Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: Commenting on the allegations made by Ram Gopal Varma wherein he stated that he has formally terminated an MOU with Super Cassettes Industries Ltd for audio and home video rights of 14 films, Super Cassettes Industries CMD Bhushan Kumar states that RGV’s allegations are completely false and baseless. He also explains that T-Series has fulfilled all the obligations as per the terms and conditions of the “Memorandum of Understanding” (dated 13 June 2006) between Ram Gopal Varma Films Pvt Ltd and Super Cassettes Industries Ltd (T-Series).

MUMBAI: Shringar Films Ltd (SFL), the 100 per cent subsidiary of the Shringar Cinemas Ltd, has tied up with the real estate firm Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd (HDIL) for programming their forthcoming multiplexes.SFL is planning for a three-screen multiplex at Vasai, a four-screen at Bhandup and a six-screen multiplex at Kandivali, with HDIL.

In addition, Shringar Films has also signed for acquiring four other properties in Pune, with five screens in all. These new properties are in addition to the three screens being developed by SFL in Mumbai, viz. Globus-Bandra, Gossip-Bandra, and Maratha Mandir.

“We are acquring four private properties in Pune, the deal is signed,” said Shringar Cinemas MD Shravan Shroff. “We are pleased with the tie-up with HDIL, for programming all our forthcoming multiplex screens. Along with Shringar Cinemas‘ screens, we are sure that it is an excellent one stop show for distributors and producers to exhibit their films, across a variety of locations and cities,” he added.

With this, the total number of screens that are now under Shringar Films for programming is 21. The total number of screens, along with the screens that are under Shringar Films and Shringar Cinemas combined, now stands at 65.

MUMBAI: Oscar winning filmmaker Peter Jackson, MGM chairman and CEO Harry Sloan, New Line Cinema co-chairmen and co-CEOs Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne have jointly announced that they have entered into a series of agreements:

MGM and New Line will co-finance and co-distribute two films The Hobbit and a sequel to The Hobbit. New Line will distribute in North America and MGM will distribute internationally. New Line had earlier made The Lord Of The Rings trilogy with Jackson. The Hobbit is the prequel to those films.

Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh will serve as executive producers of two films based on The Hobbit. New Line will manage the production of the films, which will be shot simultaneously.

Peter Jackson and New Line have settled all litigation relating to the Lord of the Rings (LOTR) trilogy.

Jackson says, “I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to put our differences behind and begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line. The Lord of the Rings is a legacy we proudly share with Bob and Michael, and together, we share that legacy with millions of loyal fans all over the world. We are delighted to continue our journey through the Middle Earth. I also want to thank Harry Sloan and our new friends at MGM for helping us find the common ground necessary to continue that journey.”

Sloan says, “Peter Jackson has proven himself as the filmmaker who can bring the extraordinary imagination of Tolkien to life, and we full-heartedly agree with the fans worldwide who know he should be making The Hobbit. Now that we are all in agreement on The Hobbit, we can focus on assembling the production team that will capture this phenomenal tale on film.”

Shaye says, “We are very pleased we have been able to resolve our differences, and that Peter and Fran will be actively and creatively involved with The Hobbit movies. We know they will bring the same passion, care and talent to these films that they so ably accomplished with The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.”

The two Hobbit films are scheduled to be shot simultaneously, with pre-production beginning as soon as possible. Principal photography is tentatively set for a 2009 start, with the intention of The Hobbit release slated for 2010 and its sequel the following year, in 2011.

The Lord of the Rings films grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide at the box-office. In 2003, Return of the King swept the Academy Awards, winning all of the 11 categories in which it was nominated including Best Picture.

MUMBAI: Big FM is launching a talkathon Taare Baat Karein Sitare Se across its 32 FM stations, wherein listeners will get an opportunity to catch actor Aamir Khan.

Big FM is also organising ‘Meet and Greet with Aamir Khan‘. After the cake-cutting ceremony, Aamir Khan will be counseling parents on what they should do to support their child‘s future, understand the talent in children and realize their true potential. Besides there will be caller interactions from across several stations of Big FM which will be connected through a video-conference facility to Amir Khan in Mumbai.

Big FM VP marketing Anand Chakravarthy said, “We are approaching the association with the objective of delivering value to our listeners as well as the makers of the film. Our effort at Big FM has always been to create exciting content around the theme of a film which will generate value and interest for listeners. This initiative is an innovative offering, which will see huge penetration across the country given our wide network of stations that are going to be used for this.”

MUMBAI: The celebrated Oscars are in for difficult times this year. As the Writers Guild of America‘s strike shows no sign of abating, shows like the Oscars and the Golden Globes will find it difficult to go ahead. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has contacted the WGA to request that the body issue a waiver for its Golden Globes show on 13 January, allowing guild members to be hired to write the show‘s script.

A waiver would also allow actors, writers and directors to attend the event without having to cross-picket lines.

So far, the WGA has refused to speculate on whether it will grant the request.

