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Tag: Manjunath

  • ‘Manjunath’ travels the film festival circuit

    ‘Manjunath’ travels the film festival circuit

    MUMBAI: Some stories need to be told and ‘Manjunath’ is one such story that Viacom18 Motion Pictures (VMP) in association with NFDC and ICOMO brought to the Indian viewer, making the 27 year old dead Manjunath Shanmugham more than just a headline.

     

    The Indian International Film Festival of Queensland 2014 confirmed ‘Manjunath’ as its opening film for the year and it has won the Special Jury Award (of encouragement) in this circuit. The Indian International Film Festival of Queensland (IIFFOQ) is a celebration of new wave Indian cinema that was held in Brisbane from 28 June to 2 July. ‘Manjunath’ is also to be screened at the Jagran Film Festival on the domestic front on 6 July in Delhi.

     

    ‘Manjunath’, a biopic on the IIM graduate who was brutally murdered for exposing the petrol adulteration scam by the fuel mafia in Uttar Pradesh in 2005 is directed by Sandeep Varma, reputed ad-film maker and the Managing Director of ICOMO. The Cast includes veteran theatre and film actors like Divya Dutta, Anjorie Alagh, Seema Biswas and Yashpal Sharma with debutant Sasho Satiiysh Saarathy playing the lead as Manjunath.

  • Zee Music Company joins hands with Viacom18 Motion Pictures

    Zee Music Company joins hands with Viacom18 Motion Pictures

    MUMBAI: Zeel’s new music label ‘Zee Music Company’ (ZMC), which was launched a couple of months back, has now joined hands with Viacom18 Motion Pictures. With this, the company has acquired the music rights for the entire slate of Viacom18 Motion Pictures for 2014.

     

    “We are thrilled to have Viacom18 Motion Pictures on board with ZMC. They have a very exciting line up of releases slated for the year and we are proud to be associated with them,” said ZMC business head and EVP Anurag Bedi.

     

    Giving details about the deal he said, “The 14-film deal includes the Akshay Kumar starrer ‘Gabbar’, Priyanka Chopra’s next ‘Mary Kom’ and  ‘Manjunath’  Other noted titles include ‘Dharam Sankat main’ with Paresh Rawal in the lead and other exciting projects.”

     

    ZMC earlier had acquired the music rights for Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha starrer ‘Holiday’, which is now set to cross the Rs 100 crore mark.

     

    “We’re excited about this partnership and believe that that with power of Zee channels behind us, our film promotions will go to the next level in terms of innovation decibels and impact,” concluded Viacom18 Motion Pictures COO Ajit Andhare.

  • It’s a dry run at Box Office

    It’s a dry run at Box Office

    MUMBAI: Himesh Reshammiya’s latest foray on stardom, The Expose, sustained through the weekend enjoying its solo release status. And, a few did reward him for his sheer perseverance financing and acting in film after film. The film opened reasonably well on Friday morning to drop the same day in noon shows. The film managed a weekend of Rs 7.2 crore.

     

    Hawaa Hawaai has done very well in its first week to collect Rs 6.05 crore. Koyelaanchal has had a poor run at the box office ending its first week with Rs 2.25 crore.

     

    Mastram fails to titillate in the era of ‘porn on click of the mouse’ and manages to collect Rs 3.4 crore in its first week.

     

    Manjunath is rejected outright with shows cancelled at many of its screenings. Yeh Hai Bakrapur itself proves to be the bakra with a total loss one week run.

     

    2 States has added Rs 5.1 crore in its fourth week to touch the Rs 100 crore mark and taking its four week total to Rs 100.2 crore.

  • No hits at the BO

    No hits at the BO

    MUMBAI: Mastram, a film about a porn writer and his inspirations, has failed to attract attention. The film collects about Rs 2 crore during its first weekend.

     

     Koyelaanchal, a violent film about coal mafia is very poor. The film manages to collect just about Rs 1.35 crore for its opening weekend.

