ITV

Category: Hindi

  • Whistling Woods to set foot in Spain

    MUMBAI: Subhash Ghai is taking his film educational institute overseas. Whistling Woods International will set its foot in Spain.

    Mukta Arts CMD Ghai signed on Thursday an agreement with the Provincial Government of Valencia, represented by Spain Minister of Culture Jose Luis Villenueva, to set up the institute for Asian and European students at Alicante Film City.


    As per the agreement, Whistling Woods International would provide expertise, knowledge and programmes to the Spanish Film City which in turn would provide infrastructure, technology and facilities to all international students in the film city.


    Said Ghai from Spain, “This is a part of our expansion plans of setting up Whistling Woods Institutes in various countries to educate and develop software for the international market.” “Through this alliance, students from Asia and India will be exposed to world cinema and multimedia very soon. It will be also serve as a great platform for them to be in the international market.”

  • K Sera Sera’s new management floats two subsidiaries

    MUMBAI: The promoters of K Sera Sera have exited, giving way to a new management in the film production company. The GDR holders have 57.90 per cent stake in the company, while 41.32 per cent is with the public.

    In March 2008, the promoters held 17.05 per cent stake. This has further dropped to a negligible 0.78 per cent, according to data provided by the company till 31 March 2009.


    The new management has floated two subsidiaries in India, K Sera Sera Box Office Pvt. Ltd and K Sera Sera Technologies Pvt Ltd. The film distribution and small-to-medium budget movies will be channelised through K Sera Sera Box Office, says a source in the company.


    K Sera Sera Technologies, on the other hand, will be producing animation movies and getting into graphics.


    K Sera Sera Productions Ltd, the listed entity, will engage in big budget movies. The company has announced a slate of ten films in its production pipeline for the year 2009-10 for which it has reportedly given advances of Rs 200 million to leading artists and directors.


    K Sera Sera Productions had earlier reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 606.35 million for the fiscal year ended March 31 2009, up 53 per cent from Rs 399 million a year ago.


    Total income jumped eight per cent to Rs 1.89 billion, from Rs 1.73 billion in FY‘08.

  • Moser Baer’s ‘Sankat City’ in theatres on 10 July

    MUMBAI: Moser Baer Entertainment is set to release its home production Sankat City on 10 July.

    Produced by Moser Baer in association with Seven Entertainment, the film has been directed by Pankaj Advani. The star cast of the film includes Kay Kay, Anupam Kher, Rimmi Sen, Chunky Pandey, Rahul Dev, Dilip Prabhavalkar and Yashpal Shama.


    Commenting on the new release, Moser Baer Entertainment CEO Harish Dayani, “Moser Baer Entertainment‘s aim is to make quality and popular content available to Indian consumers and this film is an attempt in that direction. With acting talent like Kay Kay, Rimi Sen, Anupam Kher and Chunkey Pandey and with the directorial capabilities of young Pankaj, we are confident the film will entertain all viewers.”


    Sankat City is Moser Baer‘s second Hindi production after Shaurya that was released last year. The company has also produced three Tamil films so far. These are Raman Thediya Seethai, Poo and Abhiyum Nanum.

  • Excel Home Video releases ‘Ice Age’ on DVD

    MUMBAI: Excel Home Video has released Ice Age 1 and Ice Age: The Meltdown on DVD.

    Priced at Rs 299 each, the DVDs also feature ‘making of the movie‘, ‘trailers‘, ‘character galleries‘, ‘deleted scenes‘ and ‘Gone Nutty: Scrat‘s Missing Adventure‘.


    Ice Age 1 traces 20 thousand years back wherein at the dawn of the ice age three completely mismatched creatures come together by a twist of fate. The animated movie is directed by Carlos Saldanha and Chris Wedge.


    Meanwhile, the second part Ice Age: The Meltdown, also directed by Carlos Saldanha, shows the animated characters trying to escape the valley to avoid a flood of trouble.

  • Vishesh Films’ ‘Jashnn – The Music Within’ due 17 July

    MUMBAI: After giving the first hit of 2009 in the form of Raaz The Mystery Continues, Vishesh Films is ready with its next movie Jashnn – The Music Within.
    Produced by Mukesh Bhatt and directed by Hasnain S Hyderabadwala and Raksha Mistry, Jashnn will release on 17 July.
    Jashnn is the gripping tale of one‘s self discovery in the harshest winter of his life. On every street, in every home somewhere in India, there is a nobody who wants to be a somebody. Jashnn is the story of one such nobody – Akash Verma (Adyayan Suman), a 22-year-old Indian lad who thirsts to become a singing icon who can blaze a trail for himself among the galaxy of existing stars.
    But though he has dreams in his heart, he has not been able to find that distinctive voice that he can call his own, that will propel him to the top.
    The film stars Adhyayan Suman, Anjana Sukhani, Shahana Goswami and a renowned Pakistani actor, Humayun Saeed, in key roles. The film‘s screenplay is by Shagufta Rafique.

    Based on true events the story is an emotional drama that transformed the city of Los Angeles.


    The release of Changeling will also be promoted on Radio Mirchi. The radio partner will promote the home video launch via RJ mentions and contests.


    At the retail front, exclusive offers have also been planned for women shoppers.


    BIG Music & Home Entertainment CEO Kulmeet Makkar says, “We are very pleased to bring this dramatic and emotional film which is based on a true story. I am sure the Indian audiences and critics will agree that one cannot miss this excellent movie.”

