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Tag: Mira Nair

  • Prime Video adds a reel treat with NFDC’s ‘Cinemas of India’ for just Rs 199 a year

    Prime Video adds a reel treat with NFDC’s ‘Cinemas of India’ for just Rs 199 a year

    MUMBAI: Prime Video India has rolled out the red carpet for film buffs, announcing the launch of ‘NFDC – Cinemas of India’ as an add-on subscription, priced at just Rs 199 per year. The collection is a goldmine of Indian cinema, featuring landmark films by the likes of Satyajit Ray, Shyam Benegal, Mira Nair, Kalpana Lajmi, and more.

    The newly added bouquet includes cinematic heavyweights like Gandhi, Mirch Masala, Rudaali, Salaam Bombay!, Agantuk, and Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda — all carefully curated by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), known for nurturing India’s parallel cinema movement.

    Part of Amazon’s growing video entertainment marketplace, the service provides frictionless access to over a hundred critically acclaimed films across 12 Indian languages — from Bioscope (Malayalam) to Parinamam (Malayalam), Percy (Gujarati) to Qissa (Punjabi).

    Many of the titles boast honours from Cannes, Venice, Toronto and the National Awards, making the NFDC channel a veritable masterclass in Indian storytelling.

    “NFDC has been the cornerstone of India’s finest cinema, nurturing path-breaking films for decades. We’re excited to announce NFDC – Cinemas of India as our newest add-on subscription, featuring an exclusively curated collection of cinematic masterpieces,” said Prime Video head of marketplace (add-on subscriptions and movie rentals), Gaurav Bhasin. “The collection showcases the rich heritage of Indian cinema across our linguistically diverse entertainment industry. Whether you’re a cinephile or just beginning to explore Indian cinema, NFDC’s catalogue offers an unparalleled window into our country’s most acclaimed and culturally significant films. Through add-on subscriptions like these, we continue our commitment at Prime Video to super-serve customers with more of what they love, all in one place.”

    “We are thrilled to collaborate with Prime Video to make NFDC’s rich collection of movies accessible to a wider audience. For decades, NFDC has supported pioneering filmmakers and impactful narratives that showcase India’s cultural diversity. With Prime Video’s massive reach across the country, we are confident that these timeless, thought-provoking, stories will reach and be enjoyed by new audiences, and enable us to take Indian cinema far and wide,” said NFDC Ltd MD, Prakash Magdum.

    For the price of popcorn, viewers can now stream decades of cinematic genius — all in one click. Lights, camera, nostalgia.

  • Tanishq unveils its festive campaign ‘Nav-Raani’

    Tanishq unveils its festive campaign ‘Nav-Raani’

    Mumbai: Indian jewellery brand – Tanishq has launched its festive campaign ‘Nav-Raani’ with a film directed by international filmmaker Mira Nair, marking her first Indian TV commercial. Conceptualised by Lowe Lintas, the campaign celebrates modern women, portraying them as “queens” who embody grace, strength, and confidence.

    The Nav-Raani collection features intricately handcrafted jewellery, merging traditional designs with contemporary flair. Set against a Diwali backdrop, the film showcases women in festive moments, wearing the collection to enhance their elegance and power, reflecting their ability to balance family and professional life with ease.

    Tanishq CMO Pelki Tshering said, “This Diwali, we are excited to bring to you ‘Nav-Raani’ – royal jewellery for modern-day queens. In true Tanishq tradition, our campaign celebrates the brilliance of women who wear their grace, warmth, and elegance like a crown, effortlessly winning hearts and shining in every aspect of their lives. It reflects Tanishq’s enduring belief that every woman is a modern queen, deserving of jewels that mirror her inner beauty and strength. Through her deeply personal and nuanced storytelling, Mira captured the essence of Tanishq and modern royalty in a truly compelling manner.”

    Speaking about the campaign, Lowe Lintas president (creative) Vasudha Misra added, “The age of royalty may well have set in India, but if you look closely, you will still find many queens ruling, nurturing and expanding their kingdoms. These are the Nav-Raanis that Tanishq seeks to celebrate through this campaign. Queens who might not be at their resplendent best every day of the year. But come Diwali, she adorns herself with the jewels that befit her inner beauty and strength. The grand empress of cinema, Mira Nair, has infused each sequence with splendour of course, but also with a personal, intimate touch that makes each woman in the film, identifiable to every woman who’ll watch them.”

