ITV

Tag: Kerala

  • First edition of Ladakh Film Festival to be held in June

    First edition of Ladakh Film Festival to be held in June

    MUMBAI: The inaugural edition of the Ladakh Film Festival would be held in Leh from 15-17 June next year with the aim to draw attention of the world and the world cinema towards the pristine beauty of Ladakh.

    The festival, also nicknamed the Highest Altitude film festival, will be held 13,500 feet above the sea level and would be chaired by veteran director Shyam Benegal, who will head the jury.

    The festival has been categorised into four sections namely World Cinema, Indian Cinema, Competition and Ladakh. While the World Cinema category is open only to International Films, the Indian Cinema section is open only to films made in India. The competition section will include feature films, short films, animation films and documentary films while the Ladakh section will include only those films that are made by the residents of Ladakh or the films made on Ladakh.

    Along with the entertainment the festival will also talks business. The organisers of the festival will also set up ‘Film Shoppe‘ on the lines of Film Bazaar where filmmakers can market their films to the International film studios, film producers, film buyers and satellite channels.

    The festival is being organised by Kerala-based former doctor turned film writer and director Melwyn Williams Chirayath, along with his business partner Meghna Dubey.

  • Vidya Balan accepts second Malayalam film

    Vidya Balan accepts second Malayalam film

    MUMBAI: Even as Balaji Telefilms, the makers of The Dirty Picture are promoting the film in whichever way they can, Vidya Balan, who made a brief appearance in the Malayalam film Urumi has given her consent to play a role in Malayalam film director Amal Neerad‘s next Arival Chuttika Nakshathram.

    The film being produced under the banner of August Cinema is said to be a period drama set in the pre-Independence era between the 1930s and 40s when the Communist movement started in Kerala.

    The film that marks the coming together of Mammootty and Prithviraj after Pokkiri Raja will have the former playing the hero and Prithviraj essaying the role of the villain.

  • Raj to launch Tamil news channel on 23 June, invest Rs 200 mn

    Raj to launch Tamil news channel on 23 June, invest Rs 200 mn

    MUMBAI: Chennai-based Raj Television Network is investing Rs 200 million in its Tamil news channel which is set for launch on 23 June.

    Raj News will be the fourth channel in the network, adding to its Tamil general entertainment channel Raj TV, music channel Raj Musix, and Raj Digital Plus.

    With bureaus spread across Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, Raj News will also have reporters in New Delhi and Mumbai. The Tamil news channel will concentrate more on the South India based stories. For foreign stories, Raj News has tied up with Associated Press.
    “We are investing around Rs 200 million and will focus on news across the southern region,” says a source in the company.

    Raj News is a free-to-air (FTA) channel and will also be available on direct-to-home (DTH) for subscribers. The channel has already tied up with DTH operators Dish TV and Sun Direct.

    Sun TV Ltd. dominates the Tamil Nadu television market with a string of Tamil channels in the GEC, movies, news and music space.

  • NDTV brings opt-out tech for Kolkata viewers during Durga Puja

    NDTV brings opt-out tech for Kolkata viewers during Durga Puja

    NEW DELHI: NDTV today announced the launch of the `opt-out’ technology in Kolkata starting with Durga Puja and the onset of the festival season.

    This initiative will enable the viewers of Kolkata to watch region-specific news and special programmes on NDTV 24×7. With this launch, Kolkata becomes the fourth location to have the opt-out technology, according to an official statement from NDTV.

    Earlier this year, NDTV had launched the opt-out technology for its viewers in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.

    The viewers of Kolkata will be able to watch the 30 minutes `opt-out’ programming at 10.30 pm everyday, which started on 25 September and will last till 2 October.

    The new technology will enable viewers in Kolkata to watch special programmes, catering to the taste of local viewership during this festive season.

    Opt-out works on a technology, which is an innovative step in the broadcasting system. The process involves automatic satellite transmission without any manual intervention.

    There are individual boxes that are programmed to receive and switch frequency at the desired time to opt-out of the regular feed and again switch back to the main feed when the opt-out is over, with a two second changeover interval between the switch.

    NDTV plans to expand its coverage for the `opt out’ service to other states also in the near future and this will be executed for all its three channels, NDTV 24X7, NDTV Profit and NDTV India.

  • Kerala to have Rs 1.5 bn ‘Cochin Media City’

    Kerala to have Rs 1.5 bn ‘Cochin Media City’

    MUMBAI: God’s own country Kerala seems to be on an overdrive when it comes to media initiatives. The state, which already is home to about 13 television channels, will soon have a group of entrepreneurs entering the virgin space of converged media solutions.

    Christened Cochin Media City or CMC, the Rs 1.5 billion project revolves around the basic idea of tapping the immense commercial potential in television and allied services under one roof.

    CMC will kick off in the first half of September 2006 with its first project, a media school. According to CMC VP marketing B. Pratap Chandar, the media school project will be followed by a commercial teleport initiative.

