Hindi
Indian film buyers give Filmart 2009 a miss
Hong Kong: Indian buyers at the 13th edition of Filmart in Hong Kong are a dissatisfied lot this year.
“There are very few action films of the kind that are popular in India on offer at Filmart this year,” says a regular buyer at film markets such as Filmart and Cannes. “There are a number of subtle factors involved in the decision to buy films at Hong Kong,” he added.
“While there are fewer cinema goers because of the meltdown, the price of movie rights has not gone down this year. In some cases, the charges have gone up,” revealed another film buyer.
Jackie Chan’s diminishing popularity in India is another important deterrence for buyers from India. His type of films are either too expensive or not viable. “Viewer fatigue with Jackie Chan and martial arts movies has started happening in India,” said an Indian buyer from South India.
“The really big films that will be well accepted will have buyers, and the sellers of big films generally provide the buyer with a reverse negative print. But Indian film buyers will be selective in picking up small films,” said a buyer from Mumbai.
Another big bugbear for Indian buyers at Filmart is conversion of the films that are hawked here. Very few of the sellers have the films in the internegative format. Most sellers at Filmart generally provide the movies on HDCAM or DigiBeta format.
Indian buyers need the content on Reverse Negatives (RN), since very few Indian theatres run movies using digital projection. Cost of conversion, though lower in India, could adversely affect the viability of screening the film in the Indian sub-continent.
“I know of buyers from India who are still sitting on the films that they purchased rights for during the last edition of Filmart because conversion and dubbing is a big cost factor. Quality dubbing in the different Indian languages also affects the profitability,” said another Indian buyer.
Hindi
Rashmika Mandanna, Shanaya Kapoor and Naila Grrewal climb IMDb’s Indian celebrity rankings
Upcoming films and returning shows are driving fan interest across Bollywood and streaming
MUMBAI: Bollywood’s popularity contest has a new weekly scorecard, and the numbers are telling. IMDb’s Popular Indian Celebrities list for this week places Shanaya Kapoor at number six, buoyed by buzz around her film Tu Yaa Main. Naila Grrewal slots in at seven on the back of the returning comedy series Maamla Legal Hai, while Rashmika Mandanna climbs to eighth, riding mounting anticipation for Cocktail 2.
The list, available exclusively on the IMDb app for Android and iOS, tracks trending Indian entertainers and filmmakers each week, drawing on data from more than 200m monthly visits to the platform worldwide.
Further down the rankings, Raaka is keeping two of its biggest names in the spotlight. Deepika Padukone holds 11th position, with Allu Arjun close behind at 13th, as the film continues to find traction with audiences.
The list offers fans a weekly pulse on who is breaking through, who is holding steady, and who is fading. It is a barometer as unsparing as the box office itself.
