EORTV’s Latest Venture, Launches EORToK, a Talent Sharing Feature on the App

After beta testing, users will now be able to access EORTok and create short videos showcasing their talent from 17th January 2023

EORTV, India’s premiere OTT platform focusing on LGBTQ storytelling has now launched a new feature called EORTok where users can post short format videos and engage, interact and build an audience like any other social media application and above all participate in EORTV’s ongoing auditions across vocations. After the beta testing stage, EORTok is now open to all and is designed with the aim to help skilled individuals follow their passion acts as the perfect stage for individuals who wish to exhibit their prowess in a certain field and select users will get the opportunity to work in EORtV’s upcoming original web series.

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Is this the end of Bollywood Cinema?

Bollywood or Hindi cinema has been mainstay of entertainment for Indians since ages. The biggest stars even today are from Bollywood; Amitabh Bachchan’s films ran from Bihar to what was then Bombay to Bangalore while South stars had a limited market. Chiranjeevi does not have a market outside Telugu states, while a few Tamil stars have some market in Telugu states, but none of them have been consistent. Take the case of Suriya, Karthi or even Vishal, their last hit in Telugu was ages ago.  So Bollywood has been, is and will be the biggest entertainment medium of the nation.

Let me discuss a few points on why I feel Bollywood is still a force to reckon with and why it will bounce back.

Are Pan Indian films the way forward?

No, they are not. The only films which run across India are Bollywood films, a south film has to be dubbed even in other southern languages to reach out to the audience, A Hindi film can run housefull in Palakkad for weeks in regular shows while a Malayalam film without dubbing won’t find audience outside the native speakers when released in the other Southern states.

After Baahubali: The Beginning, there was lot of talk about how Pan Indian films are the flavour. Guess what which film did well after Baahubali, it was the second part, there was no South films which impressed the audience on such a large scale.

Films like Saaho, Radhe Shyam did not even bring in crowd even in their home state let aside their other markets. I am sure nobody remembers films like Prabhu Deva starrer Tutak Tutak Tutiya,  Rana Daggubati’s Haathi Mere Saathi, Mohanlal’s Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham, Sudeep’s Pailwaan and Vikrant Rona, Chiranjeevi’s Sye Raa Narasimha and many more. No one even remembers them in their home market. Like in case of Sudeep and Chiranjeevi, they have attempted so many Pan Indian films that it got panned even by their home state.

Dubbing in four languages does not mean, the film is Pan Indian. The content has to be right and producers should have the money to pump it aggressively. Take the case of Har Har Mahadev, the makers claimed it was a Pan Indian film, yet no posters in Malayalam or Tamil were printed, nor was even the film released there.

There was, is and will be anomalies like Ek Duje Ke Liye, Hindustani but that does not mean Bollywood is in danger. For Telugu their biggest hit of 2022 was RRR. Films which starred their biggest stars were turned out to be dud right from Mahesh Babu, to Chiranjeevi to Nagarjuna none could capture the seats at the theatre.

Gangubai Kathiwadi made more money than Telugu’s Bheemla Nayak and Tamil’s Valimai which featured the biggest stars of respective industries and their collections could not match the female centric Hindi movies. In fact Valimai’s Hindi collections were so poor that they could not even recover the costs of poster printing.

Does Bollywood have to make more native stories?

There is no clear cut answer to this, because Bollywood has to cater to a wide range of audience from Kolkata to Chennai, in fact major parts of this area do not even have primary language as Hindi.

If you see the success of Baahubali and KGF series both of them are not rooted in specific milieu, so when people claim films with native or rootedness work, it seems a bit difficult to digest considering the data which is available to us.

Will only event films work?

The answer to this is also no. Gangubai Kathiawadi and Drishyam 2 are two of the biggest hits of this year, not only in India but also in overseas. Bollywood has to make diverse films with the right budget which can cater to large number of audience across various section.

Are ticket prices the reason for audience alienating?

Now this is again a complex issue, right pricing of ticket is something which is what producers, distributors and exhibitors have to figure out. One thing I am sure of is that the audience does not have to problem to pay for tickets if we look at collections of Brahmastra and lower pricing will not help a film, if you look at the collections of Chup.

These are my two cents on why Bollywood can still survive, I have avoided mentioning the points that Bollywood should do right as I feel that there are better and well informed filmmakers to do that.

