Latest news with #RoyKapurFilms
News18
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- News18
Vijay Varma Teams Up With Hansal Mehta; Filmmaker Welcomes Him With Handwritten Note
Vijay Varma and Hansal Mehta were recently clicked together, which fuelled speculations about their collaboration. The duo have now confirmed their union and fans couldn't be more excited to see the talented actor-director duo collaborate. Sharing the news on his Instagram stories, Vijay posted a picture of a bouquet and a heartfelt handwritten note from Mehta, and captioned: 'New beginnings." These two words set the stage for what promises to be a thrilling actor-director collaboration. Take a look: The note from Hansal Mehta conveyed warmth, respect, and deep admiration for Vijay's talent. It welcomed the actor on board and hinted at a powerful creative journey ahead. The gesture was personal and genuine, reflecting the kind of emotionally rich storytelling Mehta is known for. Reportedly, the film also stars Anil Kapoor. Although the project details remain undisclosed, the announcement has already sparked excitement in the industry and among fans. Vijay Varma, known for choosing unconventional and complex roles, seems to have found an ideal partner in Mehta, who is renowned for drawing out raw, impactful performances. This collaboration comes at a time when Vijay is at the peak of his career, enjoying critical acclaim from works like Dahaad, Jaane Jaan, and the Mirzapur series. With Hansal Mehta, known for landmark projects like Scam 1992, Aligarh, and Shahid, at the helm, this pairing feels both organic and explosive. Meanwhile, Vijay Varma recently concluded the shoot for the upcoming web series, Matka King, featuring Vijay Varma in the lead role. Produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur's Roy Kapur Films, the series will stream on Prime Video later this year. Directed by Nagraj Manjule, known for Sairat and Fandry, Matka King is set in 1960s Mumbai and delves into the exciting and often dangerous world of Matka gambling, with Kritika Kamra co-starring alongside Vijay Varma. Additionally, Vijay Varma is set to appear in Gustaakh Ishq, directed by Vibhu Puri. This film also stars Fatima Sana Shaikh, Naseeruddin Shah, and Sharib Hashmi in key roles. Gustaakh Ishq is the third production by Manish Malhotra's Stage 5 Production, founded in September 2023, following their previous titles Train From Chhapraula and Bun Tikki. Apart from his busy work schedule, Vijay Varma has been making headlines for his alleged breakup with Tamannaah Bhatia.
Time of India
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
‘New beginnings': Vijay Varma joins hands with Hansal Mehta for a new film, actor welcomed with note & hamper
Actor Vijay Varma has confirmed that he will be working on an upcoming film directed by Hansal Mehta. The announcement was made through Varma's Instagram story, where he posted a photo of a bouquet and a handwritten note from Mehta, accompanied by the caption 'New beginnings.' This confirms the actor-director collaboration that had been widely speculated after the two were recently photographed together. Warm welcome from the director In the Instagram story, Vijay shared the note sent by Hansal Mehta, which welcomed him to the project and expressed appreciation for his craft. Along with the note, Mehta sent a bouquet and a gift hamper. The gesture was seen as a personal and respectful acknowledgment of Varma's work. Though the film's title and details remain undisclosed, actor Anil Kapoor is reportedly part of the cast. Actor-director pairing generates buzz The collaboration has caught attention due to both Varma and Mehta's reputations for selecting meaningful and layered projects. Hansal Mehta has directed acclaimed titles like Scam 1992, Shahid, and Aligarh. Vijay Varma has also gained recognition for his recent work in Dahaad, Jaane Jaan, and Mirzapur. Fans have responded with excitement to the pairing. Vijay Varma wraps Matka King Separately, Vijay Varma has finished filming Matka King, a web series directed by Nagraj Manjule and produced by Roy Kapur Films. Set in the 1960s, the series explores the Matka gambling world of Mumbai. Kritika Kamra stars alongside Varma. The show is set to release on Prime Video later this year.
