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Tag: Vicky Donor

  • Off-beat films win top awards in 60th National Film Awards

    Off-beat films win top awards in 60th National Film Awards

    NEW DELHI: The Hindi film ‘Paan Singh Tomar‘ by Tigmanshu Dhulia has been selected as the best feature film of 2012 with its protagonist Irrfan Khan sharing the best actor award with the veteran Vikram Gokhale for the film Anumati in Marathi, while Usha Jadhav gets the actress award for her performance in Dhag (Marathi).

    Marathi films have bagged another prominent award with Dhag director Shivaji Lolan Patil getting the best director award.

    In the Feature Film category, a total of 38 films from 14 languages have been selected for the 60th National Awards. Clearly demonstrating the emergence of quality cinema in 2012 in different languages, many awards have been shared by two different films or artistes.

    In the non-feature film category, the award for the Best Film has been conferred on Shepherds of Paradise (Gojri & Urdu) produced and directed by Raja Shabir Khan. In the category of Best Writing on Cinema section, the book Silent Cinema in India – A Pictorial Journey (English) written by the veteran B D Garga and published by Harper Collins Publisher India has bagged the top honour while P S Radhakrishnan has been conferred the award for the Best film Critic with Piyush Roy getting a special mention in this category.

    Chittagong (Hindi) and 101 Chodiyangal (Malayalam) have shared the Indira Gandhi award for the Best Debut Film of a Director for Bedaprata Pain and Siddhartha Siva respectively. The award for the Best Popular Film for providing wholesome entertainment has been shared by Vicky Donor (Hindi) by Shoojit Sircar and Ustad Hotel (Malayalam) by Anwar Rashid.

    Thespian Anu Kapoor gets the best Supporting Actor award for Vicky Donor, and Ms Dolly Ahluwalia for the film Vicky Donor and Ms Kalpana for the film ThanichallaNjan (Malyalam) get the best supporting Actress awards. The Best Child Artist award has been shared by Master Virendra Pratap for Dekh Indian Circus (Hindi) and Master Minon for 101 Chodiyangal (Malayalam).

    The well-known Shankar Mahadevan gets the best Male playback singer award for Bolo Na from the film Chittagong which also gets Prasoon Joshi the best lyricist award. The award for the Best Female Playback singer has gone to the Marathi Samhita for the song Palakein Naa Moon Don by Aarti Anklekartikekar, and Shailender Barve gets the best music direction award for same film. Biji Bal gets the best background score award for Kaliyachan (Malayalam).

    ThanichallaNjan (Malayalam) by Babu Thiruvalla gets the Nargis Dutt award for best feature film on national integration, while the Malayalam film Spirit by Renjith gets the best social issues award. The Best film on environment conservation/Preservation also goes to a Malayalam film, Black Forest by Joshy Mathew.

    Dekh Indian Circus by Mangesh Hadawale is the best children‘s film and Delhi Safari by Nikhil Advani is the best animation film.

    Cameraman Sudheer Palsane gets the cinematography award for the Mising film Ko:Yad. The award for the best screenplay writer (original) has been conferred on Sujoy Ghosh for the film Kahaani which also gets the best editing award for Namrata Rao. The award for best Screen play writer (adapted) has been conferred on Bhavesh Mandalia and Umesh Shukla for the film OMG -Oh My God. The award for the best Dialogue has been conferred on Ms Anjali Menon for the film Ustad Hotel (Malayalam).

    The audiography awards go for Location Sound Recordist to Radhakrishnan S for the Malayalam Annayum Rasoolum, for Sound Designer to AnirbanSengupta and Dipankar Chaki for the Bengali Shabdo and for Re-recordist of the final mixed track to Alok De, Sinoy Joseph and Shreejesh Nair for ‘Gangs of Wasseypur‘. Boontawee ‘Thor‘ Taweepasas and Lalgudi N. Ilayaraja get the production design award for Kamal Haasan‘s Tamil Viswaroopam. Two Tamil films Paradesi and Vazakkuenn 18/9 get the awards for best costume design by Poornima Ramaswamy and best make up by Raja respectively. Makuta VFX get the special effects award for Eega in Telugu.

    A special jury award has been conferred on Rituparno Ghosh for the Bengali film Chitrangadha, and on Nawazuddin Siddiqui for the films Kahaani, Gangs of Wasseypur, Dekh Indian circus and Talaash (Hindi). The award for the best choreography has been conferred on the legendary Pt. Birju Maharaj for the film Vishwaroopam (Tamil).

