RE: July 2007 - News - 8

Bollywood - Release or no release, the great Bollywood tamasha - July 26, 2007

This Friday Bollywood is supposed to have a single release with Anubhav Sinha’s Cash hitting the screens. The movie has been making news for quite some time now - thanks to its trailers - which has showcased some truly incredible action scenes. The music of the movie, two tracks in particular, have received a very positive response from the audience and everyone in the unit is optimistic that the movie will go on to be a big hit.

Cash has a pretty loaded lineup in its cast headed by action specialist Ajay Devgan along with Suniel Shetty, Rithesh Deshmukh and Zayed Khan. Ajay’s fans will get to see in him on screen after a long time. A major part of the film has been shot in South Africa and in some stunt sequences actors perform midair stunts while on a parachute, which is truly eye-catching. The producer has promised many more such adrenalin-pumping moments on screen. But the latest grapevine is that the producers have had a disagreement over the title of the movie, which means it may not be released this week and if the situation turns worse perhaps not in the foreseeable future. And the funniest part is that, the movie cast is covering the breadth and length of the country busy marketing the movie having no clue that the film has been shelved.

Meanwhile it is a big Friday in the Telugu industry with Chiranjeevi’s Shankar Dada Zindabad hitting the screens. It is a remake of Lage Raho Munna Bhai, which has been directed by Prabhu Deva. Tollywood is eagerly awaiting the results of this megastar movie as this year, so far, has not been very good for them. Also, the movie is very important for Chiranjeevi whose last two films, in spite of being hits, were not able to get the cash registers ticking and garner the interest that a megastar’s film is expected to generate.

Quelle: http://www.behindwoods.com/bollywood/hin...-bollywood.html

How different is Ramu's Sholay!

The maverick filmmaker says his movie Ram Gopal Varma Ki Sholay will be very different from the original Sholay made in 1975.

Thirty-two years after the release of Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay , Ram Gopal Varma is giving his own interpretation to the film that is regarded as the Bible of Hindi cinema. And true to his nature, Ramu doesn’t cease to surprise. He says he has changed many things in his modern version of ‘Sholay’.
Firstly, the movie’s title and the names of the characters have been changed. But that may be because of the court case by Sasha Sippy, who is claiming the rights to the title of the film and the names of the characters.

So the film’s title has been changed to ‘Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag’. And the names of the characters in Ramu’s film will not be the same as in Sippy’s film.

Thakur in ‘Sholay’ has become Narsimha in Ramu’s movie. Radha has become Durga, Basanti has become Ghungroo and Veeru has become Heeru. Moreover, Gabbar Singh will be called Babban Singh.

Ramu assures that changes in his film are not just superficial. Apart from the names, the characters themselves would be different.

Babban Singh (Gabbar), for instance, will have much larger footage in the film. Also, he would be more vengeful, almost like a psychopath. The role is played by Amitabh Bachchan .

Secondly, instead of chopping Narsimha’s (Thakur’s) hands, Babban only cuts his fingers in Ramu’s film. Narsimha is played by Mohanlal .

Thirdly, Durga (Radha) in Ramu’s film has a muted aggression in her character. She is clad in black, and has suppressed anger within. The role is played by Sushmita Sen .

Since the movie is set in Mumbai, Ghungroo (Basanti) drives an autorickshaw and not a tonga. Nisha Kothari plays the part.

Even the roles played by Ajay Devgan and Prashant Raj are different.

In Ramu’s words, his film only takes the basic structure from the original. The backdrop is different. The Mumbai underworld forms the background in his film.

But Ramu says his version of ‘Sholay’ is neither a gangster film nor a dacoit drama. He says his movie is a masala entertainer with one slammer of a scene after another.

Quelle: http://www.apunkachoice.com/scoop/bollywood/20070726-4.html

Sohail Makhlai and me are definitely not friends - July 27, 2007

INTERVIEW with Anubhav Sinha

I'm sure when Esha's song comes on air then Shamita won't be seen in her song. I don't think Esha is really bothered about these things

The first question is quite obvious, is it true that the title of Cash is going to be changed?

