ITV

Category: Movies

  • Indian Film Company commits $32 mn in upcoming projects

    MUMBAI: Raghav Bahl-driven Indian Film Company (IFC) is ready to pump in ?20.63 million ($32.12 million) towards its upcoming film projects.

    The Aim-listed company will predominantly fund these projects through cash generated by the group from exploitation of film rights. The Group is also evaluating the option of raising debt to fund some of its future investments in film projects.



    The company has lined up nine movies to release in FY 2010. It has acquired rights to two films while it will be co-producing the rest.



    Meanwhile, riding high on the success of movies like Ghajini and Singh Is Kinng, the company‘s net profit has surged 98.5 per cent to ?3.89 million for the year ended 31 March 2009, as compared to Rs ?1.96 million a year ago.



    Revenue stood at ?40.90 million, as against ?11.45 million in FY‘08.



    During the year under review, IFC has released eight films (Bhoothnath, Panduranga, Singh Is Kinng, Kidnap, Golmaal Returns, Dil Kabaddi, Ghajini and Little Zizou).



    Released in the fag end of the calendar year 2008, Ghajini broke all existing records at the Indian box office to gross ?26.83 million (Rs 1.95 billion) with 1,500 screens. Singh Is Kinng, which was released in August 2008, grossed ?15.14 million (Rs 1.10 billion).



    The group also ventured into world cinema with three co-productions; Little Zizou, It‘s a Wonderful Afterlife and Road Movie. International sales agents have been secured already to sell these three films outside of India.



    IFC has also acquired the remake rights of the Hollywood film Italian Job from Paramount Studios, and script writing and casting are underway.



    A big benchmark for the company was the selling of music rights with defined period contracts, including the music rights to Singh Is Kinng, which were sold for Rs 107 million (?1.47 million).



    “Despite the overall gloomy economic environment, the group has been able to deliver good financial results and with a strong slate of films, is poised to expand with a healthy growth rate in the year ending 31 March 2010,” says IFC chairman Shyam Benegal.


    IFC held cash balances of ?0.94 million (?3.28 million including the term deposit) and had exploitation rights and investments in films and films under production with an aggregate carrying value of ?52.06 million till 31 March 2009.



    At present, with a portfolio comprising 35 films and a library of 54 rights bought exclusively for television syndication, the group is continuing to build on its strategy to develop and expand its library of rights for television syndication in the year under review. The television syndication model entails the sale of limited telecast rights for a limited period to multiple players. This model was extended to the overseas territories of the UK, North America, Asia and Europe.



    IFC plans to increase its own production slate. “The group is increasing its focus on mounting its own productions, which are in various stages of scripting, casting, shooting and post-production. The Group will be releasing some of its own productions over the next two years,” Benegal adds.



    While talking about competition, Bahl says, “We continue to live in difficult times where the competition is high, talent is scarce and creativity is selective. The group continuously endeavours to select projects that have capacity to entertain and content that attracts audiences and is commercially viable.”

  • Shemaroo releases three music-based films

    MUMBAI: Shemaroo Entertainment has released three music-based films titled Heavy Metal – Louder than Life, Punk Attitude and HYPE.

    These films feature the evolution of the respective music genres – what it means to its hardcore listeners, their relationship with music and the bands they follow. Shemaroo has exclusively licensed this content from Fremantle Media.


    Heavy Metal focuses on fan following and listeners loyalty towards bands they follow like Metallica, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Pantera, Megadeth, and Twisted Sister.

    Directed by Dick Carruthers, the film‘s DVD comes with additional features on the timeline of metal bands and rare performance footage. Heavy Metal – Louder than Life Vol -1 & 2 is a two-DVD set, priced at Rs 499.


    Punk Attitude is directed by Don Letts. The DVD featuring Punk Rock legendary bands The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, MC5, New York Dolls, and The Stooges. Punk Attitude is also priced at Rs 499. Other contents include interviews and live performances of bands.


    HYPE, showcased at the Sundance Film Festival, is directed by Dough Pray. The DVD features Seattle‘s famous bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, Monomen and Seven Year Bitch. HYPE is priced at Rs 499 and comes along with interviews and live performances of bands.

    Says Shemaroo Entertainment Director Hiren Gada, “By releasing these great films on DVDs, we are reaching out to a group of music lovers who follow international bands and are looking forward to content that add meaning to their passion. The history of these musical movements will certainly bring delight to its followers.”

  • Indian Film Company keeps slate busy for 2009-10


    MUMBAI: Readying an investment of Rs 1.61 billion ($32.12 million), the Raghav Bahl-driven Indian Film Company (IFC) is lining up a busy 2009-10 schedule.


    Apart from the Bollywood crop, IFC’s pipeline includes remake of the Hollywood film “Italian Job” from Paramount Studios. Having acquired the rights, the film is currently in its scripting stage.


    IFC has acquired the rights for Shortkut – The Con Is On and Luck that are expected to hit the theatres this July and September.


    The AIM-listed company is also co-producing Loot, Striker, King Kaun, Kaun Bola, Life Partner, Road Movie, Paanch Pandav, It‘s A Wonderful Afterlife, Banda Yeh Bindass Hai and Tamil Unlimited.


