MUMBAI: The upcoming adaptation of Nicolas Sparks’ 2007 novel, The Choice has set Benjamin Walker as its leading man. Reports state that Walker will take on the role of Travis Parker in the Ross Katz film.
The Choice follows two young neighbors, Parker and Gabby Holland, in a small coastal town. They ultimately become lovers despite having to face many barriers. With a screenplay by Bryan Sipes, the 11th Nicholas Sparks book to turned into a movie is gearing up to start production in October in Wilmington, North Carolina although no cast has been announced yet.
Sparks will co-produce with partners Theresa Park and Peter Safran. Lionsgate bought the distribution rights for the film in North America, the UK and Latin America this past spring. Sparks’ next two adaptations The Best of Me and The Longest Ride are currently in post- production for their releases on 17 October 2014 and 10 April 2015, respectively.
The Best of Me is slated to release in India on 31 October 2014. Actor James Marsden, actress Michelle Monaghan and director Michael Hoffman will be present in India from 29 to 31 October 2014. The South Asia Premier takes place on 29 October 2014 followed by a closed door Black tie dinner on 30 October 2014.
Category: Movies
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Benjamin Walker to play lead in Nicolas Sparks’s adaptation, The Choice
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Anushka Sharma to appear in the next PK poster
MUMBAI: Aamir Khan is leaving no stone unturned in promoting his upcoming film PK. The first poster of PK garnered enough buzz in the market with the actor posing almost nude in the first look of the film.
In order to keep the buzz alive, it was being speculated that Khan will be looking at releasing about seven to eight posters of the film before the trailer. The posters until now have had Khan and the recent one had Sanjay Dutt as a part of it. It is only now that the leading lady of the film, Anushka Sharma revealed that she will be giving us a glimpse of her avatar in the film’s next poster.
Recently, the actress took to Twitter to talk about the release of the next poster of the film. She tweeted this video saying, “Mujhe tukur tukur dekhna hai? Toh pehle isse dekho” Sharma described that the next poster will be released on WhatsApp and it will only be available if you put up a phone number on a group of ten or more people.
Directed by Rajkumar Hirani and also produced by Hirani in association with Vidhu Vinod Chopra and UTV, PK also stars Sushant Singh Rajput and Boman Irani. The film is slated to release on December 19. -
American, Canadian filmfests call for entries for features, documentaries
NEW DELHI: Several American and Canadian feature and documentary film festivals are calling for entries from across the world to compete their awards.
The New York International Children’s Film Festival has set its final deadline for Feature Films as 10 November.
The Festival is North America’s film festival for children and teens. Each year the Festival presents 100 animated, live action and experimental shorts and features from around the world plus retrospectives, filmmaker Q&As, workshops, audience voting and an annual Awards Ceremony.
It wants creative, original, non-formulaic short and feature films that support the mission to create a more dynamic film culture for children and teens. It also often shows films that were not created with a young audience in mind, but are received passionately and enthusiastically by attendees aged 3 to 18.
Members of the Festival jury include Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Bill Plympton, Christine Vachon, James Schamus, Henry Selick and Gus van Sant, among others.
Meanwhile, the New York Festivals Awards 2015 ceremony will celebrate the World’s Best TV & Films, as well as present the Lifetime Achievement Award, Broadcaster of the Year, Production Company of the Year, and United Nations Department of Public Information Awards.
The deadline to enter the 2015 Television & Film Awards competition is 15 October. All Entries in the 2015 competition will be judged online and screened by New York Festivals Television & Film Awards Grand Jury of 200 plus producers, directors, writers, and other creative media professionals from around the globe. Award-winning entries will be showcased on the NYF Television & Film Awards website.
Meanwhile, the Nashville Film Festival will mark a celebration of the diversity of the human spirit expressed through the art of film. In year-round programs, NaFF helps build a more informed, collaborative and alive community. The call for entries for the 2015 Nashville Film Festival is open and cash and prizes valued at over $54,000 are given. Films that qualify are Live Action, Animated and Documentary Short Films for Academy Award. The deadline is 19 November.
