Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: After contesting a strong bid against various domestic and international multiplex chains, Adlabs Cinemas has finally stitched a deal with Phoenix Mills to build the largest multiplex cinema in India.

According to the deal, the 140,000 sq. ft. Adlabs multiplex, floating up at Mumbai‘s Phoenix Market City complex in Kurla, will have 15 screens with an overall seating capacity of approximately 4000.

Apart from the construction of regular screens that will showcase the latest releases, Adlabs will also erect the “Adlabs megaplex”, which will screen “popular” sports events and live concerts.

Additionally, the megaplex, the interiors of which are being designed by international designers and architects, will house two luxury screens with adjoining ‘Ebony Lounges‘, to house live band performances round the year.

Adlabs Cinemas COO Tushar Dhingra said, “Adlabs‘ commitment has always been to set precedents for new entertainment concepts in the country. We believe that the new Adlabs megaplex will set world benchmarks in terms of design and ambience, technology and overall consumer viewing experience.”

The Rs 11 billion mixed-use complex, spread over 4.5 million sq. ft, will house hypermarket, departmental stores, food courts, entertainment zones and around 400 branded stores.

Phoenix Market City management COO Tony Ward said, “The Kurla project is planned to become a complete consumer destination and a must-see for Mumbai populace and tourists. This is going to be a world-class destination with retail spaces, offices, hotel and multiplex. It will also include a uniquely designed leisure area for people, something which will be entirely new for the city. Because of its central location, the complex will be able to cater to Mumbai‘s western, central and the population from the downtown.”

Also, Market City Management is developing large Market City complexes ranging from 2 to 4 million sq. ft. in 20 other cities in India, that includes metros like Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Kolkata, and tier-2 and tier-3 cities like Indore, Raipur and Udaipur.

Adlabs Cinemas currently has 170 screens in India, 251 screens in the US and 51 screens in Malaysia.

MUMBAI: Hollywood director Jennifer Lynch is all set to direct a Bollywood flick starring Mallika Sherawat as the protagonist. Titled Naagin -The Snake Woman, the film is being co-produced by Ratan Jain of Venus Records and Tapes along with Vikram Singh and Govind Menon.

The film revolves around the Nag-Naagin relationship. The casting of the film, which also includes Irrfan Khan, is currently on and not yet completely finalised.

While Hollywood‘s special effects expert Robert Kurtzman has been roped in to create graphics for the film, Madhu Ambat and Hollywood‘s Patrick Girardi will take care of the film‘s sound effects.

The shooting of the film will go on floors from July-end.

MUMBAI: Fame India Ltd (formerly Shringar Cinemas Ltd) has commenced operations of its new multiplex at Fame Raghuleela, Vashi, Navi Mumbai, with effect from 11 July.

The multiplex houses six screens, including a Gold Class screen of 62 seats, with an overall seating capacity of 1015.

With the launch of this multiplex, the total number of operational properties and screens of Fame India are 16 and 61 respectively.

MUMBAI: Percept Picture Company has joined hands with Bhandarkar Entertainment to co-produce Jail, the shooting of which will begin from October.

Slated to release on 1 May 2009, the film is directed by Madhur Bhandarkar and stars Neil Nitin Mukesh as protagonist.

Percept Ltd joint MD Shailendra Singh said, “We are proud to announce Jail with Bhandarkar Entertainment. After a successful run with Page 3, Corporate and Traffic Signal our relation with Madhur Bhandarkar has moved to the next level. With three national awards to his credit and accomplishments that quite speak for themselves, Madhur has established himself as a phenomenal film maker.”

Jail talks about Parag Dixit, played by Neil Mukesh, who finds himself inside a prison as a result of a series of “unfortunate” events that take place around him. The whole film is from the protagonist’s point of view and also revolves around stories of several other prison inmates.

Madhur Bhandarkar said, “Jail is based on the under-trials and as the name suggests, it is the baseline of my film. I don’t think a prison story like Jail has been done so far in Hindi Cinema. I always want to go into genres that are new to be explored. But there were too many practical problems. It‘ll be in the thriller format. I‘ve been mulling the subject right from the time I made Chandni Bar. Now I‘ve completely revamped the film.”

MUMBAI: Percept Picture Company (PPC) is ready to release Nandita Das‘s directorial debut Firaaq… In Such Times in October.

MUMBAI: Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision is investing Rs 9 billion for production of 20 films which will include its foray into regional language cinema.

A producer of Hindi hits like Jab We Met and Bhagambhag, Shree Ashtavinayak intends to produce four films in the Tamil and Telugu segment.

In the “multiple” production pipeline, the first to release will be Shivam Nair’s suspense thriller Maharathi, starring Naseruddin Shah, Om Puri, Paresh Rawal, Boman Irani and Neha Dhupia. The film will hit the screens on 22 August.

This will be followed by the release of Sanjay Gadhvi’s Kidnap on 2 October and Rohit Shetty’s Golmaal Returns on 24 October. While the cast of Kidnap include Sanjay Dutt, Minnisha Lamba, Vidya Malvade, Rahul Dev and Imran Khan, Golmaal Returns stars Ajay Devgan, Tusshar Kapoor, Arshad Warsi, Shreyas Talpade and Kareena Kapoor.

