ITV

Category: Movies

  • Kings Speech wins DGA, Sag Ensemble award

    MUMBAI: Weinstein Company could‘t have rejoiced more as The Kings Speech has won both the Director‘s Guild of America (DGA) Award and the Screen Actors Guild (Sag) Award for best ensemble.


    Earlier it had won the Producers Guild of America (PGA) award making it the clear favourite to win best film at the Oscar Awards next month. The race is as good as over. This marks a complete turnaround in the Oscar race. The Social Network won almost every critics award for Best Picture. It also won the Golden Globe for best picture, diretcor and screenplay.


    The Guilds though felt differently in an overwhelming manner. It could be that the Social Network after so much critical acclaim wins just one Oscar for screenplay. If it does it has great company – Citizen Kane and Pulp Fiction. Coming back to the Sag awards the winners were as expected. Apart from the ensemble award The Kings Speech also saw Colin Firth pick up the best actor trophy.


    The best actress was won by Natalie Protman playing a tormneted ballerina in Black Swan. It will probably be that Annette Bening who has been nominated for The Kids Are Alright loses the Oscar for the fourth time. The boxing move The Fighter won both supporting actor categories for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo. All of them won at the Golden Globes as well. They especially Firth and Bale have won most of the critics awards. Unlike The Social Network though they should all pick up Oscars.


    The huge surprise over the weekend was The Kings Speech helmer Tom Hooper winning the DGA over David Fincher for The Social Network. It had been widely expected that this would be Fincher‘s year. He lost a couple of years back to Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire. That film set in Mumbai had like The Kings Speech also won DGA, PGA and the Sag ensemble before destroying the competition at the Oscar Awards.

  • Nasreen Kabir chronicles the making of Pyaasa

    MUMBAI: Nasreen Munni Kabir who chronicled the lives of Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan in her documentaries, has come up with a book that narrates the making of Guru Dutt‘s evergreen film Pyaasa titled The Dialogue of Pyaasa.


    The book that takes a detailed look at both the man and his work presents a detailed look at the film‘s making with its famous dialogues and evergreen songs. Considered a masterpiece, the film had a flawless script by Abrar Alvi and Dutt‘s deft direction.


    The lyrics by Sahir Ludhianvi were brought to life in songs like Jaane kya tune kahi, Hum aap ki ankhon mein, Jaane woh kaise log the jinke, Jinhe naaz hai Hind and Yeh duniya agar mil bhi jaaye by music maestro SD Burman.


    Kabir had earlier helmed In Search of Guru Dutt, a three-part documentary on the legendary Indian actor, writer, director and producer on the occasion of his 25th death anniversary.


    The book, would be launched on Wednesday and includes extensive commentary by Kabir. It will be available in Hindi, Urdu and English.
     

  • Goutom Ghosh’s film fest in Nepal

    MUMBAI: Goutam Ghosh, whose film Moner Manush won the best film award at the Goa film festival last year, is currently in Kathmandu with three of his films due to be screened in the capital city of Nepal. The programme is being organised by the Indian Culture Centre in Kathmandu.


    The 60-year-old Kolkata-based director is in Kathmandu to take part in a workshop. The three films of Ghosh that would be screened in the mini film festival starting Tuesday are Paar, the 1984 film starring Shabana Azmi, Om Puri and Naseeruddin Shah, Yatra starring Rekha made in 2007 and Moner Manush.


    Indian films enjoy tremendous popularity in Nepal. Dabangg, directed by Abhinav Kashyap, proved to be the most successful film in the country in 2010 running to packed houses. Films of Satyajit Ray, who has shot one of his films in Nepal, are regarded with admiration in the country.
     

  • Inox Q3 net skids 40% to Rs 52.5 mn

    MUMBAI: Inox Leisure, which ran into an open fight with Reliance MediaWorks over its acquisition of multiplex chain Fame, has seen a 40 per cent drop in its third-quarter net profit due to a rise in expenses.


    Inox posted a net profit of Rs 52.5 million for the three months ended December 2100 compared to Rs 87.4 million in the earlier year.


    Revenue jumped 19.77 per cent to Rs 1.01 billion, from Rs 8.43 million in the third quarter of Fy‘10. However, it was offset by a 32 per cent increase in expenses, which climbed t0 Rs 904.4 million in the quarter under review, from Rs 684.4 million in the year-ago period.


    Inox had 38 properties with 144 screens under its brand, till 31 December 2010.


