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Category: Movies

  • Jennifer Aniston to be honoured at Santa Barbara International Film Fest

    Jennifer Aniston to be honoured at Santa Barbara International Film Fest

    MUMBAI: Popular actor, Jennifer Aniston, will be honoured with Montecito Award at the upcoming 30th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival at the historic Arlington Theatre.

     

    Her performance in the film, ‘Cake’, as a woman suffering from chronic pain has already been nominated for a SAG Award, Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Movie Award.

     

    First bestowed in 2005, the annual award recognises “a performer who has given a series of classic and standout performances throughout his or her career and whose style has made a major contribution to film.”

     

    Aniston joins actors including Daniel Day-Lewis, Geoffrey Rush, Julianne Moore, Kate Winslet, Javier Bardem, Naomi Watts, Annette Bening and last year’s recipient Oprah Winfrey, who have been awarded with the honour.

     

    The 30th annual festival will be held between 27 January and 7 February; and Aniston will be honoured 30 January.

  • Documentary on constitution lands Chinese filmmaker in jail

    Documentary on constitution lands Chinese filmmaker in jail

    MUMBAI: After making a documentary about Chinese constitution, Shen Yongping , a Chinese filmmaker, has been sentenced to one year in prison for “illegal business activities”.

     

    Yongping’s film, A Hundred Years of Constitutionalis, looks at the country’s constitutional governance from the period of the Qing dynasty, which ended in 1911, until the present day.

     

    President Xi Jinping has taken a hard line against dissent and scores of activists, writers and artists have been rounded up in recent months.

     

    There has also been a raft of new censorship rules taking aim at new media. The new rules will mean TV shows streamed online will have to comply with the same strict standards as traditional broadcasters.

     

    Shen claimed political persecution because he said the charge of “illegal business activities” did not apply as the DVDs and downloads were free and he didn’t profit from the film. His lawyer Zhang Xuezhong said the charge was “ridiculous”.

     

    Shen’s conviction comes soon after a high-level Communist Party meeting which pledged to uphold the rule of law according to the same constitution.

  • Dharma earns Rs 100 crore opening weekend in 2014

    Dharma earns Rs 100 crore opening weekend in 2014

    MUMBAI: Dharma Productions had a busy 2014 with a romance hat trick in the first half of the year – Hasee Toh Phasee along with Phantom Production, 2 States along with Nadiadwala Grandsons & UTV; and Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania in July.  With its last release Ungli, Dharma has become a production house with probably the widest range of film varieties this year.

     

    All the films had something unique about them – right from a romedy with a fresh storyline, to a bestseller adaptation, to a tribute to legendary Bollywood love stories. Whereas, Ungli was film from a genre unknown to Dharma until now. This year, Dharma also became the launchpad for three more promising directors – Vinil Matthew (Hasee Toh Phasee), Abhishek Varman (2 States) and Shashank Khaitan (Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania). Ungli was Rensil D’silva’s second outing with Dharma.

     

    With the audience accepting all these films with open arms, Dharma Productions is set for an exciting line-up in next two years. It will be exploring multiple collaborations and giving an opportunity to many new talents.

     

    Here’s to the youth power.

  • ‘Dating Naked’ creator Howard Schultz dies

    ‘Dating Naked’ creator Howard Schultz dies

    MUMBAI: The veteran unscripted TV producer, Howard Schultz, who created long-running reality hit – Extreme Makeover died on 29 December. He was only 61.

     

    Though the cause of the death is still not known, reports stated that he was on vacation with his family in Maui when the incident happened. The Lighthearted Entertainment CEO, is known as a man who has produced the successful new VH1 reality series Dating Naked.

     

    Other Lighthearted Entertainment shows to air under his watch included Bedroom Buddies, Goodnight America, Jones & Jury, The Smarter Sex, The George & Alana Show, The Big Date, Happy Hour and SexWars.

     

    The Hollywood Reporter picked Schultz as one of the top 50 forces in reality TV in 2008, and Los Angeles Magazine named him one of the city’s most influential people in 2003.

  • Excel Entertainment collaborates with Hollywood studio for ‘Three Stories’

    Excel Entertainment collaborates with Hollywood studio for ‘Three Stories’

    MUMBAI: 2015 is going to be one lucky year for Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani’s Excel Entertainment. Having a lot on its platter, from Dil Dhadakne Do and Bangistan set for release to starting preparations for Rock On 2 and Raees, the production house seems to be on a roll.

     

    Adding to the kitty, it has signed a co-production deal for its next film – Three Stories with a popular Hollywood studio, Relativity Media.

     

    Aiming at an international audience, this California based film studio will be helping Excel Entertainment in the mainstream release of the movie. Relativity Media has previously produced films like The Bourne Legacy, Magic Mike among others.

     

    Directed by ad filmmaker Arjun Mukherjee, the film in question stars Sharman Joshi, Shefali Shah and Pulkit Samrat. The actresses’ names are still being kept under wraps. Sidhwani who is excited about taking the film to a global audience stated that Three Stories is an emotional tale with elements of humour. It is being said that the story revolves around three chawl residents in Mumbai who are trying to deal with the situations in an urban society.

