Category: Movies

MUMBAI: Two big films, Teen Patti and Karthik calling Karthik, are set for release this week to combat against the might of My Name Is Khan.

The first film, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Ben Kingsley, has been directed by Leena Yadav. It is the story of a man and the situations he gets into when he realises that not everything is random as widely assumed. Venkat Subramanium (Amitabh Bachchan) figures out a mathematical formula decoding the card game of poker that helps him precisely point out which card is held by whom. Thus begins a game of intrigue, greed and avarice that affects all those connected to Venkat, including his colleague (Madhavan) and his students.

On the other hand, Karthik Calling Karthik, based on depersonalisation, is the story of an introvert called Karthik, played by Farhan Akhtar, whose life changes with the help of someone who also claims to be Karthik.

Directed by Vijay Lalwani, the film stars Farhan Akhtar and Deepika Padukone in lead roles while Ram Kapoor and Shefali Shah play supporting roles in the film.
It is going to be quite interesting to see which film takes the lead.

MUMBAI: Shethia Audio Video‘s Road To Sangam has won yet another award, this time at the Macon Film Festival, Geogia, in the narrative feature film category. The film, produced by Amit Chheda, has been written and directed by Amit Rai.

Commented Chheda, “I am happy that the film is being appreciated in all corners of the world. There are still a number of film festivals that we have sent the film to. We expect more such awards.”

With this win, Road To Sangam has totally won seven awards worldwide.
The film, besides starring Paresh Rawal and Om Puri, also has Javed Shaikh, Pawan Malhotra, Swati Chitnis, Masood Akhtar, G. P. Singh, Rajan Bhise, Sudhir Nema, Rakesh Srivastava, Yusuf Hussain, Vijay Mishra and others.

If the film was so good, why did it fail to garner eyeballs in India? “The strategy behind releasing the film was not right and may be the film was released at a wrong time,” quips Chheda.
 

MUMBAI: Viacom18‘s motion pictures division Studio18 has restructured its senior management team.

Hemant Bhardwaj, who was head of international operations, will now take over as senior vice president distribution, marketing and syndication for India. The position was occupied by Priti Shahani earlier.

Bhardwaj, who joined Studio18 in October 2007, will be based in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, Tanuj Garg, who earlier headed the UK and Europe business while taking care of international marketing and syndication revenues, will take charge of the company‘s international operations from London.

Confirming the development to Indiantelevision.com, Indian Film Company CEO Sandeep Bhargava said, “Bhardwaj has been part of our team for the last three years and he will be able to oversee the marketing, distribution and syndication verticals.”

Garg had joined Studio18 in November 2006.
 

MUMBAI: Shah Rukh Khan‘s My Name Is Khan (MNIK) continues to rule the box-office, grossing Rs 1.5 billion during its ten-day run.

The movie took home Rs 900 million from India, becoming the biggest hit after Aamir Khan‘s 3 Idiots over the last one year. MNIK is also drawing in huge audiences overseas, grossing Rs 600 million to sit atop as the biggest Bollywood success in certain defined markets.

“From the report that we have, My Name Is Khan has grossed Rs 1.5 billion globally with the India intake being 900 million in the first ten days. The film stands at No. 2 in India while abroad it is in the No.1 position with the film taking the biggest opening ever for a Bollywood film in the US and the UK,” Fox Star Studios India CEO Vijay Singh tells Indiantelevision.com.

MNIK has also managed to pierce deeper into newer markets. Agrees trade analyst Taran Adarsh, “MNIK has penetrated far deeper than the parameters of the diaspora markets and has found patronage in countries like Poland, German and Russia. This reiterates the fact that Shah Rukh is King in the overseas market too.”

Meanwhile, last week‘s two releases, Toh Baat Pakki and Click, failed to click with the audience. While the opening of Toh Baat Pakki ranged between 10 to 15 per cent occupancy, that of Click was between 7 to 10 per cent. 

The first film that debutante director Kedar Shinde wanted to portray as a simple sweet yet entertaining story adorned by a strew of yesteryear charms, failed in terms of entertainment.

The film tries to follow up in the footsteps of the traditions and benchmark created by Hrishikesh Mukerjee and Basu Chatterjee, but is not able to get the desired effect. The presence of Tabu and the talented Sharman Joshi couldn‘t resurrect the film.

On the other hand, PNC‘s Click works in parts. Going by the fact that the film is a direct adaptation of an English film Shutter, it has some scene-to-scene lifts from the original. Moreover with the film having been stalled for almost three years, relation with today‘s times is missing.

Avers Fun Cinemas COO Vishal Kapur, “The opening of both the films has been very ordinary and we don”t expect business of more than 20 to 25 per cent in the week. Comparatively, the performance of My Name is Khan is good.”