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Tag: Kamal Hassan

  • The 60th Britannia Filmfare Awards 2014: New beginnings

    The 60th Britannia Filmfare Awards 2014: New beginnings

    Mumbai: As the Award reaches the landmark 60th year, it does so in partnership with the globally iconic brand – Britannia. Both Britannia and Filmfare are not only household names but leaders in their respective fields. It’s going to be a master class in excellence as two distinguished brands come together to honour the best of Indian cinema.   

    With six decades at the top, Filmfare magazine and the Awards hold pride of place in the hearts of stars and fans alike. Starting with a modest ceremony of just 5 awards, it is now an extravagant gala with over 35 awards. A R Rahman leads with the highest number of the Filmfare Awards, a whopping 29, followed by Kamal Hassan and Gulzar at 20 each.  Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Black and Devdas have been the most successful films at the Filmfare Awards.  They’ve bagged an amazing 10 awards each.

    The Black Lady too has changed over time; from a 5kg hand crafted bronze trophy to a golden avatar at the 50th anniversary.  A diamond-studded trophy, the 2500th piece, was given away to A R Rahman in 2012. In 2013, gold plating at the base of the trophy was done to mark the centenary of Indian Cinema and a year later, keeping up with the advent of 3D in films and 3D printing technology in real life, Filmfare took a futuristic leap. All the trophies that year were 3D printed.
    Britannia Industries is one of India’s leading food companies with annual revenues in excess of Rs. 6000 Cr. In it’s close to 100 year journey, Britannia has become one of India’s favorite and most trusted food brands and houses power brands like Good Day, Tiger, NutriChoice and MarieGold which are household names in India.  Britannia’s product portfolio includes biscuits, bread, cakes, rusk, and dairy products including cheese, beverages, Milk and yoghurt. Britannia products are available across the country in over 35 lakh retail outlets and reach over 50% of Indian homes.  It’s most recent product launches – NutriChoice Heavens and Goodday Chunkies showcase the Company’s ability to offer World- class bakery experiences to the Indian consumer.

    To announce this momentous occasion, Britannia and Filmfare came together at the hotel JW Marriott in Mumbai on December 7, 2014. Gracing the event to announce this grand new association was B-town’s favourite actress and now international pop icon Priyanka Chopra along   with Mr. Varun Berry, Managing Director, Britannia Industries Limited and Mr. Tarun Rai, Chief Executive Officer, Worldwide Media, the publishers of Filmfare magazine.  Together they lit the lamp marking the start of a new magical journey to honour Hindi cinema’s best.

    Talking about their decision to partner with the Filmfare Awards Mr. Varun Berry said, “Britannia is happy to announce its association with the Filmfare Awards 2014 as a Title Sponsor. The Britannia Filmfare Awards 2014 will bring together the two things that every Indian loves – Good food and Great Fun.”

    Mr. Tarun Rai, CEO, Worldwide Media said, “In the 60th year of the Filmfare Awards, I am very happy to announce that Britannia is making their debut with us as partners. Britannia is an iconic brand and I am sure their association with Filmfare Awards will only raise the stature of our event. I look forward to this new journey.”

    The 60th Britannia Filmfare Awards 2014 will be held on January 31, 2015 at the Yash Raj Studios, Andheri, Mumbai.

     

  • Kollywood sizzles at the eighth Vijay Awards

    Kollywood sizzles at the eighth Vijay Awards

    MUMBAI: Tamilians love their movies and even more the actors in them. It is well known that for Tamilians, film stars are no less than gods, as they pack a punch in every movie that thunders at the box office. And celebrating this were the 10,000 people, who had arrived in anticipation to catch a glimpse of stars at the eight annual Vijay Awards held at the Nehru Indoor stadium in Chennai.

    Even before the arrival of the stars, the whistles and cheering commenced in full force. Capturing the entire crowd along with the 100 feet by 60 feet stage were 20 SD cameras both inside and outside the venue. This included still cameras, hand held cameras, jibs and one drone camera that caught the eye of the audience as it flew above the crowd.

    The award show that went on for nearly seven and a half hours will be telecast in two parts (four hours each) on 20 July and 27 July. The entire execution was done by an in-house team of 100 with just the ground logistics and drone handling outsourced. The creative of the show as well as execution was taken care of by Vijay Awards core creative VP Mahendran while Star Vijay senior VP for programming Pradeep Peter was the man behind the camera work for effective on air scene shots. 

