NEWS THIS WEEK 

Deepa Mehta to direct Gere
Internationally acclaimed filmmaker Deepa Mehta of Fire and Earth fame, has been signed by Mandalay, a US-based company to direct Beyond The Sea, a film originally titled The Hundredth Monkey.

Richard Gere plays a naval lieutenant who develops a relationship with an oceanographer studying whales. The film is being produced by Gere’s partner Maggie Wilde and Mandalay executive, Karen Teicher.

Shah Rukh Khan's 'mother' loses
Shah Rukh Khan was a relieved ‘son’ when the Aurangabad bench of the Mumbai High Court rejected the petition filed by Malanbi Haqqani Saheb Pathan, seeking maintenance from the actor, who she claimed was her son. Justice BB Vagyani passed strictures against the deputy sarpanch of Ahmedpur, Prakash Gorhe and directed the authorities to issue a show cause notice against him for issuing fake birth certificates in the name of Shah Rukh Khan.

Shah Rukh’s lawyer challenged the validity of the birth certificate and demanded act-ion under section 193 of IPC.

Mahima teamed with Sunny
Sunny Deol, Mahima Chowdhary and Apoorva Agnihotri have been signed to play the lead roles for PolyGram's next venture titled Pyar Koi Khel Nahin, presented by Tri Star International. The film also stars Dalip Tahil, Mohnish Bahl, Reema, Alok Nath, Bindu, and Asif Shaikh. Rakesh Bedi and Navneet Nishan make guest appearances. Written, directed and edited by Subhash Sehgal, the film has music by Jatin-Lalit, lyrics by Majrooh Sultanpuri, action by Tinu Verma, sound by E Rudra, art by R Varman and cinematography by Harmeet Singh.

Star TV appeals against HC verdict
Star TV has submitted before the Delhi High Court that the telecast of adult movies on satellite channels does not, in any way, hamper national interests or threaten the social fabric. The submission was made by senior counsel Arun Jaitley, appearing for Mr R Basu, CEO of Star TV’s Indian network, in reply to Justice Anil Dev Singh’s observation that airing adult movies amounted to “bartering away the national interest and ruining the fabric of society.”

Jaitley submitted before Justice Anil Dev Singh that the cable network regulation act permitted adult movies to be shown between 2300 hrs in the night and 0600 hrs in the morning. The case with pay channels was different, as there was no restriction on these channels airing any kind of movie, he argued.

The judge was hearing a petition filed by Star TV challenging chief metropolitan magistrate, Prem Kumar’s verdict restraining the network from showing adult movies on the channel. Earlier, senior counsel Gopal Subramaniam, appearing for cable operator Jagjit Singh Kohli, submitted before the court that a list of suggestions had been filed in the court to evolve a middle-path to help solve the problem. Among the suggestions made by Kohli was the establishment of an expert body to prepare a code of conduct for monitoring the telecast of such movies.

Sultan Ahmed to contest elections
Noted producer-director and president of the Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association, (IMPPA) Sultan Ahmed, is the first film personality to announce his candidature for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, scheduled to be held in February next year. He will contest as an independent candidate either from a Mumbai constituency or from Rajasthan.

“Though I will be an independent candidate, I don’t mind accepting the backing of a political party which cares for the nation. But I will be careful in choosing the party,” said Ahmed.

The IMPPA president said he was disillusioned by the efforts of MPs both past and present, to serve the film industry. “I’m afraid that they have done little to present the film industry’s case in parliament effectively. This is because the political parties choose the stars only for the glamour, and the stars know little about the industry’s problems. So, I have decided to throw my hat into the ring, hoping that I can do something for the country and the film industry in particular.”

Karisma Kapoor in Dabur ad
Employees of Rajkamal Studios were in for a big surprise recently. They wondered what Yash Chopra and his unit were doing with Karisma Kapoor who had shot for Yash’s Dil To Pagal Hai for more than two months at the studio. Yash was only a visitor on the sets of an ad film on Dabur Amla Kesh Tel, being made by his company. The ad film was directed by Arjun Sablok. Manmohan Singh, the cinematographer of both Dilwale Dulhania.... and Dil To Pagal Hai, was working on an ad film for the first time.

