ITV

Category: Movies

  • Magnolia acquires US rights of The Good Heart

    MUMBAI: Magnolia Pictures has acquired the US distribution rights of Dagur Kari‘s The Good Heart that stars Brian Cox, Paul Dano and Isild Le Besco.


    It also plans a 2010 video-on-demand (VOD) platform release under its Ultra VOD label before the film‘s theatrical rollout.


    The Good Heart that screened in Toronto recently stars Cox as the curmudgeonly owner of a gritty New York dive bar who befriends a young man he believes should inherit his business.


    Said Magnolia president Eamonn Bowles, “We‘re delighted to be working with Dagur, who has crafted a tribute to a New York institution – the dive bar. Brian Cox is one of the best actors working today, and gives a dynamite performance that we‘re excited to share with American audiences.”


    Magnolia‘s senior vice-president Tom Quinn, vice-president of acquisitions Dori Begley and head of business affairs Chris Matson negotiated the deal with Victoria Cook of Cinetic.

  • Jail and Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani to hit theatres on 6 November

    MUMBAI: After last week‘s two big releases Aladin and London Dreams, comes the release of another two big films this week – Ramesh Taurani‘s Ajab Prem Ki Amar Kahani and Percept Pictures and Madhur Bhandarkar‘s Jail.


    Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani, touted to be a fun film, is a love story packed with lots of laughs.


    The philosophy of Prem (Ranbir Kapoor) is to spread joy for and for this ‘The Happy Club‘ helps him. However, each time he tries to cast a spell of happiness, chaos reigns.


    Prem accidentally kidnaps Jenny (Katrina Kaif). Both fall in love with each other so much so that Prem gets set to do all that he can to make her feel the same way about him including helping her run away from her own wedding.


    Jail, on the other hand, is a serious film. Going by Madhur Bhandarkar‘s earlier films, this film might turn out to be his vision of today‘s jails.


    It is rumoured that the story of Jail is inspired from the life of a techie from Pune who was reportedly picked up by the police for sending a supposed anti-national mail, that subsequently was found to be incorrect, but the life of the techie indeed went for a toss.


    The story of the film revolves around Parag Dixit played by Neil Nitin Mukesh who leads a happy and comfortable life with his girlfriend Maansi (Mugdha Godse). However, he lands up in jail following a series of unfortunate events.


    Going back to the films that released last week, London Dreams opened strongly and remained mediocre throughout the first week. The film, according to trade pundits, will do good business, if not very good.


    On the other hand, Aladin proved to be a debacle right from the opening day. It‘s low business has sent shock waves across the industry. Understandably, its distributors would lose a massive chunk of their investment.

  • PVR inks distribution deal with Summit for Twilight series

    MUMBAI: PVR Pictures has bagged the exclusive India distribution rights of the films produced, co-produced and distributed by Summit Entertainment.


    While studio majors have been ramping up their distribution and production activities in the country, the Summit-PVR pact marks a step forward for an independent cinema company.


    Talking on the partnership, PVR Ltd Joint Managing Director Sanjeev K Bijli said, “By joining hands with Summit Entertainment, we have yet again given an impetus to raising the bar to provide world class entertainment to India. We are at the helm of business of entertainment and the year ahead is a very exciting one for us in terms of growth, business expansion and rich myriad slate of releases lined up. So every partnership that we strike would reflect strongly on our business plans.”


    Talking about PVR‘s marketing strategies for Twilight and New Moon, PVR Pictures‘ worldwide marketing head Ranjan Singh says, “Since we are releasing both Twilight and New Moon in a span of just two weeks, we have, on principal, decided to market both the films as a series under the name of ‘Twilight Saga‘. As a normal procedure, we will take the help of print, television, outdoor and internet to market the films extensively. Our website will be active from tomorrow and so would be the start of our promotions.”


    PVR will be releasing Twilight in 50 screens while the sequel will be released with 150 odd prints in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.


    Discloses Singh, “Twilight that was released in November 2008, has been around for sometime. Many people must have seen it or may be having the home video of the film. Hence, as a cautionary measure, we are releasing the film with 50 prints.


