50 Cr Copyright Infringement Case Filed Against Bajrangi Bhaijaan
The makers of ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ which created waves at the box office are facing a Rs. 50 crore copyright infringement law suit that claims the entire plot line & even some locales were blatantly inspired from another script. The suit filed in the Bombay High Court by director & TV producer Mahim Joshi, alleges the infringement is `career damaging’, si1950y. As per Joshi’s claims, the story of ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ is grounds for a 100% infringement along with prominent similarities in the screenplay & locales. Along with his petition to the High Court, Joshi has also furbished documents that include detailed comparisons of the film’s scenes and the sequences shot by Joshi. Following this, in its hearing held recently, the High Court bench presided by Justice Gautam Patel, has directed all parties including producers Rockline Venkatesh, Rajessh Bhatt and Salman Khan, a co – producer, writer KV Vijayendra Prasad & director Kabir Khan, to maintain accounts of business with respect to the movie. It also directed all respondents to file their replies by 21st Oct, 2015.
SRK To Perform At A Fundraiser Event
Shah Rukh Khan of late has decided to do his share for the farmers. He has decided to become a part of a fundraiser event, organized by Anubhav Sinha titled ‘Son Of Soil’. Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha & Shah Rukh Khan, who previously collaborated for the sci – fi superhero drama ‘Ra.One’, will now come together for this charity show. Anubhav Sinha, who denied the buzz about the alleged fallout between him & SRK after ‘Ra.One’, stated that Shah Rukh Khan immediately agreed to the event, even before he could finish giving him all the details about it. Apart from the actor, others who will be a part of this concert include composers Vishal -Shekhar, singer Ankit Tiwari, anchor Manish Paul amongst others and the director further revealed that all of them will be performing without remuneration.
Censor Board Refuses To Give Reasons
40 days after the censor board declared to the media that they have refused to give a censor certificate to Kamal Swaroop’s documentary ‘Battle For Banaras’, the censor board is yet to officially communicate to the producer the reason for the rejection of the film. The documentary was officially invited to play at the 17th Jio Mami Mumbai Film Festival but the invitation was withdrawn in the absence of clarity on the censor certificate. “This lack of clarity & communication from the censor board is irresponsible,” says Manu Kumaran,the producer of the film. The film was screened for the censor board on 27th August. Inspired by Nobel laureate Elias Canetti’s book, “Crowds And Power”, the documentary, ‘Battle For Banaras’ captures the excitement, the madness & the noise behind the high octane poll battle in the holy city of Banaras, Produced by Manu Kumaran & Mediente International Films, the documentary was shot in 4K, over a 44 day schedule in Banaras during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
‘Angry Indian Goddesses’ Lapped Up
‘Angry Indian Goddesses’ has been receiving appreciation across film festivals and is being loved by audiences at large. Followed by its sale to GAS (Germany – Austria -Switzerland), France, Benelux (Belgium -Netherlands – Luxembourg), Spain, Portugal & Canadian territories at Toronto International Film Festival 2015, the film went on to win the 1st Runner Up at the Grolsch People’s Choice Award at TIFF. With packed public screenings and positive word of mouth, the film has now been lapped up by Italia Film (Disney affiliated company)for the Middle East market. It includes 15 countries namely, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Ethiopia, Iraq, Iran, Yemen & Sudan. It is a great feat for an Indian Film as it continues to travel to other international festival including this years prestigious Rome International Film Festival (16th Oct, 2015 to 23rd Oct, 2015), where it is the lone Indian film. Rome film festival line up includes 37 films from across 24 countries. The film was also a special screening at the 35th Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax and recently had it’s European Premiere at the 11th edition of the Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) on 28th Sept, 2015.
