Digital Film experiment in Hindi Feature Film
Jeetu Chawla of Aqua Pictures who has made TV serials like Kagaar (Sahara) & Dhadkan (Sony) makes his debut as a film maker with Bakra written and directed by Umesh Padalkar, Chawla’s long time team-mate. The film shall commence with a start-to-finish shoot at Dundlodh palace in Rajasthan. The film shall be launched under the banner of Castle Peak Pictures. The film’s cast includes Mona Ambegonkar, Rajendra Gupta, Harsh Chhaya, Sadiya Siddiqui, Nagesh Bhosale, Kishore Kadam, Vinod Sarawat, Rajesh Jais & Dadhi Pandey.

The film is a fun-filled suspense Murder Mystery where the drama unfolds in a mental asylum along with certain action events. Apart from the characters of the film, the location of the film also plays an important character in the film. Chawla desires to break the norms of a commercial Hindi cinema with this film and yet make the film saleable.It’s a unique venture, to be made in digital format, with digital post production, without songs, foreign locales, and no star financier. Not only that, no payments shall be made to the actors till the film is sold. Moreover, the actors in the film will themselves create, execute, as well as maintain their looks & costumes. The film will have synch-sound with a bit of dubbing & no 35 mm negative & shall be converted later to the film format for theatrical release. Screening will be digital in digital theatres.

To minimize shooting time the makers are planning for a workshop where every character will rehearse to avoid retakes.

MUSIC No. 1
Producer No. 1. Vashu Bhagnani is out to prove his metal in the music arena after having made a place for himself in Bollywood. It is learnt that Vashu will soon be acquiring Music rights & will launch his own music company in the name of Puja Music.

The field is new for Vashu as he was earlier involved in manufacturing raw stock for music companies before venturing into film production. We wish him all the best & success in this arena too.

Govinda in a new role
Govinda is all set to launch his own home production shortly. After returning from completing his backlog of films he is currently busy in finalizing the cast & crew of his maiden venture to be launched recently. It is an opportunity for the life time for the talented actor who is well known for his discipline, punctuality & commitment towards a project. His new venture shall definitely lead him to the path of more name, fame & recognition.

Karishma Kapoor’s next innings
It has been learnt from a reliable source that Karishma Kapoor shall make an entry on the idiot box through a lead role in a proposal passed by Sahara TV, directed by Ramesh Sippy. Sahara has also approached heroines like Pooja Bhatt, Raveena Tandon, Manisha Koirala & Juhi Chawla are offered to make feature films for the channel. Future is bright indeed for the channel as well as for the heroines.

HOLLYWOOD CALLING
Shah Rukh Khan will play the leading man opposite Britney Spears, Gwyneth Paltrow or Jennifer Love Hewitt in a Hollywood-Bollywood Production Titled MARIGOLD, produced by Hyperion Films. Preity Zinta & Rani Mukherji are expected to play the supporting roles in this $10 million project. The movie shall be in English & Hindi versions with a duration of one hour & 45 minutes & two & a half hours respectively. A.R. Rahman is expected to give the music for 6 songs in the Hindi version. The film will be shot entirely in India .

Adoor’s film goes to Venice & Toronto Film Festivals
Malayalam Filmmaker Adoor Gopalkrishnan’s new film Nizhalkuth will compete in two big forthcoming international film festivals at Venice and Toronto. At Venice it will compete in the official competition from Aug 29 and in Toronto from Sept 5, in the masters section. Earlier, this renowned film maker had also premiered his film Kathapurusan in Toronto and Mathilugal won a prize in Venice in 1990.Nizhalkuth will also have its world premiere in Toronto.

Government Against Telecast of Banned Films
The I&B Ministry has asked the law Ministry whether to take action against TV channels, Indian & Foreign for telecasting uncensored films. The I&B Ministry has cited The Cable Television Network Rules, 1994, which states ‘No programmes should be carried in the cable service which contravenes the provisions of the cinematograph Act 1952”, pointing at channels like HBO,AXN & Star Movies & some Indian channels who according to the Government show films which are not begin censored. Officials are however helpless because most of these concerned channels are beamed from Hong Kong.