Mint
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
What Siddharth Roy Kapur wants: Fresh stories told in unique voices
Siddharth Roy Kapur's work cabin is an ode to the films he grew up on. Nestled in a bustling corner of Mumbai's Khar area, with an entire wall taken up by a window that overlooks the street below, it's hard to miss the iconic movie posters on the walls—Mughal-e-Azam, Pyaasa and Sholay. And then there is the prized possession: a poster of the 2023 film Napoleon, signed by the director, Ridley Scott, himself. It's a space Roy Kapur, 50, says he worked closely with the designer on when he started his independent production company Roy Kapur Films after leaving the Walt Disney Co. India, where he served as managing director until 2016. The content studio has churned out films like Deva (2025), Pippa (2023) and The Sky is Pink (2019) besides web originals such as Yeh Ballet (2020), Aranyak (2021) and Rocket Boys (2022), keeping the pipeline steady though not cluttered. After a manic couple of years at Disney where he oversaw everything from the studio business to the broadcast network and the consumer products vertical, all at the same time, it is easy to see why Roy Kapur is taking it slow. 'In the last two to three years, there has been a slowdown in terms of the number of films and shows getting made (across the industry). While it's very easy to have a lot of activity going on (in terms of new announcements), I feel it makes sense to take a breath, look at the landscape, really focus on development, and then make the things worth making," Roy Kapur says. The studio is currently filming a project called Matka King starring Vijay Varma for Amazon Prime Video to be directed by Nagraj Manjule and has announced a web series adaptation of William Dalrymple's book The Anarchy, to be directed by Stephen Frears. He isn't oblivious to the current challenges in the Indian entertainment industry, particularly the theatrical film business. According to media consulting firm Ormax, Hindi cinema saw collections drop from ₹5,380 crore in 2023 to ₹4,679 crore in 2024. Notably, 31% of Hindi cinema's collections came from dubbed versions of south Indian films. If only original Hindi language films are considered, the decline in box office was a steep 37%. The year registered 883 million footfalls, reflecting a 6% decline from 2023. Footfalls in 2024 were lower than the last two years, and continue to remain lower than the pre-pandemic levels. 'I don't think anyone has ever had a clue. The best you can do is guess," says Roy Kapur when asked if the Hindi film business is in a crisis. 'We've come out of it but we're still facing some of the repercussions of what covid did to the industry. ...a lot of consumer habits and attitudes have changed. Attention spans are lower, people are more distracted, you have to grab their attention much more than earlier. Because of the easy accessibility to content that you could not have imagined having 10 years ago, when you had to make an appointment to view something, we've all forgotten what it is to tune into a show (at a particular time) and wait for a rerun or rent a DVD if you missed something. Your content has to be far more compelling to now be able to draw people in and we as content creators have to accept that's where we are now," he says. Also read: Why Diageo's Hina Nagarajan is leaving on a high At the same time, there is potential for higher rewards, he's quick to point out. More films have crossed the ₹500-crore mark at the box office in the last two years than ever before. 'That potential is there, people have the money, and they want experiences. So if you're able to give them something that draws them in, they will come in large numbers. And the flip side is if it doesn't work, they won't come at all, regardless of the star. To me, that's an opportunity as well because it tells me if you're really convinced about the content, it could work. For the longest time, we would bemoan the fact that our business is star-driven but now there is an opportunity to do stuff without big stars," Roy Kapur says, referring to films such as 12th Fail and Munjya that have worked without popular faces. Roy Kapur, who believes producers need to look at commerce and creativity as two sides of the same coin, says there are several takeaways from his four-year stint at Disney India that have spilled over into his current role. 'The institutionalisation of creativity without diluting it (has been the biggest learning). Pixar (the animation studio, a subsidiary of Walt Disney) was able to make movies consistently and maintain artistic creativity, while working within a global corporation and not being laissez-faire about it. They were very clear about feedback loops and sessions where creative conversations were very intense. But they had also institutionalised the process where they would not be making one movie every five years. That balance is beautiful, which is why they had the track record they did," Roy Kapur explains. Given that he was leaving at the top of his game, Roy Kapur's was an exit widely discussed in media and entertainment circles back in 2016. But it made sense to him. 