ITV

Category: Hindi

  • Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi becomes highest grosser for YRF, SRK

    MUMBAI: The Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, which hit theatres in India and internationally five weeks ago on 12 December, has grossed Rs 1.8 billion to break all previous box office records for Yash Raj Films.



    Rab Ne… has also become the highest-grossing Shahrukh Khan film till date.








    Despite being released just after the terror attacks in Mumbai on 26 November last year amidst uncertain consumer sentiments and apprehensions and contending with the record-breaking onslaught of Ghajini on 26 December, the film has achieved quite a fair run at the box office.



    The net collection of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi for the first five weeks in India is Rs 830 million (gross collections close to Rs 1.4 billion). The film has, thus, surpassed Yash Raj Films’ previous highest grosser, Dhoom: 2, which collected Rs 806 million net across its entire run in India.



    The total gross collections from overseas markets including US, UK, Australia, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia are $8 million.



    In the UK, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi has grossed close to $2.1 million till date while n the Middle East, Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi has earned $2.25 million. The film has also achieved a gross of $2.1 million till date in the US.

  • Karnataka government to set up film academy

    BANGALORE: The Karnataka Government is to set up a Chalchitra Academy shortly to help the Kannada film industry, said Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa while inaugurating the Third Bengalooru International Film Festival.


    The goverment will also seek to increase the budgetary grant for promotion of good cinema in the next financial year, Yeddyurappa added.


    The Karnataka government will also considering doubling the number of children‘s films to which it gives a grant every year. At present, only two children‘s films are given a grant of Rs 2.5 million each every year.









    Meanwhile, atotal of more than 150 films from over thirty countries are being screened in various sections of theBengalooru International Film Festival.



    The Festival has been organised by the Suchitra Cinema and Cultural Academy in collaboration with the Karnataka government.



    The Kannada section of the Festival, a highlight of which is a two-hour long DVD film on the evolution of Kannada film music over the year, was inaugurated by the noted singer and music director, C Aswath.



    The Indian Panorama Section was inaugurated by Prakash Rai while KVR Tagore, Additional Director General of Police, inaugurated the Documentary and Short Films section.



    The four-day animation workshop, organised by ABAI and ANTS, was inaugurated by actor-director Ramesh Arvind.



    As part of the Festival, six children‘s films are being screened. The screenings have been organised for school children from designated schools.



    A Photo Exhibition on 75 years of Kannada Cinema compiled by the Department of Information of the state Government was inaugurated by the celebrated VK Murthy.



    To mark the platinum jubilee of Kannada cinema, around 40 landmark films, both in 35mm and digital format, are being screened at the festival.

  • Slumdog Millionaire, Benjamin Button lead Bafta nominees

    MUMBAI: Slumdog Millionaire and The Curious Case of benjamin Button have each picked up 11 Bafta nominations in the UK including for picture and director.

    The Orange British Academy Film Awards will be presented 8 February 2009 at the Royal Opera House in London.








    Frost/Nixon, Milk and The Reader have also been nominated for best picture. The Dark Knight picked up nine nominations. However eight of them were in technical categories. In the main categories only, the late Heath Ledger has been nominated. The stars of Slumdog Millionaire Dev Patel and Freida Pinto have also been nominated. Brad Pitt is a double nominee, picking up nominations for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Burn After Reading.


    Kate Winslet is another double nominee for Revolutionary Road and The Reader. Clint Eastwood‘s film Changeling which has just been released in India has managed to get eight nominations. Frost/Nixon and The Reader have six and five nominations, respectively.


    The best actor race will see Patel and Pitt face off with Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon Sean Penn for Milk and Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler.


    Winslet is up against Meryl Streep for Doubt, Angelina Jolie in Changeling and Kristin Scott Thomas for I‘ve Loved You So Long. This is the second time that Winslet has received two best actress Bafta nominations in the same year, having been shortlisted in 2005 for Finding Neverland and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.


    Ledger and Pitt are joined in the supporting actor category by Philip Seymour Hoffman Doubt, Robert Downey Jr. Tropic Thunder and Brendan Gleeson In Bruges.

  • Reliance, Spielberg fork out $26.5 mn to Paramount for 17 projects

    MUMBAI: Reliance ADAG and Hollywood director Steven Spielberg have bought 17 projects from Viacom Inc‘s Paramount Pictures for $26.5 million, making the first moves to develop a wide slate of films.


