Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: A panel of distinguished guests will gather on 14 December to participate in the Cultural Bridge Panel, a signature event of the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF). The Cultural Brigade Panel was founded on the principles exemplified in the DIFF credo, ‘Bridging Cultures, Meeting Minds.’

The Panel, now in its second year, is a forum for the discussion of issues related to cultural understanding and dialogue, and uses cinema as a tool for world peace.

World-renowned author Paulo Coelho will present the keynote lecture at the event. The panelists will include actor-producer-activist Danny Glover who is a recipient of the 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award; writer, actor and debut director Rayda Jacobs, and Al Arabia journalist Gisele Khoury. Cameron Baily, Canadian journalist-broadcaster and senior programmer of the Toronto International Film Festival, will moderate the evening.

DIFF Chairman, Abdulhamid Juma said, “The Cultural Bridge Panel is an iconic event for DIFF. For the panel’s second edition, we have invited a rich assembly of guests with very interesting and diverse backgrounds. This meeting of minds will offer DIFF audiences a truly unique festival experience. We welcome one and all to hear and participate in these important discussions.”

Last year’s panel was moderated by Riz Khan of Al Jazeera International, director Oliver Stone, writer-director Julia Bacha, filmmaker Maji-da Abdi, Egyptian film legend Mohammed Khan and UTV founder-CEO Ronnie Screwvala.

MUMBAI: Two films from Shemaroo Entertainment, Manorama six feet under and the forthcoming Staying Alive (directed by Ananth Mahadevan) are being screened at the 12th International Film Festival of Kerala [IFFK].

The Kerala State Chalachitra Academy annually hosts IFFK at Thiruvananthapuram which is recognized by the International Federation of Film Archives [FIAF], thus making it part of a prestigious circle of specialized festivals.

Staying Alive starring Saurabh Shukla and the Director himself, is based on a true story of a journalist and an underworld kingpin. Both of them share a room in the intensive cardiac care at a hospital owing to heart attack. While one scoffs at death because he is seasoned as it is his third attack, the other is totally petrified on suffering his first. The film is about being grateful at the joy of just staying alive.

Staying Alive has been earlier screened at ‘Bite the Mango Festival’ at Bradford UK and at IFFK there will be two screenings of the movie. Staying Alive will be visiting lot more other prestigious festivals before the formal release of the film.

Director Ananth Mahadevan shares his thoughts, ‘Staying alive is a tribute to great cinema makers, who have inspired me to make a movie of this kind. Based on a true story, this film is absolutely an original piece of art, with no reference points anywhere. The underlying message of the film being – are all of us making our lives worth living, as we are staying alive – will certainly make a difference in the lives of our audiences’.

At a preview screening of the film, Staying Alive was reviewed as, ‘A deeply moving chamber piece . . . lucid yet sparse emotionalism of two incompatible men. Staying Alive is a film that makes you thankful for the gift of life and cinema.’

Adds Ketan Maru – Producer of ‘Manorama Six Feet Under‘ – ‘After Manorama Six Feet Under won the Best Film Award at ‘The Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival‘ [MIAAC] at New York, there has been a lot of curiosity among audiences to watch this film. We are now certainly glad to have two screenings of Manorama Six Feet Under at IFFK‘.

The 12th IFFK 2007 is currently being held from 7th – 14th December 2007, showcasing the films of famous directors from across the globe and films of many other directors too are being screened in various sections. The jury includes ten distinguished members across the world from the film fraternity who have a tough choice to make, in order to give away the festivals six awards and one audience prize.

MUMBAI:Mittal vs Mittal, a film directed by Karan Razdan, tackles the topic of marital rape.

Made on a Rs 40 million budget, the film is due for release by May next year. It is produced by Dinesh Chugh and is currently about 70 per cent complete. Shamir Tandon has composed the music for the film.

A Shaila Film’s production, the film deals with the romantic, emotional and physical side of the husband-wife relationship. Reportedly, the first film on the subject, the film has various layers of emotions in it.

