Cannes Loves the Khans, Maybe Even More Than Aishwarya

Kick, Happy New Year and Peekay were the top picks for Indian film buyers at Cannes 

Aishwarya Rai may be the star attraction at the red carpet, but it was three top notch Bollywood Khans -- Shah Rukh, Aamir and Salman - who dominated the film market at the ongoing 67th Cannes International Film Festival with buyers queuing up for their forthcoming films. 

SRK's Happy New Year, directed by Farah Khan and co-produced by Gauri Khan and Karim Morani, presented by Yash Raj Films; director Rajkumar Hirani's Peekay, which stars Aamir Khan in the lead and Sajid Nadiadwala's Salman-starrer directorial debut Kick, presented by Disney India-UTV and a few biopics were favourites with buyers and sales agents at the Cannes Film Market. 

These 'Khan' films are being readied for release in the last quarter of the year. 

Having said that, it is India's lone entry Titli, directed by Kanu Behl and produced by Dibabkar Banerjee, in the official Un Certain Regard Section, which is the talking point and also a top contender for the Palme d'Or this year. (Also Read: Titli Stems from Personal Experiences of Makers)

Anurag Kashyap, a festival favourite, did not make it to the festival, but his new film Bombay Velvet, which has Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Karan Johar in the lead roles, received a positive response for Fox Star Studios India. 

Besides the biggies, small production companies from India too managed to get a tight grip on the Cannes Film Market with the launch of a dozen new completed films and a few fresh production announcements. 

"It is a different India now than what I saw six to seven years back," said Hollywood-based Indian producer Ashok Amritraj, chairman, Hyde Park Entertainment. 

"The new Indian filmmakers have changed the face of Indian cinema and its global footprint," he added. 

The endeavours of Indian filmmakers also grabbed the attention of Bobby Bedi, managing director, Kaleidoscope Entertainment, a regular at the festival for over a decade, and he couldn't stop himself from saying a few good words for the new brigade of filmmakers. 

"This year the Indian producers and directors were very focused and matured than ever before," said Bedi, who announced his debut project as a director, Lajo, a big screen adaptation of Ismat Chugtai's short story, which was extremely controversial for its time. 

Lajo will be produced by T P Aggarwal of Star Entertainment Worldwide. Earlier, Mani Ratnam was supposed to helm Lajo with Aamir Khan in the lead role but it did not take off. 

Interestingly, biopics from India were also one of the attractions at the Cannes gala, the world's biggest gathering of film professionals from over 100 countries, in South of France.

Nanak Shah Fakir, a film produced by Harinder Sikka on the life and teachings of Guru Nanak, drew attention for its special effects and songs. 

"We have completed the film and we are confident that it will have a global impact because of the subject," said Sikka, who is corporate affairs director at Piramal Group, adding that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will launch the film in the US in July.

Initially, Oscar winner Resul Pookutty got involved with the project as a sound designer, but later he associated himself with Nanak Shah Fakir as a co-producer. For four days he pitched the film at the fest and made it a talking point. 

Mumbai-based Kriya Films launched their finished feature film The Answer, which tells the story of James Donald Walters, who became Swami Kriyananda, a disciple of Paramhamsa Yogananda who penned Autobiography of a Yogi.

"It is an epic motion picture that presents for the first time on the cinematic screen one of the most widely known and revered spiritual masters of our times - Paramhamsa Yogananda - in his own words through his direct disciple Swami Kriyananda," said producer Kaveeta Oberoi Kaul.

The Answer and Nanak Shah Fakir have aggressively positioned a new era of filmmaking from India at Cannes. European producer Pierre Assouline, who had produced and scripted Shaji Karun's Vanaprastham (1999), pitched his new biopic on Sant Tukaram.

From the commercial section, Viacom18 Motion Pictures aggressively pitched for Omung Kumar directed biopic Mary Kom and Shonali Bose's Margarita, With a Straw. While Priyanka Chopra plays the Olympic medallist in the former, the latter will see Kalki Koechlin as a girl suffering from cerebral palsy.

Yash Raj Films too presented its entire slate of films for international sales and distribution.

Overall, a good year for Indian films, at least at the Cannes Film Market.

Copyright: movies.ndtv.com

Anurag Kashyap To Wow New York With Ugly

The year was 2012. Bollywood filmmaker and auteur Anurag Kashyap’s film Gangs of Wasseypur was the closing film at the prestigious New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF). And now, in 2014, the prolific filmmaker is all set to return to the festival, with his latest offering Ugly.

All of Anurag Kashyap’s films so far have had a gritty, dark undertone to them. His films are raw, real and hard-hitting, and perhaps this is why his films do so well in foreign countries. His cinema is diametrically opposite to the typical “fluff”, or masala potboilers churned out by Bollywood, year on year.