    “On the other hand, New Moon is releasing globally on 20 November, the day we are releasing Twilight here in India. New Moon will release in India on 4 December. Comparitively, it being a new film, we are releasing the film with 150 odd prints.”


    Though PVR has not got a hold yet on distribution of English films with its revenue remaining at between 5 to 10 per cent, Singh has an answer to that. “If, we can bring in the big movies like the New Moons to India, we can definitely chart our growth effectively,” he adds.
     

  • Elton John to be discharged soon from hospital

    MUMBAI: Veteran musician Elton John, undergoing treatment after contracting bacterial infection, is hoping to be discharged from hospital soon and resume his touring commitments in nearly two weeks.


    The British singer and pianist is reportedly keeping better after contracting bacterial infection E coli and a severe bout of influenza. He is hoping to resume his touring commitments in two weeks after cancelling a number of upcoming shows. 


    However, while the 62-year-old star is planning to rejoin rocker Billy Joel for their joint tour on November 14, friends of the singer say that he may be out of action for a longer period.


    John has been ill for two weeks but his condition worsened after which he was taken into an elite London hospital last Friday for tests.

  • Matt Damon in talks for True Grit role

    MUMBAI: Matt Damon is in talks with Paramount Pictures to star in Ethan and Joel Coen‘s remake of the John Wayne Western True Grit. Josh Brolin, who starred in the brothers‘ No Country For Old Men, is also in talking to them for a role in the film.


    Both Paramount and Oscar-winning writer-director team are moving fast on their re-adaptation of the Charles Portis novel. 


    Damon would play the role that Glen Campbell essayed of a Texas Ranger tracking an outlaw with a gruff U.S. marshal, originally played by Wayne, who won an Oscar for his role in the 1969 film.


    The story concerns a 14-year-old girl travelling into dangerous territory with the two lawmen in search of the man, who murdered her father, a role that Brolin would play.


    Bridges and Brolin have earlier worked with the Coens before, but Damon is new to their team of actors.

  • Intandem acquires global right of Ways To Live Forever

    MUMBAI: London-based film finance and international sales company, Intandem Films has acquired the worldwide rights of family drama Ways to Live Forever based on the best selling book of the same title by Sally Nicholls.


    Ways to Live Forever, that started shooting in the North East of England earlier this month, tells the story of a boy with leukemia who wants to live out all of his dreams before he dies.


    The film directed by Gustavo Ron, who also wrote the screenplay stars Robbie Kay, Greta Scacchi, Ben Chaplin and Emilia Fox is produced by Martyn Auty.


    The ?2 million project is an association between Life & Soul Productions and El Capitan Pictures in Spain, with extended support from Northern Film & Media‘s North East Content Fund.


    Said Intandem director, Billy Hurman, “We were immediately attracted to this beautiful, uplifting story and the emotional rollercoaster it takes the audience on. It is a pleasure to be working with such talented professionals as Martyn Auty and Gustavo Ron.”
     

  • Julien Temple to direct art heist film Fake!

    MUMBAI: Julien Temple better known for her direction in The Great Rock‘n‘Roll Swindle has aligned with Mike Downey and Sam Taylor‘s production house Film & Music Entertainment and will direct the company‘s $15 million art heist film Fake!


    Avers Temple, “Fake! is a story of dramatic intrigue and excitement from the complex emotional triangle between the three main protagonists.There‘s an element of To Catch A Thief about what they do. 


    “As becomes clear in his conversations with Welles, one of the most amazing illusions Elmyr maintained during all the years of his career as an art forger was that he was not a criminal and what he was doing was not a crime. He knew of course it was against the law but so was jaywalking or smoking a joint. What he did, unlike governments and politicians, didn‘t harm anyone else.”
     

  • Goa film fest to showcase 200 films from 50 countries

    NEW DELHI: The Fortieth International Film Festival of India in Goa next month will feature 200 films from about 50 countries and will for the first time award the best director as well.


    There will be about 65 films from 45 countries in the Cinema of the World. The continent focus is on Africa and Latin America, while the country focus is on the cinema of Italy, France, Poland, Croatia and Estonia.