(Sighs) I can't officially comment on it. Right now all that I can say is that it can be called Anubhav Sinha's Cash.

Care to shed light on the whole Cash controversy? What really happened and who did what? Your version, please.

There have been some issues of misappropriation of funds between the two producers of the film: Sohail Makhlai and Anish Ranjan. Sohail had breached some aspects of the agreement. So Anish terminated the contract and Sohail lost control over the product. Then Sohail challenged this and went to the Court. As far as I know, the arbitrator has upheld all the previous decisions. This means that Anish can release the film in collaboration with Adlabs as long as Sohail's name appears as the producer of the film. But Sohail has no control over the film.

All this must have taken away the joy of making a film?

I agree. It's been very difficult. Cash has been an emotional experience for me and it hurts to see all this. But I've seen the documents of the agreement between the producers and some of them were forged. We had no choice but to do the right thing.

So what is the status with Sohail Makhlai?

We're definitely not friends. We've had massive disagreements over issues.

It’s been reported that Ajay Devgan is very upset with you since he is Sohail's friend and that he refused to shoot for Cash?

That never happened. Ajay has completed the film. He didn't give me any trouble. And contrary to reports, I never used his body double to shoot a song. Ajay co-operated with us whenever he was asked to.

What's the deal behind giving the cast such crazy hairstyles in Cash?

(Laughs) I never try to do anything different. I'm of the opinion that if you are different then it will come across without any effort on your side and if you're not different then whatever you do nothing will come across as different. As a filmmaker I try to be true to myself and try not to force anything just for the heck of it. I've given a comic book feel to Cash and wanted the characters to have an above the surface look. To achieve all this I needed the film to have a distinct styling and hairstyling was a part of this.

You started with an emotional film like Tum Bin but of late you've stuck to action flicks like Dus and Cash , why this change in gears?

I'm the same person who made Tum Bin. It's just that I didn't find a beautiful story like Tum Bin. I'm dying to make a soft love story. As a genre, that's my personal favourite. I never watch action films, I just make them. But I promise you that the day I get an emotional subject, I'll make it instantly.

Do you make action films because they are easy and safe proposals at the box office?

If you take a look at the worldwide box office trends then the three safest genres considered are action, horror and pornography. But surprisingly, the biggest blockbusters have all been dramas. Take for example, Titanic in Hollywood and Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge in India. Sholay was also essentially a drama. In the same way even though Dhoom:2 can be a huge hit but it's no way close to Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge . So dramas definitely live longer. I think I've answered your question.

Ah ok if you say so. Name some of your favourite action flicks?

Mission Impossible 2, Broken Arrow and some of the short films in the BMW film series. The latter is a series of eight short films (each about eight minutes long, on average) produced for the Internet. These films are made by guys like Ridley Scott, Tony Scott and John Woo. They are fantastic. A must watch.

How come you didn't cast your favourite Sanjay Dutt for Cash?

I know what you mean. Whenever I write or make a film, Sanju is always in my mind. He's such an addictive person. I share a special bond with him. I might not meet him everyday but he has a special place in my heart. I really missed him in Cash. The reason he's not doing the film is that I didn't approach him. I needed to make Cash in a fixed time frame and I knew that Sanju had other commitments. Knowing him he would have said that he'll do the film whenever I asked him to. But I know that he's really tied up and so I didn't want to put him in any awkward position.

Apparently Esha Deol is miffed with you since all the foucs seems to be on Shamita Shetty courtesy the chartbuster Mindblowing Mahiya?

Esha has not said anything to me. See it's quite simple really. If we're putting Shamita's song on air then it's not right to put Esha's face in the promos. I'm sure when Esha's song comes on air then Shamita won't be seen in her song. I don't think Esha is really bothered about these things. She is such a sweet kid. She has never expressed her displeasure to me.

How come you never repeated your find Priyanshu Chatterjee in any of your action films?

