Category: Movies

MUMBAI: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (Zeel) will invest $210 million (Rs 8.5 billion) in its movie production and distribution business over three years.

Zeel‘s film business is being done through a subsidiary company, Zee Entertainment Studios (ZES).

“We plan to raise money in this company. It could be either through an initial public offer or private equity, depending on the market situation,” Zeel CEO Punit Goenka tells Indiantelevision.com.

Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that ZES aims to raise $200 million by diluting 10-20 per cent through an IPO offering at the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange.

ZES will produce movies in six languages – Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Bengali and Gujarati.

ZES plans to produce 8-10 movies this fiscal, scaling up to 24 films in next fiscal.

The film production and distribution business will fall under two different brands – Zee Motion Pictures and Zee Limelight.

For the first quarter of this fiscal, the company has released Jannat (Hindi) and De Dhakka (Marathi). The revenue from this stood at Rs 102 million and operating profit at Rs 49.9 million.

MUMBAI: Panji will host the Tri-continental Film Festival 2008 scheduled to be held between 25 to 30 July. The theme of the film fest is human rights violations.

Around 21 films from Asia, Africa and America are chosen for screening at the film festival.

Goa International Centre, Moving Images Goa and Entertainment society of Goa are organising the event.

Moving Images partner Gayatri Konkar said, “We are repeating Tri-continental film festival in Goa again this year with the participation of the entertainment society of Goa.”

The create human rights awareness is the endeavor of this film festival, says Konkar.

The first Tri-continental film festival was held in Argentina in 2002. Last year it was held in Goa.

MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures is set to release Wednesday, a thriller directed by Neeraj Pandey, on 5 September.

The film is made on a budget of Rs 35 million. “We are co-producing the film along with Shital Bhatia and Anjum Rizvi. Wednesday is made at a budget of Rs 35 million and will be released on 5 September. We will also be distributing the film pan India and worldwide,” says UTV Motion Pictures CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur.

The music rights have been sold to T-Series. Says Kapoor, “T-Series holds the music rights of the film and will be releasing the music in the first week of August.”

The star cast of the film include Anupam Kher, Naseeruddin Shah, Aamir Bashir, Deepal Shaw, Rajpal Yadav and Jimmy Shergill.

While the script of Wednesday has been written by Neeraj Pandey , the background score of the film has been done by Sanjoy Choudhary.

Sham Kaushal has taken care of the action sequences in the film while Shree Narayan Singh has edited it.

The story of Wednesday revolves around the city of Mumbai. The film is based on certain events that unfold between 2 pm and 6 pm on a particular Wednesday.

MUMBAI: Film director Tapan Sinha has been selected for the Dada Saheb Phalke Award for the year 2006. The award is given by the Government of India for outstanding contribution in the field of Indian Cinema. The Award carries a cash price of Rs.Ten lakhs, a Swaran Kamal and a Shawl.

Tapan Sinha, who won 19 National Film Awards in various categories, will be given a Swarna Kamal and a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh along with a shawl by the President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil .

Sinha began his film career as a sound engineer in Kolkata’s New Theatre in 1946.. In 1950, he got the opportunity of working a Pinewood Studios in the UK where he spent two years. On returning to India, he turned his attention to film directing, making films in Bengali, Hindi and also Oriya. He made three films based on Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s works namely Kabuliwala, Khudito Pashan and Atithi.

Sinha’s cinema journey began with Ankush (1954). The other highlights of his career include Upahar (1955), Tonsil (1956), Louhakapat (1957), Kalomati (1957), Hansuli Banker Upakatha (1962), Sagina Mahato (1970), Banchharamer Bagan (1980), Adalat O Ekti Meye (1982), Ek Doctor Ki Maut (1991) and Shatabdir Kanya (2001).

The Government of India had recently conferred on him the “One Time Award for Life Time Achievement” to commemorate the 60th anniversary of India’s Independence.

The committee, consisting of film personalities like Shyam Benegal , Gautam Ghosh, Dr. A.Nageshwar Rao, Sharmila Tagore and flute player Hari Prasad Chaurasia made the recommendation to the government.

