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Tag: Imtiaz Ali

  • Star Gold HD announces ‘Director’s Cut’

    Star Gold HD announces ‘Director’s Cut’

    MUMBAI: Star Gold HD, India’s favorite destination of movies, is all set to entice its viewers by bringing the best of director’s movies starting from 1st June to 14th June, daily at 9pm. The festival will showcase blockbuster movies by renowned directors like Karan Johar, Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, Prakash Jha, Imtiaz Ali, Farah Khan, Zoya Akhtar and many others.

    The festival has curated 14 best films from the library of these renowned directors. The two week-long festival will begin with ‘Rajneeti’, directed by Prakash Jha starring Ranbir Kapoor & Katrina Kaif. Followed by ‘Om Shanti Om’ directed by Farah Khan, ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ & ‘Rang De Basanti’ by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, ‘Highway’ and ‘Rockstar’ by Imtiaz Ali, Zoya Akhtar’s ‘Luck By Chance’ and ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Doobara’. Karan Johar’s blockbuster hits like ‘My Name Is Khan’ and ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Ghum’, R Balki’s ‘Cheeni Kum’ and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Guzaarish’ are also a part of the movie festival. 

    Experience the biggest hits of your favourite directors in Director’s Cut on Gold HD from 1st June to 14th June at 9.00 pm.

  • Music adds stronger recall value to films says Imtiaz Ali

    Music adds stronger recall value to films says Imtiaz Ali

    MUMBAI:  “Music can make or break a movie,” said Jab We Met director Imtiaz Ali as he spoke about his love and passion for music at the MixRadio Music Connects (MRMC) today. He went on to disclose that the most fun part for him while directing a movie was when he was involved in making the music.

     

    Speaking specifically about his love for Bollywood music and songs, Ali reckons that in an Indian movie movies were incomplete without music as was energy here. “In Highway, I started with one song in mind and ended up having nine songs in the movie.” He revealed. His latest flick Tamasha also has eight songs tracks in the movie.

     

    He informed that in India, music recording started in 1902 and the music library today consists of around 1.2 million songs, which is more than in several countries of the world.

     

    According to Ali, the shelf life of music is more than that of movies. Providing an example, he said “Even today we listen to songs from the 1950s and 1960s, playing on radio at times, we may not remember the movie or the actors, directors, but we always remember songs.”

     

    He went on to speak about the phenomenon of movie directors and producers launching music titles before a movie. He felt that if the music was well received, half the battle was won as movies are remembered through their songs.

     

    Ali, known for his special connect with young audiences, said that the connect comes when the content flows from the heart. “Anything pure and true has more chances of success and therefore Rockstar connected with the youth. They youth doesn’t want to be spoon fed or told what to do and therefore, Sadda Haq, which was a tough song  to understand lyrically, but with a strong message stood out and was  the most popular songs in the movie.”

     

    Before joining movies Ali worked for two TV shows and worked on their respective music with Pritam and then ventured into producing films. His mantra for making movies was “Imagination going beyond the real vision” he said.

     

    Starting with Socha Naa Tha, the director rose to fame with Jab We Met. His movies Love Aaj Kal and Rockstar were both critically acclaimed as well as commercial hits at the box office. He is currently working on his latest project Tamasha starring Bollywood stars Deepika  Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor.

  • MixRadio Music Connects 2014 gets a spirited start

    MixRadio Music Connects 2014 gets a spirited start

    MUMBAI: The opening night of the 6th MixRadio Music Connects 2014 got off to a spirited start with a party hosted at the Hard Rock Café (Worli) in Mumbai on 3 November 2014.

     

    MixRadio Music Connects 2014, to be on 4-5 November, is organised by Hong Kong based event experts Branded (Music Matters, YouTube FanFest) and Indiantelevision.com Group’s Radioandmusic.com.   The conference will feature the very best of the music industry including international and independent Indian music talent, music labels, mobile operators, streaming services, live companies and social media agencies. Along with an excellent spread of food, drinks and music, the well curated evening was attended by well-known personalities from Indian and International music fraternity.