     

    Manjunath, a biopic about a whistle blower of UP oil mafia meets with poor response.

     

    Hawaa Hawaai, a pleasant film on ambitions of the underprivileged improved to some extent over the weekend on the word of mouth.

     

    Kya Dilli Kya Lahore manages to collect just about Rs 75 lakh in its first week.

     

    Purani Jeans collects Rs 1.25 crore in its first week.

     

    Revolver Rani adds a mere Rs 75 lakh in its second week thus taking its two week total to Rs 9.55 crore.

     

    2 States is strong even its third week. The film has added Rs 10.8 crore for the week to take its three week tally to Rs 95.1 crore.

     

    Bhootnath Returns collected Rs 30 lakh in its fourth week to take its four week total to Rs 36.35 crore.

  • ‘Hawaa Hawaai’ …Sweet Ride

    ‘Hawaa Hawaai’ …Sweet Ride

    MUMBAI: Amole Gupte has established himself as an ace writer of scripts about children in an era when children’s film is almost a dead genre. And, he deals with relevant themes depicting ambitions and aspirations of less privileged children. His very first script, Taare Zameen Par showcased his special talent. Since then, his son, Partho Gupte, gives life to his child character as he did in Stanley Ka Dibba and now in Hawaa Hawaai.

    Patho works with a chaiwala in a commercial zone of Mumbai delivering tea to offices in the area. After the offices close, when the area becomes deserted, Saqib Saleem, teaches roller-skating to children. Saleem aspired to become a champion but could not fulfil his dream. He now wants to create champions out of other children. His training point is near the tea vendor Partho works for. Partho is fascinated with this sport which involves precision and is full of grace.

    Partho is a recent arrival in Mumbai having lost his father, Makrand Deshpande, to a heart attack after a crop failure in his native village. While his granny looks after his kid sister and other sister attends school, his mother works as domestic help and Partho tries to augment the family income with his earning of Rs 50per day delivering tea. But, besides this, he has a bunch of urchins as his close friends. The group conducts its daily meeting on a traffic island before they proceed to their work. These are Ashfaque Khan (Gochi), Salman Chhote Khan (Bhura), Maaman Memon (Abdul) and Tirupati Krishnapelli (Bindaas Murugan). While one works for a motor garage, and the other at a zari weaver’s while one sells gajras at traffic signals and one is rag picker.

    Partho tells his friends about the skates and the friends decide to help him and make him a champion. Gochi inquires about the cost from a skater and mistakes 30k for plain Rs 30. They collect Rs 30 and proceed to buy a pair only to realise their mistake. But, Gochi is a genius with tools. The kids embark on a trip to junkyard to collect material to make roller skates in Gochi’s garage. And, they do come up with a pair which works as well as the one worth 30k. The pair is duly decorated by two pieces of zari work.

    Producer- Director: Amole Gupte.

    Cast: Partho Gupte, Saqib Saleem, Ashfaque Khan, Salman Chhote Khan, Maaman Menon, Tirupati Krishnapelli.

    Partho now waits for the skating sessions of Saleem to get over and the skating area to empty out so he could start his own session. He observes Saleem’s sessions and later tries to emulate his instructions to other skaters. However, things are not going as well as he wished. Realising this, his buddies decide to literally launch him in the midst of Saleem’s session. Impressed by his enthusiasm, Saleem decides to take him on. Happy with the progress, Saleem decides to enter Partho in a district level competition. The day of the reckoning is here but Partho is not. He is nowhere to be seen neither at the venue nor at his usual hangouts. There is a setback in the plans which teach Saleem a vital lesson that champions can’t be produced in such a hurry without taking into account other issues.

    Watching Hawaa Hawaai is a delight while the boys’ camaraderie continues and for their single-minded determination to make a champion out of Partho. In later parts, there is a bit too much happening in the film and not all of this is easy homour as it was through the earlier parts. The boys, Partho, Ashfaque, Salman, Maaman and Tisupati are all very natural and confident. Saleem has a pleasing demeanour. Neha Joshi does well.

