Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: Following the success of Khuda Kay Liye, Percept Picture Company (PPC) is set to release another Pakistani Film Ramchand Pakistani on 22 August in India.

Directed by young Pakistani film-maker, Mehreen Jabbar, the film stars Bollywood actress Nandita Das, along with Pakistani actors Rashid Farooqui, Noman Ijaz, Maria Wasti, Navaid Jabbar and child actor Syed Fazal Hussain.

The plot of the movie is derived from a true story concerning the accidental crossing of the Pakistan-Indian border during a period of extreme, war-like tension between the two countries by two members of a Pakistani Hindu family belonging to the ‘untouchable‘ caste. It revolves around the boy and his father who accidentally cross the border into India from their village in Pakistan.

They end up spending five years in an Indian prison while the mother is left wondering about her husband‘s and son‘s whereabouts. The story aims to capture the plight of an eight-year old child who learns to cope with the trauma of forced separation from his mother while being held prisoner.

“The film is about a poor lonely woman who finds herself alone in an insensitive social and political system. The film is also a commentary on the mind set which declares the innocent victims of accidental and inadvertent border crossings as spies without proper investigation,” says Nandita Das.

Ramchand Pakistani is also the directorial debut for Jabbar, who has directed many television plays in Pakistan before this venture. The film was selected for the narrative section of the Tribeca Film Festival 2008, New York, and was screened at the Seattle International Film Festival, June and at 10 Osian Film Festival, New Delhi. It has been selected for the Rhode Island International Film Festival which is scheduled for 5-10 August.

NEW DELHI: Indian journalist and documentary filmmaker Rohit Gandhi has been nominated for an Emmy award in the ‘Outstanding Investigative Journalism-Long form‘ category.

The nomination is for a film called Who cares about girls shot in different parts of India. It concentrates on the evil of child slavery. The story of the documentary revolves around not merely girls stuck in slavery but also those who have been able to break free and are fighting for others.

The Emmy’s award nominees were announced in New York late last week. Gandhi co-produced the film in collaboration with the National Geographic Film and Television, New York.

The film starts with a young girl selling spices in a street in front of Jama Masjid. It then takes us into the lives of two sisters that have been rescued from middle class homes where they were working as maids. The crew follows these girls as they get rehabilitated in a village.

One of the main characters of the film is a Nepalese girl who was a sex worker at the age of nine and now has become an activist, helping other girls get out of the flesh trade.

The journey takes the crew to a brothel in New Delhi where a 14-year-old is serving many customers. She is finally rescued from the brothel but she is able to get out of custody only after the police fails to file a detailed report about how the girl had been rescued.

Gandhi told indiantelevision.com that around the globe, over 200 million children are engaged in child labour, often doing the most brutal or degrading of jobs. Even in countries as wealthy as the United States, girls face harsh lives as victims of sex trafficking or as migrant workers.

This film is part of the on-going efforts of Gandhi to work in the area of child abuse. He had also produced a film on Child Brides this year that won the prestigious Edward Murrow award.

Gandhi also works as an international correspondent for the Canadian Broadcasting. He does a daily report out of India on a channel called Dex TV. He spent six years of his career at CNN and has covered news, conflicts and disasters in Afghanistan, Iraq, Nepal, Pakistan, India, Kuwait, Burma, China and Sri Lanka.

MUMBAI: World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is changing the name of its subsidiary WWE Films to WWE Studios.

The aim is to better represent its focus on creating a diversified mix of filmed entertainment, including theatrical films, direct-to-DVD movies, scripted television movies, series and reality programming.

WWE Studios president Michael Lake says, “The name change reflects our focus on expanding the variety of projects that WWE intends to pursue, from theatrical films to direct-to-DVD to television and other media platforms. WWE Studios will continue to pursue opportunities which expand the integration of the WWE brand and its superstars into filmed entertainment.”

In early 2009, WWE Superstar John Cena’s latest theatrical film 12 Rounds directed by Renny Harlin, will be released by 20th Century Fox, under the WWE first look deal with Fox Atomic.