    In the Non-Feature Film category, Vikrant Pawar has got the Best Director award for the film Kaatal (Marathi). The Award for the Best Debut Film of a Director has been conferred to Lipika Singh Darai for the film Eka Gachha Eka Manisa Eka Samudra (Odia). Shumona Goel and Shai Heredia for the film I Am Micro (English) and Vasudah Joshi for Cancer Katha (English) have been selected for Special Jury Award. Timbaktu (English) has been awarded as the Best film in the Environmental category and Dreaming Taj Mahal ( Hindi & Urdu) has been conferred the award for the Best Promotional film.

  • Ferrari Ki Sawaari’s ride is bumpy

    Ferrari Ki Sawaari’s ride is bumpy

    MUMBAI: Ferrari Ki Sawaari has not been able to live up to the names associated with its making. Faced with ‘no audience, no show’ on its very first day, the film opened poorly and picked up somewhat during the weekend to end its debut week with net collections of Rs 122 million. The collections have dropped from today.

    Shanghai has failed to appeal multiplex audience as well as the single screens. Its hackneyed story and characterisation apart, corruption is free to watch on TV news channels and, hence, not a great film theme of appeal. The film collected Rs 189 million in its first week.

    The weak opposition helped Rowdy Rathore, which sustained very well in its second week. The Akshay Kumar-starrer collected Rs 341.5 million in the second week. It has had a steady third weekend as well as to take its 17-day total to Rs 1.36 billion.

    Meanwhile, Ishqzaade just about wrapped up its run at the box office with a five-week net collection of Rs 471.9 million.

    Jannat 2, after its symbolic sixth week run, took its total to Rs 469.7 million.

    Vicky Donor collected approximately Rs 4 million in its eighth week, taking its total to Rs 416.5 million.

  • Shoojit Sircar’s next is Jaffna for John Abraham

    Shoojit Sircar’s next is Jaffna for John Abraham

    MUMBAI: Fresh from the success of Vicky Donor, Shoojit Sircar has jumped into his next film Jaffna produced by John Abraham. The two had earlier teamed up for Vicky Donor which has totally collected Rs 412.5 million.

    A dark political thriller, Jaffna is based on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the civil war in the Sri Lankan city.

    Elaborating on the film, Sircar explained, “It would not dilute the LTTE issue. There is no point in taking up a theme and not going all the way. It would be as self-defeating as doing my film on sperm donation (Vicky Donor) without any mentions of sperms or sex.”

    Talking about the casting, Sircar averred, “Right now, we have John in the film. The film will be a dark political thriller with Abraham playing an Indian intelligence agent.”

    Shooing away wild guesses that he has signed Prosenjit to play Rajiv Gandhi in his next political thriller director, Shoojit Sircar has scoffed at such reports. “There is no character of Rajiv Gandhi in the film that I am writing. We are still in the scripting stage. It is a piece of fiction,” Sircar observed.

    “I am in talks with Prosenjit and trying to work out on the kind of character he will essay. As of now there are two things in my mind for Prosenjit – either a simple, normal citizen of India or that of a police officer or someone else. But nothing is finalised yet,” he added.

    The director also said that his film would have all the known political personalities from the LTTE episode of Indian history including Prabhakaran, the LTTE’s founder. “We’re casting look-alikes for all the known political personalities including Prabhakaran.”

    Meanwhile, Sircar has finished directing a docu-feature campaign titled She Can, You Can for brand Tupperware as his first campaign.

    Though he had earlier done films and ad films, this campaign was very special to him because it was about ‘Real Heroes’ and this ‘big idea’ about Woman Empowerment and women as a catalyst for change in society and development of nhe Nation.

    Tupperware India’s ‘She Can, You Can’ is a campaign that celebrates role models of real life heroes than can be emulated and be an engine of change in India.

  • Rowdy Rathore nets Rs 1 bn in 10 days, Shanghai bombs

    Rowdy Rathore nets Rs 1 bn in 10 days, Shanghai bombs

    MUMBAI: Rowdy Rathore registered one of the biggest opening weekend figures and went on to hold steady through the week to collect Rs 795 million, the third highest after Ra.One’s Rs 925 million (which had an eight-and-a-half day week as the film was released on Wednesday) and Bodyguard (Rs 890 million, which had a nine-day week having been released on Wednesday).

    The Akshay Kumar-starrer benefitted due to a weak opposition in Shanghai and went on to add another Rs 219 million to its second weekend, thus crossing the Rs 1 billion mark on day 10 and taking its total to Rs 1.01 billion.

