ITV

Category: Movies

  • Pyramid Saimira promoter Saminathan offloads 6% stake

    MUMBAI: Faced with a tight liquidity crunch, Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd (PSTL) promoter and CMD PS Saminathan has sold 6.037 per cent stake in the company.

    The latest disclosure in the National Stock Exchange on Monday states that Saminathan has sold 1.7 million (1,707,000) shares in an off-market sale between 20 – 31 December last year.








    Saminathan now holds 5.08 million (5,086,614) shares, or a 17.99 per cent stake, in the company. Also, another promoter Uma Saminathan sold 152,839 shares or 0.27 per cent equity in the three months to December.


    Meanwhile, the company clarified that some financial institutions have sold off pledged shares of the promoters against short-term loans taken by the company to overcome a liquidity crunch it had landed into due to a tax issue and the huge loss suffered in mega budgeted film Kuselan.


    The company further said in a filing that it has always “intended to maintain the best of relationships with bankers and did not want any delays or defaults to any bank or institution.”


    As per the filing, in December last year, Income Tax department issued a bank attachment order against PSTL on a tax issue. Though the matter got resolved in an amicable manner, the company said it underwent a liquidity tightness on account of the same.


    In October last year, Saminathan was set to double his holding by acquiring seven million equity shares, or 24.9 per cent, for a proposed price of Rs 1.4 billion (Rs 200 per share) from NC Ravichandran and Nirmal Kotecha. However, in December, a fake letter from Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) caused severe battering of the stock value and resulted in termination of the deal.

  • Fame Cinemas to go heavy on Chandni Chowk to China

    MUMBAI: Multiplex operator Fame Cinemas is set to give maximum screening to the upcoming Bollywood flick Chandni Chowk to China (CC2C) since the last one year.

    The company said on an average Fame would be showcasing more than 20 shows of CC2C in each of its properties across India, starting from 7 am in the morning to 11 pm in the night.



    In all, Fame will be showcasing 251 shows daily across its 19 properties across India. This includes 121 shows among its 9 properties in Mumbai.



    Fame India Ltd AVP distribution, corporate sales and programming Aditya Shroff said, “We are confident that this movie would give us good business and we are supporting the film 100 per cent.”



    The cinema chain has also planned a contest for its viewers wherein one has to fill in a form and can win an all-paid trip to China for five nights six days with a companion free.



    The first lot of contestants would be given contest forms by star actor Aksay kumar and the winner of the contest would be given the prize by actress Deepika Padukone.

  • AR Rehman wins Golden Globe Award

    NEW DELHI: AR Rahman has bagged the best original score award at the 66th annual Golden Globe Awards for Danny Boyle‘s Slumdog Millionaire.


    The film also won the best director award for Danny Boyle while Simon Beaufoy swept off the best screenplay. Slumdog was also named the Best Motion Picture prize at the Golden Globe.











    While Wall-E bagged the award for best animated feature film, the award for best foreign language film was swept by Waltz With Bashir. Vicky Cristina Barcelona won the award for best motion picture-musical or comedy.



    Furthermore, the original song award was bagged by The Wrestler. The song was performed by Bruce Springsteen.



    Meanwhile, actress Kate Winslet bagged two awards in the categories of best performance by an actress – drama for Revolutionary Road and best performance by an actress in a supporting role for The Reader.


    The award for best performance by an actor went to Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler.



    Sally Hawkins won the award for best performance by an actress in a musical or comedy for Happy-Go-Lucky, while the award for best performance by an actor in a musical or comedy went to Collin Farrell for In Bruges.



    Heath Ledger took home award for the best performance by an actor in a supporting role award for The Dark Knight.



    In the television category, Mad Men by AMC won the award for best television series-drama followed by NBC’s 30 Rock which won the award for best television series-musical or comedy.


    The award for Best mini-series or motion picture made for television was won by HBO for John Adams.


    Anna Paquin swept the award for best performance by an actress in a television series-drama for True Blood while In Treatment made Gabriel Byrne bagged the award for best performance by an actor in a television series-drama.