MUMBAI: Kismat Konnection, a Tips Production which is being distributed worldwide by UTV Motion Pictures, has grossed approximately Rs 270 million in the opening three days of its release. The film was released across 900 screens worldwide, including the US, UK, Australia, Pakistan and the Middle East.

Kismat Konnection has garnered around Rs 207.6 million in India, with an average of Rs 3,75,000 per print.

UTV Motion Pictures CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur said, “We are thrilled with the opening weekend collections of Kismat Konnection around the world. This demonstrates the value of backing strong content with aggressive marketing and distribution. This is the second consecutive blockbuster in our association with Tips, with both movies that we have collaborated on, Race and Kismat Konnection.”

While in the Middle East the film has earned a total of $260,310, in the US the film collected $213,112 up to Saturday night. Australia saw a weekend collection of $42,952. In the UK the film had a cumulative weekend collection of $223,641 and in Pakistan the film had earned $22,418 on Friday.

Directed by Aziz Mirza, Kismat Konnection is a story about Raj Malhotra (Shahid Kapoor), who struggles to find that “one chance” to showcase his mettle.

NEW DELHI: Director Anjan Dutta, whose Chalo Let’s go was screened at the 10th OSIAN’s-Cinefan Festival, believes in making films that help in a re-discovery of the Bengali ethos.

Dutta believes that these ethos appear to have been lost in the metro culture.

Addressing a press meet at the recent Tenth OSIAN’s, he said that his attempt was to reach Bengali audiences all over the country and convey the message that Bangla cinema had not come to an end after Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen and others who came soon after.

Certain inhibitions had prevented serious cinema from progressing and the picture of a changing Bengal was somehow missing, he added.

Asked why he had used an English word for a title of a Bangla film, he said it was meant to be a pun, and also because it would appeal to the present.

Chalo lets go is a hilarious road movie featuring four heroes on a crazy, rambling journey in the picturesque North Bengal . Filmed in Calcutta and Darjeeling , it is a roller coaster journey comprising nine tourists and one hitchhiker.

MUMBAI: Alfred Haber Distribution, an independent distributor of reality shows, films, sports series and specials in the US, has signed a three-year deal with K2 Communications to distribute 38 films.

These films, which include five Academy Award nominated titles, will be available worldwide in both high-definition and standard television broadcast formats.

“Produced by the most respected names in the giant screen 70 mm film industry, these 38 titles in high-definition and standard formats offer television broadcasters spectacular stories and extraordinary production values. Some of the broadcast licensees who have had success with these titles include Seven Network (Australia), RTL2 (Germany), FOX (Italy), CCTV6 (China) and TV Azteca (Mexico,” said Alfred Haber Distribution worldwide sales executive vice president Robert Kennedy.

NEW DELHI: Girish Kasarvalli‘s Kannada film Gulabi Talkies has bagged the best Indian film award at the 10th Osian’s-Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema. The film also swept the best actress award for Umashree at the festival.

MUMBAI: Walt Disney has bought the overseas home video rights of Aamir Khan‘s Taare Zameen Par from UTV Motion Pictures for Rs 70 million.

This is the first time that Walt Disney will be distributing a Bollywood film across its home video network. UTV holds the distribution rights of TZP.

“UTV has sold the home video rights of TZP to Walt Disney for the US, UK, Canada and the Australian market,” confirms UTV Motion Pictures director Siddharth Roy Kapoor.

UTV is in talks to sell the home video rights of the film in India. Says Kapoor, “We are in negotiations with various companies including Tips for this.”

MUMBAI: Vishesh Films has partnered with Sony BMG to co-produce Raaz -The Mystery Continues, to be directed by Mohit Suri.

The film stars Emraan Hashmi and Kangna Ranaut along with debutante actor Adhyayan Suman.

Apart from co-producing the film, Sony BMG has also acquired the music rights of Raaz -The Mystery Continues.

The film is slated to release sometime around November-December this year.

Raaz -The Mystery Continues would be a supernatural thriller dealing with the myths and superstitions that are still widely existent in contemporary Indian society.