ITV

Category: Hindi

  • Indian born filmmaker Karri plans ‘Mobster’

    MUMBAI: Indian born filmmaker Nagendra Karri, owner of Eternal Mind Production LLC in New York, has announced his next Rs 1.5 billion film ‘Mobster‘ to be shot on multiple locales including India.

    This announcement comes after the successful debut screening of his first directorial venture Where are you Sophia? – a suspenseful psychological thriller at the recently concluded Cannes Film festival.


    Where are you Sophia? is based on a true story of a local newspaper columnist from a rural town called Highlands where she mysteriously disappears and ends up meeting Charlie, a young handsome man from Jersey Shores. She takes him on a journey where he is introduced to the realms of the unknown which only he can unravel as he faces the mysterious forces in the evil town of Highlands.


    “Life has been very hard while making a feature film during a recession,” says Karri adding, “but it was worth every bit to make a suspenseful thriller like Where are you Sophia? which you believe in totally. Recession was not an excuse for me and I have done it.”


    The 96-minute psycho thriller will keep audiences on the edge-of-their seat with paranormal elements and characters with strange backgrounds and contradicting stories. The film received good reviews at the Cannes Film Festival.


    Karri is currently in India to finalise plans for the release of Where are you Sophia? and work out his new project Mobster. He is also likely to conduct audition for Mobster and talk to potential partners for his new project.

  • Inox forays into film production

    MUMBAI: Inox Leisure Ltd has ventured into film production to complete the full value chain of film exhibition and distribution. 


    The company has floated Inox Motion Pictures, a division that would engage in the film production business, and is releasing Morning Walk on 26 June.


    Morning Walk is a heart tugging tale of two families different from one another, yet connected through a special bond. Said to be the debut film of child actor Avika Gor of Balika Vadhu fame, the film directed by Arup Dutta stars Anupam Kher, Sharmila Tagore, Rajit Kapoor, Divya Dutta and model-turned-actor Shayan Munshi.


    “We launched Inox Motion Pictures with the thought of making films



    that offer quality entertainment to the people at large. Though Morning Walk marks our foray into production, there are others which are in the pipeline,” says Inox Motion Pictures director Alok Tandon.

    Given a situation if the film strike persists, will Inox go ahead and release the film at multiplexes besides single-screens? “Morning Walk being our own film, we will definitely release it at all our properties besides single-screens. We will talk to other multiplexes and if they agree, we will release the film at other multiplexes too,” quips Tandon.

    Till date, INOX has distributed films such as Fashion, Race, Jab We Met, Heyy Babyy, Om Shanti Om, Namastey London, Rang De Basanti, Garam Masala among others.


  • Next producer-multiplex meet on 3 June

    MUMBAI: After a cold last week, a meeting between the film producers and the multiplex operators is scheduled to take place on 3 June.

    Confirming the news to indiantelevision.com, Mukesh Bhatt averred, “No, we are not meeting today as was previously determined. But as many of our members are out of town, we had to postpone the meet. We will now be meeting tomorrow to take a decision.”


    Reliance Big Entertainment Chairman Amit Khanna also affirmed that the United Producers and Distributors Forum (UPDF) would meet at 8 pm on Wednesday.

    It is interesting to note that while Big Cinemas, in principle, has reached a middle-path with producers and distributors, none of the other multiplex chains seem to find this acceptable.


    “It was being speculated since yesterday that PVR Cinemas was supposed to agree to the terms today but since the meeting is not happening, things are in a quandary. Inox is also not in agreement with these terms,” says analyst NP Yadav.


    PVR Cinemas and Inox Leisure jointly control 53 multiplexes with a total of 202 screens spread across India. Big Cinemas, on the other hand, has 78 properties with 198 screens.


    At present, there are approximately 850 screens in India and releasing movies in single-screens along with the Big Cinemas chain is not likely to be commercially viable.



  • People Pictures ’99’ grosses 150 million in 17 days

    MUMBAI: People Pictures‘ 99 has collected Rs 150 million during its first three weeks at the box office.

    Made on a budget of Rs 80 million, the film garnered Rs 126.2 million in the first two weeks of release (15 May) and then went on to pocket Rs 25.2 million in the third weekend.


    Released at a time when the producer-plex tug-of-war is still on, approximately 70 per cent of the film‘s footfall has come from multiplexes.


    Commenting on the film‘s performance, producers Anupam Mittal and Aditya Shastri say, “We are extremely happy that the film has been accepted by audiences. The way our film has been faring at the box-office makes us firmly believe that success lies in the conviction of People Pictures that good stories told well will always work well.”


    99 is a story inspired by real events between 1999 and 2000. It is as much “what could have been” as it is “what really happened.” In other words, it is a historical action. It spans a few genres and is slick, fast-paced, realistic and importantly very funny.

  • Karma – Crime, Passion, Reincarnation to show at Shanghai Film Festival

    MUMBAI: Even though the film is still to release in India, Karma – Crime, Passion, Reincarnation, a Golden Ticket Films & Picture Perfect production, has been selected as an official entry to the International Panorama of the 12th Shanghai International Film Festival. The event will be held in Shanghai from 13 to 21 June.

    Produced by Vivek Singhania, Dhiraj Kotkar and Sanjiv Potnis, the film has been directed by MR Shahjahan and revolves around the theme of reincarnation.


    Karma – Crime, Passion, Reincarnation has Indian as well as international star cast comprising Alma Saraci, Carlucci Weyant, Vijayendra S Ghatge, Claudia Ciesla, Shanda Renee, DJ Perry and Smita Hai.

    After winning awards in Marbella International Film Festival, Spain and Corinthian International Film Festival, Greece, Karma – Crime, Passion, Reincarnation is ready to release soon in India in both English and Hindi versions.

  • Jupiter Entertainment signs 3-year licensing deal with WB

    MUMBAI: In its endeavour to show films on local television, Japan-based Jupiter Entertainment has signed a three-year licensing deal with Warner Bros. International Television, a division of Warner Entertainment Japan Inc.

    The announcement was made by Jupiter Entertainment president and representative director Hiroyuki Nakatani and Warner Bros. International television VP and GM Mitsuru Oda.


    Jupiter has acquired the rights of more than 80 theatrical motion picture titles to broadcast on its movie special channel Movie Plus in Japan.


    Jupiter will have the rights to broadcast on its Movie Plus CS basic channel feature films



    distributed by the studio as well as pictures from the Warner Bros. entertainment collection, beginning spring 2009.



    “It is expected that the multi-year licensing agreement with Warner Bros. will enhance customer satisfaction for Movie Plus in terms of its viewing households and contribute to the further growth of the multi-channel market in Japan,” said Nakatani.


    License issued for telecast of titles include movies like The Departed, Blood Diamond, The Bodyguard and the Steven Spielberg-presented/Richard Donner-directed Goonies, among many others.


    “We are happy to announce this multi-year deal with Jupiter‘s Movie Plus channel and look forward to working closely with the Japanese company to make our movies successful with consumers in Japan,” said Oda.

  • Ayangaran Intl. bags overseas rights of ‘Kanthaswamy’

    MUMBAI: The overseas rights of the Vikram-Shriya Saran starrer, Kanthaswamy, have been sold to London-based Ayngaran International for an amount of around Rs 50 million.

    Arun Pandian of Ayngaran International agreed that his company had bought the overseas rights. With a library of over 1,500 films, Ayngaran has distributed some of the Tamil movie industry‘s big banner films which include Sivaji, Chandramukhi, Gilli, Alaipayuthey and Billa 2007.


    Insiders feel that Kanthaswamy‘s valuation is exaggerated. The cost of overseas rights for a Vikram film is typically around Rs 20-30 million, he said. Global rights for Anniyan, which was the last hit of the actor was sold for around Rs 30 million as it had the backing of director Shankar.

