Category: Movies

MUMBAI: Filmlab technical director Ujwal N.Nirgudkar will be making a presentation ‘Bollywood-The Story of Indian Cinema’ at the annual International conference of Association of Cinema & Video Laboratories (ACVL) of USA on 5 June in California.

Incidentally, Nirgudkar is the first Indian to be selected on the board of ACVL, an organization which started operating in 1953.

This 45-minute presentation that has been invited by ACVL because of the recent success of Slumdog Millionaire, will be about technical and historical developments in the Indian Film Industry.

The presentation will cover events from Late Dadasaheb Phalke‘s contribution to Indian Cinema to the current events and will cover industry efforts in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore and other parts of India. It will also have some statistics about the Indian film history.

MUMBAI: Percept Picture Company (PPC) will be investing Rs 1.5 billion in a nine-movie line up slated for later release, chief executive officer Navin Shah tells Indiantelevision.com.

PPC has entered into enduring tie-ups with eminent directors such as Madhur Bhandarkar, Nagesh Kukunoor, David Dhawan, Priyadarshan and Aneez Bazmee. The future movies will be created from this talent pool.

Apart from these future projects, PPC has also lined up a slate of films for 2009-10. The first to come out of the Percept stable will be 24×7 Raftaar, a movie directed by Shamim Desai, followed by Madhur Bhandarkar’s Jail.

Then there are films like Bumm Bumm Bole directed by Priyadarshan, Aashayein and Yeh Hausla directed by Nagesh Kukunoor, and Carry on Pandu directed by Chandrakant Kulkarni.

Percept started the year with Firaaq, Kanchivaram and 8×10 Tasveer. Says Shah, “PPC is ready with the next set of releases, the first being 24x7Raftaar which is scheduled for August 2009 release followed by Madhur Bhandarkar’s Jail. We eagerly await the strike to get over as we are ready with most of our films.”

Percept Picture Company is a part of Percept Holdings, a strategic holding company that promotes, owns and manages a spectrum of marketing communication companies. Percept Holdings has a capitalised billing of Rs 16.5 billion and employs over 1,000 employees in 64 offices across 22 locations.

MUMBAI

: Blockbuster Inc. has been told to pay $300,000 to resolve a lawsuit alleging that the video rental chain overcharged some of its customers in California for candy, popcorn, movies and other merchandise. Dallas-based Blockbuster has more than 500 stores in California.

The stipulated judgment that was pronounced on Monday ends a nearly five-year investigation into the way Blockbuster rang up sales in 14 California counties.

The judgment against Blockbuster consists primarily of $237,750 in penalities that will help fund consumer protection programmes in San Diego and Los Angeles counties.

The remaining $62,250 in investigation costs will be divided among 14 counties like San Diego, Los Angeles, Kern, Napa, Sacramento, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara and Stanislaus, Ventura, Riverside, Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo and Orange.

The probe found more than 3,800 discrepancies between the final sales price and the prices that had been advertised or posted in the 82 stores where the problems surfaced, said Gina Darvas, a deputy district attorney for San Diego County.

None of the alleged overcharging, however, involved video rentals, Darvas claimed. But inaccurate prices were found on various concessions and movies for sale which led to registering of unfair business practice lawsuit.

“This does not reflect the way we conduct business at our stores,” Blockbuster said in a statement. “We have assured the state that we will continue to take the necessary steps to ensure pricing for the products in our stores is accurate.”

MUMBAI: Adlabs Films USA is opening a new theatre in Niles, IL under their brand ‘Big Cinemas‘. The new 5-screen complex has an auditorium capacity of 1,300 seats per showing in 26,549 sq. feet of space. The movie theatre in Chicago will start free previews from 22 May and the opening happens on 29 May, the company said.

The theatre is Dolby Digital Surround and High Gain wall-to-wall screens. It introduces the ‘Ebony Lounge‘ a full service restaurant and bar featuring night menu till 2 am. Additional services and features for customers include online advance ticketing, ticketing kiosks and customer reward programmes.

The programme calendar would include latest Bollywood films, along with Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Marathi and Punjabi films as well as World Cinema from different ethnicities such as Korean, Chinese and Polish. It will also be showing live telecasts of cricket matches and other events.

MUMBAI: Producers and plex owners failed to thrash out a solution once again, fighting over revenue shares and the way movies need to be distributed across theatre chains.

