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Category: Movies

  • ‘Piku’ first look: Big B dons a pot belly

    ‘Piku’ first look: Big B dons a pot belly

    MUMBAI: When the entire industry is moving in the direction of six-pack abs, Amitabh Bachchan dons a pot belly for his next project Piku.

     

    The first look of the movie shows a pot-bellied Big B dressed in a checked overshirt and wearing an angler’s hat with longish silver locks peeping out.

     

    Revealing the first look on twitter, the official twitter ID of the movie, PikuTheFilm tweeted “He’s at it again! @SrBachchan pulling off yet another character with ease.”

     

    Directed by Vicky Donor and Madras Cafe fame Shoojit Sircar, the movie is a quirky roller coaster ride of a crazy father-daughter relationship, essayed by Bachchan and Deepika Padukone. The supporting cast includes actors Irrfan Khan, Moushumi Chatterjee and Bengali star Jisshu Sengupta. Piku also marks coming together of Shoojit Sircar and Ronnie Lahiri with Juhi Chaturvedi, who has scripted the film and earlier won accolades and awards for Vicky Donor.   

     

     “Piku is a story that will warm your heart and make you smile! We have the best of the talent coming together for a refreshing tale of a father-daughter relationship. I am privileged to direct Mr. Bachchan along with Deepika and Irrfan. They are three powerhouse performers and it doesn’t get better than this for me,” said Sircar.

     

    Adding to that, Bachchan further stated, “What makes the process of filming Piku extremely enjoyable is that it is helmed by Shoojit Sircar and also stars the immensely talented Deepika Padukone and Irrfan Khan. The film has an interesting story and there is a lot of excitement on the sets.”

     

    The film is also ready to kick off its second schedule in Kolkata from November 2014 after having a successful Mumbai schedule in August and September 2014.

     

    “There are several projects that I undertake in a year but there’s always that one film that you look forward to and to me Piku is that film. I am really excited and look forward to begin work on this one,” reckoned Irrfan Khan.

     

    Produced by MSM Motion Pictures, in association with Saraswati Entertainment Creations and Rising Sun Films, the movie is slated to release on 30 April 2015.

  • Full cast of ‘The Godmother’ announced

    Full cast of ‘The Godmother’ announced

    MUMBAI: Jon Bernthal, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Oscar Jaenada and Mehdi Dehbi have been finalised to join Catherine Zeta-Jones in her next movie The Godmother.

     

    Eva Sorhaug will direct the movie from a screenplay by Frank Baldwin, and production will begin next spring.

     

    Oscar winning Zeta-Jones stars as the notorious Colombian drug queenpin Griselda Blanco, also known as ‘The Godmother of Cocaine’.

     

    Blanco was the first and only woman in history to head a major Colombian drug network, and the film chronicles the rise and fall of the woman who became the wealthiest, deadliest, and most wanted drug lord in the world. Notorious for instigating and fueling the Miami drug wars that took place during the late 1970s and 1980s, Blanco grossed millions of dollars a month amidst fierce competition as cocaine replaced marijuana as America’s drug of choice. Blanco was eventually arrested and convicted in 1985 in her home in Irvine, CA.

     

    She served 18 years in prison before she was released in 2004 and deported back to Colombia. Blanco was murdered on 3 September 2012 — shot to death by a drive-by motorcyclist outside a butcher shop in Medellín, Colombia.

     

    The film is being produced by Daniela Cretu through her First Born Films banner, while Oscar nominee Nicholas Pileggi is the executive producer along with Sierra/Affinity’s Nick Meyer, Marc Schaberg, and Kelly McCormick.

     

    It isn’t Zeta-Jones’ first turn in a movie about the drug trade. In 2000, she starred in Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic, which earned more than $200 million at the global box office.

     

    Bernthal, who currently stars alongside Brad Pitt in David Ayer‘s Fury, was last seen in Martin Scorsese‘s The Wolf of Wall Street.

     

    Moreno was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in Maria Full of Grace, and she recently appeared on the TV series ‘Red Band Society’.

     

    Jaenada most recently starred in Cantinflas and was previously seen in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides while Dehbi’s past film credits include A Most Wanted Man and The Other Son.

