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Tag: Smita Thackeray

  • 2nd India International Film Convention starts today

    2nd India International Film Convention starts today

    MUMBAI: The 2nd India International Film Convention takes off today at Intercontinental – The Grand. 

    Organised by The Foundation for the Promotion of Film Arts and Crafts in partnership with the Association of Motion Picture and Television Programme Producers of India, the 3 day convention includes conference sessions, an exhibition and an awards night.

    Over 500 delegates have registered for the event and a lot of big names from the Indian film industry are expected to attend.

    Speaking about the objectives of IIFC 2004, FPFAC secretary general Vinod Kumar stated,”The event is our second attempt at bridging the gap between Indian cinema and the world market. It is also our endeavor at this event to create a platform for open exchange of ideas within the film industry as well as for creating a white paper on the issues and opportunities facing the Indian film industry”

    The entire exhibition floor has been taken up by the South African delegation, amongst which the notable ones include The Cape Film Commission, The Durban Film Office, the SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) and the Southern Sun Group of hotels.

    The awards institutionalised by the foundation are not divided category wise and shall be awarded to the outstanding achievers in the film industry over the past year. The awards are to be given at a grand ceremony today evening. 

    The programme schedule is as follows

    6 Sep 04
    CONFERENCE DAY 1
    09:30 am – 10:00 am    Registration
    10:00 am    Inauguration of the Exhibition & Conference by Guests
    10.30 am – 11:00 am    SMT. SMITA THACKERAY
    KIRAN SHANTARAM
    MAHESH BHATT
    Vote of Thanks
    11:00 am    Press Session & Tea Break
    11:30 am    
    Subject : IF CONTENT IS KING  WHAT WORKS?
    Trends of Indian films and what is working and what is not, expert opinions and analysis of success stories. 
    PANEL :
    MAHESH BHATT
    KUNDAN SHAH
    BASU CHATTERJI
    INDU MIRANI
    PRAKASH JHA
    Audience Views : Open Session …15 min.

    1:00 pm    Break for Lunch
    2:00 pm    
    Subject : NEW REVENUE SOURCES & INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
    Practices in advertising, promotion of films, case studies and international trends
    PANEL
    NITIN KINI
    PADAM KUMAR
    VIVECK VASWANI
    VINOD KUMAR
    SUDHIR MISHRA

    3:30 pm    Break for Tea / Coffee
    4:00 pm    Subject : NEW REVENUE SOURCES & INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
    Practices in advertising, promotion of films, case studies and international trends
    Continued….
    Audience Views : Open Session …15 min.
    6:00 pm    Close of Day’s Proceedings Day1
    6:30 pm – 7:30 pm    Break
    7:30 pm ONWARDS    ACHIEVER’S AWARDS Presentation
    Welcome
    Toast to Awardees
    Awards Format : Citation to be Read
    Presentation of Bouquet / Felicitation
    Presentation of Award
    Thanks Speech
    Interspersed with Entertainment
    Cocktails & Dinner, By Invitation only
    7 Sep 04    CONFERENCE DAY 2 – FOCUS SOUTH AFRICA
    10:30 am    
    Session 1
    Subject : FILM FINANCING
    PANEL : 
    VINEY KUMAR, IDBI
    K. KANNAN, BANK OF BARODA
    SAMI SIDDIQUI, SAMATA SAHAKARI BANK
    DEEPANKER MUKOPADHYAY, NFDC
    Audience Views : Open Session …15 min.

