NewsIndiaTimes - page 20

News India Times
April 17, 2015
20
Arts & Entertainment
By Arun Kumar
–WASHINGTON
lchemy, an American
movie studio, has
acquired all North
American rights to a
new true-life romantic
comedy “Meet the Patels” from
an Indian-American brother-sis-
ter team. Directed by the sibling
team of Geeta V. Patel and Ravi V.
Patel and produced by Janet
Eckholm and Geeta V. Patel,
“Meet the Patels” will receive a
theatrical release in the U.S. later
this year.
It “is a hilarious and universal
story about family, cultural iden-
tity and the search for love,” said
Alchemy CEO Bill Lee announc-
ing the acquisition of rights in
Los Angeles April 8. “We’re
thrilled to collaborate with the
Patel family to help this gem
cross over to the wide audience it
deserves. It’s a true crowd pleas-
er, and we expect tremendous
word of mouth.”
“Festival screenings had been
selling out with lines around the
block, and we couldn’t keep up
with the demand,” Geeta and
Ravi Patel said. “Thanks to UTA
and Alchemy, “Meet the Patels”
will hit theaters across the coun-
try this year. This is going to be
fun!”
“Meet the Patels” premiered at
the Los Angeles Film Festival last
year where it won the Audience
Award and went on to win that
same award at Hot Docs and
Michael Moore’s Traverse City
Film Festival where it also won
the Best Film Award. The film
will also be screened at the New
York Indian Film Festival May 8.
The laugh out loud, true-life
romantic comedy centers on the
romantically inexperienced, first
generation Indian-American
Ravi Patel, who’s suddenly
thrown into the deep end of the
dating pool when he reluctantly
consents to letting his parents
find him a soulmate through tra-
ditional cultural means.
The acquisition follows the
recent rebrand of Millennium
Entertainment as Alchemy, a
name that embodies the compa-
ny’s goals of uniting storytellers
and their audiences in one
dynamic community.
Independent Television Service
(ITVS) co-produced and co-
financed the project. ITVS is
known for supporting films that
enrich the cultural landscape
with the voices and visions in
communities seldom heard
through mainstreammedia.
Additional funding for the film
was provided by Impact Partners,
Centre for Asian American
Media, Tribeca Film Institute,
Whitewater Films, Hartley Film
Foundation and Chicken & Egg
Pictures.
Meanwhile, Ravi Patel has
booked a series regular role
opposite John Stamos in Fox’s
single-camera comedy pilot
“Grandpa,” from ABC Studios
and 20th TV.Written by Danny
Chun and produced by Dan
Fogelman, “Grandpa” centers on
Jimmy (Stamos), a charismatic
longtime bachelor whose life is
upended when he discovers he’s
a father – and a grandfather.
Patel, repped by TalentWorks,
Seven Summits and attorney
Gregg Gellman, will play Ken,
Jimmy’s (Stamos) good friend
who is always up for a party but
is never invited to one,
Deadline.com reports.
– IANS
–MUMBAI
T
he prosecution in the
Salman Khan trial on April 9
rested its case against the
Bollywood actor, demanding he
be convicted for culpable homi-
cide not amounting tomurder,
which attracts a 10-year jail term.
Public prosecutor Pradeep
Gharat who concluded his final
arguments before Additional
Sessions Judge D.W. Deshpande,
forcefully argued that evidence
shows that Salmanwas under the
influence of liquor, rashly driving
the vehicle without a licence with
prior knowledge of the place and
also that it could harmothers.
He cited several cases, includ-
ing another high-profile hit-and-
run case of industrialist Alistair
Pereira and the Sanjeev Nanda
hit-and-run case of 1999 inNew
Delhi.
“The Alistair Pereira (of 2006)
and Salman Khan case are identi-
cal and from the same locality
(Bandra). This is a fit case for con-
viction under IPC’s section 304
(2),” Gharat said.
“It’s very clear. Section 304 (2)
is attracted when it is proved that
even if the accused had no inten-
tion to cause such bodily injury as
was likely to cause death, but had
the knowledge that the injury
could cause death,” argued
Gharat.
In the present case, the
emphasis was on knowledge that
there was a 90-degree sharp turn
where work was in progress and
he should have beenmore cau-
tious, he noted.
With the prosecution argu-
ments concluded, defense lawyer
Shrikant Shivade was to start his
final arguments fromApril 10.
Salman, 49, was exempted
frompersonal appearance but his
sister Alvira was present in court
to the witness the proceedings.
Shivade is expected to further
his case that the actor was neither
drunk nor driving the vehicle on
the night of September 28, 2002,
when it ran over sleeping pave-
ment dwellers, leaving one dead
and four others injured.
The case took a dramatic turn
after Salman’s statement was
recorded under Criminal
Procedure Code’s Section 313
when the defense brought for-
ward Ashok Singh, a family driver
of the Khans who owned up the
accident.
Besides the serious charge of
section 304 (2), Salman is facing
charges under various other sec-
tions of the indian Penal Code, the
MotorVehicles Act and the
Bombay Prohibition Act.
– IANS
A
LosAngeles StudioPicks UpNorthAmericanRights for ‘Meet the Patels’
– that’s all you need to know
Convict Salman for CulpableHomicide, ProsecutionDemands
– LOS ANGELES
N
ational Award-winning
Tamil children’s film
“Kaaka Muttai” will
have its U.S. premiere at the
forthcoming 13th edition of
the Indian Film Festival of Los
Angeles (IFFLA), which began
April 8 here.
Besides “Kaaka Muttai”
(“Crow’s Egg”), the festival will
also screen “Jai Ho”, a docu-
mentary on double Oscar-
winning composer A.R
Rahman and “Amma & Appa,”
about a filmmaking south
Indian/German couple and
their parents.
IFFLA 2015 will screen 25
films, including four world
premieres, seven North
American premieres, two U.S.
premieres, and 10 Los Angeles
premieres.
The films hail from six dif-
ferent countries, including
India, United States, United
Kingdom, France, Germany,
and Cuba, in 10 different lan-
guages – fromHindi and Tamil
to English, Spanish and
German.
“Many of the films at this
year’s IFFLA look at contem-
porary youth from diverse
backgrounds, united in their
creative ways of overcoming
life’s situations. The palpable
energy of youth spirit runs
throughout our film lineup,
and these stories take you on
an adventurous journey,”
Jasmine Jaisinghani, IFFLA’s
artistic director told IANS.
The festival’s popular
“Bollywood by Night” series
returns this year with the
screening of Bollywood classic
“Taal.”
– IANS
‘KaakaMuttai’ Goes to
IndianFilmFestival of LosAngeles
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