A.R. Rahman, Vijay Sethupathi Team on Zee Studios Silent Film ‘Gandhi Talks’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Naman Ramachandran “Declaration” (“Ariyippu”) a festival hit film by acclaimed filmmaker Mahesh Narayanan and popular actor-producer Kunchacko Boban, has been snapped up by Netflix. The film bowed at Locarno and is playing at the BFI London Film Festival. This week it plays in the Busan International Film Festival’s A Window on Asian Cinema strand. The Malayalam-language film follows Hareesh (Boban) and Reshmi (Divya Prabha), an immigrant couple from Kerala working in a medical gloves factory near Delhi, and who aspire to go abroad for a better life. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, when an old video resurfaces among the factory workers, it opens up a Pandora’s box that threatens the couple’s jobs and marriage.

Sean Penn's mother Eileen Ryan has died aged 94. The actress - who was due to turn 95 on October 16th - passed away at her home in Malibu, California, according to a statement from 'Dead Man Walking' star Sean's publicist.

Manori Ravindran International Editor New York’s South Asian International Film Festival has appointed Chayan Sarkar as its new president. A filmmaker, entrepreneur and festival director, Sarkar is also the founder of the Indian International Film Festival of Queensland in Australia. He takes over from SAIFF founder Shilen Amin, who will step down as president, but will remain a member of the festival’s board of directors. Sarkar joins SAIFF as the festival enters its 19th year as a leading film festival in the U.S. for new cinema from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, and within the Indian diaspora. In recent years, SAIFF has become increasingly influential as a platform for South Asian cinema, both in the U.S. and internationally. Fourteen of India’s submissions for the international feature film Oscar have had their North American premieres at the festival.

Shalini Dore Features News Editor Filmmaker Mani Ratnam has taken on the epic task of adapting Tamil bestseller “Ponniyin Selvan” into two parts, the first of which released to excellent box office in India and overseas on Sept. 29. The film, with screenplay by Ratnam, Jayamohan and Kumaravel, is mostly faithful to Kalki Krishnamurthy’s five novels, the trio has streamlined the historical fiction first serialized in the 1950s in the Tamil magazine Kalki before being translated into multiple other languages, including English. They were based on the great ruler Raja Raja Chola (Chola, king of kings), who expanded his empire from modern-day Tamilnadu all the way north to the Ganges.

Cherokee Nation has announced Tava Maloy Sofsky as the tribe’s new film commissioner. In the new position, Sofsky will serve dual roles as both film commissioner for the Cherokee Nation and as the tribe’s film office director.

Eileen Ryan has died aged 94 at her home in Malibu, a representative for the star has confirmed, although no cause of death has been revealed.The actress was just days shy of celebrating her 95th birthday on October 16th. Eileen was best known for her roles in Little House On The Prairie and At Close Range, and she was also mother to successful actor Sean Penn, 62, musician Michael Penn, 64, and late actor Chris Penn, who died in 2006 at age 40. She was married to her sons' father, actor and director Leo Penn, from 1957 until he passed away in 1998.

Naman Ramachandran “Last Film Show” (“Chhello Show”) India’s contender in the Oscars international feature category, will release across India on Oct. 14. Cashing in on the fact that it is in contention at the 95th Oscars, the distributors – Roy Kapur Films in partnership with PVR – are pricing previews on Oct. 13 across 95 Indian cinemas at INR95 ($1.16). The partly autobiographical drama takes director Pan Nalin back to his roots in Saurashtra, Gujarat, western India, where “Last Film Show” was filmed. The story is set against the backdrop of Indian cinemas witnessing a massive transition from celluloid to digital where hundreds of single-screen cinemas are either in ruins or have disappeared altogether.

Actress Eileen Ryan, the mother of actors Sean Penn and Christopher Penn and musician Michael Penn, has sadly passed away at the age of 94.

Actor Eileen Ryan, the mother of actors Sean Penn and Christopher Penn and musician Michael Penn, died Sunday at her home, just a week short of her 95th birthday.