    The multiplex business segment had an operating profit of Rs 105.6 million, down from Rs 157.9 million in the year-ago period. Revenue from this segment was Rs 1.01 billion, up from Rs 842.3 million.


    The capital deployed in the segment is Rs 3.76 billion.


    Meanwhile, in the nine-month period ended 31 December, the net profit rose 20 per cent to Rs 120.9 million (from Rs 100.3 million). Revenue grew 45 per cent to 2.70 billion (from Rs 1.86 billion), while Ebitda surged 36 per cent to Rs 423.2 million.


    Inox Leisure director Deepak Asher said, “The opening of new properties, and the good line up of movies in Hindi, English and regional languages contributed to our commendable performance. We hope to maintain the growth momentum in the forthcoming quarters and deliver a world class film viewing experience to our patrons, and enhance value to our stakeholders.”

  • Charlie Callas passes away

    MUMBAI: Talk show .comedian Charlie Callas has passed away at the age of 83. Known for his fast-paced speech, Charlie was often incorporating a stutter into his routine.


    Callas was a favourite guest of Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason, Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson as well as a regular on The Andy Williams Show and The ABC Comedy Hour.
    He gave his zany antics a rest in 1975 starring in the crime show Switch.


    “There were two things he could do that made his career,” Tony Belmont, executive director of the National Comedy Hall of Fame in St. Petersburg, Fla. had said in a recent interview. “He could think very fast on his feet and had an unbelievable number of sounds that he made with his voice,” Belmont added.


    Johnny Carson had Charlie do his stand-up routines on the Tonight Show nearly 50 times, until 21 September, 1982, when the thick friends ended their relationship.


    Charlie may have not appeared on the Tonight Show anymore but he was always welcome at big time celebrity gatherings and left crowds in stitches always.

  • James Franco to be felicitated at Boulder Intl film fest

    MUMBAI: James Franco, nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal as Aron Ralston in 127 Hours will appear at the Boulder Theater on 19 February to take part in ‘A Conversation with James Franco‘ at the Boulder International Film Festival.


    The star will be honoured with the Boulder festival‘s Vanguard Award. 


    He is scheduled to co-host the Academy Awards with Anne Hathaway one week after attending BIFF, which runs Feb. 17-20.


    Also, Oliver Stone will be honoured with a “Master of Cinema” award for his achievements in writing, producing, writing and directing.
     

  • Balaji lines up three movies for release in April-May

    MUMBAI: Balaji Motion Pictures and ALT Entertainment has lined up three film releases during April and May this year.


    Taryanche Bait (Island of Stars), a Marathi language movie, is set for release on 14 April. The film is directed by Kiran Yagnopavit and stars Sachin Khedekar, Ashwini Giri, Vinay Apte and Kishore Kadam.


    Alt Entertainment, a division of Balaji Motion Pictures that makes small budget films, is co-producing Taryanche Bait with Neeraj Pandey. It has recently won two awards at the Pune International Film Festival.


    The second movie to roll out is Shor – In The City. Scheduled for release on 28 April, the film is directed by Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK. The star cast includes Tusshar Kapoor, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Nikhil Dwivedi, Preeti Desai and Radhika Apte.


    The Hindi movie is an edgy, serio-comic, new-age entertainer, which revolves around three loosely interconnected stories set in the midst of the noise and grime of Mumbai.


    The last in the roster is Ragini MMS which is scheduled for release on 12 May in Hindi and Telugu. It is directed by Pavan Kriplani and stars Raj Kumar Yadav and Kainaaz Motiwala.
     

  • Eros Q3 net up 167% at Rs 428 mn

    MUMBAI: Eros International Media, the pure play movie production company, has posted a consolidated third-quarter net profit (after minority interest) of Rs 427.9 million, up 167.27 per cent over the year-ago period.


    Eros’ total income jumped 86.8 per cent to Rs 2.8 billion for the three-month period ended 31 December. Expenses, however, rose to Rs 2.19 billion, from Rs 1.28 billion in the year-ago period.


    Profit from operations before other income, interest & exceptional items was at Rs 610.6 million, from Rs 215.1 million in the earlier year.


    On a standalone basis, Eros‘ net profit increased to Rs 347.1 million, from Rs 96.9 million a year ago. Total income was Rs 2.17 billion (from Rs 1.36 billion), while expenses were at Rs 1.66 billion (Rs 1.21 billion in year ago period).


    Eros was listed on Indian bourses on 6 October after completing its Rs 3.5 billion IPO. The company raised funds primarily for acquiring and co-producing Indian films including Hindi as well as certain Tamil and other regional language films.


    During the first quarter, Eros has released 25 films across Hindi and regional languages. The list includes movies such as Golmaal 3, No Problem, Toonpur Ka Superhero in Hindi, Idea Chi Kalpana in Marathi, Mynaa, Virudha Giri, Nandalala and Uthama Puthiran in Tamil.


    The company released a total of 64 films in the nine-month period ended December, which include Housefull, Anjaana Anjaani, Paathshaala and overseas release of Dabangg and Endhiran (Tamil & Telugu),.


    Eros said that it continued to focus on its de-risking strategy of monetising film content through pre-selling its new and catalogue movies.


    In order to maximise monetisation of its catalogue and new films, Eros has undertaken a new media initiative of setting up in house ‘Digital Asset Management’ platform (DAM), which will digitise and catalogue the movie library and archive the same in the platform.


    The VFX facility, Eyeqube, has delivered two Hollywood projects, Tron Legacy and Moby Dick, and a South Indian film project, Shakti. Furthermore, Eyeqube is currently working on films including Ra.One and Desi Boyz which are slated to release in next fiscal.


    Commenting on the results, Eros International Media MD Sunil Lulla said, “I am proud that we have capitalised on our key competitive advantages of content library and global distribution network and steadily maintained our market leadership position within film entertainment over the years. Further, our portfolio strategy and de-risking through pre-sales has allowed us to rapidly yet effectively scale up our business. Going forward, we expect a sustained growth in revenues and profitability considering our strong portfolio of films, our focus on capitalising on opportunities offered across all our business segments and our expansion into regional cinema such as Marathi, Punjabi, Telegu and Bengali.”
     

  • Eros, Rajnikanth to co-produce Rana

    MUMBAI: Integrated film studio Eros International Media and Ocher Studios have joined hands to co-produce Rana.


    The movie will be directed by K S Ravikumar, who has in the past directed two films of Rajinikanth – Muthu and Padayappa.


    Scheduled to go on floors in March this year, Rana will be a live action movie with Rajini playing triple role. The film is scheduled to release in FY2012 in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu.


    Says Eros International Media managing director Sunil Lulla, “We are extremely excited to join hands with Tamil industry’s most popular super star Rajinikanth for Rana and this time audiences will be treated with their favourite actor donning a triple role in the film. Rana is going to be far different from any of the recent Rajni films, a complete live action magnum opus with loads of entertainment for his fans.”


    The music of the movie will be directed by AR Rahman, while the technical and special effects will be supervised by Soundarya Rajnikanth and Charles Darby of Eyeqube Studios.


    Adds Ocher Studios director Soundarya Rajinikanth, “We are very pleased to announce this partnership with Eros International for Rana. We hope to make a film together that will live up to the huge expectations of the movie-goers and reach out to maximum audiences across the globe.”


    Eros International along with Hara Picture Production, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ocher Studios, will produce the film through Rana Production UK.


    Rajnikanth’s last film Robot that was released in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi had grossed nearly Rs 4 billion worldwide.


    Eros’ movie line-up for the year includes Game, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Rockstar, Mausam, Ra.One, Desi Boyz, Agent Vinod and Chalo Dilli.

  • Hollywood 3D and local flicks power record collection at Japanese BO

    MUMBAI: The American influence on Japan continues. While staying local, Japan‘s box office collections ballooned mainly on account of Hollywood 3D blockbusters that took the top three spots.


    Japan‘s theatrical collections touched a new high, surpassing the previous record of 2004, as it rose 7.1 per cent to 220.7 billion yen ($2.7 billion) in 2010.


    Though feeling the tremors, the local Japanese filmmakers ruled their den. According to the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan data, local Japanese movies fared better than imported movies in overall market share for the third straight year. But their share of the total market slipped three percentage points from 57 per cent in 2009 to 54 per cent in 2010.


    The rise in box office figures can be primarily due to the premiums charged for 3D viewing, which generally adds about 300 yen per ticket.


    Significantly, the top three films at the 2010 box were all foreign and 3D movies. Twentieth Century Fox‘s sci-fi blockbuster Avatar was the year‘s top grossing film with 15.6 billion yen ($190 million), followed by Walt Disney Co‘s Alice in Wonderland and Toy Story 3, both smashing the 10 billion yen mega-hit mark.


    The Borrower Arietty, the top Japanese film and No. 4 overall, raked in 9.25 billion yen. The animated movie was followed by 3D flick, Umizaru 3: The Last Message and cop action thriller Bayside Shakedown 3, which grossed $98 million and $88.9 million respectively.