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Tag: Queen

  • “The goal is to create a $100 million IP company”: GoQuest’s Vivek Lath

    “The goal is to create a $100 million IP company”: GoQuest’s Vivek Lath

    Goquest Media is an independent distributor of global entertainment content offering a broad portfolio of international television series, scripted formats, factual content and films. Supplementing its portfolio of Indian content with key acquisitions from Europe, GoQuest Media is looking to serve the scripted needs of buyers across the globe.

    The Indian OTT space is booming, with platforms clamouring to raise the bar in local scripted content. According to GoQuest Media, this new age of premium Indian drama is creating a wealth of opportunities. In the long run the company is looking at becoming a global content agency. The firm’s primary vision is to promote India on a global stage and also expand their footprint in the global market. The company recently landed the distribution rights to two original series from OTT platform MX Player, Ek Thi Begum (The Mafia Queen) and Queen.

    In a special interaction with indiantelevision.com GoQuest founder and MD Vivek Lath spoke at length about Indian and international content market, his plan going forward and much more.

    How huge is the Indian market for GoQuest in terms of storytelling and content?

    Indian market is a pretty big market for GoQuest overall. We have been in touch with all the local OTT platforms for selling content which is dubbed in Hindi or in local languages. Most of the content that we are talking about comes from outside India. There is a large amount of transaction that has been going around remake rights or adaptation rights of international shows and films into India. Indian market is growing every year and slowly as more consumers demand more content, there will also be more demand for ready content coming outside India which would be plugged into the system here.

    So, GoQuest is looking at building a major distribution/production company out of India. What's your vision.

    The vision is to ultimately build up a very strong content monetisation company across various platforms and mediums. We are currently sitting between production, consumer facing platforms. Our services are essentially limited to the montisation part. Right now, we want to vertically move towards the production side of the business. In the coming two to three  years we will also enter the consumer side of the business and become a consumer entertainment brand. The goal is to create a 100 million-dollar IP company out of India, which is not only producing content but a holding company of very large and good IPs. The vision is creating a gamut of entertainment services including production, consumer driven business and distribution. We are also planning to create financial products around entertainment. The focus is to become an end to end entertainment media conglomerate.

    GoQuest has appointed people overseas and it is trying to become India’s global agency. Can you elaborate more on this.

    We will continue to hire people outside India. Most of the people that we are hiring overseas are from the business development and partnership side. Paula, who is a Keshet alum, is based in Tel Aviv and manages businesses in Europe and US. Harshad,who is in Vietnam manages South East Asia and East Asia. From a sales reach point of view, it is important for us to put these offices in place, if we have to expand our business. GoQuest will continue to hire leaders in those regions. We have also onboarded consultants who help us with partnerships and outreach. All in all a mix of full time and part time employees. We have a team of 5 outside India and 48 within India

    Are you looking at becoming a specialist in this field?

    We are specialists in this field. We are the only company out of India, which does the kind of licensing business . GoQuest doesn’t have a direct competition in India as of now. We will continue to build in this niche, that is where we stand out. We are picking up more and more fiction stories from across the world. Our immediate goal is to build a strong fiction distribution pipeline . Pushing India to the global stage is something we are keen on. One of our goals is to push Indian content, especially the one made for the OTT players on par with the other global content that is there in the market

    How are you planning to utilise Queen and Ek Thi Begum considering Queen has recently come on Zee as well.

    Well our arrangement with MX Player is largely for distributing the show internationally. We don’t hold the rights for India. But internationally we do, and we have already started many conversations there. OTT players with in India are already licensing shows to each other and to tv broadcast. Our battleground will be to mount the shows outside India

    What is the cost of licensing?

    We act as pure play service providers distributing content in the international market. As far as Licensing is concerned, the spectrum goes anywhere between $500 per episode in a small market to $5000 in a large market. There is no fixed benchmark, it completely depends on the market and different territories. It also depends upon the quality and story of the show.

    Do you also have TV distribution rights for Queen? Also, OTT contents are now going to TV. Do you think it is viable?

    We have all the distribution rights for Queen on both OTT and TV, for the international market. According to me OTT content going to TV is a viable position. At the end it is all about who is the audience what is the audience overlap between TV and OTT. I think it is good for different companies, mediums and platforms to share the cost of content in a way. Because production costs are shooting up and to make sense of the economics of each content that is being produced, I think it is a good way of monetising it.

