Indian Film Festival of Melbourne to complete a decade this year, to celebrate “Courage” at its central theme

Indian Film Festival of Melbourne was incepted in 2010 and was founded by its director, Mitu Bhowmick Lange. Mitu has had an illustrious career spanning across production-filmmaking and has been the pioneering force behind the festival. In 2012 the Victorian government and Film Victoria board officially backed the festival. Since its inception, the festival has grown; pillar-to-pillar attracting some of the most celebrated Indian films over the past decade to the festival and has hosted some of the biggest Indian stars from the subcontinent. 2019 is a big year for the festival as it completes a decade and this year the festival will take place from August 8th to August 17th.

IFFM has not only grown from a small compact festival into a major annual cultural event in Melbourne but has also been honoured with some major accolades and has officially become the largest Indian festival in the southern hemisphere.  The festival in its 10 years of existence has seen the who’s who of Indian cinema in attendance, from Amitabh Bachchan to Priyanka Chopra, Karan Johar, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Vidya Balan, Kangana Ranaut, Rajkumar Hirani, Kabir Khan, Nikhil Advani, Rani Mukerji, Sushant Singh Rajput, Rajkummar Rao, Freida Pinto, Richa Chadha, Konkona Sen Sharma, Ali Fazal and many others.

Each year the festival celebrates a core theme and in 2019 the theme of the festival has been selected to be courage. Courage as a term has come to be true to the cinema, especially in the last few years. Be it on screen and off, Indian cinema’s content has chosen to tell stories of subjects, which have been brave, tough and have given us some heroic icons. The theme is in lieu with a celebration of this element of modern day cinema, which will be celebrated at the 10th Indian Film Festival of Melbourne.

Will Smith thanks singer Badshah for Aladdin Hindi song

Disney India is all set to take local audiences on a magical journey to a whole new world this summer. Disney’s Aladdin, a thrilling and vibrant live-action adaptation of the most-loved animated classic flies into theatres in India on 24th May 2019. 

Now, with the re-imagination of the timeless songs, melodious music, classic romance and spellbinding magic, Disney’s Aladdin promises to be a perfect entertainer again. To add more magic in the live-action adaptation for the regional audiences, Badshah has created an exciting promotional song and music video for the live-action adaptation. And the song has been released now by Disney India, titled 'Sab Sahi Hai Bro', and it is everything one would expect from Badshah and friendship goals!! 

Well, superstar Will Smith who plays Genie in the Hollywood version has seen the song in Japan and finds it great! He has thanked the singer and also spoke on Bollywood!

Here is what he has to say on Badshah's original Hindi composition for Aladdin.

"Badshah, great work man....that is beautiful...looking at the things you shot against what is in the movie.......that is some good production you got going on there!! Its funny when we were making the sequence,  what I kept saying to Guy (Director), it gotta be Bollywood level man....don't let the sequence not be Bollywood level! You know I always wanted to be in a Bollywood dance number this is beautiful man....thank you!!

Chandan Roy Sanyal is joined by Vikram Kochchar in a Sci Fi Web-series on environment, Hawa Badle Hassu

Chandan Roy Sanyal lands the lead & titular role of ‘Hassu’in the upcoming Sci Fi web-series on environment, entitled Hawa Badle Hassu and incidentally the series also marks Chandan’s debut in a lead role in the web series space. The power house actor is joined by the very talented Vikram Kochchar (Nana Saheb of Manikarnika & Mathu of Sacred Games) in an interesting and meaty role.

The series is slated to be an Environmental thriller, which starts off as a slice of life will eventually take a larger-than-life spin and Hassu’s character essayed by Chandan Roy Sanyal will evolve in tandem. Season 1 of Hawa Badle Hassu is slated to stream on Sony Liv and based on audience’s response, the series will expand further. It is being directed by Saptaraj-Shiva and co- written by Protiqe Mojoomdar who is also the Producer of the series.

Chandan’s Hassu is the protagonist and a humorous do-gooder Autowallah. Hassu drives around in the unprotected thick polluted air every work day yet he is driving on the least polluting fuel (CNG)! That’s why he becomes an interesting crusader for the environment and our planet, which is the heart of the idea.But, from the shadows of his regular light-hearted existence on the roads, springs a conspiracy that reveals his true mission, to the audience as well as to his character.

Talking about his character, lead actor Chandan Roy Sanyal said, “Playing Hassu was quite challenging as he defies the stereotype. An auto-rickshaw driver comes from a different background altogether roughing it out in the city, trying to make both ends meet, toiling day and night to gather up  frugal savings to send back home.  This is the usual image we have in mind. Hassu on the contrary has a lot of worldly wisdom. He has a lot of knowledge especially on environment and lectures his passengers on a more sustainable earth. Now this is something you don’t get everyday. The contrast per se is where the challenge lies. A lot had to be extracted from imagination, yet hinged on reality. I also went driving around Versova early morning, to get my rickshaw riding and body language right with the real auto rickshaw driver, sitting behind in a role reversal (chuckles)”.

Vikram Kochhar’s character comes from the other end of the spectrum. He portrays a suit-clad businessman prowling around town and adding to the intrigue quotient of the series as it progresses, he is one of Hassu’s passengers. Chandan’s and VIkram’s scenes together make for a treat to the audience.

Talking about the series, Handyyman’s Protiqe Mojoomder, Co-writer and Producer of the Series, stated, “This is a thoroughbred original idea with no reference points and so topical and urgent, that you're surprised that very few are speaking or writing about it. Also come to think of it, Sci- Fi in our country is absolutely underexplored even on 70 mm, let alone the digital medium. Both the aspects-the platform and the idea of Hawa Badle Hassu are unique, because we are telling a tale that envisages actually saving Planet Earth from human beings and issues created by them (not aliens). It is also a genre bender with the way the climax pans out. I’m really pleased to be a part of such a refreshing project and hopeful of a really relevant conversation-starter”.

