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Tussaud’s selects Big B
Amitabh
Bachchan will have his statue installed in wax at Madame
Tussaud’s Museum, London. He will be the first representative
of Indian cinema at the museum.
Ghai to open institute
Subhash Ghai has announced plans to open his own film and
television institute, to train aspirants in acting, direction,
music, writing and fashion technology. The estimated cost
of the institute is about Rs 200 million. Ghai’s firm,
Mukta Arts, will soon go public to raise funds for the same.
Tutu’s Paanch complete
Paanch, produced by Tutu Sharma and directed by Anurag
Kashyap is complete. The film has Kay Kay and Aditya Srivastava
in key roles, along with Tejaswini Kolhapure, who makes
her debut and has music by Vishal Bharadwaj.
Pachisia signs Ajay
Producer NR Pachisia has signed Mahesh Manjrekar to direct
his film Tera Mera Saath Rahe starring Ajay Devgan, Sushmita
Sen and Namrata Shirodkar. The film being made under the
banner of Ratan International was launched on June 11 with
the recording of a song at Sunny Super Sound.
Vashu’s next rolls
Producer Vashu Bhagnani and director Satish Kaushik have
launched the first schedule for Puja Films’ Mujhe Kuch
Kehna Hai from June 22 on a huge set at Mehboob Studios.
Many scenes featuring the lead pair Tushar Kapoor and Kareena
Kapoor and Alok Nath are being picturised. Music is by Anu
Malik.
Dutt treatment in Germany
Sunil Dutt, MP, is in hospital in Frankfurt, Germany,
undergoing treatment for a mysterious ailment of the nerves
according to sources close to the family. It is likely to
be some time before he recovers fully.
Dhai Akshar... unit returns
The unit of Inderjit Film Combine’s Dhai Akshar
Prem Ke has returned from Scotland and Switzerland following
a 21-day shoot. The film, produced and directed by Raj Kanwar,
star Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai, and has music
by Jatin-Lalit.
David directs Salman
David Dhawan has been signed to direct Salman Khan and Ameesha
Patel in MKD Films’ next. A Manmohan Desai presentation,
the film is produced by Kanchan Ketan Desai and Ketan Desai.
It also co-stars Rishi Kapoor and Rati Agnihotri.
Golani signs Bobby
Producer Vijay Golani has signed Mahesh Manjrekar to
direct Bobby Deol in his next. To be produced under the
banner of Film Folk, other credits for the film are being
finalised.
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 JP
DUTTA --
TRY STOPPING JP'S MOVEMENT
IF YOU CAN
JP
carries on his movement regardless of what people blabber, whether
Refugee will say what he wants to say, fulfill his mission or
not. He is fully aware that there are people who are unhappy or
not so happy with his success (some even call him an arrogant,
angry and obstinate man but he doesn’t care because that’s
the way he is made and that’s the only way he can work and
get work done).
Passion, perseverance and pleasure blended with pain in the pursuit
of excellence are his weapons. JPs interest is in his  work
going on. There is no time to waste in praise. Time is one of
those things very precious for this “mad man”, JP. His
entire effort is to satisfy the JP within him. His wife, Bindiya,
says she can write a book based on the outstanding and the extremely
eccentric ways of JP. And I ask her to call it “JPs
movement - a mad man’s mission”. Bindiya smiles, JP
just shrugs it off, his mind. His heart still beats the beats
of Refugee which refuse to beat in harmony till contentment comes
his way.
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Sat
rights can now be sold after a year
In
view of the latest advancements in technology and the growing
menace of video and cable piracy, Hindi film producers have signed
an historic agreement with the distributors representing the Central
Circuit Cine Association (CCCA).
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Jaitley
hints at privatisation of NFDC, DFFI and FTII
The
ministry of information and broadcasting appears to be toying with
the idea of privatising its sick units such as the National Film
Development Corporation, Directorate of Film Festivals and Film
and Television Institute of India.
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RSS
mag sensationalises “communal divide”
NEW
DELHI: Hrithik Roshan has a new fan, Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh
(RSS) which has come to his support in the Pepsi-Coke adwar.
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Hema
Malini tipped to head NFDC
 Keeping
with the tradition, the ministry of information and broadcasting
has chosen Hema Malini to be the chairperson of the National Film
Development Corporation.
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Hum
Dil De... sweeps IIFA awards
The inaugural event of International Indian Films Awards (IIFA)
got underway at the prestigious Greenwich Millennium Dome on June
24 in the presence of Hollywwod heavyweights.
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Bill
to curb piracy soon: minister
A new convergence bill that supercedes all the different laws for
telecom, telephone, internet, broadcasting, cable TV and broadband
will be placed before the Parliament in the next session.
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Director’s
Special
 DEV
BENEGAL -- Ravan & Eddie’s next
If
you’ve seen Dev Benegal’s English, August and Split
Wide Open, you’d know how far this brilliant filmmaker has
grown within the space of two films.
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Tribute
 Pu
La Deshpande -- Long
live Maharashtra’s son of the soil
The Marathi literary and entertainment world has lost one
of the most colourful personalities who contributed enormously
to the cultural ethos of Maharashtra for over 40 years...
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Creative
Eye to go
public on July 20
Creative Eye Ltd., the television software production house promoted
by Dheeraj Kumar, is coming out with an initial public offering
on July 20.
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ICICI
and Zee announce partnership in cyberspace
ICICI
and Zee Telefilms have announced a tie-up for a co-branded financial
services channels on Zeenext.com - the Internet portal owned by
Zee TV.
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ATN
to launch three regional channels
ATN International will launch three regional language channels
in near future to cater to the increasing market demand. It
would make a foray into Rajasthani language for the first time
in the country.
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Sindhi,
Rajasthani, Bihari TV channels on the anvil
At
a time when there is a glut of satellite television channels and
even channel surfing is becoming a bore, one way of hooking viewers
is to beam programmes in their regional languages since most channels
are still in English and Hindi..
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It
is a conspiracy, says Channel V
Caught
in a predicament of its own making, Channel [V] is desperately
seeking ways out of the V Dares You controversy. Blaming its rival,
Zee Television for "trying to pin down its TRP ratings".
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A
model gypsy
Nethra
Raghuraman turns out to be an elusive interviewee. You leave several
messages on her answering machine and cell-phone, but she doesn’t
get back. Finally
you drop the idea and decide to move on to the next assignment.|
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Fast
Forward
-- A
package deal
 In
the long years that one has followed Pankaj Udhas, we have never
known his albums to sport a visual other than a mug shot of the
ghazal singer.
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Nida
Fazli --
The Tarkieb
of good  poetry
Since
the last year or two, Nida Fazli has been increasingly in the news
on merit. He won the Sahitya Akademi award for Literature for 1998.
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Can
Microsoft’s WebTV handle the new competition?
America
Online’s AOLTV may not have blockbuster sales out of the
gate, but analysts say it will provide an immediate shake-up to
the interactive TV market.
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Streaming
possibilities attract big players
Digital
Island said it is partnering with Compaq Computer, Intel and Microsoft
to create a high-capacity network for streaming audio and video
on the Web.
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EAST
IS EAST
When two worlds collide...
 “East
is East, and West is West, and the never the twain shall meet”
- thus goes the proverb. But not always does this hold true.
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Vignettes
DAMON
OFFERED ...IDENTITY
 Matt Damon
has been offered The Bourne Identity, Universal’s adaptation
of the Robert Ludlum bestseller, that will be directed by Doug Liman.
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