    Direction and script by Amole Gupte are well handled with ample humour and depicts the contemporary Indian story of small town talent making it big.

    Hawaa Hawaai is worth a watch, for kids and grownups alike. Having opened to weak response, some word of mouth may help it do better over the weekend.

    ‘Manjunath’…Bleak and Drab

    This is the biopic about of a local hero, a well educated (IIM graduate) young man who took his job responsibilities seriously and tried to challenge an oil mafia; a clique of fuel pump owners who indulged in illegal means for profiteering. Since the story of Manjunath is less known, some mistake for the story of another whistleblower, Satyendra Dubey, of Bihar, who squealed on highway construction wrongdoings. He graduated from IIT Kanpur and got his masters from IIT Varanasi and went on to join Indian Engineering Services.

    Manjunath (played by Sasho Satiiysh Saraathy) is a Tamilian from Bengaluru who excelled academically and finally got a job at Indian Oil Corporation, which is represented in the film as Bharat Oil. Manjunath stumbles across a discovery that petrol pumps mix petrol with kerosene thereby depriving poor people of kerosene which they end up buying in Rs 30 per litre instead of recognised rate of Rs 11. This act, of course, is widespread adding to the coffers of the pump owners. This mafia has become so powerful, nobody dare touch it.

    Producer: NFDC and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures.

    Director: Sandeep Varma.

    Cast: Sasho Satiiysh Saraathy, Seema Biswas, Kishore Kadam, Yashpal Sharma, Anjori Alagh, and Faisal Rashid.

    Manunath soon realises that not only do his colleagues know of what is happening; some of them may even be involved. However, he decides to continue his crusade against the mafia singlehandedly only to be faced with regular threats. He is advised by his friends and colleagues to seek a transfer to his hometown but Manjunath is not ready to give up. Soon, the threats start working on his mind. He sees his killers everywhere. He is advised to take a break and visit home till he is normal again.

    Despite his family’s insistence, Manjunath refuses to accept a job in hometown and returns to UP and resumes his job. Here, back to his strict ways, he seals the same pump, belonging to Yashpal Sharma, for the second time. Sharma has had enough of Manjunath whom his cartel even offers Rs 50 lakh and let them continue doing their business as they wish. One day, after a heated argument, Yashpal calls Manjunath to his pump to collect his instrument used for checking fuel purity. There again, Yashpal tries to reason with Manjunath who refuses to bow down. In the heat of the moment, Yashpal shoots at Manjunath. Lest he may survive this single bullet shot, his colleague completes the task and Manjunath ends up with six bullets in his body.

    The body is found accidently by the police after two days. To speed up police action, an alumnus of his institution, Divya Dutta, starts a movement and raises funds to fight the legal battle. There is usual candlelight marches and media interactions follow.

    Manjunath is a one honest man’s fight against corruption. This is a biopic but even in our commercial films, the hero is always honest so what is new? Manjunath is so psyched that he is perpetually scared of somebody chasing him to kill him, then how come he becomes brave when his killer is right in front of him pointing a gun at him? That makes the script quite contradictory. Direction is passable. Sasho Satiiysh Saraathy acts sincerely, aptly supported by Seema Biswas and Yashpal Sharma.

    Poorly promoted with an insipid theme, Manjunath will be an also ran.

    ‘Koyelaanchal’… Gory Saga of Nothing

    Coal mining and coal mafia are the news headlines of yesteryears. The mining of coals was nationalised in 1974 but that did not change things much except making the government a partner with mafia. Coal mining continues to remain a controversial subject since the strings are now pulled from Delhi in the guise of mining rights. But, does it make a worthy subject for entertainment which a film is supposed to be. The past record of films on coal mafia has failed to stir the audience interest. Yash Chopra’s Kaala Patthar, Shatrughan Sinha’s Kalka, Raakesh Roshan’s Koyla are some examples. These films boasted of superstars of their era. Koylaanchal, on that count, has two past their prime actors in Vinod Khanna and Suniel Shetty.

