Category: Movies

MUMBAI: Aamir Khan‘s Peepli Live will open the inaugural edition of the Indian Film Festival of London that will be held from 25 to 29 August at London‘s Riverside Studios.

Shemaroo Entertainment‘s Ishqiya will close the festival.

The other films that will be screened at the festival are Sanjay Sharma‘s Dunno Y…Naa Jaane Kyun, Claire McCarthy‘s The Waiting City and Pravesh Bhardwaj‘s Mr. Singh Mrs. Mehta.

In the documentary section, Duane Baugham‘s Bhutto, Deepa Mehta‘s Nero‘s Guests and Shaheen Dill-Riaz‘s Koran Children would be presented. 

The Festival will also host a retrospective of filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra. Films in the retrospective will include Parinda, 1942: A Love Story, Eklavya: The Royal Guard and 3 Idiots. The proceeds of these films will be donated to UNICEF.

The maiden edition of the festival will present awards in the feature and documentary category.

The festival that aims to present popular and offbeat Bollywood and regional Indian cinema will also screen films from Pakistan and Bangladesh.
 

MUMBAI: Well-known author and women activist Manasi Pradhan has been appointed as advisory panel member of the Censor Board for a period of two years by the Union Information & Broadcasting Ministry in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of Section 5 of the Cinematograph Act, 1952 that governs exhibition of all films in India. 

As per Rule 22 of the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 1983, advisory panel members examine a film for its certification by the Censor Board. They are also nominated to the revising committee for re-examining a film rejected by the examining committee.

Pradhan, an international board member of World Women Organisation (WWO), is widely known for championing the issues of women in global forums. Her fourth book ‘Urmi-O-Uchchwas’ is being translated into eight major languages of the world.

The Censor Board, headquartered in Mumbai, is presently headed by noted actress Sharmila Tagore as its chairperson and has among its members people like Prasar Bharati Chairperson Mrinal Pande, noted journalist Dilip Cherian, noted actress Durga Jasraj, renowned director L Suresh and renowned dancer Geeta Chandran.

MUMBAI: After creating an impression on the masses in his debut Bollywood film Tere Bin Laden, Pakistani actor Ali Zafar has a new fan in Aditya Chopra who has signed him for an upcoming YRF film that would have Imran Khan and Katrina Kaif.

The film, to be helmed by debutant director Ali Abbas Zafar, originally had Riteish Deshmukh in the role that has now gone to Zafar. Deshmukh, incidentally, had walked out of the film.

Apparently, Ritesh Deshmukh was initially approached for the same role but he declined the offer.

Apart from Ali in one of the lead roles, the untitled YRF film stars Imran Khan and Katrina Kaif as well. Clearly, Ritesh‘s loss is Ali‘s gain.

MUMBAI: Mukta Arts head honcho Subhash Ghai has teamed up with prolific filmmaker Priyadarshan to direct a new project for his banner. The two are currently finalising the star cast of the film.

Commented Ghai, “Priyadarshan is one of the most versatile directors today with two National Awards‘ for Saaza-E-Kaala Paani and Kanjivaram. He has also made a range of commercial hits from Virasat to Hera Pheri and many more. To me, he is a man of commitment and looking at his command on commercial cinema I am very glad to produce a film under his direction.”

The film in question will be officially launched on 24 October when Mukta Arts celebrates its 32nd anniversary.
 

MUMBAI: The release of Dharma Productions‘ Kajol, Kareena Kapoor and Arjun Rampal-starrer We Are Family has been rescheduled once again.

The film that was scheduled to release on 3 September will now arrive a day ahead, the day when the country would be celebrating Janmashthami.

The rescheduling has been done because Janamashtami is a holiday across most parts of India. This would help the film in terms of extended weekend footfalls.

Earlier the film was to release on 10 September, the day the Salman Khan-starrer Dabaang was to launch. But to avert a clash, We Are Family launch was preponed to 3 September.

Titling the film, a remake of the Susan Sarandon-Julia Roberts starrer Stepmom, took producer Karan Johar a year to fix. “It was one of the toughest titles to pin down,” Johar avers. “We moved on between hundreds of titles, including Thank You Ma. The Hindi ones sounded too archaic and the English ones were alienating.”