    “CMC’s media school would focus on media education, advance research in media studies and critical thinking. We want to make it a premium training ground for those aspiring for a career in electronic media, in particular, and the media in general. Our second project, which is a teleport facility, will launch in 2007”, says Chandar, while revealing a bunch of media initiatives that CMC aspires to come up with in due course.

    What are the initiatives that CMC is looking for? In short, the following:
    # Technical consultancy services to electronic media.

    # Content Production and management.

    # Production and post-production facilities for the entertainment media.

    # Television channel and FM radio station.

    # Digital cinema project.

    # IT-enabled services, which in India is booming.

    # Media marketing, research & information services.

    # Publishing.

    “The basic idea to bring the entire media activity under one umbrella comes from the emergence of various channels in the slow growth visual media market. Today, there is a proliferation of TV channels in the Malayalam TV industry. By the middle of 2007, Kerala will have the unique distinction of having 20 regional (Malayalam) TV channels addressing a population of 33 million Keralites and a TV advertisement market of Rs 2.4 billion (with an expected annual growth rate of 15 to 20 per cent),” adds Chandar.

    CMC’s board of directors comprises popular Malayalam actor Suresh Gopi, noted film director Shaji Kailas and cinematographer Rajeev Ravi.

    The corporate affairs of the company will be managed by a team of professionals lead by former Kerala director-general of police Rajagopalan Nair in the capacity of managing director. Former chairman of Malabar Cements K Ramakrishnan has been roped in as the corporate advisor.

    By setting up its base in Kochi, CMC attempts to utilise coastal town’s technological advantages.

    “The city offers 15 GBPS bandwidth support at India’s lowest cost, ‘SEA-ME-WE-3’ and ‘SAFE’ submarine cable connectivity and VSNL’s primary international gateway connectivity, plus Reliance, Bharti, VSNL and (government-controlled) BSNL’s fibre optic backbone connectivity,” says Chandar.

    Kochi is also rated as the second best IT enabled services destination in Nasscom’s survey, with operational costs less than 50 per cent when compared to other major cities.

    The full-fledged project will be based at the Hi-Tech Park of Kinfra at Kalamassery and permission for land has been sought.

  • Indiavision targets 5 November launch for entertainment channel ‘Yes’

    Indiavision targets 5 November launch for entertainment channel ‘Yes’

    MUMBAI: Kerala’s Indiavision Satellite Communications Ltd, which runs the news channel Indiavision, is gearing up to launch an entertainment channel in the Malayalam television market. The company is targeting 5 November for the launch of its proposed youth-oriented entertainment channel ‘Yes’.

    “The new channel will be an out-and-out entertainment channel with programmes mainly targeted at the Malayalam-speaking youth. We are investing about Rs 200 million in the venture,” Indiavision resident director Jamaal Farooq tells indiantelevision.com.

    According to Farooq, the funding would be done through equity mobilisation. He adds that the company is looking to source the funding from individuals based in Kerala. “Our flagship (news) channel Indiavision is mainly driven by investments from Non Resident Indians (NRIs). But, in the case of Yes, we are tapping only Kerala-based individuals.”

    Farooq also informs that the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has offered to invest Rs 20 million in Indiavision.

    Yes, a free-to-air channel, will be using a transponder space of 4.5 mbps on the Insat 4A satellite.

    Indiavision is also planning to launch an English news channel targeting South Indian expats based in the Middle East. “We are planning to launch an English news channel in the Middle East after the launch of Yes,” says Farooq.

  • Kerala cable operators protest luxury tax; go on token strike

    Kerala cable operators protest luxury tax; go on token strike

    MUMBAI: Cable operators in Kerala went on a ‘6 am to 6 pm’ strike demanding rollback of the five per cent luxury tax proposed in the state budget for 2006-07.

    “The strike paralysed the television viewing in Kerala during the day time. This was a token strike, and it is learnt that the Cable Operators’ Association is planning to meet the minister before planning its next move,” an executive of a leading Malayalam channel told indiantelevision.com.

    News agency PTI reports that cable operators in all towns joined the strike, making it a dull and dreary day for television viewers. A spokesman of the Cable Operators’ Association has been quoted as saying that, the strike was a major success as big and small service providers joined in the protest.

  • Kerala’s first digital movie to release in 80 theatres

    Kerala’s first digital movie to release in 80 theatres

    MUMBAI: Malayalam cinema is making its full-fledged foray into the digital cinema space. The Kerala-based production house Emil and Eric Digital Private Limited (EEDPL) is gearing up to release its maiden production Moonnaamathoraal (The Third Man) through the satellite digital delivery system across the state.

    “Moonnaamathoraal is a digital movie shot using the High Definition technology (HD) technology. The movie will be delivered to the theatres through satellite and will be exhibited using the digital projector system. We have rented about 150 theatres in Kerala to set up the required digital infrastructure for a five year period, says Emil & Eric Productions promoter Martin Joseph.

    EEDPL is releasing Moonnaamathoraal in 80 of these 150 theatres on 30 June. The company has tied up with the Mumbai-based United Film Organizers (UFO) to set up the digital infrastructure for the project in the theatres. The system include the digital server, the Hughes Escorts Communications Limited (HECL) powered satellite delivery solutions through Vsat and the Panasonic 3 chip/single chip DLP projection system.

