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Thursday, October 3, 2002,
Chandigarh, India  
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IFFI 2002 ‘Devdas’ dominates debate Suspend Salman’s
licence: cops Priest nominated for Nobel Peace Prize IAF to hold grand fly-past |
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Gujarat Cong move to oust BJP govt Nation remembers Shastri
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IFFI 2002 New Delhi, October 2 The opening of the Mainstream section at Odeon theatre started nearly 40 minutes late to a near-empty hall. Noted film producer-director K. Vishwanath, who was to inaugurate the section as the chief guest, did not turn up and the president of the Film Federation of India (FFI) G.S. Mayawala had to substitute for him at the last minute. Nor was anyone present from the multi-starrer ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’, which was the opening film of the section. It is customary for the opening film’s producer, director and a prominent member of the star cast to be present during its screening. Its producer Yash Johar and director Karan Johar, however, only sent their good wishes. Incidentally, popular actress Rani Mukherjee, who also acted in the film was one of the ‘diya girls’ at the inaugural ceremony of the 33rd IFFI last evening. Director, Film Festivals, Deepak Sandhu, said the Mainstream section was meant to reflect the trends in popular Indian cinema. Ever since Dada Saheb Phalke made the first film “Raja Harishchandra” in 1930, Indians had taken to films instantly. A total of 12 box office hits will be screened at the 33rd IFFI. These include ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham’, ‘Lagaan’, ‘Gadar Ek Prem Katha’, ‘Raaz’, ‘Thamizh’ and ‘Hanuman Junction’ (Hindi), ‘Mazhu Thulli Kilukkam’ (Malayalam/Kannada), ‘Appu’ and ‘Sri Manjunatha’ (Kannada) and ‘Annadata’, ‘Dada Thakur’ and ‘Jamai Babu Zindabad’ (Bengali). In recognition of the role of film stars in politics, Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj today said IFFI must put up a special exhibition of images of film stars-turned politicians. After taking a round of the exhibition ‘Cinema Cinema’ at the 33rd Film Festival of India that has on display rare photographs and posters depicting the origin and growth of Indian cinema, Ms Swaraj had a suggestion to make to the organisers of the exhibition. “We can have a separate section for film stars who have gone on to become politicians,” she told them. The Regional Cinema section of the exhibition features film stars like J. Jayalalithaa, M.G. Ramachandran and N.T. Rama Rao, all of whom went on to become chief ministers. Meanwhile, buoyed by the commercial success of Bollywood abroad, India today brought back its films to a ‘Film Bazaar’ after a decade to woo foreign buyers. Union Health Minister Shatrughan Sinha opened the ‘bazaar’ at the IFFI, which was inaugurated here yesterday by melody queen Lata Mangeshkar. The nine-day market offers films on the Indian Panorama at the festival and popular Hindi and regional language films, some of which will be screened for prospective buyers at a separate hall at the venue, the Siri Fort Auditorium. The popular Panorama section of IFFI opened here today with films focusing on the futility and tragedy of war and bloodshed — Mrinal Sen’s feature film “Aamar Bhuvan” and the National Award winning non-feature “Diary of a Housewife” by Vinod Sukumaran. Inaugurating the Panorama section, which showcases the best of Indian cinema, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Ramesh Bais said films served as a major unifying factor in the large and diverse country that is India. A total of 20 feature and 11 non-feature films in different Indian languages would be shown at Siri Fort over the next eight days.
PTI, UNI |
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‘Devdas’ dominates debate New Delhi, October 2 While director Jabbar Patel would agree with the licence taken by Bhansali in bringing together the heroines — a scene never written by author Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyaya — young film-maker Ashoke Viswanathan said if huge liberties were allowed, then the director would be making a film on some other story. The lively debate at the open forum on “Film and literature” saw some digs being taken at the plight of Hindi films’ relation with literature. It came from scriptwriter Kamaleswar, who said Hindi cinema did not have to worry much about who is the captain of a film, the director or the
screenwriter. “Because the producers and directors do not read good literature, and the writers are in no way associated with Hindi cinema,” he said. Kamaleswar said bad films had been made with the excuse of turning a work of literature into films, and cited the latest version of “Devdas” in this context. But Viswanathan said there could be films of huge consequence from insignificant works of literature, like those made by Alfred Hitchcock — “Psycho”, “Birds” and “Frenzy”. Critic and author K. Sachidanandan set the debate in motion, saying that both the writer and the director were authors in their own right. “No one remembers ‘Gone With the Wind’ as a great work of literature, but the film is seen by generations of viewers,” he said. Veteran Kannada film producer Bhaktavalsala said there was a time in the 1960s and the 1970s when films were made on great works of literature, basically aimed at the market of literate viewers. But now, he said, the aim was to saturate the market with a flood of films. “It is a result of huge costs, where a film like ‘Devdas’, based on a book of around 160 pages, costs around Rs 50 crore”, he said. Sudhir Nandgaonkar, who moderated the open forum, said with the advent of multiplexes, there would be more demand for films based on literature.