The Hot Docs, Canada’s largest documentary festival, conference and market, will present its 22nd annual edition from 23 April to 3 May 2015. An outstanding selection of approximately 200 documentaries from Canada and around the world will be presented to Toronto audiences and international delegates.
Hot Docs will also mount a full roster of conference sessions and market events and services for documentary practitioners, including the renowned Hot Docs Forum, Hot Docs Deal Maker and The Doc Shop. In partnership with Blue Ice Group, Hot Docs operates the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, a century-old landmark located in Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood.
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The Lunchbox bags Star Box Office India award
MUMBAI: Described as a defining film in Indian cinema, The Lunchbox which has won numerous domestic and international accolades in its slight over a year’s run at the box office won yet another award. It was recently conferred the Film with the Best Return on Investment award at the Star Box Office India 2014 awards. DAR Motion Pictures producer Vivek Rangachari and Guneet Monga from Sikhya Entertainment were present on the occasion to receive the award.
The film is a story about a mistaken delivery in Mumbai’s famously efficient lunchbox delivery system connects a young housewife to a stranger in the dusk of his life. They build a fantasy world together through notes in the lunchbox. Gradually, this fantasy threatens to overwhelm their reality. The film is an example of global collaboration with studios from India, USA, France and Germany coming together to produce a film that strikes a chord with global audiences. One of the top-rated film by critics in India this year, it was distributed in the US by Sony Classic Pictures.
Commenting on the award Rangachari said “When the script of The Lunchbox came to me, I was sure this movie will do great but the kind of response we have got from India as well as globally is way beyond all expectations. DAR is really happy to be a part of the project which has created a new path for Indian cinema nationally and globally.”
Written and directed by Ritesh Batra, the film has released globally in various countries like UK, USA, New Zealand, France, Germany, Australia, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Brazil, China, Columbia, Malaysia, Italy, Israel, Hungary, Hong Kong, Japan, Poland, Middle East, Singapore amongst others. Furthermore, it has been showcased in various film festivals including The Cannes Film Festival, The Telluride Film Festival, The Toronto Film Festival, The London Film Festival, etc. winning various awards like Viewers Choice Award at the International Critics’ Week, Best Film at The London Film Festival and The Filmfare awards, to name a few.Produced by Arun Rangachari of Dar Motion Pictures (India) and Guneet Monga and Anurag Kashyap of Sikhya Entertainment (India), The Lunchbox has been co-produced by Vivek Rangachari, Nina Lath Gupta of NFDC (India), Karan Johar (Dharma Productions), UTV Motion Pictures, Shanaab Alam, Sunil John, Nittin Keni, Karsten Stöter and Benny Drechsel of Rohfilm (Germany), Cedomir Kolar and Marc Baschet of ASAP Films (France), Danis Tanovic and executive produced by Lydia Dean Pilcher of CineMosaic, Irrfan and Ritesh Batra.
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‘Bang Bang’ continues to thrill the BO
MUMBAI: The week saw four small-time films release in Spark, EkkeesTopon KI Salaami, Jigariya and Tamanchey. None had the face value, or could draw crowd. Also, each film catered a regional subject with scant identification for universal audience.
Of the lot, EkkeesTopon KI Salaami had the best prospects and was a sincere attempt; however, it lost out balancing itself between a satire and a melodrama.
Bang Bang opened to good houses as expected. However, the reports about its mediocre content caught up with it and the collections started dropping in a free fall. The fall which started a day after release got more pronounced as the new week began. The film, which had collected Rs 80 crore for its first five days (having opened on Thursday) managed to end its eight day week with Rs 115.3 crore.Haider has met with an indifferent response with only a few caring to talk about it. A pretentious film with a script penned on whim and fancy, it fails to identify with any sort of audience. It is as unreal as a cinema can get. The film continued to collect on the lower side of average throughout the week despite holidays to end its eight day week with Rs 35.15 crore.
Daawat-e-Ishq has added just Rs 10 lakh in its third week taking its three week total to Rs 25.66 crore.
Khoobsurat has added Rs 70 lakh in its third week to take its three week total to Rs 24.65 crore.