The film stars Rohit Roy and Rituparna Sengupta in the lead roles. Rohit plays a negative role as the husband (Karan Mittal). Rituparna plays the abused woman (Mitali) in the film. After the critically acclaimed Kalpana Lajmi film, Daman, Mittal vs Daman will also deal with the serious issue of marital rape.

The film tells the story of a young woman who is regularly beaten by her in-laws and raped by her husband. The woman fights back in a traditionally patriarchal society where it is still taboo for wives to speak out against their husbands.

The film focuses on the Indian law and how it deals with the issue of marital rape. According to sections 375, 376 of IPC, it does not allow a woman to accuse her husband of rape (unless and until she is 16). The film raises a debate on this without being judgemental. Suchitra Krishnamurty plays Mitali’s lawyer who is pitted against the other lawyer played by Gulshan Grover.

MUMBAI: Shringar Group‘s exhibition business, which has been operational under the name of Shringar Cinemas Ltd, will be renamed as Fame India Ltd.

Shringar Cinemas MD Shravan Shroff has said that as there was a disconnect in the minds of people between Shringar Cinemas and Fame (the multiplex chain which is owned by Shringar), the name has been changed to Fame.

However, the distribution business will continue to operate under the name of Shringar Films Pvt. Ltd.

MUMBAI: Shilpa Shetty is quite perturbed that the makers of her 2005 superhit Kannada film Auto Shankar are all set to release a dubbed Hindi version called Shilpa – The Big Don in the first week of January 2008 all over the country, without her knowledge and consent.

“Shilpa was shocked to see posters and advertisements of the film published in film trade magazines some time ago, as she wasn‘t even aware that the film had been dubbed,” said her publicist Dale Bhagwagar.

“What stunned her more was the title. Yes, she does play a ‘lady Don‘ in the film. In fact, during the film‘s release two years ago, she had even dubbed her character as ‘an ode to Gabbar Singh.‘ But Shilpa – The Big Don seems to be just an amusing attempt to cash in on her Big Brother win,” Bhagwagar added.

The celebrity publicist said, “South movies are cool but they have a specific flavour, which is quite different from Hindi cinema. When the language changes a lot of nuances in a film can change the context. This might seem extremely awkward and could turn into an uneasy development for Shilpa.”

To boot it all, the dubbed version even has two songs devoted to Shilpa.

Will she press charges in court to stop the release of the film? Bhagwagar doesn‘t think that would be the right thing to do. “The re-release could be embarrassing, but from a PR point of view, I would not advice Shilpa to stop her own film.”

Along with Shilpa, the Kannada blockbuster directed by D. Rajendar Babu, stars South superstar Upendra along with actresses Radhika and Sudharani. The movie was filmed at a variety of locations including Austria, Finland, the Bangalore Palace and the Mysore Lamps Factory.

It is the story of an autorickshaw driver called Shankar who belongs to the middle-class section of the society. Shilpa, who plays a money-lender and a lady Don, is portrayed as a boorish character. She is unscrupulous in recovering loans given to the poor and designs crude methods for recovery. However, she comes to learn a lesson that reforms her attitude. She makes amends and falls in love with Shankar.

“Shilpa‘s role in the film earned her the nickname ‘The new Gabbar Singh‘ in the South,” said Bhagwagar. The movie also sparked off a controversy regarding a sensuous photograph. A Madurai-based lawyer had filed an obscenity case against Shetty, calling the photo vulgar.

The makers have even put up a website after the title of the dubbed version of the film.

MUMBAI: Mukta Arts has acquired the negative rights including worldwide distribution of Valu (the wild bull), a Marathi language film directed by Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni and produced by Aantarik Films.

The film has an ensemble of top Marathi talent including Atul Kulkarni, Dr. Mohan Agashe, Dilip Prabhavalkar, Bharati Acharekar, Girish Kulkarni, Nirmitee Sawant and others. The music is by Mangesh Dhakde.

