Category: Movies

MUMBAI: Yash Chopra will throw open the 41st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) on 22 November.

Said Directorate of Film Festivals director S.M. Khan, “Chopraji will be inaugurating the festival. We will also be felicitating several actors whose names will be disclosed in due course.”

The festival has received a record number of 450 entries for the ‘Cinema of World’ section and the final list will be chalked out soon. 18 films from several countries will be up for the competition in the ‘International Competition’ section.

This year Orissa will be the focus state because it is celebrating 75 years of cinema.

The festival concludes on 2 December.

MUMBAI: The week saw three releases. A Flat, coming from the producer of A Wednesday, surprisingly roused no excitement in the trade nor with the moviegoers. The film had few takers and the collections have been poor.

Of the other two, Raama The Saviour and Dunno Y…Na Jaane Kyun, there is nothing to be said of their box office performance because there was none.

As for the opening week box office collections, Golmaal 3 spelt good news for the festive season. Released on Diwali, the film opened with a tepid Rs 59.2 million net on Friday but gathered momentum and peaked on Saturday and Sunday. It ended the week with a handsome Rs 660 million in the kitty.

The film has found mostly favourable response and due to lack of opposition in the second week, it is expected to reap the benefit. The first week performance of Golmaal 3 is best since Dabangg released in September.

Shabnam Kapoor, who represents Ginni Arts, the Delhi-UP, Punjab distributors of the film, calls the collections “amazing”, stating that even in the second week the film is holding strong and has netted Rs 52 million from Delhi-UP and Punjab over the weekend.

Veteran Bombay Circuit distributor Ashok Ahuja of R M Ahuja & Co calls the success of Golmaal 3 as “awesome” and expects it to do a net business of Rs 225 million to Rs 240 million eventually which will be close to Rs 260 million from Dabangg.
 

MUMBAI: Rituparno Ghosh-directed Noukadubi, inspired by Rabindranath Tagore‘s story of the same name, will have its world premiere at the IFFI Goa scheduled to open on 24 November.

The importance of the screening is underlined by the fact that the screening is also a celebration of Rabindranath Tagore‘s 150th anniversary.

The script of the film is based on the novel written by Rabindranath Tagore in which the writer tries to depict the incident of wife swapping caused by circumstances.

The story of Naukadubi is about a man, Ramesh, who is in love with a girl named Hemnalini and he agrees to get into a marriage on the suggestion of his parents without even knowing and looking at the girl with whom he is getting married. During the marriage function, the village where the marriage is being held gets flooded and it is said that the bride and Ramesh‘s father gets drowned in the floods.

Later Ramesh meets a girl Kamala who is a widow and she lost her husband immediately after her marriage. Ramesh marries her and it is found that her husband is not dead.

The film has already generated a lot of interest in the International Film Festival circuit. It may be recalled that Noukadubi, a progressive Bollywood-style story from Galpa Cuccha, a collection of stories of Tagore published in 1912, had raised eyebrows during Tagore‘s lifetime also.

Noukadubi, a tale of four cross-wired lovers made in Hindi and Bengali, has been produced by Subhash Ghai and stars Prosenjit Chatterjee, Jisshu Sengupta, Raima Sen and Riya Sen.

The film is slated for theatrical release worldwide by the end of January next in Hindi and Bengali.

MUMBAI: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has approached the makers of Action Replayy for the screenplay of the film to be put up in its library for its permanent script collection.

Producer-director Vipul Shah got intimation on this regard early this week and accordingly, he is making necessary arrangements to ensure that a copy of the screenplay reaches the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy.

Confirming the news, Shah said that the Academy has shown keen interest in preserving the screenplay of Action Replayy. “I am glad that they feel the screenplay of my film is worthy enough for students of cinema to read and learn,” he added.

The screenplay of the film has been written by Shah and Aatish Kapadia.

Earlier, a copy of the screenplay of Namastey London was shared with them when they expressed their desire to acquire the same.

MUMBAI: A host of movies from different and diverse nooks and corners of India will be screened at the upcoming Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) to be held between 12 to 19 December.

Films from different genres like drama, comedy, documentaries, features and short films from Mumbai, Kerala, West Bengal and Kashmir have been included in the seventh edition of the festival.

“This year, we have films from Kashmir, a part of the subcontinent with hardly any local film industry, and we also have examples of superbly sophisticated filmmaking and cutting-edge films with all-Indian star casts,” said DIFF consultant for the subcontinent programme Dorothee Wenner in a press statement. 

Among the films to be showcased are filmmaker and actress Aparna Sen‘s Bengali project Iti Mrinalini and veteran director Shyamaprasad‘s Malayalam film Elektra. Two films highlighting Kashmir will also be showcased. While one is an Urdu feature film Harud (Autumn), the second is Ashvin Kumar‘s Inshallah, Football.

