Category: Movies

NEW DELHI: The presentation of the 57th National Film Awards for 2009 tomorrow by President Pratibha Devisingh Patil will also demonstrate the acceptance of the need to upgrade the awards with she gives away five new technical category awards.

The nation’s highest award in cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, will also be presented to veteran producer-director D Rama Naidu, at the function being held as in previous years in the plenary hall of Vigyan Bhavan. Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni will also be present on the occasion.

With this, the backlog in presentation of National Film Awards which had got delayed because of a legal case some years earlier has been wiped. While the awards for 2008 were given in February, those for 2009 are being presented now.

The technical awards have been instituted following the recommendations of the Expert Committee set up under veteran filmmaker Shyam Benegal and other eminent film personalities and experts.

In audiography, two awards have been added: Location Sound Recordist, and Sound Designer. In music direction, an award for background Score has been introduced in addition to an existing award for Best Music Direction (Songs). In the category of best screenplay, three Awards have been instituted in place of the current award – for Adapted Screenplay, for Original Screenplay, and for Dialogues. Each of these awards carry a cash prize of Rs.50,000 each.

The cash prize for several awards in both feature films and non-feature films categories have been increased from the previous years. The Special Jury Award for Feature Films has been raised from Rs.1,25,000 to Rs.200,000.

The National Film Awards have been announced in three categories: Best Feature Film Category under the Chairpersonship of Ramesh Sippy; Non Feature Film Category under the Chairpersonship of Mike Pandey; and Best Writing on Cinema under the Chairpersonship of Samik Bandhopadhyay.

In the feature film category, the selection process for selecting the films returned to a two-tier system of selection. There were Regional Panels were constituted for pre-selection of films in different language categories: North- English, Punjabi, Dogri, Urdu, Bhojpuri, Rajasthani and Central Indian Languages; West- Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati and Konkani; South I- Tamil and Malayalam and South II – Kannada, Telugu and Tulu; East- Bengali, Assamese, Oriya and dialects spoken in Northeast

Each Regional Panel comprised of a Chairperson and one member (both of whom would be from outside the region) and three other members from with the region. The screenings of the Regional panel as well as the Central jury were held in Delhi. The Central jury comprised of a Chairperson plus ten Members, of whom five were the Chairpersons of the five regional juries. The Chairperson for the Northern Region was Ms. Sushma Seth, for the Western Region M S Sathyu, for South – I Region T S Nagabharna, for South- II Region Pinaki Choudhry; and for the Eastern Region B Lenin.

Dr Ramanaidu is the forty-first recipient of the award instituted in 1969 – the birth centenary of D G Phalke, who is generally regarded as the father of Indian cinema as he produced the country’s first indigenous award ‘Raja Harishchandra’ in 1913. Dr Ramanidu is the tenth producer to have received the award.

The award consists of a Swarn Kamal, a cash prize of Rs one million and a shawl. The award is given on the basis of recommendations of a Committee of eminent persons.

MUMBAI: Three distinctly different films, one depicting a compulsive liar, the other a snake woman‘s vengeance and the third a biopic on a slain factionist-turned political leader, will compete to shine on the silver screen in the form of Jhootha Hi Sahi, Hisss and Rakta Charitra respectively this Friday.

While Jhootha Hi Sahi stars John Abraham in the lead, Hisss has Mallika Sherawat enacting some bold scenes and Rakta Charitra that is said to show Vivek Oberoi‘s intense acting skills.

Made under the Saregama banner, Jhootha Hi Sahi has been directed by Abbas Tyrewala and stars his wife Pakhi in the female lead. The film is about a suicidal woman whose final call mistakenly connects her to a man who gives her something to live for. The film marks the big screen debut of VJ Raghu.

Hisss, directed by Hollywood filmmaker Jennifer Lynch, has been produced by Split Image Pictures and presented by Venus Records & Tapes. The film amalgamates the talents of Bollywood actors and top technicians of the west.

The film revolves around the vengeance of a snake woman, the mate of which is captured from the jungles of India. She transforms into a woman and ventures into the city in desperate search for her lover. What follows next is venom and deaths.

The film also stars Irrfan Khan, Divya Dutta and American actor Jeff Doucette in pivotal roles.

Rakta Charitra is a two-part trilingual made in Telugu, Hindi and Tamil by Ram Gopal Varma. Based on the life of Andhra Pradesh leader Paritala Ravi,the film features Tamil superstar Surya and Shatrughan Sinha in important roles.

To sum up, a battle between sex, violence and politics is all set to play out at the box office on 22 October.
 

MUMBAI: India‘s Udaan has found way to the 4th Annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards and will be wrestling with four other international releases for a winning position in the Best Children‘s Feature Film category that will be decided in Gold Coast, Australia, on the night of 2 December.

Boy from New Zealand, Bran Nue Dae from Australia, Shui Yuet Sun Tau (Echoes of the Rainbow) from Republic of China- Hong Kong and Digari (The Other) from the Islamic Republic of Iran are Udaan‘s rivals.

The other four nominations where India stands out include individual performances in different categories.

Tejaswini Pandit is nominated in the best actress category for her performance in Marathi film I am Sindhutai Sakpal while Atul Kulkarni stands a chance to win the best performance by an actor award for Marathi film Natarang.

Also, in the cinematography category, Sudhir Palsane (Vihir) and Santosh Sivan and V. Manikandan (Raavan) have been nominated.

“Asia Pacific Screen Awards is considered to be the Oscars of the East, and is the most prestigious awards platform in the APAC region. With Udaan being nominated in the Best Children‘s Feature Film category, we couldn‘t be more ecstatic that the young audiences and the jury from the Asia Pacific region have loved and appreciated the movie like the audiences in other major markets” said Vikramaditya Motwane, director of Udaan, a film co-produced by UTV Motion Pictures, Anurag Kashyap and Sanjay Singh.

APSA is an initiative of the Queensland government, Austria in collaboration with UNESCO and FIAPF – International Federation of Film Producers‘ Associations.

MUMBAI: Buoyed by the success of Paa, director Balki has got the entire Bachchan family for his next film yet untitled.

Though the subject is being kept under wraps, the only thing the director has confirmed is that the Bachchans are going to be an integral part of his film once again.

The director has narrated the basic plot to the Bachchans and has got their approval. But he is taking his time giving the finishing touches to the film. He is confident of coming up with a script that will do justice to the entire clan.

Balki, a Bachchan favourite, has been casting the veteran actor in a series of unconventional roles. Firstly, he did Cheeni Kum, where Balki made Bachchan play a 60-plus chef who falls in love with a woman (Tabu) half his age. Next, he came up with Paa that fetched Bachchan a National Award for enacting the role of a child suffering from progeria.

Other cast and credits are being finalised.
 

MUMBAI: After dishing out films like Jannat and Tum Mile, director Kunal Deshmukh has been roped in to direct his third directorial venture for Vishesh Films.

The film, titled XXX as of now, is a crime thriller that deals with three parallel stories, all of which depict how sex has become a means to an end – whether to achieve money, love or power in the modern urban lifestyle.

While the script of the film is being written by Ankur Tiwari, the casting is yet to start. Apparently, the director is keen to have the script read by various actors before taking their accent on the dotted lines. The film would be set either in Mumbai or Delhi.

Comments Mahesh Bhatt, “Kunal Deshmukh is making a film which plays hell with the 3P‘s (Parent, Preacher, Politician). It‘s called XXX. It explores our city life!”

MUMBAI: Jenniifer Lynch-directed Hisss hits Indian screens on 22 October but is not releasing in America.

The film was to have a grand release across US theatres on 22 October, along with the desi version. But the producers feel that the film needs to be promoted more in Hollywood.

Producer Govind Menon quips , “We are not releasing it across USA now as we are building up the film a bit. There is some serious promotional work left for us to do.”

The film hits Indian screens in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu this week, while the Malayalam one will come the next week. The English version will release in January 2011

MUMBAI: A bad release strategy has cost both the movie releases of the week dearly.

Aakrosh, a blatant copy of Hollywood classic Mississippi Burning, has been rejected by the audience. The film managed around Rs 75 million over its first weekend and days ahead look even bleaker.

The film is about injustice and killings of backward classes in Bihar. The subject fails to appeal!

The other release, Knock Out, also a lift from a Hollywood film titled Phone Booth and some input from a film titled Liberty Stands Tall, has run out of steam before collecting a meagre Rs 30 million over its first weekend.

Trade persons refuse to comment on these two films, not wanting to add to the misery of those affected.

The week past saw two major releases, Crook and Do Dooni Chaar. While the figures of the latter are not being made available, they being very very poor, Crook has collected around Rs 100 million for the first week. It is a poor show all round!

MUMBAI: Alliance Media & Entertainment Pvt Ltd‘s latest venture Daayen ya Baayen, directed by debutant director Bela Negi, will release on 29 October.

The movie revolves around a school teacher in a remote village in the Himalayas who wins a luxury car in a TV contest. His life spirals into a series of comic conflicts as he tries to match the rest of his life to the glamour of the car, undoing himself completely in the process. When the car is stolen, he sets out on a journey to recover more than just his prized vehicle – his lost dignity.

Commenting on her debut project Negi said, “I belong to this region and have strived to make a film that reflects the particular world view that evolves in one of these small hilly villages that have been neglected by administration for years. Yet I believe that the theme of the film- an individual combating his fears of anonymity and transcending the limited vision of only seeing himself through other people‘s eyes-are universal themes.”

Daayen ya Baayen, mostly shot in Uttarakhand, is produced by Sunil Doshi. The film stars Deepak Dobriyal as the main protagonist.