To conclude I would like to say that, people like to simplify things and predict things, but then we need to look at the bigger picture and patterns, right now it is not indicating that this is the end of Bollywood. It is just a phase and am sure it will bounce back again

Great Moments can Happen Anytime: In Conversation with Music Composer Sidhant Mathur

Sidhant Mathur is an Indian film music composer, who has also worked with popular independent music albums and productions (Shilpa Rao, Parikrama, Indian Ocean, Mrigya, Faridkot to name a few) as a Producer and Engineer from Quarter Note Studios, New Delhi which he co-founded in 2006. His notable work as a music composer includes feature films like Children of War (2014), Budhia Singh: Born to Run (2016), short films like Paroksh & Bete. Most recently he has been appreciated for his work in the popular Netflix series, Jamtara – Sabka Number Aayega” Seasons 1 & 2.

We recently caught up with Sidhant and had a chat on his journey so far. Here’s an excerpt from the same-

How has the journey into music composition & production been so far?

It has been nothing less than wondrous and exciting. There is so much music around to explore and learn from that, it’s overwhelming.

You’ve formally learnt audio engineering, so any specific reason behind choosing to produce & compose music rather than getting into audiography/sound designing, which is also a field that’s being looked upto now?

For me, the journey into sound started with music. Being a self taught musician, studying audio engineering opened up a whole new world of music production. Having said that, I have designed sound for some short films and theatre and it is also a lot of fun. But, composing music is where my heart is.

How did you get your first major break in the industry? Can you please share that experience?

The first full length feature film I signed was Mrityunjay Devvrat’s ‘Children of War – Nine Months to freedom’, which was released in 2014. It was based on the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. It was a very intense subject and I could explore a lot of emotions musically including geographical elements and references. I believe every project brings its own learnings. Going through the whole technical and creative process of creating music for a feature film for the big screen is a mammoth task and achieving it flawlessly with all of your heart is the goal.

What have been the learnings from all the experience of working with noted bands & artists like Parikrama, Indian Ocean, Shilpa Rao etc.?

My biggest learning is that great moments can happen anytime and one must be ready to capture them in the best possible way. Every artist brings their own energy and style to the music. As a music producer, working with professional artists from different genres keeps me on my toes and in good form :).

How do you manage to dabble between multiple areas like films, series, theatre, independent music etc.? What do you find the most challenging of all?

Music connects all of these areas and I am equally fond of producing independent music as I am of scoring for films. The formats and genres may be different but the essence of all music is the same. However, focussing on one project at a time helps getting into the finer details.

What is more satisfying for you, composing songs or the BGM? Why? Could you elaborate a bit?

For me they are both the same and I enjoy doing both equally. They might be different forms of expressions and require different skills and tools but it’s about the narrative and the communication. Scoring background music is in context to the film and songs can often break away from that.

You’ve been around the film business for a while now. When do you see the transition from indie films to mainstream happening? Any process that you are following?

I like going with the flow and so far I have no reason to doubt it. I believe opportunities are infinite and you get whatever you are ready for. I’m grateful for all the projects that I’ve been a part of and hope that I can continue working with the greats of our time.

Is there any particular method that you follow to prepare for a project, be it a Jamtara or a Children of War?

There is a lot of research and work that goes into creating music for a film. Months of composing, arranging, finding the right musicians and technicians, studios, management etc. My method has been evolving ever since my first project but usually it includes thoroughly understanding the theme and characters and how those characters can be represented through different instruments and binding them into a musical journey.

How has the experience of working on Jamtara been? Any interesting anecdotes to share?

Working on Jamtara has been a great experience. It was a pleasure to work with director Soumendra Padhi and the rest of the crew. We had a great time brainstorming over almost every scene. He has a great sense of music and knows exactly what he needs.

What would your advice be for those who are wanting to take up a career in music?

I say go for it. There are many mainstream avenues in music now and looking at how much content is being created and consumed, it’s a great time to be in this profession. Especially with the technology at hand, one only needs great ideas.

Please tell us about your forthcoming projects.

I have been working on an interesting war documentary feature, among some short films. I’m hopeful of a mainstream movie in the pipeline soon.

Here’s wishing Sidhant all the very best for his forthcoming projects.