    The huge list of sponsors brought in by  Star Vijay senior VP for ad sales Dev Shenoy included title sponsor Gionee Smart Phones, Casa Grand as powered by sponsor, Dr. M. G. R University Maduravoyil, Nandu Brand Lungies, Repco Home Finance and RRP Housing as co presenting sponsors, Sunland Refined Sunflower Oil, Step Stone  Promoters,  V Care hair growth Vitalizer, The Chennai Silks, Poomalai Housing, Kibbs Lungigal, Vijaya optical House, RPG Developers, Shakthi Masala, Ran India TMT Kambigal, Fairever Fairness Cream as associate sponsors. Hyatt Regency Chennai was hospitality partner, Dindigul Thalappakatti Biryani  was delicacy partner and The Hindu was print partner. Now, the hunt is on for on-air sponsors.

    Vijay Awards hosted by Divyadarshini and Neeya Nana Gopinath saw dance performances by the winners of Zee TV’s DID L’il Masters season 3 winners, actress Shruti Hassan and Hansika Motwani. Says Star Vijay GM K Sriram, “We have been working for 24 hours from the past 45 days to make it a success. Vijay Awards is one of the most popular awards in the state of Tamil Nadu and people throng to witness it and to see the stars that come for the event. Our anchors are on par with any big celebrity host.” Last year the show was hosted by Gopi and actor R Madhavan.

    The channel says that the stage, LED, lighting, choreography, costumes as well as AVs and scripts for the show were scaled up from the previous year. Indeed, several dance performances saw fire being shot from the stage for enhanced viewing. Dance performances saw dancers drop from above the stage for impact. The event only got better with the Kollywood stars arriving in the stadium, which saw an increase in the noise decibels. These included Vijay, AR Rahman, Kamal, Surya, Kushboo, Hansika, Nayantara, Ajith, Hassan and Karthik. Not to forget, the event was also attended for the second time in a row by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan who was presented with the ‘entertainer of Indian cinema’ award by Rajinikanth’s wife Latha.

    An intense marketing campaign was launched four weeks prior to the show that saw ads of 10,000 square centimeters being given in all leading dailies in English and Tamil newspapers such as Times of India, the Hindu, Ananda Vikatan and Kumudham. Radio spots were bought on Radio Mirchi across Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Trichy. “The voting was exclusive on the digital medium and we had an audience attention of close to three crore over the four week period. Close to Rs one crore worth of advertising space and time had been mobilised for this massive promotion,” says Star Vijay senior VP for planning and marketing Balachandran. 25 hoardings and 10,000 posters were booked across the state as well showing the golden lady trophy of Vijay Awards. Digital and print will be once again used prior to the TV screening.

    “Close to Rs 8.5 crore was spent on the entire event to make it a grand one,” says Sriram. Indeed, the spectacle of seeing eminent personalities on stage together standing and posing for a selfie was the moment of the night. Although the audience did not stay still for a second, the entire stadium erupted in a din when Vijay and Shah Rukh Khan entered the venue. While the soft spoken Vijay, who plays the macho actor on screen, shyly took away the award for the ‘favourite actor of the year’, SRK was at his usual best and grooved on stage to his own numbers while the audience cheered and clapped.

    Some of the awards, out of the 40 given were, Kamal Hassan for ‘Best Actor,’ Nayantara for ‘Best as well as Favourite Actress,’ Aarambam for ‘Favourite Film,’ Vishwaroopam for ‘Best Film’ and AR Rahman for ‘Best Music Director.’

  • Kamal Haasan, Paresh Rawal and Sooni Taraporewala among Padma Awardees

    Kamal Haasan, Paresh Rawal and Sooni Taraporewala among Padma Awardees

    NEW DELHI: Veteran actor Kamal Hassan and vocal artiste Begum Parveen Sultana have been conferred the Padma Bhushan while actors Paresh Rawal, Vidya Balan, and filmmaker Santosh Sivan have been named for the Padma Shri awards in the Republic Day Honours this year.

     

    Renowned Ghatam artiste T H Vinayakaram has also been named for a Padma Bhushan in the list announced by the President late this evening.