  • ’99’ grosses Rs 200 million in six weeks

    MUMBAI: People Pictures‘ maiden release 99, made on a budget of less than Rs 80 million, has crossed the Rs 200 million mark in its six-week run at the box-office so far. The film continues to play in select theatres into the 7th week.

    A strong word-of-mouth and sustained marketing campaign have resulted it a most-unlikely hit at a time when most moviegoers had stopped visiting theatres due to the strike at the time of its release and in subsequent weeks too.


    Commenting on the success of the film, People Pictures founder Anupam Mittal said,
    “I am glad that our business model is validated. We set out to make highly content- driven cinema on international standards through Creative Film Studio.”


    “The cult status that the film achieved globally as well as the 4 star reviews from publications like the New York Times, underscore my belief that people want ‘good cinema‘. Now, the numbers have proven that there is also a potentially strong business around this belief,” he added.


    99 is an unpredictable and hilarious ride spread over two cities with colourful characters, unbelievable circumstances, small-time crooks, big-time conspiracies, fateful car crashes, loads of coffee, a briefcase full of money, a budding romance and a historical controversy brewing in the background.

  • Mukta Arts launches ‘ Paschim Express’

    MUMBAI: Fresh from its success of Paying Guests, Mukta Arts has launched a romantic entertainer titled Paschim Express.

    A unique point about the film is that it features graduates from Whistling Woods Institute in the form of writer, director, lead actors, cinematographer, editor and sound engineer. The music of the film has been provided by Pritam.


    Incidentally, Whistling Woods will be celebrating its third anniversary on 18 July.

  • PPC to cast IPL Miss Bollywood winners in ’24×7 Raftaar’

    MUMBAI: Percept Picture Company has decided to rope in the winners of ‘IPL Miss Bollywood’ for their forthcoming film 24×7 Raftaar.

    Made on a budget of Rs 250 million, the movie is to be directed by Shamin Desai and stars Emraan Hashmi, Aditya Panscholi, Neha Dhupia and Sagorika Ghadge. 24×7 Raftaar deals with the life of a TV reporter at a TV news channel.
    Says Percept Picture Company CEO Navin Shah, “Bollywood has always appealed to the world. IPL has done a highly commendable job and ‘IPL Miss Bollywood’ being a huge property, we are excited to be associated with them.”

  • Filmmaker Brett Ratner ties up with Big Entertainment

    MUMBAI: Hollywood filmmaker Brett Ratner, who made films like Rush Hour and X-Men: The Last Stand, has tied up with Big Entertainment to bring cinematic material from all over the world to India.

    Ratner has now acquired a French graphic novel on behalf of the production house to be made into a film.


    To be titled Infinity, the film will be directed by Sylvain White. “I feel the boundaries between Bollywood and world cinema are evaporating. And material with a strong visual appeal will enable Bollywood to go global,” Ratner told the media..


    According to Ratner, this tie-up with Reliance has given him more creative and financial freedom. “For example, I’ve this deal with Paramount. I can go to them now with Reliance’s financial proposal and get more room for quick and effective negotiation,” he said.


    Ratner wants to use his partnership with Reliance to distribute films of Jackie Chan in the Indian market. “Having done those Rush Hour kind of films with Chan, I share an incredible relationship with him. And he has told me that his cinema has an amazing market in Bollywood. Hence, I thought that if I cut a deal with Reliance, I could bring the Jackie Chan movies into India,” he said.

  • DFF plans unique tribute to Shakti Samanta

    NEW DELHI: An unique three-day tribute to the late filmmaker Shakti Samanta put together by the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) will be inaugurated by Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni on 10 July at Sirifort Auditorium – II.

    On the occasion, six popular films of Samanta will be screened. Samanta passed away earlier this year on 9 April.



    The three-day event will see the screening of Howrah Bridge(1958), Kati Patang (1971), Amanush(1975), Kashmir ki Kali (1964) and Anurag(1972). Apart from helping a large number of actors, the films also left behind a large repository of memorable music.


    Ashim Samanta, the filmmaker’s son will be the keynote speaker at the inauguration and the opening film will be the romantic blockbuster Amar Prem which catapulted stars like Rajesh Khanna, Sharmila Tagore and Sujit Kumar to new heights and left some memorable music for connoisseurs.


    Born in Burdwan West Bengal, Samanta received his education at Dehradun, staying with his uncle. He graduated in 1944 from Calcutta University.



    Wanting to become an actor in the Hindi film industry, Samanta moved closer to the city. He took a school teacher‘s job in Dapoli about 200 kilometres from Mumbai. He eventually joined the film industry in 1948 as an assistant director to directors like Gyan Mukherjee, Satish Nigam and Phani Majumdar at Bombay Talkies.



    Samanta directed his first feature film Bahu in 1954 that starred Karan Dewan, Usha Kiron, Shashikala and Pran,



    Samanta‘s other films include Sheroo (1956), Detective (1957) and Hill Station (1957).


    He started his own production company by the name of Shakti Films in 1957 and the first release of this banner was the murder-mystery Howrah Bridge that starred Ashok Kumar and Madhubala as the lead.



    In all, Samanta directed 43 feature films including 37 in Hindi 6 in Bengal. His best known films include Howrah Bridge, China Town,Kashmir Ki Kali and An Evening in Paris. He is credited for starting the trend of making double version films in Hindi and Bengali with Amanush in 1974 and also made the first co-produced film between India and Bangladesh in 1984.