bustling city that never sleeps, Mumbai. Two strangers Suraj and Naina get stuck in an elevator overnight, due to a massive power failure. They have no choice but to get talking. And as the night wears on they begin to reveal themselves to each other leading on to a climax.



    In Kolkata the film screens today 17 August at 6 pm. In Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore it screens on 21 August at the same time. In Chennai it screns on 22 August.


    In June, the film club took The Basketball Diaries featuring Leonardo Di Caprio across the country. July saw the cinema buffs relishing the old Clint Eastwood classic, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

  • Film industry wants legal powers for film tribunal

    MUMBAI: The film industry wants the powers of the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) to be enlarged to hear appeals from persons aggrieved by the decisions of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

    The film industry has demanded amendment to Section 5C of the Cinematograph Act 1952 to include such appeals so that most trial courts could automatically direct petitions to the Tribunal, thus preventing the filing of large number of petitions on frivolous grounds.



    However, both the Film Federation of India and the Film and Television Producers Guild of India said this would not mean that the High Courts should surrender their powers to entertain writ petitions.



    In his representation to Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, FFI President Jitendra Jain referred to individuals, groups of persons or organizations representing narrow, partisan and sectarian and identity interests creating disputes to hold up the screening of films that are cleared for public viewing by the CBFC.


    These disputes pertain only to certain portions of the film/song/lyric which may be objectionable to the beliefs of these parties and individuals. But many of them then approached the Courts and acquire injunction orders.



    It is unfortunate that though most of these injunctions are withdrawn and the matter decided in favour of the producers, there is no compensation for the resultant loss or the delays in court hearings.



    He said this rigmarole leads to producers and exhibitors suffering huge losses as the films are generally sold in advance, thereby committing the exhibitors to the dates of the screening.



    Guild President Manmohan Shetty in a separate representation to the Minister said the matter gets compounded when some groups take the law into their own hands and attack cinema halls creating law and order problems, which in turn lead to the police stopping the screenings of the film temporarily or otherwise to restore peace.



    Shetty said Dadasaheb Phalke awardee and nominated Member of Parliament Shyam Benegal had been requested by the film industry to liaison with the Ministry on this matter on behalf of the entertainment industry.

  • Shane Acker directed ‘9’ to release globally on 9 September

    MUMBAI: A new era in animated storytelling begins on 9 September. It is on that day that 9-a thrilling tale directed by Shane Acker is set to release worldwide.

    The film‘s story is about 9 – an underdog hero who believes in taking risks besides wishing to know the meaning of life. His mental deftness helps him build his team, the mission of whom begins after the human civilization becomes extinct.

    The film stars Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Martin Landau, Christopher Plummer and Crispin Glover.

    An action-packed adventure, 9 is the feature-length expansion of Acker‘s Academy Award-nominated 2004 short film of the same name. As director of the short, Acker received an Academy Award nomination in the Best Animated Short Film category and also won a Gold Medal at the Student Academy Awards.

    Says PVR Pictures CEO Uday Singh, “We are thrilled to bring the much-awaited animated film 9 directed by award-winning animator and designer Shane Acker to the Indian theatres on a day-date release on 09.09.09.”

  • Shemaroo releases VCD of ‘Shilpa’s Yoga’ in Malayalam

    MUMBAI: Shemaroo Entertainment has released the dubbed Malayalam version of Shilpa‘s Yoga on VCD. This VCD is an introduction to ‘dynamic free-flow‘ yoga practice by popular Bollywood actress – Shilpa Shetty.

    The contents of the over 60-minute VCD is inclusive of various chapters – introduction by Shilpa herself, followed with Asanas [postures] like ‘Back Asanas‘, ‘Stomach Asanas‘, ‘Standing Asanas‘, ‘Sitting Asanas‘, ‘Neck and Shoulder Asanas‘ and Pranayam [breathing].


    Comments Shilpa Shetty, “Considering that we shot for Shilpa‘s Yoga in Kerala, – God‘s Own Country – it‘s a pleasure to know that this yoga DVD is dubbed in Malayalam as well. I am really overwhelmed with the response it has received in Hindi and English and I‘m certain that it will capture the Malayalam market as well.‘


    Adds Shemaroo Entertainment director Hiren Gada, ‘To begin with, we are releasing the dubbed Malayalam version of Shilpa‘s Yoga in VCD format and soon plan to extend it, to other Indian languages too. After the grand success of Shilpa‘s Yoga on VCDs and DVDs in Hindi and English last year, we saw a growing demand for it in other Indian languages as well. Thus, in an attempt to introduce this product to our diverse Indian audience, Shilpa‘s Yoga is now going regional.”


    Priced at Rs.75, ‘Shilpa‘s Yoga‘ VCD will serve as a perfect Onam gift for

  • BL Gautam joins Mumbai Mantra as director operations

    MUMBAI: Mumbai Mantra Media, the entertainment division of auto major Mahindra & Mahindra, has appointed BL Gautam as director operations.

    Prior to this, Gautam was UMP chief operating officer and UTV Motion Pictures (Mauritius) chief operating officer.


    Confirming the development to Indiantelevision.com, Gautam said, “Yes, I have quit UTV and joined Mumbai Mantra as director operations. I would be involved in the movie division of the company.”