  • Relativity – B4U ties up with Balaji Motion Pictures

    Relativity – B4U ties up with Balaji Motion Pictures

    MUMBAI: Relativity – B4U, a joint venture established earlier this year, announced an association with Balaji Motion Pictures to produce three films, with the first being the Hindi remake of The Best of Me. The cast for the Hindi adaptation of the film is yet to be announced.

     

    Announcing the agreement, Relativity-B4U CEO Ishan Saksena said, “Balaji has been producing hugely successful films over the last few years. This coupled with their undisputed TV content leadership makes Balaji an automatic choice for us to tie in. This three film co-production, a natural step in our progression provides a platform to bring the best of Relativity’s intellectual property, production skills, and unique monetising strategies to India, and partner with Balaji whose strengths in this area are unsurpassed.”

     

    Commenting on the new deal, Balaji Telefilms Group CEO Sameer Nair said, “B4U has always been at the helm for delivering Bollywood content in India and internationally. This association with Relativity-B4U allows both our organizations’ synergies to be maximised and allows us to create engaging successful content for Indian audiences. We feel that this co-production deal plays to our mutual strengths and will give Indian audiences uniquely creative filmed content.”

     

    Adding to the same, Balaji Telefilms joint managing director and creative director Ekta Kapoor revealed, “The co-production tie-up also brings us unprecedented access to Relativity’s catalogue past and future and allows for the films to be re-imagined for India. Relativity boasts of an exciting array of films and a creative collaboration with Relativity is something that excites all of us at Balaji.”

     

    “The agreement brings great strength to Relativity’s existing catalogue of content, and we believe that this is a unique blueprint that further bridges two great filmmaking industries — Hollywood and Bollywood,” added Relativity CEO Ryan Kavanaugh.

     

    Relativity – B4U also recently premiered its first distribution venture The Best of Me, at the first South Asian premiere of a Hollywood film in the company of its lead actors Michelle Monaghan and James Marsden, and Director Michael Hoffman.

  • Warner Bros and Sky Deutschland extend movie rights contract

    Warner Bros and Sky Deutschland extend movie rights contract

    BENGALURU:  Sky Deutschland and Warner Bros. International Television Distribution (WBITD) announced that they have agreed to an early extension of their cooperation for several more years. The long-term contract between Sky and Germany’s top film distributor includes on demand rights for all current new movies during the pay-TV window as well as exclusive pay-TV rights to all Warner movies across several platforms. Film fans will be able to continue enjoying exclusive access to the most recent cinema blockbusters from Warner as television premieres on Sky. Upcoming highlights include films such as “Interstellar”, “Horrible Bosses 2”, “Magic in the Moonlight”, “Mad Max: Fury Road” , and “Der Nanny” from Matthias Schweighöfer.

     

    Content will also be available whenever and wherever subscribers want it via non-linear services Sky Go and Sky Anytime. In addition to current first broadcasting rights, Sky is acquiring exclusive pay-TV rights to a comprehensive package of high quality library films including rights for Sky Go and Sky Anytime.

     

    Sky Deutschland executive vice president, programming Gary Davey said, “Warner Bros. has been one of Sky’s closest and strongest partners for years. And now we’re pleased to announce a multi-year extension. We would like to thank Warner for its trust and look forward to continuing this successful cooperation. In the future, film fans will be able to keep on enjoying the wide-ranging movie offering that is only available on Sky.”

     

    “We are incredibly pleased to be continuing our long-standing relationship with Sky Deutschland,” said WBITD president Jeffrey R. Schlesinger. “As our television business continues to evolve and consumer behaviours shift to include more options for viewing our content, it is important to have a smart, sophisticated and marketing-savvy partner like Sky in Germany and Austria to showcase our films in the first pay TV window. “

     

    Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox is in the process of selling its majority stake in Sky Deutschland to UK based BskyB which is also taking full control of Fox’s Sky Italia and will combine the three pay-TV groups to form Europe’s largest pay-TV service with 20 million subscribers.

  • Third ‘Avengers’ movie to be split into two parts

    Third ‘Avengers’ movie to be split into two parts

    MUMBAI: After creating a buzz with the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer, Marvel Studios have announced the third Avengers film with a surprise for the fans; the movie will be broken into two parts.

     

    Named Avengers: Infinity Wars, the first part will release on 4 May 2018 while the final part will hit the theatres on 3 May 2019.

     

    The production house also laid out a nine-film roadmap that starts with Captain America 3: Civil War, which will be released on 6 May 2016 and ends with Avengers: Infinity War part II in 2019. Marvel also announced a slate of new titles, including Thor 3: Ragnarok, which is scheduled for release in 2018, and Inhumans, which is also due to hit cinemas in 2018.

     

    The studio’s first female-led superhero film, Captain Marvel, and a film based on the popular comic book character Black Panther were also announced.

     

    The complete schedule for Marvel studio releases is as follows:

     

    1 May 2015 –     Avengers: Age of Ultron

     

    17 July 2015 –   Ant-Man

     

    6 May 2016 –     Captain America: Civil War

     

    4 November 2016 –   Doctor Strange

     

    5 May 2017 –     Guardians of the Galaxy 2

     

    28 July 2017 –   Thor: Ragnarok

     

    3 November 2017 –   Black Panther

     

    4 May 2018 –     Avengers: Infinity Gauntlet part I

     

    6 July 2018 –     Captain Marvel

     

    2 November 2018 –   Inhumans

     

    3 May 2019 –     Avengers: Infinity War part II

     

    The second installment of the Avengers franchise, Avengers: Age Of Ultron, follows the first one, which grossed $1.52 billion worldwide after its May 2012 debut.

  • Kunal Kapoor’s passion for racing takes him to Abu Dhabi

    Kunal Kapoor’s passion for racing takes him to Abu Dhabi

    MUMBAI: Showcasing his love for sports and cars, actor Kunal Kapoor has took on a new adventure. The actor has signed up for Formula 3 training at the Formula 1 racing track in Abu Dhabi.

     

    Ecstatic with the new experience, the actor said, “The experience of Formula 1 racing is exhilarating. I’m going to head there frequently and train whenever I have a week or so off. My plan is to finish the training within the year.”

     

    Fulfilling his ambition and desire for fast cars Kapoor was in Abu Dhabi recently to work with Gianluca de Lorenzi who is popularly known to be Michael Schumacher with an international auto brand, according to the press release.

     

    Speaking about his passion for racing, Kapoor reckoned, “I’ve always been a racing enthusiast. The sport requires a lot of concentration and complete immersion because of the speed at which you are going. Even though you are driving really fast, it becomes meditative because it’s only you and the machine. That’s true for flying as well.”

     

    The actor is known to juggle his three intense sports like skydiving, flying, driving while also enjoying his other hobbies and hopes to continue exploring new avenues even in the future.

  • Benedict Cumberbatch to play Marvel’s ‘Doctor Strange’

    Benedict Cumberbatch to play Marvel’s ‘Doctor Strange’

    MUMBAI: After months of speculations, the Sherlock famed Benedict Cumberbatch is the final choice for the titular role in Marvel Studios’ Doctor Strange, according to media reports.

     

    Slated for release on 8 July 2016, the feature will be directed by Scott Derrickson. Cumberbatch will play Dr Stephen Strange, a former neurosurgeon who, after losing the use of his hands, turns to the mystic arts and the occult. He will serve as the Sorcerer Supreme — the primary protector of Earth against magical and mystical threats.

     

    Doctor Strange made his first appearance in the Marvel Universe in 1963, and was first created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in the pages of Strange Tales No 110. He has also been a longtime member of superhero teams like Avengers, and wielded a significant influence as a member of the Illuminati, which included the likes of Professor X, Mister Fantastic, and Iron Man.

     

    For the past few months, some of big Hollywood names have been linked to the role including Joaquin Phoenix, Ryan Gosling, Jared Leto, Tom Hardy, Justin Theroux, Ethan Hawke and Keanu Reeves.

     

    Marvel also plans to release the third Captain America movie along with the feature.

     

    In addition to his well-received ‘Sherlock’ series, for which he won an Emmy this year, he’s earned a great deal of Oscar buzz for his performance as cyberpioneer Alan Turing for The Imitation Game.

  • Amitabh Bachchan and Farhan Akhtar’s ‘Do’ Renamed ‘Wazir’

    Amitabh Bachchan and Farhan Akhtar’s ‘Do’ Renamed ‘Wazir’

    MUMBAI: After creating buzz with the first look of the film which showcases the actors (Farhan Akhtar and Amitabh Bachchan) engaged in a game of chess with Big B seated on a wheelchair against the backdrop of the famous Haus Khas village in Delhi, the makers of the movie has another surprising announcement.