'For me, it felt like a natural progression. After three years of running India operations at Disney, perhaps the next step would have been to go to another geography or move to the head office in Burbank (California) because when you're with a global corporation, that's how you grow. But that was the opposite of what I wanted to do," he says. I already know why because only 10 minutes ago, he's narrated the story of how he was on the next flight home from Hong Kong when mentor Ronnie Screwvala had offered him a marketing job while founding UTV Motion Pictures in 2004. Roy Kapur, with Star India since the early 2000s, was sent to participate in the News Corp Executive Development Program for a few years—News Corp. (now Fox Corp.) then owned a majority stake in Star India. Obsessed far more with the Indian content and entertainment scene, Roy Kapur, in his own words, felt 'in exile" and couldn't wait to return to India. 'It was a great experience to learn as an executive and gain exposure to things at the macro level but I kept feeling India was where the action was and those five years outside the country had taught me this is where I wanted to be," Roy Kapur says, adding that the part of the role at Disney that really got him ticking was content creation. 'While I enjoyed running the broadcast network, the consumer products vertical, the digital and live entertainment businesses, it was content that really did the trick for me and it just felt like a natural next step. With the experience that I had and the relationships that I had been able to build, it felt like the right time to go to the next place," he says. Cinema and the arts had been a crucial part of his life growing up. While mother Salome Roy Kapur was a choreographer who had appeared in a film called Tu Hi Meri Zindagi way back in 1965, his paternal grandfather Raghupat Roy Kapur had produced a string of movies like Shahenshah Akbar and Zanjeer in the 1940s. Going to the cinema was a regular feature as a child, especially with his maternal grandfather who lived right opposite The Strand Cinema in Mumbai's Colaba area. A bachelor's degree in commerce from Sydenham College, and a master's degree in management studies from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies was followed by a brief stint at Procter & Gamble where he realised he needed to have a strong emotional connection to what he was selling or marketing in order to do it well. 'There are some people who are just happy marketing—be it a toothpaste, car or film, they enjoy the act. For me, what I was marketing was very important. I couldn't bring myself to care for a cold remedy or a detergent as many of my peers, who were so passionate about it, did. And that I thought was a disservice to the job," he says. That explains the move to Star India, where he was involved in the launch of shows like Kaun Banega Crorepati, followed by the UTV and Disney stints. Over a decade later, with Roy Kapur Films, life has come full circle. Much like UTV Motion Pictures, where Roy Kapur and Screwvala produced experimental, content-driven sleeper hits such as Rang de Basanti, Khosla ka Ghosla! and A Wednesday!, the idea at Roy Kapur Films is to back new and fresh stories. It's not like he hasn't backed commercial mainstream blockbusters—UTV also co-produced hits like Chennai Express and Yeh Jawaani hai Deewani while the Disney stint saw the success of Dangal, the highest grossing Hindi film of the time. 'It does feel like life has come full circle and that is the north star of what one wants to keep doing. Which is to keep backing great voices that want to tell unique stories and try to make them as commercially engaging as possible so that you're able to take them to as wide an audience as you can," he says. With titles like Rocket Boys, for example, a more nuanced, subtle form of storytelling is being encouraged by makers like Roy Kapur, while their season renewals ensure customer stickiness for OTT platforms. The idea at UTV back in the mid-2000s was simple too. 'Because we were not the manor born and had come from the outside, we didn't have a relationship with the stars and the entrenched system. Those had to be built and we decided to be director-driven than actor-driven. So we picked directors who like us, had a point of view," says Roy Kapur, adding that director Dibakar Banerjee's debut Khosla ka Ghosla, for instance, had done the rounds in the industry with a scratchy semi-ready version that nobody had picked up. UTV picked it up, finishing and releasing it with a marketing budget higher than the production cost. The rest, of course, is history. Roy Kapur, who doesn't believe in work-life balance and endorses the idea of doing what you love so the two weave into each other, says the other big learning over the years has been to not take failure or success too easily. 'Both are fleeting. Have a thick skin when there is a failure and take success with a pinch of salt as well. Enjoy or grieve depending on the situation, but then move on. I've seen a lot of people fall into either despair or hubris depending on how their careers go and that can really trap you," he says. Also read: Why Rashesh Shah of Edelweiss loves running metaphors
