Category: Movies

NEW DELHI: The film Red Alert in Naxalism, directed by Ananth Mahadevan for producer T P Aggarwal, won two awards – for best director and the Red Rose for the best film released between October 2009 and October 2010 at the third Jaipur International Film Festival that concluded in the pink city over the weekend.

The veteran actress Asha Parekh was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award in absentia at the closing ceremony.

 
The Marathi film Mala Aai Vahhaychy (I want to be a Mother) on surrogacy (‘womb on hire’) also bagged two awards: best debutante director award to advocate-turned-filmmaker Samrouddhi Porey and Special Jury mention to the actress Stacy Bee for her role in the film.

The French film Dreams and Awakenings received two awards for best editor to David Baudry and best sound editor to Remy Laurencom at the festival which was held from 27 to 30 January.

Inaugurated by Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on 27 January in the presence of State Tourism Minister Beena Kaak and Festival Director Hanu Roj, the opening had been followed by a performance by famous Rajasthani folk dancer Gulabo. The films Hay Fever directed by Lara Luchhiti of Italy, Open Door directed by Alessandro Del Bianco of Italy, and Topi by Arjun Rihan from the United States were screened as the Opening films.

Gandhi-The Mahatma by Naresh Chandra Lal from the Andaman Islands (who was present) was the closing film on 30 January – Mahatma Gandhi’s death anniversary – before the Red Carpet awards function which saw the presence of Film Federation of India President T P Aggarwal among others.

The best short film award went to Jagjeet directed by Kavanjit Singh, while the documentary award was bagged by A Crime in Silence by Behrouz Nouranipoor of Iran. Kiruthiga Udhaynidhi received the best director Award for the film Life.

S Nallamuthu received the best cinematographer award for his film Tiger Queen on tigers in Ranthambore while the best script award went to Marcio Salem for the Brazilian film Vento and the Special Jury award went to Bassa Marea (Low Tide), directed by Roberto De Paolis of Italy.

The Best Upcoming Star award went to the film Cockroach from Australia directed by Luke Eve, while Khanabadosh directed by Tulika, Mahavish, Priya and Swati Bhattacharya received the Special Jury award in this category.

The Special Jury award in the upcoming star category in the U TURN Rajasthan award for the best film entry from Rajasthan went to the short film I am sorry directed by Gajendra Shrotriya.

The best Animation Award went to the French film Stretching directed by Francois Vogal from France whole the Special jury award in this category was bagged by Kidnap directed by Sijia Luo from US and the Critics’ award went to Topi directed by Arjun Rihan.

The Green Rose Award for the film with the best global message went to Cultures of Resistance directed by Iara Lee from the US while the Yellow Rose Award for upcoming film (world premiere) was given to the Hindi film Riwaayat on female infanticide and foeticide directed by Vijay Patkar.

The Special Jury Award in the feature film category went to the Iranian film Marham (Salve) directed by Alireza Davoodnejad.

The closing function was embellished by musical performances by the renowned Abhas Joshi and Janaki Parikh who took listeners on a journey of Hindi film music from the fifties to the present day.

A total of 133 films including 71 from overseas were screened at the Festival. The competitive festival had 57 films from India including two from Rajasthan itself. The festival was held at four venues and attracted around 300 film delegates from India and overseas.

The jury includes former Films Division Director General Kuldeep Sinha, filmmakers G L Bhardawaj, Kireet Khurana (director of Toonpur Ka Superhero), Italian filmmaker Alessandro Del Bianco, Deepak Mahaan, Biju Mohan, M D Soni, Michael Wigge (Germany), and Rakesh Gogna.

Some films from Rajasthan or with the state as backdrop were screened, including ‘13 May Gulabi Nagar’ directed by Nand K Pareek and Vinod Gupta; ‘Bhobhar’ directed by Gajendra S Shrotriya, and ‘I am Kalam’, apart from documentary ‘Tiger Queen’ by S Nallamuthu.

The various sections of the Festival include Worldwood International, Coming Stars about student cinema, ‘U Turn Rajasthan’ about Rajasthani cinema, ‘The Guest’ which was a focus on French Cinema, a Jury Retrospective, the Indian Panorama, and a Bollywood Special.

