MUMBAI: Celina Jaitley, brand ambassador of Egypt, has been named to officiate as one of the jury members of the forthcoming Cairo Film Festival.
Egypt, which also happens to be one of this Celina‘s favourite destinations, holds not just lots of significance, but also a special place in her heart.
Talking about this development, Jaitley said that she was looking forward to being the jury of one of the most esteemed film festivals of the world.
MUMBAI: Christopher Nolan has announced that the title of the third instalment of the blockbuster Batman franchise will be called The Dark Knight Rises.
Neither will the film be in 3D format nor will the villain, The Riddler, fill in the Joker‘s shoes in the third outing that would be about the caped crusader‘s efforts to keep Gotham city crime-free.
The Dark Knight Rises will be distributed by Warner Bros.
The first film in the series titled Batman Begins released in 2005, but it was the second part The Dark Knight that caught the public eye and went on to gross over a billion dollars worldwide when released in 2008. It also got Australian actor Heath Ledger a posthumous Oscar for his stupendous performance.
Nolan steers clear of the 3D technology that took Hollywood by storm after the success of James Cameron‘s Avatar as he wants to focus on the high definition cameras and IMAX technology.
The director, whose last outing Inception created ripples worldwide, stated that the third Batman film would follow many of the same characters from the previous films as well as a few new ones.
The Dark Knight Rises is slated to release on 20 July 2012.
MUMBAI: A few days ago we had reported that Kunal Deshmukh would direct a film called XXX for Vishesh Films in which Emraan Hashmi would play a stellar role.
The cat is out of the bag and it is now revealed that Hashmi would either play Bill Clinton or someone like him. The plot of the film is a takeoff on the controversial Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky affair that made the headlines all over the world.
Hashmi will be seen playing a dashing young president who gets embroiled in the controversy.
The female lead is yet to be finalised.
MUMBAI: Director Avtar Bhogal, who had earlier directed films like Zakhmi Aurat and Aaj Ki Aurat is all set for a comeback to the big screen with Honour Killing.
Said Bhogal in a statement, “Honour killings cannot be tolerated in any civilised society and stiff punishment should be awarded to the perpetrators of such crime. We are making this film to highlight this horrendous crime and create awareness among the people.”
Inspired by real life incidents, Honour Killing features Prem Chopra, Gulshan Grover along with Pakistani model-turned actress Zara Sheikh and Javed Sheikh. It will hit the screens soon.
MUMBAI: James Cameron will write and direct the second and third parts of his highly successful film Avatar that would release in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
20th Century Fox has reached an agreement with Cameron to make the sequels of the film, the biggest box office hit that amassed $2.8 billion in sales since it opened in December last year.
The sequels will go on the floors at the end of 2011 and both the filmmaker and the Studio have planned to release the second instalment in December 2014 and the third a year later.
Cameron, incidentally, had redefined the art of special effects with Avatar which took more than a decade to produce because of the advances in technology required to realise his vision.
MUMBAI: Not able to hit at fresh ideas, producers are going all out to make sequels of their earlier hits. The latest example is that of Bheja Fry, the sequel of which is soon going to be produced by Mukul Deora under his banner Watch Tower Entertainment.
Importantly, Deora also plans to distribute big and small Hollywood movies in the country. This almost would be the first of its kind as except for a few studios, other films don‘t have a good distribution network in the country.
Big Hollywood films do release in India but are badly marketed. Deora is going to personally get involved in selecting a variety of films to bring to the Indian shores followed by a well chalked-out marketing plan.
“Therefore just like the hype that surrounds an average Bollywood film, we will now hear a lot of noise about the new Hollywood films, which will also include some small films which are high on content besides the big blockbusters, “ avers Deora.
The announcement for this year‘s releases will happen shortly as Mukul is meeting the studio firms in the US.
MUMBAI: France-based production and distribution company Studio Canal will distribute Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 3 Idiots in France in June next year.
Directed by Rajkumar Hirani, 3 Idiots is one of Bollywood‘s biggest hits.
Said Rodolphe Buet, Studio Canal executive vice president international distribution and new business, “We distributed the home videos of 3 Idiots in the UK. We will now distribute the Aamir Khan starrer in France probably around June next year.”
Buet is currently attending the MAMI film festival.
MUMBAI : Subhash Ghai has decided to invest Rs 1 billion to launch a film school in Haryana.
Various aspects of filmmaking will be taught at this school.
The announcement came after Ghai met Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda at Whistling Woods International (WWI) in Mumbai.
Talkng about the deision WWI CEO Ravi Gupta said, “We have taken over some land in Haryana and talks are on with the state government to put up entertainment-related properties. We are also in talks with investors and the investments could be made by alliances or strategic investors.”
The institute will be set up over 20 acres of land within two years at Haryana‘s Jhajjar district.
MUMBAI: Veteran actress and singer Noorjehan, who was last seen in Mere Huzoor with Rajkumar and Jeetendra, has turned producer.
The veteran actress is producing mythological film Mahima Mahalakshmi Ki that is being written and directed by Anand Vaish. The film will be made in Hindi and Marathi.
Noorjehan‘s actor-director father Mazhar Khan had produced films like Dil Ki Duniya, Yaad‘ and Pehli Nazar that had Mukesh taking a break as a singer.
The cast and credits of Mahima Mahalakshmi Ki‘ are being finalised.
MUMBAI: Kim Dong-ho, till recently head of Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) has been given a friendship award by Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) for his contributions to the film industry in Asia and support of the Tokyo festival.
Following the screening of Camellia, a special invitation film in the Winds of Asia- Middle East section, the award was given by TIFF and TIFFCOM chairman Tom Yoda to honour Kim’s 15-year tenure as head of PIFF.
Camellia, a three-segment omnibus about romance in Busan, was screened as the closing film at the 15th PIFF on Oct. 15. The omnibus by three directors from Korea, Thailand and Japan, is a part of the Pusan Promotion Project, lead by Kim.
“Even before I assumed the post of chairman at TIFF, Mr. Kim Dong-ho, festival director of PIFF, had supported TIFF,” Yoda said adding, “He has watched over our film festival with deep friendship. I feel that we are extremely fortunate to have a great friend like him.”