Turtle Bay, the Caribbean restaurant chain, is opening a huge new restaurant at Salford Quays. The new spot will be at the waterside terrace area, overlooking the Lowry Theatre.
07.05.2022 - 04:49 / variety.com
Naman Ramachandran ALTBalaji, the streaming service started by Ekta R. Kapoor, the undisputed queen of Indian television, turned five a few days ago. The streamer is part of Balaji Telefilms, which was started by her and her parents Jeetendra Kapoor and Shoba Kapoor in 1994 and is the single largest television content producer in South Asia.Recently, the hitherto SVOD-only ALTBalaji added an AVOD offering, which caters to 10 million monthly active users.
Overall, the platform has 35 million subscribers with 2.9 subscriptions sold in the first quarter of 2022 alone. From launch, the streamer’s goal was to tap into the smaller towns and cities, beyond the metropolitan urban agglomerations. It has been so successful that its larger rivals are emulating it.
There are 91 originals streaming, with several more in the pipeline. The SVOD plans are eminently affordable, costing $4 for 12 months, $2.60 for six months or $1.30 for two months.Ekta Kapoor reflects on ALTBalaji’s five-year journey in a candid chat with Variety.In the five years of ALTBalaji, what have been your biggest opportunities? And what have been the biggest challenges? Our biggest opportunity was to capture midtown India which nobody was wanting to cater to. Because everyone wanted the urban, early adopter Indian, who was probably used to watching shows on the net.
And the biggest challenge was we didn’t have deep pockets, nor the expertise in technology to make the app and to get strong data. So it took us a little more time to do research and development.What made you decide to also start an AVOD model? Freemium will be the way forward. Really interesting sticky content people want to pay for.
Turtle Bay, the Caribbean restaurant chain, is opening a huge new restaurant at Salford Quays. The new spot will be at the waterside terrace area, overlooking the Lowry Theatre.
Naman Ramachandran Deaf Crocodile Films and Gratitude Films have acquired Indian films “Lalanna’s Song” and “Dhuin” for North American distribution. The deals were completed during the Cannes Market.“Dhuin” is one of six Indian titles selected by India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for a market screening.
Zack Sharf Welcome back, Park Chan-wook. The South Korean auteur returned to Cannes six years after “The Handmaiden” with his new detective thriller “Decision to Leave” and earned a five-minute standing ovation.Although the ovation matched the amount of time celebrating “The Handmaiden,” the reception was notably more muted. While the camera the festival uses that normally shows on the creative team’s gracious reaction after the movie, and helps to keep the applause rolling, wasn’t working, the response was quiet even before the technical snafu.“Decision to Leave” centers around a detective who falls in love with a mysterious widow who just happens to be the prime suspect in his latest murder investigation.
Naman Ramachandran Principal photography has wrapped on “The Storyteller,” directed by Ananth Narayan Mahadevan (Busan title “Bittersweet”).The film is based on Indian Oscar winner Satyajit Ray’s short story “Golpo Boliye Tarini Khuro.” In the story about originality versus plagiarism, Ray was raising the question: “What is more important – the story or the storyteller?”A restored version of Ray’s “The Adversary” is playing at the Cannes Classics strand of the Cannes Film Festival.The cast includes Paresh Rawal (Amazon Prime Video film “Sharmaji Namkeen”), Adil Hussain (“Star Trek: Discovery”), Revathi (Netflix anthology “Navarasa”) and Tannishtha Chatterjee (Busan title “Roam Rome Mein”).The film is produced by billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Studios (Netflix film “Dasvi”) in association with Purpose Entertainment (“Hotel Mumbai”) and Quest Films (Busan Kim Ji-seok Award winner “The Rapist”). Mahadevan said: “As part of the celebrations around the life and work of the legend Satyajit Ray, we are very happy and honored to share our own humble homage to the master storyteller.
EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Prime Video India bosses Aparna Purohit and Gaurav Gandhi have outlined their strategy for super-serving the country’s diverse audiences, and revealed a plan to push into true crime and investigative doc series.
Naman Ramachandran Paris and Mumbai-based production service company La Fabrique Films is looking forward to a further surge in business in the wake of new Indian filming incentives that were announced in Cannes.International productions filming in India can be reimbursed up to 35% of qualifying production spend in the country.La Fabrique, which specializes in European films shooting in India, has been operational since 2013 and films they have provided production services for include “Les Cowboys,” “The Best Is Yet to Come” and “And Tomorrow We Will Be Dead.” La Fabrique has just wrapped work on Laetitia Colombani’s “The Braid” and company principals Déborah Benattar and Javed Wani are currently attending the Cannes Film Market. The initial reimbursement for international shoots in India is 30%, which can go up by an additional 5% for productions employing 15% or more manpower in India.“The incentives will be a great advantage for foreign producers who decide to come and shoot in India also, because there is this bonus of 5%, they may want to employ more Indian technicians, because, from our experience, we have amazing technicians in India.