    Director by Neeraj Vohra, Shortkut – The Con is On will release in July and casts Akshaye Khanna, Arshad Warsi and Amrita Rao. Directed by Soham Shah, Luck, meanwhile, is scheduled for an August release and casts Sanjay Dutt, Imran Khan and Danny Denzongpa.


    Life Partner will release in September this year. Both Kaun Bola and Banda Yeh Bindaas Hai will open in theatres in November.


    Loot and Striker are scheduled for a March 2010 release. Also in the pipeline are 7 Days in Paris, a romantic comedy directed by Sanjay Ghadvi that casts Imran Khan and Katrina Kaif as lead protagonists. The film is expected to release in April 2010.


    It‘s A Wonderful Afterlife, a co-production with director Gurinder Chadha, casts Shabana Azmi, Sendhil Ramamurthy (of Heroes fame) Shaheen Khan (Bend It Like Beckham) and British-Indian theatre actress Goldie Notay. The film is expected to hit the theatres in April 2010.


    The other productions are Game, Ishq Unplugged, Fruit ‘N‘ Nut and Bombay Velvet.


    Additionally, there are untitled projects with directors such as David Dhawan, Anees Bazmee, Sabal S Shekhawat, Shoham Shah, Amrit Sagar and Priyadarshan.


    “We will continue to focus on distribution and exploitation of quality content that entertains audiences and gives commercial returns,” IFC director and Network18 founder-promoter Raghav Bahl said. “The group has focused more on mounting its own productions in order to generate higher margins and profitability. The Group has recruited talented directors with established track records, who are working on projects in various stages of production including scripting, casting, shooting and post production.”

  • ‘Gulliver’s Travels’ gets its bad guy


    MUMBAI: Chris O‘Dowd has been cast as the bad guy in the upcoming Fox comedy Gulliver‘s Travels. The actor joins Jack Black, Jason Segel, Amanda Peet and Emily Blunt in the big-budget adaptation of the classic Jonathan Swift story.


    The modern version is about the adventures of travel writer Lemuel Gulliver, who while on a Bermuda Triangle assignment gets sidetracked to the secret island of Lilliput. O‘Dowd will play Edward, Black‘s Lilliputian nemesis.


    Rob Letterman (Monsters vs. Aliens) is directing from a screenplay originally penned by Joe Stillman (Shrek 2), with additional work done by Nicholas Stoller (Yes Man) and Thomas Lennon & Robert Ben Garant (Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian). Black, John Davis and Ben Cooley are producing.

  • Actor Johnny Palermo dies in car accident

    MUMBAI: Actor Johnny Palermo, who appeared in more than 30 television shows in his brief career, died June 8 in an early morning car accident in North Hollywood. He was 27.

    His girlfriend, Alessandra Giangrande, who was driving at the time, was also killed, and her brother suffered serious injuries. Palermo and Giangrande were pronounced dead at the scene.


    Palermo was a regular on the Nickelodeon series “Just for Kicks” and appeared in three episodes of the CW‘s “Everybody Hates Chris” as Frank DiPaolo, Chris‘ recurring, overgrown classmate.


    Palermo also appeared in Cold Case, General Hospital,CSI: Miami, . This fall, the native of Rochester, N.Y., can be seen in the indie film Pizza With Bullets.

  • ‘CSI: NY’ producer inks new CBS deal

    MUMBAI: CSI: NY‘s Peter Lenkov has inked a new two-year overall deal with CBS TV Studios, as series producer. Under the seven-figure pact, Lenkov will continue as an executive producer on the crime drama, which returns for a sixth season in the fall.

    Lenkov joined CSI: NY after the first season in 2005 as a co-exec producer, but his association with the “CSI” franchise and CBS TV Studios president David Stapf dates back another five years.


    In fall 2000, Lenkov was a writer-producer on a new UPN series, Level 9, which aired in the 9 p.m. Friday slot against another rookie drama, CBS‘ CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He said he was so intrigued by the promos for “CSI” that he found himself watching the forensic drama instead of his own series.


    On the morning after the CSI premiere, Lenkov went to his daughter‘s soccer game and approached Stapf, then CBS‘ head of current programming, who was coaching the team. “I told David Stapf, ‘You have the best show on television,‘ ” Lenkov recalled. “I was so impressed by ‘CSI‘ and wanted to be in involved in that franchise.”


    Lenkov and Stapf crossed paths professionally in 2003 when Lenkov joined the CBS‘ The District as a co-executive producer. There he worked with Pam Veasey, who soon became the drama ‘s showrunner.


    After a one-season stint on Fox‘s 24, Lenkov got a call in 2005 from Veasey, then newly minted exec producer-showrunner of CSI: NY, who invited him to join the series.

  • ‘Earl’ won’t move to TBS


    MUMBAI: Despite interest from TBS to continue the canceled NBC series with new episodes, both 20th Century Fox TV and creator/executive producer Greg Garcia have opted not to move forward, putting an end to the offbeat comedy after four seasons.