This is Mukta Arts’ reaffirmation of its commitment to Marathi cinema. It has already been involved in another Marathi film “Kaande Pohe” which is directed by Rajiv Patil, produced by Shreyas Talpade and has Tushar Dalvi, Shilpa Tulaskar and Subhodh Bhave among others as star cast.

Mukta Arts promoter Subhash Ghai said that having spent his entire career in Maharashtra, he wanted to give back to society what he got from the wonderful state. “This is only our first step” said Ghai. “We look forward to promoting new and fresh talent from Maharashtra. Valu is the first film of a young director and has a high quality of production for a regional language film. This speaks volumes for the young fresh talent from the industry and Mukta Arts is always committed to promoting new talent”.

Umesh Kulkarni expressed confidence that the film would receive good visibility in the hands of Mukta Arts. He also felt that this would give him time to focus on his new venture which is underway. He also expressed the hope that in the hands of Mukta Arts the film would reach out to wider audiences as the film has a talented cast which unfolds a story around the entrapment of a wild bull on the run.

MUMBAI: The writers strike notwithstanding, Hollywood is gearing up for its annual extravaganza – the Oscar Awards ceremony. The 80th Academy Awards is slated to be held at the Shrine/Kodak Theatre in swanky Los Angeles come 24 February 2008.

The ceremony will air on ABC in the US and on Star Movies in India on 24 February 2008.

No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Michael Cloayton, Atonement are predicted as being among the front running contenders to take the statuette home.

The Oscar TV production team has decided to hire veteran red carpet arrivals producer Dennis Doty to create the 30-minute red carpet arrivals segment prior to the actual awards ceremony.

This will be Doty‘s sixth Oscar stint. He produced the first Oscar arrivals show, which aired prior to the 71st Academy Awards in 1999, as well as the shows preceding the 73rd Awards in 2001, the 75th Anniversary Awards in 2003, the 77th Awards in 2005 and the 78th Awards in 2006.

The academy is expecting a full turnout, and is going ahead as it does every year as if things are normal. But observers raised their eyebrows questioning whether the quality of the telecast will be up to the mark. The Writers Guild of America has been demanding a share of internet and other digital revenues and has struck work since last month. And there seems little resolution in sight.

The WGA‘s pens‘ down movement has affected Hollywood‘s producers – more so those involved in television. Some networks have been airing reruns as their stock of banked episodes has run out. The writers‘ strike means a lot to the live events business, especially for one such as high profile as the Oscars. The quality of writing plays a key role in sustaining viewers interest, be it for the introductory speech by the host, remarks made about the nominated films or even the acceptance speeches.

MUMBAI: The 58th BIFF, which is scheduled to kick off on 7 February 2008, has so far confirmed eight titles for the competition segment. These eight films are from China, Brazil, Mexico, Great Britain, USA, Poland and Germany.

In her most recent film, Kirschblüten – Hanami (Germany), Doris Dörrie (Men; The Fisherman and his Wife) tells the story of Rudi (Elmar Wepper), who is incurably ill with cancer. When his fun-loving but esoteric wife (Hannelore Elsner) unexpectedly dies, the widower comes to see her life with new eyes (World premiere).

There Will Be Blood by Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia, Golden Bear 2000) is from the USA. The film adaptation of Upton Sinclair’s novel Oil recounts the remarkable story of an unsuccessful silver miner who rises to become a US oil magnate in the early 20th century. Daniel Day-Lewis (Gangs Of New York) is brilliant in his performance as the protagonist Daniel Plainview (International premiere).

Chinese director Wang Xiaoshuai (Beijing Bicycle, Silver Bear 2001) will present Zuo You (In Love We Trust) in the Berlinale Competition. In her struggle to save her firstborn, the mother of a child suffering from cancer resorts to unusual measures. Liu Weiwei, Zhang Jiayu and Yu Nan play the leading roles (World premiere).

Mexican director Fernando Eimbcke took part in the Berlinale Talent Campus in 2003. This time he is returning to Berlin with his second feature film, Lake Tahoe. The story centres around a sixteen-year-old boy who has to cope with his father’s sudden death. The film features Diego Cata?o, Héctor Herrera, Daniela Valentine, Juan Carlos Lara and Yemil Sefani (World premiere).