     

    Speaking about the jam-packed line-up of this year’s conference, Branded co-founder and CEO and Music Matters president Jasper Donat said that he expects a lot of people to be there at the two day music conference. Previously having organised “All That Matters”, one of the largest musical conferences in Singapore in May 2014, Donat added that he wished to see people from the industry and attendees from India to participate in the event. He also briefly spoke about the development of Music Matters Academy that aims to prepare young talents with the business knowledge they need to sustain in a highly competitive world of music.

     

    Present at the occasion were Donat along with  Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO and editor in chief Anil Wanvari, consultant Jay Visvadeva, Indus Music Publishing director Paul Pacifico from the UK based Specific Music, British music composer and producer Kully Bhamra, Terry Mardi of Asian music publishing and Meetal Shah from Lead India.

     

    Originally known as Nokia Music Connects, the music conference had been renamed to ‘MixRadio Music Connects’ in order to reflect an association with Microsoft and the personalised music streaming service. The theme for this year’s music forum is “shaping the digital future” and it will feature various discussions on challenges faced in the music industry and how to empower those through different ways like monetisation etc.

     

    The highlights for this year include keynotes by MixRadio Head, Jyrki Rosenberg, a conversation with Bollywood filmmaker Imtiaz Ali and an overview of the music industry by Sony Music president Sridhar Subramanium.  All India Bakchod’s standup comic Tanmay Bhatt and YouTube sensation duo Maati Baani will also talk about their journey as artistes.

  • Three more awards added to Deepika Padukone’s kitty this year

    Three more awards added to Deepika Padukone’s kitty this year

    MUMBAI: Adding more awards to her kitty, Deepika Padukone has bagged three awards at the Star Box Office India Awards 2014, for her performances throughout the year.

    She was awarded the ‘Actor of the Year – Female’ and ‘Romantic Jodi of the Year’ with Ranveer Singh for Goliyon Ki Rasleela… Ramleela.  In addition to this she was also given a special award ‘Ms Hat Trick’ for her back to back successes marking that she has had the highest cumulative box office collections over the past 3 years.

    Overwhelmed with all the love she received on the awards night, the Om Shanti Om actress tweeted, “Too much love tonight! Thank you Star and Box Office India!”

    Received grandly by global audiences throughout her SLAM world tour, the actress has received rave reviews for her performance in Finding Fanny as Angie.

    Deepika Padukone was seen wearing a backless black gown complemented her slender and tall frame, paired with gold coin earrings and berry red lipstick at the event.

    She will soon be seen in Happy New Year which is her third movie with Shah Rukh Khan. She is also shooting for Shoojit Sircar’s Piku alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Irfan Khan and Imtiaz Ali’s Tamasha with Ranbir Kapoor. The ace actress will then start shooting for Sanjay Leela Bhansali Bajirao Mastani with Ranveer Singh.

    ‘Star Box Office Awards’ recognizes the achievements of Hindi films at the box office and will be broadcasted on the 19 October 2014.

  • Sridevi, R Balki attend special screening for ‘Tapaal’

    Sridevi, R Balki attend special screening for ‘Tapaal’

    MUMBAI: A special screening of the award winning Marathi film Tapaal was organised recently and attended by Bollywood veterans like Sridevi, Boney Kapoor, director Imtiaz Ali, R Balki, Gauri Shinde and Niranjan Iyengar along with the cast and crew of the film.

     

    Appreciating the movie, Sridevi commented on a micro-blogging saying, “Just watched Marathi film ‘Tapal’. After a long time, was teary-eyed & emotionally choked. A must watch film for all.”

     

     “Laxman who also was the DoP of English Vinglish has done a commendable job in his first film as director & has packed some memorable moments in Tapal,” she added.

     

    Produced by Maitreya Mass Media and distributed by Pickle Entertainment, starring Nandu Madhav, Veena Jamkar, Milind Gunaji, Urmila Kanetkar and introducing Rohit Utekar, ‘Tapaal’ is all set to release on 26 September 2014.

     

    Tapaal is National & International Award winning Marathi film is set in a small village in the year 1977. It dwells with sympathy, concern and understanding on the bond between a little boy and a childless couple, and the social discrimination that they face.