    Additionally, Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin won awards in the categories of best performance by an actress and actor in a Television series- musical or comedy for 30 Rock respectively.



    Also the awards for best performance by an actress and actor in a mini-series or motion picture made for television were won by Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti for John Adams.



    Laura Dern took away the award for Recount in the category of best performance by an actress in a supporting role in a series, mini-series or motion picture made for television.


    Tom Wilkinson won the award in the category of best performance by an actor in a supporting role in a series, mini-series or motion picture made for television for John Adams.



    Finally, the Cecil B. DeMille award was presented to director Steven Spielberg.

  • Cinema Capital Venture Fund plans to raise $50 mn from overseas

    MUMBAI: Cinema Capital Venture Fund (CCVF) has kicked off its second round of fund-raising activity in India as it plans to build a corpus size of Rs 7.5 billion to support film companies who are in need of financing to scale up their businesses.


    CCVF is eyeing $50 million from overseas markets while the balance will be raised in India in three tranches. The first Sebi-registered film venture capital fund mopped up Rs 1.75 billion late last year, but is yet to invest in any projects.


    “Our second round kicked off on 7 January and we have raised a further Rs 250 million. We are in the evaluation process and hope to announce two of our major investments in February. These are film content production companies,” CCVF promoter Samir Gupta tells Indiantelevision.com. He, however, did not reveal the name of the two companies.


    CCVF is planning to raise Rs 5 billion with a greenshoe option of Rs 2.5 billion at a time when markets across the world are hit by financial woes.


    The fund, which has been launched by a group of media professionals, will make a string of investments with deal sizes in the range of Rs 300-500 million. Picking up minority stakes, the aim is to build a wider, diversified portfolio.








    “We are looking at content companies who are involved in producing films in Hindi and south Indian languages. We will help them scale up. Our stakes in these companies could range between 25 and 49 per cent but we would want the promoters to hold the majority,” says Gupta.


    Gupta, however, rules out seeding ventures which are in the film distribution and exhibition business.


    CCVF will be examining companies that have a track record. “We are looking at investing in content companies that have credibility in the market. The promoters should also have a five-year vision to take the company to the next level,” says Sanjay Bhattacharji, a key member in the senior management of CCVF.

  • IFC pockets Rs 5 billion at 2008 box office

    MUMBAI: The Indian Film Company (IFC) has announced that its releases since 1 April, 2008 have accumulated an estimated Rs 5.05 billion in gross worldwide box office takings.


    The company claims to have in 2008 set new opening week and opening weekend box office records on two occasions. In August, Singh Is Kinng created a new worldwide and India opening week and opening weekend box office records which was later broken in December by the Aamir Khan-starrer Ghajini, also released by TIFC in India.



    According to IFC, Ghajini set record breaking opening weekend and opening week gross box office takings in India with Rs 700 million and Rs 1.1 billion respectively.



    Ghajini was released on 1,500 screens across India, while Singh Is Kinng had been released on 1,400 screens.



    In October, the company released Golmaal Returns while in May IFC released two co-productions – Bhoothnath and Ranga Panduranga, a Telugu film which marked the company‘s entry into regional cinema.



    Recently, IFC‘s first international film, Little Zizou, won awards for Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Producer at international film festivals in New York and Singapore.



    In 2008, IFC also set a new model in the Indian film industry for the sale of music rights for a limited period by selling the Singh Is Kinng soundtrack rights for a limited duration, the company said. This practice was repeated for Kidnap and Dil Kabaddi.



    IFC CEO – advisory company Sandeep Bhargava said: “The fact that our releases have dramatically broken previous industry records speaks volumes for the quality of the film slate, as well as hard work of the team in maximising the revenue potential of the portfolio through innovative marketing and distribution strategies. 2008 has been a record breaking year for IFC and the company is well placed to continue strengthening its position in 2009.”

  • Rahman wins Critics’ Choice award for Slumdog

    MUMBAI: AR Rahman has bagged the Best Music Composer award for Danny Boyle’s ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ at the 14th annual Critics‘ Choice awards in America.

    The film that talks about the story of a young boy’s journey from rags to riches took away top five awards including best picture.








    While Boyle took home the best director award, the film also earned the best writer prize for Simon Beaufoy.



    Actor Dev Patel won the young actor/actress award.



    While Sean Penn swept away the best actor for Milk, Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep won a combined best actress award for Rachel Getting Married and Doubt respectively.

  • Ghajini pockets Rs 2 bn to top BO

    MUMBAI: The Aamir-Khan starrer Ghajini has raked in Rs 2.01 billion within two weeks of release, making it the biggest grosser release of 2008.

    While the film has drawn in Rs 1.62 billion from the domestic market, it has made Rs 390 million overseas. Ghajini was distributed by The Indian Film Company in India while Reliance Big Pictures distributed it internationally.



    According to Bollywood trade analysts, the Geeta Arts production has broken all previous box office records set by movies like Gadar: Ek Prem Katha and Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (DDLJ).








    Says Film trade analyst Taran Adarsh, “The film has been doing extremely well at the box office and seems to witness the same kind of success that films like Gadar: Ek Prem Katha and Hum Aap Ke Hain Kaun once witnessed.”



    Meanwhile, after being passed by the sensor board, Ghajini has also hit the Pakistan theatres today, 9 January. This is the first Indian film to release in the Pakistan market post the 26/11 terror attacks.

  • Excel, Walt Disney unveils Prince Caspian on DVD

    MUMBAI: Excel Home Videos and Walt Disney Home Entertainment have released the 2008 epic fantasy, The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian, on home video. The DVDs will be priced at Rs 599.

    Prince Caspian is based on the second novel in CS Lewis fantasy series, The Chronicles Of Narnia and is the second in the The Chronicles of Narnia film series from Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) was the first to be released in the film series.








    Upon its release on 16 May last year in the United States and Canada, Prince Caspian grossed $55 million in 3,929 theatres in its opening weekend, ranking number one at the box office while its worldwide total currently stands at $419.6 million.



    The bonus features included in the DVD are: Disc 1 – audio commentary with director Andrew Adamson and actors; Disc 2 – The bloopers of Narnia – deleted scenes, inside Narnia: The Adventure Returns, sets of Narnia: A Classic comes to life and Big Movie Comes To A Small Town – pre-visualising

  • India to have pavilion at European film market next month


    NEW DELHI: The Confederation of Indian Industry, in partnership with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, is coordinating the setting up of an Indian paviilion at the the first film market of the year, the Eurpoean Film Market (EFM), being held in Berlin in Germany from 5to 15 February.


    The Indian Pavilion at Hotel Marriott is aimed at creating awareness of the large growth in the Indian entertainment business. The India Pavilion would be the official place of activity for Indian delegates, government officials and international business and media.


    I&B secretary Sushma Singh is expected to lead the Indian delegation.









    With approximately 6443 industry professionals and 430 exhibitors from nearly 80 countries and 1105 market screenings, the EFM will provide facilities to network and enhance business.


    Indian participants at EFM are to be provided some free amenities at the India Pavilion: These include Business Lounge for networking, Internet point, Limited shelf space for literature/publicity material display, Poster space for companies promotional movies at EFM (available on first-come-first–serve basis), running tea/coffee station, and invitation to attend India-related workshops/networking sessions at the Pavilion


    CII and the Ministry are also publishing ‘ India -The Big Picture‘ Resource Directory on the Indian entertainment industry that will be circulated at EFM.

  • Excel Entertainment signs Ash-Abhi for next

    MUMBAI: After producing Rock On! that went on to redefine Bollywood film genre, Excel Entertainment has now signed up real life couple Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan for its future project – a thriller.

    To be directed by Abhinay Deo (of Delhi Belly fame), the yet-to-be-titled venture will go on floors on 15 June and will be filmed in locations like Greece, Thailand, Istanbul and London.



    Currently, the Ash-Abhi couple, who were last seen together in Guru, has been shooting for Mani Ratnam‘s Raavana.