MUMBAI: Yesteryear actor Dev Anand will be horoured with the Phalke Ratna award this year.
This award is presented by Dadasaheb Phalke Academy on 30 April.
Dev Anand has many good films like Munimji, Hum Dono, Guide, Jewel Thief, Tere Mere Sapne, Johnny Mera Naam, Hare Rama Hare Krishna, to his credit.
This year the award ceremony is to be organised by G V Films Ltd.
Sunil Dutt, Dilip Kumar, B R Chopra and Manoj Kumar have received the award earlier.
MUMBAI: Days after announcing that he was mulling with the idea of making a film on the world of god men that he titled God and Sex, Ram Gopal Varma is returning to making gangster films.
The maker of Satya and Company said his upcoming gangster film would be titled Department.
“Department will explore the long spoken-about subject between police and the underworld. The nexus has been attempted in many films but not as convincingly and as real as my film dares to do. The script is still being readied while the star cast will be announced soon,” Varma added.
MUMBAI: Miami-based Motion Pixel Corporation (MPC) and India-based Cornerstone Entertainment have finalised the signing of India‘s cricket player Yuvraj Singh to star in an animated film Captain India.
The story will show Singh growing up in Mumbai and encountering a magical cricket stick that he realises has special powers and uses it to help fight crime and become a star player of the country to help India win the cricket World Cup.
The film, now in its pre-production stage, is scheduled to release in early 2012.
Said MPC chairman Manny Bains, “We felt Yuvraj was the best fit for the project which we think will be a mega hit with all the Bollywood and cricket fans not only in India but throughout the World.”
Commented Bunty Sajdeh of Cornerstone Entertainment, “Cornerstone has always made best efforts to promote brand Yuvraj as uniquely as possible. This project is one such opportunity for Yuvi to reach out to the millions of children across the countries who aspire to be like him one day. We are happy to partner with MPC and are looking forward to an entertaining movie”
Averred Singh, “I am extremely excited to be a part of this film. As a child I always enjoyed watching animation films and today I am humbled to be portrayed as an animated character. It is such an entertaining film which I hope the entire family would love watching together.”
MUMBAI: For the second year in succession, 20th Century Fox has clung on to the top position in domestic market box-office share.
Last year, Warner Bros bagged both summer and annual bragging rights on the strength of a killer second half. But Fox boasts of an impressive summer lineup this year. On that ground, it will be interesting to watch the distribution titans clash at the b-o.
Meanwhile, Warners took a percentage point off Fox‘s lead last weekend by amassing $64.2 million from their latest release Clash of the Titans. Till Sunday last, Fox roped in $751 million in year-to-date box-office to take a 26 per cent market share. Warner is on the second spot with $535 million it amassed in 2010 with a 19 per cent share.
Largely, Fox built its lead on the back of the James Cameron 3D film Avatar that has amassed $458 million of its $743 million domestic haul since 1 January.
Fox‘s swimsuit-season tentpoles include a big-screen adaptation of The A-Team set to release on 11 June and the Tom Cruise-Cameron Diaz starrer Knight & Day releasing on 25 June and sci-fi action sequel Predators which unspools on 9 July.
Last year, Warners overtook Fox with second-half successes including a $302 million run by Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Its latest summer slate offers up at least three big films like Sex & the City 2 (27 May), comics-inspired action fantasy Jonah Hex (18 June) and Leonardo DiCaprio starrer Inception (16 July).
MUMBAI: Blockbuster has struck a deal with Warner Bros., Sony and Fox giving a first lien of its Canadian assets in exchange for day-and-date delivery of DVD rentals for films from those studios as well as payment terms that are suitable for Blockbuster.
Blockbuster is doing what it can to avoid bankruptcy while studios seem eager to help out. Warners had already said that it was giving films of Blockbuster 28 days before Netflix and Redbox and altering payment terms to relieve Blockbuster of some financial burden during the near term, while making it up to studios in the long term.
Sony and Fox are following suit, though exact terms of the deal is not yet known.
The first two films under Blockbuster‘s new arrangement with Warners are The Blind Side and Sherlock Holmes.
Arrangements that guarantee Blockbuster can rent films the day they go on sale is a big deal, given a trend of holding back new releases from Redbox and Netflix, the competitors of Blockbuster.
MUMBAI: The Japanese Wife, directed by Aparna Sen, will be released with 50-70 prints at select cities in the country on 9 April.
The film, which is in English, Japanese, and Bengali, will initially be released in cities like Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore. It may be released in other cities later.
“Saregama, the producers of the movie, has entered into a deal of over Rs 10 million with Bharti Airtel’s Airtel Talkies for publicising the film,” Sarergama head of acquisition and distribution Sarang Sharma told indiantelevision.com.
The film, starring Rahul Bose, Raima Sen, Japanese actress Chigusa Takaku and veteran actress Moushumi Chatterjee, is based on Kunal Basu’s book of the same name.
It is the story of an Indian who befriends a Japanese woman as a pen-friend and this gradually grows into more than mere friendship.
Rahul Bose had earlier worked with Aparna Sen in Mr. & Mrs. Iyer and 15th Park Avenue.
MUMBAI: Lucasfilm Animation on has announced that it is on course of developing a new animated Star Wars series that will take a comedic and irreverent look at the characters from the sci-fi franchise.
The film to be produced by Jennifer Hill will be directed by Todd Grimes.
Though there is no network announced for the new series, but given the close ties that Lucasfilm Animation and Green and Senreich‘s maintain with Cartoon Network, a deal with Cartoon or its subsidiary Adult Swim appears likely.
The new comedic Star Wars series follows Lucasfilm Animation‘s series Star Wars: The Clone Wars that airs on Cartoon Network.
MUMBAI: Intending to spotlight the plight of 117,000 people who have not able to return to their homes, even though the Bosnian war ended 15 years ago, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt visited Bosnia on Monday.
The two arrived on Sunday evening but evaded the spotlight themselves and neither there were any reported media sightings of the celebrity couple.
Jolie, who has been a UNHCR ambassador since 2001 will visit projects meant to help Bosnians who cannot return home either because their homes have not been rebuilt or the infrastructure in their villages has not been repaired.
Around 7,000 people live in dozens of refugee centers throughout the country. While the other 110,000 live primarily with relatives or in rented housing.
MUMBAI: Going by the recent controversy that involved so-called spiritual leader Swami Nityananda, Ram Gopal Varma is in plans to make a film on the world of god men. He has named it God and Sex.
Comments Varma, “Inspired from a recent sex scandal involving one such popular Swami, God and Sex will once and for all explore, examine and expose everything that goes on behind the closed ashrams of both the God-men and their men.”
Varma‘s upcoming film will expose the controversies surrounding the spiritual places. “God and Sex is a film I am intending to make which will take a deep hard look at the world of god men on how these so-called representatives of God continue to keep conning gullible devotees to satisfy their very various and diverse needs. “
“Most swamis in the country are looked up to as next-to-God and yet from time to time, many of them get exposed, sometimes by the media and sometimes by the various concerned in one way or the other of their true selves. On many an occasion, the reason for this seems to be their sex drive,” “adds Varma.
MUMBAI: Inox Leisure Limited has commenced the commercial operations of its new multiplex at Vishakhapatnam.
The multiplex, known as CMR Central, has four theatres, fun zone and entertainment under one roof.
The new mall will feature multinational brands and provide food, fun and fantasy for all age groups.