     

    Even before its release, Laxman Utekar’s directorial debut is creating the right buzz. It has been critically acclaimed and has even won various accolades & awards at different film festivals for its sterling performances.

     

    Tapaal had its World Premiere at 18th Busan International Film Festival 2013, South Korea. It was also selected for the Indian Panorama Section at 44th IFFI (International Film festival 2013). Veena Jamkar bagged the best actress award at South Africa Film Festival. While Rohit Utekar won Best Child Actor Award, Prakash Holkar got the best lyricist award for his emotional composition ‘don disanchi sawali ‘ at the Maharashtra state film Awards.

  • PVR Director’s Rare and HumaraMovie come together to launch ‘Shuruaat’

    PVR Director’s Rare and HumaraMovie come together to launch ‘Shuruaat’

    MUMBAI: HumaraMovie is associating with PVR Directors Rare- limited release arm of PVR Group to launch Indian short film festival aptly called ‘Shuruaat’.

     

    With over 400 short film entries and 13 finalists, ‘Shuruaat’ promises to be the offspring board for budding film makers, who will be guided throughout the production and have been given access to a script consultant as well as casting, production and editing.

     

    The chosen filmmakers have created a short film around the topic ‘Interval’. The short film festival was open to filmmakers/creative artists all across India. The idea was to bring out the ingenuity in filmmaking and to cradle the creative mind of filmmakers.

     

    The selected participants will have their films screened in PVR as well as on HumaraMovie platforms. The winner will be decided by an audience vote for Rs 1 lakh prize money. The screened films will also get a home video release and the top two films will get a world premiere at the Ladakh International Film Festival.

     

    Filmmakers submitted an already existing film, along with a short 150 word biography about themselves. Participants were shortlisted basis their films and were given a topic on which they submitted screenplays. Based on the screenplays, 13 finalists were shortlisted who are now producing a short film with guidance from the mentors. There is no restriction on the genre of the film. The duration of the short film will be 15 minutes inclusive of opening and end credits.

     

    The relevance of the festival came from the statistics that showcase 15,000 films certified in a year out of which 11000 are short films. This indicates that each year, the number of documentary and short film makers in India taken as a category together rises by at least 20,000.

     

    The participants were mentored by popular names from the industry such as Imtiaz Ali, Anand Gandhi, Vikramaditya Motwane and Imtiaz Ali, Ritesh Shah, Kshiti Nijhawan Agrawal, Bijesh Jayarajan and Mukesh Chabbra.

  • ‘Highway’…road to nowhere

    ‘Highway’…road to nowhere

    MUMBAI: A road movie is a genre with its roots in the United States (US) where it became more popular with the post World War II auto boom and peaked in the 60s when a lot of things changed in how the youth looked at life. America had the road, the spirit of adventure and the type of cars and bikes coupled with social movements which did not tie one down. In India, road movies are rare and far in-between and gained some momentum only thanks to inspiration through easy accessibility to DVDs. Despite a few attempts in the last decade or so, the only memorable Indian road movie I can think of is the 1972 Mahmood film, Bombay To Goa. (I would even call Mahmood’s Sadhu Aur Shaitaan a road movie; so what if it was shot only within Bombay limits!) Probably because it was not a DVD inspired film and if it was inspired from external forces, it was very well adapted to suit the Indian taste. A road movie formula is one where the lead characters come of age, grow or improve in the process of the journey.

    Highway, going by the definition of a road movie, is a copybook road movie as far as its characters go. The tough as tungsten male protagonist melts like a candle while the female matures enough to break all shackles of social norms and bindings. The problem with Highway is that, while the rules of road movies are already laid down for it, sadly, the content for the length of the film acceptable to Indian audience, where you can’t remain indifferent to romance and fitting in songs, does not come with the formula. Probably, that is why the percentage of Hindi road movies working at the box office is so small. (Some films I can recall: Bombay To Goa, Ginny Aur Johny, Chalo Dilli, Zindagi Na MIlegi Dobara, Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahi and Daud)

    Producers: Sajid Nadiadwala, Imtiaz Ali.

