Shah Rukh Khan’s ‘Pathaan’ to Receive Bangladesh Theatrical Release (EXCLUSIVE)

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Recently-established Philippines-based production and financing company, Fire and Ice, has deals to provide completion funding to two films being produced by prolific Singapore-based independent producer Potocol. Under a related agreement, Fire and Ice has also struck a multi-faceted first-look deal with Potocol. The completion funding, which gives Fire and Ice a share of the film’s equity, will permit the completion of post-production of upcoming Potocol titles: “Pierce,” a sports drama by Nelicia Low, and “Last Shadow at First Light,” by Nicole Midori Woodford. Both films were recently showcased at Focus Asia’s Far East In Progress, part of the Far East Film Festival in Udine, and are expected to be completed before the end of the year.

Naman Ramachandran A-lister Manoj Bajpayee, one of the few Indian actors who scores critical acclaim and commercial success in equal measure, has notched up another triumph with ZEE5 Global film “Sirf Ek Bandaa Kaafi Hai.” Directed by Apoorv Singh Karki (Prime Video series “Flames”) and written by Deepak Kingrani (Disney+ Hotstar series “Special OPS”), the film is a courtroom drama based on the real-life case of a once-revered and powerful Indian religious leader who is currently serving a life term in jail for the rape of an underage girl. Bajpayee plays the prosecuting lawyer who is pitted against a phalanx of celebrity lawyers. “Usually what happens is that, you spend some time with the real person. Somewhere, I realized it’s a two-hour film, you have to have your own preparation away from the real guy, who is somebody who’s not even known to the world. And he’s achieved a feat in five years of continuous court hearings that is remarkable,” Bajpayee told Variety. “Instead of just creating or imitating a real person, let’s have the essence of him – the relentlessness and the courage and somebody who is stubborn about what he’s doing, completely focused, and he’s a good son, good father. I wanted to take all of it and make a character of my own and take a little bit of his physicality when I got to meet him before the shoot – I think it worked.”

Naman Ramachandran Filmmaker Jude Anthany Joseph’s critically and commercially acclaimed Malayalam-language film “2018,” which released on May 5, will bow pan India on May 26 in the Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages. The Hindi-language version of the film will be released via E4 Entertainment. “2018” narrates the story of the devastating Kerala floods that occurred in 2018 when people from all walks of life came together to survive the calamity. The film aims to convey the message that humanity can win over adversity. It stars Netflix’s “Minnal Murali” lead Tovino Thomas alongside Indrans, Kunchacko Boban (Netflix’s “Ariyippu”), Aparna Balamurali, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Asif Ali, Lal, Narain, Tanvi Ram, Sshivada, Kalaiyarasan, Aju Varghese, Siddique, Joy Mathew and Sudheesh. It released in its home state Kerala and in a few neighbouring states and has earned more than $16 million theatrically so far, including U.S. and U.K. box office.

Naman Ramachandran Indian Oscar winner Guneet Monga Kapoor’s Sikhya Entertainment and multihyphenate Karan Johar’s Dharmatic Entertainment have teamed for the first time to produce original series “Gyaarah Gyaarah” for streamer ZEE5. Directed by Umesh Bist (Sikhya-Balaji Motion Pictures-Netflix film “Pagglait”) and co-written by Puja Banerji and Sunjoy Shekhar, the series, described as being in the investigative fantasy drama genre, is set across three decades and timelines – 1990, 2001 and 2016 – and blends mysticism, science and mystery. The series will be produced by Monga Kapoor and Achin Jain for Sikhya and Johar and Apoorva Mehta for Dharmatic.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent FilmRise, the New York-based film and TV studio and streaming network, and Canal+ Docs have boarded “Missing From Fire Trail Road,” Sabrina Van Tassel (“The State of Texas vs. Melissa”)’s long-gestated documentary film about the crimes against indigenous women. “Missing From Fire Trail Road” sheds light on the case of Mary Ellen Johnson-Davis, a Native-American woman who disappeared in 2020, and exposes how hundreds of indigenous women continue to go missing in the US, perpetuating trans-generational trauma on Indian reservations. The announcement was made today by Max Einhorn, SVP of acquisitions and co-productions at FilmRise, Christine Cauquelin, head of documentaries at Canal+ and Van Tassel, who is also producing the feature.

Naman Ramachandran After a successful launch at SXSW earlier this year, the South Asian House initiative, which aims to highlight, recognize and appreciate South Asians in film and television, is set to debut at the Tribeca Festival, New York, on June 16. Brainchild of producers, curators and programmers Rohi Mirza Pandya (Box Office Guru Media and Desipina), Monika Samtani (Ms. Media and The Fem Word), Jitin Hingorani (Jingo Media and DFW South Asian Film Festival) and Kirtana Banskota (Banskota Productions and Nepal America Film Society), the event will showcase programming focused on the funding, creation and distribution of South Asian stories for a global audience. The day will consist of two panel discussions focused on content creation in the diaspora and the Indian film industry and will be part of the AT&T Untold Stories Lounge at Spring Studios.

Naman Ramachandran South Asian focused streamer ZEE5 has unveiled a 111-strong 2023 slate on the occasion of its fifth anniversary. The lineup is across the Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Bangla, Punjabi and Marathi languages. The content is from top producers including Dharma Productions, Salman Khan Films, Oscar winner Guneet Monga’s Sikhya Entertainment, Bhanushali Studios, The Viral Fever, Applause Entertainment, Rose Audio Visuals, Vikas Bahl, Vivek Agnihotri, Nagraj Manjule and Sudhir Mishra. A-list performers in the shows and films include Manoj Bajpayee, Pankaj Tripathi, Huma Qureshi, Arya, Parambrata Chatterjee, Vijay Sethupathi, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Radhika Apte.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Leading French producer Michael Gentile’s Paris-based outfit The Film is about to start shooting Julie Delpy’s next directorial outing, “The Barbarians,” and Laurence Arné’s “Les Hennedricks” starring Dany Boon. Delpy’s comeback to French filmmaking since “Lolo,” “The Barbarians” is a satirical comedy unfolding in a small town in Brittany which is preparing to welcome Ukrainian refugees after voting unanimously to greet them in exchange for subsidies from the government. But instead of seeing Ukrainians come into town, they see Syrian refugees, causing some tensions among locals and testing their liberal beliefs. Delpy will star in the film opposite Sandrine Kiberlain (“Mademoiselle Chambon”), Laurent Lafitte (“Elle”) and Ziad Bakri (“The Weekend Away”), India Hair (“Angry Annie”), Mathieu Demy (“The Bureau”) and Delpy’s father Albert Delpy.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International MUBI has acquired all rights for Kevin Macdonald’s John Galliano documentary from Newen Connect. The film “High & Low — John Galliano” has sold to MUBI for North America, U.K. and Ireland, Germany, Austria, Latin America, Benelux, Turkey and India. The streamer and distributor will reveal its theatrical release plans and streaming dates in the near future. Macdonald’s credits include the Oscar-winning “One Day in September,” “Touching the Void,” “The Last King of Scotland,” “Whitney” and, most recently, “The Mauritanian.” Widely recognized as one of the most influential and successful fashion designers of our time, Galliano dressed the most beautiful and famous women in the world for almost 15 years at Givenchy and Dior. He reinvented the fashion industry by transforming his runway shows into immersive fantasies and helped turn high-fashion from an elitist niche into a multi-billion-dollar global business.

Naman Ramachandran India’s Richa Chadha and the U.K.’s William Moseley will headline the cast of India-U.K. co-production “Aaina.” The film, set between London and India, is a drama about the impact of the cycle of violence, both within cultures and on human beings in the form of PTSD. It marks the feature directorial debut of Markus Meedt, who previously directed several acclaimed shorts, including “Shelter” and “Anonymous” and episodes of mini-series “Let’s Get Macho.” Chadha starred in “Gangs of Wasseypur” and “Masaan,” both of which debuted at Cannes. She was most recently in Disney+ Hotstar series “The Great Indian Murder.” Moseley made a mark as a child actor in the Narnia franchise. He was one of the leads in “Land of Dreams,” which debuted at Venice, and was also in Indian film “Margarita With A Straw,” which had festival play at Toronto, Busan and London.

Naman Ramachandran “Padatik,” a birth centenary homage to Indian auteur Mrinal Sen, is in post-production and is aiming to launch at a major film festival this fall. Sen is probably India’s most revered filmmaker after Satyajit Ray. Sen was born on May 14, 1923 in Faridpur, British India, now in Bangladesh and died in 2018, leaving behind a glittering array of work, most of which are considered landmarks of Indian cinema, including “Neel Akasher Neechey” (1959), “Baishey Shravana” (1960), “Akash Kusum” (1965), “Bhuvan Shome”(1969), “Interview,” (1971), “Calcutta 71” (1972), “Padatik” (1973), “Mrigayaa” (1976), “Ek Din Pratidin” (1979), “Akaler Sandhane” (1980), “Kharij” (1982) and “Khandhar” (1983).

The Jonas Brothers are stepping out for the night!

Have you watched season two of Sweet Tooth yet on Netflix? If not, what are you waiting for?!

Naman Ramachandran Prolific Indian actor Anil Kapoor will star in “Subedar” for Vikram Malhotra’s Abundantia Entertainment. The film will be directed by Suresh Triveni, who previously directed T-Series’ comedy-drama “Tumhari Sulu” (2017) and T-Series and Abundantia’s Prime Video original thriller “Jalsa” (2022), both headlined by Vidya Balan. “I have done a lot of action films, but this is a pure action film, a dramatic action film,” Kapoor told Variety. “I’m excited about it.” The plot is under wraps at the moment. Principal photography will commence Sept. 15. Kapoor also confirmed that he is on board and will play the lead in the Hindi-language adaptation of 2019 Malayalam-language hit “Android Kunjappan Ver 5.25,” where a father-son relationship gets an endearing twist when an AI humanoid enters their lives.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International A trademark battle is brewing between two Indigenous North American producers over the use of an Indigenous descriptor in their respective company names. The bubbling dispute between Frisco, Texas-headquartered IndigiStudios — founded by actor Gary “Litefoot” Davis, known for his role as Little Bear in the 1995 film “The Indian in the Cupboard” — and Kelvin Redvers’ Vancouver-based IndigiFilm Media raises questions about the use and protection of cultural identity-based descriptors in corporate names. Canadian producer Redvers, a member of the Dene nation, set up film and TV production company IndigiFilm in June, with an eye on developing and producing scripted and unscripted projects in Canada and overseas.

Never Have I Ever is back for the final time!

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Prime Video has set May 18 for the global release of its upcoming Indian anthology series “Modern Love Chennai.” This is the third Indian adaptation of “Modern Love,” the internationally acclaimed original anthology directed by John Carney, following “Modern Love Mumbai” and “Modern Love Hyderabad.” Produced under the banner of Tyler Durden and Kino Fist, with Thiagarajan Kumararaja as the creator, the six-episode anthology presents a bouquet of love stories set in the city of Chennai that explore relationships, push boundaries, and open minds.  “Love stories and rom-coms have never been my cup of tea. Thus, ‘Modern Love Chennai’ was an interesting challenge,” said Kumararaja, creator of the series and writer-director of one of the episodes. “With these stories, we have explored and celebrated the old-world charm of the city, which remains rooted in a distinct blend of tradition and modernity.” 

Naman Ramachandran Indian studio Excel Entertainment has promoted business head Vishal Ramchandani to the newly created position of CEO. An MBA by qualification, Ramchandani joined Excel in 2008, in the marketing division. In 2013, he was entrusted with the duties of heading the division, where he spearheaded award-winning marketing campaigns for films such as “Fukrey,” “Baar Baar Dekho,” “Gold” and “Gully Boy.” In 2018, Ramchandani was elevated to the position of business head. In this role, he played a pivotal role in transforming Excel Entertainment from a creative production house to a studio that self-funds, markets and distributes its films. Under his leadership, the company’s distribution business diversified with the K.G.F. franchise, which became a nationwide blockbuster. He was also instrumental in Excel expanding into different verticals such as a talent division and co-production deals, as well as facilitating new media ventures.

Ever since joining as GoJo CEO Lukas Matsson in season 3, Alexander Skarsgård has been an enigmatic presence on creator Jesse Armstrong's Emmy-winning HBO drama. And in the fourth and final season, the character has only become more maniacal as his dealings with Waystar Royco and the Roy family get more and more complicated. And after the recent revelation about Lukas' penchant for sending bricks of his frozen blood to his ex-girlfriend and head of communications for GoJo, Ebba (Eili Harboe), something that could lead to a sexual harassment scandal for everyone involved, episode seven doubled down on the CEO's unethical behavior and questionable business practices. As it turns out, «he's not even a real coder,» Ebba tells Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) after Lukas made his harassment of her public when he threatened to have Greg (Nicholaus Braun) fire her during Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Tom's (Matthew Macfadyen) pre-election day party.

Warner Bros Discovery has signed a multi-year licensing deal with Viacom18 under which its JioCinema service will become the new streaming home of HBO, Max Original and Warner Bros content in India starting next month.