Posts Tagged ‘UTV’

An Open Letter to Shekhar ‘Bollywood’ Kapoor

Posted: May 11, 2011 by moifightclub in Bolly Jokes, bollywood, Film Festival, first look, News, Trailer
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As far as my limited cinema knowledge goes, I think there is a big difference between a trailer and a montage. And as the trailer of Bollywood – The Greatest Love Story Ever Told (Who thought about this title?) was out, it was a perfect #Facepalm (for lack of better expression) moment. It even forced Screeny to come out of his slumber and puke out this rambling post. Read on…

Respected Sir,

I’m a Big fan of Mr India, Masoom & Bandit Queen. Have been following your blog on and off. Untill today when I saw the trailer of the documentary which has been produced by you and co, and directed by the “acclaimed director” (have seen him at conferences and am sure he regards himself as one, for having gifted the people of this country THE seminal film – Rang De Basanti) Mr Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra.

Needless to say, I was thoroughly, thoroughly disappointed.

Why? Because the trailer (so is the film I’m sure) is- as usual- selling Bollywood exotica la-la land to the west. The incestous, celebratory, mutual admiration society which regards Aishwarya Rai and Katrina Kaif as ‘icons’ who will talk about Hindi Cinema to the “goras” and tell them in effect – “One billion people are enjoying this. See, this is so special. This is India! This is Indian Cinema! Come, Watch it. And fall in Love. NAMASTE. Achcha Lagta Hai.”

The first half is virtual showreel for the Bachchans, another attempt to sell Aishwarya to the west. The same song and dance routine which we are (in)famous for. The DDLJ clip, the rain, the matrix style shots, the same ghisa-pita bakwaas.

And of course, it contains generous footage from the magnum opus Rang De Basanti. After all Rakeysh (Is the spelling correct? Am a bit confused) Omprakash Mehra is the co-director & UTV is the producer. And the exact same clip when people land up at the India Gate with candles in their hands (the prophetic subtitle below is “This country will change. We will change it”). Yes sir, we will.

I wish you had produced a 2 hour documentary on Kerala or Goa Tourism instead.

Or helped produce any of the films from the “new wave” of Indian cinema, which I’m sure you must be more aware of than me.

At a time when Indian Cinema is taking baby steps towards maturity, and managing to gain a foothold in the international arena, slowly changing “their” perception of “our films” by coming up with IN COMPETITION FILMS like Udaan, Peepli Live, Dhobi Ghat, Harud, Gandu, Shor in the City, Gabhricha Paus, Aranya Kandam, Paruthiveeran, Subramanipuram, the new Wave Tamil & Marathi Cinema; this self congratulatory AV on Bollywood films actually is taking us two steps back, reinforcing the stereotypes. Forcing us to be still perceived as the audience which enjoys 3 hour long musicals embellished with the garangutan setpieces, laughable action sequences & antics, titillating item numbers and melodramatic rejoice.

I was hoping to find some echo in the comments section of this post but clearly, I’m the minority here.

http://shekharkapur.com/blog/2011/04/bollywood-the-greatest-love-story-ever-told-at-the-cannes-film-festival/

I shudder to think how I would react if I would ever meet a “gora” who sees this film and recognises by my skin tone, that I’m an Indian. Will he be overjoyed at what I’m embarassed at ? Will he be like the Japanese tourists from Munnabhai who only want to shoot “dirty, hungry, poor Indians” ? Will I be asked to dance at the Visa interview if (and when) I travel to Europe ?

My nightmarish thoughts aside, I request you to read a post written by you, Sir. Your blogpost on Black Friday and why it is the film which should have gone for Oscars submission instead of Paheli.

http://shekharkapur.com/blog/2005/10/oscar-hoo-haaa/

Yours disappointed,

Screeny

(PS1 –  Have you heard about a documentary film called Videokaaran? Watch it.)

(PS2 – Screeny forgot to mention that if the film turns out to be any good, he will be the first person to say it and will apologise for the post.)

(PS3 – Screeny’s previous posts can be read here, here and here. )

First Look : Imran Khan’s Delhi Belly (Poster)

Posted: May 6, 2011 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, first look, pics, Poster
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Here it is…

It’s directed by Abhinay Deo, written by Akshat Verma and stars Imran Khan, Vir Das, Kunal Roy Kapoor and Shenaz Treasurywala. And here’s the official synopsis….

