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Acclaimed actor Manoj Bajpayee’s film ‘The Fable’, which is directed by Raam Reddy, will have its world premiere at the upcoming 74th edition of Berlin International Film Festival in the competitive category of ‘Encounters’.

The film, which also features Deepak Dobriyal, Priyanka Bose and Tillotama Shome, along with debutant Hiral Sidhu and child actor Awan Pookot, has been highlighted by the festival with an evening premiere on the opening day.

The festival will begin on February 15 and the curtains will be brought down on February 25.

Manoj said: “Joining the cast of ‘The Fable’ has been a remarkable experience. Working with a creative mind like Raam Reddy and participating in an A-festival backed by an international production house for the first time has been incredibly inspiring. Our film’s presence at Berlinale signifies the global reach and artistic caliber of Indian storytelling.”

‘The Fable’, Raam Reddy’s second initiative following...

Mumbai, May 27 (Ians) Fauja, a first-of-its-kind movie on the life of a jawan, shot in the hinterlands of Haryana, is all set to hit the theatres on June 1.

Starring Pavan Malhotra in a senior role, the movie revolves primarily around Karthik Dammu, an alumnus of the National School of Drama, who was previously seen in the Sayantan Mukherjee web series ‘Ray’. Sources privy to the closed-door premiere show of ‘Fauja’ have unanimously talked about it stirring up an emotion that is hard to let go.

Karthik, who is still in his extended student life and soon to transition into the corporate work life, talks about movies being more of a passion rather than a profession.

“In today’s fast-paced and competitive corporate world, finding a harmonious balance between one’s professional life and personal passions can be a daunting task,” says Karthik, who also is eagerly awaiting the release of...

Gulzar in Griha Pravesh (1979).Cinema and poetry seem to be such kindred art forms that one would imagine a lot of poets to have turned to filmmaking. In reality, such instances are relatively rare. Maya Angelou directed just the one film, Down in the Delta (1998), and Ethan Coen published a book of poetry called The Drunken Driver Has the Right of Way. Kiarostami was a poet, so were Pasolini and Jean Cocteau. Indian cinema has produced a few poet-filmmakers of its own, such as Buddhadeb Dasgupta and Kidar Sharma. But probably the one filmmaker who has also been staggeringly prolific as both a poet and songwriter is Gulzar.The Western world predominantly sees Indian cinema in two extremities: either as the garish vaudevillian spectacle that everyone broadly recognizes as Bollywood, or the stark realistic storytelling by the likes of Satyajit Ray and Ritwik Ghatak. But with at least eleven major...

Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa review: A cut above that should be seen, savoured and thoughtfully appreciated.

Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa review is here. English title (Sniffer) this 2013 Hindi dark comedy by the master filmmaker Buddhadev Dasgupta is finally streaming on Eros Now from November 20, 2020.

Starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui along with Ananya Chatterjee and Pankaj Tripathi, the movie premiered on 17 October 2013 at the BFI London Film Festival.

Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa review

The poetic genius of Buddhadev Dasgupta’s storytelling and the mastery of emotions on screen by Nawazuddin Siddiqui results in a cinema that should be seen, savoured and thoughtfully appreciated. The rare sangam (meeting point) of a renowned filmmaker Buddhadev Dasgupta who has his own universal language of cinema and an actor with refined nuances Nawazuddin Siddiqui create an exquisitely beautiful and beguilingly poetic chronicle of life, people, places, spaces, loneliness, togetherness, longing, belonging, allusions, reality, faith, fate and more.

19th annual New York Indian Film Festival (Nyiff) special focus on new Bengali CinemaBengali is the language of Bangladesh. In fact, its 1971 war of Independence from Pakistan was based upon the language which they favored rather than upon the religion (Muslim) they happened to share with Pakistan.May 7–12, 2019 at the Village East Cinemas, 2nd Ave @ 12th Street, NYC.This year 19th annual New York Indian Film Festival (Nyiff) has a special focus on the new Bengali Cinema, reflecting a resurgence in films coming out of West Bengal. With seven new films, including works by the Bengali masters Buddhadev Dasgupta, Suman Ghosh and other first time filmmakers, it is a reflection on Nyiff’s commitment to young emerging filmmakers from India. Here is a listing of the films (with English subtitles)With seven new films, including works by the Bengali masters Buddhadev Dasgupta, Suman Ghosh and other first time filmmakers, it...

Actors Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan,, Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone, apart from directors like Mrinal Sen, Buddhadeb Dasgupta and Goutam Ghose are among the Indians invited to be a part of the Oscar Academy’s ‘Class of 2017’.Read More

The post Amitabh, Aamir, Salman, Aishwarya and others invited to join Oscar Academy appeared first on .

