Taiwan-India Action Comedy ‘Demon Hunters’ to Debut First Footage at Cannes Market (EXCLUSIVE)

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Taking over a family business can be overwhelming, but for Karan Johar, it’s been anything but. It’s been more than 25 years since Johar took over Dharma Prods. founded by his father, Yash.

Naman Ramachandran Rising Indian star, Vaani Kapoor will headline coming-of-age Bollywood drama-comedy “Badtameez Gill,” where she plays the titular character. Aparshakti Khurrana (Prime Video series “Jubilee”) plays Kapoor’s character’s brother in the film and veteran Paresh Rawal (Busan title “The Storyteller”), her father. The film, which is set across Bareilly, northern India, and London, is being directed by Navjot Gulati, whose writing credits include “Running Shaadi,” “Ginny Weds Sunny” with “Jai Mummy Di” and the upcoming “Pooja Meri Jaan” among his directing credits.

Naman Ramachandran Indian studio Applause Entertainment‘s upcoming big-budget series “Gandhi” aims to humanize the Mahatma. The first season covers the formative years of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s life as a law student in London and later as lawyer and civil rights activist in South Africa, during which time he conceived the ideas that ultimately led India to independence from British rule.

Naman Ramachandran Indian streamer SonyLIV has unveiled the cast and a first look for its magnum opus series “Freedom at Midnight.” Based on the 1975 non-fiction book by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, the political drama delves into India’s independence movement, weaving together untold tales and critical moments from the era when the country’s then British colonial rulers partitioned the country into India and Pakistan. Sidhant Gupta (Prime Video series “Jubilee”) plays Jawaharlal Nehru, who became the first Prime Minister of independent India, Chirag Vohra (SonyLIV series “Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story”) Mahatma Gandhi and Rajendra Chawla (Netflix film “Looop Lapeta”) Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who became the first deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of India.

Naman Ramachandran “Joyguru,” a fictionalized account of the life of Indian mystic artist and music icon Parvathy Baul, will launch sales at the upcoming Cannes Film Market. Parvathy Baul is a leading exponent of the syncretic Baul minstrel music tradition that is hugely popular and culturally influential across eastern India and Bangladesh. Written and directed by actor-turned-filmmaker Soumyajit Majumdar (“#Homecoming”), the film will follow folk music icon Radhika Das Baul and popular Bollywood film music director Ritwik during their unlikely collaboration for a pioneering music album of Baul songs transcreated in Hindi, where they form a unique bond, a few days before her sudden and mysterious disappearance from her ashram near Shantiniketan, India.

Naman Ramachandran Eminent Indian documentarian Nishtha Jain’s latest effort is an account of the epic, year-long farmers’ protest that took place in India in 2020-21. “Farming the Revolution,” which world premieres at Hot Docs, follows the millions of Indian farmers who gathered during the height of COVID-19 lockdown at the borders of the country’s capital, Delhi, to protest against newly enacted farm laws. The farmers believed that if implemented, these laws would negatively impact the government-protected farmers’ markets, leaving them to the vagaries of the free market.

EXCLUSIVE: New York Times best-selling author Neil Gaiman is teaming with Graphic India for the English-language animated movie, Cinnamon.

Priyanka Chopra-Produced Doc Debuting On Prime Video India

Naman Ramachandran Billionaire Mukesh Ambani‘s streamer JioCinema is making a play to become India’s top streaming service by introducing cheap premium tier plans. From April 25, the service’s existing INR999 ($12) annual plan for international premium content is being replaced by a monthly plan of INR29 (35 cents) for a single device or INR89 ($1.05) monthly for a family plan that covers four devices. The new plans are branded JioCinema Premium and will be up to 4K streaming quality.

EXCLUSIVE: Thirteen years ago, a young Sidharth Sriram promised himself that the first time he would attend Coachella would be the first time he performed.

EXCLUSIVE: Metrograph Pictures announced on Wednesday that Good One — the first feature from writer-director India Donaldson, which premiered to rave reviews at this year’s Sundance Film Festival — will open in theaters nationwide on August 9.

Swiss Films Previews, the only spread of national movies at Switzerland’s Visions du Réel, the country’s leading doc festival. Presented via excerpts at a two-hour showcase on Wednesday, three further titles – “Kalari – the Martial Art of Female Power,” “The Boy from the River Drina” and “Spheres” – underscored the strength in depth of documentary filmmaking in Switzerland and at least in this year’s Previews, a leitmotif.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., the disappointed bride in the failed engagement between Zee and Sony India, has formally ended its quest for a merger. On Tuesday, it withdrew its application before the industry regulator National Company Law Tribunal and said that it will focus instead on internal growth.

Cannes parallel section Directors’ Fortnight has unveiled the line-up for its 56th edition running from May 15 to 23, at a press conference in Paris’s Forum des Images cultural center.

Naman Ramachandran Anil Thadani’s AA Films has acquired the Hindi-language distribution rights for four highly anticipated 2024 southern Indian titles. The films are: Sukumar’s “Pushpa: The Rule – Part 2,” starring Allu Arjun; Shankar’s “Game Changer,” headlined by Ram Charan; Nag Ashwin’s “Kalki 2898 AD” led by Prabhas; and Koratala Siva’s “Devara,” starring NTR Jr. All these films are originally made in the Telugu language but will also be released across India and the world in several Indian languages, including Hindi.

As Barry Hulse walked into the number eight barracks at the maximum security Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai his mind reeled. Awaiting trial for drugs smuggling offences, he'd been locked up with hardcore addicts, terrorists and some of India's most ruthless gangsters.

Naman Ramachandran Indian actor-producer Yash‘s Monster Mind Creations and producer Namit Malhotra’s Prime Focus Studios have partnered on an adaptation of Indian epic “Ramayana” for global audiences. The film will be directed by Nitesh Tiwari, whose “Dangal” is the highest Indian grosser of all time.

The BBC‘s news operation in India has formally split in two, as the UK broadcast organization seeks to comply with local media rules.

Taiwan‘s major awards body Golden Horse will have a consolidated presence at Cannes‘ Marché du Film for the first time, under the umbrella ‘Golden Horse Goes to Cannes’.

Naman Ramachandran The BBC‘s news operations in India have been effectively divided from Wednesday with the launch of Collective Newsroom. Collective Newsroom was formed in December 2023 in order to comply with India’s strict foreign direct investment (FDI) in media rules. The Indian government’s cap on FDI in digital news outfits is 26%.