Tashi, Arun and Nitin – flat mates, buddies and partners in crime. Tashi is to get married in a month but still doesn’t know if his fiancee is THE ONE! Arun can’t make up his mind who he wants to kill first – his girlfriend (who has just dumped him) or his stupid, annoying boss (whose idea of creativity is sketching a smiling banana). And Nitin is about to discover that eating delicious Tandoori Chicken off a street vendor is going to give him the worst case of Delhi Belly he’s ever known! Three regular blokes, living the regular life except for one small detail – they are on the hit list of one of the world’s deadliest crime syndicates. Will they be able to get away before the shit hits the roof and it comes crashing down? Delhi Belly is the meanest comedy you’re ever likely to see.

First Look : Delhi Belly (Teaser)

Posted: January 21, 2011 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, film, first look, Trailer, video
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First, a confession. We were wrong about the news of Delhi Belly. As the director was clueless about the edit and release plan, a crew member had informed us that the film was shelved. Plus, the IMDB page of the film, which had all the details about the actors and the characters, was also deleted. So, we had put out a post stating that the film has been shelved. Apologies for the wrong information. Hopefully will not happen again.

The first look of Delhi Belly is out. It’s a teaser. Check it out…

It’s directed by Abhinay Deo and stars Imran Khan, Vir Das, Kunal roy Kapoor and Shenaz Treasurywala. Though the director has moved on to his next film Game and doesn’t have say in the final edit of the film.

Now the big question is what are they selling ?

Aamir Khan Productions has done blah blah and blah films. And it is endorsed by  Amitabh Bachchan. So ? So Delhi Belly is next. Brand Aamir ? Where is Imran ? What is the film about ? Well, may be we have to wait for its theatrical trailer

WTF : Imran Khan’s Delhi Belly is shelved ? AKP denies it.

Posted: December 7, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, film, WTF, Xclusive
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UPDATE : After the news of Delhi Belly getting shelved came out, AKP has now denied the news. According to official release – On behalf of Aamir Khan  Productions, we would like to inform that Delhi Belly has not been shelved. The film is presently in it’s post production stages. Delhi Belly will release in summer 2011.

The Delhi Belly news was passed to us from a reliable friend who has worked on the film. So, we still believe in what he told us. Also, strangely the IMDB page of the film has been removed. Search for Delhi Belly and you get nothing. But you can click here to check out the google cache of the same page which was there earlier.

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December is going to be the month of “shelved” news. First we told you the news about Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Broken Horses and now its about Imran Khan’s new film.

Its shocking but it seems to be true. The film was shot long back. And till now there has been no announcements about the release plan. Starring Imran Khan, Shenaz Treasurywala, Kunaal Roy Kapoor and Vir Das in the lead, the film has been directed by Abhinay Deo.

UTV and Aamir Khan produced the film. But at the editing stage they realised that its not making much sense. They shot, re-shot, edited, re-edited, tried everything possible and spent about Rs 20 crores on it but still could not make much sense of it. And now they have finally decided to shelve it.

UTV doesn’t want to go ahead with it any more and Aamir Khan is not that stupid to take all the risk himself. The director Abhinay Deo has moved on to his next film and Imran Khan is clueless about the release date. The film is a sex comedy set in Delhi and is mostly in English. And some are putting the blame on Bhansali’s Guzaarish. With such a big dud in its kitty, UTV doesn’t want to take any more risk. In the next few days, if you hear about more films getting shelved, don’t be surprised.

PS – Dear UTV, stop lying now. Or tell us who is reading the scripts and green-lighting the films ? If they can’t read scripts and make sense of it, try us. Chance Pe Dance ?

First Look : RajKumar Gupta’s No One Killed Jessica (Poster)

Posted: November 14, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, film, first look, pics
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The film stars Vidya Balan & Rani Mukherjee, has music by Amit Trivedi and has been produced by UTV. Story ? Well, the title says it all. Will put out the official synopsis soon.

WTF : The budget of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish is 80cr!

Posted: September 30, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, film, News, WTF, Xclusive
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Yes, 80 fucking crores! What are the guys at UTV Motion Pictures smoking ? Please pass the dope. And believe it or not, the budget is not the only shocking part of the film.

Try guessing director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s fees. As wild as you want. And if you are done with it, breathe easy and hold your jaws tightly. Bhansali has been paid Rs 25 fucking crore as writing & direction fees! Beat that. And 25 crore to the director whose last film was Saawariya! BTW, do the guys at UTV read scripts ? Doesn’t look like. Atleast thats what it seems from their last few releases. And those of you, who are still bothered about Saawariya – how it got made and financed, click here to read the curious case of Saawariya. Its a must read. Seems like UTV guys don’t subscribe to Open Magazine. Do it, its good. And Beware!

