Category: Movies

BANGALORE: Newly turned producer and infrastructure czar Ashok Kheny today announced that he plans to develop an entertainment city with 20 studios with an investment of Rs 10 billion on a 300 acre land in Sompura near Bangalore.

“There are plans to set up eight studios dedicated for cinema, eight for producing television content, two blue-screens or special effects studios, and two for producing advertisements. The entertainment city will have modern processing labs, animation studio, sound studio, computerized lighting and special effects studio,” said Kheny.

Kheny was speaking during the launch of Prem Kaa Game, a debut Bollywood film by his entertainment company AKK Entertainment. The film stars Arbaaz Khan in the lead male role and introduces Bangalore girl Madhuri Bhattacharya as his co-star. Others among the cast of include Malaika Arora Khan, Tara Sharma, Johny Lever and Rubi Chakravarty.

Kheny who has plans to feature the film across 500-plus screens in India starting this Friday, revealed, “Prem Kaa Game is the second venture of AKK Entertainment, after the successful launch of Sonu Nigaam’s first Kannada solo album last year.”

Bangalore already has a film city project, the first phase of which was launched by The Innovative Group (Innovative), Innovative Film City (IFC), about 2 years ago. The IFC complex is spread over 54 acres of land. The first phase has cost Innovative a shade less than Rs 1 billion. The overall project would entail investments of about Rs 5 billion.

MUMBAI: Well Done Abba, produced by Reliance Big Pictures and directed by Shyam Benegal, will release on 26 March in 370 screens across 13 countries including India, UAE, US, Canada, South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Kenya and Ghana.

The stars of the film – Boman Irani, Minissha Lamba and Sammir Dattani – are visiting various cities including Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Pune and Nagpur to promote the film from 22 March onwards. 

A lighthearted comedy, Well Done Abba tells the story of a Mumbai-based driver Armaan Ali, who goes on leave to find a match for his teenage daughter Muskan. When he returns to work after 3 months, his employer wants to sack him. However Armaan Ali has a story to tell about a government scheme he avails to dig a well in his agricultural patch. Things spiral out of control so much so that the Government is about to collapse!

Well Done Abba also stars Ila Arun, Sonali Kulkarni, Ravi Kissen, Rajit Kapur, Ravi Jhankal and Yashpal Sharma.

MUMBAI: Multivision Multimedia (India) Pvt. Ltd. will release The Hurt Locker on 9 April.

The film, the winner of six Oscars and an equal amount of BAFTA awards, stars Jeremy Renner (Dahmer, The Assassination of Jesse James), Anthony Mackie (Half Nelson, We Are Marshall) and Brian Geraghty (We Are Marshall, Jarhead) with cameo appearances by Ralph Fiennes (The Reader), David Morse (John Adams), Evangeline Lilly (Lost) and Guy Pearce (Memento).

Produced by Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier and Greg Shapiro and directed by Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker is an intense interpretation of elite soldiers who have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world: disarming bombs in the heat of combat.

The film is based on first-hand observation by journalist and screenwriter Mark Boal who was stationed on assignment with a special bomb unit in Iraq. The film couples grippingly realistic action with intimate human drama to portray soldier psychology in a high-risk profession where men volunteer to face deadly odds.

Avers Oscar director Kathryn Bigelow, “I hope I‘m the first of many, and of course, I‘d love to just think of myself as a filmmaker. And I long for the day when that modifier can be a moot point. Fear has a bad reputation, but I think that‘s ill-deserved. Fear is clarifying. It forces you to put important things first and discount the trivial.

“When Mark Boal came back from a reporting trip to Iraq, he told me stories about men in the Army who disarm bombs in the heat of combat – obviously, an elite job with a high mortality rate. When he mentioned that they are extremely vulnerable and use little more than a pair of pliers to disarm a bomb that can kill for 300 meters, I was shocked. When I learned that these men volunteer for this dangerous work, and often grow so fond of it that they can imagine doing nothing else, I knew I had found my next film.”

With a visual and emotional intensity that makes audiences feel like they have been transported to Iraq‘s dizzying, 24-hour turmoil, The Hurt Locker is both a gripping portrayal of real-life sacrifice and heroism and a layered probing study of the soul-numbing rigors and potent allure of the modern battlefield.
 

MUMBAI: Reliance Big Pictures and Kunal Kohli Productions are co-producing Break ke Baad, starring Imran Khan and Deepika Padukone.

The film is the maiden directorial venture of Danish Aslam who was first assistant director to Kunal Kohli in films like Thoda Pyar Thoda Magic, Faana and Yashraj Films‘ Ta Ra Rum Pum and Salaam Namaste. 

Break Ke Baad is a modern day love story that tracks a couple after their break up. Sharmila Tagore plays a pivotal role as retired actress in the film. The film also stars Shahana Goswami and Yudi of Channel V fame.

Says Reliance Big Pictures CEO Sanjeev Lamba, “We have wonderful films lined up this year, Break Ke Baad being one of them. Kunal has always been a great storyteller and we are hoping that this association will result in a great cinema watching experience for all moviegoers across boundaries.”

Comments Kunal Kohli, “For some time now Reliance Big Pictures has been partnering with only the best in the business both in India and the US. As partners, each of us brings our strengths to the table. Reliance Big Pictures has ended last year with a bang after Rock On, Paa and 3 Idiots. This year too they have most awaited films like Kites and Ravana to be followed by Break ke Baad. So here‘s to continuing the good cinema and some very interesting films ahead.”

MUMBAI: Time Warner has bid $1.5 billion to purchase the debt-laden Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), making it one of the frontrunners in the chase.

The owner of CNN and controller of Hollywood‘s largest film library feels it can generate strong returns from MGM‘s assets through its distribution network and relationships with pay-TV channels. Time Warner has close to $5 billion in cash and equivalents.

MGM, saddled with $3.7billion in debt from a 2005 buy-out from a consortium of buyers led by Sony, initially attracted attention all across Hollywood with companies including News Corp, Liberty Media and AT&T showing their keenness to join the race. But by last Friday‘s deadline, only three remained.

MGM confirmed that it had received a number of bids and that it would review them over the next few weeks, though it has not ruled out operating as an independent company.

The studio had hoped to attract bids topping $2 billion but has drawn offers of between $1.2 to $1.5 billion, raising the possibility of MGM lenders pushing for a pre-packaged bankruptcy rather than facing a distress sale.

MGM has struggled to keep afloat as it suffered an industry wide slump in DVD sales. In spite of that, the studio‘s Bond catalogue, rights to make future Bond films and its development of a film version of The Hobbit attracted interest from potential buyers.

The bidding for MGM coincides with the auction of the Miramax library, owned by Walt Disney, and Overture, the film arm of the Liberty Media Group, in the latest round of consolidation.

MUMBAI: The Rat Race, produced by Filament Pictures, is among the six selected for the Cannes award.

The documentary is based on rat killers in Mumbai. Says founding director Miriam Chandy, “It is an unbelievable opportunity to showcase the work we have been doing over the last eight months to the biggest broadcasters worldwide. The Rat Race is truly a film that captures the `never say die‘ work culture of Mumbai, India‘s commercial capital, and I am truly honoured that I can make this pitch.” 

Mumbai-based Filament Pictures is a small production house that does one or two films a year. “We will be pitching against very big productions with deep pockets”, says Chandy who has been self funding this documentary. “But I believe that there is a new wave in documentary filmmaking in India that is able to make a mark internationally and I hope my film will be one of them. “

Chandy has previously directed documentaries for the National Geographic Channel and BBC World. Her last documentary, Robot Jockey, won the Asian Television Award for `best social awareness programme‘.