    Films made by Indians abroad on NRI issues will be part of the ‘Film India worldwide’ section. Retrospectives in the foreign films category will include Gurinder Chadha of the United Kingdom, Manuel De Olievera of Portugal and Nonzee Nimibutr of Thailand. In addition, five anti-war films will also be shown.


    IFFI 2009 will commence on 23 November at the Kala Academy in Panaji and run for 10 days till 3 December.


    According to Festival Director S M Khan, “The best film award will be jointly shared by both the director and the producer of the film‘‘ and the winner gets the prestigious Golden Peacock award and Rs 4 million as cash prize. The Best Director and the winner of the Special Jury Award will get silver peacock and cash prizes of Rs 1.5 million each.


    The Indian Panorama will showcase 47 films – 26 feature and 21 non-feature films. In addition, the National Film Archives of India, Pune, will screen five vintage musical hits and three National Film Award winning movies – Do Ankhen Baara Haath (1957), Sagar Sangame (1958) and Apur Sansar (1959). 


    Tributes to Indian film personalities include Neelu Phule, Prakash Mehra, Shakti Samanta, Feroz Khan, Leela Naidu among others. The Films Division, Mumbai, will show documentaries on Indian music and musicians including Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Ustad Bismillah Khan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pandit Jasraj, Naushad, K L Saigal, Begum Akhtar and Mohammad Rafi.


    The retrospectives in the Indian section will include films from Assam, as the Assamese Film Industry is celebrating the diamond jubilee. The films of Jahnu Barua, Bhabhendranath Saikia, Santwana Bardoloj and Sanjeev Hazarika will be showcased.


    The retrospective will also feature films of those artistes who have completed 50 years in the film industry. Two movies each of Kamal Hassan, Asha Parekh and Saumitra Chatterjee will be screened.


    Spoof Cinema, mocking popular cinema, is the new entrant in this edition of the festival. Films such as Malegaon ka Superman and Gabbarbhai MBBS are part of this package.


    Among the parallel activities, Shiamak Davar will present a lecture demonstration on ‘Evolution of Dance in Hindi Cinema’ while Kishwar Desai will speak on ‘Hindi Films based on book adaptations.”


    A total 1200 seats in Madgaon and another 100 in Kala Academy, Panaji, have been added for the Festival this year

  • Raat Gayi Baat Gayi adjudged best film at SAIFF 2009

    MUMBAI: Pritish Nandy Communications‘ (PNC) forthcoming film Raat Gayi Baat Gayi recently won the Best Film Award at HBO‘s New York South Asian International Film Festival (SAIFF), 2009.


    The film that premiered at the festival was screened in the competition category. Director Saurabh Shukla and actor Rajat Kapoor were present to receive the award. 


    Raat Gayi Baat Gayi is an outrageous comedy that starts with a night of heavy drinking and partying amongst three married couples. The morning after dawns with zero memory, the possibility of a one night stand, a missing mobile number and one gorgeous woman.


    The film stars Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Neha Dhupia, Dalip Tahil, Iravati Harshe Mayadev, Anu Menon, Navnit Nishaan and Ranvir Shorey in lead roles. Written by Rajat Kapoor and directed by Saurabh Shukla, the film has music by Ankur Tewari.


    The South Asian International Film Festival is one of the important events on New York‘s cultural calendar where filmmakers from all over the world compete to be a part of it.
     

  • NFDC’s Haat premiered at Mumbai Film Festival

    MUMBAI: Haat, the latest production of the National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC), was shown at the Mumbai Film Festival.


    Haat, or Market, is a Rajasthani language film that stars mainstream Bollywood actors like Divya Dutta, Archana Puran Singh, Mukesh Tiwari and Yashpal Sharma. 


    A social drama set in Rajasthan and based on women empowerment, the movie is directed by debutante director Seema Kapoor.


    The story revolves around a woman, Sanja (played by Divya Dutta), who is tortured by her husband and the caste. Instead of being bogged down by the pressure of punishment, she throws away her inhibitions and stands up against this custom. She maintains her dignity and courage as a woman and gives new definition to womanhood.


    Talking about her directorial debut, Kapoor says, “I would like firstly thank NFDC for encouraging and supporting me by producing my film. This being my first film, I was wary and expected a lot of interference from NFDC but there was hardly any.”