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Tag: Mumbai

  • Festival of films on Kashmir in Mumbai

    Festival of films on Kashmir in Mumbai

    NEW DELHI: ‘Kashmir – Before our Eyes‘, a three-day Festival of films on Kashmir is to be held at the Films Division auditoria in Mumbai from 31 May.

    The festival has been curated by filmmakers Ajay Raina and Pankaj Rishi Kumar and will screen shorts, documentaries and feature films.

    The first date of the Festival is devoted to ‘Roots of the conflict: The nationalist discourse‘ with films like Storm over Kashmir by B D Garga and A Diary of Aggression by N V K Murthy (both made by Films Division), followed by a discussion on the conflict between India and Pakistan vis-?-vis Kashmir.

    The Special India Preview will feature the multi-award winning feature Valley of Saints by Musa Sayeed from the US.

    The second day will be devoted on ‘Paradise: Kashmir then and now‘ with films Before My Eyes by Mani Kaul; Lolaab – A Valley In The Himalayas by Mohiuddin Mirza, and Paradise On A River Of Hell by Abir Bashir Bazaz and Meenu Gaur which got the PSBT Special Recognition for the Third Karachi Film Festival, Pakistan, 2003.

    This will be followed by a discussion in which Moiuddin Mirza, Piyush Shah, Jyoti Swaroop, and Siddhartha Gigoo will take part, moderated by Ajay Raina.

    The same evening, there will be feature on the theme of exile, disappearance, dislocation, The Last Day by Siddhartha Gigoo and the non-fiction Tell them, the tree they had planted has now grown by Ajay Raina which won the MIFF award for PSBT.

    This will be followed by reading from The Garden of Solitude by Siddartha Gigoo.

    Later, the non-fiction Where Have You Hidden My Crescent Moon by Iffat Fatima, Autumn‘s Final Country by Sonia Jabbar, and the feature Bub (Father) by Jyoti Sarup will be screened.

    The last day will see the screening of Jashn-e-Azadi by Sanjay Kak, Pather Chu (The Play is on) by Pankaj Rishi Kumar for PSBT, Apour ti Yapour. Na Jang Na Aman. Yei Chu Talukpeth (Between Border and the fence. On the edge of the map) by Ajay Raina for PSBT and the feature Harud by Aamir Bashir.

  • Faced with shortage of good films, MIFF 2014 to do away with Indian animation competition

    Faced with shortage of good films, MIFF 2014 to do away with Indian animation competition

    NEW DELHI: The Films Division, which organises the Mumbai International Film Festival for Short, Documentary and Animation films every second year, has decided to do away with the Animation category under the Indian competition section in view of the poor quality of entries received in previous editions.

    It has decided that all Animation films will now be entered into the International competition section of the Festival expected to be held from 3 to 9 February next year at the National Centre for Performing Arts (also known as Tata Centre) in Mumbai.

    The Division has already held two meetings in Mumbai and Delhi to seek opinion of filmmakers and others on its proposals for the next edition. It has now sought written views on its proposals for MIFF 2014.

    To avoid confusion with regular feature films, it has decided to rename its category of fiction films as ‘Short Fiction Films’ and to restrict the maximum duration to 40 or 50 minutes instead of 70 minutes.

    There will be two sections of documentary films in the international competition: one below and the other above forty minutes. There will also be a fiction section of up to forty to fifty minutes in both Indian and international sections. There will be a documentary section in the Indian competition and an animation category in the international competition.

    The Festival will also have Information Section, Retrospectives / Special Packages, and a Marketing Section.

    There is a proposal to have two cut-off dates (for sending entries for selection in Indian Competition section only) to ease the process of pre-selection of films: 31 July for films completed before 30 May and 15 September for films being completed by 31 August.

    Apple ProRes (HQ) is being proposed the default screening format for the festival and also for sending competition entries.

  • SC asks Sanjay Dutt to surrender by 15 May

    SC asks Sanjay Dutt to surrender by 15 May

    NEW DELHI: The supreme court today rejected a review petition by actor Sanjay Dutt against his conviction in the 1993 Mumbai riots case under the Arms Act.‘

    The court had earlier on 21 March upheld his conviction under the Arms Act and sentenced him to five years of jail in relation to the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case. However, he was given time to complete his assignments in the film industry.

    He has to surrender by May 15.

