Category: Movies

NEW DELHII: Firaaq, the first directorial venture of actress Nandita Das, has won the ‘Best feature film‘ award at the closing ceremony of the 7th Kara Film Festival – Karachi International Film Festival 2009 – in Pakistan.The closing capped 12 days of screenings and events that showcased over 140 films from over 230 films initially selected. Films from 44 countries participated in Pakistan‘s premier international film festival.

Indian filmmakers Mahesh Bhatt and Das attended the closing ceremony along with Pakistani filmmakers such as Mazhar Moin and Faseeh Bari Khan, whose film Burnes Road Ki Nilofer picked up two awards.

Firaaq is produced by Percept Picture Company and is yet to release in India.

The Festival jury cited the film for “its brutal honesty and candor” and its “optimism about generating a larger understanding for resolving conflicts and humanity itself.” It also expressly emphasized that while “many people might mistakenly believe, especially given the current state of relations between the governments of Pakistan and India, that the choice of Firaaq is an attempt by a festival based in Pakistan to embarrass India regarding its record in Gujarat”, the jury‘s “reasons for choosing Firaaq are far removed from such politicking.”

Firaaq, set over a 24-hour period after carnage that took place in Gujarat in 2002, traces the emotional journeys of ordinary people – some who were victims, some perpetrators and some who chose to watch silently. As an ensemble film, it follows multiple narratives that are at times interconnected and at times discreet; yet all are united by their spatial and emotional context.

MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures will release its upcoming flick Delhi-6 in 1200 screens on 20 February across India. The company is also planning to release the film in more then 220 screens in the overseas market.

In the Middle East, the Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra (Rang De Basanti fame) directed film will release a day ahead. The cast including Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor and Mehra, will attend special screenings in Dubai on 18 February and in New Delhi on 19 February.

UTV has partnered with the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), where the first glimpses of the film were shown in December at DIFF‘s fifth edition.

Says DIFF artistic director Masoud Amralla al Ali, “Delhi 6, with its themes of community, belonging and love, falls perfectly in line with DIFF‘s credo, ‘Building Bridges, Meeting Minds.’ We are honoured to provide a platform for UTV and Mehra to share their newest collaboration with Dubai audiences.”

The film follows American-born Roshan (Bachchan), who brings his ailing grandmother back to India. The backdrop of the story is the ancient walled city of Delhi, which represents the chaos, religion, beliefs and ethos of the Indian people.

NEW DELHI: Five lucky aspirants from the Amity University Campus in NOIDA are to be shortlisted to act in a future film for eminent producer Vashu Bhagnani, whose latest film Kal Kissne Dekha introduces his son Jackky and late filmmaker Manmohan Desai’s grand-daughter Vaishali Desai in the lead.

The performances by about 5,000 students during a Youth Festival on the occasion of Valentine’s Day today were recorded and the names of three boys and two girls would be picked from among these. The stars of Kal Kissne Delhi – senior actor Rishi Kapoor, Jackky Bhagnani and Vaishali Desai – along with Vashu himself participated in the celebrations.

Made under the banner of Puja Films, the film has been directed by Vivek Sharma and is being released on 3 April.

Jackky Bhagnani said, “Kal Kissne Dekha is a youthful film and with this contest, I believe that we can straight away make the youth a part of it. On the other hand they will get a chance to work in films and people will get to know about my movie.”

Kal Kissne Dekha is a romantic thriller film. It revolves around a small town boy named Nihaal Singh. With numerous dreams, he reaches the buzzing Mumbai city where he faces a number of hardships which he had never imagined. The story depicts the adversity of this guy whose fate keeps him as an underdog.

MUMBAI: Independent film and DVD producer Paragon Pictures has launched an in-house distribution company Osiris Entertainment.

Osiris Entertainment will sell Paragon Pictures’ feature film slate to the global broadcast and home entertainment marketplace. It will also represent releases from independent producers and plans to acquire two titles per month through 2009.

