Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: A group of investors have sued Viacom Inc‘s Paramount Pictures saying that the studio‘s misinterpretations about a movie financing deal has lead them to losing their $40.1 million investment.

The lawsuit has been filed in the US District Court in Manhattan by Allianz Risk Transfer, Marathon Structured Finance Fund, Newstar Financial and Munich Re Capital Markets New York.

The firms, which invested in debt instruments, claimed that Paramount had failed to disclose changes made in its risk-mitigation techniques in regards to a slate of films that were to be produced, released and distributed between April 2004 and March 2006.

These firms have now decided to significantly curtail the use of international presales to co-finance the slate of films.

In total, investors provided about $231.2 million in financing to Paramount through the investment vehicle, the complaint said. The transaction closed in July 2004, reported Dow Jones newswire.

“We are disappointed that these sophisticated investors, who agreed to accept the widely known risks of investing in a slate of motion pictures, are attempting through litigation to undo the bargain they struck in 2004,” a Paramount spokesman said in a statement.

“We intend to establish in court that these allegations are entirely without merit,” he added.

MUMBAI: The 13th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), which begins from 12 December in Thiruvananthapuram, will be screening approximately 186 films across 14 categories.

While 14 films, including two Malayalam films, will be screened in the competition section, approximately 56 films from 28 countries will be screened in the world cinema section.

Films by Argentine Director Fernando Birri, Israeli director Amos Gitai and African Director Idrissa Ouedraogo will be screened in the retrospective section.

Also, 40 films, including short films and documentaries, will be included in the festival.

This year’s country in focus will be Russia and five films will be screened under this section.

MUMBAI: The stand off between the Screen Actors Guild (Sag) and the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) in the US continues. Last month Sag had called for a strike authorisation vote following failure in mediation talks.

Subsequently the AMPTP put out an ad in the form of an open letter. The letter notes that it worked hard this year to make six major labour agreements. These six agreements were intensely fought and aggressively negotiated by all sides, with major compromises made by everyone involved. The letter says, “Now, with all the other Guilds and Unions having accomplished so much, Sag is demanding that the entire industry literally throw out all of its hard work because it believes it deserves more than the 230,000 other working people in the industry.

“To comply with Sag‘s demands would mean Sag merits more than everyone else. Saying yes would jeopardize the trust we have so carefully established with the rest of the industry — at a time when this industry needs stability to ensure that together, we effectively evolve with shifting consumer demands. To say yes to Sag would be to repudiate the hard work and compromises made by every other labor organization in the industry over the past ten months.”

Responding to this, Sag notes that the open letter, full-page ad from the eight entertainment industry moguls is confirmation of their continued refusal to bargain. The Sag statement reads, “In an effort to push negotiations forward in the face of AMPTP stonewalling, we asked two of the CEO’s who signed this letter to get involved in the talks in September. They refused. We wish they had taken us up on our offer. It better serves the industry to negotiate than to buy and respond to $100,000 newspaper ads.

“We are still waiting for the CEO’s or their AMPTP negotiators to make a good faith effort at bargaining with us. Agreements with other guilds and unions can’t dictate actors’ terms just because they are part of a pattern set by the DGA. Actors issues are different and must be heard and addressed.”

Sag says that it wants exactly what the DGA got – the chance to negotiate an agreement that addresses the needs of its members. “No other guild or union can negotiate a pattern deal that fits the industry and Sag members, any more than ABC can negotiate license fees for NBC. No one has our proxy.”

AMPTP adds that Sag is now officially out of touch with reality. “The Producers negotiated with Sag for 46 days – and over that entire time Sag failed to justify why it deserves a better deal than the six other agreements negotiated so far this year.

“On a day when the United States was officially declared to be in a recession, when Governor Schwarzenegger declared a fiscal emergency for California, and when the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 680 points, Sag continues to demand more and better than everyone else. Unfortunately, the chasm between reality and Sag seems to widen by the day.”

MUMBAI: UK Film Council‘s (UKFC) Development Fund programme will pump approximately $445,000 into 18 debut projects from new and emerging filmmakers.

The debut film list includes movies like Bola Agbaje‘s bigscreen adaptation of her coming-of-age play Gone Too Far!, Catherine Shepherd‘s Like a Virgin, Natasha Wood‘s Rolling With Laughter, Richard Milward‘s Apples and Richard T. Kelly‘s Lucie Gunn.

Development Fund head Tanya Seghatchian said, “The breadth of talent that we are supporting through this programme is genuinely exciting and we hope that nurturing these great new voices will be the key for the enrichment of our industry.”

The Development Fund‘s First Feature Film Development Program makes awards four times a year and averages 70 applications per month, according to the UKFC.

MUMBAI: Director Sergei Dvortsevoy bagged the best film award with the Golden Peacock and a cash award of Rs 4 million for the Kazakhstan film Tulpan at the 39th International Film Festival of India that closed today with the screening of Iranian film The Song of the Sparrows, directed by Majid Majidi.

The director also got the most promising director award for the film. The award comprises the Silver Peacock and a cash award of Rs 1.5 million.

The special jury award went to Sri Lankan actress Malini Fonseka whose film Akasa Kusum featured in the competition section. The winner was presented a Silver Peacock, a cash prize of Rs 1.5 million and a certificate. Fonseka said that her film was an India-Sri Lanka co-production and the time has come for a closer relationship between the two countries. She also hoped for peace and happiness everywhere in these troubled times.

The five-member competition-jury was headed by noted Director from Hong Kong Peter Chan. Other members of the jury were Marco Mueller (Venice), Niki Karimi (Iran), Lav Diaz (Philippines) and Tabassum Hashmi (Tabu- India).

