ITV

Category: Movies

  • Japan’s first multiplex chain acquired by Lawson HMV Entertainment

    Japan’s first multiplex chain acquired by Lawson HMV Entertainment

    NEW DELHI: United Entertainment Holdings, the parent company of cinema chain United Cinemas, has been acquired by Lawson HMV Entertainment (LHE), from the Advantage Partners investment fund.

     

    In a deal said to be worth approximately US $100 million, Lawson HMV will acquire 100 per cent of the cinema chain’s shares. The deal is expected to be completed on 26 August.

     

    Originally the Japan branch of UCI Cinemas, a partnership between Paramount and Universal, United Cinemas International was a pioneer of the multiplex concept when it opened its first cinema in Shiga Prefecture. In 2005, United acquired the four cinemas of Japan’s AMC Theatres and it merged with the Cineplex cinema chain last November.

     

    United is currently the third-largest cinema chain in Japan, operating 331 screens in 36 cinemas.

     

    A subsidiary of global convenience store franchise firm Lawson, Lawson HMV Entertainment operates Japan’s HMV stores, a record label and a popular ticketing service for concerts, films and other live events.

     

    In a statement released by LHE, the company says that the deal will enable it to strengthen its role as a content holder. United Cinemas will stock LHE and Lawson products, and members of Lawson’s Ponta loyalty programme will receive special privileges at the cinema chain, thereby increasing cinema attendance. 

  • ‘Entertainment’…This one is for kids and likeminded!

    ‘Entertainment’…This one is for kids and likeminded!

    MUMBAI: A dog rates as the most accepted and loved pet anywhere and everywhere. They are easily adaptable to training and loyal as companions. The pet and the owner have a tendency to get emotionally attached to each other, so much so that fortunes are sometimes willed to a pet on the owner’s death. 

    Dogs are often used in films too, usually with the aim to entertain children or, otherwise, to solve mysteries. Entertainment seems to have been inspired from an American film, Bailey’s Billion$, a children’s film about a pet dog inheriting a billion dollar and the deceased’s nephew and spouse wanting to eliminate him for the billion to pass on to them.

    Akshay Kumar is a devoted son who has no regular job. To tend to his ailing father lying in hospital, he keeps doing various odd jobs every day. Every time he does an odd job, he is shortchanged but he avoids getting into a fight as his priority is to run to hospital to check on his father, Darshan Jariwal.

    On one such visit to the hospital with his friend to check on his father, he learns that Jariwala is not sick at all and just exploiting Akshay to enjoy the luxury of the five-star hospital and is romancing a nurse. When confronted, Jariwala reveals that Akshay is not his son but he adopted him after a train accident in which his mother had died and the compensation to her close relatives was Rs one lakh which he wanted to claim. Akshay is actually the son of a wealthy jeweller (played by Dalip Tahil as a photo frame) from Bangkok who sired him and later betrayed his mother.

    Producers: Ramesh S Taurani, Jayantilal Gada.

    Directors: Sajid-Farhad.

    Cast: Akshay Kumar, Tamannaah ,MIthun Chakraborty, Johny Liver, Prakash Raj, Sonu Sood, Krishna Abhishek, Darshan Jariwala and, in cameo, Riteish Deshmukh.

    Just when Akshay learns of this history about his family, he happens to watch a TV news bulletin and learns that his biological father has passed away. Akshay is thrilled and decides to go to Bangkok along with his sidekick, Krishna, to claim his father’s fortune. On his arrival at his late father’s palatial mansion, he meets Johny Lever, the family lawyer and executor of the will. Lever does not take much convincing to accept Akshay as the jeweller’s son. However, Akshay can’t inherit the Rs 3000 crore fortune since his dead father has bestowed all of it to his pet dog named Entertainment!

    Akshay thinks nothing of it and decides that all he has to do is to get rid of the pet and, as the son of the deceased Tahil, he will be the next heir. Meanwhile, two jailbirds, Prakash Raj and Sonu Sood, also claimants to Tahil’s fortune, are just out and proceed to claim it. But they realise that there are two other heirs before them, a dog and Akshay. They realise that Akshy plans to kill the dog so all they have to do is wait till that happens after which they can kill Akshay.

    This is one smart dog who has saved Tahil from Prakash and Sood and outsmarts Akshay every time he tries to kill him. On one such attempt to kill the pet, it is Akshay whose life is in danger; the pet saves him. Akshay has a change of heart. Now he accepts the pet as the true inheritor of Tahil’s fortune and decides to leave Bangkok. But, not for long since he knows that the pet’s life is in danger.

    Now the battle of wits is between Akshay, Krishna and the pet on one side and Sood and Prakash on the other.