    The decision came after the studio conducted preliminary talks with TBS and examined the cuts it would have had to make to produce the single-camera broadcast series for the cable network.


    “While we had hoped to find a way to produce additional episodes for TBS, in the final analysis we simply could not make the economics work without seriously undermining the artistic integrity of the series,” 20th TV said Thursday. “As none of us, Greg included, want the show to go out on anything but a high note, we regret that we must put to rest any speculation that Earl will continue.”


    We are grateful to everyone at TBS for their enthusiasm for the series and wish to offer our heartfelt thanks to the cast and crew of My Name Is Earl for their incredible work.”


    TBS owns off-network syndication rights to the comedy and will begin airing it in the fall.

  • BBC Asian Network to broadcast live from Iifa Awards

    MUMBAI: BBC has announced that BBC Asian Network‘s Love Bollywood presenters Raj and Pablo will bring their show live from the International Indian Film Awards (IIFAs) in Macau, China, on 13 and 14 June.

    In its tenth year, the Awards are expected to attract Bollywood acts such as Amitabh Bachan, Ashwariya Rai Bachan, Hrithik Roshan, Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra to name just a few.


    The event will be hosted by Ritesh Deshmukh, Boman Irani and Lara Dutta.


    This year the event will also play host to British pop star Peter Andre who is reported to be performing some of his hit songs such as Mysterious Girl and Flava.


    BBC Asian Network will be embracing Bollywood fever by launching the first Bollywood Player. This will syndicate the best Bollywood content from the Network on to the web, giving audiences the latest photos, star interviews and features.


    The material will include interviews from the stars, content from shows such as Love Bollywood, with film news, gossip and reviews from various showbiz commentators from across BBC Asian Network including Malini Agarwal and the Asian Network‘s Entertainment Reporter Shabnam Mahmood.


    Bollywood content will be on the Bollywood Player during the Iifas. The site will be updated daily with pictures and video footage with backstage interviews.

  • ’99’ grosses Rs 170.7 million in three weeks

    MUMBAI: After a three-week gross box-office collection amounting to
    Rs 170.7 million, 99 continues to hold strong in its fourth week too playing in 225 screens, despite the fact that five new films released last Friday.

    Made on a modest budget of Rs 80 million, the film was released on 15 May. Audience reactions and strong word-of-mouth helped the film to sustain collections right through the third week of release.


    Playing in 225 screens in week 4, the film has had a startlingly low drop week-on-week, and has surprised even the filmmakers. The film grossed Rs 76 million from 430 screens, Rs 53 million from 358 screens and Rs 42 million from 252 screens worldwide in its first three weeks respectively. The net box-office collection was Rs 54 million for week 1,
    Rs 38 million for week 2 and Rs 29.8 million for week 3, bringing the total net box-office for 3 weeks to 121.7 million.


    Commenting on the film‘s performance, producers Anupam Mittal and Aditya Shastri say, “The film has exceeded our expectations and we‘re pleased with the results. The film is in its fourth week and is still going very strong.”


    99 is a story inspired by real events in 1999 and 2000. It is as much “what could have been” as it is “what really happened.” In other words, it is historical action. It spans a few genres, it is slick, fast-paced, realistic and, importantly, very funny.


    The movie is an unpredictable and hilarious ride spread over two cities with colourful characters, unbelievable circumstances, small-time crooks, big-time conspiracies, fateful car crashes, loads of coffee, a briefcase full of money, a budding romance and a historical controversy brewing in the background.

  • NDTV Lumiere screens The Orphanage in Chandigarh

    MUMBAI: NDTV Lumi?re has begun its theatrical releases at Chandigarh with the critically-acclaimed Spanish thriller, The Orphanage.

    After successful theatrical releases across eight cities in India, Chandigarh happens to be the latest world cinema destination in India. The Orphanage is now showing at 10.35 p.m. at Fun Cinemas, Mani Majra.


    Commented NDTV Lumiere business head Dhruvank Vaidya, “We are very excited to start our theatrical releases in Chandigarh beginning with The Orphanage which was the highest grossing film in Spain in 2007 and was its official entry to the Oscars.


    “We are confident that film lovers in Chandigarh who currently don‘t have easy access to contemporary world cinema will greatly enjoy watching this film. With releases starting in Chandigarh, NDTV Lumiere further extends its association with Fun Cinemas.”


    Says Fun Cinemas senior VP, marketing, Shirish Handa, “Fun Cinemas is delighted to strengthen its relationship with NDTV Lumiere by hosting their movies in Chandigarh. Through this platform, we will be able to expose the audience of Chandigarh to world-class cinema rich in film-making craft and new, unexplored narratives. At Fun Cinemas we try to bring to the audience new experiences on this big screen and this is a continuation of that effort.”



    The recipient of the Barcelona Awards 2007 for Best Film and Best Actor, among 7 others, The Orphanage produced by the renowned Guillermo Del Toro and starring Spanish actress Bel?n Rueda and Geraldine Chaplin (grand-daughter of Charlie Chaplin) has been directed by the award-winning filmmaker Juan Antonio Bayona.