WWE Studios, in conjunction with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, also will debut its first direct-to-DVD film Behind Enemy Lines: Columbia starring WWE Superstar Mr. Kennedy.

Since the subsidiary’s formal inception in 2002, WWE has produced three films See No Evil, The Condemned and The Marine.

MUMBAI: The latest film in the Batman franchise The Dark Knight made a record breaking $158,411,483 in its opening weekend in the US. The announcement was made by Warner Bros. Pictures president domestic distribution Dan Fellman.

The Dark Knight toppled multiple records in its opening frame. The weekend box office total broke the previous overall industry opening weekend record by more than $7 million. Earlier in the weekend, The Dark Knight had broken records with its first 12:01 am showings, totalling $18.5 million; its opening day total of $67,165,092; and its record-breaking Sunday gross of $43,596,151. The Dark Knight also enjoyed a record-breaking North American opening in Imax theatres, earning $6.3 million in 94 locations, for a per-screen average of $67,000.

Fellman said, “We knew ‘The Dark Knight‘ was something remarkable and it is incredibly gratifying that critics and audiences wholeheartedly agree. Regardless of the anticipation leading up to this weekend, the fact remains that this level of success could not have been achieved if the film did not deliver. It does, on every front and with all audiences, which is a tribute to the amazing work of the filmmakers and the entire cast. We congratulate them on the start of what promises to be a great run.”

On the international front, The Dark Knight launched in 20 countries, including Australia, Mexico and Brazil, grossing an outstanding $41.3 million, almost tripling the opening of Batman Begins” in the same markets. Warner Bros. Pictures president international distribution Veronika Kwan-Rubinek said, “We are delighted with this spectacular start and look forward to a long and successful run.” The film will continue to roll out internationally over the coming weeks, including Italy, Holland, the UK, Korea on 7 August, Japan on 9 August, Spain and France on 13 August and Germany on 21 August.

MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) will invest $210 million (Rs 8.5 billion) in its movie production and distribution business over three years.

Zeel‘s film business is being done through a subsidiary company, Zee Entertainment Studios (ZES).

“We plan to raise money in this company. It could be either through an initial public offer or private equity, depending on the market situation,” Zeel CEO Punit Goenka tells Indiantelevision.com.

Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that ZES aims to raise $200 million by diluting 10-20 per cent through an IPO offering at the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange.

ZES will produce movies in six languages – Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Bengali and Gujarati.

ZES plans to produce 8-10 movies this fiscal, scaling up to 24 films in next fiscal.

The film production and distribution business will fall under two different brands – Zee Motion Pictures and Zee Limelight.

For the first quarter of this fiscal, the company has released Jannat (Hindi) and De Dhakka (Marathi). The revenue from this stood at Rs 102 million and operating profit at Rs 49.9 million.

MUMBAI: Panji will host the Tri-continental Film Festival 2008 scheduled to be held between 25 to 30 July. The theme of the film fest is human rights violations.

Around 21 films from Asia, Africa and America are chosen for screening at the film festival.

Goa International Centre, Moving Images Goa and Entertainment society of Goa are organising the event.

Moving Images partner Gayatri Konkar said, “We are repeating Tri-continental film festival in Goa again this year with the participation of the entertainment society of Goa.”

The create human rights awareness is the endeavor of this film festival, says Konkar.

The first Tri-continental film festival was held in Argentina in 2002. Last year it was held in Goa.

MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures is set to release Wednesday, a thriller directed by Neeraj Pandey, on 5 September.

The film is made on a budget of Rs 35 million. “We are co-producing the film along with Shital Bhatia and Anjum Rizvi. Wednesday is made at a budget of Rs 35 million and will be released on 5 September. We will also be distributing the film pan India and worldwide,” says UTV Motion Pictures CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur.

The music rights have been sold to T-Series. Says Kapoor, “T-Series holds the music rights of the film and will be releasing the music in the first week of August.”

