ITV

Category: Movies

  • Chinese govt gives the thumbs down to FDI in TV

    MUMBAI: China has further tightened its media industry. It has banned any cooperation between domestic TV and radio channels with foreign companies.

    According to a regulation issued by the Chinese State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (Sarft), the media watchdog, local TV and radio stations should not rent their channels to foreign companies and also should not cooperate with foreign companies in running channels. Media reports indicate that SAFRT also bans any cooperation with foreign companies in regular and live programmes. Other kinds of cooperation with foreign companies should first be approved by the Sarft’s provincial branches.

    A report in Xinhua states that four months ago, the Sarft had issued a circular to make clear that foreign companies should not be involved in operating TV and radio channels, although it allowed foreign companies to set up joint ventures in TV, film and radio programme production.

    The regulation means that the government has tightened its control over the cooperation between Chinese media and foreign companies, Beijing Morning Post commented. It said that the Qinghai Satellite TV station in western China had ceased its cooperation with News Corp which started early this year.

  • Imagine if… Cruise promoted his film on ‘Jassi’

    At the IIFA awards there were some puzzles that even the pacy dancing and super-pacy editing of the footage couldn‘t solve.


    For instance, why was Shah Rukh Khan complaining on-stage about Saif Ali Khan not keeping in touch, and why were the emcees on the red carpet Purab Kohli and Neha Dubey (competent and understated) focusing so much on the clothes that the stars wore? Agreed this is the model derived from the Cannes film festival. But our stars looked distinctly ill-at-ease answering questions about their clothes, accessories, etc.

    The funniest encounter was with director Ken Ghosh. When Neha asked about his tie he retorted, “Aw, you don‘t like it?”


    Tie me up.




    Judge for yourself the quality of the live performances. We had to wade until dark to get to the show‘s highest-light, namely the two Bachchans with Aishwarya Rai.
    As Abhishek rocked all his leading ladies in the audience out-did themselves in winning brownie points. Rani Mukherjee had an edge. She whistled, clapped and finally got to her feet to give her favourite co-star a standing ovation. Rekha looked like she would rush to stage and shake a leg if only her sari and jewellery weren‘t too heavy for physical activity.

    Thank God she wasn‘t quizzed about her attire on the red carpet. It would‘ve taken the whole evening.


    If exuberance is a measure of passion and affection then Rani deserved one more award that evening for the most enthusiastic spectator of the evening. Runner-up would be Boman Irani who whistled and swayed to Abhishek‘s dance steps. Boman‘s dimunitive wife looked visibly ill-at-ease watching her husband doing the whooping act.


    I was surprised to catch Ram Gopal Varma in earnest conversation with Ashutosh Gowariker and Ronnie Screwvala on BBC‘s Business Bites… surprised because Varma isn‘t really a television person. Though he comes alive in print, on the visual medium one can see his bashful repudiation of the media glare.









     


    Varma was sadly subdued. On the other hand Ashutosh Gowariker simply came alive, talking nineteen-to-the-dozen about the various reasons why our cinema doesn‘t get international recognition. He spoke about how he would like to see, ahem ahem, Satya screened in various parts of the world.


    Ramu disagreed. He thought our cinema wasn‘t good enough, give or take an, ahem ahem, Lagaan.


    He didn‘t think much of the food either. He kept picking on it with his eyes intently glued to the table, like a schoolboy at boarding school being forced to polish off his porridge.


    Later Ramu admitted to me that sitting and eating while discussing serious issues on cinema wasn‘t the best way to spend an evening.


    He was uncomfortable. So were we, watching Priyanka Chopra and Arjun Rampal plugging their new film on Koffee With Karan… a re-run, it made mention of Yakeen as a film to be released in March.


    Much better marketing positioning for Yakeen was obtainable on Yeh Meri Life Hai where Priyanka showed up as a judge at a beauty contest and handed over her film‘s brochures (caught in conspicuous close-ups) with some dialogues about “Zindagi mein yakeen…” blah blah!


