Rukmini Maitra to Lead Ram Kamal Mukherjee’s Bengali Theater Actor Biopic ‘Binodiini’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Naman Ramachandran After his directorial debut “Rocketry: The Nambi Effect,” which bowed at the Cannes market earlier this year that he also wrote and co-produced, R. Madhavan is back solely as an actor with thriller “Dhokha – Round D Corner,” directed by Kookie Gulati (“The Big Bull”). After stints in music videos, Khushalii Kumar makes her film debut, playing a woman with a personality disorder who is taken hostage by a terrorist. She is married to Madhavan’s character. “It’s very tightly knit and any sort of revelation might give you a hint and ruin it for people,” Madhavan told Variety about the plot of the film. “It looks like a pretty straightforward story, but as the film progresses, nobody is actually who they seem.”

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 Prashant Nair, Sundance audience award winner for “Umrika,” and veteran producer Ronnie Screwvala (“Uri: The Surgical Strike”) are teaming up on series “The Support Group.” Nair serves as the director-showrunner on the multi-season series, which follows three characters from very different backgrounds who form an uneasy alliance to escape the consequences of an accidental killing. The series is produced by Screwvala’s RSVP in association with Sidharth Jain’s House of Talkies. While a streaming or broadcast partner has not been revealed yet, typically Screwvala prefers to develop content on his own steam and then negotiate with partners who buy into the show’s vision.

Is there a dark secret lurking behind your guilty pleasures? Hulu’s new series “Welcome to Chippendales” reveals the true story of adult entertainment’s best-known dance troupe. The project focuses on founder Somen “Steve” Banerjee, an Indian immigrant who would find success before becoming embroiled in a criminal scandal.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winning film “Triangle of Sadness” has been sold by Coproduction Office to major distributors around the world. “Triangle of Sadness,” which was acquired by Neon for North America at the Cannes Film Festival, just had its North American premiere at Toronto and is playing at the San Sebastian Film Festival. Coproduction Office has now sold the movie worldwide to major distributors. Recent deals have been closed with Stay Golden (China), Edko (Hong Kong), Impact (India), Gaga (Japan), Green Narae (South Korea), Catchplay (Taiwan), TBA Studios (Philippines), Sun (Latin America), Frontrow (Middle East), Forefont (South Africa) and Les Films 26 (French-speaking Africa). 

Naman Ramachandran Leading Bengali-language focused streamer Hoichoi has unveiled a 25-strong Indian and Bangladeshi series slate on the occasion of its fifth anniversary of operations. Stepping into its sixth year, Hoichoi, revealed 21 shows from India and four from Bangladesh at a gala event in Kolkata on Tuesday. Content creators Srijit Mukherji, Dhrubo Banerjee, Anirban Bhattacharya, Sahana Dutta, Syed Ahmed Shawki, Ashfaque Nipun and others continue their journey with Hoichoi, while Raj Chakraborty and Arindam Sil are making their streaming debuts. Hoichoi co-founder Vishnu Mohta said that the streamer’s monthy active users have increased by 40% and its international user base has risen by 30%. Operated by studio SVF Entertainment, Hoichoi was launched in 2017.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks subsidiary The Remake Company has closed a remake deal with Italy’s Marco Belardi and his new label Bamboo Prod. for Ariel Winograd’s latest film “Today We Fix the World” (“Hoy se Arregla el Mundo”).  Produced by powerhouse shingle Patagonik, the family dramedy was picked up by Netflix for several key territories after its theatrical release by Disney’s Star early this year.  Mexico’s BH5 has also acquired the remake rights and is about to produce its version while talks are underway with Korean and French companies, said FilmSharks founder and CEO, Guido Rud. Winograd is already a known quantity in Italy. His last film “Ten Days Without Mom” topped the box office in Italy when it was released.

Naman Ramachandran Popular Indian actor Parineeti Chopra (“Saina”) and actor and musician Harrdy Sandhu (“’83”) star in “Code Name: Tiranga.” An espionage action thriller, “Code Name: Tiranga” is the story of a spy on an unfaltering and fearless mission for her nation in a race against time where sacrifice is her only choice. Chopra plays an Indian Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) agent who is on a journey across many countries. It is directed by Ribhu Dasgupta (“Bard of Blood”) who previously directed Chopra in “The Girl on the Train.” Co-stars include Sandhu, Sharad Kelkar (“Bhuj: The Pride of India),Rajit Kapur (“Rocket Boys”), Dibyendu Bhattacharya (“Maharani”), Shishir Sharma (“Raazi”), Sabyasachi Chakraborty (“Avijatrik”) and Deesh Mariwala (“Bellbottom”).

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.

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.

A former SNP adviser who was suspended for suggesting Priti Patel should be "sent back to Uganda" is set to be readmitted to the party. Tim Rideout, a former member of the SNP 's policy development committee, has agreed to undergo an anti-racism course following comments he made on social media in March this year.

