Kamal Haasan Talks ‘Vikram,’ ‘Indian’ and Future Projects (EXCLUSIVE)

The e-auction’s over, and became clear yesterday, Viacom18 is the big winner of Indian Premier League cricket rights. The company bagged digital rights in India for 410 games over the next five years for $2.6B and today followed up with the international rights for three of the other big cricketing nations — Australia, South Africa and the UK — for around another $420M.

EXCLUSIVE: MUBI has acquired David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future for Latin America, Turkey, India and Malaysia.

Naman Ramachandran “Tanaav,” the Indian adaptation of hit Israeli series “Fauda,” will debut on streamer SonyLIV. Set in Kashmir in 2017 and shot on locations there, “Tanaav,” which means tension, chaos, stress, tells the story of a Special Covert Ops Unit over 12 episodes.

Viacom18 has bowled out the opposition and caught the sought-after streaming rights to the Indian Premier League cricket tournament.

Indian Premier League cricket tournament, one the world’s richest sporting events, have been sold for a combined $5 billion, according to several reports.The successful bidders have not been named as the auction, which started on Sunday is ongoing and may run to a third day.The TV rights went for $2.72 billion and the digital rights for $2.28 billion, for a five-year deal covering the 2023-2027 tournaments. In both cases the rights packages are limited to the Indian subcontinent.There are two more rights packages on offer – for selected tournament games including the playoffs, only for the Indian subcontinent; and TV and digital rights for the rest of the world.

S.S. Rajamouli’s RRR, a huge hit when it opened in March, is dipping back into the U.S. market in a novel and, so far, successful bid by distributors to expand the reach of the Telegu period drama beyond the traditional audience for Indian film.

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. marketing giant Trailer Park Group has taken its first steps into India with the acquisition of Mumbai-based creative agency White Turtle Studios.

A controversial TV ad in India is garnering condemnation from Bollywood stars.

“authentic Indian cuisine,” cocktails and rosé Champagne at the Varanasi restaurant serving “heavenly recipes and soothing ambience,” according to its website. The actor — declared a “down-to-earth bloke” by restaurant staff — famously scored a big victory Wednesday when he was awarded a $10.35 million judgement in his brutal defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard, 36.The “Edward Scissorhands” star was hanging out with his musician friend-collaborator Jeff Beck, 77, and 20 other people in their party at what’s billed as “Birmingham’s largest Indian restaurant.”Depp has been staying in the United Kingdom to join Beck on his tour.

Indie distributors, grabbing a frame between Top Gun: Maverick and Jurassic World Dominion, are out with a handful of decently wide releases for the specialty space including Neon’s Cannes title Crimes of the Future (127 screes), IFC Midnight thriller Watcher (764) and Roadside Attractions’ WWI period piece Benediction (87). Sony Pictures Classics launches Phantom of the Open in four theaters in NY and LA.

KK, a popular Indian playback singer and songwriter with more than 300 film and TV credits, died Tuesday of cardiac arrest in Kolkata, shortly after performing a concert. He was 53.

Naman Ramachandran Krishnakumar Kunnath, the Indian singer popularly known as KK, died of a cardiac arrest while performing a concert at Nazrul Mancha, Kolkata on Tuesday. He was 53.Known as one of the most versatile singers in the country, KK sang across languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Assamese and Gujarati.After a successful career singing advertising jingles, KK debuted in films in 1996 with Hindi and Telugu-language versions of composer A.R.

Naman Ramachandran Indian activist filmmaker Pa. Ranjith has revealed an extensive production slate featuring top stars and socially relevant themes.Ranjith was at the Cannes Film Market, where he revealed “Vettuvam”, a linked film and TV series, a co-production between his and Aditi Anand’s Neelam Studios and Golden Ratio Films, the film production arm of Vistas Media Capital.First up for Ranjith is “Natchathiram Nagargirathu,” starring Dushara Vijayan (“Sarpatta Parambarai”), Kalaiyarasan Harikrishnan (“Kuthiraivaal”) and Kalidas (“Paava Kadhaigal”). The film is set against the backdrop of the Tamil-language theater scene and explores different facets of love that go beyond gender, and includes straight and LGBTQ+ romances, Ranjith says.

Naman Ramachandran Rotem Shamir, whose credits include hit series “Fauda” and “Hostages” will make his Indian film debut as director of “Garud.”Inspired by real events, “Garud” will present a fictionalized depiction of the rescue mission in Afghanistan, based on the story of a police officer and his team of special forces.The film will be produced by Ajay Kapoor (“Attack”) for Ajay Kapoor Productions and Subhash Kale for Vikrant Studio. The cast is being finalized.Kapoor said: ” ‘Garud’ is a huge project for me, I’m emotionally driven to the film and want to give it the best treatment possible.

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.

Kang Daniel recently offered his insight on the creative process behind his recent release, ‘The Album’.In a recent interview with Rolling Stone India, the soloist talked about taking more creative liberties on his first-ever studio album ‘The Story’, which dropped earlier this week, instead of leaning toward mainstream trends with his work, following the release of his ‘Color’ trilogy in 2021 and 2020.“I think that every artist who is appealing to mass culture comes across that dilemma every once in a while,” the singer explained. “I think it’s that intricate balance between creativity or the mainstream or the message of whatever the fans want, and what to give more weight to in terms of priority.”The singer elaborated that, this time around, he followed his “gut feeling and just went with the flow” while working on the record.

Naman Ramachandran The cream of the current crop of young Indian documentary filmmakers were on fire during the annual Doc Day at the Cannes Film Market, discussing ways of expressing dissent within India’s current political dispensation.Since 2014, India has been ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Shaunak Sen’s “All That Breathes” is showing as a special screening at the festival and previously won the documentary grand jury prize at Sundance. It follows Delhi-based Muslim brothers Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad, who, against the backdrop of the territory’s polluted atmosphere and escalating sectarian violence, devote their lives to saving the black kite bird species.“I was absolutely certain that this film was not a snapshot of the current political moment; this film’s main interests were ecological and the human-bird relationship,” Sen said.

Naman Ramachandran Indian documentary “From the Shadows,” by Miriam Chandy Menacherry (“Lyari Notes”), has been selected for the Breaking Through the Lens initiative at the Cannes Film Market.The initiative connects female and non-binary directors to finance at top-tier film markets.In the documentary, artist Leena Kejriwal relentlessly sprays silhouettes on public walls tagged #missing, activist Hasina Kharbhih accompanies girls rescued from child sex trafficking across international borders, and survivor Samina fights a long and arduous legal battle against her traffickers. Parallel narratives intersect to reveal a sliver of hope when women challenge a powerful trafficking nexus operating in a country where every eight minutes a child goes missing.

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.

Naman Ramachandran A restored version of Indian master Satyajit Ray’s “The Adversary” is playing at Cannes Classics this year and films inspired by his works are being planned.Kolkata-based Indian producer-director Aritra Sen’s Roadshow Films and Los Angeles-based British writer-director Alex Harvey’s Big Bazaar Films are producing two films this year, which take their inspiration from Ray’s life and work. First up is feature documentary “Forest of Humans,” which looks at Ray’s creative relationship with Kolkata, the city where he lived and worked all his life.