ITV

Category: Movies

  • Tamil film in news for being shot on HDSLR camera

    MUMBAI: Tamil film Sanikizhamai Sayangalam 5 Mani is in the news for the technology used by the producer-cum-cinematographer SPS Gugan to shoot the film.


    The cinematographer whose earlier film was Theni Vazhi Andipatti wanted to do something different in his next. He had two things on his mind. Firstly, he wanted to better the quality than his earlier film that was shot with an HDV camera and secondly, it should be cost-effective. 


    After a lot of search, Gugan zeroed in on the HDSLR (High Definition Single-Lens Reflex) Camera. Once he had his hands on one, he did test shoots and then saw the test print in Mumbai.


    “The result was satisfying and that‘s how we decided to shoot Sanikizhamai Sayangalam 5 Mani using an HDSLR camera. It‘s a first, not only in Tamil cinema but in Indian cinema as well,” says the producer-director.


    Explaining the new technology, Gugan says, “The camera is very cheap compared to the ordinary film camera. A few shots of Slumdog Millionaire were shot using this camera. Even in Hollywood, this camera has not been used to shoot a full-length feature film.”


    The main advantage, he points out, is the high resolution output. “It‘s a one-time investment of Rs 7-10 lakh. Along with the camera, there‘re a number of lenses available. For a small budget film, the HDSLR camera is apt. It‘s not designed for movies but there‘s a video-mode option and the quality has come out well,” says Gugan.


    The digital chip of the camera can be used to shoot another film. The producer has applied for the Limca Book of Records as this is the first full-length feature film shot with the HDSLR camera.
     

  • Eros announces release dates of ‘Game’ and ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’

    MUMBAI: Eros International Media Ltd (Eros International) has announced the release dates of Excel Entertainment‘s forthcoming films, Abhinay Deo‘s Game and Zoya Akhtar‘s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. While Game will release on 18 March, Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara will hit theatres on 27 May next year.


    Game, starring Abhishek Bachchan, Kangna Ranaut, Sarah Jane Dias, Jimmy Sheirgill, Shahana Goswami, Gauhar Khan, Boman Irani and Anupam Kher, is a slick edge-of-the-seat thriller directed by Abhinay Deo.


    The second, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, is a young fun-filled road film shot largely across Spain by director Zoya Akhtar. The film boasts of Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Abhay Deol, Katrina Kaif and Kalki Koechlin.


    Said Eros International Media managing director Sunil Lulla, “We will treat the movie-goers with a great cinematic experience at the most appropriate time, since Game will be released around the festival of Holi and Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara after the IPL season.”


    Eros International had recently acquired the worldwide rights of these two films.

  • Stockholm fest gives Debra Granik best film award

    MUMBAI: At a grand prize gala in Stockholm as the XXI Stockholm International Film Festival came to an end, American director Debra Granik received the 7-kg Bronze Horse Prize for this year‘s Best Film Winter‘s Bone.


    “Through her heroine, the director paints an original portrait of a matriarchy who, by turns, warns, punishes, and ultimately offers an unlikely deliverance. The story and performances worked together to realize an uncompromised vision,” a jury of the film festival said in a statement.


    Winter‘s Bone won the Best Actress Award for Jennifer Lawrence for her performance in the film while the Best Actor Prize went to George Pistereanu for his performance in the Romanian-Swedish film If I want to whistle, I whistle.


    The 34-year-old Vietnamese director Phang Dang Di won the Best First Feature and best cinematography award for his best debut film Bi, Do not Be Afraid that revolves around a troubled generation of accommodation in Hanoi.


    Earlier during the festival that began on 17 November, the Stockholm Visionary Award was presented to director Gus Van Sant while the Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Harriet Andersson.


    The Stockholm International Film Festival, that was launched in 1990 with just 45 films is today one of the leading competitive film festivals in Europe with 180 films.
     

  • Harry Potter is rock solid in second weekend

    MUMBAI: For the second weekend in a row, Harry Potter reigned the worldwide box-office for a second weekend, but the heroic wizard had to face a scare from a hairy princess in North America. After two weekends the worldwide total stands at about $610 million.


    The foreign total stands at $389.2 million. Top markets include Britain with $53.5 million, Germany with $37 million, Japan with $35 million, and Australia with $25 million.The seventh film in the franchise, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 roped in $163.5 million that included a haul of $50.3 million in the United States and Canada. France came out best from among the foreign markets where the film opened at No. 1 with $19.1 million, the country‘s best start of any film so far in the year. 


    The previous film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince had earned $201 million during the same 10-day span in July last year.


    But the fearless schoolboy almost lost his North American crown to Rapunzel, the hirsute heroine in the new Walt Disney Co 3D cartoon Tangled that earned $49.1 million for the three days of the last weekend.


    Along with three other films, Tangled opened last Wednesday, giving the film a five-day total of $69 million while trade insiders had predicted a five-day haul of about $40 million.


    Internationally, the Disney film earned $13.8 million after opening at No. 1 in six of seven markets led by Russia with $7.5 million haul.
     

  • Waheeda Rehman to inaugurate Kerala Film Fest

    MUMBAI: Yesteryear actress Waheeda Rehman will inaugurate the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) that begins 10 December at Thiruvananthapuram. Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan will also be present on the occasion.


    IFFK Chairman and the festival director K.R. Mohanan told reporters that the actress will be the chief guest for the festival, while renowned German filmmaker Werner Herzog would be the guest of honour. 


    ‘The eight-day long festival, organised by Kerala State Chalachithra Academy (KSCA), will have as many as 14 films from Asia, Africa and Latin America that will compete for the top awards. The best film will be presented with the Suvarna Chakoram award and a cash prize of Rs 1.5 million.