    Since this is supposed to be a light entertainer, aiming more towards kids, wittingly or unwittingly, the treatment is of the sort one would find in the Hollywood hit Home Alone. Not only the theme but also a lot of things are borrowed from earlier films: the pet’s tricks for instance are sourced from the movie Kung Fu Hustle and Akshay describing ghosts to Prakash and Sood is from Mahmood’s famous scene from classic hit, Pyar Kiye Jaa. Little is original—except for the best part of the film, which is Krishna’s linking and rhyming various film titles to convey whatever he wants; that is funny.  Songs are pleasant and peppy but used randomly whatever the situation. While their direction is okay with ample help from other sources, dialogue on which Sajid and Farhad have built their career is a notch below their standard except for Krishna’s lines. The second half needed some trimming.

    While the dog Junior is expectedly the mainstay of the film, Krishna and Johny Lever’s parts add to the fun quotient. Akshay is his normal self: funny at times, almost so at others. Prakash and Sood as blundering villains are apt for a film aimed at children. Tamannaah is kept away for most of the first half while she does get due exposure in the latter part.

    Entertainment is a fairly amusing film which the children will enjoy. However, with cinema chains blocked for the next week’s release, Singham Returns, this film has limited time to recover whatever it can.

  • ‘Katiyabaaz’ to release in 15 Indian cities on 22 August

    ‘Katiyabaaz’ to release in 15 Indian cities on 22 August

    NEW DELHI: ‘Katiyabaaz’, a documentary by Fahad Mustafa and Deepti Kakkar which has already won several awards in India and overseas, is being released in around 45 screens on 22 August.

     

    The film is being presented by Phantom Films owned by Vikramaditya Motwane, Anurag Kashyap, Madhu Mantena and Vikas Bahl.

     

    It will initially be released in 15 cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Pune, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Indore, Kanpur, Chandigarh and Jaipur.

     

    The film revolves around Loha Singh, a nimble young electrician who provides Robin Hood style services to the poor in a city with 15-hour power cuts. But he has to face the first female chief of the electricity supply company who is on a mission to dismantle the illegal connections for good.

     

    ‘Katiyabaaz’ won the 61st National Award for Best Investigative Film. It has been shown at several international film festivals including Berlinale, Tribeca and CPH:DOX.

     

    It won the Jury award at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles early this year and the Best Film (Golden Gateway award) in the India Gold Category at the Mumbai Film Festival last year.

  • MOMI honours Om Puri

    MOMI honours Om Puri

    NEW DELHI: Veteran actor Om Puri, has been feted by Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) in the US for his contribution to the Indian cinema. The honour was given to the 63-year old actor on the eve of release of his next international release, The Hundred Foot Journey co-starring Helen Mirren, which is opening on 8 August.

     

    The actor, who has made a name for himself in Indian and international cinema, discussed his long journey to stardom at a conversation moderated by actress Madhur Jaffrey. This was followed by a screening of his latest film.

     

    Based on the book by Richard C Morais and directed by Lasse Hallström, The Hundred-Foot Journey is about the cultural war that ensues the opening of an Indian restaurant in the south of France next to a famous Michelin-starred eatery. Puri plays the role of a patriarch of a family displaced from their native India. The movie also stars Manish Dayal, Charlotte Le Bon and Bollywood actress Juhi Chawla. It is produced by Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, and Juliet Blake.

     

    During the conversation with Jaffrey, Puri revealed that when he first came to Delhi nearly four decades ago with only Rs 120 in his pockets to try his luck in theatre, he could not anticipate the success that lay ahead of him. A versatile theater and film actor, Puri, has made a name for himself in Hollywood as well. The actor also added that he and Naseeruddin Shah were the ‘two idiots’ who joined the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune.

     

    Puri made his debut with the Marathi film Ghasiram Kotwal based on a Marathi play of the same name by Vijay Tendulkar. The film was directed by K Hariharan and Mani Kaul in cooperation with 16 graduates of the FTII.

     

    Jaffrey also discussed Puri’s big break in Bollywood – Ardh Satya portraying Puri as a policeman struggling to deal with the evils around and inside him. “This was my lottery in the Hindi film industry. Everybody sort of sat back and noticed me,” Puri said. He also received the National Film Award for Best Actor for the film.

     

    Puri considers himself to be introverted, but he believes acting gave him a voice to convey his emotions. “I had a lot feelings looking at the world around me, particularly, the disparities in society used to disturb me,” he said.

  • Indian Film funded by Hubert Bals in Venice Film Festival

    Indian Film funded by Hubert Bals in Venice Film Festival

    NEW DELHI:  Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court has been selected for the 71st Venice Film Festival. The multilingual movie will be screened in the Horizons (Orizonti) section of the festival, which runs from August 27 to September 6.

     

    The film based on the exploration of the Indian judiciary, had received the Hubert Bals fund for script and project development in 2012 and was part of Film Bazaar co-production market of the National Film Development Corporation in 2012.

     

    Tamhane, an English literature graduate, has previously directed short film Six Strands, which was screened at international film festivals like Roterdam, Clermont-Ferand, Edinburgh, and Slamdance.

     

    Bengali film Labour of Love will be screened in Venice Days, a sidebar of the Venice Film Festival. 

  • Mary Kom’s latest song ‘Sukoon Mila’ available exclusively on Hungama.com

    Mary Kom’s latest song ‘Sukoon Mila’ available exclusively on Hungama.com

    MUMBAI: The most awaited biopic on the Olympic Medalist ‘Mary Kom’ released its second song today. ‘Sukoon Mila’ the latest track from the Priyanka Chopra starrer has been launched exclusively on Hungama.com and on Hungama music app. Sung by music sensation Arijit Singh the beautiful and soulful number depicts the romance between reel-life Mary Kom and her husband.

     

    Commenting on the release, Siddhartha Roy, Chief Operating Officer (Consumer Business & Allied Services) at Hungama Digital said, “We at Hungama always look forward to offer exclusive and fresh content to our consumers. With Mary Kom being one of the most awaited movies of this year, we are sure that our consumers will be enthralled by the release of this song exclusively on Hungama.com and Hungama music app.”

     

    Mary Kom is an upcoming 2014 Indian biographical sports drama film directed by Omung Kumar and produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Based on the life of the Indian boxer Mary Kom, the film stars Priyanka Chopra in the lead, along with Danny Denzongpa, Minakkshi Kalitaa, Bijou Thaangjam, Darshan Kumar, Shishir Sharma and Zachary Coffin in the movie.

     

    Link to Android app:

     

    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hungama.myplay.activity&hl=en

     

    Link to iOS app:

     

    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hungama-music-videos-radio/id414009038?mt=8

  • ‘Kajarya’ makes it to Montreal World Film Festival

    ‘Kajarya’ makes it to Montreal World Film Festival

    MUMBAI: Independent film ‘Kajarya’, has been selected for the prestigious Montreal Film Festival 2014.

     

    Directed by Madhureeta Anand, the film will be showcased in the ‘Focus on World Cinema’ section at the Montreal World Film Festival 2014, 21 August – 1 September.

     

    An assured second feature from the director, the film is an original voice about female foeticide in India. It is a story of a rookie journalist in Delhi who exposes a woman, believed to embody Goddess Kali, who ritually kills female newborns in a village nearby. The story questions notions of women’s emancipation and feminism as it weaves through an interplay of drama and events and explores how India continues to live in many centuries at the same time.

     

    ‘Kajarya’ stars Meenu Hooda, Ridhima Sud and Kuldeep Ruhil. The film had its world premiere at the Dubai International Film Festival. It has found critical appreciation internationally since and has been selected by the Forbes India magazine as the #1 in the Top 5 Films to See in 2014.

     

    The movie is produced by Starfire Movies and co-produced by Ekaa Films and Overdose Joint.

     

    Starfire’s next co-production is ‘Ludo’, with Idyabooster and Overdose Joint.  ‘Ludo’ is a fantasy-thriller horror film by the maverick directors duo Q and Nikon, and is currently in post production.

  • Viacom18 Motion Pictures set to give a big break to Bollywood with ‘Cineshorts’

    Viacom18 Motion Pictures set to give a big break to Bollywood with ‘Cineshorts’

    MUMBAI:  Are you a movie maker waiting to debut on the silver screen? Viacom18 Motion Pictures (VMP) is giving you an opportunity to be the one. It takes the lead to recognise talent in movies by providing an exclusive opportunity for budding filmmakers to showcase their talent through a visionary initiative christened – ‘Cineshorts.’

     

    The contest requires participants to submit a short film of five minutes, based on a theme that resonates with the upcoming film of the studio.

     

    To up the credits, VMP is all set to flag off this engaging enterprise with its upcoming mega release Mary Kom on the theme “Against All Odds”, which celebrates the unbreakable and resilient spirit of Mary Kom. An eminent jury comprising Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Omung Kumar along with VMP COO Ajit Andhare among others will judge the competition.

     

    Andhare believes that there is a need to democratise the entertainment space so that anyone with the vision, drive and talent can find an ecosystem of support and nurturing to make a film.  “Cineshorts is a platform that ventures into empowering talent by mentoring and showcasing their promising work. We are certain that this will usher in a new talent pool for the industry.”

     

    Filmmaker, Bhansali echoed the sentiment. “It’s a wonderful platform, I mean, when I started off in 1994, with Khamoshi it was a very difficult process. Today’s youth come out with new ways of looking at life. They bring in a new perspective, their whole take on a story, screenplay, edit or shot taking is completely different from mine. So this is an amazing opportunity for me to see what you have to offer.”

     

    Expressing her support of this mega platform, actress Chopra said, “When you want to establish yourself in life, you do not always need somebody to aid you but what you need is immense belief and a strong confidence in yourself. So, if I did and so did Mary Kom, why can’t you? When you have a platform like Cineshorts why don’t you just go out there and show them your talent so the whole world knows about it?”

     

    Marking the winning edge, the top five winning films will be officially premiered on Pepsi MTV Indies, along with winning significant cash prizes. The contest ends on 30 September 2014.

  • Indian film gets Emmy nomination for outstanding coverage of current news story

    Indian film gets Emmy nomination for outstanding coverage of current news story

    NEW DELHI: The documentary The World Before Her directed by Nisha Pahuja has earned her the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Emmy nomination in ‘Outstanding Coverage of a Current News Story’ category.

     

    The nominations for the 35th annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards known as the Academy awards of American television will be presented on 30 September.

     

    The World Before Her, which had a successful run in major cities of India starting 6 June, has won high appraisal on its release in Chandigarh.

     

    The documentary shifts between the worlds of the Miss India pageant and a Hindu fundamentalist camp for girls.

     

    In one, Ruhi Singh is a small-town girl competing in Mumbai to win the Miss India pageant—her ticket to stardom.

     

    In the other India, Prachi Trivedi is a young, militant leader at a camp for girls run by the Durga Vahini, the women’s wing of the VHP. Here she preaches violent resistance to western culture, Christianity and Islam.

     

    The film has been screened at more than 125 international film festivals and won 19 awards. 

  • ‘The Giver’ to release on 15 August

    ‘The Giver’ to release on 15 August

    NEW DELHI: The Giver –a sci-fi epic, based on the dystopian Y A novel by Lois Lowry, the winner of the 1994 Newbery Medal that sold over 10 million copies worldwide – will release on 15 August.

     

    Produced by the Weinstein Co. and Walden Media, The Giver stars Meryl Streep, Jeff Bridges and Brenton Thwaites as members of a society in which there is no conflict, racism or sickness.

     

    The heart-wrenching story of The Giver centres around Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), a young man who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colourless world of conformity and contentment. Yet as he begins to spend time with the Giver (Jeff Bridges), who is the sole keeper of all the community’s memories, Jonas quickly begins to discover the dark and deadly truths of his community’s secret past. With this newfound power of knowledge, he realises that the stakes are higher than imagined – a matter of life and death for him and those he loves most. At extreme odds, Jonas knows that he must escape their world to protect them all – a challenge that no one has ever succeeded at before.

     

    Bridges plays the pivotal role of The Giver, he is weary because he carries the burden of preserving all the memories of humanity while the story is told through the eyes of Jonas played by Thwaites, a young boy who is unique in the community of sameness; he is mature, perceptive and compassionate. Streep’s Chief Elder leads an isolated society where emotions, privacy, and basic colours have all been stripped away from its citizens. She sums up her philosophy as, “When people have the freedom to choose, they choose wrong.” Her portrayal of the Chief Elder looks like it combines the icy detachment of The Devil’s Wears Prada with the unbending determination of The Iron Lady. Among the members of the community, only the Giver is capable of real love, and after years of loneliness he experiences an intense emotional connection with Rosemary played by Taylor Swift.

     

    The motion picture adaptation of The Giver represents the fulfillment of a 20 year-long dream for actor Jeff Bridges, who also serves as a producer on the production. “My daughters read the book, but before I had known that they had read it, I was looking for some material to direct my father, Lloyd Bridges,” he recalls. “I also wanted to make a movie that my kids could watch at the time. I was looking through a catalogue of children books and I came across this wonderful cover of a book, with this old, grizzled kind of guy on the cover and thought, ‘Oh yeah, my dad can play that guy!’”                                                  

     

    Co-producing partner Walden Media spent over a decade developing the project and chief operating officer Frank Smith says, “The Giver is the crown jewel of children’s literature, and we are proud to add this film to the list of other great book to film adaptations we have produced like Holes, Charlotte’s Web, Bridge to Teribithea, Because of Winn Dixie, Ramona and The Chronicles of Narnia.”

     

    The Giver, with a budget of about $25 million, is being produced by Nikki Silver of Tonik Productions along with Neil Koenigsberg and Bridges. Vadim Perelman wrote the adapted script; Michael Mitnick penned the latest draft.