    A lot of stars are whipping up a soapy lather to promote their films. We saw Mallika Sherawat on Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai, Urmila Matondkar on Aahat and now Priyanka on Yeh Meri Life Hai.


    One of these says I suspect Tom Cruise will turn up on Jassi to promote his latest film. I guess everyone is aware of the growing importance of the visual medium, and none more so than the talented youngsters who bare their hearts on the various talent-scouting contests.


    But could we please have less melodrama on these cute chronicles of callow aspirations? On the newly-started Fame Gurukul I saw a rejected candidate weeping hysterically to the tune of Lata Mangeshkar‘s Rulake gaya sapna mera. And when a girl was about to leave for Gurukul her sister and mother wept like the contestant was leaving for her Sasural.


    I wept too… When I saw Sony‘s The Kumars At House No. 42. The guests were Ismail Merchant and Helen Bonham-Carter. With Ismail gone so recently it felt odd and sad to see him on air talking about his cinema. His leading lady cribbed good naturedly about how Ismail didn‘t pay them well. Well… if it‘s any consolation, no one gets paid well in India either.


    A low-budget shoe-string presentation with a conscience Pehchaan was Sahara‘s Friday premiere. I remember Raveena Tandon who produced the film for Sahara was very excited about it because it was based on an actual newspaper headline.


    A politician‘s daughter-in-law commits suicide. What happened?


    Director Shrabani Deodhar pieced together the whole scenario leading to the girl‘s death through the character of the dead girl‘s friend Mridula (Raveena Tandon) who very conveniently, happens to be a lawyer married, every inconveniently, to a man whose father (Vinod Khanna) is the defence lawyer for the accused.


    Bahu versus Sasurji in courtroom… decent premise. But the presentation lacked the hard-hitting quality required to make it swing into action. The politicians‘ brigade came across as specially tacky. As for the righteous team of crusaders led by Raveena… the good guys kept going into college and dancefloor flashbacks which took away the edge from the crusader‘s tale.


    Nevertheless I‘d rate Pehchaan much higher than the average fare on television, and certainly more spunky than last week‘s Friday Premiere. The women were allowed to step out into the forefront. Apart from Raveena (sassy and spirited) there was Juhi Parmar as her pal who‘s killed in her influential Sasural, and Rati Agnihotri as Raveena‘s supportive mom-in-law.


    The presentation could have done with better production values. But then, you can‘t have a TV premier for a film with the budget of a Parineeta or Sarkar.


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  • ‘Phillum’ makers with funny stuff dial ‘S’

    Sahara is going all-out to woo audiences. Do you remember a year back Zee had the Thursday Premier when almost-new films were screened? What an uproar that TRP-grabbing movie- manoeuvre had caused!

    Sahara has now gone even further. They‘re putting up unreleased films every Friday evening. And unlike Zee, Sahara ain‘t answerable to anyone. All the films are produced by them and were awaiting their turn in the cans.

    In fact Tanuja Chandra, whose Film Star will also be premiered, is mighty miffed by Sahara‘s home-release strategy. She thinks a television premiere shrinks the impact of her film.





     


    But Tanuja, think of it this way. Who would want to go and see Tum Ho Na (premiered this week) in a theatre? First of all, the star cast was extremely incongruous. Imagine Jackie Shroff being paired with Riya Sen! They looked         like a father and daughter more than a romantic couple.

    Perhaps the story, trying to be fey and selfconsciously different, demanded a certain age lacuna between the main lead. Jackie was eerily silent in the first      half as Riya, playing a bohemian cross between Zeenat Aman in Hare Rama       Hare Krishna and Amrita Arora in Main Hoon Na, screeched and snarled her way through a series of misadventures with hard drugs.

    After an accidental murder (the gun shot startled me awake) Jackie dumped the insufferable hippie and his Goan boat-bound lifestyle to get into a 3-piece suit    and marry Nehtra Raghuraman who suffers a flat tyre and a revved-up libido at    the same time.


    “I‘ll marry you,” she screams as Shroff repairs her punctured tyre (wish someone repaired the damaged script).