    Vinod Khanna runs his reign in these coalmines regions for 40 years with terror being his only tool. The exploitation of the people and labour is total and there is no way law can do anything to Khanna as most of his activities are officially in the name of his subordinates. However, the district has got a new collector, Suniel Shetty, who is a bit of a stickler for rules. On the other hand, there is some movement against Khanna as the people of backward community have risen against him, killing his people and spreading hatred against him.

    Producer- Director: Ashu Trikha.   

    Cast: Vinod Khanna, Suniel Shetty, Vipino, Roopali, Brij Gopal.

    Khanna decides to let loose his main weapon, a living killing machine, Vipino, on these people. Vipino looks scary enough with his perfectly chiselled muscular body, long hair and a face that never betrays emotions. His way of killing someone is brutal to say the least and worse if it is someone who has abused Khanna for Khanna is the only god he has known.

    Suniel, contrary to his image, is not a fighting machine here but a practical government official with wife and a child to tend to. But, then, he sees Vipino loose his control despite Khanna’s orders to stay cool and kills a villager for writing dirty message against Khanna on a village wall. Suniel being an eyewitness to the incident, Vipino has to be arrested who is sent into hiding by Khanna. As Khanna feels uncomfortable with this new DC for the first time in his reign, he sends Vipino to scare him that harm may come to his family if he persists with his ways. Vipino’s ends up hurting Suniel’s wife grievously and, unknowingly, ends up with Suniel’s child in his lap.

    Since Suniel alone is not enough, there is help come from Intelligence Bureau who also fails to contain Khanna and soon more officers join in. Finally, in absence of any evidence of wrongdoing, Khanna is arrested for cruelty to animals; he, it seems, uses a banned drug on his herd of cows.  While Khanna is in police custody and Vipino in the hiding, the people have joined hands with Maoists and destroyed his house and properties.

    Koyelaanchal is an orgy of gory violence and nothing in the name of entertainment. Despite Khanna and Suniel around, the hero of the film is Vipino considering the footage given to him. Vinod Khanna is his usual self. Suniel Shetty is okay. Vipino looks sinister enough which he is supposed to. Rupali is good. Direction is average. Rest of the aspects are uninspiring.

    Koyelaanchal stands no chance at the box office.

     

  • “Running behind 100-crore revenue for every film is not very healthy”

    “Running behind 100-crore revenue for every film is not very healthy”

    MUMBAI: “Every film is not meant for everyone. There is a specific audience for each film and as marketers, our job is to identify and make the film reach its target audience. That is the process we follow for every film of ours,” says Viacom18 Motion Pictures VP marketing Rudrarup Dutta. Going by the success of Viacom18 Motion Pictures’ last venture, Queen, the production house certainly seems to have hit the right note as far as marketing strategy goes. And, it is readying to promote its next film, Manjunath, along similar lines.

    Dutta agrees that even good content does not work if it isn’t marketed effectively. “I would agree that competition has grown since previous years. Also, the importance of marketing has grown phenomenally in the past three to four years, where, good content, does not really stand a chance if it is not marketed effectively,” he says. 

    So what’s Viacom18 Motion Pictures’ formula? “Firstly, we understand the essence of the content and secondly, we identify the right audience for that content and then target this audience with correct positioning and communication,” answers Dutta. That’s what was done for Queen where the digital audience was targeted first with a video communication of Kangana Ranaut as Rani in ‘Rani ka Pehla Honeymoon’. “It was an interactive element we started off which immediately established the concept of the film with the audience. And, we got a good response and then went on to launch the trailer and subsequently, the rest of the campaign.”