Paramount’s Network 10 Preps Aussie ‘Taskmaster’ 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Competition Commission of India on Tuesday granted conditional approval to the proposed merger of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd and Sony Pictures Networks India. Combination C-2022/04/923Commission approves amalgamation of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEE) and Bangla Entertainment Private Limited (BEPL) with Culver Max Entertainment Private Limited (CME), with certain modifications.#CCIMergerControl #mergers #mergerupdate pic.twitter.com/5JFG6RgiHl The regulatory approval comes with conditions and is not the finishing line for the deal which was first made public in September last year. At the end of August, the CCI gave a preliminary assessment of the $10 billion deal, saying that it could potentially hurt competition by having “unparalleled bargaining power.”

Jennifer Salke entered the Second Age in London. The head of Amazon Studios spent the 72 hours leading up to the launch of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” in a whirlwind, traveling from the series’ global premiere event in London’s Leicester Square to her Manhattan apartment to watch the early returns arrive via reports from Amazon’s formidable consumer research department. The “Rings” team was exhausted, having had no chance to recover from the grueling worldwide promotional campaign for the Amazon Prime Video series that is an enormous bet for the tech giant, being the most expensive television series ever produced. For most of launch day, Sept. 1, Salke and key members of her executive team, many members of the large ensemble cast and executive producers J.D. Payne, Patrick McKay and Lindsey Weber gathered together for hours in virtual “war rooms,” bone tired but energized, to wait for the world’s reaction.

Naman Ramachandran “Adipurush,” one of the most anticipated Indian films of 2023, unites the talents of Prabhas (the Baahubali franchise) and Om Raut, who directed Ajay Devgn-starring “Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior,” the biggest Indian box office hit of 2020 with a $50 million gross. “Adipurush” is Raut’s take on Indian mythological epic “Ramayana,” by Valmiki, where Rama, the king of Ayodhya, travels to Lanka to rescue his wife Sita, who has been abducted by the king Ravana. “Adipurush” is set 7,000 years ago and in the film, Prabhas’ character is not called Rama, he is Raghav, another name for Rama. Sita, played by Kriti Sanon, is called Janaki, while Saif Ali Khan’s Ravana is Lankesh, also derivatives of their “Ramayana” names. Adipurush literally means “first man,” but here the interpretation is that of “best man.”

Naman Ramachandran As Amazon Prime Video closes in on six years of operations in India, it is one of the market leaders in the streaming segment. A major part of the success is due to it getting a handle on the multiple local languages in the vast market. “One of the things we look at when we expand into new territories and languages is to see early signs and then double down on those early signs,” Gaurav Gandhi, VP, Amazon Prime Video India told Variety. The service programs in 10 languages in India, including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Bengali and English. “When we started programming in 10 languages we saw early signs before most others how content travels across languages,” says Gandhi, who spoke on the sidelines of the APOS conference in Singapore. “Today, 50% of our audience base is watching content in four plus languages, which was not the case three or four years back. And a big reason for that is the fact that as you program multiple languages across the board, we realize that you truly transcend linguistic boundaries and barriers and expand the linguistic palette.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief U.S distributor Samuel Goldwyn Films president Peter Goldwyn has weighed in on the backlash to India’s selection of its competitor for this year’s best international film race at the Oscars, calling candidate “The Last Film Show,” which it will release in North America, “a really strong contender.” Directed by Pan Nalin (“Samsara,” “Valley of Flowers”), the Gujarati-language film is the story of a nine-year old boy pursuing his dreams in cinema. It debuted at the Tribeca Festival in 2021 and has since played fests in Palms Springs, Seattle and Mill Valley. “Last Film Show” will have its commercial release in Gujarat, India on Oct. 14, 2022, giving it the necessary qualifying theatrical run in its home territory.

Naman Ramachandran Hindi-language “Maja Ma,” starring Bollywood icon Madhuri Dixit Nene, is the first of many Indian original films from Amazon Prime Video, Aparna Purohit, the head of India originals for the streamer, has revealed. The film is a Prime Video commission, as opposed to an acquisition. “We have been acquiring films, we have been putting films straight on our service and over the last two years, we put almost 60 films out and we also bought into co-productions. Producing our own films was the next logical step,” Purohit told Variety. Next up are films in the Telugu and Tamil languages, with films in Malayalam and Kannada being explored. “We want to tell stories that are truly rooted in our soil, stories that are compelling, that are differentiated, in the hands of very passionate creators – story being the starting point for every decision. That’s the strategy,” said Purohit. “And we want to really delight our audiences spread across the length and breadth of the country.”