Category: Movies

MUMBAI: AIM-listed movie studio Eros International has firmed up plans for a public float in India to ride the wave of a revival in the primary markets as capital overseas is drying up to fuel further growth.

The company said today in a regulatory filing to the London Stock Exchange that it would list Eros International Media Ltd, its wholly owned subsidiary company in India.

The company has appointed Enam, Kotak and RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) to act on the proposed Indian IPO (initial public offering). Eros is expecting to complete the exercise by the end of this fiscal year.

Eros said it will not dilute more than 25 per cent equity in the company. “It is currently intended that any new funds raised by Eros India in the Indian IPO will not result in a dilution of the company‘s ownership in excess of 25 per cent,” it said.

Eros is riding high on the two major successes, Kambakkth Ishq and Love Aaj Kal, and other regional films including Me Shivaji Raje Bhosale Boltoy, Tera Mera Ki Rishta and Kandasamy.

Eros expects the fund raising to help a material reduction in the net debt by the financial year-end.

For the fiscal ending March 2009, the company posted a net profit of $40.83 million on an income of $156.7 million.

Eros International is the second AIM-listed entertainment company that is planning an IPO. Recently Hyderabad-based animation, gaming and VFX company DQ Entertainment announced its plans to list in India.

MUMBAI: Last week‘s releases Wake Up Sid and Do Knot Disturb have taken a good opening at the box office.
Dharma Production‘s Wake Up Sid has collected over Rs 215 million at the worldwide box office in the first weekend of its theatrical release.

The movie, which was released on 2 October and distributed worldwide by UTV Motion Pictures, has managed to cross Rs 170 million in India alone with a 420-screen release.

In the overseas market, Wake Up Sid collected more than Rs 40 million on less than 200 screens, UTV claimed.

In UK, the movie grossed $165,934, while in the US it mopped up $355,532. In the Gulf, it grossed a per print average of $9,575.

UTV Motion Pictures CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur said, “For a primarily urban centric, coming of age romantic drama, its box office performance reflects that themes and subjects which were considered ‘niche‘ in the past have now completely broken into mainstream cinema – not just in India, but also in traditional markets, like the UK. The word of mouth the film has generated will ensure a long and successful run.”

Wake Up Sid is the story of a quintessential Mumbai rich kid who is wealthy, lazy, and completely lacking in focus. His meeting with a girl from Kolkata results in a ‘coming of age‘ for Sid.

Meanwhile, the David Dhawan film Do Knot Disturb opened slightly lower at around 60 to 70 per cent occupancy.

Said PVR Cinemas CEO Amitabh Vardhan, “Both the films have done good business. Wake Up Sid could garner a business of 80 per cent while Do Knot Disturb made an average business collecting around 70 per cent.”

Meanwhile, the fortunes of What‘s Your Rashee seems to be on the decline. The running time of approximately 3.20 hours has come as a demoralizer both within and outside the industry, despite distributors trimming the film by deleting three songs.

Of the old releases Wanted has been proclaimed a hit.

Meanwhile, the advance booking of Blue, which is to release on 16 October, started two weeks earlier on 4 October. “A ploy, just because two other films – Ajay Devgan‘s All The Best and Salman Khan‘s Main Aurr Mrs Khanna – will be releasing on the same day. This could work in favour of the Shree Ashtavinayak film,” says Vardhan.

MUMBAI: After Bal Ganesh, Shemaroo Entertainment is all set to woo children once again with Bal Ganesh 2 that will release across the country on 23 October

The 3D animation film has been produced by Shemaroo Entertainment in association with Astute Media Vision.

The sequel explores fresh new heroic tales of Bal Ganesh as he battles with the wicked and powerful rakshas Gajamukhasur, competes with the intelligent Maharshi Vyasa and his several naughty antics along with his Mooshak and friends.

Announcing the launch, Shemaroo Entertainment VP, Animation Smita Maroo said, “The overwhelming response to Bal Ganesh prompted us to consider a sequel and here it is! We are glad that Bal Ganesh 2 is the first Indian animation release of the year.”

Said Pankaj Sharma, director of Bal Ganesh and Bal Ganesh 2, “There are quite a few pleasant surprises awaiting all Bal Ganesh fans. We had great fun working on this film and Shemaroo has been very supportive in all our endeavours. We are confident that kids and families will enjoy watching this film.”

It may be recalled that Bal Ganesh won the best animated feature film and best animated character at the Lil Star Awards 2008.

NEW DELHI: Renowned filmmaker Priyadarshan, who recently won the National award for the best film of 2007 for Kanchivaram, today said that famed Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa had inspired thousands of filmmakers worldwide and continues to do so even after his death.

Inaugurating a two-day retrospective of Kurosawa’s films organised as part of the Delhi International Arts Festival (DIAF) in collaboration with the Directorate of Film Festivals and the Japanese Embassy, Priyadarshan said that the Hollywood film Vantage Pointmade barely two years earlier had been inspired by Roshomon, the 1950 feature film which was the opening film of the retrospective.

He himself had been inspired by Kurosawa’s style and this was his reason for paying a tribute at the opening of the retrospective, he added.

Later in an interaction, he said that such festivals like the DIAF were very essential to keep alive the cultural traditions of the country.

While refering to the popularity of Indian cinema in Japan, Japan Information Centre Director Kojiro Uchiyama said even the film Sholaywas inspired by Kurosawa.

