ITV

Category: Movies

  • Hamedan International Children and Young Adults Film Festival to screen 5 Indian films

    MUMBAI: The 22nd Hamedan International Children and Young Adults Film Festival, starting 21 June and terminating on 25 June, is set to screen five Indian films in the panorama section.

    These films include Will to Win (2007, Rishi Deshpande), Mahek (2007, Kranti Kanada), Hide-N-Seek (2006, Vinod Ganata), A Home in the Sky (2007, Bipin Nadkami), and Heda-Hoda (Here-There, V.Gantara).



    While approximately 130 films from 39 foreign countries including Argentina, Germany, the US, Austria, Canada, and Croatia will be showcased, about 272 films will compete in 16 sections of the Hamedan film festival.



    Animation films like Horton Hears a Who!, Ratatouille, Bee Movie and Alvin and the Chipmunks will also be screened at the event.

  • Asha for Education hosts India’s Film Festival of Hope in San Francisco

    MUMBAI: Asha for Education, a San Francisco-based non-profit organisation, is hosting its first annual “India‘s Film Festival of Hope” today.

    Through this festival, Asha for Education will showcase documentary films, photography and arts with an aim to “paint the picture of underprivileged kids in today‘s India and bring in hope for a better tomorrow.”


    Some of the documentaries that are being screened at the festival include Raju and I, I want my Father back, The New Heroes: India, with Robert Redford, Child in law, Patta Patta Akshar Hoga, Born into Brothels, Calcutta Calling and Fragile Promise.


    While Born into Brothels won the Oscars in the best documentary film category, Raju and I won the best animated feature film award at the India’s 52nd National Films Awards.


    Apart from documentaries, the festival is featuring photographs taken by the children from the workshops run by Asha. It is also showcasing Mithila paintings, created by marginalised women in Northern India from PinkMango.


    “Our focus is to raise awareness. We endeavor to present a window into the real India through these breakthrough films created by talented documentary filmmakers. The hope, or should I say ‘asha,‘ is to build a sound future for all those underprivileged children living in India,” said Asha for Education director Hemang Kapasi.

  • Special awards to artistes to mark 60 years of independence

    NEW DELHI: Four eminent film personalities namely Dilip Kumar, Tapan Sinha, Lata Mangeshkar and Saroja Devi are set to receive the “One Time Award for Life Time Achievement”.

    The award is to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of India‘s Independence.

    Sinha, who is one of the all-time celluloid greats, would be presented the award in the field of film direction. In view of his failing health, he will be conferred the award at his residence in Kolkata by West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi in the presence of Information and Broadcasting Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi.


    The Award citation underlines Tapan Sinha‘s “….amazingly down-to-earth cinematic depiction of the struggles of the common man. His reputation as an uncompromising filmmaker, a celluloid iconoclast, puts him in a class of his own. A storyteller par excellence, Tapan Sinha‘s films such as Kabuliwala (1957), Haatey Bazaare (1967), Safed Haathi (1977) are well-crafted in terms of structure and technique, exhibiting his virtuosity and capability to handle a range of subjects with equal élan and sensitivity.”


    Sinha‘s works have won 19 National Film Awards in various categories in International film festivals like those in Berlin, Venice, London, Moscow, San Francisco and Locarno.


    He has directed films in Bengali, Hindi and also Oriya. He made three films based on Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore‘s works: Kabuliwala, Khudito Pashan and Atithi.


    Sinha‘s cinematic landscape traverses a journey that began with Ankush (1954) and highlighted by Uphaar (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).

    Lata Mangeshkar, who have sung over 50,000 songs in 20 Indian languages, will recieve the award for playback singing.


    She received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1990 and was named the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian honour, in 2001.


    Lata got a toehold in the industry by singing “Pa Lagoon Kar Jori Re” in the film Aap ke Sewa Main (1947). She sang several songs in other films over the next few years, but her first big hit was in 1949 with “Aayega Aanewaala”.

    Born in 1922, Dilip Kumar (aka Yusuf Khan) will be conferred the “One Time Award for Life Time Achievement” in the field of acting.


    Starting his career in 1944, Dilip Kumar has starred in some of the biggest commercially successful films from the late 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1980s.


    He was the first actor to receive a Filmfare Best Actor Award and holds the record for most number of Filmfare Awards won for that category. Though he has done all kinds of films – he balanced a wide variety of roles such as the intense Andaz (1949) with the swashbuckling Aan (1952), the dramatic Devdas (1955) with the comical Azaad (1955) and the historical romance Mughal E Azam (1960) with the social Ganga Jamuna (1961).