    The court which had upheld the death sentence of Yakub Abdul Razak Memon, a key conspirator with Dawood Ibrahim in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, had ordered that Dutt return to jail to serve three-and-a-half years‘ sentence for possessing illegal arms. Dutt has already served a jail term of 18 months.

    A total of 257 persons were killed and 713 others injured when a series 13 coordinated explosions shattered the metropolis on 12 March 1993.

    The blasts occurred at 12 places, including Bombay Stock Exchange building, Air-India Building at Nariman Point, at Worli opposite Century Bazaar, Hotels Sea Rock and Juhu Centaur.

  • Mumbai gets its 1st International Multiplex – Cinépolis

    Mumbai gets its 1st International Multiplex – Cinépolis

    Mumbai: Cinepolis has announced the launch of its six screen, 100 per cent digital multiplex at Mumbai.


    The multiplex brings together RealD, the world‘s best 3D technology, Hollywood standard 4k digital screens and 7.1 Dolby digital audio.


    Cinépolis India country head and managing director Milan Saini said, “We are pleased to announce the opening of our newest multiplex, providing international movie experience, in Mumbai. Our patrons can look forward to enjoying a truly world class movie going experience with our state of the art cinema which is conveniently located in one of the best malls of the city. This is the 1st Cinema in Mumbai to have the most advanced 4K digital projection.”


    Cinepolis currently operates at Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Patna, Surat, Ludhiana, Bhopal, Jaipur and Mangalore.

  • DDB Mudra Mumbai and Adventure 18 urge Corporate India to step Outdoors

    DDB Mudra Mumbai and Adventure 18 urge Corporate India to step Outdoors

    MUMBAI: Corporate India is overworked and exhausted. While the rest of the world works 50 to 60 hours a week, corporate India clocks in 80 hours. Their lives revolve around their desks, and their time away from work is the time they spend playing solitaire or browsing the internet.

    DDB Mudra Mumbai and Adventure 18 saw this as an opportunity to urge corporate India to get away from their dreary workstations and step out and have an adventure. Apart from this, the other challenge faced by the team was execute the campaign in a cost-effective way.

    The team used a surprisingly overlooked, yet effective medium of communication – Window Washers, to do the job.

    Window Washers, dressed up in adventure gear, were sent down office buildings located across the city of Mumbai. In a sight worth a watch, mountaineers, rock climbers and para gliders descended on to buildings across the city.

    The result was overwhelming. There were a few who were scared, some were amused, but everyone took note of the men in adventure gear. And when the window washers had the attention of the office they revealed their message: “Don’t you wish you were outdoors?” The message continued to give the website address of Adventure 18.

    Speaking on this activity, Louella Rebello, Executive Creative Director, DDB Mudra Mumbai, said, “Sometimes you are at work, you look out of the window and wish you could be in the great outdoors instead. We decided to actually put a guy out there telling you to do just that. Adventure 18 was a great partner in making this happen.'”

    Adding to this, Mohit Oberoi, Owner, Adventure 18, said, “It’s a great concept. More importantly, it’s brought attention to what we do and stand for as a company. That is to give people an unforgettable experience of the outdoors”

  • Pran to be honoured with Dadasaheb Phalke award

    Pran to be honoured with Dadasaheb Phalke award

    NEW DELHI: Bollywood thespian Pran – who entertained Hindi cinema audiences for more than six decades with versatile roles as villain, comedian and character roles – has been chosen to receive the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke award, the highest official recognition for film personalities in India.

    The announcement comes in the year marking a centenary of Indian cinema.

    Pran Kishan Sikand, who turned 93 in February, has acted in over 400 films and quit acting in 1998.

    On getting the news, Pran telephonically told indiantelevision.com from Mumbai: "I am very happy and honoured to receive this award."

    Pran is the 44th recipient of this award, given for lifetime contribution to cinema. The award consists of a Swarn Kamal, a cash prize of Rs one million and a shawl. The award is given on the basis of recommendations of a committee of eminent persons.

    Pran had been the industry‘s unanimous choice for this award in 2012, but the government committee had chosen the name of veteran actor Soumitra Chatterjee.

    The award, named after the father of Indian cinema D G Phalke, will be conferred on Pran on 3 May, the day on which Phalke‘s film ‘Raja Harishchandra‘ was released in 1913, an Information and Broadcasting Ministry source told indiantelevision.com

    Beginning his career as a hero in 1940 with ‘Yamala Jat‘, Pran went on to achieve fame as a villain in a large number of films including classics like ‘Milan‘, ‘Madhumati‘, ‘Brahmachari‘, ‘Kashmir Ki Kali‘ and ‘Sadhu aur Shaitan‘.