But once the title was decided, Rahul Nanda hopped on board and wove a campaign around it through a sequence of scenes that would justify the three simple English words. You wonder if it isn‘t too anglicized and targets the multiplex audience and Johar came to a conclusion that family is a commonly used word across the country.

MUMBAI: Bollywood film personalities will attend I-View Film 2010, one of the biggest film festivals that explores the issues of ‘gender, sexuality, culture and religion‘.

The festival that goes underway at Asia Society, Tribeca Cinemas, Big Cinemas Manhattan on 18 September, will close on 26 September.

Those film personalities who have confirmed their attendance include Vishal Bharadwaj, Rohan Sippy, Abhishek Choubey, Dibakar Banerjee, Rahul Bose, Juhi Chawla, Aparna Sen, Rituparni Sengupta Arshad Warsi, Zeenat Aman, Helen among others. Attendees will talk on issues concerning alternative sexuality. 

Says an official of the festival who did not want his name to be revealed, “We have scheduled live interactions between the actors, filmmakers and their audience and fans. All of them have agreed to talk upon the complex issues of gender and alternative sexuality and the complex issues that the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people) community faces in the country.”

While I am would be the opening day attraction, Mirch would close the festival. The festival will be the venue of the US premiere of DUNNO Y.. NA JAANE KYUN, New York premiere of Aparna Sen‘s The Japanese Wife, world premiere of Sanjoy Nag‘s Memories in March (Asamapt) and the North American premiere of Just Another Love Story.
 

NEW DELHI: India and Australia have decided to launch negotiations on a film co-production agreement so that filmmakers of both countries can work together.

Information and Broadcasting Ministry sources said the agreement will cover a wide range of audio-visual formats.

The sources said the agreement could lead to increase in use of Indian locales for shooting by Australian filmmakers, leading to greater generation of employment and income generation.

The benefits also include the sharing of risks and there is a wider natural audience base. Producers from both countries will get an opportunity to pool their creative, artistic, technical, financial and marketing resources to co-produce films.

There is also possibility of outsourcing of animation and post-production work to Indian companies, the sources added
 

MUMBAI: The Walt Disney Company India is set to release its first Hindi live action film Do Dooni Chaar, starring the husband-wife team of Rishi and Neetu Kapoor, on 8 October.

Financed by Disney and produced by Planman Motion Pictures, the film is an inspiring story of a middle-class family.

Rishi and Neetu Kapoor will be seen in a full fledged role together after almost 30 years. Directed by Habib Faisal, the film also stars Aditi Vasudev and Archit Krishna. 

“Storytelling is at the heart of Disney‘s creative heritage and Do Dooni Chaar is the best representation of this with its delightful and touching narrative that will resonate with every Indian family and features characters to fall in love with,” said Walt Disney Studios International Production (India) executive director – theatrical productions and acquisitions Swati Shetty.

“Do Dooni Chaar has been an incredible experience for us and we are thrilled to be working with Disney to enable more Indian movie lovers the opportunity to see this film that we are extremely proud of. The story of the Duggal family is one that will resonate strongly with Indian audiences and is one of universal heartache and triumph that represents the very best of the coming together of family,” averred Planman Motion Pictures CEO and creative director Shubho Shekhar Bhattacharjee.

Disney will also be distributing its co-produced Telugu film. “Do Dooni Chaar and the recently announced Telugu fantasy adventure film Anaganaga – O – Dheerudu (Once Upon A Warrior), made for our southern audiences, highlights great film making, timeless stories and the versatility of our Studios business to produce across different languages and genres,” added Shetty.

Anaganaga – O – Dheerudu, starring Siddharth, Shruti Haasan, Lakshmi Manchu and Harshitha, will release in January 2011 and is directed by Prakash Rao Kovelamudi. The film will also be dubbed in Tamil.

Walt Disney India is also producing a live action Hindi feature film called Zokkomon. The movie is directed by Satyajit Bhatkal and stars Darsheel Safary and Anupam Kher.