ITV

Category: Movies

  • Animation film on Mahabharata being made in California

    MUMBAI: Seems like the art of animation is set to unite people across seven seas by letting know each other of the other’s religion and culture. Otherwise why would The Mahabharata be made in a studio in California.


    The great Indian epic is all set to be made into a Hollywood animation film titled 18 Days: The Mahabharata.


    Says 50-year old maker and a Scottish comic books writer Grant Morrison, “This new version of the Mahabharata is like a psychedelic ‘The Lord of the Rings’ with made with ‘Star Wars’ technology. This film is not a strictly accurate historical portrayal of events but a poetic, fantastic interpretation of the original text. Krishna stops time to deliver the terrible wisdom of the Gita… with super real battle scenes, ‘Saving Private Ryan’ style. I think this type of ‘holographic‘ structure allows us to plug new stories into the ongoing 18 Days War. I‘m setting the date for this version somewhere around 10, 000 BC. Elephants in this proposed film wear gas masks.”


    18 Days would be available in full Hi-Definition and in a variety of formats: 2 x 90 minute TV movies, 6 x 30 episodes, extended 200 minute DVD release and as 18 x 10 minute web episodes. It will be supported by on-line and console gaming products, mobile content and other L&M licenses.


    A joint venture of Perspective Studios and Liquid Comics, Perspective Studios, with Steven Lehrhoff as CEO claims to be a leading performance capture and character animation studio based in Santa Monica (California, USA).


    Liquid Comics, with Sharad Devarajan as the CEO, claims to be an entertainment company focused on creating original stories and modern myths for worldwide audiences.

  • Aashayein: A poor example of filmmaking







    Banner: Percept Picture Company
    Director: Nagesh Kukunoor
    Cast: John Abraham, Sonal Sehgal, Anaitha Nair, Girish Karnad, Farida Jalal, Master Ashwin Chitale


    MUMBAI: Aashayein is a poor example of filmmaking from start to end. There is a huge set right out of a C grade film where people bet on cricket in lakhs and crores. Most extras don‘t look like they can afford a cup of tea, let alone bet in lakhs. Is this how betting on cricket is conducted? Quite a revelation!


    John Abraham bets his girlfriend Sonal Sehgal‘s savings to come back with a win of millions to discover that he has lung cancer and about three months to live. Like all film heroes he is brave about his cancer, even laughs at it!


    And, while sprinting on a street in the dead of the night, in true filmy style, an old newspaper comes and hits him in the face. This leads him to Xanadu a hospice where terminal patients spend their last days. John Abraham buys his way in to the hospice which claims funds to be scarce but has five star amenities like two cooks serving delicacies from six nations!! After this, the film tries to be many films, Hrishikesh Mukherjee‘s Anand included, but ends up being a fantasy with poor imagination. To put it mildly, viewing it becomes intolerable!


    With a poor script and poorer direction, the few good moments in the film are provided by Anaitha Nair, a 17-year inmate at the hospice whose dialogue is pungently witty and her last wish is to bed John Abraham who complements her well. Rest of the performances are good, too. Rest of the aspects are mediocre.


    As mentioned on the onset, a poor specimen of film making.

  • Seven Bollywood releases this week

    MUMBAI: There is going to be a flood of film releases today. Seven Hindi movies are going to hit the screens, mainly in the small budget genre.


    Films being released today are Aashayein, Hello Darling, Antardwand, Madholal Keep Walking, Gumshuda, Geng and Soch Lo in Hindi and Aarohan in Bengali. Barring Aashayein, that has John Abraham in the lead, most of the other films are small budgeted with relatively lesser known star cast.


    Being the holy month of Ramzan, most big banners refrain from releasing their films during this time. Two films, Antardwand and Aashayein, have done their promotional bit. But other small films may not find enough takers since these films haven’t had good marketing or publicity. A big box-office draw for them could be tough this week.


    Regarding Aashayein, there is a catch: the promos of the film were out many years back, but then the release date was postponed. But then the movie is backed by Percept and Reliance Big Pictures is distributing it. Like Peepli Live, here‘s another film that comes straight from the bowels of the `Other‘ India: one that lives beyond the neon-lit metros.


    Antardwand, on the other hand, has won a national award and has big filmmakers coming out and promoting the film. There could be a curiosity among filmgoers to find out more about ‘groom abduction’.

