His next film will again be on the great Indian family. But right now filmmaker Karan Johar is busy making Kal Ho Na Ho conquer international territory. The film, directed by Nikhil Advani and produced by Johar, has just won the prestigious Prix du Public award at the Valencienes Film Festival in France. "They had earlier invited Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham . This time Kal Ho Na Ho was in the competitive section. It competed with well acclaimed films like the Afghani Osama and the Australian Hypnotic. It won the public award," Johar said.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, March 27, 2004

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Even as it makes forays into overseas theatres, Bollywood is gradually spreading its banner across the international cable and terrestrial TV circuit. Small screens in the UK, Indonesia, Singapore, Mauritius, the Gulf, Malaysia and Thailand have become the happy hunting ground for Hindi films. And this is an added distribution avenue, beyond the telecasts of Bollywood movies by satellite channels. Cable television windows are also opening up for Bollywood in Sri Lanka, Russia, US, Iran, Turkey, Canada, South Africa and Fiji. In revenue terms, each of these TV markets is churning out between $100,000 and $1m-plus yearly for tinsel town. "Based on revenues earned by Hindi movies and their demand, the biggest markets are Indonesia, Malaysia and the UK. Indonesia and Malaysia both generate over $1m for Bollywood titles and telecast new productions and nearly 300 earlier films. About six channels in Indonesia show Hindi films," Sushil Agrawal, chairman of the video, cable and satellite sub-group of the Producers' Guild of India, told ET. Compared to Indonesia and Malaysia, TV networks in the UK probably broadcast a lesser number of Hindi films.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, March 25, 2004

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If the Tom Cruises and Nicole Kidmans of Australia are winning hearts in Hollywood, the Indian entertainment industry is doing the same Down Under. In the last four or five years, well over 100 projects have unfolded in various Australian locales. While 60% of these ventures revolve around movie productions, 30% relate to TV commercials and the rest embrace music videos and tele-serials. "While a chunk of these projects have emanated from Bollywood, one also sees a mix of south Indian and Punjabi assignments. The deluge really began from around '98-99, when Indian producers and directors homed into shooting their productions in Australia," Anupam Sharma of Temple Films told ET. Sydney-based Temple Films has been involved in Indian productions for the last six years. Kamal Hasan's 'Hindustani' was one of the first Indian films that had a couple of songs shot in Sydney. And then Feroze Khan exposed Australian locations to Indian producers in a big way with 'Prem Aggan', which was filmed extensively in Australia ," Mr Sharma said, speaking on the sidelines of Ficci's 'Frames' in Mumbai.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, March 23, 2004

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Following the success of shows like Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars at No 42 on British television, it's the turn of American television networks to acknowledge the presence of the growing Indian American community in USA. Two major networks NBC and ABC are developing pilots of shows revolving around an Indian family. While Oscar-nominated filmmaker Mira Nair is developing a television series with Carsey-Werner-Mandabach (CWM) for ABC television network about a Punjabi family living in New Jersey, Ajay Sahgal has created a television series called Never Mind Nirvana for NBC. Never Mind Nirvana is a romantic comedy about a man whose traditional Indian family moves in when he gets engaged to a white woman. The series will revolve around the adjustments and tensions in the family as they come to accept the white Caucasian woman as their bahu. This will be the first time that a mainstream television series will focus on an Indian family. And Ajay Sahgal received his fair share for gratitude from the actors auditioning for Never Mind Nirvana. "The actors reading for the parts told me that it was refreshing to be auditioning for parts other than a cab driver or a laundry store owner, or working in an independent film. It is more substantial than that," he said.

Courtesy: The Pioneer, March 21, 2004

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India will take up a five-phase restoration and conservation of the 12th-century Ta Prohm temple in the Angkor region of central Cambodia, according to K.T. Narasimhan, leader of the Indian team entrusted with the work. "It will take a decade to complete this project. Each phase will consume two years. Built by the Khmer King Jayavarman-VII (A.D. 1181-1220), the Ta Prohm temple was originally called `Rajavihara' and dedicated to the King's mother. Made of sandstone, the temple was built in the "Sarvato Bhadra" style, having entrance on all cardinal directions with a `gopura' superstructure over the entrance wall. "It is very similar to the style of Lord Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam," said the veteran archaeologist, who returned to Chennai this week after a two-month investigation work in Cambodia. For the Ta Prohm project, India has agreed to provide the know-how, technical expertise, materials and funds and the ASI has been assigned the responsibility. The two countries signed an agreement in April, 2002 during the visit of the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to south-east Asia. The project cost is put at Rs. 25 crores. Emphasising that the Indian school of temple architecture influenced the Khmer architecture immensely, he said similarities could be found in many respects. "One can see there influences of Dravidian architecture in the form of pyrammidical structure of Vimanam or that of Rashtrakutas in door jambs or that of Oriya in `sukanasika' (a prominent projection in Vimana). Similarly, the concept of `panchayatana' [having main sanctum at the centre flanked by four sub-shrines on all the cardinal directions] was adopted and improved by them. An Indian example of this concept is the 8th century Lord Amareshwara temple in Amaravati, Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. The Khmer Kings followed even our methodology in construction of temples. For example, Ta Prohm temple was built using stone as the only core material. This method of construction is called `suddha.' Indian examples are Lord Kailasanatha temple in Kancheepuram and the Big Temple in Thanjavur, which were built earlier." Given the historical bonds between the two nations, Mr. Narasimhan said more Indians should evince interest in Cambodian art and culture.

