ITV

Category: Movies

  • Devang Sampat bids adieu to Cinemax

    MUMBAI: Cinemax India president – sales, marketing and operations Devang Sampat is leaving the multiplex chain after serving it for 10 years.
    His last day of duty would be 15 November.


    Says Sampat, “This decision is to give myself an opportunity to explore other growth prospects. It wouldn‘t have been right for me to stay on and look out for new opportunities. So I spoke to my bosses and decided to move on.”


    Last June, Sampat was promoted as president. It was in that period that Cinemax India also appointed Sunil Punjabi as CEO.


    In his 10-year stint at Cinemax India, Sampat worked in various capacities.

  • Hisss being dubbed in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam

    MUMBAI: The Jennifer Chamber Lynch-directed Hisss, set for release on 22 October, is being dubbed in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.


    The film has Mallika Sherawat playing a serpent. Irrfan Khan and Divya Dutta are also in the cast. Tribal leader of Thalikakal settlement in Kerala, Mooppan Raghavan, and over a dozen members of his tribe are recruited as extras for the film.


    Special effects designer Robert Kurtzman has developed the look of the snake woman in the film. Editing is done by Tony Ciccone who has also done the sound design.


    The film was shot in the jungles of Kerala, Mumbai, Chennai, Madh Island and at Filmistan studio.


    Sri Tirumalai Tirupati Venkateswara Films will release the movie in South India.
     

  • Stallone, Freeman to be feted at Hollywood Film Fest

    MUMBAI: Sylvester Stallone will be feted with a career achievement award on 20 October at the Hollywood Film Festival‘s 14th annual awards gala in Beverly Hills.


    The event will also pay tribute to Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary of digital entertainment company Revelations Entertainment for its technological innovations. 


    Director Tom Hooper will be honored with a helming award. Hooper‘s The King‘s Speech is being considered as a leading awards contender at the fest.

  • Zack Snyder directing next Superman

    MUMBAI: Zack Snyder, known for his films like 300 and Watchmen has been chosen to direct the next edition of Superman that is being produced by Christopher Nolan for Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures.


    Snyder, who directed “300” and “Watchmen,” had been on the list of helmers ensconced in meetings with


    Here it may me noted that executives of Nolan and Warners have been in talks with directors like Darren Aronofsky, Ben Affleck, Matt Reeves and Tony Scott.


    It is also interesting that despite grossing $200 million domestically, Superman Returns was considered a disappointment.


    Goyer is writing the script, which, like Superman Returns is said to have a connection to Richard Donner‘s Superman films. Nolan is producing the film with his wife and producing partner Emma Thomas, along with Charles Roven and Deborah Snyder, Zack Snyder‘s wife and partner.


    Snyder had made his animated feature debut with Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga‘Hoole. The film opened softly but is generating strong word-of-mouth having fallen only 32 per cent in its second weekend.
     

  • Sholay being remade with dwarfs in cast

    MUMBAI: Fans of the film Sholay have all reasons to rejoice. The movie is being remade as Aakhri Gabbar with dwarfs between three-to-four feet playing important roles.


    This means that people will again see Gabbar Singh, his sidekicks Kaalia and Sambha battle Jay and Veeru in the new film touted to be a comedy thriller. But this time around, all the characters concerned would ride donkeys instead of horses.


    Even Dhanno, the beloved immortal mare owned by Basanti, will be a short, female donkey which runs only after firecrackers are lit behind her. And Basanti’s Mausi stands tall at just 3.2 feet. 


    Says producer and co-director Riyaz Shaikh, a marquee decorator based in Navi Mumbai, “Undoubtedly, Sholay rules the Indian cinema audiences‘ psyche even 35 years of its release. There have been several attempts to remake it in different forms but none could really capture the charm and essence of the original. I hope my venture will break the jinx.”‘


    The idea of making a film hit the 5.5 feet tall Shaikh quite accidentally. A couple of years ago, he ran into an old classmate of his, a dwarf.


    “He lamented how they were short-changed in Bollywood, both in terms of roles and money and that his career was not really going places. He asked me to help out. It got me thinking and with the help of Pyarelal (of the famous music-director duo, Laxmikant-Pyarelal), I started working on the project,” Shaikh averred.


    He said that the new Sholay would be drastically different. “I started by changing the complete image of the entire star cast – instead of tall, hefty persons of the original, I decided to use only dwarfs for all the characters. Since Sholay had a pan-India appeal, I wanted to make Aakhri Gabbar with talented, but virtually unknown artists drawn from all over the country. I hope the people appreciate my experiment,” believes Shaikh.


    The principal roles in Aakhri Gabbar will be played by Zaheer Shaikh of Akola, Maharashtra (Gabbar Singh), Ajay Navik of Gujarat (paying Jay), Irfan Sheikh of Uttar Pradesh (playing Veeru), Salim Shaikh of Bangalore (playing Thakur) and sidekicks Shivaji Ingle of Thane (Kaalia) and Khalil Sheikh of Mumbai (Sambha).