Well I did repeat Priyanshu in Aapko Pehle Bhi Kahin Dekha Hai. As for some of my recent films, these are all multi-starrers and thus they come with certain requirements. Moreover as an actor, Priyanshu is more of a drama friendly person.

What's next after Cash?

It’s another big action film titled Chase with three new boys. I like to make one film at a time. I can never sign one of these multi-film deals. They would make me claustrophobic.

Quelle: http://www.screenindia.com/fullstory.php?content_id=16575

Enhancing Visual Effects

If you have seen the promos of Anubhav Sinha’s Cash you would have got a Hollywood feel. It’s all because of the new digital intermediate technology being randomly used to give films a new look says Siddhartha Jain, Managing Director, Avitel Post Studioz Ltd. Excerpts:

What makes Cash look different?

This is due to recent advances in digital technology that strive to match or exceed the quality of film origination. This is all because of the usage of Digital Intermediate (DI) technology. Digital intermediate (often abbreviated as DI) describes the process of digitizing a motion picture and manipulating colour and other image characteristics to change the look, and is usually the final creative adjustment to a movie before distribution in theatres.

Tell us about the DI process?

The digital intermediate process uses digital tools to color grade, which allows for much finer control of individual colors and areas of the image, and allows for the adjustment of image structure (grain, sharpness, etc). The intermediate for film reproduction is then produced by means of a film recorder. The physical intermediate film that is a result of the recording process is sometimes also called a digital intermediate, and is usually done using internegative (IN) stock.

Tell us about your set up?

In our DI set up we have machines like Smoke (2), Flame (1), Avid (more than 5), Lustre (1), Spirit (1), 4K scanning machine and telecine. This apart we have the best-state-of-the-art high-end machines.

And who heads your technical team?

My brother Rishi handles the operations of the studio and my youngest brother Rishab heads our technical team which besides having best of technicians from the country, also has a few foreign technicians.

Why do the promos of Cash look so glossy and give a Hollywood feel?

Director Anubhav Sinha and the Director of Photography (DoP) Ravi Walia did give us a platform to show off our talent specially in the post-production of the film. They also wanted the film to have a good and fresh look. To that effect we have used the DI process effectively. While talking on this, I am confident that the end result will be something to rave about.


Could you elaborate on the work Avitel Studioz has dished out?

In Cash there is not one kind of tone in continuity. Every scene has beeen uniformly graded. Colour grading was initially done scene by scene and then shot by shot. To tell you the facts DI compliments the story to the hilt. This kind of endeavour has not been done before till we took upon the film. We are, in short, have created a mystery of colour.

We hear that the film is loaded with animation. Please elaborate?

It is a new concept the animation is outsourced, I would like to leave it here and wait for you too see the film…

Tell us how do you take upon any film?

We first see and understand the film, have consultations with the DoP for he is the person who has to be done in the entire post-production schedule. In fact it is we who bridge the gap between the colourist and the DoP.

You started with two films. How many films have you done till date?

As on date we have done films like Corporate, Anthony Kaun Hai, ICU, Good Boy Bad Boy, MP3, The Train, Swami, Godfather, Buddha Mar Gaya and now Cash. In all we have done about 35 films. Of late we have done all films of Mukta Arts.

What do you think is the reason for your growing status?

No doubt it is the work that we have done that is telling on our growing status. Finally it is the men behind the machines that has turned the magic on. Let me go back memory lane. When we were new no one supported us. Our good work became our best publicity for people were all raving about our kind of work. This has been driving in customers for us in hordes.

Do you do only Hindi films?

No, we also do regional films, Samir Chanda’s Ek Nadir Paar whose DoP was Rajan Kothari.

Is this studio the only one you have?

No, we have one more studio at Dubai. Before you ask me why? let me tell you that all this was done in view of the several outsourcing jobs we were receiving from Western countries.

With so many post-production in the field, there must be problems giving rates.

Every Studio has its niche or forte and quote according to their policies. At Avitel, we give our prices according to the job asked for,we know that once client is satisfied with our quality, which is the upper most criterion in our deals, they will agree to our terms and conditions and of course repeat us every time.