Courtesy: The Hindu, March 21, 2004

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A Hebrew-Sufi qawwali composed by Indian and Israeli musicians is slowly casting its spell on young India lovers in Israel. The new rendition is the brainchild of Shye Ben-Tzur, an Israeli who has been living in India learning Qawwali music and Indian languages. Ben-Tzur's musical CD titled Heeyam, recorded over 16 months in Rajasthan, Mumbai, Varanasi, Delhi, Tel Aviv and New York, has received critical acclaim and is slowly getting popular. The music group consisting of both Indians and Israelis had participated in the Beersheet music festival in Israel and performed in Tel Aviv last September.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times, March 18, 2004

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Too much chasing too little. Eleven Hindi and English news channels are fighting hard to grab a piece of the Rs 330 crore advertising pie. And market leader Aaj Tak with a 29 per cent viewership share gets as much as Rs 150 crore of that. Four of the biggest news channel launches of last year - Star News, NDTV India, NDTV 24 X 7 and DD News - have had varying fortunes in the great news whirligig. While Hindi continues to be the medium, it is clear that channels with an identity continue to outperform others. If NDTV India has Prannoy Roy as its face, Zee News is more often than not first off the blocks with breaking news, while Aaj Tak remains the preferred news channel of the masses with a clear cut advantage through saturation coverage. DD News has the terrestrial reach to sneak into our living rooms. Which leaves Star News as the channel without a distinct niche. An elitist look and feel is proving to be the biggest drawback for the channel, according to media analysts. The Ananda Bazar Patrika-owned and editorially controlled channel's journey has been strewn with regulatory impediments and the channel has limped to a viewership share of 13.9 per cent in the news channel universe. After its celebrated divorce with Prannoy Roy's NDTV and its subsequent marriage with the ABP Group, Star News hasn't made any headway whatsoever. All these channels will be chasing the Rs 450 crore adspend in the news segment (including the southern news channels). Zee, Star and NDTV each get about Rs 40 crore. Another avid analyst said, "There is too much clutter. The share of the growth of the channels is decreasing due to the increasing fragmentation."

Courtesy: The Hindustan Times, March 17, 2004

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The Indian film Matrubhoomi (A Country without Women) directed by Manish Jha was awarded the International Critics Prize at the Deauville's Asian Film Festival, France, while the audience award went to the Bhutanese film Travellers and Magicians directed by Khyentse Norbu.The six-member jury, chaired by French director Olivier Assayas, wrapped up the four-day event in the French seaside town by giving the Golden Lotus award to director Im Sang-Soo for his third full-length feature, starring Moon So-ri.

Courtesy: The Hindustan Times, March 15, 2004

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The two upcoming art exhibitions in New York are an indicator of the growing secondary market of contemporary Indian art. The shows, organised by Sotheby's and Christie's, will be held on March 24 and 25 respectively. This is the first time that spring sales of 20th century Indian art are being held. Says Mallika Sagar, A large number of works have come from the estate of Late Henning Holck-Larsen, former chairman of Larsen and Toubro and known to be a connoisseur of contemporary Indian art. Says Dean, "The Sotheby's sale will offer works not seen in India and rarely seen internationally." These foreign collectors were collecting Indian art in the 50s and 60s in a big way. Clearly this is going to be a trend in the international auctions. Artists whose works are in demand in the international market include Arpita Singh, Ganesh Haloi, Prabhakar Barwe and Jogen Chowdhury. Of late, A. Ramachandran is also surfacing in the international market. One has to wait for three weeks to see what new records are set.

Courtesy: The Hindustan Times, March 14, 2004

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The World Travel & Tourism Council has rated India as the second fastest growing travel and tourism economy in the world in its 2004 Top Ten list. The annualised real growth in travel and tourism demand for India is projected to touch 8.8 per cent between 2005 and 2014. According to the forecast released by the council for 174 countries at the London Stock Exchange on Thursday, India is second only to Montenegro while China occupies the third place. While the annualised real growth for Montenegro is expected to be 10.3 per cent that for China will be 8.7 per cent.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times, March 12, 2004

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Kal Ho Na Ho is the most happening story in the overseas video and theatrical markets among recent releases. Having grossed around $700,000 through DVD sales in the North American and UK markets, the Bollywood blockbuster has clocked $4 million-plus in the theatrical circuit. While the movie had opened at theatres abroad in step with the domestic release, DVDs of the film have been circulated internationally only from mid-February 2004. "Kal Ho Na Ho has done around $2 million theatrically in the US and Canada and $1.5 million in the UK. As far as DVDs go, the North American region has hogged close to $500,000, with the UK market turning over about $200,000," Sushil Agrawal, chairman, Video Federation of India, told The Economic Times. "One was actually expecting Kal Ho Na Ho to ride a bigger launch than the 30,000 DVDs in the US and 10,000 DVDs in UK." In tandem, Khakee, he said, has notched nearly $600,000 from DVDs and over $1 million from theatres mainly in the US and UK. Figuring in the second rung of success stories overseas are films like Maqbool. The movie, apparently inspired by Macbeth, has seen around 15,000 DVDs arriving at retail shelves in the US and UK.

Courtesy: The Economic Times, March 09, 2004