    12:30 pm    Break for Lunch
    1:30 pm    Session 2 
    Subject : FEATURING SOUTH AFRICA 
    Speakers : 
    Bianca Mpahlaza: Introduction to Filming in Cape Town
    Phillip Key: Feature Film Production 
    Bev Green: Commercial Production, Directors
    Claire Richards: Commercial Production, Service
    Gavin Levy: Stills Production
    Audience Views : Open Session …15 min.
    3:30 pm    Break for Tea / Coffee
    4:00 pm    Session 3 
    Subject : FEATURING SOUTH AFRICA 
    Speakers : 
    Mark Engel: Music Video
    Liezel Bruckman: Models & Talent
    Liz Argent: Tourism Infrastructure & Accomodation
    Laurence Mitchell: Broadcast & Distribution
    Martin Cuff: Incentives & Financial Support
    Nalini Singh
    Pieter Cortzee 
    Audience Views : Open Session …15 min.
    6:00 pm    Close of Day’s Proceedings Day 2
    7:30 ONWARDS    Cocktail Reception followed by Dinner Hosted by South Africa CONSUL GENERAL & FPFAC, By Invitation only
    8 Sep 04    CONFERENCE DAY 2
    10:30 am    PANEL
    Subject : TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN FILM MAKING
    Technology in Animation, Technology in Cameras, Innovations in Editing, Digital HD filming, Software Tools for Film making. 
    Speakers :
    AMIT KHANNA
    RAMESH MEER
    KIREET KHURANA
    MUNJAL SHROFF
    RAJ TILAK
    K CHANDRASHEKHAR
    N. CHANDRA
    DAMAN SOOD
    Audience Views : Open Session …15 min.
    12:30 pm    Break for Lunch
    1:30 pm    Subject : NEW HORIZONS  ADVERTISING, DOCUMENTARIES & SHORT FILMS
    PANEL
    KAILASH SURENDRANATH
    AJAY RAINA
    KABIR KHAN
    DINKAR CHOUDHARY
    YAKUB SAEED
    U.B. MATHUR
    ZAKIR CHINDE
    Audience Views : Open Session …15 min.
    3:30 pm    Break for Tea / Coffee
    4.00 pm    Subject : PACKAGING, PROMOTION & MARKETING OF FEATURE FILMS
    Practices in advertising, promotion of films, case studies and international trends
    PANEL
    RAVI CHOPRA
    SURJIT SINGH
    NEERAJ ROY
    MUBINA ANSARI
    SANJIV MEHTA
    ANITA NORONHA
    JYOTIN GOEL
    Audience Views : Open Session …15 min.
    6.00 pm    Close of Day’s Proceedings Day 2
    7:30 ONWARDS    Mahurat of “HUSN”, Cocktail Reception followed by Dinner. By Invitation Only

  • Anti-piracy event to air on Sahara Manoranjan on 15 Aug

    Anti-piracy event to air on Sahara Manoranjan on 15 Aug

    MUMBAI: The film and television industry is coming together once again to combat a serious evil – piracy. Initiated by Cinema People’s Academy; the event will bring together the film fraternity on a common platform to pledge their support to fight piracy.

    The event Kambakth Piracy which will be held on 14 August in Mumbai and will be aired on Sahara Manoranjan on 15 August at 7.30 pm.

    The event will have Bollywood stars like Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Fardeen Khan, Neha Dhupia, Riya Sen, Malaika Arora, Amrita Arora, Balm Arena, Gather Khan, Vasundhara Das, Jaspal Bhatti, Vikram Sathe, Sudesh Bhosle, Perizaad Zorabian, Kareena Kapoor, Shekhar Suman and Kashmira Shah performing on stage.

    Also Smita Thackeray, Jaya Bachchan, Subash Ghai, Yash Chopra, Pahlaj Nihalani and Rani Mukherji will address the audience on piracy concerns.

    This industry initiative is the need of the hour with the entertainment industry losing over Rs 27 billion to film and music piracy every year. This financial drain leaves the industry creativity handicapped and restricts filmmakers from crafting their best.

    Through this unified effort, the industry hopes to curb the piracy menace.

  • Sahara’s talent hunt ‘Mr & Miss Bollywood’ enters final round

    MUMBAI: The final round of the Sahara Manoranjan Mr & Miss Bollywood contest to down-size the contestants to the final 30 actors, began in Mumbai today. The three-day auditions are being held at Filmistan Studios in the western suburb of Goregaon in Mumbai.

