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Mumbai – Suryaa Pictures’ latest short film Adrak Wali Chai is creating waves across YouTube with its heartfelt storytelling and soul-stirring performances. Released just a month ago, the film is now on the verge of touching 100,000 organic views, a remarkable milestone achieved without any paid promotion.

Set in the quaint bylanes of a small town, Adrak Wali Chai explores the deep emotions that simmer beneath the surface of a seemingly simple reunion. When Ravi returns to his hometown after several years, an ordinary cup of ginger tea becomes the key to unlocking memories, regrets, and feelings that were never fully expressed. The film resonates with viewers through its gentle narrative, emotional silences, and powerful visual language.

Directed by Amit Kashyap and produced under the Suryaa Pictures banner, the film features Neeraj Sen, Amit Kumar, and Sayalee Meshram in lead roles. The story, penned by Neeraj Sen, is brought to life with...

Mumbai, May 17 (Ians) Sanjay Kapoor has fond memories of shooting for his new web series "The Last Hour" in Sikkim.

"Not just the place, even the people of Sikkim are so good. They make the place special. They are kind and warm," the actor told Ians.

He has an interesting recall shooting for the show. "We shot amidst freezing cold weather in Sikkim and it was a tough shoot, but our shoot did not end there. After shooting under the freezing cold for 90 days in Sikkim, wearing multi-layered clothes including heavy jackets, we had to shoot under the scorching heat of Mumbai wearing the same clothes! I do not know which was more difficult, the extreme cold or the extreme heat. It was tough in Mumbai I guess because you do not sweat in Sikkim at all, and to maintain continuity we were not supposed to sweat on-screen! I remember...

Bengaluru, Jan 12 (Ians) Pacer Siddhart Kaul's four-wicket haul, including a hat-trick, helped Punjab beat Karnataka comprehensively by nine wickets with more than six overs to spare in an Elite A match of the T20 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy here on Tuesday.

Karnataka were restricted to 125 for eight wickets as Kaul ended with the match with figures of 4/26, and Punjab's Prabhsimran Singh scored an unbeaten 89 as they chase down the target with ease. Punjab finished with 127/1 wicket in 14.4 overs.

Kaul removed Rohan Kadam, who with 32 runs was Karnataka's highest scorer, with the third delivery of the 17th over, after which he dismissed Aniruddha Joshi and Abhimanyu Mithun to complete the hat-trick.

In an Elite B game in Kolkata, Vivek Singh scored 100 not out to guide Bengal to a 16-run win against Jharkhand. His century helped Bengal to 161/6 wickets in 20 overs, and then pacer Ishan Porel bagged 3/34 to help restrict Jharkhand to 145/9 wkts in 20 overs.

Review of Voot Select’s new original The Gone Game is here. Produced by Bodhitree Multimedia, Starring Sanjay Kapoor, Arjun Mathur, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Shweta Tripathi Sharma, Rukhsar Rehman, Lubna Salim, Indraneil Sengupta and Dibyendu Bhattacharya, the series is directed by Nikhil Nagesh Bhat. The Gone Game is currently streaming exclusively on Voot Select.

Watch The Gone Game Trailer

https://youtu.be/uNG8s0Ai_bc Immediate reaction when the end credits roll

Question: How to turn the current world pandemic Covid-19 into a thrillingly absorbing whodunit retreat with a Hitchkockian, Shyayamalan, Paranormal Activity and ‘Searching’ kinda tweak?

Answer: The Gone Game

The story of The Gone Game

A global pandemic – Covid-19, a Nation in lockdown, and a mysterious disappearance in the midst of it all! Sahil Gujral (Arjun Mathur) is gone. Did he fall prey to the virus? Or is something more sinister at play? 2020 has changed the world forever,...

It is agreed by all that Bollywood is lights, colour and music. It’s a little overacting, a little or sometimes a lot of dramatics, but most of all it sets itself apart by the power, emotionality and beauty conveyed in its music. For those who live for Bollywood’s songs, it is a privilege to have it in our lives: to know that any feeling can be expressed with just the right formation of tune, singers and lyrics. The tune is formulated by a composer, the singers perform based on instruction and style but it all wraps around the lyrics. A lyricist is a poet and in Bollywood he/she is given great powers to make even the most club beat song into a heartbreaker. And with the current state of the world, we have a chance to pause and look back on some of Bollywood’s greatest masters of this art,...

Monsoon Shootout

Starring Vijay Verma, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Gitanjali Thapa,Farhan Mohammed Hanif Sheikh

Directed by Amit Kumar

Rain-splashed bloodied puddles of questioning, probing, searching, emotional and physical violence… Monsoon Shootout is a curious case of a potentially routine cops-and-killer sanguinary saga given a certain fresh twist of ambivalence by writing skills that know their Dirty Harry as closely as they know Ardh Satya.

There is tadka of circumstantial ambiguity, a twist of fate, if you will, whereby a rookie cop’s rookie-rookie si zindagi gets more unscheduled excitement on his first assignment than he had bargained for.

A serial killer is on the prowl. And really,in how many ways can Nawaz be cast as the psychotic outcast? It was a hammer in hand in Raman Raghav, It’s an axe here. The slayings are staged stylishly in the slippery monsoon of Mumbai when it’s easy for...

Following its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013, it's been a long road to Indian cinema screens for Amit Kumar's Monsoon Shootout. The film, which stars Vijay Varma as a rookie cop making a fateful decision, has been looking for its opening for four and a half years now, and on December 15th, Indian audiences will finally get to see what the fuss is all about.  Varma plays Adi, a young cop in training who comes face to face with a dreaded and infamous mob enforcer named Shiva (Nawazuddin Siddiqui). The two men get caught in a monsoon showdown, and the film deals with the fallout of Adi's decisions. To shoot, or not to shoot... Experimental in form, for sure, Monsoon Shootout...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Amy Winehouse documentary from the director of Senna will play in the Midnight Secreenings section of the Cannes Film Festival.

“This is my first feature in Official Selection so I’m very, very happy about that,” director Asif Kapadia told ScreenDaily of his Amy Winehouse documentary making the Official Selection for the 68th Cannes Film Festival.

Currently in Azerbaijan - where Kapadia is midway through the shoot of his fourth narrative feature, Ali and Nino - the film-maker said he fully intends to make it to the festival despite the tight timings.

Kapadia is not due to finish filming Ali and Nino until May 10, after wrapping the final three weeks of the shoot in Istanbul.

“I finish in Istanbul on the 10th, fly home, do my washing, have a shave and then hopefully fly straight back out to see some of the fun at the beginning of the festival before our film’s shown,” he said.

Kapadia...

Exclusive: Navalakha Arts and Holy Basil Productions have acquired Indian theatrical and satellite rights to Amit Kumar’s thriller Monsoon Shootout, which they plan to give a wide release in the first quarter of next year.

Company co-founders Nilesh Navalakha and Vivek Kajaria are investing in the p&a, marketing and distribution of the film. “It’s a very good thriller which we believe can be presented as a mainstream film,” said Kajaria.

Produced by the UK’s Yaffle Films and India’s Sikhya Entertainment and Dar Motion Pictures, Monsoon Shootout premiered at Cannes 2013.

Navalakha Arts and Holy Basil recently distributed award-winning Marathi film Anumati and produced Fandry.

Chaitanya Tamhane’s “Court”

Zurich Film Festival will showcase a package of 12 Indian features and six shorts under “New World View” section in its 10th edition that runs from September 25- October 5, 2014. The package includes latest Indian films like Chaitanya Tamhane’s Venice “Lion of the future” winner Court and recent festival favourites like Anand Gandhi’s Ship of Theseus and Kanu Behl’s Titli.

Apart from features, a package of shorts curated by Swiss short film festival Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur will be on display as well. The package has six shorts made by: Anurag Goswami , Varun Chawla , Hossein Mozdgir Roozane , Rodd Rathjen , Payal Kapadia and Gitanjali Rao.

