Category: Movies

MUMBAI: As part of his respect to the cultural period known as “Khruschev‘s Thaw” that began in Russia following Stalin‘s death in 1953 that signaled the entry of Hindi films into the country, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited Yash Raj Studios.

Though Medvedev made a whistle stop visit to the studio, he made sure that he got a feel of one of India’s biggest exports to his country, Bollywood. After taking a round of the facility, the Russian president visited the set of Shah Rukh Khan’s upcoming film Ra One where he met Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor who greeted him with a brief dance performance.
 
This was followed by a discussion between the Russian dignitaries and filmmakers that included Yash Chopra, Ramesh Sippy, Nitin Desai, Rakesh Roshan, Mukesh Bhatt and Randhir Kapoor among others. The topic of discussion was setting up joint ventures in making films.
Reminiscing, Medvedev recalled that he had enjoyed watching films of Raj Kapoor, who was hugely popular in Russia. He also revealed that a local television channel in his country was wholly dedicated to Hindi films.
 

MUMBAI: With the T20 format of cricketing gaining momentum, the country‘s film celebrities are all set to launch their own version of T20, Celebrity Cricket League T20 (CCLT20).

The event, to begin in the last week of January, will have teams from Bollywood, Kollywood, Sandalwood, Mollywood and Tollywood pitching in.

The Bollywood team, owned by actor-producer Sohail Khan, will have Suniel Shetty as its captain and Salman Khan as its icon player. Other members of the team will soon be announced.

The Kollywood cricket team will have actor Abbas as the captain and the team will have the likes of Madhavan, Arya, Bharath, Jayam Ravi, Jiiva, Shanthnoo, Jai, Atharva, Vikranth and Nanda. Either Suriya or Vijay will be the icon player of the team.

As far as the Sandalwood side goes, Sudeep will captain the team while Puneet Rajkumar will be its brand icon.

Tollywood and Mollywood are yet to announce their teams.

MUMBAI: While still dilly dallying with his film Paani, filmmaker Shekhar Kapur has taken on another project titled English Mountaineer.

The film is based on mountaineer George Mallory, who was found dead a little way away from the peak of Mount Everest. But many things remain unanswered. Like did Mallory die on his way up to the peak or on his way down? If George did pass away on his way down from the peak, it would‘ve been he and not Sir Edmund Hillary who would be the first man to climb Mount Everest.

The film seeks to find the answers.

MUMBAI: Vashu Bhagnani‘s Puja Entertainment is going to release his next film Faltu in the heat of the World Cup, most matches of which will be played in India.

Confirming this, Bhagani said: “Yes I will release my film in April when we will be in the midst of the World Cup. However, we will try to avoid shows which clash with crucial matches to ensure that the cricket matches doesn‘t eat into our business.”

Incidentally, Bhagnanai‘s Biwi No.1 was released during the last World Cup cricket matches played here. Quashing all claims, the film withstood the tough competition from cricket matches and emerged a winner at the box office.

Faltu has an ensemble cast comprising Jackky Bhagnani, Pooja Gupta, Akshay Kumar,
Riteish Deshmukh, R Madhavan, Angad Bedi, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor, Salman Khan, Sushmita Sen, Mallika Sherawat, Akbar Khan and Arshad Warsi among others.

MUMBAI: South African Playboy model Candice Boucher has been signed to play the role of a sand artist in Percept Pictures‘ yet untitled venture, a spy drama.

Boucher, who learnt sand artistry from a sand artist in Belarus, was a Playboy centre spread attraction of the magazine‘s April 2010 issue. She is also the brand ambassador of Intimissimi and Guess Jeans.

Starring Sachin Joshi, son of Gutkha baron Jagdish Joshi and Arya Babbar, the film is directed by Prashant Chaddha.

The movie is about an informant who goes undercover to save his brother and the nation from the effects of a biological war.