Most people show a lot of who they are through their interactions with others. Sure, there's the person we think we are, or the person that we imagine ourselves to be on our best days, but it's really how we treat the people in our lives that determines our legacy. In Buddhadeb Dasgupta's new film, Sniffer (Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa), a private dick, or sniffer in the Indian jargon used throughout the film, discovers his true self though his search for truth and compassion in others. It is a marvelously humane look at humanity on its best and worst behavior, sometimes simultaneously, and goes to prove that what you do isn't always who you are.Anwar is a private detective working for a seedy agency specializing...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Liar’s Dice by Geethu Mohandas won the Best Film at the New York Indian Film Festival 2014. The films nominated were: Astu, Fandry, Goynar Baksho and Ugly.

Nagraj Manjule won the Best Director for Fandry. In this category, the nominations were Anurag Kashyap (Ugly), Aparna Sen (Goynar Baksho), Buddhadeb Dasgupta (Sniffer) and Gajendra Ahire (Postcard).

Naseeruddin Shah won the Best Actor for The Coffin Maker while the award for Best Actress went to Geetanjali Thapa for Liar’s Dice.

Nishtha Jain’s Gulabi Gang won the Best Documentary. The award for Best Short went to Blouse by Vijayeta Kumar.

The 14th New York Indian Film Festival (Nyiff) was held from May 5-10, 2014.

The nominations for 14th New York Indian Film Festival Awards have been announced! The festival is widely recognized as the oldest, most prestigious Indian film festival in the United States, showcasing some of the greatest talents working in the diaspora. Nyiff boasts five days of premiere screenings of feature, documentary & short films, industry panels, special events, retrospectives, red carpet galas,and an award ceremony to round out the festival. Celebrating its 14th year, Nyiff will run May 5 to 10 at a variety of prestigious New York City venues, including the Skirball Center for Performing Arts, where the opening and closing films are set to take place. Nyiff is dedicated to showcasing, promoting and building an awareness of Independent, art house, alternate and diaspora films from/about/connected to the Indian subcontinent. Their mission is to encourage filmmakers to tell their stories, to educate North America about them and their talent and...

A Still from Liar’s Dice

The 14th New York Indian Film Festival (Nyiff) announced nominations today in various categories of awards. The festival will be held from May 5 to 10 and will screen 23 narrative features and 11 documentaries.

In the Best Feature Film category; Astu, Fandry, Goynar Baksho, Liar’s Dice and Ugly will vie for the award while Anurag Kashyap, Aparna Sen, Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Gajendra Ahire and Nagraj Manjule will compete for the Best Director award.

Full List of nominations:

Best Short

Bar Stools Blouse The Corner Table Give Into the Night Nightlife

Best Documentary

An American in Madras Gulabi Gang Rangbhoomi The Auction House The Unseen Sequence

Best Screenplay

Apur Panchali As The River Flows Shesher Kobita Virgin Talkies Zinda Bhaag

Best Actor

Mohan Agashe, Astu Naseeruddin Shah, The Coffin Maker Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Liar’s Dice Rahul Bhat, Ugly Roshan Seth, Brahmin Bulls

Best Actress

Anjali Patil, With You,...

A still from Sulemani Keeda

The 14th New York Indian Film Festival, to take place from 5-10 May, has unveiled its full line-up of films which comprises of a mix of 23 narrative features and 11 documentaries.

Anurag Kashyap’s Ugly is set to open the festival while Geethu Mohandas’ Liar’s Dice will be the centerpiece film. The festival will also present a retrospective of Gurinder Chaddha’s documentaries and will close with Aparna Sen’s Goynar Baksho.

Karan Bali’s 80 minute documentary, An American in Madras, based on American-born filmmaker Ellis R. Dungan’s travails in the Tamil film industry will get a screening alongside the recently released Gulabi Gang by Nishtha Jain.

Nagraj Manjule’s Fandry, Sumitra Bhave and Sunil Sukthankar’s Astu and Gajendra Ahire’s Postcard are the three Marathi features which will screen at the festival. Assamese feature As The River Flows (Ekhon Nodir Xipare), by Bidyut Kotoky,...

Kaushik Ganguly’s Apur Panchali takes off on Pather Panchali and is about the child actor who played Apu in the film – Subir Banerjee – and what happened to him because he never made another film after Ray’s masterpiece.

Cinema in India has now split up into several pan-Indian categories. Apart from the mainstream Hindi film we have the ‘indie’ cinema represented by films like The Lunchbox and Ship of Theseus as well as the documentary (Fire in the Blood), which has become commercially viable, as it was not. Apart from these categories, there is the regional art film which, unlike its popular counterpart, is pan-Indian rather than local – because it is aimed at audiences at film festivals and other pan-Indian cultural gatherings, and cannot be imagined without subtitles in English. The pan-Indian art film is gaining ground across India and well-known film critics were also recommending the Indian Panorama...

A small independent film has been quietly winning hearts and awards in the festival circuit. The latest victory for Kamal K.M.’s I.D. is winning the Black horse competition at the 3rd Ars Independent International Film Festival in Poland.

