Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: Adlabs Films Limited, part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG), is foraying into the Malaysian market. The company has entered into an agreement for acquisition of controlling interest in Malaysia-based Lotus Five Star Cinemas.

As per the pact, the company will be operating a 51 screen cinema chain in Malaysia.

The deal is a part of the company‘s aggressive strategy to expand its global opportunities.

The chain, which already has a presence in the US, Nepal and Mauritius, will have a footprint across Malaysia now. It will be playing mainstream Hollywood films in addition to movies in the Indian languages like Hindi, Tamil, Chinese and Malay.

Reliance ADAG senior vice president Anil Arjun said, “This acquisition will strengthen Adlabs Cinemas‘ international presence. The international network, in addition to Malaysia, comprises 220 screens covering the East, Mid West and West Coast of USA and also Mauritius and Nepal.”

Adlabs has a presence of 160 screens across India and an international footprint of 220 screens spread in the East, mid-West and some parts of the United States.

The company‘s investor update presentation for the quarter established that Adlabs‘ exhibition business has generated revenue of Rs 423.9 million during the quarter to December 2007.

MUMBAI: UTV, co-producers with 20th Century Fox of M Night Shyamalan‘s The Happening, is set to distribute the film in India. 20th Century Fox and Spyglass Entertainment will handle the worldwide distribution of the sci-fi thriller which releases on 13 June.

UTV and Fox have equally co-invested in the $57 million movie venture.

BANGALORE: As part of Pangea Day, a film event will be held on 10 May at 8 pm, with the intention of inspiring people around the world to participate in community building activities.

MUMBAI: After a week-long standoff, the disagreement over revenue sharing terms between big banner studio Yash Raj Films and the multiplexes over the release of its film Tashan has finally been resolved.

This has resulted in the film releasing in multiplexes nationwide from today.

The agreements that have been thrashed out between Yash Raj and the multiplexes cover all the films that India‘s biggest studio will release this year and include Kunal Kohli‘s Thoda Pyar Thoda Magic on 27 June, Siddharth Anand‘s Bachna Ae Haseeno on 15 August, Jugal Hansraj‘s Roadside Romeo on 24 October, finally culminating with Aditya Chopra‘s Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi on 12 December.

Post the release of Tashan on 25 April, multiplex chains like PVR Cinemas, Adlabs, Shringar Cinemas, Inox Leisure, E-City Ventures‘ Fun Cinemas, and Cinemax had rejected Chopra‘s demand for 50 per cent of ticket sales share in the first and second weeks of release. The multiplexes were not ready to meet Chopra‘s demands as other production houses were charging 48 per cent for the first week and 45 per cent for the second week as revenue share.

The terms that have been agreed upon now are to the mutual satisfaction of all the concerned parties, states an official release from Yash Raj.

According to industry sources, the distribution percentage finally agreed upon between Yash Raj and distributors are 48:52, 38:62 and 30:70 for the first, second and third week respectively for the Mumbai territory. The terms for other cities will be 50:50, 60:40 and 70:30 for weeks one, two and three respectively.

These were the revenue sharing terms under which recent big films like Jodhaa Akbar, Welcome and Taare Zameen Par were released as well.

A point of note here is that for Yash Raj‘s biggest release for 2008 – Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi – a different formula has been agreed upon. The revenue share terms for Rab Ne… are the same as what Shah Rukh Khan negotiated last year for his blockbuster home production Om Shanti Om. The terms being 50:50, 57.5:42.5 and 65:35 for the first, second and third weeks respectively in Mumbai, while for other territories it will be 50:50, 55:45 and 65:35 for the first three weeks.

MUMBAI: The platinum edition of 101 Dalmatians, the 1961 animation film from Disney, is being released on DVD.

The DVD, released by Excel Home Videos, has been digitally restored with enhanced picture and sound quality and will see a release first time in India.

The film is based on the novel bearing the same name authored by Dodie Smith.

Excel Home Videos (licensee for Disney Home Entertainment) MD MN Kapasi said, “The film has picked up extremely well with the on-going vacations and we have released additional quantities in the market. The highlight has been the special promotion with a Doghouse on offer at a discounted price on the purchase of the DVD”.

