Category: Movies

PANAJI: Odisha Information and Public Relations Minister Prafulla Samal said today that 314 mini theatres will be built at every block in the state over the next few years.

Samal said there were only 81 cinema halls in the state and many films do not get an opportunity to exhibit. He appealed to the Central Government, banks and NFDC to come forward to help the film industry in Odisha.

He said the Platinum jubilee celebrations of Odiya films will be celebrated in the State in a big way in 2011 as part of the Platinum jubilee celebrations of creation of the state, hitherto known as Orissa. Odisha has produced around 600 films so far.

The Minister also invited filmmakers to come and shoot their films at the beautiful locales of Odisha such as Puri, Konark, Bhubaneswar and Gopalpur.

Listening to various suggestions, he expressed the hope that the state government may announce some incentives in the next financial year. He assured the film industry that the state government will help promote Odiya cinema in the state. He said measures for the welfare of film workers and artists should be taken.

PANAJI: After a gap of 58 years, an Indian film will be released simultaneously on both sides of the border when it comes to the screen in West Bengal and Bangladesh next week.

Goutam Ghose’s film ‘Moner Manush’ (The Quest), which is a part of the competition at the ongoing IFFI, is an Indo-Bangladesh co-production and will be released on 3 December with more than 110 prints in both the countries.

Ghose said he was excited about the project as it has its cast and crew from both the sides of the border. “With the help of cinema we can help to bridge the gap between the people of both the countries. The love and compassion of Lalan is relevant more than ever in today’s world of intolerance and hate,” he added.

The lead actor Priyanshu Chatterjee who plays Jyotirindranath Tagore, said he was delighted to work with Ghose on the project “as the whole package was attractive and challenging”.

Talking about the music, Ghose said the music is integral to the film and is also part of the script, since Lalan communicated through verse.

The exchange of views between Rabindranath Tagore’s elder brother Jyotirindranath Tagore, an urban intellectual, and the octogenarian Lalan faqir – a man of native wisdom – forms the cinematic narrative of the film.

It is a saga of the life and times of Lalan Faqir and his liberal sect who lived a life of high order in an otherwise superstitious 19th century Indian society and developed an extremely secular and tolerant philosophy based on the best of the liberal and enlightened tradition of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. And, thus, became an easy prey for the Hindu and Muslim fundamentalists.

Based on a novel by Sunil Gangopadhyay, the cast of the film includes Prosenjit Chatterjee, Raisul Islam Asad, Chanchal Chowdhury, Priyanshu Chatterjee, Syed Hasan Imam, Gulshan Ara Champa, Paoli Dam and Shubhra.

PANAJI: In the Golden Jubilee year of the FTII, five films by its former students, now eminent names to reckon with, are being featured in the Special Section.

The films are: 37 Down Manmad Passenger directed by Kumar Shahani; Awashesh directed by Girish Kasarvalli; Bodhvriksha directed by Rajan Khosa; Jee Karta Tha directed by Hansa Thapliyal; and Kramashad directed by Amit Dutta.

The institute that boasts of the who’s who and some of the best filmmakers that the country has produced, is featuring as many as 20 films made by its students in the Festival this year.

These have been included under various sections such as Indian Panorama, Special Section and Student Film Package – Film School and New Risk Takers.

While three student films, Motorbike (directed by Radhika Murthy), Surang (directed by Anurag Goswami) and Shyam Raat Seher (directed by Arunima Sharma) have been selected for the Indian Panorama, the New Risk Takers Package has 12 films.
 

PANAJI: The fourth edition of Film Bazaar India 2010 at the International Film Festival of India concluded on a positive note for greater cooperation in cinema among Saarc countries.

National Film Development Corporation managing director Nina Lath Gupta said all Saarc countries except Maldives were represented. She said that discussions had been fruitful but it was too early to say which countries would enter into collaborations with NFDC.

The annual film market was designed to address the current needs of filmmakers and focused on creating business opportunities for production studios and independent producers/film makers. The idea behind Film Bazaar was to provide a proficient stage for prospective buyers and sellers of film rights from India and abroad. The four-day Film Bazaar India had commenced on 23 November at Goa Marriott Resort.