Not many are aware that Resul Pookutty, best known as the Oscar-winning sound designer for Slumdog Millionaire, turned producer for I.D. with five other friends (called Collective Phase One). His ambition for production encompasses the plan of opening a production house of his own very soon.

Resul Pookutty, the producer, chats with Nandita Dutta:

Why did you think of getting into production and forming Collective Phase One?

It was never in my mind to start a production house, it just happened. Rajeev Ravi, Madhu Neelakandan and I were together at the Ftii. So one day Rajeev called up and said that a junior of ours, Kamal, has written a film...

A still from Fandry

The British Film Institute’s London Film Festival has picked 7 Indian films to screen in its 57th edition: Sniffer, Fandry, Jeevan Smriti, The Lunchbox, Kalpana, Siddharth and From Gulf To Gulf .

The festival will be held from October 9 to 20, 2013 and will screen over 300 films.

Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox is the only Indian film in the Official Competition section. An India/France/Germany co-production, the film revolves around a middle class housewife Ila who is trying once again to add some spice to her marriage and Saajan, a lonely man on the verge of retirement. Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui feature in lead roles. The film is due to see a country wide theatrical release on September 20, 2013.

Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s Sniffer (Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa) and Richie Mehta’s Siddharth will screen under the Journey section.

Sniffer is the tale of a clumsy private detective Anwar.

Browse all the sections of the 57th London Film Festival (Oct 9-20) including the galas, competition titles and individual sections.

Alphabetical list of titles by section including feature premiere status

Wp = Wp

Ep = European Premiere

IP = International Premiere

UK = UK Premiere

Gala’s

Opening Night

Captain Phillips, Paul Greengrass (Us) Ep

Closing Night

Saving Mr Banks, John Lee Hancock (Us/UK) Ep

Philomena, Stephen Frears (UK) UK12 Years A Slave, Steve Mcqueen (UK) EPGravity, Alfonso Cuaron (Us) UKInside Llewyn Davis, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen (Us) UKLabor Day, Jason Reitman (Us) EPThe Invisible Woman, Ralph Fiennes (UK), EPThe Epic Of Everest, John Noel (UK) WPBlue Is The Warmest Colour, Abdellatif Kechiche (France) UKNight Moves, Kelly Reichardt (Us) UKStranger By The Lake, Alain Guiraudie (France) UKDon Jon, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Us) UKMystery Road, Ivan Sen (Australia) UKOnly Lovers Left Alive, Jim Jarmusch (Us) UKNebraska, Alexander Payne (Us) UKWe Are The Best!, Lukas Moodysson (Sweden) EPFoosball 3D, Juan Jose Campanella (Argentina...

The 57th BFI London Film Festival line-up has officially been revealed, and it is led by a slew of incredibly promising films, many of which have already been buzzing on the festival circuit, and a number of which will be making their debuts here in London.

As previously announced, Paul Greengrass’ Captain Phillips will open the festival next month, and John Lee Hancock’s Saving Mr. Banks will close it, book-ending the festival with Tom Hanks leading two highly prominent, Oscar-primed movies.

Stephen Frears’ Philomena was also previously announced as the Lff American Express Gala, with The Epic of Everest announced as the Lff Archive Gala.

And leading the line-up alongside them this year will be some of the most Oscar-buzzed movies of 2013, including Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, Jason Reitman’s Labor Day, Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity (in 3D), Joel and Ethan Coen’s Inside Llewyn Davis, Terry Gilliam’s The Zero Theorem,...

The National Award winning director Buddhadeb Dasgupta is all set to release his next hindi film Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui. Buddhadeb’s has also directed hindi films like Andhi Gali, Bagh Bahadur and Woh. The story of Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa was ready around two years back but Buddhadeb war in search of the right face for a common man’s role. Nawazuddin is indeed one of the finest actors but it was after Buddhadeb watched Gangs of Wasseypur and Kahaani, he immediately signed Nawaz for Anwar’s character.

“I was not finding a right face for Anwar. I waited for the right face to play Anwar when I saw Nawaz I signed him and film went on the floor. I feel Nawaz is the most talented actor in the hindi film industry. It was after I watched Gangs of Wasseypur and Kahaani. Nawaz is a wonderful actor” says Buddhadeb Dasgupta.

After celebrating 100 years of Indian cinema in its 2012 edition, the 10th Dubai International Film Festival has again included a “Celebration of Indian cinema” section in its out-of-competition programme.

Feature films and documentaries can be submitted for inclusion in this section.

Last year, under this section, Diff screened Joy Mathew’s Shutter, Kaushik Ganguly’s Sound, Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s Quartet 1, Ashim Ahluwalia’s Miss Lovely, Anand Gandhi’s Ship of Theseus and Hansal Mehta’s Shahid among others.

Besides “Celebration of Indian cinema”, the other out-of-competition sections are Arabian Nights, Cinema for Children, Cinema of AsiaAfrica, Cinema of the World and Gulf Voices.