    The Queen campaign had a distinct pre- and post- phase, so, even after the film’s release, Queen’s Day was celebrated to coincide with Women’s Day, where chocolates and flowers were distributed to women who went to theatres to see the film. There was also a pub crawl where Kangana aka Rani paid a surprise visit to various pubs and danced to the wacky remix, ‘Hungama ho gaya’. According to Dutta, smaller elements focused on building connect with the character and the concept of the film drove communication around Queen.  

    Coming to Manjunath – a biopic of IIM grad Manjunath Shanmugham who took on the fuel mafia in 2005 – Viacom18 has launched the microsite www.whoismanjunath.com in a bid to garner support for whistleblowers like Manjunath. The site  encourages the youth to stand up for what is right and “speak up” while their identities are kept a secret to protect them from persecution.

    Viacom decided to take a minimalistic approach but with high impact as Manjunath is a non-profit venture for the production house. “It is a non-profit venture for us. We are not putting it across as a film. For us, it is about taking the message of Manjunath to as many people as possible. If at all we do make profits, the same will be shared with the Manjunath trust and his family. After all, Manjunath was one of us, who, instead of linking stuff on facebook or discussing things at coffee shops, went ahead and actually did something against corruption. This is what actually inspired us,” says Dutta. Of course, getting Parikrama on-board was one of the ways to connect with the youth. “We are doing multiple city concerts in Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Bengaluru, among others. We are getting them on a platform to promote the whole concept and create awareness with a huge digital push,” he adds.  

    A frugal approach however did not rule out buying TV spots and putting up hoardings. “This is something we want people to assimilate and put it up, because they feel for the cause and understand the reason behind it rather than just take it as a pure source of entertainment,” Dutta reasons.

    Is there such a thing as a good time to market a film? “It all depends from film to film. There is no one-glove-fits-all formula. For films like Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, we started marketing it eight to nine months before its release because there was a purpose to this build-up. We wanted to create awareness among Gen Now about the legend. Also, we wanted to project it as a larger-than-life film,” explains Dutta. Depending on the film, the period of promotion varies from four to 10 weeks and in some cases, as many as nine months. “There are other films which can be promoted in a five-week window. So, it all depends on the film, the audience that you want to reach, and the communication plan around it.”

    So, what kind of budgets are allocated to these films? “It differs from film to film. It can be as low as Rs 2.5 crore in some movies that have a limited target audience, while it can be as high as Rs 16 crore for films that want to reach a wider audience and need an extensive promotional campaign. We have operated on every budget. As I said, there is no formula in this. Every film has its own concept, own audience, and own positioning. It is about deploying available resources extensively to reach out to the target audience,” says Dutta. “It is not about the amount of money which you spend but how you use the money that determines the success of the marketing plan.”

    Bhaag Milkha Bhaag entered the elite Rs 100 crore club and so did Queen, almost. “The more money that good movies make, the more it encourages other people to make those movies. Even for us, let’s be real, it is a commercial venture and we are in the movie business so that we can make more movies and make profitable movies for everybody in the line,” says Dutta. It’s like walking the tightrope between the film cost and its potential revenue. “Running behind Rs 100-crore revenue for every film is not very healthy. If there is a film which is of a size that can deliver Rs 100 crore, then it is worth putting additional money and making and building it on that scale,” he signs off.

  • Viacom18 Motion Pictures’ 2014 movie slate

    Viacom18 Motion Pictures’ 2014 movie slate

    MUMBAI: The first studio model based motion picture business in India , Viacom18 Motion Pictures, a part of Viacom18 (a Viacom and Network 18 joint venture) is now treading on unchartered territories by getting into crowd funding.

    The studio recently released the trailer of its first crowd funded motion picture – Manjunath – which is to hit theatres on 9 May. The film is inspired by the real-life story of a young IIM graduate, who strived to fight against corruption in Uttar Pradesh and was murdered for sealing a corrupt petrol station in Lakhimpur Kheri, UP.