Sushma Swaraj, the Information & Broadcasting Minister has decided to keep a tab on the commercials shown on television, which violate the advertising code. This will be done by hiring private agencies, for which quotations will be asked. The agency hired will make tapes of commercials aired on all channels and hand it over to the ministry.

Zee’s All Regional Channels Come Under One Brand
Zee Telefilms’ Kaveri & Bharathi channels shall be re-launched next year. These channels were earlier closed down to syndicate its regional channels under one brand.
Zee network from now on shall operate two brands - all national channels will be under the Zee brand and Regional channels shall be under the Alpha brand.

Mukta Arts into Television Software Production
Subash Ghai’s Mukta Arts is planning to enter into TV software production arena, by acquiring companies which already have slots approved by various channels but may be facing financial problems. Mukta Arts is also looking forward to allying with those companies who have a reasonable presence in the television software industry and willing to work on revenue sharing basis. The reason behind the move is to reduce risk involved in running a business model of making blockbusters alone. Its Prime focus shall however be of making films.

NGC will remain pay
NGC(National Geographic Channel) sticks to remain a pay channel amidst pay-channels turning free- to- air under Conditional Access System(CAS) & cash on the advertising revenue. NGC is the part of star distribution package in India. Subscriber base of pay channels may drop alarmingly under CAS, reason being that a TV viewer gets pay channels with help of a set-top-box costing between 2000 to 9000 depending whether it is analog or digital. However, as all free-to-air channels can be clubbed & will be available for a basic monthly fee or without a set-top-box. Consequently, free-to-air channels will enjoy more viewer ship and in turn higher advertising revenue.

Zee TV tie-up Nikelodeon India ends
Zee TV has ended its ties with Nickelodeon India and has aligned with Nickelodeon rival Cartoon network for a daily two hour programme commencing from Sept 1st on Zee network. Zee Telefilms has tied up with Turner International India to launch Cartoon Network programme on Zee TV in Hindi. Nickelodeon had decided not to renew its contract with Zee which expires on 31st August 2002. Nickelodeon intends to entirely focus on its 24 hr channel and would welcome a tie-up with any other channel. The company is expected to announce shortly its future plans as negotiations with regard to multiple language syndication are on.

Unit of Saazish-The Game Of Danger returns
Ripples picture Entertainment’s Saazish-The Game of Danger shooting is now complete. The entire unit returned from Mauritius after completing a 50 day marathon schedule. The starcast of the film includes Milind Soman, Aryan Vaid, Riya Sen, Reshmi Gosh, Usha Bachani, Suhas Khandke & Rajpal Yadav. The film is being Produced by Rajesh Bhatia & Hemang Desai. Directed by Rajat Rawail, music is given by Daboo Malik. Screen play-dialogue are written by Bholu Khan & Aman Jaffery. Camera by Surendra Rao. Vikram Razdan is the Executive Producer. The Film is being readied for release in Diwali 2002.

Animated Films are making their presence felt at Film Festivals
After the success of movies like Shrek, major film festivals around the world have caught up the trend of screening of Animated Films. This year as a part of the special open-air Grande Piazza Screening at the 55th Locarno International film festival, Captain Corto Maltese an animated colour French film produced by Gebeka films and Studio Canal was screened. Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away bagged the golden bear this year , at the Berlin film festival in Cannes.

Tatas Explore Bollywood
Tata Infomedia Ltd. is all set to venture into film making & has already initiated the effort. Cutting Edge a division of Tata Infomedia Ltd, will handle the movie production. Producer Jatin Kumar’s long shelved Aitbaar starring Amitabh Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, John Abraham has been taken over by Cutting Edge for completion.

