The Raaz 3 director Vikram Bhatt, left, with stars Bipasha Basu and Emraan Hashmi. AFP
The Raaz 3 director Vikram Bhatt, left, with stars Bipasha Basu and Emraan Hashmi. AFP

Music

Mahesh Bhatt discusses his new film Raaz 3

Plus: Jism 2 song accused of plagiarism, website invites feature directors to try their hand at shorts, and Kumar Taurani to produce son's Bollywood debut.

The seasoned producer Mahesh Bhatt says stardom as a form of addiction is the premise of his new film, the romantic thriller Raaz 3. "Every artist, when he reaches stardom, he gets scared of losing it all. He wants to always be at that height. That's the film's theme," he said. "Because it has a horror element to it, the film may not seem realistic, but its story has been sourced out from the heart." Directed by Vikram Bhatt, the film is the third instalment in the Raaz series, which began in 2002. It stars Emraan Hashmi, Bipasha Basu and Esha Gupta and is scheduled to be released in India on September 7. * IANS

Jism 2 song accused of plagiarism

Pooja Bhatt's film Jism 2 has been the talk of the web this week for all the wrong reasons - its title track Yeh Jism (currently ranked 13th on the Radio Mirchi charts; see right) is accused of being a copy of a Turkish song. The debutant music composer Arko Pravo Mukherjee denied the accusation, saying: "I don't care about these rumours. There is some similarity in the beginning of the songs but these things happen. It was not a conscious decision." Starring Sunny Leone, Arunoday Singh and Randeep Hooda, Jism 2 is scheduled to come out in India tomorrow. * IANS

Website invites feature film directors to create shorts

Large Short Films, an online festival of shorts, has invited the most popular film directors in India to create 10-minute films that can be viewed on the web, using either a computer or mobile phone. The Gangs of Wasseypur filmmaker Anurag Kashyap is one of the invited directors. "For me, short films are the purest form of filmmaking because you are making it just because you want to. You are not making it for it to be sold, you are not thinking of an audience," he said during the website's launch in Mumbai on Sunday. "Feature films can be driven by many factors - cinematography, music, talent, storytelling and actors. But short films are somehow to-the-point - they make one, solitary, larger impact." For more information, visit www.LargeShortFilms.com. * IANS

Kumar Taurani to produce son's debut film

The movie producer Kumar Taurani has announced he will launch his son Girish's Bollywood career via a musical film opposite the actress Shruti Haasan. "The film will be a musical love story and Prabhu Deva will direct it. We will start production preparations this month, though we have not finalised on the name of the film yet," said Taurani. "We will be shooting the film abroad as well as in Mumbai, Pune and some parts of Himachal Pradesh." Taurani confirmed the film is a remake of a southern movie and that they are looking at a March 2013 release date. * IANS

Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Europe’s rearming plan
  • Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
  • Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
  • Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
  • Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
  • Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

The Brutalist

Director: Brady Corbet

Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn

Rating: 3.5/5

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