    He brought a new sophisticated touch to the role of a villain by resorting to mannerisms like stammering, lisping or using certain sentences, unlike others who using various facial features like beards or twisted faces.

    At the time when he was at his peak, many people named their children as Pran, a tribute to this multi-faceted actor.

    He later favoured character roles, playing the friend, beloved father and grandfather in movies like ‘Sharabi‘ and as friend in ‘Zanjeer‘, apart from a heart-rending role in Manoj Kumar‘s ‘Upkaar‘ and as a headstrong personality in the Jeetendra-Sanjeev Kumar- Jaya Bachchan starrer ‘Parichay‘ based on the western film ‘The Sound of Music‘. Two of his most memorable comic roles include ‘Victoria 203‘ and ‘Karz‘.

    Born on 12 February 1920 at Delhi, Pran started his career by learning photography in Lahore. A chance meeting with a film producer got him his first break in ‘Yamla Jat‘ in 1940. He married Shukla Sikhand in 1945 and has two sons Arvind and Sunil, and one daughter Pinky.

    At partition in 1947, Pran came to Mumbai and restarted his film career after a brief struggle.

    His favourite hobbies now are watching sports (football, hockey, cricket), reading and looking after his pet dogs. He has five grand children and two great grand children.

  • PVR launches India’s first NFC enabled “Wallet” app for BlackBerry 10

    PVR launches India’s first NFC enabled “Wallet” app for BlackBerry 10

    NEW DELHI: PVR Ltd. has launched its first ‘NFC enabled PVR Wallet’ app for the BlackBerry 10 platform.

     

    Empowered with the NFC technology and NEC’s Integrated E-money solution, moviegoers can now ‘tap and pay’ for movie tickets and refreshments without using paper money across 15 PVR cinemas in cities like Delhi & NCR, Chennai, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Pune, Hyderabad, and Bangalore.

     

    PVR app has been bolstered by NEC India, which is the supporting backend provider for ‘PVR Wallet‘. NEC India has provided an end-to-end cloud-based e-payment system called NFC e-Money server to PVR that integrates itself facilitating interactivity between devices (the NFC enabled phone and PVR wallet access), for any monetary transactions.

     

    PVR Group President & CEO Pramod Arora said, “PVR has always been a market leader in technology innovation in lieu of providing the very best experience to its consumers. We have a long standing association with BlackBerry and we are excited to launch the ‘NFC enabled PVR Wallet’ app for the BlackBerry 10 platform. Also, with the launch of this latest application, PVR reiterates its commitment to provide it’s consumers the latest in technology and innovative features making lives of movie lovers simpler, faster and worthwhile.”

     

    Annie Mathew, Director, Alliances and Business Development at BlackBerry, said: “BlackBerry is committed to NFC technology, including supporting mobile payments and the convenience it brings to BlackBerry customers. We are pleased that PVR has launched their wallet app for BlackBerry 10.”

     

    NEC India managing director Koji Oda said, “NEC has been a premier player in the retail technology domain globally and we are honored to be selected again by PVR Cinemas as its preferred technology partner. NFC is an important technology used to bridge the smartphone owner to both the physical and online world for an enhanced user experience. We are committed to empowering our customers with innovative technologies like NFC to help them gain customer loyalty, and together, strengthen our foothold in the retail and entertainment industries.”

     

    The NFC enabled PVR Wallet app is a ‘Closed Loop Payment Wallet’ where the rights to use the transaction money remains within the premises of PVR cinemas. The multiplex brand PVR has been in the entertainment business for more than a decade and continues to bring different offerings for its movie aficionados, making it convenient, safe and enjoyable with every innovation.

  • PVR to celebrate 85th Academy Awards from 15-21 Feb

    PVR to celebrate 85th Academy Awards from 15-21 Feb

    MUMBAI: PVR, the leading entertainment company in India, will be celebrating the 85th Academy Awards by showcasing popularly celebrated movies at the Oscars at PVR multiplexes from 15-21 February in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune and Ahmedabad.