Cheers for Aparna Sen
Aparna Sen’s English movie Mr. & Mrs. Iyer has bagged two awards at the 55th Locarno International Film festival & junior jury second prize for best director of 4000 SF and Neptec jury prize to promote Asian cinema. The effort indicates her courage in raising a issue of burning relevance in a work of cinematic density. The film revolves around a Tamil Brahmin woman and a Bengali Muslim who come close to each other in the backdrop of communal violence.

A New Path for Nitin Kini
Nitin Keni, GADAR fame, is on a new voyage. It is reported that he is now planning films of different kinds along with path-breaking TV serial for one of the biggest television channels. The serial depicts the life of some prominent VIPs & exposes their corrupt activities. Contents of the serial have been drawn from the CBI record files The budget is stupendous and the initial 12 episodes will be directed by different people.

UM I & T Lead the Music Companies
According to the newsletter released by the Indian Music Industry(IMI) for the month of July, Universal Music India & T-series were accepted as strong among Music Companies for buying audio rights of films at good prices regularly. It was reported that Universal had sent notices to the film producers of films whose audio rights are with the company. Following is the list of production houses to whom Universal has claimed money. The company has asked for a refund of Rs.26 Lakhs, and other Rs.30 Lakhs towards damages from Zeekay Films Productions for delaying the release of Soch. Similarly, Parth productions has been asked for a refund of Rs.75 lakhs by Universal for not delivering the master tape, containing songs & dialogues on schedule thereby delaying the release of the film Jaal-The Trap. Others to face the music of Universal are the producers of Junoon - Rs.13 lakhs refund and 30 lakhs towards damages, Rs.1 Crore for the film Chori Chori, claim of Rs.35 lakhs from New Century Films Aanch and S. Ramanathan to refund Rs.6 lakhs for Zamaanat. Mohan Kumar is also amongst the above, & is asked to pay Rs.1 crore as charges for deleting a song from the final print of ‘Aap mujhe Achche Lagne Lage’. On the other side, Padmalaya Telefilms has complained to the AMPTPP against Universal’s non-payment of Rs.36 lakh, as a balance amount for the audio rights of Aamdani Atthani Kharcha Rupiya.

Mithun Chakraborty, Once again Chairman of FSSAMU
Mithun Chakraborty is once again elected as the chairman of the Film Studious Setting & Allied Mazdoor Union (FSSAMU) for the period between 2002-04 at its general meeting held on 11th of august at Kamgar Kalyan Bhawan in Bombay. Rangarao Chaugule was elected as Senior vice chairman and Jaiprakash Singh Thakur as vice chairman. Monappa Shetty as the honorary general secretary while Mohd. Shakir and Chandrashekar Azad where elected as joint
secretaries. Bhagwati Pradsad Shukla was elected as Treasurer.

Kanwal inaugurated by Mulayam
Kanwal Talkies, a new air-conditioned cinema was
inaugurated by former union cabinet minister Mulayam Singh Yadav in Mathura on 20th of August with the screening of Jaani Dushman Ek Anokhi Kahani. The Theatre is equipped with Dolby sound system & is owned by Jairam Das Kukreja. Kanwal Talkies is controlled by Ramesh Chaturvedi.

Ripples Signs Sohil Khan
Sohail Khan has been signed for Ripples Picture Entertainment Ltd.’s Aryan. The film is Produced by Rajesh Bhatia & Hemang Desai & directed by actor Abhishek Kapoor. The film will go on floors in October and will be completed by Jan.2003. Vikram Razdan is the Executive Producer of the film.

SIGNS Of Good Times For Manoj Night Shyamalan !
Buena Vista’s Signs starring Mel Gibson continues its good run . The Manoj Night Shyamalan Super natural thriller stood second during its third weekend. Signs grossed $19.5 million over the weekend. As of now, it has grossed $150.5
million (Rs.731 crores).

Rajiv Gandhi Awards Presented
The 5th Rajiv Gandhi Awards for Excellence in the field of entertainment were presented to Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol, Aishwarya Rai, Ekta Kapoor and Manish Malhotra at the Annual All India Congress Committee awards function held on 19th August at the Shanmukhananda hall in Mumbai. The Awards were presented by AICC general secretary Ambika Soni. Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh addressed the occasion.