Indian filmmakers can also submit entries for competitive sections: Muhr AsiaAfrica Feature, Muhr AsiaAfrica Documentary and Muhr AsiaAfrica Short.

For submission, films must have been produced after September 1, 2012. Films must not have been screened in the Gulf region for any audiences before Diff with the exception of...

Kolkata, July 16: Four eminent film personalities, including world renowned director Mrinal Sen and thespian Soumitra Chatterjee, have been dropped from the general body of the 2013 Kolkata International Film Festival committee.

Sources said that apart from Dadasaheb Phalke winners Sen and Chatterjee, filmmakers Buddhadeb Dasgupta and Tarun Majumdar have also failed to find a place in the reconstituted committee.

All the four, known for their leftist views, said they were not the least "perturbed or bothered" over being dropped from the committee. Sen, Chatterjee and Majumdar said they had quit from the panel two years back.

"I.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui has been lately worried sick. His extended family is caught in the devastating deluge of Uttarakhand. And the actor who is currently trying to finish the dubbing for his latest film Buddhadeb Dasgupta's Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa finds himself frantically running from pillar to post trying to stay connected with the family. "I have three brothers and a sister in Dehra Doon. It's hard get in touch. But so far they are safe. This kind of natural fury and devastation are unknown in our parts," says Nawaz who spent all his growing up years in Uttarakhand and is deeply pained by the devastation destruction and death. "My family being there is one thing. So many locals, pilgrims, tourists and travelers being stranded is very disturbing," says Nawaz who is thinking of ways to help the people of Uttarakhand. "There wasn't even a cinema hall where I grew up.

New Delhi, May 9: A total of 13 short films, based on of litterateur, composer and artist Rabindranath Tagore's poems, were released here Thursday to commemorate his 152nd birth anniversary.

The film series have been directed by Buddhadeb Dasgupta in collaboration with the National Film Development Corporation. These films have been produced with the financial support of Ministry of Culture.

The films were released by Union Minister of Culture, Chandresh Kumari Katoch.

With a running time of around 30 minutes, the short films are based on Tagore's poems like, "Bansi" (The Flute), "Krishnakali" (The Dark Maiden),.

Three Indian films that premiere at Cannes 2013 have Nawazuddin Siddiqui in prominent roles. Nandita Dutta speaks to the actor and his directors to find out what’s special about the man and his craft

Nawazuddin plays an actor in Dibakar Banerjee directed segment of Bombay Talkies. The film will have a gala screening at 66th Cannes Film Festival

Six films in two years at the crème de la crème of film festivals is no mean feat to pull for any actor anywhere in the world. As Indian cinema gains more visibility at the Cannes film festival by the year, Nawazuddin Siddiqui has become a face which is easy to spot and hard to ignore when one talks about the films that have made it to the coveted film festival. After Miss Lovely and Gangs of Wasseypur 1 & 2 in 2012, the actor will walk the red carpet this year for Bombay Talkies, Dabba and Monsoon Shootout.

It was a close shave for Nawazuddin Siddiqui who was shooting for Buddhadeb Dasgupta's Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa in Maoist-infested area of Shimultala in Bihar. Apparently, the beautiful hill resort is very well known for its Maoist activities. Nawaz and his unit braved the dangers as the film demanded the location. However, on Friday the crew had to hastily leave Shimultala to avoid a confrontation with the Maoists. Says Nawaz, "We had to wrap up for our shooting on Friday and quickly leave as there was a bandh call from the Maoists on Saturday. No one in the area dares to defy closure orders from the Maoists. We had no option but to pack our bags and leave." The rest of the shooting was completed in Kolkata. Speaking on Buddhadeb Dasgupta's film, Nawaz says, "I wanted to work with Buddadeb Dasgupta from the time I saw his film Tahader Katha.

Mumbai, April 11: It was a close shave for Nawazuddin Siddiqui, who was shooting for Buddhadeb Dasgupta's "Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa" in the Maoist-affected area of Shimultala in Bihar.

The beautiful hill resort in the Jamui district is known for its Maoist activities. Nawaz and his unit braved the dangers as the film demanded the location.

However, last Friday the crew had to hastily leave Shimultala to avoid a confrontation with the Maoists.

Said Nawaz: "We had to wrap up for our shooting on Friday and quickly leave as there was a 'bandh' call from the Maoists in Saturday. No one in the area dares to defy closure.

Nawazuddin Siddiqui who is currently one of the most sought-after star-actors of the country is facing the problem that all successful actors have to; his old forgotten unreleased films are being excavated for exhibition by opportunistic producers.

But the case of Gangs Of Gardulley whose makers have accused Nawaz of ignoring them and their plea to complete their film, is a unique.

Nawaz says he had shot for a short-film which without his knowledge or consent the makers have turned into a full-length feature film.