     

    It is slated to go on floors in January 2015. 

  • Poster of ‘Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!’ launched in Kolkata

    Poster of ‘Detective Byomkesh Bakshy!’ launched in Kolkata

    KOLKATA: Director Dibakar Banerjee along with his lead actor, Sushant Singh Rajput, released the first look poster of the upcoming film Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! at the Great Eastern Hotel in Kolkata (now The Lalit Great Eastern Hotel).

     

    The film Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! is set in the back drop of World War 2 and it captures the Calcutta (now Kolkata) of that time. The motion poster was also released as a fitting tribute to a World War II air-raid in the war-torn history of Kolkata.

     

    Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! is an upcoming Hindi crime thriller film directed by Dibakar Banerjee and produced by Aditya Chopra in association with Yash Raj Films and Dibakar Banerjee Productions. The film is based on the detective character Byomkesh Bakshi created by the Bengali writer Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay and the film is titled ‘Detective Byomkesh Bakshy’ to make it more contemporary. The film stars Sushant Singh Rajput, Anand Tiwari and Swastika Mukherjee in principal roles. The film is scheduled for release on 10 April 2015.

     

    Dibakar Banerjee told the media, “In late 1942 and early 1943, Calcutta was the last frontier of the British Empire, holding out against the Japanese invasion of Asia. As Japanese bombs were falling on Calcutta dockyard, around The Great Eastern Hotel, history was being created and Calcutta stepped on to the world stage. It’s right here that Byomkesh’s first adventure catapulted him from anonymity to dangerous fame. I can’t imagine a more fitting place to launch the first look of Detective Byomkesh Bakshy! than this hotel and right on this day in 1942, this would have been full of chaos and mayhem as bombs fell around it seventy years ago!”

     

    Shooting for the film began in early 2014, and ended in May 2014.  A part of the movie has been shot in Kolkata and Mumbai. Some scenes were shot in an abandoned mill in Mumbai’s Byculla region.

     

    “Shooting locations of the film in Kolkata was finalized in February 2012. Shooting did take place in Lalbazar, Presidency University, Coffee House and Bow Barracks. The cast was shooting for the film in Agarpara in January 2014,” said a cast member.

     

    Dibakar Banerjee has paid attention to every detail and he further said that every aspect of his film brings back the bygone era.

     

    “The planes seen on the poster of the film are the exact replica of the real Japanese planes which were used during the bombing in 1943. The planes at that time looked very different from the way the planes look today. Japan had done an aerial bombing attack on Calcutta and this is the central theme of the film,” he concluded.

  • Academy Award Winner Luise Rainer passes away at 104

    Academy Award Winner Luise Rainer passes away at 104

    MUMBAI: The star of cinema’s golden era and the first person ever to win back-to-back Oscars, Luise Rainer, 104, died of pneumonia on 30 December at her home in London.  Born on 12 January 1910 in Dusseldorf, Germany, Rainer astonished her director with a terrific audition when she was 16, and he cast her in several of his stage productions.  She was then reportedly discovered by an MGM talent scout.

     

    Rainer will be remembered for her brilliant portrayal in films like The Emperor’s Candlesticks (1937), Big City (1937), The Toy Wife (1938), The Great Waltz (1938) and Dramatic School (1938). She had an unprecedented back-to-back Oscar wins for The Great Ziegfeld and The Good Earth.

     

    The only other actress to win back-to-back Oscars was Audrey Hepburn for Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and A Lion in Winter.

     

    However, it is reported that Rainer became increasingly dissatisfied with the movie business. She had to be ordered by MGM, studio head, Louis B. Mayer to attend the Academy Awards ceremony to accept her second Oscar. She stunned reporters by claiming that she hated being molded by Hollywood. Disgruntled with the film business, she became reclusive.

     

    In 1937, Rainer married American playwright Clifford Odets but soon, their marriage became stormy and the couple divorced after three years. She developed a friendship with Albert Einstein and broke her contract with MGM in 1938.

     

    Her last major film was Hostages in 1943 before she left her Hollywood career behind, eventually settling in London with her second husband, publisher and England native Robert Knittel.

     

    After her move to England, Rainer did appear occasionally on U.S. television. It took another two decades before she showed up again on TV when producer Aaron Spelling coaxed her into appearing in a 1983 episode of The Love Boat. Three years later, she performed in a Swiss telefilm titled A Dancer, and in 1997, at age 86, she had a 10-minute scene in a version of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Gambler.

     

    In 2010, on the year of her centenary, the British Film Institute held a tribute to Rainer at London’s National Film Theater, where she was interviewed by Richard Stirling.

  • ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’ crosses US$ 350 million

    ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’ crosses US$ 350 million

    BENGALURU:  Earning more than US$350 million, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies has bagged the top position at the international box office.  The announcement was made today by New Line Cinema president and chief operating officer Toby Emmerich, Warner Bros. Pictures president of worldwide marketing and international distribution Sue Kroll, Warner Bros. Pictures president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman and Warner Bros. Pictures president of international distribution Veronika Kwan Vandenberg.

