ITV

Category: Movies

  • Petition alleging obscenity in film songs filed

    MUMBAI: A public interest litigation (PIL) seeking the deletion of popular songs ‘Munni Badnaam Hui‘ from Dabangg and ‘Shiela ki Jawani‘ from Tees Maar Khan has been filed before the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court alleging obscenity in the respective films. 


    The petition, filed by Nutan Thakur, wife of an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, seeks action against producer Arbaz Khan, co-producers Malaika Arora Khan and Dhillin Mehta and director Abhinav Kashyap who are associated with Dabangg. The plea is also for action to be taken against producers Twinkle Khanna, Ronnie Screwvala and director Farah Khan of Tees Maar Khan for violating various provisions of the Indian Cinematography Act of 1952.


    The petition said both the films have “several indecent, immoral and vulgar songs, dialogues and visual representations in total violation of sections 3(1), 4, 5(A), 5(C) and 5(E) of the Cinematography Act 1952”.


    Thakur urged the Court to ask the Censor Board and the Ministry of information and broadcasting to issue directives to the respective filmmakers and TV channels, audio and video cassette companies etc. not to broadcast promos and songs of the films.


    The matter would come up for hearing on 3 January.
     

  • Film industry to agitate against amendments to Copyright Act

    NEW DELHI: The Film Federation of India (FFI) is meeting in Mumbai on 29 December to take a final decision on the threatened strike in January by various sections of the film industry against the amendments to the Copyright Act.


    This decision was taken during a meeting of the FFI in Chennai, which saw the participation of several organisations from the southern states.


    Sources from an affiliate body of the FFI in south India told indiantelevision.com that the Federation had been given the mandate to take a final decision on the strike on 6 and 7 January.


    The film industry is opposed to the proposed Copyright Amendment Bill 2010 that mandates producers to share 50 per cent music royalty with lyricists and composers.


    A day-long strike along with a dharna in Delhi is proposed against what is termed as the `draconian` law which will affect the industry. There would be no show at theatres on 6 January and industry professionals including actors, directors, producers and others will participate in the strike and demonstration at Delhi.


    According to senior filmmaker L Suresh, the proposal would affect the selling of films to distributors and exhibitors.


    Repeated representations had been made to the government but proved futile, he said.


    The producers said that the government was working at the `behest of some vested interests` in this matter.


    A Parliamentary Standing committee in its recommendations on the bill, tabled in Parliament last month, has said that producers should give authors, lyricists and composers 50 per cent royalty for a film.

  • Total Recall remake to be shot in Toronto

    MUMBAI: The modern remake of the 1990 Arnold Schwarzennegar-starrer Total Recall will be shot in Toronto beginning late March next year at the Pinewood Toronto Studios.


    The booking follows Pinewood’s North American beach-head receiving a $34.5 million loan from the Canadian government to lure big budget movie and TV shoots in Toronto.


    Based on a script by Kurt Wimmer, the film will be directed by Len Wiseman for the Original Film banner. The story of the film portrays a man haunted by a recurring dream of rocketing to Mars.


    Pinewood Toronto Studios has recently been home for the shoots of films like Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, The Thing, and Dream House.

  • Ann Mathers is in MGM Board of Directors

    MUMBAI: Independent, privately-held motion picture, television, home video, and theatrical production and distribution company MGM Holdings Inc. (MGM) has declared that former Pixar Chief Financial Officer Ann Mather would join the Board of Directors of the newly restructured company.


    Mather will serve as the Lead Director of the nine-member Board that comprises of Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum, CEOs of MGM and Co-Chairman of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc and its subsidiaries.


    Mather’s appointment comes days after the company’s 20 December announcement that their restructuring plan has become effective including exit financing of $500 million.


