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Hindustan Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Assamese psychological drama 'Taarikh' on serial bomb blasts to hit screens on Aug 22
Guwahati, A new Assamese feature film, 'Taarikh', set in the backdrop of the 2008 serial bomb blasts in Assam and the trauma the incident left behind on the victim families, will hit the screens on August 22, the makers announced on Wednesday. Assamese psychological drama 'Taarikh' on serial bomb blasts to hit screens on Aug 22 A psychological drama on a father who lost his son in the serial blasts, 'Taarikh' is directed by Himjyoti Talukdar and produced by Muktismaan Hazarika and Arundhati Sarmah Baruah. "This story is personal and universal at the same time. It speaks of time, memory, loss and love moments we often overlook," Talukdar said at an event organised to release the trailer and title track of the film. 'Taarikh' marks his return to direction after a gap of seven years, following the success of his critically acclaimed debut film 'Calendar' in 2018. "After Calendar, it took me years to return with something that truly moved me. We are thrilled to bring this story to the theatres on August 22," Talukdar said. He said the film revolves around a father, enacted by veteran actor Arun Nath, who lost his son in the serial bomb blasts. "The father could not even find the body of his son. The interesting as well as challenging part is that Nath has a screen presence of around 95 per cent in the 90-minute-long film, but he does not utter a single word in the entire period. He is not mute, but the trauma left him silent," the young director said. Producer Hazarika said 'Taarikh' is the second film in the trilogy revolving around a theme of time, with 'Calendar' being the first one. "However, Taarikh is not a sequel to Calendar. We will also have a third film from our production house on the 'time' theme," he told PTI. The trailer launch event saw the presence of several prominent personalities from the Assamese film industry. "We believe this film will touch hearts and spark meaningful conversations," said Baruah, the other producer. The film's soulful title track 'Ushaah' has been composed by renowned music director and National Award-winning playback singer Tarali Sarma and sung by acclaimed singer Rupam Bhuyan. The film is expected to bring back the horror of the 2008 serial bomb blasts to public memory. The NDFB's Ranjan Daimary faction had carried out the serial bomb blasts across Assam on October 30, 2008 that claimed the lives of 88 people and left more than 500 people injured. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Time of India
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
CPM protests in Goalpara against eviction drives
Guwahati: CPM staged a mega demonstration in Goalpara on Tuesday, accusing state govt of working in the interests of corporates and against the citizens of the country. This comes just days after eviction drives in lower Dhubri and Goalpara districts. Thousands of people, mostly those evicted, joined the demonstration in protest against govt's "inhuman" act of evicting people at Chapar in Dhubri and Paikan reserve forest in Goalpara. CPM MLA from Sarbhog, Manoranjan Talukdar, said the demand is very clear — govt must provide sufficient compensation and rehabilitation, not in the riverine areas, to the evicted families at the earliest. He urged the CM to call a sitting in the assembly for discussion on the matter if the CM cannot agree to the demands of CPM. "We will not sit on the road demonstrating against eviction if the CM can prove a majority supporting eviction," he added. Talukdar appealed to other opposition parties to raise their voices against the eviction. "We will put all efforts to defeat the BJP in the 2026 assembly elections," he added. The MLA said their (present BJP-led govt) main target is a particular community. "This govt is communal, and there is no doubt," he added. He said CM Sarma-led govt will be bound to provide rehabilitation to the evicted people, and this is established by the mega eviction drive at Gorukhuti in Darrang. "Bowing down to the continuous protests and legal battle following the eviction drive at Gorukhuti in Darrang in September 2021, the govt rehabilitated the families," he added. He accused the govt of working for the interests of the big corporate players. "Corporate players could have purchased land. Why is eviction required?," he added. He accused the CM of creating an atmosphere of fear by carrying out eviction drives across lower Assam. "Stop this inhuman act," he added. Meanwhile, the party's state general secretary, Suprakash Talukdar, said that the demonstration in Goalpara is justified. "If the govt has a plan to rehabilitate the evicted families, as they keep on claiming, rehabilitation should have been done first. They are now staying on the roads," he added.