Here is the complete list of feature films to be screened at the festival:-

Court by Chaitanya Tamhane

Fandry by Nagraj Manjule

Gulabi Gang by Nishtha Jain

I.D by Kamal K.M.

Katiyabaaz by Deepti Kakkar and Fahad Mustafa

Liar’s Dice...

The Chicago South Asian Film Festival, to be held between September 18th and 21st, will open with Geethu Mohandas’ Liar’s Dice. The film has Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Geetanjali Thapa in lead roles and was screened at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.

Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout will be the centerpiece film of the festival. Agneya Singh’s M Cream will be screened as the Friday night feature. Rajat Kapoor’s Ankhon Dekhi will close the Festival on Sunday evening.

Here is the complete lineup of the festival:

A Boy Called Boris (Director: Ashok Vish): World Premiere; Short Film; United States; Max Kolby, Brian Gildea, Jose Amor

Algorithms (Director: Ian McDonald): U.S. Premiere; Documentary; India

Ankhon Dekhi (Director: Rajat Kapoor): Chicago Premiere; Feature; India; Sanjay Mishra, Rajat Kapoor, Seema Pahwa

Are You Listening! – Shunte Ki Pao! (Director: Kamar Ahmad Simon): U.S. Premiere...

The deadline for applications for Nfdc Film Bazaar co-production market has been extended from July 31 to August 31, 2014.

In its eighth edition this year, Film Bazaar will be held from 20 – 24 November, alongside Iffi (20 – 30 Nov), in Goa.

Film Bazaar co-production market offers a platform to meet potential international co-producers for South Asian projects. The market selects about 22 projects every year which are pitched to international producers, distributors, sales agents, funding representatives and other financial partners from across the world by the filmmakers.

Recent projects which have been part of co-production market selection include Kanu Behl’s Titli, Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox and Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout.

Filmmakers can apply to the co-production market online on the Film Bazaar website. Applicant will need to pay an application fee of Rs. 5,000.

There is heartening news for Ketan Mehta's film Mountain Man on Dashrath Manjhi, the impoverished man from the Gaya district of Bihar who cut a road through the mountain in his unreachable village, with his hands. Viacom 18 has acquired the film and are all set to release it worldwide. Rejoicing in the glad tidings actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui who plays the title role in Mountain Man says, "It's the best thing that could've happened to a film like this. Mountain Man is not a small film. It is a very big film because it tells the story of an extraordinary man." Nawaz injured his leg while shooting on location for Mountain Man "This has been my toughest film to shoot. I pushed myself emotionally and physically beyond all endurance. And then to have the film being released in a small way would be heartbreaking." Nawaz says he has been through that heartbreaking process.

The National Film Development Corporation (Nfdc) is inviting entries for the co-production Market at Film Bazaar 2014.

In its eighth edition this year, Film Bazaar will be held from 20 – 24 November, alongside Iffi (20 – 30 Nov), in Goa.

The deadline for submission of entries is 31 July 2014.

Film Bazaar co-production market offers a platform to meet potential international co-producers for South Asian projects. The market selects about 22 projects every year which are pitched to international producers, distributors, sales agents, funding representatives and other financial partners from across the world by the filmmakers.

Recent projects which have been part of co-production market selection include Kanu Behl’s Titli, Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox and Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout.

Filmmakers can apply to the co-production market online on the Film Bazaar website. Applicant will need to pay an application fee of Rs. 5,000.

This year the 12th edition of the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (Iffla) includes a lineup of narrative and documentary features and short films. The impressive program reflects the rich diversity of Indian cinema, as well as the future of Indian filmmaking, with cutting-edge filmmakers and emerging voices bringing their acclaimed films to Los Angeles.

The festival is widely recognized as the premiere showcase of groundbreaking Indian cinema globally. Iffla will run April 8-13 at ArcLight Hollywood in Los Angeles, the festival’s home since its inception. Jadoo, an exploration of family bonds amidst two feuding brothers’ restaurants in England, will screen as the festival’s Closing Night Gala. The film is written and directed by Iffla alum Amit Gupta, and first premiered at the 2013 Berlinale. It features a wonderful ensemble cast that includes Kulvinder Ghir, Amara Karan, Harish Patel, Tom Mison, and Madhur Jaffrey. As previously announced, Iffla will open with Jeffrey D. Brown’s Sold, produced by Jane Charles and executive produced by Emma Thompson.

Iffla 2014 wil l present more than 33 films, including three world premieres, six North American premieres, six U.S. premieres, and 16 Los Angeles premieres. The films feature 10 different languages, from Hindi to Marathi, to Russian to Bengali. Additionally, Iffla supports American, Australian, British, Canadian, and European diaspora filmmakers from nine different countries telling their stories.

“I'm thrilled and proud that Iffla's line-up this year includes an especially diverse range of cinematic experiences, covering many regions of India and the diaspora,” said Iffla’s Artistic Director Jasmine Jaisinghani. "We would like to thank our Programming Advisor in India, Uma Da Cunha, for helping our programming team source some of these exceptional films."

Program highlights include: the North American premiere of Anurag Kashyap’s latest, Ugly an intense, masterfully directed psychological thriller that premiered in the 2013 Director’s Fortnight section of Cannes; Liar's Dice, the remarkable directorial debut of South Indian actress Geetu Mohandas that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival; Anup Singh’s latest feature Qissa: The Tale of a Lonely Ghost, starring Irrfan Khan (Life of Pi, Slumdog Millionaire), winner of Netpac Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, and Dioraphte Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam; the Audience Award winner at the 2013 Slamdance Film Festival Hank and Asha , an exploratory, romantic look at two people bonding in the digital age by newcomer James E. Duff; Nagraj Manjule’s Fandry, a highly praised debut feature for its multilayered emotion and realism on the subject of caste discrimination; Brahmin Bulls starring Roshan Seth (Gandhi, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Mississippi Masala) and Sendhil Ramamurthy (Beauty and the Beast, Heroes) as an estranged father and son unexpectedly brought together to confront the family’s past; and Siddharth, a nuanced look at a family whose son goes missing, by lauded Canadian director and Iffla alum Richie Mehta (Amal).

The festival's feature documentary competition includes an eclectic mix of films from established and upcoming filmmakers that consider India's unique traditions and dynamic future. The films include: the world premiere of

The Auction House , an intimate and funny look at two brothers trying to keep their anachronistic family business going in the digital age; festival favorite Powerless, which depicts intense struggles over electricity in a mid-size Indian city; Faith Connections, Iffla alum Pan Nalin's beautiful and rare look at the Kumbh Mela; and the National Award-winning Shepherds of Paradise, about an arduous, mountainous trek through an animal drive in the Kashmiri winter.

The Bollywood by Night series returns this year with Bombay Talkies and Monsoon Shootout. Premiering at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Bombay Talkies is a quartet of short films that celebrates 100 years of Indian cinema. The omnibus film features work by four of India’s most exciting contemporary directors: Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, and Anurag Kashyap, as well as a stellar cast that includes Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukerji, and Katrina Kaif. Monsoon Shoutout is a thrilling debut by Iffla alum writer/director Amit Kumar about how a split-second decision made by a rookie police officer has rippling effects in his life and the lives of those around him.

The shorts competition showcases a diverse selection of 15 films that include narrative, documentary, experimental, and animated works. Highlights of this year’s program include Academy Award® shortlisted Kush; Sundance award winner Love.Love.Love.; and the world premiere of acclaimed director Umesh Kulkarni’s The Fly.

Festival Passes and Gala tickets are currently on sale at the festival's website.

For more information, please visit:

Website: www.indianfilmfestival.org.

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ indianfilmfestival

Twitter: https://twitter.com /iffla

Tumblr: http://indianfilmfestival.tumblr.com/

About Iffla

Now in its 12th year, the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (Iffla) is a nonprofit organization devoted to a greater appreciation of Indian cinema and culture by showcasing films, honoring entertainment industry business executives, and promoting the diverse perspectives of the Indian diaspora.

Opening Night Gala

Sold

Los Angeles Premiere

USA/2014/97min

Director: Jeffrey D. Brown

Producer: Jane Charles

Executive Producer: Emma Thompson

Screenwriters: Joseph Kwong, Jeffrey D. Brown

Composer: John McDowell, Sammy Chand, Salim & Sulaiman Merchant

Cast: Susmita Mukherjee, Seema Biswas, Tillotama Shome, Niyar Saikia, Priyanka Bose, Ankur Vikal, Parambrata Chatterjee, Gillian Anderson, David Arquette

Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Jeffrey D. Brown adapts Patricia McCormick’s novel Sold – a National Book Award finalist – into a vivid, harrowing and inspiring story of a young girl’s resilience in the face of unspeakable cruelty.

Closing Night

Jadoo

Los Angeles Premiere

UK/2013/84 mins

Director: Amit Gupta

Producers: Amanda Faber, Isabelle Georgeaux, Richard Holmes, Nikki Parrott

Screenwriter: Amit Gupta

Composer: Stephen Warbeck

Cast: Kulvinder Ghir, Amara Karan, Harish Patel, Tom Mison, Madhur Jaffrey

Set in Leicester, England, Amit Gupta’s culinary comedy charts the chaos that ensues when young Shalini gets engaged to her longtime boyfriend Mark. The fact that Mark is not Indian is the least of Shalini’s concerns. Her father Raja and uncle Jagi have been at war for years. After a legendary falling out that caused them to close their family restaurant, each man opened his own establishment – directly across the street from one another! Shalini’s dream wedding would see both men put aside their differences and prepare the feast together, but resentment runs deep and neither man can hear mention of the other’s name without a spike in blood pressure. Both the prospect of disappointing their beloved Shalini and the threat of a new, hip restaurant opening in the area force Raja and Jagi to work together – but for how long? In this uproariously funny and heartfelt exploration of family bonds, shared history and gastronomic perfection, Gupta’s cast is endlessly appealing. Plus, there’s enough mouth-watering Indian food on display to have your stomach growling before the credits roll.

Feature Films

Before My Eyes (Ankhon Dekhi)

Los Angeles Premiere

India/2013/107min

Director: Rajat Kapoor Producer: Manish Mundra

Screenwriter: Rajat Kapoor

Cast: Sanjay Sanjay Mishra, Seema Pahwa, Rajat Kapoor, Taranjeet, Maya Sarao

Celebrated writer, director, and actor Rajat Kapoor (Midnight’s Children, Monsoon Wedding, Mixed Doubles, Mithya) paints an offbeat yet thought-provoking portrait of domestic life in modern day Delhi when an incident prompts head of the family Bauji to reject anything he himself has not experienced, much to the exasperation of his extended family but to the delight of his newfound philosopher disciples. Balancing the comical and the existential, both Bauji and the film ask the basic question, ‘Can you know truth without true experience?’

Brahmin Bulls

Los Angeles Premiere

USA/96min/2013

Director: Mahesh Pailoor

Producer: Yoshinobu Tsuji

Screenwriters: Anu Pradhan, Mahesh Pailoor

Cast: Sendhil Ramamurthy, Roshan Seth, Mary Steenburgen, Justin Bartha, Cassidy Freeman, Monica Raymund, Michael Lerner

Mahesh Pailoor's tender, funny, and touching debut tells the story of estranged father and son Ashok and Sid, who reunite at Sid's Los Angeles home when Ashok arrives unexpectedly. Each man is keeping secrets from one another, and when the truth is revealed, parent and child must work even harder to close the rift between them.

Fandry

North American Premiere

India/2013/103min

Director: Nagraj Manjule

Producers: Vivek Kajaria, Nilesh Navalakha

Screenwriter: Nagraj Manjule

Cast: Kishor Kadam, Chhaya Kadam, Somnath Awghade, Suraj Pawar, Rajshree Kharat, Sakshi Vyavhare, Aishvarya Shinde, Nagraj Manjule

Marathi poet Nagraj Manjule's impressive debut feature tells the story of Jabya, a Dalit boy, and his family's struggle against daily prejudice in their Maharashtra village. Jabya's carefree childhood desires and antics are soon stifled by his family's "untouchable" status, and the film's gradual transformation into an insightful and damning look at caste discrimination builds from a murmur to a defiant roar. Refusing to reduce his Dalit characters to victims – most explicitly at the film's explosive conclusion - Manjule's socially reflective film has received critical acclaim in India.

Hank and Asha

Los Angeles Premiere

USA/2013/73min

Director: James E. Duff

Producers: James E. Duff, Julia Morrison

Screenwriters: James E. Duff, Julia Morrison

Cast: Mahira Kakkar, Andrew Pastides

James E. Duff's feature directorial debut, the Audience Award winner at the 2013 Slamdance Film Festival, is an endearing tale of a long-distance connection in the digital age. Hank and Asha, two aspiring filmmakers separated by an ocean, connect with one another through video messages and quickly find themselves heading towards romance. That is, until Asha reveals some surprising news. Duff has created a captivating ode to the new possibilities open to us now that the world's gotten smaller.

Liar's Dice

Los Angeles Premiere

India/2013/104min

Director: Geetu Mohandas

Producers: Alan McAlex, Ajay G. Rai

Screenwriter: Geetu Mohandas

Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Geetanjali Thapa, Manya Gupta

Established actress Geetu Mohandas steps behind the lens for her bracing directorial debut. A woman named Kamala and her daughter journey from their remote Himalayan village to Delhi in search of Kamala's missing husband. They find a guide in an unfriendly wanderer whose interest may lie more in his personal gain than in any help he can offer them. Beautifully shot by Rajeev Ravi (Gangs of Wasseypur), Mohandas' film evokes a hazardous world where answers may never be clear and a helping hand always comes at a price.

Phoring

North American Premiere

India/2013/128min

Director: Indranil Roychowdhury

Producers: Anasua Roychowdury, Sugata Bal

Screenwriters: Indranil Roychowdhury, Sugata Sinha

Cast: Akash Adhikary, Sohini Sarkar, Sourav Basak, Ritwick Charaborty, Shankar Debnath, Senjuti Roymukherjee

Indranil Roychowdhury's stunning feature debut is an evocative, unpredictable tale of confused adolescence in a struggling North Bengal town. Phoring, an imaginative adolescent boy, and his beautiful new teacher Doel form a close friendship that soon arouses doubt and suspicion when Doel's presence in the town is revealed to have less-than-noble origins. Roychowdhury accomplishes a tricky feat with his first film by luring us with the promise of an inspirational teacher-student story before ultimately delivering a much more complex and truthful account of the joys and pains of growing up.

Qissa: The Tale of a Lonely Ghost (2013)

Los Angeles Premiere Germany-India-Netherlands/2013/109min

Director: Anup Singh

Producers: Bero Beyer, Johannes Rexin, Bettina Brokemper, Thierry Lenouvel

Screenwriter: Anup Singh, Madhuja Mukherjee

Cast: Irrfan Khan, Tisca Chopra, Tillotama Shome, Rasika Dugal

Set in 1940s Punjab, Anup Singh’s latest feature Qissa details the aftermath of the Indo-Pakistan Partition through the experiences of one Sikh family, headed by Umber (Irrfan Khan). Following the family’s forceful displacement from their village, Umber’s desire for a male heir is stronger than ever. When his wife gives birth to their fourth daughter, Kanwar, Umber makes the fateful decision to raise her as a boy. This tragic choice ends up dividing the family in violent ways, and provokes a series of increasingly unsettling situations for Kanwar as she grows up. While in a sense a ghost story, the source of pain and suffering is all too real.