    In the 1970s roles dried up for Kumar and after 1976 he left films for a five year break. In 1981 he returned with a character role in the blockbuster film Kranti and continued his career playing central character roles in hits such as Shakti (1982), Karma (1986) and Saudagar (1991).


    He received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1995, apart from getting the highest civilian honour Nisha-e-Imtiaz from the Pakistan Government. He continues to be a living icon for the present generation of film stars.

    Today a senior citizen of Kannada filmdom, B Saroja Devi is one of the first female artistes to spread the aroma of Kannada cinema all over the country. Her histrionic range is so vast that she has portrayed an amazing variety of roles in Kannada, Tamil and Telugu films.


    In Kannada, after her “spectacular” debut at a very young age in Mahakavi Kalidasa, she went on to play some extremely popular roles in films like Anna Thangi, Amarashilpi Jakanachari (the first colour movie to be made in the language), Bhagyavantharu, School Master, Kittooru Chennamma, Beretha Jeeva and Mallammana Pavada.


    Saroja Devi is also the only Kannada actress to have held a large number of public offices, including that of chairperson of the Karnataka State Film Industry Development Corporation.

  • Zindagi Tere Naam to release on 11 July

    MUMBAI: Zindagi Tere Naam, starring Mithun Chakraborty and Rangita opposite each other, is set to release on 11 July.

    Produced under the Shree Sai Productions banner, the film is directed by Ashu Trikha and casts Dilip Tahil, Supriya Karnik, Sharat Saxena, Himani Shivpuri, Priyanka Mehta, Aseem Ali Khan, Yatin Karyekar and Dia Mirza.



    While Zindagi Tere Naam’s script and the dialogues have been written by Sanjay Masoom, it’s the Sajid-Wajid duo who have penned the lyrics for the film.



    Also, Venus Records & Tapes will be releasing the music of the film, a romantic love story set in the hilly locales of Dalhousie.



    Before Zindagi Tere Naam, the last film where Mithun and Ranjeeta were seen together was Tarana.

  • Pyramid Saimira appoints Sushil Borkar as group vice president

    MUMBAI: Pyramid Saimira Group has roped in Sushil Borkar as group vice president, corporate compliance and vigilance.

    In this new capacity, Borkar’s key responsibilities will include intelligence, counter intelligence, vigilance, leakage prevention and internal rule compliances.



    Pyramid Saimira Group chairman P S Saminathan said, “Entertainment industry, especially the cinema industry has been suffering from lack of transparency, which has ceded many wrong practices into the system. Emergence of organised entities is streamlining the way the industry functions. It is imperative for our group, who operate in over 800 locations across various countries, to have a unified vigilance, leakage prevention and other business intelligence measures. Borkar is a very senior and experienced police professional and we are happy to welcome him into our group.”



    Borkar retired from the Indian Police Service in May 2005 with an experience of 38 years. During this time, he served in the capacities of deputy general of police and inspector general of police in the state of Karnataka. Borkar has also held various positions with the department of vigilance and crime, forestry and railways.

  • Reliance, Spielberg close to signing JV deal

    MUMBAI: Anil Ambani‘s Reliance ADA Group is set to participate in the biggest gamble yet played by an Indian company in Hollywood.


    Reliance ADA Group is close to signing a joint venture deal with Steven Spielberg-led DreamWorks Movie Studios wherein Reliance is said to be investing between $500 to $600 million equity into the new movie enterprise.


    DreamWorks, which seeks to make approximately six films per year under this new endeavour, will be raising a further $500 million as debt.


    This move will provide director Spielberg with an important source of funds for his planned move out of Viacom Inc‘s Paramount Pictures.


    When contacted, Reliance Entertainment president Rajesh Sawhney, however, declined to comment.



    Viacom bought DreamWorks in 2005. However, when relations between the two parties started getting edgy last year, DreamWorks began sending public signals that they might leave the studio as soon as the contracts Spielberg and co-founder Geffen terminated, which was in 2008.



    Post Spielberg exodus, while Viacom will continue holding on to the rights to all the films the company jointly created with DreamWorks, the latter will be allowed to retain their DreamWorks SKG name.


    Furthermore, DreamWorks chief executive and former Universal Pictures head Stacey Snider is expected to join Spielberg in this new undertaking.



    DreamWorks, which operated within Paramount as a quasi-autonomous unit, has produced some of Paramount‘s biggest hits like Transformers.