    Apart from Malaysia, Singapore, the UK, the US and Canada, Kanthaswamy will also be distributed across Europe, Dubai and Sri Lanka. In addition to Tamil, the film titled Mallana (Telugu) will see simultaneous release in the Tamil Nadu and Andhra markets.


    While music rights of the film have been bought by Sony-BMG for Rs 9.1 million, Sun TV has bought the home DVD rights for Rs 45 million.

  • Prem Chopra forays into Hollywood films

    MUMBAI: Veteran Prem Chopra who‘s played both grey and good characters with equal aplomb is doing a crossover filmHeartland, directed by double Emmy winning director Fred Holmes who‘s directed TV serials like Barney & Friends, The Music Box and a Bird of a Different Feather.The film will see the 73-year-old as one of the central characters of the story, which revolves around two villages in Punjab and Texas. “I am playing Ranveer Singh and have a full-fledged role and am the central character,” says Chopra on phone from Ludhiana where he is shooting for the film.

    “Though being completely different, these two settings are similar because the people share similar values, like love for the land and respect for elders,” he adds.


    The actor is playing an upright Punjabi farmer who faces a dilemma when his NRI grandson comes seeking approval to marry an American.


    The actor who became a household name with his Bobby dialogue Prem naam hai mera, Prem Chopra has worked in over 400 Hindi and Punjabi films.


    “I signed the film a month ago and am currently shooting in Ludhiana. Let me clear the fact that I accepted Heartland only because the role was meaty and not for the ‘international tag‘,” Chopra avered.


    Chopra follows Naseeruddin Shah, Anupam Kher and Anil Kapoor who have shone in Hollywood films earlier.

  • PVR Q4 net slumps 40% to Rs 126.5 million

    MUMBAI: PVR‘s net profit has dived 39.96 per cent to stand at Rs 126.5 million for the quarter ended 31 March 2009, compared to Rs 210.7 million a year ago.

    Total income rose 15.06 per cent to Rs 2.75 billion, as against Rs 2.39 billion in the previous fiscal.


    Meanwhile, the total expenditure of the company also increased 20.11 per cent to Rs 2.47 billion, as against Rs 2.06 billion in the year ago period.


    For the whole fiscal, the net profit of the company stood at Rs 87.1 million, a steep fall of 59.71 per cent from last fiscal’s Rs 216.2 million.


    Revenue for the year jumped 32.31 per cent to Rs 3.55 billion, while expenses stood at Rs 3.40 billion.


    Movie exhibition business accounted for a revenue of Rs 2.94 billion, as against Rs 2.39 billion in FY‘08. Operating profit for the segment was at Rs 239.4 million. Capital employed in the segment stood at Rs 3.14 billion.


    In the movie production and distribution business, the company earned Rs 721.2 million as compared to Rs 359.4 million in the previous fiscal. However, PVR incurred an operating loss of Rs 81.8 million as compared to operating profit of Rs 19.1 million from the segment. The company employed capital of Rs 308.2 million towards this segment.

  • PVR Pictures acquires Hollywood films for India release


    MUMBAI: PVR Pictures has acquired the India distribution rights for a few English films at the recently concluded Cannes Film Festival.


    Films acquired include Pedro Almodóvar‘s Broken Embraces, Ang Lee‘s Taking Woodstock, Alejandro Amenábar‘s Agora, Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon‘s The Greatest, Heath Ledger and Johnny Depp‘s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.


    Mel Gibson‘s Edge of Darkness, Jennifer Aniston‘s Traveling and the animation film
    9 are some other releases.


    “We are delighted to be distributing some of the renowned movies showcased at the recently concluded Cannes Film Festival 2009 in India this year. With movies like Pedro Almodóvar‘s Broken Embraces starring Penelope Cruz and Ang Lee‘s Taking Woodstock based on the Woodstock Festival of 1969 having received impressive reviews this year, we would like to get an exciting array of international movies for our Indian audiences,” says PVR Pictures CEO Uday Singh.