Category: Movies

MUMBAI: A Wednesday, the critically acclaimed Hindi film produced by UTV Motion Pictures, is now ready to be remade in Tamil and Telugu.

Kamal Hassan has acquired the remake of the film from UTV and will now produce it under his production banner Raj Kamal.

The bilingual film will be called Eenadu and mark actor Chakri‘s debut in film direction.
Kamal Hassan‘s daughter Shruthi Hassan, meanwhile, will be making her debut as music director with the remake.

In A Wednesday, Naseeruddin Shah was the lead protagonist and Kamal Hassan will play Naseeruddin Shah role in both the versions.

MUMBAI: Hannah Montana: The Movie, the Disney channel flagship property that was adapted for the big screen, has replaced last week‘s release Fast & Furious to top the US box-office charts with a collection of $34 million. Fast & Furious, meanwhile, fell to the second spot pocketing $28.8 million.

Hanna Montana has been appearing as a marketing phenomenon in India for quite sometime now. And now with the box-office success of it‘s film adaptation, Disney channel believes that it will help build the franchise‘s brand-value in India better.

Earlier, in an interview to indiantelevison.com, Walt Disney Television International (India) senior vice president and managing director Antoine Villeneuve had said, “Hanna Montana is sure to have a great impact on building the brand value of this franchise in India.”

Directed by Peter Chelsom, the film has been co-produced by David Blocker, Billy Ray Cyrus, Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Steven Peterman and Michael Poryes.

Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, Hannah Montana: The Movie stars Miley Cyrus, Emily Osment, Mitchel Musso, Jason Earles, Billy Ray Cyrus and Moises Arias.

MUMBAI: With the producers and multiplex operators still at loggerheads, the latter had decided to opt for some alternate content mainly comprising small-budget and unreleased films to generate revenue streams. However, with the dismal failure of Ek Se Bure Do and Pal Pal Dil Ke Ssat at the box office, the plex-owners‘ plans seems to be heading for a phut!

Playing on the theatrical performance of the latest releases, the market is abuzz that these films will be pulled out within a very short period and that films of such kind may henceforth not find a way to the multiplexes.

Contesting this, Cinemax VP marketing Devang Sampat avers: “Both the films have indeed not done well. However, as per the agreement with the respective distributors, the films will be taken off only next Thursday and not earlier than that.”

Commenting on their programming format in the future, Sampat divulges, “We have decided to rework our programming strategy from week-to-week, but, yes, we are still not against exhibiting small-budget films.”

On its part, Inox did not release Ek Se Bure Do in Mumbai as part of their programming strategy but opened it in other territories including Gujarat, Rajasthan and UP. Says a senior official from Inox, “Ek Se Bure Do saw a 10-15 per cent occupancy across the Hindi belt. The film did not witness much promotions and therefore, as a strategy, we did not release it in Mumbai.”

“The other film Pal Pal Dil Ke Ssat opened to 10-15 per cent capacity yesterday but today it has improved to 25 per cent in our Mumbai plexes. In the states where it was released, Ek Se Bure Do was steady at between 10 to 15 per cent,” he adds.

The current scenario needs a good lot of rethinking on alternate content. Says Anil Nagrath of Nagrath Consultants, “What we should now do is wait and watch as to how many people go in to see these films during the week.”

Along with a possible bad content in films, it is the rates of admission that will be a deterrent factor. “Who will go to see a small-budget film at rates applicable for a big star cast movie?” Nagrath asks.

In that case, theatres will practically go empty. According to a rule, if a theatre has less than 50 people in the audience in a particular show, the management has every right to cancel the show.

Nagrath futher explains, “While anyone will pay a hefty price for a Shah Rukh Khan or an Akshay Kumar film, why would they pay the same amount for a film starring cricketers like Ajay Jadeja and Vinod Kambli or for that matter Arshad Warsi and Rajpal Yadav?”

The ultimate is that multiplexes will have to categorise ticket rates based on films, Nagrath suggests.

MUMBAI: ABC Family has acquired the network television premiere of several Disney movies as part of its deal with Disney-ABC Domestic Television.

The channel will air the television premiere of Beverly Hills Chihuahua in 2010. The network will also hold the television premiere of Walt Disney‘s upcoming 3-D movie G-Force in 2011. The film will be released in theatres this summer.

A Christmas Carol that releases this November is slated for a TV premiere in 2012. ABC Family also plans to premiere the studio‘s two recent films, Race to Witch Mountain and Bedtime Stories, in 2012.

MUMBAI: Big Home Video has released Aamir Khan-starrer ‘Ghajini‘ on DVD and VCD.

Apart from the film, the 2-DVD pack also comprises special features including ‘making of Ghajini‘, ‘making of the songs‘, ‘Aamir Khan‘s workout‘, ‘Aamir‘s injury‘, ‘deleted scenes‘ and the ‘Ghajini look‘. It is priced at Rs 399.

The 3-VCD pack, meanwhile, is priced at Rs 149.

Says Big Music and Home Entertainment chief executive officer Kulmeet Makkar, “We understand the need of our consumers and believe in offering the finest content to our consumers. With our pan-India distribution network we ensure that our products reach the largest audience. We are sure that the Ghajini home video, with its exclusive and special features will make it a true collector‘s copy.”

Directed by AR Murugadoss, the film stars Asin, Jiah Khan and Pradeep Rawat. Ghajini‘s music has been created by Oscar winner AR Rahaman.