    The final 74 aspirants, culled from the over 40,000 entries that were initially received from all over the country, will now be inducted into grueling three-day session, informs an official communiqué.

    The performances will be judged by a panel comprising well-know Bollywood biggies like Karan Johar, Ashutosh Gowariker, Mahesh Bhatt, Smita Thackeray, Pankaj Parashar, Priyadarshan, E Niwas and Ken Ghosh, among others. Some of these personalities will also interact with the participants and give them tips on acting.

    The final 30 actors will be selected from these 74 and they will be groomed for a career in showbiz. Four of these 30 will be given lead roles in films. The winners will be trained in Mumbai and then launched into showbiz. The remaining 26 winners will be given assignments in television serials.

    Managed by Percept D’ Mark and audited by Ernst & Young, the talent hunt kicked off in the last week of March 2004.

    Percept and Sahara will soon be announcing a film that will launch two of the winners. Filmmakers have already promised to give breaks to the winners, in their forthcoming projects, the release states.

  • Apsara awards nominees announced

    Apsara awards nominees announced

    MUMBAI: The list is out! The awards instituted by producers’ guild of India to celebrate excellence in TV and film industry announced its nominee list last evening.

    The nominees’ night for Apsara Film Producers’ Guild of India Awards was held at Intercontinental the Grand, in Mumbai.

    Television artiste Mohnish Behl and Paap fame model-turned actor Udita Goswami played the hosts for the evening. While Mohnish was impressive and fluent, Udita fumbled at regular intervals.

    The event took many by surprise, owing to the low turnout of the producer fraternity. Incidentally, the producers’ turnout at the launch of the guild on 5 April 2004 at a suburban hotel in Mumbai was comparatively better than yesterday.

    Well known producers like Ravi Chopra, Smita Thackeray, Gaurang Doshi, Ekta Kapoor, Aroona Irani, Mahesh Bhatt, Firoz Nadiadwala, Ram Gopal Varma, Farah Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Ashutosh Gowarikar, Karan Johar, Vidhu Vinod Chopra and many more were conspicuous by their absence. At the same time, there were hardly any known faces from the television and film actors’ fraternity, barring Amrish Puri.

    The luminaries who marked their presence at the event were Ramanand Sagar, Ramesh Sippy, Yash Chopra, Rakesh Roshan, Jeetendra (who left very early and was unavailable when called on stage to announce a few nominations), Vashu Bhagnani, Ashok Thakeria, Prakash Jha, Manmohan Shetty, Ramesh Taurani, Kunal Dasgupta, Ronnie Screwvala, Akash Khurana, Shailesh Dave, Dheeraj Kumar, Prem Kishen, Govind Nihalani, Satish Kaushik, Ehsaan and Loy, Kailash and Aarti Surendranath, Amar Upadhyay, Sonu Nigam, Vidya Malwade, Anuradha Paudwal, Aadesh Shrivastav and Prahlad Kakkar amongst others.

    The nominee announcements were interspersed with a live concert by Silk Route on two occasions. But the best part of the event was when Usha Uthup took the stage and bought the yawning guests to their feet. She sang some of her hit numbers like Doston se pyaar kiya from Shaan, Hari om hari’ from Armaan, ‘Jeena yahan marna yahan from Mera Naam Joker, among others and even invited Amrish Puri on stage to sing the Yeh dosti hum nahin todenge, the famous number from Sholay with her.

    The award winners will be chosen by votes cast by all the 160 members of the guild. Members including Aamir Khan, Shyam Benegal, Amitabh Bachchan, Ashutosh Gowarikar and Kamal Barjatiya, will participate in the voting process, say guild officials. All films and television programmes released between 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2004 will be eligible for the awards.

    Speaking to indiantelevision.com, Film Producers’ Guild president Amit Khanna explained, “On Monday, 10 May, every member will receive the DVDs of the TV serials and films which have been nominated under different categories. He/she will have time till 24 May when the auditors would reach them with a ballot paper to cast their vote. Each member can cast one vote per category. After this, their votes will be sealed in front of them and taken too a common venue for the final counting.”