Director of Film Festivals, S M Khan and DIAF Director Pratibha Prahlad were also present in the occasion. The other films being screened at the festival are Doomed, High and Low, Red Beardand Sanjuro at the Sirifort Auditorium on 3 and 4 October.

Best known in India for his films Seven Samurai (1954) and Roshomon(1950), Kurosawa was a filmmaker who was emulated by filmmakers all over the world.

The Magnificent Seven by Hollywood filmmaker John Sturges and starred Yul Brynner, Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, and Robert Vaughn made several years later was a copy of Seven Samurai.

China Gate made by Rajkumar Santoshi some years earlier is also an adaptation of this theme as are many other films like Karan Arjun where villagers unite to fight villains.

Akira Kurosawa (23 March 1910 – 6 September 1998) was a director, producer, screenwriter and editor. In a career that spanned 50 years, Kurosawa directed 30 films. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in film history.

In 1989, he was awarded the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement “for cinematic accomplishments that have inspired, delighted, enriched and entertained worldwide audiences and influenced filmmakers throughout the world.”

He was hired and worked as an assistant director to Kajiro Yamamoto. After his directorial debut with Sanshiro Sugata in 1943, his next few films were made under the watchful eye of the wartime Japanese government and sometimes contained nationalistic themes. For instance, The Most Beautiful(1944) is a propaganda film about Japanese women working in a military optics factory. Judo Saga 2 (1945) portrays Japanese judo as superior to western (American) boxing.

His first post-war film No regrets for our Youth(1946), by contrast, is critical of the old Japanese regime and is about the wife of a left-wing dissident who is arrested for his political leanings. Kurosawa made several more films dealing with contemporary Japan, most notably Drunken Angel (1948) and Stray Dog (1949). However, it was Roshomon that led to him being known internationally and won him the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

Kurosawa had a distinctive cinematic technique, which he had developed by the 1950s. He liked using telephoto lenses for the way they flattened the frame. He believed that placing cameras farther away from his actors produced better performances as they would not be conscious of the camera. He also liked using multiple cameras which allowed him to shoot an action scene from different angles. As with the use of telephoto lenses, the multiple-camera technique also prevented Kurosawa‘s actors from “figuring out which one is shooting him” and [invariably turning] one-third to halfway in its direction.”

Kurosawa‘s perfectionism showed in his approach to costumes: he felt that giving an actor a brand new costume made the character look less than authentic. Kurosawa did not believe that “finished” music went well with film. When choosing a musical piece to accompany his scenes, he usually had it stripped down to one element (e.g., trumpets only).

Red Beard (1965) was a drastic investment of time and money for Kurosawa (the production was such a strain to his customary hero – for 16 films – Toshiro Mifune, that he had a falling out with Kurosawa and would never again appear in one of his films ). Despite the film’s critical acclaim, Kurosawa spent the next five years trying to get a project off the ground. Dodes’ ka-den (1970) – Kurosawa’s first colour film and a daring stylistic reach for the artiste – had the unfortunate fate of being jeered at by most Japanese critics.

NEW DELHI: The 55th Annual General Meeting of the Guild was held in Mumbai recently. Senior film distributor and entrepreneur Manmohan Shetty has been re-elected President of the Film & Television Producers Guild of India.

Said an elated Shetty, “I am happy that I have been re-elected. A president of the Guild normally has a two-year term. I have just completed a year. In fact this election is a continuation of my post. Though I have no special plans, I will keep on tackling matters as and when they come.”

Raj Tilak, Ravi Chopra, Bobby Bedi and Dheeraj Kumar were re-elected vice-presidents and so were filmmakers Karan Johar and Mukesh Bhatt.

Manish Goswami and Sushilkumar Agrawal were re-elected treasurers.

Filmmakers Ashutosh Gowariker, Farhan Akhtar, Karan Johar and Vishal Bharadwaj were inducted into the Council of Management of the Guild.

NEW DELHI: As a pilot project, Helpage India has launched a special film festival of feature films

and documentaries on senior citizens. The festival will travel to various parts of the country over the next year.

The i’mage HelpAge India International Film Festival 2009 coincided with the International Day of Older Persons on October 1. The Festival has received about 30 feature films and documentaries from Israel, Nepal and the United States besides India.

The festival was launched by Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Mukul Wasnik who gave details of various schemes of the Government for the welfare of senior citizens.

HelpAge India has been involved in protecting the rights of India’s 90 million elderly citizens since 1978, said Mathew Cherian, a member of the NGO. It was also directly involved with about 10 per cent of this ‘grey’ population, facilitation and mobilising resources to make the society aware of the concerns of the elderly and about ageing issues and help the elderly in understanding their rights and make them play an active role in the society.

Cherian explained that the name i’mage was derived from the word ‘image’, signifying reflection that motion pictures are of ourselves, while the apostrophe breaks the word into ‘I am age’, unraveling the world of the elderly.

The i’mage emblem also incorporates a principal philosophy of HelpAge India’s activities – inter-generation participation. It was conceptualised by a six-year-old.

Speaking on the occasion, festival coordinator Satish Kapoor said that this was the first festival of its kind on elderly people and would travel to various cities of India like Pune, Chandigarh etc.

The films will also be shown to students of Mass Communication, Journalism and filmmaking institutes of various cities. It would be an opportunity to all the students to develop their understanding and perspective relating to elderly issues. This will help the students when they will plan to make a short film/documentary on elderly people, he added.

Asian Academy of Film and Television (AAFT) founder-director Sandeep Marwah offered his services to Helpage India to make features or documentaries on the elderly people through his institution.