Category: Movies

MUMBAI: Shemaroo Entertainment has released the home production film Mere Baap Pehle Aap on home video. Directed by Priyadarshan, Mere Baap Pehle Aap is a comedy flick.

While the VCD of the film is priced at Rs 99, the DVD will be retailed at Rs 299.

This movie portrays unconventional father-son relationship, played by Paresh Rawal and Akshaye Khanna.

Archana Puran Singh, Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Shobana, Genelia D’Souza, Rajpal Yadav and Manoj Joshi also have played important characters in the film.

The DVD includes bonus content such as the making of the film, deleted scenes from the film and the promotional video ‘Mere Baap Pehle Aap.’

MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures has emerged amongst the top 20 film distributors in North America, according to the US box office performance in the first six months of 2008.

UTV releases grossed $5.48 million in the first 28 weeks of the year, making the company the leading Indian motion picture distributor in the United States and the only foreign language movie distributor in the Top 20.

The Company claims to have achieved this rank with three releases this year, namely Jodhaa Akbar ($3.44 million), Race ($ 1.37 million) and Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na ($539,857). The box office total was also supported by Aamir Khan‘s Taare Zameen Par, which was released in December 2007 but which continued its run into 2008.

“Entering the Top 20 is a major achievement for an Indian studio, given the fact that the market for Indian movies in the US is a small fraction of the mainstream American market. This is especially remarkable considering that UTV is one of the youngest Indian film distributors in North America, having established operations in the US only four years ago in 2004,” said UTV Motion Pictures CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur.

UTV’s latest release, Kismat Konnection, starring Shahid Kapur and Vidya Balan, has garnered approximately $280,000 in its opening weekend.

UTV‘s forthcoming films include Madhur Bhadarkar‘s Fashion, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra‘s Delhi 6 and Main Aur Mrs Khanna, a co-production with Sohail Khan Productions.

MUMBAI: Essel Group has floated E-City Bioscope Entertainment to set up a chain of budget cinema theatres, for which it has lined up an equity investment of Rs 1 billion.

The Group already operates Fun Cinemas in the premium segment. Talkie Town, Fun‘s value brand, focuses on single screens.

“We have invested Rs 1 billion and are creating ‘economy‘ cinemas. We see viability in the Rs 60-65 ticket model. We will have two-three screens in our multiplexes. Some will also be single screen theatres,” E-City Bioscope Entertainment operating director Gagan Goel tells Indiantelevision.com.

The Bioscope brand of theatres will make their first appearance in the state of Rajasthan. Ajmer will come up in February 2009, says Goel. “Our plan is to have 35-40 screens across 15 centres in Rajasthan over the next 3-4 years.”

Though the multiplex at Jodhpur is already operational, it is not low-priced.

In Rajasthan, Bioscope Entertainment has already acquired land at 10 locations and started construction work in six of them.

Bioscope also plans to launch in other states across B and C class towns. “We are evaluating the land prices. We will have a presence in the Hindi speaking markets,” says Goel.

Bioscope Entertainment will set up malls, food courts, kids zones and multiplexes. “We will sell the retail space and retain the multiplex. We are acquiring land for this, but will also have a model where we take property on lease like in Jodhpur,” says Goel.

NEW DELHI: WorldKids International Film Festival, which kicked off in Delhi from 25 July, will showcase over 30 feature, short fiction, and animation films for young children from India and overseas.

Organised by WorldKids, a brainchild of filmmaker Manju Singh, the film festival is screening two shows in the morning and afternoon meant solely for schoolchildren. The evening shows are open to the general public. All the shows are free.

Some of the countries from where the films have come include Italy, the United States, India, Iran, the Philippines, Canada, Germany, Israel, Cuba-France, Latvia and Kenya.

WorldKids Foundation is a non-profit organisation that promotes ‘entertainment with a purpose’. Using various media, WorldKids Foundation aims to make entertainment a learning resource for the kids.

MUMBAI: After opening to a record-breaking $158.4 million last weekend, Warner Bros’ The Dark Knight has earned $222.1 million from 4,366 theatres through Wednesday.

The film not only has earned the opening weekend title for itself but has also claimed the top numbers for a midnight opening ($18.5 million) and opening day ($67 million).

The film, whose production budget is $185 million, has earned $24.5 million on Monday, $20.9 million on Tuesday and $18.4 million on Wednesday.

The Dark Night, the follow-up to Batman Begins, is directed by Nolan. While Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan are the producers of the film, Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan, Kevin De La Noy and Thomas Tull are executive producers. The screenplay has been written by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan.

The Dark Knight is based upon characters in comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by Bob Kane.

MUMBAI: Adlabs Cinemas, part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group’s (ADAG) Adlabs Films, has opened a new multiplex at Kharghar’s Little World Mall in Navi Mumbai.

The four screen 1085 seat cinema is the first multiplex in that area just off the Mumbai Pune highway.

Adlabs Cinemas COO Tushar Dhingra said, “Our new cinema is strategically located right next to the Hiranandani complex and is also close to the Palm Beach Road both of which are premium residential localities. The mall attracts premium brands across all categories and is also in proximity to a large number of educational institutions – primarily engineering and medical colleges – with a large number of the student population residing nearby.”

Adlabs offers Xenon Projection Systems and DTS sound as well as widescreen viewing.

Adlabs Cinemas presently has 175 screens spread over 67 properties across the country.

MUMBAI: Following the success of Khuda Kay Liye, Percept Picture Company (PPC) is set to release another Pakistani Film Ramchand Pakistani on 22 August in India.