    A total of 36 categories, including 23 from cinema and 13 from television, both fiction and non-fiction, will be honoured at the grand finale. One of the contenders in each category will finally lay claim to the Apsara Trophy on 29 May when the finale has been scheduled.

    While the film category did not throw up many surprises, the television category raised many eyebrows when Balaji Telefilms did not find a single nomination.

    Here is the list of nominees announced:-

    AWARDS FOR HINDI FILM

    BEST SCREENPLAY

    1. Prakash Jha (Gangajal)
    2. Karan Johar (Kal Ho Na Ho)
    3. Sachin Bhowmick/Honey Irani/Robin Bhatt/Rakesh Roshan (Koi Mil Gaya)
    4. Abbas Tyrewala (Maqbool)
    5. Vidhu Vinod Chopra/Rajkumar Hirani /Lajan Joseph (Munnabhai MBBS)

    BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

    1. Ashok Mehta (Chalte Chalte)
    2. Anil Mehta (Kal Ho Na Ho)
    3. Sameer Arya/Ravi Chandran (Koi Mil Gaya)
    4. Binod Pradhan (Munnabhai MBBS)
    5. Santosh Thundiyil (Pinjar)

    BEST COSTUME DESIGN

    1. Manish M, Neeta Lulla, Vikram P, Tilakha P (Baghban)
    2. Manish Malhotra (Kal Ho Na Ho)
    3. Laxman Mishra (Koi Mil Gaya)
    4. Payal Saluja (Maqbool)
    5. Muneesh Sappel (Pinjar)

    BEST MALE PLAYBACK SINGER

    1. Abhijeet – Tauba (Chalte Chalte)
    2. Sonu Nigam – Kal Ho Na Ho (Kal Ho Na Ho)
    3. Udit Narayan – Idhar Chala (Koi Mil Gaya)
    4. Adnan Sami – Ishq Hota Nahi (Joggers Park)
    5. Kailash Kher – Allah Ke Bande (Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part 2)

    BEST FEMALE PLAYBACK SINGER

    1. Sunidhi Chauhan – Bhaage Re Mann (Chameli)
    2. Vasundhara Das – It’s the time to Disco (Kal Ho Na Ho)
    3. Chitra – Koi Mil Gaya (Koi Mil Gaya)
    4. Anuradha Paudwal – Intezaar (Paap)
    5. Alka Yagnik – Oodhni (Tere Naam)

    BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
    1. Preity Zinta (Armaan)
    2. Juhi Chawla (Jhankar Beats)
    3. Jaya Bachchan (Kal Ho Na Ho)
    4. Sandali Sinha (Pinjar)
    5. Pratima Kazmi (Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part 2)
    6. Divya Dutta (Joggers’ Park)

    BEST LYRICS

    1. Javed Akhtar – Kal Ho Na Ho (Kal Ho Na Ho)
    2. Ibrahim Ashq – Koi Mil Gaya (Koi Mil Gaya)
    3. Javed Akhtar – Seemayen Bulaye (LOC Kargil)
    4. Gulzar – Maar Udari (Pinjar)
    5. Sameer – Oodhni (Pinjar)

    BEST ART DESIGN

    1. Sharmista Roy – (Kal Ho Na Ho)
    2. Sharmista Roy – (Koi Mil Gaya)
    3. Jayant Deshmukh – (Maqbool)
    4. Nitin Desai – (Munnabhai MBBS)
    5. Muneesh Sappel – (Pinjar)

    BEST MUSIC

    1. Shankar – Ehsaan – Loy – (Kal Ho Na Ho)
    2. Rajesh Roshan – (Koi Mil Gaya)
    3. Jatin Lalit / Aadesh Srivastava (Chalte Chalte)
    4. Uttam Singh (Pinjar)
    5. Himesh Reshammiya (Tere Naam)