Farooq Abdullah woos filmmakers
The chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Dr Farooq Abdullah seems to be very keen on opening up avenues for film shootings in the state, which was once the favourite locale of Mumbai’s filmmakers. Now, Mahesh Bhatt has agreed to shoot Zakham with Ajay Devgan and Pooja Bhatt in Kashmir. And Abdullah, who was in Mumbai recently to participate in the 60th birthday celebrations of the Maharashtra chief minister, Manohar Joshi, invited Nana Patekar to shoot in Kashmir.

Musicians protest clamp on night soirees in Bengal
CALCUTTA: All night soirees and open air concerts in West Bengal will, henceforth, have to end at 9 pm, following a ban imposed by the Calcutta High Court a fortnight ago. Justice BP Banerjee made the ruling following complaints from a section of senior citizens in the city.

Stung by the order, a group of eminent performing artistes like Usha Uthup, Ruma Guha Thakurta, Shivaji Chatterjee, Amrik Singh Arora and Utpalendu Choudhury have protested the ban, arguing that it would rob them of their livelihood. The Association of Professional Performing Singers (APPS) have decided to move a petition challenging the high court order. Chief minister Jyoti Basu has reportedly sympathised with the singers. He was quoted saying that artistes had the right to perform in public well through the night, provided they adhered to the “permissible decibel limits.”

Sunnya Swaroop for Rotterdam Film Festival
Oriya film Sunnya Swaroop (Contours of the void), adjudged the best regional film at the 1996 National film festival, has been selected for the international Rotterdam Film Festival to be held in Netherlands in January.

The film produced by journalist-turned filmmaker, Alaya Kumar Mohanty and directed by debutant Himanshu Sekhar Khatua, is the first Oriya film to be screened in three international film festivals.

50 years of New Empire
One of the oldest theatres in Mumbai, New Empire, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. To commemorate the occasion, Roosi K Modi who leads the management has had the theatre restored to its previous glory. The mammoth task of restoration, which was assigned to architect Hoshedar E Carnac, has been completed. Care has been taken to ensure that the old features are kept intact, so that the nostalgia surrounding the old theatre is maintained. New Empire was bought by Keki Modi in 1935, who renovated the theatre in 1947. A decade later his son, Roosi Modi took over the management.

Ravindra Jain honoured
Music director-lyricist, Ravindra Jain has won this year’s Bharari Award instituted by the Helpers of the Handicapped, Kolhapur, for his contribution to cinema. The citation commends the blind maestro’s accomplishments despite his handicap.

IFTA's film workshop on December 24
The Indian Film and Theatre Academy (IFTA) has organised a five-day workshop on films at Saket, New Delhi. Robin Batra, director, IFTA, announced that the workshop which opens on December 24, will groom participants in all aspects of film production - scripting, casting, acting, lighting, make-up, camera and editing. Leading filmmakers in the capital will address the workshop which is open to people from 14 to 40 years old.

Mundhra cries foul
Dr Jagmohan Mundhra, producer-director of the English-Hindi bilingual, Monsoon, has warned film distributors that his film Tropical Nights, which is being re-released as Tropical Nights aka Monsoon in Rajasthan, is not a new film, but the old one with a new title. Mundhra had directed Tropical Nights for Ashok Amritraj in 1992, and the film was distributed by Metro Films, Chennai.

In a press release issued on his behalf, Mundhra said, “It is nothing but an effort to hoodwink the public. People would be confused if they buy tickets believing it is my new film Monsoon.”

Filmmakers throng Mumbai Film City again
For the first time since the murder of Gulshan Kumar, Mumbai’s Film City has begun to hum with film-making activity again. Until recently, Film City had been reduced to an exclusive studio for the makers of TV serials.

A visit to the Film City last week, revealed that some very ‘big’ films are being shot at the studio. Among the films being shot there, are the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Lal Badshah, Manoj Kumar’s Jai Hind - The Pride, Dharmesh Darshan’s Aamir Khan-Faisal Khan-starrer, Mela, Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Bobby Deol-starrer, Kareeb and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Salman Khan-Aishwarya Rai-starrer. Ganesh Jain and director Mansoor Khan have just completed a major schedule on a sprawling set depicting Goa for Josh.

A huge set was being erected for Badshah, the film being made by Venus with Shah Rukh Khan. “It’s a great feeling, seeing such a surge of filmmaking activity. I hope things soon get back to normal,” said Manoj Kumar, echoing perhaps, the sentiments of the entire film industry.