    Any new Indian content in the pipeline that you are planning to acquire?

    We are in advance conversation with almost all the OTT producers in India at this point for the intellectual properties they own. We are making sure that whatever show we handpick is of extremely good quality rather than taking it as a commodity approach and cross-selling product at super cheap price.

    In the current situation, where production is on hold, what is your strategy going forward?

    With production on hold, it hasn’t changed much for us. Of course, we need more and more content to drive our business. However, it’s just been three months now, there is enough content for us to sell even if the production is on hold. If the hold continues for a longer period, then it will be challenging to get new products. But our challenges will be minuscule as compared to the challenges faced by the overall industry. I am not worried as such as far as our business is concerned.

    Are you looking at content that can be remade in India?

    Absolutely, in fact we are putting together packages for about four different shows for which have acquired remake rights for India. We have put the right people behind them to i.e. writers, showrunners anddirectors and then go out to pitch the script to OTT platforms. Some of the shows we have are being commissioned by the networks in France, US and in Europe. All the shows that we have, are tried and tested so there is very limited risk about the story line. I believe there is a lot of scope of remaking content in India.

    How has the pandemic impacted your business?

    We all forced ourselves to efficiently work from home. A lot of our interactions are documented for better clarity. Use of collaborative tools to make sure things don’t go out of hand. The business momentum was significantly big at the start of this year, and that momentum has been slowed down for us now. But I believe things won’t be that bad for us going forward. Because content companies are now springing back up, consumer spending is slowly increasing. Yes, we have been affected but it is not going to be long term as far as the pandemic is concerned.

    Apart from Indian content, will you be bringing more international content in India.

    Indian content that we are distributing is for outside India. But we are bringing a lot of international content in India. We are looking at our Ruby Ring, which has done really well all across the world. We are approaching all the leading OTT players now to buy the rights. We are also looking at making that show for regular GEC broadcast. There are a lot of international shows that we are bringing in India, details will be out soon.

  • MX Player licenses its original series Queen to Zeel

    MX Player licenses its original series Queen to Zeel

    MUMBAI: Extending its brand philosophy of Everytainment to all screens, MX Player, India’s leading streaming platform, has signed an exclusive deal with ZEEL, bringing one of their most loved MX Original Series ‘Queen’ to prime time television. The 11-episodic drama is now available across 3 languages – Hindi (Zee TV), Telugu (Zee Telugu) and Tamil (Zee Tamil).

    Over the years, OTT has served as a platform for Catch Up TV content but with this deal, a new dimension has been created, with a leading regional web series airing on primetime Indian television. Queen was launched on Zee Telugu on 18th May, Mon-Fri 20:00-20:30 and is airing in Hindi on Zee TV every Saturday and Sunday night 22:30-23:30.

    Elaborating on the same, MX Player content acquisition and syndication head Mansi Shrivastav said, “We believe in great stories, that appeal to viewers across geographies, languages and age groups. Viewers across the board are hungry for compelling content. We are always looking to push the boundaries to get our content to new audiences; we’re both delighted and excited to have partnered with Zee to bring Queen to massive television audiences. The success that Queen has met, with its opening on Zee Telugu only proves that great stories also cut across mediums be it OTT or linear television. MX has a robust pipeline of originals and we are looking forward to bringing more such stories that travel beyond the OTT universe & into the broadcast world via such linear partnerships, in India and across the world.

    Zee TV business head Aparna Bhosle concluded saying, “In our endeavor of keeping audiences engaged with original content during lockdown, we are happy to introduce the finite series – ‘Queen’ as it beautifully chronicles the extraordinary journey of an ordinary girl whose determined vision and resilience helped her bounce back from life's various curveballs and emerge as not just a state topper, a film actress but make an indelible mark in the patriarchal world of politics. It is a tale worth telling in the current context as it holds the potential to inspire millions." 

    Directed by the National Award winner Gautham Vasudev Menon and Prasath Murugesan, Queen brings to life the story of Shakthi Sheshadri. Reluctant actress, reluctant politician and a non-conformist until the very end – She was destiny’s child who rose from the ashes like a phoenix to rule the state as its youngest female chief minister. Inspired by true events, the series is headlined by Ramya Krishnan who portrays the role of Shakthi. Additionally, it also stars Anikha Surendran, Anjana Jayaprakash and Indrajith Sukumaran in key roles amongst others. 