    According to media reports, Spielberg has been aiming to raise over $1 billion in third-party financing to recreate DreamWorks as a separate company that reacquires ownership of films as Spielberg wants to reestablish DreamWorks as a studio that owns the movies it makes.



    Last month, Reliance Big Entertainment had announced a number of Hollywood project investments at the Cannes Film Festival. This included providing funds to a handful of Hollywood stars with production houses like Jim Carrey, George Clooney, Tom Hanks and Brad Pitt.

  • Michele Garra is SPHE senior VP, Asia Pacific

    MUMBAI: Michele Garra has been promoted to the newly created position of Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE).


    In her new post, Garra will oversee all business functions in the key and expanding markets of India, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Korea to support key retail customers and business partners.


    Formerly MD, Australia and New Zealand, and based in Sydney, Garra will relocate to the company’s home office in California. The announcement was made by SPHE executive VP, International Matt Brown to whom she will report.


    Says Brown, “Michele ran our very successful Australian operation for over a decade and we are thrilled to offer her this opportunity to broaden her horizons and bolster SPHE’s strong position across the Asian-Pacific market. As the growing home entertainment business of the emerging economies in Asia becomes an important revenue source for our business, having an executive with the keen business sense and experience which Michele possesses is an important strategic move to insure the success of these territories.”


    Garra has had a 16-year tenure at SPHE. She played a role in the evolution of the home entertainment market in Australia and New Zealand.

  • Script writer Schrader to take masterclass at Osian Cinefan Festival

    NEW DELHI: Script writer and director Paul Schrader (Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver) is set to attend the forthcoming Tenth Osian’s-Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema (OCFF) next month to conduct a masterclass on screenwriting.
    The Festival, launched by critic Aruna Vasudev in 1999, will be celebrating its 10th anniversary this year from 10-20 July in New Delhi.

    Two films of Paul Schrader, Taxi Driver and Mishima, will also be screened at the festival.

    Schrader will analyse the elements of a story and talk about “how metaphors can be found from one’s own life” that can be turned into a powerful and compelling screenplay.

    In addition, Schrader’s lecture on New Media will discuss the future of audio-visual entertainment apart from focusing on the forces which are coalescing to end the 20th Century notion of “movies”. These sessions will be open to the general public as well on a ‘first-come-first-seated‘ basis.


    Osian’s-Cinefan will focus this year on “writing and cinema” with special reference to the novel in adaptation. OCFF will screen films based on literature including films based on the works of Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz along with a special focus on The Kiss of the Spiderwoman.

  • Shemaroo showcases ‘Bollywood divas’ with VCD song compilations

    MUMBAI: Shemaroo Entertainment has released song videos of five Bollywood actresses, each representing their era from the 50‘s to 90‘s. These titles come under Shemaroo‘s ‘Bollywood Stars Series‘ and are available on VCDs.


    The 50‘s compilation includes Meena Kumari‘s “hummable” numbers from films like Azaad and Kaajal. In addition, three dance sequences from her popular movie Pakeezah are also present in the collection.


    Mala Sinha‘s work that dominated Bollywood with her melodramatic roles with blockbusters like Haryali Aur Rasta, Himalay Ki God Mein and Kangan are featured in the 60‘s compilation.


    70‘s changed the face of Bollywood heroines with Zeenat Aman ruling the decade with her oomph and style. Thus this 70‘s VCD is inclusive of songs from films like Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Satyam Shivam Sundaram and The Great Gambler among others.


    The 80‘s compilation pack features Reena Roy‘s dances from Rocky and Kalicharan among others. This title is also inclusive of her emotional track Sheesha Ho Ya Dil Ho from Aasha.


    The 90‘s collection majorly includes works of Urmila Matondkar, representing this decade with her “innocence and persona.”

  • PVR to release Persepolis on 20 June

    MUMBAI: PVR Cinemas is set to release NDTV Lumi?re’s Persepolis on 20 June this year in Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore.

    Based on the graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis is an animation film which was nominated for the best animated feature film at the 2008 Oscars.



    The film, with a total of 600 animated characters, has voices of Sean Penn, Gena Rowlands and Iggy Pop.



    Persepolis is a story of a young Iranian girl coming of age and struggling to find her place in the ever evolving society.


    The film has been made in three different languages namely English, French and Persian to cater to the audience across the globe.



    Earlier, Persepolis has won the jury prize at the Festival de Cannes with an additional 15 awards and 21 nominations at various other international festivals.