Harinder Sikka's 'Calling Sehmat' to launch for the audience next week

Harinder Sikka's ‘Calling Sehmat’ makes an amazing read. Published by Penguin Random House, it is set to reach the readers early next week.

Calling Sehmat is a gripping story of a Kashmiri  Muslim lady who sacrificed herself and her family for the sake of her beloved country, India.

It took eight years of toil, research and few trips to Pakistan for Mr. Sikka to research and compile the story of this amazing lady based on whom a beautiful film titled ‘Raazi’ has just been released.

Even as the book is based on an espionage, it yet spreads the essence of peace, love, harmony and patriotism. The book goes into details on how Sehmat made inroads into the Pakistani brass and left them in tatters. In the process, she saved thousands of lives and left her mark with the Indian intelligentsia.

Mr. Sikka faced numerous challenges and took enormous risks in tracing her course in order to link together limited data into an amazing book. It's a saga that needs to be read for it fills the heart and minds of all Indians with pride.

Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba receiving the book from Commander Harinder Sikka at the Naval Headquarters.

Fox Star Studios and RajKumar Gupta join hands for India’s Most Wanted

                            Arjun Kapoor to play the lead role

Fox Star Studios and Raj Kumar Gupta have signed Arjun Kapoor for India’s Most Wanted, a story inspired by true events and is about the capture of India’s most wanted without firing a bullet.The film is slated to release on 24th May 2019 and will go on floors in August 2018.

“I have been working on the script of India’s Most Wanted for past three years. It’s an inspiring story that has touched and moved me. I am looking forward to my collaboration with Fox Star Studios and Arjun Kapoor on this film. Arjun is a sincere and hard working actor and suited the character,” says the Rajkumar Gupta, whose previous film Raid starring Ajay Devgn was a blockbuster. 

Arjun Kapoor says, “Working with Raj Kumar sir obviously excited me. His films are raw, gritty, they talk about true events, true heroes. When he narrated India’s Most Wanted to me I was moved, I was proud of my motherland and its unsung heroes. It is a film that will inspire patriotism within all of us. To play a character that might not be known to everybody but needs to be known by everybody was exciting. It’s always been something that has been at the back of mind. To play a character straight out of a real life incident and that it was not just a biopic - that's where I think India's Most Wanted really appealed to me. It’s actually an event that transpired very recently but not a lot of people know much details about it. It intrigues me as an actor to play this role but it excites me as an audience that I will be getting a chance to see this story unfold on the big screen.”

Arjun is fascinated with Raj Kumar’s brand of film-making and is also extremely fond of him given their history. He says, “I think Raj Kumar sir is one of my most favourite people and directors. He was the first director who called me after watching Ishaqzaade. He is the first person who called me to his office and said I am looking forward to working with you soon. He has done Aamir, No one killed Jessica and now Raid and there is no one else who could have taken up the subject of India’s Most Wanted and done a film with it.

He adds, “I am completely sold by the fact that I am going to be working with a director who knows his craft in this sort of a gritty, real film and that's very important in the story telling. In a true event film, you need to make sure you balance out the commerce and the realism, the grit and the glamour, the emotion as well as the honesty of the characters. So, he is the perfect director for this material. He is raring to go after Raid and I am fully charged to work with him.”

“Raj Kumar has excelled in telling stories based on true events. And India’s Most Wanted is a film straight out of the headlines. He brings us an amazing story told in his special style once again. We’re extremely happy to have Arjun Kapoor play the lead in this extraordinary story that needs to be told.”says Rucha Pathak, Chief Creative Officer, Fox Star Studios

Eros Now reaches 7.9 million Paying Subscribers as of FYE 2018 Quarter-on-quarter Subscriber growth of 58%

Eros International Plc (NYSE: EROS) (“Eros” or “the Company”), a leading global company in the Indian film entertainment industry, today announced that Eros Now, its cutting edge digital over-the-top (OTT) South Asian entertainment platform, has reached over 100 million registered users and 7.9 million paying subscribers worldwide as of March 31, 2018. This substantial growth in paying subscribers represents a 58% increase over the last reported quarter and a 277% increase from 2.1 million paying subscribers as of the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017.  The Company also today reiterated its previous guidance that its Eros Now paying subscriber base is expected to double over the next 12 months to approximately 16 million paying subscribers by fiscal year end 2019. 

Eros Now recently launched its first worldwide direct-to-digital original film, Meri Nimmo, in association with acclaimed director Aanand L Rai, to very positive critical reception. In addition, over the next year Eros Now is planning to launch a stable of feature films, made-for-digital originals films and over 20 original episodic programs, all of which will be available exclusively only on Eros Now to paying subscribers. In addition to exciting new content, several factors have contributed to the platform’s outsized growth including enhancement of the consumer experience on the Eros Now service, introduction of pioneering content innovations and renewed alliances with domestic and international content distribution partners including the major mobile telecom operators in India. The recent successes come as a result of the company’s unique partnership strategy, which has been built upon the agreements with various distribution partners over the past few years and has been key to delivering high quality subscribers with increased time spent on the platform. The steady and robust growth figures are an indication of the loyalty consumers feel towards the platform. 

Speaking on the significant development, Rishika Lulla Singh, CEO, Eros Digital said, “When we launched three years ago, our mission was to reach out to viewers looking for differentiated and quality content. In December 2016, we achieved 2.0 million paying subscribers which doubled to 5 million within a year. This quarter has seen a substantial leap resulting in 58% Q-on-Q growth. This benchmark is a testament to our strong content library coupled with a strong tech backbone. I am very confident of our original content line-up and we are geared up to experience an exponential growth in our paying subscriber base, this is just the start which will only get better.” 

About Eros Now 

Eros Now is Eros International Plc’s leading on-demand South Asian entertainment network accessible anytime, anywhere, on most Internet-connected screen including mobile, web, and TV. With over 10,000 digital titles, Eros Now offers its 100 million registered users and 7.9 million paying subscribers worldwide the promise of endless entertainment hosting one of the largest libraries of movies, as well as premium television shows, music videos and audio tracks, unmatched in quantity and quality. Product features, such as video in HD, multi-language subtitles, movie downloads, and high quality original drama series differentiate the Eros Now entertainment offering. To see, watch now: www.erosnow.com 

About Eros International Plc 

Eros International Plc (NYSE: EROS) is a leading global company in the Indian film entertainment industry that acquires, co-produces and distributes Indian films across all available formats such as cinema, television and digital new media. Eros International Plc became the first Indian media company to list on the New York Stock Exchange. Eros International has experience of over three decades in establishing a global platform for Indian cinema. The Company has an extensive and growing movie library comprising of over 3,000 films, which include Hindi, Tamil, and other regional language films for home entertainment distribution. The Company also owns the rapidly growing OTT platform Eros Now. For further information, please visit: www.erosplc.com.

"It’s fun to play the fool," says Ryan Reynolds about his character in the upcoming sequel Deadpool 2

‘Deadpool 2’ is currently the quirkiest and most talked about superhero film with the foul mouthed Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and Josh Brolin who returns as ‘Cable’ post playing Thanos in his last superhero outing.

The hilarious trailers have already given a tantalizing glimpse of the fun to expect, but what’s left to see is the upgrade that Deadpool has got from his first installment. He also seems to have gallows humour of the no-holds-barred kind that made the character such a favorite among the audience. In the movie, Deadpool goes on a mission to rescue a child from Cable and creates a super team of heroes, called the X Force.

When asked about how it was while shooting the action-packed sequences and what we can expect from Deadpool 2, Ryan said, “Well, playing a guy that is allowed to make mistakes and is allowed to sort of at times be offensive and say the wrong thing at the exact wrong moment gives you tremendous artistic liberty.  And it’s nice that he doesn’t really beat himself up for it, because at the end of the day, his agenda is something that's ultimately good. I mean, he inevitably wants to be better.” 

'Deadpool 2' will hit theaters on 18th May.

Amitabh Bachchan inaugurates Frames 75, an ode to the superstar's platinum year

Renowned photojournalist Pradeep Chandra and eminent film historian S M M Ausaja have joined hands to curate a unique show titled Frames 75 which uses rare  Photographs, Paintings, Sketches, Posters, Block Print art, Vinyl LP Covers, Lobby Cards and Hand-bills in 75 frames to celebrate the superstar’s journey so far.

The event which was hosted at St Regis yesterday was opened by Mr Amitabh Bachchan. Also present at the event were guests from the film fraternity, media and art world, including celebrities from across the fields.

The exhibition shall be accessible to fans and film students at Whistling Woods, the film institute helmed by noted filmmaker Subhash Ghai.