Ekta Kapoor‘s Shor will be screened. Also lined up is Khule Darwaaze, a short film by Ashish Pande.

Additional selections from India will be announced in the coming weeks, according to Wenner.
 

MUMBAI: Fox Star Studios and Ramesh Sippy are ready with their latest offering Dum Maaro Dum, but as per a previous announcement the film isn’t releasing on 4 February next year. The release has now been postponed for a Good Friday release on 22 April.

Talking about the delay, Fox Star Studios CEO Vijay Singh said in a statement, “We are in the midst of researching the film amongst various target groups and are excited with the response that we are getting. It has a great script, it‘s vibrant and contemporary, and we expect the film to appeal to the multiplex and single screen audiences. Since Easter is a big holiday weekend, it will provide a great release window in India and across International markets.”

The film marks the coming together of director Rohan Sippy and Abhishek Bachchan and is a thriller that races through the by lanes, beach shacks and raves of Goa.

Dum Maaro Dum stars Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, Rana Daggubati, Pratik Babbar and Aditya Pancholi among others.

Rohan Sippy had earlier directed Kuch Naa Kaho and Bluffmaster.
 

MUMBAI: This has never happened before, a Hollywood film releasing in India first and then in America and the world.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is releasing in the US on 10 December but is releasing in India a week earlier on 3 December.

Hollywood films are usually released in India either on the same day or a few days, even months after its release in The United States. This is the first time that a Hollywood film will be released in India a week prior to its release in North America; and just a day after a Royal Premiere in the UK.

The film is also slated to have a big release in India with around 800 plus prints across multiple languages.

The move by Fox Star Studios India comes after the tremendous success of the previous Narnia films in India and the massive fan following of the series in India. Besides, cinegoers will be delivered a whole new experience this time as the film will also be releasing in 3D across theatres. Filmgoers will also have an option of watching the film in 3D in four languages including Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

Commented Fox Star Studios India CEO Vijay Singh, “We are delighted to offer our Narnia fans this unique opportunity and that too in 3D and multiple Indian languages. It‘s great entertainment which will appeal to a wide cross-section of demographics across the country. The buzz that is building up for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’ is very encouraging.”

MUMBAI: Eros International Media has an investment plan of Rs 10 billion over two years as it has firmed up a pipeline of 50 movies.

The slate, wide enough to make it India’s top movie studio, will include a mix of own productions, co-productions and acquisitions.

“We have a capex plan of Rs 9-10 billion spread over 18-24 months. The investment will be made through internal accruals. We have a pipeline of 50 movies, out of which 30 are already listed out and announced,” says Eros Group India chief financial officer Kamal Jain.

Eros’ top priority will be Bollywood, making up 80 per cent of the roster. The studio will also make regional language movies, including Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Bengali.

The list includes Shah Rukh Khan‘s Ra.One, Hrithik Roshan‘s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Ranbir Kapoor‘s Rockstar, Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, Deepika Padukone starrer Desi Boyz, Shahid Kapoor‘s Mausam, Roshan Abbas‘ directorial debut Always Kabhie Kabhie, Prasanth Shah‘s Chalo Dilli, Saif Ali Khan – Kareena Kapoor starrer Agent Vinod and Irffan Khan‘s Bangkok Blues.

As part of the de-risked strategy, Eros will co-produce 60 per cent of the movie slate. “We will entirely produce just 10 per cent of the slate. The remaining 30 per cent will be through acquisitions. This strategy also allows us to scale up,” says Jain.

Eros was involved in 290 film projects over the last three years. “We have a portfolio approach. The wide range of movies allows us to be de-risked. About 40 per cent of the revenues come from the India box office collections and 25 per cent through satellite TV telecast rights sales. While 30 per cent is from overseas (via deal with Eros International Plc), five per cent is through ancillary streams,” says Jain.

Eros has locked in Rs 2.4 billion from television and music syndication deals. This includes Rs 1 billion sold as TV telecast rights to Star India and Rs 640 million to Zee.

“We have a strong slate for two years, 80 per cent of which we have pre-sold as TV and music syndication rights. This is part of the Rs 2.4 billion value,” says Jain.

Eros has a catalogue of 1000 movies, 50 per cent of which is Hindi content. “We are in a relatively secure position because of our catalogue strength. We get 15-20 per cent of our revenues from catalogue exploitation. This delivers us attractive margins,” says Jain.

The pure play movie company believes in entirely pre-selling the telecast and music rights. “We resist all temptations and as a strategy do not hold on to these rights. We de-risk ourselves as much as we can,” says Jain.

Eros posted a consolidated revenue of Rs 6.5 billion in FY’10, the highest reported by an Indian movie company. Is there scope for a top line scale-up? “We are not driven by top line. We are profit-focussed. The catalogue revenue, for instance, contributes straight to the bottom line,” says Jain.