Meanwhile, the ongoing projects from the Ashtavinayak kitty that are currently under production include Blue and Luck. Directed by Anthony D’Souza, Blue stars Sanjay Dutt, Akshaye Kumar, Lara Dutta, Katrina Kaif and Zayed Khan. The cast of Soham Shah’s Luck, which marks the debut of Kamal Hasan’s daughter Sruti Hassan, include Sanjay Dutt, Imran Khan, Danny Denzongpa, Ravi Kissen and Mithun Chakraborty.

Also, the projects in pipeline include Neeraj Vora‘s two films namely Run Bhola Run starring Govinda, Tusshar Kapoor, Tanushree Dutta and Amisha Patel and One Way Ticket starring Anil Kapoor and Akshaye Khanna.

Shree Ashtavinayak has also closed two separate co-production deals with Sri Jaganaath Entertainment and Sanjay Dutt Productions. While it will be co-producing Mudh Mudh Ke Na Dekh Mudh Mudh Ke with the former, it will co-produce Bond with the latter.

The company has also signed up directors like Rummi Jaffery, Vivek Sharma, Rohit Shetty and Imtiaz Ali for its untitled projects.

Shree Ashtavinayak raised $33 million via FCCBs (foreign currency convertible bonds) last year. The issue had an additional option to raise $5 million.

MUMBAI: Pyramid Saimira, the worldwide distributors of Rajinikanth’s Kuselan, has postponed the release date of the film to 1 August.

The bilingual film (Tamil and Telugu), which will hit the theatres with 1000 prints worldwide, was earlier slated to release on 25 July. However, the delay occurred due to post production work.

A remake of the Malayalam movie Kadha Parayumpol, the film will be released simultaneously in Tamil and Telugu as Kuselan and Kathanayukudu respectively.

Kuselan, directed by P. Vasu, will feature Rajinikanth in 20 costumes. Pyramid Saimira is expecting the film to take the best-ever opening of 2008.

MUMBAI: Hancock, Will Smith‘s latest release that tells the story of a grubby superhero, has grossed $66 million over the holiday weekend at the US box office.

Since opening, the Sony Pictures Entertainment’s comic action movie has scored $107.3 million in the US market and it has collected approximately $78 million from overseas.

The film, which currently holds the number one position in the North American box office chart, is Smith’s eighth consecutive number one opening, beginning with Men in Black II, which opened in July 2002.

Hancock is directed by Peter Berg. The film had its world premiere as the opener at the 30th Moscow International Film Festival on 19 June.

Also, Disney’s Wall-E, a computer animated adventure comedy science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios, has obtained the second place on the US charts collecting a gross of $33.4 million during the same US weekend.

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Entertainment has entered into an exclusive multi-year, first-look deal with Charles Roven and Atlas Entertainment.

Roven, along with Atlas producer Richard Suckle, are producing Columbia Pictures’ The International, starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts and directed by Tom Tykwer, set for release next year. Together with Atlas’ Alex Gartner, Roven produced Get Smart. Roven also produced the new Batman film The Dark Knight which has been directed by Christopher Nolan.

Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Amy Pascal says, “Chuck and I go back a long time to the days of working with Dawn Steel when we were launching Turner Pictures. I truly value a producer who can do it all and make it look easy. Chuck is equal parts Renaissance man and business man. He is the kind of producer who delivers entertaining and engaging material on time and on budget and that‘s a rare commodity these days. I am thrilled to be reuniting with him and the tremendous team at Atlas once again.”

Roven adds, “We are in a fortunate position at Atlas to be able to explore many different opportunities. Amy, Matt and I developed a number of great properties at Turner, and I’m very excited to finally have the chance to bring our relationship full circle. Every division at Sony Pictures excels at what they do and all of us at Atlas are delighted to be expanding an already productive filmmaking experience.”

NEW DELHI: Manoj Srivastava, who until recently was deputy director in the Directorate of Film Festivals, has taken over as the chief executive officer of the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG).

ESG is a state government body that has been set up to coordinate with the centre for the organisation of the International film festivals of India.

He succeeds Nandini Paliwal, an Indian administrative service officer from the Union Territory cadre, who was posted to the north east after the conclusion of IFFI 2007 in December 2007. The post had been vacant for more than four months.


A professional filmmaker, trained at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune, Srivastava worked with Doordarshan as a producer for 15 years before joining the Directorate eight years ago.

As a filmmaker, his film Hum Panchhi Ek Dal Ke participated in Cannes Film Festival this year. It is being screened next week in Kabul in a special exposition and has also been selected for the Brisbane International Film festival early next month. His next film project is the Journey Of The Brahmputra, which he plans to shoot in China, India and Bangladesh.

As a producer with Doordarshan, he handled shows like Zubin Mehta concerts, and live telecasts from Parliament, apart from high profile programmes like The Big Question with Karan Thapar. He directed 26 episodes of the programme, apart from shows like Mirror of the World. He also covered the Kargil war with DD News.

As a film critic, he has written on cinema and television for publications and websites, which includes editing of two Indian Panorama and two National Film Award books. His book on the history of Indian Cinema titled ‘Wide Angle’ is being published soon by Penguin India, and a novel ‘Evil Within’ is ready for publishing.