    Tanishq has consistently connected with women through campaigns that go beyond jewellery, reflecting their lives and stories. The latest campaign reinforces the brand’s belief that every woman is a queen, deserving of jewellery that reflects her strength and beauty. As Diwali approaches, Tanishq encourages women to embrace their inner Nav-Raani and adorn themselves with the season’s unique jewels.

  • Mira Nair to speak at Kashish 2021 panel

    Mira Nair to speak at Kashish 2021 panel

    Mumbai: The Academy-Award nominated director Mira Nair will be a speaker at a panel discussion titled ‘Books To Screen – Lost & Found in Translation’, being organised as part of the 12th edition of Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, South Asia’s one of the biggest LGBTQIA+ film festival. The panel will be streamed on the Kashish YouTube channel on 24 August at 6 p.m.

    This impactful panel that discusses how books are adapted into feature films or web series, will also feature well-known Swedish author & director Jonas Gardell (Don’t Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves), Sahitya Akedemi winning playwright Mahesh Dattani (Mango Souffle, Morning Raga), and transgender actor & author Living Smile Vidya (I Am Vidya), and will be moderated by author Raga D’Silva (Untold Lies).

    “While the pandemic put the brakes on Kashish being held on-ground physically at a theater in Mumbai, the benefits of a digital festival has opened new doors,” said festival director Sridhar Rangayan. “We have been able to invite some extraordinary speakers at the panel discussion and also filmmakers from across the world at the filmmaker Q&As. We are blessed to have such eminent personalities as Nair and Gardell speak at our panels. Virtual is the new normal.”

    Speaking about her recent mini-series “A Suitable Boy” based on Vikram Seth’s epic novel of the same name, Nair shared, “I think Vikram Seth deeply understands and wrote in A Suitable Boy, the depth of this unconditional love, the friendship between Maan (Ishaan Khattar) & Firoz (Shubham Saraf). For me, it encompassed all kinds of love. We had to do a lot in very little time, but I think you feel this extraordinary drama of their friendship and the jealousies, and also how the fathers eventually bring the sons back together. It’s a beautiful quartet that Vikram wrote and I wanted to do that justice. Life is about all sorts of love, but it is love. There’s nothing to put it in a box about.”

    Gardell said, “I’m 58 years old now and I have been out and proud since I was 15, so that’s almost 40 years. When my first novel came out in 1985, the critics actually wrote that they almost vomited when they read it since it was a gay love story. Time has passed and now when I write my novels, they are mainstream, they are bestsellers in Sweden.”

    Speaking about the need for greater representation of queer narratives, Mahesh Dattani said, “We need more LGBTQIA+ people involved in the arts, in storytelling. We need stories that concern the LGBTQIA+. We need LGBTQIA+ characters in films that are not talking about LGBTQIA+… I think it is hugely important that we also have characters that are there because they are part of a bigger story, and it doesn’t always have to be a personal story. “

    Living Smile Vidya spoke about her book ‘I Am Vidya’ that has been turned into a feature film “Naanu Avanalla Avalu” which won two National Awards, but her main passion is theater. “I wanted to be in the cinema, but as I grew up, I saw theatre has more space and more acceptance and I found my place. Being on the stage is where I feel like one giant tree where I get all the power in the best possible way,” she said.

    This panel discussion is being supported by the Consulate General of Sweden, who is also supporting the screening of two documentary features “Prince of Dreams” and “Always Amber”.

    While the film festival is screening 221 films from 53 countries over the 12 days of online screenings spread across three weekends, Kashish 2021 will continue to engage audiences during weekdays with 10 panel discussions and 42 filmmaker Q&As streamed on their YouTube channel.

    On 23 August at 6 p.m, panel discussion ‘Teach Them Young! – Qualitative Queer Narratives emerging from Indian Film Schools’ is being streamed featuring speakers from leading film and media institutions like Film & Television Institute of India (FTII), Sophia SCM, Pearl Academy, Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI) and Whistling Woods International, which is also supporting this panel discussion.

    Rounding off the first week of panel discussions, on 25 August at 6 p.m, the festival will host the first-ever chat with siblings of queer persons. Titled ‘Unlocking Acceptance With Siblings’ the panel features gay, bisexual, and transgender persons along with their sisters and brothers.

  • How Mira Nair post-produced A Suitable Boy

    How Mira Nair post-produced A Suitable Boy

    MUMBAI: Do you know Salaam Bombay director Mira Nair worked on her post-production of Vikram Seth’s  A Suitable Boy, which is making waves globally, from her residence in New York’s Upper West Side? 

