Subrata Roy, Head of India’s Sahara Group, Dies at 75

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Indian filmmaker and TV personality Karan Johar has become the first Indian director to receive the Variety Vanguard Award, recognizing industry leaders who have significantly contributed to the global entertainment business. On Saturday, Variety’s executive editor of film and media, Tatiana Siegel, handed Johar his award at the third edition of the Red Sea Film Festival, followed by a career-spanning conversation. The director-producer-TV host came out of a seven-year directing hiatus with the highly successful “Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani.” The pause, the filmmaker says, was due to his busy schedule as head of the production company Dharma Productions and the host of “Koffee With Karan,” one of India’s longest-running and most popular talk shows.

Naman Ramachandran Sandeep Vanga Reddy’s blood-soaked Bollywood epic “Animal,” starring Ranbir Kapoor, emerged as the No. 1 film globally with $42.1 million, according to data published by ComScore. “Animal” released across 38 global territories.

Refresh for latest…: New global entry Queen Bey’s concert movie/documentary Renaissance: A Film By Beyoncé put a ring on a $27.4M global debut this weekend. Included in that is $6.4M from 2,621 overseas cinemas.

Naman Ramachandran India is on the verge of producing a global breakthrough streaming hit, leading industry players said over the past week across two panel discussions. The mood in the country has been celebratory, even self-congratulatory, albeit with some justification, after the Oscar wins for S.S.

Tubi Hires Endeavor Exec For International Expansion

Naman Ramachandran Indian actor R. Madhavan is soaking up the accolades for “The Railway Men,” the first production from YRF Entertainment, the streaming production arm of India’s Yash Raj Films. The four-part series deals with the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy and marks the first in a creative partnership between Netflix and Yash Raj.

Naman Ramachandran High powered global experts will feature at the inaugural edition of AniMela, India’s first-ever international festival for animation, VFX, XR, gaming and comics (AVGC-XR). The four-day event is by India’s Aniverse and Visual Arts Foundation (AVAF), which has partnered with the government of India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and France’s Annecy International Animation Festival. As revealed by Variety, the festival will take place Jan.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Though the Red Sea Film Festival will feature a slew of films from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region – including 11 feature films from Saudi Arabia – there is a rich roster of international fare set to launch locally from Jeddah. Kaleem Aftab, the festival’s director of international programming, says they received lots more submissions for this year’s third edition.

Naman Ramachandran Hollywood veteran Michael Douglas was in an expansive mood while delivering a masterclass at the recently concluded International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa, where he also accepted a lifetime achievement award. Douglas was in conversation with producer Shailendra Singh, with whom he explored a sequel to “Romancing the Stone” called “Chasing the Monsoon” 17 years ago. The pair are now looking at another film.

Naman Ramachandran Shah Rukh Khan‘s “Jawan” and “Pathaan,” Rajinikanth‘s “Jailer” and Sunny Deol‘s “Gadar 2” are among the most popular Indian theatrical releases of the year on Amazon’s online entertainment database IMDb. The IMDb year-end rankings mirror the films’ box office performance as the charting films are the biggest Indian hits of the year. Netflix occupies the top two spots in IMDb’s 10 most popular streaming films of the year with “Lust Stories 2” and “Jaane Jaan.” Hitmaking duo Krishna D.K.

Marc Thorpe, the visual effects artist who worked on various Star Wars and Indiana Jones films and created the Robot Wars concept in the early 1990s – around the same time he was first diagnosed with Parkinson’s – died Nov. 24 of complications of the disease. He was 77.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Carmen,” “Foe,” “Limbo,” Australia’s Oscar contender “Shayda,” “Streets of Colour” and “The Royal Hotel” have received the six nominations for best feature film at this year’s Screen Producers Australia Awards. The SPA Awards will be held on Thursday, March 21, 2024, the final evening of the Screen Forever conference. In the documentary feature section, the nominations are “Flyaways,” “Harley & Katya,” “Living With Devils,” “ONEFOUR: Against All Odds,” “The Cape,” “The Giants,” “The Jewish Nazi?” and “The Platypus Garden.” Nominations for best telemovie or miniseries production are “While the Men Are Away,” “The Claremont Murders,” “Wellmania,” “The Messenger,” “Bad Behaviour” and “The Clearing.” “2023 was a year filled with a number of challenges for our industry, but the Australian screen sector continued to delight audiences globally with stories that share our unique culture and creativity,” said SPA CEO Matthew Deaner.

Naman Ramachandran Indian project market Film Bazaar has revealed the winners and deals that took place during the event. Prasad Labs gives out one winning award and three participation awards annually for works in progress. The winner, “Waste Side Story” by Supriyo Sen, gets a free 4K digital intermediate (DI) for 50 hours.

Levi Walker, Jr., best known as the Atlanta Braves mascot Chief Noc-A-Homa, died Friday afternoon at age 80.

Naman Ramachandran Film co-productions between Australia and India received a significant double boost this week with the ratification of a treaty that was proposed last year and the Indian government’s major enhancement of filming incentives. An Australian delegation is attending the ongoing International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa and the concurrent film market, Film Bazaar.

Naman Ramachandran Radhika Apte (“Andhadhun”) and Keerthy Suresh (“Maamannan”) will lead leading Indian studio Yash Raj Films’ streaming production arm YRF Entertainment’s new series “Akka,” Variety has learned. The period thriller will be directed by Dharmaraj Shetty. “Keerthy Suresh and Radhika Apte are considered two of the most gifted female actors in India today.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are reportedly in "panic mode" after realising that their "royal currency is dwindling".

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Jonathan Ogilvie’s post-punk coming-of-age comedy “Head South” will open the 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam on Jan. 25, with the festival running until Feb. 4.

Naman Ramachandran India has considerably enhanced incentives for filming in the country. The Indian federal government will reimburse up to 40% of qualifying production expenditure, up from the 30% level that was announced when the incentives were revealed at Cannes last year. The cap limit for the reimbursement has also been significantly raised from a maximum of INR25 million ($300,000) to INR300 million ($3.5 million).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Sting, Jonas Brothers, Halsey and OneRepublic are among the headline acts set to perform at Lollapalooza India. The music festival is set for a second edition Jan.