ITV

Category: Movies

  • Sequels & the need to cash in on previous successes

    The film industry is going through its worst period in a long time. Nothing seems to be working as film after films flop losing almost total investments. This, when private investors are staging a comeback to invest in film distribution business as the big houses have curtailed their activities.

    While the producers of recent films have been suffering, the main sufferers are the single screens as well as the multiplex chains who, besides servicing their investments, also need to tend to their fixed costs like, staff, power, maintenance and other such costs.

    This is a Catch 22 situation. While the independent producers, who are keeping the supply going, they have to do it in limited budgets. The multiplex chains won’t give them decent playtime or reduced admission rates and the paying audience won’t be lured otherwise.

    The stalemate continues.

    The recent trend seems to be of making wome- oriented films. That is fine. They do work at times as was the case with, Kahaani, Dirty Picture, Neerja, Chalk & Duster, Ki And Ka, Fitoor, Sarabjit, Begum Jaan, Maatr, Noor and so on. But, just a few worked.

    If Kahaani worked, why did Kahaani 2 did not? It did not because it came across as a product of greed. A need to cash in on the success of its predecessors. The makers did not even care that their ‘Dare It All’ protagonist of Kahaani was turned in to a helpless, hapless woman in Kahaani 2.

    Both new releases of the week, Noor and Maatr, were women centric films. Both faced disastrous outcome at the box office.

    Noor was much hyped as the Pakistani journalist writer Saba Imtiaz’s account of her life as a journalist in Karachi, among the most violent cities in the world. It was published as a book, Karachi, You Are Killing Me! The account had no story, looked like a dramatised and fictionalised writing. Nothing in the book seemed fit to incorporate it in the life of a Mumbai journalist.

    Maatr was a vehicle for one time sought-after star, Raveena Tandon, as a senior actor to return in her veteran avatar as a mother. She played a mother on revenge mission for her raped and killed young daughter. The film failed to get an opening of any kind.

    *Raveena’s comeback, Maatr, sadly, could not find enough footfalls to run a show. Turned into a ‘No audience No show’ affair as the collections remained in lakhs. The film’s promotion was poor too. The three day collections remained short of one crore at about Rs 70 lakh.

    *Sonakshi Sinha, essaying the role of a struggling journalist, lacked head or tail. Is a loser on all counts as the film barely manages to put together Rs 4.1 crore crore for the first weekend.

    *Begum Jaan, an outdated story told poorly, fails badly to incite the audience. After a poor opening weekend of Rs 10.6 crore, the film ends it first week with a total of Rs 15.1 crore.

    *Badrinath KI Dulhania has taken its six week total to Rs 114.7 crore.

    *Laali KI Shaadi Mein Laaddoo Deewana, Blue Mountain, Mirza Juuliet and Mukti Bhawan are also ran.

  • Newton wins HK jury prize for intelligent presentation of political situation

    Newton wins HK jury prize for intelligent presentation of political situation

    MUMBAI: After impressing the audience and critics alike at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival 2017 where Newton made its world premiere and also won the CICAE Art Cinema Award, Drishyam Film’s upcoming film is now making waves at its Asia premiere in Hong Kong.

    The film produced by Manish Mundra and directed by Amit V Masurkar has won the Jury Prize for the Best Film at the 41st Hong Kong Film Festival 2017, where it was screened in the Young Cinema Competition category.

    The jury awarded the film “For the intelligent and human presentation of a political situation in a country. The film balances the humour, disillusion and – against all odds – a steadfast belief in the meaning of democracy.”

    Thrilled with the audience and jury response to his film, director Amit V Masurkar says, “We are delighted. It’s one of the most prestigious film festivals.” Newton is Amit V Masurkar’s second film after the sleeper hit, Sulemani Keeda in 2014.

    Starring Rajkummar Rao in the titular role, Newton features a stellar cast which includes Anjali Patil, Pankaj Tripathi and Raghubir Yadav. Rajkummar immediately took to Twitter to exult after the award was announced, stating “After #Berlinale win, another feather in #Newton’s cap.” Manish Mundra, the founder of Drishyam Films and the producer of Newton, is elated with the film’s international success as well. “With each milestone, we come closer to the film’s India release this summer — can’t wait to present Newton to our Indian audiences!” .

