FIRST FOOTAGE
The first footage from “Devara,” headlined by “RRR” star NTR Jr., has been unveiled. “Devara” reunites NTR Jr. with his “Janatha Garage” director Koratala Siva, whose last film was “Acharya,” starring megastar Chiranjeevi and “RRR” star Ram Charan. The film also stars Janhvi Kapoor (“Mili”) and Saif Ali Khan (“Vikram Vedha”) in pivotal roles. The actorhad revealed toPvNewthat the film is a revenge drama.
The cast also includes Prakash Raj, Srikanth Meka, Tom Shine Chacko and Narain. The film is produced by Kosaraju Hari Krishna and Sudhakar Mikkilineni under the banners NTR Arts (“Bimbisara”) and Yuvasudha Arts respectively and is presented by Nandamuri Kalyan Ram. The film features music by Anirudh Ravichander (“Leo”), cinematography by R. Rathnavelu (“Sarileru Neekevvaru”), production design by Sabu Cyril (“RRR”) and editing by A. Sreekar Prasad (“RRR”).
The film will be released in two parts. The first part, “Devara Part 1” will release worldwide on April 5 in the Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam languages.
Watch the footage here:
PAKISTANI DRAMA
Zindagi, the Indian subcontinent-focused programming block on streamer ZEE5 Global,has revealed its Pakistani dramas for January. “Numm,” airing from Jan. 8, portrays the impact of strict customs and rituals of feudal times on relationships. The cast includes Fawad Khan, Sania Saeed and Kanza Wayne. “Kaisi Teri Khudgarzi,” scheduled to air from Jan. 10, follows the love story of Shehreyar, played by Danish Taimoor, a business tycoon’s son, and Mehak, played by Durefishan Saleem, a girl from a middle-class background.
Airing from Jan. 17 is “Raqs-E-Bismil,” a drama revolving around a rebellious young man in a conservative village who falls in love with a sex worker, featuring Imran Ashraf and Sarah Khan as leads. “Ehd-E-Wafa,” scheduled to air from Jan. 20, stars Ahad Raza Mir, Osman Khalid Butt, Ahmed Ali Akbar, Wahaj Ali, Alizeh Shah, and Zara Noor Abbas, follows four school friends with diverse hopes and dreams as they navigate through hardships, challenges and betrayals.
From India, Mumbai-set short film about honesty and disclosure “Baarish Aur Chowmein,” featuring Tapsee Pannu, Amit Sadh and Tariq Naved Siddiqui, is scheduled for Jan. 14 and 28.
Already airing is family romantic comedy “Chupke Chupke,” featuring Ayeza Khan and Osman Khalid Butt in the leading roles.
APPOINTMENTS
Directors U.K. has expanded its team with the hires of Paul Evans as head of industry relations and Niall Stewart as public affairs and policy manager. Evans joins from Bectu, spending a decade working as a trade union official in the film and TV industry, helping to negotiate industry working agreements. He will play a key role in leading the Directors U.K. initiatives on pay and working conditions, ensuring they address the issues their members face in relation to their engagement as a director.
Stewart, who has worked across policy, public affairs and research for EGIC, Independent Film Trust, PACT, House of Lords and the European Parliament, will focus on driving Directors U.K.’s work in lobbying government policy makers to introduce meaningful change in the way that creators’ rights are protected and regulated.
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European distributor Newen Connect has appointed Karen Wise to the role of senior VP Distribution North America, U.K. and formats, reporting to chief commercial officer, Leona Connell. Wise’s previous roles includedhead of EMEA sales at Sky Vision and head of sales at Target Entertainment and most recently senior VP worldwide sales and co-productions at Rainmaker.
At Newen Connect, Wise is charged with further building the distributor’s presence in the English-speaking market by identifying co-production and sales opportunities for projects to buyers in the U.K. and North America. Additionally, she will oversee scripted and unscripted format sales, working closely with Andrew Sime, who will continue to drive unscripted formats.
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Ant and Dec‘s Mitre Studios, one of the production companies behind ITV reality show “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!,” which is hosted by them, has appointed BAFTA-winning executive producer Jack Shillaker as creative director, television. Shillaker won a BAFTA in 2019 for “A League of Their Own.” Shillaker will lead on the creation of a slate of new formats and act as executive producer across Mitre
Studios’ broadcast output.