    While Sandhya Gaekwad of Ratnagiri will play the character that was played by Jaya Bhaduri, Basanti‘s character will be essayed by Aashiya Rangrez from Mumbai.

  • Anjaana Anjaani collects Rs 250 mn in opening weekend

    MUMBAI: Anjaana Anjaani, a love story, has failed to excite young cine lovers despite Ranbir Kapoor. With a patchy screenplay of an adoption of a French film, A Girl On The Bridge, it lacks on all necessary ingredients of a love story.


    The first weekend collections for the film stands at Rs 250 million, but it has taken a drastic plunge as the new week starts. The next four days will be tough going for the film.


    The film had not generated great pre-release heat and that is the way things have stayed post release.


    Bombay Circuit distributor-exhibitor Guru Shenoy noticed a huge drop on Monday morning show and expected the collections to slide further in the shows to follow.


    Brajesh Tandon, prominent Delhi-UP distributor and theatre controller, says, “Delhi multiplexes were reasonably okay over the weekend, but UP collections were poor.”


    The other two releases, Khichdi and Benny And Babloo, have been poor and poorer, respectively.
     

  • Major fire in Portsmouth Studio, Wellington

    MUMBAI: Portsmouth Miniatures Studio, a studio that also houses an effects business was damaged by a major fire in Wellington on Friday.


    The studio that was used by Weta Workshop to film the miniatures scenes in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy and King Kong caught fire but no one was hurt in the fire and there were no films currently in production at the studios. 


    Portsmouth is affiliated with NZ digital effects group, Weta but is not directly owned by Weta. However other reports say that it is owned by Rings and The Hobbit producer and director Peter Jackson.


    It is said that the studio was to have been used for filming The Hobbit. The NZ press said the land and building are worth NZ$3.2 million ($2.2 million).
     

  • Social Network ropes in $23 mn, tops box-office

    MUMBAI: David Fincher‘s The Social Network earned $23 million in its opening weekend and rightly took the number one spot. It edged out last week’s number one film, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, to second place. 


    With the excellent word-of-mouth and Oscar buzz, Sony expects to eventually earn $100 million in the domestic circuit in US and Canada.


    The eagerly awaited film, featuring Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake, tells the story of the ascent of Facebook and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg.


    The film’s budget is said to be in range of $45 million to $52 million.


    Meanwhile, the other two new releases, Let Me In and Case 39, fared dismally collecting $5.3 million and $5.35 million respectively.
     

  • Onir’s ‘I Am’ bags award at Engendered Film Fest

    MUMBAI: Onir’s film, I Am, has bagged an award for ‘outstanding contribution on issues related to gender and human rights‘ at its world premiere at Engendered Film Festival at New York.


    The co-production of Onir and Sanjay Suri has instilled further confidence in them. Says Onir, “Awards are always good.They make you sit back for a while and reflect on the hard work that went into turning a core concept into reality.


    Shot in four different cities across India, I Am is a fusion of stories where the protagonists share a common dream – a desire to regain their lives. While I Am Afia is the story of a single woman who wants to experience motherhood, I Am Omar is a horrific tale of sexual discrimination, blackmail and prejudice.


    I Am Abhimanyu is the story of a child sexual abuse survivor. And I Am Megha is a story of two friends – a Kashmiri Pandit woman and a Muslim woman – separated by conflict.


    “Making a film like this is a tough job and all are aware of how we raised funds online for making I Am. Now when I walk along with my team on the red carpet, it brings back the memories of the couple of years that have gone by since the time the basic idea of I Am was born,” says Onir.


    Consisting of short stories, I Am stars Manisha Koirala, Juhi Chawla, Sanjay Suri, Radhika Apte, Shernaz Patel, Anurag Kashyap, Rahul Bose, Arjun Mathur and Abhimanyu Shekhar Singh.


    Onir isn’t in a hurry for a commercial release of the film. “What‘s the point in rushing for a release during the last three months of this year when there are multiple releases a week. I would rather have a good and gradual build up created for the film rather than going ahead with a concentrated promotion in a short period of time. It is best to wait and let my film speak for itself and make the audience curious about what it has to offer,” he says.
     

  • After big brother Nilesh, Nitesh Rane turns producer

    MUMBAI: Months after Maharashtra revenue minister Narayan Rane‘s eldest son Nilesh turned producer and launched a 3D film titled Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, his younger brother Nilesh has also followed suit.


    Nitesh is making a 3D animation film called Bal Shivba that will apparently be an attempt to portray the young Shivaji as a modern-day superhero, who solves problems faced by youngsters in contemporary Mumbai.


    Says Nitesh, “The character we have created is inspired by Shivaji Maharaj and will be a youth hero.”


    The producer intends to release the film sometime in early 2012.


    Tata Elxsi, which worked on Yash Raj Film‘s Roadside Romeo, is handling the animation for Nitesh‘s film, Bal Shivba.