  • Last Night to premiere at Rome Fest

    MUMBAI: Massy Tadjedin‘s romantic drama Last Night will premiere at the fifth edition of the International Rome Film Festival being the opening film of the festival. The film will screen in competition.


    Nicole Kidman‘s debut directorial venture Rabbit Hole a drama from John Cameron Mitchell will screen in the competition section. 


    Both the announcements are the first official ones of the competition lineup for the 28 October to 5 November event.


    Last Night a romantic tale of sexual attraction, betrayal and jealousy, stars Keira Knightley, Sam Worthington and Eva Mendes in stellar roles.

  • John Woo to receive Venice’s Golden Lion award

    MUMBAI: The Venice Film Festival will honour Hong Kong director John Woo with the prestigious Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement this year.


    Woo will be presented the prize on 3 September in the festival. It will also hold the world premiere of Woo‘s latest thrilled Jianyu (Reign of Assassins).


    A day earlier, on 2 September, the festival will screen a newly restored version of Woo‘s 1989 masterpiece Dip huet seung hung (The Killer) and the Korean-made remake of Woo‘s 1986 classic Ying hung boon sik (A Better Tomorrow).


    “When watching one of his films, you have to forget about judging the quality of the written page — the stylized sets and the shots have contradicted it and burned it forever,” Venice artistic director Marco Mueller said in a statement.


    “Woo is not interested in the translation of a sequence into images or the mere description of an action: he is interested in the rhythm and the cadences, searching for the exact syllable on which the accent falls in order to render the lyricism,” Mueller added.


    This year‘s 67th edition of the Venice Film Festival takes place from 1 to 11 September.
     

  • Me-India to hold 5-day programme for film folks

    MUMBAI: Dutch Media Entertainment India (Me-India), in collaboration with the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and the creative sector, is going to hold five-day programme for delegates from the films, television, animation and gaming industry from 10 to 15 October.


    This programme is a serious attempt to create a more active and conducive utilisation of resources between both the countries in the field of entertainment.


    The programme has three important pillars:


    Knowledge: Delegates will be informed about the financial and practical aspects on doing business in the Netherlands as well as the Dutch media-and entertainment industry (TV, film, internet, gaming and animation).


    Creativity: The most important creative locations and areas will be visited. Creative sessions with counterparts operating in the Dutch media-and entertainment industry and visits to relevant players within this sector will be a part of this programme. 


    City Hopping: Four creative cities in The Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Maastricht) will be hosting and guiding the delegates during their visit. Shooting locales and media companies in these cities will be visited.


    Salient features of Netherlands for Indian Entertainment Industry are: Netherlands is the only European country with mainstream Hindi Cinema, it has 300 (TV) production companies, it has European pioneers in the field of animation and gaming, it is the home of reality TV, it has the largest TV studios in Europe and it is one of the most dynamic creative industries worldwide.


    There are two major funds- one private and one Government that can be made available for all appropriate projects.


    Dutch Media Entertainment India (Me-India) is developed by a Dutch business cluster of 15 companies along with the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. It focuses primarily on stimulating and seamless expansion of the creative industry in the Netherlands and India alike. Me-India initiates activities for all operating in the creative Media & Entertainment sector. It tries to encompass all the players (public and private) through their activities in their programs and encourage beneficial partnerships

  • Madhu Mantena to release four films in 40 days

    MUMBAI: Madhu Mantena is likely to make it to the Limca Book of Records because he is releasing four of his own films in four different languages releasing within a span of 40 days in different markets. 


    The films, Jhootha hi Sahi (Hindi and directed by Abbas Tyrewala), Rakta Charitra (Telugu film directed by Ram Gopal Varma, Autograph (Bengali, directed by Srijit Mukerjee) and Rakta Charitra II (Tamil, directed by Ram Gopal Varma) will be released on 15 October, 17 September, 24 September and 27 September respectively.


    Avers Mantena, “I was not even aware of this, but I got a call saying that it is a record of sorts. And when you are releasing four big films in different markets within such a sort span rest assured that you will not notice something like this.”


    Mantena‘s last film, the Aamir Khan-starrer Ghajini, turned out to be a stupendous hit.

  • Hannah McGill to step down from EIFF

    MUMBAI: Hannah McGill, the artistic director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), will step down after four years in charge to take up a writing career.


    McGill oversaw the festival‘s move from August to June and pushed hard to rebrand the festival as a focus for new and independent British film-making talent. 