Dish TV India brings to life the best plays from around the world, launches ‘Rangmanch Active’ with Zee Theatre

In continuation of its efforts to widen its content offering, Dish TV India Limited launches ‘Rangmanch Active’ – an ad-free theatre-on-demand service for both its brands; DishTV and d2h. ‘Rangmanch Active’, is a unique service in partnership with Zee Theatre, a business vertical of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd that brings close to 100 theatre plays with a variety of actors, stories and genres to the doorsteps of consumers. The service is available to all subscribers free for the first 7 days upon subscription and post that at INR 75 per month only on channel no. 356 on DishTV & 214 on d2h.

Under Rangmanch Active service, the audience can enjoy performances from the best of India’s theatre artists such as Sumona Chakravarti, Jim Sarbh, Ratan Rajput, Ira Dubey, Sonali Kulkarni, Vikram Gokhale, Varun Badola, Ashish Vidyarthi and many others. Popular Indian theatre shows such as Purush, Sakharam Binder, Chokher Bali, Vaastav, Hamidabai Ki Kothi and many more will be available on the newly launched active service.

Along with Indian plays, viewers can also enjoy adaptations of renowned international plays such as Pygmalion, Magnificent 7, Counter Offence, Raid and Kansas that were handpicked from countries like USA, UK and Hungary. Besides plays, viewers can watch unseen backstage stories, exclusive interviews with theatre veterans and much more.

Commenting on the launch of this exciting new service, Mr. Anil Dua, Executive Director & Group CEO, Dish TV India Limited, said, “Entertainment industry in India is going through an evolution and is seeing a rise in story-telling. Our new service is aimed at bringing our audiences closer to the classical format of entertainment i.e theatre plays, on both our platforms. We’re excited to partner with ZEE Theatre to bring to life the best of theatre plays on television screens across the country.”

Commenting on the occasion, Ms. Shailja Kejriwal, Chief Creative Officer – Special Projects, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. said, “Currently, India is at the crossroads of a content revolution, bringing together technology and storytelling and taking inspiring and pertinent art forms to people. At Zee Theatre we are not only reviving forgotten Indian stories but also bringing contemporary narratives to newer audiences. Our partnership with Dish TV India Ltd is another milestone in our journey to bring the country’s most pertinent stories to it’s most popular medium.”

‘Rangmanch Active’, a 24x7 service will be available at just INR 75 per month in both Hindi and English languages. Additionally, the service will be available for a free preview trial period for 7 days.

Nakkash shows human values and brotherhood-Zaigham Imam

The trailer of the upcoming Hindi film Nakkash was launched on 8th May, 2019 at the Cinepolis, Andheri-West, Mumbai. After receiving the green signal from the censor board, the trailer of the film was made available to all. The Director Zaigham Imam, producers Pawan Tiwari, Govind Goyal, Inaamulhaq, Sharib Hashmi, Harminder Singh, Editor Prakash Jha, Piyush Singh, Music director Aman Pant at the event. A well known actor-director Tigmanshu Dhulia was also there to grace the event.

Under the banner of ‘AB Infosoft Creation, Jalsa Pictures & Padmaja Productions’, the film is helmed by the award winning director Zaigham Imam and is produced by Pawan Tiwari & Govind Goyal. Zaigham Imam is also one of the producers of the film. The film’s star cast includes Inaamul Haq, Sharib Hashmi, Kumud Mishra, Rajesh Sharma, Pawan Tiwari, Harminder Singh Alag, Gulki Joshi, Sidharth Bhardwaj, Shobhna Bhardwaj, Simala Prasad, Ravi Bhushan Bhartiya as well as Anil Rastogi. The music has been crafted by Manan Mishra and Aman Panth is the music director. Sumit Mishra is the art director of the film, Prakash Jha is the editor and Asit Biswas did the cinematographer of the film. The film will be distributed by Mates Entertainment and will be released by Golden Ratio Films.

Nakkash is a socio-political drama shot in the backdrop of Varanasi.

Nakkash deals in uniqueness of love towards the mankind and its generosity. It follows the religion of love and forgets the race of religions which had been started by humans only. It teaches to leave the hatred and to follow the path of peace & love. God and Allah are the same; your work is your God. So follow it with a complete passion.

Nakkash is the story of an artist named Alla Rakha Siddiqui, who is a widower in present Varanasi and lives with his only son Mohammad. Alla Rakha is a muslim man who works on the designs and engraves the idols of Gods in the temple. Everyone in his community looks down upon him and also his son, Mohammad gets refusal for Madrasa admission because of Alla’s profession.

The trustee of the temple, Bhagwandas Tripathi aka Vendanti ji supports Alla a lot as he respects his art & creativity, which he believes is given to him by God.

Soon, Alla gains popularity as a symbol of accord with a news article for which Munna, an aspirant politician loses his election ticket. What happens to Alla, a cast-off from his commune and disdained from Munna is the tale of NAKKASH ‘The Craftsman’.

On this occasion, Director Zaigham Imam said that "Today! When the controversy arises on the right to speak, the film Nakkash shows the real scenario of human values and the brotherhood in the country. The film has realistic views of Hindu –Muslims relationship. Being a Muslim, I want to say on this forum that this country is mine as much as its of a person who belongs to any other religion and I have never experienced any religious discrimination in my entire life.”

On this occasion, Piyush Singh of Golden Ratio Films said that "We are very impressed with the film Nakkash and will always promote such films which have message and which vocalise the brotherhood & human values.