Category: Movies

MUMBAI: After attracting hordes of Indian tourists, the tourist department of Kenya, is now trying to woo Bollywood producers to shoot their films in the country.

KTB (Kenya Tourist Board) marketing director Jennifer Opondo said in a statement that the board is now marketing Kenya as an ideal location for film shooting.

“After due diligence with Indian film production houses, the Kenya Film Commission is expected to come out with a policy that would facilitate film shooting,” Opondo said. “We are working in coordination with the Kenya Film Commission and are studying the dynamics of Indian film production houses so as to be able to support them in their endeavours.”

The Kenya Film Commission has been acting as one stop shop for filmmakers cutting across the tedious licensing regime prevalent earlier. The commission has also started suggesting suitable sites for film shooting to the production houses visiting Kenya.
 

MUMBAI: Filmistan Studio, once owned by Sashadhar Mukherjee and Ashok Kumar, will soon be shut and make way to a residential or commercial project.

Kamanwala Housing Construction, which co-owns the Filmistan studio along with Aspin Property, is not finding it feasible to run the studio.

“The studio doesn‘t generate enough revenue anymore. The property, however, is huge and could fetch anywhere between Rs 6 billion and Rs 10 billion,” said Kamanwala Housing Construction managing director ML Gupta.

The owners have been reluctant to allow shoots in the studio for some time now.

Jhalak Dikhhlaja is the only show that is being shot there and the studio is made available to them only on Wednesdays and Thursdays.The studio is usually shut the rest of the week.

Reacting to the decision as unfortunate, yesteryear actress Asha Parekh said: “It is hard to believe that the studio where films like Paying Guest, Dooj Ka Chand,Tumsa Nahin Dekha among others were shot is being closed down. Lots of memories are attached to it.”

Some other prominent films shot at Filmstan studio were Durgesh Nandini, Hum Sab Chor Hain, Munimji, Jagruti, Nagin, Nastik, Shart and Anarkali among others.

MUMBAI: Akshay Kumar continues to fail miserably at the box office with his latest release, Patiala House, getting a lukewarm response. Not having generated any excitement at the time of pre-release, the movie got a poor response with opening collections ranging from 20-30 per cent.

The film started on the opening day with less than Rs 40 million at the box office. It failed to exceed the Rs 40 million mark next day despite it being a Saturday; it peaked on Sunday with a collection of over Rs 60 million.

Patiala House fetched Rs 135.8 million in its opening weekend.

The film‘s theatrical recovery will be meagre and whatever little it salvages of its investment will have to be from satellite rights which, again, is not much since these rights were sold off right at the outset.

In a miserable week of five releases, there is nothing much to cheer Utt Pattang, United Six, Tum Hi To Ho and Hum Dono Rangeen fared miserably with cancelled shows due to lack of patronage; none of them crossed even the Rs 10 million figure.

The one which managed to just about survive, Yeh Saali Zindagi, collected Rs 9.2 million on Friday, peaking on Sunday with Rs 17 million. However, what is noteworthy is that from Monday to Thursday it maintained steady figures bordering around Rs 8 million. The seven-day collection stands at around Rs 64 million.

Madhur Bhandarkar‘s attempt at a rom-com meets a sad ending with the film facing all round rejection. Dil To Baccha Hai Ji adds another Rs 60 million to its first week tally of Rs 210 million, taking its total to Rs 270 million.

Yamla Pagla Deewana has added about Rs 15 million to its total; its net collection in five weeks now crosses Rs 520 million.

MUMBAI: The Arbaaz Khan produced Dabaang was adjudged the best film of 2010 at the first Global India Film and Television Honours, organised by Balaji Motion Pictures.

The film also annexed eight other awards in the Best Lyrics, Best Soundtrack Composer, Best Playback Singer – Female, Best Track Of The Year, Colors Face Of The Year – Female, Most Promising New Director, Best Choreographer and Best Action Direction categories.

Shah Rukh Khan and Ajay Devgn shared the honours in the best actor in a lead role in the male category for their portrayal in My Name Is Khan and Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai.

Vidya Sinha annexed the best actor award in a lead role in the female category for her performance in Ishqiya.

The best director award went to Rohit Shetty for Golmaal 3, while the honours in the best story category was shared by Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyap for Udaan.

While the award in the best actor in a supporting role (male category) was picked up by Arjun Rampal for his role in Raajneeti, the best actor in a supporting role (female award) went to Zarina Wahab for her portrayal in My Name Is Khan.

Sanjay Mishra bagged the award in the best performance in a comic role category for his role in Phass Gaya Re Obama while the award in the best performance in a negative role category was given to Ronit Roy for his role in Udaan.

Hrithik Roshan bagged the best actor (male) in a lead role jury award for Guzaarish, Neetu Singh did the same in the best actress in a lead role jury award (female) for Do Dooni Chaar.

Sonakshi Sinha was adjudged the Colors Face of the Year award for her role in Dabaang while Abhinav Singh Kashyap bagged the ‘Most Promising New Director‘ award for the same film.
 

MUMBAI: Filmmaker Deepa Mehta is set to direct Hollywood legend Al Pacino in a biopic on French artist Henri Matisse titled Masterpiece.

The film will be produced by Todd Black, Steve Tisch and Jason Blumenthal.

Pacino will portray Matisse in film that will depict the true story of the painter‘s relationship with his nurse Monique Bourgeois. The project is currently in development and the producers will soon get into the casting process of the two female leads.

The 70-year-old actor will next be seen opposite Channing Tatum in Dito Montiel‘s cop drama, The Son of No One. He‘s also set to play controversial record producer Phil Spector in an untitled HBO movie from writer-director David Mamet.

Mehta, 61, is currently developing Winds of Change, an adaptation of Salman Rushdie‘s Midnight Children.
 

MUMBAI: Shirish Kunder‘s upcoming 3D film Joker will have elements of science fiction woven into the storyline.

The film‘s story, starring Akshay Kumar, Shreyas Talpade, Sonakshi Sinha and Minissha Lamba, is supposedly about how creatures from outer space change the life of a simple individual. The film will have an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) as well as an alien creature to support the cast.

The SFX team is busy sketching and coming up with alternatives about how the alien could look and be incorporated in the plot.

Additionally, there will be a huge set of the NASA.

For a record of sorts, Kunder has recorded a film‘s song in 10 Indian languages like Hindi, English, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. A dance number, the fusion track has been sung by Daler Mehendi.