    BEST FEMALE PLAYBACK SINGER

    1. Sunidhi Chauhan – Bhaage Re Mann (Chameli)
    2. Vasundhara Das – It’s the time to disco (Kal Ho Na Ho)
    3. Chitra – Koi Mil Gaya (Koi Mil Gaya)
    4. Anuradha Paudwal – Intezaar (Paap)
    5. Alka Yagnik – Oodhni (Tere Naam)

    BEST MALE PLAYBACK SINGER

    1. Abhijeet – Tauba (Chalte Chalte)
    2. Sonu Nigan – Kal Ho Na Ho (Kal Ho Na Ho)
    3. Udit Narayan – Idhar Chala (Koi Mil Gaya)
    4. Adnan Sami – Ishq Hota Nahi (Joggers’ Park)
    5. Kailash Kher – Allah Ke Bande (Waisa Bhi Hota hai Part 2)

    BEST EDITING

    1. Murad Siddiqi (Ab Tak Chhappan)
    2. Sanjay Shukla – (Kal Ho Na Ho)
    3. Prakash Jha (Gangaajal)
    4. Aarif Sheikh (Maqbool)
    5. Rajkumar Hirani (Munnabhai MBBS)

    BEST SOUND RECORDING

    1. Vinod Subramanium, Dilip Subramanium (Ab Tak Chhappan)
    2. Anuj Mathur – (Kal Ho Na Ho)
    3. Dwarak Warrier (Bhoot)
    4. Robert Taylor (Maqbool)
    5. Jitendra Chaudhary (Koi Mil Gaya)

    BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS

    1. Huzefa Lokhandwala (Bhoot)
    2. Tata Elxsi – (Kal Ho Na Ho)
    3. EFX/Crest (Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon)
    4. Prime Focus (LOC Kargil)
    5. Bimmini Special FX Digital Art Media (Koi Mil Gaya)

    BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

    1. Irfan Khan (Haasil)
    2. Paresh Rawal (Hungama)
    3. Saif Ali Khan (Kal Ho Na Ho)
    4. Pankaj Kapoor (Maqbool)
    5. Arshad Warsi (Munnabhai MBBS)

    BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

    1. Ajay Devgan (Gangajal)
    2. Shah Rukh Khan (Kal Ho Na Ho)
    3. Amitabh Bachchan (Khakee)
    4. Hrithik Roshan (Koi Mil Gaya)
    5. Sanjay Dutt (Munnabhai MBBS)

    BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

    1. Urmila Matondkar (Bhoot)
    2. Perizaad Zorabian (Joggers Park)
    3. Preity Zinta (Kal Ho Na Ho)
    4. Urmila Matondkar (Pinjar)
    5. Bhoomika Chawla (Tere Naam)

    BEST DIRECTOR

    1. Prakash Jha (Gangaajal)
    2. Nikhil Advani (Kal Ho Na Ho)
    3. Rakesh Roshan (Koi Mil Gaya)
    4. Vishal Bharadwaj (Maqbool)
    5. Rajkumar Hirani (Munnabhai MBBS)

    BEST FILM

    1. BR Films (Baghban)
    2. Prakash Jha Productions (Gangaajal)
    3. Dharma Productions (Kal Ho Na Ho)
    4. Filmkraft Productions (I) Pvt Ltd (Koi Mil Gaya)
    5. Vinod Chopra Production (Munnabhai MBBS)

    AWARDS FOR TELEVISION

    BEST ACTRESS IN TELEVISION SERIES

    1. Niki Aneja Walia (Astitiva – Ek Prem Kahani, Ananda Films Pvt Ltd)
    2. Sangeeta Ghosh (Des Mein Nikla Hoga Chand, AK Films Pvt Ltd)
    3. Mona Singh – Jasmeet Walia (Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin, DJ’s A Creative Unit)

    BEST ACTRESS BY AN ENSEMBLE IN A TELEVISION SERIES

    1. Office Office (Eagle Video Films)
    2. Kittie Party (Siddhant Cinevision)
    3. CID (Fireworks Production)
    4. Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin (DJ’s A Creative Unit)