Also, Hrithik Roshan has been paid Rs 15crore and Aishwarya Rai’s fees is Rs 5 crore for Guzaarish, and both of them command much higher fee in the market. Bhansali’s 25crore fees also include the clause that he will get Hrithik & Aishwarya Rai  at a discounted rate. The production budget of the film is Rs 35 crore. And that’s how the total budget is Rs 80 crore ( 25 + 15 + 5 + 35)

Now, the big question is how do they plan to recover so much ? It seems UTV is clear on that front. If they are lucky, they will break even. If not, its just to make their CV look good, maintain their position in the share market, make it look big to get easy funding. Its all about the big picture with the biggest stars and a big director and Guzaarish is just a 80crore tool to make that picture look good. The film ?  Well, it seems like Prestige meets The Sea Inside meets The Diving Bell and the butterfly.

First Look : Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Guzaarish (Trailer)

Posted: September 23, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, film, first look, News, songs & videos, Trailer
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Sanjay Leela Bhansali is back. And with a bigger film – Guzaarish stars Hrithik Roshan and Aisharya Rai. Click on the play button to check out the trailer…

Produced by UTV, its shot by Sudeep Chatterjee and co-written by Bhavani Iyer. Bhansali has also composed the music for the film. There are eight songs in the film and 12 in the album. The film will release on 19th November. And here is the synopsis of the film….

The petitioner Mr Ethan Mascarenhas was a very well known magician.  In the year 1995, while performing one of his magic tricks met with an unfortunate accident. Since then he has been restricted to his bed and has been living as a quadriplegic. For 14 years he has been living like a vegetable….

BTW, after watching the trailer anyone thought its Sanjay NEELA Bhansali ? Again ! No, BLUE is the new BLACK.  Music, sound, set, design, colours, hadicapped characters…its all deja vu!

The arithematics of Vikramaditya Motwane’s Udaan – Anurag Kashyap dissects it for us!

Posted: July 24, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, cinema, film, Thoughts, Xclusive
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Will Udaan survive ? Will it manage to fly ? Cannes is great, and that too after so many years, but,  can We, The (Dumb) People, give the film its due ?  Will the bitch called box office be on our side for a change ? And how many bums does it require to get that elusive “hit” tag ?  Do we count ? And if we do, how much ? Since the time we saw the film, all of us had the same questions and doubts but nobody knew the answers. Only one thing was common – we all LOVED the film.

By now, am sure lot many have seen Udaan.  Its easily one of the best rated films of the year so far. So, it seems some people out there are writing good scripts, making uncompromised films too, though far and few in between, but have we been able to crack the “budget” ? And  even after doing so, how will the film reach the theatre ? And if it does so, will it manage to get those valuable bums who turn “shit” into “hit” ? Aah life. Ooh cinema! So, here it is all……after the art & craft of cinema…the arithematics of Udaan….. by someone who has been there, done that and seen it all.  Anurag Kashyap. Am sure, he doesnt need any introduction. And if he does, you are on the wrong page. Read on….

Udaan has finally been declared a success. It was the only film amongst others in the week which garnered the same box-office on Monday to Thursday, as it did on the first weekend.

Faith, in the end, has won.

There was no-way a film like Udaan could have got this kind of a release. Amidst the speculations and accusations on Twitter and Facebook that the marketing of Udaan was bad, it has survived.

Well, Udaan was not an easy film to sell. We racked our brains on it, Shikha and her team at UTV, Vikram, all of us tried coming up with every idea we could to sell it. Most of them had nothing to do with the film, so were rejected. The pressure on the team was so much, because of what they did with Dev.D. But the idea was not to do anything that would give the wrong perception of Udaan.

We also wanted to release the film the way it was cut. For once we had a film that everyone thought was poetic and had its own pace. All those decisions became a big no no for exhibitors. No one wanted to give many shows to Udaan, because the film smelled strange.

Hard negotiations followed. Gaurav from UTV armed with biggies like “Thank You” and “Tees Maar Khan” negotiated with theatre owners, got us two to three shows.

UTV similarily negotiated the TV rights. Who knew the fate of Udaan, but we had faith on good old word of mouth. In the second week, our number of shows have reduced to one or two shows but on Friday night in some theatres, it  was packed yesterday.

Here is hoping it continues its silent march through the theatres. For all the people screaming bad marketing, the truth is we just did’nt have the budget, we had to make do with what we had.

The fact is Udaan could very well have been “Firaaq“. A good film that got lost. But it isn’t. Today we sold our TV rights for 3.5 crores, film is released on Warner’s VOD , which has access to 20 million homes in the US. The same site where most of the indies and international arthouse films are releasing in the US today. Disney has got the homevideo rights for around 75lakhs (Plus T-Series has the music rights). And our first week net is 2.5 cr. It makes us profitable by around 25% of the investment and makes a film like Udaan a viability in the future.

If the film continues like this and just the box office starts to show us that so far elusive ‘Profit Margin”.. we are here to stay.