    The film will be making its North American premiere at the 15th Tribeca Film Festival 2017 in the international narrative competition section next week. It will have four screenings at the festival, which will be held from 19-30 April in New York. Newton was also part of the Co-Production Market (CPM) at Film Bazaar 2015 and one of the Film Bazaar Recommends titles at Film Bazaar 2016.

    Newton is a razor sharp political black comedy that takes place on an election day in Central India. Rajkummar Rao, whose star is on the rise following strong, highly appreciated performances in films like Aligarh and Queen, plays Newton, a rookie clerk on election duty in a conflict-ridden jungle of Chhattisgarh, who tries his best to conduct free and fair voting despite the apathy of security forces and the looming fear of an attack by Maoist rebels.

  • Cannes: Thurman to preside over Un Certain Regard Jury, Indian ‘Afternoon Clouds’ in shortlist

    Cannes: Thurman to preside over Un Certain Regard Jury, Indian ‘Afternoon Clouds’ in shortlist

    NEW DELHI: American actress Uma Thurman will preside over the Un Certain Regard jury of the 69th Cannes Film Festival next month.

    The Un Certain Regard is the second competition of the Official Selection showcases works which offer a unique perspective and aesthetic. The prize list will be revealed on 27 May. She was a member of the Jury headed by Robert De Niro in 2011.

    In a career spanning more than 20 years, the American actress has made some daring choices and enjoyed taking risks. She made her debut at the age of 17 in Stephen Frears’ Dangerous Liaisons and in Terry Gilliam’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. She became Quentin Tarantino’s muse, playing in Pulp Fiction (Palme d’or winner 1994) and in Kill Bill (volumes 1 & 2), both presented at the Festival de Cannes.

    Since then, Uma Thurman has worked with many directors, including Andrew Niccol (Gattaca); Woody Allen (Sweet and Lowdown); Roland Joffé (Vatel) and Ethan Hawke (Chelsea Walls). She recently joined the cast of Lars von Trier’s new project, The House that Jack Built, alongside Matt Dillon and Bruno Ganz.

    Her filmography encompasses everything from action films to science fiction; intimate dramas to light comedies. This wide variety is a testament to her free and independent spirit, nurtured by her childhood in a hippy family. Whether playing crazy, sexy or dominant, the woman whose namesake is the Hindu goddess of beauty and light has definitely entered the pantheon of movie greats, with several of her scenes attaining cult status.

    Meanwhile, even as no Indian film finds a place in the official selection, only one Indian short film – from the Film and Television Institute of India – has made it to the 16 films shortlisted by the the Cinéfondation Selection of the Cannes International film festival to mark the 20th year of this section. The film is ‘Afternoon Clouds’ by Payal Kapadia and has a duration of 13 minutes.

    The 16 films include 14 works of fiction and 2 animations from among the 2,600 works submitted this year by film schools from all over the world. Fourteen countries from three continents are represented. Four of the films selected come from schools taking part for the first time.

    The three Cinéfondation prizes will be awarded at a ceremony preceding the screening of the prize-winning films on 26 May in the Buñuel Theatre.

  • Noor…Insipid…

    Noor is based on a book by the Pakistani journalist- writer Saba Imtiaz, ‘Karachi, You Are Killing Me!’ The book in itself does not really tell a story, it is more like a diary of a journalist of day-to-day experiences and adventures along with a bit of her personal life. 

    Karachi is a volatile and a violent place to be in, especially for a woman whose job is to venture into unlikely places in the cause of her job.

    In Karachi (as per her book) one can be mugged at a traffic signal in broad daylight even within the safety of one’s car. Moreover, the only way to get a can of beer is through a bootlegger. How such an account fit into an Indian metropolis like Mumbai is a question?  Also, our readers are not into the habit of reading by-lines in news reports or articles and recognize only a few TV anchors. So a film on one such greenhorn journalist’s life would hardly be of interest to a viewer. 

    The character of Sonakshi Sinha is a Page 3 journalist working for a content providing agency. She nurses a desire to become a real, hard core reporter covering more serious matters. She even keeps applying to the news channel CNN only to be rejected each time. The people in her life are her father played by MK Raina, maid Smita Tambe, friends Kanan Gill and Shibani Dandekar, her boss Manish Chaudhary, and a cat.

    Moving around the by lanes of Mumbai in search for stories in attempts to capture the unusual happenings in Mumbai, she is bored of her mundane assignments. Then, she finally thinks she has a story breaking which will bring her into the limelight. 