  • Good stories are language-agnostic: MX Player’s Gautam Talwar

    Good stories are language-agnostic: MX Player’s Gautam Talwar

    MUMBAI: Move over English, it's time for regional languages now. It's 2020 and streaming services are looking at regional being the trend for the coming era. Most OTT platforms have now tested the waters and have enough data to back up their claims as well.

    MX Player’s Queen recently hogged the attention of streamers and the content ecosystem. The Tamil-English web-series’ has been recognised across different languages as it has been dubbed in Hindi, Bengali and Telugu.

    MX Player has a “clear regional strategy” where regional is not regional anymore. “We see the uptake of good stories is being language-agnostic,” MX Player chief content officer Gautam Talwar told Indiantelevision.com during a short candid conversation.

    Talwar terms it as the biggest web-series till date in Tamil Nadu market and adds that the series has benefitted the platform very well. User numbers have gone up as well and Queen was watched across age groups.

    A big show is coming up on the platform in Marathi starring Swapnil Joshi, Satish Rajwade along with two other big shows in the pipeline. There are two shows in Bhojpuri which Talwar believes will get extraordinary viewership if dubbed in other languages. The platform is also looking at a show in Gujarati, one in Telugu, a Punjabi show and a Tamil-Kannada bilingual show.

    Being in the market for nearly one year, there's a whole host of data has come its way on originals, current partnerships with networks, as well as partnerships with other web series creator, like TVF, Pocket Aces and Dice. The platform has been analysing the data to understand which shows work, who is the new audience and what have they been watching. According, MX Player is fine-tuning the content strategy in 2020. 

    Having said that, the focus will still be on the Hindi heartland. These will be small-town stories that can connect with tier II and III audiences. The platform will also have a couple of shows for the top eight metros and a cluster of 29 towns. It also aims to maintain a healthy mix between universal shows and shows targeted at specific audience clusters.

    “We did a very successful non-fiction show Love Ok Please collaborating with Too Yumm. Going forward, we are looking at key integration for brands. You will be seeing another big non-fiction show coming up called Times and Music, which is going to have a very serious brand integration as well,” he adds.

    Notably, MX Player is going to be experimenting with interactivity of content. An upcoming show will involve audience interaction with the story itself. Plans are afoot to make it a norm across shows. 

  • Viacom18 Motion Pictures ‘unconventional Indian cinema’ journey

    Viacom18 Motion Pictures ‘unconventional Indian cinema’ journey

    MUMBAI: Just five years old in the Indian film industry and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures has successfully changed the dimensions of tried and tested formulas. It has challenged the conventional norms of film making and produced a variety of movies for Indian audiences. Viacom18 Motion Pictures was started in 2010 with an aim to disrupt the tried and tested formulas, to challenge the norms and to ensure that content stood out to be the true winner. With movies like Tanu Weds Manu, Kahaani, Gangs of Wasseypur, OMG:Oh My God, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Queen, Mary Kom, Gabbar is Back and Margarita with a Straw, Viacom MP has proved that it has the ability to choose the right kind of script based on insights combined with instincts.

    This multi-faceted studio backs rare concept based cinema that appeals to the masses, distributes and markets larger-than-life English films that become mega blockbusters in India and has even ventured into regional markets like Marathi, Bengali and South Indian languages. Viacom 18 Motion Pictures has over 100 awards in its kitty.

    On completing five successful years of storytelling across 80 films, Viacom18 Media group CEO Sudhanshu Vats said, “Viacom18 Motion Pictures is an integral part of the value proposition of Viacom18 as a media network. Over the last 5 years we have built a distinctive identity for our movie studio that is built around our strong focus on stories. This ‘content-first’ approach is in synergy with our broadcast and digital business lines and together films, broadcast and digital complete the ecosystem of entertainment that Viacom18 offers its consumers.”

    Elaborating further Vats revealed, “Today we have a library of films and lines of businesses that I feel proud of. With each new project we are increasingly integrating a scientific approach based on data mining and analysis, enabling us to incrementally maximize business value for the studio as a whole. We have some interesting projects lined up for the years ahead and I look forward to an exciting future.”

    Viacom18 Motion Pictures COO Ajit Andhare said,“Viacom18 Motion Pictures has stood for a distinctive kind of cinema and consistent delivery best reflected not in one film or another but in the collective body of work built over these 5years. A conscious and calibrated business approach of focusing on innovation in films and rooting them in strong viable economics has been our hallmark.”