     

    Earlier named Do, the upcoming film of Bachchan and Akhtar has been officially titled Wazir.

     

    Directed by Bejoy Nambiar, the film is being written and produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra. The movie also stars Aditi Rao Hyadri as AKhtar’s love interest.

     

    Farhan took to Twitter to announce the change in the film’s title. “The Vidhu Vinod Chopra/ Bejoy Nambiar film is now officially titled Wazir,” he tweeted.

     

    Bachchan, 72, is reportedly playing an ailing bed ridden chess master in the movie while Akhtar, 40, will play an ATS officer in the film. The film is slated to go on floor on 29 September 2015.

     

    Bachchan has earlier worked with Chopra in 2007 film Eklavya: The Royal Guard but this is the first collaboration between the actor and Nambiar, best known for helming Shaitan.

     

    The megastar is currently working on Shoojit Sircar’s Piku starring Deepika Padukone and Irrfan Khan. On the other hand, Farhan Akhtar is wrapping up his sister Zoya Akhtar’s film Dil Dhadakne Do. The actor is also producing films like Bangistan, Raees and the upcoming film on time travelling starring Sidharth Malhotra under his banner Excel Entertainment.

  • ‘Happy New Year’ collects Rs 95 crore at the opening weekend

    ‘Happy New Year’ collects Rs 95 crore at the opening weekend

    MUMBAI: Being a solo release with a festival weekend to back it up, Happy New Year took a bumper opening day as expected. The film was well promoted and a big hype was created around it before its release. Although the film did not enjoy positive public reports, such a big film would hardly be affected on its opening day, especially considering the release period.

     

    However, the film’s collections started dropping from day two. The collections given out to the media are controlled by the producers, Red Chillies, while distributors have been instructed not to reveal figures to media. The figures put together from sources come to around Rs 95 crore. The collections have shown a bigger drop as the new week begins and the long weekend of holidays is over. 

     

    Mumbai 125KM collects Rs 1.5 crore in its first week. Sonali Cable fails to cross even the crore mark in its first week collecting just Rs 85 lakh. Ekkees Topon Ki Salaami fared badly in the first week and totally sank in the second week managing to collect just Rs 10 lakh. Its two week total rounds up to Rs 1.65 crore. Tamanchey, another wasted effort, collects Rs 10 lakh in its second week and its two week collections total up to Rs 1.35 crore. Haider adds Rs 3.5 crore for its third week to take its three week tally to Rs 48.95 crore. Bang Bang has collected about Rs 8.05 crore for its third week taking its three week total to Rs 144.65 crore. 

  • ‘Fast and Furious 7’ retitled

    ‘Fast and Furious 7’ retitled

    MUMBAI: All set to launch the new edition of the famous Fast and Furious series, Universal Studios announced the latest installment will be renamed to Furious 7 and that the first trailer of the movie will  be premiered on 1 November.

     

    The trailer launch will be a part of ‘The Road to Furious 7: Trailer Launch Event at Universal Studios’ which will be held in Los Angeles. The event will also be live streamed exclusively on the Fast & Furious official Facebook page and E! Network.

     

    Fans can also attend the event by purchasing ticket available on 27 October on the official Fast and Furious social pages.

     

    The new synopsis posted reads, “Continuing the global exploits in the unstoppable franchise built on speed, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson lead the returning cast of ‘Furious 7.’ James Wan directs this chapter of the hugely successful series that also welcomes back favorites Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Elsa Pataky and Lucas Black.”

     

    “They are joined by international action stars new to the franchise including Jason Statham, Djimon Hounsou, Tony Jaa, Ronda Rousey and Kurt Russell. Neal H Moritz, Vin Diesel and Michael Fottrell return to produce the film written by Chris Morgan.”

     

    The movie will hit US theaters on 3 April 2015, after being pushed back a year due to Paul Walker’s untimely death. Also it is rumoured that Paul’s character will be retired rather than killed in the film. His final scenes have been created using his brothers Caleb and Cody as stand-ins and with the help of body double’s to recreate his voice and face.

     

    Meanwhile, the pic’s official YouTube page posted two new videos. One titled ‘The Road to Furious 7’ contains footage from the franchise’s previous films while the other one titled ‘7 Seconds of 7’ is a short behind-the-scene video featuring the cast.