“Jailer,” Tamil Language Action/Thriller Featuring Actor Rajinikanth, Provokes Some To Give Employees A Day Off

Naman Ramachandran Indian filmmaker Neeraj Pandey’s latest effort is Disney+ Hotstar India’s explosive new series “The Freelancer,” an “incisive look” at the world of Islamic State (aka ISIS). The thriller series, based on the bestselling 2017 book “A Ticket to Syria” by Shirish Thorat, is produced by Friday Storytellers and directed by Bhav Dhulia (Netflix’s “Khakee: The Bihar Chapter,” created by Pandey). It follows the rescue operation of a young girl held against her will in war-torn Syria.

Naman Ramachandran Paris-based sales company Charades has boarded international sales on “Stolen,” the only Indian feature selected at the Venice Film Festival. The film, which will bow within the festival’s Horizons Extra strand, tells the story of the havoc that ensues when opposite worlds collide after two urban young men become embroiled in an impoverished mother’s desperate journey to be reunited with her child. It is described as a “breathtaking action thriller” and the “hidden gem in world cinema” by Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The main competition section of the Busan International Film Festival is set to showcase two new features from Bangladeshi directors, the feature debut of Japanese documentary maker Mori Tatsuya and ruminations on Hong Kong by mainland Chinese director Choi Ji. The festival on Wednesday unveiled its New Currents competition section, reserved for films by directors making their first or second works of fiction, as well as its Jiseok section, a showcase for somewhat more established Asian auteurs. In addition to the Bangladesh duo, New Currents includes two films from Japan, two from Korea and one each from China, Thailand, Malaysia and India. From Bangladesh, Iqbal H. Chowdhury’s “The Wrestler” sees an old fisherman challenge a wrestling champion to combat, and in “The Stranger” Biplob Sarkar tells a coming-of-age, gender-identity tale. From Japan, Mori recounts the events of the Great Kanto earthquake in “September 1923,” while Yamamoto Akira delves into profound and shocking love in “After the Fever.” New Currents’ Korean contributions come from Lee Jong-su, whose “Heritage” tracks a man who opts out of military service and his supervisor, and Sohn Hyun-lok, whose “That Summer’s Lie” blurs truth and fiction in memories of a past romance. India’s Rajesh S.

After a wet and mild summer, claims that Scotland and the rest of the UK may be in for an Indian Summer have been circulating.

Naman Ramachandran Indian cinema A-lister Allu Arjun is delighting in his best actor win at India’s National Film Awards for “Pushpa: The Rise – Part 1.” Directed by Sukumar and produced by Mythri Movie Makers and Muttamsetty Media, the film traces the rise of Molleti Pushpa Raj (Arjun), a labourer who rises through the ranks of a sandalwood smuggling syndicate and faces off against an egotistic police officer. The Telugu-language film was also dubbed into other Indian languages and went on to become the biggest box office hit of 2021 in the country. It is the first time an actor from the Telugu-language film industry has won the best actor accolade at the National Film Awards in India.

Disney is planning to offer free cricket on smartphones and tablets in India as it fights back against subscriber loss at its Indian streaming service Disney+ Hotstar. 

Naman Ramachandran Emmy -winning actor Hannah Waddingham (“Ted Lasso”) will present the Fantasy, Myths and Legends Prom at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Aug. 28. The event is an evening of orchestral works from film, television and gaming, from titles including “Harry Potter,” “Star Wars,” “The Lord of the Rings,” “Game of Thrones” and “World of Warcraft.” The BBC Concert Orchestra led by their new chief conductor, Anna-Maria Helsing, will be joined by mezzo soprano Felicity Buckland and The Huddersfield Choral Society.

Chile on Wednesday named the anti-colonialist Western The Settlers from first-time feature filmmaker Felipe Gálvez as its official entry for Best International Feature at the 2024 Academy Awards.

Naman Ramachandran The “Barbenheimer” juggernaut continued rolling on at the U.K. and Ireland box office, occupying the top two slots for the fifth consecutive weekend. Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” took pole position yet again with £2.6 million ($3.4 million), per numbers released by Comscore.

Kate Middleton made a surprising move during her recent interview with U.K. radio host Roman Kemp.Detailing the interaction with the Princess of Wales, Kemp told about the surprising but «respectful» gesture from Middleton during their talk about mental health earlier this year.

Media Partners Asia has announced the full line-up of speakers for its APOS Summit in Bali, which includes Canal+ Group’s Asia Pacific chief Manuel Rougeron, Bodhi Tree Systems director Uday Shankar and Amazon Prime Video head of international Kelly Day. 

Universal and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer debuted in more than 500 locations in Korea on Tuesday, capitalizing on the Liberation Day national holiday. The epic bowed to $4.3M, capturing 44% market share for the day in a highly competitive environment.

1497 has revealed the finalists of its third annual Features Lab. See their bios below.

Naman Ramachandran Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” and Universal’s “Oppenheimer” continued ruling the U.K. and Ireland box office for a fourth consecutive weekend. Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” topped the charts yet again with £4.4 million ($5.6 million) for a total of £78.2 million, per numbers from Comscore.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) MD-CEO Punit Goenka will not be able to hold any office in the merged Sony-Zee entity for now, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has said. In June, SEBI had barred Goenka and ZEEL chair emeritus Subhash Chandra from holding any managerial or directorial positions in listed companies while it carried out investigations into allegations of insider trading.

Led by Rajinikanth-starrer Jailer and Anil Sharma’s Gadar 2, box office in India reached record-breaking numbers this weekend. According to the Producers Guild of India and Multiplex Association of India, the August 11-13 frame was the busiest single weekend since the beginning of the pandemic. What’s more, across three days, ticket sales hit more than 390 crore ($47M), a new all-time theatrical gross record for the biggest combined weekend in history. 

Naman Ramachandran The combined performances of Rajinikanth’s “Jailer,” Sunny Deol’s “Gadar 2,” Akshay Kumar’s “OMG 2” and Chiranjeevi’s “Bhola Shankar” have set a new all-time theatrical gross box office record for the Indian cinema industry. Numbers released by the Multiplex Association of India and the Producers Guild of India reveal that the Aug. 11-13 weekend was the busiest weekend post re-opening after pandemic shut downs with 21 million admissions, which is also the highest combined admissions record in the last 10 years.

Jailer, the Tamil-language action thriller with one of India’s most enduring stars, blasted off to circa $2.56 million on 450 screens, hitting the top ten at the box office this weekend, according to Comscore.

Alia Bhatt is one of India’s biggest stars, having starred in critically acclaimed Hindi movies like Highway, Udta Punjab, Gangubai Kathiawadi, and the Oscar-winning film RRR.

Netflix is clearly determined to play the major studio game of big star-driven action franchises. Extraction and its current sequel, The Gray Man (with the promise of more), Red Notice, and many others represent big screen type entertainment designed ultimately for people to watch on their couches at home. This kind of stuff, while skillfully and expensively executed still works best at IMAX rather than your living room but the streamer is convinced they will goose subscriptions so expect more of it, and movies like Heart Of Stone , a convoluted spy thriller loaded with James Bond-style action set pieces but with a wonder woman in the name of Gal Gadot in the center of it all. Taking a cue from Charlize Theron’s Netflix franchise, The Old Guard, this is a female-driven enterprise where the men, namely Jamie Dornan’s complicated bad guy, take a back seat for the most part. In fact this is a Gadot vehicle all the way.