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Sony Pictures acquisition Red Army to be screened at Mumbai Film Festival
New Delhi, 13 Oct:
The film ‘Red Army’, based on hockey, is being screened at the Mumbai Film Festival commencing tomorrow.
The Festival, which continues till 21 October, is divided into nine sections: International Competition for the First Feature Films of Directors, World Cinema, Indian Frame, Dimensions Mumbai, Retrospectives, Above the Cut, New Faces in Indian Cinema and The Real Reel.
Red Army is a feature documentary about the Soviet Union and the most successful dynasty in sports history, the Red Army hockey team. Told from the perspective of its captain, Slava Fetisov, the story portrays his transformation from national hero to political enemy.
From the USSR to Russia, the film examines how sport mirrors social and cultural movements. It parallels the rise and fall of the Red Army team with the Soviet Union.
Whether he was pitted against enemies in the political arena or on the ice, Fetisov’s story provides a rare glimpse behind the Iron Curtain of the 1970s and ’80s by mirroring the social and political forces at work in the world around him.
While helping pave the way for his nation to cross over into the next century, this one man demonstrated how sports could not only be an avenue for creative expression in a world determined to suppress it, but also be something so inextricably intertwined with a nation’s cultural and political identity.
The film, which has been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics, features Mark Deakins and Vyacheslav Fetisov who are among the erstwhile’s most-decorated athletes. -
Hong Kong dominates Asian Film Market in Busan
NEW DELHI: This week’s films from Hong Kong at the Asian Film Market in Busan in Korea represent a variety that moves from erotica to horror to romantic comedy and 3-D blockbusters.
Distribution Workshop unveils In the Room by Singapore’s Eric Khoo. Produced by Nansun Shi and starring Josie Ho, the high concept erotic drama takes place in a single hotel room with six connected stories over several decades. Also on the company’s lineup are Tsui Hark’s spy thriller The Taking of Tiger Mountain 3D and Derek Yee’s martial arts film Sword Maste, both in post-production for 3D delivery.
Golden Network Asia pesents Live TV by new Korean directors Kim Seon-ung and Son Gwang-su. The thriller follows two guys and one girl who live-broadcast a threesome sex scene online in a seedy motel only to find themselves become the next victims of a serial killer. It is slated for its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival.
Busan’s closing film Gangster Pay Day is Star Alliance Movies’ (HK) first co-production with Sundream Motion Pictures. Starring Anthony Wong and Charlene Choi, the action comedy is about a retired gang boss who leads a humble life but is forced to fight back to protect the woman he loves and avenge the death of a comrade. Lee Po-cheung’s film is due to open on 6 November in Hong Kong.
Star Alliance is also selling Soi Cheang’s SPLII in the Asia-Pacific region only. The follow up to the 2005’s smash hit is top-lined by Thai action star Tony Jaa, Louis Koo and Wu Jing. A 2015 summer release is expected.
Universe Films Distribution touts James Yuen’s romantic comedy Paris Holiday, featuring Louis Koo and Amber Kuo as two broken hearts who fall in love in the most romantic city and the Benny Chan-produced Little Big Master with Miriam Yeung as a headmaster who runs a kindergarten for under-privileged children.
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Mikhail Red shares joint director award with Axelle Ropert at Vancouver
NEW DELHI: Mikhail Red is the joint winner of the inaugural Best New Director Award at the 33rd Vancouver International Film Festival for his debut feature, the surveillance thriller Rekorder.
The jury – comprised of Sydney-based professor Ben Gibson, Vancouver-based critic Kim Linekin and Québec-based programmer Roland Smith – called it ‘an ambitious, urgent and passionate film about the underside of contemporary urban life.’
Rekorder stars Ronnie Quizon as a one-time cinematographer who now illicitly records films in cinemas that he sells to counterfeiters. When he inadvertently sells footage of a violent robbery, the video goes viral.Red shared the prize with Axelle Ropert for her French romance Miss and the Doctors (Tirez la langue, mademoiselle), which the jury described as ‘a beautifully realised romantic drama, intelligent and full of love for its characters’.
