Category: Movies

MUMBAI: A pecularity about Bollywood is that film folks pick a hot topic and to capitalise on the subject are prompt to announce a film. Didn‘t scores of filmmakers register titles on their films based on the 26/11 attacks?

Now to capitalise on the 2G scam, UK-based financier Hiten Gupta of Hiten Group has announced his maiden project, a film titled Radia-tion. The film will trace Radia‘s life as a young entrepreneur who went on to grab national headlines after the 2G scam was exposed.

The film that will be the directorial debut of Satchit Puranik will have Poonam Jhawar playing the role of Radia.

It is said that the film‘s Indian line producer, Manoj Nandwana, was looking for a subject for a Hindi film but wanted to do something different. After a lot of thought, he pounced upon the idea and decided to go ahead with a film loosely based on Radia‘s life since it had intrigue, power and exploitation.

MUMBAI: Indian documentary Inshallah Football bagged a special mention award at the 7th Dubai International Film Festival that wrapped up with a glittering ceremony on 19 December.

Directed by Asvin Kumar, Inshallah Football documents the true story of 18-year-old Basharat Baba aka Basha, a talented footballer selected to play professional football in Brazil. However, the dream gets distant when Indian authorities denied him a passport. The rason: his father happens to be a former militant, a reason enough to punish.

The festival played host to 157 films from 57 countries that included an array of contemporary Arab cinema, a competition focused on the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Arab world, Asia and Africa.

For the first time, the Dubai Fest presented the Muhr Emirati Awards for excellence in filmmaking to UAE filmmakers. Fourteen films made by UAE nationals competed in the first Muhr Emirati, shortlisted from more than 30 entries. Malal by Nayla Al Khaja bagged the Best Muhr Emirati film.

Actors Sean Penn, Sabah and Souleymane Cisse were honoured with Lifetime Achievement Awards.

MUMBAI: Farah Khan‘s Tees Maar Khan that releases on 24 December is set to net
Rs 500 million in its opening weekend, according to a prediction of media research and consulting firm Ormax Media.

The box office prediction has been arrived using the company‘s newly launched film research tool Moviescope.

Moviescope is a ‘Film Research Engine‘ designed to take care of all the needs of a producer. This includes four components – ad pre-test, film pre-test, awareness tracking (Cinematix) and exit polls.

Using consumer data on various parameters, Moviescope can predict the opening weekend collections of a film a week before its release and the lifetime box-office (LBO) within three days of release.

Ormax Media CEO Shailesh Kapoor says, “Moviescope covers various aspects of film research, conducted through a series of quantitative and qualitative techniques. For a producer buying into all four parts of the engine, the opening weekend and lifetime box-office can be predicted up to 5-6 months before the release. For other films, Moviescope can make these predictions a week before the release, though early estimates are available up to six weeks in advance.”

“Cinematix has been a very successful product since its April 2010 launch. Encouraged by its success, we have launched Moviescope as our latest endeavour to offer a one-stop product to provide all the answers that producers will need to know about their film‘s performance,” he adds.

The prediction of Tees Maar Khan has been calculated assuming that the film will release in about 1600 cinemas.
 

MUMBAI: Disgruntled by the way he has been projected in Kumar Mangat and Eros Entertainment’s upcoming film Toonpur Ka Superhero as the animated character Guppy Lahiri, Bappi Lahiri has taken legal recourse and sent a legal notice to the makers Kumar Mangat, Krishna Lulla and director Kireet Khurana.

Confirming the news and revealing that Bappi Lahiri is away to Delhi, his wife Chitrani said, “Yes, we have served a legal notice to Toonpur makers. Beyond this, I cannot say anything.” 

Toonpur Ka Superhero, a live action 3D animation film, has an animated character Guppy Lahiri who looks similar to Bappi Lahiri. Lahiri has alleged that having a character look similar to him, the makers of the film have made fun of him.

It may be noted that thespian Manoj Kumar had sent a similar notice to the makers of Om Shanti Om, in which a character in the film displayed the same body language and mannerism as him.

MUMBAI: Two of Bollywood‘s named filmmakers, Prakash Jha and Sudhir Mishra, have teamed up.

Starting with Mishra‘s new film Yeh Saali Zindagi, Prakash Jha Productions has taken charge of Mishra‘s films. In this regard, Mishra, known to be a fiercely independent-minded filmmaker, has happily incorporated suggestions made by Jha in the film.

