Hindi
IFFI 2007 will have 700 additional seats
MUMBAI: The first meeting of the Organizing Committee for IFFI-2007 was held on 25 October under the chairmanship of information & broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi. The meeting deliberated on the various issues related to IFFI-2007 and reviewed the level of preparedness for the event.
The organising committee took the following decisions:
The opening and closing functions will be simple and elegant in keeping with the practice in most of the prestigious international film festivals. The focus will be on the opening and closing film. There will be no entertainment programme at these functions. The awards ceremony will be held at the closing function. This would be followed by the screening of the closing film.
Two new theatres with a seating capacity of 300 seats are being built in the Festival Complex. Two public theatres are being upgraded and provided with the latest projection facilities, thereby making another 400 seats available for the festival.
The total number of delegates that may be registered has been fixed in proportion to the availability of theatre seats.
The registration system for all delegates has been made completely on-line. Delegate cards will be prepared well in advance so that there are no long queues at the registration counter.
For the first time a ticketing system has been introduced whereby every delegate will have to book in advance for any films that he/she would like to see. A maximum of three tickets for every delegate and five for every media person will be issued.
The delegate registration fee for late registration has been considerably enhanced to Rs 1000. Students, will however, be given a concession of 50 per cent.
The Indian Panorama will have 21 features and 15 non-feature films selected by a peer Jury headed by KS Sethumadhavan, and Arun Khopkar respectively. Indian Retrospectives will showcase Retrospective on the films of Tapan Sinha and Vijay Anand. Homages section will focus on Cinematographer KK Mahajan, actress Vanamala Devi and music director OP Nayyar.
Among the highlights of foreign section are, 14 feature films from Asia, Africa and Latin America in the Competition Section. Cinema of the World will have about 60 award winning feature films from 40 countries.
Master Classes, Technical Retrospective. Foreign Retrospectives and Country Focus will be the other features of IFFI-2007.
For the first time, two programmers from the Goa government will be curating for IFFI with two separate sections called – India 60 which will celebrate India‘s 60th anniversary with three feature films and two documentary films and a retrospective package on Volker Schlondorff, the eminent German film maker.
The Film Market will be organized by NFDC with the participation of CII and FICCI. The NFDC is organizing a buyer‘s lounge and co production market. FICCI is organizing a seminar and master class on animation and visual effects. CII will organise ‘The Big Picture‘ Conference.
A new initiative is being undertaken by NFDC in partnership with DFF where international consultants and experts will advise and work with selected filmmakers to develop scripts of international quality.
Hindi
Dhurandhar 2 trouble: BMC moves to blacklist Aditya Dhar’s B62 Studios
Blacklist move follows torch, drone and permit violations; producers lean on a legal workaround
MUMBAI: Mumbai’s civic bosses have turned up the heat on a big-ticket sequel. The BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) has moved to blacklist Aditya Dhar’s B62 Studios after a string of safety and permit breaches during the shoot in Mumbai. The message is blunt. Flout the rules, forfeit the privileges.
Officials cite repeated violations, including lit torches in a high-security heritage zone, a drone flown without clearance, location changes, a terrace used without permits, and two generator vans run without approvals. Mumbai Police stepped in during a night shoot in the Fort precinct, seizing five mashals and warning the crew to avoid flammable props. A separate case was filed at MRA Marg Police Station against location manager Rinku Rajpal Valmiki for flying a drone without permission.
The civic playbook is escalating. A-ward officials have recommended blacklisting the studio from the state’s single-window filming portal, forfeiting a Rs 25,000 deposit and imposing a Rs 1 lakh penalty. The deputy municipal commissioner has cleared the proposal for action, with notices to follow.
Yet the production’s pulse remains steady. A source close to the unit says filming continues and the March 19 release, timed for Eid, Gudi Padwa and Ugadi, remains intact. Co-producer Jio Studios can route fresh permissions through an unblacklisted applicant, a loophole that keeps cameras rolling even if named applicants are barred. The ban bites, but it does not block.
The film, starring Ranveer Singh, arrives with commercial heft. The previous instalment minted over Rs 1,300 crore worldwide, sharpening the incentive to stay on schedule. The sequel also faces competition from Toxic: A Fairytale for Grownups by Geethu Mohandas, headlined by Yash.
For now, the crackdown raises compliance costs, not curtains. Permits can be rerouted, penalties paid and shoots rescheduled. In Mumbai’s film economy, the show rarely stops. It simply finds a new entry point and races to make its date.