    She now plans to return to critical work in the Glasgow Herald, Scotsman, Guardian and other newspapers from where she took up the film festival post in September 2006.


    During her tenure, the EIFF screened award-winning films such as Control, Moon, Man on Wire and The Hurt Locker as well as Hollywood hits such as Wall-E and Toy Story 3.


    McGill‘s departure comes at a difficult time for the festival, which has just been told it will lose ?1.9m in funding over the next three years following the government‘s decision to scrap the UK Film Council.

  • Academy to present Copolla with Thalberg award

    MUMBAI: The Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award to producer-director Francis Ford Coppola at the Academy‘s 2nd Annual Governors Awards dinner on 13 November at the Grand Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center.


    Honorary Awards would be given to historian and preservationist Kevin Brownlow, director Jean-Luc Godard and actor Eli Wallach. “Each of these honorees has touched movie audiences worldwide and influenced the motion picture industry through their work,” said Academy President Tom Sherak.
    Coppola began his film career in the early 1960s making low-budget films with 2009 Honorary Award recipient Roger Corman. By the end of the 1970s he had won two Oscars for writing and directing The Godfather Part II and the other three for writing for Patton, The Godfather, The Godfather Part II. Among Copolla‘s numerous producing credits are American Graffiti,Gardens of Stone, Bram Stoker‘s Dracula,Mary Shelley‘s Frankenstein, Jack and Tetro.


    In 1969, he established American Zoetrope, an independent film studio that helped launch the careers of George Lucas and Carroll Ballard, and has since produced more than 30 films, including The Black Stallion,The Outsiders Lost in Translation and The Good Shepherd.


    Brownlow is widely regarded as the preeminent historian of the silent film era as well as a preservationist. Among his many silent film restoration projects are Abel Gance‘s 1927 epic Napoleon, Rex Ingram‘s The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and The Thief of Bagdad starring Douglas Fairbanks. Brownlow has authored, among others, The Parade‘s Gone By; The War, the West, and the Wilderness; Hollywood: The Pioneers; Behind the Mask of Innocence; David Lean; and Mary Pickford Rediscovered.


    A key figure in the French New Wave movement, Godard started out writing about cinema before beginning to make his own short films. His influential first feature, Breathless, impressed audiences and filmmakers alike with its jazzy take on the American crime film. For fifty years, Godard has continued to write and direct challenging, and sometimes controversial, films that have established his reputation as one of the seminal modernists in the history of cinema. His more than 70 features include Contempt, Alphaville, Weekend and King Lear.


    Born in Brooklyn in 1915, Wallach made his debut film appearance in Elia Kazan‘s 1956 feature Baby Doll starring alongside Karl Malden and Carroll Baker. Since then he has starred in more than 50 features including The Magnificent Seven, The Misfits, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,The Godfather, Part III and The Holiday.


    The Honorary Award, an Oscar statuette, is given to an individual for “extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy.”

  • State govt makes Marathi film screening mandatory in prime time

    MUMBAI: Under protest threats from both the MNS and the Shiv Sena, the Maharashtra government has decided to make it mandatory for multiplexes in Mumbai to allot prime slots to Marathi films.


    According to the new guidelines, multiplexes stand to lose their licence if they treat Marathi cinema as secondary to any other cinema. It will hereafter be mandatory for all the 27 multiplexes in the city to allot prime time slots to Marathi films.


    Currently, it is mandatory for multiplexes to show 112 shows in a year. According to reports, three out of the out of 27 multiplexes have violated the norm. The three multiplexes are I-Max (Wadala), Fame (Kandivali) and Inox (Nariman Point).


    Due to bad or poor content, multiplexes managed to draw only 15 per cent of the audience in the last three months that made screening Marathi films an expensive business.


    Says Cinemax CEO Sunil Punjabi, “I would put it this way that one should promote regional movies, not only Marathi films. I am also of the view that if a film’s content is good and attractive it can always be put in prime time slots. We at Cinemax always promote Marathi films to the hilt in cities and specially in the interiors. This government initiative will now pressurize film producers to make good and meaningful Marathi films that would draw in audience into theatres and mulyiplexes.”


    As far as lowing ticket rates for Marathi films go, the government has decided to address the complex problems by constituting a committee that will study the matter in detail and come out with its recommendations.


    Multiplexes in Mumbai have said that they are agreeable to lowing the rates if they get a government circular.


    Recently, over 40 multiplexes came forward to screen Marathi thriller Sa Sasucha.