The Writers Guild of America says it won‘t grant a waiver to let writers return to the two awards shows.

But it is said that NBC will have its complete line-up of late night shows as Jimmy Kimmel has joined Jay Leno and Conan O‘Brien to resume work on their respective shows despite the strike. Reports indicate the writers‘ negotiations are not going well.

The writers, disgruntled over compensation for programmes, movies and other content streamed or downloaded over the Internet, have been on strike since 5 November.

MUMBAI: Eros-controlled EyeQube Studios is roping in 250 visual effects artists including animators, designers, matte painters and developers, for its upcoming projects.

The artists will go through a ‘digital boot camp‘ where they will be trained thoroughly. The company will start its first batch in January 2008.

The post-production and VFX studio where Charles Darby has a small stake, has bagged Bollywood projects that include Aladin starring Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt and Riteish Deshmukh, and Drona with Abhishek Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra.

EyeQube creative director and senior visual effects supervisor Charles Darby said, “Almost all VFX facilities in India approach their work from an IT standpoint. Artists are not involved in the creative process and are moved around from project to project, from film to TV, sometimes even on the same day. EyeQube will depart from these practices and hone artists to put creativity first.”

MUMBAI: Already firmly in the saddle as lead actress it is interesting to note that Mallika Sherawat continues to be seen as a one song wonder in films. Y2k 07 had the Bollywood sex bomb doing cameos in Mani Ratnam’s Guru, Aap Ka Suroor, the debut film of Himesh Reshammiya and now she makes yet another cameo appearance in Anees Bazmee’s Welcome.

This time round with Welcome Mallika is crying foul. Apparently, Mallika made just a guest appearance in the film and did not want producer Firoze Nadiadwala to use her in the promotional trailers.

However, the trailers of the film featured her. This has angered the actress. In fact it can be recalled here that even her appearance in Aap Ka Suroor which was touted as a long role was in fact just a 10 minute appearance in the film.

Reportedly Mallika even wrote a letter to her fans stating that she makes only a brief appearance in Welcome. And she adds that she is confident that Welcome will hit the jackpot.

Mallika’s next two releases are Ugly And Pagli with Ranvir Shorey and Maan Gaye Mughal-E-Azam with Rahul Bose.

NEW DELHI: Satyajit Ray‘s Pather Panchali and Aparajito have found a place in a new book by an American-based Indian journalist on 99 Remarkable Films of the World.
Citizen Kane, created more than 66 years ago, still holds its number one position in the world of movies.

The forthcoming book on world cinema, 99 Remarkable Films of the World, by journalist Rajan Zed of Nevada (United States), rates Citizen Kane (1941) as number one among films of the world made so far. Orson Welles was only 25 years old when he directed, starred and co-wrote his first film about real-life newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst.

The other films in the top ten rankings are Gene Kelley’s Singin‘ in the Rain (1952), Casablanca (1942) by Michael Curtiz starring Humphrey Bogart with Ingrid Bergman, Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972) with Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by Stanley Kubrick, Lawrence of Arabia (1962) by David Lean, Vertigo (1958) by Alfred Hitchcock, La Regle du Jeu (The Rules of the Game) made in 1939 by Jean Renoir, Gone with the Wind (1939) by Victor Fleming, and Some Like It Hot (1959) by Billy Wilder starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon.

“Compressing about 150,000 feature films into a list of 99 was a gigantic and agonizing exercise and cuts were torturous and painful. It broke my heart to see some great films vanish off the list. Ranking always generates argumentation but there is an eternal allurement to rank and rate,” Zed said in an interview. “No one will agree with this film list in totality and no such list is ideal, but I strongly feel I came closer to whatever can be accomplished within these constraints,” Zed adds.

Director Steven Spielberg has the highest number (five) of films listed, although his top film, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), appears at number 25. He is followed by Francis Ford Coppola, Billy Wilder, John Ford, Martin Scorsese, Charles Chaplin, and Frank Capra—with three movies each.

Robert De Niro tops the list as leading actor appearing in four films, although his top film Raging Bull (1980) appears at number 15. Next to him with three movies each are Humphrey Bogart, James Stewart, and Charles Chaplin. Among female leading actors, Katherine Hepburn is the topmost with two movies in the list.

No film from 2000s could make this list, and the newest film listed is Fargo (1996) at number 54, while the oldest listed is The Birth of a Nation (1915) at number 87. The top decade during the last century was 1950s from which 23 films are listed, while 1910s was the lowest with just one film.

The year 1939 was the golden year for filmmaking, which brought five films on this list.

While no film showed up in the list from 1983 to 1988, consecutive years 1957, 1958, and 1959 brought three films each to the list.

“Drama” as genre far outnumbered any other category with 45 entries, while “comedy” trailed behind at number two with just 14 films listed, and “thriller” was number three with only eight films. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) is the only animation film listed at number 72, while The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), only horror film to appear on the list, is at number 85.