News18
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- News18
Fans Can't Get Enough Of Vijay Varma's Adorable And Hilarious Mother's Day Video
Last Updated: Vijay Varma captioned the video with, 'When you ask your mom to act natural,' accompanied by a laughing emoticon. On the occasion of Mother's Day 2025, actor Vijay Varma melted hearts on social media with a post that was both wholesome and humorous. Celebrated on the second Sunday of May each year to honour the love, strength, and sacrifices of mothers, this year's Mother's Day fell on May 11. Joining the global celebrations, Vijay took to Instagram to share a touching tribute that struck the perfect balance between affection and wit. In a short clip, Vijay was seen sitting beside his mother at a restaurant. As the clip began, the Darlings actor zoomed in on his phone's camera and gently asked his mom to smile. What followed was a heartwarming moment between the mother-son duo. In the sweetest way, Vijay's mother tried to smile for the camera, an effort so innocent that it left the actor in stitches. The moment instantly lit up the already joyous occasion. Over the video, Vijay cheekily wrote, 'When you ask your mom to act natural," followed by a laughing face emoji. In the caption of his Instagram post, he simply added, 'Happy Mother's Day (flower and nerd face emojis)." The adorable video immediately caught the attention of Vijay's fans, who simply couldn't get over his mother's cuteness. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Vijay Varma (@itsvijayvarma) One fan said, 'Ah such cutie pie mummy." Another added, 'OMGG THIS IS SOOOO CUTE." A different fan pointed out that Vijay looked exactly like his mother, saying, 'You look exactly like your mum." As for the 39-year-old actor's professional front, he recently wrapped up the shoot for his upcoming web series Matka King. Produced by Siddharth Roy Kapur's Roy Kapur Films, the series is set to stream on Prime Video later this year. Vijay shared some behind-the-scenes pictures from the sets to mark the successful conclusion of the filming for the show. The carousel began with a picture of the actor holding a large Matka-shaped cake, dressed in a formal grey striped shirt and grey pants. In the next few slides, Vijay was seen celebrating the wrap-up with his co-stars and crew. Sharing the post, he wrote, 'Matka King wrapped! Never been so immersed in a story/character for this long. It's been a great journey…You'll all get to witness it when it releases on @primevideoin. Big love to the entire crew. Missed you on the last day @nagraj_manjule sir." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Vijay Varma (@itsvijayvarma) Apart from Matka King, Vijay also has Gustaakh Ishq, featuring Fatima Sana Shaikh, Naseeruddin Shah and Sharib Hashmi, in the pipeline. First Published: May 12, 2025, 15:33 IST
News18
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- News18
Deva Actor Pavail Gulati Calls Himself A Graduate From ‘Shah Rukh School of Chivalry'
He explained Shah Rukh Khan's impact on his life and how he would be too overwhelmed to ever meet the actor in real life. Pavail Gulati has been gradually making a name for himself in the film industry with promising performances in Deva, Thappad and more. Like many other actors, Pavail also has been inspired by Shah Rukh Khan. In a recent chat, Pavail Gulati acknowledged his profound admiration for the superstar. He explained that for him, Shah Rukh Khan's influence extends beyond cinema. Calling himself a graduate from the 'Shah Rukh School of Chivalry,' Pavail talked about the impact of the superstar on his life. In a recent conversation with IANS, Pavail stated, 'I'm a proud 90s kid, and I grew up watching Shah Rukh Khan's movies; not just his on-screen magic, but also the way he carried himself off-screen. I would watch his interviews, his interactions with people, and I was always in awe. My school friends and I used to say that we all graduated from the 'Shah Rukh School of Chivalry.' The way he treated women whether it was at award shows, leading a co-star to the stage or helping them to their seat left a lasting impression on us." For Pavail, Shah Rukh Khan is someone he looks up to. He added that there cannot be another King Khan, but people can strive to emulate the Jawan star. Pavail also mentioned that Yes Boss, starring Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla, is one of his all-time favourite movies. 'I remember coming home from school, putting on the cassette, locking my room, and dancing nonstop to its songs. I loved it so much; I ended up buying three cassettes!" he recalled. When asked about meeting his role model, Pavail mentioned, 'Even today, if I ever spot him from a distance, I'd probably run away not because I don't want to meet him, but because I'd be too overwhelmed to face him in a crowd." Pavail Gulati rose to fame for his role in Anubhav Sinha's movie Thappad which also starred Taapsee Pannu. He was also seen in Deva alongside Shahid Kapoor and Pooja Hegde. The Rosshan Andrrews directorial was written by Bobby and Sanjay. Roy Kapur Films and Zee Studios co-produced the film. First Published:
