Indian Filmmakers at Toronto Juggle Art and Commerce

Naman Ramachandran 5G is going to roll out across India from Oct. 1 and Reliance Jio, the country’s leading mobile service operator with 413 million subscribers, will be at the forefront of it. The move could have a transformational effect. The 5G rollout in India will happen via Jio Platforms, the digital services arm of billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries. In August, during the Reliance annual general meeting, Ambani told shareholders that the rollout would be complete by Dec. 2023 and that infrastructure investment would be INR2 trillion ($25 billion). A majority of Indians watch streaming content on mobile devices. Fixed broadband penetration in the country is low and Reliance aims to fix this with Jio AirFiber, which uses 5G to provide fiber-quality connectivity over the air.

Kelly Day, Amazon Prime Video Vice President, International, outlined the company’s localisation efforts across Asia, Europe and Latin America in the first keynote session of APOS 2022, which is taking place virtually and as an in-person event in Singapore (September 27-29).

Jennifer Ehle (Pride and Prejudice, Fifty Shades of Grey) has joined the cast of the Paramount + series .

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Jennifer Ehle is the latest addition to the cast of the “Yellowstone” prequel series “1923” at Paramount+, Variety has learned. Per the official description, the series “will introduce a new generation of the Dutton family and explore the early twentieth century when pandemics, historic drought, the end of Prohibition, and the Great Depression all plague the mountain west, and the Duttons who call it home.” Ehle will play Sister Mary O’Connor, an Irish nun that teaches at the School For American Indians in Montana. She joins previously announced cast member Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, Brandon Sklenar, Darren Mann, Michelle Randolph, James Badge Dale, Marley Shelton, Brian Geraghty, Aminah Nieves, Julia Schlaepfer, and Jerome Flynn.

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.”

Naman Ramachandran Entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) has signed Indian filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli. Rajamouli’s “RRR,” starring NTR Jr and Ram Charan, has been making waves around the world since it released in March and has collected some $150 million, making it the fourth highest grossing Indian film of all time. The Hindi-language dubbed version of “RRR,” a film originally made in the Telugu-language, is the only non-English-language film to trend globally for 10 consecutive weeks on Netflix.    Another film by Rajamouli, 2017’s “Baahubali 2: The Conclusion” is the second highest grossing film of all time in India with $278 million. Next up for Rajamouli is an as-yet-untitled film staring Mahesh Babu, which he has described as a globe-trotting action-adventure. The film will commence production in the spring of 2023.

The British Monarchy is well-known for its wealth of remarkable crowns and jewels - but one diamond in its collection is said to have a dark and cursed history. The Koh-i-Noor diamond, worth an estimated £350m, came from India's Alluvial mines before it fell through the intricacies of Indian Court and eventually came into the possession of British royal family in the mid-1800s.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief South Indian star Varun Tej is to head the cast of a patriotic air force action thriller backed by Sony Pictures International Productions. The untitled picture will begin filming from November. Tej, known locally as ‘Mega Prince,’ has his roots in the Telugu-language regional film industry and achieved fame with the Krish-directed “Kanche” in 2015. With the new picture, he will be making his debut in a film in Hindi, the default language of Bollywood. Production will take place in Hindi and Telugu versions. Jointly produced by SPIP and Renaissance Pictures, the film will be directed by Shakti Pratap Singh Hada – a seasoned commercials maker, cinematographer and VFX aficionado who will be making his directorial debut with this film. Written by Shakti Pratap Singh Hada, Aamir Khan and Siddharth Raj Kumar, the movie will be shot in Telugu and Hindi simultaneously. A release is expected in cinemas in 2023.