    Meanwhile, Shanghai, which opened to very poor response, failed to recover over the weekend due to bad word of mouth. The film collected Rs 122 million over the first weekend and is expected to fall further as the week begins.

    Department has proved to be a washout film.

    Ishqzaade added Rs 11.5 million in its fourth week, taking its total to Rs 469.5 million. Jannat 2 came to the end of its run, managing a symbolic Rs 500,000. Its total collections to date stood at Rs 459.5 million.

    Vicky Donor collected Rs 8 million in its seventh week to end its net collections at Rs 412.5 million so far.

  • Big releases lift Eros’ FY’12 net up 26% to Rs 1.5 bn

    Big releases lift Eros’ FY’12 net up 26% to Rs 1.5 bn

    MUMBAI: Eros International Media, the pure play movie production company, has posted a consolidated net profit (after minority interest) of Rs 1.48 billion for the fiscal ended 31 March 2012, up 26.1 per cent as compared to Rs 1.17 billion a year ago.

    Total income jumped 34.5 per cent to Rs 9.63 billion.

    Eros International Media MD Sunil Lulla said: “I am delighted to announce our results for FY’12, a year in which the company achieved continued growth and margin expansion. The results and growth have been underpinned by box office success of our major film releases as well as contributions from our underlying business model that monetizes content across multiple distribution channels. Our continued investment in content has yielded what we believe is a strong movie slate for FY2013, supported by the box office performance of ‘Housefull 2’ and ‘Vicky Donor’, that we hope to strengthen further.”

    The company released a total of 77 films during the fiscal, including 20 Hindi and 50 regional language films. The list includes Ra. One, Zindagi Na Milengi Dobara, Ready, Rockstar and Desi Boyz and Tamil films like Velayudham, Mambattiyan, Engeyum Kadhal, Vedi, 3, Rajapattai, Nanban.

    Eros’ Ebit for the fiscal increased by 39.9 per cent to Rs 2.26 billion (FY2011: Rs 1.61 billion).

    Meanwhile, for the quarter ended 31 March, the net profit jumped 118.5 per cent to Rs 297.1 million, up from Rs 136 million in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

    Total income in the quarter grew 88.5 per cent to Rs 2.2 billion, from Rs 1.16 billion in the year -ago period.

  • Tamil, Telugu remake of Vicky Donor on cards

    Tamil, Telugu remake of Vicky Donor on cards

    MUMBAI: Sasikanth Sivaji, the maker of Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Eppadi (Love Failure), has evinced interest in remaking John Abraham’s Vicky Donor in Tamil and Telugu.

    “We watched the film on the day of its release and since the content was something new, which is what we have always wanted to present to our audience, we got in touch with the Bollywood studio. We have asked for the Tamil-Telugu remake rights as we intend to do the movie as a bilingual,” Sivaji said.

    Sivaji has also hinted that that he wishes to cast Siddharth in the role originally played by Ayushmann Khurana.

    Reportedly, during the negotiation for the remake rights of Vicky Donor, the producers have expressed their willingness to get the Love Failure‘s Hindi remake rights in return. But Sissharth has stated that if the remake had to be made ever, it would be made only by the original producers YNot Films and Etaki.

  • Producers plan sequel of Vicky Donor

    Producers plan sequel of Vicky Donor

    MUMBAI: The producers of Vicky Donor are planning a sequel. John Abraham under his banner J.A. Entertainment along with Ronnie Lahiri’s Rising Sun Films, Eros International and Ram Mirchandani’s Rampage Motion Pictures are contemplating making a sequel of the film that has attained cult status.

    “The box-office success coupled with the awe-inspiring feedback across all mediums has prompted us to think on having a sequel. Vicky Donor is not merely a film, it‘s a movement,” averred Ram Mirchandani of Rampage Motion Pictures.

    The producers include John Abraham, Ronnie Lahiri‘s Rising Sun Films, Eros International and Rampage Motion Pictures.

    “Right now, director Shoojit Sircar and writer Juhi Chaturvedi are brainstorming on what issue we need to tackle next. Vicky Donor has achieved cult status and we need to respect the sanctity,” observed Lahiri.

    Meanwhile, Abraham has decided to make his next film, Hamara Bajaj. Undoubtedly the producer has repeated Ayushmann Khurrana and Yami Gautam to play the lead.

