Ranveer Singh Launches India’s Most Cutting-Edge Label Incink 

In what can be called a truly historic day in the music industry of India, actor superstar Ranveer Singh & filmmaker & music evangelist Navzar Eranee have teamed up to launch their passion project, an independent music record label called IncInk. The label will look to unearth the future superstars of the music scene in India & present their raw talent to a global audience.

“We are first starting with launching some really raw, immensely talented, new rap & hip-hop artists who we believe will be the next superstars of the scene. Rap & hip-hop are the biggest thing happening in Indian music today. This poetry is speaking of revolution, it is speaking of how India is protesting against class structures, injustice & social atrocities. It is the voice of India, from the streets of India that you just can’t ignore anymore. Hindustani rap/hip hop is telling our nation’s story & reality & we at Inc Ink want to bring out the real poets of our generation. Inc Ink literally means writing your own story & I’m inspired & thrilled to be starting this passion project that aims to affect social change. I hope that we can present some of the strongest & boldest voices of Indian youth to the world,” said Ranveer Singh, who turns a global entrepreneur with his music venture.
He added, “The 1^st ever 3 exceptional talents being launched are Kaam Bhari, SlowCheeta & Spitfire & I’m a huge fan of their music. We intend to sign & promote several more artists, who are exploring varied genres of music, in the days to come & showcase their beautiful music to India & the world. As an outsider in Bollywood, I have always wanted to do my bit to bring out & support the outstanding talent that we have in every street of our country. So, when Navzar Eranee & I came up with the idea of IncInk, it appealed to my core, my heart. Inc Ink is my passion & I intend to use this platform to give as many artists, from across the country, a chance to dazzle India with their talent.”
Ranveer’s partner & co-collaborator in IncInk is Navzar Eranee, a filmmaker & music lover aiming to nurture, launch & build artistes in India. He too turns an entrepreneur with this company that will give contemporary poets of our generation suitable exposure & reach amongst people.

Co-founder Navzar Eranee said, “Art can comfort the disturbed & disturb the comfortable. Music has always inspired me to think & act beyond my perceived limitations. As an artist bubbling with a point of view, I grew tired of safe conversations & diplomacy driven by economic interests. I want to connect with people. These connections via truth & authentic expression, though not always agreeable, create a more inclusive conversation. This insight drove Ranveer Singh & me to push our own boundaries & form IncInk. Anushka Manchanda a.k.a. Nuka & Shikhar Manchanda a.k.a. Rakhis came on board as our Head of Music, because we all agreed on the absolute core of what we envision for IncInk. Where artists can collaborate & express with real freedom. In my view, the haves & the have nots must engage on common ground, through art & music. This is where all collisions, disagreements & agreements must occur. To cause this change we must stir the nest, with our thoughts, our deeds & our words.” 
About the decision to start their independent label by launching rap & hip-hop artists, Navzar Eranee added, “Rap allows for a bold & direct approach. We can speak our truths, learn, educate & maybe even inspire somebody outside of ourselves. Oppression must be faced with bravery & creativity. We often face injustice every day. By bringing these subjects to light through art, we can recognize them & take action. Rap lends truth to the idea that art is mightier than the sword.” 
Today, IncInk released their 1^st ever single, titled Zeher written & performed by Kaam Bhaari, produced by Shikhar Yuvraj Manchanda (a.k.a. Rakhis). Zeher is a hard-hitting song that challenges the prevalent conforms of the Indian music industry boldly and unapologetically. 
So IncInk is an independent music company formed by artists, for art. ‘Inc’ stands for Inclusive, and ‘Ink’ for Inkalab, revolution through art. ‘IncInk’ is Inclusive Ink & an Inclusive revolution. It seeks out musicians, poets, painters & film makers. Their aim is to create an infrastructure where artists from different mediums can collaborate without restrictions. By being inclusive, IncInk will create authentic music, art & film which will provide a voice & a platform for artists. In essence, IncInk is an end to end solution for artistic freedom.