    As Lead Director, Mather will oversee governance of the studio and its operating units and work in tandem with directors Barber and Birnbaum; former CBS Chief Financial Officer Fred Reynolds; former MySpace President Jason Hirschhorn; Christopher Pucillo, the founder of Solus Alternative Asset Management; Patrick H. Daugherty, a partner at Highland Capital Management LP; and Kevin Ulrich, chief executive officer of Anchorage Capital Group LLC.


    The final vacancy is expected to be filled within the next several weeks.

  • Warner Bros, Fox Star unveil their movie slate for 2011

    MUMBAI: Two studios have firmed up their movie slate for 2011. While Warner Bros has a release pipeline of 19 films, Fox Star Studios India has lined up eight films.


    In January, Warner Bros will roll out Life As We Know It and Hereafter. While Hall Pass will hit the screens in February, Red Riding Hood and Sucker Punch will appear in March. There are three releases in April in the form of The Rite, Yogi Bear (3D) and Unknown.


    Two films, Crazy Stupid Love and The Hangover 2, have been earmarked for the month of May. There is one release in June – Green Lantern. July has two releases in the form of Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (Part 2) and Arthur. Horrible Bosses and Final Destination 5 (3D) will release in August, while September has a sole release in Journey To The Centre Of The Earth (3D).


    October will have one release in Contagion. November will have three releases in The Apparition, Happy Feet 2 (3D) and Hoover aka G-Man while December will have two releases in New Year‘s Eve and Sherlock Homes 2.


    Fox Star India will open the year with the release of Danny Boyle‘s 127 Hours in January. It will be followed up with Rio that will release in April. X Men: First Class will release in June, Ceasar: Rise of the Apes in August and Darkest Hour in September.


    The dates of three other releases – Alvin & The Chipmunks 3, Love & Other Drugs and Big Momma‘s House 3 – has not yet been fixed yet.

  • Robot is part of IIM-Ahmedabad syllabus

    MUMBAI: Robot, the latest Rajnikanth-starrer, is set to become a part of IIM-Ahmedabad‘s syllabus.


    The film will be a part of an elective course called ‘Contemporary film industry: A business perspective‘ that would be offered in the post-graduate programme of IIM-Ahmedabad. The film will be read as a case study to analyse the success of cinema. 


    The course will also include another Rajnikanth starrer Muthu that was later translated into Japanese as Muthu Odoru Maharaja or Muthu: The Dancing Maharaja.

  • Farah Khan mulls sequel to TMK

    MUMBAI: Though the film hasn‘t released yet, Farah Khan is contemplating making a sequel of Tees Maar Khan (TMK) and has reportedly approached Akshay Kumar to star in it.


    Farah thinks that if TMK does well at the box office, it would be much to the credit of Kumar who worked tirelessly. So punctual was he that Khan was able to wrap up the shooting of the film in time.


    Tees Mar Khan, pitched against Ajay Devgan‘s Toonpoor Ka Superhero, will release this Friday amidst high expectations during the peak Christmas season. The movie promises to be a complete entertainer with a right mix of comedy, action and drama.


    Tees Mar Khan is the story of a con man played by Akshay Kumar who swindles and cheats people in criminal mastermind fashion. He has his gang of friends, including Dollar, Soda and Burger, who devise a new plan to rob antiques worth Rs 5 billion from a fully secured running train going non-stop from Mumbai to Delhi.

  • Reliance MediaWorks in deal with Russian firm for film restoration

    MUMBAI: Reliance MediaWorks has entered into an MoU with Russian World Studios (RWS) and Obyedinennaya Gosudarstvennaya Kinokollektsia (OGK) for outsourcing work that would flow in volumes as it expands its twin facilities in Mumbai and Burbank (California).


    Reliance MediaWorks will get work from Russia related to film restoration, image processing and enhancement and HD conversion.


    “It is a significant deal for us. RWS is part of JSFC Sistema, a large Group with diversified business interests. The best part is the deal with OGK, a state unit, which will give us huge volumes,” said Reliance MediaWorks CEO Anil Arjun.


    The MOU was signed during the visit of Russian president Dmitri Medvedev.