Speaking exclusively to this writer from Shimutala in Bihar, where he is shooting for Budddadeb Dasgupta's Hindi film, Nawaz says, "This is from very early in my acting career when I was hungrily doing anything that was offered to me. It was one of the 70-odd short films that I did even before I did that cameo in Kabir Khan's New York. It was a...

Mumbai, Feb 28: Dismayed by how veteran actor Sadashiv Amrapurkar has aged, the much in-demand Nawazuddin Siddiqui has decided to take a sabbatical after he finishes his current assignment.

Nawazuddin, who suddenly finds himself inundated with quality work, will take a few months break as soon as he wraps up shooting for Buddhadeb Dasgupta's "Anwar Ka Ajab Kissa".

"I waited for 11 years to get good work. Now when I am finally getting the kind of work that I wanted with directors I dreamt of working with all my life, I don't want to mess up my career by burning myself out," said the actor who became big after "Kahaani".

Veteran Bengali filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s homage to Rabindranath Tagore, a ‘Quartet’ of short films based on Tagore’s poems was screened in ‘Celebration of Indian Cinema’ section at the ongoing Dubai International Film Festival. Dasgupta talks about his inspiration for this film and what keeps him going…

Please tell us what inspired “Troyodoshi”?

When I was requested by the Government of India to make a film based on (Rabindranath) Tagore’s work, first I was not interested- I can’t make anything based on Tagore’s novels or short stories. But when they requested to reconsider, I said that well if I can make a film on his poems then I can agree.Then they finally said go ahead and do that. That was the first challenge because I being a poet, many a times I have thought of translating my poems to celluloid but never really attempted to do that.

Manish Tewari

A delegation of independent filmmakers represented by Onir, Anusha Rizvi and Shonali Bose will meet the Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari today with the “Save Indie Cinema” Petition jointly filled by 45 award winning film makers and signed by about 10,000 people.

The petition seeks to address the threats that New Wave Indie Cinema of India faces today. One of the concerns of indie filmmakers is non availability of resources to exhibit their films. “High ticket pricing that is inappropriate for small budget films, inadequate number of shows and odd show timings further destroy the possibility of Indie cinema (regional and Hindi) to have any proper chance at being viewed. It defies logic that a 150 Crores film and a 1.5 crore film are priced by the multiplexes in the same manner,” reads the petition.

“We the petitioners hope that the I&B ministry will take due notice of our petition...

The ninth edition of the Dubai International Film Festival (Diff) that opens on Tuesday, December 9, is celebrating the centenary year of Indian cinema. The festival (December 9-16) will screen a total of ten Indian films and see Indian actor Frieda Pinto on the Muhr Emirati & Shorts Jury.

Still from Quartet 1

Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, an American production with Indian actors mostly shot in the south of India, will open the eight day festival. Wayne Blair’s The Sapphires will close the festival.

Nashen Moodley, Diff’s Director of Asia-Africa Programmes says, “To commemorate 100 years of Indian cinema, we have selected a collection of unique films that reflect the richness, flavor and essence of Indian filmmaking. Over 1,000 films are made every year in India and the platter is huge and diverse, which is a testament to the filmmaking excellence we see year after year.”

Shahid by Hansal Mehta, Buddhadeb Dasgupta...

Ang Lee’s Life of Pi will open the Dubai International Film Festival (Diff) while Wayne Blair’s The Sapphires will be the closing film of the festival. Diff will run from 9 – 16 December, 2012.

Egyptian actor Mahmoud Abdul Aziz and British director Michael Apted will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Awards this year.

Diff will host a total of 161 films across sections. Karzan Kadar’s Bekas and Haifa Al Mansour’s Wadjda; Hitchcock, starring Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren; Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away and Michael Haneke’s Amour will make their Arabian premieres at the festival.

83 films will compete in the three competition sections: The Muhr Emirati, Muhr Arab and Muhr Asia-Africa awards. Another award is the Iwc Schaffhausen Filmmaker Award which offers a $100,000 cash prize to the winning filmmaker.

From India, Ashim Ahluwalia’s Miss Lovely, Rajan Khosa’s Gattu, Sourav Sarangi’s Char…The No-Man’s Island,...

Guwahati, Nov 25: Music lovers in Guwahati were treated to multiple genres of music at the second Guwahati International Music Festival that was held here over the weekend.

The event featured over 200 musicians from eight countries, and was organized by the state tourism department in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture.

Well-known international musicians such as percussionists Bickram Ghosh and Greg Ellis from the USA, Afghan Ghazal singer Haris Khan, progressive Bangladeshi rock musician Mac Haque, mandolin player Snehasish Mozumder and his band Som from New York, Sarod exponent Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta, jazz musician.

Jahnu Barua’s Baandhon will open the Feature Film section of the Indian Panorama 2012 at the 43rd International Film Festival of India (Iffi) today.

“Baandhon is a human statement against terror on behalf of the common men of the entire world. Dandeswar and Hkawni, both seventy-three years old, arrive in Mumbai to look for their beloved grandson-the only other living member of the family who has been missing since the 26/11/2008 terror attack,” reads the film’s synopsis in a press release by Iffi.

Produced by the Assam State Film (Finance and Development) Corporation Limited, the film was screened at the International Film Festival of Kerala and the Mumbai Film Festival earlier this year.

The jury for the Feature Film section of the Indian Panorama 2012 headed by Buddhadeb Dasgupta selected 18 films from the 144 eligible entries.

Shivendra Singh Dungarpur’s Celluloid Man will open the Non-Feature section. The jury for the Non-Feature Film section,...

Celebrating the centenary year of Indian cinema, the International Film Festival of India (Iffi) has launched a Special Indian Cinema Centenary Award. The winner, chosen by a jury, will be presented with a Silver Peacock, a certificate and a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh.

“The special Indian Cinema Centenary Award will be bestowed to a film chosen from three nominations from the festival programme – International Competition, Cinema of the World and the Indian Panorama,” Shankar Mohan, Festival Director, Iffi stated.

The special jury constituted to elect the winning film comprises Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Goutam Ghose and Kishwar Desai.

The festival will run from 20th to 30th November, 2012. Oscar winning film maker Ang Lee’s Life of Pi will be the opening film, while Mira Nair’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist will be the closing film.

The other awards that will be contested for during the festival are:

Best Film

Wins: Golden Peacock,...

Kolkata, Nov 18: While its organisers may make tall claims, the 18th Kolkata International Film Festival turned out be a drab affair in stark contrast to the glamour heavy inaugural ceremony.

The festival, which over the years had attracted eminent cinematic names from around the globe such as Krysztof Zanussi and Fernando Solanas, found itself deprived of the cult figures including home−grown greats.

Legendary names from Bengali cinema world such as actor Soumitra Chatterjee and director Buddhadeb Dasgupta, otherwise regulars at the fest, preferred to give the Nov 10−17 event a miss, while eminent filmmaker Mrinal Sen just made a cameo appearance on the penultimate day.

Though Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee,.

Still from Quartet

The upcoming 9th edition of Dubai International Film Festival (Diff) announced its ‘Celebration of India’ programme to mark 100 years of Indian cinema.

The festival will host world premieres of Joy Mathew’s Shutter and Kaushik Ganguly’s Sound.

Shutter is a Malayalam satire by actor-turned-director Joy Mathew. The film is set and filmed in Kozhikode and revolves around three individuals: a wandering film director, an expatriate from the Gulf and a Kozhikodan auto driver. All three of them are worthy citizens but get embroiled in unforeseen circumstances.

Sound (Shobdo) by Kaushik Ganguly is based on the life of a foley artist in Tollywood whose life becomes inextricably intertwined with the sounds that he has to produce for a living.

Acclaimed films from the festival circuit including Ashim Ahluwalia’s Miss Lovely, Rajan Khosa’s Gattu, Sourav Sarangi’s Char…The No-Man’s Island, Anand Gandhi’s Ship of Theseus,...

Jahnu Barua’s Baandhon will open the Feature Film section of Indian Panorama 2012 at the International Film Festival of India. Celluloid Man will open the Non-Feature Film section.

The 43rd edition of the festival will be held from 20th – 30th November, 2012 in Goa.

The jury for the Feature Film section was headed by Buddhadeb Dasgupta and comprised Pradip Biswas, Suresh Krissna Katte Ramachandra, Kireedam Unni, Munin Barua, Pawan Manavi, Ajay Sharma, Venita Coelho and Sibi Malayil. The jury selected 18 films from the 144 eligible entries.

The jury for the Non-Feature Film section is chaired by M.R. Rajan picked up 18 films from the 147 eligible entries. Other jury members are Bachaspatimayum Sunzu, Mohammad Ali Baig, Jasmine K Roy and Rajesh S Jala.

The films selected under Feature Film section are:

Baandhon by Jahnu Barua

Shabdo by Kaushik Ganguly

Chitrangada by Rituparno Ghosh

Elar Char Adhyay by Bappaditya Bandopadhyay

Deswa by Nitin Chandra...

Jahnu Barua’s Baandhon will open the Feature Film section of Indian Panorama 2012 at the International Film Festival of India (Iffi). Documentary Celluloid Man will open the Non-Feature Film section.

The 43rd edition of the festival will be held from 20th – 30th November, 2012 in Goa.

The jury for the Feature Film section was headed by Buddhadeb Dasgupta and comprised Pradip Biswas, Suresh Krissna Katte Ramachandra, Kireedam Unni, Munin Barua, Pawan Manavi, Ajay Sharma, Venita Coelho and Sibi Malayil. The jury selected 18 films from the 144 eligible entries.

The jury for the Non-Feature Film section, chaired by M.R. Rajan, picked up 18 films from the 147 eligible entries. Other jury members were Bachaspatimayum Sunzu, Mohammad Ali Baig, Jasmine K Roy and Rajesh S Jala.

Feature Films:

Baandhon by Jahnu Barua

Shabdo by Kaushik Ganguly

Chitrangada by Rituparno Ghosh

Elar Char Adhyay by Bappaditya Bandopadhyay

Deswa by Nitin Chandra

Byari by Suveeran

Lessons In Forgetting...

The maiden edition of the Canada South Asian Film Festival (Saff) will be inaugurated by veteran Indian actress Jaya Bachchan on October 31st, 2012. Apart from screenings of feature, documentary and animation films, there will also be a Master Class from Buddhadeb Das Gupta.

The festival will run from 31st October to 4th November, 2012 in the British Columbia cities of Vancouver, Surrey and Abbotsford and will host films from the South Asian countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Afghanistan and India. To commemorate 100 years of Indian Cinema the festival has organised “Memories of their first Indian Film”, wherein cinephiles are invited to send in written accounts on the topic. The highlights of the festival are:

Through Her Eyes: Women in South Asian Film

South Asian Mosaic: Lives lived in South Asia

Way Beyond Bollywood: Feature films from throughout India and South Asia

Debut Views: First or second feature films

Docs Docs Docs!

Flagging off their campaign on the auspicious occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, 14 film personalities came together to jointly file an Icp – Indie Cinema Petition, to fight against the threat New Wave Indie Cinema of India is facing. The Petition was jointly filed by National Award winning film makers Aparna Sen, Ashutosh Gowariker, Ashvin Kumar, Buddhadev Das Gupta, Girish Kasaravalli, Goutam Ghosh, Jahnu Barua , Janaki Viswanathan, Nila Madav Panda, Onir, Rituparno Ghosh,Sachin Read More...

Flagging off their campaign on the auspicious occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, 14 film personalities came together to jointly file an Icp - Indie Cinema Petition, to fight against the threat New Wave Indie Cinema of India is facing. The Petition was jointly filed by National Award winning film makers Aparna Sen, Ashutosh Gowariker, Ashvin Kumar, Buddhadev Das Gupta, Girish Kasaravalli, Goutam Ghosh, Jahnu Barua , Janaki Viswanathan, Nila Madav Panda, Onir, Rituparno Ghosh,Sachin...

Onir

16 Indie filmmakers from across the country (13 of them national award winners) have joined hands to submit a petition to the Information and Broadcasting minister demanding better theatrical exhibition, liberal censor regime and mandatory telecast of national award winning films during primetime on the national broadcaster Doordarshan.

The online petition, posted by Onir, whose I Am won the national award for best Hindi film this year, is jointly filed by national award winning filmmakers Aparna Sen, Ashutosh Gowariker, Buddhadev Das Gupta, Goutam Ghosh, Jahnu Barua, Janaki Viswanathan, Nila Madav Panda, Rituparno Ghosh, Sachin Kundalkar, Suman Mukhopadhyay, Umesh Kulkarni, Vinay Shukla, film makers Kaushik Mukherjee(Q), Subhash Kapoor and Oscar Award and National Award winning Sound Engineer Resul Prookutty

The petition demands at least one prime time screening of all national award winning films on Doordarshan and also raises the issue of rigid censor regime faced by films when it comes to telecast.

Kolkata, July 18: Veteran Bengali filmmakers Mrinal Sen and Buddhadeb Dasgupta Wednesday mourned the death of Bollywood's first superstar Rajesh Khanna and said his acting skills will continue to inspire the aspiring actors in future.

"He was a very good actor. He will be remembered by several generations for his acting skills," Sen told Ians.

Rajesh Khanna died Wednesday after.

A potent mix of sleek production, inspiration from literary works, sex and high quality music are behind a resurgent commercial Bengali cinema, which is again giving tough competition to Bollywood films in West Bengal..Bengali cinema has been going through an excellent phase for the last two-three years. But there is no place for complacency and we need to build up and improve on it,. filmmaker Sandip Ray told Ians.His latest film .Royal Bengal Rahasya., based on the detective series Feluda created by his father Satyajit Ray, has been a blockbuster hit.The year 2008-09 was the year of renaissance of the Bengali film industry as the new genre of talented directors with their fresh ideas and challenging attitudes changed the tide of the industry.Movies like .Antaheen., .Kalbela., .Autograph., .Aparajita Tumi., .Abohoman., .Moner Manush., .Arekti Premer Golpo., .Chalo Lets Go., and .Mahanagar@Kolkata. created a rage among the urban audience,...

New Delhi, Jan 18: Actress Sheena Chohan, who has bagged a role in two of Buddhadeb Dasgupta's short films -- "Mukti" and "Patralekha" based on noted Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore's works -- says she is fortunate to be a part of the project.

The movies are among the 13 short films Dasgupta is making and all of them are inspired by Tagore's works.

