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Tag: Amit Khanna

  • Mahesh Bhatt encourages debate on censorship at Elevate 2015

    Mahesh Bhatt encourages debate on censorship at Elevate 2015

    MUMBAI: Filmmaker-activist Mahesh Bhatt moderated a debate on the topic of censorship with Bollywood stalwarts Amit Khanna, Sudhir Mishra, Bhawana Somaaya and Ketan Mehta making their stand at The Third Eye’s program Elevate 2015, the second annual conclave held at The Club, Mumbai, this week.

     

    With a discussion on creating synergies between regulatory bodies and industry leaderships, the industry heavyweights mulled on how the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and other regulatory authorities can look ahead in time and create a vision for creative communities; thus empowering audiences.

     

    Bhatt asked some thought-provoking questions. “Is there a role that the regulators really have to play in the digital age,” he wondered. “Is there a way for content creators to establish a non-confrontational dialogue with the government regulatory bodies?”

     

    Industry doyen Amit Khanna opined, “In the 21st century, given the way technology has allowed us to interact with each other, there is no role for anything called censorship in the audio-visual media.”

     

    “The censorship is no longer a possibility in any way in today’s digital age. This is the first time in history that such a thing is possible,” marked director Sudhir Mishra. 

     

    Director Ketan Mehta was blunt. “Censorship is corrupt and immoral exercise of power,” he said.

     

    Veteran journalist, author and an ex-member of the CBFC, Bhawana Somaaya pointed out that the Censor Board has a provision where filmmakers have a right to refuse and argue with the objections of the Board in their entirety. She felt that “censorship is being interpreted in a wrong way. It is being misunderstood. There are guidelines for it and they require some modifications.”

  • Reliance Big Ent buys filming rights of Tom Rachman novel The Imperfectionists

    Reliance Big Ent buys filming rights of Tom Rachman novel The Imperfectionists

    MUMBAI: Brad Pitt‘s production company Plan B Entertainment, under its creative partnership with Reliance BIG Entertainment, has acquired the screen rights of Tom Rachman‘s novel, The Imperfectionists.
    The Imperfectionists centers on the quirky, maddening, endearing people who write and read an international newspaper based in Rome: from the obituary reporter who will do anything to avoid work, to the young freelancer who is manipulated by an egocentric war correspondent, to the dog-obsessed publisher who seems less interested in his struggling newspaper than in his magnificent basset hound.
    Commenting on the acquisition, Reliance BIG Entertainment‘s Chairman Amit Khanna said, ‘”The Imperfectionists is a compliment to our slate with Plan B Entertainment. It will make a commercial and extremely relevant film which will play well to an international audience.”

  • Ramesh Sippy re-elected as Film and TV Producers Guild president

    Ramesh Sippy re-elected as Film and TV Producers Guild president

    cThe first meeting of the newly elected Guild Council of Management, which was held immediately after the 57th Annual General Meeting on 29 September in Mumbai, also elected filmmakers Mukesh Bhatt, Vipul Shah and Ashutosh Gowariker and television producer Dheeraj Kumar as vice presidents.


    Manish Goswami and Ashim Samanta (son of Shakti Samanta) were elected
    treasurers.


    Some of the other members of the newly elected Council of Management of Guild are Yash Chopra, Manmohan Shetty, Kamal Kumar Barjatya, Amit Khanna, Rakesh Roshan, Bobby Bedi, Subhash Ghai, Karan Johar, Vishal Bharadwaj and Farhan Akhtar.
     

  • Cannes Diary: Adlabs lounge gives indies a leg up

    Cannes Diary: Adlabs lounge gives indies a leg up

    CANNES: The Adlabs Indpendent Producers Lounge is proving to be a hit of sorts. Located in the basement of the Palais des Festivals, it has been a busy spot with almost anyone interested in Indian films dropping in over there from whichever country in the world.

    The booth, manned by AdLabs Films boss Sunir Khetrapal, has Aditya Bhattacharrya steering it most of the time. Other individuals using it quite frequently include: Grey Cells Entertainment’s copromoter Rashmi, Ruchi Narain, Amit Khanna, Sudhir Mishra.

    The stand is also being used to promote the Filmkraft new production Krishh. In a big way.
    Dharma disappointed, Johar pushes hard

    The team Dharma Productions distribution team of Vishal Patel and Cherian expressed disappointment at the way the market has been proceeding. “There have been very few footfalls,” says Cherian. “We expect an improvement by tomorrow.”