Naman Ramachandran Filmmaker R. Balki and actor Dulquer Salmaan are teaming for the first time on “Chup,” a thriller where a serial killer brutally murders Bollywood film critics and carves star ratings on their foreheads. The cast also includes Bollywood veterans Sunny Deol (“Gadar: Ek Prem Katha”) and Pooja Bhatt (Netflix’s “Bombay Begums”), Shreya Dhanwanthary (Amazon Prime Video’s “The Family Man”) and Tamil-language cinema stalwart Saranya Ponvannan (“Viruman”). Balki, whose credits include “Cheeni Kum” (2007) and “Paa” (2009), both starring Amitabh Bachchan, last directed “Pad Man” (2018), starring Akshay Kumar.

Indian Matchmaking star Nadia Jagessar has hit back amid criticisms of ‘cheating’ after backlash from this series. Nadia starred in the popular Netflix reality series in season one, where Sima Taparia matched her up but unfortunately, things didn’t quite work out, and the 34-year-old returned for series two. During this series, which also saw the return of contestant Aparna Shewakramani amongst others, Nadia continued the storyline of her relationship with Shekar Jayaraman not having progressed much, despite him meeting her family early on.

th century.Author and New Orleans native Fatima Shaik is the granddaughter of an immigrant Bengali merchant named Shaik Mohamed Musa who, as was not uncommon when Indian men uprooted to segregated America, married a local African-American woman and blended into a welcoming Black community. Fatima never knew her grandfather — he died in 1919 before he could see his three children grow up — but she also grew up with little sense of her Indian heritage outside a treasured hookah of his that was lost in the Katrina flooding.Katrina’s devastation, which took loved ones of Fatima’s, spurred her to better understand a piece of her family tree that felt like an unfilled space, and in the documentary “The Bengali,” from Kolkata-born filmmaker Kavery Kaul, we’re with Fatima as she travels for the very first time to India to trace her grandfather’s existence, and hopefully to meet new relatives.

Sir Paul McCartney has penned a letter requesting immediate action be taken to aid an abused Indian elephant.McCartney – a long-time PETA supporter – sent an urgent letter to Indian Union Cabinet Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav, requesting immediate action be taken to send an abused elephant named Jeymalyatha (also known as Joymala) to a rescue centre for her recovery from psychological trauma.Joymala has been held captive the Srivilliputhur Nachiyar Thirukovil temple in Tamil Nadu. In a viral video, the animal can be seen being beaten with weapons and controlled using pliers.In his letter, McCartney said: “I am confident that action will be taken to send sorely abused elephant Jeymalyatha (Joymala) to a suitable rescue centre where she can receive the specialised care she needs for her psychological wounds, and can live unchained and in the company of others of her kind.”McCartney added that though the videos of the animal were heartbreaking, “equally heartbreaking is that this social, intelligent animal is still being forced to live in solitary confinement”.“I trust you agree that Jeymalyatha has suffered more than enough, and that she deserves to spend the rest of her time on this Earth the way away from her abusive trainers, rehabilitating, and with others of her kind.”According to a press release, McCartney’s letter follows a veterinary inspection report (and plea by PETA India) on the condition of Joymala, who found that her current handler (mahout) used pliers on her, even in the presence of inspectors.Inspectors were reportedly forbidden by the mahout to take photographs or video footage of Joymala.

Streaming platform and burgeoning theatrical distributor Mubi is at the Toronto Film Festival this year with Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave, which marks one of its costliest acquisitions to date.

Naman Ramachandran Indian filmmaker Rima Das is back at the Toronto International Film Festival for the third time with “Tora’s Husband” this year, after “Village Rockstars” in 2017 and “Bulbul Can Sing” in 2018. “Tora’s Husband” follows a small-business owner and his family in the eastern Indian state of Assam, as the country emerges from COVID-19 lockdown. ” ‘Tora’s Husband’ tells the stories of common people whose lives and livelihood are directly or indirectly affected by the pandemic, yet they have to keep going,” Das told Variety. “My family wasn’t directly affected by the pandemic, but there was a constant sense of fear and restlessness. I lost my father during these times, though not due to COVID, it is still difficult to come to terms with his loss.”

Eddie Redmayne To Be Honored With Zurich’s Golden Eye