"This particular project is very close to my heart and I feel very fortunate to be a part of it. I have always been a great admirer of Rabindranath Tagore's poetry and through this short series I will get a chance to showcase some of his best works," said Sheena.

"I.

New Delhi, Nov 11: A screening committee under filmmaker Shyam Benegal has selected two film projects on Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore which will be made with financial assistance from the government Culture Minister Selja said Friday.

"The committee has approved one proposal from Rituparno Ghosh for a documentary titled 'Home and World' (Ghare Baire) and one from Buddhadeb Dasgupta for producing 13 documentary films based on 13 poems from Tagore," Kumari Selja said.

A six-pack movie DVD on the bard's 150th birth anniversary celebrations compiled by the culture ministry has sold more than 14,000 copies in the market, she said.

The.

A few hours ago the news broke that premiere Bollywood art director Samir Chanda passed away due to heart failure. Samir Chanda, who is best known for working on films such as Raavan, Omkara, Rang De Basanti, Krrish, Kaminey and more recently Saat Khoon Maaf, passed away on Thursday evening following a heart attack.

The news has come as a shock to many in Bollywood. Film director Buddhadeb Dasgupta told the media, “We have worked together many times. He was a very good person and had a creative head. It will be difficult for the industry to get a man like him.”

The director Bedabrata Pain described how Samir Chanda believed in him and his film Chittagong and how he worked for ‘free’. He went on to tell the media, “I just spoke to him the day before and now he is gone.”

Celebrities also took to twitter to pay...

A Master class on the basics of cinematography will be conducted by cinematographer Sunny Joseph on July 24 in New Delhi. Joseph has been the cinematographer for directors like Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Shaji N Karun and Buddhadeb Dasgupta and has won a national award. Another workshop on Film Criticism will be taken by Kaushik Bhowmik, Senior Vice President of Osian Film Festival on July 23.

These workshops are part of a 3-day programme “Cinephilia and Beyond” which will be held from July 22-24 July, 2011 in New Delhi at the Sri Aurobindo Center of Arts and Communication. This programme will include special sessions and film screenings apart from interactive workshops.

The programme will be inaugurated by film maker Buddhadeb Dasgupta, along with a special screening of his latest film Janala (The Window). The inauguration will be preceded by a key note address on Buddhadeb Dasgupta and his films by Sandeep Marwah, MD, Marwah Studios.

Rahul Bose

Rahul Bose talks to Udita Jhunjhunwala about last week?s release Kucch Luv Jaisaa and why kissing a man in I Am was not so difficult.

Rahul Bose is waiting to board a flight from Chennai to Mumbai on Saturday morning when I speak to him on the phone. He has attended the Ipl match, which his team Mumbai Indians lost, and he has had an exciting meeting with a leading actor-filmmaker in Chennai. ?I just don?t want you to write about that project right now,? he says cautiously.

So instead we speak of his latest release Kucch Luv Jaisaa in which he plays a criminal called Raghav and other forthcoming work.

How was it working with a first-time woman director on Kucch Luv Jaisaa?

Barnali Ray Shukla is not the first debutante woman filmmaker I have worked with. I also worked with Vinta Nanda on her first film (White Noise). It?...

Aparna Sen who had worked with cinematographer Somak Mukherjee in her latest Bengali work Iti Mrinalini was all set to work with him again in her first Hindi film introducing Hema Malini's daughter Ahana in the female lead. And now the Ahana project would have to find itself a new cinematographer. Aparna is numbed by the young Somak's sudden death. She had formed a very close relationship with the young technician. Filmmaker Sudipto Chattopadhyay is in a state of shock after the brutally-abrupt death of Somak Mukherjee the cinematographer who had shot Sudipto's Pankh. "Reenadi (Aparna Sen) is devastated. She treated Somak as her son. He was at this very moment doing the colour correction of Reenadi's Iti Mrinalini when ...this happened. I had discovered the boy at age 20. He was extremely talented. I persuaded him to enrol at the Ftii in Pune (Film & Television Institute Of India). I...

The death of cinematographer Somak Mukherjee in an accident has numbed well-known filmmaker Aparna Sen, who had worked with him in her latest Bengali work .Iti Mrinalini. and wanted him onboard her upcoming Hindi film introducing Hema Malini.s daughter Ahana in the female lead.Aparna had formed a very close relationship with the young technician.Filmmaker Sudipto Chattopadhyay is in a state of shock after the abrupt death of Somak Mukherjee, who had shot his .Pankh...Reenadi (Aparna Sen) is devastated. She treated Somak as her son. He was at this very moment doing the colour correction of Reenadi.s .Iti Mrinalini. when .this happened. I had discovered the boy at age 20. He was extremely talented. I persuaded him to enroll at the Ftii (Film & Television Institute Of India) in Pune . I coaxed him into working with Reena-di. He was rapidly on the rise. He had recently done...