    Reliance and Spielberg‘s DreamWorks studio are equally sharing the costs. The roster includes films like 39 Clues, Chicago 7, Motorcade and Dinner With Schmucks.


    “We have together acquired 17 projects from Paramount,” confirmed Reliance Big Entertainment president Rajesh Sawhney while declining to comment on the financial details.








    Reliance and Spielberg are in the process of setting up a $1.5 billion company that would finance 32 movies over six years.


    The global economic meltdown, though, is having an impact and it seems that the funding would be raised in various legs. JPMorgan Chase & Co is arranging a $350 million debt within three months. Reliance will put in a similar amount as equity.


    “These carefully selected properties will lay the foundation for the new company. The partners continue to move forward with the various phases of additional funding,” a statement said.


    The timetable for the financing has, thus, been adjusted. But the partners remain enthusiastic and committed to achieve the original long term goals.


    Reliance will pump in $550 million as equity investment while JPMorgan Chase & Co. will lead the debt financing.

  • Cinemax launches its third property in Thane

    MUMBAI

    : After expanding its footprints to the Southern and Eastern markets in Hyderabad and Kolkata
    respectively, Mumbai-based multiplex chain operator Cinemax has launched its new property in the city at Kalyan, Thane.

    With the launch of this new two-screen property that has a seating capacity of 479, Cinemax now has three properties operating in Thane.



    Cinemax India senior vice president Devang Sampat said, “The launch of our property in Kalyan is a fortification of our promise of providing a state-of-the-art entertainment complex to all movie-enthusiasts pan India.”

  • Moser Baer releases Fashion on DVD

    MUMBAI: Moser Baer Entertainment, the wholly owned subsidiary of Moser Baer India, has released Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion on DVD and VCD.








    While the DVD is priced at Rs 99, the VCD will be available for Rs 40.



    The DVD set comes with two discs, one of which has the film while the other talks about the making of the film, along with interviews with stars and other associates of Fashion.



    The discs carry subtitles.

  • Indian Film Company shareholder wants Raghav Bahl out as director

    MUMBAI: A shareholder of The Indian Film Company (IFC), which is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange, has asked for the removal of Raghav Bahl and Alok Verma as directors of the company.


    Altima India Master Fund Ltd (AIMF), holding 14.39 per cent stake in IFC, has also called for an EGM to consider a share buy-back programme by the company or to distribute any excess cash it may have as special dividends.


    The IFC board sees AIMF‘s actions as an attempt to take control of the company without outlining a detailed growth strategy and without making an offer to all shareholders to acquire their shares at a full and fair price.


    “If AIMF wishes to obtain control of the company, then the board believes that it should make a formal offer at a fair price to all shareholders pursuant to the Takeover Code,” IFC said.









    When IFC was admitted to trading on AIM on 18 June 2007, AIMF subscribed for one million Ordinary Shares, representing 1.82 per cent of the issued share capital. During the course of 2008, AIMF increased its holding in IFC to 14.39 per cent.


    IFC board has indicated that the company currently does not have significant excess cash due to its ongoing commitments for the film projects in progress. Nor is debt financing easily available, given the current state of the financial markets. The board believes any immediate distribution of cash for buy back or special dividends “is not financially prudent, may negatively impact its business, and would not benefit the shareholders in the medium or long term.”


    The board also feels that the removal of Bahl and Verma would be detrimental to the interests of the company as they have successfully guided the company‘s strategy in carrying out projects like Singh Is Kinng and Ghajini. Network18 founder-promoter Bahl holds 21.64 per cent stake in IFC.


    IFC had on 22 December 2008 received a requisition from Vidacos Nominees Limited (in its capacity as nominee for, and on the instruction of, Altima India Master Fund Limited) for the directors to convene an EGM. The board of IFC tried to engage with AIMF to discuss its concerns. But AIMF indicated that it is unwilling to respond unless Bahl and Verma, an experienced corporate financier, are removed and Aashish Vyas and Atul Setia are appointed as directors.


    As at 30 September 2008, the carrying value of the Company’s investments in films and films under production were in excess of ?25 million. These are to be funded through cash in hand, internal accruals from the release of films which are yet to be released, and from further exploitation of rights of films which have already been released.


    IFC is also in the process of organising debt financing for further investment in film projects. As such, the company does not have any excess cash to carry out a share buy-back or any other distribution to shareholders at this stage, the board clarified.


    The company will hold an EGM on 5 February to decide on AIMF‘s proposals.