PTI |
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Suspend Salman’s licence: cops Mumbai, October 2 “We wrote to the RTO two days ago to suspend the licence of the star”, Joint Commissioner (Law and Order) Javed Ahmed told PTI today. Salman’s licence is expected to be suspended as per the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act. Mr Ahmed, who is conducting a probe into the incident, today visited the accident site and interrogated several eye-account eye witnesses on the issue. “The inquiry is on and we are looking into several aspects, including interrogation of witnesses, documentary proofs, spot evidence and medical tests of the actor”, he said. Meanwhile, the actor’s brother Arbaaz Khan told a section of the media that Salman was not driving the vehicle at the time of the accident.
PTI |
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Priest nominated for Nobel Peace Prize Puri (Orissa), October 2 The nomination has come as a pleasant surprise for 84-year-old Father Marian Zelazek, who has been serving leprosy patients and their families in this holy city for the past three decades. Born in the western part of Poland on June 30, 1918, Father Marian arrived in India in March, 1950. He came to Puri in 1975 and was shocked by the pathetic condition of lepers who were discarded by people and society. “Being in a Nazi concentration camp for five long years as a prisoner, I know what is torture, pain and anguish. I lost some of my friends in the camp,” the priest told newspersons at his residence here. Father Marian, who has been doing social service for the past three decades and is hardly known even to the people of the city, has suddenly shot into prominence after being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Though Father Marian has been staying for the past five decades in India, he has not taken up Indian citizenship. “It does not matter whether you are Indian or Polish when you take the pledge to serve society,” the priest said. He said it did not matter if he did not get recognition for his service to mankind. “I was always counting upon recognition from God, like Mother Teresa,” he said when asked whether he felt bad about the lack of recognition for his noble work. People from different countries, including India and Poland, recommended his name for the prize and his name figured among the top 12, sources said. Father Marian’s world is the small shelter home where 600 leprosy patients and their family members try to lead a normal life. The Catholic priest also runs a small hospital and school for children of patients. When needed, he takes the help of local doctors to treat leprosy patients at the home. To help the cured patients become self-sufficient, Father Marian has established a number of small-scale units ranging from rope-making to brick-making and shoemaking to keep the lepers engaged round the year.
UNI |
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IAF to hold grand fly-past New Delhi, October 2 The colourful Air Force fly-past will be heralded by three MI-17 helicopters flying in ‘vic’ formation with national and Air Force standards afloat, which will be closely followed by three Russian acquired MI-35 gunships, an Air Force spokesman said contradicting media reports that IAF planned to do away with an elaborate fly- past. The choppers will be followed by two formations of five Jaguars flying in arrowhead formation, which will be tailed by two formations of three each Sukhois flying in ‘vic’ formation. Nine Surya Kirans will ring down the curtain on the Air Force day ceremonial parade over the Palam Technical area by putting up a breathtaking aerobatic display. However, he said that no elaborate aerobatic display would be performed by the supersonic fighters as a safety measure. The IAF’s Russian acquired Sukhoi-30s are famed world over for their aerobatic capability — thanks to thurst vector technology. Celebrations in Delhi will also include cultural shows by more than 425 IAF personnel drawn from various Air Force bases throughout the country. The main feature of this year’s celebrations will be the cultural shows and the band concert in addition to the Investiture Parade and fly-past. The cultural events by Air Force personnel and their family members rather than the professional artistes, as has been the practice in the past, will promote the spirit of camaraderie and stronger bonding. This will also provide an opportunity to showcase the untapped potential of IAF personnel in this field and promote participative spirit. The cultural shows will be spread over three days at Air Force Auditorium on October 5, 6 and 7. Amongst the 425 participants, nearly 300 are school children from various Air Force schools. The first show on October 5, will be exclusively by the school children. |
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Gujarat Cong move to oust BJP govt New Delhi, October 2 Mr Vaghela, who was here in
connection with a Congress meeting, said that talks with Communist parties, the Nationalist Congress Party, Lok Janshakti Party and Samajwadi Party would begin after October 15. He said these parties did not have a major presence in Gujarat and they could join hands with the Congress in defeating the BJP. The Opposition parties, at a dinner hosted by former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu in Delhi last month, had called for opposition unity and a “one-to-one contest” in Gujarat to defeat the BJP. Mr Vaghela dismissed as false the Gujarat Government’s claim that it did not have intelligence input about the attack on Akshardham temple. He said the intelligence agencies had, on March 30, alerted the state government to the possibility of such an attack. The PCC chief said that he would be writing to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani on the issue. |
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Nation remembers Shastri New Delhi, October 2 President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee visited Vijay Ghat and offered flowers in memory of the late leader, who coined the famous slogan, “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan”. Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and a host of Congress leaders and freedom fighters joined an all-religion prayer meeting. Mr Advani and other dignitaries paid floral tributes in front of a portrait of Shastri in the Central Hall of Parliament.
PTI |
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