This summer blockbusters galore

Monday, June 12, 2006

New Delhi (UNI): Those forced to remain in the confines of their homes amid the sultry weather and scorching heat of the summer, now have something to ''cool them up''! For a host of ''cool'' flicks, catering to the kids as well as the grown ups are all set to be aired on the small screen this summer to provide some succour to the ''home-bound'' from the sizzling heat. This summer, the Star television network is to telecast some latest 'cool' Bollywood films on its various television channels.

Premiering today on Star Gold is Anant Mahadevan's Aksar which has had people of all ages swaying to its superhit songs like 'Jhalak Dikhla Ja', 'Laagi Laagi' and 'Soniye' set to music by the current bollywood hitmaker Himesh Reshammiya who has also sung 'Jhalak' and 'Laagi Laagi'. One of this year's big hits on the silver screen, Aksar starring Emraan Hashmi, Udita Goswami, Dino Morea and Tara Sharma, will be telecast on Star Gold at 2000 hours today. It is a romantic thriller dealing with human relationships and the mind games between three people. Next week will see the premiere of Rohan Sippy's Bluffmaster on Star Plus. Starring Abhishek Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra, Bluffmaster, one of the hits last year, will be telecast on Star Plus on June 18 at 1200 hours.

''The satellite premiere of Bluffmaster is yet another endeavour on our part to offer viewers the most compelling entertainment on television. And this is just a start. In the coming months, Star Plus viewers can expect to watch the satellite premieres of some of the very biggest blockbusters of recent times'' said Ajay Vidyasar, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Communication. In fact, sources in Star say the coming months could also witness telecast of recent blockbusters like Rakeysh Mehra's Rang De Basanti, John Matthew Mathan's Shikhar and Milan Luthria's Taxi No 9211 on Star Gold. Not wanting to be left behind, Zee TV, the number two television channel behind Star, has lined up several films for telecast in the coming months. Lined up for a premiere on the channel are films like Indra Kumar's Pyare Mohan and Raj Kanwar's Humko Deewana Kar Gaye.

This Summer will also witness the English Movie channel HBO telecast the Hollywood film Hellboy as its ''blockbuster of the month'. Starring Ron Perlman as a comic book hero Hellboy, the film, dealing with the adventures of this hero who loves to eat pancakes, smoke cigars, loves cats and whittles his horns down so he will look less frightening, will be telecast on HBO on June 23 at 9 pm. The channel yesterday telecast 13 Going On 30- a hilarious comedy set in the 1980s which revolves around Geeky Jenna (Jennifer Garner) who wants more than anything else to be popular. She gets her wish fulfilled when an accidental sprinkle of magic dust transforms her from a gawky 13-year-old to a successful 30-year-old magazine editor with a live-in boyfriend.

June 17 will see the premiere of 'Peter Pan', dealing with adventures of Wendy Darling (Rachael Hurd-Wood), John and Michael, Peter Pan (Jeremy Sumpter) and the fairy Tinkerbell (Sagnier) who go on a trip to Neverland. Once there, they become embroiled in the ongoing war between Peter and his archenemy Captain Hook (Jason Isaacs). 'White Chicks', starring Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans premieres on the channel on June 24 at 9 pm.

This summer also sees Cartoon Network host the Indian television premieres of two high quality Indian animation features - Son of Alladin and The Legend of Buddha.

While Son Of Alladin, a 3D animation action adventure thriller about the Prince of Basra, Mustafa who is hunted by the evil sorcerer Zee Zee Ba, premiered on the Cartoon Network yesterday afternoon, 'The Legend of Buddha', a 2D animation feature dealing with the inspirational story of the journey of Prince Siddhartha of the Kingdom of Kapilavastu who is prophesised to abandon his opulent life for one of asceticism and spirituality. 'The Legend of Buddha' captures, in its engaging storyline and enchanting animation, the milestones that mark the path of Prince Siddhartha to Nirvana and his becoming 'The Enlightened One'. The Sahara One has also lined up telecast of latest films like Pankaj Parashar's 'Banaras'. The channel last week telecast Aabra Ka Dabra, India's first 3D Plus film.

For most of the channels, telecast of the latest Bollywood films is an endeavour in the direction of boosting their TRP ratings. For example, for Star, the telecast of latest blockbusters like Amol Palekar's Paheli, David Dhawan's Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya, Priyadrashan's Hulchul and Ashutosh Gowarikar's Swades last year fetched for it more than 2.5 TAM rating points. Sources in the Star network say that in the last ten months, all 4 of the top 4, and 8 of the top 15 rated premieres have been on its Star Gold Channel.

HBO has signed exclusive licensing deals with four major Hollywood studios - Paramount, Sony Pictures Entertainment (Columbia/ TriStar), Universal and Warner Bros - to premiere top Hollywood blockbusters on television in South Asia. Zee recently brought the telecast rights for Raj Kanwar's Akshay Kumar - Katrina Kaif starrer Humko Deewana Kar Gaye while Sahara bought the rights for telecast of Punkaj Parashar's Banaras. Not to be left behind, Sony has bought telecast rights to the popular Punjabi film Des Hoya Pardes starring Gurdas Mann, Juhi hawla and Divya Dutta Recently, Disney Network bought telecast rights of the animation film Hanuman from percept picture company, a branch of Sahara, for airing on its channels as a television series.

After a long time, B R Chopra Film Production is back with a bang on television with the premiere of its mega serial Viraasat tomorrow. According to the producer of the show Ravi Chopra said ''The mega serial in weekday prime time slot will be a show with a difference.'' The success of B R Films depends on the fact that it never repeats the same plot over and over again, he added. The glam quotient of the show would include serial actors Rohit Roy, Sangita Ghosh, Kiran Kumar, Deepak Qazir, Aman Verma, Amar Upadhyay, Jayati Bhatia and Pooja Rawal Ghai.