    The multiplex brand, PVR intends to keep the movie lovers hooked with an interesting showcase of movies like Silver Linings Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty, Argo, Life of PI, Les Miserables and The Impossible.

    PVR JMD Sanjeev Bijli said, “We feel delighted to showcase the Oscar nominated movies known for its excellence in cinematic achievements at PVR cinemas. With the film fraternity looking up to the Academy Awards for its quality cinema and global outlook, it is a feeling of pride to celebrate the Oscars.

    “Over the years, PVR has offered to its movie aficionados an interesting mix of movies, satiating the appetite of entertainment of different classes. We at PVR cinemas intend to bring quality entertainment to our audience so that it does not have to wait to catch its favorite stars, action and drama for long.”

  • Zee News Ltd Q3 ad rev strong, no big fall in carriage fee

    Zee News Ltd Q3 ad rev strong, no big fall in carriage fee

    MUMBAI: A double-digit ad revenue growth has helped Zee News Ltd (ZNL) put up a performance better than the market expectations in the festive quarter but a top executive of the company cautioned that a significant turnaround in spending by advertisers is yet to be visible.

     

    The carriage payout to cable networks has only marginally dropped in the digitised markets and subscription growth has been subdued.

     

    ZNL’s ad revenue rose 14.8 per cent to Rs 595.6 million in the fiscal-third quarter from Rs 518.8 million a year earlier, despite a ‘significant opportunity’ loss in terms of advertising revenues from the government.

     

    “There was a better utilisation of ad inventory during the festival season and we also offered branding and event-based solutions to advertisers. But this is not to say that the ad slowdown has lifted and there is a big turnaround. We will outperform the market which is growing in single digit,” ZNL chief executive officer Alok Agrawal told Indiantelevision.com.

     

    ZNL’s ad revenue growth for the full-fiscal will be in single digit. TV news broadcasters have been fighting the government on ad rates and are not accepting DAVP (Directorate of Audio Visual Publication) advertising. “The standoff continues and NBA (News Broadcasters Association) members are not carrying DAVP ads,” said Agrawal.

     

    ZNL posted a 14.2 per cent growth in net profit to Rs 185.5 million in the third quarter ended 31 December from Rs 162.5 million a year earlier.Its operating profit (Ebidta) in the third quarter stood at Rs 196.7 million against Rs 189.7 million in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

     

    The news broadcaster, which has seven channels in its portfolio, reported consolidated revenues of Rs 858.4 million in the third quarter, an increase of 10.1 per cent from Rs 779.7 million a year ago.

     

    Subscription revenue stood at Rs 222 million, down 0.3 per cent from the previous quarter, and up 15.2 per cent from the earlier-year period.

     

    Operating expenditure jumped 12.2 per cent to Rs 661.7 million due to increase in employee costs and other expenses.

     

    Carriage fee has only fallen marginally in the digitised markets. “There has been no significant reduction in carriage fee in the completely digitised markets of Delhi and Mumbai. It has not definitely gone as per the plans of the news broadcasters,” said Agrawal.

  • Cinerama inks distributor deal with Sling Media

    Cinerama inks distributor deal with Sling Media

    MUMBAI: Cinema sound and projection company Cinerama Pvt Ltd has announced an exclusive sub distributor deal in the West and South India with Sling Media for its product the Slingbox. This partnership will enable Sling Media to leverage Cinerama‘s existing network in over 20 cities catering to high net worth individuals (HNI).

    Cinerama will play an integral role in helping Sling Media extend its product reach in India, which in the past has focused on large format retail stores and ecommerce websites. Through Cinerama‘s existing and well established network, Sling Media intends to focus on tapping the fast growing markets in up and coming cities in India.

    Cinerama director Sanjay Agarwal said, “We are delighted to partner with Sling Media in their new go-to-market strategy. We are confident that Sling Media‘s unique product and our expertise with the HNI segment in south and west regions will result in mutual growth and benefit.”

    The Slingbox is a unique consumer electronics product that allows customers to watch their home TV live (or access recorded programming or VOD) in and around the home or away from home using popular devices such as PCs and Macs, tablets and smartphones. It was launched in India in 2011 and is available in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Chennai.

    “The consumer market in west and south India has evolved phenomenally with the growth of tablets and smartphones. We believe that Cinerama has the competence and expertise needed to reach potential Slingbox customers and build a strong proposition for our products in these markets,” said Sling Media, India general manager and head of operations Raman Venkatachar.