Posts Tagged ‘UTV’

My Name Is Khan2Yes, its confirmed. Since its inception, Fox Star Studios, a joint venture between 20th Century Fox and STAR Network, hasn’t been much active. It started business with the big one Slumdog Millionaire. But could not manage much business because the whole world had already seen the film by the time they decided to release it in the theatres in India.

Recently Fox Star Studios signed the deal with Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions for rights of My Name is Khan for a whopping 100 crore. The figure is not yet confirmed but thats the number doing the rounds. Earlier this year, Karan Johar tied up with UTV for his other two productions, Qurbaan ( Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Vivek Oberoi ) and Wake Up Sid ( Ranbir Kapoor, Konkona Sen Sharma). And now the deal with the Fox Star Studios. Seems like its the end of Yashraj films-Dharma Productions’ dostana, who earlier used to distribute all of Karan Johar’s films.

My Name is Khan stars Shah Rukh Khan & Kajol and is directed by  Karan Johar. Its the story of Rizwan Khan, a man with asperger syndrome, whose son gets killed in a racial attack and he is branded as a terrorist. Rizwan then decides to  meet the President to clear his stand. Eventually it turns out to be a big campaign across the country and makes him famous. Rizwan’s punchline says it all – My Name is Khan & I am not terrorist! It has superhit written all over it. Seems like a good deal for Fox Star Studios.

Akshay KumarAccording to the news buzz, Akshay Kumar has signed a new film with UTV Motion Pictures. The film will be directed by Anees Bazmee and is titled Thank You.  It seems Akshay has been a fat paycheck even during these recession times. The big question is will Akshay Kumar score a hattrick with Anees Bazmee after Welcome & Singh Is King ?

Thank You is a comic caper and Neil Nitin Mukesh will also star in it. The leading ladies are yet to be finalised.

BTW, we think Akshay Kumar (AK)  should change his name to PAK – Punju Akshay Kumar.  Because in almost every other film he is playing the same good ol’ Punju and doing similar stuff.

As promised in our last post on Agyaat Contest, we are back with all the details about the contest. Ramu’s new film Agyaat is ready for release and to promote the film, he is doing this unique contest. Basically you have to shoot a short and scare, surprise or shock Ramu, and if you manage to do so, you can get a break. Read on. This is from Ramu’s facebook post.

ram-gopal-varmaWell if you see the location and concept of Agyaat. Why I wanted to make Agyaat is because I was always fascinated with making thrillers, that’s because I think thrillers give you the opportunity to use the medium more effectively than any other genre. Like using background score, to sound, to camera movements, to editing patterns… you can experiment alot.

And it’s watching thrillers all the time when I was a teenager that I really learnt whatever craft I’ve of film making. And I never believe that one needs to be an assistant director or go to an institute to understand the craft. I believe you must have a passion to tell a story , you need to have a clarity to explain to the actors and the concerned technicians about what is it exactly you want in a given shot.

Also, at the point when I became a director two years back there were no film tools available to anyone. So, it forced people to either become assistant directors or join an institute. but today that is not the case, any one with a digi-cam and laptop can make a film. Technology has given so much of freedom.

So in context to that, I just have this idea. Like I had an opportunity and I got a break and I could make a film. And I’m sure without any training and any access to the film industry plenty of you guys will arrive better than me but don’t have an access to the film industry.

WHAT  :  Agyaat Contest.

DURATION : If you can make a film in duration of may be probably between 10 seconds to 2mins or whatever. A SHORT FILM! And you send it for the Agyaat Short Film contest.

PRIZE : And whichever film is selected the best by us, me ( Ramu ) and UTV that is. Both me and UTV will make a short film, produce a short film and you will be the director of the movie.

So this is a great opportunity especially if you are interested in the genre. Again I want to stress that it is thriller genre that you can really catch because you don’t really need a story. You don’t need a beggining and an end. You can just attempt to create a moment out of nothing. Just in a shot.

It could intrigue you, it could scare you or surprise you or shock you…. What ever the emotion… It has to create one emotion and after that it is YOUR FILM!

