L A T E S T      N E W S

Censor Board blocks anti-Mamata Bengali film

KOLKATA: The Censor Board has refused to clear a Bengali film for taking pot-shots at the swearing-in ceremony of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Singur movement that forced the Tatas to exit the state.

Starring rebel Trinamool Congress MP Kabir Suman, ‘Kangal Malsat’ (War Cry of Poor) is directed by Suman Mukhopadhyay.

It is based on a book written by eminent litterateur Mahasweta Devi’s son Nabarun Bhattacharya.

“The way the honourable CM’s oath taking ceremony has been shown seems distortion of history and may hurt many common people of West Bengal and create sensation (violence),” the letter issued by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to the film’s producers, says.

The film shows a person watching the swearing-in ceremony with disdain. It also has a controversial shot of Kabir Suman saying in Bengali, ‘The Tatas have cut a sorry figure. Now there are so many committees. They are making Kolkata into London...”

The letter says, “The way departure of Tata Company was uttered in the film, it seemed to malign or at least look down upon a significant movement of a civic society. “The treatment of the film with unnecessary use of abusive language, sexuality and casual approach in portraying social movements may hurt the sentiments of many people in our society,” it said.

The letter also claims that the portrayal of Stalin, ruler of erstwhile Soviet Union, has been done so irresponsibly in the film that the dogmatic statement might hurt the sentiments of many his supporters and create unrest during public screening.

Alleging ‘political discrimination’ by the government, the director has moved the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal challenging the Censor Board’s decision. “As a filmmaker I made a film which I wanted to. Now if it has some political undercurrents it doesn’t mean those in power have the power to ban the film. They are trying to gag us,” he said.

The film was denied release based on recommendations by a revising committee of the Censor Board, whose members are appointed by the state government.

Filmmaker Haranath Chakraborty, one of the key members of Mamata Banerjee’s cultural think-tank group, leads the committee. “It is clear under whose directions the film was denied release,” the director said.

The film fraternity in Kolkata voiced their concern against the Censor Board’s decision.

Kabir Suman said the film and his dialogue had nothing which could incite violence or went against the spirit of democracy. “They are also saying that the film shows vulgarity. We have only tried to show how real people talk. Before us many film-makers in Bengal and in Bollywood have done this. So why are we being targeted only?” he asked.

Novelist Nabarun Bhattacharya said, “No one can stop me from whatever I feel like writing. The government must understand that.”

Film-maker and censor board member Haranath, however, insisted that the film contained inappropriate language and could not be allowed for screening.

Earlier in November, the screening of Bengali film ‘3 Kanya’ (Three Women) was cancelled at the Kolkata Municipal Corporation-owned Star Theatre under controversial circumstances.

The film’s director and producer Agnidev Chatterjee had said that the controversy arose because some people thought that it was based on the Park Street rape case and showed the government in bad light. — PTI

Suryanelli case: Bail hearing adjourned to March 4 

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Monday adjourned to March 4, the hearing of the bail pleas of 17 accused in the Suryanelli rape case allegedly involving Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P. J. Kurien.

A division bench comprising Justices K. T. Shankaran and M. L. Joseph Francis said the appeal and records about the case had not been received from the Supreme Court and it cannot proceed without perusing them, even though the accused wanted their pleas to be taken up today.

According to the accused, the apex court had not gone into the merits of the case and judgement was on technical grounds.

The accused, who had been convicted and sentenced by the sessions court, are among the 35 acquitted by a division bench of the High Court in 2005.

However, the Supreme Court had recently set aside the acquittals and asked them to surrender before the special court hearing the case.

First accused Rajan and fifth accused Cherian are among those who have moved for bail maintaining there was no material against them to prove the charges.

Dharmarajan, the third accused, who had jumped bail, had recently been arrested from Karnataka and sent to jail. The High Court had reduced his life term to five years. Following the Supreme Court judgement, Dharmarajan has to undergo the rest of his prison term.

Kurien was acquitted but the victim had recently named him as one of those who allegedly assaulted her in 1996.

The victim had also sent a letter to her advocate seeking to explore the possibility of filing a review plea in the Supreme Court for a fresh probe against Kurien, who according to the victim, had raped her at the Kumily guest house on February 9, 1996.

Kurien has maintained that he had been cleared of the charges by the apex court. — PTI

All eyes on Bansal’s Rail Budget

NEW DELHI: All eyes will be on Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Tuesday on whether he yields to pressure of hiking passenger fares yet again or looks at other measures to mobilise resources to offset the burden of the recent diesel price hike.

Bansal had on January 22 hiked passenger fares across-the- board after the Railways faced a loss of about Rs 25,000 crore in the passenger segment.

Railways had aimed to mop up an additional revenue of Rs 6,600 crore but the fuel hike had wiped out Rs 3,300 crore, Bansal had said.

The Rail Minister held several round of discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and the Planning Commission in connection with the Rail Budget. He is also understood have discussed the possibility of fare hike with Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

However, sources said a section of the Congress is not inclined towards effecting another round of fare hike as general elections are not far away.

Bansal is all set to announce a slew of passenger-friendly measures such as improvement in catering service, maintaining cleanliness at rail premises, introducing Braille stickers in coaches for visually-challenged passengers and development of stations in his maiden Rail Budget.

While there are possibilities of minor tinkering in freight rates despite resistance from the industry due to the slow economy growth, there will be some announcements of freight schemes to attract more loadings in the next fiscal 2013-14.

With Bansal heading Rail Bhavan and the key ministry back with the Congress party after almost one-and-a-half decade, speculation is rife about announcement of 100 new trains including AC double deckers, extension and increase of some popular passenger services.

Though the Congress is opposing the Trinamool government in West Bengal, MoS Railways Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury might have his say with likely provisions for new trains including Berhampur-Sealdah passenger, a direct train for New Jalpaiguri from the capital and pantry cars for Bengal-bound trains. — PTI

'Life of Pi' wins 4 Oscar awards

Los Angeles: Taiwanese-American Ang Lee beat master directors like Steven Spielberg and Michael Haneke to take home the best director Oscar for "Life of Pi", his visually stunning 3D tale of an Indian boy adrift in the ocean for months with a Bengal tiger.

With his second Oscar win, Lee brings focus back to India, whose culture and ethos are an important part of the narrative and unlike previous Academy-winner "Slumdog Millionaire" which earned some brickbats for promoting slum porn, Lee has presented Pondicherry and Munnar beautifully through his 3D lenses.

Lee, 58, beat Spielberg ("Lincoln"), Haneke ("Amour"), David O Russell ("Silver Linings Playbook") and indie filmmaker Benh Zeitlin ("Beasts of the Southern Wild") to win his second Academy in the directing category.

"I really need to share this with everybody who worked in 'Life of Pi'. I need to thank Yann Martel for writing this marvelous book...," Lee said in his speech before ending it with a 'Namaste'.

The auteur, a five-time Oscar nominee, previously won the trophy for his 2005 gay cowboys drama "Brokeback Mountain".

Like "Life of Pi", his "Crouching Tiger, Hiden Dragon" was nominated for best picture and directing honours.

In the film, an adaptation of Martel's Booker-prize winning novel, Lee took on the challenge of filming the movie, mostly set in the ocean, with an almost entirely Indian casts of newcomer Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Tabu and Adil Hussain.

South Korea's 1st woman Prez takes charge

Seoul: Park Geun-Hye was sworn in as South Korea's first female President on Monday, vowing zero tolerance with provocations from a nuclearised North Korea and a new era of economic prosperity for all. As leader of Asia's fourth-largest economy, Park, 61, faces significant challenges, including the belligerent regime in the North, a slowing economy and soaring welfare costs in one of the world's most rapidly ageing societies.

Taking the oath of office in front of 70,000 people gathered in front of the National Assembly building in Seoul, Park called on North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions and rejoin the international community.

"North Korea's recent nuclear test is a challenge to the survival and future of the Korean people, and there should be no mistake that the biggest victim will be none other than North Korea itself," she said.

"I will not tolerate any action that threatens the lives of our people and the security of our nation," Park said, while promising to pursue the trust-building policy with Pyongyang that she had promised in her campaign.

"I will move forward step-by-step on the basis of credible deterrence," she added.