    “At the core of Viacom 18, the approach to film making is —  what can we do differently?  What can we do that is not conventional? That approach has been at the heart of a whole lot of things we do. The kind of film universe we have created, the kind of grammar we have created for film making and the kind of films we have stood for have started to occupy the centre stage in the Indian movie industry,” added Andhare.

    Further, sharing insights on how Viacom monetizes and markets films, Andhare said, “As a studio we are not just a film making outfit, we are part of a larger media network. Besides box office, the second largest revenue comes from satellite and now the new emerging market is digital. There will be a natural synergy in the group that will make a lot sense. In the broadcasting revenue model where a lot of output will be captive consumed by both of our platforms, some of those things clearly help in monetization.”  

    On marketing of the unconventional films, Andhare explained, “Traditional films are led by stars and it is the stars that are marketed, but if you take an unconventional film like Maajhi, it was marketed as an inspirational story. It is difficult to give a specific answer as to how we market films as it all depends on the kind of film we are working on and the content. For each film we have a different marketing strategy.”

    “Viacom18 Motion Pictures has consistently stood out for its distinctive kind of cinema delivery, best reflected not in one film or another but in the collective body of work built over these 5 years. A conscious and calibrated business approach of focusing on innovation in films and rooting them in strong viable economics has been our hallmark,” Andhare added.

    Before giving a green light to a story there are a few points that the studio keeps in mind in the initial stages he revealed.

    “We look at two to three aspects. Firstly, it’s the script. We also have an advisory council which does not work for Viacom, but are independent directors, films enthusiasts, film journalists who share their views on the script and we get the sense from that. Besides that, we also have someone who technically looks after the script. The script is just one layer, apart from that there are performances and there are many parameters that are involved in the judgment,”   said Andhare.

    Viacom18 Motion Pictures will relive its blockbusters through a weeklong festival between 11 June and 17 June 2016 that will showcase some of the most successful and loved films from its library. Launched in collaboration with Cinepolis, this festival will be a multi-city treat for movie lovers across Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Bangalore showcasing hits like Kahaani, Manjhi – The Mountain Man, Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Queen and Gangs of Wasseypur I & II.

    “We will continue to be unconventional in our films and conventional in our business approach that focuses on return on capital. As we complete five years we feel inspired from what we have achieved and are spurred on to play a central role in shaping Indian cinema in our journey ahead,” asserted Andhare in conclusion. 
     

  • Viacom18 Motion Pictures ‘unconventional Indian cinema’ journey

    Viacom18 Motion Pictures ‘unconventional Indian cinema’ journey

    MUMBAI: Just five years old in the Indian film industry and Viacom 18 Motion Pictures has successfully changed the dimensions of tried and tested formulas. It has challenged the conventional norms of film making and produced a variety of movies for Indian audiences. Viacom18 Motion Pictures was started in 2010 with an aim to disrupt the tried and tested formulas, to challenge the norms and to ensure that content stood out to be the true winner. With movies like Tanu Weds Manu, Kahaani, Gangs of Wasseypur, OMG:Oh My God, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Queen, Mary Kom, Gabbar is Back and Margarita with a Straw, Viacom MP has proved that it has the ability to choose the right kind of script based on insights combined with instincts.

    This multi-faceted studio backs rare concept based cinema that appeals to the masses, distributes and markets larger-than-life English films that become mega blockbusters in India and has even ventured into regional markets like Marathi, Bengali and South Indian languages. Viacom 18 Motion Pictures has over 100 awards in its kitty.

    On completing five successful years of storytelling across 80 films, Viacom18 Media group CEO Sudhanshu Vats said, “Viacom18 Motion Pictures is an integral part of the value proposition of Viacom18 as a media network. Over the last 5 years we have built a distinctive identity for our movie studio that is built around our strong focus on stories. This ‘content-first’ approach is in synergy with our broadcast and digital business lines and together films, broadcast and digital complete the ecosystem of entertainment that Viacom18 offers its consumers.”

    Elaborating further Vats revealed, “Today we have a library of films and lines of businesses that I feel proud of. With each new project we are increasingly integrating a scientific approach based on data mining and analysis, enabling us to incrementally maximize business value for the studio as a whole. We have some interesting projects lined up for the years ahead and I look forward to an exciting future.”