    IFC operates as an India-focused motion picture company with outsourced
    production and distribution functions externally managed by the Investment Manager, with the Investment Adviser and Studio 18 playing a key role in the overall functioning of the company. Bahl is the promoter and director of the Investment Manager. The Investment Manager is owned 50 per cent by B K Media Mauritius Private Limited and 50 per cent by Viacom Inc.

  • Asianet names winners of Ujala-Asianet Film Award 2009

    MUMBAI: Kerala-based Asianet Communication has announced the winners of the 11th Annual Asianet Film Awards 2009.


    While Malayalam superstar Mohanlal has been named the Best Actor for Madambi, South Indian actress Gopika has won the Best Actress title for Veruthe Oru Bharya.









    Akku Akbar won the award for Best Director for Veruthe Oru Bharya and Jayaram swept away the most popular actor title for the same. AMMA‘s recent multi-starrer Twenty: Twenty, directed by Joshy, has been named as the Best Film.



    Legendary singer KJ Yesudas won the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the Malayalam film industry. The special award for patriotic film went to Kurukshetra, directed by Major Ravi. Jagathy Sreekumar won the special jury award.


    Among other winners were: Character artiste Innocent (Innathe Chintha Vishayam), Samvrutha Sunil (Minnaminnikoottam), villain Siddique (Madambi), comedian Salim Kumar (Annan Thambi), lyricist Gireesh Puthencherry (Madambi, song ‘Amma mazhakarinu‘), music director Vidyasagar (Mulla), playback singers M.G. Sreekumar (‘Kando kando kakkakuyile‘– Innathe Chintha Vishayam), Swetha Mohan (‘Kuyile kuyile‘ – Novel), child artiste Baby Nivedita (Innathe Chintha Vishayam) cameraman MJ Radhakrishnan (Adayalangal, Thirakatha), editor Renjan Abraham (Veruthe Oru Bharya, Mulla), best pair Jayasurya-Roma (Minnaminnikoottam, Shakespeare M.A. Malayalam), debut artistes Vineeth Sreenivasan (Cycle) and Meera Nandan (Mulla).


    The awards will be presented on 17 January.

  • Filmmaker Tapan Sinha dies at 84

    NEW DELHI: 84-year-old filmmaker Tapan Sinha died on 15 January after prolonged illness.


    He had been in and out of hospital over the fast few years and was then admitted in December last year while suffering from pneumonia and septicaemia. He is survived by a son. His actress-wife Arundhuti Devi died in 1990.



    Noting that the veteran filmmaker was a recipient of the Dada Saheb Phalke Award for 2006, minister of state for information and broadcasting Anand Sharma said, “His film and theatre career spanning over six decades began as a sound engineer in Kolkata‘s New Theatre in 1946 and reached the peak of cinematic landscape with films like Sagina Mahato, Adalat O Ekti Meye and Ek Doctor Ki Maut. His cinematic excellence won him numerous National Film Awards in different categories and also international recognition.”










    During his lifetime, Sinha made 41 films, 19 of which won National Awards and laurels from international film festivals of London, Venice, Moscow and Berlin. His cinematic works were mostly down to earth depictions of the struggles of the common man.



    Sinha had also been among the four film personalities who were honoured recently to mark India‘s 60 years of Independence.



    Tapan Sinha‘s 1956 masterpiece Kabuliwala was shown at the last International Film Festival of India in Goa in a tribute in the ‘Lifetime Classic Section‘.


    An unflinching belief in the indomitable human spirit marked the works of Tapan Sinha who never shied away from portraying the adversity in its most raw forms. However, his films always managed to convey the optimism that comes with unwavering trust in human capability to rise above one‘s circumstances.

  • T-series releases music of Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye

    NEW DELHI: T-series has released the music of Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye, the latest production of PVR Pictures that is slated to hit the theatres on 6 February.

    The movie is written and directed by debutante Madhureeta Anand and stars Raima Sen, Randeep Hooda and Arbaaz Khan.








    The music of Mere Khwabon Mein… has been composed by music director Lalit Pandit while the lyrics have been penned by Javed Akhtar. Alka Yagnik, Shaan, Shreya Ghoshal, Anoushka Manchanda and Caralisa Monteiro are the playback singers. Sidhharth Coutto has composed the background music of the film.


    Says PVR Ltd joint managing director Sanjeev K Bijli, “Mere Khwabon Mein Jo Aaye is a light, fantasy-driven music oriented film. Its music is the USP of the film which is our first offering for 2009.”