    “Russian film and television industry is moving towards digitisation and the United State Film Collection houses thousands of legacy film titles which need to be restored, digitised and uprezed to HD. We are pleased to have found a partner in Reliance MediaWorks who shares our commitment for excellence and has time-proven hardware, software and custom R&D and can help us restore the Russian film legacy,” said Russian World Studios CEO Yuri Saprono.


    Depending on Russia‘s requirement and developing business potential, Reliance MediaWorks and Russian World Studios will explore the possibility of jointly setting up a dedicated restoration and digitisation facility within RWS Studio complex at St Petersburg for image processing and touch-ups.


    The restoration and digitisation services would be provided by Reliance MediaWorks to RWS and OGK through its Media BPO, which is one of the world‘s largest dedicated film and video restoration facility.


    Arjun said, “By combining RWS‘s leadership, know-how and expertise in Russian market with our experience and versatile technology we are geared to provide next generation services to RWS and OGK‘s vast film archives. Russian Cinema has been a true embodiment of their rich history and by offering restoration services in Russia, we are honoured to have the opportunity to revive some of these classic movies.”


    RelianceMediaWorks has already done work for studios in Hollywood, BBC and ITV in the UK.


    Located in Navi Mumbai and spread across 90,000 sq ft area, the state-of-the-art facility is built to international standards. The facility has been security audited and passed by International Studios. The facility is linked through fiber optic connections to the Reliance MediaWorks operations in Burbank and London and can seamlessly transfer data across locations.


    RWS, a part of JSFC Sistema, is one of the largest private film companies in the Russian market. Existing since 1998, RWS has produced hundreds of projects, both for TV and the big screen. The company also owns two studios, one in Moscow and one in St Petersburg which are spread across 22,000 square meters.


    OGK (United State Film Collection) is Russia‘s federal state unitary enterprise that preserves and manages the Russian film archives.


    Reliance MediaWorks has a comprehensive presence in film services: motion picture processing and DI; visual effects; film restoration and image enhancement; 2D to 3D conversion; digital mastering; studios and equipment rentals with facilities located in US, UK and India.

  • Potiche to open Palm Spring fest

    MUMBAI: Francois Ozon‘s film Potiche will open the 22nd annual Palm Springs International Film Festival next month. Justin Chadwick‘s First Grader will be the closing-night film.


    The films that will have their world premiere at the festival includes Down the Shore,; The Encore of Tony Duran; Fifty-nothing,; documentary The Last Lions; The Rescuers; the doc Rise; Thanks and Wild Horse, Wild Ride.


    Films demarcated for the gala screenings are Peter Weir‘s The Way Back, Max Winkler‘s Ceremony, Ferzan Ozpetek‘s Italian farce Loose Cannons and Daniel and Erika Randall Beahm‘s Leading Ladies.

  • ‘The Fighter’ Bale in Chinese film

    MUMBAI: Christian Bale, who featured in The Fighter will now star in a Chinese film titled Nanjing Heroes, a film about the Nanjing Massacre. Bale will play an American priest called John who helps a great number of Chinese escape certain death.


    The $90 million budget film directed by Zhang Yimou is roughly equal to that of John Woo‘s two-part period film Red Cliff that was said to be the most expensive ever Asian-financed movie.


    The Nanjing Massacre, when Japanese troops killed thousands of Chinese citizens in what was then the nation‘s capital in 1937, has been the subject of several recent Chinese and co-produced films.


    The film will be 40 per cent in English while the rest would be in Mandarin Chinese. Earlier, Sony Pictures Classics distributed Zhang‘s films in the United States but it is not involved at this time.


    Zhang‘s highest-grossing film ever was 2002 period war film Hero starring Jet Li roped in almost $54 million in the US. His new film comes at a time when China‘s film business is booming at home and dominant in parts of Asia, but receives little attention elsewhere.


    The film will start rolling on 10 January 10.