Gardens of the Night (Great Britain/USA) by Damian Harris tells of the fate of two children who are abducted and held captive for over nine years. Once free, they are forced to take to the streets and fend for themselves. The cast include Gillian Jacobs, Evan Ross, Tom Arnold and John Malkovich. (World premiere)

Oscar-winner Andrzej Wajda — a three-time participant in the Berlinale Competition and recipient of the Honorary Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement in 2006 — will be presenting his latest work Katy. The film examines a taboo theme: the massacre of thousands of Polish war prisoners by the Soviet secret service in 1940. In the main roles are Maja Ostaszewska, Artur Zmijewski and Andrzej Chyra. (International premiere)

In Brazil, Tropa de Elite (The Elite Squad) has broken all box-office records. The Berlinale 2008 will screen this political thriller in the Competition. Director José Padilha (Bus 174) explores the detrimental influence of the drug mafia on the poorest sections of the Brazilian population, thereby revealing the daily routines of a brutal and corrupt special unit of the Brazilian military police. The film stars Wagner Moura, Caio Junqueira and André Ramiro (International premiere).

In S.O.P. Standard Operating Procedure (USA), famous documentary filmmaker and Oscar-winner Errol Morris (The Fog of War, 2003) investigates the scandalous human rights violations at the Abu Ghraib prison complex near Baghdad and investigates what lurks behind the facade of the “anti-terror war” (World premiere).

The selection for the Competition programme of the 58th Berlin International Film Festival will be completed by mid-January 2008.

MUMBAI: PVR Cinemas has entered into an agreement with Bangalore-based Prestige Group that will allow it to open and operate 60 screens in South India.

According to the deal, PVR will be operating multiplexes for all of Prestige’s Forum malls. The partnership will be on a profit sharing basis.

“The Forum takes pleasure in announcing that PVR will be operating the cineplexes for all the Forum malls at Bangalore including Whitefield and Shantiniketan. They also include malls coming up at Cochin, Hyderabad, and Mangalore,” said Prestige group chairman and managing director Irfan Razack.

“Since the inception of The Forum, we have made a conscious effort to provide an exhilarating experience to the customers who enter the mall and thus have a clear strategy to take it forward. The association with PVR is a part of this strategy. While competition is an indelible part of the business environment, partnerships today are paving the way for growth and to mutually complement each others’ businesses”, added Razack.

The Forum mall is Bangalore’s first and most popular malls. The tie-up is a part of Prestige’s growth plan with a strategy to provide the ‘Forum Experience’ across South India.

“Retail today is like a focal point of social gathering at a place for relaxation, entertainment, good food and comfort zones. We want to think big, for us a mall means at least 200,000 square feet. We want to provide people with multiple choices in entertainment, and so our malls in most places will generally have six screens or more,” informed Razack.

As per the current approvals, Prestige has planned 10 malls till 2011 ranging from 600,000 to 1,000,000 square feet. The mall in Cochin will have an area of 1,000,000 square feet, with 700,000 square feet accounting for retail and the balance split over hospitality, office space and screens.

Razack is looking at an average of six screens per mall, or about 60 screens for the ten malls. He is looking at cities like Coimbatore, Belgaum, Hubli, Mysore, Vijayawada, Goa and Pune for setting up malls. Depending upon the studies by the Prestige group and PVR, each mall will have three screens or more.

By 2012-15 depending upon the speed at which the government infrastructure reaches some of these tier II and tier III cities, Razack has plans for another 20 malls across the country, but mainly in South India, and is looking at about 200 screens in all, making Forum one of the largest players in this segment.

For PVR, the multiplex with eleven screens at the Forum mall in Bangalore is the highest grossing multiplex across the country that attracts the highest number of footfalls.

Last year, PVR announced that it plans to launch digital cinema in small towns under the PVR Talkies brand. At present this initiative is limited to just three cities – Aurangabad, Latur and Baroda. According to PVR Limited president and CEO Pramod Arora, this is because a level of maturity is to be attained by cine goers in villages and smaller towns in India to make it feasible to launch multiple screens there.