    The film will have Khurrana play the role of a tourist guide who loses his values in the quest for affluence and success. Interestingly Khurrana’s role in Hamara Bajaj is said be inspired by Dev Anand’s Guide.

  • Vicky Donor collects Rs 134 mn in first weekend

    Vicky Donor collects Rs 134 mn in first weekend

    NEW DELHI: Eros International Media Ltd has announced an opening weekend collection of Rs 134 million worldwide for Vicky Donor.

    Director Shoojit Sircar’s light hearted take at the taboo attached to infertility and artificial insemination has grossed over Rs 114 million in India (net ollection: Rs 79.3 million) and Rs 20 million overseas.

    Produced by Eros International and JA Entertainment, Vicky Donor is actor John Abraham’s foray as a producer. The film released across 600 plus screens worldwide on 20 April and has done especially well in metros.

    Eros senior VP-Distribution-India Nandu Ahuja said, “We are very happy with the audience as well as critics’ reactions to Vicky Donor. Sunday’s collections showed a 91% jump over Friday figures. The film created a positive buzz right from the launch of its trailer and has delivered on audience expectations. With its unusual subject, characters and dialogues, we are hoping for repeat viewings and a promising run at the box office”.

    Added Eros International Plc president – marketing & distribution Pranab Kapadia, “This is an encouraging response considering small films don‘t find much favour with audiences in the overseas markets. Box office performances like this will give a platform for other small but high concept films to release”.

    Vicky Donor marks Eros International’s synergy with John Abraham’s JA Entertainment, Rising Sun Films and Rampage Motion Pictures. The film stars veteran actor Annu Kapoor along with debutants Ayushyamann Khurrana and Yami Gautam. Supporting cast includes Dolly Ahluwalia, Kamlesh Gill, Jayanta Das and Swaroopa Ghosh.

  • Housefull 2 joins Rs 1 bn club

    Housefull 2 joins Rs 1 bn club

    MUMBAI: Housefull 2 continues to do very well at the box office, maintaining steady figures in its second week with a net collection of Rs 297 million to take its total to Rs 955 million.

    Interestingly, the film has already crossed the Rs 1 billion mark during its third weekend by adding approximately Rs 100 million during the Friday-Sunday period.

    Meanwhile, last Friday‘s release Vicky Donor has been appreciated well and despite a weak opening, the positive word of mouth has helped the film tremendously as its Sunday collections showed as much as 90 per cent improvement over its opening Friday figures.

    The film has collected Rs 81 million in its first weekend having found much favour with multiplex audience.

    Hate Story lured some crowds at single screens thanks to its bare back publicity. But in the absence of appreciation, the weekend collected stood at Rs 58 million, indicating that the film‘s best showing may have come to an end looking s evident from its Monday performance.

    Bittoo Boss, a film sans star value as well as content, met a poor fate as it managed to collect Rs 21 million in its first week. Chhodo Kal Ki Baateinalso failed to find audiences.

    Agent Vinod collected Rs 1 million in its fourth week, taking its total to Rs 436.5 million.

    Kahaani continued to contribute a decent Rs 6 million in its sixth week. The movie has so far collected Rs 590.9 million.

    Paan Singh Tomar added Rs 0.8 million in its sixth week, taking its six-week tally to Rs 168.8 million.

  • Vicky Donor is a thoroughly entertaining fare

    Vicky Donor is a thoroughly entertaining fare

    MUMBAI: Vicky Donor is a brave effort. The makers take up a contemporary subject of sperm donors, which very few would be familiar with, and knit it around a normal day-to-day family and romance stories in a middle-class Delhi Punjabi household. Many films are touted as contemporary but this one really is and what is more, it is a thoroughly entertaining fare.

    Vicky (Ayushmann Khurana) is 25-year-old man from Lajpat Nagar, Delhi, a locality identified as that of post-partition settlers. While his widowed mother runs a beauty parlour, Vicky generally loafs around till a job drops into his lap. He is a typical loud Delhi Punjabi but has his way with people as he charms his way through life. While he is sleeping, his room has been robbed clean by thief.

    Vicky‘s reaction to this is to go sell off his dog to a neighbourhood kid. This sets the tone of what is to follow.

    But this ‘transaction‘ of selling off an idle dog to a kid is observed by Annu Kapoor, a doctor specialising in finding solutions for couples who can‘t have children. In Vicky he sees an ideal sperm donor.

    But it takes a while before Vicky agrees to the deal. These scenes are not only funny but on the way also explain the concept of sperm donation to a layman. For Vicky, money is the main attraction and his reports liken him to someone close to Aryan breed!

    Vicky‘s life is set to change as yet another event happens in his life: while running errands for his mother, he visits a bank to open a new account and deposit money where he meets Yaami Gautam, a Bengali executive at the bank and after some boisterous, Delhi-brand of stalking, love blossoms. It is a tightrope walk for the hero to keep his secret from his family as well as his lady love and he often finds it hard to explain where he earns hordes of money from and how costly gifts keep pouring into his house.

    What make Vicky Donor more fun to watch are the relationships between its various characters: between Ayushmann and Yaami Gautam, between him and Annu Kapoor, between him and his mother (Dolly Ahluwalia) as well as grandmother (Kamlesh Gill), between Annu Kapoor and his assistant and between Yaami Gautam and her father, Jayanta Das.

    The most hilarious is the one between his mother and grandmother; these give a perfect foil to the film‘s casting. After a joyous debate between virtues (or lack of them) in Punjabis and Bengalis, the families agree to the marriage of Ayushmann and Yami Gautam. But soon the fun is over for Ayushmann as his secret is revealed and his love walks out on him.

    Vicky Donor has been instrumental in siring 53 children in five years and now his wife is yearning for one of her own. The joy ride does get an agreeable and plausible ending.

    Vicky Donor‘s triumph is in its well scripted story and dialogue. Nowhere is the comedy forced nor made to look cheap; the pace is fast. Performances are excellent from just about every character in the film.

    Ayushmann and Yaami Gautam may be new to films but both are veterans of television and do their part most convincingly. Annu Kapoor reminds of his role in Mr India where he made his mark; his vocabulary is not complete without using the word sperm. Dolly Ahluwalia and Kamlesh Gill bring to life the lonely middle-class women. Their interactions are hilarious. Jayanta Das as the Bengali father is very good. Songs, though without lip-sync, blend with the mood of the film without hindering the tempo.

    Cinematography is good. However, the ultimate praise should go to story-screenplay-dialogue writer Juhi Chaturvedi for her work.

    With new names in credits, Vicky Donour may not have opened well but the word of mouth will surely help it improve its prospects.

    Hate Story borders on banal

    The phrase “Hell has no fury like a woman scorned” has its origins in the 17th Century. It has often been the source of a story for films. In Hate Story, this theme is a mere excuse to sell a titillating drama.

    Normally, however, even before the story starts the woman scorned should look vulnerable, win over the viewers‘ hearts and sympathies and the revenge should be honourable. Hate Story does not really care for such norms.

    Paoli Dam is a reporter with a business publication who, along with her photographer colleague-cum-silent admirer, exposes a cement company‘s scam. The heir to the cement empire, Gulshan Devaiya, is infuriated and singles her out to avenge the defamation of his company‘s name. Taking revenge on the male photographer would not make an interesting story and provide no scope for nude scenes!

    So, Devaiya offers Pauli Dam a job in his company at triple her present salary. She accepts and he takes her on a jaunt abroad. Celebrations starts come evening and after one swig of wine, Paoli Dam is not only ready to be seduced, she has also fallen deeply in love with her boss! Back in Delhi she finds her access to office denied. She has been dumped unceremoniously; the cement tycoon has had his revenge. This is cause enough for Pauli Dam to be scorned and to want to destroy her ex-boss and his empire.

    For this story based on an old phrase, she chooses to take up the world‘s oldest profession, prostitution, to take her revenge. She even takes a crash course in prostitution from a local top-rated veteran in the trade.

    What follows is a script of convenience as the protagonist goes on seducing first the cement empire‘s CEO and later the minister who favours the company. Nobody seems to care that she is not looking desirable as long as she is available. The CEO reveals to her all his company secrets while the minister not only bails her out of jail but even appoints her as a bank nominee director on the board of the cement empire!

    The story and script in Hate Story border on banal. The makers seem to count on Paoli Dam‘s frequent exposure as the draw. No matter that the viewer finds no identification with either the woman‘s plight or her approach to revenge. The positive aspects of the film are its cinematography and few good dialogues.

    Direction is clichéd. As for its casting, the makers seem to have chosen to opt for day-to-day faces rather than looks and personality. Gulshan Devaiya does well; Paoli Dam can‘t carry her role except when stripping. Nikhil Dwivedi and Joy Sengupta are okay. Saurabh Dubey is the one who does justice to his character.

    Hate Story is aimed mainly at the single screen mass that will follow the film‘s posters to the cinema and come out mentally fatigued.