    Director: Imtiaz Ali.

    Cast: Randeep Hooda, Alia Bhatt.

    Randeep Hooda works for a gang which is for hire; they commit crimes on contract basis. On a mission to loot a petrol pump, Hooda comes across Alia Bhatt who is out to get some fresh air with her boyfriend. To make good his escape, Hooda dumps Alia’s boyfriend but takes her as a hostage till he reaches his partners and own vehicle. Kidnapping Alia was not on his agenda and why he does not dump her is a question. Alia comes from the house of a very influential man in Delhi and the gang members expect trouble. On account of this, Hooda decides to go on his own and demand ransom for Alia. This is a road movie so instead of cooling his heels in one place, he just takes his truck around the country (except Southern parts). In the era of electronic surveillance, he manages to hide from the authorities merely by changing the number plates of his truck; description of the vehicle does not matter.

    While Hooda may give Alia a slap or two, he never tries any sort of mischief with her. As expected, Alia is drawn towards him and won’t let him go. She does not want to go home where she is being molested by an uncle since she was nine. She wants to hang around with Hooda and keep travelling. They end up somewhere in the mountains, borrow a house and set up a kitchen with Maggi noodles! By now you have had enough and decide that if the police won’t find them, you yourself will call them when there is a bang. The police who did not manage to nab him while he roamed about the highways of India, passing state check posts, finally find him in this remote mountain and without warning just shoot him down.

    There is nothing such as a story in this movie. This has been shown in a number of films where the captive falls for the goon. Otherwise, this film is a kind of Bharat Darshan taking you to places you would not go to otherwise. In a weatherman’s parlance, the film is 133 minutes but feels like 300 and with just two characters to carry it off, offers no distraction except change of scenery.

    Highway is touted to be aimed at the gentry audience but one would assume even gentry go to cinema for entertainment, which this film is lacking.

     

    Darr @ the Mall

    Stolen ideas…

    Horror has not really been a favourite Indian genre and neither are there original writers for this breed of film. The preference here is mainly feel good fare or soaps or romance. Obviously, the ‘inspiration’ has to come from Hollywood films. Horror movies don’t have repeat value, in most cases does not even gain a first-time audience, provides no scope for music which is a must in Indian movies and, generally, don’t entertain. In which case, why would anybody want to make one is a mystery! As suspected, Darr @ The Mall comes from a 1989 Hollywood film called Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge.

    Contiloe Entertainment is a TV content providing company making a foray into film production and the film will be learning experience for the company.

    Producers: MSM Media Motion Pictures, Contiloe Entertainment.

    Director: Pavan Kriplani.

    Cast: Jimmy Shergill, Nushrat Bharucha, Arif Zakaria, Asif Basra.

    Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge was about one Eric Matthews who lives in a huge house which burns down; Eric is reported dead but he has been able to save his girlfriend. Soon, a mall comes up where his house was. Eric is not dead though badly burnt. He haunts the mall, killing people, especially those who set an eye on his girlfriend.

    Darr @ The Mall is about a mall, ironically called Amity Mall, that has come up at a location where an orphanage run by a kindly nun stood once. The orphanage burns down killing the nun as well as all the children save for one child who, though wounded, manages to escape. A mall has come up where the orphanage stood. Soon, the mall is in the news for all the wrong reasons. Workers and sentries get killed at random at the mall. As a result, nobody is willing to take charge of the security at this mall when Jimmy Shergill, an ex-army man, gets an offer he can’t refuse. He accepts the job at the mall.

    Even as Shergill takes charge, the killing spree continues though no harm comes to him. From the sundry staff, the killing progresses to the families of the owners. To salvage the reputation of the mall, the owners decide on an evening party at the mall paving way for an item number too! That evening, which is never-ending for the viewer in this film, lasts most of the film. There are purposeless killings and illogical incidents. Why, when the culprits are available for the picking, does the revenge seeker kill innocent sentries and others?