     

    Veteran animation filmmaker Ram Mohan, actors Supriya Devi and Sabitri Chatterji from West Bengal and script writer and director Sooni Taraporewala have also been named for Padma Shri.

     

    Renowned Tabla player Vijay Ghate, Sarangi exponent Ustad Moinuddin Khan of Rajasthan, pauna manjha music artiste Musafir Ram Bhardwaj, wellknown theatre exponent Bansi Kaul of Kashmir, eminent poet Ashok Chakradhar, eminent authors Ruskin Bond and Manorama Jafa are also among the Padma Shri recipients.

     

    The late Justice J S Verma who had headed the News Broadcasting Standards Authority and later the inquiry into the rape of a medical student in December 2012 has been named posthumously for the Padma Shri.

     

    Tennis ace Leader Paes, badminton player Pullela Gopichand, cricketer Yuvraj Singh from Haryana and Anjum Chopra of Delhi, kabaddi star Sunil Dabbas of Haryana, Delhi mountaineering enthusiast Love Raj Singh Dharmshaktu, squash player Dipika Rebecca Pallikal, wheelchair tennis player H Boniface Prabhu of Karnataka, and mountaineer Mamta Sodhna of Haryana figured among the sports persons who received the Padma Shri. 

  • Kolkata Film festival to open with late Ghosh’s unreleased movie

    Kolkata Film festival to open with late Ghosh’s unreleased movie

    KOLKATA: The 19th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) will open with the screening of an unreleased film of the iconic Rituparno Ghosh, amid the presence of a galaxy of stars including the legendary Amitabh Bachchan.

    “Ritu da is no more with us. But he continues to live with his immortal creations. His unreleased film Taak Jhaank (Sunglass) will be screened for the first time in the inaugural ceremony of the 19th Kolkata International Film Festival on that day,” West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said.

    Ghosh’s satire Taak Jhaank brings together the two veterans of Bollywood – Jaya Bachchan and Naseeruddin Shah for the very first time. Ghosh died 30 May following a heart attack.

    The film festival to be inaugurated by Amitabh Bachchan on 10 November would be graced by a number of luminaries including megastar Shah Rukh Khan – also the state’s brand ambassador as well and versatile actor Kamal Hassan.

    Incidentally, the opening day of the fest will coincide with the international Test Match between India and West Indies at the Eden Gardens where batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar will be appearing for the last time before he hangs up his boots after playing the next – his 200th in Mumbai.

    Kolkata will be honoured to have a very eventful day on 10 November. The cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar will be playing the last day of his 199th Test match at the Eden Gardens on that day. Kolkata’s showpiece event, the KIFF will also be held on that day in the august presence of iconic Amitabh ji, Shah Rukh and Kamal Hassan. We are so lucky to have the presence of all those luminaries on a single day at Kolkata,” added Banerjee.

  • Madurai Kamaraj University to rope in Kamal Hassan as guide for its film institute

    Madurai Kamaraj University to rope in Kamal Hassan as guide for its film institute

    MUMBAI: The Madurai Kamaraj University is in talks with Kamal Hassan to rope him as a key guide for its ambitious film institute situated in its campus. A state-of-the-art film institute is being set up on the campus on the lines of the ones in Pune (FTII) and Chennai (South India Film Institute).

    Soon after the Vice-Chancellor Kalyani Mathivanan made an announcement about the project after assuming office in April, preliminary discussions have been going on with popular film personalities in order to get them on the Advisory Board of the institute. In the process, the University authorities also approached Hassan and explained him the project details. His participation was sought thereafter.

    A detailed project report is now being prepared by a reputed auditor of Chennai which will be taken to the Chief Minister‘s attention seeking funding support. Apart from Hassan, a few more personalities of the film industry will also be roped in to have their participation on the Advisory Board.

    The film institute will have a five-year integrated course in which a range of specialities in film making such as editing, sound, cinematography, music among others will be offered. The syllabus for this course would be prepared by the University taking expert inputs from film personalities.

    The University is trying hard to get some funding assistance from the University Grants Commission under its innovative scheme, according to Professor Mathivanan.

  • Osborne announces pact with Kamal Hassan

    Osborne announces pact with Kamal Hassan

    MUMBAI: Lord of the Rings producer Barrie M Osborne has formally announced his collaboration with the Kamal Hassan.