    Just as we get some dopey bits of domestic harmony, Riya Sen screeches back into Shroff‘s life trying to get his sari-clad wife all red-faced with jealousy. Then the wife sees the secretary massaging her husband‘s neck. In anger she snips off her hair gets into a mini and stumbles into hubby‘s office on a stiletto abusing and swearing at her supposedly philandering husband.

    Jackie Shrofff had a number of chances to prove himself, including a drunken monologue which, like Riya‘s whiny whimsy, went on forever and ever.
    Thank God this film was never released in theatres! I‘d suggest other filmmakers with funny stuff that they call phillums dial ‘S‘ for Sahara.

    I‘d rather suffer such starkly artificial films at home than brave them in theatres.


    ****









     


    And let‘s have conventional soaps instead of pseudo-movies. I sort of like Sooraj Barjatya‘s Woh Rehne Walo Mehlon Ki, if for no other than reason then its stark conventionality.

    This week Rani married and left for her sasural hoping to find a home away from home. If only wishes were horses!

    The shock of finding her in-laws‘ place far less presentable than she imagined was juxtaposed with montages of happier times when she was the queen of her father‘s house.


    Shots of the dingy stairways in her new house coalesced into flashbacks of the plaster-of-paris stairways into a filmy heaven… and so on… Now of course the avaricious in-laws have realized that the Rani whom their son has married isn‘t half as rich as they had imagined.

    It‘s an excruciatingly filmic irony, done for television in that disarmingly artless way that the Rajshri Productions have patented over the years.


    ****


    Will the Hindi correspondents on the news channels please improve their English language? On Channel 7, I was appalled to hear the female correspondent pronounce Marigold as ‘marry-gold‘. Maybe marriage was on her mind because of the company she kept that evening.

    But why was Manoj Bajpai behaving so churlishly? He was almost snapping out the answers. When asked how much homework he did, Bajpai retorted, “I never prepare, never carry my characters home… I‘d rather stay home for months than do faltu roles..”

    Sure, Manoj, we believe you. We‘ve seen you in Inteqaam and that other movie where a little girl is gangraped.

    Ugh…and a double-ugh for Shweta Kawatra who went on and on bitching about Vivek Oberoi on Sony Max‘s film-news magazine-show Current Bollywood. Why must she bring her personal likes and dislikes into the discussion?

    Our soaps are becoming progressively promiscuous. I don‘t know whether that‘s good or bad, because promiscuity is not really a sign of progressiveness. Hence the heroine Kripa in Sony‘s Kaisa Yeh Pyar Hai is pregnant with the child of her host‘s son who grimaces and swaggers like God‘s chosen one. For reasons too complicated to be gone into the swaggering hero has decided to spurn and abuse his beloved. He rolls his eyes, bares his teeth and makes rude gestures at her, driving her out of his life.

    Baby‘s dad ouch?


    ****



    Sony‘s CID Special Bureau is getting supremely swanky in mid-life. The mid-air stunts this were to die for. Fortunately no one died. But I must say, CID is the only show that makes a concerted effort to bring a certain professionalism and gloss into the presentation.

    On a more grounded note, the ever-efficient Srinivas Jain walked the talk with Mumbai‘s top cop AN Roy asking the frankest of questions about the future of bar girls and underworld activities in Bollywood with minimum ostentation.


    The same night I watched Mandira Bedi‘s tea-pot turn into a snake on Zee‘s Mano Ya Na Mono.

    Makes you wonder which is more dangerous, cop talk or snake pots.

  • Vissa in revamp mode; dubbed movies, interactivity key programming pull

    MUMBAI: Chennai-based Raj Television Network’s (RTN) Telugu channel Vissa TV is gearing for change. Come 5 June, and the channel will sport a fresh look along with a new logo.

    In line with the makeover, Vissa will start telecasting dubbed English movies in Telugu. Also in the pipeline is a slew of interactive programmes.
     
    Says Vissa TV executive vice president R Radhakrishnan, “We have been keeping a low profile these days. Now we felt it was time to jazz up a bit. The new shows we are launching will play a crucial role in our revamping process.”

