ITV

Category: Movies

  • Three Hollywood films to shoot in India

    MUMBAI: In their bid to explore the Indian market with the help of an Indian American talent manager in Hollywood, three Hollywood films are set to be shot in India shortly.
    “The process of selecting India as a location has been easy,” says Jai Khanna, manager at Brillstein Entertainment Partners (BEP), a top Hollywood talent management film and television production company.


    “The key is finding the right partners, those with the right sensibility, in order to navigate the landscape and politics of India, as well as appeal to an American crew and cast,” Khanna adds.


    The first film Hope Lost is aimed for a summer shoot in Mumbai. Based on the hit comic book series by Jeff Albert, the film is an action-thriller about the battle between good versus evil with themes of the Ramayana. To be produced by Marlon Parry, the film will be directed by Rajeev Virani.


    River of Gods, based on a novel by Ian McDonald that won the British Science Fiction Award in 2004, shows a futuristic India inhabited by ancient traditions as well as artificial intelligence, robots and nanotechnology. To be produced by Anthony Dorment and Susan Cherian, it is aimed for a fall shoot.


    The third film Last Bachelor, an international romantic comedy set in Rajasthan and Goa, is being produced by Britain-based Lux Entertainment.


    “India has been viewed as an exotic location for actors, and not immediately thought of as a film location. If we can marry the two experiences, of exploring the wonders of India, and working in a professional manner, we hope for more productions to enter India,” Khanna says.
     

  • Christopher Dodd is MPAA chairman and CEO

    MUMBAI: The Motion Pictures Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) has named former US Senator Christopher J. Dodd as its new chairman and chief executive officer.


    Dodd, who completed five terms in the United States Senate last January, will assume his new role on 17 March.


    “Chris has served our country as a highly respected and accomplished Senator for over 30 years, and we are truly fortunate that he will bring his stature and talent to support the creative efforts of our filmmakers and the many people who work in our industry, here and around the world,” commented Fox Filmed Entertainment chairman and CEO Jim Gianopulos.


    “We‘re also grateful to Bob Pisano, who has done an excellent job of leading the MPA during this transition period,” Gianopulos added.


    Dodd, a Democrat, represented Connecticut in the US Senate from 1981 to 2011, where he was chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and the author of the historic Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. He also served as acting-chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee during the 2009 consideration of the Health Care Reform Act. He also was a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

  • Mukta Arts to release The King’s Speech on 4 March

    MUMBAI: Mukta Arts will release The King‘s Speech on 4 March in major territories of India such as western Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Delhi and NCR, U.P., Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.


    The film is the story of King George VI of Britain, his impromptu ascension to the throne and the speech therapist who helped the monarch become worthy of it.


    The King‘s Speech was highly acclaimed in the US and other countries after its release. It has also generated great excitement in India after it won four Oscar awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor.

  • Siddhartha Sinha gets Fonds Sud grant for Do Duni

    MUMBAI: The CNC (Centre National de la Cinématographie) along with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, France has granted the Fonds Sud grant to Siddharth Sinha for his upcoming project Do Duni (Twosome).


    Do Duni is being co-produced by Trompe le monde, Paris and Riva films, Germany while Anurag Kashyap is the Indian producer. 


    The film, that involves the parallel narratives of the stories of two women, will go on the floors in Mumbai in October-November this year.


    The script of the feature film had earlier been awarded the best co-production project. It also received Euro 5,000 from the Hubert Bal Fund at the NFDC Film Bazaar, Goa in 2009.


    The Fonds Sud grant is given to a feature, documentary or animation film that is eligible for a theatrical release in France and has a French co-producer attached to it. The fund, initiated in 1984, has helped over 400 films from Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Gulf. The average aid provided under this grant is 110, 000 euros.


    Indian filmmakers who received the grant earlier are names like Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Jahar Kanungo and Sudhir Mishra.
     

  • Jonah Hill turns director with Kitchen Sink

    MUMBAI: Writer, actor Jonah Hill will soon don the director‘s hat with Kitchen Sink.


    The film has a team of a human teenager, a vampire, and a zombie who must collectively save their town from an alien invasion.


    The title is a self-aware reference to the fact that story writer Uziel has thrown into his story every hot movie trope: zombies, vampires and aliens.


    On 5 August, Hill can be seen in the comedy-adventure The Sitter followed by the release of Bennett Miller‘s Moneyball on 23 September. The film is based on Michael Lewis‘ book about Oakland A‘s general manager Billy Beane.


    Hill is currently working on adapting 21 Jump Street for the big screen for a 16 March release next year.

  • Release of Teen Thay Bhai deferred

    MUMBAI: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra‘s upcoming film Teen Thay Bhai, originally scheduled to hit the screens on 1 April, has been pushed to a 15 April release.