For the first time this year, the Film Bazaar organised industry screenings for filmmakers to showcase their films to potential producers, distributors, agents, buyers and representatives of international film festivals.

Another first was the introduction of digital screening facilities. The state-of-the-art screening facility had multiple screens of 12-seater theatres and Digital and 3D compatible projection. This helped the international buyers to make informed and quick decisions on the various projects they are interested in, she said. The theatres had been set-up in collaboration with UFO Moviez.

She said that for the first time, private exhibitors were permitted to set up stalls and there were around 17 stalls.

The Film Bazaar had grown and gained wide popularity since its inception in 2007 and the number of delegates exceeded last year’s 350 delegates from 22 countries..

NFDC had invited projects from Saarc countries this year to present a window for filmmakers from these countries to various buyers and sellers from all around the world.

The other highlights at the Bazaar this time included Masterclass with acclaimed Turkish – German filmmaker Fatih Akin and also a Screenwriters Lab where a two-part screenwriters’ workshop for writing and selling original Indian screenplays was held. The Co-production Market offered selected filmmakers the opportunity to present their feature film projects to co-producers, bankers, sales agents, and other potential financiers from India and abroad. The Prime Exchange initiated market exchange between India and Europe in the field of Film and TV Production. The Bazaar saw Work in Progress Lab was held for feature films at a rough cut stage. In the Knowledge Series, NFDC presented case studies and presentations by industry experts. Leading Indian and international producers, distributors, buyers attending this year’s Film Bazaar include prominent international buyers and sales agents such as Farabi Foundation (Iran), Cinetic Rights Management (USA), Fortissimo Films (UK), The Yellow Affair (Finland), Rapid Eye Movies (Germany), Wide Management (France), Railto, (Netherland), Hanway Films (UK) and Wild Bunch (France).

Festival directors and representatives from the leading international film festivals like Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival, Durban International Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival and Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles interacted with the attendees of Film Bazaar.
 

PANAJI: Balaji Motion Pictures has roped in former UTV Motion Pictures associate vice president Girish Johar as head of distribution.

Additionally, Johar will also head the acquisition of content for the company.

Johar, who will be joining the company next week, will be reporting to Balaji Motion Pictures CEO Tanuj Garg.

Confirming Johar‘s appointment, Balaji Motion Pictures CEO Tanuj Garg said, ” Yes, he is joining us from 1 December.”

Prior to joining UTV, Johar worked with companies like Sony Pictures and PVR

PANAJI: The IFFI this year has ten films in a section called Cannes Kaleidoscope. The films include those from countries like Hungary, Germany, UK, France, Japan, Switzerland, Australia, Mexico and Belgium.

The films are Des filles en noir (Young Girls In Black) by Jean Paul Civeyrac; Somos Lo Que Hay (We Are What We Are) by Sabina Guzzanti; Outrage by Takeshi Kitano; Route Irish by Ken Loach; Certified Copy by Abbas Kiarostami; A Screaming Man by Mahamat Saleh Haroun; The Tree by Julie Bertucelli; The City Below by Christoph Hochhäusler; Adrienn Pal by Agnes Cocsis; and Film Socialism by Jean Lun Godard.

PANAJI: Makers of films that have been selected for the Indian Panorama want the government to help them find ways to distribute and market these films.

They feel that showing the films in various Indian festivals or special Panorama festivals is not enough as this does not fetch any money for the filmmaker to encourage him to make more films.

Speaking at the Open Forum on ‘New Faces in the Indian Panorama’ organised by the Federation of Film Societies in India in collaboration with Directorate of Film Festivals and the Entertainment Society of Goa, former Festival Director Malati Sahay said the Indian Panorama had been the USP of IFFI since it was started in 1978. It had succeeded in encouraging many new filmmakers to come to the fore and had, therefore, created a pool of talent.