    RTN has been uplinking Vissa TV, along with the Tamil channels Raj TV and Raj Digital Plus, from Bangkok since November 2004. The network had to move out its channels to Bangkok as the I&B ministry terminated its teleport licence. The government was acting against RTN uplinking its Vissa TV and now shelved Raj Musix from India without a valid licence.

    The present makeover is part of RTN’s decision to change the look and feel of the channels in its network. Raj TV has already started the process and is about to unveil its new logo on 14 May.
     
     

    Programming initiatives:

    With the makeover, Vissa TV is introducing the concept of dubbed English movies in Telugu in June. “We have acquired Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee movies. We will be launching a martial arts movie segment to telecast these movies in the weekends,” says Radhakrishnan.

    The channel is also banking on the game show genre to make waves in the market. One of the three game shows, Jackpot, will be an SMS-based live interactive game show.

    “The channel has acquired the format rights of the show from a Hungary-based production company and the show will be shot in Hungary,” says Radhakrishnan.

    The one hour show is scheduled on week days between 9 pm to 10 pm. Viewers have to register their name and other details through SMS. The channel then picks up one of the registered viewers through a lucky dip and hurls questions at them. Each right answer will carry a certain amount of cash prize and the maximum prize money a viewer can win is Rs 100,000. Vissa will launch the Jackpot in the second week of June.

    Chance Le Chance is an interactive on-ground show, slotted for weekends. The on-ground activity will cover all major towns in Andhra Pradesh. The channel will be launching a publicity campaign for Chance Le Chance covering television, print and below-the-line activities. Produced by Vinod Bala, the show has its anchor in popular television personality Uday Bhanu. The event will kick start on 21 May from Warangal.

    Vissa TV has also lined up a musical talent show Paadaala Telugu Paatta to identify and promote new talents in lyric writing and playback singing. Anchored by popular playback singer Nithya Santhoshini, the show will have one winner in each category — male singer, female singer and lyrics writer.

    The channel will also be launching a daily soap Gharshana in the last week of June. Starring popular artists from Telugu film industry, the serial is produced by Vinod Bala.

  • In China they do it with whiter detergent

    When India TV announced another sting the film industry broke into a sweat. So many of them have skeletons in the cupboard. But then the channel says it has no intentions of wasting its expose opportunities on film stars.This time it was a scandal involving a cornea theft in a hospital.

    Certainly beats pulling Shakti Kapoor‘s pants down, hands down. And then there was Prabhu Chawla doing what he‘s perennially good at. Pulling his interviewee‘s pants down on Aaj Tak‘s Seedhi Baat. But this time he got more than he had bargained for. If Chawla is aggressive with his guests, for once a guest decided to be super-aggressive.

    Vivek Oberoi was feisty and unstoppable. Pre-empting his wily opponent‘s next move, Vivek went for the kill repeatedly. He manouvred his way out of the craggy corners and cutting edges, even pre-empting Chawla‘s questions on Aishwarya Rai by stating the obvious.

    This is what I‘d call a conversation with claws. Karan Johar on MTV‘s Kutting With Karan looked discernibly uncomfortable. Cyrus Broacha and his boorish motor-mouthed colleagues should‘ve just put a brake on their aggressive and vulgar line of questioning. The diversions, if one may call them that, included a cretinous creature who repeatedly turned flatulent on camera.

    We were supposed to fall off our chairs in glee. All we did was turn away in disgust. The pits was a hideously unfunny anchor dressed up in white doing a takeoff on the lovely and elegant Simi Garewal and her talk show.






    To find ‘his‘ antics funny one has to be truly demented. And why take pot shots at Simi Garewal? She is and shall remain the acme of articulate star talk. When it comes to bringing the best out of celebrities there‘s absolutely no parallel to her professionalism and insight.

    The other day I happened to catch Sunny Deol on Punjabi Etc where he told the starry-eyed anchor that his dad‘s film Sholay was “over-hyped”.

    Really? Well… shouldn‘t Mr Deol choose a more visible and attention-grabbing channel to make his historic declarations?