    The realisatrice was supposed to be in UK to put the whole show together and deliver the final masters to the BBC, but was stranded in the US on account of the Covid 2019 pandemic. After finishing filming in India on 17 December, followed by a two week break, she jetted down to the UK to get into a “neither world”, working on the post-production. “We have been working close to 12 hours a day, sometimes through the weekends, in order to really distil it to not just the story being correct but also finding its rhythm. It takes a lot,” she told the BBC in an interview.

    But then she travelled to the US and got stuck there when the country got into a lockdown. With a deadline to deliver the show for telecast in June, Nair got cracking on creating a work environment in her study in her apartment.

    Mira – who has homes in New Delhi, Kampala, Uganda, apart from Manhattan – had three devices through which she, like a conductor orchestrated the edits, the musical score (this was created in Budapest), the final approval for the episodes of the six part series with colleagues in India, Australia, UK,  and Los Angeles.

    In fact, if we thought jugaad was being resorted to only by India’s TV, short film, TVC directors and producers, Mira resorted to her own innovation methods too. “We had superstars like Tabu, and all the wonderful actors under their bln aked in their bathrooms with their microphones – their dogs muzzled, and everyone recording in these homemade studios we created with them,” she told The Financial Times.

    The series was filmed in India in 2019 with two units being involved in different locations.

    A Suitable Boy stars the ever so charming and acteur naturel Ishaan Khattar (Maan Kapoor), the ever so composed and alluring Tabu(Saeeda Bai), the newfound talent the vivacious Tanya Maniktala (Lata Mehra), Ram Kapoor (Mahesh Kapoor), Shahana Goswami (Meenakshi Mehra), Rasika Duggal (Sameera Kapoor), Mikhail Sen (Amit Chatterji), Randeep Hooda (Billy Irani), Mahira Kakkar (Rupa Mehra), Vinay Pathak, Manoj Pahwa, Ranvir Shorey, Vijay Verma, Kulbhashan Kharbanda, Namit Das (Haresh Khanna),  Joyeeta Dutta (Tasneem), Dhanesh Razvi (Kabir Durrani), Vivek Gomber (Arun Mehra), Gagandev Riar (Pran Kapoor) Geetanjali Agrawal (Mrs Mahesh Kapoor), Shubham Saraf (Firoz Ali Khan),  Vivaan Shah (Varun  Mehra),  among many other sterling talented actors.

    The fifth episode of the series is slated to telecast this evening on BBC One on 23 August at 9 pm UK time. A Suitable Boy comes on to Netflix worldwide – excepting the US and Canada – later this year.

  • Mira Nair speaks up on “A Suitable Boy”

    Mira Nair speaks up on “A Suitable Boy”

    MUMBAI: It was a best-seller when it was released a score and more years ago. Now, Vikram Seth’s "A Suitable Boy" is catching the attention in Britain as it airs as a six-part series on BBC One during primetime. Directed by Mira Nair, it has a cast of 110 Asian actors and at the time of writing, four episodes of the show had been aired.

    Nair, who is known to be pretty blunt when she speaks, has expressed that she wished she had the same production budget for A Suitable Boy as the makers of The Crown did. 

    According to published reports, the BBC invested pounds sterling 16 million (Rs 160 crore) on the six part series, making it about 2.67 million pounds (Rs 26-odd crore) an episode. As against that, The Crown had a budget of close to 10 million pounds an episode and about a 100 million pounds for the season.

    Speaking to the Economist last week, Nair said: “The show has the magnificence and sweep of The Crown. Let me tell with my 30 years of experiencing of making films about my part of the world for the world, you never get the budget of The Crown. You get what you get and you have to be so assured and have an amazing team so that we can achieve that sweep. Every moment of A Suitable Boy is shot on location in forts, crumbling palaces, old havelis and refurbished bridges..we did all this to create a sense of that layering of history. We did that more with our experience our sensibility, our taste, and much less with oodles of money.”

    She further added that she hoped that the BBC and media in England would reflect the diversity of its own people. “I have yearned for Goodness Gracious Me for over 20 years. It had such brilliant writing for television, yet it is not there anymore. And it’s not as if it is not there, but the talent exists in the British Asian scene. I don’t see it being fostered. Now, my British Asian friends are saying to now that the BBC has spent its wad on A Suitable Boy, they’ll say there’s no room for anymore this year. That’s the thinking that should sort of go away.”

    Nair also disclosed that three years were spent on adapting it, after experienced script writer Andrew Davies worked with author Seth to churnout the adaptation of the 1400-odd page book into a tight screenplay.

    “I got into the party much later. They did a fabulous job distilling the massive tome. I wanted it to be less Pride and Prejudice and more the world that I wanted to evoke at that time..to shift the balance. I wanted to integrate the politics so it reflects the India of now to integrate the politics of now,” she expressed. “The search for lover, the search for who we are, the search for who we would spend our lives with, those are universal searches. The story is timely but the politics of it is also remarkably timely. Remember at that time the Hindu Muslim community were so syncretic in their song, in their culture, their language, in their friendships and that is so sadly and in a targeted fashion being obliterated slowly and surely in the fabric of our Indian society.”

    A Suitable Boy will air on Netflix later this year. It boasts a stellar cast: Tabu, Ishan Khattar, Tanya Maniktala, Rasika Duggal, Mahira Kakkar, Ram Kapoor, Gagan dev Riar, Vivek Gomber, Vivaan Shah, Shahana Goswami, Mikhail Sen, Namit Das, Randip Hooda, Amir Bhashir, Ranvir Shorey, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Vinay Pathak and Manoj Pahwa.

    The series follows the story of four families held together by Mrs Rupa Mehra’s desire to find a good match for her daughter Lata in 1951-52. Interwoven is the story of a newly-independent India with all the pulls and pressures of its first general election and Hindu-Muslim religious strife.

    It was shot on location in Lucknow, Maheshwar and Kanpur. Aradhna Seth’s Lookout Point was  the production partner. Andrew Davies and Vikram Seth share the writing credits while the Hindi, Urdu and Awadhi dialogues are by Hriday Lani. The series is being distributed by Viniyard Films and the BBC.

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  • Irrfan Khan to be chief guest in Florence in Italy, ‘Qissa’ to be screened

    Irrfan Khan to be chief guest in Florence in Italy, ‘Qissa’ to be screened

    NEW DELHI: Actor Irrfan Khan, who has created waves on the international scene with ‘Lunch Box’ and ‘Qissa’, will be the special guest at the 14th River to River Indian Film Festival in Florence in Italy.

     
    The festival will screen Qissa by Anup Singh, The Namesake by Mira Nair and Paan Singh Tomar by Tigmanshu Dhulia as part of a special tribute to the versatile actor. Seven episodes of the third season of the American HBO series In Treatment starring Khan will also be screened.

     
    The 14th River to River Florence Indian Film Festival will take place at Cinema Odeon in Florence (Piazza Strozzi 2) from 6 to 12 December and screen more than 40 films.

     
    A special selection of films from the festival will also be screened in Rome (13 and 14 December) and Milan (February 2015).

     
    Directed by Selvaggia Velo, the Festival is supported by the Indian Embassy and FIND – India/Europe Foundation for New Dialogues, with the contribution of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage – Cinema Department, the Tuscan Region and Fondazione Sistema Toscana, Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze and OAC, and the India Tourism Office of Milan.

     

  • Rahul Khanna and Monica Dogra starrer ‘Fireflies’ to release on 31 October

    Rahul Khanna and Monica Dogra starrer ‘Fireflies’ to release on 31 October

    MUMBAI: Rahul Khanna and Monica Dogra starrer film Fireflies is all set to release in India on 31 October 2014.

     

    Confirming this, Khanna tweeted on Saturday: “Happy to announce the release date of my film, ‘Fireflies’ – 31st October, 2014! More details soon.”

     

    Written and directed by Sabal Singh Sheikhawat, the film also stars the very talented Arjun Mathur who has been a part of films like Mira Nair’s Migration and Zoya Akhtar’s Luck by Chance. The movie is being produced by Wild Geese Pictures and distributed by Panorama Studios.

     

    The film is a drama capturing the lives of two estranged brothers played by Khanna and Mathur. One, who leads a very successful life as a banker and the other who is a law school dropout and lives by the day and how fate brings them together after 15 years.

     

    Through this movie, Indie music’s reigning queen Monica Dogra will make her first appearance on the silver screen after Bejoy Nambiar’s Davidas.

     

    The movie is being produced by Wild Geese Pictures and distributed by Panorama Studios.

  • Fox Star Studios’ Epic gets 5th biggest animation film opening in India

    Fox Star Studios’ Epic gets 5th biggest animation film opening in India

    NEW DELHI: ‘EPIC‘ has garnered the fifth biggest animation opening for India for Fox Star, who earlier saw a tremendous run of their prehistoric fun family film ‘The Croods‘.