Red’s thriller premiered in the New Breed section of the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival last summer and had its international premiere in the Asian Future section of last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival.
Other Asian films eligible for the award were Suzuki Yohei’s Ow from Japan, Andri Cung’s The Sun, the Moon and the Hurricane from Indonesia, and ChiennHsiang’s Exit from Taiwan. -
The Angry Young Man of Bollywood turns 72
MUMBAI: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who turns 72 today, feels there’s no gift greater than spending time with family. The actor, who feels ‘luckiest today’ thanked all who have been in his life.
“To them that wish for me for my 72nd moving into 73rd…I have just few words…I am blessed to have you with me still! Thank you all for your affectionate greetings and love..they shall ever remain with me…I feel today the luckiest,” he tweeted early Saturday.
“It is that time of life when the next year in celebration of the birth is never one that needs celebration….I have none answer to the why, but so it is…I do not feel any different from this and never shall,” added the entertainer, who has been part of the Indian showbiz for over four decades now.
Born on 1942, he started his career with Saat Hindustani. His early works were not appreciated. His rise to stardom started when Director Prakash Mehra cast him in the leading role for the film Zanjeer (1973) as Inspector Vijay Khanna. The film was a sharp contrast to the romantically themed films that had generally preceded it and established Amitabh in a new persona—the ‘angry young man’ of Bollywood cinema.
He has appeared in more than 180 movies in his whole life span and created his own heights of success. His career started with Saat Hindustani in which he also made a debut as a narrator.
Besides a number of Filmfare awards, he has been honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Shri award in 1984 and Padma Bhushan in 2001 for his utmost contributions to the film industry. He has also received National Film award, France’s highest civilian honour, the Knight of the Legion of Honour, among other recognitions.
His notable works include Kabhie Kabhie, Deewar, Chupke Chupke, Mr. Natwarlal, Kaala Patthar and The Great Gambler, Satte Pe Satta, Lawaris, Sarkar, KAbhi Khushi Kabhi Gam, Sholay, Anand among others.
“…it is not a day to contemplate…it is a time to deliver thanks and gratefulness to all those that have been responsible for my 72 in completion and my 73 to begin,” posted Big B.
Every year, Amitabh Bachchan’s birthday is celebrated with much fervour by fans who gather outside his residence Jalsa to wish the superstar and if possible meet him. Big B too obliges the fans by stepping among them.
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Kabaddi forms the subject of new feature film being released next month
NEW DELHI: With Kabaddi getting tonnes of attention as a sports format in the country, Bollywood is now set to release a feature film on the game.
Set to release on 7 November, Badlapur Boys will be produced by Karrm Movie. The movie revolves around about some boys of Badlapur village, who breathe and live Kabaddi and aspire to make a name out of the game, not only for themselves, but also for their village. However, the protagonist’s dream is slightly different and it binds the film right till the end.
Annu Kapoor plays the role of a Kabaddi coach in the film. The hero of the film, Nishshan, has acted in the film David and Subhash Ghai’s Cycle Kick, along with many other Malyalam movies. Badlapur Boys also stars Sharanya Mohan, who has acted in more than 16 South Indian movies as the main lead but this is her first Hindi film.
Although this is the directorial debut of the film’s director Shailesh Verma, he has written various daily soaps and movies, including Salman Khan starrer Veer. He is also planning to start his next movie right after the release of Badlapur Boys.
Actress Kishori Shahane plays the hero’s mother and Pooja Gupta, who had starred in Vicky Donor, Mickey Virus and Oh My God, is also a part of the film. Other artistes who worked in the movie are Boloram Das, Nitin Jadhav, Shashank Udaypurkar, Mazhar Khan, Ankit Sharma, Vineet, among many more.
Music of the film has been composed by Shamir Tandon and Sachin Gupta. Words to the melodies have been given by lyricist Sameer Anjaan, which have been sung by singers Sukhwinder Singh, Shaan, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Shreya Ghoshal, Javed Ali, Ritu Pathak. Choreography has been done by Saroj Khan.
Badlapur Boys is Karrm Movies’ first Hindi film. Their Marathi film Razakar is also ready to release.