This year, Kashyap will bring his sensational tale of deceit, corruption, and systemic violence to the NYIFF, in the form of Ugly. The film is the tale of the mysterious disappearance of an aspiring actor’s young daughter, and the journey he undertakes to retrieve her.

Interestingly, the NYIFF is in its 14th year of existence. Said festival director and noted film critic in the U.S. Aseem Chhabra, “We are thrilled to be opening this year’s New York Indian Film Festival with Anurag Kashyap’s new film Ugly. Anurag has been in the forefront of India’s growing indie films movement, always pushing the boundaries and inspiring the new generation of filmmakers. Personally I am a big fan of his films.”

Along with the screening, the filmmaker will be seen at a post-screening conversation, which will be followed by the opening night gala event, with celebrated IAAC supporters and other filmmakers in attendance.

Along with Ugly, Aparna Sen’s latest film Goynar Baksho will also be screened. In fact, her film will close the prestigious festival, which will take place between 5-10 May this year, at various iconic New York City venues.

Copyright : businessofcinema.com

Hasee Toh Phasee mints Rs 10 crores in two days

A still from the movie Hasee Toh Phasee Filmmaker Karan Johar thanks his fans for embracing Hasee Toh Phasee, which has collected about Rs 10 crore in two days.

"Thank you for the immense love and appreciation for Hasee Toh Phasee, a film I am extremely proud of," Karan tweeted on Sunday.

Directed by Vinil Mathew, the romantic comedy has been co-produced by Karan's Dharma Productions and Anurag Kashyap's Phantom Productions on an approximate budget of Rs 25 crore.

The movie, starring Siddharth Malhotra and Parineeti Chopra, released on Friday.

"In two days, Hasee Toh Phasee collected between Rs 9 and Rs 10 crore. The Sunday collections will help decide whether the film is a hit or not," Rajesh Thadani of Multimedia Combines told IANS.

Gautam Dutta, COO, PVR Cinemas, believes that the genre and the young star cast worked in favour of the film that hit 1,500 to 2,000 screens across the country.

"It's a nice comedy genre and young actors are there in the film. It picked up well. The opening day saw around 70 percent occupancy, but the figure went up to 80 percent on weekend. The occupancy is good, the film has been appreciated," said Dutta.

Parineeti also expressed her happiness on Twitter and wrote: "Thank you for the amazing response guys! We sure are happy."

Copyright : movies.ndtv.com

Leave Huma Qureshi alone: Anurag Kashyap, Kalki Koechlin

After Kalki Koechlin took to Twitter to say that he separation from Anurag Kashyap had nothing to do with Huma Qureshi, the director-producer also said in an interview that the Dedh Ishqiya actor was being "targeted". Huma also issued a statement trashing the rumours.

Bollywood actor Huma Qureshi with director Anurag Kashyap during the screening of film American Hustle in Mumbai on Saturday.

For a while now,rumours have been rife that Anurag Kashyap and Kalki Koechlin’s separation was a result of his closeness to Huma Qureshi.

The buzz got even stronger after Huma and he were spotted hugging at the screening of American Hustle in Mumbai recently. 

In an interview Anurag said, "People run only one-sided story and it's very disturbing. Such rumours are not affecting me or Kalki but it is affecting Huma's image. Huma is being targeted."

He also broached the topic of the picture in which he was seen hugging Huma at a film screening. "When we went for the screening, photographers wanted to click us together. I said you guys will click our picture purposely and will run your own story and that's exactly what has happened," he added. 

He also announced that he was going to leave Twitter. "I have always maintained distance from media because I read so many fake stories about me. After reading so many stories, even we stopped meeting. I am even going to get out of Twitter," he said.

Huma said in her statement, "For the record, I am friends with both Anurag and Kalki. A few days ago, when Kalki came for the premiere of my movie, we hugged each other warmly. It's surprising that me hugging Kalki doesn't get noticed by people, but when I meet Anurag, we are having an affair?!"

On Tuesday (January 14), she tweeted, "Jesus Christ can we please leave Huma alone?! My problems with Anurag have nothing to do with her!."

Jesus Christ can we please leave Huma alone?! My problems with Anurag have nothing to do with her!

— Kalki Koechlin (@kalkikanmani) January 14, 2014

Earlier, in November 2013, director Anurag Kashyap and his wife Kalki Koechlin announced that they were taking time apart from their more than two-year-old marriage. 

The couple, whose marriage was said to be in trouble, had issued a joint statement asking for privacy and to deny that they were divorcing.

Copyright: hindustantimes