    Speaking on the choice of the story Viacom18 Motion Pictures COO Ajit Andhare says: “The story may be of a common man, but what we look for when scouting for scripts is extraordinary or uncommon stories, and Manjunath fits the bill perfectly. His sacrifice spurred people on to take measures and that’s the kind of stories we support.”

    On the aspect of getting crowd funding for the biopic he adds: “It’s a film in one sense where everyone takes responsibility and can play a role in the message coming out from Manjunath’s story. So, the crowd funding idea came to us because we felt that would be best suited to involve people and anyone can voluntarily come and support the film.”

    Click here to watch the trailer

    With operations that involve acquisition, production, syndication, marketing and worldwide distribution of full-length feature films, the studio’s first movie was Halla Bol in 2008. And ever since, it has forayed into various genres of cinema, right from drama, comedy, romance, action to biopics with Bhaag Milkha Bhaag in 2013.

    “As a studio we look for content that stands out and that has not been usually told; even an OMG and Gangs of Wasseypur were good prospects. And with Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, we have proven that with a strong script and performance any film can cross the Rs 100 crore barrier at the box office. Even Queen has crossed Rs 100 crore (global collections) this year,” quips Andhare.

    Manjunath will be the first biopic made on the life of a common man and has been supported by acclaimed actors like Divya Dutta, Seema Biswas and Yashpal Sharma, among others. They have been touched by Manjunath’s story and worked for a nominal fee. The movie has been directed by Sandeep Varma, reputed to be an ad-film maker and the MD of ICOMO. Further to its credit; the music in the film has been composed by the Delhi rock band Parikrama.

    “The film is completely to the credit of Sandeep and it has been his journey, along with NFDC and ICOMO to mount this film. We came on board once we saw the journey and witnessed what he has managed to pull-off being a debutant director and we wanted to support this movie and the director with the vision to pull off such a challenging story,” says he.

    Viacom18 Motion Pictures will be distributing the film, and is currently focused on building anticipation around the film. “It’s a bit too early to talk about how wide will the release be and decisions around that would be made more closer to the release date after tracking how the market responds to it and likewise the theatres and multiplex chains,” explains Andhare.

    With recent films being distributed entirely on digital these days, irrespective of the budget or genre and an increasing trend of tying up with online streaming services like Spuul to release the movie online parallel to the theatrical release. Such a film may look at such avenues for better reach and viewership as well.

    Scheduled for a release amidst elections and IPL, are there any concerns? “I feel the time is right when the country is looking for their next leader and government, a story like this will have more traction,” answers Andhare.

    The studio believes that if the content is strong and the film has something to offer the audience then the film will make a connect with the viewers. “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag offered inspiration of a different kind to the audience; Queen on the other hand offered the experience of a coming of age to the audience, with travel and transformation. So what we look to do is to offer something extra. Because sitting in a dark room for three hours with only one break, the audience should not feel punished,” he expounds.

    The slate for already released films in 2014 include: The Royal Bengal Tiger (Bengali); One by Two; Queen; Nee Enge En Anbe (Tamil); Anamika (Telugu) and Noah (Hollywood). And the rest of the year is packed with a real good mix of movies like: Manjunath (9 May); Margarita with a straw; Transformers 4; Hercules 3D; Turtles; Gabbar; Mary Kom and Dharam Sankat Mein.

    “We always aim to have a balanced portfolio for the calendar year, where the risks are well balanced out for the studio. And we believe in reaching out to get all kinds of movies to the audience creatively as well,” expounds Andhare. “We want to serve the best spread that can be served to the audience in the calendar year. Only doing large films will not enable reducing the risk level, and this will lead to either big blockbusters or major flops. Thus, smaller films help in calibrating losses.”

    The studio has some major releases in its Hollywood slate for the year as well, and will be pushing and promoting it aggressively when the time is right. “Plans are afoot really drive our Hollywood slate and we have a really powerful line-up for this year. Transformers as a franchise is a highly anticipated film and over the years the English language film entertainment market has also been growing steadily and we have a long term commitment to build this market and continue to do so.”