    BEST ANIMATED SERIES

    1. Tenali Rama (Crest Communication Ltd)
    2. Jakers The Adventures of Piggley Winks (Crest Communications Ltd)
    3. Honk Toot Swo Swoosh (UTV)

    BEST FACTUAL / NON-FICTION

    1. Big Story – Afghanistan (NDTV)
    2. Jai Jawan (NDTV)
    3. Cadbury Bournvita Quiz Contest (Derek O’Brien & Associates Pvt Ltd)

    BEST NEWS ANCHOR

    1. Rajdeep Sardesai / Barkha Dutt (NDTV)
    2. Deepak Chaurasiya (DD)
    3. Prabhu Chawla (Aaj Tak)

    BEST DIRECTOR FOR TELEVISION SERIES

    1. Ajai Sinha (Astitva – Ek Prem Kahani, Ananda Films Pvt Ltd)
    2. BP Singh (CID, Fireworks Production)
    3. Rohit Khanna (Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin)

    BEST ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES

    1. Pankaj Kapoor (Office Office, Eagle Video Films)
    2. Manoj Joshi (Kehta Hai Dil, UTV)
    3. Mohnish Behl (Devi, Television Footprints & Devgan Software)

    BEST DRAMA SERIES

    1. Astitva – Ek Prem Kahani (Ananda Films Pvt Ltd)
    2. Des Mein Nikla Hoga Chand (AK Films Pvt Ltd)
    3. Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin (DJ’s A Creative Unit)

    BEST COMEDY SERIES

    1. Shararat (UTV)
    2. Yes Boss (Shri Adhikari Brothers Entertainment)
    3. Office Office (Eagle Video Films)

    BEST TITLE SONG

    1. Astitva – Ek Prem Kahani (Ananda Films Pvt Ltd)
    2. Des Mein Nikla Hoga Chand (AK Films Pvt Ltd)
    3. Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin (DJ’s A Creative Unit)
    4. Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa (Zee Telefilms Ltd)

    BEST MUSICAL SHOW

    1. Hero Honda Sa Re Ga Ma Pa (Zee Telefilms Ltd)
    2. Awaaz – Lata Special (Part 1&2 Etc)
    3. Channel V Hotline (Channel V)

  • Sahara, Percept unveil Mr & Miss Bollywood trophy

    Sahara, Percept unveil Mr & Miss Bollywood trophy

    MUMBAI: Talk of competition and TV channels are the best examples. While Star Plus is gearing up to launch a talent hunt programme titled Indian Superstar; Sahara Manoranjan has joined hands with celebrity and event management company Percept D’Mark to present a talent hunt titled. The hunt will be presented by Chek Beauty.

    At a media meet in Mumbai, Bipasha Basu unveiled the Mr and Miss Bollywood trophy. Basu said, “I know how difficult it is to enter the film industry. I wish there were talent hunts in my time.” Also present from the film industry were directors Mahesh Bhatt and Ken Ghosh.

    In his usual inimitable style, Bhatt remarked, “Bollywood is like a fortress. You need a Trojan horse to get in and start attacking. This talent hunt is that Trojan horse.”

    While speaking to indiantelevision.com about the how the idea was conceptualised Percept D’Mark COO Devraj Sanyal said, “We (the Percept Group) are into the feature-film business and Sahara has been our client for the past twelve years. During one of our business meetings, we bounced off this idea to them. And they quite liked it. Despite the fact that India makes a high amount of films every year, the same cannot be said of talented actors required to fit into these projects.”

    ” The basic idea is to bridge the demand and supply for fresh talent. Plus induction of fresh talent will help the producers to get the right person to fit into their character without having to panic that he has to run and plead with a big star. This would reduce the budget of the films, which in turn, would facilitate a relatively safer and higher percentage of returns. Corporate participation both in finance and infrastructure development in this regard is the need of the hour.”