The film was path breaking as it signaled a change in the graphic style of Disney‘s animation. This occurred with the introduction of xerography which eased graphic reproduction requirements.

The DVD is packed with features including a virtual dalmatian‘s game, 101 pop-up trivia facts, language games, deleted songs, a new music video by Selena Gomez and the correspondence between Walt Disney and the author of the book.

NEW DELHI: A Festival of 21 features and 15 non-features which were selected for the Indian Panorama 2007 of the International Film Festival of India commenced in the capital today.
The 8-day exposition organized by the Directorate of Film Festivals opened with Bagher Bacha, a non-feature film in Bangla directed by Bishnu Dev Halder, a former student of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, Kolkata. It was followed by Ore Kadal in Malayalam directed by Shyamaprasad. Entry to all film shows is free.

This package of Indian Panorama presents a wide spectrum of contemporary themes and treatments. The debut directors like Sameer Hanchate, Bhavana Talwar and Samir Chanda bring with them a refreshing and incisive style of cinema, while the stalwarts like Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Budhadeb Dasgupta challenge ideas and established norms again with their films, Naalu Penungal and Ami Iyasin Aar Amaar Madhubala.

The non-feature film section offers a large variety. The biographicals like Naushad Ali, Pandit Ramnarayan, Mubarak Begum and Rajarshi Bhagyachandra of Manipur chronicle the lives of important Indian personalities. Films like Bagher Bacha, Hope Dies Last in War, Joy Ride and whose Land Is It Anyway are stimulating. The Indian Panorama 2007 presents a wide spectrum of contemporary themes and treatments.

The Indian Panorama package was selected by two juries of eminent film makers. The feature film jury was headed by KS Sethumadhavan, and members included Leslie Carvalho, Dr. Mrunalinni Patil Dayal, Manju Bora, Shubhra Gupta and Abhijit Dasgupta. The non-feature film jury was headed by another renowned film maker Arun Khopkar and members included Pankaj Butalia, Gautam Saikia and Kavita Chaudhary.

MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) Films India has acquired worldwide distribution rights of Meerabai Not Out, the film co-produced with Pritish Nandy Communications (PNC) and Hyderabad based DQ Entertainment (DQE).

The announcement was made by Sony Pictures International Motion Picture Production Group president Deborah Schindler.

PNC and DQE have recently joined hands to co-develop and co-produce six movies in the next 3 to 4 years time, within a budget of $45 million (around Rs 1.8 billion).

“This acquisition is precisely the kind of strong material that is
the cornerstone of our local language initiative. When we find motion pictures as wonderful and engaging as this, we will aggressively pursue it,” said Schindler.

The movie, which is slated for a summer release, will mark DQ Entertainment‘s foray into the Bollywood market.

Directed by Chandrakant Kulkarni from a screenplay by Soumik Senbasedon, and an idea by Raj Kaushal, Meerabai Not Out stars Mandira Bedi as a maths teacher obsessed with cricket.

Cricket star Anil Kumble plays himself in his first starring role.

Television star Eijaz Khan makes his Bollywood debut in the film, which also stars Anupam Kher and Mahesh Manjrekar in leading roles.

Musical score has been provided by Sandesh Shandilya.

“We are delighted to take it globally through SPE Films India and DQ Entertainment, our partners for this charming romantic comedy cast against the backdrop of cricket, our national passion.

“Mandira herself is a die-hard cricket fan and Anil Kumble makes his debut in Bollywood with this film. So does Eijaz Khan, who migrates from TV to the big screen. This is also Chandrakant Kulkarni‘s first Hindi feature and we are proud to
bring his talent before mainstream audiences,” said Nandy.

DQ Entertainment chairman and CEO Tapaas Chakravarti says: “Meerabai Not Out is a film we are delighted to partner with PNC and feel so good that SPE will take this beautiful romancing with cricket Global.

“We plan to partner for many more such well scripted and researched films as we go along, to explore the creative opportunities that bridge animation and live action.”

