News

Subhash K Jha looks back at Mithun Chakraborty’s Don Muthu Swami, which hit the big screen in 2008.

After his sterling performance as an aging but fearless Bengali newspaper editor in Mani Ratnam’s Guru, Mithun Chakraborty played the role of an aging, naïve gangster in Ashim Samanta’s Don Muthu Swami which clocks 17 years. The role was inspired by Sylvester Stallone’s stint in John Landis’ 1991 comic-crime drama Oscar.

Mithun’s film was titled Don Muthu Swami. It was directed by Ashim, son of the late filmmaker Shakti Samanta. Shakti Samanta and Mithun teamed up in the past for a Hindi-Bengali film called Aar Paar and Khwab.

What makes this project interesting is the casting of TV star Rohit Roy as the gangster’s conniving accountant.

Said Rohit, “It was a comic role. And I was very excited about trying my hand at comedy for the first time. Also, because of the banner.

Pingyao Prizes

The 8th edition of the Pingyao International Film Festival in China awarded its top prize on Saturday to “Karst,” a drama film by China’s Yang Suiyi. The film depicts a cattle breeder who travels between villages and towns to treat sick cattle in the Southwest of the country. The jury commended it for “its great fullness simplicity and subtlety and portrait of a region and a woman.” The prize is worth RMB1 million with half given to the director for use in the development of his/her next film, and half given to the film’s Chinese distributor.

The best director award went to Tang Yongkang for “Stars and Moon, which the jury said had “savagely poetic direction.” The prize provides RMB200,000 for future film development.

The best actress award went to Jiang Zhuojun for her role in “Betwixt and Between, directed by Zhou Quan. The best...

Shibasish Sarkar, the producer who has backed films like ‘The Girl On The Train’ and ‘Viceroy’s House’, has been re-elected as the president of the Film Producers Guild of India for 2023-24. He was unanimously re-elected at the guild’s 69th annual general meeting held at The Club in Mumbai’s Andheri area.

The Guild has issued a letter to notify Sarkar’s re-election.

In addition, Manish Goswami, Apoorva Mehta, Madhu Bhojwani and Ambika Khurana have been re-elected as vice presidents, while Ashim Samanta and Fazila Allana have been re-elected as Treasurers of the Guild.

The letter, issued by the guild on Saturday, read, “Shibasish Sarkar has been re-elected as President of the Producers Guild of India at the 69th Annual General Meeting (Agm) of the association, held in Mumbai on September 29. He was re-elected unanimously as the President by the Guild’s Council of Management.”

It further mentioned, “Additionally,...

Shibasish Sarkar, the producer who has backed films like ‘The Girl On The Train’ and ‘Viceroy’s House’, has been re-elected as the president of the Film Producers Guild of India for 2023-24. He was unanimously re-elected at the guild’s 69th annual general meeting held at The Club in Mumbai’s Andheri area.

The Guild has issued a letter to notify Sarkar’s re-election.

In addition, Manish Goswami, Apoorva Mehta, Madhu Bhojwani and Ambika Khurana have been re-elected as vice presidents, while Ashim Samanta and Fazila Allana have been re-elected as Treasurers of the Guild.

The letter, issued by the guild on Saturday, read, “Shibasish Sarkar has been re-elected as President of the Producers Guild of India at the 69th Annual General Meeting (Agm) of the association, held in Mumbai on September 29. He was re-elected unanimously as the President by the Guild’s Council of Management.”

It further mentioned, “Additionally,...

Shibasish Sarkar has been unanimously elected as president of the Producers Guild of India (Pgi) at the first meeting of its newly constituted guild council of management.

Sarkar is currently the chair and CEO of International Media Acquisition Corp (Imac), a special purpose acquisition company targeting the Indian media industry. His last stint was as group CEO at Reliance Entertainment, a part of the Reliance Ada group . He previously held senior positions at Viacom18 and Utv Disney.

Sarkar replaces prolific producer and former Disney India chief Siddharth Roy Kapur, who was in the position for six years and successfully weathered many storms during his tenure, including providing for industry workers during Covid-19, leading the industry against defamation of Bollywood by some Indian TV channels and pitching to India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting making a strong case for soft-touch regulation with an emphasis on self-regulation by the industry rather than an external censorship regime.

President Elect Siddharth Roy Kapur has officially assumed charge as President of The Film and Television Producers Guild of India with effect from 1st January, 2017. The decision was made unanimously at the 62nd Annual General Meeting (Agm) of the Guild on 24th September, 2016.