    Osborne, who flew down to Singapore to announce the association with the Tamil thespian on the sidelines of the IIFA said that the project was still at a nascent stage with just the ideation happening.

    “Kamal‘s concept inspired me and the discussions we‘ve had convinced me that it would be something worthy for us to pursue. I am impressed by what he has accomplished on Vishwaroop. After that we started talking about ideas and about the possibility to work together.

    His knowledge about history, literature and films is encyclopedic. Kamal presented an idea to me that was so compelling that I couldn‘t resist working with him,” Osborne said.

    Hassan added that he was honoured to work with Osborne. “You keep doing your work, after sometime you don‘t know whether you are doing good work or not. Its only when people like Barrie come up to you, all the hard work makes sense. He has worked with the champions in Hollywood like Coppola,” he quipped.

    The film is yet to be titled and Hassan‘s role in it, be it that of a director, writer or actor, is yet to be decided.

  • Kamal Hassan to helm Barrie Osborne film

    Kamal Hassan to helm Barrie Osborne film

    MUMBAI: So taken away was Lord Of The Rings series producer Barrie M Osborne with Kamal Hassan’s latest film Vishwaroop, that he decided to produce a film that would star Hassan who will also helm it.

    “It’s really not the right time to talk about it, but Osborne watched Vishwaroop and suggested we do something together,” said Hassan in a statement.

    It is said that right after the screening of Vishwaroop in Los Angeles recently, Osborne got in touch with the actor-director and asked him to find a suitable script that he would both direct and star in. Initially Hassan didn’t take the matter seriously but Osborne was so persistent that Hassan had to consider the offer. He has since zeroed in on a suitable subject.

    Osborne, known for his big-budget Hollywood productions such as Dick Tracy, The Big Chill and Fandango (the film that apparently inspired Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara), has liked Hassan’s script after which production details are being worked out.

    Osborne has also produced The Great Gatsby, the screen adaptation of Scott Fitzgerald’s novel that has Amitabh Bachchan in a cameo role.

  • Kamal Hassan back to Bollywood with Amar Hain

    Kamal Hassan back to Bollywood with Amar Hain

    MUMBAI: Kamal Hassan is returning to the Hindi screen after a gap of 12 long years. The actor-producer-director is set to enter the arena with a separate Hindi version of his big-budgeted Tamil film.

    According to Hassan, he wrote the script two years ago but put it aside because it required great intellectual and financial inputs. “I think I am now ready on both counts,” he is quoted to have said.

    Titled Amar Hain, the film will take a dispassionate look at the legitimisation of corruption in present-day India. Though the film isn‘t judgmental about corruption, it looks at contemporary mores dispassionately.

    The other angle is the invisibility of global crime lords in the era of technology. “In the digital era, everything including crime is on the computer and the phone. That‘s why we never see global players in the crime game in our country. They don‘t need to since all their work is digitally manouevred. Amar Hain goes into all of this,” Hassan added.

    The film will be made in Tamil and Hindi with Hassan himself helming the project, besides playing the lead in both the versions.

    The last film Hasan produced, directed and acted was Hey Ram in 2000.

  • What ails the Indian film industry?

    What ails the Indian film industry?

    BANGALORE: A panel discussion on ‘What ails the film industry – A reality checkup of the filmed entertainment sector‘ at the third edition of the Ficci‘s two-day Media and Entertainment Business Conclave highlighted a number of issues that plagued the film industry in India.

    The session, moderated by actor, director and screenwriter Kamal Hassan had film producer, director and scriptwriter S Priyadarsan, South India Film Chamber of Commerce Secretary L Suresh, Cinemax CEO Suresh Shenoy and Real Images co-founder Senthil Kumar as panellists.

    Piracy, multiple sales of the same ticket and the state governments‘ role in fixing movie ticket prices were highlighted as the main banes of the Indian film industry.

    In the case of producers, besides piracy, the other major ailments were high cost of talent and high cost of production; cost inflation; lack of understanding of Intellectual Property (IP) and Copyright (CR) rules; lack of access to institutional funding; lack of good scriptwriters and original content.

    From the exhibitors point of view, archaic rules and regulations, some as old as 1947, such as getting licenses and renewals, needed a relook since most of the theaters had gone digital. The laws based on the Electricity and the Projection Acts were not really relevant today.