Quelle: http://www.screenindia.com/fullstory.php?content_id=16619

INTERNATIONAL HEISTS

Director: Anubhav Sinha
Producer:Anish Ranjan
Cast: Ajay Devgan, Suniel Shetty, Riteish Deshmukh, Zayed Khan, Esha Deol, Shamita Shetty, Dia Mirza
Music: Vishal - Shekhar
Cash is a high-octane thriller set in Cape Town, South Africa. The film is full of fast-paced action sequences, stunts and heists. After the success of Dus, director Anubhav Sinha returns with Cash a film whose story revolves around the life of an ace con artist, Karan aka Doc (Ajay Devgan).
Karan hires a set of top notch robbers Puja (Esha Deol), Danny (Zayed Khan), Aditi (Dia Mirza) and Lucky (Riteish Deshmukh) to steal priceless diamonds being monitored under tight security. The group of smart alecks faces a threat and stiff competition from an underworld don named Angad (Suniel Shetty), who is also after the precious stones. The Head of Security, Shania (Shamita Shetty) also holds ulterior plans to get her hands on the moolah.
The three groups’ frantically try to thwart each other’s endeavours in an adventurous film that is jam packed with style.
Director: Anubhav sinha
“Cash is a film full of complete works which are a result of our team’s relentless pursuit to set things perfect. The characters are bold and each represents a unique style which we had to plan out according to the actors who were supposed to play them. The hairstylist and costume designer took inputs from the actors and designed the looks. As the director I had to give a nod to the right stuff. That’s how the film’s style came about.
Cash is an action script and it demanded people who could carryout the action successfully. We cast three such stars that had valuable experience at handling action films. The actors have also performed some of their own stunts, which bring in lot of credibility to the film’s action.
The film is all about money and life. Most characters are negative, cons, but they are all thieves running after diamonds. The movie has some great picturesque locations and some thumping music. In movies like Cash the attempt is always to create music of the most popular genre. Vishal and Shekhar specialize in doing that and I am really thankful they gave the film such wonderful songs.
Cash is going to be a thoroughly entertaining and really fun film and a complete action extravaganza.”

Quelle: http://www.screenindia.com/fullstory.php?content_id=16595

Ajay Devgan is to play superhero in 'Toonpur Ka Superhero' - July 27, 2007

Ajay Devgan is to play superhero in an animation film titled 'Toonpur Ka Superhero'. Sounds funny? But it's true. He will not act in real in the film. The screen superhero will look and act like him.

Quelle: http://www.bollywoodpremiere.com/movies/...jul/ajay-27.php

'Omkara' should have been India's entry for Oscars: Vivek - July 27, 2007

Vivek Oberoi, whose role as Kesu Firangi in "Omkara", Bollywood's version of William Shakespeare's "Othello", won him critical acclaim, said the film should have been India's entry for Oscars as it represented the sentiments of the country much better than any other movie that was produced last year.
"The film (Omkara) should have been our entry to the Oscars. It represents India better than the other movie," he said during the 9th Osian's-Cinefan film festival being held in New Delhi.

Vishal Bharadwaj's film narrates the story of a successful chieftain Omkara, who is turned against his wife by a trusted member of his cohort after Omkara does not make him his successor. The movie has a powerful script backed by charismatic performances by Ajay Devgan, Saif Ali Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Kareena Kapoor and Vivek.

Although the film got rave reviews from critics, it failed to strike gold at the box office and was elbowed out of the Oscars race by Rakeysh Mehra's "Rang De Basanti", which was selected as India's entry for the Academy Awards.

Mehra's hit movie about a group of self-absorbed youths who try to break away from a modern consumerist existence, however, was not short-listed by the Oscars jury for the Best Foreign Film category.

"'Omkara' is a film that bridges the divide between commercial cinema and serious cinema," Vivek said.