    Viacom18 Motion Pictures COO Ajit Andhare said,“Viacom18 Motion Pictures has stood for a distinctive kind of cinema and consistent delivery best reflected not in one film or another but in the collective body of work built over these 5years. A conscious and calibrated business approach of focusing on innovation in films and rooting them in strong viable economics has been our hallmark.”

    “At the core of Viacom 18, the approach to film making is —  what can we do differently?  What can we do that is not conventional? That approach has been at the heart of a whole lot of things we do. The kind of film universe we have created, the kind of grammar we have created for film making and the kind of films we have stood for have started to occupy the centre stage in the Indian movie industry,” added Andhare.

    Further, sharing insights on how Viacom monetizes and markets films, Andhare said, “As a studio we are not just a film making outfit, we are part of a larger media network. Besides box office, the second largest revenue comes from satellite and now the new emerging market is digital. There will be a natural synergy in the group that will make a lot sense. In the broadcasting revenue model where a lot of output will be captive consumed by both of our platforms, some of those things clearly help in monetization.”  

    On marketing of the unconventional films, Andhare explained, “Traditional films are led by stars and it is the stars that are marketed, but if you take an unconventional film like Maajhi, it was marketed as an inspirational story. It is difficult to give a specific answer as to how we market films as it all depends on the kind of film we are working on and the content. For each film we have a different marketing strategy.”

    “Viacom18 Motion Pictures has consistently stood out for its distinctive kind of cinema delivery, best reflected not in one film or another but in the collective body of work built over these 5 years. A conscious and calibrated business approach of focusing on innovation in films and rooting them in strong viable economics has been our hallmark,” Andhare added.

    Before giving a green light to a story there are a few points that the studio keeps in mind in the initial stages he revealed.

    “We look at two to three aspects. Firstly, it’s the script. We also have an advisory council which does not work for Viacom, but are independent directors, films enthusiasts, film journalists who share their views on the script and we get the sense from that. Besides that, we also have someone who technically looks after the script. The script is just one layer, apart from that there are performances and there are many parameters that are involved in the judgment,”   said Andhare.

    Viacom18 Motion Pictures will relive its blockbusters through a weeklong festival between 11 June and 17 June 2016 that will showcase some of the most successful and loved films from its library. Launched in collaboration with Cinepolis, this festival will be a multi-city treat for movie lovers across Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Bangalore showcasing hits like Kahaani, Manjhi – The Mountain Man, Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Queen and Gangs of Wasseypur I & II.

    “We will continue to be unconventional in our films and conventional in our business approach that focuses on return on capital. As we complete five years we feel inspired from what we have achieved and are spurred on to play a central role in shaping Indian cinema in our journey ahead,” asserted Andhare in conclusion. 
     

  • Another jewel for the Queen’s crown!

    Another jewel for the Queen’s crown!

    MUMBAI: Bollywood superstar Kangana Ranaut bags the ‘CNN-News18 Indian of the Year, 2015 – Special Achievement’ award.

    Bollywood ‘queen’ Kangana Ranaut has done it again. Close on the heels of winning her third National Award, the actress has now bagged the ‘CNN-News18 Indian of the Year, 2015 – Special Achievement’ award.

    Kangana was felicitated with the prestigious honour at a ceremony held in Delhi at Hotel Taj Palace on 9 June 2016. The highly-recognized award celebrates Kangana’s contribution not only to the industry as an actor, but also as a face that has helped build Brand India internationally.

    With this honour, Kangana’s ever-growing list of achievements just got longer, and the award further cements her standing in the industry as a global icon and a name to reckon with.

  • Another jewel for the Queen’s crown!

    Another jewel for the Queen’s crown!

    MUMBAI: Bollywood superstar Kangana Ranaut bags the ‘CNN-News18 Indian of the Year, 2015 – Special Achievement’ award.

    Bollywood ‘queen’ Kangana Ranaut has done it again. Close on the heels of winning her third National Award, the actress has now bagged the ‘CNN-News18 Indian of the Year, 2015 – Special Achievement’ award.

    Kangana was felicitated with the prestigious honour at a ceremony held in Delhi at Hotel Taj Palace on 9 June 2016. The highly-recognized award celebrates Kangana’s contribution not only to the industry as an actor, but also as a face that has helped build Brand India internationally.

    With this honour, Kangana’s ever-growing list of achievements just got longer, and the award further cements her standing in the industry as a global icon and a name to reckon with.

