Cricketer Kris Srikkanth to produce Madhuri starrer

Former Indian Captain and opening batsman Krishnamachari Srikkanth has entered into the Kannada television industry with the launch of his serial -- Gauthami.

Mr Srikkanth said he was not a stranger to TV production as he had already anchored many programmes, mostly sports related ones, and produced serials in Tamil and Telugu.

Srikkanth said he was producing serials under the banner of Kris Srikkanth Sports Entertainment Private Limited. Gauthami, directed by K S R Das will be telecast on E-TV. Its star cast includes well known actor Anantnag and Madhuri.

Centre unhappy with Karnataka Government's decision to cancel IFFI

The Indian government, startled by the Karnataka government's cancellation of the International Film Festival at Bangalore, is stuck with over 100 films that have already arrived from overseas.

The 32nd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) was scheduled to begin in Bangalore on October 10. The information and broadcasting ministry is unhappy with the Karnataka government over the manner it has gone about canceling the event.

A final decision on the festival, on which the Central and state governments have spent Rs 50 million, would be taken after Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj returned from London.

With over 100 of the 250 films to feature at the event having already arrived, the organisers might hold a token festival for only these films. Award winning filmmakers like James Ivory, Ismail Merchant and Mira Nair were expected to attend the festival.

Smita's resolutions

The newly elected president of the Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association (IMPPA), Ms Smita Thackeray, said her two-point agenda would be declaring a war against video piracy and improving the role and contribution of IMPPA.

Ms Thackeray said that it was her privilege to be a part of such a historic body and to be given the opportunity to direct its future course of action. She also expressed her desire to work on other issues faced by the industry like service tax, sales tax on copyright and proper distribution of wealth and wages.

Apart from Ms Thackeray, Ms Shushma Shiromanee was elected as the senior vice president, Vinay Kumar Sinha as the vice president and Satish Khanna as the treasurer, at the 62nd annual general meeting of IMPPA last week.

Sangeeth Sivan and Sandhya

The Sivan brothers have taken the film industry by storm.

While Santosh awaits the release of Asoka and Sanjeev makes his directorial debut with Waiting for Clinton, their eldest brother Sangeeth is busy wrapping up the Jackie Shroff produced Sandhya.

The film stars Shroff along with Raveena Tandon, Ashutosh Rana and Jaaved Jafferi. The film will release early next year. This is his second Hindi film after Vicky Kumar's Zor, which starred Sunny Deol and Sushmita Sen.

Compiled by Vivek Fernandes
Design: Imran Shaikh