“We will have about 250 additional screens at an investment of about Rs.3.5 billion over the next three years,” said PVR Limited joint managing director Sanjeev Kumar Bijli. At present, PVR has 95 screens and plans to add another 31 by end March 2008 in Chennai, Mumbai and Chandigarh.

According to Bijli, online revenues nationally account for seven per cent of sales, while in Bangalore the revenues, especially by way of ticketing through ATMs,’ are about 20 per cent of the total ticket sales.

During the last fiscal (April 2006 to March 2007), PVR’s net profit had gone up by 93 per cent to Rs 105 million. According to Arora, PVR’s net profit during the last two quarters of this financial year (April-June 2007 and July- September 2007) has already surpassed this and is in excess of Rs 120 million.

MUMBAI: It is going to be a depressing Christmas for Hollywood.

Talks between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Alliance Of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) broke down last Friday. There has been no indication so far as to when talks will resume.

The WGA went on strike over a month back. They want a better share in new media revenues. The breakdown came after eight days of talks in which not much was achieved.

In a statement the AMPTP says that it is puzzled and disheartened by an ongoing WGA negotiating strategy that seems designed to delay or derail talks rather than facilitate an end to this strike. “Union negotiators in our industry have successfully concluded 306 major agreements with the AMPTP since its inception in 1982. The WGA organisers sitting across the table from us have never concluded even one industry accord.”

The WGA, meanwhile, says that the AMPTP on Friday abruptly ended negotiations by once again walking out and leaving its negotiators alone at the table.

“They are holding to their offer of a $250 fixed residual for unlimited one year streaming after a six-week window of free use. They still insist on the DVD rate for Internet downloads. They refuse to cover original material made for new media. This offer was accompanied by an ultimatum: the AMPTP demands we give up several of our proposals, including Fair Market Value (our protection against vertical integration and self-dealing), animation, reality, and, most crucially, any proposal that uses distributor’s gross as a basis for residuals.

“This would require us to concede most of our Internet proposal as a precondition for continued bargaining. The AMPTP insists we let them do to the Internet what they did to home video.”

The WGA says that it rejected the idea of an ultimatum. “Although a number of items we have on the table are negotiable, we cannot be forced to bargain with ourselves. The AMPTP has many proposals on the table that are unacceptable to writers, but we have never delivered ultimatums.

” We remain ready and willing to negotiate, no matter how intransigent our bargaining partners are, because the stakes are simply too high. We were prepared to counter their proposal tonight, and when any of them are ready to return to the table, we’re here, ready to make a fair deal.”

The AMPTP says that besides betraying a fundamental misunderstanding of the economics of new media, such as a streaming proposal that would require producers give writers more money than they make themselves, the WGA organisers are on an ideological mission far removed from the interests of their members.

“Their Quixotic pursuit of radical demands led them to begin this strike, and now has caused this breakdown in negotiations. We hope that the WGA will come back to this table with a rational plan that can lead us to a fair and equitable resolution to a strike that is causing so much distress for so many people in our industry and community.”

The AMPTP says that WGA demands full control over reality television and animation. “In other words, they want us to make membership in their union mandatory to work in this industry – even though thousands of people in reality and animation have already chosen not to join the WGA.”

The AMPTP further argues that the WGA‘s proposal for Internet compensation could actually cost producers more than they receive in revenues, thereby dooming the Internet media business before it ever gets started.

It is not just writers and producers that are affected. Many service providers to the entertainment industry are starting to feel the pinch. Production workers rallied in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday to urge the two parties to strike a deal.

The ‘Strike A Deal‘ march and rally was the result of “a spontaneous grass-roots outgrowth of the concern and desire and below-the-line industry professionals and vendors whose jobs, livelihoods and futures hang in the balance,” according to a statement posted on its blog, Strikeadeal.blogspot.com.

Reports state that 15,000 jobs have already been lost. California‘s economy is said to be losing over $20 million each day.