“We created Osiris Entertainment to serve not only the portfolio of Paragon titles, but also to bring transparency and accountability to the distribution of films from our independent production partners,” says Paragon Pictures president Evan Crooke.

The company has roped in Heidi Meier as Vice President – distribution to head the new division. In her new role, Meier will oversee acquisitions and new project development as well as manage all retail marketing campaigns. She will report directly to Evan Crooke.

Adds Crooke, “Meier brings to Osiris an extensive background in all facets of home entertainment marketing and distribution and we look forward to benefitting from her vast experience and expertise in the industry as we introduce our company throughout the worldwide marketplace.”

MUMBAI: The habit of lifting entire films frame by frame from non-Indian films is still ingrained in the Indian film industry

. Why can‘t India develop our home-grown creative talent to do original work?
This is a question to be addressed at one of the sessions at the Ficci Frames Convention to be held from 17-19 February in Mumbai. The session, “Copy, Cut, Paste to Indian Taste: Films in India” will bring together filmmakers Mahesh Bhatt, Imtiaz Ali, Shimnit Amin, Rohan Sippy, Dibankar Banerjee, and screenwriter Jaipdeep Sahni.

This year America is Frames‘ partner country. Keeping that in mind, the session “Overcoming obstacles to doing business in the world‘s two largest film markets (India and the USA)” looks at the challenges of excessive taxation, market access restrictions, labour strife and intellectual property disputes. I&B secretary Sushma Singh will deliver the session keynote. Panelists will be Anadil Hossain (Producer, Namesake and Darjeeling Limited), Elizabeth Daley (Dean, USC School of Cinematic Arts), Farokh Balsara (Leader, Entertainment Practice, Ernst & Young.)

Indian film pioneer Satyajit Ray

is the subject of a session which will assess how India‘s contemporary films match up to Ray‘s. Session moderator is filmmaker Govind Nihalani. Panelists include Javed Akhtar, Sharmila Tagore, Aparna Sen and Mrinal Sen.

Another session “Business of filmmaking 2008: agony or ecstasy?” examines the issue of why, despite the influx of capital into filmmaking, distribution and exhibition, 2008 has been one of the worst years ever for the Indian film industry.

Panelists include Goldie Behl, Vishesh Bhatt (Director, Vishesh Entertainment), Sunir Kheterpal (COO, Big Pictures), Vikas Bahl (COO, UTV Spotboy) and filmmaker Kabir Khan.

“De-risking the Cinema Business” will explore how does a small budget film become a box-office success with effective use of marketing tools? Faster TV broadcasts of freshly released films, and faster home videos releases are the new buzzwords. Mulling on this topic will be Ajay Bijli (MD and Group Chairman, PVR), Harish Dayani (CEO, Moses Baer), Madhu Mantena (Producer, Ghajini, Vijay Singh (President, FOX Studios India) and Ramesh Sippy (filmmaker).

Actor Kamal Hasaan will deliver a keynote at a session that looks at filmmaking in South India. A key issue to be covered is whether the industry should be open to outside investment or stay with the conventional structures.

The session “Globalisation of Indian Cinema” will trace the journey of Indian films into global theatres over the past decade. Looking at this will be Karan Johar, Jill Gwen (Distributor, Slumdog Millionaire), Pritish Nandy, Rahul Bose, Irrfan Khan, Tabu and Naseeruddin Shah.

For cinema lover and watchers, it can‘t get any better than this. So expect a full house.

NEW DELHI: Twenty school children aged between 11 and 14 have made a film on the terror attack in Mumbai on 26 November to highlight how the violent images have affected the innocent minds of the children.

‘MH 26/11 – Mumbai Under Attack!’ has been funded and supported by the Ryan Foundation under the aegis of Ryan International Group of Institutions.

