‘MODERN LOVE’ THIRD ITERATION SETS RELEASE
Prime Video has set May 18 for the global release of its upcoming Indian anthology series “Modern Love Chennai.” This is the third Indian adaptation of “Modern Love,” the internationally acclaimed original anthology directed by John Carney, following “Modern Love Mumbai” and “Modern Love Hyderabad.”
Produced under the banner of Tyler Durden and Kino Fist, with Thiagarajan Kumararaja as the creator, the six-episode anthology presents a bouquet of love stories set in the city of Chennai that explore relationships, push boundaries, and open minds.
“Love stories and rom-coms have never been my cup of tea. Thus, ‘Modern Love Chennai’ was an interesting challenge,” said Kumararaja, creator of the series and writer-director of one of the episodes. “With these stories, we have explored and celebrated the old-world charm of the city, which remains rooted in a distinct blend of tradition and modernity.”
FESTIVAL WINNERS
The Jeonju International Film Festival, one of Korea’s prime film events, came to an end over the weekend. Before that, organizers announced that “There Is a Stone,” directed by Ota Tatsunari had won the grand prize in the international competition, with “About the Clouds” by Maria Aparicio taking the best picture prize and Paul Preciado’s “Orlando My Political Biography,” earning a special jury prize.
In the separate Korean competition Shim Dongmin’s “From You” was the grand prix winner. The best actor awards went to Lee Sul in “A Tour Guide,” and Kim Howin in “Small Fry.” A special mention went to “Regardless of Us,” by Yoo Heong-jun. CGV and Watcha awards went to Shim Hye-jung’s “Flowers of Mold” and Han Jay’s “No Heaven, But Love” also earned a Watch award. The NETPAC award went to Huang Ji and Otsuka Ryuji’s “Stonewalling.”
In the adjacent project market development grant from the Jeonju Lab went to Kim Taejin for “Amos”; Moon Hyein for “Samhee: The Adventure of 3 Joys”; Kang Jiwon for “Tree in the Garden”; Cho Yoonsun for “Touch,” Cho Eunsol for “The Silent Bride”; Heo Chulnyung for “A Poem From a Strange Country”; Lim Daecheong for “Red Diary”; and Lee Sanhah for “Guest Workers.” Work-in-progress film “Mimang” received KRW5 million ($40,000) for distribution support.
SPIDER-VOICE
Celebrated cricketer Shubman Gill has joined the Hindi and Punjabi voice casts of Sony’s upcoming animated movie “Spider-Man: Across the Spider Verse.” He will play the character Pavitr Prabhakar. “I have grown up watching ‘Spider-Man’ and he is one of the most relatable superheroes. Getting to be the voice of our Indian ‘Spider-Man’ was such a remarkable experience for me. Already, I feel superhuman. The film will be released in India on June 2, 2023 in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi and Bengali versions.
THEATRICAL OUTING
Producer, Abundantia Entertainment and Prime Video, have set July 7 for the theatrical release of Vidya Balan-starring murder-mystery “Neeyat.” The film is directed by Anu Menon (“Killing Eve”) who previously directed Balan in the 2020 hit “Shakuntala Devi.”
The film is a suspense story of an unlikely detective (Balan) who investigates mysterious murders at a billionaire’s party where nothing is what it seems and all suspects hide a secret or two. It was written by Menon, Priya Venkataraman, Advaita Kala and Girvani Dhyani with dialogues by Kausar Munir. An ensemble cast includes: Ram Kapoor, Rahul Bose, Neeraj Kabi, Amrita Puri, Shahana Goswami, Niki Walia, Dipannita Sharma, Shashank Arora, Prajakta Koli, Danesh Razvi, Ishika Mehra and Madhav Deval in pivotal roles.