    I switched to Zee‘s Piya Ka Ghar after a while only to see the lady in the wheel chair had changed from Suhasini Mulay to Bina. In all other details the soap remains infleixible. The protagonist Rimjhim now has a double role of mother and daughter. The last few episodes were spent celebrating the daughter‘s wedding. That meant everyone wore more lipstick and costume jewellery. In times of mourning the jewellery goes. The lipstick stays.









    These rules are understandably applicable most fervently on Ekta Kapoor‘s serials. On Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki the daughter and mother wore an equal amount of lipstick (mauve) for their big confrontation scene last week after the bride vanished from the mandap leaving the scenario free for a lurching and heaving game of musical chairs.
    But after another daughter of the house took the saat pheras with the waiting groom the absconding bride returned to whine, “You got someone else to sit in at the wedding. Now who leaves with the groom?”

    Gawd, the dilemmas that these soaps create. We could write a whole thesis on why soap writers think like bulls in a china shop.

    Speaking of China, Star News took us to Shanghai this week to compare the traffic of the city with that in Mumbai. Needless to say Mumbai was found to be lacking. The roads were bloodied with potholes in Mumbai and a business man grumbled about how he spent half his life on the road.

    His counterpart in Shanghai couldn‘t grumble much because he didn‘t speak English. But he looked very comfortable in his taxi where the driver was put in a separate enclave. The upholstery in the taxi was white. “Not like the dirty taxis of Mumbai,” sneered the Mumbai correspondent.

    I know why Mumbai can‘t be Shanghai. The Chinese detergents wash whiter.
    There was another, more interesting story on Star News this week on how our movies encourage rapists to do their dirty deed thinking they‘d finally win. We were shown clippings from two films Benaam Badshah and Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai where the rapist offers to marry the victim. According to experts on the show this is certainly not the way to tackle rape in our films.

    I would go with that. I‘d also go with BBC‘s story on the night spots of Delhi. According to the story, until very recently it was Mumbai which was a ‘happening‘ place for night life. Suddenly Delhi too has a lot to offer for the young professionals who want to “work hard and party harder”.

    The life of the urban metro-sexual is always fascinating. On Sony‘s progressively watchable Rihaee we had a man who had been keeping a secret from his wife. That secret was another wife. The treatment of the story was fairly gripping, though bigamy is hardly as adventurous as the story made it to be. Nevertheless it‘s good to have a story that moved away from the rut, and that too with such a thud and whoosh.

    Thud-and-whoosh is also the formula on Sahara‘s Kamini-Damini. The ungrateful family gets it comeuppance as Hema Malini tightens the reins on her callous kith and kin. The sons are quaking and the bahus are seething. Hema – God bless her enduring charisma – is simply smirking.

    On MTV‘s The Big Picture all the members of the Kaal cast trooped in one after another with exciting anecdotes on their experience of shooting with tigers. A huge picture of a tiger was strategically placed in the background as veejay Sophia Haque did her ooh and aah number.

    Maybe she was auditioning for Kaal 2.

  • SS Music’s pop band S5 clinches movie deal

    MUMBAI: SS Music’s newly formed pop band S5 has been signed by popular Malayalam filmmaker Jayaraj for his upcoming movie By the People.

    The band will sing all the songs in the movie. The music will be composed by Praveen Mani. The music recording will begin on 14 April.
     

    SS Music president B D Ramesh Babu said the band would be taking up more such assignments in the coming months. The company’s in-house event management company looks after S5’s affairs.

    S5 recently launched its maiden pop album Isai. The album has lyrics by Venkatesh and music by Praveen Mani.The pop band was chosen by the channel after several auditions held across South India. Swetha, Anaitha, Arjun, Benny and Bhargavi constitute S5.
     
     

    By the People is Jayaraj’s sequel to his 2004 blockbuster For the People. The movie, planned at a budget of Rs 6 million, is expected in July 2005.

  • Bollywood Awards announce nominee list

    MUMBAI: The Bollywood Awards 2005 will be held on 30 April at the Mark. Etess Arena, Trump Taj Mahal Casino, Atlantic City, New Jersey. The award committee has declared the performers who have received the top five rankings on the basis of popular ballots.

    Special “Lifetime Achievement” Awards for distinguished contributions to the movie industry will be given to Vyjantimala and Shammi Kapoor at the glittering Awards nite. The NRI-Bollywood lovers have cast their ballots for their favorites in various categories from movies released last year.
     

    The Bollywood Awards have been instituted with a vision that the choice of the NRI Bollywood fans is the choice that will prevail. This year, record breaking voting by movie-lovers from all over the world was truly historical. Some of the regions that participated in making the Bollywood Awards truly international were: USA, Europe, Canada, U.K. Africa, Middle-East, Asia and more, informs an official release.

    “The Bollywood Awards are the true pioneers and leaders of South Asian Awards ceremonies globally – the first Overseas Bollywood Awards, the first Bollywood Music Awards and the first Bollywood Fashion Awards anywhere in the world. I am pleased that we have contributed majorly in promoting the Indian entertainment in America as endorsed by the presence and participation of top Hollywood stars. Worldwide media coverage of our events (e.g. New York Times, Newsday, Forbes, Time, CNN, ABC, Fox) and many more speaks volumes of our International achievements. We are now growing by leaps and bounds with several media related projects slated in 2005,” said Bollywood Awards Inc. chairman Kamal Dandona.
     
     

    AThe list of nominees for the Bollywood Awards 2005:

    Best Film
    Hum Tum
    Main Hoon Na
    Swades
    Veer-Zaara
    Dhoom

    Best Director
    Ashutosh Gowariker-Swades
    Sanjay Gadhvi-Dhoom
    Kunal Kohli-Hum Tum
    Farah Khan-Main Hoon Na
    Yash Chopra-Veer-Zaara

    Best Actor
    Amitabh Bachchan-Khakhee
    Salman Khan-Mujse Shaadi Karoge
    Saif Ali Khan-Hum Tum
    Hritik-Lakshya
    Shah Rukh Khan-Veer-Zaara
    Best Actress
    Kareena Kapoor-Dev
    Preity Zinta-Veer-Zaara
    Rani Mukherjee-Hum Tum
    Shilpa Shetty-Phil Milenge
    Urmila Matondkar-Ek Hasina Thi

    Best Actor in Supporting Role
    Abhishek Bachchan-Yuva
    Amitabh Bachchan-Veer-Zaara
    Akshay Kumar-Mujse Shaadi Karoge
    Sanjay Dutt-Deewaar
    Zayed Khan-Main Hoon Na

    Best Actress in Supporting Role
    Amrita Rao-Main Hoon Na
    Kirron Kher-Hum Tum
    Divya Dutta-Veer-Zaara
    Rani Mukherjee-Yuva
    Rani Mukherjee-Veer-Zaara

    Best Villain
    Abhishek Bachchan-Yuva
    John Abraham-Dhoom
    Suneil Shetty-Main Hoon Na
    Priyanka Chopra-Aitraaz
    Saif Ali Khan-Ek Hasina Thi

    Best Comedian
    Kirron Kher-Hum Tum
    Akshay Kumar-Mujse Shaadi Karoge
    Saif Ali Khan-Hum Tum
    Aftab Shivdasani-Masti
    Uday Chopra-Dhoom

    Best Music
    Pritam-Dhoom
    Madan Mohan-Veer-Zaara
    Jatin Lalit-Hum Tum
    Anu Malik-Main Hoon Na
    AR Rahman-Swades

    Best Playback Singer-Male
    Babool Supriyo-Saanso Ko Saanso Mein
    Kunal Ganjiwalla-Bheege Hoth Tere
    Amir Jamal-Kaho Na Kaho
    Sonu Nigam-Tum Se Milke Dilka
    Udit Narayan-Main Yaah

    Best Playback Singer-Female
    Vasundhara Das-Chale Jaise Hawayien
    Madhushree-Kabhi Neem Neem
    Sadhna Sargam-Aao Na
    Sunidhi Chauhan-Dhoom Machale
    Tata Young-Dhoom