Chhota Bheem: Kung Fu Dhamaka 3D Unveils New Trailer & Poster

India’s most iconic & popular animation character Chhota Bheem has been upgraded to become more stylish & powerful. With killer Kung Fu moves & a great amount of fun as its driving force, Chhota Bheem: Kung Fu Dhamaka 3D, releases in theatres on 10^th May, 2019.  Directed by Rajiv Chilaka & Binayak Das & produced by Green Gold Animation, the producers have partnered with Yash Raj Films to give the film the widest ever release for an animation title in cinemas across India. 

The film is set in China & this time Bheem & his friends set out on an adventure in the Land of the Dragon to participate in the biggest Kung Fu competition of the world. However, the capturing of the princess by China’s arch nemesis Zuhu hinders the competition as Bheem is called upon to rescue the princess. Director Rajiv Chilaka, CEO & Founder of Green Gold Animation, says, “Children’s favorite animated character is coming soon on big screens in 3D on 10^th May, 2019. Chhota Bheem Kung Fu Dhamaka 3D is an amalgamation of team effort &  hard work over the last couple of years.  We hope our audiences enjoy the film & we wish to make an impact about the quality of Indian Animation throughout the world. Green Gold Animation has left no stone unturned in creating this enthralling feature & we are proud to present our work to the world.” Green Gold Animation is a pioneer in creating original Indian animation content & has been entertaining the young generation for over a decade. The shows produced by Green Gold have been hugely popular across all leading kids TV channels like Cartoon Network, Pogo, Discovery Kids, Hungama & Disney, drawing an active viewership of over 60 million kids. The popularity of the characters like Chhota Bheem, Mighty Raju, Super Bheem, Kalari Kids created by Green Gold has transcended over the years & it has helped the company establish itself as a leading player in Licensing & Merchandising, Movie Production & Distribution, Digital Business, Retail Stores & Events. 

‘1978 – A Teen Night Out!’ Releasing In Apr, 2019   A supernatural horror thriller titled 1978 – A Teen Night Out! is all set for release in the month of Apr, 2019. Crescendo Music & Films has joined hands with KSM Film Productions to produce India’s 1^st ever teen thriller. The film has been co-produced by Spotlights Creation & is being distributed by Utopia Studios, worldwide.

 1978 – A Teen Night Out! is racy, supernatural & terrifying  suspense story that promises to keep the hearts of its viewers thumping, right from the beginning till the last scene.

 1978 – A Teen Night Out! has been directed by Aziz Zee & it features a bunch of young teenage actors who have performed amazingly well. They are Yash Rajpara, Apurva Godbole, Gaurav Sharma, Vaishnavi  Kadam,  Rishabh Raj, Muskaan Tomar, Sunny Yadav,  Rohit Mugallu, Maliha Malla.  & the film also features renowned TV actress Sonyaa & above all singer Abuzar Akhtar.

 While the songs are completely composed with a retro feel of the 70’s, the USP of the film is that all the songs are actually sung by the actors of the film. By sheer coincidence, during auditions Suresh Thomas of Crescendo films discovered that some of the actors are brilliant singers. He then decided to create the entire music score using the voices of the actors themselves. This is possibly the 1^st time ever that this has ever been done in any Hindi film so far. 

Kunal Shamshare Malla stated, “1978 – A Teen Night Out! is a brilliantly made slick horror thriller which is like a Hollywood film of the same genre.” 

Director Aziz Zee said, “With films like Stree, Pari & Ghoul being widely appreciated, we can be sure that 1978 – A Teen Night Out! is bound to draw crowds to the theatres.”

 So re-live 1978 – A Teen Night Out, with what else, but a dash of chilling horror.

Viacom18 Motion Pictures To Distribute A Children’s Film ‘Dora And The Lost City Of Gold’ In India

Viacom18 Motion Pictures will distribute a children’s film titled ‘Dora And The Lost City Of Gold’ In India on 2^nd Aug, 2019.

 The scripted scenario of the children’s film Dora And The Lost City Of Gold reveals that Dora having spent most of her life exploring the jungle with her parents, but nothing could prepare Dora (Isabela Moner) for her most dangerous adventure ever namely high school.

 Always the explorer, Dora quickly finds herself leading Boots (her best friend, a monkey), Diego (Jeff Wahlberg), a mysterious jungle inhabitant (Eugenio Derbez) & a rag tag group of teens on a live-action adventure to save her parents (Eva Longoria & Michael Peña) & solve the impossible mystery behind a lost city of gold.

 Some of the cast members had this to say:- 

“Growing up, I really related to Dora, in the sense that she spoke both English & Spanish. Then, at a young age, I had the same haircut, so everyone called me Dora! When they sent me the script I was like, ‘I have to do this. I’ve been her, my whole life!’” – Isabela Moner

 “Like any great family movie, parents will have as much fun as their kids.  Lots of humor & lots action!  I can’t believe how talented the whole cast is. The 1^st night after shooting I went back to my wife & said, ‘I’m really worried that I’m going to have to up my game because these kids are really good!’”– Eugenio Derbez 

“I was thrilled to join this cast & be a part of bringing the story of Dora to life. She has been such a positive role model for kids around the globe. The film is so much fun & has a lot of heart & I can’t wait for audiences to enjoy it this summer!”– Eva Longoria 

“My daughter grew up watching Dora, so I knew her pretty well. But are you the same person at 16 as you are at 6? I think the great thing is that, in this movie, Dora kind of is! That’s her charm. She has grown up by herself in the jungle, with just her parents, so the world hasn’t put her down. No one has ever told her she can’t do anything; she’s not lived through social media & peer pressure, so she doesn’t care what people think. And you love her for it.”– James Bobin

 Dora And The Lost City Of Gold stars Isabela Moner, Eugenio Derbez, Michael Peña, Eva Longoria, Adriana Barraza, Temuera Morrison, Jeff Wahlberg, Nicholas Coombe, Madeleine Madden, & above all Danny Trejo. 

Dora And The Lost City Of Gold is being presented by Paramount Pictures, Paramount Players & Nickelodeon Movies Present in association with Walden Media. A Burr! Productions Production & A James Bobin Film. The executive producers are Julia Pistor, Eugenio Derbez & John G. Scotti. The film is produced by Kristin Burr, story by Tom Wheeler, screenplay by Nicholas Stoller & Matthew Robinson& directed by James Bobin.

Zoa Morani Wins Hearts With ‘Yeh Crazy Dil

’Zoa Morani is back in the limelight for her recently out web series namely Yeh Crazy Dil. Playing a de-glam avatar, Zoa Morani looks quite real in her character & is winning hearts for her performance. The Always Kabhi Kabhi actress Zoa Morani has been known to play all-glam roles & hence Yeh Crazy Dil was an experiment, but Zoa Morani sailed through it effortlessly.

Zoa Morani had even cropped her hair a straight 6 inches short for the series. This 2019 web series marks Zoa Morani’s comeback after her last film, Bhaag Johnny Bhaag which was out in the year 2016.

Zoa Morani is happily basking in all the compliments & is now more pumped about her upcoming film with none other than Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

Yeh Crazy Dil is a 6 episode Web Series & was released in Feb, 2019. Yeh Crazy Dil Stars Zoa Morani & Adeeb Rais in the lead with Mini Mathur, Lillete Dubey amongst others.

Tennis Buddies All Set To Be Released On 29^th Mar 2019  

The Children’s Film Society India’s upcoming film Tenis Buddies is all set to be released on 29^th Mar, 2019 & the entire credits & cast of the film are as follows:- Directed by Suhail Tatari, produced by Children’s Film Society India’s Shravan Kumar, executive produced by Anoop Wadhwa & Ashok Wadhwa, story & script by Anoop Wadhwa, edited by Archit D Rastogi, music by Kashi Richards, dialogues by Rohit Rana & Pawan Sony, cinematography by John Wilmor, casting by Kashyap Chandhock & media publicity by Parul of Filmkraft. The film stars Dakshata Patel, Ranvir Shorey, Divya Dutta, Bikramjeet Kanwarpal, Madhu Anand Chandhock, Darshan Gurjar, Arsh Gyani, Bachan Pachehra, Amar Talwar, Charu Sharma et al. The film will be released across all theaters Nationwide on 29^th Mar, 2019.