Directed by young Pakistani film-maker, Mehreen Jabbar, the film stars Bollywood actress Nandita Das, along with Pakistani actors Rashid Farooqui, Noman Ijaz, Maria Wasti, Navaid Jabbar and child actor Syed Fazal Hussain.

The plot of the movie is derived from a true story concerning the accidental crossing of the Pakistan-Indian border during a period of extreme, war-like tension between the two countries by two members of a Pakistani Hindu family belonging to the ‘untouchable‘ caste. It revolves around the boy and his father who accidentally cross the border into India from their village in Pakistan.

They end up spending five years in an Indian prison while the mother is left wondering about her husband‘s and son‘s whereabouts. The story aims to capture the plight of an eight-year old child who learns to cope with the trauma of forced separation from his mother while being held prisoner.

“The film is about a poor lonely woman who finds herself alone in an insensitive social and political system. The film is also a commentary on the mind set which declares the innocent victims of accidental and inadvertent border crossings as spies without proper investigation,” says Nandita Das.

Ramchand Pakistani is also the directorial debut for Jabbar, who has directed many television plays in Pakistan before this venture. The film was selected for the narrative section of the Tribeca Film Festival 2008, New York, and was screened at the Seattle International Film Festival, June and at 10 Osian Film Festival, New Delhi. It has been selected for the Rhode Island International Film Festival which is scheduled for 5-10 August.

NEW DELHI: Indian journalist and documentary filmmaker Rohit Gandhi has been nominated for an Emmy award in the ‘Outstanding Investigative Journalism-Long form‘ category.

The nomination is for a film called Who cares about girls shot in different parts of India. It concentrates on the evil of child slavery. The story of the documentary revolves around not merely girls stuck in slavery but also those who have been able to break free and are fighting for others.

The Emmy’s award nominees were announced in New York late last week. Gandhi co-produced the film in collaboration with the National Geographic Film and Television, New York.

The film starts with a young girl selling spices in a street in front of Jama Masjid. It then takes us into the lives of two sisters that have been rescued from middle class homes where they were working as maids. The crew follows these girls as they get rehabilitated in a village.

One of the main characters of the film is a Nepalese girl who was a sex worker at the age of nine and now has become an activist, helping other girls get out of the flesh trade.

The journey takes the crew to a brothel in New Delhi where a 14-year-old is serving many customers. She is finally rescued from the brothel but she is able to get out of custody only after the police fails to file a detailed report about how the girl had been rescued.

Gandhi told indiantelevision.com that around the globe, over 200 million children are engaged in child labour, often doing the most brutal or degrading of jobs. Even in countries as wealthy as the United States, girls face harsh lives as victims of sex trafficking or as migrant workers.

This film is part of the on-going efforts of Gandhi to work in the area of child abuse. He had also produced a film on Child Brides this year that won the prestigious Edward Murrow award.

Gandhi also works as an international correspondent for the Canadian Broadcasting. He does a daily report out of India on a channel called Dex TV. He spent six years of his career at CNN and has covered news, conflicts and disasters in Afghanistan, Iraq, Nepal, Pakistan, India, Kuwait, Burma, China and Sri Lanka.

MUMBAI: World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is changing the name of its subsidiary WWE Films to WWE Studios.

The aim is to better represent its focus on creating a diversified mix of filmed entertainment, including theatrical films, direct-to-DVD movies, scripted television movies, series and reality programming.

WWE Studios president Michael Lake says, “The name change reflects our focus on expanding the variety of projects that WWE intends to pursue, from theatrical films to direct-to-DVD to television and other media platforms. WWE Studios will continue to pursue opportunities which expand the integration of the WWE brand and its superstars into filmed entertainment.”

In early 2009, WWE Superstar John Cena’s latest theatrical film 12 Rounds directed by Renny Harlin, will be released by 20th Century Fox, under the WWE first look deal with Fox Atomic.

WWE Studios, in conjunction with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, also will debut its first direct-to-DVD film Behind Enemy Lines: Columbia starring WWE Superstar Mr. Kennedy.

Since the subsidiary’s formal inception in 2002, WWE has produced three films See No Evil, The Condemned and The Marine.

MUMBAI: The latest film in the Batman franchise The Dark Knight made a record breaking $158,411,483 in its opening weekend in the US. The announcement was made by Warner Bros. Pictures president domestic distribution Dan Fellman.

The Dark Knight toppled multiple records in its opening frame. The weekend box office total broke the previous overall industry opening weekend record by more than $7 million. Earlier in the weekend, The Dark Knight had broken records with its first 12:01 am showings, totalling $18.5 million; its opening day total of $67,165,092; and its record-breaking Sunday gross of $43,596,151. The Dark Knight also enjoyed a record-breaking North American opening in Imax theatres, earning $6.3 million in 94 locations, for a per-screen average of $67,000.

Fellman said, “We knew ‘The Dark Knight‘ was something remarkable and it is incredibly gratifying that critics and audiences wholeheartedly agree. Regardless of the anticipation leading up to this weekend, the fact remains that this level of success could not have been achieved if the film did not deliver. It does, on every front and with all audiences, which is a tribute to the amazing work of the filmmakers and the entire cast. We congratulate them on the start of what promises to be a great run.”

On the international front, The Dark Knight launched in 20 countries, including Australia, Mexico and Brazil, grossing an outstanding $41.3 million, almost tripling the opening of Batman Begins” in the same markets. Warner Bros. Pictures president international distribution Veronika Kwan-Rubinek said, “We are delighted with this spectacular start and look forward to a long and successful run.” The film will continue to roll out internationally over the coming weeks, including Italy, Holland, the UK, Korea on 7 August, Japan on 9 August, Spain and France on 13 August and Germany on 21 August.