    UFO has invested in the range of Rs 130 million to Rs 150 million in Kerala for the project. The company has installed the digital systems on a refundable deposit of Rs 2,25,000 per theatre.

    As the company’s national revenue model goes, UFO charges the exhibitor Rs 250 per show for the first week, Rs 200 per show for the second week, Rs 150 per show for the third week and Rs 100 per show for the fourth week. The charges made on the distributor are, Rs 175 per show for the first week, Rs 100 per show for the second week, Rs 50 per show for the third week and Rs 45 per show for the fourth week.

    For Moonnamathoraal, EEDPL will be donning the triple roles of the producer, distributor and exhibitor. The Jayaram-starrer, directed by Chennai-based ad man V K Prakash, is made on a budget of about Rs 5 million. “We have spent Rs 5 million on this project, which, on the analogue system, would have required Rs 7.5 million to complete. For the total project, we have spent about Rs 9 million,” says Joseph, adding that EEDPL’s next digital venture Aanachandam will go the floor on 24 June.

    Aanachandam, again a Jayaram starrer, will be directed by veteran Jayaraj.

    Last year, UFO Moviez, the digital cinema network launched by Valuable Media Pvt Ltd, unveiled its digital project to set up 500 digital movie halls by 2006 March at an investment of Rs 800 million and then scale it up progressively to 2000 cinema halls across the country at a total investment of Rs 3 billion. However, the company fell short of its 2006 target due to the shortage of digital projects, according to UFO senior manager Mukesh Sherigar.

    “We couldn’t meet the target in these circumstances, but now we are well on track. We have installed the digital system in about 300 theatres across the country as of now,” he says.

  • Amrita TV shines at Kerala state TV awards

    Amrita TV shines at Kerala state TV awards

    MUMBAI: Amrita Television recorded a rich haul in the Kerala state television awards for the year 2005. The one-year old channel won as many as 14 awards, including important titles such as best telefilm, script, actor, actress, cinematography, music director, art director and best story.

    In the Telefilms category, Annum Mazhayayirunnu directed by B Unnikrishnan emerged as the winner. Doordarshan’s Agnisakshi, directed by Sreejith Paleri, was chosen as the second best teleserial. M Mohanan won the award for best script writer for Samasya telecast by Amrita. The jury found no winner in the teleserial category.

    Siddique won the best actor award for his performance in Annum Mazhayayirunnu and Samasya. P.Sreekumar got the supporting actor award for his performance in ‘Annum Mazhayayirunnu’. K P Sivakumar received the best director award for his telefilm Kuttilekku aired by Jeevan TV. Amma, a telefilm directed by John Paul and aired by Amrita TV, won the award for the best story.

    Ambili Devi and Sona Nair won the best actress and supporting actress award respectively for their performances in Amma and Samasya. Sanusha was adjudged the best child artiste for her performance in Violin aired by Asianet.

    In the news section, Praleyasmitham Kailasam directed by Vinod Mankara and aired by Asianet won the best documentary award. R S Ajan won the best director award for his documentary Everyday Heroes aired by ACV.

    S Saratchandran of Kairali TV won the best newsreader award while C M Mochita won the best compere award. V R Sudheesh of Asianet won the best interviewer award while P Shajahan of Asianet won the best investigative journalist award.

    The award for the best critical writing on TV programmes went to S D Prins for his column Telikalam in the Madhyamam Weekly.

    Jury chairman Vijayakrishnan announced the awards. The judging panel also included George Onakkur, Harikumar and Chalachitra Academy chairman T K Rajeev Kumar.

  • Optimystix inks co-production deal with Belgium’s Kanakna Productions for ‘India Celebrity Express’

    Optimystix inks co-production deal with Belgium’s Kanakna Productions for ‘India Celebrity Express’

    MUMBAI: Optimystix Entertainment has been roped in as the Indian producer for India Celebrity Express designed for the Dutch market.

    Belgium based Kanakna Productions is expected to license the show in several countries this year. The co-production agreement is just the first in a row of productions of India Celebrity Express for several countries, informs an official release.

    “This is a new business opportunity for Optimystix. We get a chance to prove to the rest of the world that Indian producers can match the required international standards for TV production. We expect more co-production opportunities for Optimystix through our partnership with Sparks Network,” says Optimystix Entertainment partner and founder Sanjiv Sharma.

    The show features celebrities in a race through India, from the sources of Ganges to the tropical beaches of Kerala. The celebrities in the show are given Rs 100 a day to survive meaning that they have to find means of transportation as well as lodging through the route.

    “This is what Sparks Network is all about. We have gathered some of the top producers from all around the world in this network and by collaborating we give each other formats and production opportunities. It’s a great crowd of very talented producers that just love to work together,” says Sparks Network president Nicola Soderlund.

    Sparks Network seeks to promote the interests of its 14 member production companies from all over the world. Optimystix is the first production house in Asia to join the network.