Riyaz Gangji – Yogesh Lakhani – Ekta Jain Bagged The IBC Brands Award  

Riyaz Gangji, Yogesh Lakhani of Bright Outdoor & Ekta Jain recently bagged the IBC Brands Award. Hemant Kaushik, CEO of IBC Infomedia (A Division of International Brand Consulting Corporation USA) welcomed all the awardees & guests at Leela Hotel, Mumbai for the awards ceremony. 

Principle Commissioner of Income Tax Mumbai Rakesh Bhaskar came specially to attend the event. Riyaz Gangji of Libas Stores, Yogesh Lakhani of Bright Outdoor, Ekta Jain of Dwapar Promoters, Aajtak, India Today, Parag Chapekar of Jagran Digital, Social Worker Jhingubai Bolke, Lokesh Muni & many Corporates received the awards.  

By Vinod Mirani (10:10) 

[Nasheman news] The superstars have been failing on a regular basis to deliver notwithstanding their Eid, Diwali, Christmas and other festival release dates not to mention 4000+ screens and enhanced ticket rates! Anything goes in the name of stunts and the special effects will do the job is not working anymore! So, now is the time to turn to content oriented films. When a maker has solid content, a superstar is not needed. Of the reigning but 50+ superstars, only Aamir Khan seems to have realized this fact! Or, so his film Dangal and his portrayal of a determined Haryanvi father, wanting to turn his daughters into world class wrestling champs, has proved!

In fact, Aamir Khan turned a new leaf right at the turn of the century with Lagaan in 2001. He may have done an odd, senseless film but, generally, he has left them behind. The superstars have all made filmmaking into a family enterprise, doing films mostly for kin. And, then these stars come up with just about a film a year. Also, the two who fit the definition now are Salman Khan and Aamir Khan; while Shah Rukh Khan has lagged behind, Hrithik Roshan seems to have given up on the rat race soon after he attained superstardom.

Salman Khan played varied characters all along in films like Baaghi: A Rebel For Love (falls for a brothel girl), Saajan (a contrived love triangle), Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (a sober, obedient family boy), Judwaa (a double role comedy) to a typical South Indian theme like Bandhan (played second fiddle to Jackie Shroff!), he did not stick to a particular genre. He did a series of action/comedies starting with Wanted for over half a decade, changed tracks with Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Sultaan. It is this shift in genre that aptly sums up his three-decades long career as an actor.

With a star, one had to conform to his image which gave him the stardom. Image-based stardom is not forever. Neither was Rajesh Khanna’s romantic one nor Amitabh Bachchan’s angry man stardom. Shah Rukh Khan is the latest case of a star being the prisoner of his own image. The couple of times when he tried to be different was with My Name Is Khan and Ra.One. He stuck to his image in Raees, Jab Harry Met Sejal, Zero or Fan where he preferred to play larger than life romantic characters. Then, there is the matter of age and when it starts showing. The romancing star becomes past his best before date.

There are the second rung stars with Akshay Kumar leading the pack followed by Ajay Devgn. Akshay Kumar has his strategy well sorted out. Akshay does three to four films a year and yet manages to survive. His choice of subjects is varied, relevant to what is happening around us. He has done his share of action, romance as well as comedy. But, a glance at his recent films will give a lead to what makes his films eagerly awaited. The films include: Rustom, Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Padman, Gold along with the forthcoming Kesari and Prithviraj. Khiladi days are over. Count on subject and variety.

Ajay Devgn has a limited range and, hence, also a limited following. But, he has survived alternating between action and comedy. All these stars put together along with some woman centric films being made oftener now, account for a dozen or so films a year. Also, they employ a favourite few makers of these stars. These stars who reigned assured on the first day draw at the box office, rest depending on the content and the entertainment value. Stakes were high and so were losses. The individual filmmakers, not backed by studios, who tried, burnt their hands badly.