The Foundation’s Managing Director Grace Pinto conceptualised the docu-drama when she found school children coming up to the teachers after watching the images and asking why terrorists killed innocent people and the mindset behind all divisions and violence.

Pinto and the teachers realised how the terror attack affected the innocent minds and decided to make the film under Children against Violence.

Children against Violence is a project that raises the voices and concern of the young minds against the terror and violence that we see in the 21st century. Recent terror attacks in Mumbai shook the minds and hearts of millions across the world. From candle light vigils to human chains or public gathering, everyone wanted to express solidarity and concern in their own way.

The 20 school children underwent a short filmmaking course for 20 days and besides directing the film, wrote the script, auditioned the right characters for the role, and even edited the film.

The children were trained and mentored by Utkarsh Marwah, the project director for the Ryan Foundation.

They hope that the world will take notice of the work done by these talented kids and showcase the message of how violence and divisions in society affects children.

The Ryan foundation has also planned to take the film across various cities in India, besides showing it to the Education Board before taking it to various festivals.

MUMBAI: Big Cinemas, part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, has now expanded its footprints to Greater Noida and Chandigarh.

The cinema chain has opened a four-screen theatre in the two regions respectively. While the new property of Big Cinemas at Ansal Plaza Mall in Greater Noida has a total capacity of 928 seats, the property at Paras Downtown Mall in Zirakpur has a total capacity of 1010 seats.

Says Big Cinemas COO Tushar Dhingra, “Both cinemas are the first multiplexes in their respective areas and are strategically located in the largest malls in their cities. These launches are in line with our plans to provide an international quality experience to rapidly growing catchment areas in the country.”

With the new launch, Big Cinemas now has a total of 198 screens spread over 78 properties in India.

MUMBAI: After attracting rave reviews for his latest directorial venture Dev D, Anurag Kashyap is now ready to release his next on 13 March.

Presented by Zee Limelight, Gulaal casts Kay Kay Menon as the lead protagonist and also marks Jesse Randhawa’s foray into Bollywood.

The film’s cast also includes names like Deepak Dobriyal, Aditya Shrivastav, Mahie Gill, Raj Singh Chaudhary, Ayesha Mohan and Abhimanyu Singh.

Penned by Anurag Kashyap, Raja Chaudhary and Aparna Chaturvedi, Gulaal’s story is similar to a Shakespearean fable. The film is an attempt to bring back poetry and songs to cinema to ‘inspire, shock and provocative’.

MUMBAI: US film studio Lionsgate has reported revenues of $324 million for the third fiscal quarter ended 31 December 31, 2008. This is an 8.4 per cent increase from $299 million for the prior year‘s third quarter.

Lionsgate, however, has posted a net loss of $93.4 million compared with income of $7.3 million in the same quarter for the previous fiscal.

EBITDA for the third quarter was a negative $88.9 million compared to a positive $11.7 million in the prior year‘s third quarter.

The loss was primarily attributable to the underperformance of theatrical wide releases in the quarter along with a reserve taken for the Company‘s HIT Entertainment North American DVD distribution deal due to several factors, including softness in the preschool non-theatrical retail market and unusually high returns from the field when Lionsgate took over distribution of the line. These losses more than offset gains in Lionsgate‘s television business.

Lionsgate co-chairman and CEO Jon Feltheimer says, “During the quarter, we were negatively impacted by some of the same broad economic factors reported by other companies in the media and entertainment sector. However, the primary factor contributing to this quarter‘s loss was the underperformance of our feature film slate. This will have a significant negative impact on our EBITDA and free cash flow for the whole year. Looking forward to fiscal 2010, with the solid performance of our television, home entertainment, international and library businesses, coupled with a smaller film slate and lower associated marketing costs, we anticipate significant positive EBITDA next year.”

The company‘s film backlog was $442.4 million at 31 December, 2008. Film backlog represents the amount of future revenue contracted but not yet recorded from the licensing of films and television product for television exhibition and in international markets.