Siddharth

Los Angeles Premiere

Canada-India/2013/96min

Director: Richie Mehta

Producers: David Miller, Steven N. Bray

Screenwriter: Richie Mehta

Cast: Rajesh Tailang, Tannishtha Chatterjee

A celebrated Iffla alum, Canadian director Richie Mehta returns to the festival with a heartbreaking story of parents Mahendra and Suman, whose son goes missing after being sent to work 200 miles north of Delhi. Carried by powerful yet restrained performances from Rajesh Tailang and Tannishtha Chatterjee as the parents, Mehta and cast capture the dignity of those facing the unthinkable. Mehta's chance encounter with a man searching for his lost son alerted him to the underreported plight of the families of 44,000 children estimated missing in India every year.

Ugly

North American Premiere

India/2013/128mins/Dcp

Director: Anurag Kashyap

Writer: Anurag Kashyap

Producers: Vikas Bahl, Madhu Mantena, Vikramaditya Motwane, Vivek Rangachari, Arun Rangachari

Cast: Rahul Bhatt, Ronit Roy, Tejaswini Kolhapure, Anshika Shrivastava

When ten-year-old Kali disappears from her father Rahul's car on the busy streets of Mumbai, the events that follow quickly spiral out of control and plunge into a morass of corruption and violence. Rahul and Kali's mother, Shalini, are divorced. Shalini is now married to Shoumik, the local police chief. When Shoumik learns that his stepdaughter is missing, he and Rahul clash in a breathless race to find the girl. With intricate plotting and vivid characterizations, Iffla alum Anurag Kashyap fashions a story that's sure to keep the heart racing.

Writers (Sulemani Keeda)

North American Premiere

India/2013/90min

Director: Amit V Masurkar

Writer: Amit V Masurkar

Producer: Datta Dave

Cast: Naveen Kasturia, Mayank Tewari, Aditi Vasudev and Karan Mirchandani

Writing partners Dulal and Mainak dream of shaking up Bollywood in director Amit Masurkar's slacker comedy. The two young men take a job from the wealthy, oddball son of a famous B-movie producer, but soon fear they're on the path to selling out. Masurkar's film captures the creative spirit of Andheri West, a Mumbai suburb where writers, directors, and actors come from all over India with the dream of working in the film industry, and is a sweet taste of things to come from the new "hindie" cinema.

Documentary Features

The Auction House: A Tale of Two Brothers

World Premiere

UK/2014/85min

Director: Ed Owles

Producers: Ed Owles, Giovanna Stopponi

The auction houses of Kolkata used to be where the rich and famous found the right high-end objects to decorate their homes. Today, the family-owned Russell Exchange is the last, and oldest, one to remain in India. Director Ed Owles follows two brothers, with the older brother moving back to Kolkata from London with hopes of using his Western business acumen to bring the Exchange into the 21st century. However, in a country radically transformed by technology and a rising youth culture, it may already be too late.

Faith Connections

Los Angeles Premiere

France-India/2013/115min/Dcp

Director: Pan Nalin

Producers: Raphaël Berdugo, Gaurav Dhingra, Pan Nalin, Virginie Lacombe

Every three years, Hindus gather at one of four rotating sites for Kumbh Mela, a religious celebration of faith and devotion marked by bathing in the sacred waters of the Ganges. With 100 million people at the 2013 Kumbh Mela, the pilgrimage is said to be the largest gathering on the planet. Iffla alum Pan Nalin crafts a moving and unique view of the mass gathering and presents unique stories of how individuals came to be there to share in the belief of the divine.

Powerless (Katiyabaaz)

Los Angeles Premiere

India/2013/82min

Director: Fahad Mustafa and Deepti Kakkar

Producers: Fahad Mustafa, Deepti Kakkar, Judy Tam, Leopold Koegler

Screenwriter: Fahad Mustafa

In Kanpur, a city of three million that has seen better days, one of the only ways for many residents to get electricity is to steal it. Co-directors Fahad Mustafa and Deepti Kakkar focus their attention on the likes of pirate engineers like Loha Singh and first female CEO at the local power authority Ritu Maheshwari. Coupled with beautiful photography of the intricately tied together powerlines of the city and a pulsating original score, they present a unique documentary about current-day India and its future battles over limited resources.

Shepherds of Paradise

U.S. Premiere

India/2013/50min

Director/Producer/Screenwriter/Cinematographer/Editor: Raja Shabir Khan

Composer: Bilal Iran

Nomadic herder Gafoor has to lead his large flock of goats, sheep, cows and horses across Jammu all the way to Kashmir so they can graze. Director Raja Shabir Khan presents lives few have ever seen, let alone lived, with simple beauty and real terror in a film that has won major National Awards in India. A cinematic wonder that must be seen to truly understand, Shepherds of Paradise is a testament of the power of film to transport us to other lands and experiences.

Bollywood By Night

Bombay Talkies

North American Premiere

India/117min/2013

Directors: Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap

Producers: Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, Guneet Monga

Screenwriters: Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti, Anurag Kashyap

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan , Rani Mukerji, Katrina Kaif, Randeep Hooda, Saqib Saleem, Nawazuddin Siddiqui

A quartet of short films directed by four of India’s most exciting contemporary filmmakers celebrates 100 years of Indian cinema in this omnibus film. Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar and Anurag Kashyap crafts a tale of ordinary people whose love of movies profoundly alters the course of their lives. Each story beautifully captures how lovers of cinema can’t help but carry that fascination into their day-to-day life. Haven’t we all wished, at one time or another, that our lives were more like a film?

Monsoon Shootout

Los Angeles Premiere

India-uk-Netherlands/2013/88min

Director: Amit Kumar

Producers: Trevor Ingman, Guneet Monga, Martijn De Grunt

Screenwriter: Amit Kumar

Cast: Vijay Varma, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Geetanjali Thapa

A split-second decision made by a rookie police officer propels writer/director Amit Kumar’s debut feature, which fascinatingly splinters into three separate, equally pulse-pounding scenarios. In a secluded alley drenched in the pouring rain, principled cop Adi aims his gun at Shiva, a vicious gangster on the run. What Adi decides to do next will reverberate throughout his personal and professional life in ways he could never imagine. Kumar thus explores the ripple effect our choices have, and how we unknowingly alter the lives of those around us.

Shorts

Aarti

Shorts Program 2

World Premiere

USA/2013/4min

Director: David Walter Lech

Producer: Terrie Samundra

A hypnotic look into the nightly “ceremony of light” ritual in a Hindu temple in Sheikhupur, Punjab.

Alchemy

Shorts Program 2

U.S. Premiere

India/2013/5min

Directors: Pranay Patwardhan, Shivangi Ranawat, Janmeet Singh

Producer: Pritesh Varia

A bold and vibrant song to the intricate fabric of modern day India, a kaleidoscope of voices, colors and traditions.

Bhiwani Junction

Shorts Program 1

Los Angeles Premiere

USA/2013/18min

Director: Abhi Singh

Producer: Abhi Singh

A poignant documentary portrait of Himanshu, a 12-year old boxer, whose formidable commitment to the sport makes his lofty dreams to become an Olympic champion appear well within reach.

Black Rock (Kaatal)

Shorts Program 1

U.S. Premiere

India/2012/22min

Director: Vikrant Pawar

Producer: Film and Television Institute of India

Two young lovers spend one last afternoon together. A beautiful meditation on the ephemeral nature of young love that has won three of India’s National Film Awards.

The Fly (Makhi)

Shorts Program 2

World Premiere

India/2013/31min

Director: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni

Producer: Film and Television Institute of India

Employed as a Fly Killer in an upscale restaurant, Pipal must ensure a fly-free environment by smacking dead the flies that buzz over the patrons’ heads. When a nearby drainage is closed and the source of the fly infestation eradicated, Pipal must find a way to produce enough live flies to save his job, in this delightfully absurdist commentary on urban India’s emerging work culture.

Beloved (Humsafar)

Shorts Program 2

U.S. Premiere

India/2012/6min

Directors/Writers: Swapnil Awate, Laura Erbacher

Producer: Dsk Supinfocom

A sweeping single shot takes us on the breathtaking animated journey of two lovers and their eternal pursuit of harmony.