Chasing superstars and waiting endlessly was not for those with creative urge and wanting to break into the mainstream. The makers waiting in the wings had to turn to the newer talent and there was lots of it available. (Talking of waiting for dates, producer Sajid Nadiadwala was asked once that what had changed for him now that he was a successful and reputed filmmaker. His reply was: Well, earlier I went to my hero for dates in a rickshaw and had to wait for four hours to talk to him; now I go in a Bentley and wait for four hours!)

The problem was again the risk factor. This new breed of actors did not comprise stars who could guarantee audiences flocking to cinema halls on the first day. For, that matter, not even the second and third day – the weekend. The first day, one could expect to be weak but there had to be something whereby the first day served as people-generated promotion of a film that would bring in the footfalls in the days to follow. In such an event, the star had to be the content, stuff away from the mundane that has long been

vended.

The process started with films like Tanu Weds Manu, ABCD, Piku, Masaan, 2 States, Ek Villain, Highway, Queen, Vicky Donor, Fukray, Dirty Picture, Kahaani, Neerja, Kapoor & Sons, Pink, Hindi Medium, A Wednesday!, Jolly LLB, The Ghazi Attack, Muktii Bhawan, Hichki, Raazi, 102 Not Out, Parmanu: The Story Of Pokhran, Mulk, Stree, Andhadhun where one out of a score worked as so many such experiments failed. But, that seemed to be the only way!

In the last year or so, the stories are the real heroes, making films run. One of the reasons being that the new breed of stars like Ranveer Singh, Varun Dhawan, Ayushmaan Khurana, Tiger Shroff, Alia Bhatt, Anushka Sharma, Kangana Ranaut, Yami Gautam or even Shahid Kapoor and John Abraham are all willing to try newer themes and have avoided being slotted.

Not to rob them of due credit, these actors – male and female – are getting a great band of talented supporting actors who have become stars in their own right. The current favourites are Saurabh Shukla, Annu Kapoor, Piyush Mishra, Yashpal Sharma, Pavan Malhotra, Zakiir Hussain, Rajesh Sharma, Brijendra Kala, Vipin Shrma, and many more with Sanjay Mishra, Deepak Dobriyal, Rajesh Sharma, Pankaj Tripathi leading the pack. Their contribution makes all the difference.

Look at how the year 2019 has started and been so far. About 21 new releases. No superstar to hog the premiere release dates like the January 26 weekend! And, we already have five hits, all content based and controlled budget. All these films did not break box office records on day one. They had to let the word spread.

Uri: The Surgical Strike was the first release of the year. The film opened with first day box office of a moderate eight crore. It is now running in its 10th week having crossed teh Rs 240 crore mark. It is the biggest success story of the era!

@ Box Office

* Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi followed. A historical with which the present generation was not really familiar, it rode purely on the shoulders of Kangana Ranaut. After an indifferent opening day response, the film stabilized thereafter. Its lifetime domestic box office stands at Rs 91 crore. Gully Boy hit the screens in Mid-February. The film starred two newly crowned superstars, Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt. But, the script was not about stars. Again, its growth was gradual. Thanks to Valentine’s Day, the film had impressive figures of Rs 18 crore and added as much as Rs 60+ crore for the next three days. So far the film has managed a tally of over Rs 130 crore after a four-week run.

* Luka Chuppi was the next within a fortnight. The film had a tepid opening reception with Rs seven crore. The figures consolidated over the next two days which added Rs 22 crore. The Weekend that followed set things right as the film stabilized at Rs 31 crore for the weekend. And Badla, the fifth in this no frills line-up released a week ago. Again, it took a day of good word of mouth for the film to garner more audience over the weekend. While the first day figures rested at Rs five crore, the film grew by leaps and bounds and accounted for Rs 17 crore for Saturday and Sunday.

* In between, there was just one run of the mill comedy in Total Dhamaal. A rank routinely mediocre and, rather top heavy budget wise, recovery to investment wise, it rates nowhere near the other films listed above.

Looks like the variety in content has taken over and rightly so. If anything can upset the applecart, it will be the biopic mania that is catching on! The multiplexes may have this greed of grand opening day figures, content it gives a stay at the box office. Just goes to prove that eventually, it is the content that counts.