  • ‘Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho’…Gayee bhens paani mei!

    ‘Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho’…Gayee bhens paani mei!

    MUMBAI: The genres for film stories have become limited after television took over some of them, such as family dramas, mythological and to some extent, horror.  In a quest to find newer themes away from regular genres, filmmakers have been trying to experiment. While a few of them do find interesting themes that result in films like Dirty Picture, Queen, Vicky Donor and Piku, most come out as a poor spectacle resulting in the ‘No Audience, No Show’ genre. Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho falls into an entirely new genre called ‘Bizarre.’

     

    Tanakpur, a small town in UP, has this annual best bhains (buffalo) contest. And the winner is… Annu Kapoor’s bhains, who has come to him as part of dowry from the family of Hrishita Bhatt, his wife. She is crowned Miss Tanakpur. Kapoor is the town head with a sidekick in Ravi Kissen. Kapoor has problems related to sex life and tries various remedies prescribed by a quack he finds at a local fair.

     

    Kapoor is much older to Hrishita and suspects his wife of having an affair with someone younger. For all such problems and others, the town has a kind of black magic man in Sanjay Mishra who is reputed to have turned a perfectly virile man into a eunuch and vice versa, among other such miracles. Kapoor seeks his help to find who his wife is having an affair with.

     

    Mishra is a full blown fraud tantric who mumbles some mumbo jumbo and asks his patron to perform weird and filthy rituals. (That’s the maker’s idea of comedy besides being obsessed with human faeces and animal dung. The film is generously peppered with reference to these substances.)

     

    Finally, Kapoor catches Hrishita’s sympathiser, Rahul Bagga, red-handed with her in his bedroom. Kapoor and his goons beat him to a pulp, with a crowd gathering to witness the scene. But now Kapoor and his men are not sure how to explain this beating of Bagga. Telling everyone that Kapoor’s wife was having an affair with him would ruin Kapoor’s reputation. After all, he was the town head and aspiring for an MLA ticket.

     

    Kapoor finds a way out. Bagga is accused of raping Kapoor’s bhains. The story gets weirder. With Om Puri as the local cop who is easy to bribe and a vet who is too weak to protest, reports of rape are generated and a case filed. The court case begins with finally the magistrate wanting to interrogate the ‘victim’. In the process, some more poorly conceived comic scenes are force-fitted in the film.

     

    There is an institution called Khap, active in parts of North India, whose help Kapoor seeks. Khap considers itself above the law. The Khap sits on a judgements on Bagga and issues a diktat that he marry the bhains for his misdeed. The marriage is being solemnised, when the bhains plays the role of a runaway bride, taking to the highway as fast as she could. Having run out of corny ideas, the makers call it quits. There is no climax as such. You are just told that the wrongdoers, Puri, Kapoor, Kissen and Sharma are booked and punished by the law. Bagga and Hrishita live happily ever after.

     

    With a poor conception, poorer scripting and amateur handling, this purported satire turns into an inane farce. The film has some good capable artistes in Puri, Kapoor, Sharma and Kissen but all are at sea here. Hrishita is in a few scenes and all of them seem to have been taken in one go even before she could change her expressions. Bagga wears a lost look through the film and one can’t blame him for that.

     

    Miracles don’t happen at the box office and none expected for Miss Tanakpur Haazir Ho.

     

    Producers: Crossword Films Production, Fox Star Studios’

    Director: Vinod Kapri.

    Cast: Om Puri, Annu Kapoor, Ravi Kissen, Hrishita Bhatt, Rahul Bagga. 

  • ‘Queen’ & ‘Haider’ dominate IIFA Awards; Subhash Ghai gets special award

    ‘Queen’ & ‘Haider’ dominate IIFA Awards; Subhash Ghai gets special award

    NEW DELHI: The Kangana Ranaut-starrer Queen and Shahid Kapoor-starrer Haider, both of which had won National Awards for 2014, dominated the awards at the glittering finale of the 16th India International Film Academy (IIFA) Awards in Malaysia. Videocon

     

    Queen bagged awards for best film, best performance by Ranaut, and best story by Vikas Bahl, Chaitally Parmar & Parvez Shaikh.Haider was a winner for best performance by Kapoor, best performance for a negative role for Kay Kay Menon, and best supporting actress Tabu.

     

    Heropanti, which introduced Jackie Shroff’s son Tiger Shroff won two awards: one for best male debut by the junior Shroff and the best debut female for Kirti Sanon.