After taking charge as Guild President, Siddharth Roy Kapur said, “It is a great privilege to have the opportunity to serve as President of The Film and Television Producers Guild of India, the leading body of active film and television producers in the country. During my term, I intend to build on the strong foundation laid by my predecessors, to further drive the growth and progress of our industry.”

The office bearers of the Guild will be decided by the President in the forthcoming meeting of the Guild Council. The members of the Council of Management of Guild elected at the 62nd Agm are as under:

Siddharth Roy Kapur...

Siddharth Roy Kapur was unanimously elected as President of the Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd. (“Guild”) at the first meeting of its newly constituted Guild Council of Management which was held immediately after the 62nd Annual General Meeting on 24th September 2016. He will assume responsibility as the President of the Guild with effect from 1st January 2017.

The current President Mukesh Bhatt and the management team will be holding charge until 31st December 2016. Subsequently, the new Management team will be constituted effective 1st January, 2017 at the time of new President Siddharth Roy Kapur assuming office. Kulmeet Makkar will continue to manage the affairs of the Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd. as its Chief Executive Officer.

The incumbent President Mukesh Bhatt said “Throughout the past 4 years of my tenure as Guild President, the Management Team has embarked on the path of my illustrious predecessors and worked with devotion...

Mukesh Bhatt was unanimously re-elected as President of The Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd. (“Guild”) at the first meeting of its newly constituted Guild Council of Management which was held immediately after the 61st Annual General Meeting on 11th September,2015 at Hotel Sun-n-Sand, Juhu, Mumbai.

The other office bearers re-elected as part of the Guild Management Team are Dheeraj Kumar, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Manish Goswami and Vijay Singh as Vice Presidents, Ashim Samanta and Srishti Arya as Treasurers.

Kulmeet Makkar will continue to manage the affairs of the Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd. as its Chief Executive Officer.

In his opening speech at the Guild Annual General Meeting – President Shri Mukesh Bhatt, in the course of apprising the members about various initiatives of Guild during last year, also said, “Throughout the past 3 years, our Management Team has embarked on the path of my illustrious predecessors and worked with dedication,...

Shri Mukesh Bhatt was unanimously re-elected as President of The Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd. (“Guild”) at the first meeting of its newly constituted Guild Council of Management which was held immediately after the 60th Annual General Meeting on 27th August, 2014 at Hotel Sun-n-Sand, Juhu, Mumbai.

The other office bearers re-elected as part of Shri Bhatt’s Management Team are Shri Dheeraj Kumar & Shri Siddharth Roy Kapur as Vice Presidents & Shri Ashim Samanta as Treasurer. Additionally, Shri Manish Goswami & Shri Vijay Singh, CEO, Fox Star Studios were elected as Vice Presidents and Ms. Shrishti Arya was elected as Treasurer.

Veteran Guild member Shri Kamalkumar Barjatya was honored by the Council on being accorded the privilege as a Member Emeritus of the Council of Management. Shri Madhu Mantena, Shri Sabbas Joseph & Shri Hiren Gada were elected as new members in the Guild Council of Management for the year 2014-15 whilst Ms.

The 7th edition of Cinemascapes 2013 was held on 19th & 20Th October, 2013 in Hotel Novotel, Mumbai. Like every year, the event based on Cinematic Tourism was organized by Cross Section Media Pvt. Ltd. and supported by The Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd. Confederation of Indian Industries (Cii) were the Industry Association Partners while Ernst & Young Llp were Knowledge partners.

The event was inaugurated by Hon’ble Union Information & Broadcasting Minister Shri Manish Tewari. The Minister, in his keynote address, reflected on the need to leverage the growing synergy between the entertainment and tourism industries to optimum effect & the introduction of a Single Window Clearance System which will hopefully simplify and streamline the process of availing permissions for shooting in India, amongst a host of other issues. Guild President Shri Mukesh Bhatt spoke about mutually beneficial relationship between Cinema & Tourism which was leading to a win win situation for the stakeholders.

Shri Mukesh Bhatt was unanimously re-elected as President of The Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd. (“Guild”) at the first meeting of its newly constituted Guild Council of Management which was held immediately after the 59th Annual General Meeting on 26th September, 2013 at Hotel Sun-n-Sand.

The other office bearers of the “Guild” Management Team were also reelected – namely Shri Dheeraj Kumar, Shri Ashutosh Gowariker, Shri Vipul Shah & Shri Siddharth Roy Kapur as Vice Presidents and Shri Manish Goswami & Shri Ashim Samanta as Treasurers.

Shri Ratan Jain, Shri Vijay Singh & Shri N P Singh were elected as new members in the Guild Council of Management for the year 2013-14 whilst Shri Rajkumar Kohli was nominated by the Council as a co-opted member. Veteran Council member & Ex-President of Guild Shri Amit Khanna was honored by the Council on being accorded the privilege of a Permanent Member of Council of Management.

Shri...

Shri Mukesh Bhatt was unanimously elected as President of The Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd. (“Guild”) at the first meeting of newly elected Guild Council of Management which was held immediately after the 58th Annual General Meeting on 15th September, 2012 at Hotel Sun-n-Sand. Shri Mukesh Bhatt succeeded Shri Ramesh Sippy, who retired as the President after his tenure of 2 years with The Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd.

During the same meeting, Shri Siddharth Roy Kapur was also unanimously elected as Vice President of the Guild. In addition, Shri Dheeraj Kumar, Shri Ashutosh Gowariker and Shri Vipul Shah were also re-elected as Vice Presidents along with Shri Manish Goswami & Shri Ashim Samanta who were also re-elected as the Treasurers.

Ms. Ekta Kapoor & Ms. Shrishti Arya were also nominated as the 2 new members in the newly formed Guild Council of Management for the year 2012-13.

Shri Kulmeet Makkar...

Mukesh Bhatt has been elected as the new President of the Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd. (Guild). The election was convened on the 15th September, 2012 at the 58th Annual General Meeting. Bhatt succeeds Ramesh Sippy who has served as the President for the last two years.

Among others, Siddharth Roy Kapur has been elected as the Vice President, while Ekta Kapoor and Shrishti Arya are nominated as the two new members in the newly formed Guild Council of Management for the year 2012-13.

The newly elected members of the Guild Council of Management for the year 2012-2013 are:

1.      Mukesh Bhatt (President)

2.      Ashutosh Gowariker (Vice President)

3.       Dheeraj Kumar (Vice President)

4.     Vipul Shah (Vice President)

5.      Siddharth Roy Kapur (Vice President)

6.       Manish Goswami (Treasurer)

7.       Ashim Samanta (Treasurer)

8.       Ramesh Sippy

9.      Dr. Yash Chopra

10.    Manmohan Shetty

11.   Kamal Kumar Barjatya

12.   Amit Khanna

13.   Rakesh Roshan

14.    Bobby Bedi

15.   Sushilkumar Agrawal

16.   Rajkumar Kohli

17.   Karan Johar

18.    Vishal Bharadwaj

19.    Farhan Akhtar

20.   Prosenjit Chatterjee

21.    D.

The makers of the movie Yeh Jo Mohabbat Hai will be using lyrics written by the late lyricist Anand Bakshi in their film. Producer Ashim Samantha has acquired the rights of the lyrics from Anand Bakshi's sons to compose these songs. Anand Bakshi has been associated with the industry for almost 40 years and contributed to more than 4000 songs. He has written the lyrics for films like Bobby, Amar Akbar Anthony, Sholay, Kati Patang, Ddlj, Dil To Paagal Hai and Taal to name a few. Music director Anu Malik says, "I was working on the music of Yeh Jo Mohabbat Hai when Ashim came up to me and asked me to read a few lyrics. I loved it immediately. That is when he declared that the lyrics are by Anand Bakshi. Anandji will always live in our hearts through his music. I shared a very close equation with him and...

Mumbai, June 20: Producer Ashim Samanta is set to continue the legacy of Aradhana Films with his upcoming romantic flick "Yeh Jo Mohabbat hai".

This will be his son, Aditya Samanta's debut film and he will be seen with Sanjay Dutt's niece, Nazia Hussain. The film is directed by Shree Narayan Singh.

Both Aditya and Nazia make a nice on screen couple. "I am very excited. I hope that.

Producer Ashim Samanta has postponed the release of his forthcoming film Yeh Jo Mohobbat Hai, which launches Aditya Samanta, his son and grandson of Shakti Samanta. Produced under the home production Aradhana Films, Yeh Jo Mohobbat Hai was earlier slated to release on 15th June, and has now been postponed to 13th July. Talking about the release date Producer Ashim Samanta said, "We were looking at releasing the film in June although the creative team has studied the patte...

Ramesh Sippy

Filmmaker and incumbent president Ramesh Sippy was re-elected as President of The Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd. (“Guild”) at the first meeting of newly elected Guild Council of Management recently.

Mukesh Bhatt, Vipul Shah, Ashutosh Gowariker and Dheeraj Kumar were elected as Vice Presidents of the Guild. Manish Goswami and Ashim Samanta will serve as the Treasurers.