United States of America brought the highest number (71) of films to the list; with France showing a poor second with seven and Great Britain third with six films. Other countries that made it to the list are Japan, Italy, the erstwhile Soviet Union, Sweden, India, Poland, and Germany. Three films listed were collaborations between two countries. Ingmar Bergman was the director of both the Swedish movies listed. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Great Britain) is the topmost non-USA movie on the list at number five.

About 221 minutes in duration, Lawrence of Arabia is the longest film on the list, followed by Gone with the Wind and Some Like It Hot at 220 minutes each. Duck Soup (1933) is the shortest film listed at 68 minutes, while 75 minute long Battleship Potemkin (1925) is second from the bottom in length.

MUMBAI: Interactive Television has acquired the on-screen media rights for 11 Fun Cinemas multiplexes.

All advertising deals in any of the 11 Fun Cinemas screens will be routed though Interactive Television. The screens include Fun Cinemas screens in the NCR region, Panipat, Gulbarga, Lucknow and Chandigarh.

Says Interactive Television CEO Ajay Mehta, “We are extremely thrilled to have a reputed brand like Fun Cinemas on board amongst our already existing stream of established multiplex chains. With this partnership we hope to cater to our clients needs better and make their brand reach more effectively to up market audiences across the country.”

Says Fun Cinemas VP marketing Anand Vishal, ”With Interactive coming in as our onscreen partner, our multiplex chain stands to have 50 per cent market reach of top corporates in India. Interactive has been the strongest player in the category and we definitely want to make the most of it.”

For Interactive Television, a partnership with Fun Cinemas is the next step forward as the growth in the demand for in-cinema advertising is tremendous. Multiplexes have now started screening movies which appeal to platform as well as niche audiences which gives advertisers the option of selective screening. The growth of multiplexes is another factor which has contributed to the increase in the in-cinema advertising trend.

BANGALORE: Pyramid Saimira Productions International Ltd (PSPIL) has announced the launch of a mega Kannada film project titled Omm, starring all the three sons of the late Kannada film icon Raj Kumar.

The movie will be directed by Ravi Srivatsava.

The three brothers – Siva Raj Kumar, Raghvendra Raj Kumar and Puneeth Raj Kumar – are well known, popular Kannada film actors and will be acting in a film together for the first time.

Industry sources peg the film‘s budget at Rs 100 million plus, which is a big figure for the Kannada film industry where films with budgets of Rs 50-60 million are considered as big budget films. While PSPIL officials refused to indicate the exact budget for Omm they did confirm that the budget was more than Rs 100 million.

Pyramid Saimira entered Karnataka about a year and a half ago and has so far converted about 45 screens to digital of around 225 screens that it has digitalized across India. The group operates 123 theaters in Karnataka.

On the group‘s Karnataka foray, PSPIL MD Saminathan announced that Avva, a Kannada film project under the PSPIL banner was complete. The film has been directed by Kavitha Lankesh and stars a popular Kannada actor Vijay.

Vijay will also feature in another PSPIL Kannada action film Putta to be directed by Om Prakash, a veteran who has directed more than 25 films.

PSPIL also announced that it has signed on another Kannada film actor Darshan for a two film deal to be released in January 2009 and January 2010. On the immediate Karnataka horizon is the distribution of six Kannada films. It has also acquired distribution rights for Naa Tata Naa Birla, Ganesha Mathe Banda, Minchina Ota, Naanu Neenu Jodi, etc just to name a few.

Saminathan also informed that the group plans to release one Kannada movie every two months. Pyramid Saimira will be investing Rs 7 billion to produce 37 films in India during the next one year.

Saminathan said that by March end 0f 2008 the group would have 1000 screens and hence would have the largest number of screens in Asia. At present, with 703 screens in the world, the Pyramid group is the third largest player globally in terms of number of screens. Pyramid has tie-ups in five countries.

Saminathan also said that the Pyramid group was interested in short fiction film projects – the story must be told completely in ten minutes. An announcement on this initiative would be made shortly informed Saminathan.

Further, while speaking with Indiantelevison.com, Saminathan informed that the profits for the third quarter of this financial year (2007-08) would exceed Rs 160 million. There has also been an increase in the occupancy which was lingering in the 40-50 per cent range, but Saminathan could not give the exact figures.

Pyramid Samira Theaters Limited has also temporarily shelved the Card Scheme that had been approved by its board in April 2007, because of apprehension by the industry. The demand for the card scheme was so tremendous that the first lot of 50,000 cards was sold out in one and a half hours in the few theaters it was launched. While refusing to disclose details, Saminathan conformed that his company is close to closing a deal for acquiring a TV company in the US. The deal/company is reportedly valued at $100 million.

The group has also roped in Bollywood director Raj Kumar Santoshi for a new Hindi film project/s to be announced shortly. Santoshi‘s Hindi film Halla Bol for PSIPL starring Ajay Devgan and Vidya Balan is slated for release. As announced earlier, Santoshi, who was also present at the Omm press conference in Bangalore has signed on a two film contract with the PVR group some time ago.