Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: After T-Series walked out of a co-producing deal, Percept Picture Company (PPC) has roped in Sahara One Motion Pictures to participate in the upcoming film 8X10 Tasveer.

Sahara One Motion Pictures is learnt to be investing Rs 100 million and will enjoy one-fifth share of the film‘s revenues.

“We have signed a 20 per cent exploitation deal with Sahara One Motion Pictures. We are in talks with other parties as well for a similar kind of deal as part of our de-risking strategy,” PPC CEO Navin Shah tells Indiantelevision.com.

Apparently, before the debacle with T-Series, PPC has send a release that it will solely release 8 x 10 Tasveer, sidelining the deal with Sahara One Motion Pictures.

Industry sources say the Akshay Kumar starrer is made on a budget of around Rs 350 million.

The movie, which will hit the screens on 3 April, will be distributed by PPC. “We will be distributing the movie ourselves. We will release it with 1,200 prints in India and 300 prints overseas,” Shah says.

Directed by Nagesh Kukunoor, the film casts Ayesha Takia, Sharmila Tagore, Javed Jaffery, Girish Karnad, Anant Mahadevan, Benjiman Gilani and Rushad Rana. It is the story of a young man with a unique supernatural gift of looking into the past of dead people.

MUMBAI: Excel Home Videos has partnered with Twentieth Century Fox to release the Hollywood studio‘s existing titles on blue-ray DVDs in India.

Priced at Rs 1499 each, the first batch of the DVDs will release titles such as The Devil Wears Prada, 27 Dresses, Alvin And The Chipmunks, AVP2, Hills Have Eyes 2, Hitman, What Happens In Vegas, Horton Hears A Who!, Jumper, Me, Myself & Irene, Meet The Spartans, The Omen, Shutter, The Sand Pebbles and Transporter 2.

Says Excel Home Video CEO Roby Abraham, “Enhancing the consumer experience of its products is prime reason behind the blue ray initiative. It‘s a newly introduced home video product. It also provides backward compatibility with the existing home entertainment libraries while also aggressively protecting intellectual property from piracy.”

MUMBAI: Akshay Kumar fans can now breathe a sigh of relief as the producers Percept Picture Company and Super Cassettes Industries Ltd (T-Series) have amicably settled their differences.

T-Series will withdraw from being a co-producer after receiving the entire payment from Percept.

Yesterday, T-Series had threatened to take legal action against PPC if it released Nagesh Kukunoor’s upcoming flick 8X10 Tasveer. T-Series expressed its ire after a cheque of Rs 66.7 million (cheque No. 897813) issued by PPC was dishonoured by the bank. Subsequently, PPC gave a fresh DD of the same amount (DD No. 194786) in lieu of the cheque.

T-Series president – Marketing, Media, and Publishing (TV) Vinod Bhanushali confirmed to Indiantelevision.com, “We have received the DD and it has been credited to our account. We have also written to the lab to release the prints. The producers (PPC) are free to release the film on 3 April and we are having the music rights.”

8X10 Tasveer is a thriller which revolves around Jai (Akshay Kumar), who has a supernatural gift to see into the past by touching the 8X10 sized photographs of the dead people.

BANGALORE: The multiplex chain Fame Cinema has opened a single screen heritage property at Bangalore. The newly launched Fame Shankarnag Chitramandira is on MG road.

The new property has in total 612 seats which include 55 leather recliners in Gold Class which recline up to 150 degrees with an attached Gold Class Lounge. There is butler service at the seat and food and beverages with a mix of international and local delights.

“We at Fame believe that the movie viewing experience at a cinema should be no less than exhilarating. We are proud to offer to the people of Bangalore yet another Fame property with the launch of Fame Shankarnag,” said Fame cinemas MD Shravan Shroff. “Bangalore is known for being a hip city and the people here are known for their natural flair for style and fashion. Our property has been designed in keeping with the taste of this city. At Fame, we go beyond ‘just movies’ by making every moment at our cinemas a pleasurable experience. We take care of the finer nuances of hospitality with our specially trained staff, gourmet F&B choices, lot of marketing initiatives, premieres and other exciting opportunities to meet movie stars.”

With this addition, Fame now has 21 properties with 74 screens across India.

MUMBAI: Super Cassettes Industries Ltd (T-Series) has threatened to drag Percept Picture Company to court if it releases the upcoming Akshay Kumar starrer 8X10 Tasveer.

T-Series had, on 28 August 2008, entered into an agreement with Percept Pictures to jointly produce the film Tasveer, now renamed 8X10 Tasveer. T-Series was to also hold the music rights.

However, on 4 March 2009, T-Series decided to pull out of the agreement, and the issue was settled amicably. As per the new deal, it was agreed that the music label would keep the music rights and withdraw from being a co-producer. The money (50 per cent of the project cost of the film) was to be returned to T-Series in two post-dated cheques.

T-Series alleged that though Percept honoured the first payment of Rs 5 million, the second tranche of Rs 66.7 million was not made. As a counter-move, T-Series said it would enter back as co-producers and asked the laboratory to stop the delivery of film prints/negatives until further notice in writing.

“The company shall take legal action to protect its interests and rights,” T-Series said in a statement.

When contacted, Percept Picture CEO Navin Shah told Indiantelevision.com that the issue has been resolved. “There was some miscommunication from the bank‘s side and we have given a new DD of the same amount to T-Series. We will be releasing the movie as per schedule and T-Series will hold the music rights,” he said.

