Category: Movies

MUMBAI: Georgia woos Indian filmmakers for co-productionsMUMBAI: The Ambassador of Georgia in India, Zurab Katchkatchishvili, has invited Indian filmmakers for indulging in co-productions with the Georgian film industry.

Katchkatchishvili said at IFFI 2010 that his government will provide incentives especially to Indian filmmakers who opt for co-productions or shoot in Georgia. In the Country Focus on Georgia at IFFI 2010, five films will be screened.

He said that his government is working on some of the tax incentives and would do everything possible to facilitate filmmakers coming to Georgia. He also disclosed that representatives of Indian film industry will be visiting Georgia before the end of this year to see the picturesque locales and to explore possibilities of co-productions. Katchkatchishvili said that his was a small country with diversified and beautiful landscapes that offer a huge variety to any filmmaker. The ambassador said, “We would like to get more Indian filmmakers to Georgia making it more appealing than Switzerland.”

Since its independence about 20 years ago, Georgia has only produced 20 films. The country has been through turbulent times witnessing three civil wars and financial crisis. On an average, three films are produced every year and most of them are co-productions.
 

MUMBAI: Hollywood fantasy action film, The Warrior‘s Way, will release in India on 10 December.

Produced by Barrie M. Osborne, Jooick Lee and Michael Peyser, the film is a story of revenge and redemption. The story revolves around a warrior Yang (Jang Dong-gun), who is forced to hide in a small town in the American badlands. He meets the town drunk (Geoffrey Rush) and a circus knife thrower (Kate Bosworth), both of whom have powerful secrets.

Directed by Sngmoo Lee, the film is distributed in India by Multivision Multimedia India with 350 prints in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

Said Multivision Multimedia India (P) Ltd director Amit Jethani in a statement, “The Warriors Way transports the audience to an imaginative world with a very Asian point of view as introducing Asian assassins into the old West is a novel idea. It‘s a broad, action-packed adventure with a tragic love story at its heart. I hope audiences will like it very much as it has an Asian connection too.”

PANAJI: Entertainment Society of Goa Chief Executive Officer Manoj Srivastava today said the Goa government is considering offering tax reimbursement to the filmmakers shooting here.

Referring to an earlier announcement made by Goa Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, Srivastava told indiantelevision.com that this was one way to promote Goa as a film destination.

Earlier taking part in the day-long ‘Big Picture’ meet by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), he said: “Tax reimbursement scheme for the filmmakers shooting in the state is being worked out. We are considering an arrangement wherein half of the tax amount would be reimbursed to the filmmaker after he produces the bills and the film is ready.”

Srivastava said the state is in the process of formulating a scheme to attract more filmmakers to come here to shoot their films.
Answering a question relating to remarks made by eminent filmmaker Yash Chopra, he said filmmakers would be largely benefited if central taxes are relaxed. “I am echoing the sentiments of Yash Chopra who has also expressed a need of relaxation of taxes.” Srivastava said.

In his initial remarks, CII’s Goa State Council Chairman Naveen Kapoor said the film industry should be made aware about the new shooting locations. He also added that though Indian film industry has captive audience, there is a need for new market penetrations.

The one day CII seminar had Rajesh Sharma, Director General, Services Export Promotion council, Junaid Menon, Nomad Films, Kalyan Mukherjee, KAS Movie Makers making their presentations.
 

PANAJI: “Every child has a right to get educated no matter what your circumstances”, and this is even more imperative after passing of the Right to Education Act by the Government, renowned character actor Gulshan Grover said here today.

The actor said the film ‘I Am Kalam’ by Nila Madhab Panda, which is part of the Indian Panorama, was aimed at encouraging children and parents to realise the importance of education and literacy.

Panda said 60 million children are still not going to school despite education being a right in the country.

He and Sanjay Chauhan said the aim of the film was to show that a determined child could achieve what he wanted, if the step was in the right direction.
The movie marks the debut of Delhi-based 12-year-old child Harsh Mayar in the lead role. The young child also showed his prowess in singing by rendering a popular Hindi film song.

French theatre actress Beatrice Ordeix who has played a role in the film, said she had learnt some Hindi for the film.

Child actor Hussan Saad has also played a pivotal role in the film funded by the Smile Foundation, whose representatives were also present.

It is the story of young Chhotu who starts his life as a skivvy in a roadside food joint and chances to strike a chord with Prince Ranvijay of the royal mansion who is of the same age. Chhotu does not have an answer when people ask him his real name and it is this question which changes his life. “I am Kalam”, Chhotu finds himself saying. He had seen on television that former President APJ Abdul Kalam was a poor kid like him, selling newspapers. Chhotu is a dreamer and Prince Ranvijay will do anything to make his dreams come true.

The film is the first ever feature film produced by Smile Foundation, a development organisation addressing the issue of children’s education in India. The film made its world debut at the Marche du Cannes (Cannes film Festival Market section, 2010).

The film is the feature debut of International Award winning director Nila Madhab Panda, who has produced and directed over 60 documentaries, short films, television drama and films for international and the national broadcaster.

MUMBAI: Director duo Abbas-Mustan recently completed the first shooting schedule of Studio 18’s remake of Paramount‘s The Italian Job titled Players in Goa.

Though the making of the film was announced about a year ago, the film went on the floors just a month back.

Meanwhile, Studio18, part of joint venture Viacom18, went through a management restructuring that saw the appointment of Vikram Malhotra as its CEO. Without giving details on the budget, Malhotra said Players would release in the second half of 2011.

Players stars Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Bobby Deol, Sikander Kher and Neil Nitin Mukesh among others.

Talking about the film‘s storyline, Malhotra said, “The principal storyline and concept will remain integral to the original but suitable adaptations will be done keeping in mind the Indian audience sensibilities.”

Players wrapped its Goa shooting schedule last week. The crew will now move to New Zealand early next year followed by Russia.
 

PANAJI: Any filmmaker can now get assistance to shoot in Andhra Pradesh on payment of a small service fee, thanks to the formation of the Film Tourism Cell in the state Tourism Ministry.

State Tourism Secretary Jayesh told indiantelevision.com that the Cell would also function as a single-window clearance for all kinds of permissions, infrastructure requirement and other facilities.

He said that the fee would be only ten per cent if the filmmaker was spending a maximum of Rs 2.5 million, and five per cent if it was over this amount. The fee had been fixed on slab basis.

He said the Cell, which was formally launched here at the Film Bazaar by renowned filmmaker and Dadasaheb Phalke awardee D Rama Naidu, would be marketed all over the country through all media and also at various film festivals in India and overseas.

The service fee to be earned would be spent on marketing and would be shared with local studios in Andhra Pradesh.

He said the state today had cutting edge technologies and the various studios were all state-of-the-art. The state was producing the highest number of films and often overtook even Hindi cinema, with the state film industry having a turnover of Rs 2 billion.

Earlier inaugurating the Cell, Rama Naidu said he had recently set up another studio in Vishakapatnam apart from the one in Hyderabad.

C Parthasarthi, Managing Director of the AP State Film, Television, and Theatre Development Corporation, said the state now had six studios including the Ramoji Rao Film City.

He said the Corporation would prepare software on various locations for shooting in the state in collaboration with the Cell and the Tourism Ministry.

PANAJI: The Films Division of India (FDI) is expected to incur an expenditure of Rs 1.1 billion on the Museum of Cinema which is coming up in Mumbai.

The work for the Museum is in full swing and it is likely to be inaugurated in the Centenary year of Indian Cinema in the year 2013.

FDI Director General Kuldeep Sinha said the museum will cover all the aspects of cinema – right from the films, costumes, scripts, set designs, monographs and even film magazines

Talking about the other new initiatives of the Division, Sinha said the webcast of the films made during the last 60 years will soon be done by the Division. Online purchases of the films and documentaries can be done by next year. The Division has produced more than 8000 films during the last 60 years, and about 5000 films will be available for online purchase and download.

He also said the Division has signed a MoU with NFDC to market its documentaries. Describing the MoU as a win-win situation for both NFDC and FDI, he said NFDC has been given all the rights (films and television) to market the films all over the world on a revenue sharing basis.

Referring to a long pending demand, he said an announcement regarding the waiver of one percent rental being charged at present from the cinema owners to screen its films at the cinema halls is round the corner.

Talking about FDI’s association with IFFI, he said the four-day documentary film festival on Indian Classical dances and Gurus, ‘Dancing Feet’ will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Digambar Kamat in the presence of danseuse Sitara Devi, Pt. Birju Maharaj and other dignitaries at IFFI. Organised in collaboration with the Directorate of Film Festivals and the Entertainment Society of Goa, this unique festival will feature 22 select documentaries

Conceived as a sequel to the hugely applauded film festival on music, Moments with the Maestros held as part of the 40th IFFI, Dancing Feet offers dance lovers from India and abroad glimpses of important classical dances like the Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Kathakali, Kathak, Mohiniattam and Manipuri. Biopic on some of the dancing icons including Sitara Devi, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Yamini Karishnamurthy, Sonal Mansingh, Dr. Padma Subramaniam, Raja & Radha Reddy, Uma Sharma and Mallika Sarabhai are also being screened in the festival. All these highly decorated and celebrated artistes will also be felicitated during the festival where they shall interact with the media and the delegates.