Jaya

Shorts Program 2

USA/2013/19min

Director: Puja Maewal

Producer: Puja Maewal

Young Jaya is able to survive the gruesome gang life in the unforgiving streets of Mumbai by posing as a boy. When she meets a wealthy businessman who looks like he could be the father who abandoned her, she sets out to reclaim her identity, in this engrossing drama that was shortlisted for a Student Academy Award®.

Kush

Shorts Program 1

India/2013/25min

Director: Shubhashish Bhutiani

Producer: Shubhashish Bhutiani

A bus full of schoolchildren boisterously makes its way back from a field trip when the news of Indira Gandhi’s assassination by her Sikh bodyguards breaks. As violence quickly erupts across the country, Kush, the only Sikh student in the class, must find a way to escape the unquenchable fury of retribution, in this gripping drama that was shortlisted for an Academy Award®.

Little Gypsy (Kachho Gadulo)

Shorts Program 1

Los Angeles Premiere

India/2012/6min

Directors: Saptesh Chaubal, Pranay Patwardhan, Shivangi Ranawat

Producer: D.S.K. Supinfocom

Inspired by the folk traditions of various parts of India, this stunning animated film sweeps us into a mythical journey that celebrates the power of play and imagination.

Love.Love.Love.

Shorts Program 2

Los Angeles Premiere

Russian Federation/2013/12min

Director: Sandhya Daisy Sundaram

Producers: Tanya Petrik, Guillaume Protsenko

An intimate ode to the wondrous force of love, as it takes new shapes and forms through the endless Russian winters. Love. Love.Love. won the Short Film Special Jury Award for Non-Fiction at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.

Outpost

Shorts Program 1

U.S. Premiere

India-usa/2013/17min

Director: Shiva Shankar Bajpai

Producer: Aditi Anand

In the barren desert of the India-Pakistan border, two lone army guards on the opposite sides of the line yearn for booze, mosquito repellent and some human contact, in this humorous glimpse into the absurdity of rigid immaterial divides.

Presence

Shorts Program 2

U.S. Premiere

India/2012/17min

Directors: Ekta Mittal, Yashaswini Raghunandan

Producers: Ekta Mittal, Yashaswini Raghunandan

Long days and nights spent within the bellies of the rising structural beasts that rapidly transform the city of Bangalore bring on visions of ghosts that speak of the construction workers’ memories, longings and fears, in this haunting meditation on the migrant experience.

Skin Deep

Screens with Writers

U.S. Premiere

India/2013/20min

Director: Hardik Mehta

Producers: Devang Bhavsar, Niraj Kothari

Sanjay and Sushma plan to elope to escape a looming arranged marriage. They are in love and their future together shines bright and perfect and filled with possibility--that is, as long as an extra piece of skin that complicates their sex life gets fixed in what should be a routine medical procedure. But Mumbai’s electricity gods have other plans in store for them.

Small Yellow Field (Tau Seru)

Shorts Program 1

Los Angeles Premiere

Australia-India/2013/8min

Director: Rodd Rathjen

Producer: Rodd Rathjen

In the remote vastness of the Himalayas, a young nomad's curiosity lies beyond the horizon. This stunningly photographed film made its world premiere at Cannes Critics’ Week.

The Puppet (Tamaash)

Screens with Shepherds Of Paradise

Los Angeles Premiere

India/2013/32min

Directors: Devanshu Singh, Satyanshu Singh

Producers: Datta Dave, Chaitanya Hegde, Omar Nissar Paul, Devanshu Singh, Satyanshu Singh

A mysterious puppet offers young Anzar the chance to escape his father’s relentless punishments over his poor school grades by granting him the power to inflict misfortune on his nemesis, his brilliant classmate, Sadat. However, his newfound peace is short-lived as Sadat falls severely ill and Anzar comes to realize that the puppet’s powers are spiraling out of his control...

A still from My Name is Salt

My Name is Salt, directed by Farida Pacha, won the Firebird award in Documentary competition at the 38th Hong Kong International Film Festival that concludes today.

A Jury consisting of Japanese documentary filmmaker Soda Kazuhiro; Lee Daw-Ming, Professor and Chairperson of the Department of Filmmaking, Taipei National University of the Arts; and Hong Kong based filmmaker Angie Chen awarded the Firebird award of Usd 3,000.

My Name is Salt had also won the First Appearance award at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (Idfa) 2013. The India/Switzerland co-production revolves around the families that move to a barren desert in India year after year. They work for eight months straight to produce the “whitest salt in the world”, until monsoon season is upon them. The documentary patiently observes the intense work done by a family of salt pan workers.

The other Indian films that screened...

Ugly, Monsoon Shootout, Eega and Go Goa Gone are the four Indian films to be screened at the 32nd edition of the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, to take place in Belgium from 8-20 April, 2014.

Anurag Kashyap’s psychological thriller, Ugly, about the kidnapping of a film star’s daughter had premiered at Directors’ Fortnight of the Cannes Film Festival last year. Kashyap has been fighting the censor board and the Indian government over the anti-smoking tickers and has put the Indian release of the film on hold.

Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout is an existential thriller. It has been screened at Cannes, Durban, Sydney, Jerusalem and London Indian Film Festival among others. Guru, a rookie cop, has Shiva, a suspected gangster, in his line of fire. Guru has a moment of reckoning. Should he shoot a man whose guilt he is uncertain of? The film presents three scenarios, all...

From April 8th to the 11th, Indian films will once again be showcased in the Us at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (Iffla). In its 12th year, Iffla boasts an incredible lineup of fabulous films that reflects the rich diversity of Indian cinema. Iffla’s Artistic Director Jasmine Jaisinghani says, “I’m thrilled and proud that Iffla’s line-up this year includes an especially diverse range of cinematic experiences, covering many regions of India and the diaspora.”

Iffla 2014 presents 33 films that include feature films, documentaries and shorts. The festival will have three world premieres, six North American premieres, six U.S. premieres, and 16 Los Angeles premieres. The films feature 10 different languages, from Hindi to Marathi, to Russian to Bengali. Additionally, Iffla supports American, Australian, British, Canadian, and European diaspora filmmakers from nine different countries telling their stories.

Bollywood will be well represented with three outstanding films all showing during the festival’s run.

A still from Maryan

The 38th Cleveland International Film Festival will screen Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout, Bharatbala’s Maryan and Shubhashish Bhutiyani’s Kush. In addition, Shahzeb Kohari and Mirat Trivedi’s short film Life Calling and Arpita Kumar’s My Dear Americans will also be screened at the festival.

Cleveland International Film Festival will take place from March 19-30, 2014 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

Kush, Life Calling and My Dear Americans will be screened in the Shorts Programme of the festival. Kush, based on the Sikhs riots of 1984, won the Orizzonti award for Best Short Film at Venice Film Festival and was long-listed for the Oscars. Read Shubhashish Bhutiani’s interview here. The Taste is not the Same (USA) by Kavita Pillay, about an Indian-American couple in the Us, will also be screened in the same section.

Bharatbala’s Tamil-language film Maryan, featuring Tamil stars Dhanush and Parvathy, is...

A Still from Liar’s Dice

The 21st edition of the International Film Festival Prague will screen three Indian films- Monsoon Shootout, Liar’s Dice and Siddharth- in the Asian Panorama section. The festival will be held from March 20-28, 2014 in Prague.

Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout, an existential thriller, has earlier screened at Cannes, Durban, Sydney, Jerusalem and London Indian Film Festival among others. Guru, a rookie cop, has Shiva, a suspected gangster, in his line of fire. Guru has a moment of reckoning. Should he shoot a man whose guilt he is uncertain of? The film presents three scenarios, all departing from the decision that Guru makes.

Geethu Mohandas’ Liar’s Dice had its international premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, and was also screened at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2014. It is a road movie in which a headstrong woman (Geetanjali Thapa) from...

Hong Kong, March 1: Three Indian movies will be screened at the 38th Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hkiff) here March 27 March-April 7.

Amit Kumar's Bollywood film "Monsoon Shootout" and Farida Pacha's Swiss-Indian documentary "My Name Is Salt" will have their Asian premiere at the fest. Richie Mehta's Indo-Canadian feature "Siddharth" will also be screened at the gala.

Anurag Kashyap-backed "Monsoon Shootout", featuring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Tannishtha Chatterjee, was earlier screened at the Cannes International Film Festival.

"My Name is Salt", an observational documentary,.

Siddharth at Hkiff

The 38th edition of the Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hkiff) will screen four Indian films- Monsoon Shootout, Siddharth, My Name is Salt and His New Hands. The festival is scheduled to take place from 27 March- 4 April, 2014.

Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout has traveled to several film festivals following its world premiere at Cannes last year. The film is an existential thriller. Guru, a rookie cop, has Shiva, a suspected gangster, in his line of fire. Guru has a moment of reckoning. Should he shoot a man whose guilt he is uncertain of? The film presents three scenarios, all departing from the decision that Guru makes.

Richie Mehta’s Indo-Canadian feature Siddharth is about Mahendra, a south Delhi street vendor barely eking out a living repairing zippers who finds himself stuck in a nightmare when his 12-year-old son goes missing. He embarks on a trek to find his son,...

Hindi remakes rights of Pawan Kumar’s “Lucia” was bought by Fox Star Studios

Year 2013 turned out to be an unprecedented year for Indian indie films! While Bollywood continued to break all records riding high on star power, Indies also began a humble yet significant journey towards finding mainstream distribution. The Lunchbox piggybacked on star director Karan Johar as presenter while Ship of Theseus found support from filmmaker Kiran Rao. Shahid was backed by Disney-utv and B.A. Pass was acquired by Bollywood producer Bharat Shah. While these films enjoyed successful run in international film festivals, they also got acceptance from theatre-going audiences back home.

We’ve compiled a list of 10 indie gems that we think ruled the roost this year. At the outset, we would like to mention two remarkable films, Anand Gandhi’s Ship of Theseus and Hansal Mehta’s Shahid, which released theatrically this year but had been...

A strong line-up of documentaries including Mahmoud Kaabour’s Champ Of The Camp and Jehane Noujaim’s The Square, about the Egyptian revolution, were attracting as much critical and public attention as the dramas at this year’s Diff, highlighting the growing strengh of factual filmmaking in the region.

Other stand-out docs included Ahmed Nour’s Waves and Mohamed Amine Boukhris’s War Reporter, which both received world premieres in the Muhr Arab documentary competition, and Jose A Alayon’s docu-drama Slimane, which premiered in Arabian Nights.

The Muhr AsiaAfrica documentary section also contained strong titles such as Sara Rastegar’s My Red Shoes, looking back at the Iranian revolution; Tan Pin Pin’s To Singapore, With Love and Riann Hendricks’ The Devil’s Lair.

Arab fiction titles such as Mohamed Khan’s Factory Girl; which also had its world premiere at Diff; Laila Marrakchi’s Rock The Casbah; Thierry De Peretti’s Apaches and Caroline Link’s [link...

A strong line-up of documentaries including Mahmoud Kaabour’s Champ Of The Camp and Jehane Noujaim’s The Square, about the Egyptian revolution, were attracting as much critical and public attention as the dramas at this year’s Diff, highlighting the growing strengh of factual filmmaking in the region.

Other stand-out docs included Ahmed Nour’s Waves and Mohamed Amine Boukhris’s War Reporter, which both received world premieres in the Muhr Arab documentary competition, and Jose A Alayon’s docu-drama Slimane, which premiered in Arabian Nights.

The Muhr AsiaAfrica documentary section also contained strong titles such as Sara Rastegar’s My Red Shoes, looking back at the Iranian revolution; Tan Pin Pin’s To Singapore, With Love and Riann Hendricks’ The Devil’s Lair.

Arab fiction titles such as Mohamed Khan’s Factory Girl; which also had its world premiere at Diff; Laila Marrakchi’s Rock The Casbah; Thierry De Peretti’s Apaches and Caroline Link’s [link...

“Asian cinema” is often used as a catch-all term, but while it’s bad enough that a multitude of countries and cultures are summed up so generically it’s made worse by the realization that too many people think those countries in question consist solely of Japan, South Korea, and China. Technically speaking those three would fall under the East Asian label, but while they get the most press there is great cinema to be found elsewhere in the region. North Asia has seen recent success with the Russian films, Elena and Stalingrad, Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi has helped stimulate interest in West Asian films thanks to his Oscar-winning A Separation, and one of the best action films in years (The Raid) came out of Southeast Asia’s Indonesia. This week though, attention turns to the Tenth Annual South Asian International Film Festival (Saiff) in NYC. The fest runs tonight through Sunday (December 3rd-8th) and highlights...

Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout will open the 10th Annual South Asian International Film Festival which will be held from December 3-8, 2013.

Gyan Correa’s The Good Road, India’s official submission to the Oscars in the foreign-language category, will screen as the closing film.

Pakistani filmmaker Sabiha Sumar’s Good Morning Karachi will be screened as the Centerpiece film. The film addresses the tension between religious extremism and modernity through the eyes of a young woman, Rafina, coming of age in Karachi city.

Hammad Khan’s Anima State, Rajat Kapoor’s Ankhon Dekhi, Richie Mehta’s Siddharth, Kamal K.M.’s I.D and Anup Singh’s Qissa will compete in Feature Film Competition.

Rahul Desai’s Khoon Ltd, Shiva Shankka’s Outpost, Rodd Rathjen’s Tau Seru, Anand Tiwari’s Neighbours and Shubhashish Bhutiani’s Kush are the short films in competition.

The Spectrum section of the festival will...

Guneet Monga’s Sikhya Entertainment is producing Amit Kumar’s Give Me Blood and Vasan Bala’s Side Hero.

Sikhya produced Bala’s Peddlers, which premiered at Cannes Critics Weeks last year, and was also a co-producer on Kumar’s last film Monsoon Shootout, which premiered in official selection at Cannes 2013.

“Side Hero is a slice-of-life comedy which is in the last stages of discussion on finance and cast. We are locking the script of Give Me Blood and will begin to look for international co-producers soon,” said Monga.

Give Me Blood, about two Indian soldiers serving in the British Indian army during World War II, was selected for Film Bazaar’s Co-production Market last year.

Shaji N. Karun’s The Voiding Soul (Swapaanam), Suman Mukhopadhyay’s The Last Poem (Shesher Kobita) and Madhureeta Anand’s Kajarya will world-premiere at the 10th edition of the Dubai International Film Festival that runs from December 6 to 14, 2013.

The films, along with Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout, will be screened in “Celebration of India” section.

Director of the AsiaAfrica programme, Nashen Moodley said: “This year we have been overwhelmed at the quality and diversity of films coming out of the Indian sub-continent. The films have been carefully selected to entertain, inform and possibly even shock Diff audiences. This programme has been designed to introduce film-goers to interesting independent Indian cinema and will undoubtedly capture imaginations.”

Malayalam film Swapaanam explores the budding romance between Unni and Nalini. Their love is ignited by their passion for the Chenda (a percussion instrument) and Mohiniattam (a classical dance form from Kerala), inspiring Unni...

Abhishek Kapoor’s Kai Po Che will open the 13th edition of the River to River Florence Indian Film Festival. Besides, the festival will host a tribute to actress Shabana Azmi and screen some of the films that she has acted in – Fire by Deepa Mehta, Ankur by Shyam Benegal and City of Joy by Roland Joffe.

The festival that showcases Indian feature films, documentaries and shorts will be held from November 22-28, 2013 in Florence, Italy.

Five feature films will compete in the Feature Films Competition. The Coffin Maker by Veena Bakshi, Monsoon Shootout by Amit Kumar, Lessons in Forgetting by Unni Vijayan, Heroine by Madhur Bhandarkar and Oonga by Devashish Makhija.