However, T-Series president – Marketing, Media, and Publishing (TV) Vinod Bhanushali refuted this. “As of now, we have not received any DD and are planning to take legal action,” he said.

T-Series has urged the film and entertainment industry and trade not to deal with any rights in the film without prior written consent of Super Cassettes Industries Limited. If they do so, they shall be liable for damages and legal action at the option of Super Cassettes Industries (T-Series), the company said.

Clearly, this is one T-Series musical note that Percept Picture Company wouldn‘t like to hear.

MUMBAI: Adlabs USA, a subsidiary of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, will distribute Zee Entertainment Enterprises‘ (Zeel) next production Manorama in the US.

Directed by Eeswar Reddy, the Telugu film will hit the US screens on 27 March, coinciding with the occasion of Ugadi (New Year festival in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka).

“Manorama belongs to a romantic thriller genre. The plot unveils to relate the life of Manorama and how her name relates to the story. It is a woman centric film that has been woven around the present society,” says director Eeswar Reddy.

Hong Kong: Fifty-nine per cent of the respondents of a survey of exhibitors conducted at Hong Kong International Film and Television Market (Filmart) said that the Chinese mainland would be the market of greatest potential for the overall entertainment industry.

More than 60 per cent of the respondents said that the overall business results over the past 12 months were ‘very good’ or ‘quite good’. TV had the greatest growth prospects, followed by digital entertainment and films, the respondents felt.

Sixty-seven per cent of the respondents said that the TV industry also had good prospects in the mainland, followed by the digital entertainment industry with 56 per cent, and 54 per cent from the film industry.

According to a Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) press release, the results were obtained from face-to-face interviews about markets and industry trends from 330 industry players from across the world.

China had the largest potential for Hong Kong (HK) content, with Taiwan ranked as second largest for HK content in TV and the digital entertainment. The USA ranked second as the market with the largest potential for the film industry.

China was the most popular place to start a business in the next three years with a ranking of 56 per cent, with HK coming in second at 53 per cent.

Respondents regarded HK as the best platform for reaching the Chinese mainland and other Asian markets with 74 per cent agreeing that HK was a major Asian content production, distribution, trading and film financing center.

Ninety-five per cent said that co-production would continue as a hot trend and 81 per cent agreed that cross-border convergence is expected to bring in more business opportunities.

Hong Kong: Indian buyers at the 13th edition of Filmart in Hong Kong are a dissatisfied lot this year.

“There are very few action films of the kind that are popular in India on offer at Filmart this year,” says a regular buyer at film markets such as Filmart and Cannes. “There are a number of subtle factors involved in the decision to buy films at Hong Kong,” he added.

“While there are fewer cinema goers because of the meltdown, the price of movie rights has not gone down this year. In some cases, the charges have gone up,” revealed another film buyer.

Jackie Chan’s diminishing popularity in India is another important deterrence for buyers from India. His type of films are either too expensive or not viable. “Viewer fatigue with Jackie Chan and martial arts movies has started happening in India,” said an Indian buyer from South India.

“The really big films that will be well accepted will have buyers, and the sellers of big films generally provide the buyer with a reverse negative print. But Indian film buyers will be selective in picking up small films,” said a buyer from Mumbai.

Another big bugbear for Indian buyers at Filmart is conversion of the films that are hawked here. Very few of the sellers have the films in the internegative format. Most sellers at Filmart generally provide the movies on HDCAM or DigiBeta format.

Indian buyers need the content on Reverse Negatives (RN), since very few Indian theatres run movies using digital projection. Cost of conversion, though lower in India, could adversely affect the viability of screening the film in the Indian sub-continent.

“I know of buyers from India who are still sitting on the films that they purchased rights for during the last edition of Filmart because conversion and dubbing is a big cost factor. Quality dubbing in the different Indian languages also affects the profitability,” said another Indian buyer.

MUMBAI: Late British reality TV star Jade Goody‘s (27) life story may soon shape into a Hollywood movie. Based on her autobiography Catch a Falling Star, the movie, temporarily titled the same, will highlight Goody‘s poverty stricken childhood and later her battle with cancer.

Trustees of Goody‘s fund set up to aid her two sons reportedly proposed the idea of making a biographical film on her. Through the movie, they also plan to raise awareness of cervical cancer among the masses. Nick Love of The Football Factory fame has been approached for this project.

Goody died on Sunday after battling cervical cancer for around seven months. She is survived by her husband Jack Tweed and two sons Bobby (5) and Freddie (4).

Hong Kong: Jackie Chan could find his way into the Goa international film festival this November. “We have invited Jackie Chan for the 40th International Film Festival,” revealed Directorate of Film Festivals director SM Khan while speaking with www.indiantelevision.com at the 13th Edition of Filmart at Hong Kong today.

“We have plans to showcase six or seven of his films through a special Jackie Chan section,” added Khan.

Last year Hollywood’s John Landis, Frenchwoman Catherine Deneuve and Iranian Niki Karima were the foreign film personalities who were invited for the Goa International Film Festival.

‘Next month we will begin calling for entries for the international competition at the Goa Filmfest. From the entries that we receive, 21 movies will be shortlisted. An international jury will pick up the best,” said Khan.