Anupam Kher Honoured in California
Anupam Kher was one among the 39 prominent US- based Indians, to be honoured by The American state of California, on India’s 55th Independence Day. The Indian tricolour for the first time waved in the California assembly. The State Senators and Assembly members then passed a resolution, in order to honour the Indian-American Community. California governor Gray Davis mentioned ‘the event as the attribute to the strength and courage of people in India and the valuable contribution of the Indian- American community to US history and culture”. Madhuri Dixit with her husband Dr. Shriram Nene along with Johnny Lever participated in a function at New Jersey organized by the federation of Indian Association at Royal Albert Palace.

New Digital Studio-Gaurav
Gaurav Digital, a new Digital film mixing Studio was launched by Sushil Gupta at Rajkamal Kala Mandir, Parel on the 20th of August along with the launch of Agfa’s Orthocromatic sound recording Film ST.8D in India. The inauguration was done at the hands of Sheriff of Mumbai, Kiran Shantaram. With this Gaurav Digital becomes the only studio in India having two world class advanced digital film mixing facilities that can work in coordination thus saving 50% of the time as required by a conventional analogue facility.

The studio is equipped with the latest all- digital signal processor(CP-650SD)- the AMS-NEVE digital console- which can be mixed in dolby Digital EX format. It is the only Facility that enables to make changes quickly even after years by backing up the Digital mix automation along with console configuration. Digital film mixing allows a capable operator to have complete control of all the mixing parameters on different audio signals. The AMS-NEVE digital console offers complete dynamic automation, reel change memory, automation archival, surround flexibility and input flexibility. It is also compatible with other NEVE consoles. Among the studios abroad, which use the AMS-NEVE digital film console set-up are Skywalker Sound (USA), Air Studios (UK), Grand Central (UK), Pinewood Studios (UK) and Videosonics (UK).

NDTV to Launch a News Channel
New Delhi Television(NDTV) which provides news & information to Star TV Network’s Star News channel will soon be launching its own News channel. NDTV’s contract with Star TV terminates on Feb, 2003. More details about the content were not available as the NDTV sources declined to comment.

Request to Extend Deadline for FM License Fee
Information and Broadcasting Ministry has received fresh application of request, to extend the deadline of August 29 for paying the license fee, from Nine FM radio companies ,which have licenses to operate stations in New Delhi, Chennai & Kolkatta. The decision to send a second request was made after a meeting held between I&B officials & the FM players. The govt. however is unlikely to consider the plea in spite of BECIL’s(Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd) request for a 24 weeks time for co-locating the transmitters of all the players on the All India Radio Tower. Earlier FM licence holders had approached the govt. with a request for having the permission to set up interim operations individually, as they where not been able to co-locate within the permitted time. The request was turned down by the govt.

Aims Television sues Zee Telefilms
Aims Television a Delhi based company has filed a suit against Zee Telefilms in the Mumbai High Court for non-payment of dues amounting to Rs.70 Lakhs for the programmes that had been commissioned for a proposed spiritual channel of Zee Telefilms, CHAKRA. Zee however denies the allegation and says that the channel had rejected the programmes sent by Aims Television. Iqbal Malhotra, Chairman of Aims, has claimed that Zee actually owes him around 1.5 crore, the amount being spent for producing 10 hrs of programming for Zee, but the software submitted to the channel is valued at Rs.70 Lakhs only.

Prasar Bharti Serious to Recover its Dues
The Prasar Bharati Board Meeting addressed by Prof. U.R. Rao has called for immediate necessary action to recover huge dues from some of the bigwig producers who had made successful programmes for Doordarshan in the past. Rao is extremely concerned over the issue & is even thinking of taking legal action if required. The Prasar Bharti owes a whooping amount of Rs.144.4 crores from the concerned programme producers.

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