Overall motion picture revenue for the quarter was $254.9 million, a decrease of two per cent from $261.0 million in the prior year‘s third quarter, as declines in home entertainment, international and Mandate Pictures offset growth in theatrical and television from motion pictures.

Theatrical revenue of $69.3 million increased nine per cent from $63.8 million in the prior year‘s third quarter. Saw V continued the strength of the Saw horror franchise and the documentary Religulous also performed well in platform release. The wide releases The Spirit, Punisher: War Zone and Transporter 3 compared unfavorably to releases in the prior year‘s third quarter.

Lionsgate‘s home entertainment revenue from all segments was $101.5 million, an 11 per cent decline compared to $114.6 million in the prior year‘s third quarter. There were no high-profile new theatrical releases on DVD in the quarter. Significant home entertainment titles in the quarter were Beer For My Horses and continued sales of Rambo, The Bank Job, Forbidden Kingdom and War, which were released in previous quarters. The Company has slated the releases of such major theatrical titles as Saw V, Tyler Perry‘s The Family That Preys, Bangkok Dangerous, My Best Friend‘s Girl and Transporter 3 for the fiscal fourth quarter to avoid the glut of major studio releases before the holidays, as it has done in the past.

Television revenue included in the motion picture segment was $39 million in the third quarter, a 25 per cent increase from $31.3 million in the prior year third quarter, led by titles such as Tyler Perry‘s Meet The Browns, Rambo, The Bank Job and The Eye.

Lionsgate‘s international revenue declined by eight per cent to $41.1 million in the third quarter compared to $44.6 million in the third quarter of the prior year. Principal revenue contributors in the quarter were Saw V, Punisher: War Zone, The Eye and Conan The Barbarian.

Television production revenue in the quarter was $69.2 million, an increase of 82 per cent from $38 million in the prior year‘s third quarter due to increases in domestic television series episodes delivered, $14.5 million of revenue generated from the company‘s joint venture with Ish Entertainment and revenue increases from the company‘s Debmar-Mercury television syndication business.

Primary contributors were deliveries of Mad Men Season 2 (AMC), Crash (Starz) and Scream Queens (VH1). After the end of the quarter, Turner Broadcasting ordered a total of 80 episodes of the House of Payne spin-off, Tyler Perry‘s Meet The Browns, to air on TBS this summer and in syndication next year. The television division remains on track to approach $250 million in revenues this year.

MUMBAI: After the termination of the distribution pact with Universal Studios last week, DreamWorks co-founder Steven Spielberg has moved into newer pastures to churn out the much-needed cash required to finance, market and distribute the Oscar-winning director‘s forthcoming slate in partnership with Reliance Big Entertainment.

DreamWorks Studios has secured a deal with Walt Disney Company. Under the terms, Disney will market and distribute at least six live-action films coming out of the Studio’s Touchstone Pictures banner each year. The first project from the production basket will be released sometime in 2010.

Reliance, a 50:50 partner with DreamWorks in a newly created company, will get to distribute these movies in India.

Under the new agreement, Disney will also provide a bridge financing loan to DreamWorks to match up to the $350 million coming in as equity from Reliance ADAG‘s pocket.

Disney stepped in after Dreamworks and Universal Studios axed their distribution pact signed last year following disagreements over financing.

The deal will help Disney boost its annual movie slate without incurring further financial risk. Walt Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook said, “Spielberg has made some of the biggest films of all time and continues to be one of the great icons of our industry. Thus, his motion pictures will be the perfect compliment to the already robust slate of Disney.”

Last year, post the DreamWorks Studios-Paramount break up, Spielberg partnered with Reliance Big Entertainment to build a $1.5 billion company that would finance 32 movies over six years.

However, stung by the ongoing economic recession bug, the funding would now be raised in various legs. JPMorgan Chase & Co is arranging a $350 million debt within three months. Reliance will put in a similar amount as equity.