“Smart films like Meerabai Not Out excites us because we believe that this is where the future of Bollywood lies and PNC dose cater to this need well. This is the kind of intelligent and successful cinema we would like to associate with.

“This shows the kind of credibility that Indian cinema has now acquired globally. DQE will add further value of bring its expertise in animation, gaming and other spin-offs as when the partners will desire so,” added Chakravarti.

MUMBAI: Pyramid Saimira Entertainment Limited has acquired worldwide release rights of Rajinikanth starrer film Kuselan in both Tamil and Telegu.

Additionally, the company has also bagged 11 years of intellectual property rights (IPR) of the film, which is slated to release by the end of July.

Kuselan is produced by Seven Arts Films and Kavithalaya in Tamil and Vyjanthi Movies and Seven Arts Films in Telegu.

Pyramid Saimira Group distribution head Mukesh Mehta said, “We are extremely glad to associate with Seven Arts Films and Kavithalaya Group. Seven Arts Films is a reputed production house and Kavithalaya is a digital studios group promoted by K Balachandar.
Also this film is co-produced in Telegu by Vyjanthi Movies.”

While in the Telegu film the co-stars of Rajinikanth include Jagapathy, Babu, Sunil, Meena and Nayantara, in the Tamil film his co-stars are Pasupathy, Meena, Nayantara and Vadivel.

G V Prakash has composed music for both the movies. The film is a remake of the Malayalam movie, Kadha Parayumbhol.

Pyramid Saimira had earlier distributed and exhibited Sivaji in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Malaysia.

MUMBAI: T-Series has acquired the music rights of the film Chandni Chowk to China, starring Akshay Kumar and Deepika Padukone.

Directed by Nikhil Advani, the film is being produced by Mukesh Talreja, Ramesh Sippy and Warner Brothers. The music composition is by Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy.

Chandni Chowk to China is slated to release on 29 October this year.

NEW DELHI: A total of 11 feature films were refused Censor certificate during 2007, as compared to 59 in 2006 and 18 in 2005.
Apart from these, the Central Board of Film Certification cleared a total of 395 films with cuts during 2007, as compared to 453 in 2006 and 473 in 2005.

Information and Broadcasting Ministry sources told indiantelevision.com that this indicated a continuous liberalization of censorship as the number of films refused certification or cleared with cuts had come down over the years.

I&B minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi said in Parliament that the CBFC certifies films in accordance with the Cinematograph Act, 1952 and Rules and Guidelines framed thereunder. (These guidelines were last revised on 6 December, 1991).

The guidelines particularly ensure that films or scenes are not allowed where anti-social activities such as violence are not glorified and justified, pointless or avoidable scenes of violence, cruelty and horror, scenes of violence primarily intended to provide entertainment and such scenes as may have the effect of desensitizing or dehumanizing people are not shown; human sensibilities are not offended by vulgarity, obscenity, or depravity; words with dual meaning as obviously cater to baser instincts are not allowed; scenes degrading or denigrating women in any manner or showing sexual perversions are shown.

CBFC sources said a total of 10551 certificates during the year 2006, as against 7417 during 2005. A total of 3454 certificates were issued to celluloid films and 7097 certificates to video films during this period. These consisted of 1091 Indian feature films (celluloid), and 336 foreign feature films (Celluloid).

Out of 1636 Indian feature films (Celluloid & Video) certified during the period, 1130 were granted “U” certificates, 270 “UA” certificates, and 236 “A” certificates. Similarly, of the 1080 foreign feature films certified in the year, 460 were granted “U” certificates, 269 “UA” certificates, and 351 “A” certificates.

The Board certified a total of 7242 Indian short films during 2006, of which 6717 were granted “U” certificates, 359 “UA” certificates, 165 “A” certificates. A total of 7097 certificates were issued to video films. Of these, there were 545 Indian feature films, 744 foreign feature films, 5494 Indian short films, 235 foreign short films, 75 Indian and 4 foreign films belonging to the “Others” category (long films other than feature).