EXCLUSIVE: Some of the West End and Broadway’s biggest productions are making their debuts on Indian TV.
Richard E. Grant bags guest role in ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’ retelling
A popular south Manchester eatery has teamed up with a bar in West Didsbury. Roti has joined forces with The Boiler Room to offer their famed Indian Scottish fusion food in a relaxed bar environment.
Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor“Bridgerton” star Charithra Chandran is sitting at Netflix’s FYC experience at Raleigh Studios in Los Angeles with her fellow Indian co-star Simone Ashley, where they talked about their instantly beloved roles as sisters in the second season of the hit Netflix series.“Bridgerton” has been praised for its diverse cast, but the applause amplified even more when Chandran and Ashley joined Season 2 because they have darker skin than the Indian actors who are traditionally cast in Hollywood for significant roles.“Coming to L.A., it was a profound moment because I spent my life avoiding the sun,” Chandran, who plays Edwina on “Bridgerton,” tells me during a joint interview with Ashley and co-star Nicola Coughlan. “I spent my whole life going outside with a hat on or being fully covered up so I didn’t tan. This is the first time in my life that I walked out and I was like, ‘I can feel it.
Naman Ramachandran Australian film “The Laugh of Lakshmi,” by renowned theater director turned filmmaker S. Shakthidharan, will be one of the first films to make use of the newly announced Indian filming incentives.The film, a dance drama, is the story of a mother and a son separated by war.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefNawazuddin Siddiqui, the Emmy-nominated Indian actor, is to take the lead role in U.S. indie film “Laxman Lopez.” The film is a Christmas-themed movie to be directed by Mexico’s Roberto Girault, director of local hits including 2017’s “La Leyenda Del Diamante,” 2015’s “Los Arboles Mueren de Pie” and “El Estudiante” from 2009. The project is led by New York-based Imagine Infinite Productions.
[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Indian TV star Chethana Raj has died at age 21 after getting surgery for fat removal.The actress was reportedly admitted to hospital in Bengaluru, Karnataka on Monday for fat removal surgery but later died from complications from the operation.The star is said to have suffered from a cardiac arrest after her lungs filled with fluid, according to local news outlets. Chethana is understood to have been moved from the cosmetic hospital to an ICU unit following the complications. However when she arrived, she was reportedly unresponsive and without a pulse.
Indian TV star Chethana Raj has died at the age of 21 after having fat removal surgery. The actress was reportedly admitted into a private plastic surgery hospital in Bengaluru, Karnataka, on Monday, but is said to have developed complications as fluid began to accumulated in her lungs. She later died of a cardiac arrest, after being rushed to another hospital where doctors were unsuccessful in reviving her through CPR.
Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorAfter nearly six years at Snap, head of originals Vanessa Guthrie is leaving the company.Guthrie will depart Snap at the end of June 2022. At that point, Anjuli Millan, head of production for Snap Originals for the past three years, will step into the role as head of original content.“During her time with us, Vanessa has been a trailblazer for women in tech and has played an integral role in launching content for the mobile-first generation,” Snap said in a statement.
Naman Ramachandran “Le Musk,” the directorial debut of Oscar, BAFTA and Grammy winning Indian composer A.R. Rahman (“Slumdog Millionaire”), will have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Market’s Cannes XR program.The 36-minute film is billed as a cinematic sensory experience incorporating virtual reality, with motion, music and scent integrated into the narrative. It follows heiress and musician Juliet Merdinian, who, 20 years since she was orphaned, seeks out the men who changed her destiny with one powerful memory — that of their scent.Rahman developed the story from an original idea by his wife Saira.
Netflix’s upcoming Indian musical drama The Archies from director Zoya Akhtar has set its cast. The ensemble, who play characters from the iconic Archie Comics franchise, includes emerging talent such as Mihir Ahuja (Bard of Blood), Khushi Kapoor (The Garhwal Rifles) and Shah Rukh Khan’s daughter Suhana Khan in a but role.
Naman Ramachandran Indian origin, U.S.-born Belgian actor Rumana Molla (“Irada”) will make her directorial debut with Belgium-set Indian immigrant drama “Minimum,” which will commence principal photography in June.The film will follow newly-wed immigrant Fauzia, whose mother-in-law Ruxana keeps her captive. She finds out that everything she had been told about her husband Ali was a lie and loses hope until a French tutor, Laurie, is hired to teach her the basics.