    Best Debut – Female
    Divya Khosla-Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Sathiyo
    Gayatri Joshi-Swades
    Ayesha Takia-Taarzan -The Wonder Car
    Udita Goswami-Paap
    Manjari Phadnis-Rok Sako To Rok Lo

    Best Debut – Male
    Vatsal Sheth-Taarzan-The Wonder Car
    Akshaye Kapoor-Popcorn Khoa Mast Ho Jao
    Muammar Rana-Dobara
    Shahwar Ali-Hawas-Ab….Bas
    Samir Dattani-Uff Kya Jaddoo Mohobbat Hai

    Best Costume Designer
    Manish Malhotra-Main Hoon Na (Sushmita)
    Karan Johar-Main Hoon Na (SRK)
    Manish Malhotra-Veer Zaara
    Vikram Phadnis-Mujse Shaadi Karoge
    Manish Malhotra-Hum Tum

    Best Lyrics
    Syed Quadri- Bheegey Hont Tere-Murder
    Javid Akhtar-Kiska Hai Ye Tumko-Main Hoon Na
    Javed Akhtar-Tere Liye-Veer Zaara
    Prasoon Joshi-Saanson Ko-Hum Tum
    Sameer- Kaho Na Kaho-Murder

    Best Story
    Kunal Kohli-Hum Tum
    Farah Khan-Main Hoon Na
    Javid Akhtar-Lakshya
    Ashutosh Gowariker-Swades
    Aditya Chopra-Veer-Zaara

    Best Screenplay
    Sandeep Shristastava-Ab Tak Chhappan
    Pooja Ladha Surti-Ek Hasina Thi
    Kunal Kohli-Siddarth Raj Anand-Hum Tum
    Aditya Chopra-Veer-Zaara
    Mani Ratnam-Yuva

    Best Dialogue
    Govind Nihalani-Meenaxi Sharma-Dev
    Javed Siddiqui-Dal Maange More
    Kunal Kohli-Hum Tum
    Vishal Bharadwaj-Maqbool
    Aditya Chopra-Veer-Zaara

    Best Editing
    Murad Siddiqui-Ab Tak Chhappan
    Rameshwar S Bhagat-Dhoom
    Sanjib Datta-Ek Hasina Thi
    Omkar Bhakri -Musafir
    Sreekar Prasad-Yuva

    Best Cinematography
    Nirav Shah-Dhoom
    Christopher Popp-Lakshya
    Santosh Sivan-Meenaxi
    Sanjay F Gupta-Mjhse Shaadi Karoge
    Anil Mehta-Veer-Zaara

    Best Choreography
    Vaibhavi Merchant-Gustak Dil-Dil Mange More
    Prabhu Deva-Main Aisa Kyon Hoon-Lakshya
    Farah Khan-Tumse Milke-Main Hoon Na
    Farah Khan-Lal Dupatta-Mujhse Dosti Karoge
    Ashley Lobo-Dhoom- Dhoom Machale

    India’s leading stars who will also perform at the Bollywood Awards are Rani Mukerjee, Saif Ali Khan, Lara Dutta, Fardeen Khan, Bhoomika Chawla, Aftab Shivdasani, Raghav, Tata Young, the Rishi Rich Project, and as usual, many many more surprises. There will also be a prestigious galaxy of attendees including Shammi Kapoor, Vyjantimala, Yash Chopra, Kunal Kohli, Manish Malhotra and many, many others.

    Log on to www.bollywoodawards.com for more information.

  • Shringar Cinemas fixes IPO price band at Rs 47-53

    MUMBAI: Shringar Cinemas has fixed the price band at Rs 47-53 for its public issue of 81,500,000 shares of Rs 10 each. The IPO will be through a 100 per cent book-building process to finance its expansion plans.

    The size of the issue will be Rs 383 million at the upper end of the price band and Rs 431.9 million at the lower end of the band.
     

    The seven-day issue will open on 5 April. Shringar Cinemas operates a chain of multiplexes and distributes movies. “The price band is fixed,” Shringar Cinemas managing director Shravan Shroff confirmed.
     
