Category: Movies

MUMBAI: The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), affiliated to the University of London, honoured reputed filmmaker Yash Chopra with a honorary higher doctoral degree, a DLit, a Doctor of Letters honoris causa, in recognition for his outstanding contribution to the field of cinema in his six decades of work in the Hindi film industry.

The function opened with an impressive procession of Heads of Departments, Senior Management and the Presidents of the Students‘ Union, entering the Hall to a musical accompaniment. The Director and Principal of SOAS, Professor Paul Webley and The President of SOAS, Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, welcomed the graduates and their guests.
While public orator Professor Rachel Dwyer read a citation in tribute to Chopra, the President, Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, presented the degree.

Praising Chopra, Professor Dwyer pointed out that the filmmaker continues to innovate with every film he makes and remains young at heart, always interested in how people think, feel and behave. She further said that the graduates should be inspired by Chopra‘s success; learn his dedication, hard work, focus and his ways of rising above failure.

In his response, Chopra said, “I am humbled by this honour and would like to thank SOAS for this recognition. My film making has always been from the heart and I would like to pass on this same message to students all over the world”.

Chopra had previously been conferred with an Honorary Doctorate by the Leeds Metropolitan University, UK, in 2007, the Punjab University, Chandigarh, in 2008 and The Guru Nanak University, Amritsar, in 2004, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Indian cinema.
 

MUMBAI: Since the forming of the joint front of Bollywood and Hollywood studios against piracy in India six months ago, the Alliance Against Copyright Theft (AACT) along with the Mumbai Police conducted as many as 50 raids, arrested around 90 people involved in the vicious act and seized 1, 42,000 pirated discs valued at Rs 14.2 million.

The participation from the public proved to be an encouraging sign for the AACT. Most of the raids conducted lately by AACT were initiated based on information provided by common people on the AACT toll free number that was set up to receive complaints about piracy.

Initiated by the AACT, these raids are the film industry‘s efforts to curb film piracy that has been severely impacting the earnings of the film industry as a whole.

Several raids are being planned in sync with the theatrical release of films to restrain pirated copies of the new release from flooding the market.

MUMBAI: Akshay Kumar has decided to venture into foreign language filmmaking by turning co-producer of an Indo-Canadian film titled Break Away.

The film will have Canadian-born Emily Van Camp, whose mini series Benhur is on air in Canada, as the female lead and will be directed by Robert Lieberman who recently completed The Tortured.

Akshay will not be acting in the film. Other details of the film are being worked out. 

Kumar was mulling with the idea of stepping into Hollywood as a producer with his banner Hari Om Productions for a while now. The banner intends to continue scouting for more suitable collaborations in the West.

Kumar recently played host to a dinner meet between Dr Manmohan Singh and Canadian premier Stephen Harper.
 

MUMBAI: The first week‘s collections of the new releases clearly shows a Hollywood flick, Inception, overtaking Bollywood.

While  Warner Bros‘ Inception, released in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu simultaneously, collected Rs 96 million from 271 screens, Tere Bin Laden and Udaan have been doing good business compared to the big-budget film Lamhaa.

Tere Bin Laden netted a decent Rs 56.1 million from 344 screens. Udaan, on the other hand, did a net business of Rs 25 million from 150 screens. Comparatively, Lamhaa netted Rs 85 million from as many as 922 screens.

While Tere Bin Laden has been liked for its simplicity and somber presentation, Udaan has been lapped up by the high-thinking gentry. Lamhaa, on the other hand, failed to garner eyeballs because the film had nothing new to offer on Kashmir. 

Meanwhile, the opening response of Priyadarshan‘s Khatta Meetha has been extremely mixed across the country. The film that opened to a below average did a net business of approximately Rs 65 million across India on the first day itself.
 

MUMBAI: Reliance Big Pictures will release three Hollywood films this August. This includes Dinner for Schmucks on 6 August and Aashayein along with Chak Jawana (Punjabi) on 27 August.

Directed by Jay Roach, Dinner For Schmucks tells the story of Tim (Paul Rudd), a guy who is on the verge of having it all. The only thing standing between him and his total career success is finding the perfect guest to bring to his boss‘ annual Dinner for Extraordinary People – an event where the winner of the evening brings the most eccentric character as his guest. 

Directed by Nagesh Kukunoor, Aashayein is the story of Rahul Singh, a compulsive gambler who has never picked the right horse. Then one day when he risks everything he has, the winning horse comes in making him incredibly wealthy. The same evening while celebrating his new life, he proposes to his girlfriend Nafisa, and suddenly collapses. A diagnosis reveals that he has an incurable cancer that has already reached its final stage. He is told that he has 90 days to live.

Faced with the realization that death is inevitable and filled with anger at the rotten hand fate has dealt him, he runs away from his home and fiancee to a hospice – a beautiful resort like facility where terminally ill patients go to die with dignity.

Chak Jawana, directed by Simerjit Singh, highlights the problems faced by youth in a Punjabi village. The young men fall prey to drugs, become irresponsible and disturb the peace.The elders despair about the future of the community. Captain Gurjeet Singh (Gurdas Maan) arrives on a month‘s home leave from the Indian Navy. He pledges to reform the youth and helps them overcome their weakness.
 

MUMBAI: Academy-award-winning director Ang Lee is all set to shoot his next ambitious film, Life of Pi in Kerala.

The film, an adaptation of the book by Canadian author Yann Martel and set in Puducherry, narrates the ordeals of a young Indian boy, the lone survivor of a shipwreck, sharing a lifeboat with a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and a tiger.

The Taiwanese-American director had recently made a stop-over at Mumbai for the Indian round of casting. He later scouted for locations in Puducherry where part of the film will be shot. The filming will commence soon and Lee is currently dividing his time between New York and Southern India.

Lee, whose credits include films like Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Hulk, took over this project from Jean-Pierre Jeunet in 2009.

MUMBAI: It’s been 30 years since Uttam Kumar passed away on 24 July 1980. And it is today that the first-ever documentary made on Bengal’s first superstar will be unveiled.

The 57 minute-long documentary titled Mahanayak — A Superstar’s Journey, directed by Swapan Das, traces the Mahanayak’s life from birth till death took him away at the age of 54.

Besides Soumitra Chatterjee, Arobindo Mukherjee, Manna Dey, Shobha Sen, Rituparno Ghosh, Ranjit Mallick, Sabitri Chatterjee and Supriya Devi analysing the legend’s acting style, the documentary has Gourab Chatterjee enacting his grandfather in certain portions of the documentary.

The documentary, according to Das, reveals lesser-known details like Kumar’s attachment to his sister, Putul, his involvement in the Freedom Struggle and how he wrote and even composed the music for Anodhokarer bokho hano tikhno surer taan.