    An advisory board comprising Asha Parekh, Ashok Salian, Ken Ghosh, Sarika, Smita Thackeray, Karan Johar, Mahesh Bhatt, Raveena Tandon, Ashutosh Gowariker and Manish Malhotra – was constituted to devise the format of Mr and Miss Bollywood.

    Six cities have been selected for holding the regional finals to be held between 22 May and 1 June- Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Chandigarh. Prior to this, auditions will conducted between 29 April and 15 May in every city.

    30 finalists -15 boys and 15 girls- chosen from the regional finals will be flown in to Sahara Amby Valley for a 15-day grooming programme to be held in June, where Kishor Namit Kapoor would take charge to teach and polish their acting abilities.

    Percept D’Mark creative director events Rauf Ahmed said, “All those who enter the contest will be legible for selection. Physical attributes normally score over acting prowess during a talent hunt. But this one is different on this count, plus unlike other talent hunts, we won’t be charging any entry fee from the contestants.”

    Soon after the Amby Valley exercise is over, the event will culminate in a grand finale which would see the crowning of the Best Male Actor and Best Female Actor as Mr and Miss Bollywood respectively. There will be two male and two female runners up as well. The finale will be held in Mumbai, the date of which has not yet been announced.

    The finale will be televised on Sahara Manoranjan (not live) as a full fledged three-hour programme, which would also have clippings of the selection and training process.

    The six winners will be given a break in movies made by Rajkumar Santoshi, Mahesh Bhatt, Apoorva Lakhiya, Ken Ghosh, Vishal Bhardwaj, Priyadarsan, E Niwas, Anil Bohra, Ashwini Choudhary and Revathy. The balance 24 will be given work either in serials on Sahara Manoranjan or in TV commercials.

    When asked about whether the six winners would be bound by a contract which would debar them from signing any outside projects for a stipulated period of time, Ahmed did not rule it out. “Possible. But we still haven’t worked on the nitty-gritties.”

    Application forms for the contest are available at all outlets of Barista, Planet M, and Airtel and the contest is open to all women aged 18-25 years and men aged 20-30 years. The last date for entries is 23 April.

  • Sony launches big budget weekend blockbuster ‘Khel’

    Sony launches big budget weekend blockbuster ‘Khel’

    Produced by Smita Thackeray’s Rahul Productions, the serial has a big-league star cast. Khel features Dilip Tahil – his first venture on the small screen, Nirmal Pandey, the Bollywood ‘bad-shah’ who makes a comeback to the small screen, Moon Moon Sen, Mrinal Kulkarni and Priya Tendulkar as the main star cast.

     

    It is the assurance of a quality production which will be maintained throughout the serial’s telecast duration and the chances of the serial abruptly going off air being remote that prompted him to sign onto the project, Tahil said at a press brief in south Mumbai’s Hotel Taj yesterday. Khel in the only serial that Tahil is presently acting in.

     

    The fast-paced emotional family drama has a high society setting and is the story of Deven Oberoi (Dilip Tahil) a businessmen absolutely focused on earning money and his plans for setting up a lavish casino. In the mad quest for fortune and fame his personal life takes a backseat which affects his family at this point his former lover Lilavati (Priya Tendulkar) and illegitimate daughter (Mrinal Kulkarni). The star cast Dilip Tahil, Mrinal Kulkarni, Nitesh Pandey with three other cast took-on stage and by way of saying and acting out a dialogue from the script gave an idea about the characters they are playing.

     

    Khel also marks Rahul Productions’ first foray into making television serials. Says Swati Thanawala, executive producer, it was the success of Haseena Maan Jayegi that prompted them to look at the television medium. “The story line was good and has a range of emotions and interesting moments hence apt for a serial, a three hour movie wouldn’t have justified it,” said Smita Thackeray.

     

    Made on a relatively high budget, courtesy the high profile star cast which mounts up to a huge investment for each episode. Nevertheless, both the production house and the channel are optimistic about the serial. Before going into production a thorough groundwork for nearly a year over the scripting had been done, informs Thanawala. “We have treaded carefully over the storyline and star cast and we are looking at a long-term telecast,” she added.