    The big title being promoted at the stand is Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna.

    Karan Johar spent many a hour at the stand today. The Johar box office magic may rub off on Dharma’s Cannes performance as well.
    Indian unity shows up at Cannes

    What is amazing about this Cannes festival is how the independents have been propping up each other. The Adlabs stand has brochures and promotional materials from almost every Indian film maker in the Palais. Handmade Films’ Sunil Doshi who has a stand in a prime location in the Palais des Festivals basement even lent a hand to the indies by stocking their promotional literature at his stand. A pat in the back for the indie Indians. In fact, a bash for the indies was planned for the evening at the Irish Quays pub.

  • Film & TV Producers Guild submits draft for proposed Entertainment Export Promotion Council

    Film & TV Producers Guild submits draft for proposed Entertainment Export Promotion Council

    MUMBAI: Standing by its commitment to strive for the welfare of the entertainment industry at large, the Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd. recently submitted the draft for the proposed Entertainment Export Promotion Council to the Information & Broadcast Ministry.

    The Guild had received a notification from the Information & Broadcasting Ministry with a request to consider the finer details of forming a Special Export Promotion Council for the entertainment industry as suggested by the ICE (Information, Communication and Entertainment) Committee recently constituted by the Prime Minister’s Office. The Guild had been advised to give its proposals in accordance with the requirements of the Department of Commerce, states an official release.

    Accordingly, the Guild has set up a Sub-Group comprising representatives of eminent members having specialization in exports. At their first meeting, members of the Sub-Group had extensive deliberations on the subject, transpiring in the finalization of the draft.

    This draft was formally presented to the Information & Broadcasting Ministry recently by the Guild president Amit Khanna at a meeting in Delhi. The Ministry urged for some time to scrutinize the draft but readily assured the Guild president that the proposed Entertainment Export Promotion Council would be formed under its auspices.

    This development establishes the strong foothold occupied by the Guild in the eyes of the establishment.

    Established in 1954 by the stalwarts of the Indian film industry, The Film & TV Producers Guild is today the most progressive body in show business. From the studio barons like Yash Chopra and Subhash Ghai to the new diversified media companies like UTV, Nimbus, Zee, Sahara and Adlabs. From the leading TV production houses like Star TV, Sony, TV Today, NDTV, TV Eighteen, BAG Films to the young turks like Ashutosh Gowariker, Karan Johar, Farhan Akhtar, Rohan Sippy are all symbols of the Indian filmed content. Offering genuine stakeholders in the business an opportunity to work for the betterment of the entertainment industry, the Guild is now the cornerstone of Indian entertainment.

  • CNBC TV18’s ‘Industry Vector series spells the relevance of technology in media business

    CNBC TV18’s ‘Industry Vector series spells the relevance of technology in media business

    MUMBAI: Technology is making all the difference to the way the people the world over access news. CNBC-TV18 will showcase the Industry Vector series 2006 today at 10:30 PM The channel hosted the Industry Vector series, where ‘The Relevance of Technology in the Media Business’ had been the focal point.

    The repeat of the show will air on 26 March at 2:30 PM Reliance Entertainment Pvt Ltd chairman Amit Khanna, CERG Founder and economist Omkar Goswami along with CNBC’s Senthil Chengalvarayan debated on the issue, while exploring the current media scenario in India.

    As technology is making all the difference, the source is no longer just one single window. The average Indian not only has the world at his fingertips, he also has it within a few seconds.

    The convergence of two key trends – the growing demand for rich media and the exploding availability of affordable bandwidth, have combined to propel the media industry to growth levels unheard of even a few years ago. The new digital transmission system, is just one example of how technology is radically altering the way the media industry thinks and operates, informs an official release.

    Have Indian media organizations truly been able to capitalize on these new technologies, to give them the competitive edge? Have they been able to utilize technology to explore new options and orient them to the changing nature of competition? In fact, how exactly does one keep pace with the rapidly changing technology, and still at the same time maintain the organisation’s profitability? What impact will the changing nature of the media market have on the major and minor players?

    The Industry Vector series is an eight episode series on CNBC-TV18, which started from the second week of March 2006 running right up to April 2006. The eight hot sectors this series will focus on are: Infrastructure, Manufacturing, Media, Pharma, Logistics, Banking & Financial Services Industry, Education and ITES.