Category: Movies

MUMBAI: In recent times, Marathi films have been gaining popularity the world over, what with the immense critical acclaim of films like Mee Shivajirao Bhonsle Boltoy and Mee Sindhutai Sapkal among others.

So much is the popularity that the first Marathi International Film and Theatre Awards (MIFTA) will be held on 17 December at Dubai. And the organisers have decided to honour Amitabh Bachchan who will be the guest at the event.

MIFTA is the brainchild of Indian actor-director Mahesh Manjrekar. He said, “At one point, Marathi films were a pioneer in bringing good cinema into India. We should not forget that Dada Saheb Phalke pioneered filmmaking in India by making the first feature film. But with Mumbai‘s Hindi-language Bollywood industry getting global attention in recent years, Marathi films have taken something of a backseat.”

Films like Harishchandrachi Factory, Vihir, Lalbaug-Parel, and Gabhricha Paus among others, and acclaimed plays White Lilly and Night Rider, Katkon Trikon, U-Turn and Mann Udhan Varyache, will compete for top prizes at MIFTA.

The show, supported by the likes of Salman Khan and Farah Khan, will have Marathi film stars including Nana Patekar, Atul Kulkarni, Vikram Ghokale and Sachin Khedekar gracing the evening.
 

NEW DELHI: A hard hitting and thought provoking film festival on human rights, the Flashpoint Human Rights Film Festival, is to be held in Mumbai coinciding with the Human Rights Day on 10 December.

Being held from 8 to 10 December at the Alliance Francaise auditorium at Marine Lines, the festival will bring together eight extraordinary films from around the world that deal with human rights issues – human trafficking & child prostitution; war crimes; religious fundamentalism, homophobia, violence against women, death penalty, forced disappearances, etc.

“These movies will shock you and wake you up to the new realities that we all must understand and counter. The Flashpoint Human Rights film festival will hurl you into the hearts and the lives of those brave people who had the audacity to stand up alone against the tyranny of the oppressor,” said filmmaker and rights activist Mahesh Bhatt, who will inaugurate the festival on 8 December.

Well known theatre person Dolly Thakore will also be a Guest of Honour at the opening ceremony.

The eight films set in Algeria, Cambodia, China, Cuba, Iran, Italy, Nepal and the Gaza strip show how brave human rights defenders campaign for justice and human rights, often paying a very high price for their work. “These activists and/or their organizations play a crucial role in the worldwide protection and promotion of human rights”, said Taco Ruighaver, director of Movies That Matter Film festival, Netherlands, with whose support this festival has been organised.

Apart from screening of films, there will be panel discussions on urgent and important topics like ‘human trafficking and inadequacy of the law’, ‘violence against women’ and ‘religious intolerance’ with eminent filmmakers Kalpana Lajmi, Bishakha Datta & Vinta Nanda; rights activists Priti Patkar & Flavia Agnes and advocates Maharukh Adenwala, PA Sebastian & Colin Gonsalves.

The three-day film festival is being organised by Solaris Pictures (Mumbai), Magic Lantern Foundation (New Delhi), and Movies That Matter (Netherlands).

The festival will later be held in New Delhi from 20 to 22 January, 2011.
 

MUMBAI: India and France have entered an agreement to co-produce films in future. With this in place, there is bound to be a unique amalgamation between India‘s song-and-dance routines with France‘s scenic locales and production technology.

India‘s Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni and French Culture and Information Minister Federic Mitter signed the agreement on behalf of the two governments. Also present on the occasion were Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The agreement is expected to help the film industries of both the countries in gaining access to latest and better film production technology as well as shooting locations.

MUMBAI: Amitabh Bachchan played a role in Mahesh Manjrekar‘s film Struggler. Stuck in some technical hassles for five years, the film is now ready for release.
But to fill the gap, Manjrekar has deviced a Marathi play based on the film and titled it Me Shahrukh Manjarsumbekar that will have Bachchan play himself, albeit not in person.

Bachchan will be speaking to the play‘s main protagonist played by Siddharth Jadhav, from a screen image which will be flashed at every performance of the play.

Incidentally, the play will be in the form of an ongoing political comment with the politics changing in every performance according to the current headlines.

The first staging of Me Shahrukh Manjarsumbekar will focus on Rahul Gandhi‘s comment during the Bihar election campaign to the effect that Maharashtra is prosperous today because of Biharis.

MUMBAI: iDREAM Independent Pictures‘ Cape Karma, written and directed by the late filmmaker Pankaj Advani, is set to be released on Dingora.com on 6 December for online streaming.

The film is a simple story of crime and guilt. It tells the audience that crime does not pay and guilt haunts in the deepest corner of one‘s soul. During these times of haunting, one‘s greatest enemy is oneself which is more often than not a losing situation unless one surrenders in defeat.

The film stars Rahul Dev, Audrie Elizabeth Woodehouse, Gulshan Grover and Tisca Chopra.

Cape Karma was the last unreleased film of Advani.

MUMBAI: After Love Sex Aur Dhokha, the Balaji Telefilms-owned Alt Entertainment will produce Raginni MMS, a sensous thriller.

Produced in association with iRock Films, the film will be directed by Pavan Kripalani. The film will go on the floors in December and release in either in March or April next year. 

The film is a passionate tale of the paranormal, captured as if in real time. Based on a real life incident, Raginni MMS is the story of two young and good-looking adults, an innocent girl and an ambitious boy who are on a romantic weekend getaway in a house rigged with cameras. In the process, the camera meant to capture their love-making becomes witness to something that is beyond the realm of human understanding.

MUMBAI: This remained a weekend of poorest showing at the box office. With three Hindi film releases, there was no glory despite Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey coming from high profile director Ashotosh Gowarikar or from Rakht Charitra, coming from the factory of Ram Gopal Varma. The third release, Phas Gaye Re Obama, won some chuckles from the audience.

‘Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se is a write off from day one. The audience attendance was poor and most exhibitors were contemplating discontinuing the film before the day ended; some optimists wanted to see it through the weekend though! The film’s first day India collections were akin to that of a one cinema collections of a normal successful film.

With the opening day collections of Rs 8.1 million, it was a pathetic show as the weekend fetched a meagre Rs 30 million from the domestic box office. Looks like neither the film’s stars nor those bestowed by critics helped! Even in Bengal it did not help the film’s prospects despite it being a local story. According to some Bengal exhibitors, the collections are very poor but the film can’t be discontinued for want of an alternative.

Phas Gaye Re Obama, though getting positive response, suffered due to lack of decent theatre chain availability; collections remained on the lower side with a weekend of Rs 12.5 million.

Rakht Charitra 2 went the same way as its unsung predecessor Rakht Chartitra 1- still born. It managed to collect a lowly Rs 19 million during its first three days.

As for the first week collections, Break Ke Baad, a love story sans romance with its poor story, script, treatment and music, failed at the box office. It managed to collect just about Rs 140 million during its first week.