"It cannot be said that the film was a serious film because no serious cinema would have an item number and again 'Omkara' cannot be called a purely commercial film because it a docu-drama which is simply commercially packaged," he added.

The "Shootout at Lokhandwala" star, who has acted in around 20 films, said he loved the character of Langda Tyagi from "Omkara" played by Saif Ali Khan, who received rave reviews for his villainous act in the movie. "Nobody could have played that role better than Saif. He was phenomenal," Vivek added.

Quelle: http://www.bollywoodworld.com/news/bwnew...rom=&ucat=1&;

'Cash' release postponed by a week

An on-going financial and legal tussle between the producers of the Anubhav Sinha-directed "Cash" has taken its toll on the slick flick's release, delaying it by a week - from July 27 to Aug 3.
One of the producers, Anish Ranjan, told IANS: "It's a big blow for us. We had selected July 27 because we had two clear weeks (advantage), what with Pritish Nandy Communications 'Bow Barracks Forever' releasing on July 27 and Anil Kapoor's 'Gandhi My Father' falling into an entirely different genre. Now with the film releasing on Aug 3, one precious week is lost. The publicity and posters for this Friday's release were on full throttle.

"Now we'll have to start again next week. We've also lost our chain of theatres this week."

"Cash", starring Ajay Devgan, Zayed Khan and Riteish Deshmukh, was cleared by the censor board earlier this week with a UA certificate. However, the film can only be released as per the new schedule after the court's clearance.

Hassled and tired, director Anubhav Sinha said: "The last week has been an ordeal. We've been in and out of court trying to get 'Cash' released on time. Unfortunately, we couldn't make it this Friday. Never mind. Next week we'll be on, and all the stress would be vindicated."

Quelle: http://www.bollywoodworld.com/news/bwnew...rom=&ucat=1&;

Cash postponed!

Anubhav Sinha’s Cash that was to hit the theatres this week has been postponed to next August 3. Producer Sohail Maklai has filed a case against Seven Entertainment that in the agreement deal with the party he should get credit as a producer. But Anish Ranjan of Seven Entertainment said that it was only after the arbitration order that his name was name was deleted as a producer. Ranjan said, “Sohail Maklai is deliberately doing this so that the film’s release gets delayed. We have already suffered a loss of Rs 7 crores. We cannot afford any loss further. It is Sohail who will have to bear the responsibility of the losses occurred. But he does not want to do so! Sohail has agreed to withdraw the case if we pay him a certain amount of money. Now the release of Cash entirely depends on Sohail. Hopefully we should release by August 3”.

Quelle: http://www.b4utv.com/showtime/newsbreak/070727cash.shtml

Ajay Devgan's a superhero too!

Continuing the hit trend of superhero movies, it’s the turn of Ajay Devgan now to play one, but in an animation film.


We didn’t ever doubt that the deadly Devgan was a superhero in the making, but now, he’s gone ahead and proved it. Ajay is playing a superhero in an animation film called Toonpur Ka Super-Hero .

It’s the first time he’s doing a film like this one, where he’ll be playing a character, but not in flesh and blood. Ajay seems to be very excited about the film in which the screen superhero will look and act just like him.

Well, considering it’s a tough feat for anyone to imitate an actor like Devgan in reality, let the lad from Toonpur enjoy his field day.

We wonder if superboy Krrish has any advice for our ‘toon’ superhero?

Quelle: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Enter...how/2237143.cms

'Cash' postponed until next week

After much speculation on whether the film would make it or not, the news is now confirmed. The Anubhav Sinha directed 'Cash' will not make it to the theatres this week as scheduled. It has been postponed to the 3 rd of August, thus clashing with Anil Kapoor's first film as producer, 'Gandhi My Father' and the colorized classic 'Naya Daur'.
'Cash was delayed due to a censor clearance. It was censored today without any cuts and has been given U/A certificate, which will be issued tomorrow.
The dispute over the title of the film with producer Sohail Maklai has also been passed in favour of director Anubhav Sinha, so the movie's name will not be changed, as we had reported earlier.