But she agreed that it needed better marketing than IFFI or the DFF showing it in other parts of the country and other regional festivals picking up some of the films. At the same time, she said marketing itself was a science that filmmakers must master if they had to remain in the field. Filmmakers should also explore newer formats since digital technology had thrown up new formats.

Gajendra Ahire whose film ‘Pail Tesundaram’ is in the Panorama, said Marathi cinema had seen a new resurgence over the past six to seven years and several new filmmakers had come into the field after ‘Shwaas’. But he regretted that very few had come back with new films fit enough for the Panorama. He said sending DVDs for Panorama selections was risky as piracy was a major threat, and so 35 mm prints should be sent.

Samrita Sunil, who has acted in ‘Kaal Chilambu’, said her films had been coming in the Panorama for the past four years, but she was attending the Festival for the first time. Her co-actor Vineet said the real challenge lay in finding good scripts by new filmmakers. The Indian Panorama may not be successful commercially, but gave good exposure.

Premlal, debutante director of the Malayalam film ‘Atmakatha’ on visually impaired persons, said his film was aimed at showing that even the disabled can live positive and normal lives. He agreed that releasing subtitled prints all over the country was an option that could be explored. Answering a question about his main lead Srinivasan, he said the veteran writer-director-actor had not interfered in his style and only remained an actor on the sets.

Wellknown filmmaker M R Rajan and others regretted that Doordarshan was no longer telecasting Panorama films, but was informed that Lok Sabha TV was doing so, although it paid very little.

FFSI General Secretary U Radhakrishnan said the National Films Development Corporation (NFDC) should make sub-titled prints for distribution all over the country and overseas.

Others who were present included ‘Atmakatha’ producer Santosh Pavithram and ‘Kaal Chilambu’ director M T Annoor.

Producer: Kunal Kohli Director: Danish Aslam Cast: Imran Khan, Deepika Padukone, Sharmila Tagore, navin Nischol, Lillette Dubey, Shahana Goswami, Yudhistir Urs

MUMBAI: Break Ke Baad is a love story, a love story of self inflicted miseries, of whims and fancies!

This girl starts making her overtures to this boy with a chocolate smeared face in childhood. They grow up watching cinema, which is convenient, since the boy’s father owns a cinema hall.

The girl grows up to be a cigar smoking, beer and booze guzzling, doing weird antics Deepika Padukone, while the boy grows up to be Imran Khan. Both have been a pair for 10 years (which they never let you forget in the process of reminding each other) and are besotted with each other. But there comes a storm in the tea cup as Deepika declares that she is on her way to Australia to pursue a course in Mass Media.

The course would seem to be all practical since all she is seen doing is partying with a mass of people, mostly unknown and one morning even waking up with a stranger by her side in the same bed after one such revelry. That is when her beau, Imran, decides to drop in having promised never to give up on her.

In Australia, two more characters are added for distraction and break the monotony. Looking at them, you would not believe the media about treatment meted out to Indians in this country; these two live as if they own the country!

Our hero, Imran, good for nothing otherwise, is somehow a culinary expert and can juggle up some fancy Indian food. Soon, in league with the ‘native’ Indian duo, he owns two and half restaurants. Fed up of Imran wanting answers for all her activities, Deepika thinks of him as a hindrance in her life and seeks to break off. The break referred to in the title is this one. But there is no break, neither for Deepika nor the viewer. Imran is omnipresent and Deepika swings between yes and no.

The script has major drawback in that it has no variations, no twists and turns, no real villain in the form of either circumstances or human form. And resting the burden of carrying the film on their shoulders proves too much for Imran and Deepika. Music is no help. Dialogue is subtly witty. Direction is average.

Performance-wise, Imran is casual, no demonstration of histrionics, yet. Deepika’s character is that who enjoys life, drinking, smoking, dancing, calling her mother Sharmila Tagore by her first name and generally gallivanting; thankfully, that does not call for any acting talent at all. Of the supporting cast, Lillette Dubey is good. Sharmila Tagore has scant little to do while Navin Nischol, Shahana Goswami and Yudhistir Urs don’t contribute much.

Break Ke Baad is a love story without soul and does not touch you anywhere except your pocket.