     

    Another film, which won two awards was Ek Villain: for the song ‘Galliyan’ by Ankit Tiwari and for male supporting actor Riteish Deshmukh.

     

    Umang Kumar won the best direction for Mary Kom though many had hoped lead Priyanka Chopra may win the best actress award.

     

    Contrary to expectations, Aamir Khan’s PK won just one award: for its director Rajkumar Hirani.

     

    The other winners were: Best debut direction: Sajid Nadiadwsla for Kick; Best music direction: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy for 2 States; Best playback singer- female: Kanika Kapoor for Baby Doll (Ragini MMS2); Best performance in a comic role: Varun Dhavan forMain Tera Hero; and Best regional film: Lai Bhaari.

     

    Eminent film-maker Subhash Ghai was awarded for his Outstanding Contribution to Indian Cinema. “So many emotions I am going through, so many memories. That is why you fall, then rise, then rise again. Thank you, IIFA,” he said.

     

    Deepika Padukone won an award for IIFA Woman of the Year and Ranveer Singh recited a poem for her.

     

    The S Cross IIFA Awards was held at the Stadium Putra in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. For the first time ever, Bollywood’s hilarious duo- the talented actors Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor played host to the awards ceremony. The twosome won over audiences and industry members alike, leaving those present in splits with their witty quips, perfect comic timing and laudable on-stage camaraderie.

     

    Their opening performance was a medley of iconic Jodi songs – Mein Khiladi Tu Anaari, Dola Re Dola, Mere Do Anmol Ratan where the two donned outlandish costumes keeping the audience in tears of laughter. They were joined on stage by Rakhi Sawant, who took the entertainment quotient to another level.

     

    Bollywood’s ace dancers Hrithik Roshan and Shahid Kapoor stunned audiences with their performances and dance moves. More highlights of the night were Sonakshi Sinha, who who stole the show with her singing act, Parineeti Chopra’s mesmerising performance on Pareshaan, Baby Doll, Lovely and Drama Queen and Shraddha Kapoor’s act on Khalnayak Hu Mein, Choli Ke Piche Kya Hai and Om Shanti Om – a tribute to Subhash Ghai. Anushka Sharma gave a spell-binding performance on songs from her film Bombay Velvet.

     

    For the first time, S Cross IIFA Awards will be broadcast globally on Colors.

  • ‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns’ on a barrier-breaking spree; collects Rs 69.85 crore

    ‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns’ on a barrier-breaking spree; collects Rs 69.85 crore

    MUMBAI: Tanu Weds Manu Returns is on a barrier-breaking spree. Riding solely on Kangana Ranaut’s petite shoulders playing her double roles, the film is slated to set new benchmarks at the box office.

     

    This is Ranaut’s hat trick after Tanu Weds Manu and Queen, all three being her personal triumphs and rewards of her outstanding talent. The film had a sort of tepid opening day but went on to consolidating over the weekend as well as taking a solid grip on the box office to end its first week with Rs 69.85 crore.

     

    Welcome To Karachi, yet another attempt to launch Jackky Bhagnani in a home production, comes as a cropper. A poorly selected, mundane subject, unimaginative treatment and patchy making take their toll. Rather overconfidence of opening the film on Thursday evening for paid previews marred the film’s Friday prospects as the bad reports spread instantly. Resultantly, the film failed to attract viewers on Friday ending it with poor collections even as the following Saturday and Sunday could not lend any respectable figures to the opening weekend tally of Rs 5.55 crore.

     

    P Se PM Tak, a script Kundan Shah had been working and reworking on for eons, released post undergoing a slaughter at the Censors and lack of promotion, fails miserably.

     

    Ishqedarriyaan, a comeback vehicle for Mahakshay Chakraborty, son of Mithun Chakraborty, fails to find audience to avail of screenings. An also ran.

     

    Bombay Velvet drops to about Rs 1 crore in its second week after a miserably devastating first week of Rs 21.65 crore. The film rates as the biggest disaster in last few decades and will lose almost all of its investment and some.

     

    Piku managed to hold its own during its third week despite the Tanu Weds Manu Returns onslaught to put together a decent Rs 9.65 crore to take its three-week total to Rs 74.87 crore.

     

    Gabbar Is Back collects Rs 1.45 crore in its fourth week taking its four-week total to Rs 79.25 crore and marginalizing its deficits.