Priyadarshan to direct Sajid's next
Noted filmmaker Priyadarshan has been signed by producer, Sajid Nadiadwala to direct his next film starring Anil Kapoor, Mahima Choudhary and Tabu.

Suhasini Mulay in Gulzar’s Hu-Tu-Tu
Suhasini Mulay, who starred in several off-beat films (Ram Nagri with Amol Palekar was the last) made in the early ’80s and later switched over to making controversial documentary films is making a comeback in Gulzar’s Hu-Tu-Tu. Gulzar has also signed Dr Mohan Agashe to play a key role in the film. The film will have music by Vishal and cinematography by Manmohan Singh.

Rituparno Ghosh signs Kiron Kher
Rituparno Ghosh, the award-winning film-maker from Calcutta who made a striking impact at the recently concluded film festival (MAMI) in Mumbai with his film Dahan has signed Kiron Kher to play the leading role in his next film.

Sooraj Barjatya to start his next venture
Sooraj Barjatya has completed the script of his next film on which he has been working in secrecy for the last three years. He is planning to usher in the new year by launching his new film.

Shyamanand launches Hindi film
Noted theatre and film personality of Calcutta Shyamanand Jalan, makes his debut as a director with a Hindi film. "It's an effort to make entertainment interesting and inspiring," said Vijay Tendulkar who's written the script for the film. Ashish Vidyarthi and Pawan Malhotra play the key roles.

Negative cutting of Duplicate
Mahesh Bhatt and Shah Rukh Khan performed the negative cutting ceremony of Dharma Productions' Duplicate recently at Waman Bhosle's editing room. Produced by Yash Johar and directed by Mahesh Bhatt the film stars Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Sonali Bendre, Farida Jalal, Mohnish Bahl and Gulshan Grover. Jointly written by Robin Bhatt, Javed Siddiqui and Akash Khurana, it has music by Anu Malik, lyrics by Javed Akhtar, cinematography by Sameer Arya, action by Akbar Bakshi and choreography by Farha Khan.

Haseena Maan Jayegi back from Ooty
Producer Smita Thackeray, director David Dhawan and the unit of Rahul Production's Haseena Maan Jayegi is back in Mumbai after a twelve-day shoot at Ooty. The film stars Sanjay Dutt, Govinda, Karisma Kapoor, Pooja Batra, Anupam Kher, Kader Khan, Satish Kaushik, Himani Shivpuri and Asif Shaikh. A Bharat Shah presentation, the film has music by Anu Malik, story-screenplay by Yunus Sejawal and Imtiaz Patel, dialogue by Rumi Jaffri and cinematography is by KS Prakash Rao.

Bimal Dey no more
Calcutta: Noted filmmaker Bimal Dey, the producer of internationally acclaimed films like Charulata and Mahanagar directed by Satyajit Ray, passed away after a prolonged illness. He was 79.

In a career spanning nearly five decades, Dey produced more than 28 films and was widely acclaimed for his award-winning films like Malyadan (1970), Chinnamul (1949) and Saat Pakey Badha.

His last film Naukadubi, based on a Tagore classic, was highly acclaimed by critics. He was also the chairman of the committee selecting entries for the Indian Panorama at International Film Festival of India (IFFI), held in Bangalore in 1992.

Soni Razdan in Such A Long Journey
Soni Razdan has been signed to play the lead role opposite Roshan Seth in Such A Long Journey, based on Rohinton Mistry’s novel by the same name. Being made under the banner of Film Works, the film, a British-Canadian co-production is directed by Emmy Award winner, Sturla Gunn-arson from Canada. It is scripted by Sooni Tarapore-wala and stars Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri and Ranjit Chaudhary.

Major schedule for Kudrat
Director Raj N Sippy has completed a 12-day schedule for Film Enterprises’ Kudrat at Ooty, when a song and other scenes were filmed. The film stars Akshaye Khanna and Urmila Matondkar and has Kader Khan, Aroona Irani and Paresh Rawal in key roles. Produced by Romu Sippy, the film has screenplay by Raju Saigal, dialogue by Kader Khan, music by Rajesh Roshan, lyrics by Indeevar and editing by Paresh. Pankaj Kharbanda is the associate producer.