Business Insider
14-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Moonvalley raises $84 million from General Catalyst and others to boost AI tools for Hollywood and other creatives
Moonvalley, one of the prominent AI firms working in Hollywood, just raised $84 million in new funding to build on its AI video tools for filmmakers and other creative professionals, Business Insider learned exclusively. The round was led by an existing investor General Catalyst and, in a vote of confidence from Hollywood stalwarts, includes strategic investments from talent giant CAA and Comcast Ventures, the VC arm of Comcast. Cloud infrastructure provider CoreWeave also is participating, as are existing investors Khosla Ventures and YCombinator. The new round brings Moonvalley's total funding to $154 million. Moonvalley is among a handful of companies that are trying to make inroads into Hollywood by touting an ethical AI model. This comes as some other AI companies are being accused of stealing copyrighted work. Disney and Comcast's Universal are suing Midjourney, accusing it of copyright infringement. Moonvalley's pitch is that its AI model, Marey, is trained on licensed content as well as content it's made itself. The company was founded by veterans of Google's DeepMind and owns AI film studio Asteria Film Co., which was co-founded by filmmaker and actor Natasha Lyonne and filmmaker Bryn Mooser. Naeem Talukdar, Moonvalley's CEO and cofounder, said the new funding would help Moonvalley build on its AI video tool, Marey. Marey was just released to the public after being tested with filmmakers and studios and is sold on a subscription and licensing basis, starting at $14.99 a month. Talukdar said Marey has licensed footage from sources like independent filmmakers and YouTubers over the years, but believes it has only one-fifth of the amount that other AI video generators like OpenAI's Sora and Google's Veo 3 have. While good at creating people, it also has gaps in certain areas, like animation and certain types of sports footage. "It doesn't really know how basketball works," he said. How Moonvalley works with studios Sensitivities run high in Hollywood about the potential for AI to take creative ideas and jobs. Few have gone public with their work with AI. The exceptions are Lionsgate, which did a deal with Runway to train an AI model on its library; and AMC Networks, which announced plans to use Runway's tools to generate promotional material for its shows. There continues to be skepticism about how AI models are trained. Like a lot of AI companies focused on Hollywood, Moonvalley says it works across the big movie studios but won't name any of them. It hasn't shared details about the sources of its licensed content. Talukdar said it believes in being transparent and has a plan to share that information at some point. "We've worked with probably thousands of independent filmmakers, small studios," he said. "So there's just a lot of stuff we have to underline, but we have it in our plans, now that we've actually finished Marey and published it, to start working on figuring out how to do that and hopefully build out a kind of sort of a structure that other model companies can follow as well." Talukdar said Moonvalley is working directly with studios or via independent filmmakers who are making projects for them. In some cases, Asteria acts as a creative consultant, helping the studio use the technology. In others, the studios are using Marey themselves, on everything from special effects to the production itself, usually with things like B-roll or background footage. In one case, a studio is using Marey to fine-tune a long-running TV show. "We have a few trailblazers that are looking at using it for actual key scenes in production," he said. He also said the biggest studios have approached Moonvalley about creating proprietary models, using Moonvalley's licensed video to supplement their own libraries. Moonvalley's view on AI's opportunity Talukdar acknowledged some creators' fear around AI, but said he thinks that fear will subside once people see that the AI won't replace creative ideas and filmmaking at scale. "This idea that everybody's just going to create these movies for themselves — we think that's absolutely nonsense," he said. "AI will never have taste." Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos recently waded into the AI conversation, saying it represents an opportunity to make movies "10% better," not just cheaper. Talukdar said in addition to improving movies, studios are excited about being able to make more films that they haven't previously greenlit because of budgetary constraints. "The net new result is going to be a.) a whole slate of productions that couldn't get done, even though they should get done," he said. "And b.) existing productions just becoming a lot better."
Time of India
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Anthology of poems reflects myriad hues
Lucknow: "Each poem mirrors emotions we all share but seldom express and through these verses. I have tried to capture a spectrum of emotions, including bond with one's mother and warmth of family," said author Savita Pashupatinath. She shared these views at the launch of her book on the 76th birth anniversary of her husband and noted writer Pashupatinath Singh, a Talukdar, in the city on Saturday. "I hope readers would identify with my poems and feel better understood, connected and inspired to embrace every shade of human experience," said Savita. Her verses and ghazals unfolded like stories on varied themes, resonating with the audience. Among those present at the event were Vidya Bindu Singh, MLA Neeraj Bora, Justice Amarnath Verma, satirist Sarvesh Asthana and former mayor Sanyukta Bhatia.
Techday NZ
09-07-2025
- Business
- Techday NZ
Moonvalley launches first fully licensed AI model for filmmakers
The first fully licensed, commercially available AI model for the video production industry was released today by Toronto-based software company Moonvalley. Last November, the organisation announced USD $70 million to "develop the future of generative media." One of those developments, Marey, was released for general availability this morning. Marey is a learning model capable of precision controls, complex VFX sequences, and maintaining complete creative authority for filmmakers and studios. The model was trained on original 1080p content, capable of developing sharper videos up to five seconds in length at 24 frames per second. Feature highlights include : Camera control for creating a 3D atmosphere from a single image; Trajectory control for natural scene movement; Motion transfer for copying object movement from one animation to the next; Keyframing for generating smooth transitions between images; Referencing for integrating reference images into existing video; Pose control for more nuanced actor performances; Shot extension for extending an original video. Naeem Talukdar, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Moonvalley, said the creation of Marey was a direct response to industry feedback on existing offerings. "We built Marey because the industry told us existing AI video tools don't work for serious production." Talukdar added that the model provides users with creative control and legal peace of mind, as Marley partners with creators rather than exploiting copyrighted material. Notably, Disney and Universal sued AI image generator Midjourney last month, claiming the AI firm copied proprietary images while training its learning models. Moonvalley states that Marey's architecture was built using exclusively licensed, high-definition content, rather than scraped or user-generated material. This approach, the company says, aims to address copyright concerns while providing a tool suitable for commercial application. Today's launch follows six months of partnerships with Moonvalley's studio, Asteria, and three months of testing with external partners. Moonvalley said that "through this process, teams refined unprecedented control over objects, characters, motion, and scene composition to deliver the accuracy, precision, and directorial control that filmmakers need to enable groundbreaking creative work." Moonvalley stated that these functionalities enable not only enhanced VFX capabilities for studios and brands but also allow independent filmmakers access to visuals that typically require larger budgets. "Marey isn't just another model—it's a creative unlock," said Hussein Dembel Sow, a Senegalese independent filmmaker and screenwriter. "It gives filmmakers like me the freedom to experiment and innovate without the financial burden or scarcity of production opportunities. Dembel Sow said this new venture creates a hybrid type of cinema. Calling it: "something deeply local yet globally legible." Follow us on: Share on:
