Tag: Zoya Akhtar

Urumi bags best film award at Madrid fest

MUMBAI: The 11th edition of Imagineindia International Film Festival, Madrid has awarded Urumi with the Best Film award. About 70 films were screened in 12 sections at the festival across four venues in the city.

The competitive section comprised six films – Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara by Zoya Akhtar, Urumi by Santosh Sivan, Memoirs in March by Sanjay Nag, Achal (The Stagnant) by Bikramjit Gupta, Adaminte Makan Abu by Salim Ahamed and Traffic by Rajesh Pillai.

While Santosh Sivan won the best director award for Urumi, Deepti Naval was named best actress for Memories in March and Salim Kumar won the best actor award for Adaminte Makan Abu.

The award for best music went to Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy for their score in Zindagi Naa Milegi Dobara.

The 11th edition of Imagineindia International Film Festival was held in Madrid from May 17-31.

June 2, 2012
Vinay Shukla is FWAI president

MUMBAI: Writer-director Vinay Shukla, known for his films like Mirch (2010), Godmother (1999) and Virasat (1997), has been elected as the incumbent president of the Film Writers Association of India (FWAI) in its 56th General Body Election which was held recently.

Other office bearers of the FWAI is as follows: vice presidents: Rajesh Dubey and Sameer Anjan, general secretary; Kamlesh Pandey, treasurer; Sudhakar Sharma, Robin Bhatt and Naini Kazmi, joint secretary.

Aakash Jain, Abhijeet Deshpande, Anjum Rajabali, Atul Tiwari, Jalees Sherwani, Kamal Pandey, Preiti Mamgain, Pushpa Verma, Rajashree, Reema Kagti, Saket Chowdhary, Sandeep Shrivastava, Sharad Tripathi and Zoya Akhtar have been chosen as executive committee members.

May 14, 2012
Excel Entertainment lines up six films

MUMBAI: Head honchos of Excel Entertainment, Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar, have gone ahead and announced the making of six films in the coming 10 months for an investment of Rs 3 billion.

Sidhwani said Zoya Akhtar‘s next after Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara would go on floors by the yearend. The production house has almost finished the Aamir Khan-Kareena Kapoor-Rani Mukerji starrer Talaash that will release in November. The director Reema Kagti is already planning her next film jointly written by her and Zoya.

Farhan‘s next after Don 2 will go on floors in early 2013; he is translating the idea he has in mind into a script. Abhishek Kapoor has completed the script of Rock On 2, and has started working on its screenplay along with Pubali who wrote Rock On!

The fifth film is a story submitted by Abhinay Deo of Delhi Belly fame to Farhan and Ritesh. This film, about two friends, will have two stars in the lead.

The script by a new writer-director has been approved but Sidhwani refused to divulge the name, saying that a formal announcement will be made later.

March 21, 2012
Zoya Akhtar to pay tribute to Bollywood in next

MUMBAI: After being lauded for her last film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Zoya Akhtar will be working on two assignments: one would be her next feature film and the other a 25-minute short film that will pay a tribute to the Indian film industry that is to complete its century next year.

Others who are contemplating to pay a homage to Bollywood in its centenary year include R.Balki, known for his films Cheeni Kum and Paa and Dibakar Banerjee, known for his film LSD and the up for release Shanghai.

“We’re really proud of her. She’s been burning the midnight oil to give the short film its desired shape and colour. It would be unfair if my partner Farhan (producer-director-actor-singer-writer Farhan Akhtar) or I gave away the actual content of her movie. But we can promise that it’s a beautiful film that pays tribute to one of the biggest and oldest film industries in the world. It’s a beautiful story woven around filmmaking,” producer Ridesh Sidhwani of Excel Entertainment said.

Meanwhile, the production house is working on a couple of films of which one each would be directed by Akhtar, Abhishek Kapoor and Abhinay Deo. The announcement would be made shortly.

February 23, 2012
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara romps home with the Black Lady, Aruna Irani Gets Lifetime Award

NEW DELHI: Thespian Aruna Irani who has achieved fame as an item girl, heroine, vamp a comedienne, and a producer-director, received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 57th Filmfare Awards held in Mumbai.

‘Zindagi na milegi Dobara‘ won the best film award and its director Zoya Akhtar was named best director with her brother Farhan Akhtar bagging the best supporting actor award for males in the popular awards. The film was also voted best film by the Critics Jury.

‘Rockstar‘ by Imtiaz Ali bagged awards for actor Ranbir Kapoor in both the popular and critics categories. This year‘s Idea Filmfare Awards held a special significance as the 2500th trophy was presented at the award ceremony, to maestro AR Rahman for ‘Rockstar‘. Irshad Kamil also bagged the best lyric award for the song ‘Nadaan Parinday‘ and Mohit Chauhan won it for singing the song ‘Jo bhi mein‘ in this film.

Vidya Balan got the best actress award for essaying the role of Silk Smitha in the film ‘The Dirty Picture‘, while ‘No one killed Jessica‘ won awards for supporting actor (female) for Rani Mukerji.

‘The Dirty Picture‘ also got awards for best costume for Niharika Khan, and Idea Sony Scene of the Year.

‘Delhi Belly‘ got awards for best debutante Director Abhinay Deo, art direction for Shashank Tere, editing for Huzefa Lokhandawala, and best screenplay for Akshat Verma.

‘Don 2‘ won awards for best sound design for Nakul Kamte, best action to Action Concepts, and Best Special Effects to Red Chillies VFX.

‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara‘ also got the cinematography award for Carlos Catalon, the choreography award for Bosco Caesar, and best dialogue to Farhan Akhtar.