The members of the newly elected Council of Management of Guild are Ramesh Sippy, Mukesh Bhatt, Vipul Shah, Ashutosh Gowariker, Dheeraj Kumar, Manish Goswami, Ashim Samanta, Yash Chopra, Manmohan Shetty, Kamal Kumar Barjatya, Amit Khanna, Rakesh Roshan, Bobby Bedi, Sushilkumar Agrawal, Rajkumar Kohli, A G Nadiadwala, Subhash Ghai, Karan Johar, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Vishal Bharadwaj, Farhan Akhtar, Prosenjit Chatterjee, D. Suresh Babu, Kiran Shantaram (Permanent Member) and Randhir Kapoor (Permanent Member).

The Film & Television Producers Guild of India Limited is an autonomous non-profit film trade body established in 1954. The...

Eminent Film Maker and Incumbent President Shri Ramesh Sippy was unanimously re-elected as President of The Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd. (“Guild”) at the first meeting of newly elected Guild Council of Management which was held immediately after the 57th Annual General Meeting held on 29th September, 2011 at Hotel Sun-n-Sand. The other office bearers elected are as follows:-

1. Shri Mukesh Bhatt (Vice President)

2. Shri Vipul Shah (Vice President)

3. Shri Ashutosh Gowariker (Vice President)

4. Shri Dheeraj Kumar (Vice President)

5. Shri Manish Goswami (Treasurer)

6. Shri Ashim Samanta (Treasurer)

The following are the members of the newly elected Council of Management of Guild:-

1. Shri Ramesh Sippy

2. Shri Mukesh Bhatt

3. Shri Vipul Shah

4. Shri Ashutosh Gowariker

5. Shri Dheeraj Kumar

6. Shri Manish Goswami

7. Shri Ashim Samanta

8. Dr. Yash Chopra

9. Shri Manmohan Shetty

10. Shri Kamal Kumar Barjatya

11. Shri Amit Khanna

12. Shri Rakesh Roshan

13. Shri Bobby Bedi

14. Shri Sushilkumar Agrawal

15. Shri Rajkumar Kohli

16. Shri A...

Nisha Sagar unveils her latest collection ‘Smitten’, the very young and hep anaarkali suits for the woman of today. Sagarika Ghatge looked stunning in a blue & sea green anaarkali while she walked as the Show Stopper for Nisha Sagar & Charu Jewels. Other celebrities who attended the launch of ‘Smiiten’ were Bhagayshree, Yuvika Choudhary, Alka Verma, Ashim Samanta, Achala Sachdev, Nikhil Bhai of Charu Jewels, Kirron Sippy, Saumya Tandon, Sheeba, Sapana Mukherjee, Manasi Roy, Rohit Verma, Bhoumik Sampat,, Aanad Sagar etc.

Other models who walked the ramp with Sagarika Ghatge were Shonalie Rana, Jia Mustafa, Malvika Raaj & Khushi Govil. While the anaarkali received loud applause, the jewels adorning them created a stunning ensemble.

“My idea is to make tradition viable for youngsters. Anaarkali suits are so very graceful and feminine, while being very chic and glamorous,” comments the designer.

Crafted in electrical colours, these anaarkali are made of net. With intricate...

Nisha Sagar unveils her latest collection .Smitten., the very young and hep anaarkali suits for the woman of today. Sagarika Ghatge looked stunning in a blue & sea green anaarkali while she walked as the Show Stopper for Nisha Sagar & Charu Jewels. Other celebrities who attended the launch of .Smiiten. were Bhagayshree, Yuvika Choudhary, Alka Verma, Ashim Samanta, Achala Sachdev, Nikhil  Bhai of Charu Jewels, Kirron Sippy, Saumya Tandon, Sheeba, Sapana Mukherjee, Manasi Roy, Rohit Verma, Bhoumik Sampat,, Aanad Sagar etc.Other models who walked the ramp with Sagarika Ghatge were Shonalie Rana, Jia Mustafa, Malvika Raaj & Khushi Govil. While theanaarkali received loud applause, the jewels adorning them created a stunning ensemble. .My idea is to make tradition viable for youngsters. Anaarkali suits are so very graceful and feminine, while being very chic and glamorous,. comments the designer.Crafted in electrical colours, these anaarkali are made of net. With intricate work...

Ace filmmaker Shakti Samanta died at his residence in Mumbai at 6pm on Thursday. He was 83. Samanta was not keeping in good health for quite sometime.His son Ashim Samanta who is also a filmmaker was by his side at the time of his father’s death. Ashim said, "My father suffered a stroke about two months ago and was recovering from it. On Thursday evening, while he was undergoing physiotherapy, he suffered a cardiac arrest. He left us at 6 pm.'' Samanta's contribution to the Hindi film industry was incredible and he will be best remembered for his films like Howrah Bridge (1958), Kashmir Ki Kali (1964), An Evening in Paris (1967)...