     

    Emmerich stated, “For Peter Jackson, the adventure that began with his benchmark The Lord of the Rings trilogy has reached a high water mark with this incredible response to the epic finale of The Hobbit Trilogy.  Along with our colleagues at Warner Bros. and MGM, we congratulate Peter on this exciting conclusion to his 16-year endeavor to bring this enduring saga to life for millions of moviegoers all over the world.”

     

    Jointly produced by New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM), the film is the conclusion to Peter Jackson’s acclaimed “The Hobbit” Trilogy based on the timeless classic by J.R.R. Tolkien. 

     

    The film has earned US$90.63 million domestically and has also expanded across the majority of international markets, taking in US$105.5 million over the weekend.  The international total stands at US$265 million and counting. 

     

    With maximum shows sold out internationally on the first day, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies enjoyed the biggest opening day of year in a number of key markets, including Germany, Scandinavia and the director’s home country of New Zealand, where it had the widest release ever in that country.

     

    The film also shot to #1 in Brazil and Mexico, where it went up against the final match of the Mexican Soccer League. It also broke records for the biggest opening of all time in Sweden, Finland, Croatia and Czech Republic; and the biggest opening of the year in Spain, Germany, Russia, Holland, Switzerland, Australia, Belgium, Croatia, Slovakia and Slovenia. 

     

     Commenting on the positive response for the film, Kroll stated, “We are very proud to have accompanied Peter Jackson and his remarkable team of collaborators on his hugely successful cinematic journey.  The positive response of both critics and audiences to this final film in ‘The Hobbit’ Trilogy is a tribute to the talents of everyone who dedicated years to bringing these ambitious films to fruition, and we applaud them all on this tremendous success.”

     

    Fellman said, “This is an extraordinary start for our final adventure in Middle-earth.  We are excited by the enthusiasm of moviegoers, who have already made ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’ a blockbuster, and this is just the beginning.  We expect word of mouth to continue to drive the box office through the holiday season and well into the new year.”

     

    Kwan Vandenberg noted, “This is a timeless story that speaks to audiences all over the world, and the anticipation for the Trilogy’s electrifying finale has yielded tremendous results.  Everywhere it’s opened, the film has seen huge debuts, strong holds and amazing buzz, and the momentum will only build as we move into 2015.” 

     

    The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies stars Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey, with Martin Freeman in the central role of Bilbo Baggins, and Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield. 

     

    The film also stars Evangeline Lilly, Luke Evans, Lee Pace, Benedict Cumberbatch, Billy Connolly, James Nesbitt, Ken Stott, Aidan Turner, Dean O’Gorman, Graham McTavish, Stephen Fry, Ryan Gage, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Orlando Bloom, Mikael Persbrandt, Sylvester McCoy, Peter Hambleton, John Callen, Mark Hadlow, Jed Brophy, William Kircher, Stephen Hunter, Adam Brown, John Bell, Manu Bennett and John Tui.

  • An ‘Ugly’ Box Office

    An ‘Ugly’ Box Office

    MUMBAI: Ugly is poor below redemption at the box office with collection figures staying limited to lakhs throughout its opening three days and managing to end its first weekend with a little over Rs 1.5 crore.

     

    PK is enjoying a bumper run. Having opened to mixed response and tepid opening collections, the film came into its own on its first Sunday with almost 33 per cent leap over its first day figures. The film is making the most of Christmas holidays though late shows do show the effect of severe winter in North and other parts of India.

     

    Having collected Rs 89.5 crore for its opening weekend, the film remained steady through the next four days to take its first week total to Rs 175.2 crore.

     

    There are some protests against the film from religious organisations but that is a storm in the tea cup looking at the way it is collecting.

     

    Badlapur Boys has collected Rs 7.5 lakh in its second week to take its two week total to Rs 97.5 lakh. Action Jackson has managed another Rs 30 lakh in its third week taking its three week total to Rs 58.65 crore.

  • Priyanka Chopra is the new face of Pakistani mobile

    Priyanka Chopra is the new face of Pakistani mobile

    New Delhi: Even though there are tensions on other fronts, cultural and commercial links continue to thrive between India and Pakistan.

     

    Pakistan’s QMobile has now selected Priyanka Chopra who will be marketing a newer brand for LINQ Smartphones.

     

    QMobile already has a 50% market share in the local market that makes it the number one mobile phone seller in Pakistan. Out of this entire share, a big chunk belongs to lower end mobile phones. With growing competition in the smartphone domain, QMobile is continuing its journey by influencing the minds of its fans through top notch celebrities.

     

    With Priyanka Chopra on board, QMobile is confident about generating a positive impact in the market.

     

    Before this, the company has brought three top notch Bollywood Kapoors – Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor – and Pakistani singing and acting fascinations Atif Aslam, Ali Zafar and Shan in their television commercials. They have also presented Shahid Khan Afridi in their ads.

     

    An official statement from the company says, “The genius behind QMobile, CEO Zeeshan Akhtar, is venturing out to embark upon new journey with premier Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra on board”.

     

    The mastermind’s keen marketing sense has allowed him to sign a beauty truly representative of this new range.