MUMBAI: Piyush Jha‘s latest directorial venture Sikandar is set to be screened at the 7th Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) on 22 April. The festival will commence on 21 April and run till 26 April.

A co-production between Big Pictures, the motion pictures brand from Reliance Big Entertainment and Sudhir Mishra‘s CineRaas, Sikandar is a suspense thriller centering around an adolescent whose life changes drastically when he comes across a gun.

The six-day festival will open with Anand Surapur‘s The Fakir of Venice. The film is about two Indian con men who venture to Venice and find themselves in a strange land where their culture is commodified and exploited for artistic, political and spiritual purposes.

IFFLA will close with Megan Doneman‘s Yes Madam, Sir, a documentary profiling Dr Kiran Bedi, the first woman to join the Indian Police Service and a controversial and inspiring figure in India.

The other highlights of the event include Nandita Das‘s directorial debut Firaaq, Deepa Mehta‘s Heaven on Earth, Sooni Taraporevala‘s Little Zizou and Nina Paley‘s animated film Sita Sings the Blues.

MUMBAI: Noted Hindi filmmaker Shakti Samanta passed away today at 6.30 pm, creating a void in the film industry. He was 83.

Samanta was recovering from a stroke. His funeral would be held at Santacruz crematorium at 10.30 am tomorrow, a family member said.

Samanta churned out several box-office hits like Howrah Bridge, China Town, Kashmir Ki Kali, Kati Patang, Amar Prem, Aradhana and An Evening in Paris.

In all, Samanta directed 43 feature films, including 37 Hindi and 6 Bengali films.

Says yesteryear film actress Asha Parekh, “Today has turned out to be a very bad day for me. I cannot believe that this down-to-earth person is not amongst us anymore. A wonderful human being, Shaktida had a lot of music sense and was instrumental in dishing out memorable music in all his films. My hearty condolence to the entire Samanta family.”

Samanta is credited for starting the trend of making double-version films in Hindi and Bengali with Amanush in 1974. He also made the first co-produced film between India and Bangladesh in 1984.

Incidentally, Samanta was the former president of Indian Motion Pictures Association of India (IMPAA).

MUMBAI: Excel Home Videos has released Quantum of Solace, the latest from the 007 franchise, on DVD and Blu-ray.

The film releases in 4 SKUs. A two-disc limited edition DVD will be released for the bond fans and DVD enthusiasts. This includes ‘Bond on location‘, ‘start of shooting‘, ‘on location‘, ‘Olga Kurylenko and the boat chase‘, ‘director Marc Forster‘ and ‘music‘. This is priced at Rs 499.

The second is a one-disc plug and play DVD helping DVD-challenged users play the DVD without help. Both the SKUs include features in three additional languages including Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, available for Rs 399.

The third SKU is also a plug and play DVD and is targeted towards the Hindi audience. It is priced at Rs 149. The fourth SKU is the Blu-Ray, which is available for Rs 1199 as an inaugural offer.

In Quantum of Solace, Daniel Craig returns as the latest incarnation of 007. The plot follows directly from Casino Royale.

MUMBAI: Piyalir Password, written and directed by Raj Basu, is set to be screened in New Jersey on 11 April. This will be followed by screenings in Detroit, San Francisco, Houston, Boston and Chicago.

Produced by Priya Entertainments, the movie is the first Bengali venture to be shot entirely in the United States and will be released in Kolkata only after its US and UK releases.

The screenplay of Piyalir Password has been penned by Raj Basu and Saumitra Neogi and casts Rituparna Sengupta, Koushik Sen, Roopa Ganguly and Sabyasachi Chakrabarty in the lead roles.

While Vivek Banerjee is the cinematographer, the music has been composed by Bikram Ghosh.

Piyalir Password is about corporate conspiracy and medical ethics set in the biotechnology industry of the US

MUMBAI: B4U Television Network, which owns and operates a movie and a music channel, is venturing into the film production

and distribution business at a time when the industry is on a cost-correction course.

As a major chunk of the film producers have decided to withhold their new releases on multiplexes, B4U has decided to step in with its maiden distribution product. Ek Se Bure Do, a small budget film, will find way into the theatres tomorrow with Filmland Entertainments entering into a commercial arrangement with B4U.

Says B4U Television Network India CFO Vijay Thakkar, “Yes, this is just the stepping stone.To embark on a big journey, one has to start with a few small steps.”

Was the network taking the release of Ek Se Bure Do as a chance to get into the distribution sector? “To a certain extent yes, but most importantly we take this as a perfect juncture to diversify our activities,” says Thakkar.

B4U plans to distribute 8-10 Hindi films a year, but the scale up will be done very cautiously. “We are in plans to expand this business and, for a start, are currently talking to a couple of filmmakers. If all goes well, we will release these films in June-July,” says Thakkar.

B4U will also get into Hindi film production during the course of the year. “We have lined up 2-3 movies. We are looking at producing small-budget films. The plan is to add one more activity into the company. In any case, we have to source content for our movie channel,” says Thakkar.

B4U, which has been low on acquiring movie telecast rights for India, purchased 300 films last year. “Some of the titles included new movies like Victoria No. 203 and Anamika.”

B4U has been struggling with its two channels in India and has made no major investments to beef up content or distribution in the marketplace. The network‘s overseas operations, however, have been on course.