There were several discussions during the festival. These included ‘Beyond the Oscars’ moderated by Film Federation of India General Secretary Supran Sen, ‘Young filmmakers and networking’ moderated by film critic B B Nagpal, ‘Yesterday/ past –Today/ present – tomorrow/ future of cinema’ moderated by filmmaker Subhash Kapoor, and the Film Market section with FFI President T P Aggarwal and Jaipur distributor Sanjay Chatar.

There were two filmmaker sessions with Iara Lee of the United States and Jag Mohan Mundhra from India, and workshops by Subhash Kapoor (India) and Allessandra Del Bianco. Other participants included Mukesh Asopa (Film Maker, Canada), Iara Lee (Film Director, USA), Hemant Gaba and Ram Kumar Singh (Filmmakers, India),

The Festival also saw the presence of Rajeev Arora (Chairman Red Carpet), Rakesh Verma (Patron JIFF),Ila Arun (Singer, Actress), and Mahavir P Sharma (Advisory Board Member Red Carpet).
 

MUMBAI: Subhash Ghai-promoted Mukta Arts has decided to enter the film exhibition business, a move that will complete its presence across the value chain as it strives to increase its revenues.

The film production and distribution company is planning to invest Rs 500 million towards the multiplex business over a 12-month period.

The multiplexes will operate under the brand name of Mukta Cinemas. The first four plexes will be located in Baroda, Ahmedabad, Bhopal and Vishakhapatnam.

“We are currently investing Rs 200 million in the multiplex business. We plan to pump in Rs 500 million within a year,” Mukta Arts executive director Parvez Farooqui tells Indiantelevision.com.

Mukta Arts will enter into a revenue-share arrangement with the mall owners, a model that will limit its funding requirement in a capital intensive sector.

“This will be the business model we will be following. We may take up some properties on rental basis but that is not our priority,” says Farooqui.

So when will the first multiplex be operational? “Our Baroda plex is almost ready and we are waiting for the licence. But with the cricket World Cup and the Indian Premier League (IPL) round the corner, we are deciding whether it will be better to launch in the first quarter of next fiscal. There will not be big movie releases during the cricket season. It is always better to launch a multiplex with a big movie,” says Farooqui.

Mukta Movies Distributors, the distribution unit of the company, already controls programming of 160 theatres across India which include multiplexes of Big Cinemas (All India excluding Tami Nadu), Inox, Fame, Fun, DT Cinemas, Wave, SRS Cinemas in North India and many others including a number of single screen theatres.

Will Mukta Arts hive off the film exhibition business and raise capital to fund its expansion?

“We will take a call after one year. If there is a requirement for higher capital, we may decide to raise funds. One of the routes could be by hiving off the film exhibition business and then capitalising it. But it is too early to take a call on this,” says Farooqui.

Mukta Arts has firmed up three big budget movies to be directed by Ghai, Priyadarshan and Abbas-Mastan.

“The budget has not been finalised as it will depend upon the star cast. But each will be upwards of Rs 250 million. The two movies, by Ghai and Priyadarshan, will release in FY’12. The Abbas-Mastan film could spill over to FY’13,” says Farooqui.

MUMBAI: The library of the Academy of Motion Picture and Science has requested Ashutosh Gowariker for the screenplay of his Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey (KHJJS) for its permanent core collection that is made for filmmakers, writers, actors and students worldwide for their research work.

The merits of this selection of the film is not based on its box office performance, but mainly on the artistic merits, original screenplay with a substance and the film as a whole.
 
Presented by PVR Pictures, Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey has been jointly produced by Ajay Bijli, Sanjeev Bijli and Sunita A Gowariker. 

MUMBAI: After waiting for a considerable time, Gemini Film Circuit has announced the launch of the Tamil version of 3 Idiots.

The film, titled Nanban, will have Vijay, Srikanth and Jiva as the three protagonists. While Vijay will appear as the unorthodox genius Rancchod Das that was essayed by Aamir Khan, Jiva and Srikanth will appear as Farhan Qureshi and Raju Rastogi, the roles played by Madhavan and Sharman Joshi in the original.

Ileana D‘Cruz will appear in the role played by Kareena Kapoor, while Sathyaraj will don the role of the insensitive professor Virus, played by Boman Irani.

The Telugu version of the film has been titled 3 Rascals.

MUMBAI: Salman Rushdie‘s international best-selling novel ‘Midnight ‘s Children‘ is being made into an English film by Oscar-nominee Deepa Mehta.