Quelle: http://www.bollyvista.com/article/a/32/7880

Postponement, a blessing in disguise for CASH? - July 27, 2007

Before we begin, let us tell you that these are the same reasons that we have conveyed to the CASH director, Anubhav Sinha, as to why we feel that the release postponement may actually work in CASH's favour. And the level headed person that Anubhav is, he has taken it in good spirit and to an extent agrees with us.

Next Friday will see an almost open week for CASH because a section of the trade feels that GANDHI MY FATHER will get a lot of critical acclaim but that is not likely to translate into a big initial. This means that the action starved audience (ever since DHOOM:2) may give first preference to CASH and throng the ticket window.

The songs of the excellent CASH album have well and truly picked up from mid-July and are now peaking. The additional week during which Anubhav and producer Anish plan to bombard the satellite channels with new promos, will really hype the movie more.

Coming to our third reason, let us be rational and admit that given the good reviews and positive audience feedback, PARTNER, even in its second weekend, would have given a tough fight to CASH, which will not be the case now.

Given the above mentioned reasons, one feels that CASH is now all set for a much bigger first week, as compared to what it would have achieved had it released today.

Quelle: http://www.glamsham.com/movies/scoops/07...se_for_cash.asp

Anubhav Sinha- Delays are unfortunate

Anubhav Sinha's multi starrer multi faceted thrill ride CASH is delayed this week. And instead of being a sign of doom, the crew and audiences can take this as a sign of super success as Indian Cinema is ripe with examples of delayed films being box office hits!

Films like Border, No Entry, Kaante, Guru, even the Rajnikant starrer Sivaji were announced for release on a particular date but were delayed for certain reasons. Yet, they still proved to be crowd pullers for weeks at the box office! Due to unavoidable delays surrounding censorship of CASH, the film will release on August 3rd worldwide.

Says director Anubhav Sinha, "Delays are unfortunate. But yes it is true that they tend to generate more curiosity for the film that the audience are already curious about."

CASH is an action thrill ride which stars Ajay Devgan, Suneil Shetty, Shamita Shetty, Ritesh Deshmukh, Zayed Khan, Dia Mirza and Esha Deol.

Well, fans will now have to wait till August 3rd to see this adventure caper!

Quelle: http://www.glamsham.com/movies/scoops/07...unfortunate.asp

Cash release delayed

It was supposed to be this weekend's draw, a diamond heist with slick stunts, special effects and an ensemble cast built up of basically some of the best bods in the business.

So why did Anubhav Sinha's Cash not cash in on the anticipation by postponing its release at the last minute?

"It's quite complicated, a lot of different things and so I went to court where on the basis of the title I tried to stop it. But it only got delayed by a week," said Anubhav Sinha, Director

Co producer Sohail Maklai's former collaborators though are, needless to say, less than happy with the delay and plan to return the favour.

Quelle: http://www.ndtvmovies.com/newstory.asp?s...NTEN20070020443

Anubhav’s Cash Ready to Rock

Anubhav Sinha’s magnum opus is ready to rock. The multi starrer multi faceted thrill ride CASH is delayed this week. And instead of being a sign of doom, the crew and audiences can take this as a sign of super success as Indian Cinema is ripe with examples of delayed films being box office hits!
Films like Border, No Entry, Kaante, Guru , even the Rajnikant starrer Sivaji were announced for release on a particular date but were delayed for certain reasons. Yet, they still proved to crowd pullers for weeks at the box office! Due to unavoidable delays surrounding censorship of CASH, the film will release on August 3rd worldwide.
Says director Anubhav Sinha, “Delays are unfortunate. But yes it is true that they tend to generate more curiosity for the film that the audience are already curious about.”
CASH is an action thrill ride which stars Ajay Devgan, Suneil Shetty, Shamita Shetty, Ritesh Deshmukh, Zayed Khan, Dia Mirza and Esha Deol.
Well, fans will now have to wait till August 3 rd to see this adventure caper!

Quelle: http://www.radiosargam.com/films/archive...dy-to-rock.html