All you have to do is enter the AGYAAT SHORT FILM contest!

WHERE : Upload it on the internet and send the link to agyaatshortfilms@utvnet.com Or Post it on a cd/dvd addressed to Aasif Ahmed, UTV Motion Pictures, 1181-82, Solitare Corporate , Guru Hargovindji Marg, Chakala, Andheir E, Mumbai – 400 093

LAST DATE : No details so far. We will try to get it and post it here. Updated : You have to submit the short film before 17th July 2009, the day Agyaat releases. We have been informed in the comments section ( by some soul called RGV, real or fake ?, who cares! the date is more important)  as well as by others about the date. Update 16/06 – We got to know today that the last date is 10th July, 2009.

So get your cameras rolling soon! All the best.

How is that  ? Cool or Daddy Cool ? Actually the news made us happy, damn happy. Well, check out this trailer of the film Daddy Cool. Its produced by Indra Kumar and his partner Ashok Thakeria.

Those have seen the film ‘Death at a funeral’, can easily guess that its a straight lift. And those of you havent seen the film, here is the synopsis of Daddy Cool.

daddy koolSo, what can happen at a funeral? Even, if it’s the funeral of Daddy Cool Douglas Lazarus? It’s in Goa, tears, sad speeches, melancholia… right? Wrong! When… The coffin makers deliver the wrong body.

Good Son Steven Lazarus (Suniel Shetty), an aspiring writer tries to give his father a decent funeral by delivering a eulogy…that includes a description of the rivers of Goa. Having flown in first class younger brother Brian (Ashish Chowdhry), suave, successful and much admired writer from Mumbai, not ready to share responsibility for his mother, saying “He barely has money to support himself and his dogs.” A rather “comfortable” estate agent Pinto (Vijay Patkar) tries to close a house deal for Nancy (Aarti Chabria) Steven’s wife who is trying to get away from her mother-in-law Mrs. Lazarus (Suhasini Mulay) , who though just bereaved, lives up to her title admirably.

A prospective groom Michael (Aftab Shivdasani) to a cousin, Maria (Tulip Joshi), nervous about meeting father-in-law to be (Naseer Abdullah ) comes in completely spaced out because of a hallucinogenic drug given to him out of Maria’s junkie brother Harry’s (Chunky Pandey) bottle of “Relaxo.” A knife-wielding suspicious Jenny (Kim Sharma) finds her husband Carlos (Javed Jaffrey) pleading forgiveness from the red- hot model Ayesha (Sophie Chodhry). While the model, told to bestow her favours on a man in a black suit, in order to feature in an ad film, finds herself in a room full of potential employers.

A repulsive spit on hands and flick back hair, Roadside Romeo kind of aspiring boyfriend, Jim (Vrajesh Hirjee) thinks that even a funeral is an opportunity to impress Maria. A doddering old Uncle Murphy (Prem Chopra) in a wheelchair believes in practicing “rapchick” to get the girls…And then enters a “Blackmailer” Andrew (Rajpal Yadav) who has a scandalous secret about the deceased Douglas “Daddy Cool” Lazarus (Sharat Saxena).

So what does happen is complete melange of madness, chaos, and a laugh a minute! So is it a ‘fun’eral? Or should we say the fun is real?

death at a funeralDeath At A funeral’s story is exactly the same. Whats more, it has midget and copying the same idea they have casted Rajpal Yadav for the same. Great guts, we must say.

According to Mid-day, Indra Kumar had to pay two crore to the producers of Death At A funeral, in an out-of-court settlement. About two months back, the makers sent a legal notice to the Indra and his business partner Ashok Thakeria stating that if the need arose they’d take this matter to court or he should simply offer to buy the rights of the film. The two parties had a meeting last week and Indra and Ashok handed two crore check to them.

We love it! Now they should understand why writers need to be paid more, much more than just peanuts!