MUMBAI: Riding high on Moner Manush bagging the Golden Peacock award at the recent International Film Festival of India at Goa, filmmaker Gautam Ghosh has announced that his next venture about a displaced child would be a bilingual in English and Hindi. Said Ghosh on the sidelines of the felicitation ceremony for the Moner Manush team organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), “My next film, Lala, is about a displaced child and his incredible energy and endurance for life.” Moner Manush, based on Sunil Gangopadhya‘s 2008 novel by the same name, revolves around the life and philosophy of Lalon Fakir, a 19th century Bengali philosopher poet. The lead role was played by noted Bengali actor Prosenjit Chatterjee. The film deals with Fakir’s teachings, his separation from his family and creation of a settlement in a forest including people who have been pushed out of their society and family.

MUMBAI: Leading independent film entertainment studio Lionsgate has entered into two partnerships for the Home Entertainment release of Alpha and Omega (available on blu-ray combo pack, DVD, digital download or video-on-demand), a film that it has co-produced with Crest Animation Studios. It has teamed up with Great Wolf Resorts, Inc., North America‘s largest family of indoor waterpark resorts, to create a number of cross-promotional deals resulting in discounts for both companies’ products. In addition, the studio has also partnered with Defenders of Wildlife, a leading advocate for innovative solutions to safeguard wildlife, for a special Alpha and Omega-branded ‘Adopt a Wolf’ donation promotion. As part of its promotional initiative with Great Wolf Resorts, Lionsgate will package in both the Alpha and Omega blu-ray combo pack and DVD an insert for $50 off a two night booking at any of the company’s 10 U.S. Great Wolf Lodge® resort locations nationwide. In return, Great Wolf Resorts will include a $5 discount code for the blu-ray or DVD within each of its pre-arrival emails. It will also promote the title with prominent lobby signage and content running on its in-lodge television channel. The resorts will also integrate the feature film into its ‘Cub Club’ – a special arts and crafts activities area for kids within its resorts. As part of the excitement, each Cub Club will use full-sized Alpha and Omega posters and other themed items as giveaways. Both companies will promote the offers on their websites. Under the terms of Lionsgate’s deal with Defenders of Wildlife, the Alpha and Omega DVD will be a featured premium within special Alpha and Omega-branded ‘Adopt a Wolf’ donation packages that will be available on the non-profit organization’s website. Lionsgate will provide copies of the DVD to be given to people who reach certain donation price-points as well as encourage adoptions through video on demand platforms. To promote the donation package and the Alpha and Omega home entertainment release, Defenders of Wildlife will host a video culled from the bonus feature titled ‘Wolves in the Wild.’ Both companies will also promote the partnership via their websites and social media channels. “The importance of family and wildlife preservation are major themes of Alpha and Omega. With that in mind, we are looking to join forces with organizations that are among the leaders in promoting these same values,” said Michael Rathauser, SVP of Marketing at Lionsgate Home Entertainment. The home video of Alpha and Omega, a heartwarming animated movie about wolves, featuring the voices of Justin Long, Hayden Panettiere, Dennis Hopper, Danny Glover and Christina Ricci, is expected to go retail on 11 January next year.

MUMBAI: The ninth Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) 2010 to be held between 6 to 13 January will screen more than 150 Indian and international films in 11 screens. It will also celebrate five decades of the state of Maharashtra and Marathi cinema.

Of the 350 world films for competition, 14 films have been shortlisted by the jury with seven Marathi films in the competition.

Director of the festival Dr Jabbar Patel and Sabina Sanghvi, vice chairperson of the PIFF, revealed that Mughal-e-Azam made 50 years ago and other period films made in different languages of the country over the years would be screened during the festival. A special symposium has been organised on period or historic films on the occasion.

PIFF will have films in various categories, which will be competing for awards in the world, Marathi and student competition sections. “Other sections are Country Focus, Cinema of the World, Director Focus, Retrospectives, Tributes and Indian Cinema. The festival will also showcase the work of those who have received lifetime achievement awards,” Patel disclosed.

Japan is the country in focus and 32 Japanese films and eight animation films from the country will be screened at the festival.