Renamed Winds of Change, the film stars Irrfan Khan, Rahul Bose, Nandita Das, Shabana Azmi, Seema Biswas and Soha Ali Khan among others.

Midnight‘s Children depicts the incidents before and after the Independence and the partition of India through the eyes of its protagonist Saleem Sinai, whose birthday coincides with the birth of Independent India on 15 August 1947. 

The film is being shot in Sri Lanka because Mehta had sworn off India following her nightmare experience shooting Water at Varanasi. The film was subsequently shot in Sri Lanka.

But shooting in the country could yet run into problems because in the late 1990s, the BBC‘s plan to film a five-part mini-series of the novel with Rahul Bose in the lead ran into trouble due to pressure from the Muslim community in the country. Subsequently, the filming permit was revoked and the project was stalled.

The film‘s shooting is due to start in Sri Lanka next month.

MUMBAI: Udaan producer Sanjay Singh has roped in legendary Hollywood artiste Harvey Keitel for his next film Against Itself to be directed by National Award winner Kranti Kanade.

The film that will narrate the story of a secular school master struggling against anti-Gandhian forces, will have Keitel essay the pivotal role.
 
Singh, whose Udaan got the honour of being screened at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival and also boasts of a long list of 14 international and Indian awards including the Filmfare, is of the belief that Against Itself has a huge international potential and with Keital in the lead, he aims to reach both Indian and global audiences.

Keital is known for his performances in some best-known Hollywood films like Quentin Tarantino‘s Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Jane Campion‘s The Piano and Holy Smoke, Martin Scorsese‘s Mean Streets, Who‘s That Knocking At My Door and Taxi Driver, Ridley Scott‘s The Duellists and Thelma and Louise.
 

MUMBAI: Om Books International, in association with Hyphen Films, has released Nasreen Munni Kabir’s Dialogue of Pyaasa, Guru Dutt‘s Immortal Classic.

The book costs Rs 450 and is accompanied by a DVD of Pyaasa.

The book was released by Karan Johar in the presence of the late Guru Dutt‘s son Arun Dutt, sister Lalitha Lajmi and Ajay Mago, Publisher, Om Books International.

The dialogue book consists of the film‘s dialogue by Abrar Alvi and songs/poems by Sahir Ludhianvi. These are presented in Hindi, Urdu and English illustrated with photographs of Dutt and his films. It starts with an extensive commentary by Nasreen Munni Kabir.

Speaking at the book launch, Kabir commented, “The intention here is to bring together in a single publication the complete dialogue and songs, so as to fully appreciate their extraordinary depth, and in the commentary and introduction, to provide a fresh in-depth look at Pyaasa by pulling together detailed reference material, personal views, anecdotal insights, film analysis and history which would otherwise be lost.”

Mago said, “I have grown up in a household where Guru Dutt and his films were a frequent topic of discussion amongst family members who were avid cinema buffs. So my childhood years were peppered with lively debates on Kaagaz ke Phool, Sahib, Biwi aur Ghulam, Baaz, and of course Pyaasa. It was only recently that I rediscovered the charm and sheer poetry of Guru Dutt‘s Pyaasa, with its unforgettable songs by Sahir. It is, therefore, an honour for Om Books International to publish The Dialogue of Pyaasa: Guru Dutt‘s Immortal Classic, in association with Hyphen Films. This book also comes with a free DVD of the film, Pyaasa, and I hope the readers shall enjoy both.”

MUMBAI: Since the last two years, there have been a lot of crossovers with our film artistes going to Hollywood to do a film and vice versa. The latest is that Caterina Lopez, cousin of actor-singer Jennifer Lopez, has bagged a role in a Bollywood film, Bhindi Bazaar Inc.

Sources say that the performer will feature in a song sequence for the film. “When they approached me for this sexy item number, I jumped up at it. And this gave me the perfect chance to come and work in Mumbai, which is the New York of India,” Caterina is quoted to have revealed.

Bhindi Bazaar Inc, being shot in Mumbai, is set in the backdrop of pickpocketing that its director Ankush Bhatt feels is more heroic than a gangster killing with a gun.

The debutant actress said that Shah Rukh Khan was her favourite figure in the Indian cinema industry. “I think he is very charming and I‘ve had this big crush on him. I hope to meet him soon,” she said.