    Rajata Chakoram and a cash prize of Rs 400,000 will go to the best director and a Rajata Chakoram and Rs 300,000 will go to the best debut filmmaker. In addition to this, a Rajata Chakoram and Rs 200,000 would be awarded as the audience prize.


    Mohanan further said that the festival will screen a retrospective of filmmaker Rainer Fassbinder, while T.V. Chandran will be the Malayalam filmmaker in focus along with other films from Central Asia and those made by Black American filmmakers.


    This year‘s Oscar winners A.R. Rehman, Resul Pookutty and Gulzar will be honoured at the fest.
     

  • French film ‘The Princess of Montpensier’ to close 41st IFFI

    PANAJI: French film The Princess of Montpensier by Bertrand Tavernier, which was the closing film at the Montreal Film Festival this year, will be the closing film of the 41st International Film Festival of India.


    Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Chowdhury Mohan Jatua will be the chief guest while eminent actor Saif Ali Khan will be the guest of honour at the closing function on 2 December where the awards will also be presented.


    The programme, which will be conducted by actors Arjun Bajwa and Neetu Chandra, will have a cultural show conceived and choreographed by actor Gracy Singh who had presented the inaugural function.


    Meanwhile, Ghost Writer directed by Roman Polanski will be the mid-fest film.


    The Princess of Montpensier (French: La princesse de Montpensier) is a 2010 French period romance film, inspired by the eponymous short story by Madame de La Fayette. It stars Mélanie Thierry in the title role, alongside Gaspard Ulliel, Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Lambert Wilson and Raphaël Personnaz. The story takes place in the French aristocracy during the Wars of Religion, and focuses on a young woman who is forced into marriage while passionately in love with another man. The film competed at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival and was released in French cinemas on 3 November 2010.


    The mid-fest film is about a ghostwriter hired to complete the memoirs of a former British prime minister. It uncovers secrets that put his own life in jeopardy.
     

  • IFFI gets record delegates

    NEW DELHI: Festival director SM Khan said the 41st International Film Festival of India had created a new watermark with as many as 8,500 delegates from India and overseas.


    Khan said this is almost 2000 more than last year. In addition, around 400 mediapersons had registered for the Festival.


    While the Festival had implemented some of the short-term recommendations of the Expert Committee on IFFI headed by Pritish Nandy, he said long-term recommendations were still under study with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. These included adoption of a private public partnership mode for organising the Festival through a new Society to be formed for this purpose, and acceptance of sponsorships.


    Khan announced that a new Convention Centre and larger theatre would be ready in Panaji for the film festival by 2014.


    In a mid-fest press meet, Joint Director Shankar Mohan said the aim of selection had been to bring to India filmmakers who had not been seen too frequently in this country. But creative art is about individual perception, he said, while responding to certain criticisms about choice of films.
     

  • Sanjoy Nag’s Memories In March for Chennai film fest

    MUMBAI: Having premiered at the Pusan International Film Festival and later screened at the MIAAC Film Festival and MAMI Film Festival, Sanjoy Nag’s Memories In March (MIM) has now been selected to be screened at the Chennai International Film Festival‘s Indian Panorama Section. The Festival will be held from 15 to 23 December.


    Says Nag, “While discussing MIM with Mani Ratnam at a dinner in New York during the MIAAC Film Festival, he suggested that the film should be screened at the Chennai Film Festival. He suggested that I get in touch with his wife who is actively involved with the Festival. After coming back to Kolkata, I got in touch with her and everything was settled.”


    Memories of March, made simultaneously in Hindi and English, tells the story of a bereaved mother Arati Mishra (Deepti Naval), who comes to Kolkata to collect her son’s ashes and belongings after his death. On meeting his friends and colleagues, she is amazed to see that their perspective about her son is so different and discovers a new side of him that she never knew as a mother.


    The film was supposed to be solely in Bengali, but just before it went on floors it was changed to Hindi and English as there was no time for Deepti to learn Bengali.


    “I came in the last minute, so there was very little time for the shoot to begin and I needed a couple of days to start learning Bengali. When I landed, there was no time left to learn Bengali, so Ritu said it’s easier for all to speak Hindi rather than teach me Bengali,” divulges Naval.


    Asked about her experience of working with Rituparno Ghosh as an actor, she said: “We thought he will be trying to direct us, but it was a pleasant surprise that he stuck to his role of acting in the film. He is a wonderful actor.”
     

  • Retrospective of Mira Nair on 30 Nov at IFFI

    MUMBAI: A retrospective of the works of renowned Indo-American filmmaker Mira Nair has been planned in the ‘ Retrospective Section’ of the ongoing IFFI on 30 November in the presence of the filmmaker who is expected to arrive on that day.


    On the occasion, Nair will be present along with some of the cast and crew members of her debut film Salaam Bombay.


     Amongst her films that will be screened are Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, The Perez Family, Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love, Monsoon Wedding, Vanity Fair, The Namesake and Amelia.


    Eight of her short films/documentaries – 9/11, Hysterical Blindness, Migration – Aids Jaago, So Far From India, India Cabret, The Day the Mercedes Became a Hat, Laughing Club of India and How can it – will also be screened.

  • Three Rituparno films at IFFI

    PANAJI: The 41st International Film Festival of India, which commenced here on 22 November, is unique in various respects.


    The eminent director and ten-time National Award winner Rituparno Ghosh is, perhaps, the only person who does not have a retrospective on him but is being featured in as many as three films – one as an actor.


    While his directorial ventrure Abohoman which has already won national awards is in the Indian Panorama, Noukadubi based on a story by Rabindranath Tagore and produced by Subhash Ghai has been premiered here.


    The third film, Just Another Love Story, stars Ghosh as a homosexual director making a film on a very renowned Bengali theatre actor who always acted in female roles