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Indian animation will be in the spotlight across the 2024 Annecy Animation Festival.

For the first time, Indian animation will feature at Namaste MIFA, a pitch event at MIFA (Marché International du Film d’Animation) in Annecy. The event, organized by Annecy-backed Indian animation festival AniMela and co-hosted by Assemblage Entertainment and Zebu Animation Studios, will present four work-in-progress projects reflecting diverse themes such as sports, food, gender and tradition. These projects aim to blend Indian essence with universal appeal.

The projects are “Hide & Seek” by Krishna Chandran Nair; “Rising Tides” by Pari Satarkar; “Lala” by Isha Mangalmurti and Shreeya Wagh; and “Table for One” by Debjyoti Saha and Dhruv Sehgal. These projects, part of the international MIFA Campus in India, supported by the French Institut in India and Rubika, Pune, benefited from mentorship at AniMela’s 2024 workshop.

Over at the MIFA Pitch, there are four Indian projects among the 41 global selections,...

Left – Right (Hansal Mehta, Shonali Bose, Nupur Asthana, Nikhil D’ Souza, Meiyang Chang and Bhupendra Jadawat.

Amazon Prime Video is witnessing the love for Modern Love Mumbai growing each day. With the fantastic 6-part anthology reeling in the success since its release last week, the fanfare has reached the streets of the city of dreams. The popular ‘I Love Mumbai’ installation at Bandra Reclamation received a fun makeover to bring out the essence of love and love of Mumbai with a cool new addition.

Not only did Modern Love Mumbai take over our hearts but also the popular installation that is an all time-favourite spot for the general public. Adding to the excitement, the directors and some of the cast of the much-applauded series – Hansal Mehta, Nupur Asthana, Shonali Bose, Bhupendra Jadawat, Meiyang Chang and Nikhil D’ Souza also joined in to be seen with this attraction that celebrates their show.

The Modern Love Mumbai series, now playing on Amazon Prime, Modern is a heartwarming anthology of 6 diverse yet universal stories of multiple human emotions, all rooted in love. It explores love in all of its complicated and beautiful forms, as well as its effects on the human connection. Each episode of this Indian edition of the hugely popular original version brings to life a different story that has been inspired by the New York Times’ beloved Modern Love column. These 6 stories, driven by the vision of 6 eclectic front-running filmmakers of Indian cinema – Hansal Mehta, Vishal Bharadwaj, Nupoor Asthana, Shonali Bose, Dhruv Sehgal and Alankrita Shrivastava, also explore different textures, parts and faces of the city of dreams, Mumbai. The Amazon Original series is created by Rangita and Ishita Pritish Nandy and stars a fantastic ensemble across episodes – Masaba Gupta, Ritwik Bhowmik, Sarika, Danesh Razvi, Tanvi Azmi, Tanuja, Pratik Gandhi, Ranveer Brar,...

Modern Love: Mumbai (Amazon Prime Video)

Six films directed by Alankrita Shrivastava, Hansal Mehta, Nupur Asthana, Vishal Bharadwaj, Dhruv Sehgal, Shonali Bose

Three of the six films—we can’t call them episodes as they are all self-contained independent narratives—are absolute winners. The stand-out films here are clearly Hansal Mehta’s BaaiVishal Bhardwaj’s Mumbai Dragon and Shonali Bose’s Raat RaniThe last being special for Fatima Sana Shaikh’s rousing performance, but more on that later.

Hansal Mehta’s Baai features Pratik Gandhi as the scion of a conservative Muslim family struggling in the closet. Rich in ambiance and brimming with romance music and elegance Baai is a classic representation of what can be done in the Ott space if a filmmaker has his heart set on it. While Pratik and debutant Ranveer Brar are splendidly paired as lovers, Baai brims over with wonderful actors in even the smallest part; for example,...

Modern Love Mumbai will have its global premiere on Amazon Prime Video on May 13, 2022. This series is a new aspect of the original anthology series Modern Love, inspired by the famous New York Times column. This exciting new Amazon Original series will feature six heart-warming stories about discovering and exploring love in all its hues and emotions in three chapters. The eagerly anticipated series explores diverse yet universal stories of different facets, shades, and moods of love, all set in the city’s many unique milieus.

Modern Love Mumbai brings together six of the most prolific minds of Hindi cinema – Vishal Bhardwaj, Hansal Mehta, Shonali Bose, Dhruv Sehgal, Alankrita Shrivastava, and Nupur Asthana.

The series, which features a incredible cast of some of the finest in Hindi cinema, will bring home love this season with soul-stirring and uplifting stories that are rooted in the heart of the city of Mumbai.

