Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: Saregama India will be releasing the Bollywood-Hollywood jointly produced film, Karma Aur Holi, on 6 March.

Says Saregama India head-Acquisition Distribution and New film Projects Sharang Sharma, “We are confident that the movie will be liked by classes and masses as well, and we intend to go in for platform release strategy and will increase the print count as the movie builds up.”

Written and directed by New York based Manish Gupta, the film has been co-produced by Drena DeNiro, daughter of actor Robert DeNiro.

The film marks the return of Sushmita Sen after a long hiatus and also stars Randeep Hooda, Rati Agnihotri, Suresh Oberoi, Deepal Shaw and international model Naomi Campbell, rapper Sticky Fingaz and Vincent Pannetta.

The film deals with relationships of many dimensions, their conflicts and resolutions, all happening on the day of Holi signifying a new beginning. The story revolves around the identity of Indian families living in the United States, having migrated from their native land, adapting to the difference in culture and how they have been ready to give up their inherent cultural inhibitions.

MUMBAI: Big Cinemas, part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has launched a three-screen multiplex in Aurangabad to further expand its Maharashtra presence.

Anjali Big Cinemas, the newly launched property, has a total seating capacity of 1071 and is located at Khandkeshwar.

Big Cinemas COO Tushar Dhingra said, “Aurangabad is a tourism destination and is one of the fastest growing towns in the region. Audiences here have high expectations and we intend to fulfill them with the Big Cinemas‘ international experience.”

With the launch of this new property, the multiplex chain now has 100 screens in western India wherein Anjali Big Cinemas is the 25th Big Cinemas property in the state of Maharashtra.

“Maharashtra is a very important territory for Big Cinemas, thanks to its flourishing film industry and large percentage of the nationwide box office, due to which we have the largest number of screens in this state,” Dhingra added.

MUMBAI: No films will be released in multiplexes after the release of ‘Delhi 6’ as multiplex owners are demanding imbalanced and unfair shares in the profit of a movie, following a decision to this effect by the Film Producers’ Guild of India which represents the Indian entertainment industry.

Puja Films Chairman and senior filmmaker Vashu Bhagnani said: “The movies will release in multiplexes only after the settlement with the multiplex owners. They keep demanding an increased percentage of profit in films despite the increase in production cost and the global recession effect on entertainment industry”

He told indiantelevision.com in a telephonic interview that the entertainment industry was expected to grow at just 7% as compared to 12.3% last year, but multiplex owners still demanded more. “This is incorrect, so we will first settle the profit sharing and only then release any film in the multiplexes,” he said.

Reiterating that this was a decision of filmmakers all over the country and not merely of the Guild which is headed by Mukesh Bhatt, he said films for which advance publicity had been done including ‘Delhi 6’ will be released as slated.

He said he had therefore decided to postpone the release of his film “Kal Kissne Dekha” introducing his son Jackky Bhagnani with Manmohan Desai’s grand-daughter Vaishali Desai along with Rishi Kapoor, and directed by Vivek Sharma, which was slated for release on 24 April.

NEW DELHI: UTV has introduced an array of marketing initiatives for its forthcoming film Delhi 6 which include a tour by the main star cast of the film by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra to different parts of the country.

UTV flagged off a Delhi 6 Caravan from Mumbai on 13 February. The Caravan carries the cast and crew from the movie to Delhi and neighbouring Guragaon. Audiences will get an opportunity to meet the cast and crew at the premiere of the film.

There is a Delhi 6 Mela which will be held at the venue of the premiere in Delhi. The mela will showcase Delhi culture in traditional Chandni Chowk style incorporating all elements of old Delhi, including the cuisine and customs.

Later on 20 February, the team will travel to six different cities including Chandigarh, Jaipur, Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad within a span of 24 hours for the promotion of the film.

Apart from this series of marketing strategies for the film, UTV has tied up with brands like McDonalds, Citibank, Dawaat, Motorola and Kingfisher. Citibank is offering a co-branded card to promote the movie.

Says UTV Motion Picture CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur: “Three years after our collaboration on Rang De Basanti, a movie that became a movement, Rakeysh and UTV are getting again with our latest offering, Delhi 6. There are huge expectations from the film for obvious reasons, and we are confident that the film will live up to them. We have worked hard to ensure that our marketing and distribution efforts help Delhi 6 to reach out to the widest array of audiences in India and around the world.”

Delhi 6 is slated to release on 20 February across 1200 screens in India and more than 220 screens overseas.

NEW DELHII: Firaaq, the first directorial venture of actress Nandita Das, has won the ‘Best feature film‘ award at the closing ceremony of the 7th Kara Film Festival – Karachi International Film Festival 2009 – in Pakistan.The closing capped 12 days of screenings and events that showcased over 140 films from over 230 films initially selected. Films from 44 countries participated in Pakistan‘s premier international film festival.

Indian filmmakers Mahesh Bhatt and Das attended the closing ceremony along with Pakistani filmmakers such as Mazhar Moin and Faseeh Bari Khan, whose film Burnes Road Ki Nilofer picked up two awards.

Firaaq is produced by Percept Picture Company and is yet to release in India.

The Festival jury cited the film for “its brutal honesty and candor” and its “optimism about generating a larger understanding for resolving conflicts and humanity itself.” It also expressly emphasized that while “many people might mistakenly believe, especially given the current state of relations between the governments of Pakistan and India, that the choice of Firaaq is an attempt by a festival based in Pakistan to embarrass India regarding its record in Gujarat”, the jury‘s “reasons for choosing Firaaq are far removed from such politicking.”

Firaaq, set over a 24-hour period after carnage that took place in Gujarat in 2002, traces the emotional journeys of ordinary people – some who were victims, some perpetrators and some who chose to watch silently. As an ensemble film, it follows multiple narratives that are at times interconnected and at times discreet; yet all are united by their spatial and emotional context.

MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures will release its upcoming flick Delhi-6 in 1200 screens on 20 February across India. The company is also planning to release the film in more then 220 screens in the overseas market.

In the Middle East, the Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (Rang De Basanti fame) directed film will release a day ahead. The cast including Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor and Mehra, will attend special screenings in Dubai on 18 February and in New Delhi on 19 February.

UTV has partnered with the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), where the first glimpses of the film were shown in December at DIFF‘s fifth edition.

Says DIFF artistic director Masoud Amralla al Ali, “Delhi 6, with its themes of community, belonging and love, falls perfectly in line with DIFF‘s credo, ‘Building Bridges, Meeting Minds.’ We are honoured to provide a platform for UTV and Mehra to share their newest collaboration with Dubai audiences.”

The film follows American-born Roshan (Bachchan), who brings his ailing grandmother back to India. The backdrop of the story is the ancient walled city of Delhi, which represents the chaos, religion, beliefs and ethos of the Indian people.

NEW DELHI: Five lucky aspirants from the Amity University Campus in NOIDA are to be shortlisted to act in a future film for eminent producer Vashu Bhagnani, whose latest film Kal Kissne Dekha introduces his son Jackky and late filmmaker Manmohan Desai’s grand-daughter Vaishali Desai in the lead.

The performances by about 5,000 students during a Youth Festival on the occasion of Valentine’s Day today were recorded and the names of three boys and two girls would be picked from among these. The stars of Kal Kissne Delhi – senior actor Rishi Kapoor, Jackky Bhagnani and Vaishali Desai – along with Vashu himself participated in the celebrations.

Made under the banner of Puja Films, the film has been directed by Vivek Sharma and is being released on 3 April.

Jackky Bhagnani said, “Kal Kissne Dekha is a youthful film and with this contest, I believe that we can straight away make the youth a part of it. On the other hand they will get a chance to work in films and people will get to know about my movie.”

Kal Kissne Dekha is a romantic thriller film. It revolves around a small town boy named Nihaal Singh. With numerous dreams, he reaches the buzzing Mumbai city where he faces a number of hardships which he had never imagined. The story depicts the adversity of this guy whose fate keeps him as an underdog.

MUMBAI: Independent film and DVD producer Paragon Pictures has launched an in-house distribution company Osiris Entertainment.

Osiris Entertainment will sell Paragon Pictures’ feature film slate to the global broadcast and home entertainment marketplace. It will also represent releases from independent producers and plans to acquire two titles per month through 2009.

“We created Osiris Entertainment to serve not only the portfolio of Paragon titles, but also to bring transparency and accountability to the distribution of films from our independent production partners,” says Paragon Pictures president Evan Crooke.

The company has roped in Heidi Meier as Vice President – distribution to head the new division. In her new role, Meier will oversee acquisitions and new project development as well as manage all retail marketing campaigns. She will report directly to Evan Crooke.

Adds Crooke, “Meier brings to Osiris an extensive background in all facets of home entertainment marketing and distribution and we look forward to benefitting from her vast experience and expertise in the industry as we introduce our company throughout the worldwide marketplace.”

MUMBAI: The habit of lifting entire films frame by frame from non-Indian films is still ingrained in the Indian film industry

. Why can‘t India develop our home-grown creative talent to do original work?
This is a question to be addressed at one of the sessions at the Ficci Frames Convention to be held from 17-19 February in Mumbai. The session, “Copy, Cut, Paste to Indian Taste: Films in India” will bring together filmmakers Mahesh Bhatt, Imtiaz Ali, Shimnit Amin, Rohan Sippy, Dibankar Banerjee, and screenwriter Jaipdeep Sahni.

This year America is Frames‘ partner country. Keeping that in mind, the session “Overcoming obstacles to doing business in the world‘s two largest film markets (India and the USA)” looks at the challenges of excessive taxation, market access restrictions, labour strife and intellectual property disputes. I&B secretary Sushma Singh will deliver the session keynote. Panelists will be Anadil Hossain (Producer, Namesake and Darjeeling Limited), Elizabeth Daley (Dean, USC School of Cinematic Arts), Farokh Balsara (Leader, Entertainment Practice, Ernst & Young.)

Indian film pioneer Satyajit Ray

is the subject of a session which will assess how India‘s contemporary films match up to Ray‘s. Session moderator is filmmaker Govind Nihalani. Panelists include Javed Akhtar, Sharmila Tagore, Aparna Sen and Mrinal Sen.

Another session “Business of filmmaking 2008: agony or ecstasy?” examines the issue of why, despite the influx of capital into filmmaking, distribution and exhibition, 2008 has been one of the worst years ever for the Indian film industry.

Panelists include Goldie Behl, Vishesh Bhatt (Director, Vishesh Entertainment), Sunir Kheterpal (COO, Big Pictures), Vikas Bahl (COO, UTV Spotboy) and filmmaker Kabir Khan.

“De-risking the Cinema Business” will explore how does a small budget film become a box-office success with effective use of marketing tools? Faster TV broadcasts of freshly released films, and faster home videos releases are the new buzzwords. Mulling on this topic will be Ajay Bijli (MD and Group Chairman, PVR), Harish Dayani (CEO, Moses Baer), Madhu Mantena (Producer, Ghajini, Vijay Singh (President, FOX Studios India) and Ramesh Sippy (filmmaker).

Actor Kamal Hasaan will deliver a keynote at a session that looks at filmmaking in South India. A key issue to be covered is whether the industry should be open to outside investment or stay with the conventional structures.

The session “Globalisation of Indian Cinema” will trace the journey of Indian films into global theatres over the past decade. Looking at this will be Karan Johar, Jill Gwen (Distributor, Slumdog Millionaire), Pritish Nandy, Rahul Bose, Irrfan Khan, Tabu and Naseeruddin Shah.

For cinema lover and watchers, it can‘t get any better than this. So expect a full house.

NEW DELHI: Twenty school children aged between 11 and 14 have made a film on the terror attack in Mumbai on 26 November to highlight how the violent images have affected the innocent minds of the children.

‘MH 26/11 – Mumbai Under Attack!’ has been funded and supported by the Ryan Foundation under the aegis of Ryan International Group of Institutions.

The Foundation’s Managing Director Grace Pinto conceptualised the docu-drama when she found school children coming up to the teachers after watching the images and asking why terrorists killed innocent people and the mindset behind all divisions and violence.

Pinto and the teachers realised how the terror attack affected the innocent minds and decided to make the film under Children against Violence.

Children against Violence is a project that raises the voices and concern of the young minds against the terror and violence that we see in the 21st century. Recent terror attacks in Mumbai shook the minds and hearts of millions across the world. From candle light vigils to human chains or public gathering, everyone wanted to express solidarity and concern in their own way.

The 20 school children underwent a short filmmaking course for 20 days and besides directing the film, wrote the script, auditioned the right characters for the role, and even edited the film.

The children were trained and mentored by Utkarsh Marwah, the project director for the Ryan Foundation.

They hope that the world will take notice of the work done by these talented kids and showcase the message of how violence and divisions in society affects children.

The Ryan foundation has also planned to take the film across various cities in India, besides showing it to the Education Board before taking it to various festivals.