James Bond Poster Exhibition Held At Liberty Cinema
While the world awaits the 24th James Bond Film ‘Spectre’, the cult fiction spy James Bond was in Mumbai through his ageless posters. And met his fans at Osianama at Liberty Cinema, from 6th Oct, 2015 till 11th Oct, 2015. For, The Shaken But Not Stirred exhibition at Osianama Part 1 opened on 6th Oct, 2015 to mark the 53rd Anniversary of 1st Bond Film ‘Dr. No’ starring Sean Connery. With this exhibition of original, timeless Landmark Bond posters from the US to Japanese to French to Italian versions, The Osian’s Film Archive begins to share its vast Hollywood Collection with the masses.
‘Court’ To Compete With Films From 80 Countries At The Oscars
India’s official entry to the Oscars, ‘Court’, will be competing with films from 80 countries in the Foreign Language Film category for the 88th Academy Awards. The Oscars have this year received film entries from 81 countries in this category including Paraguay, which is a 1st time entrant. The Marathi language film ‘Court’ is directed by Chaitanya Tamhane. Giving ‘Court’ a tough competition will also be renowned director Majid Majidi’s Iranian film ‘Muhammad: The Messenger Of God’, which is Iran’s official entry to the Oscars this year. On the other hand, Paraguay’s maiden film entry for the Oscars is titled ‘Cloudy Times’, directed by Arami Ullón.
Eros International Media’s Proposal Approved
The Government has cleared Eros International Media’s proposal of setting up a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP). The approval followed recommendation of the Foreign Investments Promotion Board (FIBP) and will involve a foreign direct investment (FDI) of Rs 49.90 lakh. The Government cleared as many as 11 FDI proposals worth Rs 1,567.91 crore, including that of Eros International Media. Additionally, approval was also granted to Amar Ujala Publications Limited for foreign shareholding in the company up to 26% of the post issue paid up equity share capital pursuant to proposed initial public offering, issue of equity shares to FIIs / FPIs / NRIs and transfer of 26,90,234 shares by existing shareholders for an aggregate consideration of Rs 50 crore.
‘Kadambari’ Bags Top Award
Bengali film ‘Kadambari’ by Suman Ghosh about Kadambari Devi, sister – in – law of Rabindranath Tagore with whom he is supposed to have had a close personal relationship and who eventually committed suicide, won the Best Film award at the 4th Washington South Asian Film Festival.
Chaitanya Tamhane won the “Best Director” award for ‘Court’, a Hindi and Marathi film, which is India’s official entry for the Academy Awards. Aparna Sen received the “Special Achievement Award”, while Huma Beg from Pakistan got the “Special Appreciation Award Documentary”. ‘Sarmad Khoosat’ received the Special Award for Contribution to Pakistan TV & Films. The Festival of independent alternate cinema on the theme of “Art and culture transcend boundaries” had 14 features, 10 shorts & 1 documentary from India, Pakistan, United States & Canada.
Vir & Soha’s Film ’31 October’ In Censor Trouble
Soha Ali Khan & Vir Das’ next release ’31 October’ is in Censor trouble. The film was recently submitted to the Board for certification. However, they have raised objections on certain scenes.”The makers are considering the changes that have been suggested but since these are integral to the film’s narrative, they are trying to figure out how to go about it. They can’t afford to lose the core essence of the film by incorporating any random cuts. All of this would mean that the film may not really make it for its 30th Oct, 2015 release.
Censor Board Allows Producers To Modify ‘A’ films to ‘UA’ for television
In a significant move to end the deadlock between the producers and the censor board over the conversion of Adults films to ‘UA’ to make them suitable for television viewing, the Central Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) has decided to let producers voluntarily cut their films and submit them for censor certification. Explaining the important decision to allow filmmakers the liberty to decide on how to cut their films for re -certification the CBFC chairperson Pahlaj Nihalani says, “As we all know, all Adult films have to be re -certified before telecast. However producers complained about a delay in the re -certification process as the CBFC often found the material unpalatable for family viewing on the home medium. Now we’ll allow producers to make the cuts that would make their ‘A’ films eligible for a ‘UA’ certificate and bring their films to us.” This is not to say that the films would become automatically eligible when submitted.