    Darr @ The Mall is a poorly written horror film where nothing works. While in the original, it was a private property, an orphanage is not owned by the orphans, and just by killing its inhabitants one can’t take over the premises! This is a pathetic effort by Pavan Kriplani. There is no horror, only gore to pass of as horror. Writer director Kriplani is totally at a loss with this project. While the rest are caricatures, it is sad to see Shergill being totally wasted in this whim of fancy. Excuses have been created to fit in a few songs but in vain. Editing is poor. Photography is passable. Background score is jarring.

    Darr @ The Mall stands no chance at the box office.

  • Imtiaz Ali launches Tisca Chopra’s debut book ‘Acting Smart’

    Imtiaz Ali launches Tisca Chopra’s debut book ‘Acting Smart’

    MUMBAI: With few character roles on TV and films, actor Tisca Chopra has proved her worth to the entertainment fraternity of the country.  It was time for her to tell the world that she is much more than that and thus Tisca took to writing. The pre-launch of the actor’s book, Acting Smart was held at the Indian Non-Friction Literature festival with director Imtiaz Ali.

     

    Tisca has always been a book lover and voracious reader with her favourites including the likes of PG Wodehouse, Oscar Wilde and Stephen King. However, her book, Acting Smart is more of a guide for all the newbies in the industry, cinegoers and movie buffs. The actor took over a few months to come up with ideas that are fresh and unique.

     

    Imtiaz Ali, who is a very dear friend of Tisca not only unveiled the book but has also contributed a few episodes and anecdotes in the book along with Raju Hirani, Shabana Azmi, Boman Irani and many more. 

     

    The event saw Tisca Chopra and Imtiaz Ali talking to the audiences and sharing few of their personal and interesting experiences which they have come across in the course of their careers.

     

    Also present at the event was Tisca Chopra’s husband Sanjay Chopra who is also a writer and cheered and supported Tisca throughout the event.

  • Rahman sings ‘Maahi Ve’ for Highway

    Rahman sings ‘Maahi Ve’ for Highway

    MUMBAI: After Patakha Guddi sent the entire nation rocking to the beats of Highway, music maestro A.R. Rahman takes the microphone himself for the next song Maahi Ve.

     

    Directed by Imtiaz Ali, Highway is a road movie starring Alia Bhatt and Randeep Hooda who traverse through six states of north India in the course of the film.

     

    Maahi Ve, written by Irshad Kamil, is a soft romantic number sung by Rahman in his inimitable soulful way. It is picturised on Veera (Alia) and Mahabir (Randeep), as circumstances bring the two strangers close to each other.

     

    “Maahi Ve is coming more from Rahman sir than from Irshad or me. This is one of the songs that Rahman sir makes and one wonders how the hell does he get the soul of the story so beautifully. The song was not a part of the original brief but I cannot imagine the film or the album of Highway without it,” says Imtiaz. 

     

    Produced by Window Seat Films and presented by Sajid Nadiadwala, the film will be released worldwide by UTV Motion Pictures. The music of the film will be available on T-Series.

  • Alia discovers the unseen India

    Alia discovers the unseen India

    MUMBAI: They don’t call acting the best profession for no reason. There’s something about it that fascinates many. And one of the most important is that while donning different roles, an actor gets to learn a lot of new things. Something similar happened to Alia Bhatt while shooting for Imtiaz Ali’s Highway.

    Presented by Sajid Nadiadwala and starring Alia Bhatt and Randeep Hooda, the film traverses six states of north India and captures the landscape of the different regions as it goes along. The makers have come up with Highway Diaries – short video snippets that capture the journey of the film and all the exciting experiences that the cast and crew had during its making.

    The latest episode of Highway Diaries titled Sambhar Salt Pan, Alia is seen shooting for the film in a salt factory in Sambhar (Rajasthan) along with other actors of the film. Born and brought up in a city like Mumbai, the world of Sambhar where anything and everything has more than a pinch of salt was a revelation for the young star.

    “Highway took me to all these amazing places that I probably wouldn’t have ever seen otherwise. Sambhar, the salt factory, was the most beautiful and the most weird experience for me. I celebrated my birthday there as well. In many ways, I think it was here that I truly started feeling like Veera (her character in the film),” said Alia in a release.