Plagiarism dope : Here is the new trick of bollywood directors/producers. They would copy the film first and then write a letter to the producer of the original film stating that they have made a film and have just discovered that the “idea” of their film sounds similar to the original one. Since there is no copyright on “idea”, the original producer gives a green signal to our chor filmmakers. UTV and Ravi Chopra did the same for Aamir and Banda Yeh Bindaas hai. The original ones are Cavite and My Cousin Vinny.  

We wonder if Karan Johar has bought the rights or just taken “idea” permission for remaking Stepmom ? As always, we will kep you posted.

aage se right cut

If its about the big idea, then UTV surely deserves a pat on their back. Check out the website of their new film Aage Se Right and you will understand what we are saying. The address is www.gunontherun.com. Putting a bullet in a gun chamber was never so much fun!

Cast : The film stars Shreyas Talpade( Cop), Kay Kay (terroist) , Shiv Pandit(tapori), Mahie Gill (journalist) and Shenaz Treasurywala (aspiring actress).

Produced by UTV Spotboy and directed by debutant Indrajit Nattoji, Aage Se Right is a comic caper.

Synopsis : Set in Mumbai, Aage Se Right is all about chance and coincidence. Its five days of chaos, panic and mayhem. It revolves around a cop and terrorist. The cop ( Shreyas) loses his gun and the terrorist (Kay Kay) loses his heart. The two worlds meet and it leads to hilarious situations. A satire of our chaotic times.

Yashraj Films never believed in any kind of film promotional events. They always believed that they have the stars. Events or no events, they will be able to sell the tickets. They dont need anything else.

UTV did the opposite. Did all possible promotional stuff. They went ahead with the big idea of the films, stars or no stars. And in the last two years UTV has gone much ahead of Yashraj Films in every sense of cinema and its business. With a bunch of disasters and stupid movies in their kitty, the Yashraj brand no longer has the charm or the power. Gone are the good old days.  Earlier   they used to bully around with multiplexes, distributors and sometimes, even with the press. Not any more.

It seems Yashraj Films have realised their fault. So, they invited the media to announce their new film Pyaar Impossible. Jugal Hansraj will direct the film and Uday Chopra will star in it alongwith Priyanka Chopra. If gossipmongers are to be believed, the film is inspired by Julia Roberts starrer Notting Hill.

And even the pics of the muhurat have been given out to media. Well, desperate times, desperate measures. May be, for some more buzz. Hope Aditya Chopra learns few more lessons from UTV soon.

Glamsham.com has published the muhurat pics of Pyaar Impossible.

He changed the rules of the game.  Turned the small films into big.  And now UTV Spotboy’s CEO Vikas Bahl has turned director with Chillar Party. The film is already on floor from 3rd of May.

glamsham.com has more details about the film.  And here is a pic from the sets of the film.

chillar-party

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHILLAR PARTY is the story of a bunch of kids from Chandan Nagar called Encyclopedia, Jhanghia, Akram, Secondhand, Panauti, Silencer, Aflatoon and Shaolin in whose lives enter two strangers Fatka and Bheedu. And together they alter the course of their future by never giving up on what they believe in.

The film is co-directed by Nitesh Tiwari and will have music by Amit Trivedi of Aamir and Dev D fame. We are waiting!

After co-producing Manoj Night Shyamalan’s dud The Happening, UTV is venturing into Hollywood with its first independent production  ExTerminators.

Veteran cinematograher John Inwood of the popular US TV show “Scrubs” turns director with this one and it stars Heather Graham, Jennifer Coolidge, Matthew Settle, Joey Lauren Adams and Amber Heard.

ExterminatorsExTerminators is a dark comedy and revolves around Alex (Graham), a lonely accountant whose one act of rage results in her being sentenced to court ordered therapy. There she meets Stella (Coolidge), the owner of a small extermination business who uses her car as a weapon, and Nikkie (Heard), a dental technician with the face of an angel and the mind of a sociopath. Together these women will form their own “silent revolution” wrecking havoc on the abusive men in their lives.

If you have any kind dope of any new films, do let us know at moifightclub@gmail.com.