The second season of the all-male lead web series ‘Brochara’ is all set to stream on Ott from April 18. The slice-of-life show explores the bromance between four friends, Dhiren, Kanan, Shivashish and Pranay and delves into the nuances of male bonding. In Season 2, the quartet of Dhruv Sehgal, Amey Wagh, Varun Tewari, and […]...

Mumbai, Sep 28 (Ians) Streaming giant Netflix has released the trailer of the fourth and final season of the series ‘Little Things’, which stars Mithila Palkar and Dhruv Sehgal. Directed by Ruchir Arun and Pranjal Dua, ‘Little Things 4’ is a celebration of all the subtle things, the adulthood, the maturity and above all the […]...

Mumbai, March 6: Ott shows seem to pushing the envelope in terms of story-lines and plots, and there are a lot of taboo and sensitive topics being dealt with on the platform. With shows such as The Married Women, which is based on a homosexual relationship, and Fabulous Lives Of Bollywood Wives, where Botox and face upliftment procedures are openly discussed, the Indian audience is now exposed to content on topics that have not been dealt with freely on the Indian screens before.

Sahir Raza, who has directed The Married Woman, says that he is glad that Ott is open to topics as the one his show addresses. "I am glad that Ott doesn't have boundaries. People need to understand that there will always be things you don't like, but putting boundaries only creates restrictions for people who are telling the story. I feel that as we evolve, we need...

Entertainment brand, Filmfare, is ready to embark on the next journey of celebrating excellence in the Ott space after introducing the first-ever edition of Flyx Filmfare Ott Awards. To mark this momentous occasion, Filmfare hosted a virtual press conference on Thursday, 17th December 2020 along with the ever-so-charming actor Kartik Aaryan.

Through the inaugural Flyx Filmfare Ott Awards, Filmfare is all set to felicitate the who’s who of the Ott space and set a milestone in recognizing talent yet again. In its first edition, the nominations were selected basis the votes of the audience across an array of categories spanning across various sections of comedy, drama, web-original and critics’ choice for both web series and web films.

While the crime-thriller Paatal Lok bagged a whopping 11 nominations, Raat Akeli Hai earned 5 nominations. It promises to be a close contest as stellar actors such as Abhishek Bachchan, Jaideep Ahlawat, Manoj Bajpayee, Amit Sadh,...

There's an intrinsic verve that Mithila Palkar brings alive with 'little things' she does when she faces the camera. The actress, who will soon be seen in "Chopsticks", says she is focussed on being a better artist every day, rather than chasing the stardom that entices many into the world of showbiz.

"Chopsticks", in which Mithila has Abhay Deol and a goat as co-stars, is touted as Netflix's first Indian original film. Naturally, she is excited.

"Every first is special," Mithila, who made her Bollywood debut with "Katti Batti" but was put back on the map with "Karwaan", told Ians via recorded responses.

"Karwaan" and "Chopsticks" have a common thread -- a journey.

Talking about the new film, she said: "It's a really fun and sweet movie about this girl who loses her car and takes the help of a conman to get it back. And then we also...

Web SeriesThe year turned out to be one of big wonders on the small screen -- all thanks to the proliferation of over-the-top or Ott platforms in India.IANSWhat's the common thread between Sacred Games, Mirzapur, Breathe, Inside Edge and Ghoul? They are big names and were big hits. But not on the big screen. The year turned out to be one of big wonders on the small screen -- all thanks to the proliferation of over-the-top or Ott platforms in India. It was in 2017 that Ott platforms, which provide video content over the Internet, made their presence felt in the Indian market. This year, its world expanded with a robust roster of content. "Content emerged as the undisputed king, not just in a proverbial sense, but even in terms of what clicked with the audience. Since the audience is becoming increasingly diverse, storytellers have the option to explore narratives...

NetflixThe concerns of a not-so-new couple have been portrayed realistically in this Netflix original series.Saraswati DatarAfter an extremely popular Season 1, Season 2 of the television miniseries Little Things released online recently as a Netflix original. The first five episodes produced by Dice media two years ago won hearts instantly with their realistic and refreshing take on love blooming between two youngsters over little things in the big city of Mumbai. Little Things 2, directed by Ruchir Arun, takes us back into the lives of Dhruv (Dhruv Sehgal) and Kavya (Mithila Palkar) who have been dating for almost five years now. Season 1 ended with Kavya deciding to quit her job and try her hand at something else, after getting tipsy at an impromptu wine tasting. Season 2 opens presumably a couple of years later. The pair is still in love, but the cutesy romance and cuddling has now given way to the concerns of a not-so-new couple.