At a crucial meeting held today afternoon at a five-star hotel in Mumbai,
the United Producers and Distributors Forum (UPDF) and the multiplex owners renewed their spat.

The bone of contention was the distribution strategy of release. While the producers felt they had the right to select the theatres where they wanted their films to release, the plex owners demanded that the supply of prints should be across all the multiplexes.

“On this point there was no consensus and unfortunately the talks failed again,” a film producer says on request of anonymity.

On their part, the multiplex owners offered their revenue share terms. For the first week of release, they were willing to part with 50 per cent, in line with the UPDF demand. But for week 2, the share of 42.5 per cent is something that the producers did not agree with as it was three per cent below their asking share. Similarly, multiplexes were willing to part with 32.5 per cent and 27.5 per cent in weeks 3 and 4, but producers are agreeable to 40 per cent and 30 per cent respectively.

Sources say the meeting was attended by producers like Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Ramesh Sippy, Ravi Chopra, Sunil Lulla, Manmohan Shetty, Ramesh Taurani, Vipul Shah, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Harry Baweja and Sajjid Nadiadwala.
Following the stalemate, producers are preparing to release their films at single-screen theatres and stand-alone multiplexes from 29 May.

This week two films – Detective Naani in Hindi and Nishani Dava Angtha in Marathi – are being released in multiplexes and single-screens in Maharashtra.

Multiplexes have taken a Rs 1.42 billion hit since producers have choked supply of their new Hindi movies from 4 April, according to Indiantelevision.com estimates.

MUMBAI: Film star Akshay Kumar was arrested under Section 294 and 34 of the Indian Penal code for obscene behaviour today morning at the Vakola police station. Since it was a bailable offence, the actor was released immediately. The actor who was on a foreign shoot for a month, surrendered before the police today.

It may me noted that at the recent Lakme India Fashion Week in March last, his wife Twinkle Khanna had unbuttoned his jeans in public when he walked the ramp for Tarun Tahiliani. The act was a part of Kumar trying to promote Levis unbutton jeans for which he is the brand ambassador.

Earlier Twinkle Khanna was also arrested for the same offence and let off on bail.

MUMBAI: Time is witness. Every year Iifa sees a host of Indian celebrities as well as international film personalities attending the Iifa Weekend.

This year too, it will be no different. The presence of Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan along with Hrithik Roshan, Shahid Kapoor, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Kangana Ranaut, Priyanka Chopra and Lara Dutt and producer-director Subhash Ghai amongst others promises to make the Videocon Iifa Weekend 2009 special.

Keeping the last year‘s trend alive, this year too Ritieish Deshmukh and Boman Irani are all set to play hosts to the Idea Iifa Awards and tickle the funny bones with their antics.

The 10th Idea Iifa Awards promises some electrifying on-stage performances with Sonam Kapoor making her debut and Kareena Kapoor‘s

mesmerising performance. John Terry and Frank Lampard will also grace the occasion.

The Videocon Iifa Weekend will be viewed by 600 million people globally and is expected to pull in thousands of visitors across the world during this three-day event.

The event will start on 11 June, while the prestigious Idea Iifa Awards will be given to the best in the Indian Cinema at a star-studded extravaganza on 13 June.

MUMBAI: In keeping with its endeavour of promoting the development of the Cinemas of India, the National Film Development Corporation Ltd. (NFDC) will conduct Screenwriters‘ Lab 2009, a 2-part screenwriters‘ workshop for writing and selling original Indian screenplays, in association with Binger Filmlab, the Locarno International Film Festival and the Entertainment Society of Goa.

A 2-part workshop, Screenwriter‘s Lab 2009 is designed to prepare screenwriters‘ with original Indian stories for working with the international filmmaking market place. It aims at improving a completed screenplay in its final stages and to increase the international marketability of the same.

The first session will be held during the Locarno International Film Festival, Locarno, Switzerland from 8 to 12 August where participants will get first-hand experience of the workings of the international film community and get to train with their screenplay mentors.

In the second session at Film Bazaar, Goa from 24 to 26 November, participants will apply their training and pitch their revised screenplays to participants at the film market.

The workshop will be conducted by Marten Rabarts, artistic director, Binger Filmlab, aided by experienced international guest mentors.

To participate in the workshop, participants need to submit entry form along with screenplay in classic format, log-line, one-page synopsis along with screenwriters‘ CV in English.