    Sonakshi’s story is about a huge human-organ racket. 

    Meanwhile, during one of her social circuit outings, Sonakshi meets an ex-CNN photographer, Purab Kohli. She finds him hot and takes the relationship further. That is when her exclusive story, her break to big time journalism, goes out of her control.

    After a good start, one expects the film to pack something interesting. But, as it moves further, it only goes downhill. The narration meanders as Sonakshi oscillates between self-pity and ambition.

    To add to the tedium, the film takes to sermonising on ethics in journalism. Things become boring and one comes out with mental fatigue.

    The book, ‘Karachi, You Are Killing Me!’ did show promise the potential to make into a film and, there is nothing the makers have been able to make work. The scripting is dull. The director shows finesse but that hardly helps salvage the film. The film required much more severe editing. Music is fair. The best thing about the film is its cinematography. As for performances, Sonakshi is okay in parts; in the absence of substance in her character, little else she could have done. Kanan Gill and Purab Kohli do well. Rest are okay. 

    Noor is an insipid fare.

    Producers: Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Vikram Malhotra.

    Director: Sunhil Sippy.

    Cast: Sonakshi Sinha, Purab Kohli, Kanan Gill, Shibani Dandekar.

    Maatr…Routine revenge saga

    Maatr is yet another topical film. The subject is gang rape and, as an obvious choice, the locale is Delhi. To complete the setup, the culprit is influential, the spoiled son of a politician, the chief minister no less. Sounds cliché isn’t it? So what else is new?

    Having set up the basic premise of rape and police apathy, the next plot point is an effort to muzzle the victim. This is routine and can’t be very different. Then one would expect the media sensationalising the case and sitting in judgement, social media taking up the cause and so on. The location being Delhi, a candle march would be mandatory, too.  

    Maatr begins on the set formula but decides to go its own way thereafter. 

    The character of Raveen Tandon is a school teacher in a well-known Delhi school where her daughter, Alisha Khan, is a pupil. The school celebrates its annual day every Dussehra with the students presenting a programme. The chief minister is the chief guest with his son, played by Madhur Mittal, an ex-student of the school, also attending. 

    Alisha stands first in the evening performance and having won the first prize, she and her teacher mother, Raveena, proceed towards home. Stuck in the typical Delhi traffic, Raveena seeks guidance from her friend, played by Divya Jagdale, on phone. Asked to use GPS, Raveena, however, is on wrong path. Unknown to her, Mittal and his six goons, which all politicians’ sons seem to need, are following them.

    The gang of the seven pushes Raveena’s car into a ditch. Mother and daughter are carried to a farmhouse and the inevitable happens. Raveena barely survives the assault while Alisha does not.
    So far, the film is one of hundreds having been made over the years. Yet, there is no TV channels blaring out the incident, no social media and no candle marches as is the norm in such films. 

    That is because the makers wish to take this film off the beaten track hereafter. Raveena wants to settle the score herself. The first time I saw such a film was François Truffaut’s “The Bride Wore Black”, a 1968 French movie, where as a newly wedded couple is walking out of a church, the groom is killed by a random bullet fired by five gallivanting drunk men in a building opposite the church. The bride, actress Jeanne Moreau, decides to trace each of those five and kill them. This about sums up the second part of Maatr.

    After a routine first half, Maatr starts getting interesting as Raveena decides to chart her own course with the police not being cooperative. This too has been seen in various films earlier but still remains interesting and makes the film watchable because of how it is devised. 

    There is also a track about Raveena and her husband, played by Rushad Rana. This is totally irrelevant to the film and could very well have been avoided. She could just as well have been a single mother, which would have made no difference to the story. Maybe some more footage could have been devoted to mother-daughter equation. 

    The film has a usual which is saved in part by seasoned Raveena and in part by its second half about the woman getting her own. It has a couple of musical tracks which don’t matter. Dialogue is okay in places and the expletives are within limits. Editing, as usual, is the weak link. Cinematography is good and so are the locales. Background music gets too loud at times. 

    As for performances, while Raveena Tandon carries herself wellbeing the veteran that she is, Alisha excels in a fleeting role. Divya Jagdale is most natural. The villains as well as the cops are painted in their usual clichéd roles seen in many films earlier. Madhur Mittal is passable. 

    All in all, Maatr is a tolerable film but lacking face value, box office prospects don’t promise much.  

    Producers: Michael Pellico, Anjum Rizvi, Manoj Adhikari.

    Director: Michael Pellico. 

    Cast: Raveena Tandon, Divya Jagdale, Madhur Mittal, Shailender Goyal, Anurag Arora, Jayant Shroff, Alisha Khan, Rushad Rana. 

  • Macbeth on 23 April: Sony Le Plex HD remembers the Bard

    MUMBAI: “Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them,” said Shakespeare (the Bard of Avon). Legends never die. One such legend is William Shakespeare.

    An English poet, playwright, and actor, he passed away 400 years ago, but his work still reverberates in our lives. As a tribute on his death anniversary, Sony Le Plex HD will telecast the Indian television premiere of Macbeth on 23 April at 1 pm and 9 pm.

    Sony Le Plex HD, the premium Hollywood movie channel from the English Cluster of Sony Pictures Networks, caters to avid English movie lovers who enjoy watching critically acclaimed Hollywood cinema.

    Macbeth is a tragic play written by Shakespeare in 1606 that went on to become one of his most celebrated work. It is a story of a Scottish general who comes to power after killing the king of Scotland but is consumer by guilt and paranoia. The play has been adapted to many films, attracting some of the best known actors to play the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

    The film, directed by Justin Kurzel, stars some of Hollywood finest actors like Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard and Jack Reyan. The movie was also chosen by Cannes Film Festival to compete for the Palme d’Or – the highest prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

    Witness some powerful performances as one of the most epic plays comes to reel life on Sony Le Plex HD #WhereYouBelong.

  • Big stars unaffordable for independent producers

    MUMBAI: Big films are getting scarce with some major studios pulling out from backing productions. Thanks to the corporate houses bankrolling films, the costs have escalated and the stars have become unaffordable for independent producers.

    Besides these factors, a majority of big stars such as Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan and Ajay Devgn, etc. now prefer to work mainly for their home productions or in joint ventures with directors who have successful track record.

    In the circumstances, some independent producers are making a comeback, albeit, with films featuring lesser stars and relying more on different content, a story without props like action and special effects and such.

    Some such films do turn out to be good, win appreciation as well, the two recent examples being Mukti Bhawan and Anaarakli Of Aarah. However, the moviegoer does not find such films viable at the admission high rates that multiplexes charge which are same as big star films.

    *Begum Jaan, the new release of the week, is one such film that tries to tread a different trend, away from what its producers, the Bhatt Brothers, were known to make so far: mostly thrillers, romance laced with titillation backed by strong musical scores.

    Remade in Hindi from the Bengali film Rajkahini (2015), the film lacked purpose. There were major issues, massacres and millions were uprooted from their homes and became refuges during the partition. And as the film’s story goes, here is this woman brothel owner who wants to save her brothel from being dismantled in the cause of creating a border wedge! And, the film also shows some flashbacks of the violence of that happened during the partition!

    Begum Jaan opened to weak response, failed to find appreciation and, yet, thanks to some good promotion and expecting Vidya Balan to come up with another striking performance, it managed to rake in Rs 3.4 crore on the opening day. On Saturday and Sunday, the collections remained almost stagnant as the film collected Rs 10.6 crore for its opening weekend.

    *Laali Ki Shaadi Mein Laaddoo Deewana has a disastrous opening week as the film manages to put together a meagre Rs 80 lakh.

    *Mirza Juuliet, an intercommunity romance with politics and violence as the background in UP, fails badly. The film collects about Rs 55 lakh for its first week.

    *Mukti Bhawan enjoys good word but not the moolah and collects just about Rs 50 lakh.

    *Blue Mountain remained very low at about Rs 10 lakh in its first week.

    *Bahubali: The Beginning (Re-run) collected Rs 3.1 crore in one week despite an extensive release.

    *Naam Shabana sustained well in its second week to add approx. Rs 5.6 crore to its first week collections taking its two week tally to Rs 28.1 crore.

    *Phillauri added Rs 40 lakh in its third week to take its three week total to Rs 24.6 crore.

    *Badrinath Ki Dulhania collected Rs 1.1 crore in its fifth week to take its five week total to Rs 114.2 crore.

  • Begum Jaan…..A rebel without a cause!

    MUMBAI: The last memorable film on a brothel and prostitutes was Shyam Benegal’s Mandi. The theme was that wherever there are people, a brothel is bound to spring up and, otherwise, wherever a brothel comes up, a town is bound to come up.

    Begum Jaan is the remake of the Bengali language film, Rajkahini (2015). The closeness one can find between the two is about the women in the oldest profession fighting for survival.

    Actually, if one were to make a comparison as the women in the brothel, led by its
    founder, the character of Vidya Balan, resolve to stand their ground and fight out the battle of survival, it is with Ketan Mehta’s all-time classic, Mirch Masala, though it was not about prostitution. It was about saving a woman’s honour and, hence, the cause was justified.

    Begum Jaan is based around time when India was partitioned — India and Pakistan.

    Vidya Balan, a child widow, is disowned by her in-laws. Going through exploitation and hurdles, she ends up in prostitution. Being a strong-willed woman, she would do even that on her own terms. Her clientele includes big shots, influential people, even a king and some white men and officers who seek favours gratis. Ergo, Vidya wields great influence.

    Vidya has 11 women in her brothel, one old lady, Ila Arun, and a pre-teen girl, Gracy Goswami, a love child of one of her ‘girls’, Gauhar Khan. Vidya’s vast brothel, spread across a few acres, serves as a sort of shelter for women in distress who, eventually, join her trade. Socially ostracised, the brothels made their place away from towns.

    The girls live in bonhomie, they come from across India: Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab et al (how women from all over reached there in those days of great distances and limited transportation facilities is not answered). Maybe the idea is to make the brothel a representative of India: Unity in diversity!

    The place also has a Pathan sentry, played by Sumit Nijhawan, accompanied by his two ferocious looking dogs, all three totally loyal to Vidya.

    The going is good for Vidya and her girls till the powers that be decide to divide India into two countries, India and Pakistan. Here the film takes inspiration from various Partition stories written by the legendary writers, the likes of Saadat Hasan Manto. These are stories of unsuspecting bystanders, the kinds who unwittingly fell prey to the partition lines drawn by — Sir Cyril Radcliffe, the man in charge of The Border Commission, to divide the country.

    This is when the trouble starts for Vidya and her brothel. Her brothel falls right on the dividing line and to create the border and to separate two nations, it has to make way. Its very existence is in danger.

    The two men deputed to oversee the implementing of the division and build a barbed wire fence are the characters of Ashish Vidyarthi, a Hindu, representing India, and Rajit Kapoor, a Muslim, on behalf of the newly-formed Pakistan. That both are childhood friends but on different sides, is meant to add to the anxiety. Sadly, after creating a sort of ‘partition’ between both of them, their equation has been put on the back burner, except to show at the end that, both remain humane with their feelings intact to a wrongdoing.

    Both, Ashish and Rajit are at their wits’ end trying to make Vidya vacate her brothel when they approach a goon, played by Chunky Pandey and, as it is known in today’s world, give Vidya’s supari (a contract to get her out by any means).

    The film, which had started deteriorating gradually before interval, drops to its lowest hereafter. The very idea of introducing Chunky, his getup, his manners, take the film down. Towards the end, it swings between morbid and macabre.

    The scripting tries to incorporate too many angles. The main ones being a brothel at peril, two friends, now belonging to opposite sides, trying to fulfil a task entrusted to them, and the disaster they create when they involve a third party. But, the writers cram in many other side stories; that of a young girl child born at the brothel, a lusty teacher and his treachery, a love story between a pimp and a prostitute and so on.

    The idea may be to show the human side of those concerned, good or bad. The narration strays too often with the extra tracks and the pace drops.

    The direction is not really up to the mark. The idea of creating little India in the brothel is bad; as the women in the brothel converse in their native languages, be is Punjabi or Gujarati, none gets the language right, they make a mess of it. That after the film propagates all through that prostitution has no religion or regional identity! The women shooting randomly at the enemies! What are they shooting at, the brothel courtyard walls? Music is not as it should be for a kotha/brothel setup. Most such film in the past have set high standards. Cinematography is of standard. Dialogue is good though oft heard before. Editing, as in all such films where the director loves all that he has shot, is weak. A lot could be trimmed.

    Performances by all concerned are excellent starting with Vidya Balan leading the band. Other women are good but those who stand out are — Gauhar Khan, Pallavi Sharda, Indrani Chakraborty and Gracy Goswami. Ashish Vidyarthi and Rajit Kapoor are okay.

    Pitobash Tripathy impresses. Naseeruddin Shah has no scope. Chunky Pandey is pathetic. Rajesh Sharma is good as usual. Sumit Nijhawan makes a mark but Vivek Mushran is passable.

    Begum Jaan is a purposeless film. Having opened poorly despite a national holiday today, its prospects for improvement are suspect.

    Producers: Mahesh Bhatt, Mukesh Bhatt.

    Director: Srijit Mukherji.

    Cast: Vidya Balan, Ila Arun, Gauahar Khan, Pallavi Sharda, Priyanka Setia, Ridheema Tiwary, Flora Saini, Raviza Chauhan, Poonam Rajput,Indrani Chakraborty, Gracy Goswami, Pitobash Tripathy, Sumit Nijhawan, Ashish Vidyarthi, Chunky Pandey, Rajit Kapoor, Vivek Mushran, Rajesh Sharma, Naseeruddin Shah.

  • Carnival Motion Pictures to get into mainline content generation & distribution, says chairman

    MUMBAI: It was an occasion to revisit memories as cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar launched the trailer of ‘Sachin – A Billion Dreams’ in Mumbai. Following the launch, Tendulkar had an exclusive screening of the trailer on Extraaa Innings T20 on Sony Max.

    Carnival Group founder and chairman, and co-producer of the film Dr Shrikant Bhasi said, “I’ve always been keen to the idea of bringing the marvel of Sachin on the silver screen with the legend itself making his big debut. Carnival Cinemas will make sure that the movie reaches audience all across the country across all strata, as Sachin is a phenomenon everywhere.” He further adds, “Carnival Motion Pictures intends to begin its innings in mainline content generation and distribution, with this being an amazing start. There are many more interesting projects in pipeline that we will announce soon in the next few weeks.”

    The crowded auditorium in Juhu, Mumbai, was witness to the love that the master blaster commands as the audience cheered and applauded after the first screening of the trailer. Also present at the launch were the director, James Erskine who had flown down from the UK specially to attend the trailer launch. The producer Ravi Bhagchandka of 200NotOut, and Shrikant Bhasi, Founder and Chairman of Carnival Group also shared the dias with Sachin Tendulkar and James Erskine after the screening of the trailer.

    The chants of ‘Sachin, Sachin… Sachin, Sachin!’ from the trailer were still echoing in their ears as the MC Vikram Sathaye called the cricket legend to the dias to speak about the trailer and the upcoming film.

    As Sachin settled down to answer questions, he was joined by the director James Erskine, and producers, Ravi Bhagchandka, Shrikant Bhasi and Anil Thadani.

    Answering questions, Tendulkar said, “This film has helped me relive the important moments of my life through its making! I remain a private person but realised that there is much I have not revealed or spoken about, to those who have been instrumental to my life and career, especially my fans. I hope the film will be yet another avenue for fans who have showered their love and blessings on me, to cherish the journey that we undertook together for over 24 years.”

    Bhagchandka, the producer, said, “Making this movie has been my pilgrimage! I personally am a huge fan of Sachin and it was Sachin who was my inspiration when I used to play cricket. My company’s name, 200NOTOUT is also dedicated to his highest score in ODIs. Sachin is dearly loved by all Indians as well by cricket fans all around the world. He has been an idol for three generations of cricket fans and continues to inspire! This film will give his fans who have watched his cricketing feats on the television screen, the opportunity to see Sachin on the big movie screen!”

    The trailer gave the eager audience a hint of what the film has in store for Sachin’s fans. With glimpses of key scenes from the film showing moments of cricketing glory, personal moments, unseen footage from the dressing room and much more, the film promises to be every Sachin fan’s dream come true.

    Erskine, award-winning director of a number of international films on sports, took the audience through the making of the film. He said, “Directing the film was a wonderful experience! Coming from the UK, I knew that Sachin was a cricketing legend but even then, it was an eye-opener to see the adoration and respect that Sachin commands across the globe. Scripting his journey for the big screen involved interacting with Sachin, his family, his teammates as well as players from rival teams and others. Sachin is both gracious, and a perfectionist, and being able to make this film for the Indian people and many more across the globe was a true honour.”

  • Cinépolis to accept UPI payments through HSBC

    NEW DELHI: Cinépolis, which claims to be India’s first international and the world’s fourth largest Cineplex chain, has launched a Unified Payment Interface (UPI) across all its multiplexes in the country as part of the current government’s ‘go-cashless’ and digital economy drive.

    Patrons and cinema lovers can have the convenience of transaction through UPI which operates on the concept of a Virtual Payment Address (VPA).

    Cinépolis is India’s first movie theatre chain where customers can pay through UPI at the offline stores. This payment solution is implemented by HSBC bank across all Cinépolis outlets.

    Cinépolis India CFO Rodrigo Perez Morales said: “This will prove to be a game changer for the multiplex industry as it will lessen the cost of transactions along with a quicker checkout experience. Our patrons can now watch movies without worrying about the cash payment as UPI will smoothly allow the transition to a cashless economy by providing a unique identity (VPA) for any consumer holding a smart phone and a bank account. We are hopeful that we will have a phenomenal response and all our customers will gradually adapt to Unified Payment Interface.”

    Cinépolis India director – India strategic initiatives Devang Sampat added, “With a strong drive of encouraging digital transactions, we are delighted to partner with HSBC India and launch Unified Payments Interface across all our properties. UPI allows users to send and receive money through their smartphones with the help of VPA (Virtual Payment Address). Patrons will just have to share their VPA at the booking counter and they will receive one notification on their mobile app to approve the transaction. In future, we will keep on adding new digital mode of payments at Cinépolis to give our patrons options to transact digitally.”

    HSBC India managing director and head global liquidity and cash management. Divyesh Dalal said, “The UPI solution will now allow movie lovers to pay seamlessly for tickets and food and beverage across various Cinépolis locations in India thus providing a superior customer experience. It will also help to reduce the average waiting time”.

    “Given the enhanced coverage, interoperability and cost dynamics of the UPI solution, we expect the acceptance of UPI-based payments to increase over time. Our UPI offering aims at providing a channel agnostic collection solution to corporates, which will enable Cinépolis to drive sales through increased digitization of flows,” he added.

    The partnership between Cinépolis and HSBC India is aimed at encouraging movie patrons to increasingly transact using digital and cashless options.

    UPI was launched by National Payments Corporation of India along with Reserve Bank of India to enable the consumers to make payments through their smartphones. It is basically an interface through which account holder of one bank can transfer/receive money to someone having account in same/different bank through a smartphone. There is no need for sharing each other’s bank account details. There is also no need for swiping debit/credit card, keying in your confidential PIN.

    Cinépolis India started its operations in India in 2009 at Amritsar and currently operates 291 screens under the brand names of Cinépolis, Cinépolis VIP and Fun Cinemas.

  • Sandrine Kiberlain to preside over Camera d’or jury at Cannes

    Sandrine Kiberlain to preside over Camera d’or jury at Cannes

    NEW DELHI: Renowned French actress Sandrine Kiberlain is to preside over the jury for this year’s Caméra d’or – award for the at the 70th Cannes International Film Festival this year. Canera d’or is a prize to a director’s first work from the Official Selection, the Directors’ Fortnight or the Semaine de la Critique.

    The Festival is being held from 17 to 27 May 2017 in the seaside resort in France.

    In a career spanning 25 years and boasting around 40 films, the actress has made a simple and subtle but undeniable impression on the French filmmaking scene.

    She first shot to prominence in The Patriots by Éric Rochant (winner of the Romy-Schneider prize), followed by En avoir (ou pas) by Laetitia Masson (César for Most Promising Actress).

    Since then, she has continued to make an impact far and wide, taking risks in her stride and turning her hand with ease to dramas (Mademoiselle Chambon), quirky comedies (9 Month Stretch, César for Best Actress), arthouse films (False Servant) and mass-market films (Little Nicolas).

    Following on from Wim Wenders, Tim Roth, Abbas Kiarostami and more recently Agnès Varda and Sabine Azéma, Sandrine Kiberlain and her jury members will award the Caméra d’or prize at the Closing Ceremony of the Festival de Cannes on Sunday 28 May.

    Since 1978 the award has gone to Stranger than Paradise by Jim Jarmusch (1984), Suzaku by Naomi Kawase (1997), The White Balloon by Jafar Panahi (1995), Hunger by Steve McQueen (2008) and Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin (2012). Last year, Houda Benyamina won the Caméra d’or for her film Divines screened in the Directors’ Fortnight.