The documentaries in Documentary Competition are Finding Carlton – Uncover the Story of Jazz by Susheel Kurien, A Man Who Planted The Jungle by Piyush Pande, Beyond Bollywood by Adam Dow, Scattered Windows, Connected Doors by Ziba Bhagwagar and Roohi Dixit,...

Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox, Amit Virmani’s Menstrual Man and Shilpa Ranade’s The World of Goopi and Bagha have been nominated under different categories for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Rajeev Ravi has earned a nomination for Achievement in Cinematography in Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout.

The Lunchbox has been nominated for Best Screenplay while The World of Goopi and Bagha has been nominated in the Best Animated Feature Film category.

Amit Virmani’s Menstrual Man, a Singapore – India co-production, has been nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Film. The film made its Canadian Premiere at the HotDocs, the Canadian International Documentary Film Festival in Toronto and was screened at International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (Idfa).

A total of 39 films from 22 countries will compete in nine different categories. The award ceremony will be held December 12, 2013 in Brisbane.

The jury is headed by Shyam Benegal and comprises South Korean director Kim Tae-yong,...

I feel very fortunate to have been able to cover New York's Saiff for the last three years, and this fourth go around looks like it's going to be as great as ever.Yesterday Saiff 2013 announced its complete line up, including special presentations and having seen a couple of the films already, I'm very excited for anyone who gets to attend in person. Leading the selections are Amit Kumar's Monsoon Shootout, a film I programmed for Fantastic Fest 2013, India's controversial Oscar submission Gyan Correa's The Good Road, Q's psychedelic return to narrative features, Tasher Desh, and Richie Mehta's Siddarth, a film that premiered to unanimous praise at Tiff this year.Twitch will be covering the festival again this year, so you can count on reviews...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Dharamsala, Oct 25: She is such a staunch supporter of new wave of cinema that Guneet Monga even sold her house to complete "Monsoon Shootout", which was screened at the Cannes film festival this year.

Tagged as the country's most prolific producer of the new wave of cinema, she is also CEO of Anurag Kashyap Films Pvt Ltd and has worked passionately to promote films in many ways.

Directed by Amit Kumar, "Monsoon Shootout", featuring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Tannishtha Chatterjee in the lead roles, was screened in the Midnight Section at Cannes.

When asked about this during a Q&A session at the opening day of.

Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox will compete in the Stockholm Xxiv Competition at the 24th Stockholm Film Festival. Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout and Remo D’Souza’s Any Body Can Dance (Abcd) will screen under the Asian Images section. The festival will be held from November 6-17, 2013.

The Lunchbox, making its Nordic Premiere at the festival, will compete with films like Paul Wright’s For Those in Peril, Anthony Chen’s Ilo Ilo and Amat Escalante’s Heli. The section showcases directors making their first, second or third feature film. The Lunchbox is also selected for the AFI Fest.

Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout has earlier screened at Cannes, Durban, Sydney, Jerusalem and London Indian Film Festival among others. The film is an existential thriller. Guru, a rookie cop, has Shiva, a suspected gangster, in his line of fire. Guru has a moment of reckoning. Should he shoot a...

Somehow, I survived my six-movie day yesterday at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. My mind was amazed to have held firm throughout the day, but my body was basically operating on fumes if today was any indication. I stayed alert and awake through the four films I watched, but there were a couple of moments where I was thankful for the Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline for offering an espresso chocolate milkshake. Anything to keep me buzzing. (Sorry for all the buzzing, Fantastic Fest friends. It’s the only way I can stay awake!) As you’ll see from the end of this post, this was my last day at the festival proper. Before I get into what I saw today, I just want to say exactly how much damn fun I’ve had these past few days. I met a lot of Twitter friends in person and, if I’m lucky,...

Yes, shots are fired, and yes, a drenching torrent of rain is pouring down when a police officer and a suspect confront one another in a dark alley in Amit Kumar's Monsoon Shootout. Faithful to its title, the Indian drama effectively considers the implications of that shootout from more than one perspective. What if the suspect is a stone cold killer? What if he's an innocent bystander, the victim of a case of mistaken identity? What if he's some combination of the two? Adi (Vijay Varma) reports for his first day of field trials as a brand-new sub-inspector in Mumbai's Crime Branch, and is shocked to see his new commanding officer, Inspector Khan (Neeraj Kabi), calmly kill two men suspected of murder. It's a baptism...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

 

With only weeks left before Fantastic Fest gets underway in Austin, the final wave of films has been announced. Check out the goodies below, and visit FantasticFest.com for the complete schedule and to get your tickets.

All The Boys Love Mandy Lane (USA, 2006)

Special Screening

Director - Jonathon Levine, 98 min

All the boys love Mandy Lane and all the girls want to be her. There's at least one person, though, that wants Mandy and her friends dead.

Chanthaly (Lao People's Democratic Republic, 2013)

North American Premiere

Director - Mattie Do, 98 min

A sickly young woman experiences visions of her dead mother. Is the apparition simply a side effect of her daily medication, or her mother actually reaching out to her from beyond the grave?

Confession Of Murder (Korea, 2012)

U.S. Premiere

Director - Jeong Byeong-Gil, 119 min

After the statute of limitations expires on a series of high profile murders, a...

In 2 weeks, you will be seeing tons of content from one of the best genre film festivals in North America, Fantastic Fest. Held in Austin, TX, Fantastic Fest is a orgasmic wave of sci-fi, horror, crime and foreign film. We have been lucky enough to be attending since 2010 and this year, I plan on giving you the most coverage I can. There will be daily video recorded and published on the site in addition to interviews and reviews. Today, the final wave and closing night film was announced. Every year, Fantastic Fest tends to have side events/parties that tie into the Opening & Closing Night films and given the content, I can’t wait to see what they come up with. The closing night film is the North American Premiere of Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem.

Without further ado, here is the official press release with a full list of films that were added.

Fantastic Fest has sent out a press release announcing their closing night film and the final wave of programming that includes All The Boys Love Mandy Lane, We Are What We Are, Rigor Mortis, and more:

Austin, TX-Thursday, September 5, 2013- Fantastic Fest is excited to announce its final wave of film programming, including Terry Gilliam’s unique dystopian vision of the future, The Zero Theorem, as the closing night film on September 26th. The ninth edition of Fantastic Fest, will take place September 19 – 26 at Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline in Austin, Texas. See below for descriptions of twenty-five new World, North American & Us premiere films at this year’s festival.

All The Boys Love Mandy Lane (USA, 2006)

Special Screening

Director – Jonathon Levine, 98 min

All the boys love Mandy Lane and all the girls want to be her. There’s at least one person, though, that wants Mandy and her friends dead.

Chanthaly (Lao People’s Democratic Republic,...

A still from “Siddharth”

Fortissimo Films has acquired world sales right excluding India and Canada to Richie Mehta’s Siddharth (India, Canada) ahead of its premiere at Venice Days.

The film has been selected for Venice Days, an independent sidebar of the Venice International Film Festival that runs from August 28-September 7, 2013, following which it will be screened at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Siddharth features Rajesh Tailang, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Anurag Arora, Shobha Sharma Jassi, Geeta Agarwal Sharma and Naseeruddin Shah.

The film revolves around Mahendra who works on street corners as a chain-wallah (a zipper-fixer), while his wife Suman stays at home with their two young children, twelve-year-old Siddharth and his sister. To contribute to the family income, the boy is sent far away from home, from New Delhi to Ludhiana, where a relative has a job for him and a place to sleep. It seems like a dream come true to his father,...