Two Indian entries — S Priyadarshan’s Tamil film Kanchivaram and Ramesh Laxman More’s Marathi film Mahasatta —were in the “competition” section among 13 other films chosen from Bangladesh, Russia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Iran, the Philippines, Argentina, China and Japan.

Chief Minister of Goa, Shri Digambar Kamat in his remarks said that IFFI 2008 was a landmark event. He said that the government of Goa is keen to develop the state as a hub for the entertainment industry. More multiplexes and other facilities are being created in Mudgaon, he added.

Joint Secretary (films) Ministry of Information & Broadcasting V.B.Pyarelal said that the festival gave us an opportunity to experience the visual interpretation of the various facets of life. He said that the occupancy remained very high throughout the festival as compared to last year.

During the 11-day festival, which began on 22 November, with the screening of Peter Chan’s Warlords, a total of 185 movies were shown from 44 countries. Films from Russia, Switzerland and Iran were screened under Country Focus section. The films of Aki Kaurusmaki (Finland), John Landis (USA) and Wong Kar Wai (Hong Kong) were screened in Foreign Retrospective. Eight restored heritage film classics were included in the Film Heritage – Thematic “Women” section. Five films were shown in Film India Worldwide.

Also, 83 Indian movies including 47 in the Indian Panorama were screened.

MUMBAI: Disney – Pixar‘s Wall-E has been released on DVD by Excel Home Videos.

Wall-E, from academy award-winning writer-director Andrew Stanton, is a computer-animated cosmic comedy-romance about a curious and lovable robot Wall-E.

Wall-E ranked No. 1 with a $62.5 million gross for its opening weekend. The film has become Pixar‘s ninth consecutive movie to land No.1 and is the studio‘s third highest grossing movie after The Incredibles and Finding Nemo. Additionally, Wall-E is Pixar‘s biggest opening day movie scoring $23.1 million from its 27 July screening.

Says Excel Home Videos CEO Roby Abraham, “The DVD is loaded with bonus features as well. Viewers can enjoy the all-new animated short film Burn-E about another lovable, fixit robot whose seemingly simple task of fixing a space station sensor is constantly foiled by the paralleling adventures of Wall-E and Eve. Offering something for movie freaks, youngsters and also adults, Wall-E’s DVD will be available for Rs 599 across all DVD stores.”

MUMBAI : Mukta Arts promoter Subhash Ghai has purchased 10,000 equity shares to up his stake in the company to 54.92 per cent.

Before the market purchase, Ghai‘s holding in the company was 54.88 per cent.

Shares of Mukta Arts surged from the 52-week lowest at Rs 38 on 28 November to Rs 46 on Tuesday, at the time of filing this report.

MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures‘ Oye Lucky Lucky Oye (OLLO), which was released on 28 November in India, has grossed Rs 46.1 million at the box office during its opening weekend.

“The film has garnered Rs 46.1 million in India during its first weekend. As far as the overseas collection goes, we have not compiled it as yet,” said UTV Motion Pictures CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur.

OLLO hit the US theatres on 26 November, two days prior to its India release where the film opened with 200 prints.

Directed by Dibakar Banerjee (Khosla Ka Ghosla fame), the movie was released in the UK with 15 prints.

OLLO casts Abhay Deol, Neetu Chandra, Archana Puran Singh and Paresh Rawal in a triple role. OLLO is inspired by true events and is a buddy movie as well as a satire.

“Despite the depressing mood all around us, Oye Lucky Lucky Oye has managed to do steady business over the weekend. While Friday was slow, collections picked up dramatically over the weekend driven by rave reviews and positive word of mouth. We are confident that the film will hold and have a long sustained run in theatres,” opines Kapur.

MUMBAI: The International Film Festival of India launched a retrospective of Kannada cinema today on completion of 75 years. IFFI programmed a selection of five films covering the seven decades of Kannada cinema.

From its beginning in 1934 to a full grown industry producing more than 150 films this year, the Kannada cinema industry has tread a long path creating impression on the minds of the people of Karnataka.

It is on the verge of celebrating its platinum jubilee, recapturing, reviewing and assessing its 75 years of existence in the service of the people whose cultural aspirations it has all through represented.

Films in the section are Babruvahana (Hunsur Krishnamurthi), Bhoothayyana Magga Aiyyu (Siddalingaiah), Ondaondu Kaladalli (Girish Karnad), Nagamandala (T S Nagabharna) and Dweepa (Girish Kasaravalli), an official statement said.

The early Kannada cinema relied, like their counterparts in other parts of the country, mostly on theatrical productions which themselves were heavily dependent on historical and mythological stories and forms. The social themes were the post independence phenomenon in Indian cultural scene and so are in the Kannada cinema.

The decade of the ‘50s predominantly brought in the modernity and modern social themes into Kannada cinema. The decade of sixties and seventies are considered the golden age of Kannada cinema for its representation of Kannada culture. The seventies was also the period that witnessed the birth of an alternate cinema in Kannada.

The next 20 years saw consolidation of Kannada film industry in terms of business and technology. Number of productions increased and Karnataka emerged as a film production centre with its own infrastructure of studios and labs. The Karnataka government pitched in to bring the entire industry to Karnataka from Chennai through building infrastructure and providing incentives through subsidies and awards under various categories. The 21st century saw emergence of new breed of film makers who could feel the pulse of the new generation of audiences in the changing cultural scenario of Karnataka.

MUMBAI: The ongoing International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2008 on Saturday honoured Bollywood’s legendary actor and evergreen hero Dev Anand for his contribution in Indian cinema.

Goa CM Digambar Kamat felicitated Dev Anand with a shawl and a cheque of Rs 51,000 at Kala Acadamy in Panji. Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff presented a citation to Dev Anand.

Dev Anand expressed his gratitude for the nationwide support during his six decade long career in the film industry.