     

    Out of the present issue, 50 per cent (39,50,000) shares are reserved for allocation to Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) on discretionary basis, 25 per cent (19,75,000) shares are reserved for allocation to Non Institutional Bidders and 25 per cent (19,75,000) shares are reserved for retail individual bidders both on proportionate basis. The balance 2,50,000 equity shares are reserved for allotment to employees of the company.

    The promoters’ holding will come down from around 65 per cent to 48 per cent. G W Capital, a private equity investment firm which had picked up 35 per cent stake, will bring down its stake to 26 per cent after the IPO.

    The company had filed draft red herring prospectus with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on 14 January. Enam Financial Consultants Private Limited and JM Morgan Stanley Private Limited have been appointed as book running lead managers to the issue.

    Shringar Cinemas’s plans for 2005 include the opening of two four-screen multiplexes in Mumbai and two three-screen multiplexes in Pune and Hyderabad.

  • New territories opening up for Indian content

    HONG KONG: The Indian presence at Filmart has largely been on the distributor side. A number of small Indian companies essentially into selling of film, video and TV rights across cable and terrestrial platforms (both pay and FTA) were advertising their wares. One did not see many big blockbuster Bollywood titles however, but more of the small to mid-level budget films.
     

    And it is not just in the “traditional” markets of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore (in that order) that these companies are trying to push their content. Aside from China and Korea, also on the radar are “virgin” territories like Cambodia and Vietnam.
     
     

    The Chinese interest is more on the film side than TV content. Predictably Indian action films have no takers (who in India can compete with a John Woo, Andy Lau or the numerous Kung Fu film directors anyway). Romantic tearjerkers (the higher the hankie quotient the better) are what does it for the Chinese as far as India is concerned. And they are quite taken up with the song and dance routines, which are unique to Indian cinema.

    Korea, on the other hand is looking at the issue differently. They are hoping to sell their content to India in fact. In fact a Korean delegation is planning to organise an event in Delhi in May where they will be showcasing their content, particularly television, which is quite a rage in these parts.

    While Indiantelevision.com remains skeptical of Korean stories (soaps and dramas) finding acceptance to Indians who only relate to Chinese action movies, there is one avenue that might interest Indian entertainment channels. That is in the scripts that Korean television dramas offer. If South American stories are the current flavour with programming honchos in India, those looking to explore new ideas might find it worth their while to look east as well.

  • Warner Home Video launches China video operation

    HONG KONG: Warner Home Video has launched a joint venture video operation with China Audio Video (CAV), marking the first time that a US studio has established an in-country DVD/VCD distribution and marketing outfit in China.
     

    The Shanghai-based venture, CAV Warner Home Entertainment Co, officially started operations last month. However, as a precursor to the full-scale nationwide launch, China’ s leading retail and video outlets, including Wal-Mart, Xinhua Bookstore and Carrefour, began carrying select Warner Bros titles last November. Films such as Troy and The Last Samurai debuted in key cities including Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Nanjing.
     
     

    “China has been an important market for years, but too often Chinese consumers have had to choose inferior products on the illegitimate market that were available sooner but with poor quality,” said Warner Home Video president Jim Cardwell.

    He added that the new operation hopes to increase consumer demand for legitimate products with world-class quality, reduced pricing, Mandarin dubbing and sub-titles, enhanced content and shortened release windows.

    According to China Audio and Video president Wang Xiaoran, China already has an installed base of more than 100 million players – 60 per cent VCD and 40 per cent DVD – and players cost as little as $40. “The potential for legitimate sales in China is extraordinary,” Wang said.

    CAV Warner Home Entertainment will release new DVD titles in a two-tier pricing programme. “Silver Releases”, available shortly after a film’ s US theatrical release, will feature English and Mandarin dialogue tracks and Mandarin subtitles. “Gold Releases”, which will roughly correspond with US DVD release dates, will carry enhanced DVD extras.

    Silver Releases and catalogue titles have a suggested retail price of RMB22 and Gold Releases are priced at RMB28.