“The Script made me jump and want to start shooting soon”: Aahana Kumra on working on “Cancer”

Bollywood roots for Cancer

Recently, US based entertainment production house Lonestar films announced its first Hindi feature film titled ‘Cancer’. The film starring Sharib Hashmi and Aahana Kumra will be directed by Faisal Hashmi who is known for Gujarati language films like Vitamin She and the award winning Short Circuit. Talking about bagging this project, Actress Aahana Kumra shared, “Once in a while a script challenges you and makes you want to jump up and shoot the film right away. That’s what I felt after reading the script of Cancer and I can’t wait to shoot it with my wonderful co actor Sharib Hashmi and our Director Faisal. I’m excited for this incredible collaboration with Lonestar films.”

Cancer, written by Faisal Hashmi and Gary Rowlands is touted as a mind bending thriller, and is in pre-production. The film will go on the floors early next year. The hunt for the third lead has begun and will be announced soon. 

As the film was announced, prominent Bollywood figures have shown their support to Cancer through social media. Director Hansal Mehta along with Manoj Bajpayee, Harshvardhan Kapoor, Chandan Roy Sanyal took to Instagram to congratulate the cast of Cancer and Lonestar Films. Additionally, Shreyas Talpade on twitter said, “Congratulations on this new venture brother @PatelDevansh. Chief creative officer saheb..wishing you success for this one”.

Milap Zaveri’s quoted tweet said, “Mubarak ho bhai” Shreya Dhanwantary tweeted, “Congratulations to my talented dost log @PatelDevansh @sharibhashmi @AahanaKumra and the whole team for this! So cool!!!”
Jamie Alter Alter tweeted, ” Woot! This is amazing, @PatelDevansh And look at the cast so far… @sharibhashmi bhai @Aahana Kumra with more to follow, I am sure. Congratulations to all involved.”

Incorporated in the USA, Lonestar Films is promoted by Pankaj Mamtora who is a serial entrepreneur with business interests in healthcare, IT, real estate and wealth management. Lonestar Films has already set up operations in India (Mumbai) hiring ace journalist Devansh Patel as its Chief Creative Officer. Patel will handle the creative mandates alongside the project Directors and oversee India operations.

In Conversation with Actress Luviena Lodh

Luviena Lodh is an Indian actress, who recently played the lead role in EORTV’s recent offering ‘You Complete Me’ alongside Raj Kumar and Punit Bhatia. Luviena is also a trained Bollywood and Jazz dancer. She has also worked in various movies in the Kannada and Telugu industry. Luviena was also a part of a short film called Girl On Heels streamed on Sonyliv and a web series called Humse Na Ho Payega on ULLU.

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I wish to be remembered as a Superstar in the future: In Conversation with Actress Srishti Shrivastava

Actress Srishti Shrivastava has been one of the more noticed faces on the big & small screen of late. Her performance in the Hindi film Maja Ma is still being talked about. In a freewheeling conversation with MAM recently Srishti spoke to us about her experience of working with Madhuri Dixit, her career so far and lots more. Here’s an excerpt from the same-

How did you land the role in Maja Ma & how was the experience of working with veterans like Madhuri Dixit & Gajraj Rao?

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Hasot Liye was born the day it was written: Jamtara Music Composer Sidhant Mathur

Sidhant Mathur who has composed music and background score for both the seasons of Jamtara – Sabka Number Aayega spoke about ‘Hasot Liye’ which is ruling the song chart numbers.The song is composed by Sidhant Mathur ft. Jagtinder Singh Sidhu and Nikhil Malik with a few processed vocals by Sidhant himself too. Jamtara is an Indian crime drama web series created & directed by Soumendra Padhi and written by Trishant Srivastava.

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Singer-Songwriter Samar Mehdi releases his new single-Raushni

Leading Indie artist Samar Mehdi releases his new single titled Raushni. A soul-stirring melody, Raushni is the singer-songwriter’s first single of 2022. The song features vocals by Samar Mehdi and his sister Sarah Mehdi. Touted as a gratitude song, the single is a reverberation of the myriad of emotions like gratitude, love, despair, and joy. Samar has written the song, and it is mixed and produced by Aman Arakh.

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Govind Nihalani’s Party (1984): A Rare Beast

It starts with a rousing monologue. The revolutionary soliloquy leaves no space for ambiguity as far as the ideology of the filmmaker is concerned. But yet, it contains enough to indicate that he is also capable of unbiased introspection.

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