    From the distributors point of view some of the problems faced included exorbitant acquisition costs; because of non-availability of institutional funds, regional distributors were finding it difficult to grow beyond their limits, hence making it difficult to release films during peak season time because of high prices by the exhibitors and also multiple releases during a week makes it difficult for the distributor to get good show timings from the exhibitors who control the last mile.

    The industry needed to embrace technology at all places down the value chain. Priyadarsan shared the approach of the Kerala Film Industry to curb piracy and revenue leakages through wide releases of films and computerised ticketing. Instead of the 30 or 40 screens that a film was released earlier, it is now being released across 100 screens. In the case of computerised tickets, Priyadarsan said that sitting in his house, he could know how many tickets of his film were sold in real time.

    Shenoy cautioned that the viability of a wide release varied from movie to movie. It should be based on the merit of the film. He pointed out the wide release had brought down the shelf life of a movie from 4 weeks to 1 week, hence there could be problem with maintaining a flow of content for the exhibitor. The number of movies being produced had to be at least doubled to maintain a steady flow of content and to advocate wide releases for big ticket films.

    Shenoy also suggested that the government should take up piracy issue on a pan India basis and bring in a suitable law and impose it on the states, rather than the current situation where piracy which came mainly under the ambit of state governments‘, many of whom did not take the matter seriously.

    Suresh said that Tamil Nadu had one of the best laws to combat piracy that was being emulated by a number of states, but bemoaned the fact that implementation of the law was very poor. Piracy could be eradicated only if the administrators in a town were adamant and ruthless in implementing the law.

    Suresh also questioned a state government‘s (like Tamil Nadu) curbs in the pricing of film tickets. The ticket price of a small budget film could be low, while in the case of the big budget film, the producer, with the knowledge-not permission from the state government, could fix whatever price he chose. Computerized ticketing would ensure that a government would get its taxes.

    Hassan agreed with Suresh saying that the state government should treat films as any other business, more so in the case of the southern states, where the governments saw films more as a political platform.

    Suresh also suggested dynamic pricing of film tickets, maybe, the price could be higher for the first few weeks and then lowered later. He further said that the in the case of other major cities and towns, the benefits of dynamic rates that were being arbitrarily fixed by theater owners depending upon show timings did not filter down to the producers who owned the copyrights of the content.

    Shenoy informed, “In some cases, the cost of talent is almost 60 per cent of the film‘s budget”. He suggested that rather than paying per film, the actors should be paid a fixed sum and part of the profits which depended upon the box-office performance of a film, a model similar to the one followed in Hollywood.

    Senthil agreed that most of the problems faced by the industry could be alleviated with the right application of technology. Piracy, which caused leakage of 30 to 50 per cent revenue leakage, could be prevented to a great extent. Technology made it possible for piracy to be curbed in all means except through a cam-coder brought into the movie hall. Technology will make the necessity of a film print redundant.

    Shenoy said that there was a need for open dialogue between all the stakeholders and the government as well as a constructive dialogue amongst various stakeholders in the film world is critical. For example the multiplex impasse a couple of years ago impacted not only the warring parties, but everyone in the value chain. “The industry must keep channels of communication open and look for alternative means for dispute resolution,” he suggested.

    Shenoy further suggested that producers should garner together an initiative to train scriptwriters and paid great importance to research and development to enable only quality scripts being made into films.

  • Ramesh Sippy back to direction after 16 years

    Ramesh Sippy back to direction after 16 years

    MUMBAI: Known to have directed films like Sholay and Seeta Aur Geeta among others, Ramesh Sippy is returning to helm a film after a gap of 16 years. The veteran filmmaker is set to direct a romantic film.

    Confirming the same Sippy said, "Yes, I am working on my next project, a romantic film. I am very excited with the way the script is shaping up and am looking forward to starting the casting process soon."
     
    The new silver screen presentation will be his first romantic film since the Kamal Hassan-Dimple Kapadia-starrer Saagar. The film is expected to roll next year under his RS Entertainment banner.

    It may be noted that Sippy has recently signed up for a remake of Gautham Menon‘s Tamil blockbuster Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya in which he will reprise the role of a Bollywood producer.