Chal Mere Bhai

BRINGING UP BIG BROTHER
Everytime the young and ambitious producer Nitin Manmohan (son of the one-time well-known villain, Manmohan) produces a film, it becomes a major subject of conversation in all circles of film entertainment.

Producer’s Forum

AUSHIM KHETRAPAL

Eye on the showbiz bigtime
Starting his career with Delhi Doordarshan’s sports channel, Aushim has been responsible for promoting games like tennis, golf and cricket in India to a large extent. He can also take the credit for marketing sports persons like Ajay Jadeja, Leander Paes and Geet Sethi, to name a few.

Ask Anupam

Anupam Kher on Acting
Disappointment, disturbance of the mind, depression, disillusionment, disenchantment and near disintegration of the self is what I have discovered in most of the strugglers I have met during the 15 years I’ve been around.

Short Takes

LONDON IN SUMMER
SHABANA AZMI’s discovered a nice way to beat the heat of the Indian summer. Or so it seems. Bald-pated and all, she’s all set to storm the British stage, having landed herself the plum lead role in the play, The Waiting Room, that premieres at London’s Royal National Theatre in May.

People’s Verdict

*** 100% initials for Dil Hi...
*** Gang nets 35% in Mumbai
The depression is disappearing from trade circles. But there is no enthusiasm in the trade either. Distributors are cautiously moving their cards not knowing which film will click.

Ali's Notes

Look around you
We are hardly in the fourth month of the new Millennium and LOOK AROUND YOU. Look at what Yash Chopra and his son Aditya are doing, look at what Karan Johar is doing, look at what Gulzar is doing and look at what his daughter Meghna Gulzar is doing,

Editorial

ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT
Care to step aboard?
Digital entertainment. That’s the new buzzword doing the rounds of Hollywood’s studios right now. Already, the traditional movie majors have begun to lose their senior level talents to promising start-ups.

Rushes

Govinda, Sush teamed
Shri Siddhivinayak Films first untitled film was launched on April 21 at Filmistan Studios with a 10-day shoot. Stock-broker Ketan Parekh sounded the clap. Directed by David Dhavan, the film has Govinda, Sushmita Sen, Satish Kaushik, Mohnish Bahl, Tara Deshpande, Ashish Vidyarthi and Anupam Kher in key roles.

Debate

CORPORATE ENTRY INTO FILMMAKING: Are the producers running scared?
The corporate culture appears to be on the threshold of engulfing filmdom. As many as 20 film companies have applied to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the regulatory body for public issues, for floating their companies in the share market.

Glitterati

BINGO AT SINGAPORE
DEV BENEGAL’s Split Wide Open, which is currently being screened, bagged two top awards at the Singapore International Film Festival that concluded recently.

Now, a body to register rights transactions

A national registration body is to be set up by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) in association with the Film Federation of India (FFI) for buyers and sellers of films, music, television and other forms of entertainment shortly.

AP Council to crack down on ban violators

With new gudelines coming into force from April 24, the Telugu Film Producers Council has decided to act tough with violators. On the very first day of its implementation, producer Mallesam summoned a press conference in open violation of the council’s ban on the electronic media.

Sunil Shetty flexes dot.com muscle

No Hera Pheri about it: as reported last week, noted actor and savvy business person Sunil Shetty is poised to make an aggressive move for a share in the Internet goldrush.