Interested applicants can register online at www.nfdcindia.com or can email to writers@nfdcindia.com for application forms. Applications must reach the NFDC before 10 June.

MUMBAI: Two of European media company Vivendi‘s divisions, StudioCanal and Universal Music Group (UMG), have announced a partnership for the upcoming 3D animated feature, Around the World in 50 Years, at the ongoing Cannes Film Festival.The film will be released globally in the fourth quarter of next year.

As part of the agreement, UMG will handle all North American theatrical, DVD, television and non-theatrical rights of the movie which has all the hallmarks of classic family film. Moreover, UMG will also handle the soundtrack album on a global basis.

The film, being positioned as a buddy movie, is directed by Ben Stassen Fly Me to the Moon and is being produced at nWave‘s Brussels studio.

The announcement of the deal follows straight after the film‘s presentation to an exclusive, invitation-only audience at Cannes, as part of the international sales rollout. The presentation – which included almost 15 minutes of ‘immersion‘ 3D footage – was crafted and presented by former Dreamworks marketing executive, Peter Dunne who has signed on as an animation consultant for Studio Canal.

StudioCanal CEO Olivier Courson said, “I am delighted about this partnership. We first approached our sister-company Universal Music Group about the soundtrack which is so critical for an animated film, but Doug Morris (Chairman & CEO) was so enthusiastic that he decided not only to come on board for the music but also to become our partner for US distribution.

“We never even took the film to the market. This movie is another important step in our international production: 3D animation. We are happy to have partners within the Vivendi group who can bring together such a strong and diverse team of creative and marketing talent which this project deserves.”

Morris says, “When Jolene Cherry (A&R, Universal Records senior VP) first brought the film to my attention, I realised what a true gem it is. It combines the most innovative technology available today with great storytelling to convey an important environmental message. We are thrilled to be working with Olivier and his team on this important project.”

The soundtrack album to the movie will be created by Ms. Cherry and Vincent Herbert.

StudioCanal executive VP international distribution Rodolphe Buet stated, “We are thrilled to have secured such a great home for Around the World in 50 Years. We have long recognised that international success in family entertainment relies on a great US release and this deal allows us to begin work right away with our partners in putting together a first-class marketing, licensing and promotional campaign for the film.”

StudioCanal executive VP, international sales Harold Van Lier says, “With such a strong commitment from our US partner and our own distribution in the major part of Europe, our sales campaign has got off to a really strong start and I‘m confident that we will secure our other distribution partners very quickly.”

MUMBAI: Legendary Bollywood producer-director Prakash Mehra passed away yesterday after prolonged illness.
The 69-year-old Mehra died of pneumonia and multiple organ failure.

It was Mehra who cemented Amitabh Bachchan‘s career with Zanjeer in the early 70s as a angry young man that was followed by stupendous hits Muqaddar Ka Sikander, Laawaris, Namak Halal, Sharabi and Hera Pheri. Jadugar, their last film together in 1989, however, didn‘t do well.

Mehra started his journey in the industry as a production controller in the late 1950s but he switched to direction with Haseena Maan Jayegi in 1968. However, his first success came in 1971 with Mela which brought together the Khan brothers — Feroz Khan and Sanjay Khan – for the first time on silver screen.

Says Asha Parekh, who along with Dharmendra, worked with Mehra in the 1972 film Samadhi, “The news came as a shock to me, though I knew for some time that he wasn‘t keeping well. Prakashji was a wonderful person to work with. He was a director who knew all the intricacies of cinema. He was a man who believed in detailing everything. I for one have seen him rewriting the dialogues which he didn‘t like.”

In his long career, Prakash Mehra produced nine films, directed 22 films and wrote eight films. He even wrote lyrics for Chameli Ki Shaadi and Laawaris.

In 2006 Mehra was bestowed with the Lifetime Achievement award from the India Motion Picture Directors Association (IMPDA) for his commendable contribution to the industry as a Director.

Two years later, in 2008, he was presented with the Lifetime Achievement award from the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA) for his role as a Producer.

Mehra‘s health declined after his wife slipped into a coma. His conditioned further worsened after his wife‘s death. He was in the ICU and on ventilator following lung failure and infection.

Said an industry insider, “Prakashji had a very good sense of music and songs

. Most of the songs of his films were hits. O saathi re tere bina bhi kya jeena.”