Today, I can say, after seeing him struggle with the industry, the market, himself and fate.. that Vikramaditya Motwane has truly arrived, and thank you Sanjay Singh and UTV for that.

Pic Courtesy – Making Of Udaan

PS – If you can read hindi, click here and read the post by Mihir Pandya…a different perspective and one of the best pieces on Udaan.

Peepli Live’s first review is out!

Posted: January 26, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, cinema, film review, News, reviews, Story / Plot / Synopsis
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And its a thumps up!

The film has been directed by debutant Anusha Rizvi and produced by UTV & Aamir Khan. The main cast includes Omkar Das Manikpuri, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Raghubir Yadav, Shalini Vatsa, Malaika Shenoy and Farukh Jaffer. Screen Daily has published the first review of the film. You can click here or keep on reading here. The review follows..

Peepli Live is a film about land ownership and suicide that makes you laugh. Anusha Rizvi entertains with a bawdy take on the rural class struggle as she examines a serious injustice in India today.

Scripted with raunchy wit and superbly acted, Peepli Live is likely to play on the international festival circuit before reaching art houses. While its widest exposure outside India is likely to remain the Indian diaspora, critics can be expected to spread the word about this new director.

Rizvi’s first film has a huge cast, but its story focuses on everyman Natha (Omkar Das Manikpuri), a poor pot-smoking farmer in the village of Peepli who can’t pay back his government loan. Thousands of farmers in financial trouble commit suicide every year in India, and when Natha learns that the government will compensate suicide victims’ families with 100,000 rupees, he considers giving it a try.

When word gets out, the press and politicians turn his case into a frenzied spectacle, milking Natha’s dilemma for headlines and profit.

Rizvi, a television journalist, handles her subject like a veteran director. Her script comes to life in wise earthy dialogue among the most disadvantaged characters.

As Natha, Manikpuri offers the hopelessly honest observations of a bewildered man.  Malaika Shenoy is shamelessly vain as a TV reporter who stumbles onto a career-making story.  Production values are high. DP Shanker Raman’s camera takes the small village apart, much as the talented Ms. Rizvi has exposed the hypocrisy and humor of her society.

For trailer/promos/story/synopsis of the film, click here.

First Look : Aamir Khan Productions’ Peepli Live (trailer/dialogue promos)

Posted: January 17, 2010 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, cinema, first look, News, pics, songs & videos, Story / Plot / Synopsis
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Update (29-07-2010) – The international trailer of Peepli Live is out. Pause at 1:06 and please let us know who is the culprit for such superb subtitling.

Update (26-01-2010) – The first review of Peepli Live is out. Click here to read the review.

Update (18-01-2010) – UTV Motion Pictures has blocked all the trailers/promos of the film. And this is not the first time. It happened recently with UTV’s other film Raajneeti also. There is something surely wrong with UTV! But praise the soul who did the good deed and uploaded it again. Click here to see the official Peepli Live channel on Youtube. Or scroll down here. The last three dialogue promos are working.

If 2009 belonged to actor Aamir Khan, then get ready to see him in producer’s avataar in 2010. Not one or two, but Aamir Khan Productions has three  films up for release. And the first one is Peepli Live directed by debutant Anusha Rizvi. Here is the new trailer.

And the first few dialogue promos of the film are out too. Have a look.

The film has been selected for the Sundance Film Festival and will compete with 13 other films in the World Cinema Narrative Competition. The main cast includes Omkar Das Manikpuri, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Raghubir Yadav, Shalini Vatsa, Malaika Shenoy and Farukh Jaffer.

And here is the official synopsis of the film…

Natha a poor farmer from Peepli village in the heart of rural India is about to lose his plot of land due to an unpaid government loan. A quick fix to the problem is the very same government’s program that aids the families of indebted farmers who have committed suicide. As a means of survival Farmer Natha can choose to die!!! His brother is happy to push him towards this unique ‘honor’ but Natha is reluctant. Local elections are around the corner and what might’ve been another unnoticed event turns into a ‘cause celebré’ with everyone wanting a piece of the action. Political bigwigs, high-ranking bureaucrats, local henchmen and the ever-zealous media descend upon sleepy Peepli to stake their claim. The question on everyone’s lips – “Will he or Won’t he?” As the mania escalates what will be the fate of Farmer Natha; nobody seems to care how he really feels?

The official website of the film is also up and running. Click here to go the homepage.

Will the so called marketing monster Aamir Khan turn these small films big too ? If he can, then everyone else can shut up forever. If he cant, then we know that only mainstream formulas (Fanaa, Ghajini, 3 Idiots) can become big, and you dont need any genius to deliver that! For confirmation, ask Akshay Kumar.

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