    Released in India a week ahead of its international release, Epic has opened to Rs 3.6 crore gross box office in India (Rs 2.52 crore net) despite a crowded box office with simultaneous releases of high profile Hollywood releases such Amitabh Bachchan‘s ‘The Great Gatsby‘ and Mira Nair‘s ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist‘ whose figures are far behind those of Epic.

    This is the 5th biggest animation opening in India after Ice Age 4, Kung Fu Panda 2, Madagascar 3 and The Croods. Boosted by critical and popular acclaim, the stunning 3D comedy-fantasy adventure has triggered a phenomenal word of mouth for its family content and visual banquet.

    Fox Star Studios CEO Vijay Singh said: "We are delighted with the fantastic weekend opening for Epic following the superb success of ‘The Croods’. With imaginative storytelling and an emotional appeal, it is the perfect feel-good holiday film for the entire family."

    Epic stars the voices of Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson, Amanda Seyfried, Christoph Waltz, Aziz Ansari, Pitbull with Steven Tyler and Beyoncé Knowles.

  • Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist opens Venice Film Festival

    Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist opens Venice Film Festival

    MUMBAI: Mira Nair’s latest film The Reluctant Fundamentalist opened the 69th Venice Film Festival. The movie was applauded with a standing ovation.

    When Nair was asked as to what inspires her as a creative person, she said, “There is one film that has inspired me for decades—the only film in the world I wished I had directed, a path breaking film that taught me to show both sides of a conflict with equal intelligence, pain and love. This is Gillo Pontecorvo’s great classic about the fight for Algerian Independence: The Battle of Algiers.”

    Incidentally, after the screening of the movie, Pontecorvo’s widow sought Nair out and said, “I am Gillo Pontecorvo’s widow, and I have come to tell you that Gillo lives in you.”

    Mira Nair’s film will release in India on 17 May. The motion picture is a touching and engaging story of a young man chasing corporate success on Wall Street. Post September 2011 tragedy in America, he finds himself embroiled in a conflict between his american dream, a hostage crisis, and the enduring call of his family‘s homeland.

    The film stars Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland, Liev Schreiber, Riz Ahmed, Shabana Azmi and Om Puri.

  • Gangs of Wasseypur kicks off IFFLA

    Gangs of Wasseypur kicks off IFFLA

    NEW DELHI: Anurag Kashyap‘s ‘Gang of Wasseypur‘ was the opening film at the 11th Annual Indian Film festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) at the Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood.

    "Gangs of Wasseypur" had also been screened in Cannes last year in the ‘Directors Fortnight‘ section.

    The festival has included a sneak preview of Mira Nair‘s new political thriller ‘The Reluctant Fundamentalist‘ (with an international cast running from Kiefer Sutherland to Shabana Azmi) and the festival will close with Deepa Mehta‘s cinematic translation of Salman‘s Rushdie‘s novel ‘Midnight‘s Children‘ starring Seema Biswas, Shabana Azmi, and Anupam Kher.

    The festivalwill also pay a tribute to ‘King of Romance‘ director Yash Chopra that includes his last venture ‘Jab Tak hai Jaan‘ along with other hits like ‘Chandni‘, ‘Silsila‘, and ‘Kabhi Kabhie‘.

    Other films at the festival include ‘Filmistaan‘ – debut feature by Nitin Kakkar – and ‘Eega‘ a Telugu language resurrection drama which is loosely based on the film ‘Makhii‘.

    A full length documentary, ‘Celluloid Man‘ on the living legend P K Nair who brought film archiving to India as the founder of the National Film Archive of India will also be screened at the IFFLA this year.

    Other short films include ‘Tatpaschat‘, ‘Dosa Hunt‘, ‘Here and away‘, ‘Homecoming‘, ‘The queen of my dreams‘, ‘Rags to Pads‘, ‘Recurrence‘, Vasan Bala‘s ‘Peddlers‘, Hansal Mehta‘s ‘Shahid‘, and Anand Gandhi‘s ‘Ship of Theseus‘.

    There are two discussion sessions. The first is ‘Laughing At Ourselves- A Conversation with Actors and Creatives‘ with Kunal Nayyar (actor, Big Bang Theory), Hannah Simone (actor, New Girl), Sarayu Rao (actor, Monday Mornings), Luvh Rakhe (writer, New Girl), and Sunil Nayar (executive producer, Revenge), and moderated by Parvesh Cheena (actor, Outsourced).

    The second panel is on "Today‘s Pioneer Voices Changing the Landscape of Indian Cinema" moderated by Lisa Tsering (The Hollywood Reporter), and featuring Vasan Bala, Anand Gandhi, Hansal Mehta and Nitin Kakkar.