Comments Jha, “Sudhir and I are basically like-minded filmmakers. If two filmmakers can see in the same line of vision, then why not? When I suggested minor changes during editing, Sudhir didn‘t mind incorporating them.”

In fact, Jha, intends to produce more films for Mishra and other outside directors as well. While Jha would personally direct big films like Raajneeti, outside directors would have the freedom to create a more intimate tightly budgeted cinema for Prakash Jha Productions. Old friend Nana Patekar is expected to direct a film for Jha.

MUMBAI: Multiplex chain operator Cinemax India plans to invest Rs 1 billion and almost double its screens to 200 by 2013.

Cinemax, which has most of its footprint in Maharashtra and Gujarat, also has plans to further raise capital after it reaches a particular size and scale.

“We have an investment plan of Rs 1 billion. We may be raising capital a year or 18 months down the road. This could be either through QIP or a follow-on issue or other fund-raising instruments,” says Cinemax India chief executive officer Sunil Punjabi.

Cinemax will be adding 30 screens by the end of this fiscal. It is currently operating 33 properties with 105 screens in 18 cities.

“We will be investing Rs 450-500 million over the next six months. We will have 30 more screens by the end of the fiscal,” says Punjabi.

Cinemax is targeting a revenue of Rs 2.4 billion this fiscal and Rs 3.8 billion in FY‘12. For the first half of FY‘11, the company‘s income from operations stood at Rs 907.2 million. In the fiscal ended March 2010, Cinemax had posted a revenue of Rs 1.55 billion.

“We will be expanding on a pan India basis. Our Delhi multiplex with the gaming zone will be up in March 2011,” says Punjabi.

Among the new thrusts will be to ramp up its gaming business. “We already have Giggles. We are adding a youth entertainment gaming brand, Versus. The cost per outlet of this is Rs 40-50 million. Versus will be there in our Delhi multiplex. We are in the process of signing up 2-3 more,” says Punjabi.
 

NEW DELHI: Isi Life Mein, the latest venture from the house of Rajshri Picures, is being released all over the country on 24 December with 150 prints.

Produced by Sooraj Barjatya – who gained fame as director of Salman Khan starrers Maine Pyar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Koun and Hum Saath Saath Hain – this film has been directed by the debutante Vidhi Kasliwal.

Addressing a press meet here, Barjatya said he was not unduly worried about the competition from Tees Maar Khan being released on the same day since his audience was of a different kind, established by the Rajshri brand for more than four decades.

He said the brand was known for the large number of technicians and stars launched or popularised by it, including Salman Khan, Raakhee, Farida Jalal, Bhagyashree, Madhuri Dixit, and so many others.

Answering a question, Barjatya said his grandfather Tarachand who established Rajshri Pictures used to say that the only villains in life were circumstances, and, therefore, Rajshri Pictures did not have any villains.

He said the film was also aimed at understanding the new generation instead of blaming it for its values. Attitudes had changed but the culture remained in tact, he said. The songs were also in keeping with the trends, though there was a devotional song and a folk song as in every Rajshri film.

Kasliwal, niece of Barjatya, said the aim of the film was to show the existence of two Indian societies – the traditional and the modern – and how they were so similar despite different perceptions. The film also showed how girls from small towns often suppressed their aspirations and feelings. She admitted in answer to a question that this film like previous films from the production house had a divinity about it, with the almighty helping the climax.

Debutante stars Sandeepa and Akshay Oberoi said values were inbuilt in today’s generation, though they may find different ways of expressing them.

The music directors – Meet Brothers – said they had never dreamed of becoming music directors for a brand like Rajshri since they were pop singers.

Others in the cast include Mohnish Bahl, Prachee Shah Paandya, Shagufta Ali, Aditya Raj Kapoor, Dilip Raj, Gajendra Chauhan, and Master Rishi Krishnan while the veteran Daisy Irani, Suhasini Mulay and Dalip Tahil have put in special appearances.

MUMBAI: Reviving old memories of Raj Kapoor’s romance with Russia that made him an icon in the country, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will take time out from his busy schedule and visit a film studio in Mumbai during his visit to the city next week.

“India is a superpower in films. Raj Kapoor was a hero in Russia,” Russia‘s Ambassador Alexander Kadakin told reporters while briefing them on Medvedev‘s two-day visit that begins Tuesday.

The envoy said Medvedev will visit a film studio in Mumbai Wednesday and meet some Bollywood stars.

Bollywood films enjoy huge popularity in Russia. Raj Kapoor and Nargis were icons in Russia and their films Awara and Shri 420 were stupendous hits in the country.