Best debutante male and female awards went to Vidyut Jamal for ‘Force‘ and Parineeti Chopra for ‘Ladies vs Ricky Bahl‘.

The RD Burman award for Upcoming talent in field of music went to KRSNA for ‘Tanu Weds Manu‘ while the best background score went to Ranjit Barot for ‘Shaitan‘.

Sanjay Chouhan got the best story award for ‘I am Kalam‘, while the Special Jury Certificate for Outstanding Talent went to Partho Gupte for the film ‘Stanley ka Dabba‘.

The Idea Filmfare Awards 2011 held at the Reliance MediaWorks Studios in the Film City in Goregoan. The Awards ceremony was hosted by Shahrukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor, and the recording will be telecast on Sony Entertainment Television on 19 February.

January 31, 2012
Ranbir Kapoor, Vidya Balan top Apsara Awards

MUMBAI: The Film and Television Producers Guild of India-sponsored Apsara Awards picked up Ranbir Kapoor and Vidya Balan as best actors for their performance in Rockstar and The Dirty Picture respectively (male and female) at the star-studded seventh edition of Chevrolet Apsara Awards.

While the best film award went to Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Zoya Akhtar was acclaimed the best director for the film and Farhan Akhtar took home the best supporting actor award for the same film.

The best supporting actress award went to Parineeti (Priyanka Chopra’s cousin) for her portrayal as a spoilt Delhi girl in Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl. She also bagged the best debutant (female) award. On the other hand, the best debutant (male) award was lapped up by south actor Rana Daggubati for his maiden film Dum Maro Dum.

While Mohit Chauhan walked away with the best singer (male) award for the song Sadda haq from Rockstar, Shreya Ghoshal took the honour in the female category for her rendition of Teri meri from Bodyguard.

A highlight of the awards ceremony, the Guild kick-started the celebrations of 100 years of Indian cinema wherein they were to honour veterans. Rajesh Khanna, Vinod Khanna, Zeenat Aman and Jaya Bachchan came up to the stage to collect the same while others were absent.

January 28, 2012
Ormax Media study ranks Singham top favourite in 2011

MUMBAI: The Rohit Shetty directed Singham is the top favourite film of Bollywood audiences in 2011 while the Zoya Akhtar film Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and the Imtiaz Ali directed Rockstar take the next two positions respectively, according to a recent study.

The next three positions are occupied by Salman Khan’s Ready and Bodyguard just a notch ahead of Shah Rukh Khan’s Don 2, according to Ormax Media’s consumer-based yearend report titled ‘Front Page 2011’.

The latter half of the chart consists of more experimental films that lacked a big star. In particular, No One Killed Jessica performs creditably at No. 7. It is the only film in this list that had an opening weekend of less than Rs 150 million and yet found appreciation on the strength of its content.

Commenting on the results, Ormax Media CEO Shailesh Kapoor said, “There are various award shows that give away Best Film awards. However, this ranking is based on structured consumer data from more than 32,000 cinegoers across India. There can’t be a bigger award than this!”

The ranking of the top ten favourite Bollywood films of 2011 was derived on the basis the ‘Word of Mouth’ (WOM) score of the film, using data collected through consumer research throughout the year. The WOM score represents the percentage of audiences who liked the film enough to recommend it strongly to their friends.

While box office business is heavily influenced by the opening weekend of a film, the WOM score reflects the audience feedback on the content alone, irrespective of the marketing or the distribution of the film.

January 24, 2012
Zoya Akhtar set to make a short film with children

MUMBAI: After having debuted with Luck By Chance and seconded by Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Zoya Akhtar is set to direct a short film with children.

Akhtar has been auditioning children for the film and if all goes according to plans, she will start shooting during the summer vacations this year.

The film will be shot in Mumbai.

Incidentally, Akhtar’s second film Zindagi Na Mile Dobara that starred Hrithik Roshan, Abhay Deol, Farhan Akhtar, Katrina Kaif and Kalki Koechlin, was well received by critics and turned out to be a huge box office success.

January 14, 2012
Chaplin to open and Dhobi Ghat to close River to River Fest

MUMBAI: The Kiran Rao-directed Dhobi Ghat will be the closing film of the River to River, Florence Indian Film Festival 2011. The festival will open with Bengali film Chaplin directed by Anindo Bandopadhyay.

The festival will screen Satyajit Ray‘s documentary on Rabindranath Tagore along with his films Ghare Baire and Teen Kanya. Other films on India include Himself He Cooks by Valerie Berteau and Philippe Witjes of Belgium and Nataraja by Filippo Carli of Italy among others.

Some of the other films that will screen at the festival are Shoaib Mansoor‘s Bol, Tapan Sinha‘s Khudito Pashan, Surjo Deb‘s Adda:Calcutta, Kolkata, Zoya Akhtar‘s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Kavalmaniyam Jagannathan‘s Videokaaran, Q‘s Gandu and Onir‘s I Am.

Several short films will also be screened at the festival including shorts from FTII and Whistling Woods International.

River to River, Florence Indian Film Festival will be held from 2 to 8 December in Florence, Italy.

November 3, 2011
Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara grosses Rs 1.08 bn in 10 days

MUMBAI: Zoya Akhtar‘s Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (ZNMD) has grossed Rs 1.08 billion in 10 days of its release, according to the data provided by Eros International.

The movie has pocketed Rs 860 million from India and Rs 220 million from overseas.

Said Eros International Media SVP – distribution – India Nandu Ahuja, “The superb run of the film so far, especially across multiplexes, has superseded all expectations and we are expecting the film to continue its excellent performance in the coming week as well.”

July 26, 2011