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Tag: Denzil Smith

  • Curtain call: DTF returns with starry season 6

    Curtain call: DTF returns with starry season 6

    Delhi Theatre Festival, Alchemist Live, Prabhu Tony, Naseeruddin Shah, Anupam Kher, Lillete Dubey, Denzil Smith, Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Makarand Deshpande, Kumud Mishra, Pankaj Kapur, American Express, M3M India, Siri Fort Auditorium, NCUI Auditorium, OP Jindal Auditorium, Aurum Conventions, Gurugram, Delhi NCR

    MUMBAI: Delhi’s drama scene is ready to steal the spotlight once again! The Delhi Theatre Festival (DTF) is back for its sixth season, promising a show-stopping celebration of storytelling, stagecraft, and star power. Set to unfold from 14th to 16th November, the festival will light up four iconic venues across Delhi NCR, Siri Fort Auditorium, NCUI Auditorium, OP Jindal Auditorium, and Aurum Conventions in Gurugram.

    With American Express returning as the title sponsor for the sixth consecutive year and M3M India powering the event, DTF Season 6 is shaping up to be a blockbuster on and off stage. American Express platinum card members even enjoyed an exclusive presale window and special savings on tickets, a fitting reward for loyal theatre buffs.

    This year’s lineup reads like a who’s who of Indian theatre royalty. Naseeruddin Shah returns with Einstein, Anupam Kher brings Kuch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai, and Lillete Dubey and Denzil Smith take the stage with Autobiography. Audiences can also look forward to Rajat Kapoor’s directorial Karamjale Brothers starring Vinay Pathak, Makarand Deshpande’s beloved Sir Sir Sarla, Kumud Mishra’s Dhumrapaan, and Pankaj Kapur’s Dreamz.

    “Over the past five seasons, DTF has grown from a city event into a cultural landmark,” said Alchemist Live CEO and co-founder Prabhu Tony. “With Season 6, we’re scaling up with premieres, legends, and new voices, all sharing one stage.”

    Echoing the sentiment, Naseeruddin Shah shared, “Every season brings a new energy and audience, that’s what keeps theatre alive.”

    With 12 plus shows and an expected 15,000-strong audience, DTF Season 6 is set to be the grandest edition yet. For Delhi’s theatre lovers, this November isn’t just about drama, it’s about centre stage, standing ovations, and a festival that promises to make every act count.

     

  • Civic Studios announces world premiere of animation feature ‘Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust’ at Rotterdam Film Festival in 2024

    Civic Studios announces world premiere of animation feature ‘Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust’ at Rotterdam Film Festival in 2024

    Mumbai: Civic Studios, a global media company creating entertainment that drives social impact, proudly announces the world premiere of Indo-French-German production ‘Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust’ at the 2024 edition of the Rotterdam Film Festival in its Bright Future section, aimed at up-and-coming filmmakers with innovative, original, and daring work. This marks the feature debut of the award-winning Indian filmmaker Ishan Shukla, whose 2016 animated short “Schirkoa” played at more than 120 international film festivals and won 33 awards, including Best Animated Short award at LA Shorts Fest.

    ‘Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust’ tells the story of a dystopian world where people are made to wear paper bags over their heads to dissolve differences, and an anonymous citizen sparks an accidental revolution.

    The film features a powerful, diverse voice cast, including Golshifteh Farahani, Asia Argento, SoKo, King Khan, Denzil Smith, John Sutton, and introducing Tibu Fortes and Shahbaz Sarwar. The guest voices will also include iconic Indian talents like Karan Johar, Shekhar Kapur, Anurag Kashyap, and Piyush Mishra. The film’s eclectic, immersive soundtrack is composed by the acclaimed Sneha Khanwalkar, who has created iconic scores for films like Gangs of Wasseypur and Oye Lucky Lucky Oye.

    On the announcement of its Rotterdam world premiere, Civic Studios founder Anushka Shah, expressed, “With ‘Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust,’ we knew the film and Ishan’s vision will push the boundaries of animation and storytelling, celebrating a harmonious blend of diverse cultures, ideas and creative heft. It is thrilling to receive  that recognition and premiere on a prestigious stage like Rotterdam.”

    This film is a co-production between Red Cigarette Media (Ishan Shukla’s Vadodara-based animation studio), Dissidenz Films (Paris-based production company), and Rapid Eye Movies (German production and distribution company), in association with Civic Studios (Mumbai and London-based production studio focused on impact storytelling) and French Sofica Cofinova 18. On the Indian side, it has been by Shah and co-produced by Samir Sarkar.

    The film was also supported by CNC Cinémas du Monde, Epic MegaGrants, Film¬ und Medienstiftung NRW and French region Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

  • The Lunch Box set to release this week after winning international acclaim

    The Lunch Box set to release this week after winning international acclaim

    The Lunch Box by Ritesh Batra, which has already won high acclaim in the Festival circuit overseas including Cannes where it was premiered, is finally being released in India on 20 September.

     

    In Hindi and English, the film stars Irrfan Khan with newcomer Nimrat Kaur, apart from Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Denzil Smith, Bharati Achrekar, Nakul Vaid, Baby Yashvi Puneet Nagar and Lillete Dubey.

     

    Filmed by Michael Simmonds and edited by John Lyons with music by Max Richter, the film is the first full-length feature by Batra.

     

    Briefly, it is the story of a young married woman Ila who attempts to give a new life to her marriage by trying out new recipes which she sends out to her husband in the lunch box through the network of 5000 ‘Dabbawallahs’ who operate in Mumbai. But she soon realises that her box is reaching the wrong address and this leads to a chain of letters through the lunch box between Ila and Saajan – an older person on the verge of retirement who really relishes the food – through which they share their anxieties and fears and in a manner of speaking, fall in love. But they never get to meet each other.

     

    Harvard University had once analyzed the delivery system of the ‘Dabbawallahs’, and concluded that just one in a million lunchboxes is ever delivered to the wrong address. Batra says this is the story of that one lunchbox.

     

    Addressing a press meet, Batra said he had initially been researching on a documentary on the Dabbawallahs and had many of them and heard several stories. It was then that he felt he wanted to put a story behind the research.

     

    Karan Johar who along with Siddharth Roy Kapoor of UTV is one of the presenters of the film said he had always picked films that had a soul in them and would touch people’s hearts and this was his reason for associating with this venture.

     

    He said the end had deliberately been left vague and to the viewer’s imagination.

     

    Others present at the press meet were producer Guneet Monga, Kapoor, and actors Irrfan Khan, Nimrit Kaur, and Bharati Achrekar.  

     

    Shot on location in Mumbai, the film made its world premiere at the Semaine De La Critique (Critics Week) at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, where the film received rave reviews.

     

    Batra’s short films have been shown at many international film festivals and fine arts venues. His recent Arab language short Café Regular, Cairo, screened at over 40 international film festivals and won 12 awards including the International Critics Prize (FIPRESCI) at Oberhausen, and Special Jury Mentions at Tribeca and Chicago. CAFÉ REGULAR, CAIRO was acquired by Franco-German broadcaster, Arte.

     

    He is currently working on his next film Photograph and a collection of short stories.

     

    Other producers are Anurag Kashyap and Arun Rangachari, while the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) is a co-producer.