The star cast of the film include Anupam Kher, Naseeruddin Shah, Aamir Bashir, Deepal Shaw, Rajpal Yadav and Jimmy Shergill.

While the script of Wednesday has been written by Neeraj Pandey , the background score of the film has been done by Sanjoy Choudhary.

Sham Kaushal has taken care of the action sequences in the film while Shree Narayan Singh has edited it.

The story of Wednesday revolves around the city of Mumbai. The film is based on certain events that unfold between 2 pm and 6 pm on a particular Wednesday.

MUMBAI: Film director Tapan Sinha has been selected for the Dada Saheb Phalke Award for the year 2006. The award is given by the Government of India for outstanding contribution in the field of Indian Cinema. The Award carries a cash price of Rs.Ten lakhs, a Swaran Kamal and a Shawl.

Tapan Sinha, who won 19 National Film Awards in various categories, will be given a Swarna Kamal and a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh along with a shawl by the President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil .

Sinha began his film career as a sound engineer in Kolkata’s New Theatre in 1946.. In 1950, he got the opportunity of working a Pinewood Studios in the UK where he spent two years. On returning to India, he turned his attention to film directing, making films in Bengali, Hindi and also Oriya. He made three films based on Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s works namely Kabuliwala, Khudito Pashan and Atithi.

Sinha’s cinema journey began with Ankush (1954). The other highlights of his career include Upahar (1955), Tonsil (1956), Louhakapat (1957), Kalomati (1957), Hansuli Banker Upakatha (1962), Sagina Mahato (1970), Banchharamer Bagan (1980), Adalat O Ekti Meye (1982), Ek Doctor Ki Maut (1991) and Shatabdir Kanya (2001).

The Government of India had recently conferred on him the “One Time Award for Life Time Achievement” to commemorate the 60th anniversary of India’s Independence.

The committee, consisting of film personalities like Shyam Benegal , Gautam Ghosh, Dr. A.Nageshwar Rao, Sharmila Tagore and flute player Hari Prasad Chaurasia made the recommendation to the government.

MUMBAI: Kismat Konnection, a Tips Production which is being distributed worldwide by UTV Motion Pictures, has grossed approximately Rs 270 million in the opening three days of its release. The film was released across 900 screens worldwide, including the US, UK, Australia, Pakistan and the Middle East.

Kismat Konnection has garnered around Rs 207.6 million in India, with an average of Rs 3,75,000 per print.

UTV Motion Pictures CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur said, “We are thrilled with the opening weekend collections of Kismat Konnection around the world. This demonstrates the value of backing strong content with aggressive marketing and distribution. This is the second consecutive blockbuster in our association with Tips, with both movies that we have collaborated on, Race and Kismat Konnection.”

While in the Middle East the film has earned a total of $260,310, in the US the film collected $213,112 up to Saturday night. Australia saw a weekend collection of $42,952. In the UK the film had a cumulative weekend collection of $223,641 and in Pakistan the film had earned $22,418 on Friday.

Directed by Aziz Mirza, Kismat Konnection is a story about Raj Malhotra (Shahid Kapoor), who struggles to find that “one chance” to showcase his mettle.

NEW DELHI: Director Anjan Dutta, whose Chalo Let’s go was screened at the 10th OSIAN’s-Cinefan Festival, believes in making films that help in a re-discovery of the Bengali ethos.

Dutta believes that these ethos appear to have been lost in the metro culture.

Addressing a press meet at the recent Tenth OSIAN’s, he said that his attempt was to reach Bengali audiences all over the country and convey the message that Bangla cinema had not come to an end after Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen and others who came soon after.

Certain inhibitions had prevented serious cinema from progressing and the picture of a changing Bengal was somehow missing, he added.

Asked why he had used an English word for a title of a Bangla film, he said it was meant to be a pun, and also because it would appeal to the present.

Chalo lets go is a hilarious road movie featuring four heroes on a crazy, rambling journey in the picturesque North Bengal . Filmed in Calcutta and Darjeeling , it is a roller coaster journey comprising nine tourists and one hitchhiker.