Chicago – The 2013 Chicago International Film Festival is almost here and the programmers have unveiled their first slate of titles, including hits from other festivals like “Blue is the Warmest Color,” “Heli,” “The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete.” The 49th annual fest runs from October 10-24, 2013. Official, Ciff-provided descriptions below of what we know will play there so far:

Big Bad Wolves (Directors: Aharon Keshales, Navot Papushado • Israel): When the lead suspect in a brutal child murder is released due to a police blunder, a vigilante police detective and a grieving father take the law into their own hands in this fantastically intense, darkly funny revenge thriller from one of the pioneers of Israeli horror cinema.

Blue is the Warmest Color (Director: Abdellatif Kechiche • France): Teenager Adèle’s life is turned upside down the night she meets blue-haired Emma in this scandalous winner of the top prize at Cannes.

Four Indian feature films and two short films will be screened at the 37th Montreal World Film Festival to be held from 22 Aug — 2 Sep, 2013.

All the films will be screened in Focus on World Cinema section that includes 105 features, 1 medium length and 110 short films.

Chittagong by Bedabrata Pain, Filmistaan by Nitin Kakkar, Monsoon Shootout by Amit Kumar and Papilio Buddha by Jayan K. Cherian are the feature films. While the first three are festival regulars, Papilio Buddha is the story of a group of displaced dalits in the Western Ghats of India. The Malayalam-language film has been refused a censor certificate from the Cbfc for its content denigrating Mahatma Gandhi, visuals of extreme violence against a woman and severe use of expletives, among other reasons [as per this notice from the Cbfc].

Short film Tau Seru by Rodd Rathjen (India-Australia) which premiered at Cannes Critics Week is also part of the lineup along with Shri Hanuman Chalisa...

The annual London Indian Film Festival ended on Thursday 25 July with the UK premiere of the multi-directed film Bombay Talkies. Directed by Karan Johar, Dibikar Bannerjee, Anurag Kashyap and Zoya Akhtar, the film pays homage to100 years of Indian Cinema, which also features some gripping and heart-touching stories in the midst of it. A number of special guests were present on closing night, which included Ashi Dua (producer of Bombay Talkies), legendary Bollywood villain Gulshan Grover, Sunny and Shay, Raj & Pablo, Asad Shan, Monsoon Shootout director Amit Kumar, Lucia director Pawan Kumar and many more. Following the screening Ashi Dua took part in a special discussion and Q&A with the audience, which was hosted by Raj & Pablo.

During the discussion, Ashi admitted that she was afraid of approaching Karan Johar for the project. “I was very scared to approach Karan because I didn’t think that he would agree to do something like this.

Guneet Monga

Indian producer Guneet Monga will sit on the International Jury of the 9th Zurich Film Festival to be held in Switzerland from September 26- October 6, 2013.

The Jury will be presided over by Swiss-German director, producer and screenwriter Marc Forster, whose most recent and successful film is World War Z.

The other members of the Jury are Us American producer Stacy Sher (Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained), Australian director and screenwriter Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Killing Them Softly) and Swiss director, screenwriter and producer Thomas Imbach (Happiness is a Warm Gun).

Monga recently produced Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox and Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout both of which premiered at Cannes Film Festival 2013. She has earlier produced critically acclaimed films such as Gangs of Wasseypur, Shahid, Peddlers and That Girl in Yellow Boots. She was recently conferred the Industry Leadership award at...

The National Film Development Corporation (Nfdc) has extended the deadline for the Co-production Market at Film Bazaar 2013. The new deadline for applications is August 20, 2013. There is an entry fee of Inr 3,500.

The seventh edition of Film Bazaar will be held from November 20-24, alongside International Film Festival of India (Iffi) in Goa.

Film Bazaar Co-Production Market offers a unique opportunity to filmmakers with South Asian stories seeking international co- productions as well as artistic support. Every year, the Co-Production Market invites a select number of directors and producers to present their projects to international producers, distributors, sales agents, funding representatives and other financial partners from across the world.

Film Bazaar Co-production Market boasts of a range of successful films that were part of the past editions: Lunchbox (Ritesh Batra), Monsoon Shootout (Amit Kumar), Titli(produced by Dibakar Banerjee) and Deool (Umesh Kulkarni).

For more details on Film Bazaar, click here...

Upcoming Brit-Bollywood star Feryna Wazheir shone out at the red carpet gala opening of the London Indian Film Festival (Liff) last night.

Wazheir who is the Brand Ambassador for Europe’s most successful film festival celebrating Independent Indian cinema looked stunning in a beautiful couture gown by designer Mohsin Ali at O’Nitaa, as she stood alongside guest of honour Irrfan Khan.

Wazheir, who has just signed a two film deal with iRock is a great supporter of Independent cinema and said of the Festival: “Liff is a fantastic showcase for the wealth of talent that often goes unnoticed and unrecognised, certainly in the west where they may not even get screened. The fact that the festival attracts the support of respected legends like Irrfan Khan is testament to its growing appeal and success.”

Other guests on the red carpet were actress Preeya Kalidass; Rez Kemption, Martin Delaney Laura Aikman,...

Previously screened at Cannes, Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout was the opening film of the London Indian Film Festival 2013. Produced by Guneet Monga and co-produced by Anurag Kashyap, Monsoon Shootout’s cast includes Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Shiva), Tannishta Chatterjee (Rani) and Vijay Varma (Adi), Geetanjali Thapa (Anu).

The story revolves around actions and consequences, the psychology of decision making, human emotions of guilt and regret. Adi, a moralistic Mumbai cop believes that ‘the truth is always simple’. However, as the story unravels, the truth becomes more and more complicated. Adi’s character provokes the question: what is the right thing to do? When he has to shoot and kill a suspected criminal, something stops Adi from pulling the trigger. The suspect gets away and this leads to dire consequences. What is fascinating about Monsoon Shootout is that Amit Kumar shows the pivotal moment of Adi pulling the trigger through three different decisions.

Starting off with a star studded red carpet, followed by the film Monsoon Shootout,a Q and A with director Amit Kumar… and then topped off with an after-party at Leicester Square, the London Indian Film Festival began their spectacular 4th edition. Liff will be screening a huge variety of films in various languages including Hindi, Gujurati, Marathi, Punjabi and Spanish. Liff aims to showcase a diverse and vibrant selection of films. Festival director Cary Rajinder Sawhney recently told BollySpice: “We try and show a range of different cinema, not just Hindi films but a range of different languages. Something that reflects modern India in all its diversity and richness. Ultimately, the most important thing is that they are great stories.”

Held at Cineworld Haymarket in London, Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout started off a week of exciting Independent Indian cinema. To set the scene of the opening night, we...

Going on in the UK now and running through the 25th of July is the fabulous London Indian Film Festival. This festival showcases a world of Indian independent films that according to actress and brand ambassador Feryna Wazheir, ‘breaks new ground with its programme, giving young talent a real platform to showcase their work and for audiences to see another side of Indian cinema.‘ You have seen the British-Asian actress, who just signed a cool two-film deal with iRock in India, in the fabulous Sadiyaan – the Bollywood film on the India-Pakistan partition, that also starred Rishi Kapoor, Hema Malini and Rekha. In her second year, Feryna Wazheir says she is ‘delighted and honoured’ to be brand ambassador for Liff. See what else the lovely actress told us in this exclusive interview including her top 5 films she is most excited to see at Liff and more!

Is acting something you always wanted to do?...

G eetanjali Thapa came to Mumbai for a film opposite Ranvir Shorey that never happened. Destiny had a better plan for the talented actor. She made her debut with Kamal K.M.’s “I.D.” which won her two awards internationally: Best Actor at Los Angeles Film Festival and ImagineIndia International Film Festival. After “I.D.”, she has acted in “Monsoon Shootout” that premiered at Cannes this year. Her success story doesn’t stop at that; Thapa will soon be seen in Oscar winning director Danis Tanovic’s Indian project.

Geetanjali Thapa talks about her journey:

Tell us about your journey from Sikkim to Mumbai.

After I finished my school in Sikkim, I was in Calcutta for my graduation. I used to do a bit of modelling there. I had just moved to Delhi for further studies when I got an offer for a film and I landed up in Bombay. That film got shelved.