Naman Ramachandran For Shoba Narayan, the Indian American lead of Aditya Chopra’s “Come Fall In Love – The DDLJ Musical,” the Broadway-bound production is a dream come true. Chopra’s U.S. stage musical reimagining of his immensely popular 1995 Bollywood film “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge,” commonly abbreviated to DDLJ, addresses the need for cultural unification in a divided world. Narayan plays Simran, a young Indian-American woman whose future is set via an arranged marriage back in India to a family friend. But when she convinces her strict father that she should spend a summer of freedom and fun in Europe, she falls for the charming Rog (Austin Colby), and her plans go out the window.

Naman Ramachandran “Vikram Vedha,” starring Hrithik Roshan, Saif Ali Khan and Radhika Apte, is releasing worldwide in over 100 countries, making it one of the widest openings for a Bollywood film. Besides India, the film is releasing in territories where Bollywood films normally release day-and-date, including North America, U.K., the Middle East and Australia and New Zealand, on Sept. 30. What is remarkable is that the film is also releasing day-and-date in countries where Bollywood fare releases after it has had its initial run in the traditional territories. “Vikram Vedha” is opening across 22 countries in Europe and 27 countries in Africa and Latin America, including Japan, Russia, Panama and Peru, all non-traditional territories for Bollywood.

, 63-year-old Jenny and 33-year-old Sumit are on their honeymoon but the romance is spoiled when Sumit brings up that he wants to go back to work while Jenny is comfortably retired.Sumit says that he wants to go back to cooking for a living and restart his food business with a friend, which is what he did before COVID-19 hit. He tells cameras that while Jenny wants to live life «in a retired way,» he's still in his 30s and feels like he's still productive and should make money.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: With the exit of New Line’s adaptation of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot in what has been a lucrative post Labor Day weekend pre-pandemic, Disney swooped in and booked its 20th Century Studios horror title Barbarian. That pic, directed and written by Zach Cregger, follows a woman staying at an Airbnb, who discovers that the house she has rented is not what it seems. The movie grossed $3.8M on Friday (including $850K Thursday night previews) and is poised to make around $9M, possibly double digits.

As the world mourns the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Sunny Hostin shared a very different take than the numerous tributes celebrating the life of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.

Queen Elizabeth II was remembered by late-night hosts with a combination of humor and solemnity.

Selome Hailu “Echoes” was watched for 36.6 million hours in its second full week of availability on Netflix, per the streamer’s weekly Top 10 rankings. This is the limited series’ second time landing in the No. 1 spot, though viewership during the Aug. 29-Sept. 4 window dropped from last week’s 68.5 million hours. “Devil in Ohio” debuted at No. 2 with 35.4 million hours watched in its first 3 days of availability. The limited series is created by Daria Polatin based on her novel of the same name and stars Emily Deschanel as hospital psychiatrist Dr. Suzanne Mathis as she shelters a mysterious cult escapee whose arrival threatens to tear her own family apart.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent MK2 Films has scored key territory deals on Japanese director Koji Fukada’s “Love Life,” which makes its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival. Set in contemporary Japan, “Love Life” is a character-driven film revolving around Taeko and her husband, Jiro, who are living a peaceful existence with her young son, Keita. When a tragic accident brings the boy’s long-lost father, Park, back into her life, Taeko throws herself into helping this deaf and homeless man to cope with the pain and guilt. Popular Japanese actress Fumino Kimura (“The Fable: The Killer Who Doesn’t Kill”) headlines the film. MK2 Films has now sold the movie to Teodora (Italy), Imagine (Benelux), Leopardo (Portugal), Demiurg (Ex Yugoslavia), New Cinema (Israel), Swallow Wings (Taiwan), Edko (Hong Kong), Impact Films (India) and Encore Inflight (Airlines).

Naman Ramachandran Lionsgate India Studios is producing its first feature film, an as-yet-untitled coming-of-age story. Directed by Milind Dhaimade (2016 London Film Festival selection “You Are My Sunday”), the Hindi-language film is a comedy revolving around a mother and son relationship. It stars Neetu Kapoor (“Jug Jugg Jeeyo”), Sunny Kaushal (“The Forgotten Army – Azaadi Ke Liye”) and Shraddha Srinath (“Maara”). Lionsgate India has previously produced several series for Starz streamer Lionsgate Play, including “Hiccups & Hookups,” “Jugaadistan” and “Feels Like Home.” Rohit Jain, MD, South Asia and networks – emerging markets Asia, Lionsgate, said: “Lionsgate remains bullish on investments in India spotlighting the region in the global growth strategy. Lionsgate Studios in India is delighted to announce its maiden Hindi film. With Milind at the helm of it, each character has been cast perfectly to depict this beautiful story that we’re sure audiences will love. We are running at a rapid pace with 8-10 grand projects in the pipeline, within a year – expect big announcements coming your way soon from the Lionsgate India Studios’ desk.”