    Teen Thay Bhai is the story of three brothers distanced by life and brought together by a clause in their grandfather’s will, at an isolated snowed-out cabin. They battle love and life to win togetherness ultimately.


    Teen Thay Bhai is a co-production between PVR Pictures and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Productions. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra has for the first time donned the producer‘s hat with this film.


    Directed by debutante Mrighdeep Singh Lamba, the film stars Om Puri, Deepak Dobriyal, Shreyas Talpade and Ragini Khanna.

  • Shorey, Pathak lend their voice to Rio

    MUMBAI: Vinay Pathak and Ranvir Shorey have lent their voices in the upcoming 3D animation film Rio.


    Directed by Carlos Saldanha, who had earlier directed Ice Age, the Hollywood film is set in the city of Rio de Janeiro and the lush rainforests of Brazil. It revolves around Blu, a rare macaw, who thinks he is the last of his kind. But upon discovering a female bird of his kind, Blu leaves the comfort of his cage in small town Minnesota and heads to Rio.


    Said Fox Star Studios India CEO Vijay Singh, “The spectacular 3D visual effects and exciting story line of RIO will be a treat for film enthusiasts and to make this adventure even more exciting for Indian audiences, we have roped in talented artistes like Ranvir Shorey, Vinay Pathak and Shaan.” 


    Incidentally, all the Hindi songs have been sung by Shaan.


    Shorey and Pathak will be dubbing for the characters Nico and Pedro, Blu‘s friends. With voiceovers by renowned actors like Anne Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg, Will.I.Am, Robin Thicke, George Lopez and Tracy Morgan, Rio is touted to be one of the biggest Hollywood films this year.


    Earlier, Shah Rukh Khan had lent his voice to the animation film The Incredibles.


    Rio will have its simultaneous release worldwide along with India on 8 April. The film will be presented by Fox Star Studios.
     

  • I Am to open London Asian film fest

    MUMBAI: Sanjay Suri and Onir‘s I Am will open the London Asian Film Festival that is scheduled to go underway on 18 March.


    The film is a tale of four stories woven together that takes audiences through issues and dilemmas that bruise the modern Indian society. The film unfolds many a tale of individuals struggling to find their identity and uphold their dignity in a world that is callous, cold and unsympathetic.


    The film was bestowed the David Flint Honorary Award for promoting human rights; it was also awarded the Best in Asian Cinema (NETPAC) at the International Film Festival of Kerala 2010. It went on to win the Audience Choice Award, Best Film, River To River Film Festival at Florence last year and was the opening film at the IVIEW Engendered Film Festival in New York in September last.


    Touching on subjects like sperm donation, child sexual abuse and homosexuality, the film stars Nandita Das, Purab Kohli, Juhi Chawla, Manisha Koirala, Sanjay Suri , Rahul Bose and Arjun Mathur. It also marks the full-fledged debut of directors Anurag Kashyap and Anurag Basu.


    The film is set to release on 22 April.
     

  • Scorcese to co-produce Xtreme City with Shah Rukh Khan

    MUMBAI: Martin Scorcese will co-produce Shah Rukh Khan‘s Indo-Hollywood project Xtrme City along with David Weisman.


    Scorsese has proposed making the film as a fully equal co-production between Khan‘s company Red Chillies and Scorsese‘s company Sikelia Productions in Hollywood. All creative decisions would be shared equally between Khan and Scorcese.


    Xtrme City, dealing with the Mumbai mafia and slums, is also about romance, families and obligations. It focuses on an American who gets wrapped up in trouble with the Mafia after heading to India in order to help his father-in-law with a kidnapping plot.


    The film, starring Leonardo Di Caprio, will be directed by Paul Schrader. “The script that I am dealing with is about two men who‘ve worked together – an American policeman and an Indian ex-bhai. But it‘s not a gangster film. It‘s not a Satya, Company or Sarkar. It‘s a different kind of film,” Schrader is reported to have said.

  • Reliance Pictures’ Singham goes on the floors

    MUMBAI: Singham, a cop story produced by Reliance Pictures, went on the floors today.


    Starring Ajay Devgn and Kajal Aggarwal, director Rohit Shetty turns action director with Singham.


    The director, who is known for his flair for comedy, has conceptualised, designed and will be executing the action for the film.


    The action of the film has been designed on an extravagant level. For the very first sequence, the director plans to blow up 20 cars.


    Quizzed on this particular action sequence, Shetty avers, “The scene is set in a parking lot, where a kidnapping takes place. It is a chase scene between Ajay and some gangsters for which we will require to blow up cars. In the shot, there will be about 200 cars of which we will be blowing up 20 cars.”